<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-search-convergance.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI search convergance" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-search-convergance.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-search-convergance-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-search-convergance-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-search-convergance-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>As queries grow longer and less keyword-driven, Google's Search VP says AI is reshaping search intent, monetization, and content visibility.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-search-convergance.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI search convergance" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-search-convergance.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-search-convergance-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-search-convergance-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-search-convergance-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google says AI isn’t killing Search — it’s changing how people use it and making them search more often. AI Overviews help filter out low-value clicks while driving more total searches, Google’s VP of Search Liz Reid said in a new Bloomberg podcast interview.</p>



<p><strong>On AI killing clicks.</strong> Reid said AI mostly cuts &#8220;bounce&#8221; clicks — when users click a page, grab a quick fact, and leave.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;So clearly people sometimes want to spend a couple of seconds, and other times they&#8217;ll spend a whole hour listening to things. And so one of the things we see with the shift with AI Overviews is that, you get more of this pronouncement with what&#8217;s your goal? </li>



<li>&#8220;If all you were going to do was go to the webpage, see the fact, and immediately click back, you&#8217;re going to spend like a half a second on the page. Okay. You see those things shift.</li>



<li>&#8220;But if what you were going to go in and do is read an article for five minutes, you&#8217;re still interested in reading that article for five minutes, right?</li>



<li>&#8220;[AI Overviews] might help you point to the right page so we see fewer bounce clicks where a user would sort of go and immediately come back because they weren&#8217;t happy.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>People want AI and the web.</strong> Reid said AI won’t replace websites — it works alongside them.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“I think there&#8217;s this sort of myth that people want AI or the web… I actually think what we see is that people want AI on the web together.”</li>
</ul>



<p>People use AI for quick answers, but still turn to the web for deeper information:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“Sometimes people really want quick answers… and sometimes they want to go deep.”</li>
</ul>



<p>That includes opinions and human perspectives:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“People care often to hear people&#8217;s perspectives… their unique take.”</li>
</ul>



<p>AI helps users get started, she said:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“There’s an opportunity… to help you get started and then make it easy for you to dig in.”</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>AI Overviews are query-dependent.</strong> AI Overviews don’t show up for every search. Google decides based on what helps the user. If AI doesn’t help, Google sticks with regular results.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;An important premise of this is that we shouldn&#8217;t give you AI for the sake of giving AI, right? The point is for it when we think it adds value to people.</li>



<li>“So we have a variety of signals that try and help us understand, when is it adding value or not? And we get smarter over time as people &#8230; change how they ask questions [and] as the models get smarter. We don&#8217;t want to put an AI Overview if we think it&#8217;s not going to be high quality. So as the models have gotten more powerful, we can cover more cases, and just continue to develop really with the focus being what is the best response to give a user for the question they&#8217;ve asked.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Changing query behavior.</strong> People are searching in new ways. Queries are longer and more natural, Reid said.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;We have seen, with AI Overviews, meaningfully longer queries. We see more natural language queries.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p>Users are also shifting away from keywords.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;I do think one of the interesting things about the evolution of AI is that people stop talking just in keywordese as much, and they start expressing more of what they want. And then that becomes much easier for us to give an answer.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p>Instead of simplifying queries, users now describe their full problem.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;They tell you the real problem, right? They don&#8217;t take their need and translate it to what the computer understands. They try to give the computer their actual need and expect us to do the translation. And I think that&#8217;s really exciting to see because when we can be more helpful, but also, like, those are real problems people had. </li>



<li>&#8220;Let&#8217;s actually, if you go back to the [Google] mission, was &#8216;organize the world&#8217;s information and make it universally accessible and useful&#8217; like that useful part. Right. It&#8217;s not just that it&#8217;s organized. Is it useful to you?</li>



<li>&#8220;And I think one of the most exciting things about AI, the transformation going on right now is that you can actually make information much more useful to people. &#8230; So people just ask more questions because we can actually do a better job meeting their needs.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Ads are evolving</strong>. Google says it can still make money from Search — even with AI answers:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“Search only shows ads on… less than a quarter of queries.”</li>
</ul>



<p>Many AI Overview queries were never monetized:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“There’s a whole bunch of queries… that you don’t make money on because many of them are not of commercial need.”</li>
</ul>



<p>But when people want to buy something, clicks still matter:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;The answer doesn&#8217;t buy the pair of shoes, you actually have to buy the shoes, right? So you still have to go pick a merchant for that.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p>Reid also suggested AI could improve ads by making queries more detailed:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“If people start expressing more of their need… you can actually create better ads.”</li>
</ul>



<p>And as search expands, so do opportunities:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“There’s an expansion of queries… some of those queries are more commercial.” </li>
</ul>



<p><strong>What Google is watching.</strong> One key signal for Google is whether people return to Search more often.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“Does it cause people to come to search more often?”</li>
</ul>



<p>Reid said that’s a high bar:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“It’s another thing to get you to decide you’re going to bother to unlock your phone.”</li>
</ul>



<p>It’s not just about doing more searches — it’s about coming back more often:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“Not just use search more often, but come more often.”</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>AI Mode vs. Search vs. Gemini.</strong> Google isn’t putting everything in one place. Different tools serve different needs, and users move between them.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“There’s plenty of people who co-use across them.”</li>
</ul>



<p>Search and AI Mode are often used for information.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“If it’s an informational query… the probability that they’re using search or AI Mode is going to be higher.”</li>
</ul>



<p>Gemini is used more for writing and creative tasks.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“If it’s a creative query… those type questions are going to be more Gemini oriented.”</li>
</ul>



<p>AI Mode tends to handle more complex questions.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“AI Mode tends to be… more longer complex, more conversational queries.”</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>“AI slop” is not new — ranking is the solution.</strong> Low-quality content isn’t new — AI just makes more of it, Reid said:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;Before AI slop, there was slop. There was human-generated slop. Now there&#8217;s AI-generated slop. There has always been slop on the web.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p>Reid said it doesn&#8217;t matter how much human/AI slop there is. What&#8217;s more important is whether Google can surface great web content while keeping the rate of spam and slop at a &#8220;very low rate.&#8221;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;It&#8217;s not a problem you solve because some of the people generating the spam, right? There&#8217;s a lot of financial incentives associated with it. But &#8230; what people have come to trust Google is that it will show great information. And it&#8217;s a thing that we will continue to put a huge amount of effort in.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>The interview.</strong> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP8qe2Qo2-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google&#8217;s Liz Reid on Who Will Own Search in a World of AI | Odd Lots</a>


Google says AI isn’t killing Search — it’s changing how people use it and making them search more often. AI Overviews help filter out low-value clicks while driving more total searches, Google’s VP of Search Liz Reid said in a new Bloomberg podcast interview.
On AI killing clicks. Reid said AI mostly cuts “bounce” clicks — when users click a page, grab a quick fact, and leave.
“So clearly people sometimes want to spend a couple of seconds, and other times they’ll spend a whole hour listening to things. And so one of the things we see with the shift with AI Overviews is that, you get more of this pronouncement with what’s your goal? 
“If all you were going to do was go to the webpage, see the fact, and immediately click back, you’re going to spend like a half a second on the page. Okay. You see those things shift.
“But if what you were going to go in and do is read an article for five minutes, you’re still interested in reading that article for five minutes, right?
“[AI Overviews] might help you point to the right page so we see fewer bounce clicks where a user would sort of go and immediately come back because they weren’t happy.”
People want AI and the web. Reid said AI won’t replace websites — it works alongside them.
“I think there’s this sort of myth that people want AI or the web… I actually think what we see is that people want AI on the web together.”
People use AI for quick answers, but still turn to the web for deeper information:
“Sometimes people really want quick answers… and sometimes they want to go deep.”
That includes opinions and human perspectives:
“People care often to hear people’s perspectives… their unique take.”
AI helps users get started, she said:
“There’s an opportunity… to help you get started and then make it easy for you to dig in.”
AI Overviews are query-dependent. AI Overviews don’t show up for every search. Google decides based on what helps the user. If AI doesn’t help, Google sticks with regular results.
“An important premise of this is that we shouldn’t give you AI for the sake of giving AI, right? The point is for it when we think it adds value to people.
“So we have a variety of signals that try and help us understand, when is it adding value or not? And we get smarter over time as people … change how they ask questions [and] as the models get smarter. We don’t want to put an AI Overview if we think it’s not going to be high quality. So as the models have gotten more powerful, we can cover more cases, and just continue to develop really with the focus being what is the best response to give a user for the question they’ve asked.”
Changing query behavior. People are searching in new ways. Queries are longer and more natural, Reid said.
“We have seen, with AI Overviews, meaningfully longer queries. We see more natural language queries.”
Users are also shifting away from keywords.
“I do think one of the interesting things about the evolution of AI is that people stop talking just in keywordese as much, and they start expressing more of what they want. And then that becomes much easier for us to give an answer.”
Instead of simplifying queries, users now describe their full problem.
“They tell you the real problem, right? They don’t take their need and translate it to what the computer understands. They try to give the computer their actual need and expect us to do the translation. And I think that’s really exciting to see because when we can be more helpful, but also, like, those are real problems people had. 
“Let’s actually, if you go back to the [Google] mission, was ‘organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful’ like that useful part. Right. It’s not just that it’s organized. Is it useful to you?
“And I think one of the most exciting things about AI, the transformation going on right now is that you can actually make information much more useful to people. … So people just ask more questions because we can actually do a better job meeting their needs.”
Ads are evolving. Google says it can still make money from Search — even with AI answers:
“Search only shows ads on… less than a quarter of queries.”
Many AI Overview queries were never monetized:
“There’s a whole bunch of queries… that you don’t make money on because many of them are not of commercial need.”
But when people want to buy something, clicks still matter:
“The answer doesn’t buy the pair of shoes, you actually have to buy the shoes, right? So you still have to go pick a merchant for that.”
Reid also suggested AI could improve ads by making queries more detailed:
“If people start expressing more of their need… you can actually create better ads.”
And as search expands, so do opportunities:
“There’s an expansion of queries… some of those queries are more commercial.” 
What Google is watching. One key signal for Google is whether people return to Search more often.
“Does it cause people to come to search more often?”
Reid said that’s a high bar:
“It’s another thing to get you to decide you’re going to bother to unlock your phone.”
It’s not just about doing more searches — it’s about coming back more often:
“Not just use search more often, but come more often.”
AI Mode vs. Search vs. Gemini. Google isn’t putting everything in one place. Different tools serve different needs, and users move between them.
“There’s plenty of people who co-use across them.”
Search and AI Mode are often used for information.
“If it’s an informational query… the probability that they’re using search or AI Mode is going to be higher.”
Gemini is used more for writing and creative tasks.
“If it’s a creative query… those type questions are going to be more Gemini oriented.”
AI Mode tends to handle more complex questions.
“AI Mode tends to be… more longer complex, more conversational queries.”
“AI slop” is not new — ranking is the solution. Low-quality content isn’t new — AI just makes more of it, Reid said:
“Before AI slop, there was slop. There was human-generated slop. Now there’s AI-generated slop. There has always been slop on the web.”
Reid said it doesn’t matter how much human/AI slop there is. What’s more important is whether Google can surface great web content while keeping the rate of spam and slop at a “very low rate.”
“It’s not a problem you solve because some of the people generating the spam, right? There’s a lot of financial incentives associated with it. But … what people have come to trust Google is that it will show great information. And it’s a thing that we will continue to put a huge amount of effort in.”
The interview. Google’s Liz Reid on Who Will Own Search in a World of AI | Odd Lots

As queries grow longer and less keyword-driven, Google's Search VP says AI is reshaping search intent, monetization, and content visibility.

Google’s Liz Reid on AI search changes, query shifts, and AI slop

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/What-Ive-Learned-Presenting-Bad-SEO-News-to-Executives.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="What I&#039;ve Learned Presenting Bad SEO News to Executives" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/What-Ive-Learned-Presenting-Bad-SEO-News-to-Executives.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/What-Ive-Learned-Presenting-Bad-SEO-News-to-Executives-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/What-Ive-Learned-Presenting-Bad-SEO-News-to-Executives-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/What-Ive-Learned-Presenting-Bad-SEO-News-to-Executives-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Executives don’t need SEO jargon. They need clarity, diagnosis, and direction. Here’s how to deliver all three when results fall short.


<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/What-Ive-Learned-Presenting-Bad-SEO-News-to-Executives.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="What I&#039;ve Learned Presenting Bad SEO News to Executives" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/What-Ive-Learned-Presenting-Bad-SEO-News-to-Executives.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/What-Ive-Learned-Presenting-Bad-SEO-News-to-Executives-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/What-Ive-Learned-Presenting-Bad-SEO-News-to-Executives-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/What-Ive-Learned-Presenting-Bad-SEO-News-to-Executives-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Traditional <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo">SEO</a> metrics haven’t been good. We don’t need more studies to see what’s happening, but the data confirms it.</p>



<p>Organic traffic is <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/organic-search-visibility">declining for most SEO clients</a> right now. Seer Interactive found that organic CTR dropped <a href="https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-september-2025-update" target="_blank" rel="noopener">61% for queries with AI Overviews</a>. Executives are watching their dashboards trend downward, often for months at a time.</p>



<p>Most consultants I talk to aren’t prepared for the conversations that come with it. I’m not talking about the diagnostic part. Most of us can figure out why traffic dropped. I mean, the part where you sit across from a CMO and have to explain what&#8217;s happening, why, and what you think the company should do about it. That&#8217;s a different skill entirely, and we don’t talk enough about it.</p>



<p>I’ve been in SEO for 13 years and have spent the last six running an agency where I personally lead client strategy and present results to senior executives at B2B SaaS companies. The following are the five things I’ve learned about delivering bad news in what is probably the hardest era in which to be an SEO consultant.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-executives-are-more-predictable-than-you-think">1. Executives are more predictable than you think</h2>



<p>A few years ago, one of my B2B SaaS clients came to me with a concern I wasn’t expecting. They had gone into their analytics and looked specifically at the performance of our team&#8217;s work, separated from the rest of the site&#8217;s organic traffic. </p>



<p>The overall numbers we had been reporting looked fine. But when you isolated the work we were responsible for, the performance was flat. It had not grown at all since we started eight months prior.</p>



<p>I looked over the numbers myself, and the client was right.</p>



<p>When I dug into what had happened internally, the picture got worse. My team knew. They had seen that the work was underperforming, but they had made a decision many consultants make: they reported the numbers that looked good and avoided the ones that didn’t. Instead, they kept presenting overall traffic trends without flagging that our work specifically was not delivering.</p>



<p>Nobody wants to walk into a meeting and say, &#8220;This didn’t work.&#8221; But hiding a failure is often worse than the failure itself. There are two reasons for this.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>The client will eventually find out. Mine did. And when they did, the damage to their trust in us was not about the underperformance. It was about the fact that we had either not caught it, or, worse, had not surfaced it for them.</li>



<li>When you hide what isn’t working, you lose the opportunity to show the thing executives actually value most: that you’re able to recognize a problem, diagnose why it happened, and bring a revised plan to the table.</li>
</ul>



<p>This experience changed how I run every client engagement. I started by rebuilding our reporting to isolate the performance of our own work from overall site trends, and then I implemented the rule that underperformance gets surfaced early, with a diagnosis attached.</p>



<p>Anecdotally, every executive I sit across from has been burned at least once by vendors who obscured their bad results. It’s the consultant who surfaces problems early and brings a plan to fix it who is doing something genuinely rare.</p>



<p>Executives who reacted the worst to bad news were never the ones who received it directly. Instead, they were the ones who were left to discover it themselves, or who could tell that I was dancing around something and trying not to state the bad news directly.</p>



<a href="https://www.semrush.com/lp/semrush-one/en/?utm_campaign=ic_semrush_one&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>

    <div>

      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand <span>shows up</span>.
      </div>
      <p id="semrush-one-subhead">
        The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta">Start Free Trial</span>
    </div>

    <div>
      <div>Get started with</div>
      <img decoding="async" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/semrush-one.webp" alt="Semrush One Logo">
    </div>
  </div>
</a>




<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-diagnose-before-you-communicate">2. Diagnose before you communicate</h2>



<p>Early last year, a prospect came to me concerned about a traffic decline. Their internal team assumed AI Overviews were eating their clicks. It makes sense, since that seems to be the default explanation for every problem right now, and sometimes it’s correct.</p>



<p>But I’ve learned not to walk into a room with an assumption when I can walk in with a diagnosis. Before I said anything to the client, I had a look at their site myself. The first thing I wanted to see was whether there were actual keyword losses, and, if so, who replaced them.&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>If competitors had taken those positions, then that would be an SEO problem. </li>



<li>If, instead, AI Overviews had absorbed the clicks while rankings held or improved, that would indicate a structural market shift. </li>
</ul>



<p>These are two completely different situations that require completely different responses. I wanted to know which we were dealing with so that I could offer solutions from the get-go.</p>



<p>What I actually found was a third issue entirely. The client had run a major PR campaign over the summer that had created a huge traffic spike. The quarter-over-quarter comparison was measuring against that spike, making normal performance look like a decline. </p>



<p>When I pulled the timeline back further and compared pre-campaign to current, the trajectory was actually growth. It was just more stable growth than the spike had made everyone expect.</p>



<p>That diagnosis changed the entire conversation. Instead of walking in and explaining a traffic loss, I walked in and explained what the data actually showed. The client went from concerned to confident in about five minutes. But I wouldn’t have gotten there if I had accepted the surface-level read.</p>



<p>Other times, the diagnosis really is bad news. For example, I had another client with a genuine traffic problem, and, when I dug into it, I found that the cause was technical: a set of pages generating crawl waste that was dragging down the rest of the site&#8217;s performance.</p>



<p>Luckily, I had seen this pattern before with another client and knew what the fix looked like. Because of that, I was able to come to the call and say:&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“I’ve identified what is causing this issue. I’ve seen this pattern before with another client, and I’m going to tell you what we did to fix it, what the recovery looked like, and my theory on what it will do for your site based on the data I am seeing.” </li>
</ul>



<p>That ability to diagnose builds trust from the onset of the project.</p>



<p>No executive needs to hear an explanation of crawl budgets or parameterized pages. They need to hear that you’ve found the problem, that you’ve seen it before, and that you have a plan. But you can’t say any of that unless you’ve done the deep diagnostic work first. </p>



<p>The thing that builds confidence in the room isn’t your delivery. Instead, it’s the quality of the diagnosis and the specificity of the plan behind it.</p>



<div class="nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2">
	
	<div class="row align-items-center nl-inline-container">
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-3 col-xl-4 pe-md-0 pb-2 pb-lg-0">
			<p class="inline-form-text text-center mb-0">Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.</p>
		</div>
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-6  pe-lg-0">
			<div class="form-nl-inline">
				<form id="mktoForm_16298"></form> 
				
				
			</div>
		</div>
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-2 col-xl-2 ps-1">
			<p class="text-center mb-0"><a class="nl-terms" href="https://searchengineland.com/termsofuse" target="_blank" aria-label="opens in a new tab">See terms.</a>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>




<hr class="wp-block-separator has-text-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-css-opacity has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-surprise-bad-news-and-failed-experiments-are-different-conversations">3. Surprise bad news and failed experiments are different conversations</h2>



<p>There are two types of bad news you can end up delivering to a client, and the conversation you will end up having with your client depends entirely on which one you’re dealing with.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprises">Surprises</h3>



<p>The first type is what I think of as surprise bad news. These kinds of problems often happen when the work has been running without a clear strategic structure. You’ve been doing the SEO work. You’re finding opportunities, publishing content, optimizing pages, and staying busy.</p>



<p>But there has been something missing. There hasn’t been a defined plan with specific bets tied to specific outcomes. When traffic starts dipping and someone asks you what happened, you’re left in a difficult position. Why? Because you don’t have a clean way to diagnose what has happened. You weren’t testing a specific hypothesis. You were just doing work.</p>



<p>This happens way more frequently than most consultants would like to admit, especially when there’s no structured review cycle in place. When you&#8217;re constantly in “find more opportunities” mode, everything feels productive until the numbers go in the wrong direction.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-failed-experiments">Failed experiments</h3>



<p>The second type of bad news you might have to deliver is regarding a failed experiment. This type is actually much easier to handle than surprises, even though the news might be just as bad.</p>



<p>A failed experiment means you had a plan. You told your clients something like:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“We are going to try this specific approach because we believe it will produce this specific result.” </li>
</ul>



<p>And then it didn’t. But, because you planned it deliberately, that means that you can evaluate the outcome.&nbsp;</p>



<p>You can tell your client:&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“These elements performed, these didn’t, here is what the data shows, and here is what I want to try next based on what we’ve learned.”</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-taking-deliberate-bets-to-weed-out-surprises">Taking deliberate bets to weed out surprises</h3>



<p>Almost every SEO consultant right now has to report traffic declines to their clients. That’s the reality of the market we’re in. <a href="https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks-update/"></a><a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-drive-drop-organic-paid-ctr-464212">Seer Interactive’s study</a> found that AI Overviews now correlate with a 61% reduction in click-through rates for organic search. </p>



<p>Yet, executives are seeing these numbers drop and still want to see growth. You’re going to have to deliver that bad news regardless. The difference is whether:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>You&#8217;ve already been tracking the trend, forming hypotheses about what&#8217;s driving it, and testing responses.</li>



<li>Or it catches you off guard because you’ve only been watching a monthly report without looking deeply into the underlying patterns.</li>
</ul>



<p>The best protection against delivering bad news poorly isn’t better communication skills. It’s working in structured cycles where every major effort is a deliberate bet with a defined expected outcome.&nbsp;</p>



<p>When something doesn’t work, you’re not delivering surprise bad news. You’re reporting on an experiment that all parties were comfortable trying. That&#8217;s a conversation most executives are completely comfortable having. After all, they run their own teams the same way.</p>



<p>Once I shifted to this way of working with clients, I saw the dynamic in difficult conversations change fundamentally. But I also learned that, even when you have the right diagnosis and the right framing, <strong>when</strong> the executive hears the bad news matters almost as much as <strong>how</strong> they hear it.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-never-arrive-without-a-recommendation">4. Never arrive without a recommendation</h2>



<p>I’ve sat in enough client meetings to know the exact moment a conversation turns. It’s the moment after the bad news lands, and the client says, &#8220;OK, so what do we do now?&#8221;</p>



<p>If there’s no answer ready, the room palpably changes. The bad news, which might have been completely manageable thirty seconds before, suddenly feels much worse.</p>



<p>The worst case is when the client finds the problem before anyone on your team does. I’ve seen it happen. The client goes into their analytics, spots a decline, brings it up, and now you, the consultant, are on your back foot. </p>



<p>No diagnosis. No theory about what caused it. Definitely no recommendation. Just scrambling to catch up on something that should have been caught first.</p>



<p>The diagnosis and the recommendation aren&#8217;t separate steps. They&#8217;re one thing. If you’ve done a deep enough diagnosis to actually understand what happened, you almost always have a theory about what to do next. Showing up without a recommendation means you had not done thorough enough diagnostic work.</p>



<p>These days, before I get on any call where I am presenting something, I make sure I’ve thought through at least two paths forward. Not vague ideas. Concrete options with tradeoffs. I recommend one, explain why, and present the other as a real alternative. The client ends up choosing between solutions instead of sitting with a problem.</p>



<p>For example, I had a client whose legal team was blocking us from publishing comparison listicles, and the whole content strategy — that they had approved — had stalled. Instead of getting on a call with them and saying, &#8220;We have a blocker,&#8221; I came in with two alternative approaches.</p>



<p>One approach was increasing outreach and placements on third-party listicles. The other was shifting the format entirely, and, instead, focusing on content like analyzing third-party reports in the client’s field instead of creating our own comparison content. The client picked one, and we moved forward. The blocker barely registered because it was already paired with a way through it.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-the-tough-conversation-builds-the-relationship">5. The tough conversation builds the relationship</h2>



<p>My strongest client relationships were almost never the ones where everything went smoothly. They were the ones where something went wrong, I handled it well, and the client came out of it with more confidence in me than before.</p>



<p>Many of the people these executives work with are spinning results or avoiding hard topics. When someone shows up and says, &#8220;This didn’t work, here is why, and here is what I think we should do instead,&#8221; it stands out. There’s a difference between transparency that feels like data-dumping and transparency that feels like strategic intelligence. The first erodes trust. The second builds it.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I used to dread difficult months. Every hard conversation felt like a performance review of my work. After years of watching what actually happens when things go wrong, I now process those moments differently.</p>



<p>Why? Because a smooth month doesn’t illustrate to the client anything about how I operate under pressure. A hard month where I catch a problem, diagnose it, and come up with a plan tells them everything. Those are trust deposits, and they compound over time.</p>



<a href="https://www.semrush.com/lp/semrush-one/en/?utm_campaign=ic_semrush_one&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>

    <div>

      <div id="semrush-one-headline-bottom" class="headline-responsive">
        See the <span>complete picture</span> of your search visibility.
      </div>
      <p id="semrush-one-subhead-bottom">
        Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta-bottom">Start Free Trial</span>
    </div>

    <div>
      <div>Get started with</div>
      <img decoding="async" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/semrush-one.webp" alt="Semrush One Logo">
    </div>
  </div>
</a>




<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-conversation-is-part-of-the-work">The conversation is part of the work</h2>



<p>SEO is getting harder, and, in many cases, the numbers are going to go in the wrong direction.</p>



<p>More of the work is happening in the conversation that follows. Explaining what happened, why, and what to do next isn’t a side skill anymore. It’s a core part of the job.</p>



<p>That means showing up with a clear diagnosis, a point of view, and a plan. It means surfacing issues early, instead of waiting for someone else to find them. And it means treating every dip not just as a performance problem, but as a moment to demonstrate how you operate.</p>



<p>Because, increasingly, that’s what clients are evaluating. Not just the results, but how you handle them.</p>

Traditional SEO metrics haven’t been good. We don’t need more studies to see what’s happening, but the data confirms it.
Organic traffic is declining for most SEO clients right now. Seer Interactive found that organic CTR dropped 61% for queries with AI Overviews. Executives are watching their dashboards trend downward, often for months at a time.
Most consultants I talk to aren’t prepared for the conversations that come with it. I’m not talking about the diagnostic part. Most of us can figure out why traffic dropped. I mean, the part where you sit across from a CMO and have to explain what’s happening, why, and what you think the company should do about it. That’s a different skill entirely, and we don’t talk enough about it.
I’ve been in SEO for 13 years and have spent the last six running an agency where I personally lead client strategy and present results to senior executives at B2B SaaS companies. The following are the five things I’ve learned about delivering bad news in what is probably the hardest era in which to be an SEO consultant.
1. Executives are more predictable than you think
A few years ago, one of my B2B SaaS clients came to me with a concern I wasn’t expecting. They had gone into their analytics and looked specifically at the performance of our team’s work, separated from the rest of the site’s organic traffic. 
The overall numbers we had been reporting looked fine. But when you isolated the work we were responsible for, the performance was flat. It had not grown at all since we started eight months prior.
I looked over the numbers myself, and the client was right.
When I dug into what had happened internally, the picture got worse. My team knew. They had seen that the work was underperforming, but they had made a decision many consultants make: they reported the numbers that looked good and avoided the ones that didn’t. Instead, they kept presenting overall traffic trends without flagging that our work specifically was not delivering.
Nobody wants to walk into a meeting and say, “This didn’t work.” But hiding a failure is often worse than the failure itself. There are two reasons for this.
The client will eventually find out. Mine did. And when they did, the damage to their trust in us was not about the underperformance. It was about the fact that we had either not caught it, or, worse, had not surfaced it for them.
When you hide what isn’t working, you lose the opportunity to show the thing executives actually value most: that you’re able to recognize a problem, diagnose why it happened, and bring a revised plan to the table.
This experience changed how I run every client engagement. I started by rebuilding our reporting to isolate the performance of our own work from overall site trends, and then I implemented the rule that underperformance gets surfaced early, with a diagnosis attached.
Anecdotally, every executive I sit across from has been burned at least once by vendors who obscured their bad results. It’s the consultant who surfaces problems early and brings a plan to fix it who is doing something genuinely rare.
Executives who reacted the worst to bad news were never the ones who received it directly. Instead, they were the ones who were left to discover it themselves, or who could tell that I was dancing around something and trying not to state the bad news directly.
shows up.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with
2. Diagnose before you communicate
Early last year, a prospect came to me concerned about a traffic decline. Their internal team assumed AI Overviews were eating their clicks. It makes sense, since that seems to be the default explanation for every problem right now, and sometimes it’s correct.
But I’ve learned not to walk into a room with an assumption when I can walk in with a diagnosis. Before I said anything to the client, I had a look at their site myself. The first thing I wanted to see was whether there were actual keyword losses, and, if so, who replaced them. 
If competitors had taken those positions, then that would be an SEO problem. 
If, instead, AI Overviews had absorbed the clicks while rankings held or improved, that would indicate a structural market shift. 
These are two completely different situations that require completely different responses. I wanted to know which we were dealing with so that I could offer solutions from the get-go.
What I actually found was a third issue entirely. The client had run a major PR campaign over the summer that had created a huge traffic spike. The quarter-over-quarter comparison was measuring against that spike, making normal performance look like a decline. 
When I pulled the timeline back further and compared pre-campaign to current, the trajectory was actually growth. It was just more stable growth than the spike had made everyone expect.
That diagnosis changed the entire conversation. Instead of walking in and explaining a traffic loss, I walked in and explained what the data actually showed. The client went from concerned to confident in about five minutes. But I wouldn’t have gotten there if I had accepted the surface-level read.
Other times, the diagnosis really is bad news. For example, I had another client with a genuine traffic problem, and, when I dug into it, I found that the cause was technical: a set of pages generating crawl waste that was dragging down the rest of the site’s performance.
Luckily, I had seen this pattern before with another client and knew what the fix looked like. Because of that, I was able to come to the call and say: 
“I’ve identified what is causing this issue. I’ve seen this pattern before with another client, and I’m going to tell you what we did to fix it, what the recovery looked like, and my theory on what it will do for your site based on the data I am seeing.” 
That ability to diagnose builds trust from the onset of the project.
No executive needs to hear an explanation of crawl budgets or parameterized pages. They need to hear that you’ve found the problem, that you’ve seen it before, and that you have a plan. But you can’t say any of that unless you’ve done the deep diagnostic work first. 
The thing that builds confidence in the room isn’t your delivery. Instead, it’s the quality of the diagnosis and the specificity of the plan behind it.
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
				
			
See terms.
		
3. Surprise bad news and failed experiments are different conversations
There are two types of bad news you can end up delivering to a client, and the conversation you will end up having with your client depends entirely on which one you’re dealing with.
Surprises
The first type is what I think of as surprise bad news. These kinds of problems often happen when the work has been running without a clear strategic structure. You’ve been doing the SEO work. You’re finding opportunities, publishing content, optimizing pages, and staying busy.
But there has been something missing. There hasn’t been a defined plan with specific bets tied to specific outcomes. When traffic starts dipping and someone asks you what happened, you’re left in a difficult position. Why? Because you don’t have a clean way to diagnose what has happened. You weren’t testing a specific hypothesis. You were just doing work.
This happens way more frequently than most consultants would like to admit, especially when there’s no structured review cycle in place. When you’re constantly in “find more opportunities” mode, everything feels productive until the numbers go in the wrong direction.
Failed experiments
The second type of bad news you might have to deliver is regarding a failed experiment. This type is actually much easier to handle than surprises, even though the news might be just as bad.
A failed experiment means you had a plan. You told your clients something like:
“We are going to try this specific approach because we believe it will produce this specific result.” 
And then it didn’t. But, because you planned it deliberately, that means that you can evaluate the outcome. 
You can tell your client: 
“These elements performed, these didn’t, here is what the data shows, and here is what I want to try next based on what we’ve learned.”
Taking deliberate bets to weed out surprises
Almost every SEO consultant right now has to report traffic declines to their clients. That’s the reality of the market we’re in. Seer Interactive’s study found that AI Overviews now correlate with a 61% reduction in click-through rates for organic search. 
Yet, executives are seeing these numbers drop and still want to see growth. You’re going to have to deliver that bad news regardless. The difference is whether:
You’ve already been tracking the trend, forming hypotheses about what’s driving it, and testing responses.
Or it catches you off guard because you’ve only been watching a monthly report without looking deeply into the underlying patterns.
The best protection against delivering bad news poorly isn’t better communication skills. It’s working in structured cycles where every major effort is a deliberate bet with a defined expected outcome. 
When something doesn’t work, you’re not delivering surprise bad news. You’re reporting on an experiment that all parties were comfortable trying. That’s a conversation most executives are completely comfortable having. After all, they run their own teams the same way.
Once I shifted to this way of working with clients, I saw the dynamic in difficult conversations change fundamentally. But I also learned that, even when you have the right diagnosis and the right framing, when the executive hears the bad news matters almost as much as how they hear it.
4. Never arrive without a recommendation
I’ve sat in enough client meetings to know the exact moment a conversation turns. It’s the moment after the bad news lands, and the client says, “OK, so what do we do now?”
If there’s no answer ready, the room palpably changes. The bad news, which might have been completely manageable thirty seconds before, suddenly feels much worse.
The worst case is when the client finds the problem before anyone on your team does. I’ve seen it happen. The client goes into their analytics, spots a decline, brings it up, and now you, the consultant, are on your back foot. 
No diagnosis. No theory about what caused it. Definitely no recommendation. Just scrambling to catch up on something that should have been caught first.
The diagnosis and the recommendation aren’t separate steps. They’re one thing. If you’ve done a deep enough diagnosis to actually understand what happened, you almost always have a theory about what to do next. Showing up without a recommendation means you had not done thorough enough diagnostic work.
These days, before I get on any call where I am presenting something, I make sure I’ve thought through at least two paths forward. Not vague ideas. Concrete options with tradeoffs. I recommend one, explain why, and present the other as a real alternative. The client ends up choosing between solutions instead of sitting with a problem.
For example, I had a client whose legal team was blocking us from publishing comparison listicles, and the whole content strategy — that they had approved — had stalled. Instead of getting on a call with them and saying, “We have a blocker,” I came in with two alternative approaches.
One approach was increasing outreach and placements on third-party listicles. The other was shifting the format entirely, and, instead, focusing on content like analyzing third-party reports in the client’s field instead of creating our own comparison content. The client picked one, and we moved forward. The blocker barely registered because it was already paired with a way through it.
5. The tough conversation builds the relationship
My strongest client relationships were almost never the ones where everything went smoothly. They were the ones where something went wrong, I handled it well, and the client came out of it with more confidence in me than before.
Many of the people these executives work with are spinning results or avoiding hard topics. When someone shows up and says, “This didn’t work, here is why, and here is what I think we should do instead,” it stands out. There’s a difference between transparency that feels like data-dumping and transparency that feels like strategic intelligence. The first erodes trust. The second builds it. 
I used to dread difficult months. Every hard conversation felt like a performance review of my work. After years of watching what actually happens when things go wrong, I now process those moments differently.
Why? Because a smooth month doesn’t illustrate to the client anything about how I operate under pressure. A hard month where I catch a problem, diagnose it, and come up with a plan tells them everything. Those are trust deposits, and they compound over time.
complete picture of your search visibility.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with
The conversation is part of the work
SEO is getting harder, and, in many cases, the numbers are going to go in the wrong direction.
More of the work is happening in the conversation that follows. Explaining what happened, why, and what to do next isn’t a side skill anymore. It’s a core part of the job.
That means showing up with a clear diagnosis, a point of view, and a plan. It means surfacing issues early, instead of waiting for someone else to find them. And it means treating every dip not just as a performance problem, but as a moment to demonstrate how you operate.
Because, increasingly, that’s what clients are evaluating. Not just the results, but how you handle them.

Executives don’t need SEO jargon. They need clarity, diagnosis, and direction. Here’s how to deliver all three when results fall short.

5 lessons from delivering bad SEO news to executives

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-measure-Demand-Gen-creative-impact-with-asset-uplift-tests.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to measure Demand Gen creative impact with asset uplift tests" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-measure-Demand-Gen-creative-impact-with-asset-uplift-tests.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-measure-Demand-Gen-creative-impact-with-asset-uplift-tests-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-measure-Demand-Gen-creative-impact-with-asset-uplift-tests-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-measure-Demand-Gen-creative-impact-with-asset-uplift-tests-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google is enhancing Demand Gen with commerce data and view-through optimization to drive faster conversions on YouTube.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-measure-Demand-Gen-creative-impact-with-asset-uplift-tests.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to measure Demand Gen creative impact with asset uplift tests" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-measure-Demand-Gen-creative-impact-with-asset-uplift-tests.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-measure-Demand-Gen-creative-impact-with-asset-uplift-tests-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-measure-Demand-Gen-creative-impact-with-asset-uplift-tests-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-measure-Demand-Gen-creative-impact-with-asset-uplift-tests-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google is rolling out new Demand Gen updates in Google Ads, aimed at helping advertisers convert faster and capture more new customers across YouTube and beyond.</p>



<p><strong>What&#8217;s happening.</strong> Demand Gen is now integrated into Commerce Media Suite, allowing advertisers to tap into retailers’ first-party catalog and conversion data to reach high-intent shoppers across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-video"><video height="1080" width="1920" controls src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Demand-Gen-in-Commerce-Media-Suite.mp4"></video></figure>







<p>At the same time, new view-through conversion (VTC) optimization lets campaigns prioritize conversions that happen after an ad is viewed — not just clicked — speeding up performance.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="640" height="360" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/View-Through-Conversion-Optimization.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-475323"/></figure>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> these updates should make Demand Gen more effective at turning views into actual conversions. By using retailer data and optimizing for view-through activity, campaigns can capture more high-intent users—even if they don’t click. That means faster results and better new customer growth</p>



<p><strong>Between the lines</strong>. Google is leaning into signals beyond clicks, using richer commerce data and view-based attribution to drive results in more passive, discovery-heavy environments like YouTube.</p>



<p><strong>What to watch</strong>. Expect more Demand Gen announcements at upcoming events like Google Marketing Live, as YouTube continues to position itself as a full-funnel performance channel.</p>



<p><strong>Bottom line</strong>. Google is turning Demand Gen into a faster, more data-driven engine for converting high-intent audiences — especially on YouTube.</p>



<p><strong>Dig deeper.</strong> <a href="https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/demand-gen-drop-april-2026/">Demand Gen Drop &#8211; April 2026</a>


Google is rolling out new Demand Gen updates in Google Ads, aimed at helping advertisers convert faster and capture more new customers across YouTube and beyond.
What’s happening. Demand Gen is now integrated into Commerce Media Suite, allowing advertisers to tap into retailers’ first-party catalog and conversion data to reach high-intent shoppers across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. 








At the same time, new view-through conversion (VTC) optimization lets campaigns prioritize conversions that happen after an ad is viewed — not just clicked — speeding up performance.




Why we care. these updates should make Demand Gen more effective at turning views into actual conversions. By using retailer data and optimizing for view-through activity, campaigns can capture more high-intent users—even if they don’t click. That means faster results and better new customer growth
Between the lines. Google is leaning into signals beyond clicks, using richer commerce data and view-based attribution to drive results in more passive, discovery-heavy environments like YouTube.
What to watch. Expect more Demand Gen announcements at upcoming events like Google Marketing Live, as YouTube continues to position itself as a full-funnel performance channel.
Bottom line. Google is turning Demand Gen into a faster, more data-driven engine for converting high-intent audiences — especially on YouTube.
Dig deeper. Demand Gen Drop – April 2026

Google is enhancing Demand Gen with commerce data and view-through optimization to drive faster conversions on YouTube.

Google expands Demand Gen tools to drive faster YouTube conversions

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/6-mistakes-that-hurt-ecommerce-campaigns-on-Google-Ads.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="6 mistakes that hurt ecommerce campaigns on Google Ads" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/6-mistakes-that-hurt-ecommerce-campaigns-on-Google-Ads.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/6-mistakes-that-hurt-ecommerce-campaigns-on-Google-Ads-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/6-mistakes-that-hurt-ecommerce-campaigns-on-Google-Ads-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/6-mistakes-that-hurt-ecommerce-campaigns-on-Google-Ads-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google tests App Labs in Google Ads, giving advertisers early access to experimental app campaign features.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/6-mistakes-that-hurt-ecommerce-campaigns-on-Google-Ads.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="6 mistakes that hurt ecommerce campaigns on Google Ads" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/6-mistakes-that-hurt-ecommerce-campaigns-on-Google-Ads.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/6-mistakes-that-hurt-ecommerce-campaigns-on-Google-Ads-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/6-mistakes-that-hurt-ecommerce-campaigns-on-Google-Ads-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/6-mistakes-that-hurt-ecommerce-campaigns-on-Google-Ads-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google is quietly testing a new “App Labs” beta inside Google Ads, giving app advertisers early access to experimental campaign features before wider rollout.</p>



<p><strong>What’s new</strong>. A dedicated tab within the App advertising hub where advertisers can try limited-time experiments, provide feedback, and explore tools still in development.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1118" height="788" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Google-App-laps.png" alt="" class="wp-image-475331" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Google-App-laps.png 1118w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Google-App-laps-768x541.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1118px) 100vw, 1118px" /></figure>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> Google is giving early access to experimental features in Google Ads before they roll out widely. That means a chance to test, learn, and optimize ahead of competitors. Those who adopt early can gain a performance edge and adapt faster as new tools become standard.</p>



<p><strong>Zoom in</strong>. Features in App Labs are not guaranteed to launch permanently. Instead, they function as short-term tests, giving Google real-world input while offering advertisers a first-mover advantage.</p>



<p><strong>Between the lines</strong>. This is effectively a sandbox for app campaigns — and a signal that Google wants more advertiser input earlier in the product cycle.</p>



<p><strong>What to watch</strong>. Early adopters may gain performance advantages by testing and adapting to features before competitors even see them.</p>



<p><strong>First seen.</strong> This update was first spotted by Google Ads expert &#8211; Thomas Eccel who shared spotting the update on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thomaseccel_ppc-googleads-share-7450543903520215040-fIxe/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAAOXwgBGvKJ5PG5kuwaTmFUJWimyBar5pw">LinkedIn</a>. </p>


Google is quietly testing a new “App Labs” beta inside Google Ads, giving app advertisers early access to experimental campaign features before wider rollout.
What’s new. A dedicated tab within the App advertising hub where advertisers can try limited-time experiments, provide feedback, and explore tools still in development.




Why we care. Google is giving early access to experimental features in Google Ads before they roll out widely. That means a chance to test, learn, and optimize ahead of competitors. Those who adopt early can gain a performance edge and adapt faster as new tools become standard.
Zoom in. Features in App Labs are not guaranteed to launch permanently. Instead, they function as short-term tests, giving Google real-world input while offering advertisers a first-mover advantage.
Between the lines. This is effectively a sandbox for app campaigns — and a signal that Google wants more advertiser input earlier in the product cycle.
What to watch. Early adopters may gain performance advantages by testing and adapting to features before competitors even see them.
First seen. This update was first spotted by Google Ads expert – Thomas Eccel who shared spotting the update on LinkedIn.

Google tests App Labs in Google Ads, giving advertisers early access to experimental app campaign features.

Google tests “App Labs” hub for early ad features

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-use-Google-Ads-high-value-customer-and-retention-goals-effectively.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to use Google Ads high-value customer and retention goals effectively" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-use-Google-Ads-high-value-customer-and-retention-goals-effectively.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-use-Google-Ads-high-value-customer-and-retention-goals-effectively-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-use-Google-Ads-high-value-customer-and-retention-goals-effectively-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-use-Google-Ads-high-value-customer-and-retention-goals-effectively-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Set smarter bids using first-party data, customer match lists, and lifecycle segmentation, while avoiding common reporting distortions.


<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-use-Google-Ads-high-value-customer-and-retention-goals-effectively.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to use Google Ads high-value customer and retention goals effectively" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-use-Google-Ads-high-value-customer-and-retention-goals-effectively.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-use-Google-Ads-high-value-customer-and-retention-goals-effectively-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-use-Google-Ads-high-value-customer-and-retention-goals-effectively-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-use-Google-Ads-high-value-customer-and-retention-goals-effectively-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google has <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ads-adds-roas-based-tool-for-valuing-new-customers-469247">introduced new capabilities</a> within its <a href="https://searchengineland.com/how-to-use-the-new-customer-acquisition-goal-in-google-ads-440697">new customer acquisition goals</a>, including high-value customer bidding and retention targeting.</p>



<p>Most Google Ads strategies still treat new customers as inherently more valuable. That assumption breaks down quickly.</p>



<p>Not every new customer is worth acquiring, and not every existing customer is worth ignoring. Just because someone buys once doesn’t make them a customer for life. Likewise, some past buyers are far more likely to convert again than a net-new user.</p>



<p>This is where Google’s high-value customer and retention bidding goals start to matter.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-high-value-customer-bidding-works-in-google-ads">How high-value customer bidding works in Google Ads</h2>



<p>Google uses predictive bidding to help determine who your high-value customers are. However, the primary signal is the customer match list you upload within your account.&nbsp;</p>



<p>To make these adjustments, go to the customer lifecycle optimization section under <em>Goals &gt; Summary</em>, then select <em>Edit goal.</em>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="664" height="619" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Google-Ads-new-customers-high-value-1.png" alt="Google Ads new customers (high value)" class="wp-image-475299"/></figure>
</div>


<p>Here, you’ll set a higher new customer value to bid more aggressively for high-value customers. Google will typically pre-populate a suggested value based on a higher LTV than your typical new customers. Review this carefully and decide how much higher you want to bid for a high-value new customer.</p>



<p>Once you do this, Google reports that added amount as in-platform conversion value, on top of the actual value from the sale or lead. If you use a cost-per-conversion model, this discrepancy may not matter as much. However, for ROAS-based bidding, the additional value can artificially inflate your campaign’s ROAS.</p>



<p>Google recently introduced a new column, original conversion value (found under the conversions columns section), to help separate the actual value from the additional value used to prioritize bidding. However, if you typically rely on conversion value/cost, that figure will still include the added value in its reporting.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ads-quietly-rolls-out-a-new-conversion-metric-464864">Google Ads quietly rolls out a new conversion metric</a></em></strong>



<p><a href="https://www.semrush.com/lp/semrush-one/en/?utm_campaign=ic_semrush_one&amp;utm_source=searchengineland.com&amp;utm_medium=overlay&amp;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>

    <div>

      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand <span>shows up</span>.
      </div>
      <p id="semrush-one-subhead">
        The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta">Start Free Trial</span>
    </div>

    <div>
      <div>Get started with</div>
      <img decoding="async" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/semrush-one.webp" alt="Semrush One Logo">
    </div>
  </div>
</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-building-and-activating-high-value-customer-audiences">Building and activating high-value customer audiences</h2>



<p>To help Google identify high-value customers, you’ll need to add an audience list of high-value customers.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Consider what qualifies a high-value customer to you when creating this list. Did they have a particularly high average order value, or were they a lead for a higher-tier service you offer?&nbsp;Compile this list and upload it.&nbsp;</p>



<p>You’ll need at least 1,000 active members in the YouTube or Search network for it to be eligible to serve, and we typically see match rates between 29%-62% — meaning you’ll likely need well over 1,000 for the list to become eligible.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The more data you include for each record in your first-party data, the higher your match rate will typically be. An email address is the baseline, but adding email, phone, and address increases your chances of matching to a signed-in user.</p>



<p>If you’d prefer a less manual approach, you can create and define audiences in Klaviyo and integrate them directly into your Google Ads account. Lists created from Klaviyo typically have high match rates.</p>



<p>Once these settings are in place within the customer lifecycle optimization section, the next step is to optimize your campaigns. You can’t apply both bidding goals to the same campaign, and you wouldn’t want the same targeting or ad copy for these different customer types.</p>



<p>Adjusting your bidding for high-value new customers is only available in Search and Performance Max campaigns and follows a similar setup. In campaign settings, expand the <em>Customer acquisition</em> section and select <em>Adjust your bidding to help acquire new customers.</em>



<p>From there, choose either <em>Bid higher for new customers</em> or <em>Only bid for new customers</em>. Either option uses your value adjustments to differentiate between new customers and high-value customers.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Your ad copy and targeting should determine whether you run a campaign focused solely on new customers or one that includes both new and returning customers.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="872" height="577" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Google-Ads-customer-acquisition.png" alt="Google Ads customer acquisition" class="wp-image-475300" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Google-Ads-customer-acquisition.png 872w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Google-Ads-customer-acquisition-768x508.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 872px) 100vw, 872px" /></figure>
</div>


<div class="nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2">
	
	<div class="row align-items-center nl-inline-container">
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-3 col-xl-4 pe-md-0 pb-2 pb-lg-0">
			<p class="inline-form-text text-center mb-0">Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.</p>
		</div>
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-6  pe-lg-0">
			<div class="form-nl-inline">
				<form id="mktoForm_16298"></form> 
				
				
			</div>
		</div>
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-2 col-xl-2 ps-1">
			<p class="text-center mb-0"><a class="nl-terms" href="https://searchengineland.com/termsofuse" target="_blank" aria-label="opens in a new tab">See terms.</a>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>




<hr class="wp-block-separator has-text-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-css-opacity has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-use-retention-goals-to-re-engage-lapsed-customers">How to use retention goals to re-engage lapsed customers</h2>



<p>To set bidding parameters for lapsed customers, or customer retention, return to the customer lifecycle optimization within the <em>Goals</em> section of the account. Scroll past the new customer section to find both lapsed customers and lapsed customers (high value).&nbsp;</p>



<p>These lists will only populate if you have segmented customer data to support both. It’s worth noting that, for lapsed high-value customers, Google asks for data on existing high-value customers, suggesting predictive bidding to a lookalike audience may be used here as well.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="657" height="575" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Setting-for-customer-retention.png" alt="Setting for customer retention" class="wp-image-475301"/></figure>
</div>

<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="646" height="581" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Lapes-customers-high-value.png" alt="Lapes customers (high value)" class="wp-image-475302"/></figure>
</div>


<p>Like before, Google will pre-populate a suggested value and may also suggest lists. Review these before saving to ensure the data is accurate. The additional value you add to the incremental conversion value will appear in certain columns as conversion value attributed to the campaign using this bidding model.</p>



<p>Bidding to lapsed customers is currently only available in Performance Max campaigns and isn’t yet available across Search. In campaign settings, go to <em>Customer retention</em> and select <em>Adjust your bidding to help re-engage lapsed customers.</em>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="852" height="614" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Customer-retention-define-lapsed-customer-list.png" alt="Customer retention - define lapsed customer list" class="wp-image-475303" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Customer-retention-define-lapsed-customer-list.png 852w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Customer-retention-define-lapsed-customer-list-768x553.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 852px) 100vw, 852px" /></figure>
</div>


<p>We don’t yet have a list defined for lapsed customers in the above account, which is why the message in the yellow box appeared.</p>



<p>Because this bidding is limited to Performance Max, lapsed customers may see ads across Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Maps, depending on the assets used and whether a feed is included.&nbsp;</p>



<p>If you’re running a campaign specifically bidding higher to target lapsed customers, make sure your ad copy and messaging are tailored to that audience.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.semrush.com/lp/semrush-one/en/?utm_campaign=ic_semrush_one&amp;utm_source=searchengineland.com&amp;utm_medium=overlay&amp;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>

    <div>

      <div id="semrush-one-headline-bottom" class="headline-responsive">
        See the <span>complete picture</span> of your search visibility.
      </div>
      <p id="semrush-one-subhead-bottom">
        Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta-bottom">Start Free Trial</span>
    </div>

    <div>
      <div>Get started with</div>
      <img decoding="async" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/semrush-one.webp" alt="Semrush One Logo">
    </div>
  </div>
</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lifecycle-bidding-only-works-if-your-strategy-does">Lifecycle bidding only works if your strategy does</h2>



<p>Lifecycle bidding only works if your inputs are sound. The quality of your customer match lists, how you define value, and how you measure performance determine whether these goals improve results, or just make them look better on paper.</p>



<p>Used correctly, they help prioritize the customers that matter most and re-engage those worth winning back. Used loosely, they can just as easily distort your reporting and mask what’s really driving performance.</p>

Google has introduced new capabilities within its new customer acquisition goals, including high-value customer bidding and retention targeting.
Most Google Ads strategies still treat new customers as inherently more valuable. That assumption breaks down quickly.
Not every new customer is worth acquiring, and not every existing customer is worth ignoring. Just because someone buys once doesn’t make them a customer for life. Likewise, some past buyers are far more likely to convert again than a net-new user.
This is where Google’s high-value customer and retention bidding goals start to matter.
How high-value customer bidding works in Google Ads
Google uses predictive bidding to help determine who your high-value customers are. However, the primary signal is the customer match list you upload within your account. 
To make these adjustments, go to the customer lifecycle optimization section under Goals > Summary, then select Edit goal.







Here, you’ll set a higher new customer value to bid more aggressively for high-value customers. Google will typically pre-populate a suggested value based on a higher LTV than your typical new customers. Review this carefully and decide how much higher you want to bid for a high-value new customer.
Once you do this, Google reports that added amount as in-platform conversion value, on top of the actual value from the sale or lead. If you use a cost-per-conversion model, this discrepancy may not matter as much. However, for ROAS-based bidding, the additional value can artificially inflate your campaign’s ROAS.
Google recently introduced a new column, original conversion value (found under the conversions columns section), to help separate the actual value from the additional value used to prioritize bidding. However, if you typically rely on conversion value/cost, that figure will still include the added value in its reporting.
Dig deeper: Google Ads quietly rolls out a new conversion metric




  
shows up.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with
Building and activating high-value customer audiences
To help Google identify high-value customers, you’ll need to add an audience list of high-value customers. 
Consider what qualifies a high-value customer to you when creating this list. Did they have a particularly high average order value, or were they a lead for a higher-tier service you offer? Compile this list and upload it. 
You’ll need at least 1,000 active members in the YouTube or Search network for it to be eligible to serve, and we typically see match rates between 29%-62% — meaning you’ll likely need well over 1,000 for the list to become eligible. 
The more data you include for each record in your first-party data, the higher your match rate will typically be. An email address is the baseline, but adding email, phone, and address increases your chances of matching to a signed-in user.
If you’d prefer a less manual approach, you can create and define audiences in Klaviyo and integrate them directly into your Google Ads account. Lists created from Klaviyo typically have high match rates.
Once these settings are in place within the customer lifecycle optimization section, the next step is to optimize your campaigns. You can’t apply both bidding goals to the same campaign, and you wouldn’t want the same targeting or ad copy for these different customer types.
Adjusting your bidding for high-value new customers is only available in Search and Performance Max campaigns and follows a similar setup. In campaign settings, expand the Customer acquisition section and select Adjust your bidding to help acquire new customers.



From there, choose either Bid higher for new customers or Only bid for new customers. Either option uses your value adjustments to differentiate between new customers and high-value customers. 
Your ad copy and targeting should determine whether you run a campaign focused solely on new customers or one that includes both new and returning customers.





	
	
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
				
			
See terms.
		
How to use retention goals to re-engage lapsed customers
To set bidding parameters for lapsed customers, or customer retention, return to the customer lifecycle optimization within the Goals section of the account. Scroll past the new customer section to find both lapsed customers and lapsed customers (high value). 
These lists will only populate if you have segmented customer data to support both. It’s worth noting that, for lapsed high-value customers, Google asks for data on existing high-value customers, suggesting predictive bidding to a lookalike audience may be used here as well.








Like before, Google will pre-populate a suggested value and may also suggest lists. Review these before saving to ensure the data is accurate. The additional value you add to the incremental conversion value will appear in certain columns as conversion value attributed to the campaign using this bidding model.
Bidding to lapsed customers is currently only available in Performance Max campaigns and isn’t yet available across Search. In campaign settings, go to Customer retention and select Adjust your bidding to help re-engage lapsed customers.







We don’t yet have a list defined for lapsed customers in the above account, which is why the message in the yellow box appeared.
Because this bidding is limited to Performance Max, lapsed customers may see ads across Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Maps, depending on the assets used and whether a feed is included. 
If you’re running a campaign specifically bidding higher to target lapsed customers, make sure your ad copy and messaging are tailored to that audience.

  
complete picture of your search visibility.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with
Lifecycle bidding only works if your strategy does
Lifecycle bidding only works if your inputs are sound. The quality of your customer match lists, how you define value, and how you measure performance determine whether these goals improve results, or just make them look better on paper.
Used correctly, they help prioritize the customers that matter most and re-engage those worth winning back. Used loosely, they can just as easily distort your reporting and mask what’s really driving performance.

Set smarter bids using first-party data, customer match lists, and lifecycle segmentation, while avoiding common reporting distortions.

How to use customer acquisition and retention goals in Google Ads

<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-800x450.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-600x338.jpg 600w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-200x113.jpg 200w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-150x84.jpg 150w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></div>Google is actively working on the issue, but it just a data logging and reporting issue.

<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-800x450.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-600x338.jpg 600w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-200x113.jpg 200w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920-150x84.jpg 150w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2017/04/job-interview-talent-employee-ss-1920.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></div>
<p>Google has confirmed a bug with the Google Search Console performance reports that specifically impacts  &#8220;Job listing&#8221; and &#8220;Job details&#8221; search appearance filter.  Starting April 16th Google had an issue logging this data.   So Google is reporting zero clicks and impressions for these jobs reports.</p>



<p><strong>What Google said. </strong>Google <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6211453?hl=en#zippy=%2Cperformance-reports-search-results-discover-google-news">wrote</a>:</p>



<p>&#8220;A logging error is preventing Search Console from reporting impressions and clicks for &#8220;Job listing&#8221; and &#8220;Job details&#8221; Search appearance types from April 16, 2026 onward. We&#8217;re working to resolve this issue. This issue affects data logging only.&#8221;</p>



<p><strong>Complaints. </strong> We first began noticing the complaints trickling in earlier this week, with <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-console-performance-report-job-listings-report-bug-41187.html">several SEOs posting</a> their concerns across social media.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/rustybrick?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rustybrick</a> Seems there is a bug in GSC where impressions and clicks for Google jobs traffic is being reported 0 since 16th, but traffic is still coming in via google_jobs_apply UTM<a href="https://t.co/0Ed28Jvzdj">https://t.co/0Ed28Jvzdj</a>&mdash; Max Peters (@maxjpeters) <a href="https://twitter.com/maxjpeters/status/2046213829064052795?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2026</a></blockquote>
</div></figure>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>If you noticed a drop in overall impressions and clicks, and then you dig in and find zero data from the job listings and details &#8211; then do not worry. This is a Google logging bug and it is on Google&#8217;s side. </p>



<p>Google is still likely listing your job listings and sending traffic but it is not being tracked properly in Search Console right now.</p>


Google has confirmed a bug with the Google Search Console performance reports that specifically impacts  “Job listing” and “Job details” search appearance filter.  Starting April 16th Google had an issue logging this data.   So Google is reporting zero clicks and impressions for these jobs reports.
What Google said. Google wrote:
“A logging error is preventing Search Console from reporting impressions and clicks for “Job listing” and “Job details” Search appearance types from April 16, 2026 onward. We’re working to resolve this issue. This issue affects data logging only.”
Complaints.  We first began noticing the complaints trickling in earlier this week, with several SEOs posting their concerns across social media.


@rustybrick Seems there is a bug in GSC where impressions and clicks for Google jobs traffic is being reported 0 since 16th, but traffic is still coming in via google_jobs_apply UTMhttps://t.co/0Ed28Jvzdj— Max Peters (@maxjpeters) April 20, 2026




Why we care. If you noticed a drop in overall impressions and clicks, and then you dig in and find zero data from the job listings and details – then do not worry. This is a Google logging bug and it is on Google’s side. 
Google is still likely listing your job listings and sending traffic but it is not being tracked properly in Search Console right now.

Google is actively working on the issue, but it just a data logging and reporting issue.

Google Search Console job data logging issue

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Building-an-Enterprise-SEO-strategy-that-lands.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Building an Enterprise SEO strategy that lands" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Building-an-Enterprise-SEO-strategy-that-lands.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Building-an-Enterprise-SEO-strategy-that-lands-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Building-an-Enterprise-SEO-strategy-that-lands-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Building-an-Enterprise-SEO-strategy-that-lands-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Want leadership to act on your strategy? Start with the right narrative, align to enterprise goals, and prove value early.


<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Building-an-Enterprise-SEO-strategy-that-lands.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Building an Enterprise SEO strategy that lands" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Building-an-Enterprise-SEO-strategy-that-lands.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Building-an-Enterprise-SEO-strategy-that-lands-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Building-an-Enterprise-SEO-strategy-that-lands-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Building-an-Enterprise-SEO-strategy-that-lands-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Most enterprise SEO strategies die in slide decks. Beautiful presentations, airtight data, and solid recommendations, all collecting dust because nobody bought in.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I’ve watched it happen at companies with eight-figure marketing budgets. I’ve also watched a single SEO insight convince a company to create an entirely new business unit and make a multimillion-dollar investment.</p>



<p>The difference had nothing to do with the quality of the SEO work. I’ve spent 17 years finding out what it actually comes down to. Let me walk you through how to build an SEO strategy that gets the attention it deserves.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-two-ways-enterprise-seo-strategies-fail">The two ways enterprise SEO strategies fail</h2>



<p>Before I get into what works, let me talk about the two failure modes I see again and again.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-leadership-expects-seo-to-work-like-ppc">Leadership expects SEO to work like PPC</h3>



<p>The founder, CMO, or whoever the decision-maker is often doesn’t come from an SEO background or have experience standing up a successful organic program. Many come from performance marketing. </p>



<p>They expect SEO to behave like PPC: invest money on Tuesday, see results on Wednesday. When it doesn’t, they deprioritize the channel, which creates a death spiral. Less investment leads to worse results, which “confirms” their bias that SEO doesn’t work.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-seo-gets-stuck-in-a-silo">SEO gets stuck in a silo</h3>



<p>This one’s on us. SEO leaders who get too deep into the technical weeds, who can’t translate their work into business language, and who never get a seat at the table because they’re speaking a language nobody else in the room understands. They become consultants shouting into the void instead of strategic partners influencing decisions.</p>



<p>Both failure modes share the same root cause: a disconnect between what SEO can deliver and how the organization thinks about growth.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.semrush.com/lp/semrush-one/en/?utm_campaign=ic_semrush_one&amp;utm_source=searchengineland.com&amp;utm_medium=overlay&amp;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>

    <div>

      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand <span>shows up</span>.
      </div>
      <p id="semrush-one-subhead">
        The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta">Start Free Trial</span>
    </div>

    <div>
      <div>Get started with</div>
      <img decoding="async" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/semrush-one.webp" alt="Semrush One Logo">
    </div>
  </div>
</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lead-with-narrative-back-with-data">Lead with narrative, back with data</h2>



<p>Most SEO leaders get this backwards. They walk into a meeting with the CEO armed with 40 slides of data: crawl reports, keyword rankings, and technical audits. Leadership doesn’t have time for that. They’re juggling a hundred priorities, and your data dump just became background noise.</p>



<p>Start with the story instead:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“Here’s the narrative.”&nbsp;</li>



<li>“Here’s the opportunity.”&nbsp;</li>



<li>“Here’s what I need from you to take us from A to B, and here’s how we’ll get there.”&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<p>Then bring in the data to support the narrative.</p>



<p>The higher you go in your SEO career, the more critical it is to be a listener first. Before I present anything to a new CEO or CMO, I invest time in understanding their leadership style, the organization’s macro challenges, and what the top three enterprise goals are. Not SEO goals — enterprise goals.</p>



<p>Then I frame every recommendation through that lens: “As an enterprise, our goal is X. Here’s how this recommendation gets us there.” When you do that, friction disappears. Nobody can argue against working toward a goal they already signed up for.</p>



<p>One tactic I’ve found consistently effective is anchoring conversations in competitor intelligence. Every CMO, every C-suite executive, cares deeply about competition.</p>



<p>When I show them, “Here’s what competitor A has been doing for five years, and here’s the market position it earned them. I’m not asking for five years, but I need a year, and that’s being five times more efficient than they were,” the conversation shifts.&nbsp;</p>



<p>You’re no longer justifying SEO’s existence. You’re helping them win a competitive battle they already care about.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-retrofit-your-goals-into-their-okrs">Retrofit your goals into their OKRs</h2>



<p>Here’s the cross-functional playbook that has worked for me across multiple enterprises.</p>



<p>Your success at an enterprise depends on two teams: creative and engineering. But they have their own goals, their own KPIs, and their own OKRs. If you show up with a list of SEO requests, you’re just another stakeholder creating tickets.</p>



<p>Instead, I start by genuinely understanding what each team is trying to achieve — and I mean actually understanding it, not assuming. In my first month at any new company, I schedule 30-minute 1:1s with the leads of every team I’ll need to work with: product marketing, engineering, creative, brand, and analytics. I ask three questions:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>What are your top two OKRs this quarter?&nbsp;</li>



<li>What&#8217;s the biggest thing slowing you down?&nbsp;</li>



<li>What does a win look like for you by year-end?</li>
</ul>



<p>I don&#8217;t mention SEO once in those conversations. By the end of that listening tour, I have a map:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Product marketing wants revenue and retention.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Engineering wants development velocity.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Creative wants engagement metrics.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Brand wants consistency.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<p>I know exactly how to position every SEO recommendation as a solution to something they already care about, in their language, toward their goals.</p>



<p>In my previous role, I worked closely with a product marketing manager on naming a new feature. My research showed that thousands of prospects were searching for a specific term every month. Instead of framing it as an SEO recommendation, I said:&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“If you name this feature to match what people are already searching for, you’ll get free brand mentions, natural anchor text, and on-page relevance from day one. That directly hits your acquisition and retention target.”&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<p>He got it immediately. That’s not an SEO win; it’s a product marketing win that SEO data enabled.</p>



<p>This approach transforms you from a requestor into a force multiplier. You’re helping them hit their goals. Now they want to listen to you.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-case-study-turning-a-sales-insight-into-an-seo-driven-business-strategy">Case study: Turning a sales insight into an SEO-driven business strategy</h2>



<p>The best example I can give of enterprise SEO that drove real business impact came from a conversation I wasn’t even supposed to be part of.</p>



<p>Back in 2021, FreshBooks, my previous employer, was competing against a much larger incumbent, QuickBooks. Think David versus a Goliath with two times the feature set and more than a hundred times the budget.&nbsp;</p>



<p>During a cross-functional meeting, I heard the director of sales mention that they were losing prospects at the finish line. The reason was that small business owners would get excited about the product, but ultimately defer to their accountant’s recommendation. And the accountants were all loyal to the incumbent.</p>



<p>This was a business problem, but I saw a search-driven solution. I proposed building a professional accountant directory on our domain — a searchable database of FreshBooks certified partner accountants organized by city. (The approach was inspired by two concepts: Eli Schwartz&#8217;s <a href="https://www.elischwartz.co/book" target="_blank" rel="noopener">product-led SEO framework</a> and Ross Simmonds&#8217; idea of <a href="https://foundationinc.co/lab/the-seo-moat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">building an SEO moat</a>: something only your brand can do.)</p>



<p>The domain already had strong authority. Keyword research showed significant search volume for terms like “accountant near me,” “bookkeeper in [city],” and similar local queries across hundreds of markets in the U.S. and Canada.</p>



<p>The strategy was a triple win. Small business owners would find a vetted professional. Accountants would get qualified leads, and because our site outranked their own websites in their local markets, they had a strong incentive to join the program. </p>



<p>For every accountant we onboarded, we’d gain multiple end customers they managed. It also addressed churn: freelancers who grew their businesses and hired accountants were leaving for the competitor. A partner accountant ecosystem would keep them.</p>



<p>I built the full business case with sizing data, the potential to scale from low triple-digit partners to more than 10,000, and presented it up the chain: director of performance marketing, VP of marketing, and CMO. Each approved it. We hired an agency and spent six months building it.</p>



<p>Did the directory launch? Not in its original form. Halfway through the build, the company recognized the strategic importance of the accountant channel so clearly that they created an entirely new business unit, invested multimillions in the accounting product line, and eventually built something much larger than what I’d originally proposed.</p>



<p>That’s what a strategy that drives real organizational change looks like. The SEO insight didn’t just get approved; it fundamentally reshaped the company&#8217;s thinking about an entire market segment.</p>



<div class="nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2">
	
	<div class="row align-items-center nl-inline-container">
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-3 col-xl-4 pe-md-0 pb-2 pb-lg-0">
			<p class="inline-form-text text-center mb-0">Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.</p>
		</div>
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-6  pe-lg-0">
			<div class="form-nl-inline">
				<form id="mktoForm_16298"></form> 
				
				
			</div>
		</div>
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-2 col-xl-2 ps-1">
			<p class="text-center mb-0"><a class="nl-terms" href="https://searchengineland.com/termsofuse" target="_blank" aria-label="opens in a new tab">See terms.</a>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>




<hr class="wp-block-separator has-text-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-css-opacity has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-ai-visibility-makes-cross-functional-alignment-non-negotiable">Why AI visibility makes cross-functional alignment non-negotiable</h2>



<p>Everything I’ve described — the narrative framing, the OKR retrofitting, and the cross-functional listening tour — used to be a competitive advantage. Now it’s the minimum requirement, because the AI visibility shift has made cross-functional alignment a survival skill, not a leadership style.</p>



<p>We started tracking traffic coming from LLMs separately. What I found was revealing: conversion rates from LLM-referred traffic were four to six times higher than traditional organic. Users arriving through AI-assisted search had already done their research inside the LLM. They were arriving with high intent and ready to act.</p>



<p>But here’s the challenge: roughly 85% of the sources that LLMs cite when generating responses about your products and services are third-party sites. If you want to influence what AI says about your products, you can’t do it alone. You need alignment with affiliate teams, PR, brand, product marketing, and even legal.</p>



<p>I essentially did a roadshow internally, went to every department, and explained (with data):</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Customers are making buying decisions inside LLMs now.</li>



<li>If we want to control the narrative about our brand and products in these AI-generated responses, every team needs to be on the same page.</li>



<li>The affiliate team needs to know which third-party sites to prioritize.</li>



<li>PR needs to think about how press coverage feeds into AI training data.</li>



<li>Legal needs to understand the implications.</li>



<li>All of our content, not just SEO content, needs to be optimized for how LLMs process and cite information.</li>
</ul>



<p>In the old world, you could publish content, build links, and win at SEO in relative isolation. That world is over.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Enterprise SEO in the AI era requires the same cross-functional alignment I’ve been describing throughout this article, but now it’s not just a competitive advantage. It’s survival.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-your-first-30-days-show-don-t-tell">Your first 30 days: Show, don’t tell</h2>



<p>If you’re stepping into an enterprise SEO leadership role for the first time, or inheriting a function that’s been siloed and undervalued, here’s the approach I’d recommend.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Understand your product-market fit from the inside. Sit with finance, analytics, and data teams. Identify which customer cohorts deliver the best unit economics: ARPU, MRR, and LTV. Most SEOs never get this visibility, and it’s the single biggest unlock for building a strategy that leadership actually cares about. I call it the “know thy numbers” strategy.</li>



<li>Nail down your ideal customer profile (ICP) with product marketing. Understand who the ideal customer is, where they are, and what content they’re looking for.</li>



<li>Do an honest competitive assessment. What’s working, what’s not, and where are the gaps?</li>
</ul>



<p>Find one low-effort, high-impact win and execute it immediately. Show is 10 times more important than tell in enterprise SEO.</p>



<p>Early wins build credibility. Once leadership sees tangible impact, they become more open to listening. The more they listen, the more you can educate, and the less friction you face.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.semrush.com/lp/semrush-one/en/?utm_campaign=ic_semrush_one&amp;utm_source=searchengineland.com&amp;utm_medium=overlay&amp;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>

    <div>

      <div id="semrush-one-headline-bottom" class="headline-responsive">
        See the <span>complete picture</span> of your search visibility.
      </div>
      <p id="semrush-one-subhead-bottom">
        Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta-bottom">Start Free Trial</span>
    </div>

    <div>
      <div>Get started with</div>
      <img decoding="async" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/semrush-one.webp" alt="Semrush One Logo">
    </div>
  </div>
</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mindset-over-tactics">Mindset over tactics</h2>



<p>Building an enterprise SEO strategy that drives real business impact isn’t about having the best technical audit or the most comprehensive keyword research. It’s about building an organization that thinks about search as a foundational growth lever.</p>



<p>That means being a listener before you’re a presenter. It means speaking in business outcomes, not SEO jargon. It means helping your cross-functional partners hit their goals first, and baking SEO into their success.</p>



<p>It means being willing to follow an insight wherever it leads, even if it ends up bigger than anything you originally proposed. The accountant directory I pitched was a six-month SEO project. The outcome was a multimillion-dollar business unit. That’s what happens when the organization believes SEO is worth investing in, because you’ve shown them why.</p>

Most enterprise SEO strategies die in slide decks. Beautiful presentations, airtight data, and solid recommendations, all collecting dust because nobody bought in. 
I’ve watched it happen at companies with eight-figure marketing budgets. I’ve also watched a single SEO insight convince a company to create an entirely new business unit and make a multimillion-dollar investment.
The difference had nothing to do with the quality of the SEO work. I’ve spent 17 years finding out what it actually comes down to. Let me walk you through how to build an SEO strategy that gets the attention it deserves.
The two ways enterprise SEO strategies fail
Before I get into what works, let me talk about the two failure modes I see again and again.
Leadership expects SEO to work like PPC
The founder, CMO, or whoever the decision-maker is often doesn’t come from an SEO background or have experience standing up a successful organic program. Many come from performance marketing. 
They expect SEO to behave like PPC: invest money on Tuesday, see results on Wednesday. When it doesn’t, they deprioritize the channel, which creates a death spiral. Less investment leads to worse results, which “confirms” their bias that SEO doesn’t work.
SEO gets stuck in a silo
This one’s on us. SEO leaders who get too deep into the technical weeds, who can’t translate their work into business language, and who never get a seat at the table because they’re speaking a language nobody else in the room understands. They become consultants shouting into the void instead of strategic partners influencing decisions.
Both failure modes share the same root cause: a disconnect between what SEO can deliver and how the organization thinks about growth.

  
shows up.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with
Lead with narrative, back with data
Most SEO leaders get this backwards. They walk into a meeting with the CEO armed with 40 slides of data: crawl reports, keyword rankings, and technical audits. Leadership doesn’t have time for that. They’re juggling a hundred priorities, and your data dump just became background noise.
Start with the story instead:
“Here’s the narrative.” 
“Here’s the opportunity.” 
“Here’s what I need from you to take us from A to B, and here’s how we’ll get there.” 
Then bring in the data to support the narrative.
The higher you go in your SEO career, the more critical it is to be a listener first. Before I present anything to a new CEO or CMO, I invest time in understanding their leadership style, the organization’s macro challenges, and what the top three enterprise goals are. Not SEO goals — enterprise goals.
Then I frame every recommendation through that lens: “As an enterprise, our goal is X. Here’s how this recommendation gets us there.” When you do that, friction disappears. Nobody can argue against working toward a goal they already signed up for.
One tactic I’ve found consistently effective is anchoring conversations in competitor intelligence. Every CMO, every C-suite executive, cares deeply about competition.
When I show them, “Here’s what competitor A has been doing for five years, and here’s the market position it earned them. I’m not asking for five years, but I need a year, and that’s being five times more efficient than they were,” the conversation shifts. 
You’re no longer justifying SEO’s existence. You’re helping them win a competitive battle they already care about.
Retrofit your goals into their OKRs
Here’s the cross-functional playbook that has worked for me across multiple enterprises.
Your success at an enterprise depends on two teams: creative and engineering. But they have their own goals, their own KPIs, and their own OKRs. If you show up with a list of SEO requests, you’re just another stakeholder creating tickets.
Instead, I start by genuinely understanding what each team is trying to achieve — and I mean actually understanding it, not assuming. In my first month at any new company, I schedule 30-minute 1:1s with the leads of every team I’ll need to work with: product marketing, engineering, creative, brand, and analytics. I ask three questions:
What are your top two OKRs this quarter? 
What’s the biggest thing slowing you down? 
What does a win look like for you by year-end?
I don’t mention SEO once in those conversations. By the end of that listening tour, I have a map:
Product marketing wants revenue and retention. 
Engineering wants development velocity. 
Creative wants engagement metrics. 
Brand wants consistency. 
I know exactly how to position every SEO recommendation as a solution to something they already care about, in their language, toward their goals.
In my previous role, I worked closely with a product marketing manager on naming a new feature. My research showed that thousands of prospects were searching for a specific term every month. Instead of framing it as an SEO recommendation, I said: 
“If you name this feature to match what people are already searching for, you’ll get free brand mentions, natural anchor text, and on-page relevance from day one. That directly hits your acquisition and retention target.” 
He got it immediately. That’s not an SEO win; it’s a product marketing win that SEO data enabled.
This approach transforms you from a requestor into a force multiplier. You’re helping them hit their goals. Now they want to listen to you.
Case study: Turning a sales insight into an SEO-driven business strategy
The best example I can give of enterprise SEO that drove real business impact came from a conversation I wasn’t even supposed to be part of.
Back in 2021, FreshBooks, my previous employer, was competing against a much larger incumbent, QuickBooks. Think David versus a Goliath with two times the feature set and more than a hundred times the budget. 
During a cross-functional meeting, I heard the director of sales mention that they were losing prospects at the finish line. The reason was that small business owners would get excited about the product, but ultimately defer to their accountant’s recommendation. And the accountants were all loyal to the incumbent.
This was a business problem, but I saw a search-driven solution. I proposed building a professional accountant directory on our domain — a searchable database of FreshBooks certified partner accountants organized by city. (The approach was inspired by two concepts: Eli Schwartz’s product-led SEO framework and Ross Simmonds’ idea of building an SEO moat: something only your brand can do.)
The domain already had strong authority. Keyword research showed significant search volume for terms like “accountant near me,” “bookkeeper in [city],” and similar local queries across hundreds of markets in the U.S. and Canada.
The strategy was a triple win. Small business owners would find a vetted professional. Accountants would get qualified leads, and because our site outranked their own websites in their local markets, they had a strong incentive to join the program. 
For every accountant we onboarded, we’d gain multiple end customers they managed. It also addressed churn: freelancers who grew their businesses and hired accountants were leaving for the competitor. A partner accountant ecosystem would keep them.
I built the full business case with sizing data, the potential to scale from low triple-digit partners to more than 10,000, and presented it up the chain: director of performance marketing, VP of marketing, and CMO. Each approved it. We hired an agency and spent six months building it.
Did the directory launch? Not in its original form. Halfway through the build, the company recognized the strategic importance of the accountant channel so clearly that they created an entirely new business unit, invested multimillions in the accounting product line, and eventually built something much larger than what I’d originally proposed.
That’s what a strategy that drives real organizational change looks like. The SEO insight didn’t just get approved; it fundamentally reshaped the company’s thinking about an entire market segment.
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
				
			
See terms.
		
Why AI visibility makes cross-functional alignment non-negotiable
Everything I’ve described — the narrative framing, the OKR retrofitting, and the cross-functional listening tour — used to be a competitive advantage. Now it’s the minimum requirement, because the AI visibility shift has made cross-functional alignment a survival skill, not a leadership style.
We started tracking traffic coming from LLMs separately. What I found was revealing: conversion rates from LLM-referred traffic were four to six times higher than traditional organic. Users arriving through AI-assisted search had already done their research inside the LLM. They were arriving with high intent and ready to act.
But here’s the challenge: roughly 85% of the sources that LLMs cite when generating responses about your products and services are third-party sites. If you want to influence what AI says about your products, you can’t do it alone. You need alignment with affiliate teams, PR, brand, product marketing, and even legal.
I essentially did a roadshow internally, went to every department, and explained (with data):
Customers are making buying decisions inside LLMs now.
If we want to control the narrative about our brand and products in these AI-generated responses, every team needs to be on the same page.
The affiliate team needs to know which third-party sites to prioritize.
PR needs to think about how press coverage feeds into AI training data.
Legal needs to understand the implications.
All of our content, not just SEO content, needs to be optimized for how LLMs process and cite information.
In the old world, you could publish content, build links, and win at SEO in relative isolation. That world is over. 
Enterprise SEO in the AI era requires the same cross-functional alignment I’ve been describing throughout this article, but now it’s not just a competitive advantage. It’s survival.
Your first 30 days: Show, don’t tell
If you’re stepping into an enterprise SEO leadership role for the first time, or inheriting a function that’s been siloed and undervalued, here’s the approach I’d recommend.
Understand your product-market fit from the inside. Sit with finance, analytics, and data teams. Identify which customer cohorts deliver the best unit economics: ARPU, MRR, and LTV. Most SEOs never get this visibility, and it’s the single biggest unlock for building a strategy that leadership actually cares about. I call it the “know thy numbers” strategy.
Nail down your ideal customer profile (ICP) with product marketing. Understand who the ideal customer is, where they are, and what content they’re looking for.
Do an honest competitive assessment. What’s working, what’s not, and where are the gaps?
Find one low-effort, high-impact win and execute it immediately. Show is 10 times more important than tell in enterprise SEO.
Early wins build credibility. Once leadership sees tangible impact, they become more open to listening. The more they listen, the more you can educate, and the less friction you face.

  
complete picture of your search visibility.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with
Mindset over tactics
Building an enterprise SEO strategy that drives real business impact isn’t about having the best technical audit or the most comprehensive keyword research. It’s about building an organization that thinks about search as a foundational growth lever.
That means being a listener before you’re a presenter. It means speaking in business outcomes, not SEO jargon. It means helping your cross-functional partners hit their goals first, and baking SEO into their success.
It means being willing to follow an insight wherever it leads, even if it ends up bigger than anything you originally proposed. The accountant directory I pitched was a six-month SEO project. The outcome was a multimillion-dollar business unit. That’s what happens when the organization believes SEO is worth investing in, because you’ve shown them why.

Want leadership to act on your strategy? Start with the right narrative, align to enterprise goals, and prove value early.

How to build an enterprise SEO strategy that actually gets buy-in

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/When-Search-Growth-Stalls-How-to-Identify-the-Real-Issue.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="When Search Growth Stalls- How to Identify the Real Issue" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/When-Search-Growth-Stalls-How-to-Identify-the-Real-Issue.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/When-Search-Growth-Stalls-How-to-Identify-the-Real-Issue-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/When-Search-Growth-Stalls-How-to-Identify-the-Real-Issue-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/When-Search-Growth-Stalls-How-to-Identify-the-Real-Issue-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Pinpoint whether demand, targeting, conversion, or execution limits are driving the slowdown — and what moves performance forward.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/When-Search-Growth-Stalls-How-to-Identify-the-Real-Issue.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="When Search Growth Stalls- How to Identify the Real Issue" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/When-Search-Growth-Stalls-How-to-Identify-the-Real-Issue.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/When-Search-Growth-Stalls-How-to-Identify-the-Real-Issue-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/When-Search-Growth-Stalls-How-to-Identify-the-Real-Issue-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/When-Search-Growth-Stalls-How-to-Identify-the-Real-Issue-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Search campaigns often see strong early gains — more visibility, traffic, and conversions. But that growth doesn’t last forever. At some point, performance stalls, whether it shows up as a plateau, volatility, or rising costs.</p>



<p>That slowdown isn’t necessarily a failure. More often, it signals limits in demand, targeting, conversion, or execution — the challenge is figuring out which one.</p>



<p>Search performance doesn’t stay linear, and once early wins are exhausted, quick gains become harder to find. When growth stalls, the instinct is to do more — launch campaigns, publish content, increase spend. But without understanding the constraint, that effort can miss the mark.</p>



<p>Instead, the goal is to diagnose what’s actually limiting performance so you can focus on the changes that unlock the next phase of growth.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-identify-what-s-actually-limiting-growth">How to identify what’s actually limiting growth</h2>



<p>When performance drops off, there’s a natural reaction to do more. The discipline of taking a step back and having a mindset of auditing, or seeking to understand what is really going on, is key to understanding the situation.</p>



<p>While the answer very well may be to launch more campaigns, increase budgets, or publish more content, chances are that it will be a wasted effort and possibly compound the problem. In many cases, time is of the essence, and we don’t have time to spend a month on a forensic audit. Plus, it isn’t always necessary.</p>



<p>A set of questions within a diagnostic framework can quickly help you identify what’s happening.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-is-the-change-occurring">Where is the change occurring?</h3>



<p>This might already be answered, as a specific KPI might have triggered the concern to start with. However, it’s important to understand where the performance gap is happening. </p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Is it in just one channel? One platform? Or, more broadly, across the board? </li>



<li>Where in the funnel or customer journey is it happening? Is it related to visibility, traffic, conversions, or something else?</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-hasn-t-changed">What hasn’t changed?</h3>



<p>Knowing what metrics are stable can help isolate variables in your search for answers. The more you can isolate the issue, the better you can diagnose problems and more quickly get to resolution steps.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-the-issue-upstream-or-downstream">Is the issue upstream or downstream?</h3>



<p>Digging into upstream items includes demand and targeting, while downstream leads to the website and conversions. Getting granular with where performance is impacted in the journey helps greatly.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-this-a-limit-or-a-gap">Is this a limit or a gap?</h3>



<p>Limits can include considering if an opportunity has been maxed out, leading to a plateau. And, gaps can include considering if something is missing or is misaligned in the journey, tech, and end-to-end ecosystem.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/stop-reporting-traffic-464083">Stop reporting traffic and activity. Start reporting progress.</a></em></strong>



<a href="https://www.semrush.com/lp/semrush-one/en/?utm_campaign=ic_semrush_one&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>

    <div>

      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand <span>shows up</span>.
      </div>
      <p id="semrush-one-subhead">
        The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta">Start Free Trial</span>
    </div>

    <div>
      <div>Get started with</div>
      <img decoding="async" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/semrush-one.webp" alt="Semrush One Logo">
    </div>
  </div>
</a>




<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-search-growth-typically-breaks-down">Where search growth typically breaks down</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-demand">1. Demand</h3>



<p>I’m starting with demand, as it can be one of the most frustrating causes of performance plateaus or negative changes, as it’s one that is difficult or impossible for marketing leaders and teams to change on their own.</p>



<p>If impressions plateau, impression share remains high, rankings are strong, but you have limited new keyword opportunities, you might simply be at the mercy of changes in demand for your product or service. This could be due to global economic reasons, seasonality, or very niche market reasons.</p>



<p>Early growth often comes from capturing existing market demand. But, eventually, that demand can be saturated, and more campaigns and optimization unfortunately can’t fix this – and can only hurt the ROI we already have.</p>



<p>When exploring demand issues, you can expand your keyword and targeting universe, adjacent topics and subject matter (if still relevant to your product/service), seek out new audiences/personas, or consider expanded geography. All of these have to make sense for your business, though.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-targeting-and-coverage-gaps">2. Targeting and coverage gaps</h3>



<p>If you have inconsistent performance across campaigns, content, or landing pages, you might have some targeting and/or coverage gaps. This often looks like inconsistent performance across campaigns and pages, missed segments of the funnel, and uneven coverage of the audience.</p>



<p>The good news is that opportunity exists, and demand isn’t the issue, and you can identify and fill the gaps in intent coverage and ensure that all stages of the customer journey are covered. I see this most often when there’s a focus primarily on bottom-of-the-funnel users and not a full-funnel strategy.</p>



<p>You can consider keyword clustering/structure, segmentation of your campaigns, and ensuring that your content is mapped really well to specific intents and stages in the journey.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-conversion-and-website-constraints">3. Conversion and website constraints</h3>



<p>When traffic grows but conversions don’t, if you have a declining conversion rate, or strong visibility with weak outcomes, your website might be the bottleneck and cause.</p>



<p>Search can do the job of getting the visitor to the site, but if the website is hurting potential outcomes or causing a mismatch between expectations of the visitor and the ultimate experience they have on the landing page, you have a website constraint.</p>



<p>Landing page alignment to intent and the subject matter, and a strong user experience, are sometimes afterthoughts. A lot of focus can go into the content, topics, and targeting without considering the full experience. Trust signals, messaging clarity, clear conversion paths, and removing UX friction are key to getting the expected ROI on search.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/seo-tests-improve-traffic-engagement-conversions-454934">6 SEO tests to help improve traffic, engagement, and conversions</a></em></strong>



<div class="nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2">
	
	<div class="row align-items-center nl-inline-container">
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-3 col-xl-4 pe-md-0 pb-2 pb-lg-0">
			<p class="inline-form-text text-center mb-0">Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.</p>
		</div>
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-6  pe-lg-0">
			<div class="form-nl-inline">
				<form id="mktoForm_16298"></form> 
				
				
			</div>
		</div>
		<div class="col-12 col-lg-2 col-xl-2 ps-1">
			<p class="text-center mb-0"><a class="nl-terms" href="https://searchengineland.com/termsofuse" target="_blank" aria-label="opens in a new tab">See terms.</a>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>




<hr class="wp-block-separator has-text-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-css-opacity has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background"/>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-efficiency-limits-in-paid-search">4. Efficiency limits in paid search</h3>



<p>If you’re experiencing rising cost per acquisition numbers, declining return on ad spend, or a higher cost for incremental growth, then you’ve likely hit a ceiling on efficiency.</p>



<p>Early efficiency gains are often easier to find and achieve. When you get further into a campaign management phase, you may find that scaling requires tradeoffs and cost increases that are marginal when you expand.</p>



<p>You can consider different bid strategies, creative, or ad fatigue, audience expansion, and even what it looks like in how you’re balancing efficiency versus scale in your efforts.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-content-depth-vs-expansion-trade-off">5. Content depth vs. expansion trade-off</h3>



<p>When you increase content creation and output with limited gains from the investment/effort, see stagnant visibility, or keyword cannibalization, you might be finding that more content isn’t necessarily the answer within your strategy.</p>



<p>Early on, you might have experienced gains from filling content gaps and, with gaps filled, are now focused on adding depth. Sometimes, adding depth and continuing to scale content can create unintentional overlaps and dilute performance in hidden ways.</p>



<p>It might not seem intuitive, but evaluating if you need to consolidate content (instead of expand) to create a sharper focus and higher overall quality (versus quantity) could be the best option for you. </p>



<p>A focus on improving existing content, topical authority, and the content hierarchy and linking structure could be better for you than simply producing more and new content overall if you’re experiencing plateaus.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-6-execution-and-resource-constraints">6. Execution and resource constraints</h3>



<p>So maybe “doing more” is the answer. I’m not contradicting what I noted early on about how doing more isn’t typically the answer, but you’ll know if that is a constraint and if you think it’s holding you back. In this case, it isn’t that you’re aimlessly adding more work, but you know that you have constraints with resources.</p>



<p>When you have a backlog that you can’t get to, slow implementation, or inconsistency in tactics, you’re likely limited by capacity.</p>



<p>Knowing what to do but not being able to execute isn’t rare or unique, and it can be frustrating to company and marketing leadership when you see what needs to be done, how it’s holding back results, creating plateaus, and if it isn’t something you can quickly fix.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/seo-growth-continuous-improvement-448743">How to cultivate SEO growth through continuous improvement</a></em></strong>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-find-the-constraint-then-unlock-growth">Find the constraint, then unlock growth</h2>



<p>It’s exciting to see search performance graphs trending “up and to the right,” and the impact that can have on the bottom line.</p>



<p>On the flip side, it can be frustrating, create stress, and be complicated to address when that positive performance stagnates or a plateau is reached. Typically, doing more and doubling down isn’t the right answer.</p>



<p>The complexity and number of potential variables that impact performance can be hard to identify and isolate. Leveraging a framework like the diagnostic I unpacked and understanding common reasons can help you sort out performance concerns faster and with greater clarity in your search marketing leadership and implementation.</p>

Search campaigns often see strong early gains — more visibility, traffic, and conversions. But that growth doesn’t last forever. At some point, performance stalls, whether it shows up as a plateau, volatility, or rising costs.
That slowdown isn’t necessarily a failure. More often, it signals limits in demand, targeting, conversion, or execution — the challenge is figuring out which one.
Search performance doesn’t stay linear, and once early wins are exhausted, quick gains become harder to find. When growth stalls, the instinct is to do more — launch campaigns, publish content, increase spend. But without understanding the constraint, that effort can miss the mark.
Instead, the goal is to diagnose what’s actually limiting performance so you can focus on the changes that unlock the next phase of growth.
How to identify what’s actually limiting growth
When performance drops off, there’s a natural reaction to do more. The discipline of taking a step back and having a mindset of auditing, or seeking to understand what is really going on, is key to understanding the situation.
While the answer very well may be to launch more campaigns, increase budgets, or publish more content, chances are that it will be a wasted effort and possibly compound the problem. In many cases, time is of the essence, and we don’t have time to spend a month on a forensic audit. Plus, it isn’t always necessary.
A set of questions within a diagnostic framework can quickly help you identify what’s happening.
Where is the change occurring?
This might already be answered, as a specific KPI might have triggered the concern to start with. However, it’s important to understand where the performance gap is happening. 
Is it in just one channel? One platform? Or, more broadly, across the board? 
Where in the funnel or customer journey is it happening? Is it related to visibility, traffic, conversions, or something else?
What hasn’t changed?
Knowing what metrics are stable can help isolate variables in your search for answers. The more you can isolate the issue, the better you can diagnose problems and more quickly get to resolution steps.
Is the issue upstream or downstream?
Digging into upstream items includes demand and targeting, while downstream leads to the website and conversions. Getting granular with where performance is impacted in the journey helps greatly.
Is this a limit or a gap?
Limits can include considering if an opportunity has been maxed out, leading to a plateau. And, gaps can include considering if something is missing or is misaligned in the journey, tech, and end-to-end ecosystem.
Dig deeper: Stop reporting traffic and activity. Start reporting progress.




  
shows up.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with
Where search growth typically breaks down
1. Demand
I’m starting with demand, as it can be one of the most frustrating causes of performance plateaus or negative changes, as it’s one that is difficult or impossible for marketing leaders and teams to change on their own.
If impressions plateau, impression share remains high, rankings are strong, but you have limited new keyword opportunities, you might simply be at the mercy of changes in demand for your product or service. This could be due to global economic reasons, seasonality, or very niche market reasons.
Early growth often comes from capturing existing market demand. But, eventually, that demand can be saturated, and more campaigns and optimization unfortunately can’t fix this – and can only hurt the ROI we already have.
When exploring demand issues, you can expand your keyword and targeting universe, adjacent topics and subject matter (if still relevant to your product/service), seek out new audiences/personas, or consider expanded geography. All of these have to make sense for your business, though.
2. Targeting and coverage gaps
If you have inconsistent performance across campaigns, content, or landing pages, you might have some targeting and/or coverage gaps. This often looks like inconsistent performance across campaigns and pages, missed segments of the funnel, and uneven coverage of the audience.
The good news is that opportunity exists, and demand isn’t the issue, and you can identify and fill the gaps in intent coverage and ensure that all stages of the customer journey are covered. I see this most often when there’s a focus primarily on bottom-of-the-funnel users and not a full-funnel strategy.
You can consider keyword clustering/structure, segmentation of your campaigns, and ensuring that your content is mapped really well to specific intents and stages in the journey.
3. Conversion and website constraints
When traffic grows but conversions don’t, if you have a declining conversion rate, or strong visibility with weak outcomes, your website might be the bottleneck and cause.
Search can do the job of getting the visitor to the site, but if the website is hurting potential outcomes or causing a mismatch between expectations of the visitor and the ultimate experience they have on the landing page, you have a website constraint.
Landing page alignment to intent and the subject matter, and a strong user experience, are sometimes afterthoughts. A lot of focus can go into the content, topics, and targeting without considering the full experience. Trust signals, messaging clarity, clear conversion paths, and removing UX friction are key to getting the expected ROI on search.
Dig deeper: 6 SEO tests to help improve traffic, engagement, and conversions




	
	
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
				
			
See terms.
		
4. Efficiency limits in paid search
If you’re experiencing rising cost per acquisition numbers, declining return on ad spend, or a higher cost for incremental growth, then you’ve likely hit a ceiling on efficiency.
Early efficiency gains are often easier to find and achieve. When you get further into a campaign management phase, you may find that scaling requires tradeoffs and cost increases that are marginal when you expand.
You can consider different bid strategies, creative, or ad fatigue, audience expansion, and even what it looks like in how you’re balancing efficiency versus scale in your efforts.
5. Content depth vs. expansion trade-off
When you increase content creation and output with limited gains from the investment/effort, see stagnant visibility, or keyword cannibalization, you might be finding that more content isn’t necessarily the answer within your strategy.
Early on, you might have experienced gains from filling content gaps and, with gaps filled, are now focused on adding depth. Sometimes, adding depth and continuing to scale content can create unintentional overlaps and dilute performance in hidden ways.
It might not seem intuitive, but evaluating if you need to consolidate content (instead of expand) to create a sharper focus and higher overall quality (versus quantity) could be the best option for you. 
A focus on improving existing content, topical authority, and the content hierarchy and linking structure could be better for you than simply producing more and new content overall if you’re experiencing plateaus.
6. Execution and resource constraints
So maybe “doing more” is the answer. I’m not contradicting what I noted early on about how doing more isn’t typically the answer, but you’ll know if that is a constraint and if you think it’s holding you back. In this case, it isn’t that you’re aimlessly adding more work, but you know that you have constraints with resources.
When you have a backlog that you can’t get to, slow implementation, or inconsistency in tactics, you’re likely limited by capacity.
Knowing what to do but not being able to execute isn’t rare or unique, and it can be frustrating to company and marketing leadership when you see what needs to be done, how it’s holding back results, creating plateaus, and if it isn’t something you can quickly fix.
Dig deeper: How to cultivate SEO growth through continuous improvement



Find the constraint, then unlock growth
It’s exciting to see search performance graphs trending “up and to the right,” and the impact that can have on the bottom line.
On the flip side, it can be frustrating, create stress, and be complicated to address when that positive performance stagnates or a plateau is reached. Typically, doing more and doubling down isn’t the right answer.
The complexity and number of potential variables that impact performance can be hard to identify and isolate. Leveraging a framework like the diagnostic I unpacked and understanding common reasons can help you sort out performance concerns faster and with greater clarity in your search marketing leadership and implementation.

Pinpoint whether demand, targeting, conversion, or execution limits are driving the slowdown — and what moves performance forward.

When search growth stalls: How to diagnose what’s really holding you back

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/09/OpenAI-ChatGPT-ad-platform.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="OpenAI ChatGPT ad platform" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/09/OpenAI-ChatGPT-ad-platform.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/09/OpenAI-ChatGPT-ad-platform-768x432.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>OpenAI’s shift to CPC ads in ChatGPT turns it into a performance-driven channel, giving advertisers a new way to capture intent and measure ROI.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/09/OpenAI-ChatGPT-ad-platform.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="OpenAI ChatGPT ad platform" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/09/OpenAI-ChatGPT-ad-platform.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/09/OpenAI-ChatGPT-ad-platform-768x432.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>OpenAI is shifting its ad model inside ChatGPT from pure impressions to performance, a move that puts it in more direct competition with Google’s core business.</p>



<p><strong>What’s happening</strong>. OpenAI has begun testing cost-per-click (CPC) ads within ChatGPT, allowing advertisers to pay only when users click rather than when ads are shown. Early reports suggest clicks are being priced in the $3 to $5 range, and the feature is rolling out through a limited ads manager alongside the earlier CPM-based model.</p>



<p><strong>Why now</strong>. Pricing pressure appears to be a key driver. ChatGPT’s CPMs have fallen significantly since launch, dropping from around $60 to closer to $25 in some cases. Moving to CPC helps offset that decline by tying revenue to measurable outcomes instead of impressions.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>ChatGPT is evolving into a performance channel, not just a branding environment. With CPC pricing, budgets can now be tied directly to measurable actions, making it easier to test ROI and compare against channels like Google Search.</p>



<p>It also opens early access to a potentially high-intent audience in a new format, giving advertisers a chance to gain a first-mover advantage before competition — and costs — increase.</p>



<p><strong>The bigger picture</strong>. This is more than a pricing adjustment — it’s a strategic shift. CPC advertising has long been dominated by Google, built on strong user intent signals. By adopting the same model, OpenAI is positioning ChatGPT to compete for performance marketing budgets, not just brand spend, effectively turning the product into a full-fledged ad platform.</p>



<p><strong>Between the lines.</strong> The real challenge will be proving intent. Search advertising works because users actively look for something; ChatGPT must demonstrate that its conversational context can generate similarly valuable clicks. Advertisers are likely to benchmark performance directly against Google, raising the bar for quality and conversion.</p>



<p><strong>Zoom out</strong>. Advertising is becoming central to OpenAI’s long-term revenue strategy, with investments in ad infrastructure, measurement tools and a broader self-serve platform.</p>



<p><strong>Bottom line</strong>. <a href="https://digiday.com/marketing/openai-turns-on-cost-per-click-ads-inside-chatgpt/">By introducing CPC ads</a>, OpenAI is now competing for the performance-driven ad dollars that power the veteran search platforms.</p>


OpenAI is shifting its ad model inside ChatGPT from pure impressions to performance, a move that puts it in more direct competition with Google’s core business.
What’s happening. OpenAI has begun testing cost-per-click (CPC) ads within ChatGPT, allowing advertisers to pay only when users click rather than when ads are shown. Early reports suggest clicks are being priced in the $3 to $5 range, and the feature is rolling out through a limited ads manager alongside the earlier CPM-based model.
Why now. Pricing pressure appears to be a key driver. ChatGPT’s CPMs have fallen significantly since launch, dropping from around $60 to closer to $25 in some cases. Moving to CPC helps offset that decline by tying revenue to measurable outcomes instead of impressions.
Why we care. ChatGPT is evolving into a performance channel, not just a branding environment. With CPC pricing, budgets can now be tied directly to measurable actions, making it easier to test ROI and compare against channels like Google Search.
It also opens early access to a potentially high-intent audience in a new format, giving advertisers a chance to gain a first-mover advantage before competition — and costs — increase.
The bigger picture. This is more than a pricing adjustment — it’s a strategic shift. CPC advertising has long been dominated by Google, built on strong user intent signals. By adopting the same model, OpenAI is positioning ChatGPT to compete for performance marketing budgets, not just brand spend, effectively turning the product into a full-fledged ad platform.
Between the lines. The real challenge will be proving intent. Search advertising works because users actively look for something; ChatGPT must demonstrate that its conversational context can generate similarly valuable clicks. Advertisers are likely to benchmark performance directly against Google, raising the bar for quality and conversion.
Zoom out. Advertising is becoming central to OpenAI’s long-term revenue strategy, with investments in ad infrastructure, measurement tools and a broader self-serve platform.
Bottom line. By introducing CPC ads, OpenAI is now competing for the performance-driven ad dollars that power the veteran search platforms.

OpenAI’s shift to CPC ads in ChatGPT turns it into a performance-driven channel, giving advertisers a new way to capture intent and measure ROI.

OpenAI adds CPC ads to ChatGPT

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/05/Google-Shopping-Ads-Google-Ads.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google Shopping Ads - Google Ads" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/05/Google-Shopping-Ads-Google-Ads.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/05/Google-Shopping-Ads-Google-Ads-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/05/Google-Shopping-Ads-Google-Ads-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google adds App Consent Insights to Google Ads, giving advertisers clearer visibility into how consent impacts app campaign performance.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/05/Google-Shopping-Ads-Google-Ads.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google Shopping Ads - Google Ads" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/05/Google-Shopping-Ads-Google-Ads.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/05/Google-Shopping-Ads-Google-Ads-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/05/Google-Shopping-Ads-Google-Ads-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google is rolling out App Consent Insights in Google Ads, giving advertisers a clearer view into how consent signals impact app campaign performance.</p>



<p><strong>What’s new</strong>. The new diagnostics view breaks down consent data across apps, platforms, regions, and traffic sources, helping marketers pinpoint gaps in their setup.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1152" height="920" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Google-app-privacy.png" alt="" class="wp-image-475125" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Google-app-privacy.png 1152w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Google-app-privacy-768x613.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1152px) 100vw, 1152px" /></figure>



<p><strong>Zoom in.</strong> Advertisers can see an overall consent rating — like “Excellent,” “Good,” or “Poor” — alongside a live count of apps actively sending consented data. A detailed table also shows consent rates for conversions, including splits between EEA and non-EEA users.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> As privacy regulations tighten, consent isn’t just a compliance box — it directly affects measurement and optimization. Advertisers now get more visibility into where consent setups may be limiting performance.</p>



<p><strong>Between the lines</strong>. Google is making consent more measurable — and more actionable — as signal loss continues to impact campaign performance.</p>



<p><strong>What to watch</strong>. Expect advertisers to start optimizing not just for conversions, but for consent rates themselves as a performance lever.</p>



<p><strong>Bottom line</strong>. Better consent visibility means better data — and ultimately, better campaign outcomes.</p>



<p><strong>First seen.</strong> This update was first spotted by Google Ads specialist Thomas Eccel on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thomaseccel_ppc-googleads-ad-activity-7451879878607638528-fy2P/">LinkedIn</a>. </p>


Google is rolling out App Consent Insights in Google Ads, giving advertisers a clearer view into how consent signals impact app campaign performance.
What’s new. The new diagnostics view breaks down consent data across apps, platforms, regions, and traffic sources, helping marketers pinpoint gaps in their setup.




Zoom in. Advertisers can see an overall consent rating — like “Excellent,” “Good,” or “Poor” — alongside a live count of apps actively sending consented data. A detailed table also shows consent rates for conversions, including splits between EEA and non-EEA users.
Why we care. As privacy regulations tighten, consent isn’t just a compliance box — it directly affects measurement and optimization. Advertisers now get more visibility into where consent setups may be limiting performance.
Between the lines. Google is making consent more measurable — and more actionable — as signal loss continues to impact campaign performance.
What to watch. Expect advertisers to start optimizing not just for conversions, but for consent rates themselves as a performance lever.
Bottom line. Better consent visibility means better data — and ultimately, better campaign outcomes.
First seen. This update was first spotted by Google Ads specialist Thomas Eccel on LinkedIn.

Google adds App Consent Insights to Google Ads, giving advertisers clearer visibility into how consent impacts app campaign performance.

All About
Digital Marketing

Read the Latest Trends and Headlines in Digital Marketing.

Here are some of the latest headlines on digital marketing insights, search, and ecommerce:

Free Consultation

Reach out with any questions you might have regarding how RSO can help you with digital marketing.

All About Digital Marketing

Read the Latest Trends and Headlines in Digital Marketing.

Here are some of the latest headlines on digital marketing insights, search, and ecommerce:

Free Consultation

Reach out with any questions you might have regarding how RSO can help you with digital marketing.

All About
Digital Marketing