Sep 26 2025
YouTube Answers Creator Questions On Profanity Monetization via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

YouTube released a video to clarify how its recent update to advertiser-friendly guidelines affects creators.

The company acknowledged communication gaps and outlined what it has already done for previously affected uploads.

What Changed?

YouTube relaxed its rules about strong language at the beginning of videos, making it easier for creators to monetize their content.

The company also took a fresh look at videos that were previously demonetized due to strong language in the first few seconds and has now restored some of those videos to full monetization.

Since creators weren’t notified about these changes, YouTube recommends checking your monetization status in Studio and reaching out to support if you think something might have been missed.

YouTube said in the video:

“For content where there was strong profanity within the first 7 seconds… we identified uploads that were demonetized solely for this reason and no other, and re-reviewed them, flipping the rating to a green dollar icon.”

YouTube clarified that isolated uses of strong words do not, on their own, cause demonetization.

Limited ads are more likely when the focus of the whole video is on sensitive topics.

See the full video below:

Restrictions Remain

The seven-second flexibility doesn’t extend to graphic violence. YouTube reiterated that content with explicit or highly realistic violence tends to receive limited monetization.

That also includes video game footage when the graphicness is the focus.

Why This Matters

For creators, this clarification helps ease uncertainties and prevents unnecessary self-censorship. It also clearly defines boundaries for content involving sensitive topics.

For advertisers, this update is designed to help maintain brand suitability while allowing more creator content to be fully monetized.

It has the potential to slightly increase the amount of ad-eligible content, helping advertisers reach a broader audience, especially those who don’t exclude this type of content.

However, the overall effect will depend on individual brand-suitability choices and creator ad-blocking settings.

Looking Ahead

YouTube plans to improve how it explains retroactive reviews when policies change and is considering providing more detailed examples without establishing a strict ‘forbidden words’ list.

Featured Image: Visuals6x/Shutterstock

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Sep 26 2025
Pinterest Launches “Top of Search” Ads In Beta via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Pinterest has introduced new ad products focused on visual search, highlighted by ‘Top of Search’ ads.

Currently in beta across all monetized markets, these ads can appear within the first ten search results and in Related Pins, targeting users as they begin discovering products.

Why This Matters For Search Marketers

Pinterest is a search platform where users arrive with shopping intent, much of which remains unfulfilled.

According to the company’s data, 45% of clicks occur within the first ten results, and 96% of top searches are unbranded. That makes Top of Search placements ideal for category discovery through paid ads.

For advertising teams, this creates a new SERP-like space to compete in, combining search intent with visual creative.

Additionally, Media Network Connect integrates retailer first-party audiences and conversion data into Pinterest Ads Manager via partners such as Kroger Precision Marketing and Instacart Ads, making measurement and incrementality testing more feasible than before.

Early Results

Pinterest reports that Top of Search ads have a 29% higher average CTR compared to typical campaigns and are 32% more likely to attract new customers.

These results are based on platform data and may differ depending on the category and creative used.

Additional Updates

Local Inventory Ads Expanded

Pinterest has expanded Local Inventory Ads in shopping markets, providing real-time prices for in-stock items within a shopper’s nearby store radius.

Retailer Data In Ads Manager

A new self-service feature, Media Network Connect, allows media networks to share first-party audiences, product catalogs, and conversion data directly with advertisers within Pinterest Ads Manager.

Early U.S. partners include Kroger Precision Marketing and Instacart Ads, with additional partners upcoming.

Christine Foster, Senior Vice President at Kroger Precision Marketing, said:

“This new capability empowers advertisers with faster decision-making and control, while using purchase-based audiences direct from the retailer.”

Looking Ahead

Competition for commerce search is expanding across social media and retail platforms. Pinterest emphasizes unbranded, visual discovery and stronger retailer data integrations.

If you’re already using Pinterest Shopping or Catalog campaigns, trying the beta, despite limited inventory, can help you identify where search-related visual placements could integrate into your marketing strategy.

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Sep 25 2025
Gemini 2.5 Flash Update: Clearer Answers, Better Image Understanding via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google updates Gemini 2.5 Flash with clearer step-by-step help, more structured responses, and stronger image understanding, now live in the Gemini app.

  • Gemini 2.5 Flash adds step-by-step guidance aimed at homework and complex topics.
  • Responses are formatted with headers, lists, and tables for faster scanning.
  • Image understanding can explain detailed diagrams and turn notes into flashcards.
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Sep 25 2025
Marketing Is 4th Most Exposed To GenAI, Indeed Study Finds via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Marketing professionals face one of the highest levels of potential AI disruption across all occupations, with 69% of marketing job skills positioned for transformation by generative AI, according to new data from Indeed.

The analysis evaluated nearly 2,900 work skills against U.S. job postings and found that marketing is the fourth most exposed profession, trailing only software development, data and analytics, and accounting.

The Shift From Doing To Directing

Indeed’s GenAI Skill Transformation Index groups skills into four levels: minimal, assisted, hybrid, and full transformation.

For marketing professionals, the majority of affected skills fall into hybrid transformation, where AI handles routine execution while humans provide oversight, validation, and strategic direction.

Indeed writes:

“Human oversight will remain critical when applying these skills, but GenAI can already perform a significant portion of routine work.”

That covers tasks AI can complete reliably in standard cases, with people stepping in to manage exceptions, interpret ambiguous situations, and ensure quality control.

What Marketing Skills Are Most at Risk?

Administrative, documentation, and text-processing tasks show high transformation potential, where AI already performs well at information retrieval, drafting, and analysis.

Communication-related work sits in the hybrid zone for many occupations. In one example from the report, communication skills appear in 23% of nursing postings and are classified as “hybrid.” This illustrates how routine language tasks are increasingly AI-assistable while human judgment remains essential.

How the Study Scored Skills

The study used multiple large language models and based its ratings on consistent results from OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 and Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4, noting that model performance varies.

The team evaluated each skill on two dimensions: problem-solving requirements and physical necessity. Marketing scores high on problem-solving and low on physical necessity, making many skills strong candidates for AI transformation.

A Change From Previous Research

Earlier Hiring Lab work found zero skills “very likely” to be fully replaced by GenAI.

In this update, the report identifies 19 skills (0.7% of the ~2,900 analyzed) that cross that “very likely” threshold. The authors frame this as incremental progress toward end-to-end automation for narrow, well-structured tasks, not broad replacement.

The Broader Employment Picture

Across the labor market, 26% of jobs on Indeed could be highly transformed by GenAI, 54% are moderately transformed, and 20% show low exposure.

These are measures of potential transformation. Actual outcomes depend on adoption, workflow design, and reskilling.

The report notes:

“Any realized impacts will depend entirely on whether and how businesses adopt and integrate GenAI tools…”

Marketing vs. Other Professions

Software development tops the list with 81% of skills facing transformation, followed by data and analytics (79%) and accounting (74%).

On the other end, nursing shows 33% skill transformation, with core patient-care responsibilities remaining human-centered.

Marketing’s position reflects its reliance on cognitive, screen-based work that AI can increasingly assist.

Not All AI Models Are Equal

The report emphasizes that model choice matters. Different models varied in output quality and stability, so teams should test tools against their own use cases rather than assume uniform performance.

Looking Ahead

The report’s authors, Annina Hering and Arcenis Rojas, created the GenAI Skill Transformation Index to reflect the level of transformation rather than simple replacement.

They advise developing skills that complement AI, such as strategy, creative problem-solving, and the ability to validate and interpret AI-generated outputs.

The timeline for these changes will differ depending on the size of the company, the industry, and how digitally advanced they are.

But the overall trend is clear: roles are evolving from hands-on task execution to overseeing AI and developing strategies. Those who stay ahead by adopting hybrid workflows will likely be in the best position.

Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

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Sep 24 2025
SISTRIX Reports Sharp Drop In ChatGPT Web Searches via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

SISTRIX reports that ChatGPT is triggering live web searches far less often for people who use the app without logging in.

In daily spot-checks over the last two weeks, the share of answers that called the web fell from above 15% to below 2.5%. SISTRIX does not assign a cause and notes the observation applies to anonymous sessions.

What Changed

SISTRIX says it “analyses numerous ChatGPT responses to a wide variety of prompts” each day and recently “noticed that ChatGPT uses web searches significantly less frequently.”

It adds that, “at least when using the app without an account,” the measured rate of responses completed via a web search declined sharply in the period reviewed.

SISTRIX doesn’t publish a sample size, list of prompts, or detection method in the post.

SISTRIX also writes that ChatGPT has “traditionally” relied on Bing for web lookups and references rumors of Google data being used, but it doesn’t claim a direct link between any specific backend change and the measured decline.

Related Context

Microsoft Bing Search APIs Retirement

Microsoft announced that the Bing Search APIs were retired on August 11.

Some third-party tools have migrated to alternatives. This doesn’t prove a change inside ChatGPT, but it’s a relevant ecosystem shift.

Google’s SERP Access Changes

SISTRIX separately documented that Google no longer supports the “num=100” parameter and now returns 10 results per request, increasing the effort required to collect SERP data at scale.

Again, this is context rather than causation.

Recent ChatGPT Product Notes

OpenAI’s release notes list “improvements to search in ChatGPT” on September 16, without detailing backend sourcing.

That update may be unrelated to the SISTRIX measurement, but is worth noting in the same timeframe.

Why This Matters

If ChatGPT is consulting the web less frequently in anonymous sessions, you might notice fewer answers citing current sources and a greater reliance on the model’s internal knowledge for those users.

This could influence how often recent news is referenced in responses for users who aren’t logged in, although the behavior may differ for Plus or Enterprise accounts.

Looking Ahead

SISTRIX’s observation is limited to a specific time frame and anonymous usage. Currently, there’s no confirmed information from OpenAI about how frequently ChatGPT performs live lookups overall, and SISTRIX hasn’t provided a reason for the recent drop.

The most cautious conclusion is that one independent measurement showed a sharp short-term decline, which deserves further testing.

Featured Image: matakeris.creative/Shutterstock

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Sep 24 2025
Google App Adds Search Live For Real-Time Visual Search via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has rolled out Search Live in English in the United States, bringing real-time, camera-aware conversations to the Google app on Android and iOS.

You can tap the new Live icon under the search bar, or open Google Lens and choose Live to start an interactive voice conversation that can also see what your camera sees.

Rajan Patel, VP of Engineering for Search at Google, highlights the launch in a post on X:

How It Works

Search Live has two entry points. In the Google app, you can start a voice conversation and optionally enable video input.

Look for the icon shown below:

Image Credit: Google

In Lens, camera sharing is on by default so you can immediately ask questions about what is in front of you and get follow-ups with links to dig deeper on the web.

Google highlights practical scenarios such as hands-free trip planning, quick how-to guidance for hobbies, step-by-step troubleshooting for electronics without typing model numbers, support for school projects, and picking a board game by scanning several boxes at once.

See it in action in this launch video:

Why This Matters

Search Live moves queries from typed text to camera and voice, with answers arriving while people are actively engaged in tasks.

You can capture these searchers by prioritizing content that answers specific, in-the-moment questions. Ensure that your visual information is accurate and easily recognizable.

Local businesses should consider keeping storefront photos, product imagery, and key details current since people can now point, ask, and get links in real time.

Looking Ahead

Search Live is only launching in English in the U.S. for now, but Google says more languages and regions are coming.

This launch continues Google’s push to move everyday search beyond the keyboard. Businesses that prepare their content and visuals for that shift will be better positioned when the rollout expands

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Sep 24 2025
Newfold Digital Sells MarkMonitor As Part Of Strategic Refocus via @sejournal, @martinibuster

London-headquartered corporate domain management company Com Laude announced the acquisition of its competitor, MarkMonitor, previously one of the holdings of Newfold Digital.

Newfold Digital Simplifies Portfolio

Newfold Digital owns many top Internet brands like Yoast, Bluehost, Register.com, and Domain.com, all businesses that focus on small and medium-sized businesses. This divestiture may be a sign that Newfold Digital may be shifting away from the enterprise market and toward focusing its portfolio of web services on the SMB end of the market.

The official Newfold Digital press release states:

“The sale is part of Newfold Digital’s strategy to simplify its portfolio and double down on the areas where it can deliver the greatest value to customers – its core brands, Bluehost and Network Solutions. ”

Stu Homan, Head of MarkMonitor, commented:

“With this acquisition, Markmonitor has found owners who value our dedicated corporate services as much as our customers do. Com Laude is deeply committed to preserving and building upon our ability to continue to deliver industry-leading customer service while growing to new levels with dedication and investment.

Our entire team is excited to bring Com Laude’s advanced tools and services to our customers, and to be part of the most exciting development in corporate domain services since Markmonitor invented the white glove service model twenty-six years ago.”

Previous to the acquisition, Com Laude was a competitor of MarkMonitor, offering services that were similar to MarkMonitor but with key differences and technologies like an AI-powered domain management dashboard.

Com Laude is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and MarkMonitor is in Boise, Idaho, which is not commonly regarded as the center of Internet commerce or technology but is actually a growing regional technology hub.

Benjamin Crawford, CEO of Com Laude, remarked:

“Markmonitor is the best-known name in domain services for corporate customers, having virtually invented the category twenty-six years ago, and since then grown a long list of blue-chip customers with its “white glove” customer service. Com Laude offers market leading advanced tools and bespoke services in domains and online brand protection, developed for the world’s largest companies and most valuable brands. Together we will be uniquely positioned to protect and grow the digital presence of any company that needs assistance with its domain names, internet infrastructure and security, online brand protection, internet policy and compliance, and online strategy.”

Read Com Laude’s announcement:

Com Laude to Acquire Markmonitor in a Landmark Transaction

Featured Image by Shutterstock/thodonal88

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Sep 24 2025
Are AI Search Summaries Making Evergreen Articles Obsolete? via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Ahrefs’ Tim Soulo recently posted that AI is making publishing evergreen content obsolete and no longer worth the investment because AI summaries leave fewer clicks for publishers.  He posits that it may be more profitable to focus on trending topics, calling it Fast SEO.  Is publishing evergreen content no longer a viable content strategy?

The Reason For Evergreen Content

Evergreen content can be a basic topic that generally doesn’t change much from year to year. For example, the answer to how to change a tire will generally always be the same.

The promise of evergreen content was that it represents a steady source of traffic. Once a web page is ranking for evergreen topics, publishers basically just have to make sure that it’s updated if the topic has changed in some way.

Does AI Break The Evergreen Content Promise?

Tim Soulo is suggesting that evergreen content, which can be easy to answer with a summary, is less likely to send a click because AI summarizes the answer and satisfies the user, who may not need to visit a website.

Soulo tweeted:

“The era of “evergreen SEO content” is over. We’re entering the era of “fast SEO.”

There’s little point in writing yet another “Ultimate Guide To ___.” Most evergreen topics have already been covered to death and turned into common knowledge. Google is therefore happy to give an AI answer, and searchers are fine with that.

Instead, the real opportunity lies in spotting and covering new trends — or even setting them yourself.”

Is Fast SEO The Future Of Publishing?

Fast SEO is another way of describing trending topics. Trending topics have always been around; it’s why Google invented the freshness algorithm, to satisfy users with up-to-date content when a “query deserves freshness.”

Soulo’s idea is that trending topics are not the kind of content that AI summarizes. Perplexity is the exception; it has an entire content discovery section called Perplexity Discover that’s dedicated to showing trending news articles.

Fast SEO is about spotting and seizing short-lived content opportunities. These can be new developments, shifts in the industry or perceptions, or cultural moments.

His tweet captures the current feeling within the SEO and publishing communities that AI is the reason for diminishing traffic from Google.

The Evergreen Content Situation Is Worse Than Imagined

A technical issue that Soulo didn’t mention but is relevant here is that it’s challenging to create an “Ultimate Guide To X, Y, Z” or the “Definitive Guide To Bla, Bla, Bla” and expect it to be fresh and different from what is already published.

The barrier to entry for evergreen content is higher now than it’s ever been for several reasons:

  • There are more people publishing content.
  • People are consuming multiple forms of content (text, audio, and video).
  • Search algorithms are focused on quality, which shuts out those who focus harder on SEO than they do on people.
  • User behavior signals are more reliable than traditional link signals, and SEOs still haven’t caught on to this, making it harder to rank.
  • Query Fan-Out is causing a huge disruption in SEO.

Why Query Fan-Out Is A Disruption

Evergreen content is an uphill struggle, compounded by the seeming inevitability that AI will summarize the content and, because of Query Fan-Out, possibly send the click to another website that is cited because it offers the answer to a follow-up question to the initial search query.

Query Fan-Out displays answers to the initial query and to follow-up questions to the initial search query. If the user is happy with the summary to the initial query, they may become interested in one of the follow-up queries, and one of those will get the click, not the initial query.

This completely changes what it means to target a search query. How does an SEO target a follow-up question? Maybe, instead of targeting the main high-traffic query, it may make sense to target the follow-up queries with evergreen content.

Evergreen Content Publishing Still Has Life

There is another side to this story, and it’s about user demand. Foundational questions stick around for a long time. People will always search “how to tie a bowtie” or “how to set up WordPress.” Many users prefer the stability of an established guide that has been reviewed and updated by a trusted brand. It’s not about being a brand; it’s about being the kind of site that is trusted, well-liked, and recommended.

A strong resource can become the canonical source for a topic, ranking for years and generating the kind of user behavior signals that reinforce its authority and signal the quality of being trusted.

Trend-driven content, by contrast, often delivers only a brief spike before fading. A newsroom model is difficult to maintain because it requires constant work to be first and be the best.

The Third Way: Do It All

The choice between producing evergreen content and trending topics doesn’t have to be binary; there’s a third option where you can do it all. Evergreen and trending topics can complement each other because each side provides opportunities for driving traffic to the other. Fresh, trend-driven content can link back to the evergreen, and this can be reversed to send readers to fresh content from the evergreen.

Trend-driven content sometimes becomes evergreen itself. But in general, creating evergreen content requires deep planning, quality execution, and marketing. Somebody’s going to get the click from evergreen content, it might as well be you.

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Stokkete

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Sep 23 2025
Pew: Most Americans Want AI Labels, Few Trust Detection via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

A new Pew Research Center survey reveals a gap between people’s desire to know when AI is used in content and their confidence in being able to identify it.

Seventy-six percent say it’s extremely or very important to know whether pictures, videos, or text were made by AI or by people. Only 12% feel confident they could tell the difference themselves.

Pew Research Center wrote:

“Americans feel strongly that it’s important to be able to tell if pictures, videos or text were made by AI or by humans. Yet many don’t trust their own ability to spot AI-generated content.”

This confidence gap reflects a rising unease with AI.

Half of Americans believe that the increased presence of AI in daily life raises more concerns than excitement, while just 10% are more excited than worried.

What Pew Research Found

People Want More Control

About 60% of Americans want more control over AI in their lives, an increase from 55% last year.

They’re open to AI helping with daily tasks, but still want clarity on where AI ends and human involvement begins.

When People Accept vs. Reject AI

Most support the use of AI in data-intensive tasks, such as weather prediction, financial crime detection, fraud investigation, and drug development.

About two-thirds oppose AI in personal areas such as religious guidance and matchmaking.

Younger Audiences Are More Aware

Awareness of AI is highest among adults under 30, with 62% claiming they’ve heard a lot about it, compared to only 32% of those 65 and older.

But this awareness doesn’t lead to optimism. Younger adults are more likely than seniors to believe that AI will negatively impact creative thinking and the development of meaningful relationships.

Creativity Concerns

More Americans believe AI will negatively impact essential human skills.

Fifty-three percent think it will reduce creative thinking, and 50% feel it will hinder the ability to connect with others, with only a few expecting improvements.

This suggests labeling alone isn’t sufficient. Human input must also be evident in the work.

Why This Matters

People are generally not against AI, but they do want to know when AI is involved. Being open about AI use can help build trust.

Brands that go the transparent route might find themselves at an advantage in creating connections with their audience.

For more insights, see the full report.

Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

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Sep 23 2025
Review Signals Gain Influence In Top Google Local Rankings via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

A new analysis from Search Atlas quantifies the interaction between proximity and reviews in local rankings.

Proximity drives visibility overall, while review signals become stronger differentiators in the highest positions.

This study examines 3,269 businesses across the food, health, law, and beauty sectors.

It shows that for positions 1–21, proximity influences 55% of decisions, while review count accounts for 19%. In the top ten, proximity’s influence decreases to 36%, but review count increases to 26%, with review keyword relevance reaching 22%.

Search Atlas writes:

Proximity is the top driver of local visibility.

The study also notes:

Proximity does not always dominate in elite positions.

What It Means

You’ll have a better chance of achieving top results by focusing on earning more reviews and naturally incorporating service-specific terms into reviews, rather than relying on your pin’s location on the map.

The report suggests that Google understands review text semantically. Using service-specific language in reviews can help your rankings for high-value queries.

How To Apply This

Think of proximity as your default setting. It’s fixed, so focus your attention on the inputs you can control.

When crafting your review requests, aim for natural, service-specific language. For instance, “best dentist for whitening” tends to work better than “great service.”

Also, ensure that your GBP name and profile details are aligned. The research shows that matching your business name to the search intent, such as “Downtown Dental Clinic” for someone searching “dentist near me,” can make a positive difference.

Sector Behavior

While the overall pattern remains consistent, shoppers can exhibit different behaviors across categories.

Per the report:

  • For Law, proximity tends to be the most important factor, with reviews playing a secondary role.
  • In Beauty, reputation signals are more influential. While proximity is still key, review volume and keywords are also important.
  • When it comes to Food, review content and profile relevance become especially valuable, particularly in crowded markets.
  • Health balances proximity with strong reviews and service alignment in reviews.

Looking Ahead

This study quantifies something practitioners have long suspected: proximity earns you a look, but review content helps you secure the top spot in the close contest.

If you can’t change your location, shape the language around it.

For more data on GBP ranking factors, see the full report.

Methods & Limits

The authors applied XGBoost to grid visibility, GBP metadata, website content, and reviews, achieving a global model that explains approximately 92–93% of the variance.

They emphasize that feature importance indicates correlation, not causation. Additionally, they warn that proximity might be overstated due to fixed grid collection and note that their results represent a snapshot in time.

Use these insights as guidance, not a strict rulebook.

Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

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