Jan 29 2025
AI’s energy obsession just got a reality check

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.

Just a week in, the AI sector has already seen its first battle of wits under the new Trump administration. The clash stems from two key pieces of news: the announcement of the Stargate project, which would spend $500 billion—more than the Apollo space program—on new AI data centers, and the release of a powerful new model from China. Together, they raise important questions the industry needs to answer about the extent to which the race for more data centers—with their heavy environmental toll—is really necessary.

A reminder about the first piece: OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank, and an Abu Dhabi–based investment fund called MGX plan to spend up to $500 billion opening massive data centers around the US to build better AI. Much of the groundwork for this project was laid in 2024, when OpenAI increased its lobbying spending sevenfold (which we were first to report last week) and AI companies started pushing for policies that were less about controlling problems like deepfakes and misinformation, and more about securing more energy.

Still, Trump received credit for it from tech leaders when he announced the effort on his second day in office. “I think this will be the most important project of this era,” OpenAI’s Sam Altman said at the launch event, adding, “We wouldn’t be able to do this without you, Mr. President.”

It’s an incredible sum, just slightly less than the inflation-adjusted cost of building the US highway system over the course of more than 30 years. However, not everyone sees Stargate as having the same public benefit. Environmental groups say it could strain local grids and further drive up the cost of energy for the rest of us, who aren’t guzzling it to train and deploy AI models. Previous research has also shown that data centers tend to be built in areas that use much more carbon-intensive sources of energy, like coal, than the national average. It’s not clear how much, if at all, Stargate will rely on renewable energy. 

Even louder critics of Stargate, though, include Elon Musk. None of Musk’s companies are involved in the project, and he has attempted to publicly sow doubt that OpenAI and SoftBank have enough of the money needed for the plan anyway, claims that Altman disputed on X. Musk’s decision to publicly criticize the president’s initiative has irked people in Trump’s orbit, Politico reports, but it’s not clear if those people have expressed that to Musk directly. 

On to the second piece. On the day Trump was inaugurated, a Chinese startup released an AI model that started making a whole bunch of important people in Silicon Valley very worried about their competition. (This close timing is almost certainly not an accident.)

The model, called DeepSeek R1, is a reasoning model. These types of models are designed to excel at math, logic, pattern-finding, and decision-making. DeepSeek proved it could “reason” through complicated problems as well as one of OpenAI’s reasoning models, o1—and more efficiently. What’s more, DeepSeek isn’t a super-secret project kept behind lock and key like OpenAI’s. It was released for all to see.

DeepSeek was released as the US has made outcompeting China in the AI race a top priority. This goal was a driving force behind the 2022 CHIPS Act to make more chips domestically. It’s influenced the position of tech companies like OpenAI, which has embraced lending its models to national security work and has partnered with the defense-tech company Anduril to help the military take down drones. It’s led to export controls that limit what types of chips Nvidia can sell to China.

The success of DeepSeek signals that these efforts aren’t working as well as AI leaders in the US would like (though it’s worth noting that the impact of export controls for chips isn’t felt for a few years, so the policy wouldn’t be expected to have prevented a model like DeepSeek).  

Still, the model poses a threat to the bottom line of certain players in Big Tech. Why pay for an expensive model from OpenAI when you can get access to DeepSeek for free? Even other makers of open-source models, especially Meta, are panicking about the competition, according to The Information. The company has set up a number of “war rooms” to figure out how DeepSeek was made so efficient. (A couple of days after the Stargate announcement, Meta said it would increase its own capital investments by 70% to build more AI infrastructure.)

What does this all mean for the Stargate project? Let’s think about why OpenAI and its partners are willing to spend $500 billion on data centers to begin with. They believe that AI in its various forms—not just chatbots or generative video or even new AI agents, but also developments yet to be unveiled—will be the most lucrative tool humanity has ever built. They also believe that access to powerful chips inside massive data centers is the key to getting there. 

DeepSeek poked some holes in that approach. It didn’t train on yet-unreleased chips that are light-years ahead. It didn’t, to our knowledge, require the eye-watering amounts of computing power and energy behind the models from US companies that have made headlines. Its designers made clever decisions in the name of efficiency.

In theory, it could make a project like Stargate seem less urgent and less necessary. If, in dissecting DeepSeek, AI companies discover some lessons about how to make models use existing resources more effectively, perhaps constructing more and more data centers won’t be the only winning formula for better AI. That would be welcome to the many people affected by the problems data centers can bring, like lots of emissions, the loss of fresh, drinkable water used to cool them, and the strain on local power grids. 

Thus far, DeepSeek doesn’t seem to have sparked such a change in approach. OpenAI researcher Noam Brown wrote on X, “I have no doubt that with even more compute it would be an even more powerful model.”

If his logic wins out, the players with the most computing power will win, and getting it is apparently worth at least $500 billion to AI’s biggest companies. But let’s remember—announcing it is the easiest part.

Now read the rest of The Algorithm

Deeper Learning

What’s next for robots

Many of the big questions about AI–-how it learns, how well it works, and where it should be deployed—are now applicable to robotics. In the year ahead, we will see humanoid robots being put to the test in warehouses and factories, robots learning in simulated worlds, and a rapid increase in the military’s adoption of autonomous drones, submarines, and more. 

Why it matters: Jensen Huang, the highly influential CEO of the chipmaker Nvidia, stated last month that the next advancement in AI will mean giving the technology a “body” of sorts in the physical world. This will come in the form of advanced robotics. Even with the caveat that robotics is full of futuristic promises that usually aren’t fulfilled by their deadlines, the marrying of AI methods with new advancements in robots means the field is changing quickly. Read more here.

Bits and Bytes

Leaked documents expose deep ties between Israeli army and Microsoft

Since the attacks of October 7, the Israeli military has relied heavily on cloud and AI services from Microsoft and its partner OpenAI, and the tech giant’s staff has embedded with different units to support rollout, a joint investigation reveals. (+972 Magazine)

The tech arsenal that could power Trump’s immigration crackdown

The effort by federal agencies to acquire powerful technology to identify and track migrants has been unfolding for years across multiple administrations. These technologies may be called upon more directly under President Trump. (The New York Times)

OpenAI launches Operator—an agent that can use a computer for you

Operator is a web app that can carry out simple online tasks in a browser, such as booking concert tickets or making an online grocery order. (MIT Technology Review)

The second wave of AI coding is here

A string of startups are racing to build models that can produce better and better software. But it’s not only AI’s increasingly powerful ability to write code that’s impressive. They claim it’s the shortest path to superintelligent AI. (MIT Technology Review)

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 29 2025
The Download: DeepSeek forces a reality check, and robotaxis’ future

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

AI’s energy obsession just got a reality check

Just a week in, the AI sector has already seen its first battle of wits under the new Trump administration. The clash stems from two key pieces of news: the announcement of the Stargate project, which would spend $500 billion—more than the Apollo space program—on new AI data centers, and the release of a powerful new open-source model from China.

Together, they raise important questions the industry needs to answer about the extent to which the race for more data centers—with their heavy environmental toll—is really necessary. 

If, in dissecting DeepSeek R1, AI companies discover some lessons about how to make models use existing resources more effectively, perhaps constructing more and more data centers won’t be the only winning formula for better AI. Read the full story.

—James O’Donnell

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.

Robotaxis: 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2025

If you live in certain cities in America or China, you’ve probably spotted driverless cars dropping off passengers. Perhaps you’ve even ridden in one yourself. That’s a radical change from even three years ago, when these services were still learning the rules of the road. And robotaxis could soon be operating in many more cities.

After years of beta testing, driverless taxis are now finally becoming available to the public. In more than a dozen cities worldwide, riders can summon one whenever they want. Now, the biggest players are ramping up for intense competition as they expand into new cities under regulators’ watchful eyes. Read the full story.

—Rhiannon Williams

Robotaxis is one of our 10 Breakthrough Technologies for 2025, MIT Technology Review’s annual list of tech to watch. Check out the rest of the list, and cast your vote for the honorary 11th breakthrough.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 DeepSeek’s AI model is sending US data to China
Which could open it up to a lot of scrutiny in the US. (Wired $)
+ The model’s popularity has made it a cyber attack target. (The Guardian)
+ The company was forced to limit the number of new users registering. (The Verge)
+ How a top Chinese AI model overcame US sanctions. (MIT Technology Review)

2 DeepSeek’s success is emboldening other Chinese startups
Moonshot and Zhipu are among the firms racing to capitalize on the world’s attention. (FT $)
+ DeepSeek mania has gripped the world and shaken the markets. (404 Media)
+ The country is cheering on its homegrown success story. (Bloomberg $)
+ …And many Americans are impressed by it, too. (The Atlantic $)

3 Microsoft has entered the fray to buy TikTok
According to Donald Trump, at least. (WP $)
+ Microsoft had originally floated buying the app back in 2020. (Reuters)

4 Google Maps is changing the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America
But users in Mexico will continue to see its original name. (CNBC)
+ Other countries across the world will be presented with both names. (Forbes $)

5 Scammers are using AI to create blackmail videos
The clips feature AI-generated news anchors reporting on sextortion cases. (Wired $)
+ An AI startup made a hyperrealistic deepfake of me that’s so good it’s scary. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Amazon is seeking permission to fly drones in the North of England
The retail giant is lagging behind other drone projects in the UK.(The Guardian)

7 This new fertility treatment could be a viable IVF alternative
As well as a much less painful, invasive procedure. (The Atlantic $)
+ This biotech CEO decided to take her own (fertility) medicine. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Yahoo is determined to become cool again
By capitalizing on our obsession with nostalgia. (Insider $)

9 The Pebble smartwatch is back
Almost a decade after Fitbit bought the company, it’s relaunching. (The Verge)
+ But it’s going to need a new name. (TechCrunch)

10 How to measure the shape of the universe
Subtle signals could help us to map it out. (Quanta Magazine)
+ Why is the universe so complex and beautiful? (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“It’s legit invigorating to have a new competitor!”

—OpenAI boss Sam Altman says he’s not worried at all by the success of open-source AI model DeepSeek R1 in a post on X.

The big story

Meet the divers trying to figure out how deep humans can go

February 2024

Two hundred thirty meters into one of the deepest underwater caves on Earth, Richard “Harry” Harris knew that not far ahead of him was a 15-meter drop leading to a place no human being had seen before.

Getting there had taken two helicopters, three weeks of test dives, two tons of equipment, and hard work to overcome an unexpected number of technical problems. But in the moment, Harris was hypnotized by what was before him: the vast, black, gaping unknown.

Staring into it, he felt the familiar pull—maybe he could go just a little farther. Instead, he and his diving partner, Craig Challen, decided to turn back. That’s because they weren’t there to set records. Instead, they were there to test what they saw as a possible key to unlocking depths beyond even 310 meters: breathing hydrogen. Read the full story. 

—Samantha Schuyler

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ How to make a tasty mocktail like a pro. 🍹
+ Happy birthday to the one and only Billy Ocean, who recently turned the ripe old age of 75.
+ Fans of video game Deep Rock Galactic are a rarity—a kind, welcoming and friendly gaming community.
+ Hongbao, the little red envelopes given out at Lunar New Year, have a long and fascinating history. 🧧

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 29 2025
Mice with two dads have been created using CRISPR

Mice with two fathers have been born—and have survived to adulthood—following a complex set of experiments by a team in China. 

Zhi-Kun Li at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his colleagues used CRISPR to create the mice, using a novel approach to target genes that normally need to be inherited from both male and female parents. They hope to use the same approach to create primates with two dads. 

Humans are off limits for now, but the work does help us better understand a strange biological phenomenon known as imprinting, which causes certain genes to be expressed differently depending on which parent they came from. For these genes, animals inherit part of a “dose” from each parent, and the two must work in harmony to create a healthy embryo. Without both doses, gene expression can go awry, and the resulting embryos can end up with abnormalities.

This is what researchers have found in previous attempts to create mice with two dads. In the 1980s, scientists in the UK tried injecting the DNA-containing nucleus of a sperm cell into a fertilized egg cell. The resulting embryos had DNA from two males (as well as a small amount of DNA from a female, in the cytoplasm of the egg).

But when these embryos were transferred to the uteruses of surrogate mouse mothers, none of them resulted in a healthy birth, seemingly because imprinted genes from both paternal and maternal genomes are needed for development. 

Li and his colleagues took a different approach. The team used gene editing to knock out imprinted genes altogether.

Around 200 of a mouse’s genes are imprinted, but Li’s team focused on 20 that are known to be important for the development of the embryo.

In an attempt to create healthy mice with DNA from two male “dads,” the team undertook a complicated set of experiments. To start, the team cultured cells with sperm DNA to collect stem cells in the lab. Then they used CRISPR to disrupt the 20 imprinted genes they were targeting.

These gene-edited cells were then injected, along with other sperm cells, into egg cells that had had their own nuclei removed. The result was embryonic cells with DNA from two male mice. These cells were then injected into a type of “embryo shell” used in research, which provides the cells required to make a placenta. The resulting embryos were transferred to the uteruses of female mice.

It worked—to some degree. Some of the embryos developed into live pups, and they even survived to adulthood. The findings were published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

“It’s exciting,” says Kotaro Sasaki, a developmental biologist at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the work. Not only have Li and his team been able to avoid a set of imprinting defects, but their approach is the second way scientists have found to create mice using DNA from two males.

The finding builds on research by Katsuhiko Hayashi, now at Osaka University in Japan, and his colleagues. A couple of years ago, that team presented evidence that they had found a way to take cells from the tails of adult male mice and turn them into immature egg cells. These could be fertilized with sperm to create bi-paternal embryos. The mice born from those embryos can reach adulthood and have their own offspring, Hayashi has said.

Li’s team’s more complicated approach was less successful. Only a small fraction of the mice survived, for a start. The team transferred 164 gene-edited embryos, but only seven live pups were born. And those that were born weren’t entirely normal, either. They grew to be bigger than untreated mice, and their organs appeared enlarged. They didn’t live as long as normal mice, and they were infertile.

It would be unethical to do such risky research with human cells and embryos. “Editing 20 imprinted genes in humans would not be acceptable, and producing individuals who could not be healthy or viable is simply not an option,” says Li.

“There are numerous issues,” says Sasaki. For a start, a lot of the technical lab procedures the team used have not been established for human cells. But even if we had those, this approach would be dangerous—knocking out human genes could have untold health consequences. 

“There’s lots and lots of hurdles,” he says. “Human applications [are] still quite far.”

Despite that, the work might shed a little more light on the mysterious phenomenon of imprinting. Previous research has shown that mice with two moms appear smaller, and live longer than expected, while the current study shows that mice with two dads are overgrown and die more quickly. Perhaps paternal imprinted genes support growth and maternal ones limit it, and animals need both to reach a healthy size, says Sasaki.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 29 2025
New Web Design Tools, January 2025

This month’s collection of new web design and development tools (free and paid) includes video editors, AI-powered content generators, app builders, software testers, tools to enhance or automate designs, and a selection of new free commercial fonts.

New Design Tools

Outpost is a live-chat service that connects users with experts for actionable advice. It can help get a startup critiqued, designs improved, or portfolios reviewed by professionals from top companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. Use it for in-depth product analyses, detailed design suggestions, UI/UX critique, personalized consultation, and more. Price: Per-message prices range from $20 to $70, with custom plans available.

Home page of Outpost

Outpost

Sonar API, from AI search engine Perplexity, enables developers to build applications using Perplexity’s generative search capabilities with real-time information and citations. Sonar API is the base version, which is cheaper and quicker and includes citations and the ability to customize sources. Sonar Pro API can handle in-depth, multi-step queries with added extensibility, such as double the number of citations per search, more nuanced searches, and follow-up questions. Price: Starts at $5 for every 1,000 searches, plus $1 for every 750,000 words typed into the AI model and another $1 for every 750,000 words the model generates.

Flowdrafter is a free tool to generate a first text draft. Flowdrafter helps users write more productively by preventing editing as you go. Instead, get the first draft written as quickly as possible. Then edit and refine it. Price: Free.

MoreDraw is an enhanced whiteboard application for collaborative flowcharts, mind-mapping, and diagrams. Features AI integration to generate elements, pre-build templates, real-time collaboration, and more. Price: Basic plan is free. Premium plans start at $4.90 per month.

Home page of MoreDraw

MoreDraw

Typper is a Figma plugin for UX design that features advanced and personalized AI, a user-friendly interface, an adaptable design system, and real-time collaboration. Get automated insights and an immediate review process with one click. The launch date has yet to be announced, but beta testers will receive access in February. Contact for pricing.

Outrank is a platform that provides AI-driven, search-engine-optimized content. Receive personalized content that aligns with your unique voice and audience preferences. Get automated AI-driven discovery of high-impact search terms and images that match your articles and business. Outrank creates visuals that enhance your message and your brand’s personality. Features unlimited AI rewrites, unlimited users, and integration with Webflow, WordPress, Notion, and more. Price: $99 per month.

UnderlayX AI is a graphic tool that adds text and shapes behind objects, creates glowing effects, and customizes visuals. Clone images; place logos, text, shapes, or other images behind your photo; and remove and change backgrounds. Price: Basic is free. Pro plan is ₹49 per month (approx. $0.60 — 60 cents).

TestSprite is an AI agent for frontend and backend software testing, automating the workflow from test, planning, and code generation to execution and debugging. With natural language interaction, TestSprite is ideal for individual coders looking for self-serve tests and for small development teams lacking dedicated testing. Contact for pricing.

Home page of TestSprite

TestSprite

21st.dev is an open-source community registry for React user-interface components. Discover and install minimal, modern, and reusable React components powered by Tailwind CSS and Radix UI. Price: Access to the registry marketplace is free.

Kawara AI, launched by Kava, is an AI video editor that slices long videos into short clips. Tags are then automatically generated, allowing you to search (using text) for the right clip. Price: Plans start at $15 per month.

Captioner is an AI application that transcribes videos into text. Use it to generate subtitles for videos. Captioner converts video files to text in approximately 100 languages and aligns subtitles closely to the speech in the videos. Price: $10 per month (billed yearly) or $20 per month (billed monthly).

Sheepscript.ai is an AI tool that takes any video or podcast, analyzes the transcript, and creates a social media post or article. Price: Free for 10-minute videos. Business plan starts at $10.

Home page of Sheepscript.ai

Sheepscript.ai

New Free Fonts

Web page for Coopers Town

Coopers Town

Coopers Town is a modern, friendly, all-cap font with a bold feel. It’s a display font that delivers fun. Price: Free.

–

Web page for Holliday

Holliday

Holliday is a vintage display font that looks striking with drop-shadow to capture attention. Price: Free.

–

Web page for Groozilla

Groozilla

Groozilla is a hand-drawn font, more or less scribbled within the lines, containing lots of energy. Price: Free.

–

Web page for Ankish

Ankish

Ankish is a bold and elegant display font with an elegant Cyrillic style. Price: Free.

–

Web page for Type Light Sans Font

Type Light Sans Font

Type Light Sans Font is a modern sans font that delivers practical emphasis. Price: Free.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 29 2025
AI Resets Ecommerce Supply Chains

Supply chains impact customer satisfaction, operations, and profits. Artificial intelligence is a supply-chain game-changer, enabling businesses of all sizes to optimize demand forecasts, fulfillment, delivery routes, product-defect detection, and more.

Supply Chain Reset

Demand forecasting

Forget “just-in-case” stockpiles and overly complex logistics. That’s not a strategy — it’s negligence. AI-powered inventory and demand tools such as Forecast, ThroughPut, and Blue Yonder predict needs by analyzing historical data, seasonality, and demand signals.

Benefits:

  • Avoid overstocking slow-moving products, freeing up capital.
  • Eliminate costly stockouts with precise reorder points.
  • Streamline inventory planning to match demand, boosting sales and profit margins.
Home page of Forecast

Forecast predicts needs by analyzing historical data, seasonality, and demand signals.

Warehouse and fulfillment

Manual processes, poor layouts, and slow workflows are operational killers. AI can reorganize a warehouse by analyzing order patterns, optimizing storage allocation, and streamlining picking paths. AnyLogistix offers simulation tools to test warehouse strategies.

Benefits:

  • Boost efficiency by prioritizing the fastest order-picking paths.
  • Minimize human error.
  • Ship products faster, improving customer satisfaction and retention.
Home page of AnyLogistix

AnyLogistix offers simulation tools to test warehouse strategies.

Delivery routes

AI tools integrate real-time traffic, weather, and environmental data to identify the most efficient delivery routes. NextBillion.ai provides customizable algorithms for unique delivery challenges, and Here combines live traffic updates with predictive analytics for the fastest and most cost-efficient delivery routes.

Benefits:

  • Reduce fuel costs by cutting unnecessary miles.
  • Lower carbon footprints, meeting consumer demands for sustainability.
  • Improve delivery times.
Home page of Here.

Here combines live traffic updates with predictive analytics.

Fraud and defects

Hidden costs from preventable losses are easily overlooked. AI can detect anomalies in payment systems, supplier networks, and shipment tracking, flagging potential problems before they escalate. Brillio monitors real-time transaction patterns to identify irregularities, while DeepInspect uses AI to identify even subtle defects during production.

Benefits:

  • Prevent costly chargebacks and refunds by detecting fraud in real-time.
  • Maintain quality by identifying patterns in product defects.
  • Protect your brand reputation by delivering superior goods.
Home page of DeepInspect

DeepInspect uses AI to identify subtle defects during production.

Implementing AI

Adopting AI doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

  • Start small with a pilot program to test AI’s impact. Choose an area, such as demand forecasting, with the most pain points, bottlenecks, costs, or inefficiencies.
  • Choose scalable tools. Select affordable, easy-to-integrate AI solutions.
  • Upskill your team. Train employees on the AI tools — to analyze and act on insights.
  • Monitor and optimize. Track key performance indicators such as reduced lead times, lower costs, and improved customer satisfaction to refine AI adoption over time.

By embracing AI, upskilling teams, and fostering innovation, businesses can build smarter, greener, and more agile supply chains.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 29 2025
Google AI Overviews Found In 74% Of Problem-Solving Queries via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Write a summary for this article using no more than 20 words that would be suitable for a news publication

A new report shows that AI Overviews (AIOs) in Google’s search results are uncommon but significantly affect visibility and user engagement.

Authoritas’s study examines how generative AI Overviews impact organic search performance. In December, the team analyzed search data for 10,000 keywords across seven U.S. industries.

The report highlights the growing impact of AI Overviews and explains trends, user intent, and the search volume levels that trigger AI-driven results.

Key Findings

1. AI Overviews Appear In Less Than One-Third of Searches

AI Overviews appeared for 29.9% of the 10,000 keywords studied but made up only 11.5% of the total search volume.

High-volume keywords are less likely to have an AI Overview than mid-range search terms, with monthly search volumes between 501 and 2,400. About 42% of keywords in this mid-range featured an AI Overview.

Takeaway: While AI Overviews are limited in overall presence on search engine results pages (SERPs), they are more common for mid-volume queries. This indicates that there are opportunities in areas with lower competition.

2. Industry and User Intent Are Major Influencers

Telecommunications had the highest percentage of keywords linked to AI Overviews at 56%, while Beauty and Cosmetics had the lowest at 14%.

Queries aimed at solving problems or asking specific questions most often triggered AI Overviews at rates of 74% and 69%, respectively.

Conversely, navigational queries, like searching for a specific website, rarely resulted in AI Overviews. This shows that AI Overviews focus on general information rather than direct navigation.

Takeaway: Content that answers questions or solves problems is more likely to appear in AI Overviews. Brands in more straightforward industries should explore topics where complexity or perceived risk drives research.

3. Non-Brand Terms More Likely to Produce AI Overviews

About 33.3% of non-brand searches show an AI Overview, while only 19.6% of brand searches do.

Brand searches usually happen closer to purchasing, but AI Overviews for informational brand queries can still help shape how people view a brand.

Takeaway: AI Overviews might slow potential customers’ buying process, but they can help influence how users see a brand in the early and mid-decision-making stages.

4. Impact on Traditional Organic Results

When you expand the AI Overview on desktop by clicking “Show more,” the page moves down by about 220 pixels. This shift often lowers organic search results on the screen.

On mobile devices, only one or two organic listings are visible without scrolling, making it harder for SEO professionals.

Takeaway: Since AI Overviews occupy significant space at the top of the search results page, brands must find ways to stay visible. They should focus on appearing in the AI Overview’s answer links and the regular organic results below.

5. Overlap with Traditional Rankings

High-ranking URLs are likelier to appear in AI Overviews, but this isn’t always true.

About half of the top-ranking pages are included in AI Overviews, and some pages outside the top ten may appear too.

Featured Snippets often coexist with AI Overviews. If you have a Featured Snippet, there’s a better than 60% chance you’ll also be mentioned in the AI Overview.

Takeaway: A high rank or Featured Snippet doesn’t guarantee an AI Overview link, but optimizing for these can improve your chances. To remain competitive, keep producing clear and authoritative content.

6. Trust & YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) Topics

Websites known for their expertise, especially in finance and healthcare, are commonly included in AI Overviews.

In contrast, despite having strong rankings in search results, sites like Reddit and Quora are mentioned less often in AIOs.

Takeaway: Websites with reliable voices, verified information, and trustworthy content will likely be cited in AI Overviews.

Conclusion

AI Overviews are still relatively new, but their impact is significant, especially for common or problem-solving questions.

If your website is in an industry requiring detailed research or high stakes, you may see more AI Overviews and tougher competition for top citations.

Even if you don’t see many AI Overviews in your area now, this could change as Google improves its language models and collects more user information.

For SEOs and advertisers, there are two main concerns:

  1. Determine which terms or user intents attract AI Overviews and adjust your content or advertising strategies accordingly.
  2. Keep focusing on essential practices, like optimizing for Featured Snippets and E-E-A-T signals. This will increase your chances of being cited in the context of AI Overview.

The complete study and accompanying whitepaper offer more granular insights into the appearance of AI Overviews.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 28 2025
Wix Shares How To Optimize Enterprise Marketing via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Search Engine Journal spoke with Paula Ximena Mejia, VP of Enterprise Marketing at Wix, about building high-performing enterprise marketing teams. She shared actionable strategies to achieve marketing goals and identify what holds a team back.

The discussion focused on multiple topics, including:

  • Telltale signs of misaligned goals and inefficiencies
  • How to overcome resource constraints
  • Stakeholder engagement to improve collaboration
  • Tech audits
  • Best way to use of AI in a marketing team

Reasons For Inefficiencies In Marketing Teams

Emailing with Paula about enterprise marketing she made it clear that marketing inefficiencies arise from losing focus of the overall goal. What she describes can happen almost silently and affect the productivity and success of marketing teams without hardly noticing what’s going on.

Paula shared:

“Marketing teams frequently encounter inefficiencies because they lose track of the goal. There’s a reason why certain activities are designed and executed but throughout that process, the end goal can be lost. It’s important to eliminate siloed information, bottlenecks in workflows, and challenges in managing limited resources to keep eyes on the prize and end goal.”

How To Address Misaligned Goals

Misaligned goals is something that affects marketing teams of all sizes. Over a career spanning over 20 years this is something I’ve seen quite a bit as a consultant for B2B enterprise corporations all the way to smaller offices. It’s easy to be consumed by the process and mistake them for goals.

I asked Paula what a company can do to avoid misaligned goals and one of things she touched on is pursuing trends that don’t align with broader priorities. She also mentioned “cross-functional collaboration” which is about getting employees that specialize in different areas to work together successfully on the same project.

She shared:

“Misaligned goals often emerge from unclear communication or when teams pursue trends that don’t align with broader organizational priorities. To avoid this, managers and team leads should focus on defining clear, measurable objectives that tie directly to business outcomes. It’s the project manager or team leads’ important role to make sure they understand senior leadership goals and establish processes for regular goal alignment by reviewing initiatives across teams and ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Cross-functional collaboration is key. Engaging stakeholders early in strategy discussions can unify the team’s direction.

Finally, leverage data analytics to measure progress and refine strategies, ensuring that efforts are always aligned with business goals.”

Telltale Signs Of Inefficiencies And Misaligned Goals

Are collaborative inefficiencies and misaligned goals problems that an organization is typically unaware of? Paula shared the warning signs to watch for.

“Many organizations remain unaware of inefficiencies or misalignments until they manifest as missed deadlines or underperforming campaigns. It’s not uncommon for management to lose touch with some of the more day-to-day challenges so it’s important for them to be in constant communication with their teams about some of the below:

  • Keeping project timelines
  • Number of rounds of revisions which is commonly due to unclear communication
  • And inconsistent messaging across campaigns.

Additionally, if teams are experiencing burnout or higher-than-average turnover, it’s a clear indication that resource constraints or inefficient processes need to be addressed.”

Overcoming Resource Restraints

Resource constraints are a common challenge, there is only so much a team can handle, right? I asked her if there is a framework or steps for helping a team get up and over those challenges.

Paula advised:

“Overcoming resource constraints begins with evaluating your team’s current bandwidth, skills, and tools to identify gaps. From there, it’s important to prioritize high-impact projects and delay or eliminate lower-priority tasks to free up resources.

Structuring your team effectively is another step. Cross-functional teams provide agility, while specialists offer expertise in niche areas, so choose a structure that aligns with your goals.

Outsourcing can also be a practical solution, allowing you to tap into external expertise without overburdening your team. Conducting a tech audit is essential to ensure your tools are optimized and integrated, eliminating redundancies and automating repetitive tasks.

Lastly, continuously reviewing and refining team processes helps maintain adaptability and efficiency as market conditions evolve.”

That last part about a tech audit is an interesting bit of advice. Sometimes there’s a better tool that can make life easier for a marketing team.

Where Does AI Fit Into Enterprise Marketing?

Speaking of tools that marketing teams can use, I next asked her how AI fits into a high functioning marketing team. She said that AI use is often a siloed task.

Paula shared:

“Marketing teams are still navigating how to leverage AI to its fullest potential. We use it all the time for specific tasks but it’s often a siloed task.

The main thing I’m looking forward to this year is seeing AI tools that enable better cross collaboration across marketing teams. It’s important to approach AI as a tool that can help, and not use it to replace the human touch and creativity. The key is to strike a balance—use AI to enhance your processes while maintaining critical human judgment.

As a marketer we’re still the ones in the driver’s seat and we have the responsibility to ensure that AI is being used correctly – and delivering quality.”

I had recently listened to a podcast she participated in where she talked about AI silos, so I asked her to elaborate on how that affects marketing and for her advice on improving collaboration with teams that are using AI.

She answered:

“AI silos occur when individual teams or employees adopt AI tools independently without collaboration or integration. This leads to fragmented processes, duplicated efforts, and inconsistent outputs, all of which undermine marketing efficiency. The impact can prevent teams from leveraging shared insights and can create disjointed campaigns.

To address this, organizations can centralize their AI strategy by appointing a project owner to oversee its implementation. Standardizing tools and processes ensures consistency, while cross-team training helps employees understand how to use AI collaboratively.

Establishing regular check-ins to share insights and results can further strengthen teamwork and ensure that AI is driving value across the organization.”

Advice For Building A High-Functioning Marketing Team

Misaligned goals happen when teams prioritize trends or their own narrow objectives that may not align with the overall priorities of the project.

Engaging stakeholders at the start of a project to establish shared objectives is key to keeping the entire team working together toward the same goal. Analytics can help track performance, help identify marketing gaps and identify where to refine a strategy to make it work better.

Tech audits is a brilliant suggestion because it can improve the ability to reach objectives and milestones. Careful implementation of AI is important to ensure that the team is using it collaboratively instead of in silos.

There’s a lot more to unpack in that interview, it may be useful to read it twice.

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Golden Sikorka

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 28 2025
Perplexity AI Deploys Chinese DeepSeek AI Model via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Perplexity AI has integrated the new Chinese DeepSeek AI model into their offerings, allowing their Pro level users to use DeepSeek for their Perplexity AI research. Some in the public reacted negatively to the news.

Perplexity AI

Perplexity AI is San Francisco based AI search engine that offers a different way to search for information by leveraging web content and large language models. There is also a Pro Search version that allows unlimited file uploads, can generate images and offers a choice between multiple popular AI models like OpenAI o1 and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5.

Now it’s offering DeepSeek R1 as one of the available choices for Pro Users. The announcement was met with misconceptions about what was being offered, including unfounded accusations that Perplexity DeepSeek data would be accessible to the Chinese communist government and that the search results would be censored.

Aravind Srinivas, Cofounder and CEO of Perplexity, commented on LinkedIn about the controversy:

“All DeepSeek usage in Perplexity is through models hosted in data centers in the USA and Europe. DeepSeek is *open-source*. None of your data goes to China.”

The CEO also took to X (formerly Twitter) to reassure users that the model they are using is not censored, posting a screenshot of an uncensored response to demonstrate that the version of DeepSeek R1 in use at Perplexity is not censored

Screenshot Of Uncensored Perplexity AI DeepSeek R1

Is DeepSeek Self-Hosted Censored?

Anyone can download the DeepSeek AI model and use it locally but the model as-is will be censored since it’s only good as the data it was trained on. The Register downloaded and tested multiple models of DeepSeek and concluded that it is indeed censored:

“Is it censored?
Oh yeah. It is. Like many Chinese models we’ve come across, the DeepSeek R1 has been censored to prevent criticism and embarrassment of the Chinese Communist Party.

Ask R1 about sensitive topics such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and we found it would outright refuse to entertain the question and attempt to redirect the conversation to a less politically sensitive topic.

…Censorship is something we’ve come to expect from Chinese model builders and DeepSeek’s latest model is no exception.”

However, as Perplexity AI’s CEO Aravind Srinivas showed, the model can be uncensored. Contrary to some commenters on the LinkedIn discussion, a self-hosted model does not phone home back to China, everything is contained within the local environment.

Featured Image by Shutterstock/gguy

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 28 2025
Advertising Dependency: How To Create Marketing Resilience via @sejournal, @Kevin_Indig

Advertising can pull your company forward like an 18 wheeler, but it can also create a risky dependency that backfires when you need to reduce budgets or reduce advertising spend.

Think about it like over-watering a plant. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

Lately, I’ve encountered a lot more companies that need to pull paid budgets back and struggle to hit the growth targets as a result.

The solution to this problem is simple: a safety net of organic channels that catches you when you need it. But making it happen is hard.

Tough Waters

Screenshot from layoffs.fyi, January 2025

Channel diversification is the thing you didn’t know you needed until you realize you need to cut budget and you’re too dependent on a single channel. I could be SEO, too.

Lately, budget and people cuts have become the norm:

  1. Big tech companies have conducted mass layoffs to navigate tougher market waters. Over 150,000 tech workers were laid off in 2024 alone.1
  2. Marketing budgets dropped by an average of 15% in 2024 compared to 2023, and minus 26% compared to 2019.2
  3. Higher interest rates make it harder to raise money, unless you’re an AI startup right now, which means that it’s harder to grow as aggressively with advertising.

The frivolous spending times are over. And as a company, you need to build resilience, like an investor who diversifies their portfolio – even though some of their assets have grown really well.

Reducing Your Ad-diction

The common approach to ad spend is to either ramp it up as long as your lifetime value is higher than your customer acquisition cost and net retention is positive, or you simply exhaust your available budget. Often, it’s both.

But the position you actually want to be in is one where you could quickly cut 20-30% of the advertising budget and still grow. That is true resilience.

And resilient companies deliver 150% higher growth, according to a McKinsey analysis.

Screenshot from mckinsey.com, January 2025

McKinsey found that:

During times of economic uncertainty, marketing is more important than ever. Instead of trimming, companies can empower their CMOs to adopt an investor mindset.

By eliminating inefficient spend and reinvesting it in high growth areas, resilient marketers will weather pending storms while also creating opportunities to rebound stronger.3

Channel Diversification

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

When I looked at the channel mix of sites in the biggest industries, I found that B2B enterprise and SaaS companies get much more direct and referral traffic, but less from social marketplaces have the highest percentage of organic traffic, while D2C companies lean mostly on paid.

Remedy

To diversify from advertising, you need to inevst in organic channels like SEO, content marketing, organic social, organic YouTube, etc. Organic channels require only fixed instead of marginal costs like advertising budget.

So, your investment becomes more efficient because returns can scale even without investing more money.

On top of that, organic channels can make paid channels more efficient (e.g., Search), even when you don’t need to reduce budgets.

The challenge is that organic channels take a while to build and don’t have as crisp attribution as paid channels.

The best framework for balancing paid vs. organic channels is earned, owned, and paid.

Image Credit: Kevin Indig
  • Earned channels are the ones where you need to put in the work for additional visibility.
  • Owned channels are the ones that are already yours; they just need to be optimized.
  • Side notes: Your product is the most forgotten-owned channel. You can drive new customers with user referral loops and retention tactics, which, in return, also makes you less dependent on advertising to bring in new customers.
Image Credit: Kevin Indig

To prioritize the right organic channels, measure where your audience is against audience size.

First, find out where your audience is by looking at high-affinity websites in SparkToro, survey your existing customers, or analyze which channels/platforms send you referral traffic in your web analytics tool of choice.

Then, find out the audience size per channel. For example, if you have a highly engaged audience on Reddit but the most relevant subreddit has only 1,000 members, it might be smarter to go after SEO if your relevant keywords have a promising search volume.

A very common sequence of channels that I found to be successful is to prioritize product referrals, then invest in SEO plus email, then in organic YouTube, and then look at alternative channels.

What’s important is to define very clear criteria for when a channel is established based on its impact on the bottom line so you can explore the next one.

Trimming

The most efficient approach to cutting advertising budgets I found is to start with branded terms and paid search.

Many companies spend millions of dollars to bid on their own brand, but it’s not always necessary.

Incrementality testing can reveal that organic search can catch the majority of brand traffic just as well when the product is known enough.

We did large incrementality tests across our product portfolio back at Atlassian and noticed that known products like Jira don’t need paid spend on branded terms. Organic does the job just as well.

Efficient cutting also factors in where your audience is. In SaaS, you commonly cut paid search last and social first. But in commerce, it might be the other way around.

However, the biggest mistake that I see companies make is to cut off brand advertising entirely. You still need brand awareness to feed performance channels and SEO.

Higher paid spend doesn’t always translate into more or better traffic. Two examples I found are Salesforce and Shopify.

Salesforce ramped up paid spend significantly in Q4 but didn’t see a proportionate traffic increase.

Shopify shows a similar pattern, just that its paid spend has grown over the last two years.

These trends don’t have to be bad, and both companies have a diversified channel mix.

They just show that advertising returns can fluctuate, and having optionality is critical to survive the winters so you can enjoy the summers.

Image Credit: Kevin Indig
Image Credit: Kevin Indig

1 Source

2 Gartner CMO Survey Reveals Marketing Budgets Have Dropped to 7.7% of Overall Company Revenue in 2024

3 Beyond belt-tightening: How marketing can drive resiliency during uncertain times

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 28 2025
10 SEO tips for your Valentine’s Day sale

Valentine’s Day is an interesting shopping event for ecommerce stores. Customers are looking for gifts that help express their love for one another, with flowers, jewelry, and other interesting options. It’s a great opportunity to attract and convert online shoppers. Here are some SEO tips to help make the most of your Valentine’s Day sale!

Table of contents

Start preparing early

As with most sales, you need to plan ahead. Begin planning your Valentine’s Day SEO strategy as early as possible. Ideally, you’d start several months in advance. Research keywords related to Valentine’s Day and your industry to see what comes up. When the sale comes, you’ll be inspired and have new ways to promote your products. If you set up gift guide pages, do so in advance so search engines have enough time to index your pages. This increases your chance to rank when the shopping rush begins.

Create a landing page specifically for your Valentine’s Day sale. Use it to highlight your best deals and popular items that make great gifts. Keep the URL simple and undated so that you can update and reuse it yearly. This approach helps you build SEO value over time while keeping backlinks intact. It also makes your seasonal campaigns easier to manage in the future.

It doesn’t have to be just jewelry or flowers; there are plenty of interesting gift options, like tea

Optimize your product pages

Your product pages will probably see the most traffic and conversions, so be sure to optimize them. Use proper related keywords in the places where they make sense, but don’t overdo it. For example, instead of “Rose bouquet,” try “Classic rose bouquet for Valentine’s Day.” Yoast SEO for Shopify or WooCommerce SEO can help you do this.

Consider conveying that your products are made with a good heart without relying on traditional red heart symbolism. This could involve creative descriptions, imagery, or design elements that convey a sense of warmth, kindness, and generosity without being overtly literal.

As always, add high-quality images to your sales pages with descriptive alt-text, such as “red roses for Valentine’s Day delivery.” This will make your product pages more accessible and understandable for search engines. If you sell jewelry, create specific pages with phrases like “Valentine’s Day jewelry sale.”

When you have options to deliver your product, include the final delivery date in your communication to build trust and ensure customers receive their items on time.

an valentines day seo example from a lego gift guide featuring a bouquet build
Lego published a great gift guide on its site, including great images and content

Create gift guides and seasonal content

Content marketing drives traffic to your site. Good content can help shoppers find the perfect gift. For SEO purposes, Valentine’s Day gift guides can serve well. Make guides like “Top 10 gifts for her” or “Romantic ideas for Valentine’s Day.” In these guides, link to the proper product pages to make it easy for shoppers to buy the listed products.

Keywords like “Unique Valentine’s Day gift” or “Valentine’s Day flower delivery” work well in blog content. There are plenty of relevant content ideas. For instance, you could create themed infographics or videos to share on social media.

Focus on local SEO for delivery or pick-up

Is your business locally oriented, and do you offer local delivery or in-store pick-up? Optimize your sales for local searches! Edit your Google Business Profile and add details about your Valentine’s Day sales, opening hours, and local delivery options. Don’t forget to use location-specific keywords in your content.

Build a bond with your customers and encourage them to leave reviews. Positive reviews are an important part of building your local business. Use local SEO properly to attract customers needing last-minute Valentine’s Day gifts or same-day delivery. 

Social media is a great tool for promoting your Valentine’s Day deals. Remember to post appealing images of your products, such as flower arrangements, gift boxes, or jewelry. Depending on your business, Instagram and Facebook are especially good for showcasing your Valentine’s gifts. You might even try TikTok if you’re good at video content. TikTok even published a guide to help you with your Valentine’s Day sale. 

Remember to think about influencers who like your brand. Influencers can create authentic content to drive traffic to your site. Be sure to include special offers to make them actionable.

Use user-generated content

Social media is also a great place to encourage customers to share their Valentine’s Day experiences with your products. Ask them to post photos of the gifts they purchased, the stories of how they were received, or even a review of the experience of buying from your store. You could even create a branded hashtag and promote it in your social media and email campaigns.

As your website is the focal point, remember to add these posts to it. User-generated content helps build trust and acts as social proof. It’s great for potential customers to see that other customers have had an excellent experience with your business. Seeing happy customers share photos of their Valentine’s Day flower arrangements or jewelry gifts can help others do the same. In addition, you are creating a human connection with your customers.

It’s not just about inspiring customers to want to buy but also about getting them to buy it. Special offers help shoppers complete that last step. Create urgency with limited-time deals, such as “20% off Valentine’s Day gifts for 48 hours.” You can also offer free shipping or discounts on bundles for couples.

Don’t forget to use your email newsletters to announce these promotions. Write subject lines like “Valentine’s Day sale — Shop the perfect gift now” to grab attention and get clicks to your site.

an example of a jewelry store using seo to build rankings and good pages
For a jewelry store, this is always a busy time, so it needs to come prepared

Add festive details to your website

A subtle way to get shoppers in the mood for Valentine’s Day is to add small festive design elements to your store. For example, you can update banners, landing pages, and CTA buttons with a subtle Valentine’s theme, such as hearts or pink and red color schemes. But be sure to keep it subtle. 

You can directly link your Valentine’s Day landing page or related content from your website’s header navigation during the sale to improve your SEO. Many ecommerce stores use dynamic navigation to feature seasonal categories like “New In,” “Back to School,” or “Holiday Deals.” Adding a Valentine’s section makes it easy for shoppers to find your offers quickly.

Some people like to shop at the last moment, so please also cater to them. You can always offer digital gift cards and same-day delivery services. Highlight these offers prominently on your website with phrases like “Still looking? Get it today!” or “Instant Valentine’s Day gifts.” 

PPC ads like “last-minute Valentine’s Day gifts”  in search or on social media help target people needing an urgent solution. It’s a quick and easy solution to get sales from customers running out of time. 

an seo example of a last-minute valentine's day sale at harry and david
You won’t be the only one looking for last-minute Valentine’s gifts!

Track and adjust your strategy

Last but not least, monitor the campaign’s performance. Use analytics and internet marketing tools to track keyword rankings, traffic, and conversions. Find out which products or pages perform well and adjust your strategy where needed. For example, if certain keywords like “Valentine’s Day exclusive jewelry sale” drive traffic, create more content around those topics.

Keep an eye on your competitors, too. If they offer something unique, consider how you might adapt your approach.

That’s it for Valentine’s Day SEO

Planning and great content are the most important things to make your Valentine’s Day sale successful. A targeted campaign can attract more shoppers to your store. Optimize your product pages, create engaging content, and promote your offers via social media and email campaigns. Now, you’ll be ready to turn the season of love into a successful sales season.



Edwin Toonen

Edwin is an experienced strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he worked for a top-tier web design magazine, where he developed a keen understanding of how to create great content.

Avatar of Edwin Toonen

Coming up next!

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments