Hello fellow digital marketers,

Got a killer article you want to share? Connect with me on LinkedIn! 🙂

• The latest Gemini 3.8 Flash model was buggin’ by not linking or citing sources in AI Mode. It’s hard enough to win citation visibility through relevant, helpful content but to not have it be rewarded due to a bug? That’s #SummertimeSadness fo sure.

• The state of AI in 2026: On the road to ROI. McKinsey’s AI survey impact report covers how larger companies are implementing AI and what has changed since last year. 80% of respondents report AI has improved their individual productivity and 50% report AI helps them make better decisions. This productivity has its downside as 39% of respondents expect AI-related declines in employment. One silver lining: the expected declines for last year were less than the actual declines. 

• Your SEO and PPC keyword data should not live in silos. Here are our thoughts on the strategy of not bidding on high-ranking organic keywords: Yes, you can save money. But Google research showed that when both a paid and an organic listing appear high in the results, 50% of the clicks on the paid ad are entirely incremental (i.e., clicks you would not have gotten). When you have both a paid and organic listing, there’s a double-exposure effect that reinforces the authority of your brand. The decision to implement this strategy depends on budget constraints and visibility goals.

• With so many versions of truth out there (e.g., an outdated PDF from 2014, an old executive bio page), it’s no surprise when AI cycles in misinformation. Publishing correct content now won’t fix it without addressing the older content too— it’s a matter of bridging old, incorrect content with new, updated content. Awesome summary video and article.

• Not surprising news: Google Search Console reporting is not entirely accurate for AI Overviews. You have to look at the data directionally and understand how it is filtered:
  • You get an Impression when your website appears on a page that got served (whether it was scrolled or not.)
  • You won’t get an Impression if your link appeared in a click-to-reveal section that wasn’t clicked.
  • When you appear in AI Overviews, the average position metric is based on the position of the AI Overview on the overall results page, not where your link was in the list of AI Overview links.
  • The real question we still have is…

• Breaking news for PPC: Microsoft Ads is removing Max CPC from new campaigns starting Oct 1. Microsoft wants advertisers to link performance more toward campaign outcomes and rely more on automated bidding systems. (What else is new?)

• Is mainstream culture still a thing? YouTube says yes. Even though culture is more fragmented, we still want to share experiences with each other. The big pull: fan engagement is crucial to cultural shifts, particularly with creators.

Sometimes charity seems overwhelming. Saving the world is a big task. Lasagna Love helps bring the world-changing to your kitchen. Lasagna Love volunteers sign up to cook a meal and deliver it to a family in need. That’s it. Just old-fashioned love spread through a warm, hearty meal. Learn more about their mission: Lasagna Love.

Shine on, you crazy diamonds 🤘💎

Natalie

No idea is truly unique.

Every single one was ideated from a scrapbook of experience.

Complete originality does not exist.

So we must celebrate inspiration — find joy in sowing creative seeds in the soil of the creations that came before.

Hi,

Don’t blink… or digital marketing will change on ya! (Just kidding, it will change whether you blink or not.)

• AI visibility has two jobs: execute SEO and mobilize the organization. This story links SEO and SAIO success together not just from a technical/content perspective but also ensures important guidance and inputs are shared from other departments and experts within your company. This multi-disciplinary support helps overcome the inherent “recommendation problem” in building authority and relevance to gain AI platform citations. 

• Another month, another Google update. But Google’s August Spam Update appears to be focused on catching mass-generated SEO AI content . It’s a recognition of, and an attempt to reduce, the poor user experiences with AI slop. The article also notes that user experiences are the true “trust signals” regarding the helpfulness and relevance of your website. 

• Update on-going debate over what to call AI search optimization: AI search is here, but marketers still call it SEO. Our readers know we call it SAIO for Search AI Optimization. Apparently, we are among the minority 27% to have formally adapted any terminology beyond “SEO” for AI-related search. Other stats from the article:
  • The top 2 challenges marketers face in AI search are “keeping pace with how rapidly the landscape is evolving” and “measuring performance or visibility in AI-generated results”.
  • ChatGPT is the number one AI platform marketers are most focused on at 34% and Perplexity the least at 1%. Our SAIO is meant to create content that is relevant and attractive to all AI platforms, so no need to target individual platforms.

• New PMax controls will allow advertisers to tell the algorithm which channels to prioritize. The option for more control is always accepted from an advertising perspective!

• Meta’s $18 billion payout led to the announcement of new features to protect teen users from the harms of social media use including:
  • “A daily default two-hour usage time limit cumulative across Facebook and Instagram
  • A default block on Meta apps between midnight and 6 a.m.
  • Notifications will be muted by default during school hours (8 a.m. to 3 p.m.)
  • Teen users will be able to choose a non-algorithmic feed as their default.”
  • It sounds like a step in the right direction for teens and maybe for adults, too.

Children with Hair Loss provides human hair replacements to children at no cost. Originally, CWHL’s focus was on children fighting cancer, but have since expanded to support children with hair loss from other factors, including Alopecia, burns, Trichotillomania, and other rare diseases and disorders. They’re providing customized human hair replacement and care kits to over 600 children a year. Learn more about their hair donation programs and other ways you can provide support.

Best,

Natalie

A laugh to brighten your day 🙂

Heyo, 

It’s the last full week of August and the digital marketing news is cooking, as always.

• 71% of US shoppers who use AI at least once a month turn to AI assistants when making purchasing decisions, according to EMARKETER. 34% use AI-generated summaries in search engine results. However, they don’t actually make the purchase through AI portals. Once again showing the influence and value of AI visibility as part of the path to purchase.

• Promptwatch reports Reddit’s share of citations in ChatGPT took a big dive last week and is slowly dropping in AI Mode. Could this be a sign AI platforms are shifting to cite more useful sources to create a better user experience and generate more ad revenues? That tracks with this story about how ChatGPT fan-out queries are leveraging their own version of E-E-A-T quality values to reduce spammy outputs. Regardless, this reinforces our recommendation of not jumping down the Reddit rabbit-hole unless your audience lives there. 

Thoughts on writing, AI, and copyright: 

• Humans are on a witch hunt to call out AI-created work, making their own rules for what’s AI-written. This article talks about how AI detectors are making mistakes too by doling out false positives on human-written work. 
  • Moral of the story: don’t let AI detectors and peoples’ AI detection rules scare you from writing. Write what you need and follow your own rules. #EmDashesAreNotJustForAI
• Anthropic is battling the AI detection/copyright problem with complex text watermarking (which is a bit backward, considering they trained the AI on copyrighted material). 
  • Moral of the story: If you use AI to help you write, know the use case in which it is appropriate.
• LinkedIn has had over 1 million users report AI slop so far. LinkedIn Creator Product Lead Sam Corrao Clannon has an intriguing definition for AI slop: “[C]ontent that is potentially sophisticated or polished in its presentation, but lacks substance.”
  • Moral of the story: Whether your posts are written by AI or not, the content itself must provide value to LinkedIn users or else you’ll be labeled as hot trash.

• YouTube influencers know how to work brand partnerships. Sprout gives the 11 best examples of brand partnership video types along with some hot tips to make them watchable. My favorite tip: weave the sponsorship in the storyline of the video, so it feels organic and creative instead of intrusive. Perfecting this can keep users watching even through the sponsored section.

“… We’re not just talking about mental health when there’s a crisis, we’re talking about mental health everyday,” Alison Malmon, Founder & Executive Director of Active Minds.

Originally named “Open Minds,” the organization was created to spread the word that seeking mental health help is a sign of strength, not shame. Now 20 years later, Active Minds has chapters on over 1,000 campuses and communities. Their goal is to support young adult mental health and create change for future generations: Active Minds.

Keep it groovy ☮️

Natalie

When an artist lives and breathes a piece of work, they bury so much meaning in the intricate details. These details act as a scavenger hunt for the observer — a pathway to navigate the mind of the creator.

Next time you see a play, go to an art museum, listen to a song, really delve into the work and see if you can find the ideas the artist left. 🙂

Heya,

Summer’s flying at us fast and so is the digital marketing news!

• While we agree with the synchronicity strategy of looking at SEO and SAIO optimization as interrelated in this “keyword research meets prompt research” story, we don’t agree comparing keyword volume with prompt volume as a driver for that strategy. Prompt volumes are currently very volatile. We’re currently looking at overlaps between top organic search result pages and top pages for AI citations via Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to identify optimization synergies and gaps. Eventually, getting click data will take it a step further.

• AI responses are haunted. 👻 JK, but they are offering “ghost citations”. That’s when a brand is cited as a contributor to the prompt response, but the brand itself is not mentioned directly in the prompt response. The rate of ghost citations varies by AI platform, but it happens about 40% of the time on average. One solution is tying your brand name more explicitly to your citation-worthy content snippets. This can help prevent ghost citations and build your brand authority.

• Reddit’s CEO revealed the platform’s intent to show more evergreen content like recommendations and reviews. At the same time, it is working to make its search bar more engaging by integrating ad modules. It sounds like they want to cash in directly on their content rather than having it fuel AI results (and ad revenues) on other platforms like Google’s AI Overviews or ChatGPT.

• What metrics best demonstrate marketing’s impact? Marketing Charts shows the top 4 of 5 metrics mentioned were revenue-related. The fifth metric cited by only 3% of respondents was “Share of voice/brand equity.” The story behind the chart reveals there remains misalignment of KPIs between marketing teams and finance teams within companies that trickles over to their agency teams.

• Hyperlinks… in Google search ad descriptions? Oh yeah, it’s being tested now.

Most of us recognize that cute panda logo associated with the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF). For 60+ years, they’ve been spearheading conservation efforts worldwide. They work with local communities to conserve, advocate, protect, and restore natural resources. Learn more about them and their projects: WWF.

Keep kicking butt and takin’ names, y’all!

Natalie

When small things weigh you down, ask yourself:

Will this matter later?

Not every moment has to be treated with serious precision. 

In fact, sometimes, seriousness drains potential joy from the moment.

Here’s some other ways to help you view life more lightly.

Helllloooooo,

Welcome to this week’s digital marketing dispatch!

• “82% of weekly AI users use Google Search every day, compared with 71% of all internet users, according to a May 2026 survey from EMARKETER.” More proof that AI isn’t replacing search — the job is getting shared.

• Teach Claude AI a skill with a screen recording. Go ahead… try it!

• Anthropic didn’t block private Claude chats from being indexed by Google and Bing. It seems to be mostly fixed now, but this is a reminder to make sure your brand’s private pages aren’t being indexed.

• Google recommended using a 304 server response code to conserve crawl budget on pages that haven’t changed.

• Is your content treading on thin ice with Google? Check out how Google may be targeting AI-generated content as “thin content” not worthy of ranking. 

• Connected content aims to integrate media and creative efforts with more fluidity in the campaign development process. It tailors content to fit the context and channel. This is a way to break from siloed departments and keep teams working together, folks.

• As people turn to social media for news, it’s an interesting time to create a brand newsroom. Timely narratives and reports of the latest news can be shared with your audience here. It’s a place to get to know your audience and position your brand story.

When you transition into adulthood, there are so many things you have to learn on the fly… what insurance do you need? How much of my paycheck should go to rent? I just started work… I need to think about retirement, now? W!se is an educational nonprofit that provides financial education, college and career readiness programs, and services to students, educators and at-risk adults. Learn more about their work: W!se.

Never have I seen a sport that highlights peoples’ unique strengths more than rock climbing.

A shorter person might have power in their jumps (dyno). A visual person might be able to see the climb before hitting the wall.

If you keep your eyes peeled in everyday life, you’ll see those unique strengths everywhere, like in the way your cousin throws a party or how your friend is a phenomenal chef.

When you notice someone has a flare for something, let them know. Spread the kindness!

Have a mighty fine Wednesday,

Natalie

Thank you, Merriam-Webster, for reminding us of what we have long forgotten since our elementary school days.

Welcome!

FAQs are all the rage…

 Don’t let your website FAQs become an eyebrow-crunching, cringe fest. Follow our tips instead. 🙂

(I know — we’re leaving you hanging. #sorrynotsorry)

• “Your newest competitors aren’t other brands.” Stephanie Trovato from Martech makes the case that AI has created a variety of “synthetic” competitors. The thing is, this isn’t really a new concept. “Search competitors” are the folks that show up in your key result pages and are not your core competitors. We see the list of AI synthetic competitors is larger due to AI’s depth of data research abilities and willingness to cite more obscure websites. One of the solutions put forth in the article to combat synthetic competition is building brand authority (of course!). Another way we approach this with our SAIO strategy is a sharp focus on the keywords/prompts that are most relevant to your target audience and produce content that rises above the AI slop.

• Think with Google offers an SAIO “don’t” checklist: “Good SEO is good GEO.” Thanks to AI, Google saw an all-time high in search queries in Q1 2026. Two of the don’ts we feel are important reminders regarding SEO/SAIO strategy are:
  • Don’t forget your website. Build a great web experience.
  • Don’t get distracted by noisy metrics — focus on your business goals.

• Search Engine Journal offers thoughts on Google’s AI search data reporting. Here’s our summary: Query data is being rolled out in Google Merchant Center — when will it roll out to GSC? Citation page data in Google Search Console (GSC) is a good start, but when we will see AI click data is anyone’s guess. 

• Social media isn’t as social anymore. Recent study findings say over 55% of people are posting less than they did 5 years ago. 51% agree that posting feels like work. The standards for social media content are high to break through the noise. Though the survey was fielded to consumers, we think the results are equally important for brands. Focusing on the “social” aspect instead of just the “media” part of the phrase is critical for success.

• An Optimizely global survey of 2,000 marketing leaders found “many teams are paying a growing ‘revision tax’ as time saved through automation is increasingly replaced by the work required to review, refine and manage AI-generated outputs.” In other words, AI isn’t always a time saver. Other findings worth noting:
  • 25% admit they frequently or always publish AI-generated content they know is not fully on-brand when under deadline pressure.
  • 30% say they frequently or always pass off AI-generated work as their own, human-created, original work.

• A new Google Ads Performance Max feature test is allowing users greater control of spending and excluding inventory from third-party search partners. It’s a pilot, but would be a win to allow some control back to marketers.

For every therapist in the U.S., there are about 340 people in need of mental health support. With such an inundated system, there has to be another more attainable solution. Give an Hour was started by therapists volunteering an hour of their time to support those in need. Now, they work on informing the public with wellness ambassadors and peer-to-peer groups to fill in the gaps. Learn more about them through this video or check out their website.

As I was chasing my frenetic pup who was chasing our outside cat up a tree, I again realized how our emotions get soaked up by those around us.

Years of walking Reya, my German Shephard mutt, has shown me how much more reactive she gets when I show my frustration — this frantic bout proved it for the umpteenth time.

How often does this happen with people? When someone walks in with a pinch in their neck and a sneer on their cheek, it’s easy to soak up.

We can’t be perfect emotional regulators, but we can practice compassionate responses. It might help (or not), but in whatever case, you preserve your peace.

After Reya *let* me catch her, I thought about how to handle her energy in the future, because the only thing anyone can control in those situations is their response.

(Side note: Orange Cat is all good and back pawing our glass door for more food.)

Practice preserving your peace, and I’ll see you next week. 🙂

Natalie

Give an Hour has some insightful resources on mental health topics from the emotional cost of financial fraud to supporting rare disease advocacy.

Howdy y’all,

Welcome to the digital marketing rodeo! 🤠

YouGov’s 2026 U.S. Web Search and AI Report surveyed independent sources and users about how they are using traditional and AI search. (Repeat: these were real people surveyed instead of search engine marketers.) DBE uncovered some interesting data and its implications on SEO and SAIO.

• How Google May ‘Understand’ Unique Content explains how Google’s patented “information gain score” is assigned to a webpage based on how much new information it adds beyond the previous webpages a user has already seen on the same topic. The more new information = the higher the information gain score and chance for gaining search visibility. The article reinforces several ways to differentiate and raise your score including using original data, first-hand experience, interviews, and proprietary awareness. 

• The MLB All-Star game was last week. There was also a report that ChatGPT Ads aren’t going to be the industry all-star Open AI thought they would be. Emarketer projections show ChatGPT will fall 90% short of its $100 billion target for ad revenues by 2030. 

• Conducting a long A/B test on your website won’t trigger SEO penalties, according to John Mueller. Test away, fam!

• Popular belief: Gen Z has a short attention span. Actually no, according to AdWeek. They are just very decisive about where they spend their time. My favorite observation: “Dig the rabbit hole, don’t build the billboard.” Gen Z responds to “in-person” and “low-pressure environments” where they can “follow their curiosities and find community.” Again, it all comes down to authentic connection that can be found outside a curated algorithm.

• Only 12% of designers are “very confident” in pricing their work, according to The Design Pricing Transparency Project survey. The best way to figure out pricing is to talk to others in the industry. That’s what this report does… might be worth checking out if you’re a freelance designer. (Note you have to subscribe to Fast Company see the full report.)

• Do people actually pay attention during podcast ads? 52% skip or tune it out, while 4% stop listening entirely. Yet, 51% of media consumers say they’ve taken action after hearing a podcast/radio/streaming audio ad. This tells me it comes down to the presentation and story. Is the podcaster actually saying the ad? (Lots of people will tune out a different voice.) Does the podcaster sound like they don’t believe in the offer? (Many trust the podcaster but that doesn’t mean the BS detector goes offline completely.)

Wildfires are impacting so many people across the U.S and Canada. Firefighters Without Borders equips firefighters with emergency response training and fire response equipment across Canada and the world. See what they do: Firefighters Without Borders.

Perfectionism itself isn’t a toxic trait.

Like many things in life, the approach makes the difference. Psychotherapist Katherine Morgan Schafler describes the difference between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism in her book, The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control. 

In very simple terms…

• Maladaptive perfectionism measures one’s worth solely through success.
• Adaptive perfectionism finds joy in pursuing purpose, with high levels of discipline, motivation, and resilience.

Schafler also delves into different types of perfectionists and how they can hone their strengths in positive, self-compassionate ways.

A perfectionist yourself? Take her quiz to find out the type of perfectionist you are.

Stay smart, and stay safe everyone!

Natalie

• Molly Williams was the first recorded female and known black firefighter in 1815.
• Benjamin Franklin established the first volunteer firehouse in 1736.
• Firefighting gear can weigh up to 75 lbs!

Check out other interesting firefighter facts here, and thank a firefighter if you have the chance!

Hiya,

Last week, we ran a LinkedIn Poll. Here’s what our VP Marc Engelsman has to say on the outcome:

If Google is AI-first, why is it hiding its own AI Clicks?

• ChatGPT gets more clicks.
• AI clicks aren’t converting.
• Organic clicks are dropping.
• All the above.

If you picked any answer other than “AI Clicks aren’t converting,” you would be tied with our respondents who were evenly split 33% between the other answers. 

What do these results mean? People really don’t know why Google is hiding its AI clicks and any answer or combination of answers is as good as any other. But there appears to be an underlying consensus that Google is hiding its AI clicks to avoid surfacing negative impacts.

• Social SEO reporting… in Google Search Console? Yup, it is finally happening. You’ll be able to add your social media accounts to your GSC  to see how they perform in Google Search and Discover. A win for the SEO and social strategists out there!

• Why AI search makes trust your most important visibility signal reinforces much of what we’ve shared before. So why are we sharing it again? For this concise reminder: trust extends beyond your website. “The difference is that brands must now optimize for visibility across a broader ecosystem. Websites, earned media, reviews, social content, expert mentions, and authoritative third-party references — all of these contribute to how AI systems understand and recommend brands.” Share this with your teams to gain their help in your AI (and SEO) optimization efforts. Teamwork makes the dreamwork, y’all.

• “62% of AI Brand Recommendations Vanish After One Buyer Question” according to a recent study. It showed that a generic prompt leads to a more-detailed, follow-up prompt in which brand citations decline dramatically. That makes sense to us… but we don’t agree with their prescribed remedy of fixing content for the AI platforms individually. Our SAIO answer is to optimize for relevant, long-tail prompts that your content authoritatively addresses. 

• You can now indicate how long sale prices will last through structured data. (Good for keeping our search and AI bot friends up to date on prices!)

• Canonicalization heads up: “after fixing content issues, Google might hold pages in a duplicate cluster for up to two weeks.”

• Here’s a fascinating story about Claude AI that has nothing to do with SAIO — it’s about “J-space.” *insert spacey theme music here* Claude uses its J-space for internal reasoning to mediate the sub-tasks required to answer a prompt. It is actually similar to the way the human brain processes thoughts. Anthropic says this does not mean Claude is exhibiting “consciousness” (at least not yet), but the J-space may be a bridge to that in the future. 

• Looking to crush it on LinkedIn? Remember to post 2-3x a week, lead with important info first, keep posts between 200-300 words, and publish a variety of content types. Also, LinkedIn uses the first line of your post to generate the URL…. make sure your keyword is somewhere in there to ensure an SEO-optimized URL!

Insulin for Life USA collects in-date, unopened supplies from individuals, corporations, and organizations and redistributes them to children and adults in need, free of charge. They work exclusively through licensed healthcare providers in the USA and worldwide.

327 men and 295 women of various ages and backgrounds were asked to rate photos of messy and tidy rooms based on cleanliness.

Participants were ALSO told that a woman (Jennifer) or a man (John) lived there. 

Here’s the kicker: “respondents held higher standards of cleanliness for Jennifer than they did for John. When they were told the tidy room belonged to Jennifer, participants – regardless of gender – judged it less clean and more likely to inspire disapproving reactions from guests than when the same exact room was John’s.”

The woman who is rushing to sweep, scrub, and suck-up every speck of dust and dirt before guests arrive.… Know that she’s got more folks judging her cleanliness than her male counterpart.

If you see her, give her a hand. 

If you are her, take this knowledge with you… ask for help or let some things go (no one will notice if your laundry hamper is sparkling).

You’re doing great 🙂

Natalie

To disprove myths and save you time… cleaning tips.