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.

Oh good, you’re here!

I gotta catch you up — digital marketing news is moving too quickly to fall behind!

• Calling my content marketers: we shouldn’t be thinking only about what people are asking AI chatbots for content development, but… which questions are worth answering through content. And while we’re at it, we should be figuring out how we can answer those questions authentically in ways that are clear and helpful to your audience.

• Google dropped a lot on us at I/O 2026. Here’s the roundup:
  • Gemini 3.5 Flash rolled out and is surpassing coding, agentic, and multimodal benchmarks. (3.5 Pro is in testing.)
  • Gemini Spark is “your personal agent” that works with you as a partner rather than just an assistant.
  • Google Search AI Mode is powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash with an intelligent Search box. Have you seen it yet?
  • Universal Cart helps you keep track of price drops, price history, insights, and stock alerts.
  • Ask YouTube can handle more complex search queries and follow-ups.

• What does Google’s search bar expansion and AI-first announcement mean for organic search traffic? This analysis of How AI Overviews Are Changing User Behavior provides some interesting perspective. The appearance of an AI Overview on the search result page (SERP) is increasing the amount of time and scrolling activity by users as they review and consider the range of information being presented. While it’s too early to gauge the analytics impact of the Google’s new AI-first search experience, we have some premonitions based on what we have already been seeing:
• Impressions in Google Search Results will continue to increase, but click-through-rates (CTR) will drop. So, Organic Search Traffic volume will be lower than previous averages.
• However, the value of the Organic Search Clicks you get will increase as the user has considered your content to be more relevant to their needs. This will result in higher overall Conversion Rates.

• On a related note, a McKinsey survey of US consumers puts “Research and understanding general topics” as the top use of AI by task. “Discover and/or decide on brands, products, or services” has the third-highest use of AI. Note, we added the italics on “decide” to emphasize the brand consideration aspect of AI per above.

• The Google May 2026 Core Update is up and at ‘em. The fact sheet that went live with the holiday weekend may have been just the right pairing to cause a shock in the SEO world. But like we say with all updates, as long as you’re following white-hat SEO best practices and other tips we’ve been sharing, you should be alright. (You can let out the breath you’ve been holding now.)

• LinkedIn wants to limit the reach on its platform for AI-generated content. This is a bit confusing, as they have been offering an AI feature to help you rewrite your content. So, let’s draw it back to what we continue to reiterate: humans need to stay in the content creation process, especially as people see through the AI facade.

Operation USA (otherwise known as OpUSA) has been helping people across the world recover from disasters, disease, and poverty since 1979. They’ve delivered over $450 million in aid for relief and development projects worldwide. Learn more and how to support: Operation USA.

…

Ellipses. Those three little dots in a line can mean so many things, but one thing they always signal is continuation… after a pause.

Dot, dot, dot is a thought, a breath, before action. 

When life feels too quick, it’s time to write an ellipsis into your day. A few deep breaths of fresh air. A head-clearing walk. A silent drive. 

Don’t forget that you write your own adventure.

Stay awesome, friends! 🌞

Natalie

Why do the best ideas come to us in the shower?

Why isn’t Walt Disney World overrun by mosquitos?

Why do cats love cardboard boxes?

Get your dose of fun facts here!

Y’all ready for this… week’s marketing extravaganza?

*commence playing the Space Jam theme by 2 Unlimited*

• A spoonful of Experience helps the AI content go down. 🎶 That’s how Mary Poppins would sing it if she were in search marketing. But, truly, Google’s 5 AI search linking enhancements emphasize the need for the uniquely human aspects of your content to get cited in AI search. SEO specialist, Lily Ray, posted about the potential to write content in first person to emphasize the “Experience” aspect of E-E-A-T. Our VP of Strategy, Marc Engelsman has an easily digestible summary of the enhancements to satiate your curiosity.

• 📰 Extra, extra read all about it! Google released its first guide on AI Optimization. TL;DR: its SEO best practices but the crawlers are smarter. Their mythbusting section was most interesting, but we have our own thoughts:
  • “LLMS.txt files and other “special” markup” – Google agrees that you don’t need these. (Again, AI is purdy smart.)
  • “Rewriting content just for AI systems” – While you don’t need to write in a specific way for AI, you do need to write content that answers the prompts people search in AI vs. traditional search engines. 
  • “Overfocusing on structured data” – You don’t need to focus on structured data for AIO, but you need it for SEO, soooo verdict is just keep implementing it.

• ChatGPT announced the launch of a self-service ads platform.. Here’s a dive into the platform directly. Look for the “Helpful resources” that will provide the basics about the ads formats and pricing structure. You can use the Cost-Per Click (CPC) model that Open AI suggests a starting Max bid of $3-$5 or the Cost-Per-Thousand (CPM) model with a suggested $60 CPM. Traditional paid measurements include Conversions though there is no guidance on expected results in terms of Click-Through-Rate (CTR) or Conversion Rates.

• Get hyped for this article title: Google Analytics Adds AI Assistant As Default Channel Group. That’s right — Google Analytics now has an “AI Assistant” as a channel medium. We don’t know exactly which chatbots are in the list, but this is a good start toward tracking AI traffic!

• A recent CMO Council survey asked, “What skills should marketers prioritize in the next 3 years?” The top answers were Performance Measurement, Data Storytelling, and Emotional Intelligence. Surprisingly, AI Expertise and Coordinating AI and Human Workflows were further down the list of priorities. Surprisingly as there are growing use cases for leveraging AI to help with performance measurement and data storytelling. AI does not augment emotional intelligence so much (yet).

• Storing your data should be like organizing a pantry – everyone who needs to access it (your team), your pets can’t easily waltz in to steal your snacks (data security), and nothing is past its expiration (the data is clean). EMARKETER goes over the importance of data clean rooms that combine raw first-party data in a secure digital environment. Not only applicable to retail media, this strategy aids companies in making informed, cost-effective decisions. Stay in the loop on all the data clean room’s benefits here.

• “The best thing you can find online is a reason to go offline.” That’s a new line in Pinterest’s campaign to encourage people to get off their phones. No, no, Pinterest isn’t saying people shouldn’t use social media, but use it wisely. Success is viewed in clicks and conversions instead of time on the platform. I think it’s smart and different, but some will view it as disingenuous. Where do you stand?

The KinderSmile Foundation provides comprehensive dental care and dental hygiene education to underserved children and families, regardless of insurance status. With three locations in Bloomfield, Newark, and Trenton, they served over 8,800 patients across NJ in 2025 alone. Show them some appreciation and see what they do: KinderSmile Foundation.

Contempt.

It’s the #1 predictor of divorce, according to The Gottman Institute.

Contempt finds a way to poison perspectives, hiding the goodness from view. It allows us to attack another’s character and assumes moral superiority over others. Holding onto contempt makes people more likely to suffer from infectious disease.

The positive counterpart to this domineering emotion is building appreciation and gratitude. It’s appreciating the positive qualities — being grateful for the good. 

While we shouldn’t ignore emotions building up in any relationship type, an element of understanding goes a long way to helping everyone feel better long term.

Happy Odin’s Day… Wednesday!

Natalie

There are a few theories on how we got the names of the week. But one of my favorites is from Norse mythology. Today is the god of god’s day, Odin.