Website migrations are one of the most challenging aspects of SEO.

No matter how much experience you have in technical SEO, how detailed your plan is, or how thorough your checklist may be, unexpected issues can still arise. 

That’s why post-migration monitoring is just as crucial as the migration itself – especially in the first month when hidden problems are most likely to surface.

This article tackles some of the most surprising post-launch errors I’ve encountered, along with practical tips on how to identify and resolve them before they cause serious damage.

Random 404 pages

This issue drove me crazy. It’s a nightmare for SEO testing because it skews every tool and report we rely on. 

When you can’t trust the data, it’s impossible to know what’s actually broken or how it impacts performance.

During the post-migration phase of updating our JavaScript library, we noticed random 404 errors in our SEO tools and Google Search Console. 

The strange part? 

The affected pages weren’t consistent, and every time we checked manually, they loaded fine with a 200 status. 

As a result, all other reports became unreliable, making proper analysis nearly impossible.

These random 404s often stem from server-side issues such as rate limiting, where the server denies access to bots after too many requests. 

Other potential causes include:

• Misconfigured caching.
• Inconsistent DNS resolution.
• Load balancer errors that occasionally route requests to an unavailable server.

Identifying the root cause requires detailed server log analysis to track bot request and response patterns. 

And here’s the biggest lesson I learned: Without access to server logs, you’re fighting this battle blind.

Ensure your SEO team has access to the necessary server log tools and, at the very least, understands the basics of how they work. 

Monitoring bot activity logs can help you demonstrate the issue to developers. Without them, you risk getting stuck in endless debates over the accuracy of SEO tools.

Dig deeper: Website migration checklist: 11 steps for success

Random 500 pages

At first glance, this error looks similar to random 404s, but the cause is usually entirely different and just as difficult to diagnose. 

Even SEO tools like Lumar and Screaming Frog can inadvertently trigger these 500 errors while crawling.

Years ago, one of the websites I worked on had a strict rule: no crawling on weekends and no exceeding three URLs per second. 

Every time we increased our crawling limits, the database server struggled, slowing down the entire site – or worse, crashing it.

These errors often result from complex database queries overloading the server or improperly configured caching. 

Without proper caching, each request is processed individually, compounding the strain and leading to slow load times or intermittent crashes.

And once again, the solution starts with server log access. Without it, you’re just guessing.

Incorrect resource loading

This was one of those moments where I felt like a digital Sherlock Holmes. 

The migration had been completed before I joined the company, and I first noticed the issue during an initial technical audit.

The first clue? 

A mysterious drop in rankings and traffic shortly after the migration. 

There had been a Google update around the same time, so I couldn’t immediately link the decline to the migration. 

To complicate things further, this wasn’t a full migration, just a design revamp.

On the surface, everything seemed fine. Pages loaded correctly, and styles and JavaScript worked perfectly for users. 

Yet, in Google Search Console’s inspection tool, the same pages often appeared broken and unstyled. 

The issue was inconsistent, making it nearly impossible to replicate in front of the dev team. 

As a new team member still building trust, convincing them there was a deeper problem wasn’t easy. 

In hindsight, my mistake was not checking the browser console earlier.

Three months later, a single browser console message finally revealed the root cause: a script was loading out of order.

Due to caching, Googlebot sometimes saw the website correctly and other times didn’t, explaining the erratic behavior.

It was a tough reminder that small technical details – like the sequence of resource loading – and overlooking an obvious diagnostic step can significantly impact SEO performance.

My key tip: Check your website in different browsers and carefully review the error and warning messages in the console. 

If you’re unfamiliar with developer terminology, consult an independent expert or even multiple AI tools for explanations.

Non-existent URLs

While investigating those frustrating random 404 errors, I stumbled upon another issue almost by accident. 

While reviewing Google Search Console’s report on pages discovered but not indexed, I noticed an unusual pattern – several non-existent URLs appearing under certain sections, marked as duplicate content.

Instead of returning 404 errors as expected, these URLs resolved as normal pages with a 200 status code.

This type of error presents two major risks:

• From an SEO perspective, search engines treat these URLs as legitimate, potentially indexing irrelevant or duplicate pages, wasting crawl budget, and harming rankings. 
• From a security standpoint, it creates a vulnerability – malicious actors could generate thousands of random URLs, overloading the server.

Unfortunately, this issue is difficult to detect before it becomes a real problem. In my case, I was just lucky.

Don’t wait to stumble upon it. Make sure to:

• Regularly check whether sections of your site allow non-existent URLs to resolve with a 200 status.
• Build a list of key sections and test them monthly with your crawler. Even minor backend changes – not just full migrations – can trigger this issue.
• Prioritize pages generated programmatically or dynamically, as they are the most common culprits.

Managing hreflang tags on a multilingual website is challenging, and even small mistakes can cause big issues. 

On one website I worked on, we typically created pages in English first and then localized them. 

However, in some cases, only a local version existed, and the hreflang x-default was mistakenly set to an English page that didn’t exist.

Incorrect hreflang tags confuse search engines, which rely on them to identify the correct language or regional version of a page. 

When these tags are wrong, search engines may struggle to understand the site’s structure or ignore the hreflang implementation entirely.

Normally, we would have caught this in our migration checks. 

But at the time, we were buried in troubleshooting random 404 errors. 

We also made the mistake of not manually testing localized pages across different templates.

To prevent this in future migrations:

• Make a detailed list of site-specific checks. Generic migration checklists are a good starting point, but they need to be customized for the website and CMS.
• Manually test localized pages across different templates to ensure correct hreflang and canonical tag implementation.

Dig deeper: How to run a successful site migration from start to finish

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JavaScript rendering failures

JavaScript-driven content that users can see but search bots can’t is a common and often overlooked issue. 

This typically happens when widgets or content sections rely on JavaScript to render, but the scripts aren’t fully crawlable or properly executed by search engine bots. 

(Google offers a great resource to help you understand JavaScript basics.)

If you’re unsure how a widget works, use this simple test: 

• Does it display the full content immediately, or does it require user interaction? 

If it’s the latter, it likely relies on JavaScript, meaning search and AI bots might not see everything.

To catch this issue, run both a JavaScript-enabled crawl and a pure HTML crawl, then compare the results. 

A quick manual test can also help. 

• Search for a specific sentence or element from the widget in your rendered HTML source. 
• If it’s missing, search bots are probably missing it too.

Resolving this often requires improving server-side rendering or ensuring that scripts load properly for both users and crawlers.

Since website migrations often leave little time for testing, make it a priority to run these two crawls post-migration to identify and fix any rendering issues.

Dig deeper: A guide to diagnosing common JavaScript SEO issues

Loss of tracking data

Tracking data loss can be a subtle yet costly post-migration issue.

In one real-world case, everything initially appeared fine. Analytics data was flowing and visits were being logged.

However, after a few days, it became clear that users arriving via paid ads were losing their tracking parameters as they navigated the site.

This meant subsequent pageviews within the same session were no longer attributed to the original paid campaign, disrupting remarketing efforts.

The cause? 

Improper handling of URL parameters during the migration.

Website migrations require cross-team monitoring, not just from the SEO team. 

While this issue didn’t directly impact SEO rankings, it still had major consequences.

Before migration begins, triple-check your plan to ensure all relevant teams are involved. 

Migration testing should go beyond SEO, incorporating analytics, development, and marketing teams to safeguard tracking parameters and user attribution. 

Each team should have pre-migration reports for comparison after launch.

While planning may not fall under SEO’s direct responsibility, identifying gaps in the project plan and raising concerns is essential.

Dig deeper: 12 SEO pitfalls to avoid during a website platform migration

Disappeared pages

This case is a perfect example of why having pre-migration data is crucial.

Everything appeared flawless during testing. 

The site functioned as expected on staging and even in production with internal DNS switched. 

But as soon as external DNS was activated, a third of the blog posts disappeared. 

The rest of the site remained intact, making the issue easy to overlook.

With all teams focused on testing tracking, forms, redirects, hreflang tags, and canonicals, no one initially noticed the missing pages. 

Ironically, it wasn’t an SEO tool or a developer check that caught the problem, but a regional manager. 

A few days before migration, she updated a blog image and wanted to verify that the change had transferred. 

Not only was the image missing, but the entire blog post was gone.

I’ll admit, I can’t explain exactly what caused this from a technical perspective. 

But the takeaway is clear: always conduct a full audit before migration begins. 

Using a crawler’s comparison mode can quickly highlight discrepancies like this before they become major problems.

Impact on admin settings

Not every issue affects SEO, but that doesn’t mean it won’t cause problems.

During a backend update, we encountered an unexpected challenge: Lumar and Screaming Frog were overwhelming the CMS admin panel. 

Each time a crawl was initiated, the surge in requests made it nearly impossible for editors to update content or make changes.

It’s important to remember that you’re not the only one using these tools. 

Crawlers are frequently employed for competitor analysis, meaning your website and CMS must function properly even under heavy crawling pressure.

In some organizations, SEO teams don’t have direct access to the CMS or manage content updates. 

If that’s the case, ensure content teams go through their usual workflows with test pieces after migration. 

Coordinating this with SEO crawls helps assess how resilient your system truly is.

The biggest mistake: Underestimating post-migration monitoring

Website migrations, revamps, redesigns, updates. Whatever you call them, they’re always complex. 

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is underestimating the challenges involved. 

Any change carries the risk of something going wrong.

Some errors, like broken redirects or missing pages, are immediately noticeable. 

Others, such as tracking failures or JavaScript rendering issues, may take time to detect. 

That’s why post-migration monitoring is just as critical as the migration itself.

The best way to mitigate these risks is to:

• Create a detailed project plan covering all potential issues.
• Document everything.
• Run audits before and after migration.
• Collaborate across teams.

A successful migration isn’t just about making the switch; it’s an ongoing process of monitoring, testing, and improving.

Dig deeper: How to speed up site migrations with AI-powered redirect mapping

Last week, Avinash Kaushik said, “The best way to make a Super Bowl ad effective is through ‘spike and sustain’ marketing.” 

He also explained that releasing teasers, ads, and extended versions before the Big Game is part of the “sustain” strategy, building momentum ahead of the “spike” in viewership. 

Super Bowl LIX drew 113 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

Many brands embraced this strategy, unveiling their commercials early to build buzz and maximize exposure. 

By midday Sunday, more than 40 ads had already been released, and several organizations had analyzed those aired before Feb. 9.

Pre-game Super Bowl ads that made an impact

For example, iSpot.tv identified “Budweiser | Super Bowl LIX ‘First Delivery’” as the early winner based on consumer surveys. 

A young Clydesdale foal, eager to join the Budweiser delivery team, is told he’s too young. While the other horses depart, a keg falls off the wagon unnoticed. 

The foal, determined to prove himself, embarks on a long journey, pushing the keg through various obstacles. 

He successfully delivers the keg to the bar, interrupting a “horse walks into a bar” joke and impressing the driver who had dismissed him earlier. 

The foal is rewarded with recognition and a sense of accomplishment.

“Somebody | It Takes All of Us SB LIX,” which features players mentoring kids, was the most emotionally resonant and attention-grabbing Super Bowl ad released before the Big Game, according to DAIVID. 

It evoked intense positive emotions in over half of viewers, particularly feelings of warmth, inspiration, and pride, all significantly higher than the U.S. average. 

The ad also held viewers’ attention better than average ads, both at the beginning and the end.

And Sprout Social‘s social media analysis showed strong performance for “A Century of Cravings | Uber Eats.” 

Their successful celebrity-filled advertisement features Matthew McConaughey, Charli XCX, and Martha Stewart and cleverly incorporates the stadium’s name into a joke about Stewart’s Caesar salad.

The best Super Bowl ads released during the Big Game

Some of the roughly 80 Super Bowl spots cost a record $8 million for 30 seconds this year, per the Associated Press. 

The granddaddy of rating TV commercials during the Big Game, “Budweiser | Super Bowl LIX ‘First Delivery’” ranked no. 1 with a score of 3.56 out of 5, according to USA Today’s Ad Meter. (Kudos to iSpot.tv for picking this winner ahead of time.)

In second spot was “LAY’S | The Little Farmer | :60,” with a score of 3.55. As the video’s description says, “One little potato. One big dream.”

In third place was “The ULTRA Hustle | Super Bowl LIX | Michelob ULTRA” with a score of 3.52. 

As the ad’s description declares, “You can’t out-hustle a hustler. Willem Dafoe, Catherine O’Hara, Sabrina Ionescu, Randy Moss, and Ryan Crouser.”

In fourth position was “Stella Artois | David & Dave: The Other David” with a score of 3.51. 

So, David Beckham goes to meet his long-lost twin, played by Matt Damon. 

What do they have in common? “A love for Stella? Fancy footwork?” 

Ranked fifth with a score of 3.49 was “Somebody | It Takes All of Us SB LIX.” Congrats to DAIVID for picking this winner ahead of time.

It’s also worth noting that “A Century of Cravings | Uber Eats” finished no. 8 in the USA Today Ad Meter rankings. Sprout Social’s analysis of social media was in the ballpark.

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Alternative metrics for evaluating Super Bowl ads

There are other ways to measure the top ads released during Super Bowl 2025.

For example, DAIVID used its AI-powered platform to analyze 65 Super Bowl ads aired Sunday night, predicting their emotional impact and effectiveness. 

Their AI models combine facial coding, eye tracking, survey data, computer vision, and even listening APIs.

“Somebody | It Takes All of Us SB LIX” was not only the most emotionally engaging ad of the 40+ spots released before the Big Game, but it also generated the most intense positive emotions of the 65 ads shown during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast. 

The ad attracted the highest attention levels of any spot shown.

In second place was “Jeep | Big Game | Harrison Ford x Jeep | Owner’s Manual.” 

As the video’s description acknowledges:

• “Life doesn’t come with an owner’s manual – you have to write your own. And no one knows this better than Harrison Ford.” 

The ad attracted an intense positive emotional response from 54.2% of viewers, according to DAIVID.

In third was “What is Greatness?” from He Get Us.

The video’s description asks:

• “Is being great, as our society defines it, really that great? Or is greatness quite the opposite of what we think it is? In this video, we explore how Jesus redefined true greatness and what it might mean for us. All of us.” 

And 53.3% of people had intense positive emotional responses.

“Own the Dream | Rocket” ranked fourth. The video’s description clearly states:

• “Everyone deserves their shot at the American Dream.” 

This generated intense positive emotional responses with 52.6% of people.

In fifth place was “Pfizer | Big Game Commercial 2025 | Knock Out.” 

As the video’s description explains, “Pfizer is fighting for 8 cancer breakthroughs by 2030.” This triggered intense positive emotional responses from 52.3% of people.

It’s also worth noting that “LAY’S | The Little Farmer | :60” ranked no. 8 and “Budweiser | Super Bowl LIX ‘First Delivery’” ranked no. 10 in DAIVID’s list of Top 10 Most Emotionally Engaging Super Bowl 2025 ads. 

Different methodologies can still yield similar results.

However, DAIVID’s post-game analysis yielded significantly different insights than USA Today’s. 

Super Bowl 2025 ads were the least effective in five years, per DAIVID’s Creative Effectiveness Score. 

The average ad scored 6.2 out of 10, the lowest since 2020, generating less attention and positive emotion than previous years. 

While many advertisers aimed for humor, serious and purpose-driven ads dominated the top 10, with the NFL’s “Somebody” ad being the most emotionally engaging.

Ian Forrester, DAIVID’s CEO and founder, observed:

“With the vast majority of Super Bowl advertisers trying to make us laugh this year, it’s interesting that brands that stepped away from the usual Super Bowl celebrity/humor trope have attracted the most positivity. It shows just how hard it is to cut-through when so many are trying the same approach. With overall effectiveness also down, maybe it’s time brands tried something different to get people’s attention on game day.”

What’s next: Insights beyond the Big Game

In the coming days, digital marketers can expect more rankings from Kantar, System1, and other organizations analyzing the impact of Big Game ads on both performance and branding. 

These insights matter because metrics like Brand Life and Engaged-View Key Events can serve as KPIs for “spike and sustain” campaigns beyond the Super Bowl – whether for back-to-school season, Thanksgiving, or a major product launch.

Google introduced a new prediction model to better evaluate the quality of landing page experiences for search ads. This update is designed to reduce frustrating ad experiences and make it easier for users to find the information they need without unnecessary backtracking.

Driving the news. Google’s new model improves its ability to predict whether a landing page provides a seamless experience. The focus is on reducing “unexpected destinations” by evaluating whether pages offer easy navigation to relevant content.

Ads leading to hard-to-navigate pages are now less likely to appear in search results.

Why we care. This update encourages advertisers to prioritize user-friendly, easily navigable landing pages. Ads leading to confusing or irrelevant destinations are less likely to appear in search results, which could impact traffic for businesses with poorly optimized pages. By investing in creating seamless navigation experiences, you will likely see better engagement and long-term value from your search campaigns.

How it works. Previously, Google’s systems primarily assessed the relevance of landing page content. The updated approach puts greater emphasis on the overall user experience, including navigational clarity.

Real-world example. If a user clicks on an ad expecting a login page but is directed to a promotional page instead:

• Old experience: The user struggles to find the login link and returns to search results in frustration.
• New experience: The user can quickly find the login link from the promotional page, avoiding the need to return to Google Search.

Bottom line. Google’s update underscores the importance of creating relevant, user-friendly landing pages.

For advertisers. To stay competitive, brands should ensure their landing pages are intuitive and help users efficiently access desired information.

• Navigability improvements can boost engagement and lead to long-term value for both users and advertisers.

What’s next. Google plans to continue refining its ads quality systems as search behavior evolves. Expect further updates focused on improving ad experiences and delivering more relevant results.

Google just made a move that disrupted rank tracking, potentially increasing costs and changing how search visibility is measured. 

In January, Google implemented a requirement for JavaScript to render search results, which significantly impacted SEO tools that rely on scraping.

(You may recall there was suddenly a great deal of volatility in the SERPs that was initially attributed to another update. Still, it turned out to be a disruption in data collection that was causing the reports to be all over the place rather than the rankings fluctuating.) 

This change raises questions about the future of rank tracking and how SEOs can adapt. 

While some are ready to declare rank tracking “dead,” the reality is more complicated. 

So, what exactly happened now?

Google “introduced” (read: “sprung upon everyone with no warning”) a requirement for JavaScript to render search results, making traditional scraping techniques significantly more difficult. 

Since most SEO tools need to scrape the SERPs to track keyword rankings, this new mandate means if the tools want to continue providing this service, they must now execute JavaScript, which adds complexity (and costs) and potentially reduces data accuracy.

Google has framed this as an effort to:

• Prevent bots (which is what the tools are).
• “Reduce spam.” 
• Improve security. 

Fair enough. 

However, it also benefits Google by keeping ads highly visible and making AI-driven search features, like AI Overviews, harder to bypass.

This shift means that SEO tools scraping the SERPs must now navigate AI-generated content, potentially requiring them to distinguish between organic rankings and AI-driven responses (this is the added complexity part).

Why this makes sense for Google

Google’s decision to require JavaScript isn’t about making life harder for SEO tools. 

It also conveniently supports their push toward AI-driven search features in a few key ways:

Rendering AI Overviews

AI-generated content, such as Google’s AI Overviews, is dynamically inserted into search results. 

Since JavaScript is required for rendering these elements, enforcing its use ensures that all users (including scrapers) interact with AI-generated content in the same way as human users.

Requiring JavaScript makes it harder for SEO tools to extract clean ranking data, especially when AI Overviews push traditional organic results further down the page. 

Scrapers may now have to differentiate between AI-generated responses and standard search listings, increasing complexity.

Encouraging more Google dependence

By making it more difficult for third-party tools to scrape SERPs, SEO professionals might find it easier to use Google’s own data sources (like Google Search Console and Google Analytics), which naturally integrate AI-powered search insights.

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With Google requiring JavaScript to render search results, SEO tools that rely on scraping now face increased costs. 

Executing JavaScript requires more computing resources, which means tools must invest in more powerful infrastructure or develop more sophisticated methods to continue gathering data.

This likely means higher overhead, and those costs may be passed down to you. 

Some rank tracking services may need to shift their pricing models.

Others may discontinue rank tracking features entirely if they become too expensive to maintain.

Some tools might find ways to work around this limitation by leveraging browser-based scraping techniques, but this could introduce latency issues and further drive up operational costs.

But does this mean rank tracking is dead-dead?

Before we change into our mourning attire, let’s consider what “dead” means in this context. 

Traditional rank tracking – the act of monitoring exact keyword positions across devices and geographies – is without a doubt becoming more difficult. 

But does that mean it’s completely dead? 

No, rank tracking isn’t all dead – more like mostly dead. 

But, as Miracle Max said, “mostly dead is still slightly alive.”

Rank tracking can still shape SEO strategies – it can help you monitor competitor activity, spot trends, and gauge progress. 

But let’s be honest – most of the time, it’s a reporting metric for stakeholders. 

While rankings can be useful, they’ve never been the sole indicator of success. 

SEO has evolved beyond a keyword position arms race, and the industry needs to shift toward more meaningful ways of demonstrating results. 

Which brings us to…

Finding new ways to prove SEO is working

Lately, rank tracking has been more of a reporting tool than a core driver of SEO strategy. 

The industry needs to consider alternative ways of demonstrating success. 

Look at this shake-up as an opportunity to get smarter about measuring success. Here’s how to stay ahead.

Diversify metrics

Move beyond rank tracking to focus on holistic performance indicators such as organic traffic growth, conversion rates, and engagement metrics.

Understand visibility

Embrace tools that measure “share of voice” or visibility across broader topics rather than individual keywords.

Leverage Google’s tools

Take advantage of Google’s own platforms, like Search Console and Google Analytics, which provide actionable insights without the risk of disruption.

Explore JavaScript-ready solutions

Some tools are developing advanced JavaScript rendering capabilities to handle the new challenge. 

Keep an eye on these emerging solutions.

Communicate with stakeholders

If clients or leadership teams rely on rank reports, start conversations now about transitioning to alternative metrics. 

Highlight how these changes align with their broader business goals.

As AI reshapes how search works, the ability to track organic rankings will continue to diminish. 

The user-observed SERPs already have so much personalization and localization, and they’re only going to get more fragmented. 

Smart SEOs will pivot early and embrace more sophisticated ways to measure and report success.

Quit pronouncing everything dead

SEO isn’t dead, nor is rank tracking – but clinging to outdated methods is. 

The game is evolving. You should, too.

SEOs must rethink their reliance on old-school metrics and adapt to this more dynamic and user-centric search ecosystem.

In a landscape where the only constant is change, we must be flexible and adapt to remain effective.

Mastering user intent is all about putting yourself in your user’s shoes. It’s easier to do that if you know what kind of shoes they’re wearing and why.

Create and incorporate user personas in SEO decision-making to create actionable insights in the best interest of your actual users.

Build your search personas

User personas can help you develop a more customized approach to applying user intent to a topic and to your specific users. 

You aren’t just selling a garden rake to someone in Indiana – you’re selling a metal rake to Gretel in Pawnee so she can get rid of slugs in her front yard.

To develop your personas, make a list of your typical users based on what they know, want, and ask. Then, add details about what, how, and where they search.

Consider key factors about your user, then add more specifics based on your industry.

• How much do they know about this topic?
• Are they going to be a one-time or regular visitor?
• How likely are they to buy?
• How long will it take them to make a decision or purchase?
• What kind of features will they need?
• Will their behavior change over time?
• What kinds of brands do they trust?
• What’s their education status or reading comprehension?
• What’s their age range?
• Where are they in their career?
• What’s their location?
• What’s their financial status?
• What are their goals? What do they want to do when they come to my site?
• What would make them trust me?

Creative exercises for inspiration

• Build your personas around real people. Which celebrity would be most likely to be spotted with your product? Which fictional characters would your brand be most appealing to? 
• Your personas don’t have to be people; they can reflect your brand personality. Try using something more abstract like animals, colors, flowers, or cities. Your “power user” could be a Lamborghini, Godzilla, or a Red Power Ranger. 
• Test your persona drafts using ChatGPT or another AI tool. Try this prompt: “Create three variations of a person who fits this description.” Then refine and iterate.
• Start with a Dungeons & Dragons character sheet. Think about strengths, weaknesses, proficiencies, ideals, alignment, background, and personality.

Dig deeper: How to optimize for search intent: 19 practical tips

Example persona exercise

Let’s say you run a gardening ecommerce site. 

While all your users have the same hobby in common, the what, why, and how behind their searches might look very different. 

Your content needs to reflect your target audience.

Lawn Lover Larry 

• Summary: Larry’s retired and invests most of his time maintaining the perfect lawn. He loves having people over for barbecues. He likes when he knows how to do things but gets frustrated easily when he doesn’t.
• Quote: “What will the neighbors think.”
• Motivation: Curb appeal, perfection, feeling superior.
• Wants: Lawn maintenance tools, latest cultivars to stand out, tool organization ideas.
• Likes: Riding lawnmowers, DIY, cornhole.
• Dislikes: Weeds, neighbor dogs, trespassers.
• Emotions: Pride, frustration.
• Trusts: Facebook, friends, big box gardening center.
• Ask: “How do I…”, “what’s the best…”
• Search: Video, text.

Beginner Betty

• Summary: Betty has a few hard-to-kill indoor plants and wants to develop her green thumb outdoors on her patio. She’s just learning how to garden and is easily overwhelmed.
• Quote: “Plant mom vibes.”
• Motivation: Keep plants alive, build confidence.
• Wants: Simple tutorials, new inspiration.
• Likes: Blooming plants, evergreens, succulents, cute pots.
• Dislikes: Condescension, plant pests, dead leaves.
• Emotions: Confusion, excitement.
• Trusts: Pinterest, Tiktok.
• Ask: “How to…”, “what is…”, “what do…”
• Search: Video, image.

Herbalist Herb

• Summary: Herb grows his own produce and wants his garden to work for him. He doesn’t care if his garden is ugly as long as it’s productive. When he’s not gardening, Herb loves foraging for mushrooms and berries with his dog. 
• Quote: “Function over form.”
• Motivation: Fresh food, less waste.
• Wants: Plant characteristics, leaf and fruit details.
• Likes: Compost, fungi, herbs, fruits, veggies.
• Dislikes: Rules, order, toxic plants.
• Emotions: Curiosity, patience.
• Trusts: Forums, local hardware store.
• Ask: “Can I…”, “what does…”
• Search: Text, image.

Native Nancy

• Summary: Nancy loves creating a living garden because of the benefits to local animals and the environment. She needs detailed info about which plants are native and how they add value to wildlife.
• Quote: “My honeysuckle brings all the birds to the yard.”
• Motivation: Plant natives, all-season interest.
• Wants: Native perennials, shrubs, and trees.
• Likes: Butterflies, hummingbirds, mulch, ponds.
• Dislikes: Invasives, native lookalikes, destructive pests, annuals.
• Emotions: Patience, eagerness.
• Trusts: Forums, YouTube, local garden shop experts, books.
• Ask: “Is it…”, “vs.”, “should…”, “where…”
• Search: Image, text.

Greenhouse Greta

• Summary: Greta has been so successful at gardening that she started her own backyard business. She grows, propagates, and sells plants from her home, so she needs to make sure the plants she gets will get her maximum profit.
• Quote: “Show me the green.”
• Motivation: Sell low-investment, high-value plants to make money.
• Wants: Seeds, tools, propagation supplies.
• Likes: Bulk discounts, free shipping, high germination rate.
• Dislikes: Slow response times, inefficiency.
• Emotions: Frustration, determination.
• Trusts: Business owners and peers, customers, YouTube.
• Ask: “Is it worth it?”, “how much…”
• Search: Video, text.

Dig deeper: Content mapping: Who, what, where, when, why and how

Use SERPs to validate personas 

Analyze search results to see how each persona might be searching. This is where your expertise will come in handy, or where you can lean on a subject matter expert (SME).

SERP example

Using our gardening personas, let’s look at a typical search result. Users coming to a gardening site might be searching for a specific plant they want to research or buy, like the American germander plant.

Keyword: “teucrium canadense”

Think about:

• From our personas, who is most likely searching by the common plant name versus the Latin name, and why?
• Where would they have heard that name?
• Is there another common or regional name the plant goes by?
• Is there another plant that could easily be mistaken for it?

Beginner Betty might have seen the term on a plant tag. Maybe Native Nancy saw the name in a book or blog.

Long-tail keywords

Autofill searches with more specific keywords give us some extra clues about who’s searching and why.

• Host plant: That’s probably Nancy, who wants to know what bugs and pollinators are attracted to this plant. 
• Propagation: Propagating a plant by seed, division, or cuttings could be a question from Greta, Nancy, or Herb. Larry might want to know this, but he’d be searching like “does this plant spread.”
• Go botany: That’s a website about native plants, including how to identify them and their benefits. That sounds like Herb or Nancy. This is a branded search, so it could be a competitor to research.
• Medicinal uses: That’s right up Herb’s alley, and maybe Greta.

Dig deeper: 9 tips to get the full SEO benefits of long-tail keywords

SERP features

People Also Ask gives us a few more ideas.

• Is it invasive: Larry and Nancy would both want to avoid planting this. Betty needs to know this, but she might not think to check.
• What does it taste like: Herb or Nancy would probably like to know this.
• What’s it used for: Herb or Betty might ask this, or maybe Greta if she wants to know how to market it to customers.

Putting personas into action

Do this exercise with a few of the top keywords you’re targeting, and for a few random ones that represent your current website. Use that insight to tweak your personas.

After doing this exercise with a few SERPs, think about whether there’s any search you can’t really pinpoint to a given user or if your personas are so broad they could apply to any search.

Consider any subtypes of users you might want to expand on. Maybe Nancy A is in zone 5, so she won’t be interested in tropical plants or ponds. And Nancy B lives in Hawaii, so you can’t ship to her directly and need to make shipping policies more obvious or show alternative plants or stores.

Dig deeper: How to analyze Google’s SERPs

---

Optional: Create anti-personas

Is there a type of user you want to avoid attracting? 

An anti-persona is someone who might misuse your product in unintentional or nefarious ways and damage your brand. 

Including anti-personas can help you avoid PR disasters like the Tide pod challenge.

From our gardening example, maybe you identify an anti-persona, HOA Henry. 

He has a specific idea of what a garden should look like. 

He might buy herbicide from your site and spray it on neighbors’ yards without understanding how it could harm plants, wildlife, and even pets. 

How would you keep someone like him from finding your products? What kind of search phrases and info would he use compared to your target users?

Add some data to your persona identities

Pair your personas with insights from analytics tools, user testing, and customer feedback. Get some real quotes, images, and video clips to pair with your personas.

Go to analytics tools and find out (or guess) what percentage of your user base is and how your site reflects them. Then, build your optimization strategy around what you learn.

Some insight examples from our gardening website:

• If 70% of your users identify as a Larry, make sure your lawncare category content is prominent, and include info that’s relevant to him on product pages.
• If Nancy converts the highest, look into how you can convert other personas better while maintaining the features Nancy likes. And include Nancy in user testing!
• If Betty might evolve into Nancy, give her lots of informational content so she’ll be a brand ambassador in the future.
• If Greta mostly spends time on a certain section of the site, show her relevant articles to get her to similar topics.
• If Herb uses wildly different phrasing from Larry, research synonyms and secondary keywords to optimize for both.
• If Herb and Nancy like using forums, build your linking strategy around the sites they’re most likely to use.

Approach content for each user persona

Now use your personas to ensure you’re creating content that’s helpful and targeted for each user. Do an audit of your content with each persona in mind. 

For example, Larry doesn’t want to know about how leaves can benefit bugs, but he could learn about how they benefit his lawn and save money on fertilizer.

Betty might need to understand her planting zone and frost dates before she starts buying vegetable seeds. 

User persona content checklist

• Who is this content and each section written for?
• Are you answering each user’s questions with your content? 
• Have you answered all of their questions fully and comprehensively?
• Are you speaking in terms they will understand?
• Is the content too technical or too formal?
• Are you including info in the format they want?
• When would they need this info? 
• Do you have the links and tools they’ll need?

As you work through this exercise, does one persona stand out as a potential brand champion?

This is someone who would write glowing reviews and recommend your brand to others.

You may want to spend extra time creating content for this user to help passively build your brand presence.

Homepage exercise

Start with your homepage.

• Which personas are you attracting?
• Who is it made for?
• Would anyone feel left out or unclear on what they can do next?

Take a look at any popular gardening website.

• Who would you guess is the target user?
• Which of our example personas does it seem to focus on?
• What would you change for each persona?

Weave personas into your SEO processes

Once you’ve established and refined your personas, include them in any SEO strategy session and decisions.

Encourage your SEO editorial team to identify which personas you’re targeting for a page before they start writing or updating. Come back to your personas regularly.

One fun idea is to invite your users to your meetings. This gets people talking and thinking about what’s best for the user. 

• Print out your personas and put them on your team’s bulletin board or whiteboard. 
• Bring a copy to meetings and tape persona pictures to an empty chair.
• Assign someone to speak up as the Voice of the User in discussions.
  • “I think Greenhouse Greta would like this approach better because…”
  • “I like this option as a Nancy. Can a Herb weigh in?”
  • “Herb should celebrate when we announce this new feature…”
• Have the team self-select into each persona and let them speak for their user group.
  • “As a Lawn Lover Larry…” 
  • “Can we see the user test results from the other Betty?”

---

---

Google is reportedly testing a new search feature named “AI Mode.” AI Mode in Google seems like a new way to search by asking more open-ended and exploratory questions, with the option to follow up.

What is AI Mode. AI Mode is described as “Search intelligently research[ing] for you – organizing information into easy-to-digest breakdowns with links to explore content across the web,” according to a leaked email obtained by 9to5Google.

AI Mode is more for open-ended and exploratory questions that may not be served well by what we see today from the Google Search results. This includes queries that ask Google Search for advice and comparisons, as well as exchanges that allow for follow-up questions.

It uses Gemini 2.0, according to the details.

What it looks like. Here is a screenshot obtained by 9to5Google:

Types of queries. Here is a list of the types of queries AI Mode is good at answering:

• “How many boxes of spaghetti should I buy to feed 6 adults and 10 children, and have enough for seconds?”
• “Compare wool, down, and synthetic jackets in terms of insulation, water resistance, and durability”
• “What do I need to get started with aquascaping?”
  • Follow-up: “What are some nearby stores to buy supplies?”

More. We first learned about hints of AI Mode back in early December with through an Android APK finding, in the code of the app. Android Authority than shared some screenshots of AI Mode buttons.

I do wonder if the AI Overview comparison view is part of this or not.

Why we care. AI Mode might be coming to the Google Search apps and maybe somehow directly to Google Search. This may impact how people consume search results and ultimately click to your site.

These AI Overviews are already having a very negative impact on click-through rates from Google to your site. Will AI Mode make it even worse?

---

---

Gen Z consumers use Instagram and TikTok more often to discover products than Google. That’s according to a new survey from GRIN, a creator management platform.

By the numbers. Asked where they most often discover new products, 18- to 27-year-old consumers said:

• Instagram: 30.4%
• TikTok: 23.2%
• Google: 18.8%
• YouTube: 14.5%

However, Google isn’t going away anytime soon. Millennials (42.45), Gen X (41.1%), and Boomers (55.9%) and still rely on Google Search first.

Why we care. Younger consumers search differently. They have more widely adopted social search than classic search compared to other generations. Social platforms have become hubs of information discovery. SEO continues to be a valuable channel – but it’s also part of a wider, integrated strategy that’s all about reaching and influencing consumers, wherever they are in the buyer journey.

About the data. The findings are based on a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers, age 18 to 65+.

The report. The Power of Infuence (registration required).

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SEO analysis can be time-consuming, but automating the process helps eliminate repetitive tasks and speeds up important website optimizations. 

This guide will show you how to build a custom tool using Google Sheets, Google Search Console (GSC), and the ChatGPT API to streamline SEO audits and gain AI-powered insights.

With this tool, you’ll be able to:

• Automate GSC data retrieval for faster analysis.
• Use AI to generate actionable SEO recommendations.

The plan? You’ll select a URL from a GSC-connected domain, enter your ChatGPT API key, inspect the page, and run an AI-driven analysis – all within Google Sheets.

What SEO analysis are we automating?

Once set up, this tool will allow you to quickly access key SEO data from GSC, including keyword rankings, referring URLs, last crawl date, and indexing status in robots.txt.

ChatGPT enhances the process by analyzing and providing recommendations for:

While this script won’t cover everything, it delivers detailed page insights in seconds, saving you hours of manual work. 

You can then review the recommendations and decide which optimizations to implement.

Setting up your script may initially feel overwhelming, but follow each step carefully and copy the script to ensure everything works. 

You’ll need a few things to get started:

Next, I’ll guide you through my eight-step process to get this “tool” up and running.

Step 1: Create the Google Sheet for your tool

If you have a Google account, this is as simple as following these steps:

• Open Google Drive.
• Go to the folder where you want to place your tool.
• Right-click on the background.
• Choose Google Sheets > Blank spreadsheet.

You can rename the Sheet to anything you like, but I chose the following: GSC Custom Tool.

Step 2: Populate your sheet

Populate the sheet by following these steps carefully:

• Add the words “Select GSC property” to A1.
• Add the words “Select a URL” to A2.

Move to A15 and add “Inspection Results.” Underneath this, in order from A15 to A25, add the following:

• URL:
• Coverage:
• Robots.txt:
• Indexing State:
• Last Crawled:
• Google Canonical:
• User Canonical:
• Mobile Usability:
• Rich Results Eligibility:
• Referring URLs:

In D1, you’ll paste your ChatGPT API key. If you don’t have this key, please go to the link above and be sure to get one for this tool to work.

Add “AI Analysis Result” to F1 and “Prompt Sent to ChatGPT” to G1.

Now, we need to merge a few rows in both of these columns. You’ll merge F2 – F30 and G2 – G30 separately, by following these steps:

• Select the rows to merge.
• Go to Format > Merge cells > Merge vertically.

Repeat this step for the F and G rows you need to merge.

Step 3: Create a Google Cloud project

Create a Google Cloud Console data project for the tool. 

Once set up, create a new project named “GSC Custom Tool.”

You can do this by going to Select Project > New Project and filling in the information just like in the screenshot above. 

Click Create when you’re done naming the project.

Now, let’s connect the Google Search Console API to your project.

Go to the search bar and type “Google Search Console API,” select it, and then hit Enable on the next screen.

We still have a lot to do and will revisit this project shortly.

Step 4: Create an App Script

Integrate Apps Script into your newly created Google Sheets file.

To do so, open your file, then go to Extensions > Apps Script. Copy and paste the code I’ve created below. 

(You can do this by selecting the code inside the window and hitting CTRL + C. Go back into your Apps Script and hit CTRL + V to paste the code in.)

Hit OK > Save project > Run.

Google will prompt you to review all permissions and select the corresponding account with all your Google Search Console data linked.

Dig deeper: 5 Python scripts for automating SEO tasks

---

Step 5: Add access credentials

Return to your Google Cloud Console to make further adjustments. 

Click on Credentials on the left side of the screen:

Click on + Create Credentials at the top of the screen and select OAuth client ID. 

Go to Configure Consent Screen and select External. Create the screen and then enter your:

• App name.
• Support email (linked to the GSC account).
• Developer contact information.

Save and continue to the next screen, which says Add or Remove Scopes. 

Select Google Search Console API scopes and update. Then, Save and continue. 

Add the users you want to grant access to, then click Save and continue.

Step 6: Change to a Google Cloud project for GSC data

Click the hamburger icon and go to Cloud overview > Dashboard.

You want to copy over your Project number, which is on the page.

Navigate to the Project number, select it and copy it using CTRL + C. 

Head over to your Google Sheet file and click on the gear icon that says Project Settings. 

Paste your project number into the text box and click Set project.

Step 7: Name your Google Apps Script

Add a name for your script to keep things organized. 

To do this, go to Project History, click on the Untitled project toward the top of the screen, and enter “GSC Custom Tool.”

Step 8: Edit the manifest file

You’ll now return to your Project Settings and click Show “appsscript.json” in the editor. 

Inside the Editor, go to appsscript.json and replace everything in the file with the code below:

{
  "timeZone": "America/New_York",
  "dependencies": {},
  "exceptionLogging": "STACKDRIVER",
  "oauthScopes": [
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/webmasters",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/webmasters.readonly",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/script.external_request",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets.currentonly"
  ],
  "runtimeVersion": "V8"
}

Once you’ve pasted everything in, you’ll go to the Code.js file and paste this code:

// Store the OAuth token and logs in script properties
const scriptProperties = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties();
const OPENAI_URL = "https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions";
const SYSTEM_MESSAGE = { role: "system", content: "You are a helpful SEO expert." };


function log(message) {
  Logger.log(message); // Regular Apps Script logging
  const logs = scriptProperties.getProperty('customLogs') || '';
  scriptProperties.setProperty('customLogs', logs + 'n' + message); // Append message to logs
}


function resetLogs() {
  scriptProperties.deleteProperty('customLogs'); // Clear logs for a new execution
}


function getLogs() {
  return scriptProperties.getProperty('customLogs') || 'No logs available.';
}


function fetchOAuthToken() {
  let token = scriptProperties.getProperty('oauthToken');
  if (!token) {
    token = ScriptApp.getOAuthToken();
    scriptProperties.setProperty('oauthToken', token);
    log('OAuth token fetched and stored.');
  }
  return token;
}


function onOpen() {
  const ui = SpreadsheetApp.getUi();
  ui.createMenu('Search Console')
    .addItem('Authorize GSC', 'promptReauthorization')
    .addItem('Fetch GSC Properties', 'fetchGSCProperties')
    .addItem('Inspect URL', 'inspectUrl') // Add the Inspect URL button
    .addItem('AI Analyze', 'aiAnalyze') // Add the AI Analyze button
    .addToUi();
}


function promptReauthorization() {
  const ui = SpreadsheetApp.getUi();
  const response = ui.alert(
    'Re-authorize Script',
    'Re-authorizing will revoke current permissions and require you to authorize again. Do you want to continue?',
    ui.ButtonSet.YES_NO
  );


  if (response === ui.Button.YES) {
    try {
      scriptProperties.deleteProperty('oauthToken'); // Clear old token
      const token = fetchOAuthToken(); // Fetch and store new token
      log("OAuth Token: " + token);
      ui.alert('Authorization successful. No further action is required.');
    } catch (e) {
      ui.alert('Authorization failed: ' + e.toString());
    }
  } else {
    ui.alert('Re-authorization canceled.');
  }
}


function fetchGSCProperties() {
  resetLogs();
  const sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();
  const oauthToken = fetchOAuthToken();


  const sites = getSitesListFromGSC(oauthToken);


  if (!sites || sites.length === 0) {
    SpreadsheetApp.getUi().alert('No GSC properties found. Please ensure you have access to GSC properties.');
    return;
  }


  const siteUrls = ['Select a property'].concat(
    sites.map(site => site.siteUrl).sort()
  );


  sheet.getRange('A1').setValue('Select GSC property').setFontWeight('bold');
  sheet.getRange('B1').setDataValidation(
    SpreadsheetApp.newDataValidation()
      .requireValueInList(siteUrls, true)
      .build()
  );
  sheet.getRange('B1').setValue('Select a property').setFontWeight('bold');
  sheet.setColumnWidth(1, 150);
  sheet.setColumnWidth(2, 350);
}


let isProcessing = false; // Global flag to prevent recursive triggering


function onEdit(e) {
  if (isProcessing) return; // Prevent re-entry during execution
  isProcessing = true; // Set flag to true


  try {
    resetLogs();
    const sheet = e.source.getActiveSheet();
    const range = e.range;


    // Always clear A3:D30 on edits to B1 or B2
    if (range.getA1Notation() === 'B1' || range.getA1Notation() === 'B2') {
      sheet.getRange('A3:D30').clearContent();
      sheet.getRange('F1:G30').clearContent();


      if (range.getA1Notation() === 'B1') {
        const selectedProperty = range.getValue();


        // Clear A2 and set loading state
        sheet.getRange('A2').setValue('Loading results...').setFontWeight('bold');
        sheet.getRange('B2').clearContent();


        if (selectedProperty === 'Select a property') {
          sheet.getRange('A2').clearContent();
          sheet.getRange('B2').clearContent();
          return;
        }


        const oauthToken = fetchOAuthToken();
        const urls = getUrlsForProperty(selectedProperty, oauthToken);


        if (!urls || urls.length === 0) {
          sheet.getRange('A2').setValue('No URLs found').setFontWeight('bold');
          sheet.getRange('B2').clearContent();
          log(`No URLs found for property ${selectedProperty}`);
          return;
        }


        sheet.getRange('A2').setValue('Select a URL').setFontWeight('bold');
        sheet.getRange('B2').setDataValidation(
          SpreadsheetApp.newDataValidation()
            .requireValueInList(['Select a URL'].concat(urls), true)
            .build()
        );
        sheet.getRange('B2').setValue('Select a URL').setFontWeight('bold');
      }


      if (range.getA1Notation() === 'B2') {
        const selectedProperty = sheet.getRange('B1').getValue();
        const selectedUrl = range.getValue();


        if (selectedUrl === 'Select a URL') {
          return;
        }


        sheet.getRange('A3').setValue('Loading keywords...').setFontWeight('bold');


        const oauthToken = fetchOAuthToken();
        const keywords = getTopKeywordsForUrl(selectedProperty, selectedUrl, oauthToken);


        if (!keywords || keywords.length === 0) {
          sheet.getRange('A3').setValue('No keywords found').setFontWeight('bold');
          log(`No keywords found for URL ${selectedUrl}`);
          return;
        }


        // Populate keywords and metrics
        sheet.getRange('A3:D12').clearContent(); // Clear any loading message
        keywords.forEach((keyword, index) => {
          if (index < 10) {
            sheet.getRange(`A${3 + index}`).setValue(keyword.query).setFontWeight('bold');
            sheet.getRange(`B${3 + index}`).setValue(keyword.clicks);
            sheet.getRange(`C${3 + index}`).setValue(keyword.impressions);
            sheet.getRange(`D${3 + index}`).setValue(keyword.ctr);
          }
        });
      }
    }
  } catch (error) {
    log(`Error in onEdit: ${error}`);
  } finally {
    isProcessing = false; // Reset the flag after execution
  }
}


function getApiRequestDetails(selectedProperty) {
  const payload = {
    startDate: getThreeMonthsAgo(),
    endDate: getToday(),
    dimensions: ["page"],
    rowLimit: 100,
    orderBy: [{ fieldName: "clicks", sortOrder: "DESCENDING" }]
  };


  const apiUrl = `https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/${encodeURIComponent(selectedProperty)}/searchAnalytics/query`;
  return { url: apiUrl, payload: payload };
}


function getSitesListFromGSC(oauthToken) {
  try {
    const url="https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites";


    const headers = {
      'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + oauthToken,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    };


    const options = {
      method: 'get',
      headers: headers,
      muteHttpExceptions: true
    };


    const response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, options);
    log(`Response Code: ${response.getResponseCode()}`);
    log(`Response Content: ${response.getContentText()}`);


    if (response.getResponseCode() === 200) {
      const json = JSON.parse(response.getContentText());
      return json.siteEntry || [];
    } else {
      throw new Error(`Error fetching data: ${response.getResponseCode()} - ${response.getContentText()}`);
    }
  } catch (e) {
    log(`Error: ${e.toString()}`);
    return [];
  }
}


function getUrlsForProperty(property, oauthToken) {
  try {
    const apiUrl = `https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/${encodeURIComponent(property)}/searchAnalytics/query`;


    log(`API URL: ${apiUrl}`);
    log(`OAuth Token: ${oauthToken}`);


    const payload = {
      startDate: getThreeMonthsAgo(),
      endDate: getToday(),
      dimensions: ["page"],
      rowLimit: 100,
      orderBy: [{ fieldName: "clicks", sortOrder: "DESCENDING" }]
    };


    log(`Payload: ${JSON.stringify(payload)}`);


    const headers = {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${oauthToken}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json"
    };


    const options = {
      method: "post",
      contentType: "application/json",
      headers: headers,
      payload: JSON.stringify(payload),
      muteHttpExceptions: true
    };


    const response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(apiUrl, options);


    log(`Response Code: ${response.getResponseCode()}`);
    log(`Response: ${response.getContentText()}`);


    if (response.getResponseCode() === 200) {
      const json = JSON.parse(response.getContentText());
      return json.rows ? json.rows.map(row => row.keys[0]) : [];
    } else {
      throw new Error(`Failed to fetch data: ${response.getResponseCode()} - ${response.getContentText()}`);
    }
  } catch (e) {
    log(`Error: ${e.toString()}`);
    return [];
  }
}


function getTopKeywordsForUrl(property, url, oauthToken) {
  try {
    const apiUrl = `https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/${encodeURIComponent(property)}/searchAnalytics/query`;


    log(`API URL: ${apiUrl}`);
    log(`OAuth Token: ${oauthToken}`);


    const payload = {
      startDate: getThreeMonthsAgo(),
      endDate: getToday(),
      dimensions: ["query"],
      dimensionFilterGroups: [
        {
          filters: [
            {
              dimension: "page",
              operator: "equals",
              expression: url
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      rowLimit: 10,
      orderBy: [{ fieldName: "clicks", sortOrder: "DESCENDING" }]
    };


    log(`Payload: ${JSON.stringify(payload)}`);


    const headers = {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${oauthToken}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json"
    };


    const options = {
      method: "post",
      contentType: "application/json",
      headers: headers,
      payload: JSON.stringify(payload),
      muteHttpExceptions: true
    };


    const response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(apiUrl, options);
    log(`Response Code: ${response.getResponseCode()}`);
    log(`Response: ${response.getContentText()}`);


    if (response.getResponseCode() === 200) {
      const json = JSON.parse(response.getContentText());
      return json.rows ? json.rows.map(row => ({
        query: row.keys[0],
        clicks: row.clicks,
        impressions: row.impressions,
        ctr: row.ctr
      })) : [];
    } else {
      throw new Error(`Failed to fetch data: ${response.getResponseCode()} - ${response.getContentText()}`);
    }
  } catch (e) {
    log(`Error: ${e.toString()}`);
    return [];
  }
}


function getToday() {
  const today = new Date();
  return today.toISOString().split("T")[0];
}


function getThreeMonthsAgo() {
  const date = new Date();
  date.setMonth(date.getMonth() - 3);
  return date.toISOString().split("T")[0];
}


function inspectUrl() {
  const sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();
  const url = sheet.getRange('B2').getValue();
  const property = sheet.getRange('B1').getValue();


  // Clear previous inspection results in A15:D30
  sheet.getRange('A15:D30').clearContent();
  sheet.getRange('A15').setValue('Inspecting...').setFontWeight('bold');


  if (!url || url === 'Select a URL') {
    SpreadsheetApp.getUi().alert('Please select a valid URL in cell B2 before inspecting.');
    sheet.getRange('A15').setValue('No URL selected').setFontWeight('bold');
    return;
  }


  const oauthToken = fetchOAuthToken();


  try {
    const result = callUrlInspectionApi(property, url, oauthToken);


    // Extract fields from the response
    const indexStatus = result.indexStatusResult || {};
    const mobileUsability = result.mobileUsabilityResult || {};
    const richResults = result.richResultsInfo || {};
    const referringUrls = indexStatus.referringUrls?.join(', ') || 'None';


    // Populate inspection results in the sheet
    sheet.getRange('A15').setValue(`Inspection Results`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('A16').setValue(`URL:`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('B16').setValue(url);


    sheet.getRange('A17').setValue(`Coverage:`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('B17').setValue(indexStatus.coverageState || 'Unknown');


    sheet.getRange('A18').setValue(`Robots.txt:`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('B18').setValue(indexStatus.robotsTxtState || 'Unknown');


    sheet.getRange('A19').setValue(`Indexing State:`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('B19').setValue(indexStatus.indexingState || 'Unknown');


    sheet.getRange('A20').setValue(`Last Crawled:`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('B20').setValue(indexStatus.lastCrawlTime || 'Not Available');


    sheet.getRange('A21').setValue(`Google Canonical:`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('B21').setValue(indexStatus.googleCanonical || 'Unknown');


    sheet.getRange('A22').setValue(`User Canonical:`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('B22').setValue(indexStatus.userCanonical || 'Unknown');


    sheet.getRange('A23').setValue(`Mobile Usability:`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('B23').setValue(mobileUsability.verdict || 'Unknown');


    sheet.getRange('A24').setValue(`Rich Results Eligibility:`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('B24').setValue(richResults.verdict || 'Unknown');


    sheet.getRange('A25').setValue(`Referring URLs:`).setFontWeight('bold');
    sheet.getRange('B25').setValue(referringUrls);


    // Log and alert full response for debugging
    const fullResponse = JSON.stringify(result, null, 2);
    log(`Full Inspection Result: ${fullResponse}`);
    //SpreadsheetApp.getUi().alert(`Inspection Completed. Full Response:nn${fullResponse}`);
  } catch (error) {
    sheet.getRange('A15').setValue('Inspection Failed').setFontWeight('bold');
    log(`Error inspecting URL: ${error.message}`);
    SpreadsheetApp.getUi().alert(`Error inspecting URL: ${error.message}nnLogs:n${getLogs()}`);
  }
}


function callUrlInspectionApi(property, url, oauthToken) {
  const apiUrl="https://searchconsole.googleapis.com/v1/urlInspection/index:inspect";


  const payload = {
    siteUrl: property,
    inspectionUrl: url,
    languageCode: 'en-US'
  };


  const headers = {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${oauthToken}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  };


  const options = {
    method: 'post',
    contentType: 'application/json',
    headers: headers,
    payload: JSON.stringify(payload),
    muteHttpExceptions: true
  };


  log(`API URL: ${apiUrl}`);
  log(`Payload: ${JSON.stringify(payload)}`);


  try {
    const response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(apiUrl, options);
    const responseCode = response.getResponseCode();
    const responseText = response.getContentText();


    log(`Response Code: ${responseCode}`);
    log(`Response Content: ${responseText}`);


    if (responseCode === 200) {
      const jsonResponse = JSON.parse(responseText);


      if (jsonResponse && jsonResponse.inspectionResult) {
        return jsonResponse.inspectionResult;
      } else {
        log(`Unexpected API Response Structure: ${responseText}`);
        throw new Error('Unexpected API response format. "inspectionResult" field is missing.');
      }
    } else {
      log(`Failed API Call: ${responseText}`);
      throw new Error(`Failed to inspect URL. Response Code: ${responseCode}. Response: ${responseText}`);
    }
  } catch (error) {
    log(`Error during API call: ${error}`);
    throw new Error(`Error inspecting URL: ${error.message}`);
  }
}


function callChatGPT(prompt, temperature = 0.9, maxTokens = 800, model = "gpt-3.5-turbo") {
  const sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();
  const secretKey = sheet.getRange('D1').getValue().trim(); // Retrieve the OpenAI API key from D1


  if (!secretKey) {
    throw new Error("API Key is missing in cell D1. Please provide a valid OpenAI API key.");
  }


  const payload = {
    model: model,
    messages: [
      SYSTEM_MESSAGE,
      { role: "user", content: prompt }
    ],
    temperature: temperature,
    max_tokens: maxTokens
  };


  const options = {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      "Authorization": "Bearer " + secretKey
    },
    payload: JSON.stringify(payload)
  };


  try {
    const response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(OPENAI_URL, options);
    const responseData = JSON.parse(response.getContentText());


    if (responseData.choices && responseData.choices[0] && responseData.choices[0].message) {
      return responseData.choices[0].message.content.trim();
    } else {
      log("Unexpected response format from OpenAI: " + JSON.stringify(responseData));
      return "Sorry, I couldn't process the request.";
    }
  } catch (error) {
    log("Error calling OpenAI API: " + error);
    return "Sorry, there was an error processing your request.";
  }
}


function aiAnalyze() {
  const sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();
  const url = sheet.getRange('B2').getValue();
  const keywords = sheet.getRange('A3:A12').getValues().flat().filter(Boolean); // Get non-empty keywords
  const inspectionData = sheet.getRange('A16:B20').getValues();


  // Validate input fields
  if (!url || keywords.length === 0 || inspectionData.some(row => row.length < 2 || !row[0].trim() || !row[1].trim())) {
    SpreadsheetApp.getUi().alert("Ensure the following are filled before running AI Analyze:n- URL in B2n- Keywords in A3:A12n- Inspection data in A16:B20");
    return;
  }


  // Prepare the prompt for ChatGPT
  const prompt = `
    Analyze this URL: ${url}
    Also the view-source version from: ${url}
    against these keywords: ${keywords.join(", ")}
    Considering the URL inspection data from Google Search Console:
    ${inspectionData.map(row => `${row[0]}: ${row[1]}`).join("n")}
    Suggest a short list of specific recommendations on how I can improve the page's SEO. Make sure the recommendations include details such as change this to that, or add something, etc... Be concrete with SEO recommendations.
  `;


  // Display the prompt in G1
  sheet.getRange('G1').setValue("Prompt Sent to ChatGPT").setFontWeight("bold");
  sheet.getRange('G2:G30').clearContent(); // Clear previous content in column G
  sheet.getRange('G2:G30').merge(); // Merge cells G2:G30
  sheet.getRange('G2').setValue(prompt).setVerticalAlignment("top"); // Add the prompt and align to top
  sheet.setColumnWidth(7, 400); // Set column G width to 400px


  // Call ChatGPT API
  const analysisResult = callChatGPT(prompt);


  // Display the result in the spreadsheet (Column F)
  sheet.getRange('F1').setValue("AI Analysis Result").setFontWeight("bold");
  sheet.getRange('F2:F30').clearContent(); // Clear previous content
  sheet.getRange('F2:F30').merge(); // Merge the cells
  sheet.getRange('F2').setValue(analysisResult).setVerticalAlignment("top"); // Add the AI result and align to top
  sheet.setColumnWidth(6, 400); // Set column F width to 400px


  // Log the response
  log("AI Analysis Completed: " + analysisResult);
}

Once done, go back to your sheets, refresh and use the new Search Console > Fetch GSC Properties.

Follow the prompts until it asks you to select the account you’re using and to ultimately select the app you plan on using.

If everything goes well, you can move on to the exciting part of putting it together and running your first SEO analysis using your new script.

Putting our Sheets, GSC and ChatGPT tool together

You’ve done a lot until now, but it’s time to see the tool in action. Here’s how it works: 

• Go to Search Console > Authorize GSC.

Be sure that you’re using the account to which the domain’s GSC is connected; otherwise, it will not work.

• Go to Search Console > Fetch GSC properties.

You’ll now notice that the Select GSC property at B1 on the Sheet is populated. Select the domain you want to analyze and then select the URL from B1 on the Sheet. 

• Go to Search Console > Inspect URL.

The Inspection Results on the Sheet will populate and offer you a wealth of information about the page, such as the coverage, last crawl date, and more. 

Finally, we’ll go back one last time and do the following:

• Go to Search Console > AI Analyze.

All of the information in the “AI Analysis Result” will now populate, offering you insights into the page’s key elements and telling you the exact steps that you can take to improve the page.

I don’t recommend following the directions blindly, but they do offer actionable steps that you can follow to strengthen the page.

If you want to change the ChatGPT prompt to add your own custom data, go to cell G2, right underneath the heading that says “Prompt Sent to ChatGPT.”

Bravo! You have a working script that can speed up your SEO analysis and make your day more actionable. 

Combining Sheets, GSC and ChatGPT has helped me become more efficient and allows me to spend more time optimizing and less analyzing thousands of pages.

Experiment with the script and find new ways to make it your own.

Dig deeper: 15 AI tools you should use for SEO

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Google has launched a new Search Labs experiment named “Ask for me.” Ask for me lets you use Google AI to call businesses on your behalf to find out what they charge for a service and also to find out when it’s available. This can work for services like like an oil change from nearby mechanics or other services.

How to use it. To access this labs experiement, go here and click on “join to try.” Then when you search for relevant and related queries, like “oil jobs near me,” Google will show you this “Ask for me” box.

What it looks like. Here are some screenshots of this feature:

More details. Rose Yao, VP of Search Product, Verticals & International at Google, wrote on X:

New experiment just launched on Search Labs – you can use AI to call businesses on your behalf to find out what they charge for a service & when it’s available, like an oil change ASAP from nearby mechanics. We’re testing right now with auto shops and nail salons, to see how AI can help you connect with businesses and get things done. Just opt-in & search something like “oil change near me” to try it out, and let us know what you think! FYI you might hit a waitlist, since capacity is limited during the experiment. In case you’re wondering … this is using the same underlying Duplex tech that’s used to make restaurant reservations via Search/Maps. We also use Duplex to help businesses keep their details, like store hours, fresh on Maps. This has helped millions of businesses relay updated info to their customers. Has been especially helpful during times when this info is changing rapidly, like during the pandemic. As always, businesses can opt out if they wish and we clearly disclose calls.

Duplex. Yes, years ago, Google had this featured named Duplex that helped you make reservation appointments at restaurants within Google Search and Maps.

Duplex is an AI-powered phone based-system for booking appointments with local businesses that don’t have online scheduling. It was first demonstrated at Google’s developer conference in May 2018. The demo, though controlled, was impressive and very “natural language” sounding.

Why we care. This may be another way for Google to send more leads and business opportunities to businesses online. It is a super early labs experiment, and it is unknown if this will fully roll out but it is neat to see Google playing with this.

Google recently gathered influential voices in the food industry to unveil the latest trends shaping restaurant search and digital marketing.

From skyrocketing search terms to drone deliveries and the power of YouTube Shorts, here’s everything you need to know from the Restaurant Industry Influencer Summit.

Sizzling search trends: What’s cooking in 2025?

Google’s latest search data offers a glimpse into what today’s diners are craving – both in terms of food and digital experiences.

Here are some of the hottest trends shaping restaurant searches right now:

• “Hot honey pizza” is up 232% year-over-year (YoY). And if that doesn’t give you insight into the modern diet, I don’t know what will. It’s right up there with “food near me” and “food near me open now.” 
• “Food near me” has seen an impressive 99% YoY growth.
• “Food near me open now” skyrocketed by a jaw-dropping 875% YoY, which is basically Google screaming at you to update your business hours.
• “Restaurants cerca de mí” (restaurants near me in Spanish) emerged as a breakout search. This really highlights the growing demand for businesses to cater to Spanish-speaking audiences.

Speak their language – literally

There’s been a noticeable rise in Spanish-language searches for terms like “restaurants near me” and “fast food near me.” 

Businesses that translate their menus and ads into Spanish (and other languages) will attract more customers and spend less money bidding on keywords.

Wendy’s and DoorDash take flight: The future of fast food delivery

DoorDash and Wendy’s are expanding drone delivery. 

Testing is underway in Christiansburg, Virginia, and Dallas, with plans to launch in Charlotte. 

These drones reduce delivery times from 30 minutes to 15, flying up to 70 mph.

Show, don’t tell

Search is becoming increasingly visual as Google doubles down on images and videos. No surprise there. 

But here’s why it matters: restaurant-related searches have grown 33% year over year, and Google’s AI prioritizes high-quality visuals.

If your business still has blurry food photos, it’s time for an upgrade. 

Professional photography can make all the difference. Let’s be honest, no one is clicking on a pixelated burger.

If your Google Business Profile could talk…

Lisa Landsman, Google’s head of global partnerships for the restaurants and travel verticals, posed a thought-provoking question: 

“If your Google Business Profile could talk, what story would it tell?” 

For many, it would likely be a tale of missed opportunities.

Michael Gnagy, product manager at Google, emphasized that “no one is better at telling your story than you.” 

Keeping your profile updated with menus, photos, and accurate business hours helps Google’s AI deliver better results because it thrives on fresh data.

When I asked Gnagy whether adding attributes like Vegan or Vegetarian contributes to the “Ask Maps About This Place” feature, he confirmed that, theoretically, it should. 

Google’s AI reviews all available data. Even small menu updates can shape how your business appears in search results.

While AI models aren’t perfect, they work best when given more data – so make sure your profile tells the right story.

Dig deeper: Google expands AI organized search results to restaurants

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For restaurants, the future is Shorts 

YouTube for restaurants is about to be a real thing. 

If you’re not already creating YouTube Shorts and linking your account to your Google Business Profile, you’re leaving money on the table. 

YouTube Shorts is a unique feed experience centered around vertical, full-screen videos up to three minutes long.

Here’s why your restaurant needs to jump on this trend:

• Over 70% of YouTube channels now upload Shorts regularly.
• Shorts outperform competitors like TikTok and Instagram Reels in terms of monthly usage.
• The format is designed for continuous engagement with swipeable, looped playback and algorithm-driven discovery.
• Initially popular with Gen Z, YouTube Shorts has expanded its reach to all age groups, now appealing to audiences aged 13-54.
• By optimizing your Shorts with geotags, relevant titles, and descriptions, your content has the potential to be featured in search results.

“According to a survey by Material, screened respondents in the US reported using YouTube Shorts the most among short-form video providers on a monthly basis.”

– “How brands can get the most out of YouTube Shorts ads,” Google Ads & Commerce Blog

Farah Shirzadi, stressed the importance of establishing a solid presence on YouTube. At a minimum, she recommended:

• Creating a channel.
• Linking to your website.
• Adding your location and business type.
• Uploading your logo.
• Linking your menu.

Connecting your YouTube handle to your Google Business Profile ensures your channel is recognized as the official page.

Introducing Place Pivot Pages: A new way to showcase your business on YouTube

To help your business stand out, Google offers a new feature called Place Pivot Pages, which centralizes all videos and Shorts related to a specific location or business. 

By linking your YouTube handle to your Google Business Profile, you can make your business’s official videos more discoverable alongside user-generated content tagged to the same location. 

This integration offers an opportunity to showcase your business through both official content and community-driven media.

Building your brand on YouTube Shorts

SEO experts are increasingly focusing on branding, a shift highlighted by last year’s Google API leak, which confirmed Google’s preference for recognized and trusted brands.

YouTube Shorts isn’t just about short-form videos. It’s a powerful branding tool. Here’s how to use it to strengthen your restaurant or local business:

• Showcase your personality: Share behind-the-scenes moments, tell your story, and highlight what makes your brand unique.
• Collaborate with local creators: Partner with influencers to expand your reach and connect with new audiences.
• Engage your community: Use comments, polls, and live streams to foster a strong connection with your audience.

Shawn P. Walchef of Cali BBQ Media shared success stories during a recent event, which he live-streamed on his YouTube channel.

His key takeaway? Go live. 

Even if a stream starts with just 20 viewers, the real power lies in its simplicity. No post-production, just authentic engagement.

“We started going all in on YouTube Shorts in October 2024,” he shared.

Bottom line? YouTube Shorts isn’t just a trend – it’s a branding powerhouse.

Launched in January 2025, the Local Promotions in Maps ad format – available through Performance Max for Store Goals – helps drive in-store traffic and boost sales with highly engaging, actionable promotions. 

This feature allows businesses to attach in-store redeemable coupons to their campaigns, making them prominently visible on Google Maps. These promotions are:

• Viewable: Shown directly on a store’s location pin.
• Sharable: Customers can save and share offers.
• Actionable: Redeemable in-store or online for a seamless experience.

Note: Promotion assets must be added to the Performance Max for Store Goals campaign. Account-level promotion assets won’t automatically serve in Maps.

Learn more from Google’s help resources:

Justin Huang, Google’s global product lead, shared a key tip: use Performance Max bids to target local actions or store visits and enhance engagement by adding an offer code. 

The results speak for themselves:

• Advertisers in the pilot saw a +42% increase in CTR by appending redeemable coupons.
• Nearly 45% of surveyed shoppers identified deals and promotions as the most helpful brand communication when considering a purchase.

Final thoughts

One thing is clear: Google wants more content. 

They’re “motivated and excited” (their words, not mine) to create new features with AI, but they need businesses to step up. 

Text messaging is making a comeback, and dynamic updates are the new normal.

My advice? 

Log in, update your profile, and give Google’s AI something to work with. 

It’s 2025. Your menu, videos, and photos should reflect it.

Dig deeper: Google Business Profile’s AI-transcribed menu upload just got better

---

Is your website traffic dropping, leaving you unsure of what went wrong?

Every day without action means more lost rankings, leads, and revenue.

This article outlines a seven-step framework to help you analyze the causes of your traffic drop and create an SEO plan to fix it.

What’s causing your traffic to decline?

Some website owners hope for a quick fix to restore traffic, but our analysis shows most drops are caused by one or more of the following: 

To fix the ranking drop and regain momentum, follow these steps.

Step 1: Analyze your traffic quality

The first step is to determine whether the drop affects quality traffic or if Google is simply better at identifying the right audience. 

Many sites attract random traffic that doesn’t engage.

Check if conversions have dropped along with the traffic. 

If conversions remain stable, the traffic drop likely affects low-quality visitors. 

However, if exposure to your brand or offer has decreased, a deeper analysis may be needed.

Dig deeper: Why traffic declines despite solid rankings and what to do

Step 2: Evaluate your content through the user’s eyes

Many site owners fail to see their content from the perspective of their ideal client.

Search for one of your target keywords on Google. 

Review the top 3 results that are similar to your page, browsing them as a typical user would – skimming and reading key sections. 

Then, do the same for your own page. 

Where are the differences? 

Be honest: where are competitors better at explaining, presenting, or guiding the user? 

Use these insights to improve your page.

Step 3: Audit and strengthen your backlink profile

Backlink issues can be a key factor in why your site ranks above competitors, assuming your content already meets search intent. 

However, changes in your backlink profile (i.e., link composition, anchor text, or whether links come from link networks) can lead to traffic decline.

As search engines become better at identifying legitimate and relevant links, they may devalue existing backlinks, lowering your site’s authority and rankings.

Focus on consistently creating linkable assets and distributing them through outreach. 

Use SEO tools to analyze the backlinks your competitors are acquiring, and look for similar opportunities. 

Additionally, pitch your linkable assets to journalists through digital PR platforms. This approach can be surprisingly effective.

Dig deeper: 13 questions to diagnose and resolve declining organic traffic

Step 4: Optimize your content layout for clarity

How you present your content matters. 

For example, expecting users to scroll through a 3,000-word article to find the answer at the end – especially on mobile – can hurt engagement.

Make it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for early on. 

Include a visible table of contents or key takeaways at the top of the page to guide users.

Step 5: Compare your performance against competitors

Core updates often impact entire industries. 

For instance, in recent updates, law firms’ informational content was significantly affected by Reddit threads. 

While Reddit’s visibility may be declining, UGC platforms like it can still capture traffic from your informational articles.

Q&A content, which had performed well for years, is now losing visibility as Google gives more weight to Q&A sites, pushing down rankings for similar content on other sites.

Here’s an example of a site that lost some traffic (in blue), while a subreddit gained traffic at the same time (in green):

Assess your reliance on Q&A content and monitor how sites like Reddit are impacting your traffic. 

If you notice this trend, consider:

• Actively engaging with your brand on these platforms to increase visibility.
• Diversifying your content to include more commercial and transactional pages, rather than relying solely on informational content.

Step 6: Identify what’s still driving results

A useful exercise is to analyze which pages are still performing well on your site. 

While a Google update might lower your site’s overall rankings, individual pages may still rank high on Page 1. 

Even if some backlinks have been devalued, others may still be driving authority to certain pages, allowing them to maintain strong rankings.

Ask yourself:

• What is different about the pages that are still performing well?
• Did you follow a different process when writing these pages?
• Does the user intent differ from the pages that dropped?
• How do the backlinks to these pages compare to those of pages that lost traffic?

Reverse-engineering these successful pages can provide valuable insights into what you can do better.

Dig deeper: Get your B2B site unstuck: Top SEO tips for stagnant sites

Step 7: Use AI to uncover insights and patterns

AI tools can assist in analyzing drops, helping you identify which keywords, types of pages, and URLs are more likely to retain traffic.

Export keyword data from tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Google Search Console, comparing it to a date before the drop. 

Upload this data to a language model like ChatGPT for analysis. 

This can reveal patterns, topics that have dropped, and stable keywords, offering deeper insights. 

This method is especially helpful for sites ranking for thousands of keywords.

Assessing recovery: What to do next

If you’ve been affected, follow the steps and track changes over the next 4-6 weeks. 

If rankings don’t recover, it may be time for a deeper forensic SEO audit and a more tailored strategy.

Dig deeper: How to fix a huge traffic drop after rebranding

Meta is removing the Audience Types option from Advantage+ catalog ads that use the sales objective, pushing advertisers toward its AI-driven targeting tools.

This change reflects Meta’s broader strategy of automating ad targeting, betting that its AI can better match products with potential buyers than manual audience selection.

The big picture. While the change removes some manual controls, Meta’s automated targeting has been showing stronger performance metrics, according to their internal data, suggesting this could benefit advertisers despite the reduced direct control.

Key details:

• Advantage+ catalog ads dynamically display products based on user behavior, using data from Meta Pixel or app SDK.
• The system personalizes product displays based on individual user interests, intent, and actions.
• These ads can appear as single images, carousels, or collections.

Yes, but. Advertisers aren’t losing all targeting control. They can still create catalog custom audiences based on product interactions, retarget potential customers who’ve shown interest and include/exclude specific audiences from seeing ads.

Why we care. The removal of “Audience Types” from Advantage+ catalog ads might initially seem like a limitation, but Meta’s data suggests their AI-driven targeting actually performs better than traditional manual targeting methods. This is because an AI system’s job is to process vast amounts of user behavior data in real-time, identifying patterns and connections that human advertisers might miss. The system analyzes user interests, browsing behavior, purchase intent, and past interactions to make more precise targeting decisions.

However, this change also requires advertisers to adapt their approach. While you’re losing some direct control over audience selection, important targeting capabilities through catalog custom audiences are not going away.

Between the lines. This update signals Meta’s growing confidence in its AI targeting capabilities. The company is essentially saying its automated systems can outperform human-selected audience targeting.

What you need to know. To maintain advanced targeting options, advertisers will need to:

• Have Meta Pixel or app SDK installed.
• Create custom audiences manually.
• Use more advanced targeting setup processes.

Bottom line. While this change may initially feel like a loss of control, Meta’s data suggests their automated targeting could actually improve ad performance – as long as advertisers are willing to trust the algorithm.

Google is launching a limited test using AI to automatically generate background images for Shopping Ad product listings.

How it works. The AI system will:

• Generate contextual background scenes for existing product images.
• Maintain the original product appearance without alterations.
• Require human review and approval before ads go live.

Why we care. This update represents a significant shift in how product photography can be handled in ecommerce advertising. Moreover, since product presentation directly influences consumer purchasing decisions, this automated enhancement could potentially improve conversion rates without requiring additional investment in creative assets.

On the other hand, do you want Google automating the image that shows on the background of shopping ads, when we have hears advertisers lack of confidence in AI being able to reflect brand guidelines in AI generated creatives accurately?

Worth noting. Advertisers can opt out of the test if they prefer to maintain complete control over their product imagery.

The big picture. This move aligns with Google’s broader strategy of integrating AI across its advertising products, potentially democratizing access to high-quality product presentation for smaller retailers who can’t afford professional studio photography.

First seen. This update was first brought to our attention by Samantha Noble, founder of Biddable Moments, who shared an email from Google on LinkedIn:

What we’re watching. How consumers respond to AI-generated backgrounds and whether this leads to measurable improvements in shopping ad performance.

Bottom line. Google is betting that AI-enhanced product imagery will drive better ad performance, though advertisers maintain the final say in whether their products participate in this experimental feature.

A majority of marketing leaders are diversifying and adjusting their strategies due to AI search, the fragmentation of search, and a potential Google breakup, according to a new survey from enterprise SEO platform Botify.

Why we care. SEO continuing to change. Quickly. ChatGPT and other generative/answer engines have the potential to reshape the search paradigm. Meanwhile, more people believe Google’s search quality is in declining (in part due to AI Overviews taking over the most valuable space in search results and brutal algorithm updates). And many sites are seeing the erosion of organic traffic from Google.

The big picture. 62% of marketing leaders said they are diversifying and adjusting their strategies. Meanwhile, 31% intend to diversify but haven’t made any adjustments. The remaining marketing leaders are either maintaining strategy or not making any adjustments.

Non-Google search platforms. These are the non-Google Search platforms that marketing leaders are considering:

• YouTube (66%)
• ChatGPT (56%)
• Amazon (45%)
• TikTok (40%)

Measuring search. The rise of generative search and generative AI assistants has shifted how marketing leaders measured search performance over the last year significantly (55%) or slightly (36%). The remaining 9% said they haven’t changed how they measure performance. Here’s how some are now measuring success, according to the survey:

• 52% have shifted from rankings to presence in search snippets and appearing in answers (Google AI Overviews/ChatGPT/Perplexity).
• 27% have shifted from click-through rate to conversions.
• 7% shifted from rankings to visits.

About the data. Botify partnered with Centiment for this survey of 300 marketing department leaders (directors, VPs, or higher in the retail, ecommerce, tourism, and hospitality industries). It was conducted in December.

The survey. Marketing Leaders Want to Meet AI Search Head-On: New Survey Results

The holiday season saw a significant increase in digital ad spending across retail media, paid search, and paid social channels according to the Q4 2024 Digital Marketing Quarterly Trends Report by omnichannel advertising platform for commerce media, Skai.

Despite concerns over a shorter shopping season and ongoing economic pressures, advertisers doubled down on digital campaigns, driving a 20% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) increase in ad spend across all channels. Retail media emerged as the biggest winner, with remarkable year-over-year (YoY) growth.

By the numbers:

• Paid search. While spending increased 20% QoQ, YoY spending dipped by 2%, with a decline in standard shopping campaign clicks suggesting a shift toward Performance Max. Text ads clicks remained flat YoY, with CPCs decreasing by 2%, highlighting a shift in campaign strategies.
• Retail media. Ad spend surged 23% YoY, driven by a 28% increase in impressions and a 20% boost in clicks. Stable costs-per-click (CPC) at 3% further enhanced value for marketers.
• Paid social. TikTok led the way with a 28% YoY increase in ad spending, helping paid social maintain overall growth. Meta’s deprecation of the Conversions campaign objective led to an impression deficit.

Why we care. These numbers reveals digital advertising’s resilience during Q4 2024, with 20% quarter-over-quarter growth despite economic headwinds. The standout performance of retail media, growing 23% year-over-year with stable costs, confirms it as an increasingly vital channel.

Meanwhile, significant shifts in paid search and social media, including TikTok’s strong growth and changes in shopping campaign dynamics, highlight important strategic considerations for future campaign planning and budget allocation in 2025.

Between the lines. Despite predictions that year-round deals and a shortened holiday shopping window would dampen Q4 spending, marketers successfully adapted by:

• Launching early Amazon-led promotional campaigns before the Cyber 5 period.
• Maintaining stable ad costs across channels, with retail media CPCs only increasing by 3%.
• Leveraging TikTok’s strong engagement with younger audiences during the critical shopping season.

Big picture. While retail media flourished, traditional digital channels faced some headwinds:

• Paid search saw declining clicks for standard shopping campaigns, suggesting a shift toward Performance Max.
• Paid social struggled with impression growth following Meta’s deprecation of the Conversions campaign objective.

What they’re saying. “The holiday season will always drive spending across digital marketing. In retail media, the performance and ubiquity of those ads allowed for healthy growth throughout the season,” said Nich Weinheimer, EVP of Strategy at Skai.

Bottom line. Q4 2024’s digital marketing performance demonstrates the continued evolution of holiday shopping patterns, with retail media emerging as an increasingly crucial channel for marketers.

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Google acknowledged that Performance Max (PMax) campaigns can be controlled through API placement exclusions — contradicting months of its own documentation and support guidance, according to new research from ad tech firm Optmyzr.

This revelation gives advertisers more programmatic control over their PMax campaigns than previously thought possible, potentially saving significant time and resources in campaign management.

The big picture. Performance Max campaigns, Google’s AI-driven ad format, have been a source of frustration for advertisers seeking more granular control over where their ads appear.

Lead up. Earlier this year we saw that despite Navah Hopkins, Brand Evangelist of Optmyzr, reporting that Google said that API based placements exclusions don’t work for PMax campaigns, multiple advertisers were reporting the opposite.

By the numbers. Optmyzr ran an experiment, running from Dec. 30 to Jan. 21. It showed:

• Zero ad spend on excluded placements after implementing API controls.
• Complete effectiveness of API-based exclusions, despite Google’s previous claims.
• Faster implementation compared to manual UI controls.

Behind the scenes. Google’s documentation and AI help center had explicitly stated that placement exclusions would only work through their user interface, not via API.

• Multiple support channels reinforced this incorrect guidance.
• This misinformation was shared for months.
• Google has since updated its stance after Optmyzr’s findings.

What they’re saying. Following the experiment, Google admitted that placement exclusions work through both the API and UI as we see in this response from Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Liaison:

Why we care. Performance Max campaigns represent a significant portion of many advertisers’ Google Ads spend, but the lack of control over where ads appear has been a major pain point. This situation also highlights a broader point: you shouldn’t take platform limitations as gospel, even when they come directly from Google. Testing and verification could reveal hidden capabilities that provide competitive advantages.

Bottom line. This discovery highlights a broader issue in ad tech: platform documentation doesn’t always reflect actual capabilities, requiring advertisers to actively test and verify functionality.

What’s next. As advertisers, you should:

• Review your PMax campaign controls.
• Consider implementing API-based exclusions for more efficient management.
• Maintain active oversight despite automated controls.
• Confidently question capabilities they may have strong reason to believe isn’t true.

Between the lines. The finding suggests other undocumented capabilities might exist across Google’s ad platforms, encouraging advertisers to question and test official limitations.

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HubSpot’s SEO collapse has been the talk of the SEO world for the last several days.

As a reminder, here’s a screenshot of HubSpot’s organic traffic drop, based on Semrush data:

Among the endless reactions and perspectives, two former HubSpot employees shared five good reminders about SEO strategy.

1. SEO takes time

Pruning content and focusing on E-E-A-T were among the many obvious remedies SEOs pointed out following the news of HubSpot’s apparent organic traffic decline.

Well, these aren’t simple tweaks for a brand the size of HubSpot. They’re massive undertakings, according to this LinkedIn post by Bianca Anderson, HubSpot’s former SEO strategist (who is now manager, organic growth for hims and hers):

• “When HubSpot began optimizing for EEAT, it required overhauling processes in a way that significantly slowed the output of net-new content AND optimizations. Additionally, pruning a blog at HubSpot’s scale, with thousands of articles, is no small task and takes extensive effort to execute effectively (and SMARTLY).
• “…fixing this kind of thing isn’t an overnight process. It’s not as simple as mass redirects. This type of work can take YEARS to properly execute.”

Dig deeper. How long SEO takes to work

2. Google’s algorithm is extremely volatile

This may feel like an obvious observation for many of you reading, but Anderson made an important point about how volatile Google’s algorithm has been lately:

• “Algorithm updates over the past two years have been unprecedented in their volatility (I know we all know this, but just want to emphasize) — it’s been an onslaught. Major brands like HubSpot and WordStream, are feeling these changes deeply.”

Dig deeper. Google algorithm updates.

3. There is no shared definition of ‘content quality’

Google is not the sole arbiter of quality, according to this LinkedIn post by Braden Becker, former principal growth marketing manager at HubSpot (who is now the global SEO lead for Faire):

• “I believe their quality standards are vastly more sophisticated than they were when I was working on the HubSpot Blog, and the company is surely paying a little for that. But just because Google makes a grand decision on a big website doesn’t mean the victim objectively deserved it.”

Becker highlighted another key point about quality:

• “There’s a difference between ‘quality’ and ‘the most helpful answer’ to a given search term. I think Google consistently focuses on the latter, despite not always being clear about that.”

Dig deeper. Mastering content quality: The ultimate guide

4. SEO strategies must always evolve

SEO strategy is fluid, Becker said:

• “You try to do what’s right for the business at the time. What worked, we kept doing. And what didn’t work, we stopped doing.”

Anderson added:

• “From what I’ve seen, TOFU (top-of-funnel) non-ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) targeting content seems to be the most impacted. Is this partly the result of a wide-scale strategic de-prioritization? Maybe. I don’t know.
• “What I do know is this: HubSpot has been actively working on this long before these traffic declines became more publicly known.”

Dig deeper. Evolving SEO for 2025: What needs to change

5. Traffic is not a leading metric of success

Traffic and revenue are not the same thing, as Anderson pointed out:

• “Traffic is cool, but it should rarely be a leading metric of success (especially now). Conversions or other core KPIs that drive business matter far more.”

Dig deeper. SEO KPIs to track and measure SEO success

Bottom line. Peter Rota, senior technical SEO manager, HUB International, made several great points in this LinkedIn post. Of note:

• We can only see a portion of what happened – we don’t have Google Analytics or Google Search Console data.
• We don’t know how many of these keywords brought meaningful visitors.
• We don’t know whether any of this lost traffic impacted their sales/revenue. We might get more insight Feb. 12 – that’s the date when HubSpot is expected to release its Q4 results.

Rota added:

• “In SEO, you can literally do everything right, and one day, Google could be like know what, we’re changing things. No site is truly ‘white hat,’ and everyone thinks they’re doing amazing SEO until you get hit.
• “We all have access to the same public data, but the reality is that the SEOs who are working/ worked at HubSpot only know the true story of what happened.
• “So, stop giving advice, stop thinking you know better. They literally wrote the book on inbound marketing and have taught many of us SEO or we’ve learned something from them.”

More analysis. Leading international SEO expert Aleyda Solis wrote a good analysis of Hubspot’s (public) rankings and traffic data in Hubspot’s Blog Organic Search Traffic Drop: What happened? Is it really that bad? What does it mean for SEO?

Hubspot’s SEO strategy is the talk of the SEO and marketing world today. Why? Just look at this image:

Organic traffic appears to have declined sharply, dropping from 13.5 million in November to 8.6 million in December, according to Semrush (disclosure: Search Engine Land is a Semrush company). HubSpot’s blog seems to have taken most of the impact.

It may be that Google wants to stop rewarding websites that publish content outside their area of expertise – that lack depth and topical authority on. The type of content that is more geared toward getting Google organic traffic than being written for people. What Google might call “SEO-first content” (or helpful content).

Some of the topics seeing huge declines for HubSpot appear to be blogs about famous quotes, writing a resignation letter, and cover letter examples.

Why we care. SEO just keeps getting harder. HubSpot, for years, executed a masterful content strategy that was emulated by countless other brands and websites. For years, it was considered by many to be the gold standard of B2B vendor blogs. Now, it appears that SEO playbook is no longer working, likely due to a combination of Google core updates and AI Overviews. Reminder: Think depth, not breadth.

Zoom out. Google released a pair of algorithm updates – the December 2024 core update and December 2024 spam update. Also, the November 2024 core update completed its rollout on Dec. 5 – exactly one week before the December core update began.

SEO reactions. Some SEOs are blaming the huge traffic drop on HubSpot’s lack of topical authority, while others pointed to possible “thin content” issues. Here’s a sampling of some of the reactions to the news of HubSpot’s SEO results falling off a cliff:

Taylor (Berg) Chapa, group manager, web strategy and experience at Headspace, had a great thread on X, some highlights:

• “I don’t want a [mental health] company to rank for ‘why do I feel funny when I’m in love’ or ‘Thanksgiving’ or ‘love quotes’ that’s not a good use of resources and we weren’t the site for that.”
• “Our largest competitor was focusing so hard on traffic that they couldn’t even rank for MH keywords. And they still don’t. and it’s all because they have a ‘traffic at all costs’ keyword strategy.

The hubspot SEO decline is a great example of hitting critical mass of content relevance. A fun little secret: At my last job we never content gapped our largest competitor. I specifically said not to. Why? Because that competitor was making content totally outside of MH.

— Taylor Berg Chapa bluesky @taylorberg (@taylorannberg) January 23, 2025

Gemma Brunson wrote on X:

• “So about that massive drop to the HubSpot blog… just look what they’ve been publishing. They deserve the wreckage for being such lazy SEOs and content marketers!”

So about that massive drop to the HubSpot blog… just look what they’ve been publishing. They deserve the wreckage for being such lazy SEOs and content marketers! pic.twitter.com/sWG2bUF49X

— Gemma Brunson (@WhoreOfSEO) January 22, 2025

Chris Long had an interesting analysis of HubSpot’s blog traffic on X.

60-Second SEO: HubSpot’s Blog traffic has gotten absolutely demolished (-70% drop).

We analyzed their site and found that 53% of their pages had word counts of 2,000 words or less: pic.twitter.com/fxolMchbLH

— Chris Long (@gofishchris) January 23, 2025

Adam Ryan, CEO of Workweek, wrote on X:

• “If this is true, this is very bad for companies who deeply depend on SEO. HubSpot has one of the very best blogs, invests heavily in that content, and has for a decade+. If they can’t…”

Gaetano Nino DiNardi, a growth advisor, posted this on LinkedIn:

– The game has changed. No one is safe, not even a mega brand like HubSpot.

– Google doesn’t really want you publishing topics that are ‘too far astray’ just for the sake of getting traffic.

– Why publish these topics anyway? Extreme top of funnel is not worth it.

– Is this really hurting HubSpot? I think yes, because crappy content targeting irrelevant keywords unfortunately drags down the performance of everything else, even the good pages.

Dig deeper. The art of subtraction: How to do more with less in SEO

As a search marketer, you’re already skilled at creating content that captivates audiences and drives results.

But when the audience is your own team and the goal is internal training, the task might feel a bit out of your comfort zone.

Creating training videos may seem unfamiliar, especially if video production isn’t your forte.

However, your existing skills in search marketing can be incredibly valuable when crafting engaging and educational training videos for your colleagues.

This article will guide you through the essential tools, strategies, and best practices to create training videos that are not only informative but also engaging and effective.

Exploring SearchBot for internal training video insights

What do you do when tasked with an unexpected assignment – one that plays to your weaknesses, like creating internal training videos?

One possible step is to check out Search Engine Land’s SearchBot SearchBot for advice.

In my own search, I tried using the “Productivity expert/motivational coach/personal guru” persona to explore tips and tools for building internal training videos. The Coaching Expert SearchBot (powered by ChatGPT 4.0-mini) offered some valuable insights:

“Here are some key points and tools you might consider including in your presentation on making internal training videos:

Tools for Creating Training Videos

1. Screen Recording Software:
– Camtasia: Great for recording screen activity and adding annotations.
– OBS Studio: A free, open-source option for screen recording and live streaming.

2. Video Editing Software:
– Adobe Premiere Pro: A professional-grade video editing tool with extensive features.
– iMovie: A user-friendly option for Mac users, ideal for basic editing.

3. Presentation Tools:
– PowerPoint or Google Slides: Use these to create engaging slides that can be recorded as part of your video.
– Prezi: Offers a dynamic presentation style that can make your training more engaging.

4. Audio Recording Equipment:
– USB Microphones: A good quality microphone can significantly improve audio clarity (e.g., Blue Yeti).
– Headsets: For clear audio during recordings or live sessions.

5. Video Hosting Platforms:
– YouTube: For public or unlisted videos.
– Vimeo: Offers privacy options and is great for internal sharing.
– LMS (Learning Management Systems): If your company uses an LMS, consider integrating your videos there for easy access.

Tips for Making Effective Training Videos
1. Define Your Objectives: Clearly outline what you want to achieve with the training video. This will guide your content and structure.

2. Know Your Audience: Tailor your content to the specific needs and knowledge level of your audience to ensure engagement.

3. Keep It Concise: Aim for shorter videos (5-10 minutes) to maintain attention and focus. Break longer topics into a series of shorter videos.

4. Engage with Visuals: Use visuals, graphics and animations to illustrate key points and keep the audience engaged.

5. Include Interactive Elements: If possible, incorporate quizzes or discussion prompts to encourage interaction and reinforce learning.

6. Practice Delivery: Rehearse your presentation to ensure smooth delivery and to build confidence.

7. Gather Feedback: After the training, solicit feedback to improve future videos and address any gaps in understanding.

Conclusion
Encourage your colleagues to embrace video as a powerful tool for training and development. Highlight the importance of continuous learning and how effective training videos can enhance knowledge retention and engagement within the organization.”

While these are helpful general guidelines, one thing the SearchBot didn’t touch on was the importance of scriptwriting and video planning tools. 

For example, Google Docs or Notion are great for drafting scripts and structuring content, ensuring nothing important gets overlooked. 

Tools like Trello or Asana can also help you organize the production process by breaking down each step – scripting, recording, editing, and reviewing.

Dig deeper: Video content guide: Why you should start creating videos now (plus examples)

Adding a dash of creativity to your internal training videos

While technical tips and tools are essential, the real magic happens when creativity transforms your content into something memorable. 

Drawing inspiration from David Ogilvy’s philosophy of “big ideas,” I decided to seek unconventional sources of inspiration. 

One such source was the 1976 comedy film Murder by Death – a clever spoof of detective movie tropes.

This time, I used another persona in Search Engine Land’s list: Sarcastic Marketer (for fun!). It’s been “pre-prompted” as a snarky, clever, and funny marketing expert. Here’s what the chatbot generated:

“[W]hen I think of engaging internal training videos, I immediately think of a 1976 comedy/mystery film featuring a cast of eccentric detectives. I mean, who wouldn’t want to learn about compliance policies from a parody of Hercule Poirot or a bumbling version of Sam Spade?

Here’s the genius plan:

1. Character-Based Scenarios: Use the iconic characters from Murder by Death as avatars for different training modules. Picture this: your compliance training led by a Poirot-esque character who meticulously unravels the “mystery” of company policies. “Ah, but what is the true meaning of ‘conflict of interest’? Let us investigate!”

2. Humor and Mystery: Inject humor into the training by creating a light-hearted mystery that employees need to solve. For example, “Who stole the last donut in the break room?” Employees can learn about teamwork and communication while trying to crack the case. Spoiler alert: it was probably the intern.

3. Interactive Elements: Incorporate interactive elements where employees can choose their own adventure, much like the film’s plot twists. “Will you follow the lead of the wise-cracking detective or the overly serious one? Choose wisely, or you might end up in a training loop of doom!”

4. Visual Style: Emulate the film’s quirky visual style. Use bold colors, exaggerated expressions and playful graphics to keep viewers engaged. Because nothing says “mandatory training” like a cartoonish detective with a magnifying glass.

5. Catchy Taglines: Create memorable taglines inspired by the film’s humor. “In the world of corporate training, the only thing more mysterious than our policies is why you haven’t watched this video yet!”

6. Post-Training Debrief: End with a “whodunit” style debrief where employees can discuss what they learned, just like detectives sharing their theories. “So, who really was the culprit behind the missed deadlines? Was it poor communication or just a lack of coffee?”

So, there you have it! By channeling the comedic brilliance of Murder by Death, you can transform those deadly dull training videos into something that employees might actually look forward to. Just remember, if all else fails, you can always blame it on the cat.”

By injecting creativity into your training videos, you can break free from the typical formulaic approach, turning mundane content into an engaging, even fun, experience for your team.

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Strategic insights for effective training videos

Creating impactful internal training videos requires more than technical know-how.

It demands a strategic approach that aligns with organizational goals, leverages industry trends, and incorporates data-driven improvements. 

Here’s how to make your training videos effective and engaging.

Align training videos with business goals

Training videos should serve as strategic tools, not just tutorials. Tie them to broader business objectives like scaling lead generation, improving ROI, or boosting organic traffic.

For example, if your company is entering new markets, focus on localization strategies for PPC or international SEO best practices. Ensuring alignment with key goals enhances their relevance and impact.

Use introductory videos and advanced tutorials

Tailoring videos for various levels of expertise within your company is key to maintaining engagement and ensuring that learning is effective.

Consider creating distinct content based on the following:

• Introductory videos: Target new hires or those with less experience. These might cover basic topics like using Google Keyword Planner or an overview of Google Ads, providing a solid foundation for those starting out in marketing.
• Advanced tutorials: Cater to seasoned professionals with more complex topics, such as conversion rate optimization (CRO), attribution modeling, or technical SEO audits using tools like Screaming Frog. These sessions should delve deep into advanced strategies, providing more technical insights and practical applications.

Tailoring your content ensures that employees at all levels feel supported, challenged, and engaged in their learning journey.

Incorporate video SEO principles

Even internal training videos benefit from video SEO practices. Optimize file names, titles, and descriptions with relevant keywords to improve discoverability within your company’s systems. 

This ensures that employees can quickly locate the resources they need, especially in larger organizations.

Tactical advice for creating effective training videos

• Leverage analytics for optimization: Treat training videos like SEO or PPC campaigns by tracking performance metrics such as watch times, completion rates, and engagement. Tools like Wistia or Panopto can help identify content gaps or opportunities for improvement, ensuring your videos remain relevant and effective.
• Integrate interactive elements: Boost engagement and reinforce learning by incorporating quizzes, polls, or interactive walkthroughs. For example, SEO training might include a quiz on keyword strategy, while a PPC walkthrough could guide users through campaign setup, offering hands-on experience.

By aligning your videos with business goals and applying these tactical best practices, you can create training content that resonates, informs, and drives measurable improvement within your organization.

Dig deeper: YouTube SEO fundamentals: What you need to know

The start of a new year signals more than resolutions – it’s a critical moment for PPC professionals to reset, refocus, and strategically realign. 

As the digital marketing landscape evolves, success demands a clear-eyed approach to account management, client objectives, and personal growth.

Here are five essential areas every PPC specialist must prioritize in 2025.

1. Master the fundamentals: Strengthen your foundation

We often rush to tackle advanced strategies without solidifying the fundamentals, whether in client work or our personal development.

No matter your experience level, revisiting the basics is essential for long-term success.

Now is the perfect time to refocus on foundational elements, both for your accounts and your own growth, such as:

Tracking

• Accurate and complete tracking is critical in the AI era. Your account’s performance depends entirely on the quality of the data flowing into it.
• Review your setups and identify any gaps, such as enhanced conversions, offline conversion tracking, or basket-level data.

Account hygiene

• This may not be the most exciting task, but it’s essential. If you were auditing someone else’s account, account hygiene would be one of the first things you’d examine. 
• Review ads, creatives, bidding strategies, campaign settings, and keywords to ensure everything is in order. 
• Over time, these elements can become out of place, so adjustments are likely needed. 
• For a starting point, check the Recommendations tab, then refine from there.

Account structure

• Ensure the account structure aligns with the client’s advertising goals and objectives.

Task management

• Review task management systems and service agreements to confirm they still match current needs.
• Peak periods can lead to workload overflows, which may carry into the new year. Assess your tasks to remove anything unnecessary or of little value to the client.

Personal habits

• During busy periods, morning account checks may be skipped, and weekly performance reviews or analyses might stretch to biweekly or even monthly. Make sure to get back on track.

Skill sharpening

• Keeping up with industry newsletters or completing a PPC training course might have taken a backseat. 

Reprioritize these activities to stay ahead in the field.

Dig deeper: How to create a roadmap for your PPC clients

2. Plan for success: Align goals and strategy

For the client side, start with an annual review or extended quarterly meeting with clients and key stakeholders to ensure objectives are communicated clearly and aligned.

The plan should focus on measurable goals and future strategy rather than revisiting technical basics. Key elements to include:

• 2024 performance overview: Evaluate performance against primary objectives with year-on-year or forecast comparisons.
• Channel analysis: Identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. For example, if direct and organic traffic is underperforming, diagnose the cause (e.g., reduced brand awareness) and explore solutions, such as upper-funnel activity in current or new channels.
• Realignment of 2025 objectives, goals, and targets: Use existing insights to set clear goals and define how to achieve them.
• List of strategic actions: For instance, if revenue grew year-over-year but profits declined, a 2025 objective might be to test profit-based bidding strategies.
• Strategy roadmap: Prioritize actions for the first two quarters rather than spreading them out over the entire year.

For personal development, take time to reflect on your goals for 2025 and collaborate with your agency or manager to create a development plan. 

Consider the following:

• Weaknesses or interests: Identify areas you want to improve or explore further this year.
• Strengths: Focus on skills you excel at and aim to become an internal leader in those areas.
• Portfolio review: Assess whether your current client portfolio aligns with your personal growth goals.
• Career progression: Define the position you want to work toward and ensure your objectives align with achieving that role.

Dig deeper: 5 ways to align PPC campaigns with business objectives

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3. Resource readiness: Equip yourself and your team

Once planning is underway, assess the resources needed to implement your plans effectively. 

These requirements may evolve based on client feedback and internal discussions. Key areas to review include:

• Team capability
  • Can existing team members address any measurement or implementation gaps?
  • Will the client’s development team need to handle certain tasks?
  • If there’s a skills gap, is this an opportunity for you to upskill?
• Service contract alignment
  • Do the tasks and requirements fit within the current service agreement?
  • If additional channel management is needed, will the account require extra support?
• Creative process
  • Does the client’s creative process support new strategies or channels?
  • Are additional resources or adjustments needed to align with new goals?
• Commercial scope
  • If current delivery exceeds the original agreement, plan a review with the client.
  • Consider how this extra service aligns with your personal growth objectives.
• Upskilling needs
  • Identify any training or knowledge gaps necessary to meet both client and personal objectives.

Resource needs often overlap between personal and business goals. 

For example, if you aim to improve your skills in profit tracking and a client’s goal is to focus on profitability over revenue, this creates an opportunity to align personal development with client success. 

Prioritize areas that deliver value for both.

4. Learning and growth: Stay ahead in a fast-moving industry

In the fast-evolving digital marketing world, continuous learning is critical to staying relevant and achieving your growth ambitions. 

Whether refining your expertise or exploring new areas, upskilling offers several benefits:

• Fresh ideas and innovative thinking.
• Confidence from enhanced knowledge.
• Increased job satisfaction and motivation.
• A clear signal of career ambition and drive.

Both personal and business growth can be supported through targeted learning. Potential focus areas include:

• Specific skills: AI, attribution/measurement, multi-channel strategies, profit tracking.
• Broader development: Leadership, management, and client communication.

While personal and client objectives may not always align perfectly, both require dedicated learning plans. Shape these around the year’s strategic goals:

• For personal growth, focus on skills that help you lead in your specialty or explore new interests.
• For business growth, consider training that strengthens client understanding, such as PPC’s role in overall strategy or how AI (e.g., Performance Max) reshapes campaign structures.

Bridging gaps between roles – such as clients fixating on minor CPC changes instead of strategy impact – through education can reduce misunderstandings, improve efficiency, and foster stronger relationships. 

Empowering clients with relevant knowledge helps them better communicate results to stakeholders, benefiting both parties.

Dig deeper: Becoming a world-class PPC ad buyer: 8 key lessons

5. From goals to actions: Turning plans into progress

Planning is only half the battle; without action, even the best strategies fall flat. 

Whether it’s executing a 2025 paid media strategy or achieving personal goals, effort, and resources must be allocated to move forward. 

Here are effective ways to translate plans into progress:

• Break down objectives: Divide broad goals into smaller, actionable tasks for clarity and focus.
• Track progress: Create a weekly updated progression sheet to monitor goals and maintain transparency.
• Set deadlines: Assign clear timelines to keep everyone accountable and motivated.
• Communicate regularly: For client plans, track and report progress through regular communications and monthly updates.
• Invest in resources: Commit to necessary tools, training, or initiatives. Financial investment adds urgency and focus.
• Assign accountability: Clearly delegate responsibilities and deliverables to ensure follow-through.

By prioritizing these steps, whether individually or as a whole, you can set yourself and your clients up for a successful and productive 2025.

Dig deeper: PPC management checklist: Daily, weekly and monthly reviews

SEO is at a crossroads. 

As AI reshapes the digital landscape and Google continues to drive less traffic to brands, marketers face a critical challenge: how to balance strategies that deliver results today with innovations that prepare for tomorrow. 

This article outlines eight key considerations to help you navigate these changes and stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of SEO.

Why SEO feels overwhelming right now

In 2024, five of the top 15 SEO stories on Search Engine Land were about AI, with several others covering major changes at Google that have led to less traffic being sent to brands. 

These shifts leave us with a lot to think about. Studies and experiments show the immense potential of AI-based search tools, yet most of us are still focused on optimizing for what works today. 

It can feel overwhelming to keep up. I often find myself lost in the wealth of insights shared by thought leaders like Rand Fishkin, Wil Reynolds, and Michael King.

This rapid pace of change is not new. I vividly remember attending SEMpdx Engage in Portland in 2019, where Fishkin presented on zero-click searches. 

That was before the pandemic and long before ChatGPT made its debut, yet the trend of diminishing clicks from Google was already taking shape.

I’m not here to break new ground with data or studies – that’s best left to the industry leaders I mentioned earlier. 

Instead, I want to share practical considerations to help you navigate the SEO landscape with confidence.

1. Focus on ROI

Long before AI, one of the biggest contributors to ineffective SEO has been the lack of a strong connection between SEO strategy and its ROI. 

Given the time it takes to see meaningful results, you can’t afford to “do all the stuff” only to realize it was the wrong approach – or worse, conclude that SEO doesn’t work for your organization.

Even with a detailed strategy, it’s often challenging to connect SEO KPIs to business outcomes when presenting to stakeholders. 

Anchoring your efforts in ROI, rather than just SEO metrics, is more critical than ever as the industry evolves. 

Avoid shifting strategies and tactics without a clear understanding of what’s working for your organization and what isn’t.

Dig deeper: 7 proven methods to explain the value of SEO

2. Leverage AI

AI is the driving force behind the changes reshaping the SEO industry. 

If you’ve been focused solely on existing strategies, hesitant to trust AI, or simply haven’t made time to experiment with it, now is the time to start testing and adopting it.

This doesn’t mean relying on AI to generate all your content or trusting it blindly. 

Instead, focus on understanding its strengths, its limitations, and where it can create efficiencies. 

For those juggling multiple roles or working solo in SEO, AI can serve as a valuable assistant – provided you verify and question its outputs.

Set aside time to test and innovate with AI. The technology is here to stay, and the longer you wait, the harder it will be to adapt as it becomes more advanced.

Dig deeper: 3 ways to use AI for SEO wins in 2025

3. Know who you are targeting

Your audience is the reason for doing SEO – not search engines or emerging AI tools. 

The goal is for your content and brand to be found in ways that drive ROI. 

While having a strong brand strategy and detailed personas is a great start, SEO today requires a deeper understanding of your target audience.

With fragmented traffic sources and fewer clicks from Google, it’s more important than ever to know exactly who your audience is, what they’re seeking, and how you can uniquely serve them. 

As platforms like ChatGPT grow, even if they don’t drive direct traffic, quality must take precedence over quantity. 

Casting a wide net isn’t enough; precision is key in this evolving landscape.

Dig deeper: How to find emerging audience needs using Google Trends

4. Identify where your audience is

Understanding your audience also means knowing where they are and how they engage online. 

This has traditionally involved examining social media, email marketing, third-party content, and ads, along with their interplay with Google search behavior.

Today, we need to go further. 

Whether you call it SEO, AI optimization, or something else, it’s essential to account for multiple platforms. 

• Are your audiences still using Google search? 
• Are they engaging with AI summaries in Google, ChatGPT, or Bing? 
• Are they evenly distributed across various platforms? 

Optimizing for these sources requires an understanding of how your audience engages with each.

Asking the right questions and exploring deeper insights about your audience’s online behavior will shape where and how you reach them effectively.

Dig deeper: How to do audience research for SEO

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5. Invest in content

Content has always been a cornerstone of SEO and audience engagement, and it remains a crucial area to invest in. 

While the way we create and consume content has evolved, it still serves as the fuel for digital marketing efforts.

AI has made content research, ideation, and even creation more scalable and accessible. 

However, thought leadership and showcasing your unique value to your audience remain as important as ever. 

With AI making it easier to produce content, standing out through quality will be even more critical. 

Investing in high-quality, impactful content – especially content that works across multiple channels – will continue to yield strong results.

Dig deeper: Content marketing and SEO: Creating an integrated SEO plan

6. Evolve tactics and checklists

For years, I’ve cautioned against “checklist SEO,” where tactics are followed blindly without a clear strategy. 

However, having a defined approach and documented processes is still essential.

As traffic sources diversify, your methodology must evolve to keep pace. 

Outdated SEO practices won’t cut it, and relying on memory or unstructured workflows can hinder your efforts. 

Maintain a written process that adapts as needed to ensure your strategy stays relevant. 

This way, you can defend your approach to stakeholders and even to yourself when changes require swift adjustments.

Dig deeper: Evolving SEO for 2025: What needs to change

7. Be intentional in testing

Amid the demands of daily tasks, make sure to carve out intentional, scheduled time for testing. 

Even those at the forefront of AI often feel behind when comparing themselves to others or evaluating the pace of advancements.

Make testing purposeful by setting clear goals and objectives. 

Whether you need to push yourself to dedicate time or rein in constant experimentation to refocus on what matters now versus what’s coming next, find a balance that supports meaningful progress.

Dig deeper: SEO testing: Shifting from reactive to proactive strategies

8. Communicate with stakeholders

Keeping stakeholders informed, educated, and comfortable with SEO has always been a challenge, and the rapid changes brought by AI make this even more critical. 

Whether your stakeholders are clients, bosses, or other decision-makers, they’re likely less immersed in SEO than you are.

Don’t let the complexity of AI or evolving strategies be an excuse to avoid effective communication. 

Ensuring stakeholders understand your approach and the broader industry context will help build trust and alignment, even as changes continue to unfold.

Dig deeper: How to use SEO education for stakeholder management

Mastering SEO: Balancing proven tactics with emerging trends

If you’re deep in SEO, you’re probably not scared of change. 

The shifts we’re seeing today affect everyone, and many of these trends – such as fewer clicks from Google – have been developing for years. 

While the influx of new information and changes can feel overwhelming at times, my hope is that by applying the eight aspects I’ve discussed in this article to your mindset, approach, and overall strategy, you’ll be able to move forward with clarity. 

By adopting these principles, you can set clear objectives that will help you adapt and thrive in this shifting environment.

Meta is rolling out ads on its Threads app, targeting a rapidly expanding social media platform with over 300 million monthly active users.

This move transforms Threads from a pure social experience into a potential advertising powerhouse, allowing businesses to easily extend their existing Meta ad campaigns with minimal additional effort.

Big picture. Advertisers can now add Threads to their campaign reach by simply checking a box in Ads Manager. Initially, the test will feature image ads appearing intermittently in users’ home feeds.

Key details:

• Small-scale initial test with limited advertisers.
• Ads will appear between content in the home feed.
• Three out of four Threads users already follow at least one business (according to internal Meta data).

Why we care. Advertisers included in this pilot, can easily extend their existing Meta ad campaigns to a new, rapidly growing platform with 300 million monthly active users, with minimal additional creative work. By getting in early, advertisers can establish a presence, gain unique audience insights, and potentially capture market share before the platform becomes saturated with competitors.

Between the lines. Meta is treading carefully, promising close monitoring of the ad experience and providing user controls like ad skipping and reporting.

Brand safety. The company is implementing its existing brand safety tools, including an AI-powered inventory filter that helps advertisers control the content context of their ads.

What’s next. Meta plans to expand the ad program gradually, using user feedback and engagement metrics to guide future rollout.

Bottom line. Threads is transforming from a Twitter alternative to a potential advertising platform, leveraging Meta’s extensive ad infrastructure.

Performance Max (PMax) and search campaigns often trip over each other and make a mess out of your data and the customer journey. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

At SMX Next, Brad Geddes, co-founder of Adalysis, dove deep into the data analysis of why you need to exert control over your search terms. He walked through the steps you can take to ensure these two campaigns aren’t fighting each other but working in tandem to improve your account performance.

The core of the conflict: PMax and Search overlap

Geddes set the stage by addressing the ongoing competition between PMax, search, and shopping campaigns:

• “Right now, the shift is PMax, search and shopping campaigns often compete with each other as opposed to complementing each other.”

This competition can lead to inefficiencies, as campaigns vie for the same search terms.

One of the central concepts Geddes introduced was Google’s “priority” system for ad displays. Google prioritizes exact-match keywords when deciding which ad to show. However, the definition of “identical” can be surprisingly stringent, Geddes said:

• “If you have this search term, ‘Italy tour guide,’ and you have the search keyword, ‘Italy tour guide,’ that’s identical. But if the search term is ‘Italian tour guide,’ it’s not identical.”

Data insights: The extent of overlap

An analysis of 2,000 accounts found that 45% of PMax search terms also appeared in search campaigns, Geddes said. However, PMax often secured more impressions, showing for 61% of these shared terms. Yet, despite PMax’s dominance in impressions, Geddes emphasized:

• “Search has better click-through rates 65% of the time and better conversion rates 84% of the time.”

The problems that lead to overlap

Geddes offered actionable strategies to address this overlap, starting with keyword management. 

Problem 1: Poor organisation leads to lower ad rank

Poor ad group organization is a significant issue impacting ad rank and relevance in search campaigns. Geddes critiqued Google’s approach to responsive search ads (RSAs), which involves automatically mixing and matching keywords and ad assets to create ads, as it often results in mismatched messaging.

He uses the example of a New York City hotel specializing in being dog-friendly.

The hotel had an ad group with keywords like “New York City dog-friendly hotel,” expecting their RSA to display ads highlighting “dog-friendly” when users searched for those terms. However, most impressions for the keyword “NYC dog-friendly hotel” showed ads with generic phrases like “downtown New York City hotel” or “Times Square hotel,” failing to mention pet-friendliness.

The solution?

Reorganizing ad groups.

By analyzing search terms, creating more specific ad groups, and writing ads tailored to those terms, the hotel expanded from one broad ad group to around 20 focused ones. This improved the relevance of ads and tripled conversions without increasing the budget.

Evergreen ad group organization enhances relevance, quality scores, click-through rates, and conversion rates, outperforming automated approaches.

Problem 2: Not adding search terms as keywords

Our second issue in search campaign performance is tied to Google’s reliance on automation.

Google’s approach encourages marketers to use broad match keywords and automated bidding, such as CPA or maximum conversion value bidding, under the premise that Google’s system will handle the search terms effectively, Geddes said. However, he pointed out a critical flaw:

• “If you don’t manually add your top search terms as keywords, those terms won’t exist as keywords in your account.”

This prevents an exact match between the search term and keyword, leading to a scenario where PMax campaigns might take precedence over search campaigns.

The solution he offers is straightforward: marketers should still manually review and identify their top-performing search terms and add them as keywords in their search campaigns. This ensures better alignment and control, avoiding over-reliance on Google’s automation.

Problem 3: Google recommendation, removing redundant keywords

Geddes highlighted Google’s suggestion to remove “redundant keywords,” such as similar variations like Italy tour guides, Italy guided tours, and tours of Italy. Google views these as duplicates and recommends removing them.

However, if you remove these variations, you lose identical keywords in your account, allowing PMax to take priority over search campaigns, Geddes said.

Problem 4: Google auto-apply settings – turn off

Check your Auto Apply settings in Google Ads, as Google may automatically implement changes like removing redundant keywords or “non-serving keywords” (those with few or no impressions), Geddes said.

While removing non-serving keywords might seem harmless, he cautions that it can cause problems for businesses with seasonal demand.

For example, a roofing company may see fewer impressions in winter, or flower delivery keywords may drop after major holidays. If these keywords are auto-removed, they won’t be available when the next season starts, potentially leading to PMax taking over or ads not showing at all.

He emphasizes reviewing and managing Auto Apply settings to avoid unintended changes that could undermine campaign performance.

Problem 5: Ad rank preview tool

Google’s ad preview tool can provide valuable insights but has shown limitations in recent months. Geddes notes that Google often reports:

“We don’t know why your ads aren’t showing for the search,” a problem potentially linked to PMax. The tool might focus on previewing responsive search ads (RSAs), and if RSAs aren’t showing, PMax ads take over, leaving Google unable to explain why ads aren’t serving.

Another frequent issue: keywords not triggering because another “identical” keyword exists. While the system flags the duplication, the identical keyword might have low ad rank, making it ineligible to display. This allows other ads to show instead.

Pay attention to impression shares and bids, especially when low ad rank is affecting ad performance, Geddes said. This underscores the importance of monitoring how ad rank impacts eligibility and ensuring the account is well-optimized to prevent such conflicts.

Problem 6: Lost IS budget & Bid strategy

Geddes explains how using search campaigns alongside PMax campaigns can lead to conflicts if not managed carefully. In one example, an account had a structured setup where search and corresponding PMax campaigns complemented each other based on regions or products. However, problems arise when the search campaign loses impression share to budget. If the search campaign’s budget runs out, PMax takes over, shifting traffic to PMax instead of search.

To avoid this, he advises ensuring that search campaigns have minimal loss of impression share due to budget so they can compete effectively.

When impression share is lost due to rank, he suggests two solutions:

1. Reduce targeting types, like having fewer keywords, to improve efficiency.
2. Raise bids or improve quality scores to regain ad rank, but avoid increasing bids to the point where profitability is lost.

Geddes highlights a common issue with bid strategies: search and PMax campaigns often use different bidding methods, such as manual CPC for search and maximum conversion value for PMax. This results in different bids submitted to auctions, causing PMax to win ad rank when its bids are higher. For example, if an advertiser sets a $15 target CPA for search and a $25 target CPA for PMax, PMax can outbid search in the auction, even if search performs better.

He emphasizes that this mismatch is often a self-inflicted issue caused by inconsistent bid strategies and campaign settings, which advertisers need to address to ensure search campaigns remain competitive.

Problem 7: Campaign settings

Geddes emphasizes the importance of aligning location and scheduling settings between Search and PMax campaigns to improve performance.

Check whether both campaigns target the same regions, as discrepancies can lead to inefficiencies. For example, some companies may exclude specific areas, like Alaska, Hawaii, or California, in their Search campaigns due to shipping or regulatory reasons, but their PMax campaigns might still target those locations, or even the entire country or world.

“PMax can show for some region in this case they target different regions,” Geddes said, which can cause overlap or misalignment. Similarly, ad scheduling should also be consistent across both campaign types.

“PMax should be more restricted than Search, not more expansive,” to ensure better control and targeted performance, he suggested.

Problem 8: Misspellings aren’t the “identical” term 

Google’s approach to search term data caused challenges, particularly the grouping of misspellings with correct spellings. While this change simplifies reporting, it creates significant issues for advertisers:

• “You can no longer tell what’s a misspelling in Google. You have no clue.” 

This is problematic, especially for new brands like Airbnb or Lyft, where early misspellings dominate until Google recognizes them as valid terms.

Geddes highlighted two major concerns:

• “A, you can’t see those stats anymore. B, we don’t know how things are being corrected.” 

It’s unclear if Google prioritizes correcting misspellings before applying search term logic or if corrections occur afterwards, complicating analysis and strategy.

Misspellings are a growing problem, with Google sometimes making “crazy spell corrections,” Geddes said.

As a result, some advertisers are reverting to outdated practices, such as adding exact match misspellings, which Geddes describes as “a crazy amount of work” but possibly necessary due to PMax campaigns amplifying misspelling issues.

He advises advertisers to monitor this closely:

• “It’s something that you might start watching more than you ever did before.”
• “Take your search term data, take your PMax search term data, put it in a pivot table, and look for overlaps.”

By identifying high-performing search terms, advertisers can add these as exact-match keywords in their search campaigns, ensuring better control and performance.

Another recommendation involved improving ad group organization to enhance relevance and ad rank. He shared a success story where reorganizing ad groups for a New York City hotel resulted in tripled conversions on the same budget.

• “Good ad group organization helps relevance from a quality score standpoint and improves click-through and conversion rates,” Geddes said.

Fix ad-serving issues

Geddes summarized the fix of these ad-serving issues into three main buckets:

• Evaluate. “Take your search term data, take your PMax search term data, put in a pivot table and look for overlaps.”
• Create. “What are our top search terms? It doesn’t matter if they’re from search campaigns or PMax campaigns. Let’s make sure those are in your search ad group – with relevant ads and landing pages.
• Check. ”Check your settings, your bid settings, your location settings, your time of day settings, your budget settings. Consistency is what we’re looking for”

Exception – Shopping Campaigns

There are challenges, however in managing overlap between Search and PMax campaigns in retail, where the same search term might trigger ads from both campaigns. Geddes noted:

• “The same search term could show a search ad from search and a product ad from PMax, or PMax could show both,” which creates reporting complexity. “The reporting’s really messy.”

To address this, Geddes suggests analyzing top search terms and checking if they are included in Search campaigns. However, he cautions against broadly using negative keywords at the campaign or account level to block PMax, as this approach can complicate campaign performance.

He highlights tools like Adalysis, which help simplify this process by identifying overlaps:

• “We’ll look and say here’s your PMax search terms. Is this a keyword in Search? Is it a search term in Search?”

For example, Adalysis can analyze terms with no conversions in PMax but better performance in Search, enabling advertisers to optimize organization and performance.

Geddes advises focusing on overlap percentages and using systems that make managing negative keywords and overlaps more efficient. He mentions that Google plans to introduce campaign-level negative keywords for PMax, which will make managing overlaps easier:

• “As soon as that happens, that’ll be baked into the workflow…to make life easier.”

Looking ahead: The role of PMax

Despite its challenges, Geddes acknowledged that PMax can play a supportive role, especially for smaller accounts:

• “PMax is almost that backfill. It can be remarketing, serve across channels, and fill in the gaps for us.”

For advertisers hesitant to embrace PMax, Geddes reassured:

• “If you don’t want to try it, there’s no need to do it right now.”

Dig deeper. Performance Max vs. Search campaigns: New data reveals substantial search term overlap

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Brave Search today announced Rerank, which lets you “raise” (boost) or “discard” (remove) websites from its search results, is available to all users.

How it works. When you search on Brave, a Rerank panel will appear. Users can give a thumbs up or thumbs down on any website in search results.

A thumbs up will boost a site’s rankings and thumbs down will result in that website no longer appearing. You can undo a thumbs up or down at any time.

No algorithmic ranking impact. According to Brave:

• “Use of Rerank will not change domain presence or ranking for other users or on Brave Search as a whole—Rerank only applies for the users who choose to use the feature, and only on that user’s device.”

What it looks like. Here’s a screenshot of Brave’s Rerank:

Why we care. This won’t impact your SEO strategy in any way. However, this is a nice feature that gives Brave users the ability to personalize their search results based on their preferences and get rid of any websites that consider to be unreliable or low-quality.

The announcement. Introducing Rerank: a fast, easy way for users to customize Brave Search rankings

Similar to old Google feature. Google once had a similar feature (from 2011-2012) that let you hide or block certain sites from showing up in search results. Google said it introduced this feature because they believed “giving you control over the results you find will provide an even more personalized and enjoyable experience on Google.”

Dig deeper in New: Google Lets You Block Any Site From Search Results and Google Finally Discontinues The Blocked Sites Feature.

By the numbers. Brave reported that it now sees 38 million queries per day and more than 1.2 billion queries per month.

Google Ads will make significant changes to Video View Campaigns starting in April. Google is introducing a Target Cost-Per-View (CPV) bidding strategy and replacing the Maximum CPV option for new campaigns.

Existing campaigns using Maximum CPV can continue running, but all new campaigns must adopt the updated strategy.

The shift to Target CPV aims to give advertisers greater control over how much they’re willing to pay per view, while multi-format ads promise better efficiency.

Campaigns using a mix of formats — skippable in-stream, in-feed, and Shorts ads — can achieve up to 40% more views for the same budget compared to single-format campaigns, according to Google data.

Key details:

• Multi-format ads. Advertisers can now combine different ad formats within a single campaign, optimizing reach and cost-effectiveness. While mixing formats is encouraged for better results, advertisers still have the flexibility to focus on specific formats like Shorts-only or in-stream-only campaigns.
• Target CPV. This strategy lets advertisers define their desired cost-per-view, providing a more tailored approach to budgeting and performance.
• Sunsetting Maximum CPV. While existing campaigns using Maximum CPV will remain operational, advertisers should anticipate a future migration to the new bidding model.

Why we care. This update represent a fundamental shift in how video advertising costs and performance will be managed. The introduction of Target Cost-Per-View (CPV) bidding gives you more precise control over video ad spending compared to the Maximum CPV model, allowing you to set specific cost targets rather than just upper limits.

The email. This update was first brought to our attention by Georgi Zayakov on LinkedIn where he shared the message he received from Google about this update:

Google highlights that multi-format campaigns can drive better performance at a lower cost-per-view.

Zayakov also shared that he is “experimenting with Shorts-Only and In-Stream-Only Target CPV campaigns, and they perform well even when separated.”

What’s next. Advertisers should evaluate their campaigns and consider transitioning to Target CPV to align with the updated strategy.

• For those looking to optimize views and costs, experimenting with multi-format setups could unlock better performance.

Bottom line. Google’s updates signal a push for more flexible and efficient video ad campaigns. Advertisers should act now to adapt to the changes and leverage the potential benefits of Target CPV and multi-format ads.

Since its introduction in 2021, Performance Max has gained traction for its ability to streamline performance marketing, especially for businesses looking to scale efficiently. 

However, as the PPC platform’s AI capabilities evolved, so did the demand for more transparency, control, and customization. 

In 2024, Google responded with significant updates to improve brand safety, creative asset management, and audience targeting – giving advertisers greater insight into how their campaigns perform.

With upcoming enhancements in 2025, including the introduction of brand guidelines, negative keywords, and deeper integration with Google Analytics 4, PMax is expected to be adopted by even more advertisers. 

These developments aim to give advertisers greater control and improve campaign performance.

This article discusses strategies for making the most of all the new capabilities.

Looking ahead: Performance Max in 2025

Google is set to roll out several key updates for Performance Max in 2025. 

Here’s a breakdown of what’s changing, how it differs from current practices, and how advertisers can best leverage these new features.

Brand guidelines

What was announced

Starting this month, all new PMax campaigns will require business name and logo assets. This update aims to improve brand consistency across Google’s various ad placements.

How is it different from before? 

Previously, advertisers could launch PMax campaigns without branding assets, sometimes leading to generic, less recognizable ads. 

The new requirement ensures that campaigns reflect a cohesive brand identity across search, display, video, and other Google properties.

How can an advertiser best use this? 

Advertisers should prepare by uploading high-quality logo assets and consistent business names in their Google Ads accounts. 

Consider refreshing brand creatives to align with the campaign messaging for maximum impact. 

Additionally, this update opens up opportunities for brand storytelling, especially in video and display formats.

Negative keywords

What was announced

Google will add negative keywords directly to PMax campaigns, giving advertisers more control over where their ads appear.

How is it different from before? 

Until now, advertisers had limited options to control where PMax ads were shown, often resulting in irrelevant placements. 

Negative keyword lists were only available at the account level, which limited campaign-level precision.

How can an advertiser best use this? 

Use negative keywords to exclude low-performing queries or irrelevant audiences. 

For example, a luxury brand can exclude terms like “cheap” or “free” to avoid wasting budget on unqualified clicks. 

Regularly review search query reports and refine negative keyword lists to improve campaign performance over time.

Demand Gen campaigns

What was announced

In mid-2025, Video Action campaigns will transition to Demand Gen campaigns, a new campaign type designed to simplify management and enhance cross-channel optimizations. 

Demand Gen will allow advertisers to serve personalized, visually engaging ads across YouTube, Discovery, and Gmail, with a stronger focus on driving conversions through immersive, audience-driven experiences.

How is it different from before?

Previously, Video Action campaigns were focused solely on YouTube and prioritized direct-response conversions. 

Demand Gen campaigns take this further by integrating Discovery and Gmail placements, making it easier for advertisers to create unified campaigns that reach users across multiple Google properties. 

This shift emphasizes nurturing users throughout the funnel, from awareness to action.

Unlike Performance Max, which automatically distributes ads across all available Google inventory, Demand Gen campaigns give advertisers more control over creative and audience targeting for these specific placements. 

In a way, Demand Gen fills the gap between traditional display and automated campaign types like PMax, offering a middle ground for advertisers who want more control over creative and targeting within Google’s ecosystem.

How should advertisers think about using Demand Gen alongside PMax?

Advertisers should view Demand Gen and PMax as complementary campaign types that serve different roles in a cross-channel strategy:

• Performance Max is ideal for broad, automated reach across all Google channels, including Search, Display, YouTube, and Shopping. It works best for advertisers focused on maximizing conversions through automation, where Google’s AI determines the optimal placements and audiences.
• Demand Gen campaigns provide more creative control for visually rich formats, especially for upper-funnel and mid-funnel audiences. These campaigns are better suited for building brand awareness and engagement through immersive storytelling on channels like YouTube, Discovery, and Gmail.

To maximize the impact of both campaign types, advertisers should use PMax for scalable conversion-focused efforts and Demand Gen for more targeted audience engagement in visually driven channels. For instance:

• PMax can drive conversions across multiple channels, leveraging Google’s AI to target users who are ready to act.
• Demand Gen can focus on high-impact, creative storytelling, especially for new product launches, brand campaigns, or retargeting efforts on YouTube and Discovery.

What’s the strategy for using both together?

• Use PMax to capture demand: Focus on conversions across Search, Shopping, and other intent-driven placements.
• Use Demand Gen to create demand: Leverage visually engaging formats to build brand affinity and nurture users through the funnel.

Practical example
Imagine a fitness brand launching a new line of workout equipment. 

They could use Demand Gen campaigns to create visually engaging video ads on YouTube and Discovery, telling the brand story and showcasing product features.

Meanwhile, PMax campaigns can run in parallel, capturing search intent and transactional traffic to drive sales.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) integration

What was announced

PMax will be fully integrated with Google Analytics 4, offering advertisers full-funnel measurement capabilities.

How is it different from before? 

Previously, PMax reporting was limited to Google Ads metrics, making it difficult to track user behavior across the entire customer journey. 

With GA4 integration, advertisers can track and optimize user interactions at every stage – from initial awareness to final conversion.

How can an advertiser best use this? 

Set up GA4 goals and events that align with your business objectives. 

Use these insights to identify drop-off points in the funnel and optimize campaigns accordingly. 

For example, if users frequently abandon carts, you can adjust your PMax strategy to address these barriers through retargeting.

Smarter audience segmentation

What was announced

Google will enhance audience segmentation tools, enabling advertisers to create more personalized ad experiences and efficient cross-channel strategies.

How is it different from before?
While PMax already uses Google’s audience signals, the new tools will allow advertisers to better segment audiences based on behaviors, interests, and engagement across channels.

How can an advertiser best use this? 

Leverage the new segmentation tools to create hyper-targeted campaigns. 

For example, create unique messaging for high-value customers, re-engage lapsed users with special offers, or craft product-specific ads based on user interests. 

Combining audience segmentation with first-party data will maximize personalization.

First-party data strategies

What was announced

Third-party cookies are on their way out. Advertisers must focus on building first-party data strategies to maintain privacy compliance and campaign performance.

How is it different from before? 

In the past, many advertisers relied heavily on third-party cookies for targeting. With privacy changes, those methods are becoming obsolete. 

First-party data – such as customer emails, purchase history, and website interactions – will now play a crucial role in audience targeting.

How can an advertiser best use this? 

Focus on collecting and organizing first-party data by encouraging users to sign up for newsletters, loyalty programs, or gated content. 

Use tools like Customer Match to create custom audiences within Google Ads, allowing for more relevant and privacy-compliant targeting.

Dig deeper: Performance Max vs. Search campaigns: New data reveals substantial search term overlap

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Strategies for advertisers in 2025

The 2025 updates to Performance Max require advertisers to rethink their approach to targeting, creative, and campaign management. 

Below, we’ve expanded on each strategy with actionable advice, real-world examples, and links to helpful resources for further exploration.

1. Prioritize first-party data: Build compliant, high-performing campaigns

With third-party cookies being phased out, first-party data – like email addresses, purchase history, and website interactions – is becoming critical for personalized, privacy-compliant targeting.

How can advertisers do this?

• Action item: Create incentives for users to share their information. For example, offer exclusive discounts, early access to sales, or free downloadable content in exchange for email sign-ups.
• Use case: A retailer could implement a loyalty program to collect first-party data, then use Customer Match in PMax to serve highly relevant ads to their best customers.
• Helpful resource: Google’s Customer Match Guide.
• Advanced tip: Use GA4 audience segments to enrich your first-party data and personalize campaigns based on user behavior across your website and app.

2. Leverage advanced analytics: Use GA4 to track and optimize the full funnel

The GA4 integration allows advertisers to track the entire user journey – from awareness to conversion. 

This gives you better insights into what’s working and where you’re losing potential customers.

How can advertisers do this?

• Action item: Set up GA4 goals and events to track key actions like add-to-cart, form submissions, and video views. Use this data to identify drop-off points in the funnel and optimize your PMax campaigns accordingly.
• Use case: An online course provider could use GA4 to track user engagement with different course categories, then adjust their PMax ads to focus on the most popular categories.
• Helpful resource: GA4 Conversion Tracking Setup.
• Advanced tip: Use GA4’s predictive metrics, like purchase probability, to build predictive audiences and target users who are more likely to convert.

3. Adopt negative keywords: Refine targeting to reduce wasted spend

Adding negative keywords to PMax campaigns in 2025 will give advertisers more control over where their ads appear, helping to avoid irrelevant searches and reduce wasted spend.

How can advertisers do this?

• Action item: Start by reviewing your search term reports in existing campaigns to identify irrelevant queries. Build a negative keyword list and update it regularly.
• Use case: A luxury brand could add negative keywords like “cheap” or “discount” to avoid attracting price-sensitive shoppers who are unlikely to convert.
• Helpful resource: Google’s Negative Keywords Guide.
• Advanced tip: Use account-level negative keyword lists now, and prepare to migrate them to campaign-level lists when the feature rolls out in 2025.

4. Prepare for Demand Gen campaigns: Adapt to a new cross-channel campaign type

In mid-2025, Video Action campaigns will transition to Demand Gen campaigns, allowing advertisers to reach users across YouTube, Discovery, and Gmail with unified messaging.

How can advertisers do this?

• Action item: Review your Video Action assets to ensure they’re flexible enough to work across Discovery and Gmail placements. Focus on storytelling that resonates across platforms.
• Use case: A fitness brand could create video ads promoting a new workout program, then extend those assets to Discovery and Gmail to build a cohesive user journey.
• Helpful resource: Google’s Demand Gen Campaign Overview.
• Advanced tip: Use audience expansion and exclusion lists to ensure your Demand Gen campaigns target the right users while avoiding low-value placements.

5. Focus on creative excellence: Build high-quality, brand-consistent assets

The new brand guidelines for PMax require advertisers to use business names and logo assets, ensuring brand consistency across all ad placements. 

Creative quality will be critical for performance in automated campaigns.

How can advertisers do this?

• Action item: Audit your existing creative assets to ensure they’re brand-compliant and adaptable across channels. Run asset experiments in Google Ads to test different creative combinations
• Use case: A travel company could use dynamic creatives to automatically adjust their ads based on user intent, showing beach destinations to users searching for summer vacations and city breaks to users interested in cultural trips.
• Helpful resource: Google’s Asset Experiment Guide.
• Advanced tip: Video content will become even more important with the rise of Demand Gen campaigns. Focus on creating short, engaging videos that work across multiple platforms.

Dig deeper: Why strong Google Ads creative is THE priority for advertisers

Thriving in the era of Performance Max: Adapt or fall behind

The trajectory of Performance Max tells a clear story: digital advertising is evolving rapidly, and AI is at the helm. 

In just a few years, PMax has transformed from an experimental campaign type into Google’s flagship ad solution, capable of reaching millions across Search, Display, YouTube, and more – all while requiring less hands-on management. 

But here’s the reality: automation alone won’t guarantee success. 

Advertisers must understand how to shape the machine’s decisions by leveraging first-party data, creative excellence, and smarter audience strategies.

The updates rolling out in 2025 – negative keywords, brand guidelines, and Demand Gen campaigns – signal a shift toward greater advertiser control, which is exactly what the industry has been asking for. 

However, there’s a paradox at play: as automation gets smarter, human oversight and strategy become more important than ever. 

You can’t let Google’s black box do all the work; you need to guide it, challenge it, and optimize it to achieve real results.

© 2025 Search Engine Land is a Trademark of Semrush Inc.

Third Door Media operates business-to-business media properties and produces events, including SMX. It is the publisher of Search Engine Land, the leading digital publication covering the latest search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing news, trends and advice. The company headquarters is 800 Boylston Street, Suite 2475, Boston, MA USA 02199.

At the start of 2024 – a year that undeniably transformed the SEO landscape – we were primarily focused on Google and eagerly watching how AI might reshape organic search.

As we begin 2025, the picture has become clearer. 

AI is no longer a looming possibility; it’s a central player, albeit in ways few of us fully anticipated. 

And while Google continues to dominate much of the search landscape, I believe the focus for SEO professionals is shifting. 

It’s becoming less about optimizing for specific channels and more about understanding and serving the user – wherever and however they choose to engage.

This shift represents a fundamental change in SEO, moving from keyword-centric strategies to user-centric approaches.

Here’s how my team and I are preparing for the challenges and opportunities ahead in 2025, including:

My approach to AI in 2025

Millions of words have been written about AI Overviews since Google launched them in May, then throttled them back on the heels of some notoriously faulty results.

AI Overviews have seen significant shifts, with results increasingly resembling traditional SERPs – a predictable outcome given both are powered by Google’s algorithms.

In contrast, LLM-based search is a space Google hasn’t monopolized.

Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s Gemini are all in the mix, with new competitors emerging regularly.

These non-Google LLMs rely on diverse algorithms, leading to variability and uncertainty in their search results.

Rather than chase undefined targets, brands should focus on what has always worked, especially over the last few years: digging into true user understanding and delivering content that anticipates and addresses their informational needs.

It’s meat-and-potatoes stuff, but the way and where we deploy that content have changed somewhat over the last year.

LLM-based SEO vs. social search

One thing we know for sure is that AI is changing how people interact with search. 

More users are getting AI Overviews, and in a more proactive shift, more people are using LLMs for their search activity.

LLMs represent a shift toward combining multiple sources into one (e.g., synthesizing 100 articles into a single response).

Social search offers the opposite: unique human perspectives from platforms like Reddit, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

While AI-generated content (e.g., automated LinkedIn responses) is common, it’s often easy to recognize and less engaging.

Content from these platforms has been appearing more frequently in Google’s traditional SERPs and is now starting to surface in LLM search results.

In short, users are willing to engage with mass-aggregated content and human perspectives.

To me, that’s a pretty interesting trend that puts a spotlight on brand SEO – to make sure people find what they should see when and where they’re searching for your brand.

A good, strong brand should be able to flow across touchpoints, wherever those might be.

Yes, non-brand keywords are still a big piece of SEO, but both pieces are important in 2025.

Dig deeper: Social search and the future of brand engagement

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Emerging 2025 SEO priorities 

Great SEO in 2025 will optimize user experience over a fully mapped, more three-dimensional customer journey that includes more platforms than Google. 

Google remains a strong indicator of what matters and continues to dominate most search activity, but I expect this to become more dispersed as 2025 progresses.

With that in mind, the questions an SEO needs to address are changing. 

You should no longer start with “Which keywords should I try to rank for?” 

Better questions now start with user behavior, such as:

• “If a user begins a search on Google or LLMs, what can my brand do to show up and provide value?”
• “What kind of content are people looking to consume on Reddit and TikTok?”
• “What kind of information are people looking for LLMs to provide?”

I’ve already mentioned the need to focus on brand search. 

Along with that and user behavior, I’m encouraging my clients to invest in community engagement (wherever their particular communities are).

Those offer opportunities for a very different level of connection brand-building. 

Dig deeper: Search everywhere optimization: 7 platforms SEOs need to optimize for beyond Google

2025 SEO predictions

I’m sure there’ll be the usual wave of yearly predictions, so I’ll be brief with mine. 

LLM platforms like Perplexity will gain traction

Perplexity is poised to build significant momentum and market share.

Its user experience and quality have been impressive so far, and it continues to improve rapidly.

For B2B and ecommerce/B2C, engaging with communities will become a crucial growth strategy. 

While AI content will advance and become less formulaic, there will always be demand for high-quality, differentiated content that showcases unique and creative human perspectives. 

As AI content grows, it will highlight the value of authentic, smart voices.

Video content remains a powerful tool for standing out

Video continues to offer a unique opportunity to differentiate, as AI has yet to make significant advances in this medium. 

Brands focusing on high-quality video and strategic deployment on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn can expect strong engagement in 2025.

Dig deeper: The future of SEO content is video – here’s why

SEO in 2025: Focusing on users, platforms, and content

User understanding will be the driving force behind successful SEO in 2025 and beyond. 

With users exploring more search platforms than ever and a growing number of algorithms to navigate, gaining visibility will be both complex and challenging. 

However, the better we understand our users and their behaviors, the more effectively we can engage them and drive meaningful results for our brands.

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TikTok is back online in the U.S. after a temporary shutdown left millions of users unable to access the app on Saturday.

TikTok said it was “in the process of restoring service” yesterday afternoon and credited President-elect Donald Trump for providing “clarity” that made the restoration possible.

TikTok’s partial return comes amid a chaotic backdrop of legal battles, political maneuvering, and ongoing concerns over national security. Despite the restoration, the app remains unavailable in Apple’s App Store and Google Play, complicating access for new users.

What happened over the weekend. TikTok shut down service for U.S. users late Saturday ahead of a federal ban going into effect. The app displayed a message that services were “temporarily unavailable.”

By yesterday at noon, TikTok began restoring functionality through its hosting and content delivery partners, Oracle and Akamai.

A pop-up in TikTok’s app now greets users with “Welcome back!” and attributes the restoration to Trump, stating, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”

Why we care. Despite the uncertainty of there ever being ban, we can assume Trump’s effort will still be on the side of keeping TikTok active. This means for now, advertisers can maintain the strategies they were running before the weekend with continued access to the platforms 170 million U.S. users.

Behind the scenes. Trump announced he will issue an executive order on Monday extending TikTok’s sale deadline, promising “no liability” for companies supporting TikTok before the order takes effect.

Despite this assurance, Apple and Google have not reinstated TikTok in their app stores, citing legal risks tied to the ban’s enforcement.

Between the lines. TikTok is attempting to reassure advertisers, sending a memo stating that most U.S. users will regain access soon and ad campaigns will resume with limited functionality.

The Biden administration deferred immediate enforcement of the ban, leaving its implementation to Trump’s incoming presidency.

Yes, but. Pushback from Republican senators complicates the reprieve. Senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts issued a statement calling the delay “legally baseless” and warning that tech companies aiding TikTok could face substantial fines.

What’s next. Trump has proposed a joint ownership model for TikTok, where U.S. stakeholders could hold a 50% share. ByteDance remains silent on whether it will agree to this arrangement.

Bottom line. TikTok’s future in the U.S. is far from certain. While the app is regaining some functionality, unresolved legal and political challenges loom large for ByteDance and its partners.

Ever since its launch, TikTok has been a dominant marketing force. 

Beyond its impressive reach of over 1 billion active users across 154 countries, it has proven itself as an unparalleled platform for engagement and conversion. 

What makes TikTok particularly compelling for advertisers isn’t just its scale. It’s the platform’s unique ability to drive meaningful business results.

TikTok’s influence on the next generation of consumers

TikTok’s dominance among Generation Z is growing, as this group now makes up 40% of global consumers and controls a large amount of income.

This isn’t just another marketing channel – it’s direct access to the next generation of consumer spending power. 

Unlike traditional advertising platforms, TikTok offers an authentic way to connect with this notoriously advertising-savvy demographic.

Does TikTok Ads work for every business?

Available in 154 countries and supporting 75 languages, TikTok eliminates traditional barriers to international market entry.

This global presence, combined with the platform’s sophisticated advertising tools, enables businesses of all sizes to reach previously inaccessible markets. 

For many older generations, TikTok is still the “music and dance app” it used to be in its early stages, but that days are gone. 

TikTok Ads are suitable for almost any business. 

Lifestyle, consumer and more complex products can be advertised on TikTok since it offers multiple ad formats and creative approaches. 

For B2B, TikTok might not be the first choice, although lead gen is possible and should be evaluated on individual cases.

Short-form videos: TikTok’s formula for success

In an era where video content reigns supreme, TikTok has mastered the format. 

TikTok’s native video editing capabilities and diverse ad formats – from in-feed ads to branded hashtag challenges – make it easier than ever for brands to create engaging video content that resonates with audiences.

However, success on TikTok requires understanding its unique ecosystem. 

The platform rewards:

• Authenticity over polished perfection.
• Creativity over conventional marketing.
• Genuine engagement over hard selling. 

For businesses ready to embrace this approach, TikTok offers an unprecedented opportunity to connect with audiences in ways that traditional advertising channels simply cannot match.

Getting started with TikTok ads

Account setup

The first step in your TikTok advertising journey is converting your personal account to a business account. 

This process is straightforward and free, requiring just a few clicks in your TikTok app. 

Navigate to Settings and Privacy, then Manage Account, where you can switch to a business account. 

Accessing TikTok Ads Manager

While TikTok’s main platform is mobile-first, the ad management interface is optimized for desktop use. 

To create and manage your campaigns, visit ads.tiktok.com and sign in using your business account credentials. 

The desktop interface provides a comprehensive suite of tools and better control over your advertising campaigns.

Business features and benefits

Converting to a business account provides several advantages beyond basic advertising capabilities. You’ll gain access to:

• Detailed performance analytics.
• Content scheduling tools.
• Enhanced profile features, including website links.
• Business-specific content creation tools.
• Advanced audience insights.

Combining mobile account management and desktop advertising tools creates a flexible system for managing your TikTok advertising presence. 

While you can handle basic account settings and content creation through the mobile app, reserve your campaign management and detailed analysis for the desktop interface.

TikTok ads tracking

The TikTok Pixel is a powerful piece of tracking code that serves as the foundation for effective advertising on TikTok. 

Updated in October 2024, it lets you bridge the gap between their website activity and TikTok advertising efforts.

When implemented on your website, TikTok Pixel collects and transmits valuable user interaction data. 

It captures various data points through standard web browsers to create a comprehensive picture of user behavior. The pixel’s tracking capabilities include:

• Advertising and event information: Captures precise timestamps of user actions, creating a chronological map of the customer journey.
• Technical data collection:
  • IP addresses: Used for geographic targeting.
  • User agent information: Helps understand device and browser specifications.

TikTok Pixel uses both first-party and third-party cookies for optimal performance:

• First-party cookies: Optional.
• Third-party cookies: Enabled by default.

Combining both cookie types, especially with advanced matching, significantly enhances tracking capabilities and campaign performance.

Event tracking

The pixel should be configured to track the complete customer journey for maximum effectiveness. 

This includes monitoring various touchpoints such as:

• Initial page views.
• Product detail page visits.
• Cart additions.
• Purchase completions.

Enhanced data collection

The pixel also captures metadata and button clicks, providing deeper insights into user behavior. 

This information helps TikTok refine its pixel event setup recommendations and enables automated solutions. 

The collected data serves dual purposes: 

• Personalizing ad campaigns.
• Improving TikTok’s ad delivery systems.

Privacy and compliance

When implementing the TikTok Pixel, it’s crucial to maintain data privacy standards. 

Use the TikTok Pixel Helper regularly to audit data transmission and ensure compliance with data-sharing policies. 

The Chrome extension helps prevent the inadvertent collection of sensitive information while maintaining tracking effectiveness.

Tracking implementation best practices

For optimal tracking performance:

• Implement the base pixel code across all website pages.
• Configure specific event tracking based on your business objectives.
• Regularly verify pixel functionality using TikTok’s diagnostic tools.
• Monitor data collection to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Document all implemented events and tracking parameters.

Verifying and monitoring your pixel setup

After implementation, verify your setup using TikTok Pixel Helper to ensure proper data transmission and identify potential issues. 

Regular monitoring is essential for:

• Maintaining data quality.
• Ensuring campaign effectiveness.
• Ensuring compliance with privacy standards.

TikTok Pixel can be implemented through various platforms, making the setup straightforward:

• Apps: Shopify.
• Tag management tools: Google Tag Manager, Adobe, Tealium, and others.

To enhance the pixel’s capabilities, the Events API can be used to enrich data with CRM, store, or offline data.

TikTok Ads attribution

The TikTok Ads Manager allows advertisers to configure attribution windows to effectively track and measure campaign performance. 

Attribution windows help understand user actions after interacting with your ads, providing crucial insights into the customer journey.

When creating an ad group within your campaign, you can configure two types of attribution settings under the Bidding and Optimization section:

• Click-through attribution lets you track conversions that happen after someone clicks your ad. You can choose windows of 1, 7, 14, or 28 days. 
• View-through attribution tracks conversions after someone sees your ad but doesn’t click, with options for Off, 1 day, or 7 days.

It’s important to note that once published, attribution settings cannot be modified. You’ll need to create a new ad group to implement different settings.

TikTok Click ID (TTCLID)

TTCLID is a tracking parameter automatically added to your landing page URLs when users click on your ads. 

This identifier helps TikTok improve attribution accuracy by connecting specific user actions to your campaigns. For example:

• Original URL: http://yourwebsite.com?a=b
• Updated URL with TTCLID: http://yourwebsite.com?a=b&ttclid=_CLICKID_

UTM parameter implementation

TikTok supports standard UTM parameters to help classify and track website traffic effectively. 

The five main UTM parameters include:

• utm_source: Identifies traffic source (e.g., tiktok).
• utm_medium: Specifies the marketing medium (e.g., cpc).
• utm_campaign: Tracks specific campaign names.
• utm_term: Used for identifying ad groups or targeting.
• utm_content: Tracks creative content and CTAs.

These parameters can be combined using “&” to create comprehensive tracking URLs. For example: 

• https://www.yourwebsite.com?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=tiktok

Dynamic tracking with macros

TikTok offers dynamic macros to automatically insert campaign information into your tracking URLs. Key macros include:

• CAMPAIGN_NAME for campaign names.
• CAMPAIGN_ID for campaign IDs.
• AID_NAME for ad group names.
• CID_NAME for creative names.
• PLACEMENT for placement types.

These macros are particularly valuable for advertisers managing multiple campaigns and need automated, accurate tracking across their advertising efforts.

Event tracking options

When setting up attribution, you can choose between two event-counting methods:

• “Every” for AEO purchase events and VBO.
• “Once” for install and non-purchase optimization.

This flexibility allows you to track events in a way that best matches your campaign objectives and measurement needs.

The combination of attribution windows, click IDs, UTM parameters, and dynamic macros gives advertisers strong tracking capabilities to measure and optimize their TikTok ads. 

However, like other social media platforms, TikTok faces data loss due to in-app engagement, sandboxed app browsers, and differences in user behavior.

Tracking is typically easier with pull marketing, such as Google searches, where conversions often happen soon after a click. 

In contrast, TikTok’s push marketing can be harder to track, as user behavior after seeing an ad is less predictable, leading to data gaps that advertisers must address.

TikTok ads campaign and ad formats

Advertisers can choose from multiple ad formats depending on the creatives available and the goals set for TikTok ads. 

In-feed ads

In-feed ads represent the most versatile and widely used advertising format on TikTok. 

They appear naturally within users’ For You Page, seamlessly blending with organic content. 

With a maximum duration of 60 seconds, these video or carousel ads include interactive elements like call-to-action buttons that can direct users to landing pages or app stores. 

Their native appearance makes them particularly effective for driving engagement without disrupting the user experience.

TopView ads

TopView ads occupy the most premium placement on TikTok, appearing immediately when users open the app. 

This format begins with a three-second video takeover before transitioning into an interactive in-feed video experience. 

While TopView ads command higher pricing, they guarantee maximum visibility and brand exposure.

They are ideal for major product launches or high-impact campaigns requiring immediate attention.

Branded hashtag challenge

Branded hashtag challenges showcase TikTok’s ability to boost user participation and create viral moments. 

These campaigns invite users to create content around a branded theme, accessed via a landing page displaying brand content and user submissions. 

Success often relies on strategic partnerships with creators who can launch the challenge and inspire their followers to join in.

Branded effects

Branded effects let you create custom interactive elements like filters, lenses, and stickers that users can incorporate into their videos. 

This format taps into TikTok’s creative culture by providing tools for user expression while maintaining brand presence. 

When combined with other ad formats like in-feed ads or hashtag challenges, branded effects can significantly boost campaign engagement and reach.

Spark ads

Spark ads represent a sophisticated approach to content amplification, allowing brands to boost existing organic content from their own account or other users (with permission). 

This format maintains the authenticity of organic content while providing the reach and targeting capabilities of paid advertising. 

By promoting high-performing content, brands can leverage proven engagement while expanding their audience.

Ecommerce solutions

TikTok’s ecommerce advertising offerings include several specialized formats designed to drive sales:

• Video shopping:
  • Enables direct product discovery within video content.
  • Features interactive elements like product tags and pricing information.
  • Integrates with TikTok Shop for a seamless shopping experience, including product catalogs and streamlined checkout.
• Live shopping:
  • The platform’s most interactive commerce format.
  • Allows real-time product demonstrations.
  • Facilitates audience engagement through livestreams, creating immediate connections between brands and potential customers.

Combining formats for optimal reach and engagement

Combining multiple ad formats lets you create comprehensive campaigns and drive better performance. 

For example, when launching a new product:

• Begin with a TopView ad for maximum visibility.
• Followed by in-feed ads for sustained awareness.
• Then run a branded hashtag challenge to drive engagement. 

The key is matching each format’s strengths to specific campaign objectives while maintaining an authentic connection with TikTok’s community.

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TikTok ads specifications and requirements

Video ads

TikTok video ads require specific technical parameters to ensure optimal performance across the platform. 

Essential video parameters

• Multiple aspect ratios supported: 9:16, 1:1, or 16:9.
• Resolution starting at 540×960 pixels minimum.
• File formats: .mp4, .mov, .mpeg, .3gp, .avi.
• Duration: 5-60 seconds (optimal length 9-15 seconds).
• Minimum bitrate of 516 Kbps.
• Maximum file size of 500 MB.

Image ads

Image ads have their own set of specifications for successful implementation.

Essential image parameters

• Supported formats: JPG, JPEG, PNG.
• Resolution requirements vary by placement:
  • Global App Bundle: 720×1280 pixels.
  • Pangle: Multiple options including 1200×628, 640×960, or 720×1280 pixels.
• Maximum file size of 100 MB.

Best practices for creative design

For optimal ad performance, TikTok recommends:

• Centering key creative elements to avoid interference with descriptions or logos.
• Localizing content to match target market languages and preferences.
• Avoiding side cropping by keeping important elements away from edges.

These specifications ensure ads display correctly across TikTok’s various placements while maintaining quality and user experience.

Creative approaches for authenticity and engagement

The first two seconds of your TikTok ad are crucial for success. 

Advertisers should dedicate most of their creative effort to optimizing the opening hook. 

A strong hook stops users from scrolling and captures immediate attention. This can be achieved through:

• Surprising statements or revelations.
• Unusual or oddly satisfying visuals.
• Trending transitions and effects.
• Pattern interruption techniques.

Maintain platform authenticity

TikTok ads perform best when they blend seamlessly with organic content. High production values can actually harm performance. Instead, focus on:

• Vertical video shot on mobile devices.
• Native TikTok fonts and text treatments.
• CapCut-style editing techniques.
• Natural, creator-style presentation.
• Optimal 30-second video length.

Leverage platform elements

To boost ad performance, make use of TikTok’s unique features. 

Stay updated with the For You page to incorporate trending sounds and music, and adapt popular audio to fit your brand. 

Use trending hashtags strategically to increase visibility and engagement by researching relevant ones for your niche.

The UGC advantage

User-generated content (UGC) is the cornerstone of effective TikTok advertising. For optimal results:

• Encourage customer-created content featuring your products.
• Focus on authentic testimonials and genuine feedback.
• Include on-screen talent delivering personal experiences.
• Maintain a relatable, genuine tone throughout.

Influencer collaboration

Working with TikTok influencers requires a balanced approach between creative freedom and strategic direction:

Effective briefing

• Provide detailed shot lists.
• Share visual ad examples.
• Include specific lighting requirements.
• Outline key messaging points.
• Set clear campaign objectives.

Creative control

While influencers understand their audience, they may need guidance on advertising best practices. Provide direction on:

• Hook creation.
• Call-to-action placement.
• Value proposition communication.
• Overall ad structure.

Make your offer compelling 

TikTok’s price-conscious audience responds well to strong promotional offers:

• Feature clear discount messaging.
• Create urgency through limited-time offers.
• Experiment with various promotion types, such as:
  • Free trials.
  • Gifts with purchase.
  • Special bundles.
  • Exclusive discounts.

Performance optimization

The most successful TikTok ads combine multiple elements:

• Creator testimonials.
• Native platform features.
• Clear value propositions.
• Strong calls to action.
• Compelling offers.

Remember that TikTok advertising success often comes from maintaining authenticity while strategically incorporating promotional elements. 

The key is to create content that feels native to the platform while still achieving your marketing objectives.

TikTok advertising policies

TikTok’s advertising policies are designed to create a safe and engaging environment for users while helping advertisers effectively reach their target audience. 

As one of the larger social media apps and advertising platforms, TikTok follows ad policies and guidelines similar to those of other major platforms.

Content guidelines and restrictions

TikTok’s advertising policies are centered on user safety and experience, with strict content guidelines to prevent harmful or offensive material. 

Adult content, including suggestive themes or inappropriate imagery, is prohibited, alongside any content that promotes violence or dangerous activities. 

The platform also upholds a strong stance against discrimination and harassment, prohibiting content that promotes hate speech, bullying, or bias, while ensuring that advertising respects diversity and cultural sensitivity.

Industry-specific considerations

TikTok’s policies address the unique regulatory challenges faced by different industries. 

• Financial services advertisers must comply with specific requirements for disclaimers and representations of potential returns. 
• The healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors are subject to strict regulations on claims and disclosures to ensure accurate and responsible medical information. 
• The gambling and gaming industry is under careful scrutiny, with policies varying by region, requiring compliance with local regulations and responsible gaming practices. 
• Weight management and fitness content must focus on promoting healthy, sustainable approaches rather than unrealistic claims.

Youth safety and protection

Youth safety is a key priority for TikTok, with strong policies in place to protect younger users. These include:

• Restrictions on data collection and content themes.
• Requirements for educational material. 

Advertisers must consider how their content might affect younger audiences, even if not directly targeting them.

Data privacy and user protection

TikTok’s policies establish clear guidelines for data collection, storage, and usage. 

Advertisers must be transparent about their data practices and comply with regional privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, including disclosing tracking mechanisms and obtaining user consent. 

It is important to note that TikTok is currently facing significant challenges in the U.S. due to a potential app ban linked to data collection allegations.

Intellectual property and creative rights

Respect for intellectual property rights forms a cornerstone of TikTok’s advertising policies. This encompasses proper usage of:

• Copyrighted material.
• Trademarks.
• Licensed content. 

Advertisers must ensure they have the necessary rights and permissions for all creative elements, including music, images, and brand assets used in their campaigns.

Geographic and cultural considerations

TikTok’s global presence necessitates attention to regional variations in advertising requirements. 

Policies often vary by country or region, reflecting local laws, cultural norms, and social expectations. 

Advertisers must understand and adapt to these geographic nuances, ensuring their campaigns remain compliant across different markets.

Technical standards and user experience

Beyond content considerations, TikTok maintains standards for technical quality and user experience. This includes specifications for:

• Video quality.
• Sound levels.
• Interactive elements. 

The platform emphasizes the importance of smooth, engaging user experiences, from initial ad interaction through to post-click journey and conversion.

Policy compliance and enforcement

Maintaining compliance with TikTok’s advertising policies requires ongoing attention and adaptation. 

The platform actively monitors content and may update policies to address emerging challenges or opportunities. 

Advertisers should establish processes for regular policy review and updates to their creative and targeting approaches.

Special categories and documentation

Certain advertising categories require additional documentation or certification. This might include professional licenses, government permits, or specific disclaimers. 

Non-profit organizations and those advertising in sensitive categories like housing, employment, or credit face particular requirements to ensure fairness and transparency.

Note: This help doc contains a comprehensive list of TikTok’s advertising policies. 

Competitive analysis

TikTok ads vs. Meta ads

TikTok and Meta offer unique advantages in digital advertising. 

TikTok excels in short-form, music-driven video content, often achieving higher engagement rates and lower initial CPCs, particularly among Gen Z and younger millennials. 

The platform’s strength lies in video-first ads, where authentic, creative content typically performs better than polished advertisements. It also offers higher engagement and viral potential.

Meta, encompassing Facebook and Instagram, provides a more mature and diverse advertising environment. 

• Facebook offers broad demographic reach with extensive targeting options, leveraging years of accumulated user data.
• Instagram, with a slightly older user base, combines strong visual appeal with features like Stories and Reels, making it effective for lifestyle and e-commerce brands. 

Meta’s platforms deliver more consistent conversion rates and return on ad spend, especially for direct response campaigns.

In terms of ad formats, Meta offers versatility with everything from image ads to carousels and interactive experiences. 

Facebook’s advanced targeting options, such as detailed retargeting and lookalike audiences, provide more precise audience segmentation than TikTok’s newer system.

Most successful strategies now integrate both platforms. 

• TikTok is ideal for building brand awareness and capturing attention through trend-based marketing.
• Meta provides reliable performance across various objectives and demographic groups. 

Understanding the strengths of each platform helps in aligning them with specific marketing goals.

TikTok ads vs. Snapchat ads

Both TikTok and Snapchat target younger demographics but offer different advertising experiences and opportunities. 

• TikTok is centered around short-form video content and viral potential, while Snapchat stands out with innovative AR experiences and diverse ad formats.
• Snapchat provides a wider variety of ad formats, including popular AR filters and lenses, which offer interactive experiences that TikTok doesn’t currently match. 

Additionally, Snapchat’s collection ads and story ads in the Discover section offer different engagement opportunities than TikTok’s in-feed video format. This variety gives Snapchat advertisers more creative flexibility.

Both platforms attract younger users. That said:

• Snapchat generally reaches a slightly older audience, with strong penetration in the 18-34 age range. 
• In contrast, TikTok skews younger, often capturing early teens and younger millennials. 

Snapchat has a strong presence in North America and Europe, while TikTok has a broader global reach.

Both platforms offer robust advertising capabilities in terms of targeting, but their strengths differ. 

• Snapchat excels in location-based targeting and AR experiences, making it ideal for local businesses and interactive campaigns. 
• TikTok’s strength lies in its content discovery algorithm and viral potential, which generate higher organic reach for ads.

For most advertisers, the choice between platforms depends on campaign objectives. 

• Snapchat performs well for localized campaigns and AR experiences.
• TikTok is better for viral brand awareness and trend-based marketing. 

Many successful strategies combine both platforms, using Snapchat’s AR features alongside TikTok’s viral potential.

TikTok ads vs. Pinterest ads

The main difference between TikTok and Pinterest advertising is user intent and content discovery. 

• TikTok thrives on entertainment-driven, viral video content.
• Pinterest is a visual search engine where users actively seek inspiration and ideas for projects or purchases.

Pinterest attracts a more intent-driven audience, making it particularly effective for products in categories like home decor, fashion, crafts, and lifestyle. 

Users often come to Pinterest with a planning mindset, whether for a home renovation, wedding, or shopping. 

This strategic focus means Pinterest ads typically generate higher purchase intent and longer-term engagement compared to TikTok’s immediate, entertainment-focused impact.

The demographic composition differs as well. 

• TikTok’s user base skews younger, predominantly attracting Gen Z and younger millennials seeking entertainment.
• Pinterest reaches a broader age range and tends to attract more female users, especially those interested in lifestyle, design, and DIY projects.

Content format and advertising approaches also vary. 

• TikTok relies on short-form videos that match its energetic, trendy nature.
• Pinterest supports static images, carousels, and idea pins with a focus on high-quality visuals that inspire. 

While TikTok excels at capturing immediate attention, Pinterest ads have a longer shelf life, continuing to generate engagement through saves and shares over time.

Each platform serves distinct roles in a marketing strategy. 

• TikTok is invaluable for brand awareness and viral momentum.
• Pinterest excels at driving considered purchases and fostering long-term customer relationships. 

Many brands succeed by using both platforms complementarily – TikTok for brand awareness and Pinterest for nurturing purchase intent and offering detailed product inspiration.

Should you run TikTok ads?

TikTok has become a key player in digital advertising, offering exceptional engagement rates and a diverse, global audience. 

What sets TikTok apart is its ability to connect with younger generations in ways traditional platforms cannot.

TikTok’s advertising capabilities go beyond brand awareness. 

Its mobile-optimized lead generation tools allow advertisers to capture valuable user data directly within the platform, reducing friction and improving conversion rates.

Success on TikTok requires integrating it into a broader marketing strategy. 

Effective campaigns connect with CRM systems, marketing automation, and lead nurturing to turn engagement into long-term business relationships and measurable ROI.

As TikTok continues to evolve its advertising features, it will likely play an even greater role in digital advertising. 

For marketers targeting younger audiences and building genuine connections, TikTok is becoming an essential part of a comprehensive digital strategy.

The key to success lies in understanding how to advertise on TikTok and integrating it with existing marketing infrastructure to convert its engagement and reach into tangible business results.

Generative AI is a powerful tool for creating content, including PPC ad copy, but it should be used wisely. 

It’s not about generating content to copy and paste but assisting in the creative process.

We’ve all seen enough AI-generated social media posts, blogs, and website content to know the web doesn’t need more of that.

When used properly, AI can help spark ideas, refine messages, and combine data with creativity to better connect with audiences.

This article covers practical ways to use generative AI and large language models (LLMs) for ad copywriting without sacrificing originality or quality.

What does AI say it’s good at?

When I began writing about using AI, my first instinct was, naturally, to ask AI itself. 

So, I turned to ChatGPT and posed the same question I’m exploring here: 

• “What are some good ways to use AI to write ad copy for Google Ads?” 

Here’s what ChatGPT suggested:

• Dynamic headline generation.
• Keyword-optimized copy.
• Personalized ad copy.
• Seasonal analysis (e.g., incorporating “holidays” or “snow” into descriptions during winter).

These initial responses were neither surprising nor particularly helpful. I don’t want AI to write my copy outright, even though it seems eager to do so.

However, this exercise got me thinking – not just about what I don’t want AI to do, but about what it can and should do. Which brings us to the first point.

1. Ideation

My top use for AI in content creation, whether for ad copy or blog posts, is ideation. And few tools are better for this than LLMs. 

While their responses are inherently generic, they’re great for sparking ideas and getting your creative juices flowing.

For example, plugging in a prompt like “Give me ideas for how to use LLMs and generative AI for ad copy” can provide a good starting point, helping you figure out what to write – and just as importantly, what not to write. 

LLMs compile the most common answers on the web, so copying them directly won’t add anything unique or valuable.

My process is to ask an LLM a few topic-related questions, then use its responses to kickstart my own thoughts and begin writing from there.

2. A/B testing suggestions

Another way to use AI is for iterating on current ads through A/B testing.

If you’re looking for small tweaks to test in headlines or descriptions, you can input your headlines into an LLM and have it recommend different variations.

You can further refine the results by asking it to highlight specific selling points for your business.

In my experience, this method has been more about ideation than direct copying.

For example, when I give ChatGPT a headline or description from my ads and ask for “10 A/B testing suggestions that comply with Google Ads’ character requirements,” I get decent ideas.

However, I still need to tweak them to fit the rest of the copy.

This isn’t perfect, but it’s much quicker than starting from scratch and can provide ideas you might not have thought of otherwise.

Dig deeper: 7 ways to use generative AI in PPC

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3. Industry-specific compliance

This is a more niche use case, but one of my favorites. 

A common challenge for paid search marketers is creating ad copy that’s both compelling and compliant with Google’s industry-specific policies.

Whether it’s finance, real estate, or healthcare, each industry has specific requirements for what you can and can’t say.

Using an LLM to spot-check your copy and flag any issues can speed up the editing process and help prevent eligibility problems when the ads go live.

4. Proofreading for clarity and brevity

Before submitting any content, a final proofread is essential.

While spellcheck is useful, having a second set of eyes to spot awkward sentences or redundancy can be invaluable.

If you don’t have a colleague or friend available, LLMs can step in.

Simply copy and paste the content you want reviewed and ask:

• “Proofread this for clarity and redundancy, and make notated edits so I can see what was changed.”

That last part is important, otherwise you’ll be scouring your own content to see what’s different. Alternatively, you can change the prompt to:

• “Proofread this for clarity and redundancy, and recommend improvements.”

Final thoughts

When I set out to write this article, my initial fear was that it might come across as an endorsement for the bland, AI-generated content flooding the web. That stuff sucks! 

Thankfully, that fear shifted into a sense of responsibility to highlight the good AI can do.

It’s important not to lose sight of what makes great marketing stand out: creativity and humanity. 

AI isn’t a magic solution to all your ad copy problems; rather, it’s a tool that helps you leverage your creativity and expertise more efficiently.

It offers many benefits beyond the few we discussed here, and as it evolves, it will become even more sophisticated and transformative. 

However, its effectiveness depends entirely on how you use it. 

Your unique understanding of your business and your creative touch are irreplaceable. 

AI can provide suggestions, but it can never replace you. So, use ChatGPT and similar tools to enhance your own ideas and creativity – not to replace them.

Dig deeper: ChatGPT for PPC: 17 strategic prompts you can use today

Google apparently made a significant change to its system in the last 48 hours that is impacting multiple SEO tools. The change appears to have blocked many scrapers and APIs, resulting in a data blackout.

Data lags are being reported by users of SEO tools including SimilarWeb, Rank Ranger, SE Ranking, ZipTie.dev, AlsoAsked and possibly others.

What happened. Shay Harel, senior director of SimilarWeb, a web analytics and market intelligence platform, shared a statement detailing what happened with Barry Schwartz:

On the night of January 15th, Google implemented significant changes to how its systems handle automated interactions. These updates temporarily disrupted rank tracking and SERP data solutions across the industry, including ours, as many existing configurations were rendered non-functional.

The changes introduced new requirements for interaction protocols, invalidating previously reliable methods and causing widespread service interruptions. At Similarweb, we rapidly adapted by identifying the root cause and deploying updates within 18 hours to restore full functionality.

This update also deprecated certain configurations, such as ads_mode: ON, which was commonly used for analyzing paid results. The shift to requiring more dynamic session handling adds complexity and raises concerns about potential depersonalization of results. These changes highlight Google’s ongoing efforts to refine its ecosystem and introduce stricter controls.

The scale of this event was unprecedented, even compared to major disruptions in 2018. It reinforces the importance of technical agility and innovation in delivering reliable data solutions for the SEO industry.

Tomek Rudzki, co-founder of ZipTie.dev, a Google AI Overviews tracking tool, also confirmed the issue on X:

• “We’ve observed a decrease (approximately 2 percentage points) in AIO detection rates through Ziptie’s tracking system. It seems Google is blocking AIO checkers in a smart way, far beyond traditional captchas. We are looking for ways to improve the AIO detection rate.”

Why we care. You likely rely on some of these tools to understand whether your SEO efforts are successful – whether your goal are helping to drive visibility, conversions, revenue for your brands and websites. Without data, we are blind. So check your tools to see if you are impacted. Hopefully it will just be temporary if you are.

Some tools unaffected. Some SEO tools seem to be unaffected by Google’s change, such as Semrush (disclosure: Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush), Sistrix, Monitorank, and Ahrefs.

Story developing. We are reaching out to SEO tool providers and will update this story with any more news and reactions as we get them.

First spotted. Eric Mercier published appears to be the first to have spotted this issue and published this article (in Spanish) Google bloqueó las herramientas SEO: el drama del 2025. I discovered his article via Natalia Witczyk’s LinkedIn post.

JavaScript change. Meanwhile, Google today told TechCrunch it is now forcing users to turn on JavaScript to use Search. Google said “fewer than .1%” of searches on Google are done by people who disable JavaScript. Also:

• “Enabling JavaScript allows us to better protect our services and users from bots and evolving forms of abuse and spam, and to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information.”

Is it just coincidental timing that this statement came out following the news that many SEO tools went dark?

Editor’s note. Originally, Semrush was listed as a company that was impacted by this data outage, based on social media posts. However, a Semrush spokesperson told me:

• “On any given day, some users may encounter bugs as part of the normal course of business, but nothing unusual has been identified. Our product team has verified this, and we aren’t seeing any widespread issues.”

With SEO‘s continued volatility, now is the best time to baseline your SEO data and define your strategic SEO roadmap to improve search performance. 

This article looks at five areas:

Understanding SEO benchmarking fundamentals

Let’s start with understanding how SEO measurement differs from regular performance tracking.

SEO measurement is a detailed performance snapshot that guides your SEO strategy decisions. These measures help you assess how your website matches industry standards and competitors.

SEO KPIs act like compasses to show goal progress, while benchmarks become yardsticks to measure against others. 

Setting these measurement benchmarks helps:

• Establish realistic improvement targets.
• Understand your competitive position.
• Make analytical strategy adjustments.

Remember, this is not a one-and-done exercise. Regular monitoring and comparison help spot trends early. 

You can identify issues before they become problems and strategically adjust to remain competitive. 

This proactive approach keeps your SEO efforts focused and effective.

Dig deeper: How to document your SEO strategy

Setting up your benchmarking framework

Now that you understand the basics, the next step is to set clear metrics and create a way to track your progress.

Choose the right metrics to set standards

Just like setting professional goals, establishing your SEO framework requires SMART goals. Focus on these key metrics: 

• Organic search traffic and engagement.
• Keyword rankings and visibility.
• Backlink quality.
• Technical SEO health.
• Conversion rates from organic traffic.

Identify competitor baseline data

Analyze your SEO competitors by reviewing your target keywords and identifying the websites that directly compete for those terms.

Remember that these may not always align with your direct business competitors.

Your competitor analysis should include:

• Websites ranking for your target keywords.
• Competitors’ content strategies.
• Backlink profiles and domain authority.
• Technical SEO implementation.

Dig deeper: Advanced ways to use competitive research in SEO

Create measurement templates and schedules

Consistent tracking starts with reusable templates and regular monitoring schedules. 

A practical SEO standard report template should include:

• Current standard metrics.
• Top five organic keywords.
• Competitor keyword analysis.
• Content gap analysis.
• Technical SEO health scores.

Target for monthly or quarterly monitoring schedules to spot trends and adjust your strategy, if needed.

Gathering and organizing benchmark data

Once you’ve established your standard framework, a reliable set of tools and well-organized data are essential for tracking your progress. 

Here’s everything you need to gather and manage your SEO data effectively.

Tools

Various tools are available to help you research, aggregate data, and automate reporting. Here are some of the most popular options:

• Google Analytics: User behavior, engagement rates, and conversion metrics.
• Google Search Console: Keyword rankings, click-through rates, and crawl errors.
• Semrush: Competitor strategies and backlink profiles.
• Social Media Analytics: Social engagement and referral traffic data.
• Moz, SpyFu, and Ahrefs are other great tools for gaining competitive insights.

Automated tools make tracking simple. Use these tools to:

• Set up automated reports that show organic traffic and bounce rates.
• Use position tracking tools to watch keyword rankings.
• Keep an eye on referring domains with backlink analytics.
• Build custom dashboards that display authority scores and share of voice.

---

Analyzing competitive performance gaps

Competitive analysis is the foundation of effective SEO standards. Compare your market position to your competitors’ to gain vital insights that advance your strategy.

Identifying areas of competitive advantage

To identify your competitive advantages, start by understanding where you outperform your competitors. 

Comparing metrics like bounce rates and user engagement can reveal unexpected strengths. 

Tools like Semrush allow you to analyze organic traffic trends and pinpoint areas where your content outshines the competition.

Your competitive advantage analysis looks for:

• Higher engagement rates.
• Better keyword rankings.
• Stronger backlink profiles.
• Superior content depth.
• Better user experience elements.

Spotting improvement opportunities

Keyword gap analysis is a great way to identify missed opportunities. Be sure to focus on these areas in reviewing competitor performance:

• High-performing competitor content themes.
• Untapped keyword opportunities.
• Technical SEO implementation differences.
• Content structure variations.
• User experience elements.

Dig deeper: 4 under-utilized SEO research approaches to tackle

Implementing your benchmarking action plan

Your competitive analysis is complete and you’ve spotted the gaps. Now it’s time to put your insights to work. 

Your SEO measurement trip moves into a significant implementation phase, where you’ll turn your findings into measurable improvements.

Prioritizing action items based on effect

Not every gap needs immediate attention.

Prioritizing SEO tasks based on available resources and potential impacts is critical.

The evaluation of improvements depends on:

• Areas with the biggest site-wide impact.
• Must match overall business goals.
• Resource availability.

Dig deeper: How to prioritize technical SEO tasks

Setting realistic improvement targets

Set ambitious yet achievable targets grounded in solid data.

Focus on creating SMART goals that align with your business objectives. Realistic targets are shaped by key factors, including:

• Current performance metrics.
• Industry averages.
• Available resources.
• Seasonal fluctuations.
• Technical capabilities.

Creating actionable implementation steps

A systematic approach is key to achieving results. Follow this proven implementation process:

• Define priority areas: Focus on opportunities with the greatest impact, as identified in your competitive analysis.
• Set measurement standards: Establish clear KPIs to track progress effectively.
• Create a content calendar: Develop a content strategy tailored to address identified gaps.
• Technical optimization: Resolve technical SEO issues uncovered during your analysis.
• Link building: Implement strategic plans to acquire high-quality backlinks.

Although large language model (LLM) search is still in its early stages, it’s important to consider the nature of user queries and ensure your content aligns with user intent. 

Each step of the process should have designated owners and realistic timelines. 

Clearly define who is responsible – whether it’s your internal team, an agency partner, or a development resource. 

A well-organized approach will help you stay focused and maintain steady progress.

Dig deeper: Decoding LLMs: How to be visible in generative AI search results

Monitoring and adjusting your strategy

SEO is dynamic and requires ongoing monitoring and refinement.

Regular reviews (monthly or quarterly) ensure you’re staying on track and making necessary adjustments.

Key components to monitor include:

• Weekly tracking of keyword rankings and traffic metrics.
• Ranking tracker dashboards.
• Conversion performance from organic visits.
• User engagement metrics.

As the web and competitive strategies evolve, consistent monitoring helps mitigate risks, adapt to changes, and steadily improve your position over time.

Dig deeper: How to cultivate SEO growth through continuous improvement

Setting benchmarks to drive SEO growth

SEO success relies on consistent tracking, analysis, and adaptation. 

By setting clear benchmarks, monitoring progress, and adjusting strategies as needed, you’ll ensure continuous growth in search rankings and organic traffic. 

Staying proactive and informed is key to SEO efforts that deliver lasting results.

Sophisticated phishing scams are targeting ad industry media buyers through malicious Google Ads links, allowing hackers to infiltrate accounts and exploit funds for fraudulent ad campaigns.

• Criminal rings worldwide, including groups suspected to be based in Brazil, Asia, and Eastern Europe, are placing fake Google Ads links that appear legitimate in search results.
• Victims unknowingly enter their login credentials on phishing pages, granting hackers access to Google Ads accounts.

How it works:

• Bait and switch: Fraudsters create deceptive sponsored links that mimic legitimate Google Ads login pages.
• Credential theft: When ad buyers click these links and input their login details, the scammers gain account access.
• Account exploitation: Hackers use stolen credentials to create phishing campaigns or run fraudulent click-based ads, funneling ad budgets back into their own operations.

Why we care. These phishing scams can compromise your Google Ads accounts, draining ad budgets and disrupting campaigns. Hackers are using stolen credentials to run fraudulent ads, which damages brand reputation and wastes resources.

Additionally, advertisers are often left to detect and report the breaches themselves, delaying resolution and compounding losses. Proactive security measures are crucial to protect assets and maintain trust with clients.

Details. Ad accounts with large budgets are prime targets, with hackers demonstrating expertise in disguising fraudulent campaigns as legitimate ones.

Malwarebytes estimates that thousands of Google Ads accounts have been compromised in recent months. Affected advertisers have reported significant financial losses and disrupted campaigns.

The fraud is ongoing, with new malicious ads appearing even as Google investigates.

What Google says. “We expressly prohibit ads that aim to deceive people in order to steal their information or scam them. Our teams are actively investigating this issue and working quickly to address it,” a Google spokesperson said.

However, victims report that Google’s response often lags, leaving them to detect and report the fraud themselves.

Bottom line. Advertisers should avoid using Google Search as an entry point to log in to Google Ads and implement stricter security measures, such as two-factor authentication and direct URL access, to prevent future breaches. The scams underline a broader need for increased vigilance and security in the digital advertising ecosystem.

The Supreme Court today unanimously upheld a law requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. operations by this Sunday or face an effective ban. This decision could make TikTok unavailable for many U.S. users as soon as this weekend.

• The court backed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, a law signed by President Biden in April to address national security concerns tied to TikTok’s data collection practices and ByteDance’s ties to China.
• The ruling means third-party platforms like Apple and Google could be penalized if they continue to support the app after the January 19 deadline.

State of play. ByteDance has refused to divest TikTok, putting the app on a collision course with U.S. regulators. Without compliance, TikTok could be removed from app stores, making updates unavailable and effectively rendering the app non-functional over time.

• Existing users may retain access to the app temporarily, but ByteDance has also signaled it might shut the platform down entirely if forced to divest.

Why we care. TikTok’s potential ban could cut off access to its massive U.S. audience of over 170 million users, particularly Gen Z and Millennials. Campaigns reliant on TikTok’s unique engagement, influencer partnerships, and trend-driven marketing will face disruptions.

If you currently have such TikTok campaigns running, you will need to quickly reallocate budgets to alternative platforms like Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts, potentially increasing costs and complexity. Additionally, the situation highlights the need to prioritize data security and diversify advertising strategies to mitigate future risks.

What they’re saying:

• Supreme Court. “While data collection is common in the digital age, TikTok’s size and susceptibility to foreign adversary control pose an unparalleled national security risk,” the court stated in its opinion.
• White House. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reaffirmed President Biden’s position, emphasizing that TikTok should remain available but only under ownership that satisfies security concerns.
• Critics. Civil liberties groups, like the Center for Democracy and Technology, argue the decision undermines free expression.
  • “TikTok is a platform for news, creativity, and business promotion—core activities protected under the First Amendment,” said Kate Ruane, the group’s director.

What’s next. TikTok’s future now rests in the hands of the incoming administration. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Monday, has indicated he may seek a “political resolution” to the issue.

Meanwhile, rival platforms like Instagram and YouTube are preparing for an influx of TikTok creators and users seeking alternatives.

Between the lines. The Chinese government is reportedly considering contingency plans, including having Elon Musk acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations, according to Bloomberg News. This underscores Beijing’s strategic interest in maintaining a foothold in the U.S. market.

Bottom line. This landmark decision sets a precedent for U.S. national security policy in the digital age, marking a turning point for foreign-owned apps operating in the U.S. With the deadline looming, TikTok users and creators face an uncertain weekend, and the app’s fate remains in flux.

Chrome extensions are the unsung heroes of SEO, quietly working behind the scenes to make your strategy shine and your effort efficient.

From competitor research to auditing your site faster than you can say “meta description,” these tiny tools pack a serious punch. 

This guide will detail the best Chrome extensions for SEO, what they do, and why you will love them. 

Basics: Tried-and-true Chrome extensions

1. Lighthouse

Lighthouse is a free, open-source tool that automatically enhances the performance, quality, and accuracy of your webpages. 

The extension runs a PageSpeed Insights report from any webpage. 

This report provides insights into SEO considerations, general site performance, accessibility, and more. 

Why you’ll love it

What sets this extension apart is that it is essentially a shortcut for a tool and process that is already deeply ingrained in my workflow.

The PageSpeed Insights report is invaluable because you get specific suggestions and solutions to address any issues identified alongside each metric or rating.

2. Wappalyzer

This tool offers a quick and easy way to check a website’s tech stack – everything from the CMS and JavaScript libraries to analytics and advertising pixels. 

Why you’ll love it

It uncovers much more than expected. 

Think beyond internal frameworks, CMS, or platform software. 

It connects with all the everyday digital marketing tools and apps used to profile websites in a moment. And it offers a handy export feature. 

3. Redirect Path 

Instantly check HTTP status codes to identify issues. Redirect Path identifies 301 and 302 redirects and 404 and 500 errors. 

This tool is also helpful in identifying client-side redirects, such as Meta and Javascript redirects, which can be easily overlooked. 

Why you’ll love it

As if that didn’t make your life easier, expect to find more detailed information regarding each flagged URL – the server type, IP address, caching headers, and more.

Dig deeper: 11 of the best free tools every SEO should know about

4. Check My Links

It’s exactly as the title suggests. The tool crawls a webpage and highlights every link on the page, showing you which ones are working and which are redirecting or broken. 

Why you’ll love it

This extremely simple extension quickly does exactly what you need it to do. It’s a prime example of working smarter, not harder.

---

Advanced: Extensions you may not be using yet 

5. SEO Pro Extension 

This extension is like having a complete SEO toolkit in your browser, ready to help you with any SEO task. 

You can get all the essential data for a webpage, such as:

• Metadata.
• Canonical tags.
• Schema.
• Links.

This extension even incorporates Core Web Vitals and social share previews.

Why you’ll love it

Whether you’re auditing a site, researching keywords, or just trying to get a quick snapshot of on-page elements, this extension has it all. 

One of my favorite features is the ability to export page copy. This saves so much time when creating content optimization recommendations. 

Dig deeper: 15 AI tools you should use for SEO

6. Advanced GSC Visualizer

This tool seamlessly connects to Google Search Console for an impressive analysis of your data, taking it from drab to fab. 

Once enabled, click Advanced Visualization at the top right side of the Search Console interface, and a new graph with more features than the standard GSC interface will appear. 

You can:

• View metrics by day, week, or month.
• Look at standalone metrics.
• Build a dashboard to view all key metrics side by side.

Why you’ll love it

With its user-friendly interface, you can filter, segment, and visualize your data in ways that make it easy to analyze. 

Short of building your own graphs in a third-party tool, nowhere else can you find these visualizations. 

You can also select between line, bar, or area charts, add options for trendlines and moving averages, and even add annotations. 

7. Google Search Console Enhanced Analytics

This Chrome extension turns your Search Console experience from a slow crawl to a high-speed joyride. 

As the name suggests, this plugin enhances your analysis by making useful metrics from your Search Console data. 

It generates comparable metrics, calculates percent changes, provides measurable data, and is easily exported into Excel. 

Why you’ll love it

With this extension, you can view data beyond the GSC defaults directly on the page without jumping between tabs or running endless exports.

It adds useful features like enhanced filtering, bulk data downloads, and visual highlights to help you spot trends, issues, and opportunities quickly.

Dig deeper: 5 free SEO tools and plugins to try

8. Instant Rank Checker

In a nutshell, Instant Rank Checker lets you check keyword rankings in real time without opening a million tabs or running manual checks. 

Type in a keyword, hit enter, and boom – you’ve got the ranking data you need. It’s as quick and simple as a search should be. 

Why you’ll love it

This tool allows you to select your localized version of Google, covering most country-specific Google domains.

You can also see historical data and changes in rankings over time. 

9. GMB Everywhere 

This extension streamlines your Google Business Profile (GBP) audits and eliminates the guesswork of optimizing business listings.

For any Places or Maps result, it serves up a variety of one-click reports – from a quick GBP audit to an in-depth analysis of reviews or posts. 

The basic audit covers all the essentials, such as:

• Claim status. 
• (NAP) information.
• Location details.
• Direct links to the business’ Knowledge Panel, reviews, and more. 

GMB Everywhere takes this audit a step further by including links to reports like: 

• PageSpeed Insights.
• WHOIS Lookup.
• The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Why you’ll love it

GMB Everywhere gives you instant insights into crucial GBP elements like categories, reviews, and post performance. 

It’s useful for scoping out the competition or fine-tuning your own listing.

10. Keyword Surfer

Keyword Surfer simplifies keyword research by integrating seamlessly with Google search results, providing a wealth of data at a glance.

For each search query, it displays the estimated monthly search volume and Google Ads CPC, making it easy to identify high-value opportunities. 

Each ranking page is accompanied by a detailed analysis, including:

• Estimated traffic.
• Word count.
• Query usage.
• An assessment of whether the displayed title tag is the original or a creative adaptation by Google. 

Additionally, Keyword Surfer supports over 100 locations, ensuring you get the most relevant and localized data for your needs.

Why you’ll love it

With this tool, you can save keywords to Collections for quick access, eliminating the need to Google them separately. 

The export feature seamlessly integrates keyword data into your existing workflow, saving time and effort. 

Simply put, Keyword Surfer turns your search bar into a command center for keyword research.

Dig deeper: 4 of the best technical SEO tools

11. MST SERP Counter

This is the most straightforward tool you didn’t know you needed but now can’t live without. 

In today’s SERPs, we’ve got ads, shopping results, local packs, AI overviews, and everything in between. 

It’s a lot to sift through when you only want to know where your organic rankings stand. 

That’s where the MST SERP Counter steps in to save the day with a bright orange count of the organic search results.

Why you’ll love it

Even with Google ending continuous scroll on desktop, it’s easy to lose count or second guess what results should be included in your count. 

If you need to quickly and easily spot-check keyword rankings, look no further than MST SERP Counter.

Make efficiency your secret weapon

With these Chrome extensions in your toolkit, you’re set to streamline your SEO efforts, reduce manual tasks, and focus on the strategies that drive real results. 

Each tool offers a unique way to optimize, analyze, and elevate your strategy, most with just a single click. 

Because at the end of the day, efficiency isn’t just a buzzword – it’s the secret to scaling success.

Chrome extensions are the unsung heroes of SEO, quietly working behind the scenes to make your strategy shine and your effort efficient.

From competitor research to auditing your site faster than you can say “meta description,” these tiny tools pack a serious punch. 

This guide will detail the best Chrome extensions for SEO, what they do, and why you will love them. 

Basics: Tried-and-true Chrome extensions

1. Lighthouse

Lighthouse is a free, open-source tool that automatically enhances the performance, quality, and accuracy of your webpages. 

The extension runs a PageSpeed Insights report from any webpage. 

This report provides insights into SEO considerations, general site performance, accessibility, and more. 

Why you’ll love it

What sets this extension apart is that it is essentially a shortcut for a tool and process that is already deeply ingrained in my workflow.

The PageSpeed Insights report is invaluable because you get specific suggestions and solutions to address any issues identified alongside each metric or rating.

2. Wappalyzer

This tool offers a quick and easy way to check a website’s tech stack – everything from the CMS and JavaScript libraries to analytics and advertising pixels. 

Why you’ll love it

It uncovers much more than expected. 

Think beyond internal frameworks, CMS, or platform software. 

It connects with all the everyday digital marketing tools and apps used to profile websites in a moment. And it offers a handy export feature. 

3. Redirect Path 

Instantly check HTTP status codes to identify issues. Redirect Path identifies 301 and 302 redirects and 404 and 500 errors. 

This tool is also helpful in identifying client-side redirects, such as Meta and Javascript redirects, which can be easily overlooked. 

Why you’ll love it

As if that didn’t make your life easier, expect to find more detailed information regarding each flagged URL – the server type, IP address, caching headers, and more.

Dig deeper: 11 of the best free tools every SEO should know about

4. Check My Links

It’s exactly as the title suggests. The tool crawls a webpage and highlights every link on the page, showing you which ones are working and which are redirecting or broken. 

Why you’ll love it

This extremely simple extension quickly does exactly what you need it to do. It’s a prime example of working smarter, not harder.

---

Advanced: Extensions you may not be using yet 

5. SEO Pro Extension 

This extension is like having a complete SEO toolkit in your browser, ready to help you with any SEO task. 

You can get all the essential data for a webpage, such as:

• Metadata.
• Canonical tags.
• Schema.
• Links.

This extension even incorporates Core Web Vitals and social share previews.

Why you’ll love it

Whether you’re auditing a site, researching keywords, or just trying to get a quick snapshot of on-page elements, this extension has it all. 

One of my favorite features is the ability to export page copy. This saves so much time when creating content optimization recommendations. 

Dig deeper: 15 AI tools you should use for SEO

6. Advanced GSC Visualizer

This tool seamlessly connects to Google Search Console for an impressive analysis of your data, taking it from drab to fab. 

Once enabled, click Advanced Visualization at the top right side of the Search Console interface, and a new graph with more features than the standard GSC interface will appear. 

You can:

• View metrics by day, week, or month.
• Look at standalone metrics.
• Build a dashboard to view all key metrics side by side.

Why you’ll love it

With its user-friendly interface, you can filter, segment, and visualize your data in ways that make it easy to analyze. 

Short of building your own graphs in a third-party tool, nowhere else can you find these visualizations. 

You can also select between line, bar, or area charts, add options for trendlines and moving averages, and even add annotations. 

7. Google Search Console Enhanced Analytics

This Chrome extension turns your Search Console experience from a slow crawl to a high-speed joyride. 

As the name suggests, this plugin enhances your analysis by making useful metrics from your Search Console data. 

It generates comparable metrics, calculates percent changes, provides measurable data, and is easily exported into Excel. 

Why you’ll love it

With this extension, you can view data beyond the GSC defaults directly on the page without jumping between tabs or running endless exports.

It adds useful features like enhanced filtering, bulk data downloads, and visual highlights to help you spot trends, issues, and opportunities quickly.

Dig deeper: 5 free SEO tools and plugins to try

8. Instant Rank Checker

In a nutshell, Instant Rank Checker lets you check keyword rankings in real time without opening a million tabs or running manual checks. 

Type in a keyword, hit enter, and boom – you’ve got the ranking data you need. It’s as quick and simple as a search should be. 

Why you’ll love it

This tool allows you to select your localized version of Google, covering most country-specific Google domains.

You can also see historical data and changes in rankings over time. 

9. GMB Everywhere 

This extension streamlines your Google Business Profile (GBP) audits and eliminates the guesswork of optimizing business listings.

For any Places or Maps result, it serves up a variety of one-click reports – from a quick GBP audit to an in-depth analysis of reviews or posts. 

The basic audit covers all the essentials, such as:

• Claim status. 
• (NAP) information.
• Location details.
• Direct links to the business’ Knowledge Panel, reviews, and more. 

GMB Everywhere takes this audit a step further by including links to reports like: 

• PageSpeed Insights.
• WHOIS Lookup.
• The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Why you’ll love it

GMB Everywhere gives you instant insights into crucial GBP elements like categories, reviews, and post performance. 

It’s useful for scoping out the competition or fine-tuning your own listing.

10. Keyword Surfer

Keyword Surfer simplifies keyword research by integrating seamlessly with Google search results, providing a wealth of data at a glance.

For each search query, it displays the estimated monthly search volume and Google Ads CPC, making it easy to identify high-value opportunities. 

Each ranking page is accompanied by a detailed analysis, including:

• Estimated traffic.
• Word count.
• Query usage.
• An assessment of whether the displayed title tag is the original or a creative adaptation by Google. 

Additionally, Keyword Surfer supports over 100 locations, ensuring you get the most relevant and localized data for your needs.

Why you’ll love it

With this tool, you can save keywords to Collections for quick access, eliminating the need to Google them separately. 

The export feature seamlessly integrates keyword data into your existing workflow, saving time and effort. 

Simply put, Keyword Surfer turns your search bar into a command center for keyword research.

Dig deeper: 4 of the best technical SEO tools

11. MST SERP Counter

This is the most straightforward tool you didn’t know you needed but now can’t live without. 

In today’s SERPs, we’ve got ads, shopping results, local packs, AI overviews, and everything in between. 

It’s a lot to sift through when you only want to know where your organic rankings stand. 

That’s where the MST SERP Counter steps in to save the day with a bright orange count of the organic search results.

Why you’ll love it

Even with Google ending continuous scroll on desktop, it’s easy to lose count or second guess what results should be included in your count. 

If you need to quickly and easily spot-check keyword rankings, look no further than MST SERP Counter.

Make efficiency your secret weapon

With these Chrome extensions in your toolkit, you’re set to streamline your SEO efforts, reduce manual tasks, and focus on the strategies that drive real results. 

Each tool offers a unique way to optimize, analyze, and elevate your strategy, most with just a single click. 

Because at the end of the day, efficiency isn’t just a buzzword – it’s the secret to scaling success.

You can now directly connect campaign performance with user behavior, bridging a critical gap between ad spend and engagement metrics.

A new integration of Microsoft Clarity and Google Ads will help you see exactly how paid traffic interacts with your websites, potentially improving ROI on ad spend.

Key features:

• Direct Google Ads account connection.
• New advertising-focused dashboard.
• Campaign-specific engagement metrics.
• Intent tracking by campaign.

Details. The new dashboard gives visibility into engagement metrics for each Google Ads campaign, as it shows real-time tracking of user behavior post-click.

Advertisers will have full integration with existing Clarity features like heatmaps and session recordings.

Why we care. Microsoft Clarity’s Google Ads integration finally bridges the gap between ad spend and actual user behavior, showing exactly how users from specific campaigns interact with their websites after clicking ads.

This visibility allows you to optimize both ad campaigns and landing pages based on real user engagement data rather than just conversion numbers, potentially improving ROI by identifying which campaigns truly drive meaningful interactions versus those that just generate clicks.

Between the lines. This move positions Microsoft Clarity as a more serious competitor in the analytics space, particularly for advertisers looking to optimize their Google Ads campaigns.

First seen. This update was first brought to our attention by Josh Silverbauerr on LinkedIn as he showed excitement for “the ‘Intent’ section which shows engagement by campaign!”:

What to watch. How this integration might evolve to include other advertising platforms and whether Google Analytics responds with similar features.

As the customer journey grows more complex in 2025, organizations need a best-in-class martech stack to deliver a seamless, data-driven experience across multiple channels. 

A critical component of this stack is the CMS, which must address key challenges businesses face today: 

• Achieving visibility in multimodal search.
• Establishing a presence in large language models (LLMs).
• Managing total cost of ownership.
• Leveraging AI opportunities.

Why is the right CMS a critical building block for establishing a solid foundation? 

A CMS is vital in creating personalized experiences and connecting customer touchpoints across all channels. It “enables organizations to collaboratively manage the creation, aggregation, orchestration, and delivery of content to omnichannel touchpoints,” according to Forrester.

An ideal CMS should effortlessly manage discovery, experience, engagement, and conversions, ensuring your digital presence remains optimized for AI-driven search advancements. It should automate fixing website health issues, reducing the need for ongoing technical SEO work.

Let’s explore key considerations when selecting or upgrading your CMS, focusing on the four pivotal stages of the marketing journey:

• Discovery.
• Experience.
• Conversion.
• Performance.

Discovery

Content discovery and SERP saturation

Content discovery and visibility across different search results are major challenges for organizations. With content spread across multiple platforms, it’s hard to maintain consistent visibility. Many brands rely on paid ads to make up for poor organic discovery, even though consumers trust organic content more.

Your CMS should support content discovery by:

• Managing crawl budgets efficiently to ensure indexing, crawling, and rendering of all high-quality content.
• Allowing easy addition and editing of schemas based on content architecture.
• Automating key SEO tasks like redirects, URL updates, sitemaps, breadcrumbs, and page speed optimizations – especially during site edits, migrations, or deletions.

A CMS with built-in discovery features is even better. It should support protocols like IndexNow for notifying search engines of site content changes. 

Prioritizing SERP saturation and discovery features is essential for any brand.

Dig deeper: Future-proof your SERP presence: 6 areas to focus on

Optimizing your digital assets for enhanced discovery

Search is now multimodal, with consumers engaging via images, videos, text, and audio. To stay ahead, centralize, optimize, and distribute your assets across all channels. 

Experience

Once your content is discovered, the next focus is user experience. Personalization and A/B testing shouldn’t be afterthoughts. 

Your CMS should offer an easy-to-deploy solution backed by a framework that improves experience and drives conversions.

Omnichannel experiences

In 2025, the customer journey will be more complex as users interact across various channels, such as images, videos, LLMs, social platforms, text, and voice. Web traffic from traditional search engines may drop by 25%, Gartner predicts.

To ensure a seamless journey:

• Use a CMS that supports automated, personalized workflows for different audiences.
• Establish a centralized information hub with a separate data layer for flexibility.
• Automate rendering and publishing based on specific channels and audience needs.

Dig deeper: Future-proofing digital experience in AI-first semantic search

Personalization

Traffic from traditional search engines is declining, especially among younger generations. Gen Z increasingly turns to platforms like TikTok and Instagram for discovery, with nearly 40% bypassing search engines.

Brands that provide personalized, data-driven answers engage users better, driving loyalty and conversions. Effective personalization relies on:

• Using customer data.
• Connecting the customer journey.
• Streamlining content workflows.

Personalization includes location-based, channel-based, and behavioral approaches, with AI enhancing visitor segmentation, journey prediction, and content creation.

Dig deeper: How to boost your marketing revenue with personalization, connectivity and data 

Composable architecture

Customer journeys are increasingly complex, requiring flexible, scalable solutions. A “best of breed” architecture, built on composable, cloud-native SaaS and microservices, aligns with MACH principles and promotes growth. 

This approach improves user experiences, shortens development time, lowers costs, and makes systems scalable and robust, unlike rigid, monolithic systems. A CMS should offer:

• API-driven integrations for efficient data ingestion and egestion.
• High availability, scalability, and consistency.
• A robust partner ecosystem.
• Support for headless or hybrid configurations.

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Conversion

After discovery and experience, focus on conversions. Key elements include:

• Landing page optimizations.
• Conversion optimization and A/B testing.
• Limited time offers and coupons.
• Revenue recovery.
• Widgets tailored to specific industries for engagement and conversions (e.g., online travel agencies, or OTAs, for hospitality).

To ensure seamless execution across all channels, your CMS needs to go beyond content management and allow for scaling and consistency.

Centralized assets and knowledge hub

Content creation in a CMS has evolved. Businesses need enterprise-wide taxonomies and metadata to align content with brand voice. A centralized hub breaks silos, enabling shared resources, better collaboration, and faster content production.

Vertical-specific applications

Does your CMS support industry-specific tools like travel apps, mortgage calculators, event calendars, or marketplace integrations? 

Research developer communities and vertical applications to ensure the CMS meets your business needs.

Performance

A robust CMS should integrate site and campaign performance analytics, delivering real-time insights across channels.

Infrastructure, compliance, and security

This has become the foundation for building a resilient and adaptable tech stack.

Secure cloud hosting with micro-container architecture is essential for high availability, disaster recovery, and backups. A good CDN ensures fast website performance.

Multi-layered security with firewalls, intrusion detection, secured code, and DDoS protection provides robust defense. GDPR, CCPA compliance, and ADA conformance enhance user trust and experience. Google has offered best practices for developers to ensure website users’ experience is secure and offers a safe browsing experience.  

AI workflows

AI automates content creation, handles site migrations, and resolves technical SEO issues. A CMS with built-in business insights, segmentation, and A/B testing streamlines workflows and optimizes results.

CMS-enabled AI agents can play a significant role in providing content to various AI agents (i.e., chat agents and search agents). This will:

• Improve user experience.
• Maximize conversions.
• Enable easy access to relevant information.
• Ensure faster query resolution.

Dig deeper: How AI agents are revolutionizing digital marketing

Total cost of ownership

When evaluating systems, focus on tools that deliver a seamless customer experience. A CMS is central to marketing success, connecting workflows and all stages of the customer journey.

Optimize your digital presence by choosing the right CMS

A good CMS should minimize time and costs with features like editable pages, reusable components, templates, built-in analytics, and AI-driven automation. Developer support is equally critical.

Ensure the CMS provides comprehensive documentation and scalability for easy adoption, quicker time to market, and long-term business growth.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk could add TikTok to his growing digital empire, which would dramatically reshape the social media landscape and give his AI ambitions a massive data boost.

Key details:

• Chinese officials are reportedly considering X (formerly Twitter) as a potential buyer for TikTok’s U.S. operations.
• The deal would add 170 million U.S. users to Musk’s social media portfolio.
• TikTok’s data could supercharge Musk’s xAI company.

But. TikTok calls the Bloomberg report “pure fiction.”

State of play. With the Supreme Court signaling support for legislation that could force TikTok’s sale, Musk emerged as a surprise contender, despite previously opposing a ban.

The dynamics:

• Musk could leverage TikTok’s massive user base to revive X’s struggling ad business.
• TikTok’s vast data trove could provide critical training data for xAI.
• The deal might exclude TikTok’s prized algorithm.

Why we care. This potential acquisition could significantly impact your social media marketing strategies in three key ways:

1. Musk’s ownership could lead to major changes in TikTok’s advertising costs and content moderation policies, similar to what happened at X (Twitter) after his takeover.
2. The possible consolidation of TikTok and X could create both opportunities for cross-platform advertising and risks if advertisers need to pivot away from both platforms.
3. If the deal excludes TikTok’s algorithm, it could affect ad performance and targeting capabilities that many brands currently rely on.

Reality check. Musk publicly opposed a TikTok ban in April, stating it would be “contrary to freedom of speech and expression” — even while acknowledging it could benefit X.

Musk buying TikTok could also lead to an increase in cost, which was seen when Musk bought Twitter and advertisers started boycotting the platform.

The competition: Other potential buyers include:

• Microsoft, which previously attempted to acquire TikTok in 2020.
• Oracle, which hosts TikTok’s U.S. data.
• A consortium led by Frank McCourt and Kevin O’Leary.

Between the lines. A Musk-owned TikTok would face intense scrutiny given his controversial content moderation approach at X and his AI ambitions.

What’s next. The Supreme Court’s decision could trigger a bidding war ahead of the Jan. 19 deadline, with Musk potentially positioned as a preferred buyer for Chinese officials.

Bottom line. If Musk successfully acquires TikTok, he will control two of the most influential social media platforms in the U.S., significantly expanding his influence over digital discourse and AI development.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation into Google’s search dominance, marking the first major probe under new digital market rules.

The investigation could force changes to Google’s search business in the UK, where it controls over 90% of general search queries and serves 200,000+ advertisers.

The big picture. This probe follows the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent move to break up Google’s search monopoly and comes as AI reshapes online search.

Key details:

• The investigation falls under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC).
• CMA will assess if Google has “strategic market status.” Such a designation would give regulators the power to mandate changes.
• The agency is concerned about Google’s impact on news publishers and emerging AI search competitors.

Why we care. This investigation could change how Google displays and ranks ads in search results, potentially affecting ad costs and visibility. If regulators force Google to be more transparent or alter its search algorithms, it could impact ad targeting capabilities and ROI on search advertising spend.

What they’re saying. “We want to ensure there is a level playing field for all businesses, large and small, to succeed,” said Sarah Cardell, CMA chief executive.

Google “looks forward to engaging constructively and laying out how our services benefit UK consumers and also businesses, as well as the trade-offs inherent in any new regulations”, the company responded in a statement today.

What’s next. If designated with strategic market status, Google could face new restrictions on how it operates search and handles user data in the UK.

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Google’s share of the global search engine market fell below 90% for the first time since 2015, according to Statcounter. Google’s global search market share was under 90% during each of the final three months of 2024.

The data. Here’s a screenshot of the 2024 search market share, showing Google dipping below 90% – to 89.34% in October; 89.99% in November; and 89.73% in December:

And here’s the last three-month stretch where Google’s search market share was under 90%, in 2015: 89.62% in January; 89.47% in February; 89.52% in March:

Why we care. As the old saying goes, one’s a dot, two’s a line, and three’s a trend. Cleary, we’re seeing a trend here with Google losing search market share.

Where’s the drop? Google’s search market share appeared to be fairly consistent in most regions except Asia, which appears to have been a big reason for Google’s overall drop.

U.S. drop? Google’s U.S. search market share peaked at 90.37% in November, but fell to 87.39% in December. In the other months of 2024, Google’s U.S. search market share was fairly consistent, varying between 86-88%.

The big picture. Google has been under attack for nearly two years over the growing unhelpfulness of its search results despite dominating thanks to its illegal monopoly status with a commanding and consistent 90-92+% share for nearly a decade.

• Are we now finally starting to see the beginning people moving away to other search engines? This will be an area of interest to watch in the coming months.

Where did searchers go? Did they go to AI answer engines, like ChatGPT Search and Perplexity? Well, not the way Statcounter measures things. Statcounter mainly tracks Microsoft Bing, Yandex, Yahoo and Baidu, but also has another grouping called “other,” which includes the likes of DuckDuckGo and Ecosia.

Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo each gained some of Google’s lost share. Second-place Microsoft Bing hovered at or just under 4% for the final five months of 2024.

Dig deeper. ChatGPT’s search surge: 1% market share predicted by 2025

Bug or blip? You may recall much rejoicing in search marketing and SEO adjacent space when it appeared Google lost a significant amount of search market share in April. However, Google’s huge search market share loss wasn’t real and Statcounter revised its data.

In this case, the drop seems believable because Google was consistently under 90% in October, November, and December.

The data. Statcounter’s Search Engine Market Share Worldwide.

If you’re a digital marketer, you know the challenge of juggling performance goals, tight budgets, and endless to-do lists. 

Google Ads scripts offer a smarter way to manage your campaigns, introducing automation and real-time optimization that free you from repetitive tasks and let you focus on strategy and innovation.

With their ability to simplify complex processes and deliver actionable insights, Google Ads scripts enable marketers to work smarter, not harder. 

From automating bid adjustments to generating custom reports, these tools let you stay efficient and agile in a competitive landscape.

This guide will give you the knowledge and tools you need to harness the full power of Google Ads scripts and transform your advertising strategy.

What are Google Ads scripts?

Google Ads scripts are powerful tools that help advertisers improve their campaigns by:

• Automating complex workflows.
• Enabling data-driven optimizations.
• Unlocking advanced functionality through customizable JavaScript code. 

Introduced in 2012, these scripts were designed to simplify campaign management and offer a more efficient alternative to manual work.

When integrated with tools like Google Sheets, Google Analytics, and external APIs, Google Ads scripts become powerful allies, helping advertisers of all sizes stay agile and competitive.

Despite their potential, adoption remains limited. About 19% of advertisers don’t use any scripts and an additional 63% use between 1 and 5 scripts, according to 2024 data from PPCSurvey.com. 

Considering their efficiency and customization capabilities and that Google allows 250 scripts to be used in an account, this utilization level is surprisingly low.

Let’s explore their unique advantages and challenges to help you evaluate their fit for your automation needs.

Advantages of Google Ads scripts

• Time savings: Automate repetitive tasks, allowing more focus on strategy and growth.
• Customization: Write scripts tailored to specific business goals and campaign needs, offering flexibility that is not always available with other tools.
• Rapid iteration: Quickly test and deploy changes without waiting for developer support or platform updates.
• Scalability: Use MCC scripts to manage multiple campaigns or accounts efficiently.
• Budget monitoring: Implement precise controls to monitor and adjust budgets, reducing the risk of overspending.

Challenges and limitations

• Technical skills required: A working knowledge of JavaScript is necessary to write or modify scripts effectively.
• Execution time limits: Scripts are capped at a 30-minute execution window, requiring careful planning for complex tasks.
• Quota constraints: Scripts must operate within Google Ads API quotas, making efficient coding essential.
• Maintenance needs: Scripts require regular updates to ensure compatibility with changes in the Google Ads platform.
• Limited built-in support: Debugging and troubleshooting can be time-intensive, requiring the use of logs and error tracking.

Ads scripts vs. automated rules vs. API

Scripts aren’t the only solution for automating PPC tasks – automated rules and APIs also offer powerful ways to streamline your campaigns. 

Each option has its strengths, so it’s important to consider your goals, technical skills, and desired level of control.

Google Ads scripts

• Strengths: Highly customizable, supports integration with external tools and APIs, enables dynamic, real-time adjustments.
• Use cases: Complex optimizations (e.g., weather-based bidding), multi-account management, advanced reporting.
• Limitations: Requires JavaScript knowledge, subject to execution time and quota limits.

Automated rules

• Strengths: Easy to use, no coding required, suitable for basic automation like pausing ads or adjusting budgets.
• Use cases: Simple, predefined conditions (e.g., pausing low-performing ads).
• Limitations: Limited flexibility and scope; cannot integrate with external data or APIs.

Google Ads API

• Strengths: Offers full control and scalability, suitable for enterprise-level needs, supports bulk operations.
• Use cases: Large-scale account management, integrating Google Ads data into custom dashboards.
• Limitations: Requires significant technical expertise and infrastructure; more complex to implement compared to scripts.

Dig deeper: 7 Google Ads features to streamline your workflow

Practical use cases of Google Ads scripts

Google Ads scripts excel in delivering automation and optimization across various campaign scenarios. Here are some of the most impactful use cases.

Performance-based bid adjustments

Automatically adjust Target CPA bids to prioritize high-converting traffic. 

For example, increase Target CPA thresholds by 10% during peak hours for campaigns generating high conversion volumes.

Weather-triggered campaigns 

Adjust bids dynamically based on weather data retrieved via an API. For example, raise bids for rain gear in cities where rain is in the forecast.

Seasonal campaign activation

Activate or pause campaigns at specific times, ideal for holiday promotions. For example, automatically launch Black Friday ads at midnight.

Ad variant testing 

Pause underperforming ad creatives after a testing period. For example, pause ads with conversion rates below 1% after two weeks.

Daily budget oversight

Pause campaigns that exceed daily spend limits to prevent overspending.

Automated reporting

Generate customized reports and deliver them via email on a schedule (e.g., daily, weekly). 

For example, email a performance summary every morning, detailing impressions, CTR, and conversions.

Multi-account management

Use manager account (MCC) scripts to simultaneously adjust bids, budgets, or other settings across multiple accounts. 

For example, adjust bids for all accounts during specific peak hours.

Data integration with external sources

Enhance campaigns by integrating data from Google Sheets, Google Analytics, or external APIs. 

For example, dynamically adjust campaigns based on competitor pricing or inventory levels.

These examples demonstrate the versatility of Google Ads scripts in addressing common challenges while driving efficiency and precision in campaign management.

How Google Ads scripts work

Setup and execution

Scripts are managed within the Google Ads interface under Tools & Settings > Scripts. 

Advertisers can write, test, and schedule scripts directly from this dashboard.

• Write the script using the Google Ads Script editor or copy-and-paste a script you found on a trustworthy site.
• Preview changes before live deployment to avoid making unexpected changes to your account.
• Save the script for manual use when needed or schedule it to run at desired intervals. Scripts can be run as often as once per hour.

When previewing a script to confirm it works as intended, pay close attention to two important sections: 

The logs show details about all the steps a script goes through but it may be blank unless the script uses the Logger.log() function to write output to this section. 

Changes will show if any parts of your account would change if the script were run in normal mode (not preview mode).

Scripts in action: Real-world examples from Search Engine Land

Over the years, various Google Ads scripts have been developed and shared to address specific challenges faced by advertisers. 

Here are some practical examples, each accompanied by links to the detailed articles on Search Engine Land:

Example script: Pausing low-quality keywords

Here’s a simple script to pause keywords with a Quality Score below 3:

function main() {  

  var keywords = AdsApp.keywords()

    .withCondition("QualityScore < 3")

    .get();  

  while (keywords.hasNext()) {  

    var keyword = keywords.next();  

    keyword.pause();  

    Logger.log("Paused keyword: " + keyword.getText());  

  }  

}

How to use the script

• Copy the script into the Google Ads Script editor.
• Preview it to ensure it identifies the right keywords.
• Schedule it to run daily or weekly for ongoing optimization.

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Best practices for using Google Ads scripts

Start simple

• If you’re new to scripting, begin with pre-written templates or basic examples available in resources like Google Ads’ official documentation or Optmyzr (disclosure: I co-founded the company). This will help you build familiarity and confidence.

Write modular and maintainable code

• Create reusable, maintainable functions to keep scripts organized and scalable. A modular structure simplifies debugging and future updates.

Test before deployment

• Always preview and test scripts in a sandbox environment to identify bugs and avoid unintended consequences, such as pausing active campaigns or exceeding budgets.

Incorporate error handling

• Use try-catch blocks to prevent scripts from crashing entirely when encountering issues. Log errors to facilitate efficient debugging and ensure consistent execution.

Optimize API usage

• Minimize unnecessary API calls by batching requests and retrieving only the data you need. This helps avoid exceeding API quotas and slowing script execution.

Avoid over-reliance on automation

• While scripts are powerful tools for repetitive and data-driven tasks, they should complement, not replace, strategic oversight. 
• Reserve tasks requiring subjective judgment for human input to maintain campaign effectiveness.

Security and compliance considerations

When using Google Ads scripts, it’s essential to prioritize security and compliance to protect data integrity and avoid disruptions.

Access control

• Limiting script deployment and editing permissions to admin-level users helps prevent unauthorized changes and potential data exposure.

Data privacy

• Compliance with GDPR and other relevant regulations protects user data and minimizes legal risks.

API security

• Secure authentication methods, such as OAuth, are critical when integrating with external APIs to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

Error logging and monitoring

• Maintaining an audit trail through error logging helps quickly identify and resolve issues.
• Poorly tested scripts can disrupt campaigns or lead to budget overruns, highlighting the importance of continuous monitoring.

Regular reviews and dependency management

• Regularly reviewing scripts ensures they remain relevant and secure.
• Additionally, being prepared for external API or data source failures helps mitigate disruptions.

Implementing these practices effectively reduces risks and ensures a secure, compliant Google Ads environment.

Advanced debugging techniques

Troubleshooting Google Ads scripts requires a systematic approach to identify and resolve issues effectively.

Some debugging tools include:

• Logger: Use Logger.log() to output variable values and flow checkpoints during script execution.
• Preview mode: Run scripts in preview mode to inspect changes without applying them.
• Error logs: Enable detailed error logging to capture stack traces and identify code issues.

When debugging, make sure to:

• Identify the problem: Analyze script behavior and logs to isolate the issue.
• Check preconditions: Verify input data and conditions used in the script.
• Conduct iterative testing: Modify and test scripts in small increments to pinpoint errors.
• Seek help: Leverage community forums like Stack Overflow for advice on specific issues.

Mastering Google Ads scripts requires the right combination of tools, community support, and educational resources. 

Whether you’re troubleshooting, learning the basics, or seeking advanced solutions, the following platforms and resources will empower you to take full advantage of scripts.

Official documentation and learning resources

• Google Ads scripts documentation: Learn the fundamentals, explore official examples, and access detailed guides for various use cases.
• Google Ads Help Center: Provides tutorials and FAQs for setting up and using scripts effectively.

Online communities

• Stack Overflow: A go-to platform for developers to troubleshoot issues, share code snippets, and collaborate on advanced scripting challenges.
• Reddit (r/PPC): Engage with PPC professionals discussing strategies, scripts, and campaign optimization.

Pre-built scripts and tools

• Optmyzr: Offers a library of pre-built scripts, templates for automation, and enhanced reporting capabilities. It’s an excellent resource for advertisers managing multiple accounts.
• GitHub repositories: Explore open-source Google Ads Script libraries shared by the developer community. Many repositories include unique solutions for dynamic campaign adjustments, bid optimizations, and reporting.

Paid educational resources and services

• Online courses: Platforms like Udemy and Coursera offer courses on JavaScript and Google Ads scripts for all skill levels.
• Consulting services: Professional consulting firms provide custom script development, implementation, and optimization services tailored to your business goals.

Where to find ready-to-use scripts

If you’re new to Google Ads scripts or want to save time, leveraging pre-built scripts from reputable sources can be invaluable. 

Here are some of the best places to find ready-to-use scripts:

Google Ads scripts documentation

Nils Rooijmans’ free Google Ads scripts library

KlientBoost’s Google Ads scripts compilation

• KlientBoost shares their top 14 favorite Google Ads scripts designed to enhance efficiency and campaign performance. 
• This resource is particularly useful for marketers looking to implement impactful changes quickly.

These resources provide an excellent foundation for integrating pre-built scripts into your campaigns. 

They allow you to automate tasks without starting from scratch and give insight into how scripts can solve common challenges in Google Ads management.

Writing Google Ads scripts with GPT

GPT has revolutionized how marketers create Google Ads scripts, making the process faster, easier, and more accessible. 

By streamlining script creation, GPT allows marketers to focus on optimizing performance rather than getting bogged down in technical details.

These practical tips will help you optimize GPT’s output and troubleshoot effectively.

Describe your goals clearly

• Be specific about what the script should accomplish.
• Include key metrics (e.g., CTR, conversion rate) and any integrations (e.g., Google Sheets, external APIs).
• Example input: “Write a script to pause keywords with a Quality Score below 3 and log them in a Google Sheet.”

Start small and scale

• Begin with a basic script generated by GPT and test it.
• Once you’re confident it works, expand its functionality to handle more complex tasks.

Leverage visual inputs

• If you have a workflow diagram or a logic flowchart, upload it to GPT-supported platforms. GPT can interpret these visuals and convert them into working code.
• Example: Include a sketched flow showing how ads with low CTR should be paused.

Test iteratively

• Use Preview Mode in Google Ads to test scripts before deployment.
• Share logs or output with GPT to refine code and fix errors.

Collaborate on refinements

• If the script doesn’t work as expected, share the error logs with GPT for troubleshooting.
• Example: “Here’s the error I encountered while running the script. Suggest fixes to resolve it.”

What’s next for scripts?

As Google Ads scripts continue to evolve, the possibilities for automation and optimization are boundless. Here’s what the future may hold:

Enhanced flexibility and integration

• Google Ads scripts offer enhanced flexibility through more robust integrations with external APIs and data sources, enabling support for increasingly complex use cases. 
• These improvements also include expanded capabilities for multi-account management and data visualization, which provide users with greater control and deeper insights into their campaigns.

User-driven innovation

• Early on, the Google team behind Ads Scripts thought the toolset was complete. However, feedback from the advertiser community has driven continuous improvements. 
• For instance, during a casual meeting at the Sports Page, a local pub in Mountain View, I shared some use cases the scripts couldn’t handle. 
• The Google team genuinely appreciated and noted the importance of advertisers highlighting real-world needs. They’re not advertisers themselves, and community input remains vital for future updates.

AI-assisted scripting

• AI-assisted scripting is becoming increasingly powerful, with greater integration of AI tools to help advertisers write, debug, and optimize scripts more efficiently. 
• Enhanced multi-modality capabilities now allow input in various formats, such as images and flowcharts, making script generation more accessible and adaptable to diverse workflows.

Focus areas for growth

• Improved error handling and debugging tools could make scripts easier to manage and troubleshoot. 
• Additionally, better educational resources could be developed to support non-technical users, lowering the learning curve. 
• Expanded quotas and execution limits are also on the horizon, enabling the handling of more complex scripts with greater efficiency.

The collaboration between Google’s development team and the advertiser community will continue to shape the future of Google Ads scripts, unlocking even more campaign management and optimization opportunities.

Transforming the way you manage Google Ads

Google Ads scripts have evolved from a niche tool to an essential resource for marketers aiming to scale their efforts without sacrificing precision. 

They enable advertisers to automate repetitive tasks, respond to data in real time, and implement strategies that would be impossible to execute manually.

The beauty of Google Ads scripts isn’t just in their complexity or capability – it’s in their accessibility.

Whether you’re customizing your scripts with GPT, using pre-built templates, or integrating external APIs, the possibilities are only limited by your creativity and ambition.

By embracing this automation powerhouse, you’re not just managing your campaigns – you’re redefining them for the better.

Amazon, the third-largest digital advertising platform behind Alphabet and Meta, is extending its ad technology to other retailers – a move that could significantly reshape the retail media landscape.

Amazon’s new Retail Ad Service allows U.S. retailers to implement Amazon’s sophisticated ad targeting and measurement tools on their own websites, marking another instance of Amazon commercializing its internal technology, similar to AWS and Buy with Prime.

Details: The service enables retailers to:

• Display contextually relevant ads in search results and product pages.
• Customize ad design, placement, and frequency.
• Access Amazon’s ad measurement and reporting tools.
• Manage data through separate AWS accounts.

Early adopters include:

• iHerb (health and wellness)
• Weee! (Asian grocery)
• Oriental Trading Co. (toys and party supplies)

Why we care. Amazon’s Retail Ad Service extends the company’s advanced ad targeting, measurement, and reporting tools beyond its platform to other retailers. This creates new opportunities to reach highly relevant audiences in diverse retail environments while benefiting from Amazon’s proven ad technology.

Additionally, the service’s early adoption by notable retailers signals its potential to reshape the retail media landscape, offering you a broader reach and precision without direct reliance on Amazon’s marketplace.

Between the lines. While this move gives retailers access to Amazon’s proven ad technology, it also provides Amazon with valuable data to enhance its ad prediction and recommendation capabilities across a broader retail ecosystem.

Bottom line. By extending its advertising expertise to other retailers, Amazon is positioning itself to capture an even larger digital advertising market share while helping other retailers boost ad revenues.

YouTube published two Culture and Trends reports in 2024 instead of just one. That was the first indication that we’re probably not paying enough attention to trends. 

The first report, published midway through the year, found: 

“Fans are no longer just consuming content, they’re actively creating it, meaning they’re more essential to driving the success of an individual or property than ever before.”

The second report, published at the end of 2024, found: 

“The franchises that shape pop culture today are increasingly ones that are born online or become accessible in digital spaces through creator activity.”

So, what does that mean to digital marketers?

We’re well-versed in the traditional types of marketing: 

• Business-to-consumer (B2C).
• Business-to-business (B2B). 

However, it’s clear we need to expand our understanding to include newer models like:

• Business-to-creator-to-consumer (B2C2C).
• Business-to-creator-to-business (B2C2B). 

That’s why it’s a good idea to read YouTube’s latest Global Culture & Trends report. 

It can help you identify the seven significant shifts reshaping pop culture in the U.S. and worldwide.

And these shifts are also reshaping digital marketing as we know it.

1. YouTube Nation is 78% larger than the world’s largest country

YouTube has about 2.5 billion monthly active users (MAU) worldwide. 

YouTube is the second-most visited website in the world – behind Google, but ahead of Facebook (third), Instagram (fifth), and TikTok (20th). 

If YouTube were a nation, then it would rank far ahead of the world’s largest countries. According to recent data:

• India is the most populated country in the world with a population of approximately 1.4 billion people.
• Followed by China with a population of slightly less than 1.4 billion people.
• The U.S. ranks third with around 340 million people.

And as I observed in “YouTube SEO fundamentals: What you need to know:” 

• “YouTube has been the most widely used online platform in the U.S. for at least seven years, with 85% of adults saying they use the platform. By comparison, 70% use Facebook, 50% use Instagram, and 33% use TikTok.”

So, why do so many digital marketers treat YouTube like the red-headed stepchild in social media’s extended family?

Don’t they know that YouTubers need at least 100,000 subscribers to qualify for the Karat Black Card, a credit card for social media influencers, while Instagrammers need 125,000 followers, and TikTokers need 2.5 million followers?

Why? 

Because YouTube subscribers are considered 25% more valuable than Instagram followers and 25 times more valuable than TikTok followers.

One YouTuber who understands the value of YouTube subscribers is James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson, better known by his online alias MrBeast. 

His YouTube channel has 338 million subscribers. 

In 2024, his 68 YouTube videos received 13.3 billion views and 508 million engagements. 

CNBC estimates MrBeast brings in between $600 million and $700 million a year.

Per YouTube’s Global Culture & Trends report, based on in-country subscribers gained throughout the year, MrBeast ended 2024 as: 

• The top creator in Canada, India, Indonesia, and the U.S.
• Second in France, Germany, and the U.K.
• Fourth in Japan.
• Fifth in South Korea.
• Ninth in Mexico.

MrBeast’s YouTube content is known for its high production value, fast pace, and elaborate challenges and giveaways. 

For example, his most popular video of the past year, “The World’s Fastest Cleaners,” uploaded on April 25, got 583 million views and 24.1 million engagements, according to Tubular Intelligence.

Dig deeper: How the YouTube algorithm works: What marketers need to know

2. The emergence of indie animators is reshaping pop culture

Driven by passionate fan support, independent animators are turning their social video hits into full-fledged franchises, demonstrating the power of online communities to reshape pop culture.

A prime example is “Amazing Digital Circus” from the GLITCH channel. 

The independent animation studio based in Sydney, Australia, uploaded “The Amazing Digital Circus: Pilot” on Oct. 13, 2023. 

They aimed “to create animated shows no one has ever seen before.” 

And their first episode got 364 million views and 6.6 million engagements.

GLITCH’s second episode, “The Amazing Digital Circus – Ep 2: Candy Carrier Chaos!,” premiered May 3. It had 140 million views and 4.2 million engagements.

That same month, a SmithGeiger study revealed that 22% of U.S. 14-24-year-olds were aware of the show, even though only two episodes of creator Gooseworx’s animated series had been released. 

Notably, Netflix is licensing episodes for simultaneous release with their YouTube premiere, highlighting the show’s significant impact.

By the end of 2024, eight “fun, colorful animated shows with occasional violence and existential breakdowns” generated 671 million views and 17.9 million engagements over the last 15 months, according to Tubular Intelligence. 

The GLITCH channel has 12.9 million subscribers. 

This rapid success can be attributed to the active fan community, which filled the gaps between episodes by creating fan-made animations, explanatory videos, and music videos. 

This extended the franchise’s reach far beyond the series itself, with 5,175 fans creating 32,900 videos on the topic of “The Amazing Digital Circus,” which have garnered 19.2 billion views and 678 million engagements over the last 15 months, according to Tubular Intelligence.

The Amazing Digital Circus was on the Trending Topics lists in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, the U.K., and the U.S, per YouTube’s Culture & Trends report.

Trending Topics highlight popular cultural moments, spanning films, memes, music, and other areas.

These trends are identified by YouTube’s Culture & Trends team, who analyze data like video views, uploads, and creator engagement.

3. Creators are expanding the cultural omnipresence of individual video games

Video game creators are increasingly pivotal in elevating games to mainstream success. 

For example, Dress to Impress, a fashion-focused game on Roblox, quickly became a global sensation. 

Dress to Impress burst onto the online gaming scene in November 2023. 

Its core concept is straightforward. 

At the start of each round, players are presented with a theme and granted a mere five minutes to meticulously craft an outfit that perfectly embodies that theme. 

Once the allotted time expires, players gracefully display their creations on the virtual catwalk, where fellow players evaluate and rank each outfit on a scale of one to five stars. 

As players consistently triumph in these catwalk competitions, they attain the coveted title of “top model.”

Despite its relatively recent release, Dress to Impress surged in popularity, dominating trending topics in three countries (Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.). 

This rapid rise surpassed the typical trajectory of most video game releases, transforming a fashion game into a viral sensation. 

Since Nov. 11, 2023, 7,907 creators have uploaded 48,300 videos to YouTube in the gaming category with “Dress to Impress” in the title. 

These videos have tallied 4.3 billion views and 191 million engagements, according to Tubular Intelligence. 

For example, “Game Theory: You’re Missing The Point Of Dress To Impress *it’s scary*” by The Game Theorists, uploaded Aug. 17, got 3.3 million views and 160,000 engagements. 

The video’s description says:

“Dress to Impress is a game that on the surface appears like a bright, fun Roblox game about fashion. However, underneath the surface hides a terrible, dark secret about Lana, the nail lady in the salon. With hidden rooms, secret codes, and best of all… LORE, it’s no wonder you all have been requesting it for so long!”

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4. Non-digital-native franchises can thrive in a digital culture

YouTube’s Culture & Trends report highlighted that “legacy franchises” like “Olympic Games Paris 2024,” which appeared on trending topic lists in 10 out of 12 countries, and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which showed up in 5 out of 12, clearly demonstrate that traditional franchises can succeed in a digital culture.

Now, I trust YouTube’s data. But I used Tubular Intelligence to verify it.

For example, 555,000 accounts on YouTube have at least 100,000 subscribers. 

In 2024, they uploaded 198 million videos, which got 22.1 trillion views and 674 billion engagements, according to Tubular Intelligence.

Of this total: 

• 11,500 brands uploaded 3 million videos, which got 399 billion views and 6.2 billion engagements.
• 13,500 media and entertainment organizations uploaded 27.9 million videos with 1.3 trillion views and 25.8 billion engagements.
• 525,000 influencers uploaded 158 million videos, with 19.9 trillion views and 629 billion engagements.

So, 25,000 legacy franchises are thriving on YouTube, but 525,000 creator-driven media franchises can also thrive on the platform.

How can digital marketers harness this trend? You have three options.

Create engaging content 

Just look at “Mastering the currents. @clem_secchi” from the Olympics channel, which got 256 million views and 5.0 million engagements. 

Use Google Ads for video to promote online video advertising

For instance, “Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games | OMEGA” got 75.6 million views and 34,900 engagements.

Dig deeper: What YouTube learned by analyzing over 8,000 top ads

Use YouTube BrandConnect to collaborate with creators on influencer marketing campaigns 

 “Can I Get on the Jumbotron at the Paris Olympics? #Paris2024,” which got 5.2 million views and 168,000 engagements, is sponsored video content. 

It was created by Jenny Hoyos and sponsored by the Olympics channel and YouTube.

5. India is YouTube’s largest market, followed by the U.S.

India has the largest YouTube audience in the world, with 462 million users. 

The U.S. ranks second with 239 million users.

How does this shift the social video landscape?

In 2024, creators and their fans forged stronger bonds through innovative engagement features and shared passions. 

Fan communities – in India and over 100 other countries around the world, across 80 languages – played a crucial role in shaping creators’ success and content direction. 

This is exemplified by the launch of UR Cristiano, the official YouTube channel of Cristiano Ronaldo, on Aug. 21, 2024. 

The new channel garnered over 19 million subscribers within the first day, primarily fueled by his Indian fan base. 

Today, UR Cristiano has 72.6 million subscribers, and its 88 videos have a total of 762 million views and 86.5 million engagements, according to Tubular Intelligence. 

Ronaldo’s YouTube strategy involves short and long-form content that appeals to fans beyond his football career. 

This approach led to widespread popularity and a large following. 

Since uploading his first video in August, the forward for and captain of the Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr and the Portugal national team connected with viewers using popular YouTube formats like “draw my life” and “try not to laugh.”

It’s worth noting that UR Cristiano ended 2024 as: 

• The top creator in Germany and the U.K.
• The second in Canada.
• Third in the U.S.
• Fifth in India.

Today, other YouTube stars from around the globe are eager to collaborate with him. 

UR Ronaldo’s most popular video, “I Meet MrBeast To Break The Internet!!,” which was uploaded on Nov. 21, had 55.3 million views and 5.1 million engagements.

6. Top songs are not only listened to but also remixed

YouTube’s latest report contains lists of the top songs based on in-country views of songs that debuted in 2024 or saw significant year-over-year growth. 

These lists include official music videos, lyric videos, and art track videos.

The report also contains lists of top songs on Shorts, which are based on in-country Shorts creations for songs that debuted in 2024 or saw significant year-over-year creation growth.

For example, the Marathi song “Gulabi Sadi” became a global sensation, featuring in over 3 million Shorts worldwide. 

It’s not just a viral dance trend; it’s also a beloved staple at Indian weddings, with notable performances like the one by Sanju Rathod at the Ambani wedding.

To see this for yourself, watch “#GulabiSadi ( गुलाबी साडी ) | Official #video | Sanju Rathod | G-Spark | Prajakta | #marathi Song,” which got 339 million views and 2.7 million engagements.

And in the video’s description, you’ll see a carousel of 31 Shorts remixing this video. They have a total of more than 1.4 million views. 

The most popular one is “Thanks for 130m Views #football #unluckyboy #soccer #trending #shorts” by Unlucky Boy, which got 134 million views and 3.5 million engagements.

Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby” appears on both the Top Songs and the Top Shorts Songs lists in the U.S.

The previously unknown artist uploaded four versions (Official Visualizer, Official Lyric Video, Official Music Video, and VHS) between April 26 and July 5, 2024, which got 164 million views and 2.1 million engagements.

And 31 Shorts by other creators remixed Richan’s videos and got 938 million views. 

The most popular one is “My neighbors were so confused watching us” by Samuel Grubbs, which got 111 million views and 3.2 million engagements.

7. Middle East and North Africa is a region, not a country

YouTube’s latest report says it “reveals lists of the year’s trending topics, top creators, and top songs across 12 countries.” 

However, one set of these lists is for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which is a region, not a country.

Here are the top 20 countries by the estimated number of YouTube users, per Backlinko:

• India – 462 million.
• United States – 239 million.
• Brazil – 144 million.
• Indonesia – 139 million.
• Mexico – 83.1 million.
• Japan – 78.6 million.
• Pakistan – 71.7 million.
• Germany – 67.8 million.
• Vietnam – 63 million.
• Philippines – 58.1 million.
• Türkiye – 57.5 million.
• United Kingdom – 56.2 million.
• France – 50.7 million.
• Egypt – 44.7 million.
• South Korea – 44.3 million.
• Thailand – 44.2 million.
• Italy – 42.8 million.
• Spain – 39.7 million.
• Bangladesh – 33.6 million.
• Canada – 31.9 million.

The report features 11 of the top 20 countries (highlighted above in bold). 

The nine other top 20 countries are in two different regions: Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC). 

So, why did YouTube focus on MENA? Who knows, but you should interpret this as a trend and shift in your global strategy to harness it.

You can start by paying closer attention to the “sweetest story in the region.” 

The Dubai-based Fix Knafeh Pistachio Chocolate Bar is a unique dessert featuring crispy shredded phyllo pastry layered with pistachio cream and generously coated in milk chocolate. 

In 2024, it became a cultural phenomenon both locally and globally. 

More than 5,663 accounts created over 8,891 videos with “Dubai chocolate” in the title in 2024, per Tubular Intelligence. 

These videos got a total of 1.3 billion views and 47.0 million engagements.

To see an example, watch “Dubai chocolate #asmr #asmrsounds” by Aliain, which got 66.1 million views and 2.8 million engagements.

The rise of creator-driven marketing: Insights from YouTube’s latest reports

How will these seven significant shifts impact digital marketers?

We may know everything about B2C and B2B marketing, but we’re just beginning to learn about B2C2C and B2C2B marketing.

YouTube creators are doing more than making videos worth watching and reaching global audiences. They’re hiring teams and building businesses on the platform. 

According to YouTube’s 2022 Impact Report by Oxford Economics: 

“90% of creators who earn money from YouTube agree that they want to use the influence they discovered on YouTube to make a positive impact on society.”

So, how do we convince YouTube creators who are on that mission to join our band?

As Guy Kawasaki says in Enchantment: 

“The goal is not merely to get what you want but to bring about a voluntary, enduring, and delightful change in other people. By enlisting their own goals and desires, by being likeable and trustworthy, and by framing a cause that others can embrace, you can change hearts, minds, and actions.”

Dig deeper: Is your YouTube Channel a brand video graveyard? How to revive it

Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) face unique challenges when it comes to PPC advertising. 

Unlike big brands with massive budgets, SMBs need strategies that make every dollar count. 

Here’s how to optimize Google Ads campaigns to deliver real results for small businesses.

Why SMBs need a different approach to paid search success

SMBs are the backbone of the economy and a core part of Google’s advertising ecosystem. 

Yet, when it comes to Google Ads, most attention is focused on the biggest advertisers. 

While companies spending $300,000 or more monthly dominate the conversation, SMBs – local plumbers, small clothing startups, family-owned auto shops, and Shopify artisans – need strategies that make every dollar count.

Unfortunately, they often receive advice from paid search veterans who built their expertise managing massive accounts or from Google teams focused on big brand needs. 

What works for a national retailer like PetSmart rarely applies to local businesses like Matt’s Pet Supplies.

Worse, SMBs are often managed by junior PPC specialists juggling numerous accounts due to the lower fees small businesses can afford. 

This lack of tailored guidance and limited time per client makes it even harder for SMBs to compete effectively in paid search.

Dig deeper: How to make PPC work for SMBs

Effective strategies that work for SMBs

To maximize the value of every dollar invested in Google Ads, SMBs require a distinct set of best practices tailored to their unique challenges. 

Unlike larger, high-volume accounts often featured in case studies, SMB accounts with fewer clicks and conversions demand a more customized approach.

Here’s a breakdown of common recommendations versus proven strategies that work best for small businesses in both lead generation and ecommerce.

Lead generation for SMBs

Most lead generation advice designed for large accounts goes like this:

• Build a branded search campaign and set it to tCPA.
• Build several generic search campaigns with themed ad groups using broad match segmented by offering and/or service locations, and set them to tCPA.
• Add a Performance Max campaign with assets.
• Implement offline conversion tracking (OCT). 

This structure casts a wide net across queries and ad formats and relies on Google’s machine learning-based bid algorithms to narrow the targeting down over time.

The problem for SMBs is they have neither the time nor the ad budget to burn through a broad match campaign that may return results – even if they install showers. 

Small businesses typically don’t have the capital to teach broad match what is and isn’t relevant.

It’s the same with Performance Max.

Below are some realistic lead gen recommendations for SMBs.

Build a branded search campaign on manual bidding

Build a branded search campaign on manual bidding.

I’ve often seen searches like “brand name + phone number” charged at 10 times the normal rate. 

Why? 

Google’s algorithms bid up these searches due to their high likelihood of conversion to meet CPA targets. However, this spend is wasted as it isn’t incremental. 

Worse, it can result in inflated costs when someone calls to cancel a service, as Google continues to bid up these terms.

Build a generic search campaign with a few key SKAGs focusing on exact match, set it to tCPA with a CPC cap

Create one generic search campaign with a few key SKAGs focusing on exact match keywords. 

Avoid broad match to keep search terms, landing pages, and ads maximally relevant. 

While this approach reduces volume, it results in higher quality scores, making ad dollars stretch further. 

Set the campaign to tCPA bidding with a CPC cap to prevent overspending on irrelevant traffic (and to avoid situations like the one below).

Build a DSA targeting all webpages and set a very conservative tCPA cap

This setup ensures the DSA only picks up highly efficient volume that might otherwise be missed by a generic search campaign.

Note: Performance Max and OCT are excellent ad products for larger accounts with high conversion volumes. 

However, SMBs without at least 30 conversions at the campaign level often don’t perform as well as traditional campaigns using form fills and phone calls. 

I encourage testing these tools. If they work, great!

However, in most cases, a more human-centered approach will stretch small budgets further.

Dig deeper: Paid search for lead gen: Tips for new accounts with limited budgets

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Ecommerce for SMBs

Typical ecommerce advice for large-scale accounts often includes:

• Building a branded campaign set to tROAS.
• Creating multiple PMax campaigns segmented by top performers and the rest of the catalog.
• Relying on Google’s AI to manage and optimize performance.

While this advice may work for larger accounts with diverse product types, profit margins, and higher budgets, it falls short for SMBs. 

Performance Max’s bid algorithm must learn across the entire product catalog and all Google ad inventory, which is challenging for smaller businesses with limited budgets. 

Instead of functioning primarily as a shopping campaign, PMax often ends up filling budget gaps, reducing its efficiency for SMBs.

So, what do I recommend?

My advice aligns with the approach I suggested for lead generation: focus on the core of your product offering and avoid over-relying on automation.

Build a branded search campaign on manual bidding

Use manual bidding or a CPC cap for branded campaigns. 

Without this control, Google may overbid on terms like “brand name + coupon,” driving costs unnecessarily high.

Even though five dollars might not seem like a lot, when it amounts to 10 times the campaign’s average. 

Small adjustments like using a CPC cap help control costs without sacrificing volume.

Build one generic search campaign with a few SKAGs focusing on exact match, set it to a conservative tROAS with a CPC cap

Like lead gen, this setup reduces irrelevant, high-CPC broad match traffic, often arising from automated systems lacking sufficient signal volume.

In the example above, the ecommerce firm doesn’t sell rain-related or similar products.

Build one feed-only PMax campaign targeting the entire catalog or standard shopping with tROAS and a dynamic remarketing campaign 

Focus on shopping investment through either feed-only PMax or standard shopping combined with tROAS and a remarketing campaign.

If tROAS targets are the same, use a single campaign to aggregate data, which will allow the algorithm to learn more effectively. 

Avoid spending time trying to “learn” how to leverage PMax’s expanded inventory, as shopping is the core driver of its performance – unless it’s absorbing all your branded search volume. 

Shopping delivers high ROI since clicks are prequalified by both the product image and price.

For example, in a search like “best running shoes,” you are likely to click only on listings whose style and price match your preferences.

Dig deeper: Lead gen vs. ecommerce: How to tailor your PPC strategies for success

Human touch excels for SMBs

To maximize PPC investment, SMBs are often more successful when prioritizing a human touch. 

Limited data volume can restrict the benefits of machine learning, and small budgets can’t absorb costly mistakes an algorithm might make without context.

If your ad spend is $3,000 per month, avoid managing them like those with $300,000 monthly budgets.

Focus on what works, even if it means deviating from widely accepted industry best practices.

The 2024 holiday shopping season marked a pivotal shift in consumer behavior, with paid search leading the way for retail sales, according to Adobe. Smartphones became the dominant platform for online purchases while generative AI emerged as a significant shopping assistant.

Channel wins. Paid search led holiday retail sales with 29.7% revenue share (up 1% YoY), while affiliates and partners, including influencers, saw stronger growth at 17.6% (up 6% YoY), significantly outperforming social media traffic.

Influencers proved highly effective, converting shoppers 9x more than social media overall, with 37% of Gen Z making purchases based on their recommendations

By the numbers:

• Total online spending: $241.4 billion (up 8.7% YoY)
• Paid search revenue at 29.7% (up 1% YoY)
• Mobile shopping share: 54.5% of transactions (up from 51.1% in 2023)
• Buy Now Pay Later spending: $18.2 billion (up 9.6% YoY)
• AI chatbot retail site traffic: Up 1,300% YoY

The big picture. Three categories drove more than half of all online spending:

• Electronics: $55.3 billion (up 8.8%)
• Apparel: $45.6 billion (up 9.9%)
• Furniture/home goods: $29.2 billion (up 6.8%)

Why we care. The stats show that paid search advertising was once again effective during the 2024 holiday shopping season, confirming it is still worth being present in the competitive space. The rise of mobile shopping, now accounting for 54.5% of transactions, and the increasing reliance on generative AI chatbots emphasize the need for mobile-first strategies and innovative shopping experiences.

Between the lines. Strong discounts influenced consumer behavior in unexpected ways. For every 1% price decrease, demand increased by 1.029%, driving an additional $2.25 billion in online spending. This price sensitivity led consumers to “trade up” to higher-ticket items, with the share of premium products sold increasing by 21% overall.

What’s new. Generative AI emerged as a significant shopping assistant, with Cyber Monday seeing a 1,950% increase in chatbot usage. About 70% of consumers who used AI reported enhanced shopping experiences.

Mobile momentum. Smartphones dominated holiday shopping, with peaks reaching 65% of all online sales on Christmas Day. This shift was particularly pronounced in Buy Now Pay Later transactions, where 79.1% occurred on mobile devices.

Bottom line. The 2024 holiday season demonstrates a fundamental transformation in ecommerce, with mobile shopping, AI assistance, and flexible payment options becoming the new normal for digital retail.

In a landmark move, Getty Images announced its plans to acquire Shutterstock (disclosure: I previously worked as product SEO for the company), uniting two titans of the stock photography and creative assets industry. 

In SEO, this merger also sets the stage for new dynamics in content creation, monetization, and the increasingly complex world of licensable media. 

Licensable image and video content is a unique market where SEO plays a crucial role in connecting users with creative assets. 

Just a few years ago, organic space for licensable images was dominated by giants like Unsplash and Shutterstock, with many small competitors lagging far behind. 

However, the dynamic shifted with Google’s Site Diversity update in 2019. 

Emerging players saw explosive growth, making the organic space far more crowded and competitive. 

In the meantime, more established companies pursued business acquisitions to neutralize or absorb competition. 

Fast-forward to today and a small handful of players dominate the organic market through diverse portfolios of stock photos, videos, and creative assets websites, relying on a mix of SEO strategies to grow and mitigate risk.

To understand this space, let’s explore the key players and their strategies to maintain dominance in organic search.

Getty Images

Getty has built its empire on diversification and premium content. 

Through iStock, its mid-tier site, Getty offers a more affordable option for stock imagery, while Unsplash provides free-to-use images for a broader audience. 

Getty Images itself targets high-end, exclusive content for corporate clients and media outlets, with a strong emphasis on regional exposure through several local brands and dedicated country TLD websites.

Shutterstock

Shutterstock’s strategy has been marked by an aggressive acquisition spree. Recent additions include:

• Pond5 (video and audio). 
• Envato (templates, design assets).
• TurboSquid (3D models).
• Picmonkey.
• Giphy. 

Despite the SEO opportunities of its extensive portfolio, Shutterstock has not fully capitalized on these acquisitions to the extent it could. 

With Getty at the helm, there is an opportunity to consolidate and optimize these assets to extend joint organic growth potential.

Other notable players

Additional competitors in the space include:

• Freepik: Specializes in free and premium vectors, illustrations, and templates, primarily targeting designers; owns several local brands, especially in Latin America and Europe. Leans heavily into AI-generated content for SEO.
• Pexels and Pixabay (owned by Canva): Provide free-to-use stock photography and videos, appealing to casual users and professionals alike.
• Adobe Stock: Integrated with Adobe’s suite of design tools, catering to professional creators.
• Alamy, Dreamstime, DepositPhotos, 123RF: Smaller, more niche platforms offering royalty-free stock content.

Dig deeper: Visual content and SEO: How to use images and videos

While these players dominate the licensable media space, their success relies heavily on effective SEO strategies that cater to a wide range of user intents.

1. Free content

Platforms like Unsplash, Pexels, Freepik, Pixabay, and several others rely on offering free content and/or some form of freemium models, which help build an impressive backlink ecosystem through free content sharing. 

At one point, nearly two-thirds of the more prominent players in the organic licensable images space offered at least some free, mid- to high-resolution images that could be easily downloaded without sign-up, registration, or licensing. 

2. Indexed search results

Companies like Shutterstock, Unsplash, Pixabay and many other marketplaces rely on indexing internal search pages. 

Platforms that index search results often focus on broad and long-tail keywords to capture traffic from various search terms determined by user demand. 

With adequate management and careful curation, this can be a winning strategy providing a competitive edge.

3. AI-generated content

Platforms like Freepik have increasingly turned to AI-generated content to expand their libraries and target high-volume search terms. 

By creating thousands of variations of popular images, such as “cute dog photos,” and aggressively indexing them, Freepik and similar platforms aim to capture traffic for general and long-tail queries. 

While this approach can generate significant SEO traffic, it also contributes to content saturation in Google Image Search, where users encounter repetitive, near-duplicate results from competing platforms.

4. Localization

Localization is crucial for international SEO growth, allowing platforms to dominate in specific regions.

Getty, Shutterstock, and Freepik all employ powerful localization strategies to compete more effectively in organic search.

By employing country-specific TLDs (e.g., gettyimages.co.uk), Getty ensures its content is tailored for local searchers, enhancing its SEO performance in individual countries.

Shutterstock boasts impressive regional and linguistic localization within the core shuttertock.com experience, while Freepik wins through several regional brands.

Dig deeper: How to create images and visuals with generative AI

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The SEO strategies, monetization models, and business practices of image marketplaces have created a problematic landscape for licensable image content. 

A significant portion of images indexed in Google – especially free images – are not exclusive to one platform but are available across dozens of competitor sites. 

This lack of exclusivity has diluted the value of individual libraries and intensified competition.

As overlapping content libraries made differentiation harder, platforms began prioritizing the visibility of indexable images. 

This led to the gradual erosion of watermarking practices, with watermarks becoming less prominent or disappearing altogether. 

While this may be a boon for users unconcerned with indemnity or licensing, it represents a serious challenge for platforms relying on content monetization.

It’s an even greater disadvantage for contributing photographers whose works are increasingly devalued.

To compensate, some platforms have supplemented revenue with on-page advertising and/or enabled the unrestricted indexation of search pages. 

This includes intentional indexing of pages that target the full spectrum of adult, explicit, or even illicit queries. 

For some major players, a substantial portion of organic traffic comes from these dubious “low commercial intent” queries that yield little to no direct conversions. 

This traffic is monetized through ads or presented to stakeholders as evidence of SEO-driven growth and framed as a leading indicator of business success.

This system of overlapping content, low-intent traffic, and questionable monetization models: 

• Undermines platform value.
• Erodes trust among users.
• Devalues the contributions of photographers and creators. 

As platforms prioritize short-term traffic gains, the broader ecosystem risks stagnation and diminished quality.

What the merger could mean for SEO

The combined entity of Getty and Shutterstock has immense untapped potential for organic search for licensable media. Here’s how it could reshape the space:

Streamlining content

The merger offers a chance to remove duplicate content from Getty and Shutterstock’s overlapping libraries.

This will improve Google Image Search quality and boost rankings through streamlined consolidation.

Bringing undiscovered content to light

Getty can fully leverage all acquisitions, such as Envato, Pond5, TurboSquid, and others, by integrating them into a unified multi-brand SEO strategy. 

While content duplication across stock media is massive, well over two-thirds of individual media assets never get seen by real users or earn any income for their creators. 

Onsite discoverability of assets is poor, and much of Google Image Search is littered with the same old stale imagery. 

Investing in onsite search and SEO for underrepresented brands could help:

• Bring visibility to vast libraries of undiscovered content.
• Expand into specialized markets outside licensable photos, video, and editorial.
• Improve the image search experience for the rest of us.

Streamlining libraries and highlighting fresh, underused content can greatly improve the Google Image Search experience, making discovery more meaningful and efficient for users.

Adapting to an uncertain future

The Getty-Shutterstock merger reflects a strategic response to an unpredictable digital landscape. 

With frequent Google algorithm updates, AI-generated content flooding the market, and ongoing advancements in AI, content platforms face significant challenges.

This merger offers a chance to adapt, allowing both companies to consolidate assets, refine strategies, and tackle the evolving market. 

If successful, they could dominate the licensable content space, reshape organic search, and set new standards for success.

Dig deeper: Advanced image SEO: A secret manual

Google rankings seem to correlate with brand mentions in ChatGPT’s AI-generated answers, according to a new study published by digital marketing agency Seer Interactive.

Why we care. Brands want to be discoverable in LLMs. Optimizing for LLMs (a.k.a., generative engine optimization) is a new frontier and is not exactly the same as optimizing for classic organic search. However, ultimately, answer engines or search engines want to give users answers. So it may be good news that if you’re creating high-quality, relevant content, your brand is more likely to be visible in both.

What they found. Google rankings seemed to matter, but backlinks and content variety did not, according to authors Christina Blake and Nick Haigler:

• “Brands ranking on page 1 of Google showed a strong correlation (~0.65) with LLM mentions. Bing rankings also mattered but less so (~0.5–0.6).
• We expected backlinks to play a big role, but their impact was weak or even neutral.
• Multi-modal content didn’t move the needle as much as we thought it would.”

About the study. 10,000 questions in finance and SaaS industries were run through OpenAI’s GPT4o API to determine which triggered brand mentions. As always, a reminder that correlation is not causation.

More to come. “Search rankings appear to play some role in influencing LLM mentions, but they’re not the whole story. PR, partnerships, and on-page strategies are areas we’ll be digging into next,” according to the authors.

Zoom out. This is not the only study to find correlation between ranking and visibility in AI-generated answers. 75% of Google AI Overview links come from top 12 organic rankings, according to a recent analysis by Botify and DemandSphere.

The study. What Drives Brand Mentions in AI Answers?

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Google is rolling out a new Search Labs experiment named the Daily Listen that provides you a 5 minute or less daily overview of the stories and topics you’re interested in. It is like an audio version of your Google Discover feed.

What is it. The Daily Listen gives you AI generated audio that sums up the topics Google thinks you are interested in based on your Google history. A Google spokesperson told us the Daily Listen is “a personalized AI-powered audio experience on the Google app on Android and iOS, where you can easily stay up to date on the topics you care about. If you’ve tried NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews, it’s kind of like getting a quick rundown of things to know, personalized for you!”

The Daily Listen is are 5-minute or less episodes that show up on your Google home page in the Google iOS or Android app. It gives you an overview of the stories and topics you’re interested in in an audio format and has links to related stories to click out and explore topics more deeply.

Rooted in Discover. “Daily Listen is rooted in Discover, so the topics you follow on Search and Discover in the Google app will help you get a more personalized experience,” Google told us.

Below the audio screen, there is a “related stories” section that shows you links to these stories.

How to get it. This is now rolling out on iOS and Android within the Google App, although you might not see it yet. It is a Search Labs experiment which should be available over here, with more details soon.

What it looks like. Here is a screenshot:

Welcome to a new weekly Search Engine Land series, Everything you need to know about Google Ads in less than 3 minutes. Every Wednesday, I will highlight a different Google Ads feature, and what you need to know to get the best results from it – all in a quick 3-minute read.

First in the series is Maximize conversions bidding, a common Google Ads bid strategy that can significantly impact your campaign performance (for better or for worse).

I will cover:

• What is Maximize conversions bidding?
• How to effectively set up Maximize conversions in your campaigns
• Troubleshooting common issues with Maximize conversions bidding
• Comparing Maximize conversions to other Google Ads bid strategies
• Should you use Maximize conversions bidding?

What is Maximize conversions bidding?

Maximize conversions is a Smart Bidding strategy. This means that you hand over the reins of bid management to Google’s AI, and in return, you gain access to thousands of proprietary signals.

You set your budget, and Google’s algorithms determine the right bid for you in every single auction.

The goal?

To get you the most conversions possible within your spending limit.

How to effectively set up Maximize conversions in your campaigns

While Maximize conversions is one of the simplest bid strategies to use, it needs something crucial in place for optimal performance: accurate conversion tracking.

Maximize conversions relies on accurate conversion data in order to work effectively. Google can’t maximize something it can’t see!

Before enabling this strategy, double-check that your conversion tracking is properly configured. If you have low conversion volume, you might want to try testing micro-conversions.

Maximize conversions will work to drive all Primary conversion actions in your account, or all conversion actions that have been set as your campaign-level goals. Review your campaign settings to ensure your bid strategy optimizes for the right thing. 

Troubleshooting common issues with Maximize conversions bidding

Even with the best setup, you might encounter some hiccups with Maximize conversions.

Here are some common issues you might face with this bid strategy, and how to fix them:

• Campaign isn’t serving any impressions. If your campaign isn’t spending its budget, and perhaps isn’t even serving ads at all, try increasing your campaign budget. This gives Google more leeway to increase bids and participate in more auctions. It’s also worth checking your targeting to ensure that your keywords have sufficient search volume and/or your audiences are eligible to serve.
• Campaign is getting clicks but no conversions. A low conversion rate could indicate issues with your landing pages, ad relevance, or ad targeting. Assuming you’ve received a few hundred clicks and still no conversions, check your conversion tracking settings first, then your CTR (low CTR can mean irrelevant targeting and/or irrelevant ad creative), then your landing page performance from other channels, to identify the root cause of the issue.
• Performance fluctuates wildly. Your campaign performance can fluctuate due to many factors, such as seasonality, competition, and changes in user behavior. Try checking your auction insights and search impression share, and your campaign change history, to see what anomalies you notice.

Comparing Maximize conversions to other Google Ads bid strategies

Maximize conversions may be the usual default, but it’s just one of several bidding strategies available in Google Ads. Here’s how it compares to some of the alternatives:

• Manual CPC. Manual bidding gives you complete control over your bids. However, you miss out on harnessing the power of Google’s AI for your business. In 2025 and beyond, there are very few use cases left for Manual CPC bidding.
• Maximize Clicks. Maximize clicks aims to get you as many clicks as possible within your budget. It’s an automated bid strategy, but not a Smart Bidding strategy, meaning it doesn’t have access to the same signals and intelligence at Maximize conversions. Maximize clicks is useful for Standard Shopping campaigns, and for trying to increase click volume on newer campaigns.
• Maximize conversion value. Maximize conversion value is a Smart Bidding strategy that works similarly to Maximize conversions, but focuses on the value of each conversion, not just whether or not the conversion happened. If your conversions have different values associated with them – for example, you sell $10 products and $100 products – then Maximize conversion value may be a better option for you.
• Target CPA. Target CPA is a Smart Bidding strategy that is like Maximize conversions’ big sister. Rather than spending your budget to get as many conversions as possible, it focuses on achieving a specific cost-per-acquisition. It may be the better option for you if you’re getting at least 30 conversions in 30 days in a campaign with Maximize conversions, and you want to stabilize and scale performance.

Should you use Maximize conversions bidding?

The best bidding strategy for your Google Ads campaigns depends on your specific goals, budget, and level of expertise.

Maximize Conversions is an excellent starting point, especially for new campaigns and/or new PPC practitioners.

As you gain more experience and data, you can explore Target CPA or Target ROAS to further optimize and scale your campaign performance.