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While initially criticized as a black box, Performance Max has evolved into a fairly critical campaign type. With each passing quarter, Google has introduced more functionality and visibility. Additional reporting is helpful, but what matters is what you can actually act on. While you can’t control everything in Performance Max, there are specific levers that can have a meaningful impact on performance. Here are the parts of PMax you can control and how to use them effectively. Control what you can: Search terms and placements One of the most exciting updates in the last year to Performance Max has been the ability to add these campaign-level negative keywords. In the past, you could contact Google to add these in. It was somewhat cumbersome and involved filling out an Excel doc, forwarding it to Google, and giving them permission to implement. With the inclusion of the search terms report, we’re now able to select a keyword and quickly add it to the campaign-level negative keyword list, just as we can with a search or shopping campaign. Another way to optimize PMax is to review and monitor the placements report. Most recently, Google has moved the Performance Max placements report out of the reporting section of the Google Ads account and into the Where ads have shown section at the campaign level. While this makes analysis easier by removing additional steps, we still only have impression-level reporting on placements. We can use this information to decide whether to add these placements as negative placements at the account level. This is found in Tools > Content suitability > Advanced settings > Excluded placements. While this isn’t ideal, there’s still useful insight we can glean from this report, such as ads appearing in kids’ programming or driving a high number of impressions from mobile apps. 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 Use budget signals to improve efficiency Also located in the When and where ads showed section is the ad schedule. Even if you hadn’t selected an ad schedule when creating the campaign, Google automatically dayparts performance hourly. Google typically recommends an open ad schedule, but if you have a limited budget, restricting your ad schedule during off-peak or non-converting hours is an excellent way to increase efficiency. You can do this by creating a campaign-level ad schedule within Campaigns > Audiences, keywords, and content > Ad schedule. Make sure your Performance Max campaign is selected in the top left dropdown menu. Dig deeper: Top Performance Max optimization tips for 2026 Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Refine targeting with the right constraints Demographic exclusions are a relatively new feature at the campaign settings level for Performance Max. Unfortunately, reports for these campaigns are hard to obtain, limiting informed decisions on demographic exclusions. This functionality is helpful if you’re aware of specific demographics that aren’t actively in the market for specific products or services. To make adjustments, go to Campaign-level settings > Other settings > Demographic exclusions. From here, you can turn on age or gender exclusions: While PMax initially didn’t even provide device-level reporting, a new feature lets you opt out of serving on certain devices. If you opt into all device targeting when launching a PMax campaign, you should periodically review device performance and adjust accordingly. This is best done by segmenting at the campaign or asset group level by device. Device-level data is extremely helpful for determining which device is better suited to reach your goal. Likewise, if you almost always opt out of certain devices when launching a campaign, this data makes it easier to either launch with all device targeting enabled and monitor performance, or add a device you hadn’t initially added to see how it impacts performance. Device-level targeting is also available at the campaign level, under Other settings. Improve inputs: Creative and AI assets Ad assets play a large role in the display, YouTube, and Discover network performance of a PMax campaign. For many, there’s still a gap in producing high volumes of quality image and video creative. While still evolving, AI assets are getting closer to filling these gaps — enabling us to more effectively target these additional networks. As newer iterations of LLMs emerge, this will become a primary way to generate video content and professional-looking images. Google already offers generative AI image assets from shopping feed products that look relatively impressive. But we’re still a ways out from seeing high-quality AI-generated videos without the well-known glitches we typically see in this type of content. Dig deeper: How to reduce low-quality leads from Performance Max campaigns Understand the limits of control in Performance Max The channel controls report gave more insight into where ads were serving. I have an unpopular opinion on this report. While helpful, there’s little we can do within the campaign to improve performance. Because of this, the report is frustrating. We’ll likely see channel controls available within Performance Max in the near future — similar to what we already have in Demand Gen campaigns. For now, adjust creative and bids to sway volume within certain networks. To opt out of certain networks completely and focus on shopping, then a feed-only Performance Max campaign will do just that. Performance Max is evolving from a black box to a critical asset in a marketer’s toolkit. The steady stream of new functionality, from campaign-level negative keywords to detailed placement and ad schedule reports, shows Google’s commitment to providing greater control. Use these levers — strategic exclusions, device adjustments, and budget-aware scheduling — to move beyond set-it-and-forget-it and run Performance Max campaigns with precision and efficiency. View the full article

It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes: I’m a longtime reader and huge fan of Ask a Manager. I wondered if you’ve ever done a column about people who were busted as writing in — people whose coworkers, boss, family, or friends read a post and realized the author was someone they knew. I have not, although I know of a few times when it’s happened: If you remember the manager whose best employee quit when she wasn’t allowed to go to her college graduation, the employee herself recognized the letter years later and wrote in, one of the other interns fired for writing a petition about the dress code wrote in a year later, and someone who thought they were a coworker of the person angry about cheap ass rolls also wrote in. There was also a letter-writer who was pretty sure that her employee was having an affair with a married coworker, but wasn’t sure if she knew that the guy was married — and the employee in question saw the letter on the manager’s screen. I’ve also occasionally heard privately from someone who says, “I think I’m in the office where this is happening, and here’s the other side of the story.” I will say that sometimes people think they recognize a situation and they’re wrong (there’s a key detail that’s different) or the situation happens enough that they couldn’t possibly know it’s theirs. And generally I want people to feel comfortable writing in here without having to worry that people will try to guess who they are! But it’s an interesting topic, so let’s open it up for the comment section! The post what happens when someone recognizes your letter to an advice column? appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

A company called Clickout Media is being called out for buying trusted news and niche sites, replacing them with AI-generated gambling content, and abandoning them after Google penalties. Some call this “parasite SEO,” but to me it sounds more like large-scale search spam. What’s happening. The company acquired sports, gaming, and tech sites, then rapidly shifted them from editorial coverage to casino and crypto content, PressGazette reported. Sites were stripped of original reporting, filled with AI-written articles, and used to push offshore gambling links, according to former employees. How it works. The strategy relies on buying domains with existing authority, then exploiting their ability to rank in Google. Content typically followed a pattern: Legitimate coverage continues briefly to preserve credibility Gambling content is introduced and scaled AI-generated articles and fake author profiles replace human writers Revenue comes from affiliate deals with casino operators, sometimes tied to player losses The impact. Several previously active publications now appear deindexed, with layoffs and closures following. In some cases, even charity websites were repurposed to host gambling content. What they’re saying. Google prohibits publishing content at scale for the primary purpose of manipulating rankings. It refers to extreme cases like this as “site reputation abuse,” a violation that can trigger manual actions and removal from Google’s index and search results. “While we aren’t able to comment on a specific site’s ranking on Search, our policies prohibit publishing content at scale for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings,” Google said about this case. Why we care. This isn’t SEO in any meaningful sense. It’s reputation abuse designed to game rankings at scale. The report. The SEO parasites buying, exploiting and ultimately killing online newsbrands by Rob Waugh at PressGazette. View the full article

If you're a regular ChatGPT user, then you're one of a crowd that's now around 900 million people strong. It seems that plenty of us are spending significant amounts of time with the AI chatbot, whether that's to get more done, search the web, work on creative or coding projects, or just have something to talk to. Are you making the most out of ChatGPT though? The web, mobile, and desktop apps come with a selection of settings and some prompt adjustment possibilities that you may not have fully explored yet. Here's how to level up. Use 'branch conversations' to explore tangents off your chatsOpenAI often rolls out minor but useful upgrades to ChatGPT that can get missed, and one of those is branch conversations. They quite literally let you branch off from one conversation and start another, while leaving the original chat preserved so you can go back to it if you need to (and maybe start another branch). It's a simple way to go off on a tangent with a discussion. Click or tap the three dots at the end of any ChatGPT response and you'll see the Branch in new chat option. A new chat is then created, based on the first. Trick ChatGPT into returning shorter, more effective results You can specify what kind of target audience you are to ChatGPT. Credit: Lifehacker The internet is awash with ChatGPT prompt "hacks" of varying quality and effectiveness, and they all really boil down to the specificity of the instructions you're giving the AI. From the length of the responses to the data format they're outputted in, tell ChatGPT what you want in precise terms, and it will oblige. One of the best of these prompt hacks I've seen lately is from u/AdCold1610 on Reddit, and all you have to do is put "extremely lazy person here" somewhere in the prompt. It often has quite a profound effect on the response: Answers get shorter and to the point, and if there are instructions involved they become simpler and more straightforward. You get less fluff and more action in general, though obviously how much impact the lazy prompt has will vary on what you're asking of the AI. Use Voice Mode to record memos or thoughtsYou may well have seen the little sound wave icon down in the bottom right corner of the ChatGPT prompt box and given Voice Mode a try, without really knowing how to make use of it or why it works better than typing in your prompts. One potentially helpful idea, though, is to use it as a voice memo recorder for stuff you need to get done; another is to use it as an audio-based personal journal for thoughts and reflections. You can keep them all together in one chat, or spread them out. There's no shortage of mobile apps that will record audio clips for you, but they don't come with ChatGPT's AI analysis brain attached. Once you've built up a library of recordings, you can get it to prioritize your to do list, remind you about something you've forgotten, summarize the main themes of your reflections, sum up your mood changes over the week, or whatever else you can think of. Use "Personalization" to tailor ChatGPT's answers towards your interests Delve into the Personalization settings. Credit: Lifehacker You can tailor the answers ChatGPT gives you by telling it more about yourself: what you know about a certain topic, how you best absorb information, how verbose or succinct you'd like the AI's responses to be, and so on. But entering these details for each and every prompt can get tiresome quickly. There's actually a place to put details like this in ChatGPT's settings, as long as you open the panel on the web or desktop: Click your account profile avatar (bottom left), then choose Personalization.The next screen not only lets you set some guidelines for the personality ChatGPT should use by default, it also lets you tell the AI a bit about yourself—which it will keep permanently in its memory. You can add details including your occupation, your ethical values, your preferred learning style, and your main interests. Use Photoshop to edit photos within ChatGPT for freeChatGPT comes with mini-apps you can connect to via the prompt box, and one of those apps happens to be Photoshop—meaning you can carry out some pretty advanced edits using Adobe's software technology, free of charge. The plug-in is currently available in all the ChatGPT apps except Android and Windows. Pick Apps from the navigation pane, then search for "Photoshop" and click Connect to add it to your ChatGPT tools. You can then call it into action via the + (plus) button in the prompt box, or by typing "@" in your prompt followed by the app name. With Photoshop enabled, you can perform all kinds of edits: blur backgrounds, remove objects, and tweak brightness and contrast, for example. Just use the same natural language as you would in any ChatGPT conversation. You do need to upload an image to edit, or provide a public web link to one. If you don't do this before you submit your prompt, you'll be asked to do it after. Use your phone camera for live help Don't neglect the Camera option on mobile. Credit: Lifehacker ChatGPT for Android and iOS comes with a superpower: access to your phone's camera, so you can feed it photos in real time as you explore the world and go about the business of daily life. Just tap the + (plus) button by the prompt box, then Camera. Even if you've realized the feature is there, you might not have realized how much you can do with it. It'll translate signs in a foreign language for you, identify movies and TV shows from images posted to social media, pick out the route you need to take from a picture of a timetable or transit map, and explain what's in a particular dish on a menu. Ask ChatGPT for questions rather than answersBack to a bit of prompt hacking: Another trick that I've used a lot recently was taken from Reviewracoon on Medium. It's a debugging prompt, which means you don't ask for answers; instead, you ask ChatGPT for questions that are going to help you get to the answers yourself. This works best when reviewing your own writing, code, or ideas. For a draft of a short story, for example, you might say: "Don't tell me what's wrong and how to fix it. Instead, act like a detective, asking questions that will help me figure out how to improve it." What you'll get back will encourage you to review the thinking around your own process, what you're trying to achieve, and why you've taken the approaches you have. Use temporary chats to run ChatGPT in incognito mode Launch temporary chats on mobile or desktop. Credit: Lifehacker Another feature you might not have come across is the very handy temporary chat tool, which works like an incognito mode for ChatGPT. Nothing in this chat will be saved—it'll be instantly forgotten as soon as you close it. To start a temporary chat, open up a new chat and then click or tap the dashed speech bubble up in the top right corner. Reduce your messaging limits to block ads in ChatGPT FreeIf you're on the Free or Go tiers of ChatGPT, you're going to see ads by default to help pay OpenAI's data center bills, but there is a way to remove them: You just have to put up with lower usage limits in return. Get to your profile page by clicking or tapping on your username, then select Ads controls > Change plan to go ad-free > Reduce message limits to make the change. (You can reverse it any time you like.) OpenAI doesn't actually specify how restrictive this will be in terms of a daily message allowance, but it's an option you can try out. The other ways to remove ads are to switch to a Plus, Pro, Business, or Enterprise account (starting from $20 per month), or to register for an Education account. These subscriptions come with other benefits too, including access to smarter models. Use 'Study and learn' mode to pick up new skills and concepts Study and learn mode will feed you knowledge and then test you on it. Credit: Lifehacker You can employ ChatGPT as a learning tool in all kinds of ways, but there is a specific Study and learn mode built right in. OpenAI describes it as "a learning experience that helps you work through problems step by step instead of just getting an answer". To enable it, tap or click the + (plus) button on the prompt box, then choose Study and learn (it might be behind a More menu). Specify the topic you want to learn, and submit the prompt to get started with your tutoring session. ChatGPT may ask you some clarification questions so the bot can narrow down its teaching material. What you'll get next is a blend of information and questions to test your knowledge: ChatGPT will mark your answers as you go, then adapt the learning experience to meet you where you currently are. View the full article

The era of communicating by snail mail is long gone, and the United States Postal Service (USPS) has suffered in its wake. Now, the independent government agency has found a new way to make up some of its losses. Starting on Sunday, April 26, the U.S. post office will implement an 8% transportation surcharge on packages. It will remain through January 17, 2027, when the agency hopes to implement any necessary long-term approaches. “This temporary price adjustment will provide needed flexibility for the Postal Service by helping to ensure that the actual costs of doing business are covered, as required by Congress,” the USPS statement reads. Its implementation is subject to the Postal Regulatory Commission’s approval. Which package services will be impacted by the surcharge? The surcharge will apply to “retail and commercial domestic competitive products” sent through: Priority Mail Express Priority Mail USPS Ground Advantage Parcel Select The announcement comes less than two weeks after Postmaster General David Steiner told Congress that the USPS is at a “critical juncture.” Steiner said that, if things remain the same, the USPS would be out of cash and unable to deliver the mail in less than a year. In 2006, USPS had 213 billion pieces per year, a number now down to 109 billion pieces. “For perspective, if all of that lost volume was paid at the current price of a stamp, which is 78 cents, that’s about 81 billion dollars. No company could weather that much revenue loss,” said Steiner. The Postmaster General floated the idea of raising the price of First-Class Stamps to 90 or 95 cents, from 78 cents—a change he said would solve the agency’s “controllable loss.” However, the surcharge announcement specifically states that First-Class Stamps will not be affected by the 8% increase. The growing cost of transportation In its statement, the USPS positioned itself as a much cheaper alternative to its competitors, noting rising prices. Package delivery companies UPS and FedEx already have their own transportation surcharges. “Transportation costs have been increasing, and our competitors have reacted with a number of surcharges,” the Postal Service said. “We have steadfastly avoided surcharges and this charge is less than one-third of what our competitors charge for fuel alone, so even with this change, the Postal Service continues to offer great value in shipping with some of the lowest rates in the industrialized world.” The current war in the Middle East has exacerbated this issue. Brent crude oil rose about 4% on Thursday to more than $104 a barrel, a 75% increase per barrel in 2026. Similarly, West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose more than 3.5% on Thursday to about $93.59 — up more than 63% this year. 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. One of the most expensive parts of a personal tool kit is the batteries, especially if you want to use multiple tools simultaneously without having to swap the battery each time you change tools. Moving seamlessly between drilling pilot holes and driving screws can save you time on your DIY projects, but the cost of extra batteries can add up. These deals from Home Depot are a good way to save more than 50% on a battery and tool combo if you want to expand your Milwaukee set. Battery combo 18-volt Milwaukee six-amp-hour battery two-pack Free extra battery with purchase $299.00 at Home Depot $439.00 Save $140.00 Get Deal Get Deal $299.00 at Home Depot $439.00 Save $140.00 If you use bigger Milwaukee 18-volt tools like a circular saw, or use a Milwaukee inverter in your emergency kit for temporary emergency power, a few extra six-amp-hour batteries are helpful to have around, but the higher capacity batteries can be expensive. The two-pack of 18-volt Milwaukee six-amp-hour batteries is on sale for $299, 32% off its regular price. When you open the link to the two-pack, you'll see a "free gift with purchase" menu to the right, and you can select a third six-amp-hour battery from this menu. Once you add the battery, the discount is applied in your cart for a total savings of 53% off. Tool combosI use my Milwaukee 18-volt random orbital sander daily when I’m working on furniture and other projects. Having a cordless sander is more convenient because you don’t have to drag the cord around when you’re working on delicate projects and you can bring it with you wherever you want to work, making it perfect for outdoor woodworking as well. The Milwaukee 18-volt random orbital sander is on sale for $229 and it comes with a free six-amp-hour 18-volt battery when you select it in the "free gift with purchase" menu, saving you about 46% on the bundle. On this bundle, as with the other two tool bundles, you’ll need an 18-volt Milwaukee charger to use the battery. My Milwaukee oscillating multitool has saved many of my household projects because of its versatility. I used mine when I needed to replace the drain in my 115-year-old Craftsman’s bathroom sink to cut through the plaster and lathe, to cut some PVC components, to trim the drain pipe where it came out from the wall, to trim a patch I installed, and to sand over some places after I patched the wall. The 18-volt Milwaukee oscillating multitool is $249, and right now, it comes with a free 18-volt, six-amp-hour battery when you select it in the "free gift with purchase" menu, saving you around 44% on the set. 18-volt Milwaukee oscillating multitool Free battery with purchase $249.00 at Home Depot Get Deal Get Deal $249.00 at Home Depot I use my 6 ½” Milwaukee circular saw frequently to make quick rip cuts or in places I can’t use a table saw. Battery technology has come a long way since I first started using a cordless circular saw and I had to change out my battery every 20 minutes or so. With larger capacity batteries, you can use your cordless circular saw for several hours before needing to replace the battery, depending on the thickness and density of the material you’re cutting. The Milwaukee 18-volt, 6 ½” cordless circular saw is $229, and it comes with a free six-amp-hour battery when you select it in the "free gift with purchase" menu, saving you about 46% on the combo. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 128GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet (Gray) — $209.99 (List Price $249.99) Sony WH1000XM6- Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $398.00 (List Price $459.99) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote — $34.99 (List Price $59.99) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Like it or not, everyone is fishing in the same pond. As content marketers and SEO practitioners, we all have the same subscriptions to Semrush and other SEO tools, giving us access to the same data as our competitors. If we all have the same tools, aren’t we just writing the same content? There’s a better way. You may be sitting on a wealth of data about your target audience and your existing customers, and you don’t even know it. These insights are invisible to your competitors, yet they’re unread, unanalyzed, and underutilized by the marketing team. The problem: Third-party tools can create an over-commoditized content echo chamber While SEO toolsets are invaluable (and I’ll always be using one, pretty much daily, for the rest of my career), they aren’t a failsafe way to ensure you’re creating the best content for your audience. These tools measure existing search demand through their own data, giving the best estimate of keyword traffic and search results. However, when these aren’t viewed through the lens of your own customers, the result can be content that’s oversaturated in your market, overwhelming anyone looking for help or answers online. When your content isn’t unique to your current or target audience, your organization and its offerings may get lost in the sea of SEOs and content strategists at your competitor organizations, who are trying to follow the same best practices and strategy. It’s time to better utilize your own data to implement content campaigns that drive interest from the very audience that’s already shown a proven interest. 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 What first-party data actually is For the purposes of this article and marketing content creation, first-party data is any data from current, potential, or past customers that’s only accessible internally. The top “5 goldmines” where I’ve consistently found nuggets of content foundations and insight are: Internal site search queries: What visitors couldn’t find on your site, but keep searching for. Sales call transcripts: The exact language and questions prospects say before they buy. CRM data: Spotting patterns in deal stages, objections, and lost deals. Support tickets: The issues and questions your product or service keeps failing to answer, leading to frustrated customers. Email replies and metrics: What the audience actually responds to versus what they ignore. These five areas are a great place to start collecting and utilizing first-party data to its full potential. Dig deeper: How to harness the power of data gathering for SEO Why this data wins This data is key to better, more-targeted content marketing for three reasons. It’s proprietary This data is confidential and only available to your internal team. Often, it’s not even accessible to everyone and may require favors from data analysts or web developers to pull. That’s what makes it so unique. Competitors can’t find or replicate it, no matter what SEO tools they have. It reflects real buyer language This relates to the “curse of knowledge” cognitive bias, where you know so much about a topic that you assume others do as well. One of my favorite examples is the “facial tissue” market. You may know facial tissue as “Kleenex,” even though that’s technically a brand name for a type of facial tissue. With many consumers using a competitor’s brand name colloquially, how do competitors refer to their own product? Because most people likely aren’t searching “facial tissue” with the intent to buy, it’s up to manufacturers to determine the language their audience uses to find alternatives. Even though employees at XYZ Tissue Co. know the product is technically “facial tissue,” that doesn’t mean their customers do. It maps to your full marketing funnel While third-party keyword data usually skews to the top of the funnel, first-party data captures mid- and bottom-funnel content gaps that drive conversions and brand loyalty, not just traffic. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. How to get content ideas from first-party data: The specifics We know these data sources are valuable. So, how do we use them? Let’s break it down. Internal site search Site search is one of my favorite sources of insight and inspiration. It’s active, ongoing, real-time data showing how your target audience is trying to interact and engage with you through internal site search. No matter what the data looks like, it can hold a wealth of information about what content your users expect to find on your website. If you don’t have site search on your website, you can create it using Google’s programmable site search feature. While it will provide internal site search data, it may also display ads or external results on users’ results pages. To use site search effectively, export the queries monthly, clean the data to remove spam, then cluster by theme (such as product collections or service offerings). Finally, run it through keyword research tools to flag anything with high keyword volume and low competition that’s missing from your site. Bonus: For products or services your customers are searching for that don’t exist, it might be useful to send that data to the R&D department for potential new offerings to consider. Dig deeper: Why internal site search can be your competitive edge in enterprise SEO Sales calls and CRM data Use a service like Gong, Chorus, or manual transcriptions from sales calls and CRM data to look for recurring needs, questions, and objections across customers from all stages of the purchasing funnel. If, for instance, you see continued resistance to your enterprise SaaS analytics platform due to the long onboarding process, consider creating a time-bound, step-by-step guide that makes it painless for anyone to switch analytics platforms. This can be great collateral for the sales team to address popular objections. In the CRM, you can also filter lost deals by reason. For instance, finding “went with competitor” + common objection could lead to a comparison or differentiation article that highlights your features vs. the competitors you keep losing deals to. Besides reviewing the data, ask the sales team directly on a call or email about their most common objections. Because they’re constantly in communication with potential customers, they’ll likely know immediately the top objections they receive regularly. Support tickets The support team can also be an invaluable resource. In addition to asking the support team directly what problems they solve for customers on a daily basis, look in your customer support ticket queue and dashboard to find old and new tickets with recurring issues (your top 10 most common complaints are probably content gaps you need to address ASAP). An explainer blog post, knowledge base article, or PDF guide that tackles the issue from an actionable angle can not only give you more content to promote, but also help the support team with materials to share with your customers. Email replies and metrics Depending on the industry, your email lists’ reply inboxes may be exploding with valuable customer data. At a supplements company I worked at, we regularly received customer responses to our email marketing campaigns. They asked questions about products, gave suggestions, and even offered enthusiastic reviews we could feature on our website. You can also look at the metrics. If your monthly newsletter is the highest-performing email, should you increase it to a biweekly newsletter? If your product features never get high conversions, is that because of the content, or are they more interested in value-focused blog posts and videos? Dig deeper: How to apply ‘They Ask, You Answer’ to SEO and AI visibility 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 The first-party advantage Don’t take your first-party data for granted. Build automated pipelines for report generation, conversation follow-ups, and content creation from these sources to build momentum around the topics your audience most wants to hear. While competitors can copy your articles, they can never copy your customer conversations. Try it out this week: audit a first-party data source and see what content ideas you can find. View the full article

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. The Google March 2026 spam update was the fastest rolling out update...View the full article

Thanks for the memory? The stock prices of Micron Technology Inc (Nasdaq: MU) and SanDisk Corp (Nasdaq: SNDK), two of the top publicly traded memory chip storage companies, are taking a beating this week, halting a stunning rally that began late last year. As of Thursday morning before the market opened, Micron shares were down almost 10% over the past five days, and down 3.5% overnight. SanDisk shares were down more than 4% over the previous five days, and down 4.4% overnight. The broader market, on the other hand, has been flat, with the S&P 500 up barely 0.1% over the previous five days. AI-fueled RAM memory shortage The declines are a reversal of fortunes for the two chip stocks, which have had an incredible year so far, in large part due to a looming shortage of random access memory (RAM) storage. That shortage is being fueled by the AI boom, which requires a lot of memory and computing power. As tech giants build out massive AI data centers to power the boom, chipmakers simply haven’t been able to keep up. Accordingly, companies like Micron, SanDisk, Western Digital, and Seagate saw significant gains in share price. So, what’s changed in recent days? The single biggest factor may have to do with a recent announcement from Alphabet, Google’s parent company. On Tuesday, the company announced TurboQuant, which it describes as “a compression algorithm that optimally addresses the challenge of memory overhead in vector quantization.” In other words, Google thinks that it’s discovered a new method of compressing data that could reduce how much memory is required to effectively run AI models. “TurboQuant achieves perfect downstream results across all benchmarks while reducing the key value memory size by a factor of at least 6x,” Alphabet’s announcement reads. That means six-times less memory could be required to do the same amount of work for certain tasks in certain circumstances—and, therefore, less need for memory or RAM. Of course, nothing concrete has come of the announcement, at least not yet. But TurboQuant has clearly caught the industry’s attention, and that of investors, some of whom may now be seeking to lock in the profits they’ve made on chip stocks over the last several months. Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, said on X that the TurboQuant announcement was akin to Google’s “DeepSeek moment,” a reference to the arrival of the Chinese-built, hyper-efficient LLM that hit the market more than a year ago, causing a huge sell-off in the tech sector. View the full article

A business objectives template is a structured framework that helps you define, measure, and track your organization’s goals. It standardizes terminology and roles, which improves team collaboration and accountability. By using this template, you can align your objectives with the company’s vision, streamline planning, and monitor progress effectively. Comprehending its key components and benefits can greatly impact your strategic planning. So, what steps should you take to create an effective template? Key Takeaways A business objectives template provides a structured format for setting clear, measurable goals aligned with the company’s vision. It enhances team alignment by standardizing terminology and clarifying roles and responsibilities across departments. The template streamlines the planning process, allowing teams to focus more on execution and achieving results. It includes sections for key performance indicators (KPIs), facilitating progress tracking and necessary adjustments. Regular updates to the template ensure objectives remain relevant and aligned with evolving market conditions and organizational goals. Understanding Business Objectives Comprehending business objectives is crucial for any organization aiming to achieve its long-term goals. These objectives serve as specific, measurable outcomes that align with your company’s overall vision. You’ll find that they can be categorized into strategic objectives, which are long-term and mission-driven, and operational objectives, which support those strategic goals in the short term. Utilizing a business objectives template helps you define these goals clearly. Incorporating the SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based—can further improve your objectives. Well-defined objectives encourage accountability and boost employee engagement while providing a framework to evaluate progress over time. Regularly revisiting these objectives guarantees they remain aligned with changing market conditions and your organization’s priorities. The Purpose of a Business Objectives Template A business objectives template streamlines goal setting by providing a clear structure for defining specific and measurable targets. This clarity improves team alignment, ensuring everyone understands their roles and responsibilities in achieving the company’s objectives. Streamline Goal Setting When you implement a business objectives template, you create a structured approach that simplifies the goal-setting process. This goal setting template provides a clear framework for establishing measurable objectives that align with your company’s strategic vision. By standardizing terminology, it improves consistency across departments, facilitating better communication and collaboration. Utilizing a goal planning template that incorporates the SMART criteria guarantees your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Documenting these objectives allows for easy tracking of progress, enabling you to make necessary adjustments as needed. Overall, a business objectives template greatly reduces the time spent on planning and reviewing, allowing your team to focus more on execution and achieving meaningful results efficiently. Enhance Team Alignment Implementing a business objectives template not just streamlines the goal-setting process, but it also plays a crucial role in enhancing team alignment. This template provides a structured framework, ensuring all team members are on the same page regarding specific, measurable goals that drive broader organizational objectives. By clearly outlining roles and responsibilities, it encourages accountability and transparency. Furthermore, using a goal setting plan template promotes effective communication, reducing misunderstandings and enhancing collaboration across departments. Regular updates keep the team aligned with company priorities, allowing for quick adaptation to market changes. Finally, a well-defined template improves performance tracking through consistent metrics, enabling you to measure progress and adjust strategies effectively, as can be illustrated with business planning ppt slides. Key Components of an Effective Template To create an effective business objectives template, you need to start with clear objective definitions that adhere to the SMART criteria: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Incorporating a framework for measuring progress, including key performance indicators (KPIs), allows you to track success against set benchmarks. Furthermore, outlining team responsibilities and establishing a timeline for each objective guarantees accountability and timely evaluations. Clear Objective Definition A well-crafted business objectives template serves as a roadmap for achieving your company’s vision and strategic goals. For effective objective definition, you need to outline specific and measurable outcomes that align with your overall strategy. Your goal development template should include defined timelines, relevant key performance indicators (KPIs), and a clear categorization of objectives, such as financial and customer-centric. Incorporating elements from a smart objectives template guarantees your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Furthermore, assigning responsible parties promotes accountability and encourages collaboration among team members. Regular updates to the template are essential, as they help reflect any changes in strategy and maintain alignment with your evolving business objectives. SMART Criteria Application When considering how to create effective business objectives, applying the SMART criteria is essential for guaranteeing clarity and accountability. This framework helps you define objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. By using this approach, you improve your goal-setting process. SMART Component Description Specific Clearly define the desired outcome. Measurable Include quantifiable metrics for tracking progress. Achievable Set realistic goals that consider resources. Using a smart goals template free download can streamline this process. Furthermore, a goal setting sheet can help you organize your objectives effectively. Embracing the SMART criteria guarantees that your business objectives are well-structured and aligned with your overall strategy. Progress Measurement Framework Establishing a progress measurement framework is crucial for ensuring that your business objectives remain on track and achievable. A well-designed goal sheet template should include clearly defined key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your objectives, ensuring measurable outcomes. Incorporate timelines and milestones to help you track progress and adjust strategies when necessary. Consistent data collection methods are fundamental for regular reporting and analysis, whereas roles and responsibilities must be clearly delineated to hold team members accountable for monitoring progress. Moreover, integrating regular review intervals into your goal setting template allows stakeholders to assess progress, celebrate achievements, and recalibrate objectives if needed. This structured approach encourages a proactive environment focused on achieving your business goals effectively. Benefits of Using a Business Objectives Template Utilizing a business objectives template can greatly improve your goal-setting process by providing a structured framework that emphasizes the SMART criteria—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. This goal-making template boosts accountability by defining roles and responsibilities, making it easier to track progress. It also streamlines planning, saving you time and resources with a consistent format for documentation. Here’s a quick overview of the benefits: Benefit Description Improved Accountability Clearly defined roles help track progress. Streamlined Planning Consistent format saves time and resources. Enhanced Communication Unified comprehension encourages teamwork. Adaptability Quickly revise objectives in response to change. Using a smart goal setting sheet guarantees your objectives align with organizational goals. Steps to Create Your Business Objectives Template Creating a business objectives template begins with a clear comprehension of its purpose and alignment with your organization’s strategic vision. Start by outlining your objectives, ensuring they meet the SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This is where a goal template becomes crucial. Use a smart goals template excel to organize your thoughts effectively. Include sections for key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress, along with timelines and assigned responsibilities for accountability. Remember to involve team members in this process to gather diverse insights, which can improve acceptance of the template. Finally, regularly update your template to adapt to any changes in strategy or performance, promoting continuous improvement in your goal-setting approach. Aligning Objectives With Organizational Goals Aligning your objectives with organizational goals is essential for guaranteeing that every team member contributes effectively to the company’s overall mission. Using a business objectives template helps you systematically categorize and prioritize your goals, making it easier to see how each one contributes to the broader strategic vision. This alignment boosts accountability, allowing for clear tracking of progress against defined targets. Regularly updating your goal worksheet template guarantees that your objectives stay relevant as organizational strategies or market conditions change. Additionally, a well-defined business objectives template encourages collaboration among departments, promoting cross-functional teamwork toward shared goals. In the end, this coherence drives company-wide success and helps you navigate challenges more effectively. Measuring Success With Key Performance Indicators How can you accurately gauge the effectiveness of your business strategies? By utilizing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), you can measure progress in relation to your objectives. These specific, quantifiable metrics provide insights that align with your strategic goals, helping you make informed decisions. To guarantee clarity, your KPIs should follow the SMART goal form—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Regularly tracking these indicators allows you to assess performance trends and adjust strategies as needed. Furthermore, employing a goal chart template can keep your KPI data organized and accessible. This balanced approach not just monitors financial performance but additionally evaluates non-financial metrics, giving you an all-encompassing view of your business’s overall success. Common Mistakes to Avoid Setting clear business objectives is critical for steering your organization in the right direction, but several common pitfalls can undermine this process. Avoid these mistakes to improve your effectiveness: Mistake Impact Misaligning objectives with vision Leads to misdirection and wasted resources Ignoring SMART criteria Results in vague goals lacking clarity Overcomplicating objectives Confuses employees and hinders engagement Don’t forget to utilize a monthly goals template to keep your objectives on track. Furthermore, consider incorporating a smart goals printable to guarantee your objectives are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Regularly review and update your goals to adapt to changes in the market and maintain alignment with your organizational strategy. Resources for Further Learning Many organizations benefit from seeking additional resources to improve their grasp of effective business objective setting. To boost your skills in this area, consider the following: Online Courses: Platforms like Coursera or Udemy offer courses focusing on business strategy and goal alignment, helping you comprehend the nuances of performance measurement. Workshops: Attending business strategy workshops can provide hands-on experience in using tools like a yearly goals template, allowing you to practice setting measurable objectives. Literature: Reading books and articles on goal-setting can deepen your knowledge of creating a goal list template, along with the importance of defining key performance indicators (KPIs) for tracking progress. These resources can greatly improve your ability to set and achieve effective business objectives. Frequently Asked Questions What Are Business Objectives and Why Are They Important? Business objectives are specific, measurable targets that help you steer your company toward its long-term goals. They’re essential since they guide decision-making and resource allocation, ensuring everyone is aligned. By focusing on areas like financial health and customer satisfaction, you not just track progress but additionally promote accountability among your team. When objectives follow the SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based—you improve your chances of achieving your strategic goals effectively. What Are the 4 Types of Business Objectives? You can categorize business objectives into four main types: economic, social, human, and organic. Economic objectives focus on financial performance, aiming for profitability and cash flow. Social objectives emphasize customer satisfaction, targeting market share and brand awareness. Human objectives center on employee engagement, seeking to improve retention and workplace culture. Finally, organic objectives prioritize innovation and efficiency, ensuring the business adapts and grows in a competitive market. Each type plays a vital role in overall success. What Are the 5 Main Business Objectives? The five main business objectives you should focus on are economic, social, human, organic, and compliance objectives. Economic objectives prioritize profitability and financial health, whereas social objectives aim to improve customer satisfaction and market share. Human objectives emphasize employee engagement and retention. Organic objectives drive innovation and efficiency, and compliance objectives guarantee adherence to regulations. Together, these objectives create a balanced approach to achieving long-term success and sustainability in your business. How to Write a Business Objective Template? To write a business objective template, start by defining clear fields for specific, measurable outcomes that align with your company’s goals. Incorporate SMART criteria to guarantee each objective is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Include sections for key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor progress. Make certain to allow for regular reviews and adjustments, and provide space for team collaboration to cultivate ownership and diverse input in setting objectives. Conclusion In summary, a business objectives template is crucial for effective goal-setting within your organization. By providing a structured approach, it guarantees that your objectives align with broader organizational goals and facilitates measurement through key performance indicators. Utilizing this template can improve collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement, eventually leading to better business outcomes. By following the outlined steps and avoiding common pitfalls, you can create a robust framework that drives your business forward in a competitive environment. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is a Business Objectives Template and Why Need One?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

A business objectives template is a structured framework that helps you define, measure, and track your organization’s goals. It standardizes terminology and roles, which improves team collaboration and accountability. By using this template, you can align your objectives with the company’s vision, streamline planning, and monitor progress effectively. Comprehending its key components and benefits can greatly impact your strategic planning. So, what steps should you take to create an effective template? Key Takeaways A business objectives template provides a structured format for setting clear, measurable goals aligned with the company’s vision. It enhances team alignment by standardizing terminology and clarifying roles and responsibilities across departments. The template streamlines the planning process, allowing teams to focus more on execution and achieving results. It includes sections for key performance indicators (KPIs), facilitating progress tracking and necessary adjustments. Regular updates to the template ensure objectives remain relevant and aligned with evolving market conditions and organizational goals. Understanding Business Objectives Comprehending business objectives is crucial for any organization aiming to achieve its long-term goals. These objectives serve as specific, measurable outcomes that align with your company’s overall vision. You’ll find that they can be categorized into strategic objectives, which are long-term and mission-driven, and operational objectives, which support those strategic goals in the short term. Utilizing a business objectives template helps you define these goals clearly. Incorporating the SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based—can further improve your objectives. Well-defined objectives encourage accountability and boost employee engagement while providing a framework to evaluate progress over time. Regularly revisiting these objectives guarantees they remain aligned with changing market conditions and your organization’s priorities. The Purpose of a Business Objectives Template A business objectives template streamlines goal setting by providing a clear structure for defining specific and measurable targets. This clarity improves team alignment, ensuring everyone understands their roles and responsibilities in achieving the company’s objectives. Streamline Goal Setting When you implement a business objectives template, you create a structured approach that simplifies the goal-setting process. This goal setting template provides a clear framework for establishing measurable objectives that align with your company’s strategic vision. By standardizing terminology, it improves consistency across departments, facilitating better communication and collaboration. Utilizing a goal planning template that incorporates the SMART criteria guarantees your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Documenting these objectives allows for easy tracking of progress, enabling you to make necessary adjustments as needed. Overall, a business objectives template greatly reduces the time spent on planning and reviewing, allowing your team to focus more on execution and achieving meaningful results efficiently. Enhance Team Alignment Implementing a business objectives template not just streamlines the goal-setting process, but it also plays a crucial role in enhancing team alignment. This template provides a structured framework, ensuring all team members are on the same page regarding specific, measurable goals that drive broader organizational objectives. By clearly outlining roles and responsibilities, it encourages accountability and transparency. Furthermore, using a goal setting plan template promotes effective communication, reducing misunderstandings and enhancing collaboration across departments. Regular updates keep the team aligned with company priorities, allowing for quick adaptation to market changes. Finally, a well-defined template improves performance tracking through consistent metrics, enabling you to measure progress and adjust strategies effectively, as can be illustrated with business planning ppt slides. Key Components of an Effective Template To create an effective business objectives template, you need to start with clear objective definitions that adhere to the SMART criteria: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Incorporating a framework for measuring progress, including key performance indicators (KPIs), allows you to track success against set benchmarks. Furthermore, outlining team responsibilities and establishing a timeline for each objective guarantees accountability and timely evaluations. Clear Objective Definition A well-crafted business objectives template serves as a roadmap for achieving your company’s vision and strategic goals. For effective objective definition, you need to outline specific and measurable outcomes that align with your overall strategy. Your goal development template should include defined timelines, relevant key performance indicators (KPIs), and a clear categorization of objectives, such as financial and customer-centric. Incorporating elements from a smart objectives template guarantees your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Furthermore, assigning responsible parties promotes accountability and encourages collaboration among team members. Regular updates to the template are essential, as they help reflect any changes in strategy and maintain alignment with your evolving business objectives. SMART Criteria Application When considering how to create effective business objectives, applying the SMART criteria is essential for guaranteeing clarity and accountability. This framework helps you define objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. By using this approach, you improve your goal-setting process. SMART Component Description Specific Clearly define the desired outcome. Measurable Include quantifiable metrics for tracking progress. Achievable Set realistic goals that consider resources. Using a smart goals template free download can streamline this process. Furthermore, a goal setting sheet can help you organize your objectives effectively. Embracing the SMART criteria guarantees that your business objectives are well-structured and aligned with your overall strategy. Progress Measurement Framework Establishing a progress measurement framework is crucial for ensuring that your business objectives remain on track and achievable. A well-designed goal sheet template should include clearly defined key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your objectives, ensuring measurable outcomes. Incorporate timelines and milestones to help you track progress and adjust strategies when necessary. Consistent data collection methods are fundamental for regular reporting and analysis, whereas roles and responsibilities must be clearly delineated to hold team members accountable for monitoring progress. Moreover, integrating regular review intervals into your goal setting template allows stakeholders to assess progress, celebrate achievements, and recalibrate objectives if needed. This structured approach encourages a proactive environment focused on achieving your business goals effectively. Benefits of Using a Business Objectives Template Utilizing a business objectives template can greatly improve your goal-setting process by providing a structured framework that emphasizes the SMART criteria—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. This goal-making template boosts accountability by defining roles and responsibilities, making it easier to track progress. It also streamlines planning, saving you time and resources with a consistent format for documentation. Here’s a quick overview of the benefits: Benefit Description Improved Accountability Clearly defined roles help track progress. Streamlined Planning Consistent format saves time and resources. Enhanced Communication Unified comprehension encourages teamwork. Adaptability Quickly revise objectives in response to change. Using a smart goal setting sheet guarantees your objectives align with organizational goals. Steps to Create Your Business Objectives Template Creating a business objectives template begins with a clear comprehension of its purpose and alignment with your organization’s strategic vision. Start by outlining your objectives, ensuring they meet the SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This is where a goal template becomes crucial. Use a smart goals template excel to organize your thoughts effectively. Include sections for key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress, along with timelines and assigned responsibilities for accountability. Remember to involve team members in this process to gather diverse insights, which can improve acceptance of the template. Finally, regularly update your template to adapt to any changes in strategy or performance, promoting continuous improvement in your goal-setting approach. Aligning Objectives With Organizational Goals Aligning your objectives with organizational goals is essential for guaranteeing that every team member contributes effectively to the company’s overall mission. Using a business objectives template helps you systematically categorize and prioritize your goals, making it easier to see how each one contributes to the broader strategic vision. This alignment boosts accountability, allowing for clear tracking of progress against defined targets. Regularly updating your goal worksheet template guarantees that your objectives stay relevant as organizational strategies or market conditions change. Additionally, a well-defined business objectives template encourages collaboration among departments, promoting cross-functional teamwork toward shared goals. In the end, this coherence drives company-wide success and helps you navigate challenges more effectively. Measuring Success With Key Performance Indicators How can you accurately gauge the effectiveness of your business strategies? By utilizing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), you can measure progress in relation to your objectives. These specific, quantifiable metrics provide insights that align with your strategic goals, helping you make informed decisions. To guarantee clarity, your KPIs should follow the SMART goal form—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Regularly tracking these indicators allows you to assess performance trends and adjust strategies as needed. Furthermore, employing a goal chart template can keep your KPI data organized and accessible. This balanced approach not just monitors financial performance but additionally evaluates non-financial metrics, giving you an all-encompassing view of your business’s overall success. Common Mistakes to Avoid Setting clear business objectives is critical for steering your organization in the right direction, but several common pitfalls can undermine this process. Avoid these mistakes to improve your effectiveness: Mistake Impact Misaligning objectives with vision Leads to misdirection and wasted resources Ignoring SMART criteria Results in vague goals lacking clarity Overcomplicating objectives Confuses employees and hinders engagement Don’t forget to utilize a monthly goals template to keep your objectives on track. Furthermore, consider incorporating a smart goals printable to guarantee your objectives are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Regularly review and update your goals to adapt to changes in the market and maintain alignment with your organizational strategy. Resources for Further Learning Many organizations benefit from seeking additional resources to improve their grasp of effective business objective setting. To boost your skills in this area, consider the following: Online Courses: Platforms like Coursera or Udemy offer courses focusing on business strategy and goal alignment, helping you comprehend the nuances of performance measurement. Workshops: Attending business strategy workshops can provide hands-on experience in using tools like a yearly goals template, allowing you to practice setting measurable objectives. Literature: Reading books and articles on goal-setting can deepen your knowledge of creating a goal list template, along with the importance of defining key performance indicators (KPIs) for tracking progress. These resources can greatly improve your ability to set and achieve effective business objectives. Frequently Asked Questions What Are Business Objectives and Why Are They Important? Business objectives are specific, measurable targets that help you steer your company toward its long-term goals. They’re essential since they guide decision-making and resource allocation, ensuring everyone is aligned. By focusing on areas like financial health and customer satisfaction, you not just track progress but additionally promote accountability among your team. When objectives follow the SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based—you improve your chances of achieving your strategic goals effectively. What Are the 4 Types of Business Objectives? You can categorize business objectives into four main types: economic, social, human, and organic. Economic objectives focus on financial performance, aiming for profitability and cash flow. Social objectives emphasize customer satisfaction, targeting market share and brand awareness. Human objectives center on employee engagement, seeking to improve retention and workplace culture. Finally, organic objectives prioritize innovation and efficiency, ensuring the business adapts and grows in a competitive market. Each type plays a vital role in overall success. What Are the 5 Main Business Objectives? The five main business objectives you should focus on are economic, social, human, organic, and compliance objectives. Economic objectives prioritize profitability and financial health, whereas social objectives aim to improve customer satisfaction and market share. Human objectives emphasize employee engagement and retention. Organic objectives drive innovation and efficiency, and compliance objectives guarantee adherence to regulations. Together, these objectives create a balanced approach to achieving long-term success and sustainability in your business. How to Write a Business Objective Template? To write a business objective template, start by defining clear fields for specific, measurable outcomes that align with your company’s goals. Incorporate SMART criteria to guarantee each objective is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Include sections for key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor progress. Make certain to allow for regular reviews and adjustments, and provide space for team collaboration to cultivate ownership and diverse input in setting objectives. Conclusion In summary, a business objectives template is crucial for effective goal-setting within your organization. By providing a structured approach, it guarantees that your objectives align with broader organizational goals and facilitates measurement through key performance indicators. Utilizing this template can improve collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement, eventually leading to better business outcomes. By following the outlined steps and avoiding common pitfalls, you can create a robust framework that drives your business forward in a competitive environment. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is a Business Objectives Template and Why Need One?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

In this IMHO interview, Ash Nallawalla explains why governance is the missing layer behind most visibility breakdowns. The post How To Avoid Top Down SEO Systems Failures With The Visibility Governance Maturity Model appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Google expanded its structured data support for forum and Q&A pages, adding properties that help you signal reply threads, quoted content, and whether content is human- or machine-generated. The update aims to reduce how Google misreads discussion and Q&A content. What changed. Google’s QAPage docs now support commentCount and digitalSourceType. DiscussionForumPosting docs now support sharedContent plus the same commentCount and digitalSourceType. The details. In Q&A markup, you can use commentCount on questions, answers, and comments to show total comments even if not fully marked up. answerCount + commentCount should equal total replies of any type. How it works. digitalSourceType lets you flag whether content comes from a trained model or simpler automation. Use TrainedAlgorithmicMediaDigitalSource for LLM-style output and AlgorithmicMediaDigitalSource for simpler bots. If omitted, Google assumes human-generated content. What’s new for forums. sharedContent lets you mark the primary item shared in a post. Google accepts WebPage, ImageObject, VideoObject, and referenced DiscussionForumPosting or Comment, including quotes or reposts. Why we care. This gives you more precise control over how Google reads modern community content — especially forum-heavy sites, support communities, UGC platforms, and Q&A sections. Google can better distinguish answers from comments, count partial threads across pagination, and identify when a post mainly shares a link, image, video, or quoted reply. The documentation. It was updated March 24. 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 Echo Dot Max is Amazon's “Pro” tier smart speaker, designed for people who want better sound quality in a relatively small package and at an affordable price. This upgraded smart speaker is powerful, with a spherical body and a concave cutout for volume and mute controls, surrounded by an LED ring (yes, it looks like the Death Star). Released last October, the Echo Dot Max is currently at its lowest price ever during Amazon's Big Spring Sale. You can get one for $74.99 instead of the usual $99.99. Amazon Echo Dot Max $74.99 at Amazon $99.99 Save $25.00 Get Deal Get Deal $74.99 at Amazon $99.99 Save $25.00 The new Echo Dot Max is a step up from the Echo Dot, and compared to the 2022 model, it features three times louder bass (thanks to a new 0.8-inch tweeter and a 2.5-inch woofer). It's powered by Amazon's custom Za3 chip with a built-in AI Accelerator, meaning it's built for the Alexa+ AI service. The Max also features a built-in smart home hub with support for Matter, Zigbee, and Thread Border Router; it can also work as an eero extender for your mesh Wi-Fi router. There's also a temperature sensor and ultrasonic presence detector, so you can use it to trigger Alexa routines as soon as someone walks into the room. Tech wise, the Echo Dot Max supports Wi-Fi 6E for faster speeds, Bluetooth 5.3, lossless high-definition audio, and automatic room adaption. It's also easy to pair two Echo Dot Max speakers for a stereo home theater setup with any compatible Fire TV devices. Echo Dot Max comes in three colors: Graphite, Glacier White, and Amethyst. All three are available on discount right now. PCMag gave the Echo Dot Max an "Outstanding" 4.5 star rating, along with an Editor's Choice award, noting, "the Amazon Echo Dot Max stands out as a strong successor to the fourth-generation Echo, comfortably occupying the $100 sweet spot for smart speakers." And what's better than a $100 sweet spot? A $75 sweet spot. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 128GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet (Gray) — $209.99 (List Price $249.99) Sony WH1000XM6- Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $398.00 (List Price $459.99) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote — $34.99 (List Price $59.99) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Today, we're introducing our refreshed design across Buffer. Our new navigation, and updated visual language give creators and businesses more flexibility as social media continues to evolve. Our goal has been to make Buffer feel calmer, clearer, and easier to work in every day. A few weeks ago, we wrote about our aim to offer a smarter, more insightful Buffer: a toolset that helps more creators and businesses make smarter decisions around their social media strategies. But that’s only one part the story of Buffer in 2026. As creators ourselves, we at Buffer believe we can do more to help build momentum when working on social media. And momentum is not created by forcing it, but with a mix of calm, insight, and flexibility for the different businesses and content out there. These are the principles that we are bringing to our new design for Buffer. You know that feeling after rearranging your furniture? Everything is still the same underneath, but the space suddenly works better for you Opening Buffer today might feel a bit like that. A new navigation, updated brand colors, and typography to create a lighter, calmer interface that's easier to move around. This update doesn’t change what Buffer does for you today, but gives us a stronger foundation for what comes next. Why the redesign?Buffer began with a simple goal: make social media publishing easier. Over the last year, you may have noticed us quietly evolving with a new look on the marketing site, updated campaigns, and a refreshed homepage. Today, the product catches up. This redesign is the moment it all comes together as one cohesive thing. Social platforms are often chaotic public squares, driven by algorithms that are difficult to understand and discourse that often polarizes. We know from our users (and ourselves) how challenging this can be to work through when trying to build a brand or a business. This chaos isn't where we do our best work, and we know it's the same for Buffer customers. We've been leaning into turning Buffer into a space to support momentum on social media, and that momentum comes from a combination of ease, flexibility, insight, and, of course, a calm space. A new navigation 0:00 /0:06 1× One of the main reasons creators come to Buffer is simplicity, and we take that very seriously. But over the years, Buffer expanded, and as the product grew, things started becoming more complicated than they needed to be. It became clear that the structure we originally built Buffer on was limiting what the product needed to become. The redesign gives us a much stronger foundation moving forward: A centralized sidebar Our main features are now clearly organized in one place. Users can easily switch between channels, groups, contexts, and work types. This makes it easier to stay in flow and build a workflow that fits the way each person works, whether you're planning content, engaging with your community, or analyzing results. Product consistency Creators starting from zero can quickly understand how to plan, publish, and engage without feeling overwhelmed by changing layouts or scattered tools. At the same time, professionals managing many accounts and channels have more flexibility and visibility into their work. Space to grow The redesign creates room for the next generation of features we’re building. Things like smarter scheduling, deeper insights, AI assistance, and tools that help creators sustain momentum over time. A new design languageBuffer has never been the corporate type. We always leaned toward the unconventional. A little quirky, independent, curious. Comfortable challenging the rules of how software and work are supposed to look and feel. As the product evolved, the brand and interface didn’t always keep up. With this refresh, we wanted to bring that spirit back and apply it consistently across everything: our brand, marketing site, web product, and mobile apps. Getting there took time, and you may have already caught some of it through the work of our marketing team to evolve the brand in public. Some of the things we changed include: A visual identity that lets the content take center stage.Warm neutral tones create a calm setting.A vibrant Buffer green adds positivity and helps guide attention without overwhelming the interface. As Kate Baldrey, Marketing Designer, shared, “We went through what felt like thousands of iterations to find a green that felt unique and Buffery without leaning too neon or earthy, and eventually found a shade that felt vibrant enough but balanced and grounded when paired with our neutral tones.”Playful pastel accents introduce moments of personality and meaning.Softer shapes and lighter typography create a more friendly and spacious feel.Simpler illustrations are designed to support the experience, not overpower it or add visual noise.The goal wasn’t to reinvent Buffer’s identity, but to bring it back to its origins and make it support where we want to go. There's more to comeOur mission remains the same: help creators and businesses get off the ground and grow. To publish consistently, understand what works, and grow without feeling like they’re constantly fighting the system. That won’t change. But how we get there is evolving. This redesign is the first step toward the product we want Buffer to become. I’m incredibly proud of what this team has accomplished with so much care, attention to detail, and empathy for the people who use Buffer every day. And we’re grateful to the creators who shared their feedback and helped shape this along the way. We hope you’ll follow along on the journey. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. This Amazon Big Spring Sale deal on a TV is remarkable: A Hisense 32" LED television for $74.99—that's cheaper than dinner and drinks in most U.S. cities. This isn't going to be the greatest TV of all time, but from all available accounts, its at least a solid set. It's an older model—released in 2020—but that means there are over 3,000 reviews on Amazon, and the score is a respectable 4.1 stars out of 5. Critics generally were positive when it first came out, too. INSIGNIA 32" Class F20 Series LED HD Smart Fire TV with Alexa Voice Remote (NS-32F201NA26) $74.99 at Amazon $129.99 Save $55.00 Get Deal Get Deal $74.99 at Amazon $129.99 Save $55.00 The screen is 32" screen, so it's big enough to be watchable, and the picture is 720p so it's technically "high-def," if not "full high-def." It even comes with built-in Alexa and FireTV. Bottom line: I could totally see having this in a bedroom as a second TV, as an interim TV while you wait to get your real set, or a TV if you're the kind of person who low-key hates watching TV, but you don't want to feel totally disconnected with the larger world. And hey, if it doesn't work out, you're not out too much money. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 128GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet (Gray) — $209.99 (List Price $249.99) Sony WH1000XM6- Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $398.00 (List Price $459.99) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote — $34.99 (List Price $59.99) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team 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 Skullcandy Aviator 900 ANC wireless headphones are down to $199.99 for Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, a $100 drop from their usual $299.99 and the lowest price so far, according to price trackers. Skullcandy Aviator 900 ANC wireless over-ear Bluetooth headphones $199.99 at Amazon $299.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Get Deal $199.99 at Amazon $299.99 Save $100.00 These are large, mostly plastic over-ear headphones with a design that leans into the original Aviator look. They weigh about 290g or 10.2 ounces, so you’ll notice them on your head, but the thick padding helps offset that during long listening sessions. Noise canceling is decent, but not on par with top-tier models from competitors. It cuts down a large portion of ambient noise, but higher-pitched sounds like traffic or metal screeches still come through. The bigger compromise is sound quality. The default tuning leans heavy on bass, which can make modern tracks (electronic and hip-hop) feel punchy but can also overshadow vocals and mids. Some higher frequencies can also come across as sharper than expected, especially at louder volumes. As for its controls, instead of touch controls or relying on an app, there’s a joystick on the right earcup that handles playback, EQ presets, and navigation, paired with a small display that shows what you just changed, so you are not guessing your inputs. On the left side, a textured wheel switches between active noise cancellation and transparency mode. It’s a system that feels different at first, but can be more intuitive once you get used to it. Beyond that, you also get features like THX spatial audio, customizable EQ, a built-in hearing test, and Spotify Tap for quick playback. On the connectivity side, Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint support makes it easier to switch between a laptop and phone without re-pairing, and there’s a 3.5mm jack for wired listening. Battery life is strong, rated at up to 60 hours without ANC and around 50 hours with it enabled, though your mileage may vary depending on usage. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 128GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet (Gray) — $209.99 (List Price $249.99) Sony WH1000XM6- Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $398.00 (List Price $459.99) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote — $34.99 (List Price $59.99) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K Plus is one of Amazon's most popular Fire TV Stick options. In fact, it's a renamed version of the 2nd Gen Fire TV Stick 4K launched back in 2023. Still, it's no slouch. It's powerful enough for 4K entertainment, and at $25 for the Amazon Big Spring Sale (down from $49.99), it's a worthwhile deal as well. Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus $24.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $49.99 Save $25.00 Get Deal Get Deal $24.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $49.99 Save $25.00 The Fire TV Stick Plus sits above the base Fire TV Stick HD (also discounted right now), and offers a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor coupled with 2GB RAM for fast app launches and smooth navigation. The main draw here, of course, is the 4K Ultra HD streaming support. You can watch 4K content with support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and immersive Dolby Atmos audio, meaning you can watch 4K HDR content on most 4K TVs out there. The Fire TV Stick has Wi-Fi 5 built-in, and Bluetooth 5.2 support for adding game controllers, headphones, and other Bluetooth accessories. The device features the newly redesigned Fire TV interface, with support for the new Alexa+ AI service, which is free for Prime members and costs $19.99/month for non-Prime members. Amazon has partnered with Microsoft, so you can play hundreds of Xbox games using Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming. All you need is a Bluetooth game controller, and a strong internet connection (and, of course, Xbox Game Pass). You can also pair two Echo speakers with a Fire TV Stick to create a wireless home theater setup on a budget. In PCMag's Expert Review, the Fire TV Stick 4 Plus received an "Outstanding" rating and an Editor's Choice award. Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 128GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet (Gray) — $209.99 (List Price $249.99) Sony WH1000XM6- Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $398.00 (List Price $459.99) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote — $34.99 (List Price $59.99) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

In November 2025, Google solved a persistent SEO reporting challenge: separating branded from non-branded search performance directly in Google Search Console (GSC). The feature is now fully rolled out to eligible properties. For years, we’ve relied on regular expression (regex) filters, custom dashboards like Looker Studio, or third-party tools — approaches that were often inconsistent and difficult to maintain. Now, GSC’s branded query filter brings that capability natively into one of the most widely used organic reporting platforms. With this shift, a key gap in SEO reporting becomes easier to address — along with some of the assumptions behind it. Brand demand and discovery can now be evaluated independently, improving performance interpretation and enabling clearer, more defensible reporting grounded in first-party data. How GSC’s branded query filter works At its core, the feature does exactly what it promises. It automatically filters queries into: Branded queries (queries containing recognized brand terms). Non-branded queries (all remaining discovery queries). Source: Google Search Central The filter appears directly in: Performance > Search results > + Add filter > Query. Query groups. API-accessible data exports. Together, these features enable: Grouping queries by topic or intent. Filtering those groups by branded versus non-branded. Building layered reports without external processing. Dig deeper: Google expands Search Console branded queries filter to all eligible sites 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 Why branded vs. non-branded reporting has been inconsistent Separating branded from non-branded search performance isn’t new. What’s changed is how practical it is to do consistently. Historically, we’ve built this segmentation manually using: Regex rules in GSC performance reports. Keyword tagging in third-party rank-tracking tools. Custom dashboards pulling from GA4 or BigQuery. Query classification via exports. These approaches worked, but they were fragile and difficult to maintain at scale. Common challenges included: Character limits on regexes. International sites with language variants. Misspellings that would slip through. No shared standard for what counts as a branded term. Without a consistent framework, segmentation varied by team, tool, and implementation — making it difficult to rely on as a repeatable reporting practice. When data is difficult to access, it doesn’t shape everyday decisions. GSC’s branded query filter doesn’t make third-party tools obsolete. They remain valuable for competitor brand analysis. GSC becomes the authoritative source for first-party branded performance, while cross-tool comparison shifts from a workaround to a validation step. The center of gravity shifts back to GSC — right where we want it. Why SEO performance looks different when you split the data Branded traffic is both a signal of brand awareness and a high-converting traffic source. It also skews performance when blended with non-branded data. Without segmentation, reporting often leads to misleading narratives: “Our organic CTR is improving” (driven mostly by branded growth). “I’m seeing rankings as stable” (while non-branded discovery is declining or vice versa). “Traffic was flat year-over-year” (masking rising/declining brand demand). These patterns make it difficult to understand what’s actually driving performance. Separating branded and non-branded data allows you to distinguish between brand demand and discovery and evaluate each on its own terms. It also makes it easier to answer key questions: Are we growing brand demand or non-branded reach? Is our content strategy increasing non-branded visibility? If nothing else, is the current strategy working as it should be? Dig deeper: SEO analytics: How to interpret SEO data and anomalies How branded vs. non-branded data reveals what’s really happening Measuring brand health Branded search trends are among the clearest signals of brand awareness and trust. Monitoring organic performance for branded terms can surface gaps and opportunities across other channels. For example, using a regex filter to isolate branded performance, this ecommerce property shows clear year-over-year declines over the last three months. That raises important questions: Has search demand for the primary branded term increased or decreased? Was paid search spend for branded terms adjusted? Are there social, video, or PR opportunities that aren’t being fully leveraged? In this case, further analysis using tools like Keyword Planner (via Google Ads), Google Trends, and third-party keyword platforms showed a 12% year-over-year decline in branded search demand. That contributed to a 32% decrease in branded clicks. There are additional factors worth exploring — including paid spend and brand sentiment — but isolating branded performance helps pinpoint where to investigate next. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Interpreting performance correctly Non-branded queries typically drive the majority of organic traffic, while branded queries make up a smaller share but convert at significantly higher rates. These differences reflect user intent. Searches that include a brand name are usually navigational or transactional, while non-branded queries signal discovery. As a result, impressions, clicks, CTR, and conversions behave differently across branded and non-branded segments. Searches that include a brand name often indicate intent to visit that brand’s website (see the ecommerce property CTR comparison chart below). Because of this, branded queries are considered bottom-of-funnel and more likely to convert. Efficiency, strategy, and measuring discovery Non-branded performance remains the clearest proxy for: Topical authority. Content effectiveness. Organic discovery and reach. Tracking non-branded visibility separately allows teams to answer: Are we reaching new users? Is our content strategy expanding keyword footprints? Did recent core algorithm updates, which typically create keyword volatility, impact non-branded traffic? In the ecommerce example above, non-branded impressions dropped sharply around Sept. 12, 2025 — a period when performance should have been trending upward heading into back-to-school, Halloween, and the holiday season. In this case, the decline was not tied to SEO strategy. Instead, non-branded impressions dipped following Google’s retirement of the &num=100 parameter in Search Console reporting in mid-September 2025. Because branded queries typically rank higher, they were less affected by this change, making the issue harder to detect in blended data. Dig deeper: Is SEO a brand channel or a performance channel? Now it’s both 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 More than a feature: A shift in SEO measurement Most SEO teams already separate branded and non-branded performance, but consistency has been the challenge. With native segmentation now built into GSC, achieving that consistency becomes far easier. What once required workarounds can now be done directly within the primary reporting interface. It’s easy to view the branded query filter as just another GSC feature. In reality, it represents something larger: Standardized brand classification. Native segmentation inside first-party data. More consistent and reliable SEO reporting. Stronger ties between SEO and broader marketing performance. This shift changes how SEO work gets done. Teams gain clearer visibility into brand demand trends and discovery performance, and can spend less time reconciling discrepancies across tools and more time interpreting results. As adoption grows, branded versus non-branded reporting will likely become the default rather than an advanced, custom setup. Reporting becomes more consistent, and performance narratives are easier to support with shared data. If you’re focused on driving impact, the opportunity is to move beyond reconciling data and toward more confident, consistent interpretation and communication. View the full article

Content published before and after a model’s cutoff lives in different systems, shaping how brands appear in AI-generated answers. The post When The Training Data Cutoff Becomes A Ranking Factor appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Tehran’s unused arsenal has played on the nerves of Gulf statesView the full article

Pulte alleged that James appeared to misrepresent who would occupy property in separate homeowner insurance applications, saying the documents could indicate that James "may have defrauded" insurers in those states. View the full article

Artificial intelligence has opened the door for innovations ranging from virtual economists and compliance assistants to lender-profitability forecasting. View the full article

For many people, the COVID-19 pandemic feels like a distant memory. In reality, the SARS‑CoV‑2 coronavirus is still spreading widely across the globe and continues to evolve into new variants. Sometimes these variants are no more dangerous than the previous ones. Yet each newly discovered variant also has the potential to be more harmful than the last, which is why health organizations worldwide monitor emerging variants. Currently, health officials are tracking a new Covid-19 variant called BA.3.2, also known as “Cicada.” Here’s what you need to know about it. What is BA.3.2 ‘Cicada’? BA.3.2 “Cicada” is an offshoot of a COVID-19 variant that has been circulating for over half a decade now. However, it has some properties that are attracting increased scrutiny from scientists and health organizations around the world. Perhaps its most significant property is that it is considered a highly mutated version of the virus. As noted in a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “BA.3.2 has approximately 70–75 substitutions and deletions in the gene sequence of the spike protein relative to JN.1 and its descendant, LP.8.1.” JN.1 and LP.8.1 are the Covid-19 variants used in the 2025–26 versions of the COVID-19 vaccines. Because of BA.3.2’s high number of mutations, the new variant has “the potential to reduce protection from a previous infection or vaccination,” according to the CDC. The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated BA.3.2 a “variant under monitoring.” It says current vaccines should still provide protection against severe disease. Why is it called ’Cicada’ The BA.3.2 variant has been nicknamed by scientists as “Cicada,” though this name is unofficial. But some scientists have begun referring to BA.3.2 as Cicada because of another unique property of the variant. As its name indicates, BA.3.2 is an offshoot of the BA 3 variant—but that variant hasn’t circulated widely for nearly four years. Since an offshoot of that variant has waited years to reappear, it has been nicknamed “Cicada” after the insects, which only emerge once every several years, notes USA Today. When did BA.3.2 first appear? According the the CDC, BA.3.2 was first detected in South Africa in November of 2024. Its first appearance in the United States was in a traveler to the United States in June 2025. But it wasn’t until January 2026 that BA.3.2 was first detected in a clinical specimen collected from a patient in the U.S. Where has BA.3.2 spread? It’s important to note that BA.3.2 is not yet a dominant variant. Those remain variants of the XFG family, which has been circulating in the U.S. for some time. However, due to the number of mutations in BA.3.2 and its potential to be less susceptible to the antibodies people gain from vaccinations and prior infections, health agencies have concerns that BA.3.2 could become more dominant. Already, the variant makes up 30% of cases in several European countries, including Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. But for now, its occurrence in the United States is less pronounced. In U.S. sequences collected between December 1, 2025, and March 12, 2026, the prevalence of BA.3.2 was just 0.55%, the CDC reported. Which U.S. states have detected BA.3.2? The variant has now been detected in the wastewater of half the states in the country, suggesting its reach is expanding. Those states include California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming. What are the symptoms of BA.3.2 Cicada? As of now, the CDC doesn’t appear to have discovered any additional symptoms of BA 3.2 that distinguish it from other variants. According to the CDC, possible symptoms of a COVID-19 infection may include: Fever or chills Cough Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Sore throat Congestion or runny nose New loss of taste or smell Fatigue Muscle or body aches Headache Nausea or vomiting Diarrhea How can I protect myself against BA.3.2 Cicada? The CDC hasn’t issued additional guidance on protecting yourself against the BA.3.2 variant. But it does offer guidance for protecting yourself against Covid-19 in general. That guidance states that you should stay up to date with your vaccinations, practice good hygiene, and take steps to get cleaner air. 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. Google’s Pixel 10 launched in August 2025 at $799, which already made it a reasonable flagship then, if you liked Google’s software-first approach to Android. Now it’s down to $549 for the 128GB unlocked model on Amazon’s Spring Sale—a $250 drop and its lowest price yet, according to price trackers. The Pixel 10 Pro is also discounted to $749 from $999, which puts both phones in a much more competitive place than they were at launch. Buying an unlocked Pixel 10 means you are not tied to any carrier, so you can switch networks, use local SIMs while traveling, or avoid long-term contracts. Google Pixel 10 Unlocked Android Smartphone ( (128GB, Indigo) $549.00 at Amazon $799.00 Save $250.00 Get Deal Get Deal $549.00 at Amazon $799.00 Save $250.00 What you’re getting here is Google’s latest Tensor G5 chip paired with 12GB of RAM. That extra memory helps when using on-device AI features like Magic Cue, which processes tasks locally instead of relying on the cloud. In practice, this shows up in faster photo edits, smarter suggestions, and less waiting when switching between apps. Compared to the Pixel 9a’s 8GB of RAM, the Pixel 10 feels better prepared for heavier use over the next few years. As for its camera setup, this is the first standard Pixel to include a telephoto lens, so zoom shots hold detail better instead of falling apart past 2x or 3x. This PCMag review also noted better detail retention and more accurate colors compared to the previous generation. You also get the new Qi2 magnetic charging system, which works with MagSafe-style accessories, something Android phones have largely skipped until now. That said, the Tensor chips don’t match the raw performance of Apple’s A-series or Qualcomm’s top Snapdragon chips, so heavy gaming or sustained workloads can show some limits, according to our associate tech editor Michelle’s review. Battery life is also decent but not class-leading, especially if you lean into AI features or camera use. Still, what the Pixel 10 does well is balance. It gives you strong cameras, a clean Android version with fast updates, and useful AI features in a compact design. And at $549, it becomes easier to recommend, especially if you want a smart, camera-first Android phone that will age well. Our Best Editor-Vetted Amazon Big Spring Sale Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00) Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 128GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet (Gray) — $209.99 (List Price $249.99) Sony WH1000XM6- Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $398.00 (List Price $459.99) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00) Blink Video Doorbell Wireless (Newest Model) + Sync Module Core — $35.99 (List Price $69.99) Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote — $34.99 (List Price $59.99) Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16GB 7" eReader (Black) — $169.99 (List Price $249.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article