Issue 27

Thought Pieces

Respected SEO Rockstar Deconstructs SEO For Google's AI Search

One of search marketing’s SEO Rockstars recently shared his thoughts on SEO for generative AI, calling attention to facts about Google’s search results, explaining how the new AI search really works, and calling out fear-based marketing that overstates disruption in order to sell so-called “GEO” services.

Greg Boser is a search marketing pioneer with a deep level of experience that few in the industry can match or even begin to imagine.

Search is having a midlife crisis. And it’s glorious.

AI didn’t kill search. It might’ve accidentally brought it back to life. If you want the lowdown on Google’s I/O hoedown, look no further than… 2013. Or maybe 2014. 2016 works too. Honestly, take your pick because it barely matters.

Most of the coverage I’ve seen this year reads like AI-generated summaries written by folks with more letters after their names than a prescription bottle. Bless their hearts.

Studies & Data

Google & Apple Maps: 20% of Local Searches Now Start Here

New research shows that map platforms have become key search engines for local businesses. One in five consumers now searches directly in map apps instead of traditional search engines. BrightLocal’s Consumer Search Behavior study found that Google, Apple, and Bing Maps make up 20% of all local searches. This is a big part of search traffic that many marketers might be missing in their local SEO plans.

What Are Good Google Ads Benchmarks In 2025? [STUDY]

Keeping up-to-date on industry Google Ads benchmarks is crucial to help answer questions you might get from clients or exec such as:

“Is this a good CTR?”
“Why is our CPA so high?”
“What’s a good conversion rate, anyway?”

Questions like these come up all the time, especially when budgets are tight and performance dips even slightly.

Guides & Recommendations

AI and local search: The new rules of visibility and ROI in 2025

Local search is no longer just about maps and directories. What began as a game of citation consistency has grown into a dynamic, intent-driven ecosystem shaped by real-time data, customer intelligence, and AI-powered personalization. Today, AI is redefining how people discover, evaluate, and interact with local businesses – reshaping the rules of visibility, experience, and conversions across every channel.

How Google Ads’ AI tools fix creative bottlenecks, streamline asset creation

Advertisers are facing mounting pressure to produce high-quality images and videos at scale.

Google Ads’ new AI-powered tools aim to ease that burden, streamlining asset creation and addressing the creative bottlenecks that slow campaign performance.

SEO News

Google Local Search Research Paper On Business Type Extraction

Google published a research paper describing how it extracts “services offered” information from local business sites to add it to business profiles in Google Maps and Search. The algorithm describes specific relevance factors and confirms that the system has been successfully in use for a year.

The purpose of this system is to make it easier for users to find local businesses that provide the services they are looking for. The paper was published in 2024 (according to the Internet Archive) and is dated 2023.

Google to drop support for several rich result types to simplify the search results page

Google will be dropping support for several structured data markup elements in order to simplify the search results interface. Specifically, Book Actions, Course Info, Claim Review, Estimated Salary, Learning Video, Special Announcement, and Vehicle Listing will no longer show rich results in the Google Search results.

Paid News

Google slashes Customer Match list minimums in Search Campaigns to 100 Users

Google reduced the minimum audience size requirement for customer match lists in Search campaigns from 1,000 to just 100 users — a significant update for small and midsize businesses.

The big picture. This update makes precision targeting more accessible to SMBs, who often struggle to meet high list-size minimums.

Google Expands Video Ads Across Search, Shopping, and Image Tabs

Google quietly dropped a new help document titled About Video ads across Google surfaces, offering a detailed look at its next evolution of shoppable video ad formats, following teasers at Google Marketing Live and months of experimental rollouts.

AI News

Perplexity grows to 780 million monthly queries

Perplexity is on pace to serve 1 billion queries a week within the next year, according to CEO and co-founder Aravind Srinivas. That means Perplexity could answer 52 billion queries annually.

Other News

Google faces $13 billion in EU civil claims after Shopping antitrust fine

Google is facing a legal reckoning across Europe, with at least €12 billion ($12.9B) in damages sought by price comparison sites who say the tech giant abused its dominance in search to siphon traffic and revenue.

The civil suits stem from the EU’s landmark 2017 decision to fine Google €2.4B for antitrust violations related to its shopping service. With that ruling upheld, plaintiffs now only need to prove financial harm – not the legal wrongdoing itself – opening the door to massive payouts.

Google searches in Apple's Safari fall for first time in 22 years

Searches on Apple’s Safari browser declined for the first time last month, and Apple’s senior vice president of services Eddy Cue blamed AI. “That has never happened in 22 years,” according to Cue.

“People are using AI,” Cue testified Wednesday during the DOJ’s antitrust trial against Google, calling it a fundamental shift that’s eating into traditional search’s dominance.