Amazon has abruptly exited Google Shopping ad auctions, a move with significant implications for Alphabet’s ad revenue and retail advertisers worldwide. Mike Ryan, Head of Ecommerce Insights at SMEC, calls the shift “colossal” and compares it to the dramatic pullback Amazon made during the pandemic lockdowns. Whats happening. Ryan said about the news: “Amazon has […]
Google Ads investigating reports of issues
Google Ads is currently having issues with advertisers being able to fully access and control their ads within the advertiser console. Google confirmed the issue at 7:53 pm ET today. What Google said. Google wrote: “We’re investigating reports of an issue with Google Ads. We will provide more information shortly. The affected users are able […]
Shifts in data privacy are forcing a return to marketing fundamentals
User-level data is drying up, and with it, the way we plan, target, and measure in search marketing is changing. Privacy regulations, platform shifts, and evolving AI tools are forcing PPC marketers to move beyond hyper-targeting and revisit core marketing fundamentals. This article outlines why that shift matters – and how to adapt. A world […]
How to stay grounded (and inspired) as AI changes search and SEO
If you are in or around SEO and have looked on LinkedIn at all in the last two years, you’ve likely witnessed firsthand the wildfire that our industry has become. LLMs and AI chat tools are cutting into organic traffic in ways we can now see. ChatGPT is eating away at Google’s share. AI-powered features […]
Tax settings no longer needed in U.S. Google product feeds
Google Merchant Center now (as of July 1st) automatically calculates tax for U.S. merchants — no manual setup required. Why we care. The change eliminates a frequent source of product disapprovals and simplifies the feed setup process, especially for retailers using dynamic shipping rates. How it works. Google will now apply the correct sales tax […]
Google faces EU antitrust complaint over AI Overviews
A coalition of independent publishers filed a formal antitrust complaint with the European Commission against Google, accusing the tech giant of using its AI-generated summaries — known as AI Overviews — to siphon traffic and revenue from news outlets across Europe. The group, led by the Independent Publishers Alliance, is also urging regulators to impose […]
Black Hat SEO – A Bad Idea Disguised As A Cunning Plan
Since the development of Search Engine Optimisation as a concept, there has been a fairly obvious temptation for some people to try to rig the system in their favor by using the principles of SEO in a less-than-honest way. Because the idea of SEO is they keywords create cash, the idea that has occurred to […]
Is There Such A Thing As Too Much SEO?
It is obviously not easy to write good, SEO-compliant content for a website and still have a standard of content which will impress your readers, and this often shows in the more amateurish attempts at writing a website. One mistake a lot of people make is in thinking that the more they use a keyword, […]
SEO: A Tool For Boosting Your Ranking, Not A Silver Bullet
There are many people who have just enough knowledge of the way the Internet and search engines work to know that search engine optimization is important, but not enough knowledge to know that it will not just solve all your problems. SEO is not something you can apply and then sit back and wait for […]