Hi all,

No fear, we are here with digital marketing news and mindful ponderings for your marketing minds!

• AI Overviews help filter out low-value clicks while driving more total searches, according to Google’s Liz Reid reports in a Bloomberg podcast interview. Search queries are getting longer, more natural as people write out their whole need instead of a simplified search term. It rings up the same old marketing question, how can your brand best solve your target market’s problems?

• Open AI is now rolling out a Cost-Per-Click ad model for ChatGPT vs. the Impressions model it has been testing since February. This puts the ChatGPT ads in line with the traditional Google and Bing paid search models. The big issue for advertisers will be in determining whether the intent of people using ChatGPT is similar enough to traditional search intent to drive conversions. That said, some advertisers may just be happy with the free impressions on ChatGPT regardless of clicks.

• What do viral YouTube Shorts have in common? Modern Millie and team analyzed viral YouTube shorts and here’s what we found interesting:
  • Most have 3 or more hooks (like moving an object into frame, loud music, & zooming in).
  • While established creators did not need to use SEO techniques, SEO helped the lesser known creators gain more engagement.
  • Of the types of value videos could provide, 71% were entertaining, 12% were relatable, 11% were educational, & 6% were inspirational. Yes, entertaining videos are on top, but other value styles have a chance too.

• Meta has plans to track employee productivity to train its AI agents. Mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, screenshots — it will all be tracked. Management says the data collected will not be used for performance reviews. That may be true but we wonder if training better AI agents may end up in reducing workforce counts.

• TMI, TL;DR — you’re familiar with these acronyms. How about TMD; NEI? Probably not because we made it up just now, inspired by this MarTech article “Too Much Data; Not Enough Insight.” Written from a B2B perspective (but easily applicable to any industry), it teaches us to leverage different layers of data to better target audiences and drive results.

Transforming the lives of foster youth is their mission. Foster Love started with one event to help one child and eventually grew into an initiative helping millions of children. From business events to donations, find ways you can help their cause: Foster Love.

My dogs are Obsessed (capital “o” for amplified emphasis) with one blue ball. 🔵

Soccer-ball-sized and crafted of hard plastic, they roll the treasured toy around the yard in a flurry of sandy noses and paws. The game has no rules, no time limit, and defensive and offensive roles are interchanged seemingly without sense.

When was the last time you were so invested that time lost its meaning? The world spun, and you were blissfully unaware, enraptured in your moment so fully.

I ask you: what brings timelessness back to your life? What is your metaphorical “blue ball”?

May you find your blue ball and the timelessness that goes with it. 

Happy Wednesday!

Natalie

Our one-and-only pun master/Flyers superfan/VP Marc Englesman’s birthday is tomorrow! 🥳

We are so lucky to have such a remarkably intelligent and wonderfully fun VP on our team — let’s give a hip hip hooray for the best VP around!

Hi all!

We got your feedback on our LinkedIn poll, so here’s our take on tracking AI Visibility:

Tracking your visibility on AI platforms takes some sleuthing and, unfortunately, there is not yet a single source of truth. Here is a list of tracking tools and their limitations… all in one convenient place (you’re welcome:).

Free for all:

• Google Analytics
  Positives: GA4 tracks AI-driven traffic from Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT and other AI chatbots.
  Negatives: AI Overviews or AI Mode cannot be tracked separately from all Organic Google Search traffic. Also, while you can track sessions and key events like any other session source, you’re not going to see the original prompts the users clicked to get there.

• Bing Webmaster Tools
  Positives: The AI Performance tracker that shows you CoPilot grounding queries used in prompts people used to click to your website and the number of citations gained for pages on your site.
  Negatives: Grounding queries are the shortened phrases the AI used to do its backend search and not the actual prompts entered, so they are directional at best. Bing Webmaster Tools does not show actual clicks on citations so you only have a sense of citations “impressions”.

• Temporary Chat Prompting
  Positives: Certain AI chatbots can give you a snapshot of example responses, without the bias of previous conversations. See rules on Perplexity Incognito Mode, ChatGPT Temporary Chat, and Claude Incognito Chats. (Note that there are data retention periods for safety purposes, but they shouldn’t influence future chats.)
  Negatives: It is unconfirmed whether Copilot and Gemini use previous chats to influence temporary chat options. There is no data on the number of times these prompts were used (like we can see with Google’s Keyword Planner for average keyword search volume).

• HubSpot AEO Grader:
  Positives: Analyze your presence on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini while seeing competitive and perceptive “topical” data.
  Negatives: AI Overviews, AI Mode, Claude, and other AI chatbots are not included in the analysis.

Paid Options:

• Answer the Public
  Positives: Known for long-tail traditional search query research, ATP has a newer AI Model research feature to show you how people are prompting AI bots around specific topics.
  Negatives: The charts are pretty, but this is another directional tool as there is no way to gauge the volume of usage for the suggested prompts.

• Moz
  Positives: The new AI Visibility feature (requires a medium subscription plan) may be interesting as it advances out of Beta. Their Prompt Suggestion and True Competing Content features are great places to research topics for content and how your content is faring from search and AI chatbot perspective, respectively.
  Negatives: We won’t know until the Beta rolls out.

How We Use Them:

Our team integrates the Google Analytics AI-Source traffic data into our dashboards. Then, once a month, the Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance feature provides insight on which pages are being cited in Copilot and the grounding query topics that are driving clicks. Temporary chat prompting shows how a brand performs in specific, high-value prompts. To get a zoomed out perspective of how a brand is viewed by AI chatbots, HubSpot AEO Grader offers generalized insights. Answer the Public gives great ideas on prompts that can be helpful for fueling future content creation and refreshing previously published content. Moz features are also great directional tools to further enhance your content creation strategy against competitors.

Follow to stay tuned for the next LinkedIn poll, so we can answer your burning SEO/SAIO/digital marketing queries!

• We got a Google Spam update — the first of 2026! It’s relatively new, and you can peek at your rankings to see if you’ve been affected. If you’re following white-hat SEO best practices and releasing relevant content, you should be good, fam. ✌🏼
  • Also, we’ll keep you posted on the March 2026 Core Update that’s going live during the next 2 weeks.

• 🎥 OpenAI is shutting down ChatGPT’s video generator, Sora, and thus its $1b content partnership with Disney. As OpenAI has still yet to make a profit, Sora’s struggle with copyright violations, the public distaste of AI deep fakes, and vast competition influenced the decision.

• Fan-out queries tell us how people and Google/AI chatbots may be looking for your brand. Moz labels 10 fan-out query types to help with prompt research.

• Is AI ruining the job market? We need to flip that: how can AI enhance the job market? Catch this enlightening conversation between Erin McGoff, career advice creator, and LinkedIn CEO Ryan Rolansky.

• Speaking of using AI to enhance, let’s discuss using GenAI in high-trust industries (think healthcare, legal, etc.). Alexander Amatus in Marketing Profs lays the steps for use without jeopardizing trust:
  • Clearly deciding AI’s uses
  • Defining non-negotiables to AI
  • Creating content workflows with AI to upskill marketers
  • Setting boundaries with what AI can and can’t do/access

• It’s a 🎶”tale as old as time” (if you only go back to the 80s), but it is still lingering and languishing. What is it? The Sales vs. Marketing silo mentality. Only 56% of companies say they feel highly aligned across functions. Understand the challenges and solutions for those yearning for alignment via this Unbounce survey, MarketCharts visual, and Marc’s LinkedIn Musing.

• It’s not just Sales and Marketing either. Here’s a story about “Why CMOs struggle and how aligning with CFOs changes everything.” Bottom line: success lies in getting agreement on measurement values and the analytics attribution to prove it. It’s not the easiest of tasks, but improving the lines of communication is a good start.

Building supportive, stable communities by helping families build and improve their homes is what Habitat for Humanity is all about. Learn more, and consider a team project for your company that can help your community too!

“Perfectionism kills curiosity by telling us that we have to know everything or we risk looking “less than.” Perfectionism tells us that our mistakes and failures are personal defects, so we either avoid trying new things or we barely recover every time we inevitably fall short.”

~ Brené Brown Atlas of the Heart

You are more than your knowledge, your mistakes, your failures; you are the phoenix that rises from them to be the human you are.

Keep sparkling ✨

Natalie

Because we all deserve to laugh, here’s one of my favorite memes for ya.

We all know an adult like this in our lives — this kid’s performance 10/10.

Howdy,

Ready for this rodeo of digital marketing shenanigans?

• The big headline for us this week: “ChatGPT is using Google Search…” as a source in its responses. Various tests have shown strong alignment between ChatGPT responses and Google snippet data and occasions where up to 90% of ChatGPT’s cited URLs matched Google’s top results. As we have been saying all along, SEO and SAIO (aka AIO or GEO) are complementary marketing strategies.

• “Google says AI Overviews are generating more queries and higher quality clicks than search has ever before.” Do you believe that? Or are you more leery due to the lack of AI Overviews data transparency? Even the suggestions for gaining insights in this article have weaknesses. E.g., leveraging Click Through Rate (CTR) data from Google Search Console can be misleading given the “double whammy” effect.

• Is Perplexity (nicknamed “Lexi” by our CEO & President) your favorite of the AI chatbots? Keyword optimization isn’t enough, here’s what else Lexi is taking into consideration when ranking sites:
  • The authority of your domain
  • YouTube titles that match Perplexity trending queries
  • Core ranking factors like new post performance, topic classification, and semantic relevance.
  • Hmm… these tactics sound awfully familiar….

• “53% of marketers in North America cite data analysis and insights as the top bottleneck slowing down marketing cycles,” According to a survey conducted by GrowthLoop and Ascend2 and reported by EMARKETER. AI may be helping speed things up as 40% of US marketers now use AI for analyzing data and/or creating reports.

• Bottom-of-funnel (BoFu) content doesn’t have to sit within the boundaries of product comparisons, roundups, and alternatives articles. There’s so much more to explore… check out 5 different ideas from Moz.

• We love social humor tastefully done. 💯 Our long-time client Miele’s Rumored for a Reason campaign is delightfully unhinged…. Check ‘em out!
  • You know what the “M” stands for, right?
  • “It’s actually pronounced Miel-Uh.”
  • Here at Miele, we’re Rumored for a Reason.

Building supportive, stable communities by helping families build and improve their homes is what Habitat for Humanity is all about. Learn more, and consider a team project for your company that can help your community too!

When was the last time you doled out an honest compliment?

This morning? Yesterday? Never underestimate their power. Sometimes, they stick with the complimentee longer than you could ever remember. ❤️

Stay cool, 😎

Natalie

Get this. Bananas are berries, but strawberries aren’t.

Hey!

Ready for some digital marketing tea?

• Let’s look at the difficulties of tracking AI traffic and aligning conversion attribution. This SEJ article notes the zero-click nature of AI traffic can be assigned as “Direct” traffic in GA4, hiding the conversion value of AI-driven visits to your website. To be fair, the author recognizes that attribution issues existed before AI and there’s a movement to look beyond the linear funnel and take a more holistic, multi-channel view of results. 

• … There are other ways to capture AI traffic data and conversion activity the SEJ author above does not mention. One is to create a custom channel for AI traffic in GA4 instead of using the default channel settings. The other is to create AI filters in your reporting tools. We use both approaches at DBE to report on SAIO success. The only AI traffic that is not yet filterable comes from Google itself as it combines AI Overviews and AI Mode data within the Organic Search channel. (Read our latest blog on how this is one of Google’s recent data double whammies.)

• No, really, you should read the new Google Double Whammies piece… it may change your mind on KPIs. Permanently. *shocking dramatic music plays*

• Your public Instagram posts will be made available for search engine indexing in more regions. In the past they’ve generally requested that search engines don’t show user photos and videos, but now public reels and posts uploaded from January 1, 2020 onward may be indexed. This means social SEO is increasingly more important, y’all!

• If you’re deep into Google Analytics set ups and management, Clickvoyant has a super helpful post on the making of clean data layers.

• Optimism About the Economy Among US Luxury Consumers Is Dropping Quickly is the headline for EMARKETER’s chart showing YoY and QoQ drops. This shouldn’t be a surprise if you manage SEO or PPC for a luxury goods company and you are tracking keyword search volumes regularly.

• Google has been pushing its Shopping agenda in SERPs for a while now. Clicks are surging, but get this — Amazon, Temu, and Shien slashed their Google Shopping ad presence. This means openings in Google Shopping auctions. 😲 Here’s your chance to support your ecommerce sites, friends!

The more you read about and spend time in nature, you realize how connected we are to the environment. There are so many ways to protect it. The Center for Biological Diversity is helping by guarding endangered species. From legislation to media outreach to scientific analysis, they have their hands in a slew of species conservation efforts. Learn more today: Center for Biological Diversity.

My dog, Reya, was in a cone the past two weeks. (Don’t worry, she’s fine, just some stitches.)

No, she does not like the cone. (Who would?) 

But she never cries or hides when it has to go back on after eating. She seems to trust me to know that it’s good for her (even though I swear it drains her energy.)

Zooming out, there are times when we have to place full trust in someone/something else. We can’t do everything ourselves. Giving and accepting support can help us all thrive.

Keep on keepin’ on!

Natalie

You made it to the end of this lengthy edition of PM! Go you! 🙌🎉🎊

Howdy, Howdy!

What have been the best things about your day so far? For me, it’s birds chirping outside, watching the dogs nap next to me, and a warm cup of chai. When we get caught up in the business and craziness of everyday life, sometimes it’s helpful to pause and point out the things that are positive and present. Just a thought as you continue with your day. 🙂

Are you ready for the digital marketing extravaganza? *switches on marketer hat* Let’s do this!

• We’ve been reporting on the potential impact of Google SGE on organic search visibility in SERPs for a while now. Search Engine Land confirms and shows how Google Ads will still be prominently displayed in SGE search results. And, from our perspective, it further reinforces how the traditional organic search results are in danger of being pushed “below the scroll.”

• Tom Fishbourne had a funny take on SEO and AI content in this week’s Marketoonist Take a look and read his write-up below the image. It includes insights from Jono Alderson, former head of SEO at Yoast, and Ann Handley who is a well-respected digital marketing pioneer and founder of MarketingProfs.

Do Good Spotlight
🌟 The Katie Moore Foundation 🌟

Patients of rare cancers are often faced with no clear treatment options. The Katie Moore Foundation was created to conduct critical research on rare cancers. Together with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, their goal is that one day, patients with rare cancers will be able to benefit from precision medicine and thereby drastically improve outcomes. Learn more: The Katie Moore Foundation.

Thank you, Joe McGarvey, for sharing this recommendation!

• “Have you ever noticed in the marketing industry that seemingly impressive statistics, often showcasing a startling new trend, can sometimes have unclear origins?” That’s Econsultancy’s opening line for their article “How bad stats snowball.” The article provides tips for how not to fall into this trap: “If you’re citing a statistic, make sure you find the original source; ask yourself whether a stat reflects your own observations; and cite your stats responsibly.”

• Is there a correlation between readership and social media engagement on articles? According to a Memo study in this Social Media Today article, there is not! But people have been increasingly sharing through DMs. Takeaways: social media engagement is important, but also know that there are many ways to deliver your articles to the public and many ways for the public to interact with them.

• Hosting a presentation sometime soon? Briar Goldberg, Director of Speech Coaching at TED Conferences, gave a short talk on how to prepare for presentations… it has to be a mix of memorization and “winging it.” Here’s her video!

• Social algorithms are always cha-cha-cha-cha-changin’. Are you up to date on it all? Hootsuite has the details.

• Reddit is testing its new Reddit Pro data analytics suite. New features include publishing tools, performance analytics, and AI-powered insights. You can sign up to join the test!

Keep on keepin’ on, y’all!

Natalie

Did you know bulls are colorblind?

Turns out dancing and waving a cape of any color (not just red) could make a bull angry. 🐂

… On that note, this is me waving a cape (any color – you choose) in front of you to send our WHW signup link to your friends and subscribe on LinkedIn.

Hey y’all!

I have a thought for you. Do you remember the last time you had fun while learning something? You probably had a feeling of awe or appreciation. What if we approached our daily routine with more of a beginner’s mindset? There’s always something different in each moment… something it can teach us. We just have to stay open and ready… maybe the beginner’s perspective might make the day a bit more enjoyable!

Now that you’ve got your good thought for the day, let’s jump in!

• What conversion model do you use: first-touch, last-touch, OR multi-touch? Apparently, 75% of companies reported using multi-touch attribution! It comes with its challenges though (like double-counting conversions #yikes).

• Google confirmed it is dropping 4 of its attribution models in Ads and Analytics. They are doing this due to “low adoption rates.” The AI powered, data-driven-attribution model will be the default with the last-click model still available as an option. The data-driven attribution model is supposed to evaluate the impact each touchpoint has on a conversion and has reportedly led to a 6% increase in conversions for paid search advertisers. However, the model is not transparent about how it scores individual touchpoints, so getting deeper attribution insights will be more difficult.

• Think with Google recently posted “What AI can and can’t do — and what that means for marketers.” We’ve already covered what it can do in previous WHWs. So let’s cover what the article says AI can’t do:
  • AI can’t see the big picture for your organization
  • AI can’t be creative like you
  • AI can’t empathize with people

Of course, Google is saying AI can help with these things but it’s good to know that AI isn’t the solution for everything. Yea, people power!

Do Good Spotlight
🌟 Alex’s Lemonade Stand 🌟

This foundation is close to our teams’ hearts. The story behind the ALSF is remarkable: When Alex was 4 (she was diagnosed with childhood cancer just before her 1st birthday), she wanted to set up a lemonade stand and use the money she earned to help doctors find a cure. Her first “Alex’s Lemonade Stand,” raised $2,000 in one day. She continued to grow the program with the help of an amazing community of supporters. When she passed away at the age of 8, her stand and inspiration had raised more than $1 million. ALSF was started by her parents in 2005 to continue the work that Alex began. Their mission is simple: to change the lives of children with cancer through funding impactful research, raising awareness, supporting families, and empowering everyone to help cure childhood cancer. We are inspired by Alex’s story and donated in memory of Ronald Hogas. Here’s where you can learn more and support a wonderful cause: Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

• Meta and TikTok are exploring the possibility of ad-free subscription tiers in response to the EU data privacy regulations. It will be interesting to see what the future holds in the US if they roll out a similar version here.

• Did you know you can get verified on LinkedIn? Ya, it’s a thing!

• I’m a HUGE fan of the Duolingo marketing. Here’s their latest cleverness: a job listing for an Owl Trainer for their mascot, Duo the Owl. 🦉 The application process is intense – see below:

Hope you got some giggles out of that last bullet. 🙂 Enjoy your week!

Natalie

What’s cooler than being cool? 🆒😎

Sending your digital marketing friends this signup link to join the WHW party!

What’s up? 👋

I don’t know about you, but June flew faster than a peregrine diving down a cliff (~240mph). Just sending a gentle reminder to stay present and aware. There’s only one of every moment. Interpret that as you will.

Here’s the 411 on the latest digital marketing dirt:

• Many marketers are not ready for the “UApocalypse” – the sunsetting of Google Universal Analytics on July 1st. Over 3.4 million sites use UA in the U.S. vs. 2.4 million using GA4. Marc Engelsman, our VP of SEO, says: “Clearly those of you in the latter group (like our clients) can party like it’s 1999 while the rest are going to have to hope the impact on their analytics is more like the projected Y2K bug.

• Social Media Today does not seem happy about LinkedIn’s live test of generative AI posts. And TBH, I’m not disagreeing. If all socials are generated by AI, then it’s just gonna be a bunch of robots talking to each other through our profiles. (The Twitter fights would be UNREAL… and very entertaining.)

• Microsoft releases predictive targeting for all advertisers. It’s similar to optimized targeting but it helps marketers that use the Microsoft Audience Network by using a combination of existing advertiser assets and Microsoft Audience Intelligence. Learn more.

Do Good Spotlight
🌟 The Access Fund 🌟

If y’all haven’t heard, I am a huge climber and nature-lover. The Access Fund is an advocacy organization for both. They are working for sustainable access to climbing areas across the nation, while educating others how to advocate. If you’re all about nature and vertical adventure, check them out: Access Fund.

Fun tidbit: My college climbing club supported this organization by selling pet rocks…. You’d be surprised how many adults filled a pet-rock-shaped hole in their lives.

• Think with Google offers “3 compelling use cases for AI, according to creative leads.” Embedded in the use cases (and called out by Google) are these interesting takes on AI:
  “We must always remember to place the human truth at [our campaign’s] core.”
  “At the heart of our business are the principles of empathy and reason. We try and build those into everything.”
  “AI is not just about ethics; it’s literally a business problem for us. If we’re not using AI the right way, it could lead to bias because of the training samples.”

• Looking to expand your ever-developing knowledge of social media? Cool, cool, cool. Search Engine Journal has got a nice list of courses for you to explore.

Don’t forget to live for the moment y’all!

Natalie

Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, digital marketing goes on, yeah

That’s why you should tell your friends to join our newsletter. Send ‘em this awesome link!

Knock, knock!

We’re here, and we’re back with another excitingly gripping edition of What’s Hot Wednesday. Let’s get to the good stuff!

• The final days of UA (Universal Analytics) are upon us. Here are some crucial mistakes to avoid with GA4.

• 🔥 Hot Tips from DBE 🔥 Why is the conversion data different between GA4 and UA??? 😵 Before the confusion starts, read this short and simple answer from our team!

• Are you on YouTube? Are you using YouTube SEO? HubSpot released a beyond helpful video on this, jam-packed with *prime* optimization tools.

Do Good Spotlight
🌟 Out & Equal 🌟

Pride month is here! 🌈💖 So, this week’s charity is Out & Equal, a global nonprofit organization working exclusively on LGBTQ+ workplace equality. They leverage Fortune 500 partnerships, worldwide programs, and conferences to create inclusive company cultures. See what they do and how you can help: Out & Equal.

• In the early days of digital marketing, there was discussion on how to compare the impact of traditional media (tv, radio, print) and online channels. Most often, you couldn’t bridge the “apples and oranges” divide. Fortunately, that bridge has now been crossed, but a new one has emerged – the lack of common metrics for measuring linear TV vs. connected TV (e.g., streaming). eMarketer has the details.

• 5 critical leadership skills every marketing ops pro needs:
• Number 1 is “Become a strategist, not a firefighter”
• Number 2 is “interpret and showcase data correctly”
• Number 3 is “Practice empathetic change management”.
• You’ll have to read the MarTech article for 4 and 5….

• Google Marketing Live 2023 just went down and guess what came up a lot – AI (shocker). Search Engine Land has recap coverage that includes summaries of how AI applications can be used for Google Ads, Google Merchant Center, and Google Product Studio as well as other non-AI enhancements to Google Ads. It’s a lot to unpack.

Stay cool in the warmer weather, y’all 🌞😎

Natalie

There’s a double dutch bus goin’ down the street 🎶🚌🎶

Grab your funky friends, so they can hop on this digital marketing affair!

Send them this signup link!

(Here’s the song if you’re looking for a funky earworm 😉)