Digital Digest
Marketing Intelligence Weekly
Weekly updates on the digital marketing news you need to know, including data reform, AI, cookie deprecation and platform updates.
Platforms
Google’s Latest Update May Target Black Hat SEO
- SEO communities are reporting significant ranking volatility since June 19, with some sites seeing traffic drops of 25–50%.
- Most third-party tracking tools remain relatively stable, suggesting the impact may be limited to specific site types rather than a broad core update.
- Much of the discussion is coming from black hat SEO forums, leading to speculation that Google may have targeted spammy or manipulative tactics.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Bing Adds Deeper AI Visibility Reporting
- Bing Webmaster Tools has expanded its AI Performance Report with new metrics including Intents, Topics, Citation Share and Compare, giving marketers a more detailed view of AI search visibility.
- Publishers can now see why their content is being cited (e.g. informational, commercial, research queries) and which broader topics are driving AI visibility.
- A new Citation Share metric shows how much of the citation space a site captures for a given query, while Compare helps track changes over time.
- For marketers focused on GEO, the update is another sign that AI search is becoming a measurable channel, with platforms racing to provide better visibility into AI-driven discovery.
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Platforms
LinkedIn Doubles Down on Creator Marketing
- LinkedIn has launched Creator Marketplace, making it easier for brands to find, evaluate and partner with B2B creators directly through Campaign Manager.
- Brands can identify high-performing creator content and amplify it using Thought Leader Ads, helping turn trusted voices into paid media assets.
- LinkedIn also unveiled BrandWorks, a new consultancy-style service offering strategy, creative and campaign support to help marketers improve performance.
- The move reflects growing demand for creator-led marketing, with LinkedIn reporting that buyers increasingly trust expert voices over traditional brand messaging.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google Launches Open Standard for AI Knowledge
- Google has introduced the Open Knowledge Format (OKF), an open standard designed to make organisational knowledge easier for AI agents to understand, share and reuse.
- OKF packages knowledge as simple markdown files with structured metadata, creating a vendor-neutral format that works across tools, platforms and AI systems.
- The goal is to solve a growing challenge in AI: fragmented business knowledge spread across wikis, documentation, data catalogues and internal systems.
- For marketers and data teams, the move signals growing momentum towards standardised knowledge layers that help AI tools access accurate business context and deliver better outputs.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google Says LLMS.txt Won’t Boost Rankings
- Google has clarified that LLMS.txt files have no impact on Search rankings or visibility, and are completely ignored by Google Search.
- The company also confirmed that AI-specific files, markdown files and other machine-readable formats are not used to determine visibility in Search or AI-powered search experiences.
- While Google doesn't discourage maintaining LLMS.txt files for other AI systems, it says they're unnecessary for Google Search.
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Platforms
Calling Yourself ‘The Best’ Could Backfire
- SEO expert Lily Ray warns that self-promotional “best of” content may be becoming a liability, with Google appearing to crack down on brands that rank themselves as the top option in their category.
- Research suggests some sites relying heavily on self-ranked listicles saw significant visibility declines, particularly in content sections filled with "best" and comparison-style pages.
- The issue isn't the format itself, but the lack of independent validation, transparency and genuine evaluation behind many of these articles.
- For marketers, the takeaway is simple: focus on building credibility and third-party validation rather than publishing content that simply declares your brand the winner.
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AI in digital
Marketing by numbers
Platforms
68% of Google Searches End Without a Click
- 68.01% of Google searches now end without any click, meaning only 31.99% of searches generate a click anywhere across organic results, ads or Google-owned properties. That's up from 60.45% zero-click searches in 2024, representing the fastest acceleration of the trend in a decade.
- The share of searches that generate a click has fallen by 9.51 percentage points in two years, a 22.9% decline. At the same time, users are increasingly refining searches within Google rather than leaving the platform.
- AI Overviews now appear on more than 20% of Google searches and, when present, reduce click-through rates by nearly 60%. SparkToro identifies AI Overviews as the biggest driver behind the recent surge in zero-click behaviour.
- This isn't a new phenomenon, but it's accelerating rapidly. Zero-click searches have climbed from 49% in 2019 to 68% in 2026, highlighting Google's continued shift from search engine to answer engine.
- For marketers, the implication is clear: success in search can no longer be measured by traffic alone. Visibility within AI-generated answers, branded search demand, local intent and conversion performance are becoming more important than raw organic visits.
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AI in digital
Marketing by numbers
Bots Overtake Humans on the Web
- Cloudflare says bots now account for 57.3% of global webpage requests, marking the first time automated traffic has overtaken human traffic online. The milestone arrived much sooner than CEO Matthew Prince's earlier prediction that it would happen around 2027.
- The surge is being driven largely by AI agents, which browse and gather information very differently from humans. While a person might visit a handful of websites, an AI agent can crawl thousands of pages to complete a single task.
- For marketers, this signals a shift towards an "agentic web" where content increasingly needs to be machine-readable, trustworthy and easy for AI systems to interpret, not just optimised for human visitors.
- The change creates a growing measurement challenge. Websites may see traffic increase due to AI bots, while human engagement, referral visits, ad impressions and conversions remain flat or decline.
- The broader industry question is how publishers, brands and content creators get value from a web where bots are becoming the dominant users. As AI agents consume more content directly, traditional traffic-driven business models are coming under increasing pressure.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Apple’s Siri AI Creates a New Search Layer
- Apple’s new Gemini-powered Siri can now pull live information from the web, generate conversational answers, and is deeply integrated into Spotlight on Mac and iPad. This means users can get answers without ever opening a browser, creating another AI-mediated discovery layer between brands and consumers.
- The biggest unknown for marketers is visibility and attribution. Apple says Siri answers may include source links, but it has not explained when links appear, how citations work, or whether website owners will receive any reporting similar to Google Search Console.
- Siri AI is built using Apple Foundation Models developed in collaboration with Google Gemini, but Apple is positioning the experience as an Apple product rather than a Google-powered assistant. As a result, marketers should avoid assuming that content performing well in Gemini will automatically surface in Siri responses.
- Apple has quietly updated Applebot documentation, confirming that crawled content can be used to generate AI answers. Brands should review their Applebot, Applebot-Extended and nosnippet settings now, as these controls will influence how content can be used in Siri-generated responses.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google Turns Gemini Into a Small Business Assistant
- Google is rolling out new Gemini features designed specifically for small businesses, with the headline update being direct integration with Google Business Profile. This gives Gemini access to customer reviews, questions and performance data so it can provide business-specific recommendations.
- Once connected, Gemini can analyse real business metrics such as search impressions, calls and direction requests, helping owners quickly understand performance and identify growth opportunities without manually digging through reports.
- The integration also enables practical workflow automation, including drafting personalised responses to customer reviews in the brand's voice and making profile updates such as changing operating hours or publishing seasonal announcements.
- Google is also launching Business notebooks, a dedicated workspace where Gemini can store and reference business information from chats, websites and Google Business Profiles. The goal is to give Gemini persistent context so it can provide more relevant recommendations and content over time.
- Business notebooks will proactively surface alerts, recommend actions and identify opportunities such as unanswered customer questions, local market trends and campaign ideas, pushing Gemini further towards an always-on business advisor rather than a standalone chatbot.
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AI in digital
Platforms
US Government Pulls Plug on Anthropic’s Fable 5
- The US government ordered Anthropic to immediately suspend access to its newest frontier AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, citing national security concerns linked to a reported jailbreak technique that could help identify software vulnerabilities.
- Anthropic strongly disagrees with the decision, arguing the reported vulnerability is narrow, non-universal, and comparable to capabilities already available in competing models, including GPT-5.5. The company says extensive red-teaming and safety testing showed Fable 5 had stronger safeguards than previous models.
- Because the export control order applies to all foreign nationals, including those inside the US and even Anthropic employees, the company says it had no practical way to comply other than shutting the models down for everyone globally.
- The move marks one of the strongest government interventions in frontier AI to date and could set a precedent for treating advanced AI models as export-controlled national security assets. Anthropic warns that applying this standard across the industry could significantly slow future AI releases.
- For marketers and businesses investing in AI-powered workflows, the story highlights the growing risk that regulatory action, geopolitics and national security concerns could suddenly impact access to leading AI platforms and capabilities.
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AI in digital
AI in travel
Platforms
Platforms in travel
Google Finally Reveals AI Search Visibility Data
- Google Search Console now includes dedicated reporting for AI search experiences.
- Marketers can track AI-driven impressions across AI Overviews, AI Mode and Discover.
- Data can be segmented by page, country, device and date.
- Click data isn’t included, so traffic impact remains unclear.
- The rollout is limited for now, with wider access expected later.
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Platforms
Platforms in travel
Google Maps Becomes the New Discovery Engine
- Google is increasingly surfacing curated lists in Maps, effectively telling users where to go instead of just showing nearby businesses.
- Early observations suggest these recommendations are being generated from trusted user-generated content, including detailed reviews, photos, videos and list-style content.
- This could create a new local SEO opportunity, with businesses needing to optimise for inclusion in Google's AI-curated lists, not just rankings.
- The shift reflects Google's broader move from search results to recommendations, helping users make decisions faster.
- For marketers, visibility in Google Maps may increasingly depend on generating authentic customer content and reviews that Google can use as recommendation signals.
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AI in digital
Platforms
ChatGPT Ads Get a Performance Marketing Upgrade
- OpenAI has confirmed conversion-optimised campaigns are coming to ChatGPT, moving its ad platform beyond awareness and into performance marketing.
- Advertisers will be able to track and optimise for actions such as leads, sign-ups and purchases using the OpenAI Pixel and Conversions API.
- The update signals OpenAI’s ambition to build a full-funnel advertising ecosystem around ChatGPT, putting it on a more direct collision course with Google and Meta.
- For marketers, now is the time to start testing how brands can influence discovery and conversions within AI-driven customer journeys
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AI in digital
Platforms
YouTube Starts Auto-Labelling AI Videos
- YouTube can now automatically detect and label AI-generated content, even when creators don't disclose it themselves.
- AI labels are becoming much more visible, appearing directly under videos and as overlays on Shorts.
- Creators can challenge incorrect labels, but YouTube is using signals such as C2PA metadata and its own detection systems to identify AI-generated content.
- For marketers and creators, transparency around AI-generated content is quickly becoming the norm rather than a nice-to-have.
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AI in digital
AI in travel
Platforms
Reddit Doubles Down on Its AI Value
- Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says modern LLMs “would not exist as we know them” without Reddit’s vast archive of user-generated conversations.
- Huffman described Reddit’s content as “modern oil” for AI, reinforcing why the platform is licensing data to companies like Google and OpenAI while pursuing legal action against unauthorised scraping.
- For marketers, the comments highlight Reddit’s growing influence in both AI training and AI search, making authentic community discussions increasingly valuable for brand visibility.
- Reddit is also positioning itself as a key AI player, using AI to improve search, moderation and discovery across the platform.
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Platforms
Google Puts Original Content Front and Centre
- Google is rolling out new features to better surface original, high-quality content and trusted sources in Search.
- New labels, including "Highly Cited", will help users identify content that has been widely referenced across the web.
- For marketers and publishers, unique insights, firsthand expertise and original reporting are becoming even more important for visibility in Google Search.
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Data privacy
Australia’s Privacy Shake-Up Hits Martech
- Australia’s privacy regulator has updated APP 3 for the first time in more than a decade, expanding what counts as “data collection” across modern marketing and martech activities. This now includes AI-driven predictions, audience segmentation, cookies, chatbot inputs, meeting transcripts, data enrichment and AI model training.
- The biggest commercial impact is likely to be smaller addressable audiences and weaker campaign performance.
- AI-powered customer scoring and predictive modelling are now treated as data collection activities in their own right. Businesses may need to justify why these predictions are necessary, fair and reasonably expected by the customer.
- Data enrichment is becoming much riskier. Buying third-party data or appending customer records can no longer be defended simply because a supplier claimed the data was compliant. Responsibility now sits with the business using the data.
- Cookie banners and consent flows are under the spotlight. The OAIC has called out dark patterns such as hidden reject options, pre-ticked boxes and bundled consent, signalling that genuine user choice will be a key compliance requirement moving forward.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google’s Search Is Becoming an AI Agent
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai says Search, Gemini, AI agents and app-building tools will eventually merge into a single product that can find information, create content and complete tasks for users.
- Pichai described AI agents as the “next evolution of the web”, with Google building towards a future where agents work in the background to plan trips, make decisions and handle multi-step tasks without users needing to click through multiple websites.
- While Google insists it remains committed to sending traffic to the open web, the direction of travel is clear. Search is moving from a link-based discovery engine towards a conversational, task-completion experience powered by AI.
- The shift is fuelling publisher concerns around “Google Zero”, the idea that search traffic could eventually disappear as AI answers become the destination rather than the gateway. Pichai pushed back on those fears but acknowledged the broader information ecosystem is changing rapidly.
- For marketers and SEO teams, this reinforces the need to think beyond rankings and clicks. Visibility inside AI-generated answers, agent workflows and conversational search experiences is becoming just as important as traditional organic search performance.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google’s New AI Visibility Scorecard for Retailers
- Google is rolling out new AI performance insights in Merchant Center, giving retailers visibility into how their products appear and perform across AI-powered shopping experiences like Search, Gemini and AI-driven shopping results.
- Advertisers will get access to share of voice reporting, shopping funnel insights and conversational search query data, helping brands understand where they’re showing up during product discovery, evaluation and purchase stages.
- New product attribute reporting will flag missing feed information such as colour, material and style, making it easier for retailers to improve product data and increase discoverability in AI-generated results.
- The update signals a shift in how product feeds need to be managed. Retailers may need to optimise feeds more like SEO content, focusing on context, completeness and natural language relevance as shopping becomes increasingly conversational.
- The rollout will begin across the US, Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand in the coming months, giving marketers an early look at how Google measures visibility and recommendations within AI shopping environments.
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AI in digital
Data privacy
Marketing by numbers
Businesses Face Growing Privacy Trust Challenge
- Australians are becoming significantly more privacy-conscious, with 87% saying they are more concerned about privacy than they were five years ago. The findings come from the OAIC’s latest Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey, which suggests consumer expectations are rising faster than organisations are responding.
- Trust in AI companies has fallen to just 4%, while social media platforms sit even lower at 3%, making them the least trusted sectors measured in the report. Concerns around transparency, accountability and data handling appear to be driving the sharp decline.
- There is a clear opportunity for brands that prioritise privacy. Around 68% of Australians said they would be more likely to use digital services if they knew their personal information was being handled fairly and responsibly.
- Consumers are not rejecting data collection outright, but they want stronger controls. More than 90% said data collection is acceptable when the purpose is clear, consent is available and only necessary information is collected.
- The report highlights a growing trust gap between organisations and consumers. Only one in ten Australians believe organisations usually handle personal information fairly online, while privacy complaints to the OAIC have increased by 73% this financial year.
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AI in digital
Platforms
OpenAI Gives Advertisers More Control in ChatGPT
- OpenAI has expanded its Ads Manager Beta with daily budget controls, giving marketers more flexibility to manage campaign pacing and spend. The feature is currently available for newly created campaigns only.
- Advertisers can now target audiences at a much more granular level across the US, including by state, DMA and ZIP code. This brings ChatGPT’s ad platform closer to the targeting capabilities marketers are used to on Google and Meta.
- Reporting has been upgraded with aggregate totals for impressions, clicks and spend now visible directly within campaign, ad group and ad-level views. This makes performance monitoring easier without exporting data.
- OpenAI is also testing new ad formats inside ChatGPT, including dynamic CTAs such as “Shop Now”, “Book Now”, “Sign Up” and “Learn More”. These are automatically selected based on the ad creative and destination experience.
- The update signals OpenAI’s continued push to make ChatGPT a serious advertising channel. Combined with recent launches of self-serve Ads Manager, CPC bidding and expanded measurement tools, the platform is rapidly evolving from an experimental ad product into a more mature performance marketing ecosystem.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google Pushes Original Content in AI Search
- Google is rolling out new Search features that give more visibility to original reporting, creator content and first-hand expertise, signalling a stronger push towards rewarding genuine, high-quality content.
- A new “Highly Cited” label will highlight stories and articles that are frequently referenced by other publishers, helping users identify authoritative sources more quickly.
- The update appears designed to build trust in Google's increasingly AI-driven Search experience, as concerns continue around AI Overviews reducing publisher traffic and occasionally surfacing inaccurate information.
- For marketers and publishers, the message is clear: original research, unique insights, expert commentary and first-hand experience are becoming even more important ranking signals as Google looks to differentiate quality content from AI-generated commodity content.
- The move aligns with Google's broader AI Search strategy announced at I/O 2026, where the company emphasised surfacing trusted sources while integrating more AI-generated answers into Search.
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AI in digital
AI in travel
Platforms
Platforms in travel
Google Search Enters Its AI Agent Era
- Google has unveiled a major AI overhaul of Search powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash, shifting the experience from traditional keyword queries to more conversational, context-aware interactions. Users can now upload PDFs and images, ask longer questions and continue conversations directly within search results.
- Paul Hewett, CEO of In Marketing We Trust, called it “the biggest search box redesign in 25 years, plus a significant shift with information agents.” He added: “AI overviews and AI mode now chain together with context preserved. The unit of brand visibility isn’t being cited once, it’s being cited and surfaced in the follow-ups.”
- Google’s new “intelligent search box” behaves more like a chatbot, automatically generating nuanced prompts and independently monitoring research topics. The company is positioning Search as a full AI-powered journey rather than a static results page.
- Search will also begin creating lightweight apps and visual tools on the fly. Examples include personalised travel planners that combine calendar events, location data and real-time conditions to generate tailored recommendations.
- Google is also leaning into “agentic” AI capabilities, where assistants can complete tasks like booking services, monitoring live events and sending alerts. These features are expected to roll out later this year.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google’s AI Cart Could Reshape Retail
- Google’s Universal Cart aims to unify shopping across multiple merchants, powered by its 60 billion-listing Shopping Graph.
- The system could automate tedious shopping tasks like tracking price changes, restocks and product compatibility.
- UCP and AP2 could let AI agents move from recommending products to completing purchases on a shopper’s behalf.
- Paul Hewett warns Google could gain control of the full journey: discovery, checkout, payment, fulfilment and purchase data.
- “Underneath Universal Cart plus UCP plus AP2 gives Google the infrastructure to own the whole shopping journey. Discovery, recommendation, checkout, payment, fulfilment. All inside Google’s surfaces, with Google holding the data on every step. Scary stuff …”
- For marketers, the big watch-out is data power: Google may soon understand purchase intent and price sensitivity better than retailers themselves.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google’s New AI Ads Change Search Discovery
- Google is testing two new AI Mode ad formats, Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers, both powered by Gemini and designed to place ads inside AI-generated responses and recommendations.
- Conversational Discovery ads respond to detailed, exploratory prompts, shifting optimisation away from simple keywords and towards context, creative quality and product relevance.
- Highlighted Answers can insert sponsored results directly into AI-generated recommendation lists, giving advertisers a shot at visibility earlier in the research journey.
- For marketers, this points to a future where landing page content, structured product data, first-party signals and creative assets matter more in paid search performance.
- Measurement may get messier, as conversational searches are longer, less structured and harder to attribute than traditional keyword-led search.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google Brings MMM Into GA360
- Google is integrating Meridian, its open-source Marketing Mix Model (MMM), directly into Google Analytics 360. The move is designed to give marketers a more unified view of performance measurement and media effectiveness in one platform.
- The new setup will combine first-party data, cross-channel metrics and predictive modelling to help marketers better understand what is actually driving business outcomes, not just attribution signals.
- Google is also introducing Qualified Future Conversions (QFCs), powered by Gemini AI. These signals aim to connect upper-funnel activity like brand searches with future sales outcomes, helping marketers spot revenue opportunities earlier.
- Over time, Google plans to feed these predictive conversion signals into Meridian to improve MMM accuracy and forecasting capabilities. The focus is on helping advertisers make more confident media investment decisions.
- The update signals Google’s continued push towards integrated measurement, blending analytics, AI and media optimisation into a single ecosystem for enterprise marketers.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google’s AI Search Is Reading Your Inbox
- iPullRank tested Google’s new “Personal Intelligence” layer and found that Gmail and Photos data can directly influence which brands appear in AI Mode recommendations. Brands seeded into Gmail were 46 percentage points more likely to show up in results compared to a control account.
- Gmail turned out to be the strongest signal by far. Brands mentioned in recommendation-style emails appeared in 53.6% of AI Mode responses, suggesting inbox content could become a major new ranking factor for AI-powered search experiences.
- The experiment analysed 1,922 AI Mode responses across categories like streaming services, banks, SEO agencies and running shoes. Seeded brands not only appeared more often, but also ranked higher in top 3 and top 10 recommendation positions.
- Google’s Personal Intelligence feature is opt-in and currently connects apps like Gmail and Google Photos to AI Mode and Gemini for more personalised recommendations. Google says the feature does not directly train on inbox or photo data, but marketers are already questioning the privacy and attribution implications.
- The bigger SEO implication is that AI search visibility may increasingly depend on personal context, not just public web rankings. That means traditional rank tracking could become less reliable as every user’s search experience becomes more personalised.
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Platforms
Google’s May Core Update Is Rolling Out
- Google has started rolling out its May 2026 core update, the second broad core update of the year, and says it may take up to two weeks to complete.
- There’s no companion blog post or new guidance, so marketers should treat this as a standard core update rather than a targeted fix or penalty.
- Ranking volatility is likely during the rollout, but Google’s advice is to avoid reacting to early movements or making rushed content changes.
- For reporting, compare Search Console performance from the weeks before 21 May against data after the rollout finishes, waiting at least a full week before drawing conclusions.
- This is Google’s fourth confirmed ranking update of 2026, following the March spam update, March core update and February Discover core update.
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AI in digital
Platforms
GA4 adds AI Assistant traffic channel
- Google Analytics now has a dedicated AI Assistant channel, making it easier for marketers to see when traffic comes from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.
- Visits from recognised AI assistants will automatically use the new “ai-assistant” medium, reducing the need for manual tagging or messy referral analysis.
- This traffic will appear under the AI Assistant channel in Default Channel Group reports, helping teams compare AI-driven discovery against organic search and other channels.
- GA4 will also label these visits with the “(ai-assistant)” campaign name, giving marketers a clearer way to monitor clicks, source trends and business impact from generative AI.
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