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.

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.

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.

Hey y’all,

It was hot and stormy out by the Jersey Shore this weekend. Let’s chill out with a cool quick quiz from our very own VP, Marc!

1. Google made many AI-related announcements this year. Which of the following was not one of them?

A. Google now considers itself an AI-first search engine.

B. Google created a new AI-Assistant default channel in GA4 that includes AI Overviews and AI Mode clicks.

C. Google is adding AI Performance data in Google Search Console that will show Query Impressions, Clicks, Click-Through Rate, and Avg. Position for citations.

D. Google AI Mode has an intelligent search box.

2. Speaking of AI Overviews, what is the accuracy rate of its responses?

A. 70%

B. 80%

C. 90%

D. 100%

3. An EMARKETER Chart of the Day shared this question: What is your reaction to brands that clearly use AI-generated content in their marketing? How many respondents said, “It makes me trust the brand less”?

A. 31%

B. 51%

C. 71%

D. 7%

4. Claude and ChatGPT appear to take different approaches in determining citation visibility in answers to prompts. Which of these statements is not true?

A. ChatGPT uses web searches 90% of the time while Claude only uses them 37% of the time.

B. Claude’s fan-out queries often include years (looking for recency/freshness).

C. ChatGPT prefers a flame-out queries approach.

D. Claude’s citations overlapped with ChatGPT’s in only 8% of cases, but Claude’s results overlapped with Google rankings 65% of the time.

5. Extra Credit: Which of the following topics were covered in Natalie’s “Thoughts to Take with You”?

A. The one about… ellipses

B. The one about a mindfulness breathing exercise

C. The one about framing your life as a theater production

D. I forget, was there one about forgetfulness?

• Otterly.AI conducted a Claude Citation Study. Key findings included:
  • Reddit was surprisingly absent from citations, but LinkedIn was found to be the most cited of social citations (49%), even though social citations only accounted for 0.9% overall.
  • Brand sites took the cake for most citations (64%).
  • You don’t need to be a top-10 domain for your industry to be cited. If you create a page that specifically answers a prompt, you could gain AI authority on that.
  • Also: Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 is back with new usage limits and safeguards against malicious purposes. 

• Google ended cache-served AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) in search. Google now routes searchers to the domain’s AMP host page instead of a version served from Google’s AMP cache. Web owners “no longer need AMP cache or to configure signed exchanges to serve your own URL for AMP.”

• You know llms.txt, but have you heard of llms-author.txt? We don’t recommend using it yet as it has not been officially proposed or standardized. Google’s John Mueller confirmed Google doesn’t use it.

• Playing in the YouTube space? How are you handling your long-form vs. short-form content mix? Highlights from Sprout Social’s tips:
  • Shorts are for quick discovery & reach. Use engaging hooks to keep users intrigued. 
  • Long-form videos are for deeper engagement.
  • Treat Shorts and long-form content as an interworking strategy where one feeds into another. Shorts open the loop; long-form closes it.

Geothermal energy. Ever heard of it? It’s about using the heat in the Earth’s core for renewable, sustainable energy. The issues are 1. Creating maps for the best places to access this heat and 2. Supporting funding. Project Innerspace is pushing this effort forward by “facilitating the rapid transfer of resources, technologies, and know-how from the oil and gas industry toward geothermal energy production.”

🎵🌍 Plus, their anthem is a BOP. 🤘

My favorite networking question is:

How did you get to where you are?

Evoked by the question is a story of bold moves, lucky breaks, well-learned mistakes, sage advice, gratitude, and inspiration to fuel your career journey.

Heck, you could ask anyone that question. It not only teaches you, but it helps the storyteller remember their path with pride and reverence.

Let the good (digital marketing) times roll, my friends. ✌️☮️

Natalie

1. Trick question because both b) and c) answers were only partially correct. Google is not reporting Clicks data for AI Overviews and AI Mode in GA4 or GSC.
2. c) According to this story in the NY Times, AI Overviews is accurate about 90% of the time. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? 
3. a) 31% of respondents said they would trust brands less when they saw clear use of AI-generated content. And, yes, 7% said it would make them trust the brand more.
4. c) Flame-out queries are not a thing but the other differences are true according to this story we shared. Still, there are more similarities than differences and DBE’s approach to SAIO is designed to attract all AI Search Engines. 
5. a), b), c), and d) were all topics.

Hiya,

Digital marketing news comin’ your way in 3, 2, 1….

• Google GA4’s AI Assistant default channel is visible (yay!) but there is a catch (aww)… or three (boo).

• • Catch 1: It only captures traffic when it can determine if an AI-assistant is the referrer. No referrer, no capture. A lot of AI traffic gets dropped in the Direct or other channel buckets.
  • Catch 2: Perplexity is not typically included in the AI Assistant default channel because it is tagged as a perplexity.ai referrer.
  • Catch 3: Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode clicks are still invisible, mixed in with the Organic Search channel.
  • Bottom line: GA4’s AI Assistant is under-reporting the real impact of AI platforms traffic to your website. We still need to rely on “homemade” filters for AI traffic data.

• B2B Tech Marketers study reveals the knowledge gaps brands are facing as they look to leverage Generative Engine Optimization (GEO, AEO, SAIO, etc.). The prominent issues include not knowing (1.) the prompts used by their target market; (2.) what content is currently being cited by AI engines; (3.) their competitors’ AI visibility; and (4.) how to build entity authority. Hint: conducting AI audits is the first step to filling those gaps! 

• The June Google Spam Update just finished, and guess what it targeted. (Hold for effect…) It homed in on GenAI response manipulation – particularly from planted mentions from user-generated content (UGC) on trustworthy sites. If your site allows UGC, it may be worth looking into vetting tools with this new rollout.

• Sometimes, I like to imagine what malicious hackers could build if they weren’t focused on hacking. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that reality and must remain scrupulous with digital security. Agentic AI only exaggerates this hacking problem — Google released several best practices to stay safe when using it.

• YouTube video content could be a hot solution for generating AI reach and citations… if your videos are optimized correctly. Can your titles and chapter markers/timestamps be formatted like popular AI prompts? Do your descriptions include enough relevant keywords and links to your site? MultiVision Digital has some top tips and tricks for you!

 

• Did ya hear? LinkedIn added collaborative posts!

From the Stone Pony to the Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ has a guitar case full of musical history. The Asbury Park Music Foundation provides music education to under-served youth in Monmouth County and supports local musicians through summer concerts that bring the community together. Check out their free concerts if you’re nearby!

*Natalie places the tonearm on the record player, slight scratching ensues before “You’re My Best Friend” by Queen starts playing.*

Supportive friendships can actually be healthy for you.

Talking to and being with your buddy can lower your blood pressure, lower your heart rate, and even help you deem problems to be more manageable.

So, call up your bestie and thank them for being awesome.

See ya on the flipside!

Natalie

The story behind the song if you’re interested!

Did the title draw you in?

I hope so, because that’s my best metaphor for this week’ s batch of digital marketing news.

• LLMs.txt is not about getting discovered by AI. Google’s John Mueller says that LLMs.txt can result in an untrustworthy assessment of a website’s content. Focus on HTML is still key for SEO and SAIO, folks, so make sure it’s efficient and clear!

• 80% of ChatGPT product recommendations change when search is enabled in the ChatGPT settings. While not discussed in this story, we think this dynamic represents the high degree of influence of search visibility on ChatGPT (and other LLMs), reinforcing the complementary strategy of SEO and SAIO. 

• Bing Webmaster Tools has updated query classifications! The AI Performance tab now has intent, topic, citations, and citation shares (clicks still are not yet available). Here’s the Bing Help page on it.

• AI is shifting how brand loyalty is earned. The trick is knowing “the signals AI systems use to evaluate trust and relevance.” CMO of Razorfish, Ryan Warren, states the signals AI use to evaluate brands are “how consistently they deliver, how clearly they communicate value, how well they align with a customer’s expectations across every interaction.” 

• seoClarity has an insightful, free AEO Certification Course. You’ll learn how LLMs work and how to approach content creation/implementation on your website.

• Rand Fishkin and SparkToro released some chin-scratching research on zero-click searches across 6 countries. The US and UK had higher rates of zero-click searches than other European countries included (Germany, Italy, and France). Is this because of the EU’s protective legislation? Maybe. Remember: even though zero-click searches are still helpful places to gain brand visibility, as long as your site is well optimized.

• I may have choked on some water while reading this headline: “Social media is the leading source of news, per Reuters.” Before we write this off as a total #YIKES, let’s overlay the pros and cons. Yes, social media is king at spreading misinformation and users can be manipulated by platform owners/algorithms. But, we are able to connect to stories we may have never seen on news channels or in the morning paper. Information runs wild and free in this era — we must parse through it to maintain our sanity.

Over 4 million young people in the U.S. won’t have a safe place to sleep at least one night this year. Covenant House provides immediate and long-term support for young people facing homelessness and survivors of trafficking. They are open 24/7 and provide help to young people in 34 cities across Canada, Latin America and the United States. Discover more: Covenant House.

I think the mixture of forgetfulness and time are some of the healthiest healers.

They provide space to let go of the grudges and repair the wounds that plague our consciousness.

There’s a reason why (most of us) can’t remember every word of a disagreement verbatim. Forgetfulness and time let us view life through a new lens — one endowed with wisdom to uncover happiness and forgiveness despite the troubles that once weighed us down.

¡Adiós, amigos!

Natalie

If you’re hosting a FIFA watch party or attending trivia night soon, here are some fun facts for your crew!

Heyo!

Digital marketing news waits for no one — let’s get started!

• Anthropic asked the AI industry to hit the brakes – what does that mean for SEO and search marketers? This crazy hard truth was dropped by a company whose IPO is just about to hit the market. The premise of the AI industry halting development after one blog seems too far off to become reality. SEJ article’s “3 Things You Should Do Right Now” section echoes one of our pillars for SEO and SAIO success: “Build your authority on things AI cannot replicate” by leveraging content that demonstrates expertise and lived (i.e., human) experience.

• Google zero-click searches hit 68% in early 2026 — that sounds like a high percentage, but let’s add a little more perspective. The article includes data on zero-click searches from 2020 — pre-AI era — that showed 65% of Google searches ended with zero-clicks (so not that much has changed). The research focuses on the initial search and not follow-up searches in Google. Data on clicks from AI Overviews or AI Mode results are still not being parsed and factored. Finally, we do not know the search intent behind the searches. (Some searches are informational and don’t require a click for more information.) Still, we’re not ignoring the zero-click data and the importance of optimizing content to be referenced in initial answers and for the right keywords and prompts that will drive relevant clicks to your website when someone wants more info and clicks through. 

• A fresh look on how Claude and ChatGPT differ in their approach in retrieving answers to prompts. Some of the findings:
  • Claude only does web searches to find relevant information about 37% of the time compared with about 90% for ChatGPT. Of course, that number varies based on search intent.
  • Claude results overlay with Google rankings at a 64% rate (higher than ChatGPT).
  • Claude’s fan-out queries often include years as a way to discover recency factors.
  • Takeaways we have for consideration: 1. There continues to be a strong link between SEO and traditional search rankings as a necessary ingredient for AI citation success. 2. While the LLMs may differ in their approaches to answering prompts, there are enough similarities to warrant concentrating on a SAIO strategy that covers all vs. trying to game each individually.

• Get this… you can edit the elements of your ChatGPT-generated image in Canva!

• We knew it was coming… Instagram Plus is here with a subscription model. Features include extending visibility of your Stories, Stories insights, and a more custom bio.

• When your likeness can be cloned in seconds through AI, how do we moderate and protect creators and, well, everyone? Some celebrities are trademarking specific phrases and clips. Others are working with GenAI to develop these clones. I think regulations about AI cloning will be making their way across the bend soon.

We know that the mental illness crisis is widespread and needs support. The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation is working to alleviate the suffering caused by mental illness. They have awarded 6,880+ grants to over 5,730 scientists leading breakthroughs in this area. Learn more: Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.

Our President & CEO, Niki, shared a beautiful metaphor on the people in our lives in her latest Niki’s Notes newsletter:

“By framing our lives as theater productions, I saw these people on the stage with me in the story of my life—they were central characters. But in their life story, I wasn’t on the stage. In fact, I didn’t even rate a front-row seat. I was in the back of the theater handing out programs—somewhat useful, but not at all central to the play. 

And in realizing this, I had an “ah ha!” No more hurt feelings, no more misaligned expectations. I could choose to keep handing out programs, ask for a front-row seat or a part on the stage, or I could simply exit the theater. The choice was up to me.”

Some people will come in and out of your life, while some will stick around for the long haul. Don’t forget that you’re the casting director of your own show.

Take a deep breath. Hold it. Then, let it out slowly. You got this, my friends.

Natalie

Niki’s Notes has it all!

Heya,

Digital marketing news never stops, so here’s your catch-up!

• Google’s May Core Update rolled out with significant ranking volatility. There’s no specific guidance with this one, but here’s a summary of Google’s previous advice. Pick your favorite source: Search Engine Land or Search Engine Roundtable. 

• (Almost) a hip-hip-hooray! 🎉 Google is introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console. The “beta” version will only provide aggregate Gen AI (AI Overviews and AI Mode) Impressions data for pages — no Query, Clicks, CTR, or Position yet. (Not like Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance features that offer both Grounding Queries and Pages.) When will this new GSC feature be available to you? We’re still waiting to see AI Assistant as a default channel group in GA4, which was announced almost a month ago, so don’t hold your breath.

• ChatGPT early-access launched conversion ads on June 5th. NOTE: ChatGPT still says to treat their ads as a test channel rather than a performance one, soooo take this all as you will…. 

• Mini-dramas. That’s what TikTok’s new course is calling “a new program that will provide training on how to write short, episodic narratives, and tap into the key themes that make these short-form soap operas a hit.” Basically, you thought mini-series were too short, here come miniscule series on America’s favorite video-first platform. Here’s Social Media Today’s coverage.

• Speaking of series, Meta is testing a new Reels “Series” feature that lets select creators organize videos into episodes with a dedicated hub on their profile, mirroring TikTok’s functionality.

• People aren’t just typing keywords into Google anymore. Google Ads introduced AI Brief to allow advertisers to advertise based on a prompt instead of keyword lists. This, again, runs into the issue of trust and corporate AI usage rules. This may be a great feature for smaller businesses, but larger, stricter companies may have to wait until further testing is done to advertise.

• AI appears to be a double-edged sword when it comes to paid search hiring ads. It is cutting performance in two directions: 
  • First, AI is reducing headcounts (so less hiring and less need to market job openings). 
  • Second, traffic from GenAI sources to US retail sites surged 393% YoY in Q1 and apparently converted better than paid search and email (which may mean there may be less of a need to use paid search altogether).

Outright is fighting for the rights of LGBTIQ people everywhere. With staff in more than 12 countries, they partner with local organizations that work directly with the community to help push for change in governments globally. They even have a permanent presence in the UN in New York: Outright International. Happy pride, y’all!

Many kids pick up language before learning to walk.

As kids grow into adults, learning languages does not come as easily. (This is for a whole bunch of neurological reasons.) BUT DON’T THROW IN THE TOWEL JUST YET!

Duolingo’s article points out a bunch of great tips to keep your brain learning, but my favorite is “willingness to make mistakes.”

As adults, we swerve to avoid making mistakes, but the best way to learn is after making them (research for my doubters).

More mistakes = better learn!

I mean, “learning.” 😉

Peace out rockstars, 🤘

Natalie

That’s how many days Duolingo and I have been tight… because one day I will speak conversational Russian with my fiance’s family. (How many nuanced endings can one noun have? Too many for one girl to keep up.)

*cue “Seasons of Love” from Rent for my folks who tried to sing the lyrics while reading “1,329 Days”… or was that just me?*

Howdy,

Another day, another digital marketing news flash!

• Google is expanding its “Preferred Sources” feature from News to AI Overviews and AI Mode responses. This expansion will allow users to see more links from Preferred Sources they select. Click-through Rates on Preferred Sources are reportedly double that of other links. But there are questions on the metrics and whether these clicks are more valuable. Here’s Google’s Announcement and their Guide for how it works.

• ChatGPT increased the number of links to brands in its responses, by 150%, actually. Around 60% of this traffic is landing on brand homepages specifically, but there is also a 24% lift in pageviews per visit and 11% uplift in time on site. It’s another reason you should be examining branded keyworded traffic in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools for signs of AI influence on traffic.

• Who is buying ads on your brand’s ChatGPT traffic? See how you can check it manually via SEJ. (This is a sponsored post from AdRadar, so if you’d rather use their tool, that is an option as well.)

• Google Search Quality Raters Guidelines — it isn’t a guide for search rankings but a guide for what Google wants to rank in search results. In Google-ese, they say “these guidelines are what are used by our search raters to help evaluate the performance of our various search ranking systems, and their ratings don’t directly influence ranking.” It’s a little confusing, but they recommend it’s worth a read if you’re interested. 🤷‍♀️

• “Education around AI can’t just mean teaching people HOW to use it. It has to mean teaching people when NOT to use it. And WHY.” Ann Handley says it so articulately. For marketers and creators, knowing when to use AI is the boundary between successful, unique campaigns and blending into the crowd.

• Two stories related to AI and jobs: 63% of Workers Admit to Exaggerating AI Skills; the second quotes OpenAI’S Altman as saying “AI unlikely to lead to ‘jobs apocalypse'” saying that human interaction in many roles limits how far AI can replace workers. So, is the AI jobs glass half empty or half full?

• Social media managers deserve our appreciation. 👏 Here’s why from social media consultant  extraordinaire, Jon-Stephen Stansel.

• Bluesky is jumping on the long-form content bandwagon through an integration with Standard.site. Definitely worth checking out if Bluesky is in your social strategy. 

• Spotify is allowing users to clip parts of podcasts for sharing, which I don’t need to explain how awesome this is for marketers supporting podcasts!

Their goal is simple. Plant more trees. One Tree Planted is a global organization focused on reforestation in North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific. Every dollar supports the planting of trees. Check them out: One Tree Planted.

🪴 It’s time. That pre-summer sun is calling to your little indoor plant on the windowsill, so, naturally, you plop her outside to be her natural self. 

Two days later, you check on your little buddy and those top leaves are white and crackly. (Noooo.)

Turns out, indoor plant leaves can get “sunburned” as they are grilled in a heat under which they are not accustomed (as Lira the lemon tree taught me). The key is to acclimate them or “harden them off” by starting with a few hours outside and gradually increasing the time over a week.

Think about this. How many times do we jump into something new and expect ourselves to be totally okay? Then, you’re freaking out because you forgot where you put your phone for the umteenth time this week, you left your lunch (tuna salad) in your car to cook, and you can’t remember if the person you are talking to is named Sandra or Sally.

When we don’t give ourselves space to process change, we can “sunburn our leaves.” Can you dedicate time in another aspect of your life to unwind? Get lost in conversation, carve time for a hobby, or get more rest (highly recommended for everyone). 

Like Lira, we aren’t perfectly adaptable, so try acclimating instead. 🙂

Have a wonderful rest of your week!

Natalie

For years, my mom thought the B-52s sang, “Henry” instead of “Tin Roof — rusted” in their party song staple, “Love Shack”. (Don’t ask me how… I’m flummoxed myself.)

But anyway, here are the most popular misheard song lyrics.