The time has come…

… to catch up on organic search and digital marketing news!

• Are your SEO and/or PPC reports showing increases in Impressions but drops in Click-Through-Rate (CTR)? Welcome to the world of Google Double Serving. Back in April, Google Ads shifted its policy of serving only one ad per company to showing multiple ads from the same company as long as it was in a different location on the SERP. As we recently covered, Google is now doing the same kind of double counting of impressions when it comes to visibility in AI Overviews and the natural Organic SERP results. It’s even worse because follow up queries in AI Overviews are being counted as new searches and, therefore, new impressions. This “decoupling” of the two metrics (Impressions and CTR) that typically were viewed equally as evidence of SEO and PPC success is forcing a rethinking of what metrics should be prioritized to demonstrate success.

• Guess what we found? (You: What? 😲) More sources backing up our approach to Search AI Optimization. It’s okay, you can hold the applause. But now, we see that Moz has a new way to discover topics for your SAIO content. If you have the tool, it’s definitely worth a try!

• To further understand how the content ranking factor “Relevance” can be implemented on your website, check out this other post from Moz on relevance engineering!

• Cloudflare just launched a new permission-based setting that allows website owners using its platform to automatically block AI bots from collecting their digital content. Combined with its initiative to potentially have AI services “Pay Per Crawl,” publishers can now protect and/or further monetize their content. It’s too soon to gauge how this might impact brands and their AI Search visibility, but you can be sure we’ll be covering developments as they bubble to the surface.

• AI thinking like a human seemed like sci-fi magic just a decade ago. Now, it’s closer than you may have thought. The Centaur AI model can predict a wide range of human behavior better than some classical psychological theories on human decision-making. If used in marketing, this could lead to powerful results, but at the sacrifice of privacy and so much more. This is just a reminder about the morality of biz tech. Consumers will respect honesty over manipulation tactics.

• Remember when there were 5 search term match types in Google Ads? It narrowed down to 3 (phrase match, broad match, and exact match), but we see a new option popping up… AI Max. It all aligns with Google’s push to AI-ify all its products. 

• TikTok is making an American-only version of its app. We don’t know how it will differ from the original, but Americans will be required to switch by March 2026. President Trump announced that he has a buyer lined up just days before, so we will see how it all ends up.

Employment assistance is the number one requested resource for those transitioning out of military service. Hire Heroes USA helps veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses find new careers. In addition to searching for veterans to help, they also are looking for companies that would like to hire them. Learn more: Hire Heroes USA.

Thoughts to Take With You… 💞

Stress.

We often point fingers at it… call it the bane of existence. What if I told you that rapid breathing, racing heart rate, and inability to focus are not signs we aren’t coping well under pressure but are our body’s way to prepare for a challenge?

How you think about stress changes how your body reacts to it. If stress is viewed as healthy, your response to stressful situations changes positively. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal’s TED talk is enlightening in explaining why (and how) you can befriend stress.

Live long and prosper. 🖖

Natalie

Wanna go outside, but don’t know where to start? Here’s two app recs for you!

• AllTrails – You definitely know this one if you’re a hiker! It shows maps, tells you when you’re off course, and lets you know difficulty metrics like elevation and mileage. The paid version lets you download the maps for trails that take you out of service range. (Also super helpful if you have pups, as some routes have ladders and scrambles that are not accessible to our four-legged friends.)

• Go Paddling – As a community-run application, people mark off launch points for stand-up paddlers, kayakers, and canoers. You can find launch point directions, as well as if points have free parking, restrooms, and more in the comments for popular places.