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Plan smarter, publish better. A structured content plan keeps your marketing focused and efficient. Download the free template to get started. The post Free Content Plan Template To Adapt To Your Needs This 2025 appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Whether you want to quickly check where a particular city is or grab an address to share with a friend, opening a full-blown maps app sometimes feels like overkill. Mappa Mini is a free Mac app by developer Lucas Raggers that lets you do a quick search without taking up all of your attention. Just click the menu bar icon and search for any business or location. You'll see right where it is in a small pop-up, without having to load any application or website. If there are multiple matches, you'll see them all in a list—click any of them to see the location in context. This is perfect for when you quickly need to check where something is. You can get more details by clicking the three dots to the right of the location. This allows you to add the location to your favorites, open the location or create a route to it, or copy the address. Credit: Justin Pot You can choose to copy the full address or just a part of it, such as the full address, postal code, city, or street. You can also copy the coordinates, or just copy a link or picture of the map. All of this is useful if you're texting a friend about where to meet and want to provide some quick context. By default, opening a location will launch Apple Maps. You can change this, if you like, so that locations open in your choice of Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, Waze, or HERE WeGo. Note that the initial map will always be an Apple Map—the setting only changes what happens when you choose to open the location or get directions to it. There's not much more in the way of settings—you can change the size of the pop-up window, the map radius, and whether the application launches in the menu bar when your Mac boots. It's not an application that's going to replace your map app of choice, nor is it trying to be. It's great at what it does, though, and that's doing quick map searches before getting out of your way. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Peppers are one of the best vegetables to grow. They are expensive to buy, even when in season; they don’t take up a lot of garden space; and although there are a limited number of peppers available in stores, there are thousands of varieties are out there that you can grow. Plus, you can choose precisely when to harvest them. The pepper most people choose to grow in their garden—full size bell peppers—are a waste, though, in my opinion. Each plant only yields a few peppers, and because of their size, bell peppers take a while to grow and then to ripen. In that time, the pepper is susceptible to pests and disease. Even in the most perfect circumstances, you’ll likely only get a few big peppers. You can roast or char snacking peppers just like large bells, or just eat them raw. Credit: Amanda Blum Instead, try growing snacking peppers, a miniature version of the bell pepper. Each plant grows heaps of peppers, which ripen in a shorter time span. You can use them in the same way you would large size bell peppers (except for stuffing). Available in red, yellow, chocolate, purple, and orange, these peppers light up the garden with color. I’ve pulled in excess of fifty peppers off each of my plants the last two years. When to start growing snacking peppersPeppers are part of the trio of nightshades that almost everyone grows each summer (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers). Because these three require the sun and heat you usually only find in the summer months, they truly are a once-a-year treat. Usually, seeds for peppers need to start early because they take longer to germinate than other nightshades. In my area (the Pacific Northwest), that means I start pepper seeds at the beginning of March. If you haven’t started your pepper seeds yet, you’ll want to do so immediately, so you’ll have time to grow starts before outdoor temperatures reach fifty degrees overnight and you can place them outside. I don’t know anyone who direct-seeds peppers outside; gardeners generally start from seedlings they’ve bought or grown themselves because you need the jumpstart seedlings offer. How to encourage branching and support the plantAs your pepper plant grows, you want to encourage as much branching as possible, since this will result in more peppers. When the first set of true leaves appear on the plant, pinch them off using your fingers to encourage the plant to produce two branches, each with their own set of leaves. You can continue pinching off twin leaves to encourage the plant to produce more sets of branches. When the first flower appears on your plant, many gardeners will strip the plant of the flower and every branch and leaf below the flower, all the way to the soil line. Removing the first flower encourages the plant to produce more, which will result in fruit. Stripping the leaves below the flower will encourage airflow and make the plant focus energy on the plant above the flower. The most common mistake I see people make is expecting their pepper plant to support itself. Your plant should reach two to three feet in height, but snacking pepper plants will be heavy with fruit, and top heavy at that. At the least, support the plant with a single stake for the main stem. But it would be better to consider a trellis that will offer branches support as well. Peppers don’t achieve the same width as tomatoes, so tomato trellises are often too wide to offer real support. Instead, consider pepper trellises. Protect against disease and pestsPeppers are mostly susceptible to fungal problems. The solution for this is to ensure good airflow around your pepper plant and water only at the base of the plant. Make sure when you are touching your plant that your hands are clean, and cut out leaves with noticeable issues immediately. You can purchase seeds that are resistant to bacterial leaf spot, another common pepper malady, but if the seeds aren’t resistant, you’ll need to watch for signs: green and brown spots on the leaves. While you can try to treat bacterial leaf spot with copper treatments, you may decide to cull the plant, instead, so it does not spread to the rest of your garden. The biggest threat to your pepper plant is snacking pests as the fruit ripens. Peppers are colorful and easy to spot. The best solution is to get them off the plant as soon as possible, which is why snacking peppers are a good idea. Peppers won’t ripen on their own inside, so you want to pick them when some color has developed on them, but you don’t need to wait until they are fully developed, either. How to eat snacking peppersYou can eat snacking peppers raw, just like bell peppers. You can roast or broil them, char and peel them, or use them in any way you might larger varieties. I roast and freeze them each year. The only limitation is their size, so stuffing these small peppers makes for great appetizers, if not a main course. There are a number of seeds to consider, and if you’ve missed the window on starting seeds, you can find snacking peppers at your local nursery, or order them online to be shipped. "Lunchbox" pepper mix SVPS0953 (bacterial leaf spot resistant), in orange, red, and yellow "Sweet Nibblers," available in red seeds or plants or yellow seeds or plants Orange "first taste" sweet pepper "Burpee Garden Sown" sweet hybrid "Sweetie" pepper snack pack (red, yellow, orange) plants Miniature bell peppers in yellow, red, or chocolate Snacking pepper plants in red or yellow View the full article

At Visa’s ETA Transact event on April 3, the payments giant introduced three new products designed to simplify and secure payment acceptance. These innovations—Authorize.net 2.0, Unified Checkout, and the ARIC Risk Hub—all aim to enhance efficiency and fraud protection for businesses navigating an increasingly complex commercial landscape. By integrating the three new tools, Visa seeks to service businesses end to end—from integrating with existing platforms to accepting more payments, reducing checkout friction, and managing risk efficiently. “Visa is looking to wherever appropriate to invest in next-generation technologies and uplift our products,” says Rob Cameron, global head of Visa Acceptance Solutions. Authorize.net 2.0 A major overhaul of one of the first internet platforms for e-commerce payments, Authorize.net 2.0 enhances the user experience while connecting businesses with banks and merchant acquirers across the United States. New AI-driven tools further enhance the platform by automating tasks and optimizing payment strategies. Businesses can now issue invoices simply by speaking to Authorize.net, which will generate the invoice, locate the customer, and prepare the invoice for sending—eliminating manual entry. Subscription-based businesses, such as tutoring services, will benefit from the platform’s streamlined setup to accept payments and then charge customers on a recurring basis. “This saves time and allows small-business owners to operate more efficiently,” Cameron says. Unified Checkout Unified Checkout is Visa’s next-generation solution for online payments, designed to create a seamless experience for merchants and customers that reduces lost sales at the checkout point. By automatically adapting the checkout page to match a business’s website, the system ensures a consistent look and feel while improving security. “It’ll look at your existing website, and then it’ll configure a checkout page so it looks like you’re still in the same environment, even though we’ve insulated the website from the credit card data and all the things that websites don’t actually want for security,” Cameron says. Businesses can customize the checkout button order based on insights, prioritizing payment methods like Apple Pay to match customer preferences. With “25 out-of-the-box, different payment types,” including Klarna’s buy now, pay later services, the system helps reduce cart abandonment by ensuring customers find their preferred payment method. The platform also enhances customer retention through tokenization, allowing returning customers to shift from “guest checkout to remember me next time” for a smoother purchasing experience. ARIC Risk Hub Visa’s 2024 acquisition of Featurespace led to the development of ARIC (adaptive, real-time, individual, change identification) Risk Hub, a fraud-detection and risk-management tool that enhances acquirers’ ability to monitor risk and protect merchants. ​​Featurespace’s powerful, adaptive AI helps identify risky transactions and builds profiles around genuine customer activity to increase approvals and stop bad actors in real time. This system enables “dynamic settlement,” meaning businesses can receive payments based on risk assessments. “If I decide you’re low risk, maybe I’ll decide to settle you instantly and I’ll give you money right away,” Cameron says, noting that for higher-risk businesses—such as those selling furniture that won’t be delivered for months—reserves can be adjusted dynamically. The platform’s ongoing monitoring allows financial institutions to approve more merchants up front. Without it, strict barriers are needed to block risky merchants. However, by continuously analyzing transactions and merchant behavior, acquirers can make smarter decisions over time. Cameron says this can ultimately boost revenue by increasing approval rates. Additionally, ARIC Risk Hub provides fraud prevention through acquirer-backed monitoring services. If a merchant receives a suspicious order, the system can detect risks and issue a warning, which, Cameron notes, “allows acquirers to actually provide monitoring services to protect their merchants.” View the full article

If your website suddenly disappears from Google search results, it can be a stressful experience. A significant drop in traffic with no clear explanation and the absence of a penalty usually means your site, in the eyes of Google, has fallen out of favor and potentially below the quality threshold. This article explains why sites get deindexed, what to check first, and how to recover if it happens to you. What does ‘deindexed’ mean? When a page or a whole website is deindexed, it means Google has removed it from its search index. As a result, your site won’t appear in search results for any keywords, not even when you search your domain name. Sometimes, you may be partially deindexed, in which some pages may still be indexed and served by Google, but the vast majority of specific subfolders are removed from both serving and indexing. Why Google might deindex a site Whether it’s a technical mistake, a manual action, or a broader trust issue, understanding the root cause is the first step to getting your site back on track. Below are some common reasons why Google might deindex a site and what to look for in each case. Rogue noindex directive If your pages have a <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”> tag or an X-Robots-Tag: noindex HTTP header, Google will remove them from the index after crawling them. From experience, this is most likely to occur when: A developer has misapplied a noindex sitewide when it was meant for specific pages. The noindex directive from staging is pushed to production during a deployment. Issues with CMS plugins setting noindex on large portions of the content. Robots.txt blocking crawling The robots.txt file tells Googlebot which subfolder it is allowed to crawl. If it blocks important areas of the site, such as /blog/ or /products/, Google may be unable to access, process, and index your content. This doesn’t directly cause deindexing, but it can lead to compounding issues such as: Inability to access pages. There is no way for Google to confirm if noindex or other directives have changed. Gradual drop in visibility if your pages are considered stale or inaccessible. Server issues A 5xx server error appears when your server is unavailable while Googlebot attempts to crawl your site. Google could alter its crawling strategy if it detects multiple server errors from your site. Crawl your site less often. Temporarily remove inaccessible pages from the index. This won’t cause immediate deindexing, but it can get worse over time. Googlebot may reduce its crawl rate if your server struggles to handle its requests and regular user traffic. This can slow the discovery of new or updated content. Web application firewall (WAF) issues Firewalls, DDoS protection systems (like Cloudflare), or server security rules can accidentally block Googlebot. This is becoming more prevalent as CDNs respond to AI platforms’ increased crawl activities. The desire to block Google Gemini has caused the accidental blocking of Googlebot. You must make sure to allow Googlebot’s IP ranges, user-agent, and any other search engine crawlers that drive valuable traffic to your site. DNS issues When Googlebot tries to crawl your site, it first resolves your domain name to an IP address using DNS. If your DNS server is misconfigured, slow, or unavailable, Googlebot can’t find your site. If your domain isn’t correctly pointing to your web server (e.g., wrong A record or CNAME), Googlebot might crawl the wrong server or receive 404/5xx errors, which affects indexing. JavaScript rendering issues Search engines might have trouble rendering if your website is built with JavaScript frameworks like React or Vue. When this happens, Google may crawl your site but not find any content, leading to a drop in indexing. It’s common for ecommerce websites to be shown in Google Search Console, as Google overrides the canonical and points to a random page or product page. Dig deeper: A guide to diagnosing common JavaScript SEO issues Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. Business email address Sign me up! Processing... See terms. Recovering after deindexing Recovering from de-indexing varies by issue since restoring your site’s status might require an extended and complex process. Addressing technical problems at the initial stage enables quicker recovery than fixing site quality or user experience problems. Review and improve your content Take a close look at your site’s content. Identify any pages that are: Low in quality. Duplicated from other websites. Auto-generated. Packed with keywords. Google wants helpful, original content that serves users, not pages created to game the system. If most of your content falls short of this standard, you must rewrite or remove the affected pages. Focus on building valuable, user-friendly content that answers fundamental questions or solves problems. Dig deeper: The complete guide to optimizing content for SEO (with checklist) Resolve any technical SEO issues Technical errors are a common cause of unintentional deindexing. Beyond the technical SEO basics of blockers in your robots.txt file or accidental noindex being pushed, other technical issues can go undetected by essential technical auditing tools that can cause mass deindexing. After fixing the issues Once you’ve fixed the issues, you can submit a reconsideration request through Google Search Console if manual action was applied. Be honest and specific about what you’ve done to resolve the problem. It can take a few weeks to hear back. If your site was deindexed due to a technical error and not a penalty, you won’t need a reconsideration request. In that case, re-submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and wait for Google to crawl your site. While you wait for your pages to be re-indexed, you can still drive traffic from other sources, such as social media or email. This won’t replace search traffic in the long term but can help keep things moving. Staying indexed in the future After recovering, you must maintain vigilant oversight of your website’s performance. Keep your content updated and valuable. Monitor your index status and backlinks regularly. Steer clear of easy fixes, such as purchasing backlinks or duplicating other people’s content. Google needs to ensure full access to all published JavaScript-intensive site content. Deindexing doesn’t always come with a warning. Signs of trouble emerge gradually through a drop in impressions and pages that vanish from search results without notice. Detecting these issues is possible through API monitoring and ongoing technical health checks of your website. Final thoughts Experiencing deindexing from Google might seem like a significant problem, but recovery is possible. Your site will regain presence in search results if you identify the root cause, adequately address the situation, and conduct follow-up actions with Google. You should respond swiftly while focusing on sustained quality instead of temporary solutions. After re-indexing your pages, you will be better positioned to handle future issues. View the full article

We are less than a week after the Google March 2025 core update finished rolling out and we are seeing some heated volatility again, maybe more heated than what we saw during the last core update.View the full article

Beans and chocolate prices set to rise as a result of new levies View the full article

We've seen a similar format in the Google Shopping results with a show more button to show more shopping ads but now we are seeing something similar within the main Google Search results. Google is testing overlaying a show more button on the second row of Google Shopping ads in the main search results.View the full article

Learn how to perform AI keyword research with free chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot. View the full article

Microsoft seems to be serving produt and shopping results within the Bing Copilot Answer boxes. When I first saw this I thought this was a bug, but it keeps happening and I can replicate this.View the full article

Walking around the factory floor of Twincraft Skincare, outside Burlington, Vermont, there is the unmistakable scent of soap. The general manager points out the luxury lines and designer labels for whom they manufacture soaps and lotions, as well as the basic, inexpensive bars and bottles left on hotel room sinks. The factory runs two 10-hour shifts per day, four days a week, with an overtime option as needed. At over 400 employees, Twincraft is one of the top employers in the state. In the last few years, there’s been a boom in skincare products and, to meet demand, Michele Asch, Twincraft’s chief people officer, says they’ve had to hire over 180 people over the past 18 months. But, pre-pandemic, Asch had begun to notice a problem in hiring workers: People couldn’t find local childcare. One standout employee, she recalls, spent an hour driving each morning to drop her kids off in two different towns before driving to work—though she lived only 15 minutes away. In 2020, Asch met with Aly Richards, the director of Let’s Grow Kids, the organization responsible for spearheading the decade-long campaign to provide a comprehensive fix for the state’s childcare shortage. Via Zoom, Asch recalls asking, “‘Aly, we make skincare. Can’t I just pay into a system so we can get this childcare fixed?’” But “fixed” isn’t so simple for childcare. Childcare is an industry in crisis, where the demand is high, the supply is low, and market forces alone cannot correct it. The high teacher-to-student ratios required for childcare mean that parents pay high costs—often more than they can reasonably afford—while providers are compensated little. Many providers rely on public benefits or are unable to afford sending their own children to the childcare locations in which they work. Like Asch’s employee who had to drive an hour to find care, half of the country is living in childcare deserts, where no workable care options exist. “Vermont is in a deep demographic crisis now,” says Richards. With a dwindling and aging population, Vermont was losing potential workers and the tax base that accompanies it. “Many women with education and careers would work if they had access to affordable childcare.” And if businesses, like Twincraft, wanted to stay, grow, and manufacture products in the state, they needed to find a way to retain young employees and bring new ones in. Richards appointed Asch to the board of Let’s Grow Kids and to the CEO Task Force, a group assigned to devise a funding plan for childcare that business leaders in the state could get behind, facilitated by a former state tax commissioner. Initially, the task force was adamantly against a payroll tax to finance childcare. But after exploring every funding option—including an income tax and property tax—the payroll tax emerged as the solution “that checked every box,” according to Asch. A payroll tax allowed the payment burden of the childcare program to be placed on workers, not retirees. As more people took advantage of the program and went to work, the revenue stream would grow. Asch began speaking one-on-one with business leaders on the need to invest in childcare. She personally invited other manufacturing leaders in the state to meet with Richards, vet the proposal, and ask any and all pointed questions. The Twincraft conference room was filled with business leaders of Vermont’s most recognizable brands: Bag Balm, Runamok Maple, Birrn Chocolates, Vermont Creamery, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Burton’s Snowboard, and Mamava. Those peer-to-peer conversations were critically important, explains Richards, because “you have a trusted business partner running a successful business. They can literally say, ‘I’ve studied this deeply with my values and my prowess and I’m here to tell you, [this] is the deal with childcare in summary form.’” ‘Childcare is necessary infrastructure for doing business’ Childcare has long been a social policy issue without a designated home. It is part education, part parenting, part economics—as obstacles to childcare remain one of the top reasons that parents cannot access paid work. Even in message testing surrounding childcare, arguments about the economic and workforce benefits are considered the most persuasive. Data from Let’s Grow Kids and the University of Vermont estimated that with the additional childcare funds in the state, 5,000 additional parents could participate in Vermont’s workforce, and by parents paying less for care and receiving more income as wage-earners, and providers receiving more, there would be a $375 million annual boost to the state’s economy due to such influx. Asch’s biggest challenge wasn’t that her business colleagues disagreed with the need for childcare, but that they didn’t fully understand why this state-organized effort funded by the payroll tax was the proposed solution. “Once they understood [the childcare plan] they would enthusiastically or reluctantly support it,” she said. “I don’t pay individually to have our roads done. I pay into a system to have the trucks come in to pick up the soap. [Childcare] is necessary infrastructure for doing business.” In January of 2023, Vermont’s business leaders testified in support of the childcare legislation, now named Act 76, in front of the state’s Senate Economic Development Committee, both for the need for childcare to support their employees and hire more, and to show their willingness to shoulder the payroll tax that accompanied it. Cara Tobin, a chef and mother of two who’d opened the restaurant Honey Road in Burlington and become a James Beard finalist, testified that it was “easier to open a restaurant than find childcare.” Tobin was one of 10 business leaders who testified in support of Act 76, including a cross-section of business interests of the state: a solar company, an entrepreneur, a ski resort, and, of course, manufacturers. In June 2023, the legislation passed with bipartisan support, and after a veto from the governor, passed with a bipartisan veto override. The payroll tax took effect in July 2024: 0.44% split between employees (0.11%) and employers (0.33%). Some employers, Twincraft among them, have opted to cover the entire tax for their workers. In January 2024, childcare providers began seeing a change in compensation, and since the legislation has taken effect, childcare supply has boomed in the state: 90 new childcare programs have opened, with a net gain of 1,000 new childcare spots. For the first time since 2018, more childcare programs have opened in the state than closed. Asch has noticed that more of her employees can find childcare closer to where they work, and have more affordable options “and therefore less stress,” she said. She’s exploring opening a childcare center adjacent to Twincraft. Tobin’s youngest child went to kindergarten when Act 76 took effect; she hasn’t been able to personally take advantage of the program, but her restaurant employees have. “I see it working for other people for sure,” Tobin said. “This completes the circle: You are supporting your workers who can make money, then spend money in the community, and it keeps coming back around. When we support the community, they support us.” View the full article

Google is testing promoting the Google Maps app in the desktop interface of Google Maps. Google is placing a little icon at the bottom left corner of the desktop interface that says "Mobile app." When you click on it, it takes you to an overlay that has links to the iOS or Android Google Maps app and a large QR to scan as well.View the full article

Ikea’s new collection is all about accessibility. The furniture maker’s new Bäsingen collection, which is available this month, includes six items for the bathroom that the company designed to be easy to use for people with disabilities: a shower chair, two kids of stools with rails, a towel rail, a shower shelf, and a toilet roll holder. The products range from about $12 to about $39. The collection was designed to be sturdy and non-slippery, with tube handles on the stools and that are thick for an easy grip. The dark color for the products in the collections was also chosen so the items would be easily visible, but stylish enough so to be something you’d want to keep out in view, Ikea says. Sarah Fager, Ikea’s senior designer, said she started working on the Bäsingen collection “by wanting to learn more about the needs and wishes of people with physical limitations.” She said it was one of her most challenging design projects “because it was about meeting needs that were new to me,” but it was also one of her most enlightening. “The products were created to bring great functionality together with a beautiful design, as they have a minimalistic expression that is rooted in our Scandinavian design tradition,” she said. “Bäsingen is designed to help customers create a comfortable experience.” At least 61 million U.S. adults have at least one disability, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows. Some may have more requirements than the average user for household products, like stools with handles they can hold onto for stability for safety in the bathroom or shower. Global sales of assistive furniture reached an estimated $4.93 billion in 2024, according to data from Fact.MR, a market research firm. And Ikea isn’t the only furniture maker that’s designing for accessibility. Last year, Pottery Barn added optional, accessible features to three of its most popular furniture lines. Ikea released Omtänksam, a collection of ergonomic products for comfort and support in 2020. “There are many people who experience impactful and common circumstantial changes that can make something as simple as taking a shower challenging,” Ikea product design developer Watts Zijlstra said in a statement. “Yet, we see that the home environment is often not equipped for change. The starting point for Bäsingen was a clear need for specific product functions.” View the full article

Last November, Google began using AI to generate review summaries in Google Maps. Well, now they seem to be showing up in the local knowledge panels on the right side of the Google Search results page.View the full article

Micro conversions can fuel PPC success, but only if used correctly. Learn how to track, report, and optimize them for better campaign performance. The post Ask A PPC: What Marketers Need To Know About Micro Conversions In Google Ads appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

President reveals plans to impose 10% universal levies and higher duties on major partnersView the full article

President’s move to rip up global trade rule book will hit an economy already losing momentum, say economistsView the full article

The first year of Otting's tenure as the New York lender's CEO brought substantial change, but the job isn't done. His goal: to build a powerhouse, profitable regional bank. View the full article

When I first started posting on LinkedIn consistently, I couldn’t understand why some posts were a huge hit and others flopped like soggy tacos. That is until I started monitoring my social media analytics. Suddenly, it all became much clearer: I had data that pointed to which hooks grabbed the most attention, what time got the most engagement, and what the ideal length for a post was. Everything clicked. The clues are out there for you too, right in your analytics. And they can guide your social media strategy in the right direction. But if you run multiple social media platforms, it can be hard to collate and stitch these insights together. Luckily, plenty of social media analytics tools help you do just that, and then some. I've road-tested dozens, and pulled together this list based on specific use cases — so hopefully, one of these will be a good fit for you, too. Here are 11 of my favorite social media analytics tools. What are social media analytics?Before we begin, let’s define social media analytics: These are the numbers that showcase how your posts have been performing on various social media platforms. Social media analytics can help you answer questions beyond “How many likes did this post get?” For example: Which are my best content types?When is my audience the most engaged?What kind of content is the best for getting followers talking?What kind of content is the best for reaching new followers?…and so much moreSocial media analytics help you measure your performance and benchmark them against your social media goals. Don’t all social media platforms have native social media insights?You’re right — they do. All major social media networks provide native insights within their platform. But there are a few issues when you rely solely on them: Social media networks don’t always provide the insights you need. For instance, LinkedIn doesn’t show timestamps on past posts, making it tricky to understand what days and times are best to reach your audience.Relying on native insights alone won’t give you the full picture. Let’s say you’re running a large-scale social media campaign and using multiple social media networks. You’ll have to manually cobble insights from all of them if you rely only on each channel’s native insights. In contrast, on many social media analytics tools, you can gather all posts under one tab and monitor collective insights on how your campaign performed across channels.Social media analytics software collects and helps you make sense of your performance data — so you can spend less time tracking and more time improving your social media strategy. Social media analytics tools vs. social media management toolsThere are dedicated social media analytics tools that show only social media post(s) insights. And then there is social media management software that encompasses social media analytics along with scheduling posts, engaging with your audience, storing ideas, etc. This list contains options for both. But which one should you choose? Choose a social media management software if you’re a creator, or one-person or small marketing team managing your entire social media strategy.Choose a dedicated social media analytics software if you’ve already covered other aspects of your social media strategy (either manually or with another tool) and/or if you need specific insights about your social media efforts that a management tool can’t provide.In most cases, social media managers and creators will likely prefer one-stop social media management tools. It makes things so much simpler to have everything in one tab — and the last thing anyone working in social needs is more tabs. Still, there are times when standalone social media analytics tools might make more sense. When you need insights about a very particular aspect of your social media strategy — like competitive analysis. Many social management tools offer competitor analysis, but a standalone tool often digs a little deeper and can provide more useful insights.When you’re a small creator or team on a shoestring budget managing your content calendar and social media engagement manually. Maybe you can’t afford full-fledged social management software involving multiple social media channels. But you might be able to swing for a social media analytics tool that’s a little more budget-friendly.You’ll find plenty of dedicated social media analytics tools and social media management tools on this list. Pick the one that best suits your needs! Jump to a tool: 1. Buffer 2. Rival IQ 3. Keyhole 4. Social Status 5. Siftsy 6. Vista Social 7. Typefully 8. Tailwind 9. Dashthis 10. Socialinsider 11. Talkwalker Quick summary of the 11 best social media analytics tools Social media analytics platform Best for Price Supported social media platforms Buffer Creators and small teams Free plan available. Paid plans begin at $6/month Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Pinterest, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, X Rival IQ Large agencies Plans start at $239/month. Free 14-day trial available Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X Keyhole Market research Not publicly available Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, X Social Status Small businesses running ads and influencer partnerships Free plan available. Paid plans start at $9/month Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, X Siftsy Analyzing comments on social media posts Not publicly available Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube Vista Social Reporting on reviews along with social media Plans start at $39/month. Free 14-day trial available Facebook, Google Business, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, OpenTable, Reddit, TikTok, TrustPilot, TripAdvisor, YouTube, Yelp, and X Typefully Social media networks that support text-only posts Free plan available for 15 posts/month. Paid plans start at $12.50/month and have compulsory yearly billing Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Threads, X Tailwind Pinterest users Free plan available. Paid plans begin at $24.99/month Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest Dashthis An all-in-one marketing dashboard Plans begin at $49/month. There’s a 15-day free trial with every plan Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube Socialinsider AI-driven content pillar insights Plans start at $99/month. All plans have a 14-day free trial Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, X Talkwalker In-depth audience insights Not publicly available Facebook, Instagram, X The 11 best social media analytics tools for creators and social media marketers1. BufferBest social media analytics tool for creators and small teamsPrice: Free plan for up to 3 social media platforms (10 posts/channel). Advanced analytics tools are available on paid plans, which start at $6/month. Supported social media platforms: Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Pinterest, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, X Buffer is a flexible social media toolkit that helps you schedule your posts, engage with your audience, store ideas, and a lot more. As a social media analytics tool, what I love is it gives you the answers straight up — no guesswork. As soon as you open your social media analytics dashboard, you find your: Best type of postBest day to postBest type of content to postInstead of just throwing numbers at you, Buffer helps you make sense of the data — which is crucial for strapped-for-time creators and social media managers. And of course, if you need it, you have all the raw data and graphs also: Follower growthTotal impressionsTotal engagementHashtag performanceAudience demographicsEngagement rate and reach on specific postsYou can create beautiful branded reports in a few clicks. Bye-bye, manual copy-pasting. 👋 Sign up for Buffer for free ✨Note: The advanced social media analytics are available only in our paid plans, though our free plan has basic analytics. 2. Rival IQBest social media analytics tool for large agenciesSourcePrice: Plans start at $239/month. Free 14-day trial available. Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X Rival IQ is one of the best dedicated social media analytics tools for large social media agencies. It stands out by offering in-depth social media analytics and adjacent social media tools as add-ons. For example, it has a competitor analysis and social listening tool built into its analytics tool. Instead of having three separate software for these tasks, you can have just RivalIQ. This would be a huge cost saver for an agency doing these jobs for their clients. And you’ll find their pricing designed for social media agencies, too: You can add at least 10 companies (aka clients) to your account. If you want to add more, you can add five companies for $50/month You can swap the companies whose performance you’re trackingComparing it to other social media analytics tools, I was impressed with its competitive benchmarking. It shows: when your competitor’s posts are likely boostedcompares brand positioning (such as social media bios and other profile attributes)benchmarks your performance with your social media niche and your chosen competitorsAs an agency, competitive analysis plays an important part in informing the social media strategy and social media reporting of your clients. RivalIQ makes that a breeze. The number of users you need to add can make things pricey, though. Even in the higher tier plans, you can only add five users. Adding additional users in any plan costs an extra $10/month. 🔁 Alternative: Zoho Social is a great alternative to RivalIQ. Its agency plans start at £260/month for 10 brand accounts (including 140 channels). You don’t have competitive analysis or social listening features baked in, but the unique selling point here is all your clients get a free login and you can customize their view. Zoho Social also has a 15-day free trial that you can begin here. 3. KeyholeBest social media analytics tool for market researchSourcePrice: Not publicly available. Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, X Keyhole is another one of the dedicated social media analytics tools on this list. Like RivalIQ, it also has competitive analysis features (and even influencer marketing features), but that’s not where it shines. The best part about Keyhole is its powerful historical insights paired with market research. In historical insights, you can unlock insights as old as a decade. What was your audience saying about [important topic] five years ago? How has their opinion shifted today? What were the most engaging posts on this topic in this timeframe?In market research, thanks to Keyhole's machine learning system, you can identify emerging trends on any topic. You can see a real-time evolution of how your audience’s sentiments are evolving on a subject.These social media analytics can give you powerful insights into developing your products and services: You can see what has stood the test of time and how the conversation on a topic has changed. The catch? The historical insights are only available for X (formerly Twitter). Sure, it has been the go-to place for conversation in the past decade, but I would’ve loved it if other social media platforms were included in the historical insights, too. And these reports cost extra — starting at $50 and increasing depending on the volume of X posts you’re analyzing. It’s also worth mentioning that Muck Rack (a PR software) has acquired Keyhole, so its monitoring features may become even stronger. 4. Social StatusBest social media analytics tool for small businesses running ads and influencer partnershipsSourcePrice: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $9/month. Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, X Social Status is one of the top social media analytics tools for small businesses running ads and managing influencer partnerships as part of their social media strategy. Why? It has affordable plans — a free version for just one social media account and the paid plans begin at $9/month for three social media accounts. But there are a few caveats: You can’t create customized social media performance reports unless you move up to the higher-tier plansThe lower tier plans only support three social media platforms — Facebook, Instagram, and YouTubeBut if you’re a small business that just wants to measure its performance across organic and paid social strategies, Social Status would be the perfect social media analytics platform. It provides the key performance indicators (likes, impressions, comments, shares, etc.) and also: Ad analytics (only for Meta, LinkedIn, and X)Competitor analytics (only in the paid plan)Influencer analytics (only in the higher tier plans)Social media managers who practice advertising, collect user-generated content, and dabble in organic social media marketing have a lot on their plate (to say the least). Social Status makes it easy to collate all your effort’s insights in a single dashboard. 🔁 Alternative: If you need social media management software that does the analytics of your organic, paid, and influencer marketing efforts, Sprout Social is a good choice. The social media analytics tool provides data for your paid and influencer marketing efforts. It can also help you schedule posts, engage with your community, and practice social listening. But since it does so much, the price reflects it — plans start at $249/seat/month (ouch) for five social media profiles. Try the tool free for 30 days. 5. SiftsyBest social media analytics tool for analyzing your commentsSourcePrice: Not publicly available Supported social media platforms: Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube Ever wish a social media analytics tool could not only help you crunch the numbers but also analyze customer sentiment in comments? Siftsy does just that. It’s a tool designed to gain deep insights from your social media posts’ comment section (across multiple social channels!). How does it work? Upload a CSV file of the URLs of your social media posts, add it to a campaign (to filter using tags), and that’s it. Analytics tools for analyzing your comments can be beneficial in various scenarios: When you want to do a qualitative analysis of an influencer partnershipWhen you want to get feedback about a product or an experimental social media postWhen you want automated reports about the overall sentiment of a social media campaignThe numeric data in post analytics are great, but combining them with the qualitative comments' sentiment makes them even more powerful. Siftsy’s AI even summarizes the key takeaways and highlights valuable insights from specific conversations for you. 6. Vista SocialBest social media analytics tool for reporting on your reviews (along with social media)SourcePrice: Plans start at $39/month. Free 14-day trial available with each plan. Supported social media platforms and review sites: Facebook, Google Business, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, OpenTable, Reddit, TikTok, TrustPilot, TripAdvisor, YouTube, Yelp, and X Vista Social takes what Siftsy does a step further. It’s not only a social media analytics tool; it can also help you schedule posts, manage your comments and social inbox, and practice social listening. But where it shines is its review management features. It doesn’t just track social media analytics — it also collates all your reviews (from supported sites) in one centralized platform. So, you can track what your customers say about you on Facebook and Yelp in a single tab. You can also respond to these reviews and comments from Vista Social itself. Lastly, you can also create customized, filtered reports of your social media key metrics and reviews’ sentiment. 7. TypefullyBest social media analytics tool if you’re only focused on X (formerly Twitter)SourcePrice: Free plan available for 15 posts/month. Paid plans start at $12.50/month and have compulsory yearly billing. Supported social media platforms: Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Threads, X Typefully is one of the best social media analytics tools for X (formerly Twitter). While it supports multiple social media channels, it aces X like no other. I especially love writing X threads on it — the user experience is great. The ‘viral thread hooks’ examples it contains are also top notch for inspiration. Typefully also provides social media metrics that are unique to X. For example, your dashboard would refer to comments as ‘replies’ because that’s the unique terminology for X. Since the key performance indicators are different, Typefully’s dashboard reflects that. A unique metric I love in Typefully is ‘profile conversion rate’ — which tells you how many people in your target audience who visited your X profile hit the follow button. This is such a helpful social media data point because it helps gain insights on: How effective is your profile image, bio, and pinned tweet in converting a visitor to your followerHow much of your target audience discovers your social media profile through other sources (like web traffic, podcast mentions, etc.)Apart from this, Typefully provides all the essential social media metrics such as number of posts, follower growth, impressions, profile visits, etc. 8. TailwindBest social media analytics tool for businesses that rely on Pinterest for website trafficSourcePrice: Free plan available for five posts per month. Paid plans begin at $24.99/month. Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest Tailwind is one of the best social media tools for small businesses focused on using Pinterest to drive traffic. Since Pinterest marketing functions differently (it’s a social media channel and a search engine), Tailwind has designed its tool to complement both its facets. The most significant benefit is a Google Analytics integration, which can help determine which pins drive the most traffic to your website. Using this data, you can double down on the most successful pins and recreate them. For a Pinterest-specific social media analytics platform, you need many more key performance indicators because of how pins, boards, and trends function on the platform. And Tailwind delivers. You can access Pinterest analytics from the high level to the individual pin. Track engagement metrics for your boards and pins — including trends for repinsA ‘Pin Inspector’ helps you monitor the insights for individual pins and understand which pins you should rescheduleInterest heatmaps help gain actionable insights into whether your social posts are resonating with your target audienceBoard insights help you understand which boards of yours are performing the best — and you can filter them for boards garnering the most outbound links, tooWhen it comes to Pinterest, few social media tools do a better job than Tailwind — and that includes its social media analytics capabilities. 9. DashthisBest social media analytics tool for having an all-in-one marketing dashboardSourcePrice: Plans begin at $49/month. There’s a 15-day free trial with every plan. Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube Dashthis is a marketing software with an in-built social media reporting tool. It’s best suited for teams with a comprehensive marketing strategy who need to show how social media marketing fits into (and contributes to) the big picture. Social media marketers can use it with their adjacent marketing teams to create social media performance reports and overall marketing reports. Dashthis has over 30 integrations to help you connect Google Analytics, Ahrefs, HubSpot, and many more. You can also keep an eye on paid marketing efforts — like TikTok Ads, Meta Business Suite, Pinterest ads, and even Google ads — to provide a combined report of your organic and paid strategy. I’d not recommend using Dashthis if you need in-depth social media performance insights — it provides the basic audience insights report, likes, comments, shares, impressions, etc. But nothing stands out except its ability to integrate with other marketing tools in your tech stack. I love that each plan has unlimited users — making Dashthis perfect for a large marketing team. There’s also no cap on how many data sources you can add, so don’t worry if your marketing strategy has a ton of moving parts. You can combine them all in this one analytics tool. 🔁 Alternative: If you want to take the all-in-one dashboard up a notch, try Cyfe. It’s an analytics tool for multiple departments and can help you create social media performance dashboards, sales reports, and more. Plans start at $14/month for one user. Take a free 14-day trial here. 10. SocialinsiderBest social media analytics tool for AI-driven content pillar insightsSourcePrice: Plans start at $99/month. All plans have a 14-day free trial. Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, X Socialinsider is one of the advanced social media analytics tools. It offers AI-driven insights about your content pillars. For example, suppose you’re a productivity software posting about time management, delegation, and productivity methods. In that case, it’ll help you understand which content pillars perform best for each social media network. Not just this: In the higher tier plans, you can also run an AI-driven competitor analysis of your content pillars. You can check if a certain content pillar works well for a competitor and use it in your own strategy. I also love the post tagging feature — here, you can tag and group social media posts and monitor how they’re performing collectively. It’s just the feature you’d need when you want to monitor how your different social media campaigns have performed (without the data overlapping). The only catch is the price is prohibitive for creators and small teams. The best features of Socialinsider are restricted to the higher-tier plans. 11. TalkwalkerBest social media analytics tool for in-depth audience insightsSourcePrice: Not publicly available. Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, X, and more Talkwalker is another one of the advanced analytics tools for social media monitoring. For me, their audience insights are a standout feature. You can pull insights from customer calls, support tickets, and online communities to find what your audience truly cares about. It’d be the best way to find content ideas. I also love the audience segmentation features — you can slice and dice your data based on audience demographics. This can help garner actionable insights about the various segments of your social media audience — especially useful if you’re a global brand. You can also chat with Talkwalker’s AI assistant, Yeti, to ask questions about various audience demographics and access relevant insights at your fingertips. If you wish Talkwalker could also help you manage your social media marketing efforts, you’re in luck: Hootsuite acquired Talkwalker in 2024. With Hootsuite, you can schedule your posts, manage your inbox, and measure your social media performance. All in one place. But most of Talkwalker’s features are only available in the higher-tier Hootsuite plans — which isn’t easy on the pocket even with its lowest-tier subscription (€99/month). 🔁 Alternative: Another one of my go-to audience intelligence tools is SparkToro. It doesn’t have a strong social media focus, but it can help you understand your target audience a lot better: You can find which newsletters they subscribe to, what websites they visit, which Reddit threads they spend their time on, which influencers they trust, and a lot more. It has a free plan that you can test out and paid plans begin at $50/month. Let your analytics tools handle the number-crunchingAnalytics tools are great because they help you ditch the calculator and Excel sheets and do the job for you. Instead of chewing your pencil while crunching the numbers, you spend your valuable time analyzing the data: Which are my best types of posts? How can I replicate my previous success? What should I shift in my strategy to improve my return on investment? If you’re on a budget and need a simple, intuitive, and pocket-friendly analytics tool, you really can’t go wrong with Buffer. Yes, I am a little biased here, but having tested all these tools, I can confidently say that Buffer is by far the easiest to get up and running. Plus, you can try it for two weeks to see if it’s a good fit (or just opt for the free plan if you find the basic analytics are enough). Start for free today. View the full article

In today’s turbulent economic climate, there’s an intense pressure to perform. Organizations are exploring new business models and ways of working to accelerate growth and stay competitive. Boards and shareholders demand results, which pushes leadership teams to dial up their expectations. The term “accountability” has become a buzzword in discussions, but far too many misunderstand and misapply it. When leaders talk about creating a culture of accountability, they often rely on “shame and blame” tactics. This approach might seem effective in the short term, but it ultimately undermines the culture leaders seek to build. Instead of motivating individuals to do more, it drives people to hide from responsibility. Redefining accountability The challenge is redefining accountability. How do you set clear, high-performance expectations and hold people to them without sliding into the counterproductive cycle of shaming and blaming? To create a culture of accountability that truly enhances performance, leaders need to think about accountability differently. That means moving away from coercion and blame to mutual responsibility and ownership, which empowers individuals to own their roles and contribute to the team’s success. Consider the case of a manufacturing company I worked with. Facing stiff competition and the need to innovate quickly, the company’s executive team realized that the old ways of operating were no longer sufficient. Its traditional approach to accountability was stifling innovation and preventing the company from adapting to new market realities. The culture had to change from blame-focused to one where everyone—from the top down—felt invested in the company’s success and comfortable owning both their wins and their mistakes. Leadership needed to break down accountability into the distinct behaviors they wanted to see: identifying the issues, claiming the issues as your own, and changing the outcomes. This approach made the change real and enabled leaders to work collaboratively to implement the new culture. Here’s how: 1. Identify the issues: proactively ask for understanding The first step to building accountability in the company was for leaders to help their teams see issues before they escalate. They brought this to life through scaled leader sprints, which were focused, short-term initiatives designed to instill key habits across the organization. This practice encouraged leaders to seek feedback from their teams and peers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and transparency when team members felt safe to speak up. Leaders also practiced how to pause before reacting to bad news. The simple act of taking a moment to consider the best response helped them approach problems with a clear mind, avoiding knee-jerk reactions that might discourage team members from raising concerns. Lastly, this practice also taught leaders to invite perspectives by asking, “How do you see it?” rather than the more typical “What do you think?” This promoted open dialogue and the consideration of multiple viewpoints to understand the same problem. By cultivating these habits, the company’s leaders focused more on inquiry, shifting active problem-solving to a collaborative process with the team. 2. Claim the issues as your own: embrace the outcomes The second part of accountability for the company was about taking actions that delivered the most critical business outcomes. The company needed to train leaders to prioritize initiatives that had the highest impact on these goals, avoiding the trap of rewarding “busy work” that appeared productive but didn’t contribute to organizational objectives. Leaders practiced skills to evaluate their initiatives to concentrate on high-leverage actions—those that would generate the most significant results with the least amount of wasted effort. That means setting the example of refocusing themselves on impactful actions (while stopping those that were mere activity) and then deliberately taking time in team meetings to review and reassess priorities. As a result, the leaders were able to develop a new muscle in themselves and their teams. The clarity on prioritizing the right actions over simply working harder energized the organization to continue to make the change. 3. Change the outcomes: measure and adapt The company focused on evolving its key performance metrics to support these new priority outcomes. Leadership realized that if they tried to change behavior, yet continued to measure the same old actions, the change wouldn’t stick. The company also needed to shift these key performance metrics to reflect what’s more important or impactful as business priorities evolved, which required more flexibility and transparency from the leaders. In this phase, the leaders moved to create a new dashboard, identifying the core metrics they were trying to accomplish that would tell them if they were moving the needle in response to competitive threats. They agreed to review the data quarterly and share what they learned with the organization. When the metrics moved in the right direction, there was a public celebration of the progress. And perhaps more importantly, when they didn’t, the leaders engaged their teams in ideating how to adapt their actions—and what they were measuring—rather than placing blame. The new habits practiced in these three phases created visible early momentum, as the aura of “shame and blame” noticeably lifted. One team, for example, reduced the time that it took to get product updates to market. Their rapid prototyping test-review-fail program allowed them to experiment quickly, share learnings at weekly meetings, and fail without fear of reprisal. By shifting away from traditional views of accountability and embracing a more collaborative and trust-based approach, you can help your team achieve the high performance that current market conditions demand. View the full article

In HBO’s hit show Succession, patriarch Logan Roy pitted his children against each other for the top spot of leading his media conglomerate. Those who’ve seen the show will know how it ends, but what if he took a different route? What if he established a collaborative, multi-generational leadership team to guide Waystar RoyCo into the future? Granted, it would have made for far less dramatic tension (and probably fewer award wins) for the show. But for Roy’s shareholders, it would’ve been a smarter move in a rapidly changing media industry. Succession planning is a non-negotiable principle for any thriving organization, yet it’s also one of the hardest to get right. And in today’s volatile, fast-changing environment, proactive planning is even more critical. There are relentless technological disruptions, and diversity initiatives are under scrutiny. For the first time in history, five generations will work side-by-side in offices around the world. These dynamics present unique challenges for maintaining growth and stability. For CEOs, whose average age is 59, the following questions are critical: Are they equipped to engage Gen Z employees and the subsequent generation? Are they prepared to lead in an AI-driven world? Without support, the honest answer is often no. Last year, the Financial Times reported that a record number of CEOs stepped down due to investor pressures, technological disruptions, and underperforming markets. All of these factors are making the role harder than ever. After years of thought, I recently decided to appoint a new CEO for our U.K. and European business. It was a bold move as we skipped a few generations. But he was ready to take the reins after a lot of training, learning, and success. So far, it’s working. In a very short period, our business already feels more energized, agile, innovative, and resilient. Here’s how you can create the same momentum for your business. Build an open culture of multi-generational learning By the time Generation Alpha enters the workforce, five generations will be working together in a single workplace. Rather than seeing this as a challenge, treat it as an opportunity. Harnessing multi-generational perspectives fosters creativity, improves decision-making, and strengthens collaboration across teams. To align generational differences, encourage multi-generational open learning. For example, you could introduce mentoring schemes that encourage a two-way flow of ideas and perspectives between senior and junior staff, rather than solely top-down programs. Balancing continuity with the pursuit of innovation is the leadership challenge of our times. A multi-CEO model with age diversity might just be the way to navigate it. A diverse suite of leaders can help bridge the gaps between generations because it creates a synergy that benefits employees, clients, and organizational growth. Identify and support the right successors from each generation Finding qualified leaders has always been a challenge, and today’s hyper-disruptive business environment has only made it more difficult. From tech to media, industries undergoing transformation need leaders who can navigate complexity and disruption, even though it may be the first time they’ve done it. You might be wondering whether you should promote internally or hire from the outside. My view is clear, and it’s that home-grown works best. I’ve tried both, and in our type of business, growing a successor over time always seems to work better than bringing in someone from outside. Once you’ve identified a potential successor, help them rise with a development plan that gets them to the top job. They’ll have plenty of opportunities to succeed and fail along the way. By observing how they handle these moments, you build confidence in your choice. Just be aware that high-performing employees will have their choice of job offers, so you need to figure out how you can incentivize them to stay. Twice, I’ve developed successors only to have them leave for competitors. Losing these experts can be costly and immensely frustrating. A multi-generational C-suite acts as a safety net, retaining these individuals while equipping them with the tools and mentorship they need to continue excelling. Act now to prepare for the future The best time to think about your succession strategy is now. Tomorrow’s leaders need opportunities to observe, contribute, and think collectively about the decisions, products, and services that will define your organization in three to five years. Invite emerging leaders to share their opinions and take on increased responsibility. Encourage them to collaborate across generations. By empowering future leaders today, you foster innovation and resilience for the years ahead. Succession wasn’t just the heart of a TV drama; it’s a real-life leadership challenge. For business owners, Logan Roy’s missteps offer a cautionary tale. Procrastination and neglecting to nurture a diverse pool of future leaders are risks that no organization can afford. A multi-generational leadership pipeline isn’t just an asset; it’s a necessity in an environment defined by rapid transformation and complexity. Developing new leaders while leveraging the expertise of seasoned executives positions your business to weather disruptions and capitalize on opportunities. Don’t wait. Start building a forward-thinking succession strategy today and ensure that your organization is ready for tomorrow’s challenges. A dynamic, multi-generational C-suite can secure your place as a disruptor, not the disrupted. View the full article

Calculation deeply flawed economically and will fail in stated aim of ‘driving bilateral trade deficits to zero’, say analystsView the full article

European markets fall sharply and US futures point to lower open after declines in AsiaView the full article

Think your website is ranking on quality alone? Google’s E-E-A-T framework says otherwise. See why trust, authority, and expertise matter more than ever. The post How To Apply E-E-A-T To Your Site & Boost On-Page SEO appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Four years ago, if you found yourself at one particular intersection of Buenos Aires, you would see a nondescript, three-story parking garage with no cars inside. That building still exists—but it’s completely unrecognizable. Today, that structure looks like a stubby, UFO-like tower mushrooming from a concrete pedestal with a landscaped ramp curving upward. The metamorphosis is thanks to a multiyear project by New York architecture firm ODA. Ola Palermo, as the reimagined structure is known, has become a mixed-use building with cafés, restaurants, and Class A office space. The cherry on top of this (concrete) cake is an open-air promenade that peels off the sidewalk, winds up to what used to be the roof of the garage, blossoms into a rooftop park, then winds back down to the other side of the building. In a structure once defined by cars, the ramp is now be synonymous with people. To demolish or not to demolishODA (ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2025 by Fast Company) has a history of working on adaptive reuse projects, including Detroit’s Book Tower and 10 Jay Street in Brooklyn, but when founder Eran Chen first heard about the project from real estate firm BSD Investments, it was presented to him as an empty site. The building, which had been vacant for years, sits on a tricky plot sandwiched between two busy roads and an elevated train line. It is very close to the edge of Tres de Febrero Park (also known as Bosques de Palermo, or Palermo Woods), but before ODA got involved the two were not connected. Before arriving on-site, Chen had considered demolishing the parking garage, but when he saw the building, the idea just clicked. “The building immediately captured my imagination,” Chen says, noting the first thing that surprised him was the structure’s ceiling height. Most parking garages have low ceilings, which makes them challenging to convert—this one had a 14- to 15-foot ceiling. (For perspective: Most homes have 8- to 9-foot ceilings.) The ceiling had a waffle design, which looks like a grid of intersecting beams that create a pattern of recessed squares. This helped distribute the weight of the ceiling evenly, allowing it to span large areas without the need for additional columns for support, and creating a more open and flexible space for the building’s use. To top it all off, the roof afforded a clear 360-degree view. On one side, you could see through Palermo Woods, all the way to downtown Buenos Aires. On the other, there’s a private racetrack and polo fields that people can visit only if they have exclusive memberships. “On one side you have the haves, and on the other, you have everybody else, and this is smack dab in between the two,” says Chen. He saw the rooftop as an opportunity to turn the tables and allow the park’s visitors to “look down” on the exclusive grounds and catch a (free) glimpse of any events that take place there. Form follows experiencesODA kept 80% of the original structure to create a 160,000-square-foot building. A quarter of this surface—about 40,000 square feet—is dedicated to public terraces, green spaces, and the open-air promenade. The rest is taken up by restaurants, cafés, and retail spaces. Parking for 250 cars is also available on the ground floor. But the program, or function, of the building wasn’t always clear. The area isn’t zoned for residential use, and commercial use wasn’t “the obvious choice,” says Chen, as most companies who could afford rent for a modern office building would opt for a space in downtown Buenos Aires. Retail, which thrives on heavy footfall, wasn’t obvious either since the site is so isolated and on the edge of the city. But for many years now, Chen has been honing a new mantra. “Form should not follow function anymore. Form should follow experiences,” he says. “If we design buildings for the human experience, people will visit these buildings—and enjoy them—regardless of the program.” In other words, build it and they will come? I ask. “Build it well and they will come,” he says. An important distinction. To turn the building into an irresistible destination, ODA made four incisions. They carved out one courtyard to let light into the widest part of the building, and shaved off slivers of the facade to make room for two sets of stairs and the ramp. These incisions amount to 20% of the floor area, but the architects didn’t lose that space; they redistributed it. At one end of the building, there once was a water tower that rose above the area’s height restrictions. The tower was obsolete, so Chen convinced the city to remove it. In its place, Chen’s team built a four-story tower “based on the memory of the water tower.” This “concrete mushroom” as he calls it, now rises above the rest of the structure, holding its most premium office spaces. A blueprint for the U.S.The resulting building is what Chen calls a “win-win-win.” It benefits city agencies because it makes a meaningful contribution to the public realm. It benefits the local community, which now has access to a public rooftop park. And it benefits the developer, who saved on construction costs (no new foundations were required) by not demolishing the building. It also benefits the environment, since giving buildings a second chance, as Chen puts it, can help lower the environmental footprint associated with building anew. (Though there could be costs associated with bringing an old building up to code.) “Cities are filled with structures that are either dated or unnecessary, and of course, a big chunk of it is parking garages,” Chen says. Already, architects are starting to build “future-proof” parking garages like this multistory car park in Calgary, Alberta, that was specifically designed to transform into a 600-person office or 50-unit residential building if (and when) the need arises. But Chen believes that residential and commercial are not the only options, especially if the building’s ceilings are low, as they often are. He includes indoor/outdoor sports venues, like pickleball courts; urban farms; and even open-air markets among the possibilities. “The key,” he says, “is not to be fixated on the obvious programs that people might think of.” View the full article