Google has announced a new set of Merchant loyalty offerings, giving retailers a way to surface existing member perks. Retailers who have loyalty offerings to their customers, such exclusive pricing, shipping, and points, can now show across both free listings and paid Shopping ads. In addition to the loyalty offering, Google Ads is introducing a…
This post was sponsored by Bluepear. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own. Have you ever seen an ad that looks just like your favorite brand’s ad, but isn’t? Ad hijacking. Ever clicked an ad expecting to reach Nike’s website but ended up on some random store you’d never heard of? Ad hijacking.…
People in Mississippi no longer have access to Bluesky — one of the primary alternatives to Elon Musk‘s X — because of burdensome age verification laws. A new law in Mississippi requires age verification to access social media sites. This landmark piece of legislation goes even further than other laws that require age verification for sites…
Marketers today spend their time on keyword research to uncover opportunities, closing content gaps, making sure pages are crawlable, and aligning content with E-E-A-T principles. Those things still matter. But in a world where generative AI increasingly mediates information, they are not enough. The difference now is retrieval. It doesn’t matter how polished or authoritative…
Google is adding agentic booking features to AI Mode in Search, beginning with restaurant reservations for U.S. Google AI Ultra subscribers enrolled in Labs. What’s New Booking Reservations AI Mode can interpret a detailed request, check real-time availability across reservation sites, and link you to the booking page to complete the task. For businesses, that…
This week, a gay influencer couple announced their breakup online, complete with a “split custody” plan for their social media. The internet, in its usual fashion, went into prying auntie mode. For years, New Orleans-based Matt Armato and Beau Ciolino shared lifestyle blogs and videos under the brand Probably This. They met in 2013 and…
A vulnerability advisory was issued for a WordPress Contact Form 7 add-on plugin that enables unauthenticated attackers to “easily” launch a remote code execution. The vulnerability is rated high (8.8/10) on the CVSS threat severity scale. Screenshot from Wordfence advisory showing 8.8 CVSS severity rating Redirection for Contact Form 7 plugin The vulnerability affects the…
In 2023, I wrote about a provocative “what if”: What if Google added an AI chatbot to Search, effectively cannibalizing itself? Fast-forward to 2025, and it’s no longer hypothetical. With AI Overviews (AIOs) and AI Mode, Google has not only eaten into its own search product, but it has also taken a big bite out…
Google’s AI-generated results reshape how people search, and Google has said that websites should expect traffic fluctuations and that prior success in organic Search does not guarantee future success in the new ecosystem. This is a big claim, and it’s been debated whether “Hidden Gems” are getting more visibility in modern Search and I’m doing…
I’ve spent 30 years navigating the turbulent waters of what was once called “internet marketing” and is now called “digital marketing.” Based on my experience, the past year has been nothing short of a perfect storm for chief marketing officers (CMOs). As the Director of Corporate Communications for Ziff-Davis, I helped to launch Yahoo! Europe…