<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/12/Google-vs.-publishers-What-the-EU-probe-means-for-SEO-AI-answers-and-content-rights.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google vs. publishers: What the EU probe means for SEO, AI answers, and content rights" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/12/Google-vs.-publishers-What-the-EU-probe-means-for-SEO-AI-answers-and-content-rights.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/12/Google-vs.-publishers-What-the-EU-probe-means-for-SEO-AI-answers-and-content-rights-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/12/Google-vs.-publishers-What-the-EU-probe-means-for-SEO-AI-answers-and-content-rights-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>The EU's imminent ruling for the DMA March 2024 case against Google will potential have consequences for how the company operates in Europe.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/12/Google-vs.-publishers-What-the-EU-probe-means-for-SEO-AI-answers-and-content-rights.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google vs. publishers: What the EU probe means for SEO, AI answers, and content rights" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/12/Google-vs.-publishers-What-the-EU-probe-means-for-SEO-AI-answers-and-content-rights.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/12/Google-vs.-publishers-What-the-EU-probe-means-for-SEO-AI-answers-and-content-rights-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/12/Google-vs.-publishers-What-the-EU-probe-means-for-SEO-AI-answers-and-content-rights-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>The EU’s top antitrust enforcer signaled a decision on whether Google is violating the Digital Markets Act is imminent, without committing to a timeline.</p>



<p><strong>What she said.</strong> “It will come,” Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera told Dow Jones Newswires, adding the cases are complex and the commission is committed to decisions based on evidence and fair procedure.</p>



<p><strong>The backdrop.</strong> The European Commission launched its <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-changes-digital-markets-act-compliance-438158">probe into Google&#8217;s search business in March 2024 under the Digital Markets Act</a>. The commission gave itself a soft 12-month deadline to wrap up — it has already fined Meta and Apple, but Google&#8217;s case remains unresolved nearly two years in.</p>



<p><strong>The pressure is mounting.</strong> Eighteen lobby and civil society groups wrote to Ribera this month demanding clear remedies and a fine large enough to make non-compliance unprofitable.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>The groups warned the commission’s credibility is on the line, noting Google controls over 90% of the EU search market.</li>



<li>&#8220;Every day without a decision is a day that European businesses are systematically disadvantaged,&#8221; the letter said.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> A ruling against Google under the Digital Markets Act could force major changes to how it operates search in Europe — potentially reshaping how ads are served, ranked, and priced in one of the world’s largest markets. If remedies include structural changes to search or ad tech, it could affect campaign performance, targeting, and competition dynamics across the board. If you have European audiences, watch this closely — the outcome could ripple through Google’s global ad ecosystem.</p>



<p><strong>Meanwhile, this week.</strong> Ribera is in California meeting Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, and Amazon’s Andy Jassy before heading to Washington, D.C., for talks with the acting head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division.</p>



<p><strong>The big picture.</strong> Google isn&#8217;t the only one in the crosshairs. The commission has additional open probes into <a href="https://searchengineland.com/eu-puts-googles-ai-and-search-data-under-dma-spotlight-468019">how Google powers AI Overviews and ranks news publishers</a>, and is separately investigating Meta over restrictions on rival chatbots using WhatsApp&#8217;s business software.</p>



<p><strong>Bottom line.</strong> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/eu-competition-chief-says-google-decision-is-coming-ahead-of-u-s-tech-meetings-fa16dd9d?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqc1sGUWbsg7rF5Iy4Bvr_5OQuO_5zSh8uAXrlglftEQQ-1FP6N4wfX9&amp;gaa_ts=69c0eceb&amp;gaa_sig=erqI5mJ-pcD6dg8TTGrhQ_vlYHmR37fJ-bcLwe4s8DRaYEyh-DJhjzLvrz9TbzoVdRw7G9R8Njo1QQazAqX-CQ%3D%3D">The EU has been slow to act on Google</a>, but pressure is clearly building. When the decision lands, it could set a significant precedent for how the Digital Markets Act is enforced.</p>


The EU’s top antitrust enforcer signaled a decision on whether Google is violating the Digital Markets Act is imminent, without committing to a timeline.
What she said. “It will come,” Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera told Dow Jones Newswires, adding the cases are complex and the commission is committed to decisions based on evidence and fair procedure.
The backdrop. The European Commission launched its probe into Google’s search business in March 2024 under the Digital Markets Act. The commission gave itself a soft 12-month deadline to wrap up — it has already fined Meta and Apple, but Google’s case remains unresolved nearly two years in.
The pressure is mounting. Eighteen lobby and civil society groups wrote to Ribera this month demanding clear remedies and a fine large enough to make non-compliance unprofitable.
The groups warned the commission’s credibility is on the line, noting Google controls over 90% of the EU search market.
“Every day without a decision is a day that European businesses are systematically disadvantaged,” the letter said.
Why we care. A ruling against Google under the Digital Markets Act could force major changes to how it operates search in Europe — potentially reshaping how ads are served, ranked, and priced in one of the world’s largest markets. If remedies include structural changes to search or ad tech, it could affect campaign performance, targeting, and competition dynamics across the board. If you have European audiences, watch this closely — the outcome could ripple through Google’s global ad ecosystem.
Meanwhile, this week. Ribera is in California meeting Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, and Amazon’s Andy Jassy before heading to Washington, D.C., for talks with the acting head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
The big picture. Google isn’t the only one in the crosshairs. The commission has additional open probes into how Google powers AI Overviews and ranks news publishers, and is separately investigating Meta over restrictions on rival chatbots using WhatsApp’s business software.
Bottom line. The EU has been slow to act on Google, but pressure is clearly building. When the decision lands, it could set a significant precedent for how the Digital Markets Act is enforced.

The EU's imminent ruling for the DMA March 2024 case against Google will potential have consequences for how the company operates in Europe.

EU signals imminent decision on Google DMA probe

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/ai-content-rise-fall.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI content rise and fall" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/ai-content-rise-fall.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/ai-content-rise-fall-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/ai-content-rise-fall-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/ai-content-rise-fall-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google indexed most pages quickly, but without authority, unique insight, or trust signals, rankings collapsed within months.

With AI, you can generate dozens (if not hundreds) of articles in hours and publish at scale. But publishing is the easy part. What happens after they go live is what matters.
Together with the research team at SE Ranking, we ran a 16-month experiment to track how well AI-generated content performed on brand-new domains with zero authority.
As you will see, the results are hard to call a success.




Here’s the full story behind our experiment.
Methodology
The goal was simple: test how far AI content — with no human editing, rewriting, or enhancement — could go in search.
How quickly would it get indexed? Could it rank for relevant queries? Most importantly, could it drive traffic?
We started by purchasing 20 new domains with no backlinks, domain authority, brand recognition, or search history.
Each domain focused on a different niche, covering topics such as:
Arts & Entertainment
Business & Services
Community & Society
Computers & Technology
Ecommerce & Shopping
Finance & Accounting
Food & Drink
Games & Accessories
Health & Medicine
Industry & Engineering
Hobbies & Interests
Home & Garden
Jobs & Career
Law & Government
Lifestyle & Well-being
Pets & Animals
Science & Education
Sports & Fitness
Travel & Tourism
Vehicles & Boats
For each niche, we gathered 100 informational “how-to” keywords—long-tail terms with lower competition.
Each site received 100 AI-generated articles, totaling 2,000 pieces across the experiment.
After publishing, we added the sites to Google Search Console and submitted sitemaps.
From that point on, we left the sites untouched to observe performance over time.
Timeline & key results 
Month 1: indexing and early visibility
About 71% of new AI-generated pages were indexed within the first 36 days. They generated over 122,000 impressions and 244 clicks. Even at this early stage, 80% of sites ranked for at least 100 keywords each.
Months 2–3: growth continues
Cumulative impressions grew to over 526,000, with 782 clicks. Content continued to perform well without backlinks, promotion, internal linking, or additional SEO tactics.
Months 3–6: ranking collapse
By about three months, only 3% of pages remained in the top 100. Early relevance helped pages get indexed and briefly appear in search, but without authority, uniqueness, or E-E-A-T signals, rankings dropped sharply. Google still indexed the pages, but users rarely saw them.
Month 16: long-term stagnation
After over a year, visibility remained low across most sites. Impressions and clicks were minimal, and no site showed meaningful recovery. After the August 2025 Google spam update, pages ranking in the top 100 rose to 20% — up from 3% at six months.
Month 1: indexing and early visibility
Just over a month after publication (36 days), the first results came in — and they were stronger than expected for brand-new sites.
Of 2,000 articles, 70.95% were indexed (1,419 pages). For zero-authority domains, that’s notable, as getting new sites fully indexed is often a challenge. This shows Google is still willing to crawl and index AI-generated content in most cases.
Some sites performed particularly well. Eleven of the 20 domains had all 100 pages indexed. 
Most were in broad, evergreen niches like Food & Drink, Home & Garden, Jobs & Career, and Lifestyle & Well-being. 
More competitive or specialized areas, like Ecommerce & Shopping, saw slower indexation, likely due to stricter evaluation.
Along with indexation came early visibility. During this first month, the sites collectively generated:
122,102 impressions
244 clicks
Several niches stood out generating more than 10,000 impressions in the first month alone.
Hobbies & Interests: 17,425 impressions





Business & Services: 17,311 impressions





Travel & Tourism: 13,598 impressions





Lifestyle & Well-being: 13,072 impressions
Law & Government: 11,794 impressions
Games & Accessories: 11,083 impressions
Vehicles & Boats: 10,677 impressions
In terms of keyword coverage, many sites performed surprisingly well within the first month. Eight sites ranked for more than 1,000 keywords, while another eight ranked for 100 to 1,000.
Even at this early stage, 80% of sites with fully AI-generated content appeared in search for hundreds or thousands of queries.
Notably, over 28% of ranking URLs were already in the top 100. Within the first month, many pages reached positions where searchers could see them.
Overall, these results show AI-generated content can gain traction quickly—even without backlinks, editorial input, or additional SEO work. In the short term, content alone was enough to get indexed and appear in search.
Months 2–3: growth continues
This early visibility wasn’t short-lived. Over the following weeks, impressions and clicks kept growing as Google Search discovered and tested pages.
By about two and a half months after publication, cumulative results across all sites had grown:
Impressions: 122,102 to 526,624
Clicks: 244 to 782




Keyword coverage also expanded:
12 sites ranked for 1,000+ keywords (up from 8 in the first month).
The remaining 8 sites ranked for 100–1,000 keywords.
This pattern is typical for new sites. When Google finds fresh content that matches real queries, it tests that content across results. Pages appear for related queries as Google evaluates their helpfulness.
That’s what happened here. Even without backlinks, internal linking, or SEO improvements, the content gained exposure because it targeted low-competition queries and followed basic SEO structure.
At this stage, it could look like a strong case for large-scale AI content. The sites were new, the content fully AI-generated, and impressions kept rising.
But the growth didn’t last.
Month 3-6: the ranking collapse
Around Feb. 3, 2025, roughly three months after publication, the experiment hit a turning point.
Only 3% of pages remained in the top 100, down from 28% in the first month. 
In practical terms, the content remained indexed but rarely appeared where users could see it.
Early relevance can help pages get indexed and appear in search results for a time. Without stronger signals — authority, E-E-A-T, unique insights — those rankings are hard to sustain.
By the six-month mark, Google Search Console showed the following cumulative totals across all sites:
Impressions: 526,624 to 706,328 
Clicks: 782 to 1,062
At first glance, these numbers suggest continued growth. But that’s not what happened.
Most activity occurred early. In the first 2.5 months, the sites generated roughly 70% to 75% of total impressions and clicks. Over the next 3.5 months, growth slowed sharply, adding only 25% to 30%.
Month 16: the long-term picture
The experiment ran for over a year to see if rankings would recover.
For the most part, they didn’t.
After the drop around the three-month mark, visibility remained extremely low for the rest of the experiment.




There were a few brief fluctuations. The most notable came in late August 2025.
Starting in August, 50% of sites (10 out of 20) saw a two-week spike in impressions. This closely aligned with the rollout of the Google August 2025 spam update, which began Aug. 26.




However, the boost didn’t lead to a sustained recovery.
Among the sites that saw a short-term lift:
Six quickly lost visibility and returned to prior lows
Four maintained slightly improved performance, similar to early post-publication levels




Following the update, pages ranking in the top 100 rose to 20% — up from 3% at six months. This remained below the 28% seen in the first month, but the August 2025 spam update appeared to have improved some rankings.
In total, 66.9% of pages were still indexed, up slightly from 61.45% at six months.
The following sites had some of the lowest numbers of indexed pages:
Finance domain (9 of 100)
Health domain (14 of 100)
This is likely due to their YMYL nature, where Google applies stricter quality and trust standards.
By month 16, cumulative results across all sites were:
Impressions: 706,328 to 1,092,079
Clicks: 1,062 to 1,381
Most impressions still came from the early growth phase, before rankings dropped.
Why SEO visibility didn’t last
The most obvious explanation is that the content didn’t meet Google’s quality standards — and understandably so.
The 2,000 articles lacked many signals Google uses to assess quality and trust:
Authority. No backlinks or external validation. Without these, new domains struggle to compete with established sites.
Expertise and credibility. No authors, credentials, or real-world expertise — especially critical in finance, health, and law.
Content differentiation. Much of the content resembled what already exists. Without unique insights, pages struggle to stand out.
Site structure. No internal linking, topical organization, or clear hierarchy to help Google understand page relationships.
Google can identify AI-generated patterns. Without authority, uniqueness, or supporting signals, early visibility declines.
Bonus insight: how new AI content supports existing pages
In early March 2026, we ran a follow-up experiment, adding new AI-generated content to eight tracked sites.
As of March 13, not all new content has been indexed. However, sites with new content already show a noticeable increase in search impressions.
Interestingly, this lift comes primarily from older posts, not the newly published ones.
For example:
Business-focused website (from 458 impressions in February 2026 to 7,750 impressions in March 2026)  – 17x increase.





Law-focused website (from 19 impressions in February 2026 to 356 impressions in March 2026)  – 19x increase.





Science-focused website (from 34 impressions in February 2026 to 633 impressions in March 2026)  – 19x increase.




This experiment shows that publishing new content—even fully AI-generated—can lift traffic to older pages that had been stagnant for months. Fresh content may signal to Google that the site is active and up to date, giving the site a temporary boost.
However, these are early results and don’t guarantee lasting gains in rankings or traffic.
Key takeaway: AI can speed up content creation, but not replace SEO
The results of this 16-month experiment don’t mean AI content is useless. They show AI alone isn’t enough to drive lasting impact.
Early traffic and impressions may look promising, but without a clear SEO strategy and human guidance, those gains will likely fade within a few months.

Google indexed most pages quickly, but without authority, unique insight, or trust signals, rankings collapsed within months.

How AI-generated content performs in Google Search: A 16-month experiment

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/In-Google-Ads-automation-everything-is-a-signal-in-2026.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="In Google Ads automation, everything is a signal in 2026" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/In-Google-Ads-automation-everything-is-a-signal-in-2026.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/In-Google-Ads-automation-everything-is-a-signal-in-2026-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/In-Google-Ads-automation-everything-is-a-signal-in-2026-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>From April 30, Google will block the creation of duplicate Lookalike user lists in the Google Ads API, returning an error code for any violations.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/In-Google-Ads-automation-everything-is-a-signal-in-2026.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="In Google Ads automation, everything is a signal in 2026" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/In-Google-Ads-automation-everything-is-a-signal-in-2026.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/In-Google-Ads-automation-everything-is-a-signal-in-2026-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/In-Google-Ads-automation-everything-is-a-signal-in-2026-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>A quiet but important change is coming to the Google Ads API that will affect how advertisers and developers create Lookalike user lists — particularly those running Demand Gen campaigns.</p>



<p><strong>What&#8217;s changing.</strong> Google will begin enforcing a uniqueness check on Lookalike user lists, preventing the creation of duplicate lists that share the same seed lists, expansion level, and country targeting. Attempts to create a duplicate after April 30 will return an API error.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> Teams using automated scripts or third-party tools to programmatically generate audience lists, an unhandled error could quietly break campaign workflows if integrations aren&#8217;t updated in time.</p>



<p><strong>What you need to do.</strong></p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Audit existing Lookalike lists and reuse ones that already match your intended configuration rather than creating new ones</li>



<li>Update your API error handling to catch the new <code>DUPLICATE_LOOKALIKE</code> error code in v24 and above, or <code>RESOURCE_ALREADY_EXISTS</code> in earlier versions</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>The bottom line.</strong> This is a housekeeping change designed to keep Google&#8217;s systems stable — but the April 30 deadline is firm. Developers and agencies managing campaigns programmatically should treat this as a technical to-do before the end of April.</p>



<p><strong>Dig deeper.</strong> <a href="http://ads-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/upcoming-changes-to-lookalike-user.html">Upcoming changes to Lookalike user lists in the Google Ads API, starting April 30, 2026</a></p>


A quiet but important change is coming to the Google Ads API that will affect how advertisers and developers create Lookalike user lists — particularly those running Demand Gen campaigns.
What’s changing. Google will begin enforcing a uniqueness check on Lookalike user lists, preventing the creation of duplicate lists that share the same seed lists, expansion level, and country targeting. Attempts to create a duplicate after April 30 will return an API error.
Why we care. Teams using automated scripts or third-party tools to programmatically generate audience lists, an unhandled error could quietly break campaign workflows if integrations aren’t updated in time.
What you need to do.
Audit existing Lookalike lists and reuse ones that already match your intended configuration rather than creating new ones
Update your API error handling to catch the new DUPLICATE_LOOKALIKE error code in v24 and above, or RESOURCE_ALREADY_EXISTS in earlier versions
The bottom line. This is a housekeeping change designed to keep Google’s systems stable — but the April 30 deadline is firm. Developers and agencies managing campaigns programmatically should treat this as a technical to-do before the end of April.
Dig deeper. Upcoming changes to Lookalike user lists in the Google Ads API, starting April 30, 2026

From April 30, Google will block the creation of duplicate Lookalike user lists in the Google Ads API, returning an error code for any violations.

Google is blocking duplicate Lookalike audience lists

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/chatgpt-growth-1920.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="ChatGPT growth" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/chatgpt-growth-1920.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/chatgpt-growth-1920-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/chatgpt-growth-1920-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/chatgpt-growth-1920-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>ChatGPT ads offers almost no performance data or targeting capabilities, leaving early advertisers unable to prove their spend is working.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/chatgpt-growth-1920.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="ChatGPT growth" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/chatgpt-growth-1920.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/chatgpt-growth-1920-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/chatgpt-growth-1920-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/chatgpt-growth-1920-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>OpenAI is moving forward with ads in ChatGPT, but early adopters say it isn’t ready for serious performance marketing.</p>



<p><strong>The big picture.</strong> ChatGPT’s ad product shares almost no data, lacks automated buying tools, and offers minimal targeting—leaving advertisers with little ability to measure whether their spend is doing anything, The Information reported.</p>



<p><strong>What advertisers are dealing with.</strong> SEO consultant Glenn Gabe outlined the issues:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>No automated way to buy ad space — deals happen over calls, emails, and spreadsheets.</li>



<li>No meaningful performance data to evaluate outcomes.</li>



<li>Two agency executives told The Information they couldn’t prove the ads drove measurable business results for clients.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> If you’re considering ChatGPT as an ad channel, the lack of performance data means you’re spending blind — with no reliable way to prove ROI to clients or stakeholders. As OpenAI prepares to scale ads to all U.S. free users, the audience will grow, but measurement tools haven’t caught up. If you jump in now, keep expectations tight and treat it as experimental budget, not a performance channel.</p>



<p><strong>What&#8217;s coming.</strong> OpenAI told advertisers it plans to show ads to all U.S. users on free and low-cost ChatGPT tiers in the coming weeks — a major expansion. It also advised that performance may improve if you supply more variations of text and visual creative.</p>



<p><strong>The irony.</strong> OpenAI builds some of the world’s most sophisticated AI, but its ad reporting tools are stuck in the spreadsheet era.</p>



<p><strong>Bottom line.</strong> ChatGPT ads are about to reach a much larger audience, but there&#8217;s no way to prove they have value yet. If you enter now, you’re largely flying blind — and paying for it.</p>



<p><strong>Credit. </strong>Gabe shared highlights from <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openais-first-advertisers-prove-chatgpt-ads-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Information</a>&#8216;s article (subscription required) on <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/first-chatgpt-ads-41090.html">X</a>.</p>


OpenAI is moving forward with ads in ChatGPT, but early adopters say it isn’t ready for serious performance marketing.
The big picture. ChatGPT’s ad product shares almost no data, lacks automated buying tools, and offers minimal targeting—leaving advertisers with little ability to measure whether their spend is doing anything, The Information reported.
What advertisers are dealing with. SEO consultant Glenn Gabe outlined the issues:
No automated way to buy ad space — deals happen over calls, emails, and spreadsheets.
No meaningful performance data to evaluate outcomes.
Two agency executives told The Information they couldn’t prove the ads drove measurable business results for clients.
Why we care. If you’re considering ChatGPT as an ad channel, the lack of performance data means you’re spending blind — with no reliable way to prove ROI to clients or stakeholders. As OpenAI prepares to scale ads to all U.S. free users, the audience will grow, but measurement tools haven’t caught up. If you jump in now, keep expectations tight and treat it as experimental budget, not a performance channel.
What’s coming. OpenAI told advertisers it plans to show ads to all U.S. users on free and low-cost ChatGPT tiers in the coming weeks — a major expansion. It also advised that performance may improve if you supply more variations of text and visual creative.
The irony. OpenAI builds some of the world’s most sophisticated AI, but its ad reporting tools are stuck in the spreadsheet era.
Bottom line. ChatGPT ads are about to reach a much larger audience, but there’s no way to prove they have value yet. If you enter now, you’re largely flying blind — and paying for it.
Credit. Gabe shared highlights from The Information‘s article (subscription required) on X.

ChatGPT ads offers almost no performance data or targeting capabilities, leaving early advertisers unable to prove their spend is working.

ChatGPT ads pilot leaves advertisers without proof of ROI

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Why-zero-click-search-doesnt-mean-zero-influence.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Why zero-click search doesn’t mean zero influence" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Why-zero-click-search-doesnt-mean-zero-influence.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Why-zero-click-search-doesnt-mean-zero-influence-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Why-zero-click-search-doesnt-mean-zero-influence-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Why-zero-click-search-doesnt-mean-zero-influence-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Zero-click changes how visibility works, not where knowledge comes from. Here’s why first-party content still matters.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Why-zero-click-search-doesnt-mean-zero-influence.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Why zero-click search doesn’t mean zero influence" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Why-zero-click-search-doesnt-mean-zero-influence.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Why-zero-click-search-doesnt-mean-zero-influence-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Why-zero-click-search-doesnt-mean-zero-influence-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Why-zero-click-search-doesnt-mean-zero-influence-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>In a recent keynote at the Industrial Marketing Summit, Rand Fishkin argued that we’re marketing in a “zero-click world.” His observation captures an important surface-level trend: fewer users are clicking through to websites.</p>



<p>The deeper shift, however, is structural. What has changed is the way information is evaluated, repeated, and trusted across the web — and that’s where many are drawing the wrong conclusion.</p>



<p>As clicks decline, it can look like websites matter less. In reality, their role in shaping what gets seen and trusted may be increasing.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-zero-click-discussions-often-lead-to-the-wrong-conclusion">Why &#8216;zero-click&#8217; discussions often lead to the wrong conclusion</h2>



<p>From a traffic perspective, the trend is unmistakable. Clicks are declining in many contexts.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Search engines now answer many questions directly on the results page. </li>



<li>Social platforms function as discovery engines where people research ideas, products, and services without leaving the platform. </li>



<li>AI assistants synthesize answers from across the web before a user ever sees a list of links.</li>
</ul>



<p>Part of the reason the zero-click discussion resonates so strongly is that it disrupts the way we’ve historically measured visibility. For more than two decades, traffic and click-through rates have served as the primary signals for forecasting performance and evaluating the impact of search. </p>



<p>When answers appear directly in search results, AI summaries, or platform conversations, those interactions often occur outside the analytics frameworks we’re accustomed to using.</p>



<p>The conclusion many draw from this trend — that websites matter less — is an incomplete assessment. The role of websites is changing, but their importance in the information ecosystem hasn’t disappeared. In some ways, it may be increasing.</p>



<p>The reason has to do with how modern information systems determine what to trust. Large language models and AI-driven search interfaces don’t evaluate truth the way humans do. They rely on probabilistic signals drawn from the information available across the web. </p>



<p>When the same message appears consistently across multiple independent sources, the statistical likelihood that the information is correct increases. Visibility in this environment is determined by where information appears.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/surface-level-seo-tactics-ai-search-visibility-471514">Why surface-level SEO tactics won’t build lasting AI search visibility</a></em></strong></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fishkin-is-right-about-the-trend">Fishkin is right about the trend</h2>



<p>The fragmentation of discovery is real. Information consumption now happens across many environments: search results, social feeds, community forums, video platforms, and AI interfaces.</p>



<p>Users frequently encounter answers without needing to click a link.&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>A search result might contain an AI summary.&nbsp;</li>



<li>A product recommendation might appear in a Reddit thread.&nbsp;</li>



<li>A professional insight might circulate on LinkedIn.</li>
</ul>



<p>From a traditional web analytics perspective, these interactions can appear as lost traffic. However, focusing exclusively on clicks misses the more important question: where does the information itself originate?</p>



<p>The environments where people consume information are expanding, but the underlying knowledge those systems rely on still has to come from somewhere.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-zero-click-doesn-t-mean-zero-influence">Zero-click doesn’t mean zero influence</h2>



<p>The critical distinction you need to understand is the difference between traffic and information influence.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Traffic measures whether a user visited your website.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Influence measures whether the information you produced shaped the answer someone received.</li>
</ul>



<p>AI systems don’t generate answers out of thin air. They construct them from patterns learned across the open web. </p>



<p>When an LLM answers a question about a legal issue, a technical concept, or a marketing strategy, it draws on the analysis, explanations, and original thinking that publishers have already placed online.</p>



<p>Even in a zero-click environment, those sources continue to exist. They continue to shape the answers. The difference is that influence increasingly occurs earlier in the information pipeline, before the user even reaches a website.</p>



<p>Fewer clicks don’t mean fewer sources. In practice, it often increases the value of authoritative sources because AI systems depend on them to construct coherent responses. Without expert explanations, detailed analysis, and original insight, there’s nothing for the system to synthesize.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/seo-brand-performance-channel-468095">Is SEO a brand channel or a performance channel? Now it’s both</a></em></strong></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-role-of-rented-land">The role of ‘rented land’</h2>



<p>In discussions that follow the “zero-click world” framing, the recommendation is that brands should focus more heavily on platforms they don’t control — social networks, communities, and other forms of “rented land.”</p>



<p>Brands can think of their visibility footprint as two categories of territory:&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Owned land, where they control the infrastructure and content.</li>



<li>Rented land, where their message appears on platforms they do not control.</li>
</ul>



<p>Owned land includes assets such as a company website, product documentation, knowledge bases, and other first-party content environments. These are places where a brand controls the structure, the message, and the permanence of the information.</p>



<p>Rented land includes platforms such as LinkedIn, Substack, industry publications, forums, podcasts, and social media environments where the brand participates but does not control the underlying platform.</p>



<p>In an AI-mediated discovery environment, both types of territory matter. Owned land provides the canonical source of information. Rented land distributes that information across the broader ecosystem where AI systems encounter it.</p>



<p>These platforms are powerful environments for discovery, amplification, and conversation. They are often where audiences encounter brands for the first time and where ideas circulate widely. However, they rarely serve as the place where authority itself is established.</p>



<p>Authority tends to emerge from deeper forms of publishing:&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Long-form explanations.</li>



<li>Original analysis.</li>



<li>Research.</li>



<li>Consistent demonstrations of expertise over time.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<p>These forms of content typically live on first-party websites, where ideas can be developed fully and preserved as reference points. Rented platforms still influence how AI systems interpret information, but their role differs from that of first-party publishing.&nbsp;</p>



<p>When a brand, concept, or explanation appears consistently across multiple environments — first-party sites, industry publications, social platforms, and other third-party mentions — the association between that entity and the idea becomes stronger.</p>



<p>Repeated exposure stabilizes the relationship between the brand and the concepts connected to it. As a result, the likelihood that the brand will be included in an AI-generated answer increases.</p>



<p>Platforms amplify the signal. First-party publishing is where the signal originates.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: </em></strong><a href="https://searchengineland.com/paid-earned-shared-owned-media-generative-search-visibility-465603"><strong><em>How paid, earned, shared, and owned media shape generative search visibility</em></strong></a></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-ai-often-favors-primary-sources">Why AI often favors primary sources</h2>



<p>Another misconception in the zero-click discussion is the assumption that AI systems primarily rely on aggregated or repackaged information. In practice, the opposite often occurs.&nbsp;</p>



<p>When AI systems generate answers, they frequently rely on sources that provide clear explanations, detailed reasoning, and subject-matter expertise. These characteristics are more common in original publishing than in aggregated content.</p>



<p>Legal blogs, technical documentation, research publications, and expert commentary often perform well in AI citations because they provide usable knowledge. The material contains context, reasoning, and structured explanations that models can extract and synthesize.</p>



<p>Aggregated summaries frequently lack that depth. Without detailed explanation or original analysis, the content provides limited value for AI systems attempting to construct coherent answers.</p>



<p>The result is a quiet shift in visibility. Domains that consistently publish authoritative explanations may become more influential in AI-generated answers, even if traditional click-based metrics decline.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-real-shift-you-should-understand">The real shift you should understand</h2>



<p><a href="https://searchengineland.com/website-matters-ai-age-458829">Websites</a> still matter, but their role is changing. They’re no longer just traffic generators. </p>



<p>In an AI-mediated information ecosystem, websites function as knowledge sources, training signals, and citation anchors — where expertise is documented, and ideas originate.</p>



<p>Platforms distribute those ideas, conversations amplify them, and AI systems synthesize them into answers. The source of the underlying knowledge, however, still matters.</p>



<p>The marketing implication is straightforward. Success can’t be measured solely by clicks. The objective is to ensure that credible expertise exists in durable forms that can be discovered, referenced, and synthesized wherever information surfaces — whether in search results, AI-generated responses, or discussions on other platforms.</p>



<p>Content that is clear, authoritative, and genuinely useful will continue to shape the answers people receive. In a zero-click world, influence simply happens earlier in the information pipeline.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/content-marketing-ai-era-seo-volume-to-brand-fame-470540">Content marketing in an AI era: From SEO volume to brand fame</a></em></strong></p>

In a recent keynote at the Industrial Marketing Summit, Rand Fishkin argued that we’re marketing in a “zero-click world.” His observation captures an important surface-level trend: fewer users are clicking through to websites.
The deeper shift, however, is structural. What has changed is the way information is evaluated, repeated, and trusted across the web — and that’s where many are drawing the wrong conclusion.
As clicks decline, it can look like websites matter less. In reality, their role in shaping what gets seen and trusted may be increasing.
Why ‘zero-click’ discussions often lead to the wrong conclusion
From a traffic perspective, the trend is unmistakable. Clicks are declining in many contexts.
Search engines now answer many questions directly on the results page. 
Social platforms function as discovery engines where people research ideas, products, and services without leaving the platform. 
AI assistants synthesize answers from across the web before a user ever sees a list of links.
Part of the reason the zero-click discussion resonates so strongly is that it disrupts the way we’ve historically measured visibility. For more than two decades, traffic and click-through rates have served as the primary signals for forecasting performance and evaluating the impact of search. 
When answers appear directly in search results, AI summaries, or platform conversations, those interactions often occur outside the analytics frameworks we’re accustomed to using.
The conclusion many draw from this trend — that websites matter less — is an incomplete assessment. The role of websites is changing, but their importance in the information ecosystem hasn’t disappeared. In some ways, it may be increasing.
The reason has to do with how modern information systems determine what to trust. Large language models and AI-driven search interfaces don’t evaluate truth the way humans do. They rely on probabilistic signals drawn from the information available across the web. 
When the same message appears consistently across multiple independent sources, the statistical likelihood that the information is correct increases. Visibility in this environment is determined by where information appears.
Dig deeper: Why surface-level SEO tactics won’t build lasting AI search visibility

  
shows up.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with




Fishkin is right about the trend
The fragmentation of discovery is real. Information consumption now happens across many environments: search results, social feeds, community forums, video platforms, and AI interfaces.
Users frequently encounter answers without needing to click a link. 
A search result might contain an AI summary. 
A product recommendation might appear in a Reddit thread. 
A professional insight might circulate on LinkedIn.
From a traditional web analytics perspective, these interactions can appear as lost traffic. However, focusing exclusively on clicks misses the more important question: where does the information itself originate?
The environments where people consume information are expanding, but the underlying knowledge those systems rely on still has to come from somewhere.
Zero-click doesn’t mean zero influence
The critical distinction you need to understand is the difference between traffic and information influence.
Traffic measures whether a user visited your website. 
Influence measures whether the information you produced shaped the answer someone received.
AI systems don’t generate answers out of thin air. They construct them from patterns learned across the open web. 
When an LLM answers a question about a legal issue, a technical concept, or a marketing strategy, it draws on the analysis, explanations, and original thinking that publishers have already placed online.
Even in a zero-click environment, those sources continue to exist. They continue to shape the answers. The difference is that influence increasingly occurs earlier in the information pipeline, before the user even reaches a website.
Fewer clicks don’t mean fewer sources. In practice, it often increases the value of authoritative sources because AI systems depend on them to construct coherent responses. Without expert explanations, detailed analysis, and original insight, there’s nothing for the system to synthesize.
Dig deeper: Is SEO a brand channel or a performance channel? Now it’s both
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
								
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See terms.
The role of ‘rented land’
In discussions that follow the “zero-click world” framing, the recommendation is that brands should focus more heavily on platforms they don’t control — social networks, communities, and other forms of “rented land.”
Brands can think of their visibility footprint as two categories of territory: 
Owned land, where they control the infrastructure and content.
Rented land, where their message appears on platforms they do not control.
Owned land includes assets such as a company website, product documentation, knowledge bases, and other first-party content environments. These are places where a brand controls the structure, the message, and the permanence of the information.
Rented land includes platforms such as LinkedIn, Substack, industry publications, forums, podcasts, and social media environments where the brand participates but does not control the underlying platform.
In an AI-mediated discovery environment, both types of territory matter. Owned land provides the canonical source of information. Rented land distributes that information across the broader ecosystem where AI systems encounter it.
These platforms are powerful environments for discovery, amplification, and conversation. They are often where audiences encounter brands for the first time and where ideas circulate widely. However, they rarely serve as the place where authority itself is established.
Authority tends to emerge from deeper forms of publishing: 
Long-form explanations.
Original analysis.
Research.
Consistent demonstrations of expertise over time. 
These forms of content typically live on first-party websites, where ideas can be developed fully and preserved as reference points. Rented platforms still influence how AI systems interpret information, but their role differs from that of first-party publishing. 
When a brand, concept, or explanation appears consistently across multiple environments — first-party sites, industry publications, social platforms, and other third-party mentions — the association between that entity and the idea becomes stronger.
Repeated exposure stabilizes the relationship between the brand and the concepts connected to it. As a result, the likelihood that the brand will be included in an AI-generated answer increases.
Platforms amplify the signal. First-party publishing is where the signal originates.
Dig deeper: How paid, earned, shared, and owned media shape generative search visibility
Why AI often favors primary sources
Another misconception in the zero-click discussion is the assumption that AI systems primarily rely on aggregated or repackaged information. In practice, the opposite often occurs. 
When AI systems generate answers, they frequently rely on sources that provide clear explanations, detailed reasoning, and subject-matter expertise. These characteristics are more common in original publishing than in aggregated content.
Legal blogs, technical documentation, research publications, and expert commentary often perform well in AI citations because they provide usable knowledge. The material contains context, reasoning, and structured explanations that models can extract and synthesize.
Aggregated summaries frequently lack that depth. Without detailed explanation or original analysis, the content provides limited value for AI systems attempting to construct coherent answers.
The result is a quiet shift in visibility. Domains that consistently publish authoritative explanations may become more influential in AI-generated answers, even if traditional click-based metrics decline.

  
complete picture of your search visibility.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with




The real shift you should understand
Websites still matter, but their role is changing. They’re no longer just traffic generators. 
In an AI-mediated information ecosystem, websites function as knowledge sources, training signals, and citation anchors — where expertise is documented, and ideas originate.
Platforms distribute those ideas, conversations amplify them, and AI systems synthesize them into answers. The source of the underlying knowledge, however, still matters.
The marketing implication is straightforward. Success can’t be measured solely by clicks. The objective is to ensure that credible expertise exists in durable forms that can be discovered, referenced, and synthesized wherever information surfaces — whether in search results, AI-generated responses, or discussions on other platforms.
Content that is clear, authoritative, and genuinely useful will continue to shape the answers people receive. In a zero-click world, influence simply happens earlier in the information pipeline.
Dig deeper: Content marketing in an AI era: From SEO volume to brand fame

Zero-click changes how visibility works, not where knowledge comes from. Here’s why first-party content still matters.

Why zero-click search doesn’t mean zero influence

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Search-everywhere-is-the-real-shift-in-SEO.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Search everywhere is the real shift in SEO" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Search-everywhere-is-the-real-shift-in-SEO.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Search-everywhere-is-the-real-shift-in-SEO-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Search-everywhere-is-the-real-shift-in-SEO-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Search-everywhere-is-the-real-shift-in-SEO-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>AI may be changing search, but much of the visibility is already going to platforms that dominate results and user attention.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Search-everywhere-is-the-real-shift-in-SEO.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Search everywhere is the real shift in SEO" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Search-everywhere-is-the-real-shift-in-SEO.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Search-everywhere-is-the-real-shift-in-SEO-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Search-everywhere-is-the-real-shift-in-SEO-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Search-everywhere-is-the-real-shift-in-SEO-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Most <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo">SEO</a> discussions today center on AI — from <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-everything-you-need-to-know-449399">AI Overviews</a> to <a href="https://searchengineland.com/what-is-chatgpt-and-why-seos-should-care-392165">ChatGPT</a> and other LLMs — and the concern that they’re taking traffic from business websites, forcing a shift toward <a href="https://searchengineland.com/what-is-generative-engine-optimization-geo-444418">GEO</a> or AEO.</p>



<p>For the most part, that concern is valid. AI is reducing traffic for many sites, especially those that rely on top-of-funnel, informational content. But the data suggests AI may not be the biggest shift.</p>



<p>User behavior has been fragmenting across platforms for years, and I see this play out in agency work every day.</p>



<p>Here’s what the data shows about how search behavior is changing across platforms, and why a “<a href="https://searchengineland.com/search-everywhere-optimization-443738">search everywhere</a>” strategy matters more than focusing on LLMs alone.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-third-party-platforms-are-encroaching-on-traditional-search">Third-party platforms are encroaching on traditional search</h2>



<p>People search <a href="https://searchengineland.com/tiktok-seo-the-ultimate-guide-439795">TikTok</a> for restaurants, <a href="https://searchengineland.com/youtube-seo-what-you-need-to-know-449431">YouTube</a> for tutorials, <a href="https://searchengineland.com/youtube-seo-ai-overviews-467253">Reddit</a> for authentic reviews, and <a href="https://searchengineland.com/amazon-seo-guide-449563">Amazon</a> to buy products. In many cases, these platforms are replacing traditional search engines like Google and Bing as the starting point.</p>



<p>This shift isn’t just about behavior — it shows up in traffic, too. Amazon and YouTube still <a href="https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-search-happens-everywhere-an-analysis-of-41-websites-with-significant-search-activity/">drive far more desktop traffic</a> than ChatGPT, a trend Rand Fishkin recently highlighted.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Q4-2025-share-of-search-SparkToro-and-Datos.png" alt="" class="wp-image-472141" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Q4-2025-share-of-search-SparkToro-and-Datos.png 1024w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Q4-2025-share-of-search-SparkToro-and-Datos-768x432.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
</div>


<p>Recently, I helped run a comprehensive <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guides/share-of-voice">share of voice</a> analysis for a client. The goal was threefold:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>See which competitors are winning in traditional search across multiple service lines.</li>



<li>Find keyword and content gaps.</li>



<li>Create a content roadmap based on priority to fill these gaps.</li>
</ul>



<p>The analysis revealed a lot of helpful data, but one of the most interesting takeaways was that our core competitors weren’t actually our biggest competitors in traditional search. YouTube and Reddit were.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1098" height="576" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Share-of-voice-Client-example.png" alt="Share of voice - Client example" class="wp-image-472142" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Share-of-voice-Client-example.png 1098w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Share-of-voice-Client-example-768x403.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1098px) 100vw, 1098px" /></figure>
</div>


<p>These platforms rank well in traditional search, take up valuable SERP real estate, and move users away from Google and Bing to funnel them back to their own platforms.</p>



<p>The analysis highlighted a key point: if you don’t focus any effort on these places, you’re not only missing out on visibility in traditional search, but you’re also missing valuable attention when users navigate off Google and start watching videos or reading threads.</p>



<p>And this website isn’t the only one seeing this type of trend. Do this type of analysis yourself, and see who your actual competitors are within traditional search. The answers may surprise you.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/social-search-visibility-evolution-471685">Why social search visibility is the next evolution of discoverability</a></em></strong></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-third-party-platforms-can-have-higher-search-volumes">Third-party platforms can have higher search volumes</h2>



<p>As seen above, platforms like YouTube and Reddit are increasingly occupying traditional SERP real estate. But what about searches within the platforms themselves? Depending on the query, there may be far more search volume on these platforms than on Google or Bing.</p>



<p>For example, YouTube dominates in tutorials and “how-to” content. A term like “how to fix a leaky sink faucet” has 15x the search volume on YouTube than it does on traditional search globally.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="810" height="474" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/How-to-fix-a-leaky-sink-faucet-Semrush.png" alt="How to fix a leaky sink faucet - Semrush" class="wp-image-472143" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/How-to-fix-a-leaky-sink-faucet-Semrush.png 810w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/How-to-fix-a-leaky-sink-faucet-Semrush-768x449.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Source: Semrush</em></figcaption></figure>
</div>

<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="750" height="616" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/How-to-fix-a-leaky-sink-faucet-vidIQ.png" alt="How to fix a leaky sink faucet - vidIQ" class="wp-image-472144"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Source: vidIQ</em></figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p>Search volumes are estimates. But if you want to get in front of the right people where they’re searching, any content strategy around a term like this, or a similar topic, must include creating a YouTube video.</p>



<p>Better yet, to be search-everywhere-friendly, create a blog post and embed that video in it.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/youtube-seo-ai-overviews-467253">YouTube is no longer optional for SEO in the age of AI Overviews</a></em></strong></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-third-party-platforms-are-cited-more-in-llms">Third-party platforms are cited more in LLMs</h2>



<p>Aside from traditional search and in-platform search, we also know that “search everywhere” influences AI-generated results.</p>



<p>To provide answers, LLMs need content to synthesize. More often than not, that content isn’t coming from business websites, but from <a href="https://searchengineland.com/social-ugc-trust-engines-powering-search-everywhere-464101">third-party sources and social platforms</a>.</p>



<p><a href="https://searchengineland.com/choose-best-ai-visibility-tool-454457">AI visibility tools</a> can quickly show businesses the power of search everywhere in relation to citations. Take a look at these examples:</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1590" height="156" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/image-97.png" alt="" class="wp-image-472139" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/image-97.png 1590w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/image-97-768x75.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/image-97-1536x151.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1590px) 100vw, 1590px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Brand A</em></figcaption></figure>
</div>

<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1596" height="146" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/image-93.png" alt="" class="wp-image-472135" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/image-93.png 1596w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/image-93-768x70.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/image-93-1536x141.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1596px) 100vw, 1596px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Brand B</em></figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p>These are two completely different brands, yet the trends are the same: a very small percentage of citations come from your own website or even direct competitors. </p>



<p>In both examples, almost 90% of citations come from third-party news and online publications, or social and forum platforms like Reddit or Quora.</p>



<p>The takeaway here is that focusing on your own website, in the context of LLM citations, can only go so far. If you want to improve brand sentiment or ensure that information is accurately reflected by AI, it needs to happen in places outside of your direct control.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/seos-new-battleground-winning-the-consensus-layer-472001">SEO’s new battleground: Winning the consensus layer</a></em></strong></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-start-investing-in-search-everywhere-today">Start investing in search everywhere today</h2>



<p>The competitive landscape is shifting, and many marketers have tunnel vision when it comes to AI. Discovery now happens across a wide range of platforms. </p>



<p>YouTube, Reddit, Quora, and others dominate significant portions of traditional search results and may have far more search activity within their own platforms. When AI systems generate answers, they often pull information from these platforms rather than brand websites.</p>



<p>To win in modern search, you need to understand where your audience is actually searching. That doesn’t stop at Google. It means showing up everywhere that shapes decisions.</p>

Most SEO discussions today center on AI — from AI Overviews to ChatGPT and other LLMs — and the concern that they’re taking traffic from business websites, forcing a shift toward GEO or AEO.
For the most part, that concern is valid. AI is reducing traffic for many sites, especially those that rely on top-of-funnel, informational content. But the data suggests AI may not be the biggest shift.
User behavior has been fragmenting across platforms for years, and I see this play out in agency work every day.
Here’s what the data shows about how search behavior is changing across platforms, and why a “search everywhere” strategy matters more than focusing on LLMs alone.
Third-party platforms are encroaching on traditional search
People search TikTok for restaurants, YouTube for tutorials, Reddit for authentic reviews, and Amazon to buy products. In many cases, these platforms are replacing traditional search engines like Google and Bing as the starting point.
This shift isn’t just about behavior — it shows up in traffic, too. Amazon and YouTube still drive far more desktop traffic than ChatGPT, a trend Rand Fishkin recently highlighted.




Recently, I helped run a comprehensive share of voice analysis for a client. The goal was threefold:
See which competitors are winning in traditional search across multiple service lines.
Find keyword and content gaps.
Create a content roadmap based on priority to fill these gaps.
The analysis revealed a lot of helpful data, but one of the most interesting takeaways was that our core competitors weren’t actually our biggest competitors in traditional search. YouTube and Reddit were.




These platforms rank well in traditional search, take up valuable SERP real estate, and move users away from Google and Bing to funnel them back to their own platforms.
The analysis highlighted a key point: if you don’t focus any effort on these places, you’re not only missing out on visibility in traditional search, but you’re also missing valuable attention when users navigate off Google and start watching videos or reading threads.
And this website isn’t the only one seeing this type of trend. Do this type of analysis yourself, and see who your actual competitors are within traditional search. The answers may surprise you.
Dig deeper: Why social search visibility is the next evolution of discoverability

  
shows up.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with




Third-party platforms can have higher search volumes
As seen above, platforms like YouTube and Reddit are increasingly occupying traditional SERP real estate. But what about searches within the platforms themselves? Depending on the query, there may be far more search volume on these platforms than on Google or Bing.
For example, YouTube dominates in tutorials and “how-to” content. A term like “how to fix a leaky sink faucet” has 15x the search volume on YouTube than it does on traditional search globally.
Source: Semrush



Source: vidIQ



Search volumes are estimates. But if you want to get in front of the right people where they’re searching, any content strategy around a term like this, or a similar topic, must include creating a YouTube video.
Better yet, to be search-everywhere-friendly, create a blog post and embed that video in it.
Dig deeper: YouTube is no longer optional for SEO in the age of AI Overviews
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
								
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See terms.
Third-party platforms are cited more in LLMs
Aside from traditional search and in-platform search, we also know that “search everywhere” influences AI-generated results.
To provide answers, LLMs need content to synthesize. More often than not, that content isn’t coming from business websites, but from third-party sources and social platforms.
AI visibility tools can quickly show businesses the power of search everywhere in relation to citations. Take a look at these examples:
Brand A



Brand B



These are two completely different brands, yet the trends are the same: a very small percentage of citations come from your own website or even direct competitors. 
In both examples, almost 90% of citations come from third-party news and online publications, or social and forum platforms like Reddit or Quora.
The takeaway here is that focusing on your own website, in the context of LLM citations, can only go so far. If you want to improve brand sentiment or ensure that information is accurately reflected by AI, it needs to happen in places outside of your direct control.
Dig deeper: SEO’s new battleground: Winning the consensus layer
Start investing in search everywhere today
The competitive landscape is shifting, and many marketers have tunnel vision when it comes to AI. Discovery now happens across a wide range of platforms. 
YouTube, Reddit, Quora, and others dominate significant portions of traditional search results and may have far more search activity within their own platforms. When AI systems generate answers, they often pull information from these platforms rather than brand websites.
To win in modern search, you need to understand where your audience is actually searching. That doesn’t stop at Google. It means showing up everywhere that shapes decisions.

AI may be changing search, but much of the visibility is already going to platforms that dominate results and user attention.

Why ‘search everywhere’ is the new reality for SEO

<div><img width="1920" height="1088" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/AI-promised-efficiency-but-its-squeezing-agency-margins-instead.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI promised efficiency, but it’s squeezing agency margins instead" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/AI-promised-efficiency-but-its-squeezing-agency-margins-instead.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/AI-promised-efficiency-but-its-squeezing-agency-margins-instead-768x435.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/AI-promised-efficiency-but-its-squeezing-agency-margins-instead-1536x870.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Agencies embraced AI to cut costs, but clients did the same. Now expectations are rising, budgets tightening, and value under scrutiny.

<div><img width="1920" height="1088" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/AI-promised-efficiency-but-its-squeezing-agency-margins-instead.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI promised efficiency, but it’s squeezing agency margins instead" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/AI-promised-efficiency-but-its-squeezing-agency-margins-instead.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/AI-promised-efficiency-but-its-squeezing-agency-margins-instead-768x435.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/AI-promised-efficiency-but-its-squeezing-agency-margins-instead-1536x870.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>The numbers tell a story that most agency owners already know in their gut: AI anxiety is rising fast. </p>



<p>In 2024, <a href="https://sparktoro.com/blog/the-state-of-digital-agencies-in-2024-big-challenges-bigger-optimism-and-is-remote-work-here-to-stay/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">44% of digital marketing agencies</a> viewed AI as a significant threat to their business model. Just one year later, that number jumped to 53%, according to SparkToro&#8217;s annual State of Digital Agencies survey of hundreds of agency owners worldwide.</p>



<p>But here’s what makes this particularly painful: agencies aren’t just watching AI disrupt their industry from the sidelines. They’re actively using it themselves, automating tasks, reducing costs, and hoping to improve margins. All while their clients are doing the exact same thing, using AI to justify slashing budgets or bringing work in-house entirely.</p>



<p>It’s a squeeze play from both directions, and agencies are caught right in the middle.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-promise-that-became-a-problem">The promise that became a problem</h2>



<p>When AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude first exploded onto the scene, many agency leaders saw opportunity.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Finally, a way to automate the repetitive, time-consuming work that ate into profitability. Content briefs, initial drafts, performance reports, basic ad copy, all could be accelerated or partially automated. The math seemed simple: use AI to do more work with fewer people, pocket the difference, and stay competitive on pricing.</p>



<p>Except clients did the same math — and they reached a different conclusion. When brands can spin up decent content, analyze campaign performance, or generate ad variations with a few prompts, the question becomes unavoidable: why are we paying an agency for this?</p>



<p>&#8220;Several services that agencies once charged a premium for are now performed in-house or by automation software,&#8221; <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/why-marketing-agencies-are-struggling-in-2025/495568" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notes</a> Al Sefati, CEO of Clarity Digital Agency, who’s been vocal about the pressures facing boutique agencies.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Earlier this year, Sefati had clients &#8220;put marketing on pause&#8221; despite strong performance metrics. A manufacturing client backed out of a contract entirely due to tariff uncertainty. When budgets get tight, and AI makes certain marketing tasks feel commoditized, agencies become an easy line item to cut.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-margin-trap-nobody-talks-about">The margin trap nobody talks about</h2>



<p>Agencies adopt AI hoping to increase profits by doing more with less staff. But clients expect the cost savings to flow to them, not the agency’s bottom line.</p>



<p>The result? Shrinking retainers across the board. </p>



<p>SparkToro’s research shows that sales cycles are lengthening, more agencies now report deals taking 7-8 weeks or even 12+ weeks to close, up significantly from 2024. </p>



<p>Prospects are taking longer to commit because they’re doing their own internal math: “If AI makes this cheaper and faster, shouldn’t we pay less?”</p>



<p>Meanwhile, client expectations haven’t decreased at all. In fact, they’ve intensified. </p>



<p>Progress is no longer good enough. Brands now demand tangible business outcomes, pipeline impact, revenue attribution, and demonstrable ROI on every dollar spent.</p>



<p>So agencies are stuck: use AI to stay efficient and risk commoditizing their own services, or refuse to adopt it and get outpaced by competitors and in-house teams who will.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/ai-break-traditional-seo-agency-model-454317">Why AI will break the traditional SEO agency model</a></em></strong></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-junior-talent-crisis-nobody-s-preparing-for">The junior talent crisis nobody&#8217;s preparing for</h2>



<p>Perhaps the most concerning finding from the research: 66% of agency owners worry that junior team members will have fewer career opportunities in the future. This goes beyond entry-level headcount to the entire talent pipeline.</p>



<p>Historically, agencies have relied on junior staff to handle the repetitive, foundational work, keyword research, content optimization, reporting, and campaign setup. These weren’t glamorous tasks, but they were essential training grounds. Junior marketers learned the craft by doing the work, eventually graduating to strategy and client leadership.</p>



<p>AI is rapidly automating precisely those tasks. And while that might seem like a net positive for efficiency, it creates a devastating long-term problem: where do future senior strategists come from if there’s no ladder to climb?</p>



<p>The war for senior talent is brutal. Top strategists, creatives, and media planners know their worth and demand premium compensation. Meanwhile, clients push back on fees. </p>



<p>The math doesn’t work unless agencies can maintain lean teams, which AI theoretically enables.</p>



<p>But five years from now, when those senior people retire or move on, who replaces them? If an entire generation of marketers never got hands-on experience because AI was doing the work, the industry risks hollowing itself out.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-ai-can-t-replace-yet">What AI can&#8217;t replace yet</h2>



<p>Despite the disruption, there’s a clear pattern in what’s working for agencies weathering this transition.</p>



<p>The research shows that larger agencies (51+ employees) are reporting healthier sales pipelines than their smaller counterparts. Part of this is resources, larger shops have dedicated sales teams, and can absorb economic volatility better. </p>



<p>But there’s something else at play.</p>



<p>Agencies that are surviving, and in some cases thriving, are the ones who’ve stopped trying to compete on execution alone. They’re selling something AI can’t easily replicate: strategic thought, real-world market experience, nuanced storytelling, and intelligent execution tied directly to business outcomes.</p>



<p>“Clients desire teams that really understand their industry,” Sefati observes. </p>



<p>The trend is clear: specialization is no longer optional. Generalist “we do everything” agencies are struggling most. Those with deep vertical expertise, B2B SaaS, financial services, healthcare, and ecommerce, are proving that context and strategic insight still command premium fees.</p>



<p>This matters because AI is phenomenal at pattern recognition and execution within known parameters. But it struggles with the messy, ambiguous work of understanding a client’s competitive position, reading market dynamics, or crafting positioning that actually resonates with a specific audience.</p>



<p>The problem? Many agencies haven’t made this transition yet. They’re still selling and delivering services that feel interchangeable with what AI, or a capable in-house team with AI, can produce.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/what-successful-brand-agency-partnerships-look-like-in-2026-466647">What successful brand-agency partnerships look like in 2026</a></em></strong></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-uncomfortable-truth-about-commoditization">The uncomfortable truth about commoditization</h2>



<p>A few years ago, simply having the technical skill to launch a Google Ads campaign or set up marketing automation gave agencies an edge. That’s no longer true.</p>



<p>As martech platforms have become more complex and AI tools grow faster, more brands have built competent internal teams. The bar for what counts as “differentiated agency value” has risen dramatically.</p>



<p>This is why the sales pipeline data is so revealing.&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://sparktoro.com/blog/the-2025-state-of-digital-agencies-its-still-rough-out-there-but-slowly-improving-and-is-ai-really-a-threat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Only 14% of agencies</a> describe their current pipeline as “very healthy.”&nbsp;</li>



<li>Over half say it’s just “average.”&nbsp;</li>



<li>32% admit it’s “not good.”&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<p>These numbers have improved marginally from 2024 (when 36% said “not good”), but we’re talking about incremental gains in a fundamentally challenged environment.</p>



<p>Smaller agencies, those with 1-10 people, are hit hardest. They typically lack dedicated sales staff, so business development competes with client delivery for founders’ time. And when budgets tighten, brands consolidate with larger, more specialized agencies that feel less risky.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-your-agency-can-escape-the-squeeze">How your agency can escape the squeeze</h2>



<p>Focus on these priorities as client demands rise and margins tighten.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-be-honest-about-what-ai-has-commoditized">Be honest about what AI has commoditized</h3>



<p>Don’t fight AI or pretend it doesn’t exist. Be brutally honest about what AI has already commoditized, and ruthlessly focus on what it can’t replicate.</p>



<p>This means making some uncomfortable decisions now. Stop competing on services that AI handles well enough. If you’re still selling basic content creation, social media management, or standard reporting as core offerings, you’re volunteering to be price-shopped.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Instead, double down on the work that requires genuine expertise: deep market understanding, strategic positioning, creative concepts that actually move the needle, and the kind of nuanced judgment that comes from having seen what works (and what fails spectacularly) across dozens of client situations.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lead-with-ai-don-t-hide-from-it">Lead with AI, don’t hide from it</h3>



<p>Change how you talk about AI with clients. Rather than downplaying it or treating it as a threat to hide, lead with it.&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“Yes, AI can generate content, and we use it to do that faster and cheaper than ever. But what AI can’t do is know that your competitors just shifted strategy, or understand why your last three campaigns underperformed despite good metrics, or recognize that your messaging is technically correct but completely misses what your audience actually cares about. That’s what you’re paying us for.”</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rethink-pricing-models">Rethink pricing models</h3>



<p>Hourly billing and retainers based on team size are relics of a world where labor hours correlated to value. They don’t anymore.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Outcome-based pricing, value-based fees, and performance partnerships align agency incentives with client success, and make the AI efficiency gains work in your favor rather than against you.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rebuild-the-talent-pipeline">Rebuild the talent pipeline</h3>



<p>Address the junior talent crisis head-on. The agencies that figure out how to train the next generation of strategists in an AI-enabled world, by pairing them with senior experts on high-level work rather than relegating them to tasks AI now handles, will have a massive competitive advantage in five years when everyone else is scrambling for talent.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/seo-agency-drive-better-results-faster-469192">How to work with your SEO agency to drive better results, faster</a></em></strong></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-old-agency-model-isn-t-coming-back">The old agency model isn’t coming back</h2>



<p>The data shows 64% of agencies expect revenue growth over the next 12 months. Whether that optimism is justified depends entirely on whether agencies adapt to the new reality or keep hoping the old model comes back. It won’t. </p>



<p>The squeeze is permanent. But there’s a path through it for agencies willing to fundamentally rethink what they sell and how they deliver it.</p>



<p>Will your agency become indispensable because of how you use AI, or get bypassed entirely because clients realize they can do what you do themselves?</p>

The numbers tell a story that most agency owners already know in their gut: AI anxiety is rising fast. 
In 2024, 44% of digital marketing agencies viewed AI as a significant threat to their business model. Just one year later, that number jumped to 53%, according to SparkToro’s annual State of Digital Agencies survey of hundreds of agency owners worldwide.
But here’s what makes this particularly painful: agencies aren’t just watching AI disrupt their industry from the sidelines. They’re actively using it themselves, automating tasks, reducing costs, and hoping to improve margins. All while their clients are doing the exact same thing, using AI to justify slashing budgets or bringing work in-house entirely.
It’s a squeeze play from both directions, and agencies are caught right in the middle.
The promise that became a problem
When AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude first exploded onto the scene, many agency leaders saw opportunity. 
Finally, a way to automate the repetitive, time-consuming work that ate into profitability. Content briefs, initial drafts, performance reports, basic ad copy, all could be accelerated or partially automated. The math seemed simple: use AI to do more work with fewer people, pocket the difference, and stay competitive on pricing.
Except clients did the same math — and they reached a different conclusion. When brands can spin up decent content, analyze campaign performance, or generate ad variations with a few prompts, the question becomes unavoidable: why are we paying an agency for this?
“Several services that agencies once charged a premium for are now performed in-house or by automation software,” notes Al Sefati, CEO of Clarity Digital Agency, who’s been vocal about the pressures facing boutique agencies. 
Earlier this year, Sefati had clients “put marketing on pause” despite strong performance metrics. A manufacturing client backed out of a contract entirely due to tariff uncertainty. When budgets get tight, and AI makes certain marketing tasks feel commoditized, agencies become an easy line item to cut.

  
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The margin trap nobody talks about
Agencies adopt AI hoping to increase profits by doing more with less staff. But clients expect the cost savings to flow to them, not the agency’s bottom line.
The result? Shrinking retainers across the board. 
SparkToro’s research shows that sales cycles are lengthening, more agencies now report deals taking 7-8 weeks or even 12+ weeks to close, up significantly from 2024. 
Prospects are taking longer to commit because they’re doing their own internal math: “If AI makes this cheaper and faster, shouldn’t we pay less?”
Meanwhile, client expectations haven’t decreased at all. In fact, they’ve intensified. 
Progress is no longer good enough. Brands now demand tangible business outcomes, pipeline impact, revenue attribution, and demonstrable ROI on every dollar spent.
So agencies are stuck: use AI to stay efficient and risk commoditizing their own services, or refuse to adopt it and get outpaced by competitors and in-house teams who will.
Dig deeper: Why AI will break the traditional SEO agency model
The junior talent crisis nobody’s preparing for
Perhaps the most concerning finding from the research: 66% of agency owners worry that junior team members will have fewer career opportunities in the future. This goes beyond entry-level headcount to the entire talent pipeline.
Historically, agencies have relied on junior staff to handle the repetitive, foundational work, keyword research, content optimization, reporting, and campaign setup. These weren’t glamorous tasks, but they were essential training grounds. Junior marketers learned the craft by doing the work, eventually graduating to strategy and client leadership.
AI is rapidly automating precisely those tasks. And while that might seem like a net positive for efficiency, it creates a devastating long-term problem: where do future senior strategists come from if there’s no ladder to climb?
The war for senior talent is brutal. Top strategists, creatives, and media planners know their worth and demand premium compensation. Meanwhile, clients push back on fees. 
The math doesn’t work unless agencies can maintain lean teams, which AI theoretically enables.
But five years from now, when those senior people retire or move on, who replaces them? If an entire generation of marketers never got hands-on experience because AI was doing the work, the industry risks hollowing itself out.
What AI can’t replace yet
Despite the disruption, there’s a clear pattern in what’s working for agencies weathering this transition.
The research shows that larger agencies (51+ employees) are reporting healthier sales pipelines than their smaller counterparts. Part of this is resources, larger shops have dedicated sales teams, and can absorb economic volatility better. 
But there’s something else at play.
Agencies that are surviving, and in some cases thriving, are the ones who’ve stopped trying to compete on execution alone. They’re selling something AI can’t easily replicate: strategic thought, real-world market experience, nuanced storytelling, and intelligent execution tied directly to business outcomes.
“Clients desire teams that really understand their industry,” Sefati observes. 
The trend is clear: specialization is no longer optional. Generalist “we do everything” agencies are struggling most. Those with deep vertical expertise, B2B SaaS, financial services, healthcare, and ecommerce, are proving that context and strategic insight still command premium fees.
This matters because AI is phenomenal at pattern recognition and execution within known parameters. But it struggles with the messy, ambiguous work of understanding a client’s competitive position, reading market dynamics, or crafting positioning that actually resonates with a specific audience.
The problem? Many agencies haven’t made this transition yet. They’re still selling and delivering services that feel interchangeable with what AI, or a capable in-house team with AI, can produce.
Dig deeper: What successful brand-agency partnerships look like in 2026
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See terms.
The uncomfortable truth about commoditization
A few years ago, simply having the technical skill to launch a Google Ads campaign or set up marketing automation gave agencies an edge. That’s no longer true.
As martech platforms have become more complex and AI tools grow faster, more brands have built competent internal teams. The bar for what counts as “differentiated agency value” has risen dramatically.
This is why the sales pipeline data is so revealing. 
Only 14% of agencies describe their current pipeline as “very healthy.” 
Over half say it’s just “average.” 
32% admit it’s “not good.” 
These numbers have improved marginally from 2024 (when 36% said “not good”), but we’re talking about incremental gains in a fundamentally challenged environment.
Smaller agencies, those with 1-10 people, are hit hardest. They typically lack dedicated sales staff, so business development competes with client delivery for founders’ time. And when budgets tighten, brands consolidate with larger, more specialized agencies that feel less risky.
How your agency can escape the squeeze
Focus on these priorities as client demands rise and margins tighten.
Be honest about what AI has commoditized
Don’t fight AI or pretend it doesn’t exist. Be brutally honest about what AI has already commoditized, and ruthlessly focus on what it can’t replicate.
This means making some uncomfortable decisions now. Stop competing on services that AI handles well enough. If you’re still selling basic content creation, social media management, or standard reporting as core offerings, you’re volunteering to be price-shopped. 
Instead, double down on the work that requires genuine expertise: deep market understanding, strategic positioning, creative concepts that actually move the needle, and the kind of nuanced judgment that comes from having seen what works (and what fails spectacularly) across dozens of client situations.
Lead with AI, don’t hide from it
Change how you talk about AI with clients. Rather than downplaying it or treating it as a threat to hide, lead with it. 
“Yes, AI can generate content, and we use it to do that faster and cheaper than ever. But what AI can’t do is know that your competitors just shifted strategy, or understand why your last three campaigns underperformed despite good metrics, or recognize that your messaging is technically correct but completely misses what your audience actually cares about. That’s what you’re paying us for.”
Rethink pricing models
Hourly billing and retainers based on team size are relics of a world where labor hours correlated to value. They don’t anymore. 
Outcome-based pricing, value-based fees, and performance partnerships align agency incentives with client success, and make the AI efficiency gains work in your favor rather than against you.
Rebuild the talent pipeline
Address the junior talent crisis head-on. The agencies that figure out how to train the next generation of strategists in an AI-enabled world, by pairing them with senior experts on high-level work rather than relegating them to tasks AI now handles, will have a massive competitive advantage in five years when everyone else is scrambling for talent.
Dig deeper: How to work with your SEO agency to drive better results, faster

  
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The old agency model isn’t coming back
The data shows 64% of agencies expect revenue growth over the next 12 months. Whether that optimism is justified depends entirely on whether agencies adapt to the new reality or keep hoping the old model comes back. It won’t. 
The squeeze is permanent. But there’s a path through it for agencies willing to fundamentally rethink what they sell and how they deliver it.
Will your agency become indispensable because of how you use AI, or get bypassed entirely because clients realize they can do what you do themselves?

Agencies embraced AI to cut costs, but clients did the same. Now expectations are rising, budgets tightening, and value under scrutiny.

AI is squeezing marketing agencies from both sides

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-may-be-over-crediting-your-conversions-A-7-day-test-tells-a-different-story.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google Ads may be over-crediting your conversions- A 7-day test tells a different story" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-may-be-over-crediting-your-conversions-A-7-day-test-tells-a-different-story.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-may-be-over-crediting-your-conversions-A-7-day-test-tells-a-different-story-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-may-be-over-crediting-your-conversions-A-7-day-test-tells-a-different-story-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-may-be-over-crediting-your-conversions-A-7-day-test-tells-a-different-story-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Identical web statistics are showing across competing Google paid search ads, potentially undermining a key trust signal for advertisers.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-may-be-over-crediting-your-conversions-A-7-day-test-tells-a-different-story.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google Ads may be over-crediting your conversions- A 7-day test tells a different story" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-may-be-over-crediting-your-conversions-A-7-day-test-tells-a-different-story.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-may-be-over-crediting-your-conversions-A-7-day-test-tells-a-different-story-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-may-be-over-crediting-your-conversions-A-7-day-test-tells-a-different-story-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-may-be-over-crediting-your-conversions-A-7-day-test-tells-a-different-story-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>A strange pattern has emerged in Google’s paid search results: multiple competing ads display the exact same web statistics, raising questions about a bug or an intentional design shift.</p>



<p><strong>What&#8217;s happening.</strong> Several paid search ads are showing the same website statistics simultaneously, even though these signals are typically unique to each site. The uniformity makes the data look unreliable, and it’s unclear whether this is a display glitch, a test, or something more deliberate.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1280" height="720" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/google-ads-test-search-results.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-472208" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/google-ads-test-search-results.jpg 1280w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/google-ads-test-search-results-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/google-ads-test-search-results-1200x675.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></figure>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> Trust signals in search ads help users make informed decisions and boost click-through rates by building confidence. If those stats appear identical across competing ads, users may dismiss them as unreliable — undermining the credibility boost you rely on.</p>



<p><strong>What we don&#8217;t know.</strong></p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Whether Google is actively testing this or it&#8217;s an unintended bug.</li>



<li>How widespread the issue is across different search queries or markets.</li>



<li>Whether it&#8217;s affecting user click behavior or advertiser performance.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>No official word.</strong> Google hasn’t confirmed or commented on the behavior. Paid media expert and founder Anthony Higman first spotted and flagged the anomaly on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anthony-higman-a3656a46_google-is-putting-the-exact-same-web-stats-share-7439818131600142336-NW4x/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_android&amp;rcm=ACoAABU5RtAB1yM61HMd6Ska99csDVjiJlgRo6A" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a>.</p>



<p><strong>Bottom line.</strong> If trust signals can’t be trusted, they stop serving their purpose. You should watch whether this pattern spreads — or quietly disappears.</p>


A strange pattern has emerged in Google’s paid search results: multiple competing ads display the exact same web statistics, raising questions about a bug or an intentional design shift.
What’s happening. Several paid search ads are showing the same website statistics simultaneously, even though these signals are typically unique to each site. The uniformity makes the data look unreliable, and it’s unclear whether this is a display glitch, a test, or something more deliberate.




Why we care. Trust signals in search ads help users make informed decisions and boost click-through rates by building confidence. If those stats appear identical across competing ads, users may dismiss them as unreliable — undermining the credibility boost you rely on.
What we don’t know.
Whether Google is actively testing this or it’s an unintended bug.
How widespread the issue is across different search queries or markets.
Whether it’s affecting user click behavior or advertiser performance.
No official word. Google hasn’t confirmed or commented on the behavior. Paid media expert and founder Anthony Higman first spotted and flagged the anomaly on LinkedIn.
Bottom line. If trust signals can’t be trusted, they stop serving their purpose. You should watch whether this pattern spreads — or quietly disappears.

Identical web statistics are showing across competing Google paid search ads, potentially undermining a key trust signal for advertisers.

Duplicate website stats appear in Google paid search ads

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/08/Google-Ads-account-suspensions-What-you-need-to-know.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google Ads account suspensions- What you need to know" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/08/Google-Ads-account-suspensions-What-you-need-to-know.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/08/Google-Ads-account-suspensions-What-you-need-to-know-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/08/Google-Ads-account-suspensions-What-you-need-to-know-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/08/Google-Ads-account-suspensions-What-you-need-to-know-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Seeing the dreaded 'Your account has been suspended' banner in Google Ads? Learn its potential causes and how to get your account reinstated.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/08/Google-Ads-account-suspensions-What-you-need-to-know.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google Ads account suspensions- What you need to know" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/08/Google-Ads-account-suspensions-What-you-need-to-know.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/08/Google-Ads-account-suspensions-What-you-need-to-know-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/08/Google-Ads-account-suspensions-What-you-need-to-know-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/08/Google-Ads-account-suspensions-What-you-need-to-know-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Account suspensions are essential to “maintain a healthy and sustainable digital advertising ecosystem, with user protection at its core,” according to <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ads-account-set-up-390184">Google Ads</a>.</p>



<p>For advertisers, though, navigating the suspension process can be a minefield. Suspensions can happen suddenly, limit what you can do in your account, and, in some cases, affect related accounts as well.</p>



<p>Here’s what triggers account suspensions, the different types you might encounter, and what to do if your account is flagged or suspended.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-do-accounts-get-suspended">Why do accounts get suspended?</h2>



<p>Accounts get suspended when Google Ads finds a violation of one of its policies. The platform uses a combination of automated systems and manual reviews when detecting violations. </p>



<p>The process involves reviewing the account and other aspects, including your customer reviews, business practices, and website content.</p>



<p>In November 2025, Google addressed concerns that a large volume of accounts were being unfairly suspended by announcing that it had <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ads-boosts-accuracy-in-advertiser-account-suspensions-464661">improved the accuracy of the system</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Google says that, by using new processes and AI, it’s reduced incorrect suspensions by over 80% and improved resolution times by 70%, with 99% of suspensions now resolved within a 24-hour window.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-google-ads-suspends-accounts-and-what-happens-next">How Google Ads suspends accounts and what happens next</h2>



<p>Depending on the violation, accounts may be suspended immediately upon detection. In other cases, advertisers will be given a prior warning of at least seven days before the suspension takes place.</p>



<p>Advertisers will be notified via email, along with a red banner at the top of their Google Ads account. When an account is suspended:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Ads will not run.</li>



<li>You won’t be able to create any new content, such as ads, ad groups, or campaigns.</li>



<li>You can, however, still access the account to review historical data and reports.</li>
</ul>



<p>In some instances, accounts related or linked to the suspended account may also be suspended, such as <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-has-updated-its-prohibited-practices-to-include-linked-account-suspensions-390373">linked Merchant Center accounts</a> or those linked to the same manager account. These will be lifted if or when the original suspension is resolved.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ads-three-strikes-system-470575">Google Ads’ three-strikes system: Managing warnings, strikes, and suspension</a></em></strong></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-the-different-types-of-account-suspensions">What are the different types of account suspensions?</h2>



<p>Not all suspensions are the same. Google Ads groups them into a few main categories, each with different causes and outcomes.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-policy-violations">Policy violations</h3>



<p>These suspensions are due to violations of <a href="https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6008942" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Ads policy</a> or its <a href="https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/54818" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terms and conditions</a>. Common examples include: </p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Inappropriate or restricted content.</li>



<li>Issues related to editorial requirements.</li>



<li>Misuse of data. </li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-egregious-violations">Egregious violations</h3>



<p>These are suspensions that Google Ads deems unlawful or harmful. They typically reflect the overall practices of a business, not necessarily its campaigns or accounts. As such, it’s unlikely that the suspension will be overturned and will probably be permanent.</p>



<p>Common egregious violations include:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Circumventing systems.</li>



<li>Unacceptable business practices.</li>



<li>Malicious software.</li>



<li>Counterfeiting.</li>



<li>Illegal activities.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-other-suspensions">Other suspensions</h3>



<p>Other reasons why an account may be suspended include:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Suspicious payment activity.</li>



<li>Unpaid balance.</li>



<li>Promotional code abuse.</li>



<li>Unauthorized account activity.</li>



<li>Failure to meet age requirements.</li>
</ul>



<div class="nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2">
	
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-do-if-your-account-is-suspended">What to do if your account is suspended?</h2>



<p>What you should do next depends on the type of suspension and what caused it.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-policy-violations-0">Policy violations</h3>



<p>If your account has been suspended for policy or terms and conditions violations, you must resolve the issue causing the suspension before submitting an appeal.</p>



<p>The Google Ads help guides contain detailed information on these policies, so make sure you read them thoroughly. Don&#8217;t submit an appeal until you’re certain that you’ve made the relevant changes.</p>



<p>For example, if you’ve been suspended for violating editorial requirements, review your ad copy to check for potential issues regarding capitalization, spacing, spelling, and symbols.</p>



<p>If you’re uncertain about the violations that caused the suspension and how to fix them, you can use the account troubleshooter beta to determine what steps need to be taken.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="2048" height="1275" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-account-suspension-overview-scaled.png" alt="Head over to the Google Ads account suspensions overview page and follow the instructions." class="wp-image-472173" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-account-suspension-overview-scaled.png 2048w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-account-suspension-overview-768x478.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-account-suspension-overview-1536x956.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em><em>Head over to the </em><a href="https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9841640"><em>Google Ads account suspensions overvi</em></a><em><a href="https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9841640" target="_blank" rel="noopener">e</a></em><a href="https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9841640"><em>w</em></a><em> page and follow the instructions.</em></em></figcaption></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-egregious-violations-0">Egregious violations</h3>



<p>Egregious violations are treated very seriously. In most cases, the suspension is permanent. However, if you genuinely believe that the suspension is baseless, then you can submit an appeal.</p>



<p>Make relevant changes to your account or business practices before you submit your appeal. This is important because egregious violations only get one chance to submit an appeal. Take the time to review your business practices honestly and make sure you’ve done all that you can to comply.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unauthorized-account-activity">Unauthorized account activity</h3>



<p>In the case of an “Unauthorized account activity” suspension, Google Ads has detected suspicious activity, and your account has been suspended to protect it.</p>



<p>This may be triggered due to recent changes to account access, an unusual increase in your ad spend, or if your ads are sending traffic to unfamiliar destinations.</p>



<p>You will need to:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Change your Google account password immediately.</li>



<li>Check for any unfamiliar devices signed in to your account.</li>



<li>Submit a <a href="https://support.google.com/google-ads/contact/compromised_account" target="_blank" rel="noopener">compromised account</a> form.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-other-suspensions-0">Other suspensions</h3>



<p id="h-other-suspensionsin-many-of-these-cases-billing-issues-cause-suspension-so-check-the-billing-section-of-your-account-ensure-that-billing-information-is-accurate-your-payment-method-is-up-to-date-and-recent-payments-haven-t-been-declined">In many of these cases, billing issues cause suspension, so check the billing section of your account. Ensure that billing information is accurate, your payment method is up to date, and recent payments haven’t been declined.</p>



<p>If your account has been suspended for a billing or payment issue, you must fix this within 30 days. You may also be required to complete the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ads-unified-advertiser-verification-program-379568">advertiser verification program</a> to confirm your identity or business operations.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1600" height="939" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-Transparency-Center-Ads-in-UK-1.png" alt="Verified advertisers show in the Ads Transparency Center, which plays a part in Google’s efforts to build a safe and positive experience.
" class="wp-image-472176" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-Transparency-Center-Ads-in-UK-1.png 1600w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-Transparency-Center-Ads-in-UK-1-768x451.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/03/Google-Ads-Transparency-Center-Ads-in-UK-1-1536x901.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em><em>Verified advertisers show in the </em><a href="https://adstransparency.google.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Ads Transparency Center</em></a><em>, which plays a part in Google’s efforts to build a safe and positive experience.</em></em></figcaption></figure>
</div>


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-best-practices-for-submitting-an-appeal">Best practices for submitting an appeal</h2>



<p>While the specific steps you need to take will depend on the type of suspension your account is under and what caused it, there are some best practices for submitting your appeal:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Ensure that you’ve submitted your advertiser verification, as this will help the system verify your identity and business authenticity.</li>



<li>If you recognize that you’ve made an error, for example, opening a new account for a business when there was already a dormant account created before you joined, be upfront and honest about this information.</li>



<li>If you believe that the suspension has been made in error, then provide as much information, evidence, and context as possible.</li>



<li>While you’ll have a minimum of six months to submit an appeal, try to resolve the issue and submit your appeal as soon as possible. It can be very tricky to return to an account that was suspended years ago and accurately recall the steps that led to the suspension in order to address them.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ads-frustrations-support-suspensions-costs-453947">Dealing with Google Ads frustrations: Poor support, suspensions, rising costs</a></em></strong></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-happens-after-you-submit-an-appeal"><strong>What happens after you submit an appeal</strong></h2>



<p>Unfortunately, many advertisers are reporting long wait times to hear back about their appeal. This means that you’ll need to be patient and wait for a response via email.</p>



<p>In the meantime, don&#8217;t submit additional appeals. Doing so will not increase the speed at which your appeal is addressed and may result in the suspension of your appeal process for seven days.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-if-your-appeal-is-accepted-and-your-account-is-reinstated">If your appeal is accepted and your account is reinstated</h3>



<p>You can resume running your campaigns via Google Ads as usual.</p>



<p>Be aware of violating the same policy again in the future. Depending on the type of policy infringement, you may face permanent suspension for repeat violations.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-if-your-appeal-is-denied">If your appeal is denied</h3>



<p>You may be eligible to submit another appeal, but you must make the relevant changes before you do so.</p>



<p>While there is no limit on the number of appeals you can make, if too many appeals have been made, they may not be processed.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-for-egregious-violations">For egregious violations</h3>



<p>If your appeal is denied and you’re permanently suspended, you’ve been banned from using Google Ads. Creating any new accounts will also result in suspensions.</p>



<p>If you still have funds in your account, you’ll need to <a href="https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2424604" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cancel your account</a> to receive a refund.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-making-sense-of-google-ads-account-suspensions">Making sense of Google Ads account suspensions</h2>



<p>Account suspensions are designed to help keep advertisers and users safe. They help keep dangerous and malicious activities off the platform, improving the Google Ads experience.</p>



<p>While finding out your account is suspended is frustrating, in most cases, there are steps you can take to resolve the issues behind the violation and have your account reinstated.</p>

Account suspensions are essential to “maintain a healthy and sustainable digital advertising ecosystem, with user protection at its core,” according to Google Ads.
For advertisers, though, navigating the suspension process can be a minefield. Suspensions can happen suddenly, limit what you can do in your account, and, in some cases, affect related accounts as well.
Here’s what triggers account suspensions, the different types you might encounter, and what to do if your account is flagged or suspended.
Why do accounts get suspended?
Accounts get suspended when Google Ads finds a violation of one of its policies. The platform uses a combination of automated systems and manual reviews when detecting violations. 
The process involves reviewing the account and other aspects, including your customer reviews, business practices, and website content.
In November 2025, Google addressed concerns that a large volume of accounts were being unfairly suspended by announcing that it had improved the accuracy of the system. 
Google says that, by using new processes and AI, it’s reduced incorrect suspensions by over 80% and improved resolution times by 70%, with 99% of suspensions now resolved within a 24-hour window.
shows up.
      
Start Free Trial
    
Get started with
How Google Ads suspends accounts and what happens next
Depending on the violation, accounts may be suspended immediately upon detection. In other cases, advertisers will be given a prior warning of at least seven days before the suspension takes place.
Advertisers will be notified via email, along with a red banner at the top of their Google Ads account. When an account is suspended:
Ads will not run.
You won’t be able to create any new content, such as ads, ad groups, or campaigns.
You can, however, still access the account to review historical data and reports.
In some instances, accounts related or linked to the suspended account may also be suspended, such as linked Merchant Center accounts or those linked to the same manager account. These will be lifted if or when the original suspension is resolved.
Dig deeper: Google Ads’ three-strikes system: Managing warnings, strikes, and suspension
What are the different types of account suspensions?
Not all suspensions are the same. Google Ads groups them into a few main categories, each with different causes and outcomes.
Policy violations
These suspensions are due to violations of Google Ads policy or its terms and conditions. Common examples include: 
Inappropriate or restricted content.
Issues related to editorial requirements.
Misuse of data. 
Egregious violations
These are suspensions that Google Ads deems unlawful or harmful. They typically reflect the overall practices of a business, not necessarily its campaigns or accounts. As such, it’s unlikely that the suspension will be overturned and will probably be permanent.
Common egregious violations include:
Circumventing systems.
Unacceptable business practices.
Malicious software.
Counterfeiting.
Illegal activities.
Other suspensions
Other reasons why an account may be suspended include:
Suspicious payment activity.
Unpaid balance.
Promotional code abuse.
Unauthorized account activity.
Failure to meet age requirements.
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
								
					MktoForms2.loadForm("https://app-sj02.marketo.com", "727-ZQE-044", 16298, function(form) {
						// form.onSubmit(function(){
						// });
						
						// form.onSuccess(function (values, followUpUrl) {
						// });
					});
				
			
See terms.
What to do if your account is suspended?
What you should do next depends on the type of suspension and what caused it.
Policy violations
If your account has been suspended for policy or terms and conditions violations, you must resolve the issue causing the suspension before submitting an appeal.
The Google Ads help guides contain detailed information on these policies, so make sure you read them thoroughly. Don’t submit an appeal until you’re certain that you’ve made the relevant changes.
For example, if you’ve been suspended for violating editorial requirements, review your ad copy to check for potential issues regarding capitalization, spacing, spelling, and symbols.
If you’re uncertain about the violations that caused the suspension and how to fix them, you can use the account troubleshooter beta to determine what steps need to be taken.
Head over to the Google Ads account suspensions overview page and follow the instructions.



Egregious violations
Egregious violations are treated very seriously. In most cases, the suspension is permanent. However, if you genuinely believe that the suspension is baseless, then you can submit an appeal.
Make relevant changes to your account or business practices before you submit your appeal. This is important because egregious violations only get one chance to submit an appeal. Take the time to review your business practices honestly and make sure you’ve done all that you can to comply.
Unauthorized account activity
In the case of an “Unauthorized account activity” suspension, Google Ads has detected suspicious activity, and your account has been suspended to protect it.
This may be triggered due to recent changes to account access, an unusual increase in your ad spend, or if your ads are sending traffic to unfamiliar destinations.
You will need to:
Change your Google account password immediately.
Check for any unfamiliar devices signed in to your account.
Submit a compromised account form.
Other suspensions
In many of these cases, billing issues cause suspension, so check the billing section of your account. Ensure that billing information is accurate, your payment method is up to date, and recent payments haven’t been declined.
If your account has been suspended for a billing or payment issue, you must fix this within 30 days. You may also be required to complete the advertiser verification program to confirm your identity or business operations.
Verified advertisers show in the Ads Transparency Center, which plays a part in Google’s efforts to build a safe and positive experience.



Best practices for submitting an appeal
While the specific steps you need to take will depend on the type of suspension your account is under and what caused it, there are some best practices for submitting your appeal:
Ensure that you’ve submitted your advertiser verification, as this will help the system verify your identity and business authenticity.
If you recognize that you’ve made an error, for example, opening a new account for a business when there was already a dormant account created before you joined, be upfront and honest about this information.
If you believe that the suspension has been made in error, then provide as much information, evidence, and context as possible.
While you’ll have a minimum of six months to submit an appeal, try to resolve the issue and submit your appeal as soon as possible. It can be very tricky to return to an account that was suspended years ago and accurately recall the steps that led to the suspension in order to address them.
Dig deeper: Dealing with Google Ads frustrations: Poor support, suspensions, rising costs
What happens after you submit an appeal
Unfortunately, many advertisers are reporting long wait times to hear back about their appeal. This means that you’ll need to be patient and wait for a response via email.
In the meantime, don’t submit additional appeals. Doing so will not increase the speed at which your appeal is addressed and may result in the suspension of your appeal process for seven days.
If your appeal is accepted and your account is reinstated
You can resume running your campaigns via Google Ads as usual.
Be aware of violating the same policy again in the future. Depending on the type of policy infringement, you may face permanent suspension for repeat violations.
If your appeal is denied
You may be eligible to submit another appeal, but you must make the relevant changes before you do so.
While there is no limit on the number of appeals you can make, if too many appeals have been made, they may not be processed.
For egregious violations
If your appeal is denied and you’re permanently suspended, you’ve been banned from using Google Ads. Creating any new accounts will also result in suspensions.
If you still have funds in your account, you’ll need to cancel your account to receive a refund.
Making sense of Google Ads account suspensions
Account suspensions are designed to help keep advertisers and users safe. They help keep dangerous and malicious activities off the platform, improving the Google Ads experience.
While finding out your account is suspended is frustrating, in most cases, there are steps you can take to resolve the issues behind the violation and have your account reinstated.

Seeing the dreaded 'Your account has been suspended' banner in Google Ads? Learn its potential causes and how to get your account reinstated.

Google Ads account suspensions: What advertisers need to know

<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-800x450.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Search marketing jobs" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-800x450.jpg 800w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-600x338.jpg 600w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-200x113.jpg 200w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-150x84.jpg 150w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-550x310.jpg 550w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></div>Land your next job in SEO or PPC. These brands and agencies are hiring to fill open search marketing positions right now.

Looking to take the next step in your search marketing career? 
Below, you will find the latest SEO, PPC, and digital marketing jobs at brands and agencies. We also include positions from previous weeks that are still open.
Newest SEO Jobs 
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(Provided to Search Engine Land by SEOjobs.com) 

Digital Marketing Specialist (SEO/SEM/Local)
March 23, 2026 
Job Description Job Title: Web Designer & Digital Marketing Specialist Location: Phoenix, AZ / Hybrid Job Type: Full-Time Experience Level: Mid-Level (2–5 Years) About FirstLine Road Solutions Founded in 2022, FirstLine Road Solutions has quickly become the partner, employer, and acquirer of choice in the towing and roadside industry. Today, we support 20 independently operated […]

Digital Marketing Manager (SEO/SEM/CRO)
March 22, 2026 
Our Snooze Story We are Snooze, the OG brunch leaders who have never stopped flipping the script on breakfast, powered by culinary creativity, unmatched hospitality, and a passion for our communities. Our Snoozers bring their authentic selves to work every day.  This allows us to serve our Guests through genuine care and radical hospitality. Joining Snooze […]

Digital Marketing Manager (SEO/SEM)
March 20, 2026 
About CompoSecure CompoSecure, a GPGI business (NYSE: GPGI), is the leading manufacturer of Premium Metal Payment Cards and also offers best-in-class Authentication and Digital Asset solutions. The Company’s offerings combine elegance, simplicity, and security to deliver exceptional experiences and peace of mind, enabling trust for millions of people around the globe. For more information, please […]

Digital Marketing Manager (SEO/SEM)
March 20, 2026 
Description: This role can sit in our Hayward, CA, Santa Clarita, CA, or Farmington, MI locations. Job Summary We are seeking a strategic and hands-on Digital Marketing Manager to own and run all aspects of our marketing campaigns from planning through execution and optimization. This role will lead our digital presence across paid, owned, and […]

Head of Digital Marketing
March 19, 2026 
Head of Digital Marketing   About the Company Top-tier organization in the consumer services industry Industry Consumer Services Type Privately Held   About the Role The Company is seeking a Head of Digital Marketing to spearhead the development and execution of comprehensive digital marketing strategies. The successful candidate will be tasked with enhancing brand awareness, […]

SEO Strategist
March 19, 2026 
At MERGE, we are Built Different. We are a marketing and technology agency purpose-built for the intersection of health and wellness—where human impact matters most. By weaving storytelling through technology, we move beyond traditional engagement to Whole Human Marketing. This approach recognizes that humans are multidimensional and complex, and uses AI to ensure every brand interaction […]

Manager, Digital Marketing and Website Management (SEO/GEO)
March 19, 2026 
About Electra: At Electra, we’re pioneering sustainable aviation by developing hybrid-electric Ultra Short Takeoff and Landing aircraft designed to transform regional air mobility, by making air travel more efficient, quieter, and environmentally friendly. Able to operate from soccer field-sized spaces, our Ultra Short unlocks a new era of aviation through what we call Direct Aviation […]

Digital Marketing Specialist (SEO/Content Marketing)
March 19, 2026 
Description: The Digital Marketing Specialist is responsible for executing creative marketing initiatives by producing content, copy, and digital assets that support campaigns, brand presence, and customer engagement. Requirements: Create marketing copy for ads, emails, blogs, landing pages, and social media Design digital assets including graphics, visuals, and basic video content Maintain brand consistency across all […]

Digital Marketing Specialist (SEO/Link-Building)
March 19, 2026 
Job Description Digital Marketing Specialist Salt Lake City, UT | Hybrid | $70,000 / year + discretionary bonus About the Role We are a fast-growing company looking for a driven, well-rounded, full-time Digital Marketing Specialist to join our expanding team. This is an exciting opportunity for a self-starter who thrives in a dynamic environment, embraces […]

Digital Marketing Representative (SEO/Social)
March 18, 2026 
Job Description Carter Services, Inc. in Torrance, CA is hiring a full-time Digital Marketing Representative to take charge of our outreach efforts and educate potential customers on the extensive range of services we offer. This is a great opportunity to support a local business while developing your marketing knowledge and sharpening your problem-solving skills! Here’s […]

Newest PPC and paid media jobs
(Provided to Search Engine Land by PPCjobs.com) 
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Creative Strategist – Meta Ads
March 23, 2026 
Role Overview As our Creative Strategist, you will be the driving force behind the ideation, strategy, and optimization of paid media creatives across platforms (Facebook, Instagram). You’ll collaborate closely with designers, video editors, copywriters, and media buyers to turn insights into creative concepts that drive customer acquisition, loyalty, and brand affinity. This role requires both […]

Manager, Paid Social
March 23, 2026 
Are you the type of person who immediately checks out a new product after seeing your favorite influencer showcase it on TikTok, Snapchat, or YouTube? Do you love diving into the world of social media advertising, particularly on Instagram? Are you someone who thrives in a role that blends creativity with data‑driven decision‑making? If so, […]

Digital Paid Media Specialist, Paid Social and Display
March 22, 2026 
At UnitedHealthcare, we’re simplifying the health care experience, creating healthier communities and removing barriers to quality care. The work you do here impacts the lives of millions of people for the better. Come build the health care system of tomorrow, making it more responsive, affordable and optimized. Ready to make a difference? Join us to […]

Paid Search Analyst
March 22, 2026 
Do you have experience building paid search campaigns? Are you data-driven and enjoy analyzing campaign performance? Our Paid Search Analyst at Click Here Digital manages a portfolio of paid search campaigns on Google and Bing, as well as other search marketing engines. Job Description As a Paid Search Analyst, you will play a crucial role […]

Paid Media Specialist
March 21, 2026 
Paid Media Specialist Location: Pleasant Grove, Utah (On-site) Department: Marketing Salary: $62K We’re looking for a hands-on Paid Media Specialist to join our growth marketing team and take ownership of our paid media channels. This role is ideal for someone who loves building campaigns, testing creative, and optimizing performance. Reporting to the Customer Growth & […]

Other roles you may be interested in
Digital Marketing Manager 10x Health System (Scottsdale, AZ)
Salary: $110,000 – $120,000
Measure and report on the performance of all digital marketing campaigns against goals (ROI and KPIs).
Document and streamline digital marketing processes to scale the team and improve operations.
Paid Ads/Growth Manager, Robert Half (Hybrid, Atlanta Metropolitan Area)
Salary: $65,000 – $85,000
Manage, optimize, and scale paid campaigns across Google Ads (Search, Display, YouTube) and Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram).
Continuously refine targeting, bidding strategies, and creative to improve CPL, conversion rates, and overall ROAS.
SEO Manager, Clutch (Remote)
Salary: $60,000 – $75,000
Execute day-to-day SEO tactics across multiple client accounts, ensuring alignment with predefined campaign objectives.
Implement optimization strategies, including technical SEO audits and recommendations.
Marketing Manager – SEO & GEO, Care.com (Hybrid, Austin Texas)
Salary: $85,000 – $95,000
Organic Growth: Build and execute the SEO roadmap across technical, content, and off-page. Own the numbers: traffic, rankings, conversions. No handoffs, no excuses.
AI-Optimized Search (AIO): Define and drive CARE.com’s strategy for visibility in AI-generated results — Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and whatever comes next. Optimize entity coverage, content structure, and schema to ensure we’re the answer, not just a result.
Digital Marketplace Manager, Venchi (Hybrid, New York, NY)
Salary: $120,000 – $130,000
Define and execute channel-specific and cross-marketplace strategies, balancing brand positioning, commercial performance, and operational efficiency.
Manage Amazon advertising across Sponsored Products, Brands, and Display campaigns.
Advertising Media Manager, Vetoquinol USA (Remote)
Salary: $100,000 -$110,000
Develop and implement strategic advertising plans for Etail (Ecomm/Retail) accounts.
Analyzing advertising performance data with related ROAS & TACoS evaluations.
Programmatic Advertising Manager, We Are Stellar (Remote)
Salary: $75,000
Manage the day-to-day programmatic campaign approach, execution, trafficking optimization, and reporting across the relevant DSPs for your clients.
Build and present directly to client stakeholders programmatic campaign performance, analysis, and insights.
Marketing Manager, Backstage (Remote)
Salary: $100,000 – $140,000
Manage and optimize campaigns daily across Meta Ads, Google Ads, and other kay partners
Own forecasting, pacing, budget allocation, and optimization for high-scale monthly budgets..
Demand Generation Manager, Shoplift (Remote)
Salary: $100,000 – $110,000
Design and execute inbound-led outbound campaigns—reaching prospects who’ve shown intent (visited pricing page, downloaded resources, engaged with content) at precisely the right moment
Build and optimize Apollo sequences, LinkedIn outreach, and multi-touch campaigns that book qualified demos for AEs
Search Engine Optimization Manager, Confidential (Hybrid, Miami-Fort Lauderdale Area)
Salary: $75,000 – $105,000
Serve as a strategic SEO partner for client accounts, translating business goals into actionable search initiatives
Communicate SEO insights, priorities, and performance clearly to clients and internal stakeholders
Note: We update this post weekly. So make sure to bookmark this page and check back.

Land your next job in SEO or PPC. These brands and agencies are hiring to fill open search marketing positions right now.

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Read the Latest Trends and Headlines in Digital Marketing.

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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