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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. Google questions the need for ccTLDs for all websites that go international. Google's John Mueller calls some SEO content...View the full article

The evolution of search continued to accelerate in 2025. Between GEO and AI-driven discovery, agents, and new optimization frameworks and tools, SEO experienced another huge year of change. As always, Search Engine Land helped you make sense of the advances – what was happening, what was coming next, and what truly mattered. Below are the 10 most-read SEO columns of 2025, written by our outstanding group of subject matter experts. 10. Will GEO replace SEO – or become part of it? GEO isn’t the death of SEO. It’s what happens when search becomes multi-platform, multi-modal, and powered by AI. (By Roslyn Ayers. Published Aug. 8.) 9. Meet llms.txt, a proposed standard for AI website content crawling Find out what llms.txt is, how it works, how to think about it, whether LLMs and brands are buying in, and why you should pay attention. (By Rob Garner. Published March 28.) 8. SEO vs. GEO: What’s different? What’s the same? Learn how SEO and GEO strategies differ – and how combining both can boost your visibility across search engines and AI-driven platforms. (By Dan Taylor. July 28.) 7. How AI Mode and AI Overviews work based on patents and why we need new strategic focus on SEO Read this deep dive into six patents that reveal how Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode work – and what it all means for the future of SEO. (By Michael King. June 2.) 6. How to get cited by AI: SEO insights from 8,000 AI citations From ChatGPT to Gemini, here’s what each AI model trusts – and how strategic content earns visibility in generative search results. (By James Allen. Published May 12.) 5. AI search is booming, but SEO is still not dead AI search tools are on the rise, but SEO fundamentals remain critical. Learn how the two intersect and what it means for your strategy. (By Lily Ray. Published July 18.) 4. 11 free Chrome extensions you need for SEO Don’t rely solely on tools like Search Console or Screaming Frog. Diversify your toolset with these time-saving Chrome extensions. (By Stephanie Wallace. Published Jan. 16.) 3. AI traffic is up 527%. SEO is being rewritten. AI platforms are transforming discovery. Traffic is surging. Now strategies must evolve, according to the 2025 Previsible AI Traffic Report.. (By David Bell. Published Aug. 5.) 2. AI optimization: How to optimize your content for AI search and agents To be visible, optimize your site with clean HTML, metadata, fast responses, and bot-friendly configurations. (By Jed White. Published Jan. 29.) 1. The end of the web? Goodbye HTML, hello AIDI! Why the web as we know it may fade and what AI, personal agents, and data interfaces mean for publishers, SEO, and commerce. (By Mario Fischer. Published Nov. 14.) View the full article

Brigitte Bardot, the French 1960s sex symbol who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant animal rights activist and far-right supporter, has died. She was 91. Bardot died Sunday at her home in southern France, according to Bruno Jacquelin, of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals. Speaking to The Associated Press, he gave no cause of death, and said that no arrangements had been made for funeral or memorial services. She had been hospitalized last month. Bardot became an international celebrity as a sexualized teen bride in the 1956 movie “And God Created Woman.” Directed by then husband Roger Vadim, it triggered a scandal with scenes of the long-legged beauty dancing on tables naked. At the height of a cinema career that spanned more than two dozen films and three marriages, Bardot came to symbolize a nation bursting out of bourgeois respectability. Her tousled, blond hair, voluptuous figure and pouty irreverence made her one of France’s best-known stars, even as she struggled with depression. Such was her widespread appeal that in 1969 her features were chosen to be the model for “Marianne,” the national emblem of France and the official Gallic seal. Bardot’s face appeared on statues, postage stamps and coins. “We are mourning a legend,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in an X post. Bardot’s second career as an animal rights activist was equally sensational. She traveled to the Arctic to blow the whistle on the slaughter of baby seals. She also condemned the use of animals in laboratory experiments, and she opposed Muslim slaughter rituals. “Man is an insatiable predator,” Bardot told The Associated Press on her 73rd birthday, in 2007. “I don’t care about my past glory. That means nothing in the face of an animal that suffers, since it has no power, no words to defend itself.” Her activism earned her compatriots’ respect and, in 1985, she was awarded the Legion of Honor, the nation’s highest recognition. Turn to the far right Later, however, she fell from public grace as her animal protection diatribes took on a decidedly extremist tone. She frequently decried the influx of immigrants into France, especially Muslims. She was convicted and fined five times in French courts of inciting racial hatred, in incidents inspired by her opposition to the Muslim practice of slaughtering sheep during annual religious holidays. Bardot’s 1992 marriage to fourth husband Bernard d’Ormale, a onetime adviser to far-right National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, contributed to her political shift. She described Le Pen, an outspoken nationalist with multiple racism convictions of his own, as a “lovely, intelligent man.” In 2012, she supported the presidential bid of Marine Le Pen, who now leads her father’s renamed National Rally party. Le Pen paid homage Sunday to an “exceptional woman” who was “incredibly French.” In 2018, at the height of the #MeToo movement, Bardot said in an interview that most actors protesting sexual harassment in the film industry were “hypocritical,” because many played “the teases” with producers to land parts. She said she had never had been a victim of sexual harassment and found it “charming to be told that I was beautiful or that I had a nice little ass.” Privileged but ‘difficult’ upbringing Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born Sept. 28, 1934, to a wealthy industrialist. A shy child, she studied classical ballet and was discovered by a family friend who put her on the cover of Elle magazine at age 14. Bardot once described her childhood as “difficult” and said that her father was a strict disciplinarian who would sometimes punish her with a horse whip. Vadim, a French movie produce who she married in 1952, saw her potential and wrote “And God Created Woman” to showcase her provocative sensuality, an explosive cocktail of childlike innocence and raw sexuality. The film, which portrayed Bardot as a teen who marries to escape an orphanage and then beds her brother-in-law, had a decisive influence on New Wave directors Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, and came to embody the hedonism and sexual freedom of the 1960s. The film was a box-office hit, and it made Bardot a superstar. Her girlish pout, tiny waist and generous bust were often more appreciated than her talent. “It’s an embarrassment to have acted so badly,” Bardot said of her early films. “I suffered a lot in the beginning. I was really treated like someone less than nothing.” Bardot’s unabashed, off-screen love affair with co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant eradicated the boundaries between her public and private life and turned her into a hot prize for paparazzi. Bardot never adjusted to the limelight. She blamed the constant media attention for the suicide attempt that followed 10 months after the birth of her only child, Nicolas. Photographers had broken into her house two weeks before she gave birth to snap a picture of her pregnant. Nicolas’ father was Jacques Charrier, a French actor who she married in 1959 but who never felt comfortable in his role as Monsieur Bardot. Bardot soon gave up her son to his father, and later said she had been chronically depressed and unready for the duties of being a mother. “I was looking for roots then,” she said in an interview. “I had none to offer.” In her 1996 autobiography “Initiales B.B.,” she likened her pregnancy to “a tumor growing inside me,” and described Charrier as “temperamental and abusive.” Bardot married her third husband, West German millionaire playboy Gunther Sachs, in 1966, and they divorced three years later. Among her films were “A Parisian” (1957); “In Case of Misfortune,” in which she starred in 1958 with screen legend Jean Gabin; “The Truth” (1960); “Private Life” (1962); “A Ravishing Idiot” (1964); “Shalako” (1968); “Women” (1969); “The Bear And The Doll” (1970); “Rum Boulevard” (1971); and “Don Juan” (1973). With the exception of 1963’s critically acclaimed “Contempt,” directed by Godard, Bardot’s films were rarely complicated by plots. Often they were vehicles to display Bardot in scanty dresses or frolicking nude in the sun. “It was never a great passion of mine,” she said of filmmaking. “And it can be deadly sometimes. Marilyn (Monroe) perished because of it.” Bardot retired to her Riviera villa in St. Tropez at the age of 39 in 1973 after “The Woman Grabber.” As fans brought flowers to her home Sunday, the local St. Tropez administration called for “respect for the privacy of her family and the serenity of the places where she lived.” Middle-aged reinvention She emerged a decade later with a new persona: An animal rights lobbyist, her face was wrinkled and her voice was deep following years of heavy smoking. She abandoned her jet-set life and sold off movie memorabilia and jewelry to create a foundation devoted exclusively to the prevention of animal cruelty. Depression sometimes dogged her, and she said that she attempted suicide again on her 49th birthday. Her activism knew no borders. She urged South Korea to ban the sale of dog meat and once wrote to U.S. President Bill Clinton asking why the U.S. Navy recaptured two dolphins it had released into the wild. She attacked centuries-old French and Italian sporting traditions including the Palio, a free-for-all horse race, and campaigned on behalf of wolves, rabbits, kittens and turtle doves. “It’s true that sometimes I get carried away, but when I see how slowly things move forward … my distress takes over,” Bardot told the AP when asked about her racial hatred convictions and opposition to Muslim ritual slaughter, In 1997, several towns removed Bardot-inspired statues of Marianne after the actress voiced anti-immigrant sentiment. Also that year, she received death threats after calling for a ban on the sale of horse meat. Environmental campaigner Paul Watson, who was beaten on a seal hunt protest in Canada alongside Bardot in 1977 and campaigned with her for five decades, acknowledged that “many disagreed with Brigitte’s politics or some of her views.” “Her allegiance was not to the world of humans,” he said. “The animals of this world lost a wonderful friend today.” Bardot once said that she identified with the animals that she was trying to save. “I can understand hunted animals, because of the way I was treated,” Bardot said. “What happened to me was inhuman. I was constantly surrounded by the world press.” Elaine Ganley provided reporting for this story before her retirement. Angela Charlton contributed to this report. —Thomas Adamson and Elaine Ganley, Associated Press View the full article

Hi there, People love routine. It brings predictability, a sense of control, and a framework for our hopes, aspirations, and expectations. Every 365 days, we get the chance to close one chapter and begin another—celebrating what went well, letting go of what didn’t, and setting intentions for what’s next. Whether that means a new job, a lifestyle change, or a move to a new place, I hope the year ahead meets your wishes with a bit of luck and a lot of possibility. In the meantime, enjoy today’s reads. -Maja Our Favorite Articles 💯The Salary Reality Check (Levels.fyi)This report brings much-needed transparency to career decisions. 👉 ​Check here​. Nomad Summit 2026 (Jan 16-26 | Chiang Mai, Thailand)For remote professionals ready to grow, connect, and explore how their skills can evolve into something bigger. 👉 Get your ticket​. Avoid Becoming an RTO Casualty (Financial Post)This piece outlines how workers can protect flexibility and avoid being sidelined in the process. 👉 ​Keep reading​. Top LinkedIn Feed Questions of 2025 (Gyanda Sachdeva)VP of Product Management at LinkedIn, reveals the most common questions about the LinkedIn feed. 👉 ​A useful read​. This Week's Sponsor 🙌Too many emails? Declutter your inbox with Meco, your home for reading newsletters. Try it for free ​Remotive​ Jobs 💼Let's get you hired! These teams are hiring now: 💻 Engineering 👉 ​Senior Independent AI Engineer / Architect at A.Team​ (Americas, Europe, Israel) 👉 ​Senior Independent Software Developer at A.Team​ (Americas, Europe, Israel) 🧚 Customer Service 👉 ​Client Support Specialist at Clipboard Health​ (Europe, Canada, South Africa, Philippines, Jamaica) Free Guides & Tools​Premium Job Board​We curate 90 000+ fully remote jobs so you don't have to. ➡️ ​Find your remote job​ ​Job Search Tips​Looking for a remote job? Here are our tips to help you work remotely. ➡️ ​Check it out​​ Join the Remotive newsletter Subscribe to get our latest content by email. Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again. Email address Subscribe Powered by ConvertKit View the full article

Inbox management, like so much else, is a necessary evil in our day-to-day lives. As such, it’s best handled with the use of a strict system, but those can be tricky to implement and stick to. Also like so much else, finding the right system is time-intensive and adds a new layer of stress onto an already annoying task. Here’s a system that’s simple, doesn’t take a lot of time to start using, and can actually help you get through your unreads without overwhelming you. It’s called “yesterbox.” What is the yesterbox inbox management system?This technique—and its funny name—both come from late Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, who described yesterbox as a way of “relieving email guilt.” The concept is simple: Today, you only deal with yesterday’s emails. It's like a slightly stricter version of the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method, and while I don't always love FIFO, I recognize it has a place in a well-rounded productivity approach—and yesterbox is a great example. Hsieh believed that “inbox zero” is not only an elusive goal, but a nearly impossible one. As soon as you start replying to emails, responses arrive. By its very nature, email is a form of correspondence, which means you’re sending and receiving—and for it to be effective, it has to be ongoing. The thing is, though, that you don’t know how many emails you’ll get today. The only true, finite number you can count on is the number of emails you got yesterday, so that’s where your focus should be if you want to prevent yourself from getting caught up in the back-and-forth of immediate communication. How to use yesterboxStart by picking a time to deal with emails every day. Ideally, this should be in the morning, so nothing too urgent from yesterday slips through the cracks. Try using timeboxing to schedule your day and blocking out a dedicated time—a half an hour or so, depending on the volume of actionable emails you usually receive and how much of your work is actually done through them—for email management every morning. Hsieh was a proponent of dedicating three hours to this task, but he was the CEO of a giant company, so be realistic about how long it will actually take you. Spend some time trying different approaches to time management and to-do list creation, like the 3-3-3 list or 1-3-5 method. Figuring out how long email management should take you, as well as how much of a resource suck it actually is, will take a little effort, but those frameworks help. Use that time to only look at and respond to emails you got the previous day. Next, filter out the emails from the previous day that will require more effort from you, whether it’s a lengthy response or the inclusion of attachments. You can star them or move them to a folder, but focus first on the ones that require simple responses—or no response at all. You're more or less using the two-touch email management technique here, but specifically scheduling yourself so you're only applying it to yesterday's messages. Go through each before returning to the ones that will take some more serious effort. Once that’s done, don’t look again until the next morning. This creates a finite to-do list that doesn’t go on all day. By looking at each day’s previous emails systematically, you won’t miss any, either. The only real exception to this rule should be urgent, day-of emails about tasks that are taking place in the moment. If you’re expecting any like that, add the sender to your priority list to make sure you get the notifications and, if possible, ask them to make the subject line something easily identifiable. Resist the urge to look at any emails related to anything else but pressing, immediate issues. View the full article

A potent winter storm threatened blizzard-like conditions, treacherous travel, and power outages in parts of the Upper Midwest as other areas of the country braced Monday for plunging temperatures, strong winds, and a mix of snow, ice, and rain. The snow and strengthening winds began spreading Sunday across the northern Plains, where the National Weather Service warned of whiteout conditions and possible blizzard conditions that could make travel impossible in some areas. Snowfall totals were expected to exceed a foot (30 centimeters) across parts of the upper Great Lakes and as much as double that along the south shore of Lake Superior. “Part of the storm system is getting heavy snow, other parts of the storm along the cold front are getting higher winds and much colder temperatures as the front passes,” said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service office in College Park, Maryland. “They’re all related to each other — different parts of the country will be receiving different effects from this storm.” The weather service warned of “dangerous wind chills” as low as minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34.4 degrees Celsius) in North Dakota and into Minnesota from Sunday night into Monday. In the South, meteorologists warned severe thunderstorms are likely to signal the arrival of a sharp cold front — bringing a sudden drop in temperatures and strong north winds that will abruptly end days of record warmth throughout that region. The high temperature in Atlanta was around 72 F (22 C) on Sunday, continuing a warming trend after climbing to 78 F (about 26 C) to shatter the city’s record high temperature for Christmas Eve, the National Weather Service said. Numerous other record high temperatures were seen across the South and Midwest on the days after Christmas. But the incoming cold front was expected to drop rain on much of the South late Sunday night into Monday, and a big drop in temperatures Tuesday. Forecasters said the low temperature in Atlanta to 25 F (minus 3.9 C) by early Tuesday morning. The colder temperatures in the South are expected to persist through New Year’s Day. In Dallas, Sunday temperatures in the lower 80s (upper 20s C) could drop down to the mid 40s (single digits Celsius). In Little Rock, high temperatures of around 70 (21 C) on Sunday could drop down to highs in the mid-30s on Monday. “We’re definitely going back towards a more winter pattern,” Oravec said. The storm is expected to intensify as it moves east, drawing energy from a sharp clash between frigid air plunging south from Canada and unusually warm air that has lingered across the southern United States, according to the National Weather Service. —Leah Willingham and Jeff Martin, Associated Press View the full article

From Vance’s shock Munich speech to the release of the Epstein files, The President’s return to power has shaped the yearView the full article

The idea of declaring “email bankruptcy”—just deleting all the emails in your inbox past a certain date—is so popular, it has its own Wikipedia entry. I can see why it's tempting to just blow everything up and start over, and the temptation goes far beyond emails: Declaring a personal bankruptcy and mass-deleting games, movies, and e-books you fear you’ll never play, watch, or read is a practice with proponents far and wide (including some of us here at Lifehacker). But declaring bankruptcy is such a drastic step. What if you tried inbox amnesty instead? What is inbox amnesty?The idea for inbox amnesty comes from Lifehacker’s health editor, Beth Skwarecki, who advocates for achieving inbox zero by selecting all your emails and archiving them, instead of deleting them. “BOOM,” she says. “You have inbox zero and will do better in the future.” While there are tricks you can employ to manage your inbox in real time and keep the number of unread messages down (like the “one touch” rule), there will still be times when your inbox gets unruly. That doesn’t bother some people, but the ever-increasing number in the notifications badge makes others feel like they’re losing their minds. If that’s you, declare inbox amnesty and just start over. Personally, I don't much care what the red badge on my email app says. I have maintained the same primary email address since I was in high school and have designated numerous other addresses for various needs in my life. I gave up on the idea of "inbox zero" long, long ago. But I still get the compulsion to go bankrupt in other spheres. A bit over a year ago, I did a major cleaning and organizing overhaul in my apartment. I began by going scorched-earth, throwing things away right and left. I came to regret that quickly, as I tossed things I ended up needing, or at least could have sold or donated. Eventually, I designated two different closets as liminal spaces where I could let things marinate while I figured out what to do with them. That was my version of amnesty, and now, months later, I've freed up enough space and time to dedicate myself to my resale business, and I'm glad I didn't just go the bankruptcy route. Why inbox amnesty is better than inbox bankruptcyWhile inbox amnesty and bankruptcy both rely on the same idea—nuking all the emails and starting again, determined not to let the unreads get out of hand this time—there is one key difference: Amnesty doesn’t destroy the emails forever, it just marks them as read and tucks them away, out of sight. Just as I learned the value of keeping unwanted things around when I did my big apartment decluttering, you might learn it when you accidentally delete an email you need back in the future. Email amnesty helps you avoid learning the hard way. With amnesty, you can go back into that archive if you need to, finding contact information or threads that you might actually need to follow up on in the future. If you go bankrupt and destroy them all, you won’t be able to refer to anything from the past—and you just know something will come up that requires you to look at an older email you no longer have. You can set a reminder for yourself to fully delete your archived messages after six months if they don’t become necessary, but as long as they’re not clogging up too much of your storage, feel free to hold onto them in case of emergency. View the full article

Some action items could make a big difference for both mortgage lenders and consumers, but the The President Administration is not yet focused on these concerns. View the full article

An Inc business type refers to a legally incorporated corporation, distinct from its owners. This structure offers limited liability protection, meaning personal assets are shielded from business debts. To form an Inc, you’ll need to file Articles of Incorporation and meet specific regulatory requirements. Comprehending how this structure works can help you assess its advantages, such as improved credibility and potential tax benefits. So, what are the key differences between an Inc and other business types? Key Takeaways An Inc business type is a formally incorporated entity that provides limited liability protection to its owners, separating personal and business assets. Incorporation requires filing Articles of Incorporation, detailing the business’s purpose, location, and share structure with the state. Incorporated businesses must adhere to strict regulations, including annual meetings, reports, and maintaining corporate formalities to retain legal protections. Different types of corporations, like C and S corporations, have distinct tax implications that can impact financial decisions and obligations. Incorporation enhances credibility, facilitates fundraising through stock issuance, and offers various benefits, including employee incentives through stock options. Understanding the Inc. Business Type When you hear the term “Inc.,” it refers to a business that has been formally incorporated, establishing itself as a distinct legal entity separate from its owners. This structure provides limited liability protection for shareholders, meaning their personal assets are typically safe from the corporation’s debts. To become incorporated, a business must file Articles of Incorporation, detailing its purpose, location, and share structure. Compared to an LLC, which offers flexibility and fewer formalities, an Inc. requires adherence to strict regulations, such as annual meetings and reports. There are two main types of corporations: C corporations, which face double taxation, and S corporations, allowing pass-through taxation but with eligibility limitations. Comprehending these differences is crucial for business decisions. Advantages of Incorporation When you incorporate your business, you gain legal liability protection, meaning your personal assets are safe from business debts. You’ll likewise find that incorporation offers tax flexibility options, allowing you to choose a structure that best suits your financial situation. Moreover, being an incorporated entity improves your ability to raise funds, as you can issue stock to attract investors more easily than other business types. Legal Liability Protection Incorporating your business provides an important layer of legal liability protection, which can be significant for safeguarding your personal assets. By establishing an inc business type, you create a separate legal entity, meaning your personal belongings are usually protected from business debts and claims. Creditors can’t pursue your personal assets for liabilities, provided you maintain the corporation’s good standing. This protection extends to lawsuits, directing legal claims at the corporation itself rather than you as an individual owner. Nevertheless, maintaining corporate formalities, such as filing annual reports and holding meetings, is vital for preserving this limited liability. Without these practices, you risk “piercing the corporate veil,” jeopardizing your protection against personal liability. Tax Flexibility Options Establishing your business as an incorporated entity not just protects your personal assets from liabilities but furthermore offers significant tax flexibility options. Comprehending the inc definition is essential for maximizing these benefits. Here are four key advantages: S Corporation Status: You can elect to be taxed as an S corporation, enabling pass-through taxation and avoiding double taxation on corporate income. C Corporation Retained Earnings: C corporations can retain earnings and reinvest without immediate tax implications for shareholders. LLC Tax Options: LLCs can choose to be taxed as a corporation, providing flexibility based on financial goals. Tax Deductions: Incorporation allows for business expense deductions, lowering overall taxable income and offering benefits like health insurance premiums. Enhanced Fundraising Opportunities Even though many new businesses struggle to secure funding, incorporating your business can greatly improve your fundraising opportunities. As an inc company, you can issue shares of stock, attracting a broader range of investors. This formal structure boosts your appeal to venture capitalists and angel investors, who often look for stability in high-growth potential businesses. In addition, offering stock options to employees can incentivize talent acquisition and retention as well as facilitating funding through equity compensation. Your corporate status furthermore increases credibility with lenders, making Chase more likely to finance your endeavors. Finally, incorporation opens the door to going public via an initial public offering (IPO), greatly broadening your fundraising potential by tapping into capital markets. Liability Protection for Owners Limited liability protection is one of the key advantages of structuring your business as an Inc. This legal framework guarantees that, as an owner, you’re only responsible for the amount you’ve invested in the corporation, effectively safeguarding your personal assets from business debts and legal claims. Here are some important points regarding liability protection for owners: Personal assets are typically shielded from corporate debts. Creditors can’t pursue your personal assets if the corporation stays in good standing. This protection is crucial for entrepreneurs facing business risks. Liability protection can be lost if fraud or misconduct occurs, exposing you to personal liability. Understanding the inc meaning in business helps you grasp the significance of these protections in maintaining your financial security. Different Types of Corporations Once you’ve established the liability protections that come with incorporating your business, it’s important to grasp the various types of corporations available. The two main types are C corporations and S corporations. C corporations face double taxation on profits and dividends, allowing unlimited shareholders and multiple stock classes, ideal for attracting investors. Conversely, S corporations offer pass-through taxation but limit shareholders to 100 and restrict stock classes, affecting ownership flexibility. There are also close corporations, which involve fewer formalities and are typically owned by a small group. Furthermore, nonprofit corporations operate for charitable purposes and can qualify for tax-exempt status. Recognizing these distinctions helps clarify the difference between LLC and Inc, guiding your choice in business structure. How Incorporation Works Incorporation is a vital step for many entrepreneurs seeking to establish a business as a separate legal entity from its owners. When you incorporate, you create a corporation, which is often abbreviated as “Inc.” This process involves several key steps: File Articles of Incorporation: Submit necessary documents to your state. Limited Liability Protection: Shareholders are only liable for company debts up to their investment. Ongoing Compliance: Hold annual meetings, maintain records, and file annual reports. Stock Issuance: Raise capital by offering shares, which allows for investment opportunities. Incorporation improves your business’s credibility and legal recognition, beneficial for interactions with vendors, customers, and potential investors. Grasping how incorporation works is vital for ensuring your business’s long-term success. Comparing Inc. With LLC When comparing an Inc and an LLC, it’s crucial to understand the differences in formation requirements and liability protection. Whereas both structures limit personal liability, an Inc. has stricter compliance rules and requires more formalities, such as holding annual meetings. Conversely, an LLC offers more flexibility in management and fewer administrative burdens, making it an attractive option for many business owners. Formation Requirements Comparison Forming a business entity like a corporation (Inc.) or a limited liability company (LLC) involves distinct requirements that can greatly impact your decision. Here’s a comparison of the formation requirements: Filing Documents: An Inc. requires Articles of Incorporation, whereas an LLC needs Articles of Organization, which are less detailed. Formalities: Corporations must create corporate bylaws, whereas LLCs should have an operating agreement, often not filed publicly. Maintenance: Corporations have more maintenance, including mandatory annual shareholder meetings, unlike LLCs, which allow flexible management. Costs: Formation costs for an Inc. can be higher because of state filing fees, whereas LLCs typically have lower initial and administrative costs. Understanding these differences helps you choose between an LLC or Inc. for your business. Liability Protection Differences Limited liability protection is a significant aspect when comparing an Inc. with an LLC. Both structures limit your personal liability, meaning you’re typically only responsible for business debts up to your investment. Nevertheless, in corporations, personal liability can be pierced under certain conditions, like fraud or mixing personal and business assets. LLCs have a clearer protection mechanism, confined to the member’s investment. Whereas corporations face double taxation, impacting personal liability during financial strains, LLCs typically function as pass-through entities, avoiding corporate-level taxes. Shareholders in Inc.s may retain limited liability even with excessive debts, whereas LLC members enjoy similar protection except their actions exceed normal business operations. Comprehending what does Inc. stand for helps clarify these distinctions. Tax Implications of Incorporation Comprehending the tax implications of incorporation is vital for any business owner contemplating this route. When you ask, “Is Inc a corporation?”, it’s important to know how your choice affects taxes. Here are key points to take into account: C corporations face double taxation—both on profits and dividends. S corporations allow pass-through taxation, avoiding double taxation but requiring specific eligibility. LLCs are typically treated as pass-through entities, simplifying tax reporting and potentially lowering liabilities. States may impose additional franchise taxes or fees on incorporated entities, regardless of federal treatment. Understanding these factors helps you make informed decisions about your business structure and its tax responsibilities. Management and Compliance Requirements Choosing to incorporate your business brings with it a set of management and compliance requirements that are considerably more rigorous than those for other business structures, like LLCs. As an incorporated company, you must hold annual meetings for shareholders and directors to maintain your corporate status. Corporate bylaws, which outline governance and decision-making procedures, become public records. You’re required to file annual reports with the state, updating your company information, and you might need to pay franchise taxes for the privilege of conducting business. Failure to comply with these requirements can lead to penalties, loss of good standing, or even administrative dissolution of your corporation. Comprehending what it means to be an incorporated company is vital for effective management and compliance. Making the Right Choice for Your Business When you’re deciding on the right business structure, it’s crucial to weigh the unique advantages and drawbacks of both corporations and LLCs. To help you make an informed decision, consider the following factors: Ownership Structure: Corporations allow easier transfer of shares, whereas LLCs need member consent for interest transfers. Tax Needs: LLCs benefit from pass-through taxation, whereas corporations face double taxation unless they opt for S corporation status. Administrative Requirements: Corporations have stricter compliance obligations compared to the more flexible management of LLCs. Funding Strategy: Corporations can issue various stock types for investment, whereas LLCs are less favorable for equity funding. Defining “inc” as a corporation type can guide you in evaluating your long-term goals and exit strategies. Frequently Asked Questions Is an Inc. Better Than an LLC? Whether an Inc. is better than an LLC depends on your business goals. An Inc offers formal structure and can issue stock, facilitating fundraising, which is ideal for growth. Nevertheless, it faces double taxation on profits. Conversely, an LLC provides flexibility and single-level taxation, making it more tax-efficient for smaller businesses. In the end, assess your management preferences, investment needs, and long-term plans to determine which option suits you best. How Does an Inc. Work? An Inc. operates as a separate legal entity, protecting you from personal liability for business debts. To form one, you’ll file Articles of Incorporation with your state, detailing your business’s purpose and structure. Inc. businesses must follow strict management practices, like holding annual meetings and maintaining bylaws. They can issue various stock classes to raise capital, but be aware of potential double taxation on corporate income, except you choose S corporation status. What Are the Disadvantages of an Incorporated Company? Incorporated companies face several disadvantages. You’ll encounter double taxation, where profits are taxed at both the corporate and personal levels. The administrative burden is higher, requiring compliance with regulations, annual meetings, and detailed record-keeping. This complexity can increase operational costs. Moreover, management flexibility is limited because of formal structures, making quick decisions harder. Public reporting can expose sensitive information, impacting your competitive edge. In addition, incorporation costs, including legal and filing fees, can be substantial. Why Would a Business Want to Incorporate? You might want to incorporate your business for several reasons. First, incorporation offers limited liability protection, safeguarding your personal assets. It can likewise provide tax advantages, especially with S corporations, allowing for pass-through taxation. Furthermore, incorporating improves credibility with customers and investors, enhancing your business’s professional image. You’ll find it easier to raise capital through share issuance, and the corporation’s perpetual existence guarantees continuity, even when ownership changes. Conclusion Incorporating your business as an Inc offers numerous benefits, including limited liability protection and improved credibility. Comprehending the various types of corporations and their specific requirements can help you make informed decisions. During there are compliance obligations and tax implications to take into account, the advantages often outweigh the challenges. In the end, choosing the right business structure is essential for your long-term success, ensuring both legal protection and operational efficiency. Evaluate your options carefully to determine what best suits your needs. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is an Inc Business Type and How Does It Work?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

An Inc business type refers to a legally incorporated corporation, distinct from its owners. This structure offers limited liability protection, meaning personal assets are shielded from business debts. To form an Inc, you’ll need to file Articles of Incorporation and meet specific regulatory requirements. Comprehending how this structure works can help you assess its advantages, such as improved credibility and potential tax benefits. So, what are the key differences between an Inc and other business types? Key Takeaways An Inc business type is a formally incorporated entity that provides limited liability protection to its owners, separating personal and business assets. Incorporation requires filing Articles of Incorporation, detailing the business’s purpose, location, and share structure with the state. Incorporated businesses must adhere to strict regulations, including annual meetings, reports, and maintaining corporate formalities to retain legal protections. Different types of corporations, like C and S corporations, have distinct tax implications that can impact financial decisions and obligations. Incorporation enhances credibility, facilitates fundraising through stock issuance, and offers various benefits, including employee incentives through stock options. Understanding the Inc. Business Type When you hear the term “Inc.,” it refers to a business that has been formally incorporated, establishing itself as a distinct legal entity separate from its owners. This structure provides limited liability protection for shareholders, meaning their personal assets are typically safe from the corporation’s debts. To become incorporated, a business must file Articles of Incorporation, detailing its purpose, location, and share structure. Compared to an LLC, which offers flexibility and fewer formalities, an Inc. requires adherence to strict regulations, such as annual meetings and reports. There are two main types of corporations: C corporations, which face double taxation, and S corporations, allowing pass-through taxation but with eligibility limitations. Comprehending these differences is crucial for business decisions. Advantages of Incorporation When you incorporate your business, you gain legal liability protection, meaning your personal assets are safe from business debts. You’ll likewise find that incorporation offers tax flexibility options, allowing you to choose a structure that best suits your financial situation. Moreover, being an incorporated entity improves your ability to raise funds, as you can issue stock to attract investors more easily than other business types. Legal Liability Protection Incorporating your business provides an important layer of legal liability protection, which can be significant for safeguarding your personal assets. By establishing an inc business type, you create a separate legal entity, meaning your personal belongings are usually protected from business debts and claims. Creditors can’t pursue your personal assets for liabilities, provided you maintain the corporation’s good standing. This protection extends to lawsuits, directing legal claims at the corporation itself rather than you as an individual owner. Nevertheless, maintaining corporate formalities, such as filing annual reports and holding meetings, is vital for preserving this limited liability. Without these practices, you risk “piercing the corporate veil,” jeopardizing your protection against personal liability. Tax Flexibility Options Establishing your business as an incorporated entity not just protects your personal assets from liabilities but furthermore offers significant tax flexibility options. Comprehending the inc definition is essential for maximizing these benefits. Here are four key advantages: S Corporation Status: You can elect to be taxed as an S corporation, enabling pass-through taxation and avoiding double taxation on corporate income. C Corporation Retained Earnings: C corporations can retain earnings and reinvest without immediate tax implications for shareholders. LLC Tax Options: LLCs can choose to be taxed as a corporation, providing flexibility based on financial goals. Tax Deductions: Incorporation allows for business expense deductions, lowering overall taxable income and offering benefits like health insurance premiums. Enhanced Fundraising Opportunities Even though many new businesses struggle to secure funding, incorporating your business can greatly improve your fundraising opportunities. As an inc company, you can issue shares of stock, attracting a broader range of investors. This formal structure boosts your appeal to venture capitalists and angel investors, who often look for stability in high-growth potential businesses. In addition, offering stock options to employees can incentivize talent acquisition and retention as well as facilitating funding through equity compensation. Your corporate status furthermore increases credibility with lenders, making Chase more likely to finance your endeavors. Finally, incorporation opens the door to going public via an initial public offering (IPO), greatly broadening your fundraising potential by tapping into capital markets. Liability Protection for Owners Limited liability protection is one of the key advantages of structuring your business as an Inc. This legal framework guarantees that, as an owner, you’re only responsible for the amount you’ve invested in the corporation, effectively safeguarding your personal assets from business debts and legal claims. Here are some important points regarding liability protection for owners: Personal assets are typically shielded from corporate debts. Creditors can’t pursue your personal assets if the corporation stays in good standing. This protection is crucial for entrepreneurs facing business risks. Liability protection can be lost if fraud or misconduct occurs, exposing you to personal liability. Understanding the inc meaning in business helps you grasp the significance of these protections in maintaining your financial security. Different Types of Corporations Once you’ve established the liability protections that come with incorporating your business, it’s important to grasp the various types of corporations available. The two main types are C corporations and S corporations. C corporations face double taxation on profits and dividends, allowing unlimited shareholders and multiple stock classes, ideal for attracting investors. Conversely, S corporations offer pass-through taxation but limit shareholders to 100 and restrict stock classes, affecting ownership flexibility. There are also close corporations, which involve fewer formalities and are typically owned by a small group. Furthermore, nonprofit corporations operate for charitable purposes and can qualify for tax-exempt status. Recognizing these distinctions helps clarify the difference between LLC and Inc, guiding your choice in business structure. How Incorporation Works Incorporation is a vital step for many entrepreneurs seeking to establish a business as a separate legal entity from its owners. When you incorporate, you create a corporation, which is often abbreviated as “Inc.” This process involves several key steps: File Articles of Incorporation: Submit necessary documents to your state. Limited Liability Protection: Shareholders are only liable for company debts up to their investment. Ongoing Compliance: Hold annual meetings, maintain records, and file annual reports. Stock Issuance: Raise capital by offering shares, which allows for investment opportunities. Incorporation improves your business’s credibility and legal recognition, beneficial for interactions with vendors, customers, and potential investors. Grasping how incorporation works is vital for ensuring your business’s long-term success. Comparing Inc. With LLC When comparing an Inc and an LLC, it’s crucial to understand the differences in formation requirements and liability protection. Whereas both structures limit personal liability, an Inc. has stricter compliance rules and requires more formalities, such as holding annual meetings. Conversely, an LLC offers more flexibility in management and fewer administrative burdens, making it an attractive option for many business owners. Formation Requirements Comparison Forming a business entity like a corporation (Inc.) or a limited liability company (LLC) involves distinct requirements that can greatly impact your decision. Here’s a comparison of the formation requirements: Filing Documents: An Inc. requires Articles of Incorporation, whereas an LLC needs Articles of Organization, which are less detailed. Formalities: Corporations must create corporate bylaws, whereas LLCs should have an operating agreement, often not filed publicly. Maintenance: Corporations have more maintenance, including mandatory annual shareholder meetings, unlike LLCs, which allow flexible management. Costs: Formation costs for an Inc. can be higher because of state filing fees, whereas LLCs typically have lower initial and administrative costs. Understanding these differences helps you choose between an LLC or Inc. for your business. Liability Protection Differences Limited liability protection is a significant aspect when comparing an Inc. with an LLC. Both structures limit your personal liability, meaning you’re typically only responsible for business debts up to your investment. Nevertheless, in corporations, personal liability can be pierced under certain conditions, like fraud or mixing personal and business assets. LLCs have a clearer protection mechanism, confined to the member’s investment. Whereas corporations face double taxation, impacting personal liability during financial strains, LLCs typically function as pass-through entities, avoiding corporate-level taxes. Shareholders in Inc.s may retain limited liability even with excessive debts, whereas LLC members enjoy similar protection except their actions exceed normal business operations. Comprehending what does Inc. stand for helps clarify these distinctions. Tax Implications of Incorporation Comprehending the tax implications of incorporation is vital for any business owner contemplating this route. When you ask, “Is Inc a corporation?”, it’s important to know how your choice affects taxes. Here are key points to take into account: C corporations face double taxation—both on profits and dividends. S corporations allow pass-through taxation, avoiding double taxation but requiring specific eligibility. LLCs are typically treated as pass-through entities, simplifying tax reporting and potentially lowering liabilities. States may impose additional franchise taxes or fees on incorporated entities, regardless of federal treatment. Understanding these factors helps you make informed decisions about your business structure and its tax responsibilities. Management and Compliance Requirements Choosing to incorporate your business brings with it a set of management and compliance requirements that are considerably more rigorous than those for other business structures, like LLCs. As an incorporated company, you must hold annual meetings for shareholders and directors to maintain your corporate status. Corporate bylaws, which outline governance and decision-making procedures, become public records. You’re required to file annual reports with the state, updating your company information, and you might need to pay franchise taxes for the privilege of conducting business. Failure to comply with these requirements can lead to penalties, loss of good standing, or even administrative dissolution of your corporation. Comprehending what it means to be an incorporated company is vital for effective management and compliance. Making the Right Choice for Your Business When you’re deciding on the right business structure, it’s crucial to weigh the unique advantages and drawbacks of both corporations and LLCs. To help you make an informed decision, consider the following factors: Ownership Structure: Corporations allow easier transfer of shares, whereas LLCs need member consent for interest transfers. Tax Needs: LLCs benefit from pass-through taxation, whereas corporations face double taxation unless they opt for S corporation status. Administrative Requirements: Corporations have stricter compliance obligations compared to the more flexible management of LLCs. Funding Strategy: Corporations can issue various stock types for investment, whereas LLCs are less favorable for equity funding. Defining “inc” as a corporation type can guide you in evaluating your long-term goals and exit strategies. Frequently Asked Questions Is an Inc. Better Than an LLC? Whether an Inc. is better than an LLC depends on your business goals. An Inc offers formal structure and can issue stock, facilitating fundraising, which is ideal for growth. Nevertheless, it faces double taxation on profits. Conversely, an LLC provides flexibility and single-level taxation, making it more tax-efficient for smaller businesses. In the end, assess your management preferences, investment needs, and long-term plans to determine which option suits you best. How Does an Inc. Work? An Inc. operates as a separate legal entity, protecting you from personal liability for business debts. To form one, you’ll file Articles of Incorporation with your state, detailing your business’s purpose and structure. Inc. businesses must follow strict management practices, like holding annual meetings and maintaining bylaws. They can issue various stock classes to raise capital, but be aware of potential double taxation on corporate income, except you choose S corporation status. What Are the Disadvantages of an Incorporated Company? Incorporated companies face several disadvantages. You’ll encounter double taxation, where profits are taxed at both the corporate and personal levels. The administrative burden is higher, requiring compliance with regulations, annual meetings, and detailed record-keeping. This complexity can increase operational costs. Moreover, management flexibility is limited because of formal structures, making quick decisions harder. Public reporting can expose sensitive information, impacting your competitive edge. In addition, incorporation costs, including legal and filing fees, can be substantial. Why Would a Business Want to Incorporate? You might want to incorporate your business for several reasons. First, incorporation offers limited liability protection, safeguarding your personal assets. It can likewise provide tax advantages, especially with S corporations, allowing for pass-through taxation. Furthermore, incorporating improves credibility with customers and investors, enhancing your business’s professional image. You’ll find it easier to raise capital through share issuance, and the corporation’s perpetual existence guarantees continuity, even when ownership changes. Conclusion Incorporating your business as an Inc offers numerous benefits, including limited liability protection and improved credibility. Comprehending the various types of corporations and their specific requirements can help you make informed decisions. During there are compliance obligations and tax implications to take into account, the advantages often outweigh the challenges. In the end, choosing the right business structure is essential for your long-term success, ensuring both legal protection and operational efficiency. Evaluate your options carefully to determine what best suits your needs. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is an Inc Business Type and How Does It Work?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

OpenAI’s native shopping in ChatGPT signals a major shift in discovery, attribution, and brand power, according to Viant CEO Tim Vanderhook. The post The New AI Marketplace: How ChatGPT’s Native Shopping Could Rewrite Digital Commerce appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

When you're wading through all the emails, Slack messages, and other notifications you get on an average day, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. When that happens, you can might yourself getting distracted and missing important messages—at least, that's what happens to me, unless I have some kind of plan in place. There are a few different approaches you can consider to prevent this, but the "OHIO" technique is the one to try if you need extra help being decisive—though it's important to note that while it can ease your decision paralysis, it does have a few limitations worth considering. What is the OHIO method of time management?OHIO is an acronym for “Only Handle It Once” and you'll hear it crop up in a variety of productivity-based conversations, like ones around tidying up. Proponents say it helps you avoid unnecessary dawdling, delays, and indecision, as it calls for you to handle any task, email, message, or assignment just one time. It's definitely a habit you need to build up to, but it's one that pays off the longer you work at it. You can broadly apply it to what you’re working by assessing your entire inbox, to-do list, or other group of tasks all at once. Prioritize the tasks in order of importance using a system like the Eisenhower Matrix or ABC method. (If the workload isn’t too complex, feel free to prioritize them quickly on your own without a fancy system, but I'm a big fan of customizing hyper-specific productivity techniques to meet my needs.) Then take immediate action on each, starting from the top. Either delete them, delegate them, do what they say, or defer them, using the 4D method. The OHIO method and emailsThe OHIO method works great for emails, too, but it can suck you into time-wasting if you’re not careful. Only handling each email once is a solid way not to spend too much time on it, but you have to plan what you’re going to do. Otherwise, you may end up clicking every new email that comes in and trying to manage it in real time. Emails are harder to prioritize than a to-do list, so you may struggle to determine which one you should jump on first. Instead of implementing the OHIO method in the moment every moment, set aside time every morning and afternoon to go through your messages and, of course, only handle them once. (You can use time boxing and time blocking to make sure you do this at the same time every day, plus a 3-3-3 to-do list to make sure you have time to prioritize the task.) Try a half hour at the start of your workday, a half hour after lunch, and 15 minutes just before clocking out. If you base your approach on time, rather than a prioritized list, you’ll still be able to open each message and handle it, but won’t be swamped by having to do that every time you get a new alert. View the full article

Chinese AI advances and the effects of Donald The President’s trade war have boosted markets outside the USView the full article

Another year in search has come and gone, and Google called it year three of a 10-year platform shift. In 2025, that shift became impossible to ignore. AI moved from experiments and previews into the core of how search actually works. Below are the biggest SEO news stories of 2025 on Search Engine Land. Note: This article doesn’t include any stories related to Google algorithm updates. Barry Schwartz wrote a separate recap on that, which will also publish today. 10. Perplexity ranking factors and systems Independent researcher Metehan Yesilyurt analyzed browser-level interactions to reveal how Perplexity scores, reranks, and sometimes drops content. He uncovered a three-layer machine-learning reranker for entity searches, manual authority whitelists, and dozens of engagement and relevance signals. Yesilyurt’s research also found boosts for authoritative domains, strong early performance, and topics centered on tech and AI. Rankings further reflected time decay, interconnected content clusters, and synchronized YouTube trends that increased visibility across platforms. How Perplexity ranks content: Research uncovers core ranking factors and systems 9. Google Search Console Query groups Google added Query groups to the Search Console Insights report. The feature uses AI to cluster similar search queries into clear audience topics and does not affect rankings. It rolled out gradually to high-volume sites and replaced long query lists with topic-level groupings that make performance shifts easier to spot. Google Search Console adds Query groups 8. HubSpot’s SEO collapse HubSpot’s organic traffic appeared to fall from 13.5 million to 8.6 million in a month, with most of the losses coming from its blog. The drop followed several Google updates, and SEOs publicly pointed to thin, off-topic, traffic-at-all-costs content that drifted beyond HubSpot’s core expertise. HubSpot’s SEO collapse: What went wrong and why? 7. SEO vs. GEO The SEO identity crisis continued as Google dismissed new acronyms like GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization), arguing that good SEO is good GEO, and that the same fundamentals drive AI Overview rankings. That stance collided with Google’s own admission that search traffic decline is inevitable as AI answers replace clicks, even while traditional search still dominates discovery at a massive scale. Yet, search behavior is fracturing: users turn to AI for quick answers and to Google for deeper research, pushing brands to optimize for visibility, not just traffic. Google says normal SEO works for ranking in AI Overviews and LLMS.txt won’t be used Google’s Danny Sullivan: ‘Good SEO is good GEO’ Google Search is 373x bigger than ChatGPT search How AI is reshaping SEO: Challenges, opportunities, and brand strategies for 2025 Nearly all ChatGPT users still rely on Google: Data Google Search traffic decline is inevitable, execs say LLM traffic converts about the same as organic search: Research Google is still 210x bigger than ChatGPT in search 6. Google AI Mode Google rapidly expanded AI Mode from an opt-in experiment into a widely available, and possibly soon default, search experience. It added deeper research, agentic actions, personalization, and Gemini 2.5, signaling longer and more complex search behavior. At the same time, AI Mode exposed major transparency gaps. It initially broke referral tracking and still blends performance data into standard Search Console reports, raising new concerns about visibility, attribution, and what SEO becomes as AI takes on a larger role in search. Google launches AI Mode to all U.S. searchers with new features Google AI Mode may become the default Google Search experience “soon.” Google AI Mode traffic data comes to Search Console Google AI Mode traffic is untrackable 5. Cloudflare vs. Google Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said AI was breaking the web’s search-driven business model. He said Google scraped far more content while sending back much less traffic because of zero-click results. He added that AI companies deepen the imbalance by consuming huge amounts of content with little return to creators, putting original publishing at risk unless the economic model changes. Cloudflare CEO: AI is killing the business model of the web 4. Google search market share dips Statcounter data showed Google’s global search share fell below 90% in October, November, and December 2024, the first time its search share remained under 90% since early 2015. The decline was driven mainly by Asia, alongside a December U.S. dip to 87.39%. Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo captured much of the lost share. Google’s search market share drops below 90% for first time since 2015 3. AI-generated content Google tightened its stance on AI-generated content by telling quality raters to give the Lowest ratings to pages where most main content is auto- or AI-generated with little originality or added value. It also expanded its spam definitions to target scaled, low-effort AI use. At the same time, Google tested AI-generated and AI-summarized search snippets, pointing to a future where AI both judges content more harshly and increasingly controls how that content appears in search. Google quality raters now assess whether content is AI-generated Google testing AI-generated descriptions for search snippets 2. Google AI Overviews impact on clicks Analyses from Seer, Ahrefs, Amsive, and BrightEdge all showed the same pattern. Google Search produced more impressions and more AI Overview visibility, but sent fewer clicks. The drop was sharpest on non-branded, informational queries, where AI Overviews pushed classic results down, and CTR fell hard. The studies also found a winner-take-some dynamic. Brands cited in AI Overviews saw higher paid and organic CTR, while those left out lost ground, showing that AI visibility increasingly drives results. Google AI Overviews drive 61% drop in organic CTR, 68% in paid New data: Google AI Overviews are hurting click-through rates Google organic and paid CTRs hit new lows: Report New Google AI Overviews data: Search clicks fell 30% in last year 1. R.I.P., num=100 Google’s removal of the long-standing &num=100 search parameter disrupted SEO data across the industry. It broke rank-tracking tools and coincided with sharp drops in Google Search Console impressions and query counts. Early analysis showed most sites lost reported visibility, especially beyond Page 1. The change suggested years of inflated metrics from scrapers and a new, possibly more accurate, view of organic performance. Google Search rank and position tracking is a mess right now Google Search confirms it does not support the results per page parameter 77% of sites lost keyword visibility after Google removed num=100: Data View the full article

If you are still using the same email address for everything, it’s time to diversify. Don’t make the mistake I made for too long, clogging up one inbox with absolute nonsense unrelated to the things you actually want to receive and read. You likely already have separate emails for your job, school, and personal life, and many of us also have a designated “spam” email to enter into pop-up boxes in a hurry—but you might even benefit from a couple more. Here are the email addresses I advise setting up. You need an email for logging into appsI have a special email address just for my streaming services and random apps, so when Peacock or Hulu mysteriously log out on my TV, I can just reset the passwords using the special email address without junking up my real one. This is great because apps and services simply love to send you emails about deals, specials, or reminders to log in, and while you could waste a bunch of time unsubscribing from them, you could also just banish them to a Gmail account you only open occasionally for that fresh log-in email, leaving the rest of the junk to rot. I'm also just hesitant to unsubscribe from emails that come from a service I sometimes do need emails from, which is the case with streamers and apps, as most of my two-factor authentication goes down in my email inbox. Separating these just makes sense. You need an email for newslettersIn case you haven’t noticed, all your favorite news sites and even individual writers are gung-ho about newsletters. It’s great to get the information you want in your inbox, but less great when it interferes with you seeing the messages you actually need to get more important daily tasks done. Creating a separate email inbox just for newsletters gives you a sort of curated Apple News-like experience. When you want to read the news or the musings of some great intellectual, open that inbox and scroll. When you want to tackle actual correspondence, you can just click away. You need an email for your side hustlesThis is where I fall short: I don’t actually have this, at least not in a consistent way. I use my real email for all my little adventures and money-making projects, which has become my downfall. When I used to freelance a lot, my email got added to some kind of freelancer database and now my personal inbox is absolutely brimming with PR pitches I never open or read. These come in so often that real correspondence from family members or people I am trying to work with gets lost. If you’re smart (unlike me), you’ll set up an email address that is just for your gigging, whatever it entails. Whether you’re trying to be an influencer, a freelancer, a photographer, or a volunteer, anything that’s sort-of serious but not actually your job should end up in one place. Do this early on when you start a project, too. I'd love to set up separate email addresses for my resale business, my fitness class teaching, and my copywriting and freelancing, but getting all my contacts in those spheres to start emailing the new address instead of the old one would cause headaches. Setting it up early precludes that, but also helps you shift into a different headspace when you're corresponding with someone like a potential client. I do feel more assertive when I'm talking to someone as "Lindsey Ellefson, MPH" or "Lindsey Ellefson, award-winning journalist" instead of just "Lindsey Ellefson." Setting up something like [your name][your title]@gmail.com can help you step into that more self-assured mindset. Some multi-email tipsTry to designate your app-only email for free trials, too. When a trial ends, a company will stop at nothing to remind you that you can still sign up and give them money. Do not let these endless emails bother you or waste your time. Day pass at a gym? App-only email address. Free trial of a PDF editor or resume builder? App-only email address. Need to log into a public wifi that demands an email address for some unholy reason? You already know. Just make sure that for this one, you toggle off notifications, so your phone’s home screen doesn’t become overwhelmed with garbage. I recommend using Gmail for all of this, too, because the Gmail app makes it so easy to switch between different accounts right on your phone. That way, you can even assign the addresses to different Chrome profiles on your computer, which has been a lifesaver for me as I toggle between different parts of my life. The only downside to going Gmail-only is that it's hard, at first glance, to see which address is receiving a message when you get an alert on your phone's lock screen. It shouldn't be a major issue, though, because for a lot of these, like the one for streamers, you should toggle push notifications off entirely. View the full article

Google's John Mueller posted one of his one-liners, where he called some forms of SEO content as "digital mulch." He wrote, "And let's be honest'"most of that SEO content is just digital mulch. (...) If your blog exists solely to rank, it's living on borrowed time."View the full article

Microsoft has added the ability to add custom columns to the Microsoft Advertising user interface and advertising console. But it doesn't offer every metric, including missing the segment by conversion action metric.View the full article

Google is testing an option to read aloud the AI Overviews by clicking on a speaker icon at the top of the AI Overview within Google Search. And the crazy thing, this is being tested in the US. View the full article

Construction materials are responsible for nearly one-third of global carbon dioxide emissions. And as global demand for construction continues to rise (it has already tripled over the past 25 years), its emissions are bound to climb even higher.e In fact, some, like environmental engineer and University of Virginia professor Andres Clarens, see materials’ potential negative impact as so existential that he calls them the “last major frontier” in the fight against climate change. If that’s the case, we need to reduce the emissions associated with commonly used building materials like cement and steel—and we need to develop alternative materials that emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions by default. And we need to do it fast. This year, material designers delivered. Some of these new materials are still in the testing phase, others are already on the market. All five have tremendous potential to make our buildings more sustainable. 1. A superstrong material inspired by the deep-sea spongeEarlier this year, researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology invented a bio-inspired building material that is both lightweight and resilient under pressure, which could help reduce the use of steel and concrete. The key to their innovation? A little creature that lives thousands of meters deep in the ocean. The deep-sea sponge’s lattice-like skeleton, which has been optimized over millions of years, can absorb force while maintaining its strength. According to the researchers, a similarly designed material could enable “thinner load-bearing walls and slimmer columns,” which in turn, would reduce the amount of steel and concrete required to achieve structural integrity. The material is still in the testing phase. 2. A ‘Superwood’ that is stronger than steelSeven years ago, scientists at the University of Maryland said they discovered a way to make wood so strong that it could compete with steel. This year, their research culminated in the launch of Superwood, a material that has 50% greater tensile strength than steel and a strength-to-weight ratio that’s 10 times better. Superwood was developed by a spin-off startup called InventWood, which began mass-producing the material this summer. The company’s first facility in Frederick, Maryland, can produce one million square feet of Superwood per year, with applications varying from interior finishes to exterior-grade panels for siding and roofing. The plan, according to InventWood cofounder Alex Lau, is to build “a larger facility that will scale to over 30 million square feet, enabling use in infrastructure and large developments.” 3. A cross-laminated timber made of fallen treesBy some estimates, cities lose a staggering 36 million trees a year to storms, insects, and disease. Over the past six years, the Washington, D.C.-based startup Carbon Cambium has salvaged six million board feet of wood from these fallen trees, diverting it from the landfill, and turning it into usable timber for furniture with companies like Room & Board and Sabai. This year, the startup developed its first product for the construction industry. Carbon Smart Wood is the first cross-laminated timber (CLT) made from salvaged trees, which promises to make mass timber construction even more sustainable. The company offers millwork like decking and flooring, and full CLT structural panels for buildings. Forty thousand linear feet of the material will appear on the facade of the new JFK Airport expansion in 2026. Horizon House4. A new take on rammed earthRammed earth, a building technique where damp soil is compacted in layers within temporary forms, has propped up buildings for millennia. This year, the humble material got an upgrade when researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology encased it in a cardboard tube. The resulting material, dubbed cardboard-confined rammed earth (CCRE), consists of rammed earth that’s been compacted inside cylindrical tubes. Typically, rammed earth walls also include a dose of cement to improve strength and durability, but the cardboard formwork in CCRE acts as a shell, negating the need for cement. The researchers say the cardboard helps protect the rammed earth from surrounding environments, while additional treatment on the cardboard can extend its life as well. They have also developed a similar version using carbon-fiber tubes. To date, the team has built a small-scale prototype, but if scaled, the material could be used to build low-rise and modular buildings with no cement. 5. A paint that changes colors with the seasonsWe’ve known for a while now that painting surfaces like streets and roofs in white can make them cooler because white reflects heat—and painting them black can make them warmer because black absorbs heat. This year, industrial designer Joe Doucet took this time-tested innovation to a new level by developing a “climate-adaptive” paint that can change colors based on the outside temperature. The paint, which can be mixed with other tints (so you can still have your yellow house) could save an estimated 20–30% in energy costs every year. Doucet’s team is currently testing the final formula, with the goal of licensing it to paint manufacturers when ready. View the full article

Google is testing swapping out the Gemini button at the top right of the Chrome browser, with a "Browse with AI" button. The button is more colorful and in your face, which probably gets more users to notice it.View the full article

Google's John Mueller questioned the need for all websites to use ccTLDs, different domain names, to take their websites international. He said on Reddit, "you both make things harder on yourself, but you also make it harder for search engines to understand each of these sites."View the full article

Throughout 2025, we’ve watched companies treat employees with a stunning disregard: rolling layoffs (with thousands let go at a time), unchecked workloads, turning a blind eye to burnout—with 76% of U.S. workers reporting at least one health condition today—and a near-gleeful rush to replace people with AI. Over 200,000 American women quit their jobs this year, many citing inflexible policies and lack of support for balancing work and life. Relentless rounds of cuts have destabilized employee trust and left employees uncertain and questioning leadership at every level. Across industries, leaders have routinely prioritized short-term efficiency over human impacts, sending a clear signal that employee well-being is treated as irrelevant to how most CEOs define organizational success. Despite a year in which many companies acted as if they were actively anti employee well-being, there’s clear evidence that 2026 will be the year everything changes. This isn’t wishful thinking or naivete. It’s grounded in hard business realities that CEOs can no longer afford to ignore. First, investors—the same ones who have historically applauded employee layoffs—are beginning to reward companies that prioritize employee flourishing because multiple years of research show that firms with high well-being scores consistently outperform peers in stock performance, profitability, and innovation. Second, the talent market is unforgiving—top performers now demand workplaces that offer trust, growth, and the conditions to thrive; ignoring this risks losing the very people who drive competitive advantage. Additionally, we’ve reached a point of destabilization—a crisis—where people are hitting a “no more” moment and simply won’t continue in the old way any longer. This will be a major catalyst for change. Third, the AI-driven transformation of work depends on human adaptability; organizations that fail to foster well-being, learning, and resilience will sabotage their own investments in technology. Finally, the reputational and financial costs of ignoring well-being are increasingly visible, from mass departures of key employees to heightened public scrutiny. Taken together, these forces create a perfect storm: 2026 is the year CEOs will have both the incentive and the imperative to finally make employee well-being a central strategic priority. The Reckoning Arrives If 2025 will be remembered for the callousness and disregard organizations showed their people, 2026 will be remembered as the year CEOs felt the consequences of those decisions and were forced to pivot. And this shift won’t happen because leaders suddenly became more empathetic. It will happen because the data is now unequivocal: employee well-being isn’t a “soft” idea—it’s a hard, proven driver of performance, retention, customer experience, innovation, and long-term value creation. When people feel genuinely valued, respected, supported, treated humanely, and that they truly belong, they don’t just perform more optimally—they think more clearly, solve problems more creatively, and bring far greater energy and commitment to their work. Research from leading business schools and global workplace studies demonstrates this; 2026 is simply the year the evidence becomes impossible for CEOs to dismiss. The Well-Being–Performance Link Is No Longer Debatable For years, employee well-being was treated as a feel-good afterthought—something leaders knew mattered but never put on the same level as profits and shareholder returns. That era is over. Rigorous, multiyear research from investment firm Irrational Capital—analyzing thousands of public companies, including the entire S&P 500 and Russell 1000—shows that organizations in the top 20% for employee well-being have outperformed the market by hundreds of basis points. Oxford research finds that a single-point increase in employee happiness correlates with billions in additional annual profit for large enterprises. McKinsey on burnout, Deloitte on retention, Gallup’s global workplace data—all of it points to the same conclusion: when people feel genuinely supported, productivity, profitability, innovation, and customer loyalty surge. Harvard leadership professor Arthur C. Brooks puts it bluntly: “Happier employees are more profitable, more productive employees. That’s just the way it is.” Investors are now baking these realities into their models. The gap between human flourishing and financial flourishing isn’t philosophical anymore—it’s mathematical. Where Companies Have Gone Wrong Most organizations spent the past decade conflating well-being with wellness programs. They handed out meditation apps, gym stipends, and yoga classes while ignoring the root causes of poor well-being: uncaring and untrustworthy managers, a lack of connection and belonging, expectations of always being on—and feeling unappreciated for one’s hard work. The result was predictable—burnout soared, engagement flat-lined, and the best people walked away. The damage is undeniable in 2025’s data. Trust in senior leadership has fallen to its lowest point in years. Employees are using words like “disconnect,” “misalignment,” “distrust,” and “hypocrisy” in record numbers. The power shift back to employers has been used to push return-to-office mandates, endless restructurings, and the “forever layoff”—small, rolling terminations that keep everyone fearing they’ll be next, exhausted, and diminished in what they can contribute. Why 2026 Changes Everything 2025 exposed the cost of treating people as expendable. 2026 will reveal the cost of continuing to do so. The forces now converging leave CEOs no room to hide: Investors have begun rewarding cultures of genuine care. The same financial logic that once justified layoffs now proves that sustained well-being creates superior performance. Boards are asking hard questions about turnover, culture risk, and the long-term sustainability of workforce models built on burnout. The cost of neglect is now impossible to hide. The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that workplaces are a major driver of the nation’s mental health crisis. The result is spiking turnover, steep drops in productivity, skyrocketing medical claims, and a workforce whose resilience has been systematically eroded—losses that dwarf the cost of actually supporting people. Young talent is reshaping the expectations of work. Gen Z and millennials, who will soon be the majority of the workforce, refuse to accept fear, overwork, or indifference as normal. They demand growth, stability, and humane leadership—and they walk quickly when they don’t get it. The mistake leaders continue to make is by framing this attitude as entitlement. It’s not. It’s clarity. Younger generations simply refuse to tolerate what older generations accepted as normal. The battle for talent has become a battle for well-being. AI is accelerating—not reducing—the need for well-being. The belief that technology could replace people and eliminate the need for authentically supportive leadership has been proven wrong. AI demands adaptability, creativity, emotional intelligence, and resilience—capacities that collapse under chronic stress. Organizations that want their people to master the tools of the future must first keep them energized and trusted today. A new leadership mandate is forming. This is the shift Deloitte calls “human sustainability:” the deliberate choice to build organizations where people can thrive for the long haul, not just survive to the next quarter. It means embedding respect, growth, and genuine care into every system—hiring, development, compensation, communication, and even the way difficult decisions are handled. Most importantly, well-being must become a leadership competency. Leaders must learn the importance of trust, how team cohesion gets built, how psychological safety is created, how meaningful work is designed, and how human energy is sustained. Leaders must embrace new practices known to support human thriving. The companies that make this pivot in 2026 won’t just repair the damage of 2025. They’ll dominate the decade. They’ll keep their best people and attract everyone else’s. They’ll turn AI from a source of fear into the greatest amplifier of human potential we’ve ever seen. They’ll build resilience that no disruption can break. In my new book, The Power of Employee Well-Being, I lay out exactly how this transformation happens and why it’s the single greatest untapped performance lever left in most organizations. The evidence is settled. The investors are watching. The talent is voting with their feet. And 2026 is the year the old excuses finally die. Leaders who still treat people as costs to be managed will be left behind. The rest of us will be building the future—and it’s one where people are flourishing, trusted, and bringing everything they have to work every single day. Happy New Year! View the full article

2025 was notable for GEO, Google patents, and research papers. WordPress entered the year with uncertainty and ended it roaring into 2026. The post Review Of 2025: Highlights & Lowlights For SEO (& WordPress) appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Last December, Modern CEO named the inaugural Modern CEO of the Year. The goal was to recognize a business leader who embodied the traits frequently covered in this newsletter: inclusion, accessibility, humility, and innovation amid unprecedented uncertainty. We looked for a person with vision and grit, someone who is growing a company sustainably. The methodology isn’t scientific, but this year, one name stood out: Flex’s Revathi Advaithi. Meet the Modern CEO of the Year Advaithi didn’t set out to ride the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. After becoming CEO of Flex (formerly known as Flextronics) in 2019, she zeroed in on the contract manufacturing company’s power-focused business, which makes components that manage, regulate, and distribute power for advanced semiconductors and systems. Advaithi understood that business segment well from her years working at Eaton, the power management company. She bet that technology companies would continue to need more power and compute—the processing power and other resources needed to run applications—plus systems to cool equipment to keep it from overheating. She quietly began to build a portfolio of products and services to design, manage, and deploy power, compute, and cooling infrastructure. Today, that business is growing 35% year-over-year, and Advaithi expects it to generate about $6.5 billion of Flex’s fiscal 2026 annual revenue, projected to reach $26.7 billion to $27.3 billion. As Modern CEO went to press, Flex stock was up 65%, outperforming the broader market and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index. “Either we were very smart, or we got lucky,” Advaithi says. “But when [generative] AI emerges and people start talking about power-hungry compute, the strategy we put together looks like it’s a winning strategy.” Strategic leadership, personal adversity Advaithi is quick to point out that her remaking of the power portfolio was part of a strategic approach she applied to all parts of Flex’s business, which includes supply-chain management and manufacturing of components for electronics and automobile makers and the healthcare industry. Indeed, Flex did more than simply capitalize on AI in 2025. This year, the company also helped its clients figure out strategies for dealing with new tariffs. And Advaithi led the company while undergoing treatment for breast cancer for part of the year. She’s currently in remission. Advaithi says her board of directors supported her decision to keep working after she was diagnosed with cancer in August 2024 even though intense chemotherapy would mean missing travel and interactions with employees and customers. But Advaithi says she’s never been a “24/7” CEO and has always made time for family, friends, and activities, so she felt confident that the company could thrive without her being constantly on call. For Advaithi, the decision was affirming. “Having that purpose, keeping myself grounded, having something to push myself out of bed, kept me going in a pretty significant way,” she says. She also says she wanted to show the business world and other patients that those undergoing treatment, especially women, were capable of reliance and strength. “I felt like I had a duty and obligation to show that it could be done,” she says, acknowledging the support of her family and the ability to access high-quality care. A guide for uncertain times With manufacturing facilities in 30 countries, Flex this year found itself consulting with clients on how best to navigate the new tariffs announced by the The President administration at the start of the year. Using sophisticated software that analyzed everything from labor costs to rare-earth mining risks, Flex offered customers different options to make and deliver goods as well as develop longer-term manufacturing and supply chain strategies. That dispassionate, disciplined approach is not unlike the way Advaithi is thinking about the AI growth opportunity, which many now feel is approaching bubble territory. Rather than building her business around speculation about investment needed to support AI hyper-scalers, Advaithi says she’s focused on the power needs of data centers that have already been announced for 2026. “The constant decision that CEOs have to make today is looking at growth, risk-taking, and discipline,” she says. “I’ve only worked with industrial companies, so I feel like you have to [ask]: Where are you five years from now? Where are you 10 years from now? And have you built a business that’s viable and sustainable?” More Modern CEOs Who would have been your pick for Modern CEO of the Year, and why? Send your submissions to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com, and we’ll highlight readers’ choices in an upcoming newsletter. Read more: top CEOs YouTube’s Neal Mohan is Time’s CEO of the Year Barron’s 2025 Top CEOs Inc.’s 2025 Business Leaders of the Year View the full article