Hiya!

We missed ya last week. It was for a good reason, we promise! (All explained in our “Drumroll Please” section.) So, we’ve got 2 weeks of digital marketing rolled up into one edition!

• The Department of Justice ruled that Google violated the antitrust law. The case revealed that Google was paying Apple $20 billion annually for default search status on iPhones. Future proceedings will determine remedies to address Google’s monopoly. What does this mean? This sets a precedent for future cases involving other tech giants.

• Have you heard about SearchGPT? OpenAI created a prototype to combine their AI models with web citations. Honestly, the screenshots look a lot like Perplexity AI. I think our future in AI chatbot usage will depend on what we do. I have different favorite chatbots for writing guidance, citation summaries, and general knowledge queries. You just have to keep trying them out to find which works best for you… SearchGPT may be one to add to your list. You can sign up for a waitlist, if you’re still curious.

• ClickZ asks “How long does SEO take eCom brands?” The author’s initial answer: it depends. The article lists the reasons why, including SEO neglect, brand impact, backlink profile strength, age of domain, and competitors. He concludes it generally takes 3-6 months to start seeing SEO results. Ironically, for years we have been telling our SEO clients across all industries (not just eCom) it takes 3-6 months to begin to see significant results.

• Bing is testing a new generative search experience. The screenshots show a split screen with the GenAI response and source citations on the left and traditional search results on the right. So, it’s a SERP that has potential for both SEO and SAIO visibility on the same page! It’s another reason to be leveraging a dual approach to your optimization strategy.

• “Search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing” is the second highest area that brands outsource to agency partners. The accompanying article includes data on how brands evaluate agency success. No surprise that business impact in terms of ROI and revenue growth top the list, with key performance indicators (KPIs) like lead generation and engagement metrics being in the next tier as signs of success. Check out the Marketing Charts article based on Wpromote and Ascend2 data.

• What is your favorite 2024 Paris Olympic event? How about the Viral Video Vault, the Meme Marathon, and Extreme Tweeting? (Okay, not real sports, but it seems like they are with these increases in online engagements.) According to Marketing Tech with Hootsuite research, “Paris has racked up 211.8 million online engagements, marking a staggering 216% increase over Tokyo’s 67 million engagements during the lead-up.” While it’s not a surprise that people are more present online, it is a surprise to see the Olympic-style sharing of the 2024 games!

• Threads reached 200M – it took just over a year to reach this milestone. Why might this growth be spiking? Andrew Hutchinson from Social Media Today suspects it has to do with U.S. elections and the volatility of X and Elon.

• In the movie Short Circuit, there’s an iconic scene where Ally Sheedy’s character is trying to teach a robot that’s gained human-like intelligence. However, the robot keeps asking for “more input” even after he’s read everything in her house. We’ve reached that point with our AI. Running out of internet data to feed them, some scientists are trying to train large language models on AI-created data. This MarTech article intro is definitely a LOL read with a list of great AI-powered tools at the bottom.

Drumroll Please… 🥁

A world with better workplaces can be within our reach, but there is strength in numbers.

Discover the kind workplace movement and its pioneers. Find positive workplace events, training pros, research, tools, tips, organizations, suggested reading/listening, news, and so much more on  A Better Paradigm, our new online, kind workplace tool. Let’s create positive work environments together!

Happy August!

Natalie

Speaking of Short Circuit, if you haven’t seen the movie, it’s def worth a watch. If anything, just watch it for the awesome soundtrack. El DeBarge’s “Who’s Johnny” is an upbeat earworm waiting to brighten up your day.