TikTok is giving entertainment marketers in Europe new tools to reach audiences with precision, leveraging AI to drive engagement and conversions for streaming and ticketed content. What’s happening . TikTok is introducing two new ad types for European campaigns: Streaming Ads: AI-driven ads for streaming platforms that show personalized content based on user engagement. Formats include a four-ti

Meta Platforms is embedding newly acquired AI agent tech directly into Ads Manager, giving advertisers built-in automation tools for research and reporting as the company looks to show faster returns on its AI investments. What’s happening . Some advertisers are seeing in-stream prompts to activate Manus AI inside Ads Manager. Manus is now available to all advertisers via the Tools menu. Select u

A core targeting lever in Google Demand Gen campaigns is changing. Starting March 2026, Lookalike audiences will act as optimization signals — not hard constraints — potentially widening reach and leaning more heavily on automation to drive conversions. What is happening. Per an update to Google’s Help documentation, Lookalike segments in Demand Gen are moving from strict similarity-based targeti

Jeff Dean says Google’s AI Search still works like classic Search: narrow the web to relevant pages, rank them, then let a model generate the answer. In an interview on Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast, Google’s chief AI scientist explained how Google’s AI systems work and how much they rely on traditional search infrastructure. The architecture: filter first, reason last . Visibility still

If you look at job postings on Indeed and LinkedIn, you’ll see a wave of acronyms added to the alphabet soup as companies try to hire people to boost visibility on large language models (LLMs). Some people are calling it generative engine optimization ( GEO ). Others call it answer engine optimization (AEO). Still others call it artificial intelligence optimization (AIO). I prefer large model ans

An analysis of approximately 16,000 U.S. queries shows text ads increasing their click share by 7-13 points year over year. The post Google Text Ad Click Share Rises Sharply In Some Verticals appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

An analysis of 1.2 million ChatGPT citations reveals why AI favors front-loaded, entity-rich, definitive writing over traditional “ultimate guide” formats. The post The Science Of How AI Pays Attention appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Over two months ago, Google began testing its AI-powered configuration tool . It allows you to ask AI questions about the Google Search Console performance reports and it would bring back answers for you. Well, Google is now rolling out this tool for all. Google said on LinkedIn, “The Search Console’s new AI-powered configuration is now available to everyone!” AI-powered configuration. AI-powered

Courts ruled against Google, regulators push forward, and appeals loom. Here’s where every proceeding stands and what it signals for search and monetization. The post Google Lost Two Antitrust Cases, But Stock Rose 65% – Here’s Why appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Rand Fishkin just published the most important piece of primary research the AI visibility industry has seen so far. His conclusion – that AI tools produce wildly inconsistent brand recommendation lists, making “ranking position” a meaningless metric – is correct, well-evidenced, and long overdue. But Fishkin stopped one step short of the answer that matters. He didn’t explore why some brands app

There is a new Google Ads help document named About the Results tab in Google Ads Recommendations. It explains that in the Results tab, you can now view the performance impact after you apply them.

Google AI Mode has this feature where you can ask about a specific product, it is called “Ask about.” Now when you hover over a product, the “Ask about” will overlay so you can more easily trigger the feature.

Google seems to be testing links in AI Overviews, that link to more AI Overview responses. These recipe AI Overviews linked to entities that then load a hybrid knowledge panel with an AI Overviews.

Did you know that the Google AI Overviews link citation paperclip icons are blue before you click to see more of the overviews and then after you click on them, that icon turns to a gray color.

Google Ads is rolling out a beta feature that lets advertisers connect external data sources directly inside conversion action settings, tightening the link between first-party data and campaign measurement. How it works . A new section in conversion action details — labeled “Get deeper insights about your customers’ behavior to improve measurement” — prompts advertisers to connect external datab

In a perfect world, you could call up a top customer to pick their brain about a piece of content. But in reality, it can be extremely difficult and time-consuming to conduct audience interviews every time you need to create a new topic or refresh an old piece. A few years ago, content marketing was simpler – keyword intent and quality content was enough to rank at the top of Google’s SERP to get

In a past work life, I stole search rank positions #1 and zero and even featured snippets from much larger companies, including HubSpot. That’s why I firmly believe bootstrapped small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMB) can compete with big-budget corporations. Strategies like SEO, social media, and generative engine optimization for small business make it possible. I know what you’re thinking, “GEO

Automattic’s James LePage describes emerging WooCommerce capabilities that will enable Sidekick-type AI extensions The post WooCommerce May Gain Sidekick-Type AI Through Extensions appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Are you avoiding video marketing because you think you need professional equipment and video production skills? Do you struggle to keep up with the constant demand for fresh video content? In this article, you’ll discover how to create professional videos using AI tools that require no video background. You’ll learn how to create avatar-based videos, […]

Industrialism brought us the idea of optimization. Incremental improvements combined with measurement to gradually improve results. We can optimize for precision. A car made in 2026 is orders of magnitude more reliable because the parts fit together so well. We can optimize for customer satisfaction. By reviewing every element of a user’s experience, we can remove the annoyances and increase deli

CleanTalk WordPress plugin, installed in 200,000+ websites, exposes sites to a critical vulnerability rated 9.8/10 The post CleanTalk WordPress Plugin Vulnerability Threatens Up To 200K Sites appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Some advertisers are reporting that a Google Ads system tool designed for low-activity bulk changes is automatically enabling paused keywords — a behavior many account managers say they haven’t seen before. What advertisers are seeing. Activity logs show entries tied to Google’s “Low activity system bulk changes” tool that include actions enabling previously paused keywords. The log entries appea

Welcome to DEV, your fortnightly snapshot of what’s evolving across WordPress. We’ll meet you somewhere between “finished” and “shipping,” with the latest developments, ongoing experiments, and community updates to help you stay in step with a project that never stands still. Stick around to the end to see the mighty Nimbus and his squirrel. In today’s edition: The “Year of the Meetup” begins, an

I never thought I‘d see the day when “Googling” something and sifting through links would become passé. But, like many marketers over the last year, I’m seeing a massive shift in how people find brands, products, and answers online. More and more consumers are getting their answers directly from AI platforms like ChatGPT, and marketers are leveraging generative engine optimization (GEO) tactics t

Gen Z’s discovery habits are rewriting Google Ads playbooks, forcing advertisers to rethink creative, targeting, and attribution across AI-driven surfaces. The post appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

There is some new data out that shows that yes, Google’s AI Overviews are causing a huge decline in clicks to websites organically but it is also showing that for e-commerce queries, there is a massive increase in clicks on search ads and product/shopping ads.

Google’s John Mueller warned one site owner not to load “not available” in the JavaScript before the actual content that loads is available. It can lead Google to believe the page does not exist, preventing indexing and ranking in Google Search.

Google Ads has this new feature that lets advertisers calculate your conversion value for new customers. It says, “Select a lower target ROAS to adjust the incremental conversion value used to bid for new customers.”

We covered the topic of markdown files before but now we have more commentary from official representatives from Google and Bing on the topic. In short, they call markdown files messy, it can cause issues with finding errors, cause more crawl load and either way, the search engines use what people/humans can see over what bots can see.

Google AdSense has ended its Parked Domains (AFD) as an ad surface within the Search Partner Network effective February 10, 2026. Google wrote, “Parked Domains (AFD) will cease to be an ad surface within the Search Partner Network effective February 10, 2026.”

Hiring an SEO agency can be a game-changer for brands looking to outshine the competition in search results. That said, an SEO agency is only as good as its partnership with its clients. That’s when SEO’s true value can be realized. What this looks like practically is working together towards shared goals and keeping momentum high. Sometimes that’s easier said than done. Here’s what you can do to

Keep international PPC campaigns aligned with practical frameworks for consistency, localization, and multi-agency coordination. The post International PPC: Why Consistency Is So Hard To Maintain appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Antitrust filing argues Google cannibalizes audience visits to sites it uses to power AI results. The post Antitrust Filing Says Google Cannibalizes Publisher Traffic appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

When I first needed an online booking system for my WordPress site, I went straight to Calendly like everyone else. It worked fine for a while, but I quickly noticed a frustrating pattern: I was paying a monthly subscription for a tool that lived completely outside my website. I had zero control over my data, and the design never quite matched my brand. Plus, I felt like I was being punished for

A watched pot will boil. As it heats up, there’s no way to predict where the cavitation will start and which bubble will arrive first. But with enough time and enough heat, it’s going to boil. That tree down the street is going to lose its leaves this winter. We don’t know which leaf will go last, but we can be pretty sure they’ll go sooner or later. Complex systems can be predictable even when

On February 10th, we reported the beginning of yet another unconfirmed Google Search ranking update. The volatility has not cooled yet and it seems it may have even heated up through the weekend.

“There, it’s done.” This is the production mindset and the rule of school. Pencils down. Hand it in. The alternative is, “Sign me up for a commitment to better.” Ship an update every day. Learn from what works, relentlessly improve what doesn’t. The hard part about this path is persisting. Never done projects pile up pretty quickly. That’s precisely why they’re a competitive advantage.

Okay, so check this out—imagine switching networks and suddenly your swap costs three times more. Whoa! That feeling when you hit “confirm” and the gas estimate balloons is familiar to everyone in DeFi. My instinct said there had to be a better way. Initially I thought the answer was “better estimators,” but actually, wait—let me rephrase that: it’s a stack of UX, on?chain simulation,

If you’ve ever heard a toddler tell a story, then you know they have a tendency to let the narrative meander. Kids often have an excess of imagination and a deficit of mental organization, leading to silly, wildly entertaining tales. One parent has taken it upon himself to turn his 3-year-old’s silly, adorable stories into cute, catchy tunes — songs he’s posted online to the benefit of us all. St

Over the past decade, the landscape of online gambling has undergone a seismic transformation. Advancements in technology, particularly in the realm of digital entertainment, have elevated slot games from simple RNG-based entertainments to immersive, narrative-driven experiences. As this industry continues to evolve rapidly, it becomes increasingly important to examine not only the innovations th

A site owner blamed Google AI Search for falsely reporting their site offline. The answer was a content delivery pitfall. The post Google AI Shows A Site Is Offline Due To JS Content Delivery appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

On episode 341 of PPC Live The Podcast, I speak to Andrea Cruz , Head of B2B at Tinuiti , to unpack a mistake many senior marketers quietly struggle with: freezing when clients demand answers you don’t immediately have. The conversation explored how communication missteps can escalate client tension — and how the right mindset, preparation, and culture can turn those moments into career-defining

Cloudflare yesterday announced its new Markdown for Agents feature, which serves machine-friendly versions of web content alongside traditional human-facing pages. Cloudflare described the update as a response to the rise of AI crawlers and agentic browsing. When a client requests text/markdown , Cloudflare fetches the HTML from the origin server, converts it at the edge, and returns a Markdown v

Google Ads is rolling out a feature that lets advertisers calculate conversion value for new customers based on a target return on ad spend (ROAS), automatically generating a suggested value instead of relying on manual estimates. The update is designed for campaigns using new customer acquisition goals, where advertisers want to bid more aggressively to attract first-time buyers. How it works. A

An attribution window is the defined time period when a marketing touchpoint — such as an ad click, email open, or page view — can be credited for a conversion. Window length directly affects how conversions are counted, how channels perform, and how budget decisions are made. Platforms use different defaults, and these differences often create mismatches in data across tools. Marketers use HubSp

SEO is moving out of the marketing silo into organizational design. Visibility now depends on how information is structured, validated, and aligned across the business. When information is fragmented or contradictory, visibility becomes unstable. The risk isn’t just ranking volatility – it’s losing control of how your brand is interpreted and cited. For SEO leaders, the choice is unavoidable: rem

Google’s Search Relations team discussed whether you still need a website in 2026, and outlined when social, apps, or the web make sense. The post Google’s Search Relations Team Debates If You Still Need A Website appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

For a long time, PPC performance conversations inside agencies have centered on bidding – manual versus automated, Target CPA versus Maximize Conversions, incrementality debates, budget pacing and efficiency thresholds. But in 2026, that focus is increasingly misplaced. Across Google Ads, Meta Ads, and other major platforms, bidding has largely been solved by automation. What’s now holding perfor

Last November and December, Google announced a slew of new features for Google Search Console. But it seems like most of us still do not have access to those features.

Google Ads added to the Products section of your ads account the ability to see product eligibility directly in the Status column. This lets you see very quickly where each product is eligible across different campaigns in your Google Ads account.

Google’s John Mueller said he still recommends you have visible anchor text for your links in order to “provide more context for search engines.” Don’t just use title elements in the link attribute; make sure the link has actual visible anchor text.

Google Ads now has a new recommended experiments box in the Experiments page. This should offer you customized and personalized recommendations that Google Ads thinks you should try based on your account setup and performance data.

Microsoft is testing underlining the product name and product price in the shopping ads carousel at the top of the Bing Search results. I am not sure how much this adds to the interface but maybe it drives a bit more attention and thus clicks?

Cloudflare launched Markdown for Agents, converting HTML pages to markdown automatically when AI crawlers request it through content negotiation. The post Cloudflare’s New Markdown for AI Bots: What You Need To Know appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

We’re in a new era where web content visibility is fragmenting across a wide range of search and social platforms. While still a dominant force, Google is no longer the default search experience. Video-based social media platforms like TikTok and community-based sites like Reddit are becoming popular search engines with dedicated audiences. This trend is impacting how news content is consumed. Go

The latest PPC Pulse highlights Google’s AI Mode ad experiments, Microsoft’s AI discovery framework, and the continued evolution of search campaign structure. The post Shopping Ads Testing In AI Mode, Microsoft’s AI Search Guide & Keyword Strategy Shift – PPC Pulse appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

The best discounts are the ones you don’t have to manage yourself. A lot of WooCommerce store owners want bulk pricing, VIP deals, and smart promotions, but they get stuck because they assume this needs custom code or manual edits. Instead, I recommend setting dynamic pricing rules that apply automatically at checkout, so customers see the right deal at the right time. In this guide, I’ll walk yo

Hire better digital marketers with these interview questions that expose real strategic and performance thinking. The post 15 Smarter Interview Questions For Hiring Digital Marketers In 2026 appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

The first generation was built on large models, demonstrating what could be done and powering many tools. The second generation is focused on reducing costs and saving time. Replacing workers or making them more efficient. But you can’t shrink your way to greatness. The third generation will be built on a simple premise, one that the internet has proven again and again: Create value by connecting

As the SaaS market reels from a sell-off sparked by autonomous AI agents like Claude Cowork, new data shows a 53% drop in AI-driven discovery sessions. Wall Street dubbed it the “SaaSpocalypse.” Whether AI agents will replace SaaS products is a bigger question than this dataset can answer. But the panic is already distorting interpretation, and this data cuts through the noise to show what SEO te

Marketing tech stacks often expand fast, leading to sprawl. The result is low tool usage. Gartner estimates that only 49% of marketing technology tools are actively used by teams. A marketing operations tech stack audit brings structure back to teams with bloated software. During the audit , teams identify opportunities to cut redundant software, resolve data issues, and improve ROI. Ironically,

Google clarifies campaign consolidation guidance, saying performance and business logic matter more than legacy granularity in AI-driven Google Ads accounts. The post Google Clarifies Its Stance On Campaign Consolidation appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. Google Ads launched new AI Mode retailer ads…

In Google AI Overviews and LLM-driven retrieval, credibility isn’t enough. Content must be structured, reinforced, and clear enough for machines to evaluate and reuse confidently. Many SEO strategies still optimize for recognition. But AI systems prioritize utility. If your authority can’t be located, verified, and extracted within a semantic system, it won’t shape retrieval. This article explain

Visibility in AI answers is gated long before ranking, and this article explains how Spam, Safety, Intent, and Trust decide who gets through. The post The Classifier Layer: Spam, Safety, Intent, Trust Stand Between You And The Answer appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

AI search visibility in beauty is increasingly shaped before a prompt is ever entered. Brands that appear in generative answers are often those already discussed, validated, and reinforced across social platforms. By the time a user turns to AI search, much of the groundwork has been laid. Using the beauty category as a lens, this article examines how social discovery influences brand visibility

Rethink SEO’s role as AI shifts discovery into the answer and reshapes how demand, trust, and preference are formed. The post From Performance SEO To Demand SEO appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Asad Awan, who is in charge of monetization at OpenAI was interviewed by his own company on “The Thinking Behind Ads in ChatGPT.” It is a 25 minute interview and one part he discusses how he would like to see advertisers simply prompt to create ads and ad campaigns and not have to hire an agency or “performance marketers” to run ads on ChatGPT.

Google is rolling out UCP, Universal Commerce Protocol, powered checkout in AI Mode. This launched as part of the Google Ads news from yesterday, and you can now see it in AI Mode for products from Etsy and Wayfair.

Google AdSense has added additional triggers for vignette ads. There are now a total of six triggers, three old ones and three new ones. These new triggers took effect on February 9, 2026.

Google announced a new ad unit for AI Mode for shopping ads which promotes retailers. Google also launched Veo 3 support in Google Ads Asset Studio. Plus Vidhya Srinivasan, VP/GM of Ads & Commerce at Google, published her annual letter to the industry on the Google blog.

Local search remains one of the strongest drivers of consistent lead flow for service businesses. Outdated SEO tactics are losing impact as Google’s algorithm updates reshape local visibility. Success now depends on disciplined tracking and consistent execution. This 90-day sprint plan shows how to do both. Why local visibility is more volatile in 2026 Many service businesses aren’t current on ho

The Google Chrome team announced its early preview of WebMCP, “a standard way for exposing structured tools, ensuring AI agents can perform actions on your side with increased speed, reliability, and precision,” André Cipriani Bandarra from Google wrote.

Ever dreamed of seeing the mobile app of your membership site or course in the App Store and Google Play? Imagine your members pulling out their phone and tapping your app on their home screen. That means they can instantly dive into your courses, community discussions, and exclusive content without worrying about multiple browser tabs or forgotten passwords. Sadly, building a native mobile app h

Are you struggling to maintain consistent engagement with your audience on social media? Frustrated by declining reach and algorithms that keep changing the rules? In this article, you’ll discover how to build thriving communities through email sequences that create engagement social platforms can’t deliver. Understanding Email as a Community-Building Tool Facebook groups get deleted, algorithm [

There is plenty of unintentional harm in our world. We’ve all been bruised or derailed by someone who had no ill intent. We often respond with intentional harm, to make a point and to teach a lesson. The alternative is clarity. Shared understanding instead of intentional pain. Tap is going to keep coming. It’s the tip that’s up to us.

As any hardcore fan — stan — of a famous musician or actor knows, they also have haters. “Antis,” if you will. As it turns out, Valentine’s Day is no different. Love Day is almost here, and your algorithm might be spitting up videos about the best restaurants to go to, recipes to try, or gifts to shower your loved one with. Or, it might be showing you the opposite: posts railing against Valentine

WordPress co-founder and Automattic are alleged to have planned to target at least ten competitors beyond WP Engine. The post WP Engine Complaint Adds Unredacted Allegations About Mullenweg Plan appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

The Wild West of web scraping is changing, due in large part to OpenAI’s deal with Disney . The deal allows OpenAI to train on high-fidelity, human-verified cinematic content – intended to combat AI slop fatigue. https://beimpolite.com/media/Retterspitz/6_VIDEO_800X448.mp4 This is how most of us feel when dealing with AI slop. Video production by Impolite. This deal opens up new opportunities to

Google today announced an early preview of WebMCP, a new protocol that defines how AI agents interact with websites. “WebMCP aims to provide a standard way for exposing structured tools, ensuring AI agents can perform actions on your side with increased speed, reliability, and precision,” wrote André Cipriani Bandarra from Google. WebMCP lets developers tell large language models exactly what eac

Google is redesigning shopping and advertising around AI-powered, agent-driven experiences, and said speed and certainty will converge for consumers and brands in 2026. In her third annual letter, Vidhya Srinivasan, Google’s VP and GM of Ads and Commerce, outlined how Search, YouTube, and its shopping infrastructure are being rebuilt for the agentic era — where AI doesn’t just surface information

As consumers lean into AI search, the industry has focused on the technical “how” – tracking everything from Agentic Commerce Protocols (ACP) to ChatGPT’s latest shopping research tools . In doing so, it often misses the larger shift: conversational search, which is changing how visibility is earned. There’s a common argument that big brands will always win in AI. I disagree. When you move beyond

On the OpenAI podcast, OpenAI executive Assad Awan talked about how ads will roll out in ChatGPT , who will see them, and how the company plans to protect user trust. Who will see ads . Ads will appear for Free and Go tier users. Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscribers won’t see ads Enterprise workspaces will remain fully ad-free The guardrails: Awan emphasized that OpenAI is structuring ads around

Google Ads is rolling out recommended experiments on the Experiments page, surfacing test ideas based on an account’s setup and performance data. How it works: The platform suggests experiment opportunities — such as testing bidding strategies, creative variations, or new campaign features — and presents them directly inside the Experiments dashboard. Each recommendation includes a preconfigured

Google Ads rolled out a new feature that shows advertisers which campaigns their products are eligible for, directly in the Products section. How it works. A new dashboard in the Products section includes: A table showing product details, status, issues, and priority flags A line graph summarizing campaign status trends Filters to segment eligibility views A pop-up panel that lists “Eligible” and

AI search influence didn’t show up in our SEO reports or AI prompt tracking tools . It showed up in sales calls. “Found you via Grok, actually,” a new lead said. That comment stopped us cold. We hadn’t tried to rank in Grok. We weren’t tracking it. Yet it was influencing how buyers discovered and evaluated us. That disconnect kept appearing in client conversations, too. Everyone was curious about

When left to its own devices, there are a couple of things Performance Max is absolutely great at doing for lead gen campaigns: Driving volume. Finding the lowest-quality leads it possibly can. It’s not inherently surprising that Google is doing what’s best for Google – that is, lining its own pockets – by heavily optimizing toward the cheapest, path-of-least-resistance conversion events. From ex

Get more value from your Google Ads spend by tightening fundamentals that directly lift conversion performance. The post 15 Fixes To Improve Low Conversion Rates In Google Ads appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

The internet is mourning Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek, who died on Wednesday, Feb. 11. He was 48 years old. “Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” the actor’s wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, wrote on Instagram. “There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity, and the sacredness of time.

Enhance your understanding of local rankings with reputation signals. Join experts for a deep dive into local SEO strategies. The post What The Data Shows About Local Rankings In 2026 [Webinar] appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Age verification is spreading on the internet. Following Roblox’s implementation of the age verification process, Discord is the next platform in line to do it. So, what is Discord’s age verification process and what happens if users don’t go through with it? We’ll break it down. How to verify your age on Discord Discord, the online chat platform that’s extremely popular with gamers, has announce

Google’s VP of Ads & Commerce published her annual letter previewing agentic commerce updates, AI Mode ad expansion, and creator-brand matching tools for 2026. The post Google’s Ads Chief Details UCP Expansion, New AI Mode Ads appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Google’s John Mueller explains how a leftover HTTP homepage invisible to Chrome users can cause site-name and favicon problems in search results. The post Hidden HTTP Page Can Cause Site Name Problems In Google appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Effective article-to-video workflows prioritize what to cut, what to keep, and how to structure 150 words that actually hold attention. The post From Article to Short-Form Video That Holds Attention appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

A couple of weeks ago I reported Bing was beta testing a new AI performance report within Bing Webmaster Tools. These reports are now available as a public preview for all to see. Plus, Bing Webmaster Tools has a whole new slick design.

Google announced a number of updates to help people find and remove personal information and sensitive imagery about themselves from Google. But you would need to give Google this information first, so Google can find it and then remove it.

Earlier this month, we reported that Google updated two of its help documents around Google’s crawler file size limits. Well, Google made a clarification to one of those documents the other day after some confusion within the SEO industry.

There has been a lot of hype around Moltbook , the Reddit-like social media platform for AI bots where humans aren’t allowed to post. But how, exactly, does it work? Should we worry about agentic AI taking over the world, or should we worry about our data ? In this video, Mashable producer Teodosia Dobriyanova spoke to AI ethicist Catharina Doria who talked us through the latest AI hype, the impo

Google added a new button to the top stories section of Google Search named “Sign in to customize.” This leads users who are not logged into Google to sign in, so those users can configfure there preferred sources in Google Search.

Google will stop showing the business short names on Google Business Profiles in Search and Google Maps. The short name will still work, if you have one, but going forward, the link in your Google Business Profile will no longer be displayed to you or searchers.

This paid media holdout study explains why organic gains mask deeper declines in traffic, orders, and brand-driven demand. The post The Halo Effect: Your Paid Media Went Offline, Can You Survive Without It? appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

What an admirable goal. Perhaps the overriding goal of all goals. How often do we measure this? Do we even know how? Do the systems we’re in push us from considering this? I wonder why.

An AI engine optimization audit evaluates brand visibility, accuracy, and citations in AI-powered search engines. It highlights how a brand appears across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Bing Copilot, and identifies gaps in the facts, descriptions, and links these systems rely on. In contrast, a traditional SEO audit focuses on website rankings and technical health in classic search engines. AI

While most direct-to-consumer brands are maximizing their social media presence with polished content and paid ads, many business-to-business companies (B2Bs) are still stuck in broadcast mode. They treat social like a checkbox or, worse, avoid it altogether. That’s a miss. Your buyers are on these platforms every day, scrolling LinkedIn between meetings, watching YouTube explainers, and even pic

Yes, yes we all know customer behavior is changing and Reddit conversations showing up in AI search is a big part of that shift. What are you doing about it? If your Reddit marketing strategy hasn’t evolved since 2024 (or you don’t have one to start with), you’re not just behind. You might be actively harming your brand. We’re past the point of debating whether brands should be on Reddit. That pa

New research shows synthetic personas can improve AI prompt tracking accuracy while cutting cost and research time dramatically. The post Synthetic Personas For Better Prompt Tracking appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

I am seeing some early signs of yet another unconfirmed Google Search ranking update with more volatility touching down today, February 10th. The chatter within the SEO community is starting to spike, and some of the third-party tracking tools are showing volatility.

Google’s Results about you tool now monitors Search results for government-issued IDs like passports, driver’s licenses, and Social Security numbers. The post Google Can Now Monitor Search For Your Government IDs appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

This Ask an SEO explains how search, social platforms, and on-site content demand different optimization approaches without fragmenting strategy. The post Should I Optimize My Content Differently For Each Platform? – Ask An SEO appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

A month ago, we reported on a new help document on Google Ads for Performance Max optimization experiments: A/B testing assets beta. Well, now some are seeing this in the wild, where you can set up these A/B tests in a controlled environment.

There are some reports coming out that Grokipedia, the AI-based Wikipedia, is now showing a decline in search visibility in both Google and even ChatGPT. This comes after both an indexing and ranking surge in Google Search.

OpenAI has officially launched ads in ChatGPT yesterday. The company announced, “Today, we’re beginning to test ads in ChatGPT in the U.S. The test will be for logged-in adult users on the Free and Go subscription tiers. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education tiers will not have ads.”

Google appears to be testing showing the citation favicon site icons at the bottom of the answer in AI Mode. This is in addition to where it normally shows those icons, at the top right of the card stack, on the side of the answer response.

Microsoft Bing is testing a dynamically loading results count under the search box. So when you enter your search phrase, the results count will dynamically count up from 0 to the number of results found.

Are you copying and pasting prompts from the internet only to get mediocre results? Do you feel like AI tools are powerful but you’re not getting the consistent outputs you need? In this article, you’ll discover a strategic framework for getting reliable results from AI models. You’ll learn why most prompting advice fails, how to […] The post appeared first on Social Media Examiner .

The challenge of the library is the card catalog. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s hard to find much of anything. The challenge of the web is the search box, for the same reason. It’s efficient once you’re on a mission, but it requires you to go first. And the chat interface of Claude and ChatGPT is more of the same. Faced with infinite choice, what we really need is a guide. By re

Welcome to DEV, your fortnightly look at the past, present and future of WordPress. We’ll meet you at Twin Pines Mall at 1:15am to give you the latest developments, smart projects and community updates, to help you speed into your next project with confidence, no flux capacitor required. Stick around to the end to see a grandpa who insists he doesn’t want a kitty hat. In today’s edition: In Patch

New data shows that most web pages fall well below Googlebot’s two-megabyte crawl limit. The post New Data Shows Googlebot’s 2 MB Crawl Limit Is Enough appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Bing Webmaster Tools now shows publishers how often their content is cited in Copilot and AI-generated answers, with page-level data and grounding queries. The post Bing Webmaster Tools Adds AI Citation Performance Data appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

A couple of decades ago, “voice search optimization” sounded like something out of a science fiction movie. Today, if we need to find the nearest taco stand, check stock numbers — or know how to say “dinosaur” in Spanish right this second like my sweet three-year-old