Imagine logging into your ad dashboard, squinting at numbers that feel off. That’s the uneasy vibe spreading through the ad world as the FTC turns its sights on Google and Amazon. What’s Under the Microscope? The FTC’s consumer protection unit is probing whether tech giants misled advertisers about ad pricing. It’s zeroing in on clarity—did […]
It’s official: Ahrefs has snapped up Detailed.com and its beloved SEO browser extension. This isn’t just another acquisition—it’s a nod to the power of on-page auditing and data-driven insights in today’s marketing landscape. I’m still wrapping my head around how fast this deal came together, but here we are. From Side Project to Industry Stalwart […]
A few writers went wild when Logan Kilpatrick hinted AI Mode was “soon” becoming the default. I get it: change feels thrilling. But… hold your horses. Riding the AI Hype Train In May 2025, Liz Reid teased that AI Mode was the future of Google Search. Then Logan Kilpatrick chimed in on X, suggesting we’d […]
For over a year, Google has cheerfully told anyone who’d listen that the open web is booming, traffic is up, and its search engine is pushing users to an ever-wider variety of sites. Yet in a surprisingly frank court filing last week, the company confessed that “the open web is already in rapid decline,” as […]
You’ve spent weeks—maybe months—polishing your site, crafting killer content, and then…your login page shows up first in Google. Frustrating, right? Believe it or not, this small oversight can derail all your SEO efforts. Google’s own experts, John Mueller and Martin Splitt, recently dove into this on the Search Off the Record podcast, and the findings […]
So, Apple’s finally doing it. After years of Siri feeling like that well-meaning but slightly clueless friend who tries to help but mostly just repeats what you said, the tech giant is reportedly cooking up a full-blown AI-powered search engine. And not just any search engine—this one’s designed to inject some serious smarts into Siri. […]
On Friday, the European Union handed Google a near $3.5 billion fine for abusing the dominance of its ad-tech tools. It’s a hefty penalty that raises more questions than answers. The Hefty Penalty This fine is the EU’s second-largest antitrust penalty ever, overshadowed only by another Google fine in 2018. It’s a clear sign that […]
AI search is rewriting the rulebook on online visibility, and it’s doing so with alarming speed. What feels like a mere tweak to Google’s algorithm—the shiny new AI Overview—is actually a tectonic shift. Suddenly, clicks are vanishing, ad placements pop up in unexpected places, and both SEO and paid teams are left staring at half […]
In July 2025, data from Similarweb—shared by Barry Schwartz—revealed that a staggering 69% of Google searches now end with no click to an external site. That alone should make any marketer’s heart skip a beat. After all, we’ve chased clicks for years as if they were rare Pokémon. Yet this zero-click reality isn’t the apocalypse […]
Federal District Judge Amit Mehta just delivered a ruling that feels more like a ceasefire than a knockout blow. Google will keep its crown jewels—Chrome and Android—yet faces new guardrails designed to pry open the market. It’s a verdict that acknowledges Google’s deep integration in our daily digital lives but still tries to carve out […]
