Insights

Thinking on Paid Search, Analytics, and Conversion

Practical insights from the front lines of paid search and lead generation. No fluff.

Attribution

AI Referral Traffic Is Real. Now You Can Measure It.

Google Analytics 4 now isolates AI chatbot traffic into its own dedicated channel, making referrals from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude measurable for the first time at scale. For brands investing in AI visibility, this changes how you prove the work is paying off.

May 2026·5 min read
AI PPC

When Search Terms Stop Being Search Terms

Google has quietly updated its documentation to acknowledge that search terms reports may now show inferred intent rather than the actual query a user typed or spoke. For PPC managers relying on that data to shape match types, negatives, and audience signals, the implications are significant.

May 2026·6 min read
AI PPC

Vehicle Ads in Standard Shopping: Why Control Matters

Google has expanded vehicle ads beyond Performance Max, making them available in Standard Shopping campaigns for the first time. For automotive advertisers, this reopens a debate that the industry thought was settled: how much control do you actually want over your paid search campaigns?

May 2026·5 min read
GEO & AEO

Schema Markup and AI Citations: Correlation Is Not a Strategy

Research tracking nearly 1,900 pages found that adding schema markup produced almost no meaningful movement in AI citation rates. The gap between cited and non-cited pages tells a more complicated story than the structured data evangelists would have you believe.

May 2026·5 min read
GEO & AEO

Why Writing for Humans Is the Best AEO Strategy

There is a striking parallel between how humans and AI models extract meaning from text - and it has direct implications for how brands structure content to earn citations. Getting your writing right at the page level is increasingly where AI visibility is won or lost.

May 2026·5 min read
AI PPC

Smart Bidding Exploration: What Ceding Control Actually Costs

Google is rolling out Smart Bidding Exploration to Performance Max with product feeds and Shopping campaigns, alongside budget pacing for Search and Shopping. The question for advertisers is not whether these tools work - it is what you give up when you let them run.

May 2026·5 min read
GEO & AEO

Author Attribution in AI Overviews: What It Means for Brands

Google AI Overviews is now surfacing author names alongside source platforms like LinkedIn and Medium in its citations. This shift changes who gets credited in AI search - and how brands should think about the people behind their content.

May 2026·5 min read