<div><img width="1672" height="941" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Facebook-growth-dashboard.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Facebook-growth-dashboard.png 1672w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Facebook-growth-dashboard-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Facebook-growth-dashboard-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Facebook-growth-dashboard-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px" /></div>Facebook ad performance improved in 2026, with traffic CTR rising 12.87% to 1.93% and CPC falling 14.29% to $0.60.

<div><img width="1672" height="941" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Facebook-growth-dashboard.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Facebook-growth-dashboard.png 1672w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Facebook-growth-dashboard-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Facebook-growth-dashboard-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Facebook-growth-dashboard-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Facebook advertisers are getting cheaper clicks and stronger engagement in 2026, while lead costs remain largely flat, according to new WordStream by LocaliQ benchmark data.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The report analyzed nearly 1,800 Facebook ad campaigns across industries, looking at click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), conversion rate (CVR) and cost per lead (CPL) for traffic and leads campaigns.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Overall 2026 traffic benchmarks:</strong>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Average click-through rate: <strong>1.93%</strong> (up 12.87% YoY).</li>



<li>Average cost per click: <strong>$0.60</strong> (down 14.29% YoY).</li>
</ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1016" height="772" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/FB-benchmark.png" alt="" class="wp-image-488434" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/FB-benchmark.png 1016w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/FB-benchmark-768x584.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1016px) 100vw, 1016px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Traffic campaigns improve.</strong> Facebook traffic campaigns delivered a particularly strong year, with engagement rising while clicks became cheaper.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="730" height="736" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/industry-benchmark-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-488437" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/industry-benchmark-1.png 730w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/industry-benchmark-1-95x95.png 95w" sizes="(max-width: 730px) 100vw, 730px" /></figure>
</div>


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Only two industries saw traffic CPCs increase year over year: Shopping, Collectibles and Gifts (+73.53%) and Sports and Recreation (+43.90%).</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Real Estate recorded the biggest CPC improvement, falling 39.56%, followed by Restaurants and Food (-37.50%) and Industrial and Commercial (-37.21%).</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Lead campaigns.</strong> The picture was also broadly positive for advertisers focused on generating leads:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1068" height="644" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Lead-benchmark.png" alt="" class="wp-image-488438" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Lead-benchmark.png 1068w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Lead-benchmark-768x463.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1068px) 100vw, 1068px" /></figure>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Average CTR: <strong>2.70%</strong> (up 4.25% YoY).</li>



<li>Average CPC: <strong>$1.80</strong> (down 6.25% YoY).</li>



<li>Average CVR: <strong>8.54%</strong>.</li>



<li>Average CPL: <strong>$27.39</strong> (down 0.98% YoY).</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Cost-per-click winners.</strong> Most industries saw cheaper clicks on lead campaigns. Automotive – For Sale CPC fell 44.17%, Dentists and Dental Services dropped 41.72%, and Health and Fitness declined 30.30%.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Only Education and Instruction (+4.24%) and Sports and Recreation (+0.93%) recorded higher lead campaign CPCs.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Cost-per-lead reality check.</strong> CPL varied considerably by industry.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Lowest CPL:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Career and Employment: <strong>$12.30</strong>.</li>



<li>Real Estate: <strong>$13.74</strong>.</li>



<li>Arts and Entertainment: <strong>$14.59</strong>.</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Highest CPL:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Dentists and Dental Services: <strong>$61.56</strong>.</li>



<li>Beauty and Personal Care: <strong>$50.91</strong>.</li>



<li>Home and Home Improvement: <strong>$42.95</strong>.</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Why we care.</strong> Facebook advertisers are effectively getting more engagement for less money. Traffic clicks became 14% cheaper while CTR improved nearly 13%, and lead campaigns generated cheaper clicks while keeping average CPL virtually unchanged.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For advertisers balancing paid search and paid social budgets, that matters. WordStream notes that Google Ads CPC is now more than double Meta’s average CPC, although Google Search typically captures users with stronger purchase intent.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>The big picture.</strong> Meta’s optimization appears to be getting more efficient. WordStream said improvements to bidding and campaign optimization may be contributing to stronger conversion performance and lower costs.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The 2026 numbers suggest advertisers don’t necessarily have to choose between cheaper traffic and better performance: for many Facebook campaigns, they’re getting both.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Bottom line.</strong> Facebook advertising got more efficient in 2026. Clicks are cheaper, engagement is improving and lead costs are holding steady — giving advertisers more room to stretch their paid social budgets.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Dig deeper.</strong> <a href="https://www.wordstream.com/blog/facebook-ads-benchmarks-2026">Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2026: NEW Data, Trends, &amp; Insights for Your Industry</a>


Facebook advertisers are getting cheaper clicks and stronger engagement in 2026, while lead costs remain largely flat, according to new WordStream by LocaliQ benchmark data.
The report analyzed nearly 1,800 Facebook ad campaigns across industries, looking at click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), conversion rate (CVR) and cost per lead (CPL) for traffic and leads campaigns.
Overall 2026 traffic benchmarks:




Average click-through rate: 1.93% (up 12.87% YoY).
Average cost per click: $0.60 (down 14.29% YoY).




Traffic campaigns improve. Facebook traffic campaigns delivered a particularly strong year, with engagement rising while clicks became cheaper.




Only two industries saw traffic CPCs increase year over year: Shopping, Collectibles and Gifts (+73.53%) and Sports and Recreation (+43.90%).
Real Estate recorded the biggest CPC improvement, falling 39.56%, followed by Restaurants and Food (-37.50%) and Industrial and Commercial (-37.21%).
Lead campaigns. The picture was also broadly positive for advertisers focused on generating leads:





Average CTR: 2.70% (up 4.25% YoY).
Average CPC: $1.80 (down 6.25% YoY).
Average CVR: 8.54%.
Average CPL: $27.39 (down 0.98% YoY).
Cost-per-click winners. Most industries saw cheaper clicks on lead campaigns. Automotive – For Sale CPC fell 44.17%, Dentists and Dental Services dropped 41.72%, and Health and Fitness declined 30.30%.
Only Education and Instruction (+4.24%) and Sports and Recreation (+0.93%) recorded higher lead campaign CPCs.
Cost-per-lead reality check. CPL varied considerably by industry.
Lowest CPL:
Career and Employment: $12.30.
Real Estate: $13.74.
Arts and Entertainment: $14.59.
Highest CPL:
Dentists and Dental Services: $61.56.
Beauty and Personal Care: $50.91.
Home and Home Improvement: $42.95.
Why we care. Facebook advertisers are effectively getting more engagement for less money. Traffic clicks became 14% cheaper while CTR improved nearly 13%, and lead campaigns generated cheaper clicks while keeping average CPL virtually unchanged.
For advertisers balancing paid search and paid social budgets, that matters. WordStream notes that Google Ads CPC is now more than double Meta’s average CPC, although Google Search typically captures users with stronger purchase intent.
The big picture. Meta’s optimization appears to be getting more efficient. WordStream said improvements to bidding and campaign optimization may be contributing to stronger conversion performance and lower costs.
The 2026 numbers suggest advertisers don’t necessarily have to choose between cheaper traffic and better performance: for many Facebook campaigns, they’re getting both.
Bottom line. Facebook advertising got more efficient in 2026. Clicks are cheaper, engagement is improving and lead costs are holding steady — giving advertisers more room to stretch their paid social budgets.
Dig deeper. Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2026: NEW Data, Trends, & Insights for Your Industry

Facebook ad performance improved in 2026, with traffic CTR rising 12.87% to 1.93% and CPC falling 14.29% to $0.60.

Facebook ad costs fall as traffic and lead performance improves: Report

<div><img width="1672" height="941" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-compliance.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-compliance.png 1672w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-compliance-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-compliance-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-compliance-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px" /></div>Microsoft is tightening AI ad transparency, requiring advertisers to disclose synthetic content, and preserve provenance data

<div><img width="1672" height="941" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-compliance.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-compliance.png 1672w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-compliance-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-compliance-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Microsoft-AI-compliance-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Microsoft Advertising is putting advertisers on notice: If AI helped create or materially alter your ad, consumers may need to know about it.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">AI-generated creative is becoming routine in advertising, but Microsoft is making clear that using AI doesn’t give marketers a pass on transparency, consent or deceptive content.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Driving the news</strong>. Microsoft Advertising has published dedicated guidance covering AI-generated, AI-manipulated and other synthetic content used in ads.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Advertisers are responsible for complying with applicable laws wherever their campaigns run, including requirements around disclosures, permissions and the use of a person’s likeness or voice.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>The details</strong>. Microsoft says advertisers should preserve watermarks, metadata and other provenance information identifying how AI-generated content was created.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When disclosure is required, advertisers are responsible for making it clear and placing it close to the relevant content. Microsoft recommends embedding AI disclosures directly into image and video assets.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Its existing ad disclaimer feature can also be used with supported formats.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Yes, but</strong>. Slapping an “AI-generated” label on deceptive creative won’t make it acceptable.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Microsoft says ads can still be rejected, restricted or removed if they contain prohibited deepfakes, impersonate people or organizations, use someone’s likeness or voice without required authorization, omit required disclosures, or interfere with machine-readable provenance information.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>How Microsoft is handling its own AI</strong>. Images, audio and video produced using Microsoft AI tools can contain machine-readable provenance data, metadata and imperceptible watermarks indicating AI involvement.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Those signals aren’t necessarily visible to consumers, meaning advertisers may still need to add their own visible or audible disclosures.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>What advertisers should do</strong>. Review AI-assisted creative before submitting it and make sure the people, products, places, claims and events depicted are accurate.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Advertisers should also avoid stripping metadata or watermarks from AI assets and check disclosure requirements in every market where a campaign will appear.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>The bottom line</strong>. Microsoft isn’t banning AI advertising. It’s drawing a clearer line between using AI to make an ad and using AI to mislead the person seeing it.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Dig deeper. </strong><a href="https://help.ads.microsoft.com/apex/index/3/en/60265">AI-generated and synthetic content in advertising</a>


Microsoft Advertising is putting advertisers on notice: If AI helped create or materially alter your ad, consumers may need to know about it.
AI-generated creative is becoming routine in advertising, but Microsoft is making clear that using AI doesn’t give marketers a pass on transparency, consent or deceptive content.
Driving the news. Microsoft Advertising has published dedicated guidance covering AI-generated, AI-manipulated and other synthetic content used in ads.
Advertisers are responsible for complying with applicable laws wherever their campaigns run, including requirements around disclosures, permissions and the use of a person’s likeness or voice.
The details. Microsoft says advertisers should preserve watermarks, metadata and other provenance information identifying how AI-generated content was created.
When disclosure is required, advertisers are responsible for making it clear and placing it close to the relevant content. Microsoft recommends embedding AI disclosures directly into image and video assets.
Its existing ad disclaimer feature can also be used with supported formats.
Yes, but. Slapping an “AI-generated” label on deceptive creative won’t make it acceptable.
Microsoft says ads can still be rejected, restricted or removed if they contain prohibited deepfakes, impersonate people or organizations, use someone’s likeness or voice without required authorization, omit required disclosures, or interfere with machine-readable provenance information.
How Microsoft is handling its own AI. Images, audio and video produced using Microsoft AI tools can contain machine-readable provenance data, metadata and imperceptible watermarks indicating AI involvement.
Those signals aren’t necessarily visible to consumers, meaning advertisers may still need to add their own visible or audible disclosures.
What advertisers should do. Review AI-assisted creative before submitting it and make sure the people, products, places, claims and events depicted are accurate.
Advertisers should also avoid stripping metadata or watermarks from AI assets and check disclosure requirements in every market where a campaign will appear.
The bottom line. Microsoft isn’t banning AI advertising. It’s drawing a clearer line between using AI to make an ad and using AI to mislead the person seeing it.
Dig deeper. AI-generated and synthetic content in advertising

Microsoft is tightening AI ad transparency, requiring advertisers to disclose synthetic content, and preserve provenance data

Microsoft Advertising sets rules for AI-generated ads

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/ChatGPT-Ads-may-win-your-test-budget-and-lose-the-platform-war.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="ChatGPT Ads may win your test budget and lose the platform war" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/ChatGPT-Ads-may-win-your-test-budget-and-lose-the-platform-war.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/ChatGPT-Ads-may-win-your-test-budget-and-lose-the-platform-war-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/ChatGPT-Ads-may-win-your-test-budget-and-lose-the-platform-war-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/ChatGPT-Ads-may-win-your-test-budget-and-lose-the-platform-war-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Cheap inventory and low competition make ChatGPT Ads worth testing. But Google’s distribution advantage may make it short-lived.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/ChatGPT-Ads-may-win-your-test-budget-and-lose-the-platform-war.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="ChatGPT Ads may win your test budget and lose the platform war" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/ChatGPT-Ads-may-win-your-test-budget-and-lose-the-platform-war.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/ChatGPT-Ads-may-win-your-test-budget-and-lose-the-platform-war-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/ChatGPT-Ads-may-win-your-test-budget-and-lose-the-platform-war-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/ChatGPT-Ads-may-win-your-test-budget-and-lose-the-platform-war-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://searchengineland.com/run-chatgpt-ads-484513">ChatGPT Ads</a> may be worth your marketing dollar even if ChatGPT isn&#8217;t worth betting on in the long term.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That&#8217;s the tension marketers need to understand. The advertising opportunity is developing as ChatGPT faces a tougher fight for dominance, particularly against Google&#8217;s distribution advantage. The difference is in where each platform gets its users.</p>



<h2 id="h-the-ai-platform-war-looks-a-lot-like-the-browser-wars" class="wp-block-heading">The AI platform war looks a lot like the browser wars</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Overlay two charts and the story writes itself.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share#yearly-2009-2026">Statcounter&#8217;s browser market share data</a> from 2008 to 2026 tells the first half of the story. Internet Explorer collapses. Firefox fades into a loyal but marginal niche. Chrome climbs a slow, unstoppable staircase and never comes back down.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1134" height="485" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Statcounters-browser-market-share-data.png" alt="" class="wp-image-488313" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Statcounters-browser-market-share-data.png 1134w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Statcounters-browser-market-share-data-768x328.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1134px) 100vw, 1134px" /></figure>
</div>


<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://sensortower.com/report/state-of-ai-2026/download" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SensorTower&#8217;s monthly active user data</a> for major AI assistants shows a similar pattern. ChatGPT rockets up, then flattens hard from September 2025 onward. Gemini draws a clean, steady diagonal straight through it. Claude shows solid traction but remains tiny compared to the other two.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="764" height="574" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/SensorTowers-monthly-active-user-data.png" alt="SensorTower's monthly active user data" class="wp-image-488315"/></figure>
</div>


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Swap the logos and you&#8217;re looking at the same graph:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>ChatGPT sits in the Internet Explorer seat, the incumbent that defined its category and now has to fight for the next one.</li>



<li>Claude lines up with Firefox, a well-loved product with a passionate, structurally limited base.</li>



<li>Gemini takes the Chrome seat, not because it&#8217;s the better product, but because it&#8217;s plugged into an ecosystem that never has to ask permission to show up.</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">What does that mean for your marketing dollar? The answer starts with distribution.</p>


<a href="https://www.semrush.com/analytics/traffic/paid-search?utm_campaign=ic_sel_0101ppc&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>
    
    <div>
      
      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        See exactly how <span>your competitors win</span>.
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        Uncover the keywords, ads, landing pages, and strategies driving your competitors&#8217; paid search success—and find your next opportunity to outperform them.
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      <span id="semrush-one-cta">Analyze your competitors</span>
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<h3 id="h-chatgpt-can-t-rely-on-a-distribution-network" class="wp-block-heading">ChatGPT can’t rely on a distribution network</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Chrome launched in September 2008 and got its traction from Google’s distribution network, especially when Android piggybacked on it:</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1280" height="720" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Source-Statcounter-Mobile-Operating-System-Market-Share.png" alt="Source- Statcounter Mobile Operating System Market Share" class="wp-image-488316" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Source-Statcounter-Mobile-Operating-System-Market-Share.png 1280w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Source-Statcounter-Mobile-Operating-System-Market-Share-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Source-Statcounter-Mobile-Operating-System-Market-Share-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em><em>Source: </em><a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide/#yearly-2009-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Statcounter</em></a></em></figcaption></figure>
</div>

<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1280" height="720" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Source-Statcounter-Mobile-Browser-Market-Share.png" alt="Source- Statcounter Mobile Browser Market Share" class="wp-image-488319" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Source-Statcounter-Mobile-Browser-Market-Share.png 1280w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Source-Statcounter-Mobile-Browser-Market-Share-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Source-Statcounter-Mobile-Browser-Market-Share-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em><em>Source: </em><a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/mobile/worldwide/#yearly-2009-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Statcounter</em></a></em></figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Gemini is inheriting that same compounding advantage, just further along the curve. It sits inside Google Search, Android, Workspace, and YouTube. It doesn&#8217;t need to win users from zero. ChatGPT has no equivalent. Every single user has to be earned, one download, one habit, one retention loop at a time.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">ChatGPT’s audience basically flatlined in mid-2025, as seen above in the SensorTower graph. Worse, only 5% of this audience does not overlap with Google’s:</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="821" height="556" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Audience-overlap-Google-and-ChatGPT.png" alt="Audience overlap - Google and ChatGPT" class="wp-image-488320" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Audience-overlap-Google-and-ChatGPT.png 821w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Audience-overlap-Google-and-ChatGPT-768x520.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 821px) 100vw, 821px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Source: </em><a href="https://www.similarweb.com/corp/the-2026-generative-ai-landscape/?ref=ppc.land" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>SimilarWeb</em></a></figcaption></figure>
</div>


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you were thinking about comparing ChatGPT with Apple’s Safari, this should be the nail in the coffin: ChatGPT doesn&#8217;t have an exclusive user base and isn&#8217;t cannibalizing search behavior, either.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now compare ChatGPT with platforms marketers already treat as secondary channels: TikTok sits at roughly 2 billion monthly users globally, twice ChatGPT&#8217;s reach.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Ask yourself what share of your media budget currently goes to TikTok, and you have a fairly honest benchmark for how much strategic weight ChatGPT Ads deserves today.</p>



<h3 id="h-openai-s-focus-isn-t-advertising-it-s-b2b" class="wp-block-heading">OpenAI&#8217;s focus isn&#8217;t advertising. It&#8217;s B2B.</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you want another signal that OpenAI isn&#8217;t betting the company on advertising, look at what&#8217;s happening around Sam Altman, not just what he&#8217;s building.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In an October 2024 fireside chat at Harvard, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/02/ads-might-be-coming-to-chatgpt-despite-sam-altman-not-being-a-fan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Altman called advertising a &#8220;last resort&#8221; business model</a>, saying &#8220;ads-plus-AI is sort of uniquely unsettling to me.&#8221;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Fourteen months later, OpenAI launched ads anyway. That reversal tells you the company needed the revenue, not that advertising became the strategic center of gravity.</p>



<h3 id="h-c-suite-doesn-t-scream-ad-or-media" class="wp-block-heading">C-suite doesn&#8217;t scream ad or media</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The latest leadership moves reinforce that reading. When OpenAI lost COO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradlightcap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brad Lightcap</a> — a finance person — he was replaced by CRO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisedresser/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Denise Dresser</a>, formerly the CEO of Slack. She then got replaced by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dali-rajic-295912/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dali Rajic</a>, an enterprise security veteran.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Notice how none of these executives came from ad sales or media? All of them are enterprise B2B people. That&#8217;s where OpenAI&#8217;s product energy is going: B2B.</p>



<h3 id="h-b2b-sells-more-tokens-that-s-the-bigger-opportunity" class="wp-block-heading">B2B sells more tokens. That&#8217;s the bigger opportunity</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Let’s look at OpenAI’s own 2030 revenue forecast. The company expects <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-20/openai-forecasts-its-revenue-will-top-280-billion-in-2030" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$280 billion</a> in revenue, with “only” $100 billion coming from ChatGPT Ads, according to Bloomberg. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So where does the remaining $180 billion come from? B2B products.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">ChatGPT Work, released last month, hooks agents into inboxes, Slack, Notion, and Figma to handle multistep knowledge work for white-collar teams. A great way to sell more tokens, if you ask me.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/openai-starts-letting-customers-pay-ai-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Information</a> revealed that OpenAI is testing an outcome-based payment model for enterprise clients. In other words, they started eating up white-collar jobs (that’s us, by the way) with a cost-effective solution. A solution that sells more tokens than a ChatGPT Pro subscription.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Advertising is the bridge. Enterprise and API revenue are the destination. When a company&#8217;s hiring and its products both point away from advertising, don&#8217;t expect the ad business to get the company&#8217;s focus.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/openai-expands-chatgpt-ads-globally-and-builds-out-its-ad-stack-487125">OpenAI expands ChatGPT ads globally and builds out its ad stacka</a></em></strong>



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<h2 id="h-why-you-should-still-test-chatgpt-ads" class="wp-block-heading">Why you should still test ChatGPT Ads</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">None of this means marketers should sit this one out. Losing the long-term platform war and being worth testing right now aren&#8217;t contradictory positions, and treating them as one is exactly the mistake to avoid.</p>



<h3 id="h-chatgpt-is-here-to-stay" class="wp-block-heading">ChatGPT is here to stay</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Start with stability. Microsoft booked $24 billion in revenue from OpenAI in its latest fiscal year, according to a <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/microsoft-ai-sales-mostly-come-180651710.html">Bloomberg analysis</a>. That’s ~70% of Microsoft&#8217;s total AI business. In most contexts, that level of customer concentration would be a red flag. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Here, it works the other way: Microsoft doesn&#8217;t underwrite a partner at that scale without confidence in its staying power. For anyone hesitating because &#8220;the platform is too new to trust,&#8221; that number should settle whether ChatGPT Ads will exist in two years.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The more useful historical parallel isn&#8217;t Internet Explorer, though. It&#8217;s early TikTok Ads. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Plenty of advertisers stayed on the sidelines in TikTok&#8217;s first years, often for reasons closer to politics than marketing logic, even while the signals (a real base, genuine incremental reach, clear momentum) were already visible. The advertisers who tested early built a knowledge edge that took competitors years to close.</p>



<h3 id="h-global-q4-data-will-feed-your-2027-budget-roadmap" class="wp-block-heading">Global Q4 data will feed your 2027 budget roadmap</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Timing reinforces the case. OpenAI <a href="https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-ads-are-expanding-to-31-european-countries-485468">expanded ChatGPT Ads to 31 European countries in August 2026</a>, its largest market expansion to date, just ahead of Q4. That&#8217;s not an accident.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It lets OpenAI generate performance data to defend its 2027 budget conversations, and it lets early advertisers buy inventory and audience insights while CPMs and CPCs are still low, before competition and pricing catch up.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This allows OpenAI to build a strong case based on lower CPMs than advertisers may see in a few months or years. Still, if it means better unit economics for early advertisers, I won’t complain.</p>



<h3 id="h-low-competition" class="wp-block-heading">Low competition</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">One advertiser, BestMoney, accounted for <a href="https://seranking.com/blog/chatgpt-ads-study/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13.56%</a> of all ChatGPT ads in an SE Ranking study. This screams low competition.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">ChatGPT doesn&#8217;t show more than one ad unit per user prompt. Compare that to Google stacking up to four ads in its search results. That means even less competition.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Test this ad platform while costs are low and competition is limited.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/openai-reportedly-blocks-rival-ai-tools-from-advertising-in-chatgpt-488019">OpenAI reportedly blocks rival AI tools from advertising in ChatGPT</a></em></strong>


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<h2 id="h-test-chatgpt-ads-but-don-t-get-distracted" class="wp-block-heading">Test ChatGPT Ads, but don’t get distracted</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Distribution wins in the long run, and that&#8217;s Google&#8217;s game to lose, not OpenAI&#8217;s to win. The plateau in ChatGPT&#8217;s audience, the closing of the product moat, and a leadership shakeup that keeps pointing toward enterprise rather than advertising all say the same thing.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But the tactical opportunity is real in the short term, and that&#8217;s exactly what ChatGPT Ads is right now: cheap inventory, thin competition, and a limited runway before it becomes a crowded, expensive channel like every other platform.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Test ChatGPT Ads. Build the knowledge edge while it&#8217;s still cheap to build. Just don&#8217;t confuse a tactical bet with a long-term platform strategy. Don&#8217;t drop the prey for the shadow. Keep most of your resources on Google and Meta.</p>

ChatGPT Ads may be worth your marketing dollar even if ChatGPT isn’t worth betting on in the long term.
That’s the tension marketers need to understand. The advertising opportunity is developing as ChatGPT faces a tougher fight for dominance, particularly against Google’s distribution advantage. The difference is in where each platform gets its users.
The AI platform war looks a lot like the browser wars
Overlay two charts and the story writes itself.
Statcounter’s browser market share data from 2008 to 2026 tells the first half of the story. Internet Explorer collapses. Firefox fades into a loyal but marginal niche. Chrome climbs a slow, unstoppable staircase and never comes back down.




SensorTower’s monthly active user data for major AI assistants shows a similar pattern. ChatGPT rockets up, then flattens hard from September 2025 onward. Gemini draws a clean, steady diagonal straight through it. Claude shows solid traction but remains tiny compared to the other two.




Swap the logos and you’re looking at the same graph:
ChatGPT sits in the Internet Explorer seat, the incumbent that defined its category and now has to fight for the next one.
Claude lines up with Firefox, a well-loved product with a passionate, structurally limited base.
Gemini takes the Chrome seat, not because it’s the better product, but because it’s plugged into an ecosystem that never has to ask permission to show up.
What does that mean for your marketing dollar? The answer starts with distribution.
your competitors win.
      
Analyze your competitors
    
ChatGPT can’t rely on a distribution network
Chrome launched in September 2008 and got its traction from Google’s distribution network, especially when Android piggybacked on it:
Source: Statcounter



Source: Statcounter



Gemini is inheriting that same compounding advantage, just further along the curve. It sits inside Google Search, Android, Workspace, and YouTube. It doesn’t need to win users from zero. ChatGPT has no equivalent. Every single user has to be earned, one download, one habit, one retention loop at a time.
ChatGPT’s audience basically flatlined in mid-2025, as seen above in the SensorTower graph. Worse, only 5% of this audience does not overlap with Google’s:
Source: SimilarWeb



If you were thinking about comparing ChatGPT with Apple’s Safari, this should be the nail in the coffin: ChatGPT doesn’t have an exclusive user base and isn’t cannibalizing search behavior, either.
Now compare ChatGPT with platforms marketers already treat as secondary channels: TikTok sits at roughly 2 billion monthly users globally, twice ChatGPT’s reach. 
Ask yourself what share of your media budget currently goes to TikTok, and you have a fairly honest benchmark for how much strategic weight ChatGPT Ads deserves today.
OpenAI’s focus isn’t advertising. It’s B2B.
If you want another signal that OpenAI isn’t betting the company on advertising, look at what’s happening around Sam Altman, not just what he’s building.
In an October 2024 fireside chat at Harvard, Altman called advertising a “last resort” business model, saying “ads-plus-AI is sort of uniquely unsettling to me.”
Fourteen months later, OpenAI launched ads anyway. That reversal tells you the company needed the revenue, not that advertising became the strategic center of gravity.
C-suite doesn’t scream ad or media
The latest leadership moves reinforce that reading. When OpenAI lost COO Brad Lightcap — a finance person — he was replaced by CRO Denise Dresser, formerly the CEO of Slack. She then got replaced by Dali Rajic, an enterprise security veteran.
Notice how none of these executives came from ad sales or media? All of them are enterprise B2B people. That’s where OpenAI’s product energy is going: B2B.
B2B sells more tokens. That’s the bigger opportunity
Let’s look at OpenAI’s own 2030 revenue forecast. The company expects $280 billion in revenue, with “only” $100 billion coming from ChatGPT Ads, according to Bloomberg. 
So where does the remaining $180 billion come from? B2B products.
ChatGPT Work, released last month, hooks agents into inboxes, Slack, Notion, and Figma to handle multistep knowledge work for white-collar teams. A great way to sell more tokens, if you ask me.
The Information revealed that OpenAI is testing an outcome-based payment model for enterprise clients. In other words, they started eating up white-collar jobs (that’s us, by the way) with a cost-effective solution. A solution that sells more tokens than a ChatGPT Pro subscription.
Advertising is the bridge. Enterprise and API revenue are the destination. When a company’s hiring and its products both point away from advertising, don’t expect the ad business to get the company’s focus.
Dig deeper: OpenAI expands ChatGPT ads globally and builds out its ad stacka




	
	
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Why you should still test ChatGPT Ads
None of this means marketers should sit this one out. Losing the long-term platform war and being worth testing right now aren’t contradictory positions, and treating them as one is exactly the mistake to avoid.
ChatGPT is here to stay
Start with stability. Microsoft booked $24 billion in revenue from OpenAI in its latest fiscal year, according to a Bloomberg analysis. That’s ~70% of Microsoft’s total AI business. In most contexts, that level of customer concentration would be a red flag. 
Here, it works the other way: Microsoft doesn’t underwrite a partner at that scale without confidence in its staying power. For anyone hesitating because “the platform is too new to trust,” that number should settle whether ChatGPT Ads will exist in two years.
The more useful historical parallel isn’t Internet Explorer, though. It’s early TikTok Ads. 
Plenty of advertisers stayed on the sidelines in TikTok’s first years, often for reasons closer to politics than marketing logic, even while the signals (a real base, genuine incremental reach, clear momentum) were already visible. The advertisers who tested early built a knowledge edge that took competitors years to close.
Global Q4 data will feed your 2027 budget roadmap
Timing reinforces the case. OpenAI expanded ChatGPT Ads to 31 European countries in August 2026, its largest market expansion to date, just ahead of Q4. That’s not an accident.
It lets OpenAI generate performance data to defend its 2027 budget conversations, and it lets early advertisers buy inventory and audience insights while CPMs and CPCs are still low, before competition and pricing catch up.
This allows OpenAI to build a strong case based on lower CPMs than advertisers may see in a few months or years. Still, if it means better unit economics for early advertisers, I won’t complain.
Low competition
One advertiser, BestMoney, accounted for 13.56% of all ChatGPT ads in an SE Ranking study. This screams low competition.
ChatGPT doesn’t show more than one ad unit per user prompt. Compare that to Google stacking up to four ads in its search results. That means even less competition.
Test this ad platform while costs are low and competition is limited.
Dig deeper: OpenAI reportedly blocks rival AI tools from advertising in ChatGPT



  
a customer you lose.
      
See who’s stealing your traffic
    
Test ChatGPT Ads, but don’t get distracted
Distribution wins in the long run, and that’s Google’s game to lose, not OpenAI’s to win. The plateau in ChatGPT’s audience, the closing of the product moat, and a leadership shakeup that keeps pointing toward enterprise rather than advertising all say the same thing.
But the tactical opportunity is real in the short term, and that’s exactly what ChatGPT Ads is right now: cheap inventory, thin competition, and a limited runway before it becomes a crowded, expensive channel like every other platform.
Test ChatGPT Ads. Build the knowledge edge while it’s still cheap to build. Just don’t confuse a tactical bet with a long-term platform strategy. Don’t drop the prey for the shadow. Keep most of your resources on Google and Meta.

Cheap inventory and low competition make ChatGPT Ads worth testing. But Google’s distribution advantage may make it short-lived.

Why ChatGPT Ads deserve a place in your 2027 media plan

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Two-GEO-experiments-challenge-conventional-AI-visibility-advice.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Two GEO experiments challenge conventional AI visibility advice" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Two-GEO-experiments-challenge-conventional-AI-visibility-advice.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Two-GEO-experiments-challenge-conventional-AI-visibility-advice-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Two-GEO-experiments-challenge-conventional-AI-visibility-advice-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Two-GEO-experiments-challenge-conventional-AI-visibility-advice-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>The data points to a different playbook for AI visibility, where the sources that mention you may matter more than the content you control.


Much of the current advice around generative engine optimization (GEO) is based on theory, isolated screenshots, or a single campaign. I wanted measurable results, so I ran two structured experiments back to back, tracked the results manually, and documented what worked, what failed, and what changed between the two tests.
The first experiment, for an existing brand we consulted on, cost thousands of dollars and ran over several months. The second was a 30-day cold-start experiment a SaaS link building agency with no measurable AI presence when the test began.
Each test tracked 15 commercial-intent keywords. The first covered four AI platforms, while the second covered six. I logged 775 citation events across both experiments, and one of my original conclusions didn’t survive the second test. Let’s dig into how I set these up, what I observed, and how you can apply it to your work.
Experiment 1: The consultant test
We tracked 15 commercial-intent keywords across four platforms: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. Every query was run manually, with and without a VPN, to account for possible location-based differences.
Our strategy was to place listicles on sources that were commonly surfaced by LLMs for our keywords, as well as on the brand’s site. We supported these through PR, guest posts, and organic LinkedIn activity.
By the end, the brand appeared for roughly 10 to 12 of the 15 keywords. Peak keyword presence reached 37.01% on April 29. The overall trend was upward, with meaningful week-to-week variation. The citations by platform were as follows: ChatGPT 148, Claude 96, Gemini 87, and Perplexity 64.
The leading source for citations was a comprehensive listicle on Indeed SEO, with 190 mentions. MEXC and a GlobeNewswire release followed, but neither came close to the same volume. In all, listicles accounted for 72.4% of citations and PR 24.1%. Guest posts, the owned site, and LinkedIn split what was left.
We also learned four major lessons you can apply to your next project.
AI recommends.
      
See your AI visibility
    
Listicle placement, PR, and guest posts reinforce each other
In this experiment, listicles and PR appeared to work as one system rather than as separate channels. The listicles that earned citations were usually the same ones being amplified through PR. The listicle introduced the claim, the press release reinforced it, and guest posts referenced both. Each layer appeared to perform better when supported by the others.
We found securing a placement on a source the model already cites can compound visibility quickly. Here, Indeed SEO appeared around 10 times in ChatGPT’s answers before we contacted the publication. 
After our placement went live, it remained our largest citation source for months. That placement generated more citations than all the others combined.
Guest posts appeared to extend the effect of the PR placements. Claude, in particular, cited guest posts that referenced features in Yahoo and Business Insider, even when it didn’t cite those publications directly.
Source decay is rapid and authority matters
Roughly half of the sources stopped being cited within 30 days. One MEXC placement fell from 29 mentions to 11 week over week, while a Triple Review listicle that had been cited consistently declined without any direct intervention. The result suggests that one-time publication is unlikely to sustain visibility on its own.
In our tests, source authority and relevance appeared to matter more than content quality alone. A practical hierarchy was:
Government and education sources.
News publications.
Industry-relevant sites.
General sites.
In Phase 1, industry placements supported by PR produced strong results. In Phase 2, better-written listicles on general sites produced little visibility. PR appeared capable of amplifying a strong placement, but not compensating for a weak source.
Depth appeared to matter more than frequency. Our first five listicles covered the topic only briefly, and most generated little visibility. The one comprehensive piece continued to earn citations.
The peer set appeared to influence visibility. One listicle placed us alongside Lily Ray and Aleyda Solis. After those names were removed, performance declined within days. This suggests that the models may evaluate the surrounding entities, not only the individual mention. A similar pattern appeared in PR, where being named alongside recognized experts outperformed a standalone feature on a stronger outlet.
SERP visibility still appeared to influence LLM visibility, especially in ChatGPT. When the model relied on web search to resolve a query, brands absent from the retrieved results were also absent from the answer.
Capitalization and query type matter
The capitalization of queries appeared to affect which sources were retrieved. Capitalized and lowercase versions returned different citations in three repeated tests, although this finding requires further validation.
Query type appeared to influence the source types selected by the models. Software and tool queries favored high-authority review sites, while service queries more often returned listicles. Matching the placement type to the query appeared to improve the likelihood of being cited.
Exact-match keywords and answer placement are important
Exact-match keyword targeting still appeared to matter. We ranked for “Best LLM SEO Consultant” but barely appeared for “Best AI SEO Consultant,” despite the similar intent. The first phrase had a dedicated listicle, while the second didn’t. In this test, broader semantic coverage didn’t bridge the gap, suggesting that high-value commercial keywords may require dedicated assets.
In our tests, pages performed better when the answer appeared within the first 100 words. A key takeaway block near the top of the page produced a larger improvement than any other on-page change we made.
Other content findings include:
FAQ content performed better when it was visible by default rather than hidden behind expandable sections.
Self-contained sections appeared to perform better. For example, “What to look for when hiring an LLM SEO expert” and “Where to hire one” worked better as separate sections than as a single combined section.
Question-based headings also performed better in our tests. For example, “How is AI SEO different from traditional SEO?” outperformed “AI SEO vs. traditional SEO.”
Freshness also appeared to matter. Recent data, current references, and visible publication dates were associated with stronger citation performance.
We learned a lot from this first test. 
The original plan for round two was a list of things to test: Person schema, LinkedIn cadence, and a YouTube push. Instead, I got the chance to run the whole playbook from zero on a different brand in a different vertical, which is a far better test of whether any of the findings are generalizable.
Dig deeper: 3 GEO experiments you should try this year




	
	
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Experiment 2: The cold start test
The test involved a SaaS link building agency with no measurable AI presence when the experiment began. During the baseline window from April 30 to May 29, the brand had no measurable presence on any tracked platform. 
The experiment ran from May 30 to June 28, and covered six platforms, adding Google AI Mode and Grok to the list from the first experiment. We tracked 15 commercial-intent keywords that a SaaS buyer might use while evaluating an agency. Every platform and keyword was checked manually.
The experiment resulted in 298 appearances in 30 days from a standing start. The appearances by platform were: Gemini 104, Google AI Mode 95, Claude 59, ChatGPT 32, Grok 4, and Perplexity 4.
Gemini and Google AI Mode accounted for roughly two-thirds of the platform totals listed above. This differed sharply from experiment one, where ChatGPT led. The comparison should be treated cautiously because AI Mode wasn’t tracked in the first experiment, and the two niches weren’t directly comparable.
Business impact: During the 30-day window, 18.5% of new users arrived through referral traffic, and another 3.25% through GA4’s AI Assistant channel. Together, these channels accounted for just over one-fifth of all new users. One Perplexity referral led to a prospect who later became a paying customer, even though Perplexity was the lowest-volume platform in the experiment.
Here’s what this experiment taught me.
Focus on observed citations and earned placements
I learned you want to build the target list from observed citations, not from DR alone. Before beginning outreach, I ran all 15 keywords through every platform, logged the sources that appeared, and ranked them by citation frequency. That ranked list became the outreach list.
Five of eight targets appeared in the final citation mix. Indie Hackers increased from 44 mentions during prospecting to 146 after our placement went live, a 232% improvement. Bruce Jones SEO increased from 26 to 69, up 165%, while TechBullion rose from 15 to 37, a 147% jump.
The approach didn’t work in every case. RankTracker and HR.com showed fewer citations after placement than during prospecting, and two shortlisted sites hadn’t appeared at all by the end of the measurement window. The method appeared to improve the hit rate, but it didn’t guarantee citations.
Placement concentration was extreme. Three sources — Indie Hackers, Bruce Jones SEO, and our own listicle — accounted for 342 of 437 total source mentions, or approximately 78%. Seven other live placements shared the remaining mentions. In this experiment, a small number of sources drove most of the visibility.
Within this experiment, earned placements outperformed owned content by a wide margin. Of the same 437 source mentions, third-party listicles generated 85.8%, our self-published listicle generated 14.0%, and PR generated 0.2%.
Measure citations over time
Time to citation ranged from one to 18 days. Two placements were cited the day after publication, while others took 10 or 11 days. Four placements were live but hadn’t been cited by the end of the measurement period. The variation suggests that checking only once, one week after publication, isn’t a reliable measurement approach.
The slowest source to be cited was the one we controlled. Our own listicle took 18 days, longer than every third-party placement, including two that were picked up overnight.
Owned listicles are a foundation, not a growth lever
This is where I had to revise my original conclusion. 
After experiment one, I recommended publishing listicles on an owned site because many top-ranking brands appeared to benefit from their own content. Experiment two suggested that an owned listicle is more of a foundation than a primary growth engine. It was the slowest source to be cited and contributed 14% of mentions, while earned placements generated most of the visibility.
Dig deeper: How to know if your GEO is working



Comparative content is effective
The owned listicle improved when it became less promotional and more comparative. On June 23, we updated it to include our leading competitors instead of presenting the brand alone. Mentions of that source rose from four to 49, a 12.25-fold increase in the final count. The daily visibility curve also increased during the same period, from 22 on June 23 to a peak of 95 on June 27.
This mirrored the peer-set effect observed in experiment one, but from the opposite direction. Removing recognized names was followed by a decline in round one, while adding recognized competitors was followed by a substantial increase in round two. The same pattern appeared across two brands and two verticals, making it one of the findings I’d prioritize for further testing.
Comparative coverage outperformed advocacy in this test. The 12.25-fold increase followed an update that made the page more useful as a category resource rather than as a page focused primarily on our own company. The domain, author, and keyword target remained the same. The main change was the scope of the content.
Citations don’t equal clicks
The most-cited and most-clicked sources weren’t the same. 
Indie Hackers generated more citation volume than any other source, but its referral traffic remained flat. TechBullion produced fewer citations but increased sessions from one to 64. Claude.ai referral sessions tripled, while ChatGPT referral sessions increased by 166%. 
These results suggest that citation volume alone isn’t sufficient for deciding which sources deserve further investment.
Intent varies by model
In this experiment, Claude concentrated more heavily on high-intent terms. Gemini led in total appearances, 104 to 59, but Claude led or tied for first on five of the 10 best-performing keywords. 
Gemini’s volume was distributed more broadly, while Claude’s was more concentrated on commercial queries. For a business evaluating platform value, that distribution may matter more than the headline total.
Exact-phrase assets also performed well
Our two strongest keywords were “Best SaaS Link Building Agency in USA” and the same phrase with “2026” added, with 18 appearances each. This repeated the pattern from experiment one in a different niche and suggests that dedicated assets may still be necessary for high-value commercial keywords.
customers won’t either.
      
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What I’d tell someone starting today
These experiments provided me with a solid list of lessons that can help you prioritize your efforts.
Run your target keywords through the relevant AI platforms before investing in placements. The sources already being cited should inform the outreach list, and that list may differ significantly from a traditional prospecting spreadsheet.
Budget for maintenance, not only initial publication. In our first experiment, roughly half of the sources stopped being cited within 30 days.
Pay attention to entity associations. Across both experiments, performance changed when recognized companies or experts were added to or removed from listicles.
Don’t treat citation volume as the final business outcome. The most frequently cited sources weren’t always the strongest referral sources, and one low-volume Perplexity referral resulted in a paying customer.
Traditional SEO focuses largely on ranking pages. Both experiments indicated that LLM visibility depends more heavily on associations: which sources mention you, who appears alongside you, and how recently those relationships were reinforced. The main disagreement was the role of owned content, which the second experiment showed was less powerful than I initially believed.
LLM visibility continues to evolve, but it’s never too early to build on these experiments and see what your data tells you.
Dig deeper: GEO for people who have to hit revenue targets

The data points to a different playbook for AI visibility, where the sources that mention you may matter more than the content you control.

Two GEO experiments challenge conventional AI visibility advice

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-retail-store-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-retail-store-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-retail-store-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-retail-store-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google is giving business a way to review what information Google’s automated assistant pulled about their businesses.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-retail-store-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-retail-store-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-retail-store-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-retail-store-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-business-profiles-collected-info-41535.html">few months</a> ago, Google began testing a way for business owners to review the automated changes Google makes to their Google Business Profile listings and revert them. This is called <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-business-profiles-new-collected-info-41672.html">Collected info</a> and Google just announced it is officially live.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Google <a href="https://x.com/GoogleMyBiz/status/2099489719440621982">wrote</a> on X, &#8220;You can now review details verified by Google’s automated assistant right inside your Business Profile dashboard. Head to the &#8220;Collected info&#8221; tab to see what was gathered and delete any outdated details.&#8221;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>What it looks like. </strong>Here is a screenshot of the new &#8220;Collected info&#8221; tab within managing your Google Business Profile in Google Search:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1662" height="1158" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-business-profiles-collected-info.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-488389" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-business-profiles-collected-info.jpg 1662w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-business-profiles-collected-info-768x535.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-business-profiles-collected-info-1536x1070.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1662px) 100vw, 1662px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It says, &#8220;This info was collected in phone or chat conversations with your business. It&#8217;s used to match your business with customers looking for services like yours.&#8221;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You can then delete the information if it is inaccurate.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>More details. </strong>You can learn more about this in the <a href="https://support.google.com/business/answer/3039617?hl=en">help documentation</a>, which was updated <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-business-profiles-collected-info-41535.html">some time ago</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Here is what it says:</p>



<h2 id="h-review-information-collected-by-google" class="wp-block-heading">Review information collected by Google</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Important:&nbsp;</strong>This feature is currently available for select regions, languages, and business categories and may not be available for all users.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">To confirm your business details and keep your Business Profile updated and discoverable for customers looking for businesses like yours, Google may occasionally reach out using automated messages via call, text, or WhatsApp to the verified phone number on your profile.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Any information you provide in response to these messages may be used to update your profile.&nbsp;<a href="https://support.google.com/business/answer/7690269">Learn more about automated calls and texts from Google to confirm business info</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">To review and manage this collected information:</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://business.google.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Go to your Business Profile</a>.</li>



<li>Select <strong>Edit profile </strong><img decoding="async" height="18" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/LXIVMHxIoJ-ODytEi75yC-dtUFJFsRd6p8dopSSRr_ZUOPKvyuUgsU-7zVNA6ui8LmRz=h36" alt="and then"><strong> Collected info</strong>.</li>



<li>Review the information to confirm its accuracy.
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>You can also find the source of this info and the date it was collected.</li>



<li>This information displays in the language it was originally provided in.</li>
</ul>
</li>



<li>If you want to remove a piece of information, select <strong>Delete </strong><img decoding="async" height="18" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/LXIVMHxIoJ-ODytEi75yC-dtUFJFsRd6p8dopSSRr_ZUOPKvyuUgsU-7zVNA6ui8LmRz=h36" alt="and then"><strong> Delete</strong>.
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Tip: </strong>Deleting collected information removes it from Google&#8217;s records but does not change other details already on your Business Profile.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Why we care. </strong>Google will often update business details automatically and in some cases, Google&#8217;s automated systems can get it wrong. It is great to see Google giving a way for business owners to remove the incorrect information.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This new collected info tab should make it easier for removing inaccurate information about Google Business Profiles.</p>


A few months ago, Google began testing a way for business owners to review the automated changes Google makes to their Google Business Profile listings and revert them. This is called Collected info and Google just announced it is officially live.
Google wrote on X, “You can now review details verified by Google’s automated assistant right inside your Business Profile dashboard. Head to the “Collected info” tab to see what was gathered and delete any outdated details.”
What it looks like. Here is a screenshot of the new “Collected info” tab within managing your Google Business Profile in Google Search:




It says, “This info was collected in phone or chat conversations with your business. It’s used to match your business with customers looking for services like yours.”
You can then delete the information if it is inaccurate.
More details. You can learn more about this in the help documentation, which was updated some time ago.
Here is what it says:
Review information collected by Google
Important: This feature is currently available for select regions, languages, and business categories and may not be available for all users.
To confirm your business details and keep your Business Profile updated and discoverable for customers looking for businesses like yours, Google may occasionally reach out using automated messages via call, text, or WhatsApp to the verified phone number on your profile.
Any information you provide in response to these messages may be used to update your profile. Learn more about automated calls and texts from Google to confirm business info.
To review and manage this collected information:
Go to your Business Profile.
Select Edit profile  Collected info.
Review the information to confirm its accuracy.

You can also find the source of this info and the date it was collected.
This information displays in the language it was originally provided in.
If you want to remove a piece of information, select Delete  Delete.

Tip: Deleting collected information removes it from Google’s records but does not change other details already on your Business Profile.
Why we care. Google will often update business details automatically and in some cases, Google’s automated systems can get it wrong. It is great to see Google giving a way for business owners to remove the incorrect information.
This new collected info tab should make it easier for removing inaccurate information about Google Business Profiles.

Google is giving business a way to review what information Google’s automated assistant pulled about their businesses.

Google Business Profiles rolls out Collected Info

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/AI-is-making-SEO-question-what-content-is-worth.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI is making SEO question what content is worth" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/AI-is-making-SEO-question-what-content-is-worth.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/AI-is-making-SEO-question-what-content-is-worth-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/AI-is-making-SEO-question-what-content-is-worth-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/AI-is-making-SEO-question-what-content-is-worth-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>SEO content is getting cheaper to produce, shifting value toward the ideas, expertise, judgment, and experience behind the words.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/AI-is-making-SEO-question-what-content-is-worth.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI is making SEO question what content is worth" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/AI-is-making-SEO-question-what-content-is-worth.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/AI-is-making-SEO-question-what-content-is-worth-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/AI-is-making-SEO-question-what-content-is-worth-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/AI-is-making-SEO-question-what-content-is-worth-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There’s a trend in some <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo">SEO</a> and <a href="https://searchengineland.com/what-is-generative-engine-optimization-geo-444418">GEO</a> circles to demonize AI content. Much of that argument is self-serving. It protects an old business model, confuses production with quality, and misses where the value of writing is moving.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">AI has made the production of words incredibly cheap, creating an inconvenient commercial problem for anyone whose margin depended on those words being expensive.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That changes the economics of content and raises a more important question: What is content worth when the words themselves are cheap?</p>



<h2 id="h-how-seo-turned-content-into-a-business-model" class="wp-block-heading">How SEO turned content into a business model</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When I go online and listen to the SEO industry talk, it’s clear that many agencies weren’t really selling SEO. They were selling advertising.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">SEO, in its purest form, was a response to Google monetizing search through paid placements. The commercial logic was obvious: identify the searches businesses were paying Google to appear for, then earn the strongest organic positions for those terms.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Reduce paid-search dependency. Generate demand without paying for every click. Make more money.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That model still makes sense. But over time, SEO went in another direction: content. Create content, get rankings, get traffic, and maybe convert some of those visitors into marketing-qualified leads.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I’m not going to debate the rationale. There are many ways to build an audience or a list, and SEO was often an expensive way to do so. But traffic was a metric that sold retainers.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Content was perfect for the retainer model because it took time to produce. Writers were abundant. Salaries stayed relatively low. Agencies could charge handsomely for production. Clients got a stream of deliverables and a traffic graph. Everyone was happy.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Then AI made the production of words incredibly cheap. And that creates an inconvenient commercial problem for anyone whose margin depended on those words being expensive. Some of the hatred of AI content starts there.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/content-creation-to-orchestration-the-new-ai-content-strategist">From content creation to content orchestration: How agentic AI changes the role of content strategists</a></em></strong>


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<h2 id="h-was-the-ai-content-boom-worth-it" class="wp-block-heading">Was the AI content boom worth it?</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’ve all seen the AI content mountain. SEOs and AI writing tools posted case studies showing enormous traffic growth from publishing thousands of pages. Then some of those sites lost the traffic just as spectacularly.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">On a graph, it looked like Mount AI Slop. The industry response was predictable. “See. We told you not to do it.” Then came the recovery audits.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But there’s a question that rarely gets asked: Was it worth it?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If a company generated millions of visits while content production costs collapsed, the answer can’t be decided by staring at the final downward line on a chart. You would need to know what the content cost, what it generated and whether the economics worked.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That’s marketing. Inputs. Outputs. Return. Moral panic about who typed the sentences doesn’t answer those questions. Yes, the AI content kings shouted at the top of their lungs at the peak and went silent on the way down.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That doesn’t mean the content wasn’t worth creating with AI. The risk of a penalty might have paid off. We won’t know whether it worked.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And that’s the thing about content: For all the arguments about how it’s created, people rarely stop to talk about what content is supposed to do and whether it achieved the goal.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/beat-commodity-content">AI made content a commodity, but you can harness expertise to stand out</a></em></strong>



<h2 id="h-content-is-a-weak-force" class="wp-block-heading">Content is a weak force</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We need to be realistic about what content does. SEOs who advocate a content-first strategy are, in part, in the advertising business. Content exposes people to information intended to influence what they know, think, or do.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Like advertising, it’s usually a weak force. How many people read one article, leap out of their chair and shout, “I must buy that software immediately”? Not many.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">People are busy. They have children, jobs, bills, football teams, and a washing machine making a noise it definitely wasn’t making last Tuesday. They aren’t walking around desperate to consume your 2,000-word “ultimate guide.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Howard Gossage’s old line still works: People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Most SEO content failed that test long before ChatGPT arrived. It was 2,000-plus words of absolute dullness created because a keyword tool said a phrase had 1,300 searches a month.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That doesn’t mean we should stop creating content. Content is cheap. It can create attention, nudge buyers, explain products and give people reasons to choose you.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The question is what’s worth saying and how best to say it.</p>



<h2 id="h-human-slop-vs-ai-slop" class="wp-block-heading">Human slop vs. AI slop</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">One of the strangest assumptions in the AI content debate is that human writing is somehow automatically good. It isn’t. I’ve paid thousands for content. I’ve been paid thousands to create it. I’ve also bought and produced content for peanuts.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There’s always been human slop. The $10 article existed long before generative AI. So did the $35, 1,000-word article based on no research, no experience, no original information, and no interesting point of view.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Spend more, and you usually bought more time. More research. More thought. More editing. Better writing.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But AI changes the economics of that process. Research that once took hours can happen much faster. Drafting can happen faster. Rewriting can happen faster. Critiquing can happen faster.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So “I don’t use AI” isn’t automatically a badge of quality. It can also mean: “I’m slower and more expensive.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And this leads to a real-life story about a friend of mine who has a “Head of” role in a SaaS company. He needed to create content for the brand, and so he needed a writer. What came back was the writer’s day rate and a hefty price tag for the content project.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So he did what anyone fluent in AI can do: He built an AI content process and got content that was “good enough.” Their internal team can now take that content, enhance it and make it special at a far lower cost.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Admittedly, this presents a challenge for writers. But that same challenge will apply to everyone in knowledge work. If you want to use the stamp of “human-written” as part of your work ethic, then you’ll equally face a battle when it comes to pricing.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And the only way you defend that hefty price tag is by bringing something other than just words to the table. What that is, I don’t know, but AI slop isn’t primarily a writing problem.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It’s an absence-of-ideas problem. There’s always been plenty of slop long before AI came.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">AI simply makes us question the value and, indeed, the cost of content and the roles of humans in the process.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><em>Dig deeper:</em> <em><a href="https://searchengineland.com/slop-antibodies-the-link-between-ai-slop-watermarking-and-commodity-content-485182">Slop antibodies: The link between AI slop, watermarking, and commodity content</a></em></strong>



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<h2 id="h-why-bother-with-content-creation-at-all" class="wp-block-heading">Why bother with content creation at all?</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">AI Overviews and AI Mode are reducing the old certainty that producing a page will result in a click. Search Engine Land reported this year that across a dataset of 64 publisher sites, organic search clicks had fallen by <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-cut-search-clicks-report-471497">42%</a> since AI Overviews expanded.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So why bother creating content? Because content is your voice. It’s how your company places information into the world.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You can explain what you believe.&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>What your product does. </li>



<li>What it doesn’t do. </li>



<li>Why you make something a certain way. </li>



<li>What ingredients you use. </li>



<li>What expertise you possess. </li>



<li>What you’ve learned. </li>



<li>What you disagree with.</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Humans can read it. Search engines can index it. AI systems can encounter it. Journalists can reference it. Customers can share it.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">None of that guarantees distribution. If you never say anything, you give the market very little to work with. You’re invisible until you communicate.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And if the objective of content is communication, why should we obsess over whether the first draft came from fingers on a keyboard or a language model?</p>



<h2 id="h-the-writer-s-ai-dilemma" class="wp-block-heading">The writer’s AI dilemma</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This is where writers face the real problem. If AI can research and draft increasingly well, what exactly are we paying a writer to do?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The answer isn’t “type.” We’re paying for thinking. Research direction. Experience. Taste. Observation. Argument. Customer understanding. Original information. Editing. Judgment.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’re paying someone to decide what deserves to exist. That changes the value chain.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In old-school SEO, the keyword often dictated the article. Type it into Google. Look at what ranks. Produce something similar, usually longer. Writers were effectively servicing the keyword.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In a world interested in original, non-commodity information, writers become more valuable upstream.&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>What should this brand talk about? </li>



<li>What does it know that others don’t? </li>



<li>What does the market misunderstand? </li>



<li>What can we publish that changes how somebody sees the category? </li>



<li>What would we create if the company had to spend £10,000 promoting the piece after publication?</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Those are better questions than, “How many words should this article be?”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Writing becomes more consultative. The unit of value moves from production to thinking.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/human-experience-optimization-why-experience-now-shapes-search-visibility-468132">Human experience optimization: Why experience now shapes search visibility</a></em></strong>



<h2 id="h-the-scarce-resource-is-ideas" class="wp-block-heading">The scarce resource is ideas</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There’s another reason writing with AI matters. Writing is hard. Plenty of people have extraordinary experience, expertise, and ideas but struggle to express them in polished prose. Others simply don’t have the time.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For most of history, that was a barrier. AI lowers it.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Someone can speak an idea into a phone and turn it into a coherent article. A busy parent can finally develop the murder mystery that’s been sitting in their head for 10 years. An engineer who writes terribly can explain something brilliant. A business can turn decades of internal expertise into the industry guide it always wanted to publish.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Why would we want fewer of those ideas in the world simply because the person behind them can’t construct elegant sentences unaided?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The scarce resource is no longer words. It’s ideas worth communicating.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That doesn’t mean AI won’t create mountains of crap. Of course it will. But humans already solved that problem centuries ago. We stop reading.</p>



<h2 id="h-j-k-rowling-robert-galbraith-and-who-gets-to-decide-what-is-good" class="wp-block-heading">J.K. Rowling, Robert Galbraith, and who gets to decide what is good</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And finally, consider J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone began with a tiny Bloomsbury hardback print run of 500 copies, around 300 of which went to libraries and schools.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That little book eventually became one of the biggest publishing phenomena in history, spawning films, merchandise, attractions, and an enormous global franchise.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So Rowling is obviously a great writer. Except publishing is never that simple.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Years later, she submitted The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Publishers rejected it. One even advised “Galbraith” to take a writing course.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When the novel was eventually published under the pseudonym, it received good reviews but modest sales. Contemporary reports put hardback sales at around 1,500 copies.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Then Rowling’s identity was revealed. The book shot to No. 1.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Same book. Same sentences. Same ideas. Different context.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That doesn’t prove quality is meaningless. It proves that quality isn’t some objective substance poured into a manuscript by a human author.</p>


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<h2 id="h-the-value-is-in-the-ideas" class="wp-block-heading">The value is in the ideas</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Readers decide what they value. Distribution matters. Fame matters. Context matters. Ideas matter.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Humans get those calls wrong all the time. Hollywood spends hundreds of millions on films involving talented writers, directors, actors, producers, and executives. Some are still spectacularly bad. No AI required.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Writing with AI matters because machines can reduce the cost of turning thinking into communication. That lets us test more ideas, express expertise faster, and give more people access to the written word.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">AI will expose people with no ideas because cheap production makes their emptiness easier to scale. But it will also empower people with exceptional ideas who previously struggled to communicate them.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That’s the trade. The question isn’t whether AI wrote something. It’s whether it was worth writing and reading.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’re already reading content created with AI every day. The machine can help produce the words. The human still needs to provide a reason for them to exist.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Welcome to the idea economy.</p>

There’s a trend in some SEO and GEO circles to demonize AI content. Much of that argument is self-serving. It protects an old business model, confuses production with quality, and misses where the value of writing is moving.
AI has made the production of words incredibly cheap, creating an inconvenient commercial problem for anyone whose margin depended on those words being expensive. 
That changes the economics of content and raises a more important question: What is content worth when the words themselves are cheap?
How SEO turned content into a business model
When I go online and listen to the SEO industry talk, it’s clear that many agencies weren’t really selling SEO. They were selling advertising.
SEO, in its purest form, was a response to Google monetizing search through paid placements. The commercial logic was obvious: identify the searches businesses were paying Google to appear for, then earn the strongest organic positions for those terms.
Reduce paid-search dependency. Generate demand without paying for every click. Make more money.
That model still makes sense. But over time, SEO went in another direction: content. Create content, get rankings, get traffic, and maybe convert some of those visitors into marketing-qualified leads.
I’m not going to debate the rationale. There are many ways to build an audience or a list, and SEO was often an expensive way to do so. But traffic was a metric that sold retainers.
Content was perfect for the retainer model because it took time to produce. Writers were abundant. Salaries stayed relatively low. Agencies could charge handsomely for production. Clients got a stream of deliverables and a traffic graph. Everyone was happy.
Then AI made the production of words incredibly cheap. And that creates an inconvenient commercial problem for anyone whose margin depended on those words being expensive. Some of the hatred of AI content starts there.
Dig deeper: From content creation to content orchestration: How agentic AI changes the role of content strategists



  
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Was the AI content boom worth it?
We’ve all seen the AI content mountain. SEOs and AI writing tools posted case studies showing enormous traffic growth from publishing thousands of pages. Then some of those sites lost the traffic just as spectacularly.
On a graph, it looked like Mount AI Slop. The industry response was predictable. “See. We told you not to do it.” Then came the recovery audits.
But there’s a question that rarely gets asked: Was it worth it?
If a company generated millions of visits while content production costs collapsed, the answer can’t be decided by staring at the final downward line on a chart. You would need to know what the content cost, what it generated and whether the economics worked.
That’s marketing. Inputs. Outputs. Return. Moral panic about who typed the sentences doesn’t answer those questions. Yes, the AI content kings shouted at the top of their lungs at the peak and went silent on the way down.
That doesn’t mean the content wasn’t worth creating with AI. The risk of a penalty might have paid off. We won’t know whether it worked.
And that’s the thing about content: For all the arguments about how it’s created, people rarely stop to talk about what content is supposed to do and whether it achieved the goal.
Dig deeper: AI made content a commodity, but you can harness expertise to stand out



Content is a weak force
We need to be realistic about what content does. SEOs who advocate a content-first strategy are, in part, in the advertising business. Content exposes people to information intended to influence what they know, think, or do.
Like advertising, it’s usually a weak force. How many people read one article, leap out of their chair and shout, “I must buy that software immediately”? Not many.
People are busy. They have children, jobs, bills, football teams, and a washing machine making a noise it definitely wasn’t making last Tuesday. They aren’t walking around desperate to consume your 2,000-word “ultimate guide.”
Howard Gossage’s old line still works: People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.
Most SEO content failed that test long before ChatGPT arrived. It was 2,000-plus words of absolute dullness created because a keyword tool said a phrase had 1,300 searches a month.
That doesn’t mean we should stop creating content. Content is cheap. It can create attention, nudge buyers, explain products and give people reasons to choose you.
The question is what’s worth saying and how best to say it.
Human slop vs. AI slop
One of the strangest assumptions in the AI content debate is that human writing is somehow automatically good. It isn’t. I’ve paid thousands for content. I’ve been paid thousands to create it. I’ve also bought and produced content for peanuts.
There’s always been human slop. The $10 article existed long before generative AI. So did the $35, 1,000-word article based on no research, no experience, no original information, and no interesting point of view.
Spend more, and you usually bought more time. More research. More thought. More editing. Better writing.
But AI changes the economics of that process. Research that once took hours can happen much faster. Drafting can happen faster. Rewriting can happen faster. Critiquing can happen faster.
So “I don’t use AI” isn’t automatically a badge of quality. It can also mean: “I’m slower and more expensive.”
And this leads to a real-life story about a friend of mine who has a “Head of” role in a SaaS company. He needed to create content for the brand, and so he needed a writer. What came back was the writer’s day rate and a hefty price tag for the content project.
So he did what anyone fluent in AI can do: He built an AI content process and got content that was “good enough.” Their internal team can now take that content, enhance it and make it special at a far lower cost.
Admittedly, this presents a challenge for writers. But that same challenge will apply to everyone in knowledge work. If you want to use the stamp of “human-written” as part of your work ethic, then you’ll equally face a battle when it comes to pricing.
And the only way you defend that hefty price tag is by bringing something other than just words to the table. What that is, I don’t know, but AI slop isn’t primarily a writing problem.
It’s an absence-of-ideas problem. There’s always been plenty of slop long before AI came.
AI simply makes us question the value and, indeed, the cost of content and the roles of humans in the process.
Dig deeper: Slop antibodies: The link between AI slop, watermarking, and commodity content




	
	
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Why bother with content creation at all?
AI Overviews and AI Mode are reducing the old certainty that producing a page will result in a click. Search Engine Land reported this year that across a dataset of 64 publisher sites, organic search clicks had fallen by 42% since AI Overviews expanded.
So why bother creating content? Because content is your voice. It’s how your company places information into the world.
You can explain what you believe. 
What your product does. 
What it doesn’t do. 
Why you make something a certain way. 
What ingredients you use. 
What expertise you possess. 
What you’ve learned. 
What you disagree with.
Humans can read it. Search engines can index it. AI systems can encounter it. Journalists can reference it. Customers can share it.
None of that guarantees distribution. If you never say anything, you give the market very little to work with. You’re invisible until you communicate.
And if the objective of content is communication, why should we obsess over whether the first draft came from fingers on a keyboard or a language model?
The writer’s AI dilemma
This is where writers face the real problem. If AI can research and draft increasingly well, what exactly are we paying a writer to do?
The answer isn’t “type.” We’re paying for thinking. Research direction. Experience. Taste. Observation. Argument. Customer understanding. Original information. Editing. Judgment.
We’re paying someone to decide what deserves to exist. That changes the value chain.
In old-school SEO, the keyword often dictated the article. Type it into Google. Look at what ranks. Produce something similar, usually longer. Writers were effectively servicing the keyword.
In a world interested in original, non-commodity information, writers become more valuable upstream. 
What should this brand talk about? 
What does it know that others don’t? 
What does the market misunderstand? 
What can we publish that changes how somebody sees the category? 
What would we create if the company had to spend £10,000 promoting the piece after publication?
Those are better questions than, “How many words should this article be?”
Writing becomes more consultative. The unit of value moves from production to thinking.
Dig deeper: Human experience optimization: Why experience now shapes search visibility



The scarce resource is ideas
There’s another reason writing with AI matters. Writing is hard. Plenty of people have extraordinary experience, expertise, and ideas but struggle to express them in polished prose. Others simply don’t have the time.
For most of history, that was a barrier. AI lowers it. 
Someone can speak an idea into a phone and turn it into a coherent article. A busy parent can finally develop the murder mystery that’s been sitting in their head for 10 years. An engineer who writes terribly can explain something brilliant. A business can turn decades of internal expertise into the industry guide it always wanted to publish.
Why would we want fewer of those ideas in the world simply because the person behind them can’t construct elegant sentences unaided?
The scarce resource is no longer words. It’s ideas worth communicating.
That doesn’t mean AI won’t create mountains of crap. Of course it will. But humans already solved that problem centuries ago. We stop reading.
J.K. Rowling, Robert Galbraith, and who gets to decide what is good
And finally, consider J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone began with a tiny Bloomsbury hardback print run of 500 copies, around 300 of which went to libraries and schools.
That little book eventually became one of the biggest publishing phenomena in history, spawning films, merchandise, attractions, and an enormous global franchise.
So Rowling is obviously a great writer. Except publishing is never that simple.
Years later, she submitted The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Publishers rejected it. One even advised “Galbraith” to take a writing course.
When the novel was eventually published under the pseudonym, it received good reviews but modest sales. Contemporary reports put hardback sales at around 1,500 copies.
Then Rowling’s identity was revealed. The book shot to No. 1.
Same book. Same sentences. Same ideas. Different context.
That doesn’t prove quality is meaningless. It proves that quality isn’t some objective substance poured into a manuscript by a human author.
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The value is in the ideas
Readers decide what they value. Distribution matters. Fame matters. Context matters. Ideas matter.
Humans get those calls wrong all the time. Hollywood spends hundreds of millions on films involving talented writers, directors, actors, producers, and executives. Some are still spectacularly bad. No AI required.
Writing with AI matters because machines can reduce the cost of turning thinking into communication. That lets us test more ideas, express expertise faster, and give more people access to the written word.
AI will expose people with no ideas because cheap production makes their emptiness easier to scale. But it will also empower people with exceptional ideas who previously struggled to communicate them.
That’s the trade. The question isn’t whether AI wrote something. It’s whether it was worth writing and reading.
We’re already reading content created with AI every day. The machine can help produce the words. The human still needs to provide a reason for them to exist.
Welcome to the idea economy.

SEO content is getting cheaper to produce, shifting value toward the ideas, expertise, judgment, and experience behind the words.

The future of content isn’t writing. It’s thinking

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-money-bag-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-money-bag-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-money-bag-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-money-bag-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>This is a Google Search Console feature named AI contribution and is being tested with a limited number of publishers.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-money-bag-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-money-bag-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-money-bag-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-money-bag-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Google is running a pilot where it is paying some publishers for using their content within its AI features such as AI Mode, AI Overviews and Gemini. This is called AI Contribution and is a Search Console feature offered to a limited number of publishers while Google tests it.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;Google has been quietly scaling a pay-per-value AI licensing scheme for publishers, &#8221; <a href="https://digiday.com/media/google-rolls-out-pay-value-ai-licensing-program-to-publishers/">Digiday</a> reported this morning. Google &#8220;has been quietly testing a Search Console-based program that pays publishers when their content “significantly” contributes to AI-generated responses across Gemini, AI Overviews and AI mode, according to multiple industry sources close to the situation,&#8221; they added.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I actually spotted this <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-console-ai-contribution-41153.html">AI contribution report</a> back in April but I had <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-al-contribution-pilot-42076.html">no idea</a> it was Google paying publishers for using their content.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>What it looks like. </strong>Here is a screenshot of the sign up screen in Search Console that some publishers see:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1536" height="550" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-ai-contribution-pilot-get-started-Wm2SM6Aa.png" alt="" class="wp-image-488384" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-ai-contribution-pilot-get-started-Wm2SM6Aa.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-ai-contribution-pilot-get-started-Wm2SM6Aa-768x275.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Yes, it says &#8220;Start earning with AI contribution pilot. Accumulate earnings when your content contributes significantly to AI-generated responses in participating products.&#8221;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The help document, which I do not have access to was also screen captured and says:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1576" height="1576" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-ai-contribution-pilot-doc-M3mtILWj.png" alt="" class="wp-image-488385" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-ai-contribution-pilot-doc-M3mtILWj.png 1576w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-ai-contribution-pilot-doc-M3mtILWj-768x768.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-ai-contribution-pilot-doc-M3mtILWj-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-ai-contribution-pilot-doc-M3mtILWj-95x95.png 95w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/google-ai-contribution-pilot-doc-M3mtILWj-675x675.png 675w" sizes="(max-width: 1576px) 100vw, 1576px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Confirmed by Google.</strong> When I first reached out to Google about this report back in April, Google would not respond. But now, Google has confirmed this. &#8220;Google confirmed the scheme is an early-stage learning pilot to test how best to reward high-quality content, on top of the traffic and tools it already provides,&#8221; Digiday wrote.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">&#8220;Digiday has learned that at least dozens of publishers have been approached by Google for the AI contribution pilot, though the program has been more appealing to small and mid-sized, rather than large publishers and has widened far beyond news publishers. Digiday couldn’t get final confirmation of the number,&#8221; they added.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Why we care. </strong>Publishers have been asking Google to compensate them for using its content within Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews and more AI features. Well, Google seems to be testing just doing that. Will Google roll this out more widely? Will the compensation be enough? It is hard to know, this is only a pilot, a test, right now but time will tell. </p>


Google is running a pilot where it is paying some publishers for using their content within its AI features such as AI Mode, AI Overviews and Gemini. This is called AI Contribution and is a Search Console feature offered to a limited number of publishers while Google tests it.
“Google has been quietly scaling a pay-per-value AI licensing scheme for publishers, ” Digiday reported this morning. Google “has been quietly testing a Search Console-based program that pays publishers when their content “significantly” contributes to AI-generated responses across Gemini, AI Overviews and AI mode, according to multiple industry sources close to the situation,” they added.
I actually spotted this AI contribution report back in April but I had no idea it was Google paying publishers for using their content.
What it looks like. Here is a screenshot of the sign up screen in Search Console that some publishers see:




Yes, it says “Start earning with AI contribution pilot. Accumulate earnings when your content contributes significantly to AI-generated responses in participating products.”
The help document, which I do not have access to was also screen captured and says:




Confirmed by Google. When I first reached out to Google about this report back in April, Google would not respond. But now, Google has confirmed this. “Google confirmed the scheme is an early-stage learning pilot to test how best to reward high-quality content, on top of the traffic and tools it already provides,” Digiday wrote.
“Digiday has learned that at least dozens of publishers have been approached by Google for the AI contribution pilot, though the program has been more appealing to small and mid-sized, rather than large publishers and has widened far beyond news publishers. Digiday couldn’t get final confirmation of the number,” they added.
Why we care. Publishers have been asking Google to compensate them for using its content within Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews and more AI features. Well, Google seems to be testing just doing that. Will Google roll this out more widely? Will the compensation be enough? It is hard to know, this is only a pilot, a test, right now but time will tell.

This is a Google Search Console feature named AI contribution and is being tested with a limited number of publishers.

Google tests paying publishers for using its content in AI Mode, AI Overviews and Gemini

<div><img width="1921" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/The-first-keyword-can-hide-an-international-market.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="The first keyword can hide an international market" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/The-first-keyword-can-hide-an-international-market.png 1921w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/The-first-keyword-can-hide-an-international-market-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/The-first-keyword-can-hide-an-international-market-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/The-first-keyword-can-hide-an-international-market-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1921px) 100vw, 1921px" /></div>International keyword research can make a market look empty when the seed misses local terms. Here’s how to find better entry points.

International keyword research can make a market look empty when the seed misses local terms. Here’s how to find better entry points.

Keyword seed selection for international SEO

<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" 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.

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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.
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Digital PR Manager
September 12, 2026 
Company: Siege MediaSalary: $80,000Location: Chicago, Illinois, United StatesDate posted: September 12, 2026 Siege Media is a full-service GEO agency specializing in SEO, content marketing, digital PR, analytics and affiliate marketing. We help some of the world’s most recognized brands grow visibility across traditional search and AI-driven discovery. We’re looking for a talented Digital PR Manager to help us deliver great […]

Advertising/SEO Sales Representative
September 12, 2026 
Company: DealerOnSalary: $68,500Location: Remote, United StatesDate posted: September 12, 2026 Job Description: The Managed Product Sales Director (MPSD) provides prospects and Sales team members with sales-based and technical demo and presentation support, conducts SEO/Advertising audits as requested, and customer solution engineering for large sales opportunities.  The MPSD also supports the development and acceleration of the pace of sales by providing […]

SEO Specialist
September 9, 2026 
Company: Honest DigitalSalary: $60,000 – 70,000 (USD)Location: Remote USDate posted: September 9, 2026Remote opportunity. U.S. based applicants only. If you’re looking for a place where you can sharpen your SEO skills, push your expertise to the next level, and work alongside a team that genuinely loves testing, learning, and winning, we’d love to meet you. Honest Digital is one of […]

Senior SEO Lead
September 9, 2026 
Company: Nationwide Transport ServicesSalary: $95,000 – $125,000 USDLocation: Remote USDate posted: September 9, 2026We are looking for a Senior SEO Lead to help lead organic search performance across a portfolio of established transportation and logistics websites. This is not a basic SEO role. We are looking for someone who can guide strategy, manage execution, identify growth opportunities, diagnose ranking losses, improve […]

Senior SEO Specialist – B2B Saas
September 7, 2026 
Company: AUQSalary: $1,300 – $1,500 per client per monthLocation: Remote USDate posted: September 7, 2026Job Summary: Contract / Part-Time SEO/GEO Specialist AUQ is an SEO/GEO agency that specializes in working with B2b SaaS companies, specifically highly technical companies like dev tools, ai tools, cloud services, fraud prevention software etc… we’re seeking an SEO/GEO specialist to join our team on a […]

Organic Growth Strategist
August 31, 2026 
Company: PrivateSalary: $90000–$95000Location: Remote USDate posted: August 31, 2026We are an organic growth agency that builds revenue-focused organic growth systems for B2B software companies — optimized for both search engines and generative AI. We pride ourselves on being lean, agile, and experimental. Our team thrives on R&D and innovation, always exploring the smartest ways to deliver exceptional results. We believe […]

SEO Content Consultant | Online Redakteur (w/m/d)
August 30, 2026 
Company: get on topLocation: Linz, Oberösterreich, AustriaDate posted: August 30, 2026 Jobbeschreibung Arbeitsort: Linz, Salzburg, Amstetten oder Wien – auch gerne ein hybrides Modell mit Home OfficeArbeitszeit: Flexibles Arbeiten in Voll- oder Teilzeit, kein All-in-VertragArbeitgeber: Hier erfährst du alles über get on top  “Content” ist dein halbes Leben und “Duden” ist dein zweiter Vorname? Du warst in deiner Schulzeit eine*r der wenigen, der*die sich auf die […]

Senior Content Marketer, SEO
August 30, 2026 
Company: AnimalzSalary: $70,000-$85,000 per year USDLocation: New York, New York, United StatesDate posted: August 30, 2026About Animalz Animalz is a content marketing agency that partners with B2B SaaS companies, venture capital firms, and other tech organizations to drive long-term, sustainable growth through high-quality content. Our fully remote team of experienced content marketers delivers strategies and content tailored to each customer’s […]

Link Outreach and Directory Submissions
August 26, 2026 
Company: FoundCiteSalary: USD 15-20 per hour, 5 to 10 hours per weekLocation: Remote WorldwideDate posted: August 26, 2026FoundCite measures how often AI assistants name a brand when buyers ask for a recommendation, then publishes the content that closes the gap. It is a new product with a real problem: zero referring domains and content that deserves to be found. I […]

Sr. SEO Content Manager
August 25, 2026 
Company: DigitalOceanSalary: $105,000-$131,000 per year USDLocation: Remote, United StatesDate posted: August 25, 2026Sr. SEO Content Manager job at Digital Ocean. Boston, MA. Do you ever wonder what happens inside the cloud? Digital Ocean (NYSE: DOCN) simplifies cloud computing so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. With our mission-critical infrastructure and fully managed offerings, Digital Ocean […]

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Paid Media Specialist (B2B Healthcare Tech)
September 14, 2026 
Company: Hardenbergh GroupSalary: $70,000 – $85,000Location: United States (residency required)Date posted: September 14, 2026 Paid Media Specialist (B2B Healthcare Tech) Reports to: Director of Digital Marketing Location: Remote, U.S. Type: Full-Time, Salaried, Exempt Compensation: $70,000 – $85,000 annual salary range, depending on experience Benefits: Generous PTO, employer-subsidized Medical, Dental, Vision, Disability, Life, HSA/FSA accounts, and 401(k) with 4% employer match […]

Paid Media Specialist (B2B Healthcare Tech)
September 14, 2026 
Company: The Hardenbergh GroupSalary: $70,000 – $85,000Location: United States (residency required)Date posted: September 14, 2026 Job Title: Paid Media Specialist (B2B Healthcare Tech) Reports to: Director of Digital Marketing Location: Remote, U.S.* Type: Full-Time, Salaried, Exempt Compensation: $70,000 – $85,000 annual salary range, depending on experience Benefits: Generous PTO, employer-subsidized Medical, Dental, Vision, Disability, Life, HSA/FSA accounts, and 401(k) with […]

Paid Media Specialist, iLawyer Marketing
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Company: EverService Holdings, LLCSalary: $50,000 – $60,000Location: United States (residency required)Date posted: September 14, 2026 About ILawyer Marketing iLawyer Marketing, an EverService company, is the premiere digital marketing agency for law firms in the U.S. We specialize in helping our clients generate more leads and signed cases through smarter SEO, better paid search campaigns, and by creating websites that focus […]

Digital Marketing Strategist (Account Management, SEO, PPC, Social)
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Salary: $55,000 – $70,000Location: United States (residency required)Date posted: September 14, 2026Description Keynotes: 100% Remote Role. US-Based candidates only. Salary Level: $55,000 – $70,000/year (depends on experience) Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without current or future employer-provided visa sponsorship. At Volume Nine, we help companies create a predictable, steady stream of customers using smart, modern […]

Growth Marketing Lead, Programmatic & Video
September 13, 2026 
Company: Triwill GroupSalary: $148,000 – $185,000Location: Brooklyn, NY, United StatesDate posted: September 13, 2026 Why join us Brex is the intelligent finance platform that enables companies to spend smarter and move faster in more than 200 markets. By combining global corporate cards and banking with intuitive spend management, bill pay, and travel software, Brex enables founders and finance teams to […]

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<div><img width="1672" height="941" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Ga4-dashboard.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Ga4-dashboard.png 1672w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Ga4-dashboard-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Ga4-dashboard-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Ga4-dashboard-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px" /></div>Google Analytics has launched customizable Dashboards that bring key metrics and visualizations into one report.

<div><img width="1672" height="941" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Ga4-dashboard.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Ga4-dashboard.png 1672w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Ga4-dashboard-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Ga4-dashboard-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/Ga4-dashboard-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Google Analytics has launched Dashboards, giving businesses a new way to bring their most important KPIs and visualizations together on a single customizable report.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Building reports is now drag-and-drop.</strong> Dashboards use a grid-based canvas where users can manually position, resize and align visualizations.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Users can drag dimensions and metrics directly onto the canvas to create and customize charts, rather than building each report separately.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="895" height="573" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/GA-dashboard.png" alt="" class="wp-image-488345" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/GA-dashboard.png 895w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/09/GA-dashboard-768x492.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 895px) 100vw, 895px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Dashboards can also be published directly to the Reports left navigation without going through the Google Analytics library.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Six visualization types are available at launch.</strong> Google supports scorecards for high-level KPIs, tables for detailed reporting, line charts for trends over time, bar charts for comparisons, donut charts for breakdowns and funnel charts for monitoring conversion steps and drop-offs.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Scorecards can also display percentage changes when date comparisons are applied, while line charts support daily, weekly and monthly views.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Published dashboards can be viewed across the property.</strong> Users need an Editor or Administrator role to create and publish a dashboard.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Once published, however, anyone with access to the Google Analytics property can view it through the Reports navigation.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>There are limits on how much you can build.</strong> Standard Google Analytics properties can include up to 15 cards per dashboard, while premium properties support up to 30.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Published dashboards are shared across the property rather than privately with individual users.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">API support, segments and card-level comparisons are also not currently supported.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Why we care.</strong> Marketers can consolidate reporting inside GA. Instead of jumping between multiple reports to monitor performance, businesses can build a single-page view of the metrics that matter most to them.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That could make routine performance monitoring faster, particularly for teams tracking KPIs across different parts of the business.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Google is making Analytics reporting more customizable.</strong> The launch brings more of the dashboard-building workflow directly into Google Analytics, allowing teams to turn their existing Analytics data into purpose-built views without constantly navigating between separate reports.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Bottom line</strong>. <a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9164320?hl=en#09092026">Google Analytics Dashboards</a> give businesses a centralized, drag-and-drop workspace for turning their most important metrics into customized performance reports directly inside GA.</p>


Google Analytics has launched Dashboards, giving businesses a new way to bring their most important KPIs and visualizations together on a single customizable report.
Building reports is now drag-and-drop. Dashboards use a grid-based canvas where users can manually position, resize and align visualizations.
Users can drag dimensions and metrics directly onto the canvas to create and customize charts, rather than building each report separately.




Dashboards can also be published directly to the Reports left navigation without going through the Google Analytics library.
Six visualization types are available at launch. Google supports scorecards for high-level KPIs, tables for detailed reporting, line charts for trends over time, bar charts for comparisons, donut charts for breakdowns and funnel charts for monitoring conversion steps and drop-offs.
Scorecards can also display percentage changes when date comparisons are applied, while line charts support daily, weekly and monthly views.
Published dashboards can be viewed across the property. Users need an Editor or Administrator role to create and publish a dashboard.
Once published, however, anyone with access to the Google Analytics property can view it through the Reports navigation.
There are limits on how much you can build. Standard Google Analytics properties can include up to 15 cards per dashboard, while premium properties support up to 30.
Published dashboards are shared across the property rather than privately with individual users.
API support, segments and card-level comparisons are also not currently supported.
Why we care. Marketers can consolidate reporting inside GA. Instead of jumping between multiple reports to monitor performance, businesses can build a single-page view of the metrics that matter most to them.
That could make routine performance monitoring faster, particularly for teams tracking KPIs across different parts of the business.
Google is making Analytics reporting more customizable. The launch brings more of the dashboard-building workflow directly into Google Analytics, allowing teams to turn their existing Analytics data into purpose-built views without constantly navigating between separate reports.
Bottom line. Google Analytics Dashboards give businesses a centralized, drag-and-drop workspace for turning their most important metrics into customized performance reports directly inside GA.

Google Analytics has launched customizable Dashboards that bring key metrics and visualizations into one report.

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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