Issue 33

On-Page SEO

Your website still matters in the age of AI

Digital marketing is always chasing the next big thing. SEO. Social media. Blogging. Video. TikTok. AI.

There’s always something new and shiny – something for marketers to pin their hopes on, and for the gurus to sell.

AI is the latest – and possibly the biggest – of these toys.

This article explores how, amid all this AI-driven change, the humble website may be the oldest tool in digital marketing that matters most.

How To Apply E-E-A-T To Your Site & Boost On-Page SEO

If you’re doing everything outlined in Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines, then you’re creating informative, useful, high-quality content that your audience wants and helping them accomplish a task (e.g., acquiring knowledge, buying a product).

In other words, you’re providing a satisfying user experience. Anything good for users is good for helping you be visible in Google – and driving the traffic and conversions you really want.

Ecommerce SEO

The ultimate Shopify SEO and AI readiness playbook

Shopify powers over 5 million active stores and remains the go-to ecommerce platform for many fast-growing brands.

Its out-of-the-box setup helps you launch quickly – but fast deployment doesn’t guarantee organic visibility.

PDP Optimization: SEO for Ecommerce Blueprint | Sitebulb

We SEOs are in full crisis mode. SEO, GEO, LLMO? Purchases directly in ChatGPT and Perplexity? Google rendering all Product Listing Pages useless?

All hail the Product Detail Page (PDP). The last and only page standing between your user and their purchase. This is your foolproof PDP blueprint – based on my experience and with real life examples. I’ve also added a PDP template for you to use at the end of the article.

Search Engine Advertising (PPC)

4 PPC trends to monitor closely in the second half of 2025

AI is everywhere right now, and its impact on marketing is undeniable. But while the buzz is justified, it’s not the only story shaping PPC in the months ahead.

To get a broader view of what’s ahead for paid search in the second half of 2025, we’re zooming out to spotlight four key trends worth watching, beyond just AI.

Navigating Time Zone Differences: Scheduling Ads For Maximum Impact

Poorly timed ads can lead to wasted budget, lower conversion rates, and missed opportunities.

This article goes beyond the basics to cover next-level strategies for scheduling ads effectively across different time zones.

Google Ads (Search Network)

Google finally gives visibility into Search Partner Network placements

Advertisers can now see exactly where their Search, Shopping, and App campaign ads are running across the Search Partner Network (SPN), with full site-level impression data.

New Google Ads diagnostics tool for cart data tracking is here

Google Ads rolled out a diagnostics tool to help advertisers spot issues with shopping cart data tied to conversions.

The tool appeared in accounts, following an initial mention on a Google help page last week. Advertisers can access it by hovering over the Status column for a specific conversion action.

Microsoft Ads (Bing Search Network)

The future of remarketing? Microsoft bets on impressions, not clicks

For years, remarketing hinged on clicks: someone had to visit your site, trigger a pixel, and leave behind a trail you could follow with ads.

But what if you could build your remarketing audience before they ever click?

Microsoft Advertising suspensions: What triggers them and how to appeal

Take the right steps — and avoid common mistakes — when facing account suspensions advises Microsoft Ads Liaison Navah Hopkins. Hopkins stresses that Microsoft takes security “very seriously,” applies a three-strike system for policy violations, and has humans review every appeal.

Google Shopping

Google replaces Content API for Shopping with new Merchant API

Google announced it will shut down the Content API for Shopping on Aug. 18, 2026, officially making the Merchant API the new standard for managing Merchant Center accounts.

Clicks rose, ROAS fell when Amazon left Google Shopping

After Amazon pulled its ads from Google Shopping on July 23, clicks became cheaper, and volumes rose, but the value of that traffic dropped. That’s according to a new study from Optmyzr, which analyzed 6,137 advertiser accounts.

Local Services Ads

Google Confirms New Google Verified Badge for Local Services Ads

Google is launching the Google Verified badge in October 2025, replacing multiple Local Services Ads trust signals with one simplified identity for advertisers.

Google is rolling out the new Google Verified badge in October 2025 for Local Services Ads.
The update replaces multiple trust signals, including Google Guaranteed and Google Screened, with one unified identity.
Advertisers should review eligibility now and maintain verification to protect visibility and consumer trust.

Google asserts ownership of all advertiser assets in Local Services Ads

Google Ads notified Local Services Ads (LSA) advertisers of a significant update to its Terms of Service, asserting the right to use, modify, and analyze all content within an advertiser’s LSA profile, including phone calls from prospective customers.

These rights extend not only across Google’s platforms, products, and services, but also to its affiliates. And yes, Google has already been digitally eavesdropping on LSA phone calls.

AI-Driven Search

OpenAI Quietly Adds Shopify As A Shopping Search Partner

OpenAI has quietly added Shopify as a third-party search partner to help power their shopping search, which shows shopping-rich results. The addition of Shopify was not formally announced, but quietly tucked into OpenAI ChatGPT search documentation.

LLM traffic not as engaged as organic traffic: Study

Users who arrive on websites from LLMs are generally less likely to engage than those from traditional organic search. That’s according to a new study published today by Dan Taylor of SALT.agency.

This new data seems to challenge claims by Google and Microsoft Bing that citations from AI search results result in higher-quality clicks.

Search Behaviour

Multimodal Search Is Reshaping The Funnel For SEOs And Marketers

Whether it’s asking ChatGPT, browsing Reddit, scrolling through TikTok, or speaking to a voice assistant, user behavior is fluid, multimodal, and largely invisible to traditional analytics.

That doesn’t mean the funnel is gone; it’s just become almost untrackable.

ChatGPT Vs. Google At Every Stage Of The User Journey

New Similarweb data shows the insane growth of ChatGPT and how different user behavior impacts downstream metrics. I looked at Similarweb data to understand how this affects four different stages of the user journey across Google and ChatGPT:

Usage.
Behavior.
Outbound clicks.
Converting.

Content Marketing

How To Write Content For Each Stage Of Your Sales Funnel

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore and highlight the types of content that are most effective at each stage of the sales funnel.

Content & Beyond 2025: 9 key takeaways for marketers

It's official: this year's Content & Beyond was another success. For those that missed the event, want a refresh, or just can't get enough, here are the 9 key takeaways from each of the Content & Beyond sessions this year.

Lead Generation

The B2B SEO Trap: Why High-Intent Visibility Can Still Underperform

In this article, I’m unpacking seven ways to help go deeper with mapping visibility to actual funnel stages, differentiating decision-makers vs. influencers, and building SEO content that nurtures, qualifies, and educates before the handoff to sales.

Quality Audiences: Why Lower Traffic Might Be Better

In this post, we’ll dissect why less traffic might be “more” and better for your business, how to shift your content marketing strategy to attract high-quality visitors, and share actionable insights for driving business results with your target audience.

Analytics & Reporting

What Are Good Google Ads Benchmarks In 2025?

Wordstream by LocaliQ recently updated its Search Advertising benchmarks for 2025, compiling real data from thousands of Google and Microsoft Ads campaigns across 20 verticals.

The data consists of data points from thousands of campaigns in both Google and Microsoft Ads for some of the top industries.

How to Track Traffic from AI Overviews, Featured Snippets, or People Also Ask Results in Google Analytics 4

If you’re using rank tracking software, you likely know when your important search queries return AI Overviews (AIO), Featured Snippets, or People Also Ask (PAA) features in Google search results.

But what happens when someone clicks through to your site from one of these features? How can you find out what those visitors do if they end up clicking through to your website?

SERP Features

Unlocking organic shopping: 8 insights from Google's free listings

Google’s free listing features have expanded rapidly in recent years, becoming a staple search feature for ecommerce businesses globally.

Working heavily in ecommerce, I regularly encounter issues with the capabilities of stores for ranking within free listing results.

Because of the heavy overlap among free listings and ads, both primarily managed via product feeds in Google Merchant Center (GMC) Next, Google’s documentation for troubleshooting issues isn’t always easy to find.

This article covers eight insights when working with organic shopping for stores that are important to understand when trying to improve their free listings’ visibility.

How Google, ChatGPT, & DeepSeek Handle YMYL Searches

A new study examines how Google, ChatGPT, and DeepSeek vary in handling health, legal, and political queries.

AI search tools differ in how they handle sensitive topics.
Each tool has a unique response pattern for YMYL queries.
Balancing helpfulness and safety is a key challenge for these tools.

Ranking & Generation

Google Rolls Out August Spam Update Targeting Search Quality

Google released the August spam update, impacting search results worldwide. The rollout may take a few weeks to complete.

The August spam update started August 26 and applies worldwide.
Expect possible ranking and traffic swings during the multi-week rollout.
Monitor trends in Search Console and stay aligned with Google’s spam policies.

How ChatGPT search ranks products and merchants

ChatGPT announced the addition of shopping features to search last week. But how exactly is ChatGPT search choosing products and ranking them? Here’s what you need to know from OpenAI’s documentation.

Thought Pieces

It Ends With Us (and Google)

The funnel is messy and the buyer journey is not a straight-line anymore. I think we all know that by now, but how to tackle that from an SEO standpoint? the ideal funnel is broken, and if you're not adapting, your SEO strategy maybe broken too!

Is Traditional SEO Becoming Obsolete?

Clicks through organic traffic are declining, and AI overviews are taking over the SERPs. The old playbooks are falling short, leaving many SEOs scrambling for new strategies that work.

At our July 2025 Sip & Search meetup in London, we tackled these hard truths head-on with an expert panel featuring Crystal Carter from Wix, Ryan Law from Ahrefs, and ecommerce SEO consultant Luke Carthy.