Topic: click-through rates
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Winning at PPC When Clicks Don't Count
The rise of zero-click searches and AI-powered results is transforming PPC advertising, requiring a shift from chasing clicks to capturing high-intent users ready to purchase. AI Overviews and instant answers on search pages reduce click-through rates and increase advertising costs, but the remai...
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Google AI Overviews: A 2025 Surge and Sudden Decline
Google's AI Overviews expanded rapidly in 2025, peaking at 25% query coverage in July before being scaled back to 16% by November, indicating a strategic test-and-refine approach. The feature did not inherently reduce user clicks; analysis showed a decrease in zero-click searches for the same key...
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AI vs. Ads: The Fight for Ranking Supremacy
Google's AI Overviews are pushing paid and organic search results down, with ads losing visibility to the AI summary roughly 25% of the time, threatening click-through rates and revenue. The impact varies significantly by industry, with Healthcare ads appearing below AI Overviews nearly 65% of th...
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How AI-Powered Search Is Fueling Local SEO's Success
Generative AI is reducing click-through rates for many industries, but local search remains resilient due to its reliance on real-world actions and practical user intent. Current AI tools struggle with location awareness and accurate local details, often providing vague results, whereas platforms...
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SEO vs. GEO: Who Wins When the Lines Blur?
The digital search landscape is shifting from a click-driven model to an answer-driven one, where AI-generated summaries reduce clicks on traditional links, making the distinction between traditional SEO and new Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) a commercial imperative. Industry incentives fro...
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Google Introduces New Global 'Sponsored' Ad Labels
Google is introducing a new "Sponsored results" label to group text and Shopping ads under a single, more noticeable heading, enhancing user recognition of paid content. Users gain the ability to hide entire sections of sponsored content directly from search results, offering greater control over...
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Google Shopping Ads Add Local Store Location Labels
Google is testing local store location labels within Shopping ads, showing a merchant's city to provide immediate geographical context and tap into consumer preference for local businesses. The labels aim to make ads feel more local and trustworthy, potentially increasing click-through rates and ...
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AI SEO: Why 'It's Just SEO' Is a Dangerous Myth
AI SEO is emerging as a distinct discipline focused on embedding brand information directly into AI-generated summaries, contrasting with traditional SEO that aims for clicks, as AI Overviews can significantly reduce organic traffic. The rise of AI-driven search has led to increased zero-click se...
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Google Cuts Search Features: Practice Problems, Nutrition & More
Google is removing lesser-used search features and structured data types to simplify search pages and improve result speed, continuing efforts from previous cuts. Specific examples of features being eliminated include the "Today’s Doodle" box, nutrition facts, and local events, though the full li...
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Google Drives 831x More Traffic Than AI Rivals: Report
Google generates 831 times more traffic to publishers than all AI systems combined, though its share of external traffic declined from over 90% in Q2 2024 to 84.1% in Q2 2025. AI bots are rapidly increasing their presence on publisher sites, with the ratio to human visitors intensifying fourfold ...
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Google Ads Now Appearing in AI Search Results
Google is expanding the integration of ads within its AI-generated search summaries, moving from limited testing to a more widespread rollout. This evolution merges sponsored content with AI answers, potentially impacting user engagement and offering new advertising opportunities for marketers. T...
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Bing Tests "Sponsored Results" Grouping Like Google
Microsoft is testing a new Bing ad format that groups multiple paid listings under a single "Sponsored results" header, with a "Hide" button for user control, making ads blend more seamlessly with organic results. This redesign closely mirrors a recent Google update, which has led to reports of i...
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How Google and AI Are Sabotaging Food Bloggers' Thanksgiving
Google's AI Overviews and automated systems are causing significant traffic and revenue declines for food bloggers by summarizing recipes directly in search results, reducing clicks to original sites. AI-generated summaries often contain dangerously inaccurate cooking advice and remix content fro...
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YouTube Launches A/B Testing for Titles & New "Ask Studio" Analytics
YouTube has introduced A/B testing for video titles and thumbnails, allowing creators to compare up to three combinations to optimize engagement. A new conversational analytics feature called Ask Studio enables creators to ask natural language questions about their channel's performance for clear...
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Google Tests AI Opt-Outs, Gemini 3 Boosts AI Search
Google is exploring a policy shift to allow website owners to opt out of AI-powered search features, responding to publisher and regulatory pressure, though the practical implications and potential visibility costs remain unclear. Google has upgraded its AI Overviews globally with the Gemini 3 mo...
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Google Tests AI-Generated Search Snippets
Google is testing AI-generated descriptions and summaries in search results, which may change how users interact with listings and affect click-through behavior. The experiment includes two approaches: replacing existing descriptions with AI versions or adding AI-summarized snippets, both marked ...
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Organic Search Traffic Declines 2.5% in New Report
Organic search traffic has declined only 2.5% year-over-year, challenging narratives of a dramatic collapse and showing robust fundamental demand for search engines. The largest websites saw organic traffic grow, while mid-sized publishers faced losses, and organic results still generate about 90...
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Google Search Console Unveils Branded Queries Filter
Google has launched a new branded queries filter in Search Console, enabling website owners to separate performance reports by branded and non-branded search queries for clearer insights into traffic sources. Branded queries, which include exact brand names and variations, typically result in hig...
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