Issue 38

Technical SEO

Why Web Hosting Is A Critical Factor To Maximize SEO Results

Most SEO professionals obsess over content, links, and technical implementations. We track algorithm updates and audit on-page elements with precision. But there’s one factor that determines whether all that work can deliver results.

Your web hosting controls every user’s first interaction with your site. It determines load speeds, uptime consistency, and Core Web Vitals scores before anyone reads a word you’ve written.

Here’s the reality. Your hosting provider isn’t a commodity service. It’s the infrastructure that either supports or sabotages your SEO efforts. When technical SEO fails, the problem can trace back to hosting limitations you don’t know exist.

Kinsta Managed WordPress Host Won't Charge For Bot Traffic

WordPress managed web hosting company Kinsta announced that it is changing how it bills its customers by not charging users for bandwidth related to unwanted bot and scraper traffic.

Ecommerce SEO

Google Shopping launches agentic checkout and more AI shopping tools

We all love finding the perfect holiday gift, but shopping can often become a chore. Endless scrolling, tracking prices and jumping between tabs — it can feel like work.

Our latest advancements in AI and agentic technology can help: Today we’re introducing a major AI shopping update across Google, just in time for this holiday season.

Google shipping and returns policies in Search Console or using new markup

Google now lets merchants add their shipping and return policies to Google Search without having a Google Merchant Center account. You can do this within Google Search Console and/or by using new structured data.

Search Engine Advertising (PPC)

Black Friday 2025: Tips To Boost Your Holiday PPC Performance

Black Friday doesn’t sneak up on anyone, yet somehow it still catches advertisers off guard every year.

This article walks through the key areas worth reviewing now so you can step into the busiest retail period of the year with fewer surprises and a plan that holds up under pressure.

Holiday PPC Guide 2025: Advanced Strategies For Smarter Bidding, Budgets & Audiences

The holiday this year brings more competition than ever, but the shopper journey is also shifting. Consumers begin research weeks earlier, often starting in October, and rely on conversational AI or chatbot-style searches to compare products. Microsoft’s holiday insights show that shopping behavior kicks off in October, with many November and December conversions originating from clicks made weeks earlier.

Google Shopping

Google quietly adds brand inclusions to standard Shopping campaigns

Google Ads rolled out brand inclusion controls for Standard Shopping campaigns. This is a long-requested feature that gives advertisers direct control over which brands appear in their Shopping ads – without the need for complex workarounds.

Google opens Shopping Ads to physical goods subscriptions

Google is expanding ecommerce options in the U.S. by allowing merchants to sell physical goods through subscription models directly in Shopping ads. This move aims to boost convenience for shoppers and flexibility for sellers.

Display Ads

Google adds asset-level reporting to display campaigns

Google is rolling out asset-level reporting for Display campaigns, giving advertisers a clearer view of how individual creative assets perform — a move that brings Display closer to the visibility already seen in Performance Max campaigns.

Google Ads Display Keywords: Everything you need to know

Did you know that display keywords in Google Ads act as both content and audience targeting?

This seemingly straightforward Google Ads feature has some surprising nuances, which is why we’re diving in today.

Search Behaviour

Google releases Holiday 100 gifting list driven by Search trends

You’ve made your list and you’ve checked it twice — now you just have to find the perfect gift for each person. If you find gift-hunting challenging, you’re not alone: Research shows that most U.S. holiday shoppers feel finding the right gift for others is difficult.

But we believe shopping — even during the holidays — should be fun! Today, we’re unwrapping the Holiday 100, our annual list of 100 gift ideas based on the year’s top Google Search trends.

How To Build SEO Strategies Around Real Customer Behavior

What if your SEO strategy could predict what customers want before they even search?

The shift from keyword-centric to behavior-driven SEO is important. When you understand why people search, not just what they search for, your content naturally becomes more relevant and your performance more sustainable.

Analytics & Reporting

Google Search Console adds Query groups

Google added Query groups to the Search Console Insights report. Query groups groups similar search queries together so you can quickly see the main topics your audience searches for.

Google says verify your cloud hosting provider with Search Console

John Mueller from Google posted an SEO tip and reminder for those who use cloud services, such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or others, to host images, videos or other content. John explained that you should probably verify those within Google Search Console. This will give you the ability to track the performance of those files in Google Search, including any debugging information when necessary.

Privacy & Security

Common Hosting Defenses Ineffective Against WordPress Threats

Patchstack published a case study that examined how well Cloudflare and other general firewall and malware solutions protected WordPress websites from common vulnerability threats and attack vectors. The research showed that while general solutions stopped threats like SQL injection or cross-site scripting, a dedicated WordPress security solution consistently stopped WordPress-specific exploits at a significantly higher rate.

Google Chrome HTTPS By Default Marks A Turning Point For Web Security

Google announced that beginning October 2026, with the release of Chrome 154, the world’s most widely used browser will automatically enforce “Always Use Secure Connections.” In practical terms, that means Chrome will attempt every connection over HTTPS — the encrypted, authenticated version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol — and will warn users before loading any site that still relies on unencrypted HTTP.

It’s a turning point not only for Chrome’s 3 billion users, but for the future of the web itself.

Ranking & Generation

Data Shows How AI Overviews Is Ranking Shopping Keywords

BrightEdge’s latest research shows that Google’s AI Overviews are now appearing in ways that reflect what BrightEdge describes as “deliberate, aggressive choices” about where AI shows up and where it does not. These trends show marketers where AI search is showing up within the buyer’s journey and what businesses should expect.

The data indicates that Google is concentrating AI in parts of the shopping process where it gives clear informational value, particularly during research and evaluation. This aligns AI Overviews with the points in the shopping journey where users need help comparing options or understanding product details.

Google FastSearch: Everything you need to know

Court filings in Google’s antitrust case revealed FastSearch, a proprietary system few search marketers have heard of.

It sits at the core of how Google grounds its AI Overviews, prioritizing speed over the deeper analysis behind traditional search results.

That distinction raises an important question: what exactly does FastSearch prioritize?

Thought Pieces

Exploring the real risk AI brings to the internet (and SEO with it)

In case it is not already obvious, I am a bit of a doomer when it comes to AI. So inevitably, I have labored over this article like a true human, almost exactly like I have done before, in anything else I have previously published. But I still do have some pretty existential disquiet on this topic, so this AI-themed article series will begin with an overview of my biggest apprehensions, and then move into ideas about how our industry might address them, and by society at large in the later articles.

For this article, let’s begin with the “Dead Internet Theory” and what I think it means for us. We will discuss the topic in the context of Google’s own AI evolution; Then, with that in mind, we will also look into how Google’s stance on the use of AI will impact our jobs as SEOs. Then, bringing it home to the core goals of marketing, we will discuss how AI filtering and bias could impact consumers and what we can do about all of it.

SEO vs. AI search: 101 questions that keep me up at night

I’m not here to declare that SEO is dead or to state that everything has changed. I’m here to share the questions that keep me up at night – questions that suggest we might be dealing with fundamentally different systems that require fundamentally different thinking.