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Scented candle lovers, the day you have waited for all year is finally here. Today marks the kick-off of the annual Candle Day sales event from Bath & Body Works, during which the retailer’s pricey scented wax pillars will go for just a third of their regular cost. Here’s what you need to know about Candle Day 2025. What is Candle Day 2025? Candle Day is Bath & Body Works’ annual candle sale bonanza. Throughout the year, many of the company’s three-wick candles go for $29.95 each, but during Candle Day, many of those candles can be had for prices as low as $9.95. Due to the massive savings, Candle Day is a sales event that candle lovers across America look forward to each year. However, don’t let the “Candle Day” name fool you. Much like Amazon Prime Day, the title of the event is a bit misleading. As with Prime “Day,” Candle “Day” is not actually only a 24-hour event and instead runs across multiple days. During the event, Bath & Body Works says, over 180 varieties of candles will be on sale. When is Candle Day 2025? There are two different elements to Bath & Body Works’ Candle Day 2025: the online element and the in-store element. Candle Day’s deals are available both in-store and online, but the online portion of the sale actually kicks off earlier. For Candle Day 2025, the online (and mobile app) deals began at 10 p.m. last night, December 4. The in-store Candle Day event officially kicks off this morning at 6 a.m. Candle Day 2025 then runs both online and in-store from Friday, December 5, through Sunday, December 7. How much are Candle Day prices? Most three-wick candles at Bath & Body Works cost around $29.95 throughout the year. But during the Candle Day sales event, many of those same candles can be purchased for just $9.95. Customers will get the same sale price no matter if they shop online, in the mobile app, or in-store. Are there any new or limited-edition candles for Candle Day 2025? Yes. This year, Bath & Body Works is unveiling new, limited-time, and limited-edition candles for Candle Day 2025. The 2025 limited-edition candle is called Holiday Dill-ight, which the company describes as “Inspired by the quirky holiday tradition.” The company is also unveiling several new candle collections. The “Sunday Funday” collection includes Neapolitan Ice Cream, Gummy Candies, Glazed Cherries, Butterscotch Swirl, Sugared Waffle Cone, and Hot Fudge Drizzle. The “Perfect Pairings” collection includes Coffee & Donuts, Chips & Salsa, Pizza & Ranch, and Popcorn & Slushie. And the “Holiday Bucket List” collection includes new candles like Rum Rum Reindeer and Christmas Road Trip, along with returning holiday favorites Sweater Weather, Merry Mimosa, and Vanilla Balsam. Candle Day 2025 marks the retailer’s 14th Candle Day event. It comes just days after Newell Brands, parent company of Yankee Candle, announced it would be closing 20 Yankee Candle stores this year. Bath & Body Works has also struggled this year, reporting a 1% decrease in net sales for its third quarter. It expects sales will decline in the “low single digits” for the full year. Shares in Bath & Body Works (NYSE: BBWI) are down almost 50% in 2025. View the full article

This week, we, of course, covered the ongoing Google Search ranking volatility. Google is now blending AI Mode directly into AI Overviews. Google's home page search bar added a new upload feature to take you into AI Mode...View the full article

Modern performance tracking requires KPIs that reflect margin, lifetime value, and pipeline contribution instead of inflated platform numbers. The post The 8 Most Important PPC KPIs You Should Be Tracking appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

The District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virgina (DMV) region is emerging as a national test case for the future of office space. As cities across the country grapple with persistent office vacancies, D.C. is taking a bold approach: Instead of focusing solely on residential conversions, it is pioneering a broader strategy to convert offices to…anything. While the concept of office conversions isn’t new, most efforts have been centered on residential use. D.C.’s strategy breaks that mold. In January 2025, the city launched the Central Washington Activation Projects Temporary Tax Abatement, better known as the Office to Anything program. This policy targets buildings that aren’t suitable for housing conversion and opens the door to a wider range of uses. With this program, D.C. is positioning itself as a laboratory for alternative office conversions, from data centers to hospitality and mixed-use spaces. As federal workforce reductions continue and General Service Administration (GSA) leases expire, the DMV faces mounting vacancies. This presents a rare opportunity for other cities to watch D.C.’s approach in action and consider how similar policies could reshape their own urban cores. WHY D.C.’S OFFICE MARKET SIGNALS A NATIONAL SHIFT The DMV is ground zero for federal downsizing, with one-fifth of all federal workers, according to Brookings, and 46 million square feet of office space leased by the government. With our Federal Property Pulse (FPP) tool, we are tracking these GSA leases and cancellations across the U.S. Since January 2025, 24 leases in the region have been canceled, contributing to 1.9 million square feet of vacant office space. This is over 4% of the total space leased by the GSA. The FPP shows that another 9.98 million square feet of space could enter the already struggling DMV office market in the next year. This is a critical moment for the region. As the structure of the federal government continues to evolve, so must the economic core. Brookings’ DMV Monitor reported a mismatch in displaced federal government workers and available private sector positions. While there are new jobs entering the market, many of these are unsuited to the 17,000 displaced federal government workers, as the new roles are concentrated in construction, hospitality, and healthcare sectors. As GSA lease expiries and cancellations increase and federal workforce reduction continues, D.C. could become a case study for the role of office conversions in supporting a shifting economic core. FEDERAL LEASE EXPIRIES: A TICKING CLOCK FOR OFFICES A wave of expiring federal leases is approaching. As part of the effort to cut government spending, the GSA will reduce its leased footprint by allowing expiring leases to lapse without renewal. With the GSA leasing 145 million square feet of office space across the U.S., the DMV will not be the only region affected. Of that space, 51.4 million square feet are already in holdover, soft-term, or nearing soft-term. While we can predict an influx of former GSA-leased properties will enter the market, lease terms make it difficult to know exact timing. GSA leases typically include a noncancellable “hard-term” followed by a “soft-term,” where leases can be terminated with 120–180 days’ notice. This creates uncertainty around when properties will re-enter the market. UNLOCK NEW USES FOR OFFICE SPACE The initial hype around office-to-residential conversions was driven by a rise in vacant office properties in favorable downtown neighborhoods. These properties helped address housing shortages, but many of the most viable buildings have already been repurposed. With residential conversion options narrowing, cities must assess market demand and local economic drivers to identify alternative uses. The D.C. Office to Anything policy seeks to reposition underutilized office assets into higher-performing uses based on zoning, market demand, and building characteristics. Key alternative uses include small-scale industrial, data centers, hospitality, and mixed-use spaces. Looking beyond the office-to-residential model could offer cheaper conversions and shorter timelines. Small scale industrial and logistics conversions come in around $100-$150 per square foot with timelines of 6 to 12 months, while residential conversions cost $250-$400 per square foot with 24-to-36-month timelines. Not only do industrial uses offer lower conversion costs, but shorter timelines could also result in quick returns on investment. It isn’t only a matter of cost and timelines; alternative office conversions are better suited to meet the needs of an individual market. For some cities, data centers are emerging as an opportunity for conversion. With a projected shortfall of over 15 gigawatts of processing power by 2030, vacant office properties located near economic and urban centers could help to curb demand. In particular, offices can be converted to edge computing facilities that distribute processing and data storage, keeping these capabilities closer to data sources. WHAT MAKES CONVERSIONS WORK? Successful conversions depend on two things: physical feasibility and financial viability. Local government support is key to improving the viability of conversions through streamlined approval processes, zoning flexibility, and financial support. Zoning is one of the first, and more formidable hurdles that office conversions face. If a commercial property cannot be rezoned, the entire viability of the project falls apart. Downtowns with zoning flexibility will see the most success in the long run. In Texas, statewide zoning flexibility is enabling office conversions in cities like Dallas. Local government can also play a major role in determining the financial viability of a conversion project. Without tax incentives or subsidies, the cost of conversions could be prohibitive. This is part of what makes D.C.’s Office to Anything conversions so appealing. Providing a 15-year temporary property tax freeze, the policy improves viability. Combined with the potential for lower conversion costs for nonresidential uses, these projects could become more appealing for developers. SCALE THE STRATEGY The DMV isn’t alone in facing office vacancy challenges. Across the U.S., millions of square feet in GSA properties stand to enter the market. D.C. can show us what to do with that vacant space. Office conversions don’t have to mean housing, they can mean anything. As cities continue to rethink their economic cores, the success of D.C.’s Office to Anything strategy could redefine how we use space. Mark Rose is chair and CEO of Avison Young. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. A major component of productivity is prioritizing your daily responsibilities and addressing them in an order that makes sense, which is why to-do lists are so important. Usually, I suggest using the Eisenhower Matrix, which helps you visually sort tasks according to how urgent and important they are, but there is another way: The ABCDE method, which comes from Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy. Obviously, eating the frog—or doing your biggest, most demanding task first each day—is one way to tackle the day’s duties, but structuring out how you’ll do the rest is pretty important, too. Here’s how it works. What is the ABCDE method of productivity?The ABCDE method is a simple way to categorize whatever you need to do and figure out which things are most pressing, most demanding, and most relevant. Using it can be a solid first step to making your to-do list, especially if you’re following a model like the 1-3-5 list, which requires you to do one major task, three medium-sized ones, and five small ones every day. Figuring out the big, medium, and small tasks is actually a task in itself (but it doesn’t count as one of the five, sorry). This approach is a little easier than similar prioritization techniques because it's more subjective. When you are planning out your day, you’re going to give each task in front of you a grade. First, list out everything you need to do. This can be a list of your tasks for the day, week, or month—you’ll weed it all down eventually. Then, give them each a grade based on this outline: A is for the most important tasks, like anything that will have a consequence if it doesn’t get done. These are the “frog” tasks that will require resources and time, but they can also be something that doesn’t take a lot of time but does have a hefty associated punishment for failure, like paying a bill on time. B tasks are ones that also need to get done, but won’t have such serious ramifications if they’re not done immediately. You know you need to do them at some point (lest they escalate to the urgency of an A task) but you have a little wiggle room. If you have a make-or-break exam in a month, studying for it now might be a B task, but if you wait too long, it'll quickly become A. C tasks don’t have any consequences for not getting done, but are things it would be good to get taken care of. For me, a C task might be responding to a PR pitch to say I’m not interested in interviewing their client. I didn’t need to do it, but it’s a nice thing to do that keeps a professional relationship friendly. (Conversely, a B task would be responding to someone’s publicity agent right away when they’re trying to nail down a time for an interview. An A task would be doing the interview.) D tasks are anything that you can delegate to someone else. The person you give it to shouldn’t have any A or B tasks it will take away from; it should become a priority for them, even if it’s not major for you or simply something you trust they’ll get done right. This is where it gets a little subjective and may not work for everyone. If you're a manager at work or the adult in your household, this is easy enough, but if you're working on personal tasks, it's not always relevant. You can think a little more abstractly here, if it helps. Sometimes, when I have a lot of laundry to do, I'm overly busy, and it's bordering on being an A task, I actually turn it into a D task by calling a pick-up and delivery service. Think of things you can outsource, even if you aren't exactly in a position to "delegate." Even an A or B task like "plan tonight's meal" or "clean the house" could be a D task if you're in a position to order a pizza or hire a cleaner. Be open to seeing D tasks among everything on your list, even if it takes some practice, as it clears the way for more As and Bs. E tasks are ones you eliminate altogether. If they serve absolutely no purpose, have no consequences attached to them, or may even pull you off course, just don’t do them. This is a pretty relative grade, though: Say you wanted to go to the grocery store and try a new recipe tonight but just don’t have time. You have enough food at home, so you don't even need takeout. It’s fine to eliminate it this time, but when you deplete all your food, the grocery store trip will roar back onto the list in a higher position. Other E tasks may never reappear; they’re just inconsequential. Ignore them to reduce pressure on yourself. Even giving yourself permission not to do things can be a major motivator and is a productivity method of its own. Like I said, this is a little subjective and it may take some time to get the hang of accurately categorizing your tasks. There are other, more intense ways of prioritizing your daily responsibilities and if you're struggling with giving your to-dos a grade, you might need to try something a little more data-focused. The goal here is to be quick and efficient so you can stop stressing about what needs to be done, then prioritize it, and just start doing it. Use the ABCDE grades to be more productiveOnce every task has been assigned a grade, start planning out your day (and week and month). Here’s where that 1-3-5 to-do list comes in: The one big task should be an A task, something that is urgent and timely, and/or requires major resources and focus. The three medium-sized tasks might include a smaller A-level one, but will most likely be Bs. For the five smaller tasks, pick up any leftover B grades and, if you want, Cs. As for the D-level things, outsourcing and coordinating on them might still require enough work to qualify carrying out the delegation as one of your five smaller tasks, but it depends how much effort that really takes and what the rest of your day is looking like. Don’t shoot the messenger, but you might have to fall back on a C task to get the delegation taken care of. The E grades can just be crossed off. Go ahead and delete them or strike them out. It’ll feel good (and productive) to get that finality on them. Once you’ve organized which tasks are necessary for the day, look ahead at the week and make sure you keep any B-level responsibilities in mind and roll them over to a day that works for you if you don’t have time that particular day. Putting them off will turn them into As pretty quickly. As always, rely on timeboxing to schedule out the day from there. Allocate time for each task in your calendar, giving yourself the most time for major A-level duties and less and less time for B and C. Don’t multitask; instead, do each thing in order, starting by eating the frog and moving through the other things one at a time until they’re done. (The exception here is that if you’re delegating tasks, try to get it done early so the other person has time to complete what should be an A- or B-level job for them, too.) Grading your responsibilities is an easy way to get perspective on them and enhance your sense of urgency around them, which compels you to be more productive. Getting it all into an ordered list gives you structure and direction, wastes less time throughout the day, and will give you a sense of accomplishment when you’re done, which itself is a productivity win. View the full article

Search has moved far beyond blue links and basic ranking signals. People now discover information on Google, TikTok, Pinterest, Amazon, YouTube, and an expanding layer of generative AI platforms that synthesize answers from trusted sources. As SERPs shift toward rich results and AI summaries, users often get what they need without needing to click at all. In this environment, brand authority isn’t just tied to your domain. It spans platforms, formats, and the systems that learn from your content. Modern off-page SEO must support both search engines and the AI models that evaluate and surface your expertise. This off-page optimization guide breaks down what works now – the tactics, measurement frameworks, and best practices that matter in 2026. What is off-page SEO today? Off-page SEO covers every action you take outside your website to improve its search rankings and overall visibility. Off-page strategies for acquiring inbound links, citations, and brand mentions boost your authority and, in turn, maximize your ability to rank well organically. Early algorithms relied almost exclusively on inbound links (commonly referred to as backlinks) to determine the authority of a given domain. But today, Google evaluates websites based on a range of more sophisticated factors, including experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). Optimizing E-E-A-T involves: Creating content with real subject-matter experts. Being transparent about your information, sources, and company details. Earning citations and mentions from authoritative sites that are relevant to your industry and offerings. Backlinks vs. inbound links In this article, I’ll use the term “inbound link” instead of “backlink,” which has a negative connotation due to its association with manipulative tactics. “Inbound links” is a more modern, strategic term that highlights quality and intent. This shift reframes off-page SEO around earning genuine connections from authoritative, relevant sources that provide real value to users. It also reinforces that link building is part of a broader, content-driven strategy – rather than a manipulative shortcut. How important is off-page in your overall SEO strategy? Off-page SEO is essential for building your site’s credibility and trust. Think of every link or mention as a brand endorsement. Just like word-of-mouth recommendations, these digital endorsements shape your online reputation. The more high-quality, relevant endorsements you earn, the more search engines view your site as trustworthy and relevant. Off-page and the rise of answer optimization In an AI-driven search world, off-page SEO matters more than ever. AI systems don’t just index content—they interpret it, summarize it, and generate answers from the sources they trust most. Because of this shift, off-page signals like brand mentions, links, citations, reviews, and social sentiment now shape more than Google rankings. They influence how AI models learn your brand’s authority and credibility. Structured data, a consistent brand identity, and authoritative third-party mentions help AI connect your content to relevant topics and entities. Building your reputation across platforms isn’t just good for visibility. It’s essential for helping AI recognize your expertise and feature it in the answers users see first. How is off-page different from on-page or technical SEO? On-page SEO ensures your content is optimized for search engines, and technical SEO strengthens your site’s backend for usability, speed, crawling, and indexing. Off-page SEO, meanwhile, shows search engines that others view your content as valuable and trustworthy. All three are essential to a balanced SEO strategy, but off-page SEO is the backbone of your site’s authority and trust in the eyes of search engines. Off-page SEO drives the authority you need to earn visibility in search results. Key components of off-page SEO Off-page SEO has always centered on building credibility beyond your website. Now that same credibility shapes how AI systems learn and represent information. Search engines and AI assistants rely on external signals to decide which brands and voices to trust. Here are the key off-page components to strengthen your presence in today’s landscape. Link building Link building remains one of the most important parts of off-page SEO. Inbound links still play a major role in how search engines judge your site’s authority—as long as they’re relevant, which Google has confirmed. As AI shapes ranking and discovery, the context around your links matters even more. Search engines and AI systems look past link quantity or raw authority and evaluate the semantic and topical relevance between linked entities. Quality beats quantity. A few links from reputable, relevant sites carry far more weight than dozens of low-quality ones. Consistent off-page work is essential for growing visibility and building a reputation that improves your visibility. Social signals Social signals (e.g., shares, likes, comments) may not directly impact rankings, but they boost visibility and increase your chances of earning inbound links. A strong social media presence is essential for brand exposure and complements your off-page SEO efforts. Content on social media – your profiles, engagement, user-generated content (UGC), reviews, and mentions – acts as powerful social proof. Social engagement also trains AI recommendation models. Consistent brand mentions and engagement patterns on platforms like LinkedIn, Reddit, and TikTok help AI systems associate your brand with expertise and popularity, indirectly shaping visibility in generative search results. This content is especially persuasive because it comes from real users, showing others that people already value your product or service. Active social media marketing boosts awareness and strengthens your site’s authority. Brand mentions Even without a hyperlink, brand mentions signal relevance and authority to search engines. Google, Microsoft Bing, and other search engines treat these mentions as “implied links.” When your brand appears consistently on credible sites – even without a direct link – those mentions show search engines that you’re established in your industry. That visibility can increase your search visibility. Brand mentions also help strengthen contextual relevance and entity recognition. When a brand or website is frequently associated with specific topics or keywords, search engines take notice. These associations help them understand your topical authority and how your brand fits across different contexts. This clarity boosts your visibility in search results, especially for personalized or knowledge-driven queries. Entity recognition and AI trust signals AI is also changing how search engines evaluate brand mentions and authority. Search systems use these associations to gauge topical expertise and credibility within a niche. The goal is earning association – not just links. When your brand consistently shows up alongside authoritative sources and within trusted conversations, you strengthen your position in the broader knowledge ecosystem that fuels both traditional and AI-driven search. Dig deeper: In GEO, brand mentions do what links alone can’t Content marketing We all know the value of high-quality, informative content that resonates. But effective content marketing for SEO reaches far beyond your website. Again, it’s about prioritizing quality over quantity. Focus on what actually serves your audience – it doesn’t always mean creating more content. While it might seem logical that publishing more articles leads to better results, in SEO and content marketing, quality is what truly drives success. High-quality content resonates deeply with your audience, builds trust, and produces sustainable, long-term results. Publishing content such as blog posts, guest blogs, infographics, or videos on third-party platforms can improve your inbound link profile and drive traffic to your site. AI-driven discovery also surfaces original perspectives and human insight. Prioritize authenticity, depth, and data that AI can’t replicate. This is what gets cited, summarized, and shared by AI-powered systems. Dig deeper: SEO in the age of AI: Becoming the trusted answer Reviews Online reviews and testimonials can significantly impact your off-page SEO efforts. Positive reviews on platforms like Google Business Profile, Yelp, or niche sites influence both local SEO and overall off-page SEO. Positive reviews boost your brand’s credibility, improve local SEO reach, and often appear directly in search results. And reviews don’t just influence consumers. They influence AI. Sentiment across platforms is used by models to gauge brand trustworthiness, shaping both AI responses and search visibility. Google encourages review solicitation as long as it’s honest, unbiased, and without incentives. You can ask happy customers to leave reviews on your Google Business Profile (GBP) to improve your local search visibility. Brands should respond to all reviews promptly. This helps thank customers for positive feedback and address complaints from those with negative experiences, even if they only leave star ratings. How a brand handles negative reviews can be more important than the number of positive ones. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Off-page SEO techniques Rather than focusing on generating links, what drives off-page SEO success is a campaign-based approach to building reputation. Transform sporadic link building into a strategic effort to build authority, reputation, and visibility by treating it like any other marketing campaign. Just like a marketing campaign, your off-page SEO efforts require planning, execution, and measurement to drive real, sustainable results. This ensures each initiative is purposeful, measurable, and aligned with your broader marketing goals. Here are the essential steps for any marketing campaign that you can apply directly to your off-page SEO efforts: Set specific goals and objectives to measure the success of your efforts and refine strategies as needed. Conduct thorough research to identify your target audience’s needs, preferences, and behaviors. Discover where they spend time online, which platforms influence their decisions, and what type of content resonates with them. Develop messaging and content that resonates and compels action. Your off-page efforts should focus on creating value through insightful, engaging, and shareable content. Craft your messaging to highlight your brand’s unique voice and align it with the needs and pain points of your audience. Track and measure performance. Track referral traffic, changes in domain authority, and the performance of links over time. With that campaign-based approach in mind, here are five different off-page techniques proven to build a site’s authority and organic reach. Thought leadership Thought leadership through content marketing is a powerful way to build authority in your industry while earning valuable links. Off-page content marketing has outgrown simple guest posts. It now requires a strategic approach to creating and sharing content on third-party platforms to strengthen your E-E-A-T signals. Instead of writing solely to acquire links, focus on positioning yourself or your company as a trusted, indispensable resource. The goal is to build recognition and trust that drive organic traffic and long-term engagement. To truly stand out as a thought leader, your strategy must go beyond the basics and focus on these impactful tactics: Create valuable content that answers your audience’s most pressing questions. Leverage search trends and organic data to shape your content marketing strategy. Analyze competitors and the search landscape to identify content gaps. Approach every piece of content with a focus on building E-E-A-T. Publishing content on third-party websites, such as guest blogging, helps extend your reach beyond your own platforms and enhances brand authority. When your content appears on credible, high-traffic websites, it signals to search engines that your brand is trusted and relevant within your industry. But how do we go about prospecting and identifying these third-party websites? Be strategic and use these steps to identify the best websites for guest blogging or content distribution: Assess relevance and ensure the website caters to your target audience or industry. Evaluate audience engagement and readership with past published content. Analyze the inbound link profiles of your competitors to identify potential sites that could be valuable for your own content distribution. Choose websites that maintain high content standards and prioritize original, well-researched pieces. AI-enhanced link building and outreach AI can streamline how you pitch thought leadership content and scale link building. Machine learning tools can: Spot high-value link opportunities. Assess contextual relevance. Reveal competitor link patterns to surface new prospects. Natural language models can also personalize outreach at scale, creating tailored messages without the need for manual one-by-one writing. Here’s exactly how AI tools can support the heavy lifting. Analyze competitor link patterns and surface new opportunities Use tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush to pull competitor inbound link reports. Export and upload those lists into AI assistants like ChatGPT or Gemini for large-scale analysis. AI can spot patterns you may miss – recurring topics, common themes, and the types of content earning the strongest links. You can also prompt the AI to categorize prospects by relevance, difficulty, or likelihood of securing a link. Draft outreach messages that feel personal and relevant Use AI to create pitch emails and intro snippets tailored to each recipient. Include details such as the target’s name, site niche, recent content, and the value you are offering their audience. AI can accelerate drafting, but human refinement is essential to make messages sound authentic rather than mass-produced. While AI can accelerate research and writing, it doesn’t replace the core tenet of meaningful link building: real people building real relationships. The best results come from using AI to enhance strategy and execution, while keeping people, trust, and collaboration at the center of every partnership. Optimizing for generative AI citations Off-page SEO now extends beyond third-party sites and traditional search engines. With AI Overviews and generative tools delivering direct answers, SEOs face a new off-page frontier: earning citations in AI-generated responses. These citations aren’t classic links, but they still act as authority signals for users. When Google or an AI assistant selects your content as source material, it’s a powerful endorsement that can drive discovery, reinforce expertise, and strengthen your overall organic visibility. To earn these placements, optimize content in ways that align with how AI models evaluate clarity, context, and authoritativeness. Structure your content for extraction by using question-driven headings and concise summaries. Think of this as “answer-ready content” that directly addresses user questions with clear and digestible blocks. Strengthen topical authority and demonstrate comprehensive knowledge. Build topic clusters around depth, expand related content breadth, and ensure each asset connects within a larger strategic plan. Leverage “content atomization” to break down comprehensive guides into atomic, citeable facts and data points. AI is more likely to cite a single, well-sourced statistic than an entire, dense page of text. Optimize dedicated FAQ sections with clear formatting that provides clean, authoritative definitions and explanations. Use schema markup to reinforce context and make it easier for AI models to understand your content. FAQ, HowTo, Article, and Product schema can support extraction and increase eligibility for citations. Social media marketing Social platforms are essential for content distribution, brand mentions, and building authority across channels. Your social profiles act as extra gateways for discovery, exposure, engagement, and trust – and they can even expand your shelf space in the SERPs. Sharing content on social platforms boosts visibility and encourages the interactions that fuel your off-page efforts. Social signals aren’t direct ranking factors, but they influence your online reputation, and search engines pay attention to both links and implied links. Consider which social platforms make the most sense for your business. Establish a presence where your audience is active to build a presence where they are spending their time. Share your content strategically across platforms, like LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and even TikTok. Actively participate in relevant social media groups and discussions. Being present and providing value can lead to natural brand mentions and further exposure. Influencer outreach Partnering with influencers can amplify your content’s reach and enhance your brand’s credibility. Influencers have established audiences that trust their recommendations, making them a powerful tool for off-page SEO. These types of endorsements act as trust signals for both users and search engines, contributing to a stronger off-page SEO profile. Collaborations can take the form of sponsored content, product reviews, or co-created content that engages both your audience and theirs. To ensure your influencer marketing strategy supports off-page SEO efforts, consider the following: Vet your influencers to ensure that their online audience is relevant to your brand, their content quality meets your standards, and their audience size and historical engagement rates meet your goals. Collaborate with influencers on the type of content that makes the most sense for them. Whether it’s blog posts, videos, sponsored content, or contests/giveaways – it needs to provide value to both audiences. Encourage links beyond social media. These collaborations typically result in social shares, but don’t be afraid to request links from blogs or websites beyond social platforms as part of the agreement. Forum participation The SEO value of forums today is undeniable. Since the November 2023 core update, Google has demonstrated a clear shift in preference toward user-generated content sites. Engaging in forums and online communities such as Reddit or niche-specific platforms allows you to share insights, answer questions, and build a reputation as an expert in your field. When done genuinely, it can also help drive traffic and build natural links. While Reddit specifically doesn’t allow link farming and has rules against strictly using the platform for SEO, there is no denying Reddit can be a valuable SEO asset if done responsibly. If you want to use forums as a meaningful part of your off-page SEO strategy, keep these points in mind: Identify the forums most relevant to your business. Reddit covers almost everything, but niche forums exist for every topic – from tech troubleshooting to plumbing to mechanical pencils. Participate consistently. Show up as a knowledgeable voice who contributes to the discussion. When you do share something promotional, it will carry more weight and feel appropriate. Don’t link drop. Quick replies with self-promotional links are usually removed, and repeated behavior can lead to penalties or bans. Focus on providing value with helpful, thoughtful responses. Dig deeper: The reign of forums: How AI made conversation king Podcasting and webinars Guest appearances on podcasts and webinars allow you to reach new audiences while promoting your expertise. Unlike guest posts or articles, podcasts and webinars facilitate more dynamic and in-depth discussions, fostering direct connections with listeners and viewers. When done strategically, they can significantly enhance your brand’s perceived authority and contribute to E-E-A-T signals. These are the key considerations for incorporating podcasts and webinars into your off-page SEO strategy: Focus on relevant, high-authority podcasts and webinars. Identify what your target audience is listening to and/or watching. Determine who is already considered a thought leader in the space and what value you can bring to their platform. Look for podcasts or webinars with a solid following and strong niche relevance. Request links from podcast show notes, transcriptions, or webinar descriptions to support your inbound link profile. Offer a valuable “leave behind,” such as a free resource, guide, or tool for listeners or viewers. Include a clear call to action, such as a download form, to encourage engagement and site visits. The role of content in off-page SEO Creating quality content is the cornerstone of off-page SEO success. However, it’s not just about churning out blog posts. It’s about producing valuable, engaging, and shareable content that positions your brand as a leader in your niche – a “necessary source.” Original, shareable content Original content includes unique insights, how-to guides, and creative formats that grab attention. This type of content encourages organic shares and natural links because it provides something new and valuable to the audience. Think of content that addresses pain points, offers fresh solutions, or presents information in a way that hasn’t been seen before. This will help build a reputation that goes beyond just having the “right” keywords on your site. It establishes your brand as a trusted source of fresh perspectives and valuable information. In off-page SEO, this kind of content fuels outreach efforts. It makes it easier to earn links and mentions from authoritative sources, ultimately driving more visibility and higher rankings in search engine results. Infographics and visual content Visual content, like infographics, charts, and graphs, is highly shareable and engaging, increasing the chances of mentions on social media and third-party sites. These visual assets can make data and complex information easier to digest. The key to success with visual content, like written content, is quality. Create unique, visually appealing, and informative infographics that offer real value to your audience. Your design should be professional, and the information you present must be accurate, well-researched, and useful. Beyond infographics, visual tools like calculators, quizzes, and interactive reports can engage users more deeply and are more likely to be shared and referenced by other sites. To encourage sharing, provide an embed code directly on the infographic or visual asset page. This makes it simple for other websites to post your visual content on their sites while automatically linking back to yours. By making it easy to share your content, you increase the likelihood of earning inbound links. First-party research Creating and publishing first-party research is one of the most powerful ways to build authority. Original research, such as surveys, case studies, or industry reports, positions your brand as a source of unique information. When your content provides new insights, data or perspectives, it naturally attracts links from other websites, social shares, and discussions across various platforms. One of the biggest benefits of original research is that no AI tool can replicate insights derived from proprietary research. Publishing original research enhances your reputation as a thought leader, fostering trust and authority with your audience. These types of detailed reports backed by data are highly valuable to your audience and other industry websites, often leading to organic shares and mentions. Video marketing With the popularity of YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels, video content has become increasingly important, and search engines prioritize it in the SERPs. Google and other search engines increasingly feature video content in results, making it a critical part of any SEO strategy. These platforms also function as search engines in their own right, offering additional opportunities for brand visibility. That makes video marketing an essential tool for engagement and a valuable asset for improving off-page SEO performance. Video content also extends your reach. It can be shared across social media, embedded in blogs, and linked in emails, increasing overall brand exposure. Key considerations include: Optimizing videos for keywords by using descriptive titles, tags, and metadata, which ensures they’re easily discoverable. Hosting videos on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo and embedding them on your website enhances link opportunities. Transcribing videos and adding subtitles to improve accessibility and provide more indexable content for search engines. Public relations The goal of off-page SEO is to obtain relevant mentions and links from credible websites to grow organic traffic. Similarly, the aim of public relations (PR) is to gain media coverage through compelling stories that resonate with audiences. This creates a mutually beneficial relationship, allowing you to share engaging stories while also building links. In this way, PR helps you earn editorially given links. Reputation building via PR helps build links, but it also helps in telling your brand story and becoming recognized as a credible and authoritative voice in your industry. An integrated approach to PR and SEO is an ideal way to reach audiences and make authentic connections. Proactive reputation management and fact-checking Given AI’s reliance on third-party sources to validate facts and understand entities – and its propensity for “hallucinating” – outdated or inaccurate information can easily surface in AI-generated answers. Off-page SEO now includes actively shaping the factual landscape surrounding your brand. It’s a continuous layer of optimization aimed at protecting brand integrity and ensuring AI systems tell the right story. This includes: Establish a process for actively monitoring high-authority, relevant industry sites, top publishers, and product review platforms for inaccurate facts or outdated information related to the brand. Prioritize corrections on the most influential domains. Track how AI tools reference your brand. Routinely test branded queries, product questions, and competitive comparisons, and analyze the responses in AI Overviews and major AI assistants. Identify where inaccurate or incomplete information originates, then work backward to the source. Align local listings and third-party profiles. Inconsistencies in local NAP data or service details can trickle into AI answers. More on local citations below. Dig deeper: The AI-driven reputation repair toolkit Local SEO and off-page factors Local SEO focuses on optimizing your website for organic visibility in local search results and maps. If you have a physical location, local SEO is table stakes. The strategy is two-fold: On-page local relevance. Off-page local relevance as determined by local listings, reviews, and proximity. Google Business Profile optimization GBP is a tool that helps businesses and organizations manage their visibility in Google Search and Google Maps. By keeping your profile complete and up to date, you boost your chances of appearing in local search results and attracting more targeted traffic. Several factors go into optimizing a GBP listing so you can clearly communicate your organization’s relevance to Google. If your business qualifies, start by creating or claiming your profile. You’ll then go through a verification process, where Google confirms that your business is legitimate and has a physical address. From there, it is recommended to fill out as much information as possible, but the following pieces of information are integral for visibility and engagement: Your organization’s logo. Your organization’s category. Your organization’s website. A correct address. A correct phone number. Business hours. A description of the organization that is tailored to the overall purpose. Images that are representative of the company. Additional features that are beneficial to take advantage of include: Publishing photos to your business listing is a great way to improve the appearance of a local panel. Consider hiring a professional photographer to take high-resolution photos of your business. Google also offers a Q&A feature on the GBP panel that enables users to post questions about the brand. Other users or the business itself can respond. Answering any question directly is important to ensure accurate information is being shared. Google reviews are among the most critical ranking factors in the local search algorithm. We’ll cover review best practices in more detail, but make sure to monitor Google reviews and respond to both positive and negative reviews. Showcase products or services on your knowledge graph or Google Maps listing. This is another great opportunity to link to your website, where customers can learn more. Google posts let you publish brief updates to your GBP, much like a social post. You can share updates, special offers or events. To get the most out of this feature, make sure to publish regularly. Local citations and directories Beyond your Google Business Profile, it’s important to secure listings on other major and niche-specific local directories. Consider platforms like Bing Places for Business, Yelp for Business, Facebook, and Apple Maps, among many others. The right mix depends on what best serves your business and audience. Most business listing sites follow a similar format and process to that detailed for Google Business Profile: Claim or create your business listing. Fill out all of the relevant information. The more, the better. Verify your listing and that you are the owner. Across these directories, having your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) consistent is vital for local SEO. Consistent NAP information signals to search engines that your business is legitimate, helping improve your visibility in local searches. Measuring off-page SEO success Evaluating off-page SEO is important for assessing your website’s authority, monitoring links, and analyzing how outside factors influence search engine rankings. After all, you can’t improve what you don’t measure. But where exactly do you start with off-page SEO? Key metrics to track Measuring the success of your off-page SEO efforts involves tracking various metrics, such as: Inbound link quantity and quality. Beyond the sheer number of links, several factors must be considered when evaluating the health of your overall inbound link profile, including relevance, naturalness, freshness, anchor text, and diversity. Your site’s domain authority/domain rating. Ideally, this increases steadily over time. Referral traffic from external sources. Use Google Analytics to monitor not only where your referral traffic is coming from, but also how it interacts with your site and whether it converts. Social media engagement, including likes, shares, and comments on social content. Additionally, monitor traffic from social platforms to assess effectiveness. Brand mentions and online sentiment may be more difficult to monitor, but using tools like Google Alerts in conjunction with social listening can help identify brand mentions across the web, even if they don’t include a link. AI visibility metrics: Tracking brand mentions in generative results The definition of “visibility” is also expanding. Beyond traffic and links, tracking AI citations, voice search mentions, and contextual brand references in generative summaries is quickly becoming a new standard SEO metric. When measuring AI visibility, consider: How often does your brand appear in AI-generated answers (AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity)? What sentiment and context surround those mentions? Are AI systems accurately summarizing or citing your brand’s expertise? Dig deeper: How to track visibility across AI platforms Tools for monitoring off-page SEO Several tools can help you monitor and optimize your off-page SEO strategy. Below is a detailed look at some of the best tools for measuring off-page SEO. Semrush Semrush is a versatile all-in-one SEO tool with strong off-page capabilities, including link analysis, competitor research, and brand-mention tracking. It provides a detailed analysis of a website’s link profile, including referring domains, IPs, and the types of links. It also tracks brand mentions across the web, helping you to identify unlinked mentions. Semrush’s database is constantly updated, making it a go-to for accurate link data. Best for: Competitor analysis, backlink gap analysis, and ongoing monitoring of backlinks and brand mentions. Pricing: Starts at $139.95 per month. Ahrefs Ahrefs is a comprehensive tool for analyzing off-page SEO and inbound link analysis. Known for having one of the largest backlink databases, it provides robust features for tracking referring domains, broken links, and competitor links. This tool shows not only how many domains link to you but also the specific websites and pages, when each link was found, the anchor text, domain authority, traffic, and more. It also offers historical data so you can track how your link profile has changed over time. Best for: Comprehensive backlink analysis, identifying link building opportunities, and tracking the off-page SEO health of a site. Pricing: Starts at $129 per month. Majestic Majestic SEO specializes in link intelligence and is widely recognized for its focus on link data. It offers unique metrics, such as Trust Flow and Citation Flow, to evaluate the quality and quantity of links. One of Majestic’s unique features is the categorization of links by industry or topic, which makes it easier to understand the relevance of your link profile to specific niches. Best for: Deep backlink analysis, particularly for assessing the trustworthiness and influence of referring domains. Pricing: $49.99 per month. Moz Pro Moz Pro is known for its easy-to-use interface and authority metrics. Moz’s tools are especially useful for tracking link building efforts and assessing the overall authority of a website. The Link Explorer tool offers an in-depth analysis of a website’s backlink profile, including new and lost links, anchor texts, and more. Of note, Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) are proprietary metrics from Moz that measure the strength of a website or page, based largely on the quality of backlinks. Best for: Monitoring domain authority, tracking toxic backlinks and identifying competitor link building strategies. Pricing: Starts at $49 per month. Google Search Console Although not as comprehensive as third-party tools, Google Search Console is a free tool that provides important insights into how Google views your website, including links and search performance. The important thing to remember about Search Console is that this is Google telling you exactly what they see and what they are considering when evaluating your site. I like to think of this as a peek behind the curtain. Google Search Console isn’t as comprehensive as other tools, but it is vital. Best for: The Link report shows which sites link to you, which specific pages are being linked to, and how often. This is the only tool that notifies you if your site has been penalized for unnatural backlinks or other SEO violations. Pricing: Free. Off-page SEO best practices for 2026 Focus on user experience signals In a search landscape where user expectations keep rising, search engines reward websites that deliver exceptional experiences. SEO and user experience are now tightly connected. This connection shows up not only in on-page SEO but also in off-page efforts. Your thought leadership articles, social posts, podcasts, webinars, videos, and infographics all need to spark engagement if you want to strengthen off-page performance. Even though off-page SEO happens beyond your website, its impact flows back into how users perceive and interact with your brand. A strong off-page presence boosts user experience signals, which leads to better rankings and greater overall success. Leveraging AI and machine learning AI and machine learning have transformed the way search engines deliver results and how we work. Today’s off-page SEO is about striking the right balance – embracing new technology without losing sight of the person on the other end. AI-powered tools now give us deeper insights that strengthen link building and outreach strategies. By using data and personalization, these tools can dramatically increase your chances of earning valuable links. Here’s how they can help: Identify new link building opportunities: AI can scan competitors’ inbound link profiles to find sites that link to them but not to you, giving you a targeted outreach list. Drive data-informed outreach: This makes your campaigns more effective and efficient, raising your odds of securing strong links. Optimize outreach strategies: AI personalizes your communication by analyzing behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns, helping you craft messages that resonate with each recipient. Go beyond links: Build a brand that earns trust everywhere Off-page SEO is much more than link building. It’s about strengthening authority, trust, and visibility everywhere your audience – and AI systems – might encounter your brand. Modern off-page work can’t stand on its own. It has to connect with your on-page, technical, content, and social efforts in an ongoing, campaign-driven strategy that reinforces E-E-A-T. AI has added a new layer between users and websites. Winning brands must build authority signals across every channel – human, algorithmic, and generative. Links, social proof, reviews, mentions, and reputation markers now influence far more than rankings. They shape the data and trust signals AI models use to generate answers. In this new landscape, the brands AI trusts enough to cite will define organic visibility. By taking a holistic, multi-platform approach, you position your brand to rank in traditional SERPs and to be referenced and surfaced in AI-generated results. That’s where the next era of competitive advantage begins. View the full article

Over the years, we have written that service areas are not used as a local ranking factor by Google Search. Well, the API leak document also implies this to be true. View the full article

Cloud Foundations Out, AI-Powered Growth In. By CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

Cloud Foundations Out, AI-Powered Growth In. By CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

Google is testing a new AI-powered configuration tool, as it calls it, to help you build instant reports based on your natural language questions. So basically Ads and Analytics Advisor but for Search Console, plus this just builds reports and doesn't do actions - yet.View the full article

If you look at some of the profiles/sites in your Google Search Console performance reports, you may notice a significant increase in the average position being reported. This happened when Google removed the num=100 parameter and is likely due to scrapers not messing up your data.View the full article

The UK shadow justice secretary on embracing populism, his political ambitions — and whether there will be an alliance with ReformView the full article

Greetings, and welcome back to Fast Company’s Plugged In. Even by tech-industry standards, the air of serene confidence OpenAI CEO Sam Altman projects in public appearances is overwhelming. Still, that doesn’t mean he never sweats behind the scenes. Indeed, we learned this week that Altman is downright concerned about the future of his company’s flagship product, ChatGPT. On December 1, The Information’s Stephanie Palazzolo and Erin Woo reported that Altman had initiated a “code red” effort within OpenAI to make its chatbot more personalized and customizable. The move involves diverting resources from other efforts, such as developing AI agents and monetizing the company’s platform through advertising. Drawing on an Altman memo distributed to OpenAI staffers, Palazzolo and Woo’s story says he called now “a critical time for ChatGPT.” Their piece doesn’t spell out the reasons for his alarm in much detail. But it ties his redeployment of resources to Google’s recent surge as a provider of AI platforms and products, which Altman called out as at least a short-term issue for OpenAI in an earlier memo. Since he wrote that one, Google released Gemini 3 Pro. The new version of its LLM has achieved breakthrough high scores in multiple AI benchmarks, along with excellent reviews. No wonder Altman is feeling pressured. ChatGPT’s historic success leaves OpenAI with more to lose than any other AI chatbot company. In October, Altman said it had reached 800 million active weekly users, a figure few tech products have ever reached. I don’t know of any truly reliable comparative stats on usage of the major AI chatbots. But every chart I’ve seen tells a similar story, with ChatGPT sailing along by itself in the stratosphere and everyone else huddled in its shadow. Why is that? Well, with ChatGPT OpenAI created the modern AI chatbot category, giving itself a head start that still matters three years later. People who use these products have different tastes and priorities, but ChatGPT has evolved rapidly. It remains one of the strongest options, even though GPT-5 turned out to be ludicrously overhyped. Despite furious competition from startups and tech giants alike—including worthy contenders such as Anthropic’s Claude—nobody has come up with anything manifestly superior enough to knock it off its pedestal. But it might be a mistake to assume that ChatGPT has an everlasting lock on its market, akin to the one Google secured in conventional search engines early in this century. Altman clearly doesn’t think so. And over the past couple of weeks, I’ve come to think the market might be more fluid than I realized. That’s because I’ve found myself spending far less time with ChatGPT (as well as Claude, my other chatbot of habit). Instead, I’ve taken almost all of my AI needs to Google’s new version of Gemini. Now, when I wrote about Gemini 3 Pro for Plugged In shortly after its release, I did tend to accentuate the negative. That was based on experiencing some pretty severe hallucinations on its part, some of which it oddly tried to blame on others. Having used the new Gemini a lot more since then, I’ve given it more opportunities to impress me—and it has. I’ve used it for everything from discovering lesser-known bossa nova music to vibe coding to figuring out how to manually install apps on my network server. In those instances when I tried the same task with ChatGPT, I’ve consistently liked Gemini’s responses better. But the lesson I’ve drawn isn’t just that Google’s AI has improved by several orders of magnitude since the days when Bard, its proto-Gemini, was a slightly embarrassing also-ran. It’s also dawned on me that absolutely nothing is keeping me from leaving ChatGPT for Gemini. It’s been one of the most frictionless transitions between platforms I’ve ever experienced. For instance, no learning curve was involved: The two chatbots have damn near the same user interface. Nor did I have anything stored in ChatGPT that provided a powerful incentive to stay there, the way my Gmail archive (and rules I’ve set up to organize my inbox) induces me to keep using Gmail. Even ChatGPT’s memory feature—which tries to mine your chat history to improve its responses—hasn’t figured out enough about me to make the app stickier. It still feels more like an eager-to-please stranger than an old friend. As does Gemini and every other AI bot. As a person who uses AI, the realization that I’m not boxed into ChatGPT has been . . . kind of thrilling, actually. For OpenAI, however, it’s a problem. I currently pay OpenAI $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus and Google $26 a month for a Workspace Business Plus account. But along with enterprise-grade Gemini, Google’s $26-per-month plan gets me a full complement of productivity tools, 5TB of cloud storage, and more. At some point, ChatGPT Plus might look expendable—especially if I continue to prefer Gemini. Now multiply my decision process by the 220 million paying users OpenAI has said it expects to have by 2030. Without them, the business model behind its mind-bendingly expensive plan to build out its data center capacity would crumble. If users of ChatGPT’s free plan defect to Gemini in significant numbers, it would also complicate the company’s intention of becoming an ad platform. Altman understands all this. That’s why he set off the code-red alarm to quickly bolster ChatGPT’s user experience. It explains why he’s particularly focused on personalization and customization, two features that would help the chatbot feel less like an easily replaceable commodity. According to The Information’s report, Altman’s memo also said that OpenAI is about to release a new reasoning model that beats Gemini 3 in its internal tests. Personally, I hope that the company’s gambit to quickly make ChatGPT much better pays off. If it does, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, and other AI purveyors will feel even more heat to make similar great leaps forward. May the best chatbot win. And even if they start to feel like they truly understand our needs and desires, may it remain as simple to flit between them as it is now. You’ve been reading Plugged In, Fast Company’s weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to you—or if you’re reading it on fastcompany.com—you can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can follow Plugged Inon Flipboard. More top tech stories from Fast Company The Browser Company’s Tara Feener is advancing search for the AI era The recent Atlassian acquisition’s head of engineering on how it aims to build the ultimate AI browser for knowledge workers. Read More → The choice to be interviewed by a human or AI could hurt some job candidates A new University of Chicago analysis finds that a candidate’s choice of an AI or human interviewer unintentionally signals their strengths and weaknesses. Read More → Jeff Bezos calls his AI company ‘Project Prometheus.’ So does this California lawyer Tensions over names and trademarks aren’t new in Silicon Valley. Read More → 92% of millennials use dating apps while at work Recent survey data also shows that 74% of Gen Z do the same. Read More → The President’s anti-EV rules aren’t stopping California’s electric truck boom—yet More than 15% of medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold in California in 2023 were zero-emission. Can that trend continue despite the uncertainty the The President administration brings? Read More → The Fast Company AI 20 for 2025 These 20 technologists, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and creative thinkers are pushing artificial intelligence in unexpected directions. → View the full article

Google Merchant Center is now beta testing regional member pricing, where you can offer different member prices based on the shopper's regions. This will essentially override the member price in the regional inventory feed.View the full article

Google Ads may be testing placing an ad extension button at the top right of the sponsored result on the desktop interface. This button, in this example, shows the text "Learn more."View the full article

Deal will transform US tech company into the dominant player in HollywoodView the full article

Control AI visibility and server strain with a log-validated index of bots, complete with user-agent strings, official IP ranges, crawl rates, and allowlist/block best practices. The post Complete Crawler List For AI User-Agents [Dec 2025] appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Penalty under the bloc’s Digital Services Act risks escalating tensions with US governmentView the full article

This week’s SEO Pulse examines new data what drives AI citations, plus ChatGPT launches shopping research. Your quick catch-up on what practitioners need to know. The post SEO Pulse: Google Updates Console, Maps & AI Mode Flow appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Countless nonprofits are doing meaningful work every day, and at Buffer, we want to play a small part in helping them share their stories and amplify their impact online. To do that, we offer nonprofits a 50% discount, something we've done since the early days of Buffer. While our pricing is already designed to be accessible for everyone, the additional nonprofit discount helps make content creation even more attainable for these organizations focused on the public good. I'm one of the Buffer teammates who review requests from organizations applying for our nonprofit discount. And, I gotta tell ya, these organizations are incredible! Every time I connect with them, I leave in awe of the incredible impact these organizations are having on their communities. If you’re curious to learn if your nonprofit is eligible for this discount, head on over to buffer.com/nonprofits. We share what documents you’ll need to send our way. And once you submit the form, you’ll hear back from me, my teammate Nate, or one of our incredible Customer Advocates! Expanding our nonprofit discount to include librariesRecently, we received a few nonprofit requests from libraries. Unfortunately, they didn't have the documentation we required in order to receive the nonprofit discount. While I always feel for the organizations that don't meet our criteria, something about libraries being ineligible felt distinctly non-Buffery. Libraries are deeply aligned with Buffer’s values. After becoming profitable and growing again, we reviewed our non-profit discount. After a quick gut check with our VP of Finance and Operations, Jenny, we agreed that expanding our nonprofit discount to include libraries felt like a natural next step. We want our customers to feel welcomed and special. This discount can hopefully enable more libraries to use Buffer, which might mean they can reach more folks in their communities about events, books, or other updates, so they can continue to operate. 💡Before I get into more, if you are a library looking to be added to our nonprofit discount, you can apply here.There are a few reasons this decision was such an easy yes. Let's get into them. Libraries and books play an integral part in the lives of all Buffer teammatesWe're a fully remote company at Buffer, and several teammates choose to work from their local libraries as part of their remote routines. Additionally, our Founder and CEO, Joel Gascoigne, read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie early in Buffer’s journey. The book had a huge impact on Joel’s life and what Buffer would become. We have based several of Buffer’s values directly on the principles outlined in this book. And as a remote team, one of the ways our remote team connects is by swapping recent reads in our #culture-books Slack channel. Libraries embody a core Buffer value: Improve ConsistentlyOne of our six company values is to Improve Consistently. Learning is part of how we operate as a team, and it’s also at the heart of what libraries make possible for their communities. They offer access to information, inspiration, and opportunities to grow — all core to why we see them as natural partners. Books are woven into our cultureOne of Buffer’s long-standing benefits is our unlimited free books program. Books enrich our team, our work, and our curiosity — and libraries make that enrichment possible for everyone. While teammates can be reimbursed for e-books or physical copies, we also encourage borrowing from local libraries. You can browse what the Buffer team is reading any time at buffer.com/books. Do you know a library that’s looking to amplify its reach online?We know many public libraries are doing important work to reach their communities online. If you know a public library that could use support with its social media efforts, send them here. We’d love to partner with them and offer a 50% discount to help them keep supporting their impact in the world. 🤓 📚 View the full article

Bank statement loans, a home equity credit card and a blockchain investment product are among the new offerings designed to reach an $11 trillion market. View the full article

Big players, Wall Street and tech firms stand to gain. Community lenders call for policymakers to protect g-fee parity and the cash window. Part 5 in a series. View the full article

While the iPhone 17 is expected to be one of the hottest gifts this holiday season, some of the early adopters of Apple’s latest phone may be moving on to something different already. New data from B-Stock, a B2B marketplace for wholesale liquidation of returned and overstock inventory, finds that large cellular carriers are already moving “bulk quantities” of iPhone 17s through the resale channels for B2B customers. One sale on the site currently offers 111 iPhone 17 Pro Max units (with bidding for the lot standing at $80,200 as of Wednesday afternoon). All totaled, there were more than 300 iPhone 17 devices up for resale on the site as of Wednesday. The sales aren’t impacting the value of the phones, however. B-Stock says it’s seeing resale prices on the phones maintaining 94% of the retail price. And to be clear, there’s not a big wave of people returning their phones. B-Stock says the return rates are largely in line with predecessors on a percentage basis (and actually lower than the iPhone 16). But with the strong sales of the 17, an overall greater number of units is expected to be returned. The used-phone market has been gaining strength for some time. Earlier this year, tech research and advisory firm CCS Insight said the secondhand smartphone market is growing faster than the primary market, with a growth rate of 6% year over year in 2024. Apple devices make up 60% of the overall used market. “The growing demand for used smartphones is driven by a stronger desire for low-cost devices, increased consumer awareness, and partnerships between telecom operators and retailers,” said Leo Gebbie, CCS Insight’s principal analyst and director for the Americas, in a statement. “Refurbished smartphones, which are often up to 50% cheaper than new devices, now also come with warranties, flexible financing options, and reliable after-sales service, increasing consumer trust.” Last year, secondhand smartphones generated revenues of $7.6 billion in the U.S. (and another $13.2 billion in the Asia-Pacific region). Meanwhile, International Data Corp. (IDC), a market intelligence firm, forecasts global shipments of used smartphones will grow by 3.2% year over year in 2025, which is triple its prediction of sales gains from new smartphones. That’s due to a growing number of trade-in programs, improvements in the quality of refurbished devices, and a rising environmental awareness among consumers. The trend isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon. IDC expects the used smartphone market to see 5.8% growth in 2026 before tapering off slowly to 4.9% by 2029. B-Stock is not the only company seeing the latest round of iPhones hold their value. On SellCell, a marketplace for consumers to sell their smartphones and devices, the iPhone Air had a trade-in value of $760 as of Wednesday, compared with a retail price of $999 for the same model. That’s despite numerous reports that demand for the iPhone Air model was significantly lower than expected, with Apple reportedly cutting production on the line. It’s not just the iPhone 17 that’s seeing sustained demand. The iPhone 16 is retaining 72% of its original price, B-Stock reports. And the iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and iPhone 14 Pro Max are the three most frequently sold models on the site’s B2B platform. The strong demand in the used smartphone market doesn’t seem to be impacting sales of new iPhone models. Apple is expected to have a record year in 2025, thanks to the latest series of phones, with shipment forecasts of 247 million or more, IDC says. The iPhone 17 is selling very well in China, Apple’s largest market, and has reversed the slowdown Apple was seeing in the U.S. and Western Europe. In fact, the popularity of the iPhone 17 was a key reason Apple’s market capitalization topped $4 trillion earlier this year. View the full article

The data center boom is fully underway, and the numbers are staggering: billions of dollars in costs, millions of square feet worth of buildings, gigawatts of energy, and millions of gallons of water used per day. But before these AI-fueling behemoths can get up and running, there’s an extensive amount of prep work needed to build the infrastructure those data centers rely upon, with a whole other set of staggering costs, material flows, and resource requirements. The infrastructure behind (and below) the data center boom is in the midst of its own massive scale building boom, with no end in sight. That’s created a thriving business for the companies that provide the raw materials used to make that infrastructure. “The focus for the most part is always on the facility . . . but what gets a lot less attention today is actually what it takes to build the infrastructure around them,” says Nathan Creech, president of the Americas division at CRH, the $81 billion market cap building materials company. “Most people don’t see the below-the-ground infrastructure for water, for telecom, for energy that it takes, or the road systems to get in.” CRH is the largest building materials company in North America and Europe, providing aggregates, cement, road, and water infrastructure for building projects around the world. The company is currently working on more than 100 data centers in the U.S. This data center work was highlighted in the company’s third quarter financial results as a “robust” growth area and part of its $11.1 billion in quarterly revenue, which the company expects to continue to rise for the foreseeable future. Most of CRH’s large data center projects are covered by nondisclosure agreements, but you can probably imagine some of its potential customers. As competition for AI dominance heats up, so-called hyperscalers like Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle are investing in ever bigger data centers. AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have announced multibillion-dollar data center building sprees. According to one report, total data center construction spending is expected to exceed $52 billion in 2025. These investments will lead to a lot of state-of-the-art buildings. But first, they’ll require even more traditional infrastructure. And with construction material costs rising 40% over the past five years, all that infrastructure is part of the reason so much money is being spent to build these data centers. “Think about the water, energy, and communication systems required to operate them—it’s a huge logistical challenge and demands a significant amount of expertise,” says Creech. What it takes to build a data center Once a big tech company has identified the site for a new data center—a process that requires its own complex calculus to balance spatial demands, electricity generation capacity, and access to water—a significant amount of concrete and asphalt has to be laid down. The estimated size of data centers varies from 20,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet, but CRH notes that average data center building typically requires 150,000 tons of aggregates, or enough to build a four-mile long lane of interstate highway. This is used to lay the concrete foundation for the building, as well as subsurface structures like water retention cisterns and retaining walls. Most of this material is mined and supplied locally. Roads have to be built to access these sites both during construction and operation, requiring even more raw materials. CRH operates more than 2,000 manufacturing plants and quarries across the U.S., and Creech estimates that 85% of U.S. data centers sit within 30 miles of one of these facilities. For those projects that aren’t located near an existing facility, CRH builds them. “You hear about the main investments, but what you never hear about are the investments that we’re making in greenfields and building out new mines and making sure that there’s asphalt plants and concrete plants and pipe plants and paver plants that are in the area,” Creech says. “Because our products, you can’t ship them very far.” Speed has become a priority for many of these projects. Earlier this year Meta revealed that it was accelerating the startup time for new data centers by building them with hurricane-proof tents. A spokesperson told Fast Company at the time that tents are currently being set up as part of at least one of the multi-gigawatt data centers the company is building, located in New Albany, Ohio. Creech says this time pressure has also changed the way CRH approaches these big projects. Typically site works and utility infrastructure can take between three and six months to build, but he says there have been cases where CRH has sped up the delivery timeline of the baseline concrete pad infrastructure to just four weeks. The race to stand up AI data centers has some analysts concerned about overbuilding, cautioning that dynamics in data center technology and future demands may put some of the infrastructure being built at risk of becoming obsolete or even unnecessary. Some have even called this an “infrastructure bubble.” In the near term, none of these concerns seem to be stopping the building boom that’s now underway. And as it continues to progress, it’s going to require a whole lot of concrete. View the full article

Columbia Sportswear just lauched its Endor collection, and I want it all. Inspired by the clothes worn by the rebel squad that took on the Death Star’s shield generator in Return of the Jedi, it’s the latest and largest Star Wars drop from Portland, Oregon-based company. It’s also the best fit for the brand since its Empire Strikes Back‘s Echo Base Han Solo parkas, which I missed back in 2017, and I will forever feel like a dumb Tauntaun for not grabbing one (they run for almost $1,000 each now). The highlight of the collection is General Han Solo’s Trench, a $600 jacket that mimics the camouflage duster that Harrison Ford wore while leading the strike team on the forest moon. Unlike cheap Amazon costumes, this and the rest of the line is built with actual functional specs, using an Interchange system that pairs a waterproof shell with an inner vest lined with Columbia’s Omni-Heat Infinity gold thermal reflectors. Yes, the fabric that literally went to space (unlike Ford). It’s loaded with fan-service details, including Aurebesh messages—the basic galaxy alphabet—and a Rebel Alliance patch, but it’s the practical application that matters. You can wear it to sneak into an Imperial bunker or just to survive a rainy commute in Seattle. Six hundred galactic credits for a trench may seem like a lot, but according to Erin Steele, Special Projects Manager for Columbia Sportswear, the Endor drop’s prices are consistent with similar styles in their product line. Steele says that like the other Star Wars drops they developed closely with Disney and Lucasfilm, this clothing line is very far from cosplay. “The Battle of Endor is such an outdoor rich moment in the film, so we were really excited by the range of silhouettes, especially since outerwear is truly our specialty,” she says. “While we leaned heavily on the original costume pieces for inspiration, we identified silhouettes that are modern and wearable for everyday life.” In the movie, she points out, Han is wearing a standard trench layered over his vest and shirt. In their version, they translated those layers into the company’s 3-in-1 multilayer technology, called Interchange. Plus they added a hood that wasn’t in the original. If you want to look more like Luke or Leia speeding through the redwoods, there is the Endor Issue Poncho, which goes for $400. This piece replicates the hand-sprayed camouflage look of the original film costumes, but adds modern waterproofing. For those who prefer something less flowing, the Endor Issue Cargo Vest ($150) and Endor Issue Pant ($130) offer a more tactical, everyday utility vibe. Both feature the collection’s signature camo print and functional pockets, making them the most wearable items if you don’t want to look like you just walked off a convention floor. There is the $220 Endor Issue Boot, a rugged hiker that has a Rebel insignia on the tongue and comes with two sets of laces, because apparently, even in a galaxy far, far away, shoe customization was a thing, too. And, of course, you can’t do Endor without the anthropophagous murder bears. I hate with a vengeance almost as much as I hate to admit that the Ewok Fleece Jacket is pretty damn cute. It is exactly what it sounds like: a high-pile, ultrasoft fleece jacket that has a Ewok-shaped hood with ears on it. It’s available in adult sizes for $80, and in youth ($75) or infant bunting ($70) versions if you have kids. One bit I like: It features original concept art on the chest patch, a nice nod to the Lucasfilm archives. Same technology as the regular Columbia stuff According to Becca Johnson, the company’s special projects director, the Ewok Bunting and Jacket use “tried-and-true plush, cozy fleece, with warmth as the main objective for those styles.” She says that “during testing with kids, they were so well received that they literally didn’t want to take them off.” They do look comfy. Although they are clearly Star Wars design, the nature of the Endor drop makes it look like a perfect fit for a company like Columbia. They work just the same, too. Johnson tells me that all these products use their core technologies for body and footwear. “All of these materials have already gone through rigorous real-world testing. We know they perform in dense, damp environments here on Earth, so we’re confident they’ll hold up just as well on Endor,” Johnson says. The collection drops on December 11, 2025. If you are a Columbia Greater Rewards member, you get early access at 6:30 a.m. PST; everyone else has to wait until 7 a.m. PST. Given how fast previous drops have sold out (the Empire Strikes Back Han Solo’s parka sold out in just six minutes), you might want to set an alarm and hope the Force is with you. Or just wait five years and pay triple on eBay like I am tempted to do with that damn coat every single winter. View the full article