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A reader writes: I work at a university managing the production aspects of the theater. I manage five staff members and one of them, Jane, can be hard to work with. She can be quite abrasive and abrupt, and I have already had several meetings with her to address the harsh tone she uses. She started this year and comes from a professional background where she needed to be very assertive in her role or she would not have been able to get anything done. Her job now requires lots of student interaction and direction and she is speaking to them like she would these professional crew members she encountered in the past and some of the students feel like she is disrespecting and talking down to them. On top of this, she manages two other staff members who have stated to me privately that they are finding it extremely hard to work for her because of the way she speaks to them. The chair of the department has even mentioned once or twice how he was taken aback by how she spoke to him. She does not single anyone out, and does take my feedback and is improving, but she has a long way to go before she is where I think she needs to be. Other than her tone, I am happy with the quality of the work she does. Her department has tackled some major projects this year with flying colors but she just rubs people the wrong way. I am worried she will drive students away because she will get (and is already getting) a reputation as being disrespectful and unpleasant to work for. How much can I push her to change what seems to be a genuine personality trait? It does not feel fair to me to expect her to change so much and not also expect her subordinates and the students to meet her halfway. Am I wrong to think this is a two-way street and should counsel people to be patient with her as we work on improving? We have our reviews coming up and I plan to discuss this with her and her subordinate separately, I am just not sure how much to push her to change. This is the first time I’ve had to manage a subordinate with the combination of great work but bad personality and I would appreciate any guidance. First things first: I’m assuming that you’ve witnessed what people are talking about and Jane truly is being excessively abrupt or harsh, and this isn’t just people bristling at a woman being no-nonsense in a way they wouldn’t if she were a man. If the latter is what’s happening, you have a different problem to deal with, but based on what you’ve described, I’m guessing that’s not the case. So with that caveat in place… The fact that something is a genuine personality trait doesn’t make it inherently okay to indulge it at work or mean that managers and colleagues are obligated to overlook it. After all, some people’s personalities include extreme grumpiness or impatience, or unwillingness to make decisions, or dismissiveness, or a mocking sense of humor, or quickness to anger. “That’s just who she is” doesn’t make those behaviors okay at work; they’re still things that an employee needs to rein in and a manager needs to address, because they’re disruptive and will impact other people’s quality of life and make them not want to work with the person. Jane being curt and abrasive to the point that people don’t want to work with her is a work problem, not just a personality trait. It’s absolutely your business — and really, your job — to address it with her and to hold her accountable for changing it. That would be true regardless, but there’s additional urgency here because Jane works with students — and presumably your team can’t be successful if it’s driving off students or quenching their love of theater. Nor should you ask students and colleagues to “meet her halfway,” just as you (hopefully) wouldn’t ask them to meet a yeller or a harasser halfway. When someone is engaged in behavior that should be off-limits at work, asking others to meet them halfway out of a sense of fairness is actually profoundly unfair and would be an awfully demoralizing thing to do to people with less power than her (like students or any employees who are junior to her) … and for everyone else, it’s highly likely to make them question your judgment. The message to Jane needs to be: “We’ve talked about this previously but it’s continuing and I need to see real change. You cannot speak to students or other staff members with the tone you’ve been using. In order to remain in this role, you need people to want to work with you and if they leave interactions with you feeling disrespected or dismissed, they won’t want to approach you again.” Ideally you’d ground this in specific examples to the extent that you can (like, “When you Michael asked you for X, you rolled your eyes and used a dismissive tone” or whatever specifics you can give). If Jane isn’t able to incorporate this feedback and make significant changes very soon, you should start considering the reality that she may not be well-suited for this particular role. “Students and colleagues feel supported when working with you and aren’t afraid to approach you” is as much a reasonable requirement of the job as anything else about her work is. More on this here: my employee identifies proudly as a grump The post my employee is abrasive — can I ask others to be patient while I coach her? appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Companies redraw $135bn alliance as ChatGPT maker seeks greater independence to increase revenuesView the full article

Technology tycoons Elon Musk and Sam Altman are poised to face off in a high-stakes trial revolving around the alleged betrayal, deceit and unbridled ambition that blurred the bickering billionaires’ once-shared vision for the development of artificial intelligence. The trial, which is scheduled to begin Monday with jury selection, centers on the 2015 birth of ChatGPT maker OpenAI as a nonprofit startup primarily funded by Musk before evolving into a capitalistic venture now valued at $852 billion. The trial’s outcome could sway the balance of power in AI — breakthrough technology that is increasingly being feared as a potential job killer and an existential threat to humanity’s survival. Those perceived risks are among the reasons that Musk, the world’s richest person, cites for filing an August 2024 lawsuit that will now be decided by a jury and U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California. The civil lawsuit accuses Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, and his top lieutenant, Greg Brockman, of double-crossing Musk by straying from the San Francisco company’s founding mission to be an altruistic steward of a revolutionary technology. The lawsuit alleges they shifted into a moneymaking mode behind his back. OpenAI has brushed off Musk’s allegations as an unfounded case of sour grapes that’s aimed at undercutting its rapid growth and bolstering Musk’s own xAI, which he launched in 2023 as a competitor. Trial promises clashing testimony from two tech titans Musk, who invested about $38 million in OpenAI from December 2015 through May 2017, initially was seeking more than $100 billion in damages. But any damages now are likely to be much smaller after a series of pre-trial rulings that went against Musk. Musk has since abandoned a bid for damages for himself and instead is seeking an unspecified amount of money to be paid to fund the altruistic efforts of OpenAI’s charitable arm. The money would be paid primarily by OpenAI’s for-profit operations, and Microsoft, which became the company’s biggest investor after Musk cut off his funding. Musk’s lawsuit also seeks Altman’s ouster from OpenAI’s board. Musk’s decision to stop funding the company contributed to a bitter falling out between the former allies. Musk says he was responding to deceptive conduct that OpenAI’s board picked up on when it fired Altman as CEO in 2023 before he got his job back days later. But the trial also carries risks for Musk, who last month was held liable by another jury for defrauding investors during his $44 billion takeover of Twitter in 2022. Any damaging details about Musk and his business tactics could be particularly hurtful now because his rocket ship maker, SpaceX, plans to go public this summer in an initial public offering that could make him the world’s first trillionaire. However it turns out, the trial is expected to provide riveting theater, with contrasting testimony from two of technology’s most influential and polarizing figures in the 54-year-old Musk and the 41-year-old Altman. “Part of this is about whether a jury believes the people who will testify and whether they are credible,” Gonzalez Rogers said during a court hearing earlier this year while explaining why she believe the case merited a trial. The judge will make the final decision on the case, with the jury serving in an advisory role. Evidence has included glimpses of the AI race’s early days Musk, whose estimated fortune stands at about $780 billion, has long been hailed as a visionary for his roles creating digital payment pioneer PayPal, electric automaker Tesla and rocket ship maker SpaceX. But he has also provoked backlashes with his social media commentary, unfulfilled promises about Tesla’s self-driving technology and his cost-cutting role last year in President Donald The President’s administration. Some of Musk’s erratic behavior has been tied to allegations of taking hallucinogenic drugs, but Gonzalez Rogers ruled that he can’t be asked during the trial about his suspected use of ketamine. But the judge is allowing Musk to be questioned about his attendance at the 2017 Burning Man festival in Nevada, a free-wheeling celebration known for widespread drug use. The judge is also allowing Musk to be questioned about his relationship with former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis, the mother of several of his children. Altman, currently sitting on a roughly $3 billion fortune, didn’t emerge in the public consciousness until the late 2022 release of ChatGPT. The tech boom triggered by that conversational chatbot has led some to liken Altman to a 21st-century version of the nuclear bomb inventor, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Although Altman was initially hailed as trailblazer he is now facing blowback amid worries about AI’s potential dangers. Earlier this month, the New Yorker magazine published a profile that painted him as an unscrupulous executive. Days later, a 20-year-old man worried about AI’s effect on humanity was arrested on attempted murder charges after throwing a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s San Francisco home. The dueling testimonies of Altman and Musk are expected to open a window into some of the thinking that helped trigger the AI race, as well as the unraveling of their friendship. The kinship was forged in 2015 when they agreed to build AI in a more responsible and safer way than the profit-driven companies controlled by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, according to evidence submitted ahead of the trial. Details of the bitter break between the two men were captured in a February 2023 email exchange that surfaced as part of the evidence leading up to the trial. After letting Musk know “you’re my hero,” Altman tells him: “I am tremendously thankful for everything you’ve done to help —I don’t think OpenAI would have happened without you — and it really (expletive) hurts when you publicly attack OpenAI.” Musk’s response: “I hear you and it is certainly not my intention to be hurtful, for which I apologize, but the fate of civilization is at stake.” —Barbara Ortutay and Michael Liedtke AP Technology Writers View the full article

Microsoft teased new AI reporting features within Bing Webmaster Tools that enhance the AI performance reports and other reports around AI. The new features that were showcased include citation share, grounding query intent, GEO-focused recommendations. More details. Several shared screenshots of this presentation that was given by Krishna Madhavan from Microsoft at SEO Week today in New York City. Here are some of those slides: Bing Webmaster Tools just dropped some VERY COOL stuff at #SEOWeek 2026 Citation Share, Grounding Query Intent (15 pre-defined intents), and GEO-focused recommendations. The gap between Bing's transparency and Google's is getting harder to ignore. Cc @rustybrick @glenngabe pic.twitter.com/kOMhVyQvpQ— Azeem Ahmad (@AzeemDigital) April 27, 2026 Bing webmaster tools owning SEO & GEO @kmadhavan77 Citarion share Intent Topics Geo recomendaciones Exclusive for #seoweek pic.twitter.com/H2arlFtS8R— MJ Cachón (@mjcachon) April 27, 2026 Not live yet. These new features and reporting do not seem live yet but Microsoft still showed them off. Why we care. More transparency into how your content is performing within the AI search results is useful. So we all welcome additional reporting from Bing Webmaster Tools. It is not clear exactly how these reports will work and when they may be live for you and me, but you can read those posts for more details. View the full article

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...View the full article

If you’re reading this, you’re likely an SEO aficionado like me. I’m a seasoned SEO with 10+ years of agency experience. Being on the agency side gave me deep SEO expertise, exposure to top industry talent, and experience working with some of the world’s most well-known brands. I did a bit of everything on the agency side — from technical SEO to content marketing to new business. Working at an agency is nothing like working in-house. After a long run on the agency side, I moved in-house for the first time. Here are seven things I’ve learned since making the switch. 1. Owning performance changes how SEO is evaluated On the agency side, when performance drops, you know the drill: a frantic message hits your inbox — traffic is down — and the client needs a report on what’s happening by yesterday. You then spend the next few hours in the SEO trenches analyzing search trends, tracking ranking changes, and digging through Google Search Console to find your answers. You cross your T’s. Dot your I’s. You beautify that report a bit. And — finally — you fire it off to your client. After sending the report, you may get a few questions from the client. A little back and forth, but for the most part, your job is done. The fire drill is over. You’ve done everything you can from the agency perspective. On to the next client on your roster. This situation looks a lot different on the in-house side. From my new perspective, receiving that agency report is just the beginning. Now, I’m the one on the hook for translating that analysis, figuring out how to socialize it, and turning it into a concrete action plan to turn performance around. I always knew my clients were under a lot of stress. I figured their bosses were the ones catching the dips and asking difficult questions, leading to that inevitable frantic message in my inbox. But, boy, it hits differently when you’re the one getting asked those difficult questions. When you’re in-house, you aren’t just reporting on a dip in performance — it feels like you’re defending your entire SEO strategy. The way you frame that data can make or break the projects or the direction you’re taking the program. It’s a lot of pressure — and it’s different when you’re responsible for the results. Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up. The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need. Start Free Trial Get started with 2. Execution matters more than deliverables On the agency side, the deliverable is the destination. You spend hours researching, analyzing, and refining a beautiful slide deck. Each slide flows, tells a story, and looks pristine. I mastered this — and did it fast. Now that I’m in-house, I’ve realized the deliverable isn’t the destination anymore. It’s all about the execution. I was lucky enough during my agency days to have one engagement where I was deeply embedded in day-to-day operations. I was doing things like building dev tickets, reviewing Figma designs, and actually pushing CMS updates. I thought I knew exactly what execution looked like. But executing while in-house is way more challenging than I expected. In order to execute on an SEO strategy, you have to work through the entire org to bring your vision to life. You need to coordinate with the design team to review Figma designs. You need to align messaging and copy with PMMs. You need to work with project managers to make sure deadlines are being met. You need to work with devs to make sure the technical implementation is correct. It’s not easy. Sometimes it’s messy. And — quite often — it’s pretty frustrating. But here’s the truth: once you move from polished decks to pushing changes live, you become 10x the SEO you were before. Dig deeper: Why branding matters for in-house SEO teams 3. The shift from agency partner to internal stakeholder One of the more interesting parts of making the switch to in house, was that suddenly, I became the client. I’m the one on the other end of the video call. I’m the one receiving the strategy docs. I’m the one calling all the shots. And honestly? It’s been a huge (and super exciting) opportunity to take everything that I’ve learned on the agency side and put it into action. And I’ve gotten to decide what type of client I want to be. I had a wide range of clients on the agency side. Some disappeared. Some were demanding and made every call tense. Some pushed impossible deadlines. Some didn’t trust my judgment. Some couldn’t execute the strategy. You name it — I’ve probably experienced that type of challenging client. Then I had dream clients — kind, collaborative, and treated me like an equal. Calls felt like catching up with a friend before getting into SEO. They could take a strategy and execute without being demanding or difficult. That was the client I wanted to be. And that’s the client I strive to be, too. 4. Storytelling matters more than strategy I’m a technical SEO at heart. Nothing makes me happier than seeing the indexing rate improve after an XML sitemap refresh. Or seeing a massive improvement to Largest Contentful Paint after implementing Core Web Vitals optimizations. Or even a perfectly executed hreflang optimization to target your key international markets. Chef’s kiss — it warms my technical SEO heart to see all this work get executed. The problem? Your execs don’t understand that technical jargon. That’s where storytelling becomes your best friend. And I’d say it’s almost as important as the execution itself. Because it doesn’t matter if you do all this SEO work if your bosses can’t understand it. You need to tell a story about what you did, why you did it, and the results. All in a simple, easy-to-understand format — ideally with a pretty visual right next to it. Let’s take, for example, hreflang optimizations. You realize that hreflang is important. But how do you make it seem important for an exec so that they can understand it? What I do is pretty simple. I explain the background behind why I’m doing what I’m doing and frame it in simple terms. Instead of saying that we updated hreflang to target France correctly, I would frame it as improving the search experience for France searchers. I’d then show a SERP screenshot of before the optimizations to show incorrect targeting, and follow it up with an updated screenshot with correct targeting. Lastly, I’d share results — ideally, an increase in CTR, traffic, or conversions. (Side note: If you’re one of my agency partners reading this, you know I ask for an insane amount of screenshots — but this is exactly why I do it.) Following this formula allows you to: Explain why we implemented the optimization (in this case, incorrect targeting in France). Show what users are seeing in the market. Demonstrate that this optimization achieved business results. It’s a simple blueprint that makes it easy for execs to understand the importance of your optimizations. I know it may seem small, but storytelling is one of the secrets to success in in-house life. Dig deeper: How to use the three-act structure for data storytelling Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. 5. SEO depends on cross-functional collaboration In a massive organization, it’s so easy to live on an SEO island. If you’re not collaborating, you can easily find yourself on a beach hanging out with a volleyball named Wilson — just optimizing <title> tags, writing meta descriptions, and optimizing on-page copy for keywords. But there’s absolutely no way you’re going to get anything meaningful done without the support and assistance from others within your organization. You need to be a team player. And cross-functional collaboration is important for success. After years on the agency side, I learned to move fast — really fast. When I went in-house, I tried to keep that pace. I wanted to make changes, test, and see results immediately. I saw documentation as a hurdle, and large cross-functional meetings without progress as a waste of time. Quickly, I found out that’s not the case. You need the support of those partners in cross-functional meetings to get things done. It takes time to get to know your cross-functional teams and understand what they’re good at, what their goals are, and — crucially — where they need support. I’ve learned that once you understand the developer’s sprint capacity or a product marketing manager’s roadmap, you can stop just requesting things from them and start partnering with them to get things done. When you align your SEO goals with their existing priorities, you stop being a line item in their backlog and start becoming a teammate. In-house, having a teammate in engineering or product is the difference between a strategy that sits in a slide deck and one that actually ships. 6. Taking initiative and trusting your judgment OK, fine, I added a cliché to the list. But in the in-house world, it might be the most important one. I’ve been given this advice several times throughout my career. If you want to get something done, go get it done. Don’t wait around for permission from your bosses to do something that will have a significant impact. If you wait for permission, you may never get anything done. That’s why I ask for forgiveness — not permission. When I started in-house, I knew the team was lean. I knew my bosses had a million things on their plates. And, most importantly, I knew they hired me for a reason: to drive organic growth. During my first few weeks, I remember asking myself, “Can I launch this content?” “Can I expand into this market?” “Am I allowed to test this tactic?” And then it hit me: This is exactly why I’m here. They hired me to make these decisions and move the needle, not to add more approval meetings to their calendars. And if I asked for permission for everything, I would never be able to get anything done. This is why I trust my instincts when it comes to SEO strategy and execution. I rely on my 10+ years of experience in the SEO game. If I think something is going to drive growth for the business, I don’t just sit around and wait for permission to do something. I execute. And if something doesn’t turn out exactly how I had planned? That’s when I take the forgiveness route. Dig deeper: 5 lessons from delivering bad SEO news to executives 7. Seeing SEO work translate into business impact I did a lot of high-impact, business-changing work during my agency life. I’ve built the strategies, seen them come to life on a site, and watched them drive results. Driving results and building case studies have always been my favorite part of the job. However, when you’re sitting agency-side, you’re often the silent partner in those results, not the owner. Now that I’m in-house, I get to see my projects come to life on the site — and it’s pretty cool. During my first few months in-house, I knew I wanted to make an impact quickly. I implemented a few of my high-impact, low-effort optimizations — the ones I would typically implement for a new client I had just onboarded. After reviewing monthly reports, I saw an insane spike in performance that lined up exactly with a significant site update we implemented. I remember thinking, “Wait, was that us?” The answer: It sure was. I then created my first case study and shared the results throughout our organization. And, shockingly (to me, anyway), people were really interested. Within my first three months, I found myself sharing those results at our entire company’s all-hands meeting — something I never expected to happen. I used to think a massive organization wouldn’t be interested in SEO, but I was wrong. When it comes to moving the needle for the business, everyone cares. So, yeah, it’s always fun to get SEO results. But it’s a lot cooler when you’re in-house. See the complete picture of your search visibility. Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform. Start Free Trial Get started with Is making the switch worth it? That’s for you to decide Making the switch from agency to in-house life has been a lot of adjectives for me. Exhausting, challenging, and exciting are some of the first that come to mind. But the biggest takeaway after one year in-house? I’ve learned a lot. I hope you can take these seven lessons and apply them to your own journey — whether you’re at an agency or leading an in-house team right now. The transition isn’t always easy, but for me, seeing the strategy finally turn into reality has made every cross-functional meeting and performance fire drill worth it. View the full article

Yum Brands is delivering on its promise to shutter hundreds of Pizza Hut locations. Three months after the fast-food giant announced its intention to close 250 underperforming Pizza Hut restaurants during the first half of 2026, the chain’s U.S. footprint appears to be notably smaller, according to a Fast Company analysis. A review of local media reports, online review platforms such as Yelp and Google Reviews, and Pizza Hut’s own store locator tool has found more than 50 locations that have closed in recent months, spanning cities across the United States. The true tally is likely much higher. Ranjith Roy, CFO of Yum Brands, indicated on an earnings call in February that the “targeted closures” were expected to be completed by July 1. The closures are part of the brand’s “Hut Forward” turnaround plan, which also includes marketing support and technological upgrades to some existing stores. Yum Brands has not publicly identified the stores targeted for closure. Fast Company has reached out to Yum Brands for comment. Pizza Hut is still growing globally. Last year, it opened 1,184 new locations across 65 countries. But the United States now represents a smaller percentage of the division’s overall sales—it was 40% at the end of last year, compared to 43% four years earlier. Meanwhile, China has grown from 16% to 19% over that same period. Yum Brands also owns KFC and Taco Bell. Shares of the Louisville-based restaurant group (NYSE: YUM) have slightly outperformed the broader S&P 500 this year. As of Monday, the stock was up roughly 5% for 2026. Pies in the sky In November 2025, Yum Brands said it was undertaking a strategic review of Pizza Hut, which could ultimately result in a sale. Investors will be eagerly awaiting for an update on the company’s progress when it next reports earnings on Wednesday. In the meantime, Pizza Hut stores have been disappearing quickly from cities around the country. California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio appear to be among the states that have been hit especially hard so far. Some of the stores that have closed were the only Pizza Hut restaurants in town, such as a location in Dillon, Montana, that was reported shuttered in March by users in a local Facebook group. Phone calls to some recently closed Pizza Hut locations reveal that the listed numbers have already been transferred to other businesses in some cases, including one former Pizza Hut in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, whose number now rings a local Domino’s Pizza. As of December 2025, Pizza Hut had just under 20,000 locations globally, 68% of which were located in other countries, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Over 99% of the stores in Yum’s Pizza Hut Division are operated by franchisees. Which Pizza Hut stores have closed? Yum Brands has not publicly released a detailed list of stores impacted by its Hut Forward plan. However, according to a Fast Company review, the Pizza Hut locations listed below have closed in recent months. The list, which includes more than 50 stores across 20 states, is likely not complete. Individual restaurants can close for various reasons, and it was not immediately clear if all the restaurants below were targeted as part of the Hut Forward plan or if they have shuttered for another reason. Fast Company has reached out to Yum Brands for additional details. We may update this list as we learn the fate of additional stores. Arizona 6671 E Baseline Rd Studio # 121, Mesa, AZ 85206 420 E Bell Rd Ste C101 Phoenix, AZ 85022 California 4558 Atlantic Ave, Long Beach, CA 90807 6911 Linda Vista Rd, San Diego, CA 92111 20377 Avalon Blvd, Carson, CA 90746 9118 Alondra Blvd, Bellflower, CA 90706 7253 Boulder Ave a-6, Highland, CA 92346 12003 Beach Blvd, Stanton, CA 90680 1758 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748 19725 Yorba Linda Blvd, Yorba Linda, CA 92886 112 N Euclid St, Fullerton, CA 92832 11115 Crenshaw Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90303 366 N Harbor Blvd, La Habra, CA 90631 11550 Whittier Blvd, Whittier, CA 90601 9111 Imperial Hwy., Downey, CA 90242 366 N Harbor Blvd, La Habra, CA 90631 7779 Garvey Ave, Rosemead, CA 91770 Florida 1616 S Dixie Fwy, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168 Iowa 1211 Silent Prairie Rd, Le Mars, IA 51031 Indiana 4264 N Cypress Ln, Bloomington, IN 47404 Oklahoma 413 S Green Ave, Purcell, OK 73080 Ohio 5840 Darrow Rd, Hudson, OH 44236 4118 OH-43, Kent, OH 44240 1715 OH-59, Kent, OH 44240 1208 Tiffin Ave, Findlay, OH 45840 Oregon 244 S Main St, Dallas, OR 97338 Pennsylvania 900 N Hanover St, Elizabethtown, PA 17022 145 Sheraton Dr, New Cumberland, PA 17070 101 Cavasina Dr Canonsburg, PA 15317 Kansas 1001 E 7th St, Galena, KS 66739 S 69 Hwy Columbus, KS 66725 Kentucky 597 S L Rogers Wells Blvd, Glasgow, KY 42141 4507 N Mayo Trail, Pikeville, KY 41501 Louisiana 1821 W Pinhook Rd, Lafayette, LA 70508 Michigan 9728 Red Arrow Hwy, Bridgman, MI 49106 Missouri 9245 Gravois Rd Affton, MO 63123 Minnesota 105 S Oak Ave, Owatonna, MN 55060 1310 MN-15 #102, Hutchinson, MN 55350 Montana 401 Park Ave, Anaconda, MT 59711 800 N Idaho St, Dillon, MT 59725 Nebraska 2662 Cornhusker Hwy Ste 2B, Lincoln, NE 68521 North Carolina 960 W Main St, Rockwell, NC 28138 Texas 1300 S Cage Blvd Suite 15, Pharr, TX 7857 2113 Andrews Hwy, Odessa, TX 79761 South Carolina 6432 Two Notch Rd Ste S, Columbia, SC 29223 South Dakota 101 N Splitrock Blvd, Brandon, SD 57005 Virginia 1001 Leatherwood Ln, Bluefield, VA 24605 Washington 304 S 1st St, Selah, WA 98942 421 Roosevelt Ave, Enumclaw, WA 98022 5160 Borgen Blvd Suite B, Gig Harbor, WA 98332 West Virginia 218 Park Dr Suite G, Weirton, WV 26062 Wisconsin 2727 S Business Dr #462, Sheboygan, WI 53081 This story is developing… View the full article

Two years ago, Josephine Timperman arrived at college with a plan. She declared a major in business analytics, figuring she’d learn niche skills that would stand out on a resume and help land a good job after college. But the rise of artificial intelligence has scrambled those calculations. The basic skills she was learning in things like statistical analysis and coding can now easily be automated. “Everyone has a fear that entry-level jobs will be taken by AI,” said the 20-year-old at Miami University in Ohio. A few weeks ago, Timperman switched her major to marketing. Her new strategy is to use her undergraduate studies to build critical thinking and interpersonal skills — areas where humans still have an edge. “You don’t just want to be able to code. You want to be able to have a conversation, form relationships and be able to think critically, because at the end of the day, that’s the thing that AI can’t replace,” said Timperman, who is keeping analytics as a minor and plans to dive deeper into the subject for a one-year master’s program. Today’s college students say that picking a major that’s “AI-proof” feels like shooting at a moving target as they prepare for a job market that could be fundamentally different by the time they graduate. As a result, many are reconsidering their career paths. About 70% of college students see AI as a threat to their job prospects, according to a 2025 poll by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, while recent Gallup polling finds U.S. workers are increasingly concerned about being replaced by new technologies. Students seeking majors that teach ‘human’ skills The uncertainty appears most concentrated among those pursuing degrees in technology and vocational areas of study, where students feel a need to develop expertise in AI but also fear being replaced by it. A recent Quinnipiac poll found the vast majority of Americans believe it’s “very” or “somewhat” important for college and university students to be taught how to use AI, as Gallup Workforce polling finds AI is getting adopted in technology-related fields at higher rates. Meanwhile, students studying healthcare and natural sciences may be less impacted by AI overhauls, Gallup found. “We see students all the time change majors. That’s not new or different. But it’s usually for a ton of different reasons,” said Courtney Brown, a vice president at Lumina, an education nonprofit focused on increasing the number of students who seek education beyond high school. “The fact that so many students say it’s because of AI — that is startling.” A recent Gallup poll of Generation Z youth and adults, between the ages of 14 and 29, found increasing skepticism and concerns about AI. Although half of Gen Z adults use AI at least “weekly,” and teenagers report higher use, many in this generation see drawbacks to the technology and worry about AI’s impact on their cognitive abilities and job prospects. About half — 48% — of Gen Z workers say the risks of AI in the workforce outweigh the possible benefits. Part of the challenge for college students is that the experts they would typically turn to for advice, like advisers, professors and parents, don’t have any answers. “Students are having to navigate this on their own, without a GPS,” says Brown. That uncertainty was evident last month at Stanford University, where the leaders of several prominent universities gathered for a wide-ranging panel discussion on the future of higher education. Topics of concern included the AI revolution that is transforming how students learn and forcing educators to rethink pedagogy. “We need to think really hard about what students need to learn to be successful in the job market in 10, 20, 30 years,” said Brown University President Christina Paxson. “And none of us know. We don’t know the answer to that,” Paxson said. “I think it’s communication, it’s critical thought. The fundamentals of a liberal education are probably more important than learning how to code in Java right now.” Anxiety also reaches computer science majors Computer science major Ben Aybar, 22, graduated last spring from the University of Chicago and applied for about 50 jobs, mostly in software engineering, without getting a single interview. He pivoted to a master’s degree in computer science and meanwhile has found part-time work doing AI consulting for companies. “People who know how to use AI will be very valuable,” said Aybar, who sees new jobs emerging that require AI skills, particularly for people who can explain the complexities in layman’s terms. “Being able to talk to people and interact with people in a very human way I think is more valuable than ever.” At the University of Virginia, data science major Ava Lawless is wondering if her major is worthwhile but can’t get concrete answers. Some advisers feel that data scientists will be safe because they’re the ones building AI models, but she keeps seeing gloomy job reports that indicate the contrary. “It makes me feel a bit hopeless for the future,” Lawless said. “What if by the time I graduate there’s not even a job market for this anymore?” She is considering switching to studio art, which is her minor. “I’m at a point where I’m thinking if I can’t get a job being a data scientist, I might as well pursue art,” she said. “Because if I’m going to be unemployed, I might as well do something I love.” The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. —Jocelyn Gecker and Linley Sanders, Associated Press View the full article

Debate over holding a sleaze inquiry will be another difficult moment for the embattled prime ministerView the full article

A new cafe in Stockholm just opened its doors and, though there’s a human behind the counter making drinks and light bites, an AI manager is calling the shots. Andon Cafe is the latest autonomous organization experiment run by AI research company Andon Labs, tasking its AI to sell coffee and manage European bureaucracy. The result? Curious customers, $1,000 in sales in four days, and a lot of surplus supplies. A viral experiment Like the company’s AI-run retail experiment in San Francisco, Andon Labs secured a lease in Stockholm on a quaint corner coffee shop, then handed it over to an AI—in this case, Mona, powered by Gemini. At the beginning of the experiment, Mona spent the first few days signing a three-year fixed price electricity contract, creating fire safety documents, applying to permits, designing a menu, and contacting suppliers. And because Mona can’t physically perform tasks in the real world, it also set out to recruit, interview and hire a human staff. The company specified via social media that, as a controlled experiment, Andon Cafe’s staff is employed by Andon Labs. “No one’s livelihood depends on an AI’s judgment alone,” the post says. While Mona is often encouraging to its staff, calling them “legends” or “the goat,” it also has eccentric tasks like midnight assignments to staff or asking them to buy supplies with their personal credit card. Mona also takes initiative to think ahead, even when the results don’t necessarily make sense in the real world. For instance, Mona ordered 120 eggs despite the venue’s kitchen not having a stove. “When told they couldn’t be boiled, she suggested baking them in the high-speed Merrychef oven,” the Andon Labs announcement on X said. “Mona’s barista had to step in: ‘I can guarantee you they will explode.'” The customers who provided field notes via X also shared that these nonsensical orders are common, according to one of the baristas. “A pile of packages just arrived. It seems the cafe agent ordered 3000 nitrile gloves,” he shared. “The guy running the bar told me this happens about once per day. And then showed me the stock of toilet paper they have now for a cafe with maybe one visitor per hour.” The cafe has gone viral since the visitors post. The user provided an update via X: “Barista says barely had time to breathe or do the dishes. Also agent ordered ~1300 cherry tomatoes.” Not Andon’s first AI rodeo And while Andon Cafe might be the world’s first AI-run cafe, it is not the first autonomous organization experiment run by Andon Labs. Earlier in March, the company shared it had given “an AI a 3 year retail lease” in San Francisco, tasking it with making a profit. The AI manager, Luna, similarly set out to hire humans, while also designing a brand identity like the store’s logo: a happy face with the phrase “Andon Market.” Luna took care of product selection filling the store with books around singularity and superintelligence, and artwork designed by the AI. “She spent over $700 on getting her artwork done on gallery-quality giclée prints,” Andon Labs explained. But the experiment serves not only as a fun gimmick for passerby, it also raises concerns regarding the chain of command in the age of AI. “As AI is integrated more widely, humans will not be able to stay in the loop,” Andon Labs shared on X. Some users poked fun at it, with one saying, “Who is Karen going to complain to?” But others are taking the cafe as a look into what is ahead. “Not sure how I feel about it or why this would be better than human management besides it being cheaper,” a user shared on X. “Humans add warmth, even at corporate levels. We are social beings.” View the full article

Cross-selling training focuses on teaching sales professionals how to effectively suggest complementary products to improve customer experiences. This training is vital for sales success, as it can boost conversion rates and increase revenue. By comprehending customer needs and behaviors, you can build trust and nurture loyalty. Learning to identify cross-selling opportunities and the ethical considerations involved can transform your sales approach. But what specific techniques can you implement to maximize your effectiveness? Key Takeaways Cross-selling training equips sales professionals with techniques to suggest complementary products, increasing conversion rates and revenue. It enhances customer satisfaction by providing tailored solutions based on customer needs and behavior insights. Training minimizes common mistakes, fostering a more customer-centric approach in sales interactions. Effective cross-selling strategies help build long-term customer relationships, leading to increased loyalty and repeat purchases. Understanding ethical considerations in cross-selling ensures recommendations genuinely benefit customers, preserving trust and credibility. Definition of Cross-Selling and Its Importance Cross-selling is a strategic sales approach that involves suggesting complementary products or services to customers who’ve already made a purchase. It’s vital for boosting revenue since it capitalizes on existing customer trust, often leading to conversion rates of up to 25%. By effectively engaging with current customers, you can greatly improve their experience as you address additional needs. Cross-selling training is important as it equips you with the skills to understand customer preferences and personalize recommendations, making them relevant and timely. Studies show that existing customers are 60% to 70% more likely to make additional purchases, compared to just a 5% chance for new customer acquisition. As a result, mastering cross-selling techniques encourages customer loyalty and reduces the likelihood of clients seeking alternatives from competitors. Emphasizing the importance of cross-selling can be a game-changer in your sales strategy, driving both customer satisfaction and business growth. Benefits of Cross-Selling Training for Sales Professionals Comprehending how to effectively cross-sell can greatly improve your capabilities as a sales professional. Engaging in cross-selling training offers numerous benefits that boost your sales performance and customer interactions. Increases conversion rates by up to 25%, leading to higher revenue. Improves customer satisfaction through customized solutions that meet specific needs. Provides insights into customer behavior and purchasing patterns for informed recommendations. Minimizes common mistakes, such as being too aggressive or neglecting customer needs. Develops a systematic approach for engaging customers post-purchase, nurturing long-term relationships. Key Techniques for Effective Cross-Selling To effectively improve your cross-selling skills, it’s vital to focus on comprehending customer needs through thorough discovery. By leveraging customer purchase history and behavior analytics, you can tailor your cross-sell recommendations, greatly boosting conversion rates. Building trust and rapport with customers is fundamental; a strong relationship nurtures a receptive environment for your suggestions. Utilizing open-ended questions during interactions helps uncover deeper insights into customer pain points, making your cross-sell opportunities more personalized. Incorporating role-playing exercises in training sessions amplifies your ability to recognize buying signals and apply situational techniques. Here’s a quick reference table summarizing key techniques: Technique Purpose Discovery Questions Uncover customer needs and pain points Trust Building Cultivate stronger customer relationships Behavior Analytics Tailor recommendations based on history Role-Playing Exercises Improve recognition of buying signals Understanding the Difference Between Cross-Selling and Upselling Comprehending the difference between cross-selling and upselling is essential for maximizing your sales strategies. Cross-selling suggests complementary products to improve a customer’s original purchase, whereas upselling encourages them to choose a higher-priced or upgraded version of the same product. Both techniques are designed to boost revenue, but they focus on different aspects of customer needs, with cross-selling increasing quantity and upselling improving quality. Techniques for Cross-Selling Achieving proficiency in the techniques for cross-selling can greatly improve your sales strategy by effectively promoting complementary products or services alongside an initial purchase. Here are some strategies to boost your cross-selling efforts: Product Bundling: Combine related items to create attractive packages. Personalized Recommendations: Use customer purchase history to suggest relevant add-ons. Timely Follow-Ups: Contact customers after a purchase to recommend additional items. Educate Customers: Inform them about the benefits of complementary products. Listen Actively: Understand customer needs through engaging conversations. Benefits of Up-Selling Building on the techniques for cross-selling, grasping the benefits of up-selling can greatly improve your sales strategy. Upselling encourages customers to buy higher-priced or upgraded products, enhancing the overall transaction value. Research shows that upselling can boost revenue per customer by 10% to 30%. Here’s a quick comparison to clarify: Feature Up-Selling Focus Higher-priced items Goal Increase transaction value Customer Engagement Highlight improved features Revenue Impact 10% to 30% increase Utilizing upselling effectively not only increases your sales volume but likewise maximizes Customer Lifetime Value, as existing customers are more likely to make additional purchases. Identifying Opportunities for Cross-Selling To effectively identify opportunities for cross-selling, you need to understand your customers’ needs and preferences. Analyzing purchase patterns can reveal which products often complement each other, allowing you to make informed recommendations. Building trust relationships with customers improves their willingness to explore additional offerings that could enrich their experience. Understanding Customer Needs How can grasping your customers’ needs improve cross-selling opportunities? By recognizing what your customers want, you can identify the best products or services to recommend. This insight increases your chances of successful cross-selling, boosting sales conversion rates considerably. Here are some key points to contemplate: Analyze customer purchase history and behavior for trends. Use data analytics to inform personalized recommendations. Conduct thorough needs analyses during initial interactions. Leverage customer familiarity with existing products for suggestions. Engage customers post-purchase to propose relevant offerings. Analyzing Purchase Patterns Analyzing purchase patterns plays an essential role in identifying opportunities for cross-selling. By examining customer transaction histories, you can uncover trends and preferences that reveal what products or services complement each other. Utilizing data analytics tools enables you to track customer behavior, pinpointing items frequently bought together. Research shows that 60% to 70% of existing customers are likely to make further purchases, making this analysis critical. Segmenting customers based on their buying habits allows you to tailor your cross-selling strategies, increasing the relevance of your product suggestions. Furthermore, leveraging insights from purchase patterns helps optimize inventory management, ensuring that complementary products are readily available, ultimately driving further sales and enhancing overall customer satisfaction. Building Trust Relationships Building trust relationships with customers is crucial for successful cross-selling as it greatly increases the likelihood of additional purchases. When you engage with your customers after their initial purchase, you can identify their ongoing needs and suggest complementary products. Here are some effective strategies to build trust: Use customer purchase history and data analytics to spot trends. Have genuine conversations that show you care about their needs. Recognize buying signals by asking open-ended questions. Offer customized product recommendations based on insights. Guarantee ongoing support to create a strong rapport. These practices not only improve customer satisfaction but also position you as a reliable resource, making customers more receptive to cross-sell offers. Ethical Considerations in Cross-Selling Practices What principles guide ethical cross-selling practices in today’s marketplace? First and foremost, ethical cross-selling prioritizes customer needs and satisfaction. This means your recommendations should genuinely benefit the customer, not merely serve sales targets. Companies that engage in unethical practices, like the Wells Fargo scandal, face severe consequences, including reputational damage and financial penalties. Research indicates that customers prefer personalized recommendations customized to their needs rather than aggressive sales tactics, leading to long-term loyalty and repeat purchases. Transparency is additionally vital; customers must understand why additional products are suggested and how they complement their original purchases. Frequently Asked Questions What Is Cross-Selling and Why Is It Important? Cross-selling is the practice of suggesting additional products or services to customers after their initial purchase. It’s important as it improves customer satisfaction by providing customized solutions, increases revenue, and builds brand loyalty. By comprehending customer needs and offering complementary items, you can better their overall experience. As existing customers are more likely to buy again, effective cross-selling can greatly boost sales and maximize Customer Lifetime Value, ultimately benefiting your business. Why Is Training Important in Sales? Training in sales is essential since it equips you with the skills to identify customer needs accurately. This comprehension leads to a higher conversion rate for cross-selling opportunities, eventually boosting your sales performance. Continuous training keeps you updated on product offerings and market trends, ensuring you provide relevant recommendations. The investment in training often yields significant returns, demonstrating that well-prepared sales teams can drive long-term revenue growth and improve customer retention. What Are the 5 P’s of Successful Selling? The 5 P’s of successful selling are Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and People. First, understand your product’s features and benefits. Next, set a competitive price that reflects its value. Choose the right place to reach your target audience effectively. Then, implement promotion strategies to raise awareness and generate interest. Finally, focus on building strong relationships with people, as trust and rapport improve sales opportunities and lead to long-term customer loyalty. What Are the Advantages of Cross-Selling and Up-Selling? Cross-selling and up-selling improve revenue by encouraging customers to purchase additional or higher-priced products. You can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, as existing customers are more likely to buy again. These strategies furthermore provide greater perceived value, as they address unmet needs. In addition, they promote a holistic shopping experience, improving overall ROI. By effectively implementing these techniques, you can strengthen customer relationships and drive repeat business, markedly boosting your sales performance. Conclusion In summary, cross-selling training is essential for boosting sales effectiveness and building customer loyalty. By comprehending customer needs and employing key techniques, sales professionals can improve their recommendations, ultimately increasing conversion rates and revenue. Recognizing the differences between cross-selling and upselling allows for strategic opportunities that benefit both the seller and the buyer. Ethical considerations guarantee that these practices cultivate trust, leading to lasting relationships and greater satisfaction in a competitive marketplace. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is Cross Selling Training and Why Is It Essential for Sales Success?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Grasping business structure is vital for anyone starting a venture. The type you choose affects your legal classification, liability, and taxes. Sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, and corporations each have distinct characteristics that can impact your personal assets and operational flexibility. As you consider which option suits your goals, it’s important to weigh these implications carefully. What factors should you evaluate to make the best choice for your business? Key Takeaways Sole proprietorships and partnerships expose owners to personal liability, while LLCs and corporations provide limited liability protection for personal assets. Tax implications vary by structure; LLCs and S corporations allow pass-through taxation, avoiding double taxation faced by C corporations. Corporations and LLCs offer operational flexibility, with LLCs providing options for member or manager management, while corporations require strict governance protocols. Funding opportunities differ; corporations can attract investors by selling shares, while sole proprietorships and partnerships may have limited fundraising options. Choosing the right business structure is crucial for liability protection, tax treatment, and operational efficiency, impacting long-term success and strategic decisions. What Is a Business Structure? A business structure is the foundation of any enterprise, representing its legal organization and classification. To explain business structure, it’s vital to comprehend the different business categories available, each with unique implications. Common types include Sole Proprietorships, Partnerships, Corporations, Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), and Nonprofits. Sole Proprietorships are the simplest and allow individuals to operate without formal organization, but they expose personal assets to business liabilities. Partnerships involve two or more individuals sharing profits and responsibilities. Corporations and LLCs provide limited liability protection, ensuring that personal assets remain separate from business debts, which can be significant for risk management. The choice of business structure affects important factors like personal asset protection, tax obligations, and regulatory compliance. Grasping these elements helps you make informed decisions that align with your business goals and personal circumstances. Importance of Business Legal Structure Grasping the importance of your business’s legal structure is key to protecting your personal assets from liability. Each structure, whether it’s a sole proprietorship or an LLC, has distinct tax implications and operational flexibilities that can greatly affect your bottom line. Liability Protection Benefits Choosing the right business legal structure is crucial for protecting your personal assets from potential liabilities. Structures like LLCs and corporations provide limited liability protection, which means your personal assets aren’t at risk if your business incurs debts or faces lawsuits. Conversely, sole proprietorships and general partnerships expose you to personal liability, putting your assets on the line for business obligations. Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and limited partnerships (LPs) offer varying protection levels; general partners may still face personal liability, whereas limited partners are protected beyond their investment. Corporations, recognized as separate legal entities, guarantee shareholders aren’t personally liable for corporate debts. Nevertheless, be mindful of the risk of “piercing the corporate veil,” which can occur if you fail to maintain proper business practices. Tax Treatment Considerations When selecting a business legal structure, tax treatment is a key consideration that can greatly affect your overall financial situation. Sole proprietorships and partnerships typically benefit from pass-through taxation, where profits are taxed only at your individual tax rate. Conversely, C corporations face double taxation, as both the corporation and shareholders are taxed on earnings and dividends, which can be less efficient for small businesses. S corporations and LLCs offer pass-through taxation, allowing profits and losses to be reported on personal tax returns. LLCs likewise provide flexibility, allowing you to choose how they’re taxed. The structure you choose not just impacts tax rates and deductions but can additionally affect how losses offset other personal income, offering potential tax relief. Operational Flexibility Factors The choice of business legal structure greatly impacts your operational flexibility, affecting how you manage your day-to-day activities and make strategic decisions. Different structures offer varying levels of adaptability, which is vital for your business’s success. Here are some key factors to take into account: Decision-Making Speed: Sole proprietorships and partnerships allow for quicker decisions owing to fewer formalities. Management Structure: LLCs offer both member-managed and manager-managed options to align with your operational needs. Governance Requirements: Corporations have strict governance protocols, which can slow down processes. Collaborative Flexibility: Partnerships need clear agreements, promoting collaboration but additionally requiring consensus for decisions. Choosing the right structure can improve your ability to adapt and thrive in a dynamic business environment. Types of Business Structures When considering the types of business structures, you’ll find that sole proprietorships are the simplest option, allowing you to maintain full control and profits but additionally leaving you personally liable for debts. Conversely, corporations come in various forms, such as C corporations and S corporations, each with distinct tax implications and levels of liability protection. Comprehending these differences is essential for making informed decisions about how to structure your business effectively. Sole Proprietorship Overview Sole proprietorships represent the simplest and most prevalent business structure, allowing a single individual to operate without forming a separate legal entity. As the owner, you’re personally liable for all business debts, meaning your personal assets may be at risk if the business fails. Setting up a sole proprietorship is typically low-cost, often under $100, and you’ll need to register a “doing business as” (DBA) name if you operate under a different name. Furthermore, income generated is reported on your personal tax return as “pass-through” income, simplifying tax preparation. Sole proprietorships are ideal for: Self-employed individuals Freelancers Consultants Those seeking complete control over operations. Corporate Structure Types Comprehending corporate structure types is vital for anyone considering starting a business. Corporations are legal entities distinct from their owners, providing limited liability protection that shields personal assets from business debts. There are two main types of corporations: C Corporations and S Corporations. C Corporations face double taxation on profits but can attract unlimited shareholders, making them ideal for businesses seeking substantial investment. Conversely, S Corporations allow profits and losses to pass through to shareholders’ personal tax returns, avoiding double taxation but limiting ownership to 100 shareholders, all of whom must be U.S. citizens or residents. Moreover, Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) blend the liability protection of corporations with the tax benefits of partnerships, offering personal asset protection alongside pass-through taxation. Sole Proprietorship Operating a business as a sole proprietorship offers an uncomplicated and direct approach for individuals looking to enter the entrepreneurial world. This structure is the simplest and most common, allowing you complete control over your business. Nevertheless, it’s crucial to understand the implications: Liability: You’re personally liable for all debts and obligations, meaning creditors can access your personal assets. Profit Retention: You keep all profits generated by the business, which can be a significant incentive. Setup Costs: Establishing a sole proprietorship typically involves minimal costs, often under $100. Tax Treatment: Income from the business is reported as personal income on your tax return, simplifying tax processes. If you decide to operate under a name different from your legal name, remember to file an assumed name certificate (DBA) with the county clerk. This straightforward structure can be a great way to start your business venture. Partnership Partnerships represent a collaborative business structure where two or more individuals join forces to operate a business for profit, sharing responsibilities and earnings. There are three main types of partnerships: general partnerships, where all partners share equal liability; limited partnerships, which consist of both general partners and limited partners, the latter having restricted liability; and limited liability partnerships (LLPs), which protect all partners from personal liability because of others’ misconduct. Unlike corporations, partnerships don’t pay corporate taxes; instead, profits and losses pass through to individual partners’ tax returns, simplifying the tax process. Although a partnership agreement outlining roles and profit-sharing isn’t legally required in many places, it’s advisable for clarity. Typically, partnerships don’t have formal filing requirements except they register as an LLP or limited partnership, even though they may need to file a fictitious name certificate if operating under a name different from the partners’ surnames. Limited Liability Company (LLC) When you’re considering how to structure your business, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) often stands out as a favorable choice owing to its blend of liability protection and tax flexibility. With an LLC, you can enjoy several advantages: Liability Protection: Your personal assets are typically shielded from business debts, meaning you’re not personally liable for the company’s liabilities. Tax Flexibility: You can choose how you want your business to be taxed, avoiding the double taxation that corporations face. Simple Formation: Establishing an LLC usually requires a straightforward filing process, often just a Certificate of Formation and a fee ranging from $50 to several hundred dollars. Unlimited Members: An LLC can have an unlimited number of members, including individuals and other entities, providing versatility for various business structures. Corporation Corporations offer a distinct structure for business ownership, marked by their recognition as separate legal entities from their shareholders. This separation provides limited liability protection, shielding you from personal responsibility for business debts. There are two main types of corporations: C corporations, which face double taxation, and S corporations, which allow profits and losses to be reported on shareholders’ personal tax returns, avoiding that double taxation. Nevertheless, corporations are subject to strict regulatory compliance, requiring you to file annual reports and hold regular board meetings, adding operational complexity. One significant advantage is the ease of transferring ownership through stock sales, making it easier to raise capital and attract investors. Furthermore, corporations have perpetual existence, meaning they continue to operate regardless of ownership changes or the death of shareholders, ensuring business continuity. This structure is often preferred by those looking for stability and growth potential in their ventures. Factors to Consider When Choosing a Business Structure How do you determine the best business structure for your needs? Selecting the right structure is essential, and you should consider several factors: Personal Liability Protection: Decide how much protection you want against personal liability; S corporations and LLCs offer more than sole proprietorships or general partnerships. Tax Implications: Evaluate how each structure affects your taxes; S corporations and LLCs allow for pass-through taxation, whereas C corporations face double taxation. Funding Needs: Assess your capital requirements; corporations can raise funds by selling shares, making them more appealing to investors compared to sole proprietorships. Management Complexity: Consider the level of management and compliance required; corporations have more formalities, whereas sole proprietorships offer greater flexibility. Thinking through these factors will help you make an informed decision that aligns with your business goals. Frequently Asked Questions Can I Change My Business Structure Later On? Yes, you can change your business structure later on. Many entrepreneurs reassess their needs as their business grows or changes. To do this, you’ll need to follow specific legal and tax procedures, which may involve filing paperwork and possibly altering your operating agreements. It’s wise to consult with a legal or financial advisor to guarantee you understand the implications of your new structure, including liability and tax responsibilities. How Does My Business Structure Affect Funding Options? Your business structure greatly affects your funding options. For instance, sole proprietorships often rely on personal savings and loans, whereas corporations can attract investors through stock sales. Limited liability companies (LLCs) might offer a balance, appealing to both traditional loans and equity financing. Furthermore, certain structures can improve credibility with lenders, making it easier to secure funding. Comprehending these differences helps you choose a structure that aligns with your financial goals. What Are the Annual Costs for Different Business Structures? The annual costs for different business structures can vary considerably. Sole proprietorships typically have lower costs, mainly involving taxes and minimal fees. Partnerships may incur additional legal fees and accounting costs. Corporations often face higher costs because of registration fees, ongoing compliance expenses, and potential taxation at both corporate and personal levels. Limited liability companies (LLCs) likewise have varying fees based on state requirements, but they typically balance simplicity with liability protection. Do Different Structures Impact Employee Benefits and Payroll? Yes, different business structures can greatly impact employee benefits and payroll. For instance, corporations often provide more extensive benefits, like health insurance and retirement plans, because of their larger budgets and regulatory requirements. Sole proprietorships, conversely, may offer limited benefits because of financial constraints. Furthermore, the payroll tax obligations differ, affecting how much you can allocate toward employee compensation and benefits. Comprehending these distinctions is essential for effective employee management. How Do State Laws Affect Business Structure Choices? State laws considerably influence your choices regarding business structure. Each state has unique regulations governing LLCs, corporations, and partnerships, affecting liability, taxation, and compliance requirements. For instance, some states impose higher fees or different reporting obligations, whereas others offer more favorable tax treatment. You’ll need to evaluate these factors when deciding your business structure to guarantee it aligns with your operational goals and legal obligations. Comprehending these laws helps you avoid future complications. Conclusion In conclusion, selecting the right business structure is essential for your entrepreneurial success. Each type—sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, and corporation—offers distinct advantages and disadvantages regarding liability protection and tax treatment. By comprehending these differences, you can better align your choice with your business goals and funding needs. Take the time to assess your options carefully, as this decision will impact your operations and financial outcomes in the long run. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Explaining Business Structure: Key Types and Implications" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Iran offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz without addressing its nuclear program, officials with knowledge of the proposal said Monday. Iran also wants the United States to end its blockade of the country as part of its proposal, according to the two regional officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations. Oil prices were up Monday as a standoff between the U.S. and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz remained despite a ceasefire, while Pakistan leaders were seeking to revive stalled talks between the two countries. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Russia Monday for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin as part of a trip that included two stops in Pakistan and a visit to Oman, which shares the strait with the Islamic Republic. Pakistan-led mediators are working to bridge significant gaps between the U.S. and Iran, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. U.S. President Donald The President canceled plans for his top envoys to travel to Islamabad this weekend for negotiations after Iran insisted the U.S. should end its blockade of Iranian ports before new talks can take place. Early Monday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it has so far turned around 38 ships during the blockade. Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,509 people in Lebanon, where the Israel-Hezbollah fighting resumed two days after the Iran war started. Also, 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed. —Associated Press View the full article

Higher CPCs frequently align with improved lead quality and conversion rates, challenging the assumption that cheaper traffic performs better. The post The High CPC Paradox: When Expensive Clicks Are A Sign Of Success appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Samsung Galaxy S26+ sits in the middle of Samsung’s latest lineup, and this current drop to $924.99 (originally $1,099.99) for the unlocked, 256GB model is the lowest price it has reached so far, according to online price tracking tools. That discount makes the phone easier to consider, especially if you want a big screen and top-tier performance but don't care about every extra feature Samsung packs into its most expensive model, like the Ultra’s Privacy Display. The design feels familiar, too, with an aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass Armor on the front, and IP68 water resistance. Samsung Galaxy S26+ Unlocked Android smartphone (256GB) $924.99 at Amazon $1,099.99 Save $175.00 Get Deal Get Deal $924.99 at Amazon $1,099.99 Save $175.00 The phone is easy to settle into day-to-day, starting with a display that stays clear and readable even in direct sunlight, so watching videos or scrolling outside doesn’t feel like a struggle. That ease carries over to performance, where everything moves at a steady, reliable pace—apps open quickly, switching between tasks feels natural, and built-in AI features run without any noticeable lag. The triple-camera setup led by a 50MP main sensor and backed by ultrawide and telephoto lenses handle most lighting conditions without much effort, including better low-light performance thanks to brighter lenses. As for its battery life, it holds up well for everyday use, with its 4,900mAh battery lasting close to 15 hours in PCMag’s testing (as highlighted in the publication’s “excellent” review of the product), which usually translates to getting through a full day without much stress, though heavier use can still mean plugging in before the night ends. Connectivity is just as well-rounded, covering all the bases you’d expect from a modern flagship. You get full 5G support, along with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC, and more. In practical terms, that means faster downloads when networks allow it and more precise tracking for compatible devices. On the software side, Samsung’s take on Android 16 and its AI features add practical tools without feeling intrusive, and the experience improves once you spend some time adjusting settings and gestures to suit your routine—there’s more you can tweak and fine-tune than you might expect at first, and if you want to get a better handle on that, check out our guide, 10 Hacks Every Samsung Galaxy S26 Owner Should Know. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $148.99 (List Price $179.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $69.99 (List Price $69.99) Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen, 2-pack, White) — $70.00 (List Price $79.99) Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 46mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - M/L. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant — $329.00 (List Price $429.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $319.97 (List Price $349.00) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Paid search platforms are getting better at deciding who should see your ads, often without relying on the keywords you choose. As that shift accelerates, optimization is moving away from query-level control and toward signals like audience data, landing page context, and conversion behavior. Understanding that change is key to knowing what to actually optimize for now. When keywords gave us control and what comes next A decade ago, our world was defined by the illusion of control. Every decision we made was anchored in the keyword. Hypersegmentation and single keyword ad groups (SKAGs) ruled the land. If possible, we’d build a unique landing page for every single keyword in every single ad group. The process was tedious, manual, and we loved it because we felt like we were the ones driving the machine. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how much you miss spreadsheets and Editor), times have changed. We’ve long speculated about whether Google and Microsoft would finally sunset keywords altogether. That day feels closer than ever. From Performance Max to the emerging AI Max solutions — and even the shift toward contextual, LLM-driven search like ChatGPT — the industry is moving toward a keywordless reality. But if we take a step back, we have to admit why the keyword is so vital. It’s a window into clear intent that tells us exactly where a user is in their journey: The symptom: “Productivity tools for remote teams.” The consideration: “Asana vs. Trello comparison.” The decision: “Monday demo.” If those signals are now handled behind the scenes by a black box, the role of the marketer changes. So what are we actually optimizing for? Dig deeper: Beyond keywords: Mastering AI-driven campaigns Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up. The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need. Start Free Trial Get started with Signals are the new keywords Intent is inferred from a complex web of signals that have rendered the individual keyword secondary. To win in 2026, your optimization focus must shift toward three core pillars. Audience data (the ‘who’ over the ‘what’) Google’s algorithms now prioritize customer match and first-party data over the query itself. With the full integration of the Data Manager API, the system knows which users in the auction match your closed-won deals. You no longer bid on the query “cloud security.” You bid on the director of IT (because you’re sharing first-party data) who has a history of researching SOC 2 compliance, even if their current search is as vague as “scaling infrastructure.” B2B match rates are notoriously stubborn. But this is exactly where you need to evolve your strategy. Move beyond one-to-one list matching and get creative with integration partners to enrich your signals. Start by clustering individuals by shared pain points, then use on-site experiences to allow them to self-identify. By the time they hit a remarketing list, you aren’t just targeting a “user,” you’re targeting a verified intent state. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Landing pages as living signals Your landing page is a data source. Google’s AI scans your page to understand the nuance of your offering. Creative assets are also important signals and need to complement your targeted themes and keywords, plus your landing page content. If your landing page clearly articulates a “mid-market manufacturing” use case, the AI will automatically find those users, even if they never type the word “manufacturing.” Your “keyword strategy” is now your content strategy. You might think looking at Meta is a deviation here, but the parallels are impossible to ignore. Meta’s Andromeda retrieval engine now influences a massive portion of the social auction by using the creative itself as the primary targeting signal. If both platforms are moving toward a world where your assets (whether it’s a 15-second video or a high-value landing page) are what actually define your audience, you have to ask: How much weight are you giving your creative inputs versus your technical ones? Historical conversions and pipeline velocity With journey aware bidding and value-based bidding, the algorithm isn’t just looking for the final click. It’s analyzing the historical sequence of a user’s journey. Optimization now happens against “high-value need states.” You’re feeding the system data on which mid-funnel behaviors (like a whitepaper download or a webinar sign-up) actually lead to six-figure contracts. Dig deeper: Why better signals drive paid search performance The great intent shift: Query-level vs. user-level The most significant mental hurdle for digital marketers is the shift from query-level intent to user-level intent. FeatureQuery-level intent (legacy)User-level intent (2026 and beyond)Primary driverThe specific words typed.The user’s historical behavior and context.Logic“They are in state X, so they need Y.”Triggered by a predicted “need state.”MeasurementCTR and CPC.Pipeline value and predicted LTV.Auction entryTriggered by a keyword match.Triggered by a predicted “need state” In the old model, a query like “how to manage payroll” might have been ignored by an enterprise SaaS company as “too informational.” In 2026, the AI knows if that user is a student or a VP of finance at a 5,000-employee firm. If it’s the latter, the user-level intent is commercial, regardless of the query-level phrasing, assuming you’re providing the right signals (see what I did there?). If you’re advertising on Microsoft Ads, you can leverage LinkedIn’s profile targeting. See the complete picture of your search visibility. Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform. Start Free Trial Get started with What should you actually be doing? Now that AI is handling the matching, your job has evolved from a mechanic to a data architect. Feed the beast with better data: Your competitive advantage is the quality of your CRM integration. If you feed the AI junk leads, it will efficiently find you more junk. You must optimize for value-based bidding. Audit your signal health: Are your landing pages optimized for AI readability? Do they have the technical schema and depth of content that allows Google to categorize your “intent bucket” correctly? Embrace the black box with guardrails: Move away from micromanaging search terms, and start managing brand exclusion lists and negative intent themes. The future of search isn’t about finding the right words. It’s about being the best answer for the right person at the exact moment their need state evolves. Keywords were the training wheels. Now, the wheels are off. It’s time to see how fast your data can take you. Dig deeper: Why PPC teams are becoming data teams View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re in the market for tools, you might have noticed that they can be expensive, especially if you don’t have batteries. Here are some deals from Home Depot on Ryobi cordless tools that can help you save some of your DIY budget and get your projects done quickly. These Ryobi cutting tools are up to 53% off Ryobi 18-volt oscillating multitool $79.00 at Home Depot $168.00 Save $89.00 Get Deal Get Deal $79.00 at Home Depot $168.00 Save $89.00 The Ryobi 18-volt oscillating multitool is on sale for $79, 53% off its usual price. The tool includes a two-amp-hour battery, but no charger—so this is a good deal if you already have one. With the right blades and accessories, this tool can be used for cutting metal, wood, PVC, or drywall. You can also use it for sanding and buffing with the sanding attachment, and it’s really handy for getting into tight corners. The Ryobi 18-volt, 7 ¼-inch circular saw is currently $139, 40% off its regular price. The tool comes with a high performance two-amp-hour battery but not a charger, so again, you’ll need an 18-volt Ryobi charger to use it. A circular saw can be used either for cross cutting boards or for making long, straight cuts, so it’s useful to have on hand, especially if you don’t have a table saw. The Ryobi 18-volt 5 ½- inch circular saw is now $89, 50% off its regular price. It comes with a high performance, two-amp-hour battery. You can use this saw for cross cutting or making longer cuts, but the smaller blade does make it a little more difficult to cut a straight line over a longer distance. A smaller, lighter-weight saw is great for making quick cuts, especially if you’re working somewhere that doesn’t have power for a corded chop saw. This Ryobi sheet sander is 60% off The Ryobi 18-volt ¼-sheet sander is on sale for $59, 60% off its typical price. It comes with a high performance, two-amp-hour battery, but not a charger, so you’ll need a Ryobi 18-volt charger to use it. This sander is a good tool for removing old paint or smoothing out a rough board, so it can be used for all kinds of DIY home improvement and woodworking projects. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $148.99 (List Price $179.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $69.99 (List Price $69.99) Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen, 2-pack, White) — $70.00 (List Price $79.99) Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 46mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - M/L. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant — $329.00 (List Price $429.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $319.97 (List Price $349.00) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Crude demand weakens when not only jet fuel but other product prices rise tooView the full article

Shares in Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) are surging in premarket trading this morning after reports emerged that the company may be on the cusp of a deal with artificial intelligence giant OpenAI. The deal would see Qualcomm CPUs powering a potential OpenAI smartphone—and would be a further sign that AI may shift from being primarily GPU-powered to CPU-powered. Here’s what you need to know. Will the CPU replace the GPU in the AI space? Currently, the most important computing component underpinning the AI era is the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Traditionally, this was a dedicated processor designed to render 3D graphics and video, and it was especially critical in the gaming sector of the computer industry. But in the AI era, the processing power of GPUs has made them a perfect tool for high-performance tasks like training and running large language models (LLMs), which are the backbone of chatbots. The importance of GPUs in AI development has made GPU king Nvidia the most valuable company on the planet. But in the near future, the AI industry will go through a shift. The role of CPUs is expected to become even more important in data centers, as CPUs become more advanced and capable. This is good news for CPU makers like Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC), whose stock soared last week, driven primarily by data center and AI (DCAI) revenue growth. This shift toward the growing importance of CPUs in the AI space is also likely to accelerate, as more advanced CPUs enable more AI models to run locally on personal devices like smartphones, freeing LLMs from the power-hungry GPUs packed into today’s data centers. Once that happens, smartphone makers will likely be lining up to get their hands on the most capable AI CPUs on the market—and that is something Qualcomm may soon benefit heavily from. OpenAI’s rumored smartphone may have a Qualcomm chip inside For years, ChatGPT maker OpenAI has been rumored to be working on a physical device intended to be the primary way you interact with AI. Some suggest this device might be screenless, taking the form factor of a pen or a pendant, but others suggest that OpenAI may instead just launch its own smartphone. And now a report from respected TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo seems to corroborate this. Writing in a post on X, Kuo says his latest industry checks have revealed that “OpenAI is working with MediaTek and Qualcomm to develop smartphone processors,” and he believes these chips are likely destined for an OpenAI phone. The report from Kou, who is known for his excellent track record of sniffing out the biggest plans of large tech giants—including Apple—through his supply-chain sources, is the main reason why Qualcomm stock is soaring today. If Qualcomm will indeed be one of the major chip partners for a future OpenAI phone, the company’s coffers stand to benefit enormously. Qualcomm stock surges after OpenAI report As of this writing, QCOM stock is currently up more than 12.5% to $167.50 per share. The company’s stock price closed at $148.85 on Friday. Relatedly, on Friday, QCOM stock surged more than 11% after Intel’s earnings report, suggesting the CPU was growing ever more important in the AI era. It should be noted, however, that neither Qualcomm nor OpenAI has publicly commented on any CPU deal. Fast Company has reached out to both companies for comment. Still, Kou’s report seems to have excited investors. As of Friday’s close, QCOM shares were still down nearly 13% year to date. But with today’s further stock price news driven by the OpenAI speculation, Qualcomm is very close to being back in the green, if today’s premarket jump holds. Over the past 12 months, QCOM stock was up about 1% as of Friday’s closing price. Qualcomm is expected to announce its Q2 2026 earnings on Wednesday. View the full article

Deal will boost oil major’s production at a time when investors have queried the company’s growthView the full article

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. 2026 is already overflowing with new and improved sites and services. In today’s post I’m sharing five I’ve tested and found particularly useful. Kraa: Make Gorgeous Documents I love minimalist tools like the free Kraa, a wonderful new digital writing surface. I’ve started experimenting with creating quick, simple pages, which Kraa calls “leaves.” The example pages shared by Kraa’s founding team will give you a feel for it: A news story with an image gallery, pull quotes, and comments A blog post with images, quotes, and comments A portfolio or brand page with big images and less text A welcome page about Kraa that I’ve customized a bit. I added a chat at the bottom so you can try it out and add your own comment about Kraa. Ideas for using Kraa Make a travel page to share pictures and stories from a trip. Benefit: Easier than creating a whole WordPress site, and much prettier than a Google or Word Doc. Create an impromptu, elegant, free live running chat for a meeting or event, like the Kraa team’s public chat page. Benefit: Faster, freer, easier, and more elegant than other tools for creating a running chat page. Write a manifesto or blog post about something you care about. Benefit: Get more design flexibility than you would with WordPress, Craft, or Medium. Leonardo AI Blueprints: A Shortcut for AI Visuals Sophisticated image editing with AI usually requires careful prompting. What I like about Leonardo AI’s new Blueprints feature is that you can just upload an image and pick from dozens of styles, without knowing what words to use in a prompt. You can transform boring or sloppy headshots into creative images. Here’s an experiment with one of my headshots, and another. Leonardo, now owned by Canva, also has lots of other useful features. The platform hosts multiple AI image and video generators, including Flux, Gemini, Ideogram, and Sora. Flow State lets you type in a prompt and pick from dozens of resulting AI visuals. If you see one you like, you can select “more like this.” Upscaler enhances images’ resolution and size, which is useful if you’re printing pictures or showing them on a big screen. Pricing: Free for up to 150 fast image creations a day. $10/month billed annually for more images, private images, better AI models, and other pro features. YouTube to NotebookLM: Import a Whole Playlist or Channel in One Click YouTube to NotebookLM is a remarkably useful new Chrome extension that lets you bulk-add any YouTube playlists, channels, or search results into NotebookLM. for AI-powered analysis. How to use it: Install the free Chrome extension. Then navigate to a YouTube channel or playlist of interest, or even a YouTube search result. Click the bookmarklet you’ve installed in your browser to import the entire batch of videos into a new or existing NotebookLM notebook. (The free version of NotebookLM allows a maximum of 50 sources in a notebook). What I tested: I pulled in 80 of my own YouTube channel videos into a new notebook with one click. I was surprised at how quick and easy it was. I immediately started analyzing the video collection and generating a report. What to try: Summarize a playlist or channel with an audio or video overview. Or create quizzes, flash cards, data tables, or mind maps to explore a batch of YouTube videos. Or have a chat in NotebookLM with your favorite video channel. Check my recent post for some YouTube channels to try. Find or create YouTube playlists on topics of interest. Then use this extension to ingest those playlists into NotebookLM. The videos are automatically indexed, and within minutes you can create reports, slides, and infographics to enhance your learning. Agenda Hero: Add Anything to Your Calendar Ever get a flyer with upcoming events, or a sports schedule, or a list of upcoming meetings, and face the tedious task of manually adding each event to your calendar? Agenda Hero solves this pain point delightfully. What it does Scans physical or digital event lists and adds them to your calendar Works with photos, PDFs, scans, emails, or pasted text Works with calendars from Google, Apple, or Outlook, or Office 365 Use the Chrome Extension to clip event dates and times from the Web or use the free iOS or Android app to add events from your phone. Capture schedules from school handouts, work training dates, or concert listings. How it saves time: Instead of spending 10-20 minutes adding events one by one, snap a photo or upload a document. Agenda Hero extracts the events and lets you add them in bulk to your calendar. Real-world example: My daughter and I like going to occasional Columbia Women’s Basketball team games. So we took a picture of their schedule card. Agenda Hero quickly imported all the dates. Now they’re on my calendar instead of on a piece of paper in a drawer. You can share a link to your event list, like this one I created for the upcoming home games. Bonus features Create and share a customized event page for your group Use AI chat to batch edit a bunch of events Pricing: Free for most features, or $30/annually for unlimited AI edits and custom URLs and colors for your shared pages. This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. View the full article

Scott Kirby criticises rival for ‘closing the door’ on deal he believes would have created jobsView the full article

We analyzed billions of visits across 50,000+ sites to understand which traffic channels are growing, which are declining, and how the mix is shifting across industries. View the full article

AI visibility now depends on crawl access, server-rendered content, semantic HTML, and machine-readable structure beyond Googlebot. The post The Technical SEO Audit Needs A New Layer appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

AI systems are getting better at generating Spanish. They’re not getting better at understanding Spanish markets. What we’re seeing instead is a consistent pattern: more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries collapsed into a single default. Spain becomes “standard.” Mexico becomes interchangeable. The rest get flattened into statistical averages. The failure modes are structural — dialect defaulting, format contamination, and regulatory hallucination — and they’re amplified in a generative search environment where one synthesized answer replaces 10 blue links. That distinction is now a visibility constraint. Generative systems resolve ambiguity. When your content doesn’t make its market context explicit, the system defaults to the statistical average — and that’s where otherwise solid content gets misapplied or ignored. Below is a framework for fixing that problem. It’s designed to make market context explicit — across content, technical signals, and retrieval systems — so AI doesn’t have to guess. What is cultural SEO? Cultural SEO goes beyond hreflang and localization. The technical foundation is locale precision — controlling market context across retrieval and generation so an AI system treats your Spanish content as belonging to a specific country, not to “Spanish speakers” in the abstract. Here’s the framework that works when you operate across Spain and Latin America. But there’s a prerequisite no framework can substitute for: you can’t optimize for a market you don’t serve. Cultural SEO isn’t a localization layer you bolt onto a website. It’s the technical expression of a business decision to operate in a market — with real logistics, real customer support, real legal compliance, and real product-market fit. If you ship from Spain to Mexico with a three-week delivery, process returns in euros, and have no local support channel, a perfect hreflang setup won’t save you. The model might surface your content, but the user will bounce — and the next time the model learns from that signal, you’ll be deprioritized. Internationalization means speaking the market’s language in every sense: visual trust cues, payment methods, delivery expectations, regulatory compliance, and customer experience. The four pillars below assume you’ve made that commitment. If you haven’t, start there. Everything else is decoration. Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up. The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need. Start Free Trial Get started with Pillar 1: Market segmentation at the entity level Most international SEO teams think of segmentation as a folder structure: /es-es/, /es-mx/, /es-ar/, but that’s not enough. In generative search, the question is whether the system recognizes that page as belonging to Mexico — and whether it has enough market-specific signals to prefer it over a generic alternative. If your architecture collapses variants, your visibility collapses with it. Implement granular hreflang and URL structures Don’t just use es. Use es-ES for Spain, es-MX for Mexico, es-AR for Argentina, es-CO for Colombia, and es-CL for Chile. Include x-default for users who don’t match any specific locale. Consider ccTLD strategies (.es, .mx, .com.ar) where they make business sense. ccTLDs remain one of the strongest explicit geographic signals on the open web, and they reduce ambiguity for both search engines and downstream retrieval systems. Google’s documentation on localized pages supports this specificity. But here’s the caveat. In the first article, I discussed Motoko Hunt‘s concept of geo-legibility and the phenomenon of geo-drift — AI systems misidentifying geography because language alone doesn’t resolve market context. Simply put, if your Spanish content doesn’t carry explicit country-level signals beyond hreflang, the model has to guess. Guessing, at scale, means defaulting. Ultimately, hreflang helps with traditional routing, but in AI synthesis, it’s one signal among many — and not necessarily the decisive one. When a generative system assembles an answer, it weighs semantic relevance, authority, and content-level cues alongside metadata. If your Spanish content relies on hreflang alone to declare “this is for Mexico,” you’re betting on a single signal in a multi-signal environment. Geographic markers need to live in the content itself and in structured data — not only in HTTP headers. Dig deeper: How AI search defines market relevance beyond hreflang Don’t canonicalize all locales to a single master URL When you point es-MX, es-AR, and es-CO pages to one canonical es URL, you’re telling engines there’s only one “real” version — the exact Global Spanish assumption you’re trying to avoid. Each market page should canonicalize to itself. Avoid IP-based redirects Google cautions against this. Crawlers may not see all variants. More importantly, AI crawlers don’t carry IP signals the way users do. Offer a visible region selector and let users choose. Encode market cues in structured data This is essentially what Hunt calls geo-legibility — encoding geography, compliance, and market boundaries in ways machines can parse: Use priceCurrency with ISO 4217 codes (EUR, MXN, ARS, COP, and CLP). Use PostalAddress with explicit addressCountry. Add areaServed to declare which markets you serve — the machine-readable equivalent of saying “we operate here, not everywhere Spanish is spoken.” Use sameAs to connect to region-specific knowledge graphs (e.g., link your Mexican entity to Mexican directories and chambers of commerce, not just your global Wikipedia page). A practical example: if your Mexico page shows prices in MXN, but your structured data still says EUR because it was copied from the Spain template, the model sees a conflict. Conflicts breed uncertainty. Uncertainty breeds generic answers. Generic answers are where Global Spanish lives. A note on es-419: It can be useful as a catch-all for Latin American Spanish where market-specific pages don’t exist, but it should never substitute for es-MX, es-AR, or es-CO when the content involves legal, financial, or compliance information. Generic means vulnerable. If your market pages aren’t self-evident to machines, the system will resolve ambiguity for you — and defaults win. Pillar 2: Transcreation, not translation Translation converts words. Transcreation converts meaning. The distinction matters because translated templates are easy for models to deduplicate — and deduplication is where localized pages go to die. If two regional pages are 95% identical, the model will treat them as one. The “default” will win. Localized pages need substantive differences that prove market specificity, including: Local examples and FAQs: A FAQ about tax deductions should reference SAT in Mexico, AEAT in Spain, and AFIP in Argentina — not all three in a dropdown. Local legal references: Privacy content should cite GDPR + LOPDGDD for Spain, and LFPDPPP for Mexico, not a generic “applicable data protection laws.” Native terminology: Zapatillas vs.tenis, ordenador vs.computadora, and cesta vs.carrito. These aren’t synonyms. They’re market identifiers that signal “this content was made here.” Local pricing and formatting: Not just the currency symbol — the entire numeric convention. Spain uses 1.234,56 € while Mexico uses $1,234.56. Get it wrong, and the content reads as imported. Local proof: Testimonials, case studies, partnerships, and press coverage from the target region. Not imported. When a model evaluates whether your content is authoritative for Mexico, it looks for Mexican corroboration. The classic example: McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it” became “Me encanta” — not a literal translation, but an emotionally equivalent expression. Apple’s iPod Shuffle tagline, “Small talk,” became “Mira quién habla” for Latin American Spanish. These brands understood that meaning doesn’t translate. It must be rebuilt. Start with keyword research Identify which Spanish-speaking markets have the most search volume and business potential for your verticals. Volume alone isn’t enough. Consider market maturity, competitive landscape, and conversion potential. Then bring in native speakers from those specific countries. This doesn’t mean rigid dialect policing. Context matters — a premium brand in Mexico City might use tú deliberately for intimacy. The test is whether those choices are strategic or inherited from the training data’s statistical average. What ‘substantive difference’ looks like in practice Take a returns policy page. Spain (/es-es/devoluciones/) and Mexico (/es-mx/devoluciones/) shouldn’t differ only in currency symbols. At least one section needs to be genuinely market-specific: Spain: Consumer rights framing under EU regulation, SEUR or Correos as default carrier, Bizum as a familiar local payment entity, and vosotros register. Mexico: PROFECO consumer authority framing, local paqueterías as shipping context, OXXO as a familiar local payment context (where relevant), and ustedes register. Both: Distinct FAQs written in the market’s register, addressing questions that actual customers in that country ask. If the pages are 95% identical after these changes, they’re not differentiated enough. The model will still collapse them. The feedback loop makes it worse: when a Mexican user lands on “españolized” content and bounces, that rejection signal teaches the model not to retrieve that page for Mexico next time. Poor transcreation doesn’t just lose one visit. It trains the system against you. Pillar 3: Retrieval constraints (locale-locked sourcing) This pillar addresses a layer that most traditional SEO doesn’t touch — and it’s where a lot of the Global Spanish problem actually lives. If you’re building RAG-powered experiences (chatbots, AI assistants, and AI-enhanced customer support) or optimizing content for AI discovery, the question is: What content is eligible to be retrieved and synthesized for a given market? Without explicit constraints, the model pulls from its statistical average — which, in this case, is “Global Spanish.” The fix requires intervention at the retrieval layer: Filter sources by locale metadata before generation begins: Don’t let a Mexican user’s query pull from your Spain knowledge base unless you’ve explicitly marked that content as applicable to Mexico. Prefer user-declared markets over inferred signals: If a user selects “Mexico” in your interface, that should be a hard constraint, not a suggestion. Use hard constraints in system prompts: “Spanish (Mexico), MXN, SAT, Mexican legal context” — not just “Spanish.” The more specific your retrieval parameters, the less room the model has to improvise. Think of it as the AI equivalent of telling your customer service team: “If a caller is from Mexico, use the Mexico playbook. Don’t improvise.” This matters beyond your own properties. Up to 43% of fan-out background searches ran in English even for non-English prompts, Peec AI’s analysis found. This is a structural disadvantage for brands whose authority signals exist only in local-language corpora. Spanish sessions may still trigger English sub-searches, which changes which sources are eligible for retrieval. If the model’s own retrieval is biased toward English sources, your Spanish content needs to be unambiguously market-specific to compete for selection. Pillar 4: Market authority through entity reinforcement LLMs learn from your site and what the web says about you. This isn’t traditional link building. It’s regional corroboration — building the external signal layer that tells a model where your brand operates and who considers you authoritative: Local media mentions: A feature in top-tier national business press in your target market carries different geographic weight than a mention in a U.S. or U.K. publication. The model infers where you’re relevant from who talks about you. Local industry citations: Partnerships with local chambers of commerce, industry associations, and regulatory bodies. Region-specific knowledge graph reinforcement: Your Google Business Profile, local directory listings, and Wikipedia presence should all consistently reflect which markets you serve. Local backlink ecosystem: Links from .mx, .es, and .ar domains reinforce geographic authority in ways that generic .com links don’t. This is how you stop being a Spanish brand and become a Mexican authority — or both, explicitly. The key is intentionality: If you serve both markets, the model needs to see distinct authority signals for each, not a single blended profile. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. What to ship (per pillar) If you need to brief a cross-functional team — dev, content, PR — here’s what each pillar produces as a deliverable: PillarDeliverable1. SegmentationLocale URL map + hreflang/canonical rules + indexable alternates checklist2. TranscreationPer-market glossary + “substantive difference” content brief template3. Retrieval constraintsLocale filters + prompt contract (market, currency, jurisdiction)4. Entity reinforcementQuarterly PR/citation target list per market + entity consistency audit Pillar deliverables — what each pillar produces as a briefable output for cross-functional teams. These are the artifacts that make the framework auditable and repeatable across teams. Measuring cultural mismatch: an error taxonomy You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Here’s a practical error taxonomy for auditing AI-generated content across Hispanic markets: Error classWhat to look forSEO/UX impactDialect markersWrong pronouns, missing voseo, region-inappropriate vocabularyTrust erosion, higher bounce ratesFormat errorsWrong currency, decimal separator mismatch, incorrect date formatsConversion risk, especially in e-commerce and financeLegal/regulatoryWrong authority cited, incorrect compliance steps, mixed frameworksE-E-A-T damage, potential liabilitySERP intentWrong product categories, wrong local entities, incorrect eligibilityClick-through and engagement dropsBrand voiceFormality mismatch (too formal in Mexico, too casual in Colombia)Brand perception damageRetrieval contaminationFacts or citations sourced from a different locale than the target userErrors propagated into AI summaries Cultural Mismatch Error Taxonomy — six error classes for auditing AI-generated content across Hispanic markets. If you want a quick QA starting point, check three things first: the currency symbol, the regulator name, and the second-person register. Those three alone will catch most critical mismatches. The regional signal table For teams working across multiple Hispanic markets, these are the signals that most commonly trigger cultural mismatch in AI outputs: SignalSpain (es-ES)Mexico (es-MX)Argentina (es-AR)Colombia (es-CO)Chile (es-CL)Second-personVosotros/ustedesUstedes; túVos/ustedesTú/usted variesTú/ustedes; local slangCurrencyEUR (€)MXN ($)ARS ($)COP ($)CLP ($)Decimal separatorComma (1.234,56)Period (1,234.56)VariesVariesVariesHreflanges-ESes-MX / es-419es-ARes-COes-CLPrivacy frameworkGDPR + LOPDGDDFederal law (2025 changes)Habeas DataNational data protectionUpdated legislationFiscal/commercial IDNIF / CIFRFCCUIT / CUILNITRUTTypical LLM default riskGrammar as “standard,” vocab ignoredVocab as “standard,” context flattenedVoseo erased or flaggedUstedeo misidentifiedLocal markers missed Regional Signal Comparison — key locale markers across five major Hispanic markets. Note: number formatting can vary by platform; the key is internal consistency within a market experience. Regulatory details evolve; the point is to prevent wrong-jurisdiction defaults in YMYL content. Where this breaks first: YMYL verticals Not every industry feels this problem equally. But if you work in any of these verticals, cultural SEO means risk management. Finance: Regulators, tax logic, product naming, and ID formats. Wrong jurisdiction bleed means your AI-generated content isn’t just unhelpful — it may be noncompliant. Legal: Rights language, jurisdiction references, and compliance frameworks. An LLM citing GDPR to a Mexican user isn’t being cautious. It’s being wrong. Healthcare: National agencies, approved terminology, and safety messaging. Drug names, dosage conventions, and regulatory bodies differ across every market. Ecommerce: Payment methods (Bizum ≠ OXXO), shipping norms, returns, and installment culture. When your market cues conflict, the system classifies you as “not for this market.” And in GEO, classification is destiny. In these verticals, the cost of Global Spanish is a liability exposure, compliance failure, and E-E-A-T erosion that compounds across every AI-generated interaction. Making it operational Frameworks are only useful if they translate into Monday morning actions. Here’s how to operationalize cultural SEO: Week 1: Baseline audit Re-run the Article 1 Spain vs. Mexico checks across your top five transactional queries. Log mismatches (currency/format, jurisdiction, and register). This is your baseline. Week 2-4: Technical foundation Fix hreflang, canonicals, and structured data. Ensure each market page canonicalizes to itself, carries correct priceCurrency and addressCountry, and has areaServed declarations. Remove any IP-based redirects that might block AI crawlers. Month 2-3: Content differentiation Prioritize your highest-traffic market pages for transcreation. Aim for at least 30% substantive content difference between regional variants — different examples, legal references, and local proof. Month 3-6: Entity reinforcement Build market-specific authority signals: local media coverage, directory listings, and partnerships. Ensure your knowledge graph presence is consistent and market-specific. Ongoing: QA and governance Implement dialect stress tests across target markets. Set up automated monitoring for jurisdiction bleed in any AI-generated or AI-surfaced content. Establish an escalation path for YMYL content where market context can’t be confirmed. Two metrics worth tracking from Day 1: Market mismatch rate: Percentage of outputs with wrong jurisdiction, currency, or register. Wrong-jurisdiction reference rate: Regulators or laws cited from the wrong country, YMYL pages only. If you can measure those two consistently, you can prove the framework is working. A note on what actually matters Everyone’s talking about markdown formatting, llms.txt files, and structured data for AI. Some of that matters. But before chasing the latest optimization trick, review your: Documentation. Help center Knowledge base. Product docs. That’s what LLMs are actually reading and what shapes whether an AI assistant recommends you or your competitor. If an LLM had to explain what your product does in the Mexican market based only on what’s public, would the answer be any good? If not, you don’t have an AI optimization problem. You have a documentation problem. The fix? Sit down and write clear, market-specific docs that both humans and machines can understand. If you want a more structured approach, I’ve put together a cultural SEO checklist for Hispanic markets covering technical signals, content signals, entity signals, retrieval constraints, and QA governance. cultural-seo-checklistDownload See the complete picture of your search visibility. Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform. Start Free Trial Get started with Try it yourself: 5 prompts, 2 markets Before moving on, run these five prompts through any LLM — once specifying Spain, and once specifying Mexico. The differences in the output should be intentional, not accidental: “Explain how to request an invoice for an online purchase.” “What ID number do I need to register as a freelancer?” “Write a returns policy snippet for a €49.99 / $49.99 product.” “Customer support reply: delayed delivery (mention dates and currency).” “Best prepaid mobile plan — budget option.” If the answers are identical, the model is defaulting. If they differ but cite the wrong jurisdiction, you have a retrieval problem. Either way, now you know where to start. A word of warning — for us There’s an irony in this article that I don’t want to skip over. We’re telling brands to stop treating Spanish as a monolith, build market-specific signals, and respect the difference between Madrid and Mexico City. Then we go back to our desks and use ChatGPT to do keyword research “in Spanish.” We generate content briefs with tools that have the exact same geo-inference failures we just diagnosed. We run audits with AI assistants that default to the same “Global Spanish” we’re warning our clients about. If the tools we use every day carry this bias, then every output we produce risks inheriting it — unless we’re actively correcting for it. That means specifying the market context in every prompt. Don’t trust a “Spanish” keyword list that doesn’t distinguish between markets. Treat your own AI-assisted workflows with the same rigor you’d ask of your clients’ content architectures. The “Global Spanish” problem is also in your own stack. If you’re not fixing it there first, you’re part of the pattern. From global content to market-specific systems The goal is to produce Spanish that is market-true. In 2026, “localized” is a systems milestone: routing, content, entities, retrieval, and QA all have to agree on the same country context — or the model will pick one for you. If you want a definition of done for cultural SEO, it’s this: Spain and Mexico can ask the same question and get different answers for the right reasons — and your pages are the ones that stay eligible to be cited. Stop translating. Start architecting. View the full article