SEO Tools and Resources

GEO, AI SEO, AEO – call it what you like. The label doesn’t matter nearly as much as understanding the shift behind it. At the center of that shift lies one idea that explains everything: AI availability – and here’s why it matters. What is AI availability? The idea of AI availability comes from Byron Sharp, research professor at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, who introduced it in a comment on one of my LinkedIn posts. Sharp’s work underpins modern brand science and shows that growth depends on availability. Brands grow through sales, and sales grow through two kinds of availability: mental and physical. Mental availability refers to the like…

Google is rolling out asset-level reporting for Display campaigns, giving advertisers a clearer view of how individual creative assets perform — a move that brings Display closer to the transparency already seen in Performance Max campaigns. Why we care. Until now, Display campaign insights have been limited to overall ad performance. With this update, advertisers can analyze results at the asset level — images, headlines, descriptions — to pinpoint what’s driving engagement and what’s not. How it works. A new Assets tab in Google Ads will let users: Compare performance of each creative asset. View when assets were last updated to track iteration history. …

It’s clear to me that the current “LLM situation” is untenable. These platforms are offering a very expensive set of products with relatively unlimited access. At the same time, you have content creators and publishers in a state of panic as decreased traffic has become the norm. Add to this that platforms ranging from Google’s AI Mode to ChatGPT lack clarity on how to monetize their products, and it becomes clear we’re kicking a can down the line, and sooner or later, all bills come due. The LLMs providing such broad access at no cost are unsustainable long-term. Content publishers offering their content to LLMs for free without traffic or other compensati…

Google has removed its long-standing unified pricing rules in Google Ad Manager, once again allowing publishers to set different price floors for Google demand versus other programmatic buyers. What changed. Publishers can now set bidder-specific floor prices in Ad Manager. For example, one buyer can be required to bid at least $5 while others compete at a lower $2 floor. Google has also rebranded “unified pricing rules” as simply “pricing rules.” The backstory. Before 2019, publishers often set higher floors for Google to counterbalance its data advantage. That flexibility disappeared when Google mandated uniform pricing across exchanges — a move later scrutinize…

Black Friday is peak retail season, yet many brands still lose money on Google Shopping ads for products they’ve already sold out of. The problem. Ads continue to run after items go out of stock, triggering cost-per-click charges with little to no chance of conversion. In a ShoppingIQ study of 500 global retailers, 97% continued to pay for clicks on unavailable products, often for 24 to 48 hours. Why we care. Out-of-stock ads waste budget, distort campaign performance, and confuse algorithmic learning. When clicks lead to dead ends, conversion rates drop, rankings slip, ROI falls, and future bidding becomes less efficient. Example. Argos reportedly continued t…

PPC is getting tougher – and it’s not just because of competition. Click-through rates are falling, costs are rising, and once-steady campaigns are harder to keep profitable. The real shift is structural. Zero-click searches are changing how paid search works. How search moved beyond the blue links For years, PPC operated in the “blue link economy,” where every click represented a chance to win a conversion. Now, Google’s results pages are crowded with AI Overviews, featured snippets, and knowledge panels that answer questions before a user ever leaves the SERP. For searchers, that feels fast and convenient. For advertisers, it means fewer clicks –…

Google is rolling out two key updates to Performance Max (PMax) campaigns — adding Waze ad inventory for store goal campaigns and introducing channel performance reporting for greater visbility. Why we care. Advertisers using PMax for store goals in the U.S. can now reach drivers directly on Waze through “Promoted Places in Navigation” pins — no extra setup required. The integration automatically optimizes existing assets for store visits or sales, arriving just in time for the holiday travel season, with a global rollout planned for 2026. Search partner comes to Channel reporting. PMax campaigns are also getting enhanced channel performance reporting, allowin…

Google introduced a low-visibility setting that could impact brand control for location-based ads. Driving the news. In the Shared Library under Location Manager, Google Ads now includes an option called “Google Owned Location Data.” When enabled, Google can automatically pull imagery from its own library and use it in ads tied to your business locations. Why we care. While Google frames the setting as a way to support performance goals, it allows creative assets to appear in your ads that you didn’t upload, select, or explicitly approve — a potential issue for brand-sensitive advertisers. The big picture. Automation in Google Ads continues to expand beyon…

UK doctor and YouTuber Dr. Ed Hope said Google’s AI falsely claimed he was suspended by the General Medical Council earlier this year for selling sick notes. Hope called the allegation completely made up and warned that it could seriously damage his career. Google’s AI generated a detailed narrative accusing Hope of professional misconduct, despite no investigations, complaints, or sanctions in his 10-year medical career, he said in a new video. Why we care. Google’s AI-generated answers appear to now be presenting false, career-damaging claims about real people as fact. That raises serious questions about defamation, accountability, and whether AI-generated stat…

YouTube has removed the “close” button on sidebar panels in some horizontal video ads on mobile, making the ad’s sidebar — often used for shoppable products or sitelinks — permanently visible during playback. Why we care. The change means users can no longer dismiss the sidebar to view the ad full-screen, leaving part of the video blocked by the fixed panel. That could impact both viewer experience and ad creative performance. The difference: Old layout: Users could tap an “X” to close the sidebar and focus on the main video. New layout: The sidebar remains locked, displaying additional ad content throughout. The source. The update was first spotte…

Google’s AI Overviews feature has become the face of our search engine results. Type almost any question into your Google search bar, and the first answer you receive will be AI generated. Many are thrilled about this. Others are wary. Marketers and those in the online reputation management (ORM) field are among those urging caution. Why? Because Google AI Overviews are often littered with information stemming from online forums like Reddit and Quora. And oftentimes, this user-generated content can be inaccurate — or entirely false. Why Google AI Overviews heavily rely on content from Reddit and Quora But how and why have Google AI Overviews c…

Google Ads is testing a new “View-Through Conversion Optimization” feature in its Demand Gen campaigns. What’s new. This test was spotted last week. It adds a setting allowing advertisers to include view-through conversions (VTCs) in their bidding models. How it works. This applies to YouTube (Image + Video) traffic. More channels are “coming soon,” per the early beta. The feature could improve early-stage efficiency where clicks are scarce but influence is high. Why we care. View-through conversions reveal what happens when people see your ad, skip the click, but come back to buy. You can turn it on early to train algorithms faster, boost brand li…

Citations in AI search assistants reveal how authority is evolving online. Analyzing results across 11 major sectors shows which domains are most often referenced and what that says about credibility in an AI-driven landscape. As assistants condense answers and surface fewer links, being cited has become a powerful signal of trust and influence. Based on Semrush data from more than 800 websites, the findings highlight how AI reshapes visibility across industries. AI citation trends across industries The analysis surfaced several clear patterns in how authority is distributed across industries. Universal authorities Some domains appeared in the to…

Google confirmed an ongoing issue with serving search results in Google Search. This is impacting some locales, Google added. Google said this is an “ongoing issue” and will update us again “witin 24 hours” with more details. What Google said. Google wrote: There’s an ongoing data center issue that may impact serving of some pages in some locales. We’re working on identifying the root cause. The next update will be within 24 hours. When? This was posted at 5:21 pm ET. What is a serving issue. A serving issue is when Google Search has issues showing some or all search results to the searcher. This is when Google is unable to show some or all search res…

Do you want to immediately raise the blood pressure of the Google Ads practitioner sitting next to you? Say one word: Recommendations. If you’ve spent any time in the Google Ads platform, you’ve seen Recommendations jumping out at you on every screen: when you’re adding keywords, when you’re adjusting your campaign settings, when you’re changing your bid strategy, when you’re minding your own business! And we’ve all received that email from a client asking why their “Optimization Score” is falling. In this article, I’ll explain what Recommendations actually are (and aren’t), where they come from, and how you should handle them. Why does everyone hate Google A…

Google added a new section to the core updates search developer documentation that confirms it releases smaller core updates without announcing those updates. Google has told us this before, but has now added it explicitly to the search documentation. What is new. Google added this new paragraph: However, you don’t necessarily have to wait for a major core update to see the effect of your improvements. We’re continually making updates to our search algorithms, including smaller core updates. These updates are not announced because they aren’t widely noticeable, but they are another way that your content can see a rise in position (if you’ve made improvements). …

Vibe coding is a new way to create software using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Cursor, Replit, and Gemini. It works by describing to the tool what you want in plain language and receiving written code in return. You can then simply paste the code into an environment (such as Google Colab), run it, and test the results, all without ever actually programming a single line of code. Collins Dictionary named “vibe coding” word of the year in 2025, defining it as “the use of artificial intelligence prompted by natural language to write computer code.” In this guide, you’ll understand how to start vibe coding, learn its limitations and risks, and see examples of great tools…

ChatGPT referral traffic converts worse than Google search, email and affiliate links, trailing on both conversion rate and revenue per session, according to a new analysis of 973 ecommerce sites. Why we care. AI search platforms are starting to refer meaningful traffic to retailers – but not yet sales. For now, Google (paid organic) search still wins on conversion and revenue per session. By the numbers. The dataset consisted of 12 months (Augusut 2024 to July 2025), 973 ecommerce sites, and $20 billion combined revenue. ChatGPT referral traffic was ~0.2% of total sessions – ~200× smaller than Google organic. >90% of LLM-originating ecommerce traffic …

Google sends publishers 831x more visitors than AI systems, according to TollBit’s State of the Bots Q2 2025 report. Even though AI referrals barely register next to Google’s, bots are hammering publisher sites — pushing costs higher, scraping more content, and often ignoring rules meant to limit them. Scraping up, referrals down. AI is scraping the web, but it still isn’t sending meaningful visitors back. Google referrals dropped from 90%+ of all external traffic in Q2 2024 to 84.1% in Q2 2025. AI apps sent just 0.102% of referrals. For every visitor from an AI system, Google delivered 831. Click-through rates from AI interfaces were weak – 91% lower th…

The holiday season is make-or-break for email marketers. With inboxes bursting from October through New Year’s, even your most dazzling email content could disappear into spam folders if your deliverability isn’t solid. Mailbox Providers (MBPs), such as Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook, receive an overwhelming volume of emails during peak seasons. Their systems work harder to protect their users and reward senders who follow best practices with more reliable inbox placement. The good news? You can stay ahead with a few strategic steps. Here are four essential tips to boost your email delivery rate and ensure your campaigns reach the inbox this holiday season. 1. Un…

Most businesses don’t fail to rank in the local pack because they lack reviews, links, or proximity. They fail long before that because Google never considers them eligible in the first place. This is a recurring pattern in local search that almost everyone overlooks. Google decides what you are before it decides how relevant you are. From exact matches to broad intent: How eligibility shifts In a niche query, Google is looking for a 1:1 match. They want high-confidence entities that leave zero room for interpretation. However, once you zoom out to a broader search like “restaurants,” that lockdown disappears. Suddenly, the Map Pack opens u…

In the last 24 hours, ChatGPT and Perplexity have introduced new AI-driven shopping experiences that aim to deliver more personalized product discovery and guidance. Both experiences are meant to help users find, compare, and purchase products through conversational queries informed by preferences and past behavior. ChatGPT Shopping research. OpenAI introduced shopping research, a guided buying experience that turns ChatGPT into a personalized product researcher. Users describe what they need (e.g., “quiet cordless vacuum,” “compare these strollers,” “gift for my art-obsessed niece”). ChatGPT asks clarifying questions, pulls price/spec/review data from the…

Google is rolling out a new video creation tool for its Demand Gen campaigns that automatically turns advertisers’ existing image and text assets into videos across all aspect ratios. Driving the news. According to a notice sent to advertisers, the feature will apply to all image-only ad groups created before August 27th, with auto-generated videos beginning to serve after October 31st — unless advertisers opt out. How it works: The tool pulls from current image and text assets to produce branded video variations. These videos are designed to extend reach across more channels and formats, optimizing for both vertical and horizontal placements. Adver…

Google Ads and Meta Ads make campaign management look easy. Their interfaces simplify daily work – adjusting budgets, reviewing performance, launching new creatives – but that simplicity also hides much of the data and automation potential that drives real impact. That’s where APIs come in. Just as BigQuery revolutionized how data is stored and analyzed, APIs extend what can be measured, connected, and optimized within ad platforms. They bridge systems, surface insights dashboards can’t show, and enable automations that elevate PPC performance and creative strategy. With AI lowering the technical barrier, APIs are no longer just for developers. They’…

In one of the most consequential regulatory moves yet for the future of search, the European Commission has launched a formal antitrust investigation into Google. At the center of the complaint is Google’s use of publisher content to train and power AI Overviews and other generative AI features – while potentially diverting traffic away from original sources. For anyone working in SEO, content strategy, or brand visibility, the implications are immediate. Is Google crossing a line by repurposing publisher content for AI-generated answers, or is this simply the cost of participating in an open, crawlable web? With regulators now stepping in, the industry …