Google Chrome will enable “Always Use Secure Connections” by default with the release of Chrome 154 in October 2026, the company announced. The change means Chrome will ask for user permission before loading any public website that doesn’t use HTTPS encryption. Users will see a bypassable warning explaining the security risks of unencrypted connections. Google…
This is all based on the Google leak and tallies up with my experience of content that does well in Discover over time. I have pulled out what I think are the most prominent Discover proxies and grouped them into what seems like the appropriate workflow. Like a disgraced BBC employee, thoughts are my own.…
Local SEO includes several specific tasks geared to establishing the relevance and authority of a business within a targeted geographic area. Search engines and large language models (LLMs) like Google Gemini and ChatGPT reference many different data points to determine who will be surfaced in their respective result sets, which include AI Overviews and AI…
What does it say about the economics of content when the most visible site on the web loses significant traffic? A status report by Wikipedia shows a significant decline in human page views over the last few months as a result of generative AI, “especially with search engines providing answers directly to searchers” [1]. Image Credit:…
When it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the winners aren’t just the brands that rack up sales; they’re the ones that capture attention, drive conversation, and leave a lasting impression. In 2024, Pixability’s YouTube Insights revealed how shoppers used video to plan and validate purchases throughout the season. Meanwhile, YouGov’s BrandIndex tracked which…
If you manage PPC campaigns, you’ve seen it. Platforms are making more decisions without asking you first. Campaign types keep consolidating into AI-first formats like Performance Max and Demand Gen. The granular controls you used to rely on keep disappearing or moving behind automation. A year ago, Performance Max still felt experimental. Now it’s often…
I just got back from San Diego and Toronto, where I spoke at Ahrefs Evolve and SEO IRL – both of which were fantastic. A lot of people I met subscribed to the Growth Memo. Thank you all for coming out! Image Credit: Kevin Indig I also had the pleasure of facilitating a 3h mastermind with leaders…
WordPress remains the dominant force in content management systems, powering 43.3% of websites surveyed and holding a 60.7% share among sites using a CMS, according to W3Techs (October 2025). That is still a commanding lead, but it marks a sustained decline from its peak of 65.2% in 2022 and is back to the same level…
Search has never stood still. Every few years, a new layer gets added to how people find and evaluate information. Generative AI systems like ChatGPT, Copilot Search, and Perplexity haven’t replaced Google or Bing. They’ve added a new surface where discovery happens earlier, and where your visibility may never show up in analytics. Call it…
Last week, I shared the largest usability study of AI Mode, and it revealed how users interact with the new search surface: They focus on the AI Mode text first 88% of the time, ignore link icons, and rarely click out. This week, for Part 2, I’m covering what’s measurable, what’s guesswork, and what’s possibly…