Hey y’all,

Special edition! I’ve stuffed food-themed puns in the midst of our digital marketing news. Ready. Set. Gobble!

• A couple of Google stories from last week:
  • Google AI Overviews ads (!) have been spotted on mobile searches. We knew it was only a matter of time before Google would seek to monetize AI Overviews but still – heavy sigh. We’re keeping an eye on how the ads may impact SAIO citations.
  • The Department of Justice has recommended breaking up Google’s monopoly by forcing Google to offload its Chrome browser. The potential impacts could be wide-ranging but take a deep breath as we have a long way to go before anything gets decided – like until next August and beyond.
  • We discussed the Google Core Update, BUT we have more insights on the rollout. Sites paying well-known brands to feature their brand’s affiliate content are being penalized in the rankings. Shoutout to our friend, Josh Greene, for sharing his take on the update in his newsletter for The Mather Group!

• YouTube SEO… the tactical strategy and the tools are different, but the strategy remains the same. You need to:
  • research your keywords (tools like TubeBuddy can help),
  • choose the best keyword for your channel-size, and
  • say your keyword in your video!
  • Of course, there are detailed steps in this process. Find out more in this YouTube SEO video!

• Is there a Bluesky on the other side of the X tunnel? 🌤️ Many users believe there is! Following the election, over 115,000 users casser-rolled right out of X, deactivating their X accounts. Some are calling it an “Xodus.” Then, Bluesky saw daily usage skyrocket 500%, according to Simliarweb. Get more deets from Bluesky CEO, Jay Graber, in this NPR article. Read TechCrunch’s Bluesky rundown to see how they differ from X.

• Last, but not feast: here’s a dismaying survey finding published by Garner. “Only 52% of Senior Marketing Leaders Can Prove Marketing’s Value and Receive Credit For Its Contribution to Business Outcomes.” No surprise that CFOs and CEOs are the most skeptical of marketing’s value. It’s still surprising to see such a low overall perspective on marketing by company higher-ups across all disciplines. Gartner experts pointed to the need to provide deeper marketing meaning and value through visibility into performance metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), Return on Investment (ROI), etc. The nice thing about digital marketing is the readily available, easily customizable, highly visible performance metric dashboards like Looker Studio.

Thoughts to Take With You… 💞

In case you forgot this existed (or it evaded you somehow), here’s a music video that’s truly pumpkin special. Lessons you can learn from it:

• Don’t give up: This took 17 tries to get right. (That’s a lot of time playing on treadmills!)
• Perfection is boring: It’s not perfectly polished or professionally executed. IT’S REAL. The imperfections make the video funny and wonderfully authentic!

• Look to your network: The whole routine was choreographed by the frontman’s sister. (So many claps for creativity 👏!)
• Your idea is not too silly: Just try it – it could be the next viral sensation!

Don’t forget to season the day!

Natalie

Pun count: 7