SEO News
Google's March Core Update: Early Observations From Initial Rollout
Google's March Core Update continues to rollout. Patterns are beginning to emerge as reports come in with data from the past week.
Google's March Core Update continues to roll out across search results. Reports are coming in based on data collected over the first week of the rollout. Note that these patterns could change by the time the update completes.
Google: Not all sites will fully recover with future core algorithm updates
When Google launched the March 2025 core update last week, Google said there will be a series of improvements aimed to help “better surface relevant, satisfying content” from content creators “throughtout this year.” But you should not expect all sites to fully recover by the end of 2025, that simply won’t happen.
Paid News
Bing pushes ad-heavy search results with 7+ sponsored listings
Microsoft Bing appears to be testing an aggressive new ad display format that dramatically reduces organic search visibility in favor of sponsored content.
The details: Users are reporting search result pages with at least seven paid advertisements. One or two organic results are visible on the first page. The format has been independently verified by multiple users.
Google Adds Search Terms Visibility to Performance Max Campaigns
Google is rolling out a significant update to its Performance Max campaigns, giving advertisers more transparency and control over their ad placements.
The big picture: Performance Max search terms are now visible in the standard Search Terms report Advertisers can add negative keywords directly from the report The update integrates with Google’s recent addition of negative keyword capabilities for Performance Max
Studies & Data
LinkedIn Study: AI Shortens B2B Sales Cycles By 1 Week
An Ipsos study commissioned by LinkedIn finds AI tools can cut sales cycles by a week, helping close deals faster.
More sales teams are using AI. AI helps find leads and close deals faster. Top sellers use AI every day.
Google organic and paid CTRs hit new lows: Report
Organic and paid click-through rates (CTRs) are down – and Google AI Overviews are partially to blame. However, paid CTR declined regardless of whether AI Overviews were present.
The new analysis of ~10,000 informational intent keywords ranking in the top 20 positions was conducted by digital marketing agency Seer Interactive.
Guides & Recommendations
How to make search and PMax campaigns complement each other
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.
Google's AI Mode: Here's what matters for SEOs and marketers
Google’s AI Mode became available earlier this month as a Google Search Labs experiment.
After performing hundreds of AI Mode searches across transactional, navigational, commercial, and informational intents on both desktop and mobile platforms, carefully tracking metrics including word count, citation frequency, blue link prevalence, thumbnail usage, local intent signals, and other distinctive patterns, here’s what SEOs and marketers need to know about Google’s AI Mode.
Events
TMC Presents Brand You: Building your Personal Brand with Rosie Chong Tickets, Mon, Apr 7, 2025 at 6:00 PM | Eventbrite
Want to build a personal brand that gets you noticed and opens doors - while balancing a 9-5? 🚀
The Marketing Club is hosting a webinar with Rosie Chong, the 9-5 Personal Branding gal, a LinkedIn Top Voice and content creator who shares authentic insights on how to build a memorable personal brand while juggling a full-time job.
Think Again - May 2025
The popular Think Again events bring together senior marketers and agency leaders for networking & drinks, a beautiful sit-down lunch at an exclusive venue, and the chance to hear from leading CMOs, CEOs, and other thought leaders.
The Think Again Series is held at the Ilex Events Space in Christchurch and is proudly sponsored by Federation.
Thought Pieces
Google Ads optimization: What to stop, start, and continue in 2025
Early this year, I asked my team to recommend what we should stop, start, and continue doing in 2025 to improve our collaboration. As a leader, it was a valuable exercise that highlighted to me what we can do to improve different aspects of our working life. This exercise also got me thinking about how to apply the same framework to Google Ads – and use it to define what we should stop, stop, and continue doing to optimize our clients’ Google Ads programs this year.
Why you need humans, not just AI, to run great SEO campaigns
“Why can’t we just use AI to do it?” Whether you’re on the brand or agency side of SEO, I’m guessing you’ve heard some version of this from an exec or a client with little knowledge of AI tools, SEO principles, or both. I’ve been asked that question multiple times because the other party saw or heard about modest success from LLM-generated content that got some clicks and impressions.
My answer: because thousands of LLM-produced pieces of content do not a successful SEO program make. This article dives into the human and AI roles in today’s SEO landscape
AI News
Anthropic's Claude Can Search The Web, Closing Gap With ChatGPT
Anthropic's AI assistant Claude now searches the web, providing current information with source citations for paid US users.
Claude can now search the web for up-to-date information. The feature provides source citations for fact-checking. Web search is only available to paid US users currently.
Google is exploring ads in new AI Mode
Google confirmed to Adweek it will “explore bringing ads” to its new AI Mode search experience. The company will use lessons from ads already running in AI Overviews to inform its approach.
Ad buyers warn that user behavior in AI Mode’s conversational interface could reduce ad effectiveness.
Other News
LinkedIn Integrates Calendly Scheduling Into Profile Buttons
LinkedIn partners with Calendly, enabling Premium users to schedule meetings directly through profile buttons.
LinkedIn partners with Calendly on custom profile buttoms. This functionality enables users to schedule meetings directly through profiles. This feature is available to premium users.
Meta launches ads on Threads
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.