<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/10/OpenAI-launches-Instant-Checkout-in-ChatGPT-–-bringing-agentic-commerce-to-life.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="OpenAI launches Instant Checkout in ChatGPT – bringing agentic commerce to life" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/10/OpenAI-launches-Instant-Checkout-in-ChatGPT-–-bringing-agentic-commerce-to-life.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/10/OpenAI-launches-Instant-Checkout-in-ChatGPT-–-bringing-agentic-commerce-to-life-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/10/OpenAI-launches-Instant-Checkout-in-ChatGPT-–-bringing-agentic-commerce-to-life-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>OpenAI’s expansion of ads into new markets signals growing opportunities for brands to reach users inside AI-driven experiences.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/10/OpenAI-launches-Instant-Checkout-in-ChatGPT-–-bringing-agentic-commerce-to-life.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="OpenAI launches Instant Checkout in ChatGPT – bringing agentic commerce to life" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/10/OpenAI-launches-Instant-Checkout-in-ChatGPT-–-bringing-agentic-commerce-to-life.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/10/OpenAI-launches-Instant-Checkout-in-ChatGPT-–-bringing-agentic-commerce-to-life-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/10/OpenAI-launches-Instant-Checkout-in-ChatGPT-–-bringing-agentic-commerce-to-life-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>OpenAI is continuing its push into ad-supported monetization — a strategy it began earlier this year — by expanding ads to more countries while keeping premium tiers ad-free.</p>



<p><strong>Driving the news</strong>. OpenAI is starting to roll out ads for users on Free and Go plans in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>The rollout applies only to lower-tier plans.</li>



<li>Paid tiers — including Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education — will remain ad-free.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> This opens up a new and rapidly growing channel to reach users inside AI-driven experiences. As OpenAI expands ads into more markets, it signals early opportunities to test and understand how advertising works in conversational interfaces. It could also shape how future search and discovery happens, making it important to get in early.</p>



<p><strong>The big picture.</strong> AI platforms have largely avoided traditional advertising so far, relying instead on subscriptions and enterprise deals.</p>



<p>This move suggests OpenAI is:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>testing new revenue streams,</li>



<li>exploring how ads fit into conversational interfaces,</li>



<li>and balancing monetization with user experience.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Yes, but:</strong> OpenAI is clearly drawing a line between free and paid experiences — signaling that ad-free usage will remain a premium benefit.</p>



<p><strong>The bottom line:</strong> <a href="https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes#rolling-out-ads-in-australia-new-zealand-and-canada">OpenAI is cautiously entering the ads business</a>, starting with limited markets and tiers as it experiments with how advertising works inside AI-driven products.</p>


OpenAI is continuing its push into ad-supported monetization — a strategy it began earlier this year — by expanding ads to more countries while keeping premium tiers ad-free.
Driving the news. OpenAI is starting to roll out ads for users on Free and Go plans in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
The rollout applies only to lower-tier plans.
Paid tiers — including Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education — will remain ad-free.
Why we care. This opens up a new and rapidly growing channel to reach users inside AI-driven experiences. As OpenAI expands ads into more markets, it signals early opportunities to test and understand how advertising works in conversational interfaces. It could also shape how future search and discovery happens, making it important to get in early.
The big picture. AI platforms have largely avoided traditional advertising so far, relying instead on subscriptions and enterprise deals.
This move suggests OpenAI is:
testing new revenue streams,
exploring how ads fit into conversational interfaces,
and balancing monetization with user experience.
Yes, but: OpenAI is clearly drawing a line between free and paid experiences — signaling that ad-free usage will remain a premium benefit.
The bottom line: OpenAI is cautiously entering the ads business, starting with limited markets and tiers as it experiments with how advertising works inside AI-driven products.

OpenAI’s expansion of ads into new markets signals growing opportunities for brands to reach users inside AI-driven experiences.

OpenAI begins rolling out ads in select markets

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/Google-Ads-tactics-to-drop.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google Ads tactics to drop" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/Google-Ads-tactics-to-drop.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/Google-Ads-tactics-to-drop-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/Google-Ads-tactics-to-drop-1536x864.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>A new Google Ads integration with Google Tag Manager could make conversion tracking faster to set up and less prone to errors.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/Google-Ads-tactics-to-drop.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google Ads tactics to drop" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/Google-Ads-tactics-to-drop.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/Google-Ads-tactics-to-drop-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/11/Google-Ads-tactics-to-drop-1536x864.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google may be streamlining one of the most error-prone parts of campaign setup — conversion tracking — by reducing the need for manual tag implementation.</p>



<p><strong>Driving the news.</strong> Google Ads is testing a new “Set up in Google Tag Manager” option within its conversion setup flow, according to screenshots shared by Google Ads Specialist, Natasha Kaurra.</p>



<p>The feature appears alongside existing installation methods and allows advertisers to push conversion tracking setups directly into Google Tag Manager.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1280" height="720" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/conversion-setup-gtm1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-474701" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/conversion-setup-gtm1.jpg 1280w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/conversion-setup-gtm1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/conversion-setup-gtm1-1200x675.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></figure>



<p><strong>What’s new</strong>. Instead of copying conversion IDs and labels between platforms, advertisers can click the new button to open a pre-filled tag setup inside GTM.</p>



<p>That means:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>fewer manual steps,</li>



<li>less room for implementation errors,</li>



<li>and faster deployment across accounts.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> Conversion tracking is critical to measuring performance, and this update makes it faster and less error-prone to implement. By reducing manual steps between Google Ads and Google Tag Manager, it can help ensure data is set up correctly from the start. That means more reliable reporting and better optimization decisions.</p>



<p><strong>How it works</strong>. Based on early screenshots, the flow prompts users to select a GTM container and then surfaces a suggested tag configuration ready to publish.</p>



<p>This could be especially useful for agencies managing multiple clients, teams working across multiple containers, or advertisers with complex tagging setups.</p>



<p><strong>The bottom line</strong>. It’s a small UI change with outsized impact — making it easier for advertisers to get conversion tracking right the first time.</p>



<p><strong>First seen. </strong>This update was shared by <a href="https://ppcnewsfeed.com/ppc-news/2026-04/conversion-setup-gets-direct-gtm-integration-option/">PPC News Feed </a>who credited Google Ads Specialist Natasha Kaurra for spotting it. </p>


Google may be streamlining one of the most error-prone parts of campaign setup — conversion tracking — by reducing the need for manual tag implementation.
Driving the news. Google Ads is testing a new “Set up in Google Tag Manager” option within its conversion setup flow, according to screenshots shared by Google Ads Specialist, Natasha Kaurra.
The feature appears alongside existing installation methods and allows advertisers to push conversion tracking setups directly into Google Tag Manager.




What’s new. Instead of copying conversion IDs and labels between platforms, advertisers can click the new button to open a pre-filled tag setup inside GTM.
That means:
fewer manual steps,
less room for implementation errors,
and faster deployment across accounts.
Why we care. Conversion tracking is critical to measuring performance, and this update makes it faster and less error-prone to implement. By reducing manual steps between Google Ads and Google Tag Manager, it can help ensure data is set up correctly from the start. That means more reliable reporting and better optimization decisions.
How it works. Based on early screenshots, the flow prompts users to select a GTM container and then surfaces a suggested tag configuration ready to publish.
This could be especially useful for agencies managing multiple clients, teams working across multiple containers, or advertisers with complex tagging setups.
The bottom line. It’s a small UI change with outsized impact — making it easier for advertisers to get conversion tracking right the first time.
First seen. This update was shared by PPC News Feed who credited Google Ads Specialist Natasha Kaurra for spotting it.

A new Google Ads integration with Google Tag Manager could make conversion tracking faster to set up and less prone to errors.

Google Ads tests direct Google Tag Manager integration for conversion setup

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Why-bottom-of-funnel-content-is-winning-in-AI-search.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Why bottom-of-funnel content is winning in AI search" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Why-bottom-of-funnel-content-is-winning-in-AI-search.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Why-bottom-of-funnel-content-is-winning-in-AI-search-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Why-bottom-of-funnel-content-is-winning-in-AI-search-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Why-bottom-of-funnel-content-is-winning-in-AI-search-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Traffic is falling as AI answers replace clicks. The upside: bottom-of-funnel content converts better. Here’s how to turn that into pipeline.


<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Why-bottom-of-funnel-content-is-winning-in-AI-search.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Why bottom-of-funnel content is winning in AI search" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Why-bottom-of-funnel-content-is-winning-in-AI-search.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Why-bottom-of-funnel-content-is-winning-in-AI-search-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Why-bottom-of-funnel-content-is-winning-in-AI-search-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Why-bottom-of-funnel-content-is-winning-in-AI-search-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google search traffic is dropping. If you’ve spent years building organic strategies, watching it happen in real time is uncomfortable. But it’s also clarifying.</p>



<p>I started seeing the shift across SaaS clients. Pages that had driven steady traffic for years — educational, top-of-funnel (TOFU) content — were losing ground. Not because the content got worse, but because users no longer needed to click. AI Overviews were doing the job for them.</p>



<p>That forced a decision: keep defending the old model or adjust the strategy. I chose to adjust. </p>



<p>What became clear pretty quickly is that while informational content is losing clicks, bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) content is holding up — and in many cases, driving more qualified leads.</p>



<p>This isn’t just a trend. It’s a shift in how value is created through search.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-pivot-making-bofu-the-priority">The pivot: Making BOFU the priority</h2>



<p>My approach now is straightforward: 60% to 80% of output goes toward bottom- and mid-funnel content, with the remainder covering supporting TOFU topics that fill content cluster gaps or address timely industry conversations.</p>



<p>When I pitched this shift to clients, the conversation was easier than I expected. I put it simply:&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“You have a choice between traffic and leads. If you want leads, here’s how we get there, even if it means less traffic.”&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<p>I was upfront that overall traffic might dip. But whoever shows up is more likely to convert. That framing landed. Nobody argued for traffic when the alternative was a qualified pipeline. </p>



<p>The most effective bottom-of-funnel pieces are comprehensive comparison and listicle-style guides targeting high-intent queries.</p>



<p>One of the best examples is a guide to the best time-tracking software for construction. Before writing it, I built a reusable review methodology for the client. The guide called out pros and cons honestly, including the client’s own product, because that’s what builds credibility with readers evaluating their options.</p>



<p>It was factual, specific, and written for someone in the middle of a purchase decision, not someone casually browsing.</p>



<p>Within weeks, it became our most cited article in LLM responses. It’s now a cornerstone piece, regularly appearing in conversion paths and driving qualified leads.&nbsp;</p>



<p>That single piece delivered more pipeline impact than a dozen informational posts from the previous quarter because it answers the question a buyer is actually asking, not the one that gets the most search volume.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/align-seo-strategy-stages-buyer-intent-457044">How to align your SEO strategy with the stages of buyer intent</a></em></strong>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tofu-isn-t-dead-it-just-has-a-different-job-now">TOFU isn&#8217;t dead. It just has a different job now.</h2>



<p>I see many SEOs treating this as an either-or conversation. To be clear, I haven’t eliminated TOFU content. I’ve repositioned it.</p>



<p>TOFU’s job now is to build topical authority that helps BOFU pages rank. It’s the supporting structure, not the primary event. Guides and educational content:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Support the content cluster.</li>



<li>Establish expertise in Google’s eyes.</li>



<li>Pass internal link equity to BOFU pages.</li>
</ul>



<p>For my clients’ content, we’ve revisited the best-performing TOFU pieces and made them work harder.</p>



<p>We added sections that connect the information directly to the client’s product, supported by screenshots and subject matter expert quotes.&nbsp;</p>



<p>We also redesigned calls to action to match the context and placed them throughout the content, rather than just at the end.&nbsp;</p>



<p>For several clients, this led to a measurable increase in visitors navigating to demo request pages, without changing the informational intent.</p>



<p>The key distinction: You should still produce a meaningful volume of TOFU content, but make sure it has a unique angle — something not widely known or discussed from your perspective.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In a sea of AI-generated content, that specificity is what drives performance.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-this-works-in-ai-driven-search">Why this works in AI-driven search</h2>



<p>People arriving from AI platforms show up with context. They’ve already explored the problem. They’re evaluating options. This aligns with how AI Overviews are applied in search results.</p>



<p>AI Overviews still appear far more often for informational queries than commercial ones. Ecommerce searches <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-search-clicks-fell-report-455498">trigger them far less frequently</a>, which helps protect bottom-of-funnel content — at least for now, though coverage for <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/how-to-optimize-for-ai-overviews#:~:text=Search%20intent%3A%20When,they%20had%20previously.">commercial and transactional queries is rising quickly</a>.</p>



<p>That shift in behavior changes what content performs. Informational content loses value when answers are summarized upfront, while decision-stage content becomes more useful because it helps users compare options, validate choices, and move forward.</p>



<p>That’s why bottom-of-funnel content holds up. It aligns with where the user is in the process, not just what they searched for.</p>



<p>The time tracking software comparison piece I mentioned is a clear example. It’s consistently cited when users ask about construction time tracking tools. That visibility doesn’t always show up as a click, but it appears later — in branded search, direct visits, and ultimately, leads.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-attribution-problem-you-need-to-accept">The attribution problem you need to accept</h2>



<p>Here’s the challenge: bottom-of-funnel content’s value is systematically underreported in traditional analytics.</p>



<p>Someone sees your solution mentioned in a ChatGPT response, researches your brand, and converts later through a direct visit or branded search. In GA4, that journey often shows up as direct traffic. It looks like SEO didn’t contribute — but it did.</p>



<p>That’s why I’ve shifted clients away from traffic as the primary success metric and toward a broader set of signals, including:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Brand search volume trends.</li>



<li>Citation frequency in LLM platforms.</li>



<li>Direct traffic movement after content publication.</li>



<li>Conversion rate changes, even when traffic stays flat.</li>
</ul>



<p>The ROI of BOFU and LLM-optimized content is higher than what dashboards show. If you’re evaluating performance based only on immediate click attribution, you’re missing where SEO is actually creating value.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-your-practical-playbook-for-shifting-to-bofu">Your practical playbook for shifting to BOFU</h2>



<p>Here’s how to turn this shift into a practical content strategy:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Audit your existing content for BOFU gaps:</strong> Before creating anything new, identify which high-intent, purchase-stage queries you have zero coverage on. These are often the easiest wins.</li>



<li><strong>Build comparison content with real methodology:</strong> Create a review framework you can reuse. Be honest about pros and cons, including your client’s product. Credibility is what makes these pieces rank and get cited.</li>



<li><strong>Retrofit your best TOFU pieces:</strong> Add product-connected sections, contextual CTAs, and subject matter expert input. Make the informational content do conversion work, too.</li>



<li><strong>Build LLM tracking into GA4 now: </strong>A regex-based segment capturing ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and other AI referrers gives you visibility into a channel most clients have zero data on.</li>



<li><strong>Reset the success metrics conversation with clients:</strong> Traffic volume is increasingly a vanity metric. Lead quality, branded search growth, and conversion rate are what actually matter in this environment.</li>
</ul>



<p>AI Overviews have fundamentally changed the economics of informational content.</p>



<p>But that disruption creates a strategic opening. Bottom-of-funnel content has always converted better. AI is simply removing the incentive to keep over-investing in content that drives traffic without driving revenue.</p>



<p>The window to shift strategy is still open. It won’t stay that way.</p>

Google search traffic is dropping. If you’ve spent years building organic strategies, watching it happen in real time is uncomfortable. But it’s also clarifying.
I started seeing the shift across SaaS clients. Pages that had driven steady traffic for years — educational, top-of-funnel (TOFU) content — were losing ground. Not because the content got worse, but because users no longer needed to click. AI Overviews were doing the job for them.
That forced a decision: keep defending the old model or adjust the strategy. I chose to adjust. 
What became clear pretty quickly is that while informational content is losing clicks, bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) content is holding up — and in many cases, driving more qualified leads.
This isn’t just a trend. It’s a shift in how value is created through search.
The pivot: Making BOFU the priority
My approach now is straightforward: 60% to 80% of output goes toward bottom- and mid-funnel content, with the remainder covering supporting TOFU topics that fill content cluster gaps or address timely industry conversations.
When I pitched this shift to clients, the conversation was easier than I expected. I put it simply: 
“You have a choice between traffic and leads. If you want leads, here’s how we get there, even if it means less traffic.” 
I was upfront that overall traffic might dip. But whoever shows up is more likely to convert. That framing landed. Nobody argued for traffic when the alternative was a qualified pipeline. 
The most effective bottom-of-funnel pieces are comprehensive comparison and listicle-style guides targeting high-intent queries.
One of the best examples is a guide to the best time-tracking software for construction. Before writing it, I built a reusable review methodology for the client. The guide called out pros and cons honestly, including the client’s own product, because that’s what builds credibility with readers evaluating their options.
It was factual, specific, and written for someone in the middle of a purchase decision, not someone casually browsing.
Within weeks, it became our most cited article in LLM responses. It’s now a cornerstone piece, regularly appearing in conversion paths and driving qualified leads. 
That single piece delivered more pipeline impact than a dozen informational posts from the previous quarter because it answers the question a buyer is actually asking, not the one that gets the most search volume.
Dig deeper: How to align your SEO strategy with the stages of buyer intent




  
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TOFU isn’t dead. It just has a different job now.
I see many SEOs treating this as an either-or conversation. To be clear, I haven’t eliminated TOFU content. I’ve repositioned it.
TOFU’s job now is to build topical authority that helps BOFU pages rank. It’s the supporting structure, not the primary event. Guides and educational content:
Support the content cluster.
Establish expertise in Google’s eyes.
Pass internal link equity to BOFU pages.
For my clients’ content, we’ve revisited the best-performing TOFU pieces and made them work harder.
We added sections that connect the information directly to the client’s product, supported by screenshots and subject matter expert quotes. 
We also redesigned calls to action to match the context and placed them throughout the content, rather than just at the end. 
For several clients, this led to a measurable increase in visitors navigating to demo request pages, without changing the informational intent.
The key distinction: You should still produce a meaningful volume of TOFU content, but make sure it has a unique angle — something not widely known or discussed from your perspective. 
In a sea of AI-generated content, that specificity is what drives performance.
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
				
			
See terms.
		
Why this works in AI-driven search
People arriving from AI platforms show up with context. They’ve already explored the problem. They’re evaluating options. This aligns with how AI Overviews are applied in search results.
AI Overviews still appear far more often for informational queries than commercial ones. Ecommerce searches trigger them far less frequently, which helps protect bottom-of-funnel content — at least for now, though coverage for commercial and transactional queries is rising quickly.
That shift in behavior changes what content performs. Informational content loses value when answers are summarized upfront, while decision-stage content becomes more useful because it helps users compare options, validate choices, and move forward.
That’s why bottom-of-funnel content holds up. It aligns with where the user is in the process, not just what they searched for.
The time tracking software comparison piece I mentioned is a clear example. It’s consistently cited when users ask about construction time tracking tools. That visibility doesn’t always show up as a click, but it appears later — in branded search, direct visits, and ultimately, leads.
The attribution problem you need to accept
Here’s the challenge: bottom-of-funnel content’s value is systematically underreported in traditional analytics.
Someone sees your solution mentioned in a ChatGPT response, researches your brand, and converts later through a direct visit or branded search. In GA4, that journey often shows up as direct traffic. It looks like SEO didn’t contribute — but it did.
That’s why I’ve shifted clients away from traffic as the primary success metric and toward a broader set of signals, including:
Brand search volume trends.
Citation frequency in LLM platforms.
Direct traffic movement after content publication.
Conversion rate changes, even when traffic stays flat.
The ROI of BOFU and LLM-optimized content is higher than what dashboards show. If you’re evaluating performance based only on immediate click attribution, you’re missing where SEO is actually creating value.
Your practical playbook for shifting to BOFU
Here’s how to turn this shift into a practical content strategy:
Audit your existing content for BOFU gaps: Before creating anything new, identify which high-intent, purchase-stage queries you have zero coverage on. These are often the easiest wins.
Build comparison content with real methodology: Create a review framework you can reuse. Be honest about pros and cons, including your client’s product. Credibility is what makes these pieces rank and get cited.
Retrofit your best TOFU pieces: Add product-connected sections, contextual CTAs, and subject matter expert input. Make the informational content do conversion work, too.
Build LLM tracking into GA4 now: A regex-based segment capturing ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and other AI referrers gives you visibility into a channel most clients have zero data on.
Reset the success metrics conversation with clients: Traffic volume is increasingly a vanity metric. Lead quality, branded search growth, and conversion rate are what actually matter in this environment.
AI Overviews have fundamentally changed the economics of informational content.
But that disruption creates a strategic opening. Bottom-of-funnel content has always converted better. AI is simply removing the incentive to keep over-investing in content that drives traffic without driving revenue.
The window to shift strategy is still open. It won’t stay that way.

Traffic is falling as AI answers replace clicks. The upside: bottom-of-funnel content converts better. Here’s how to turn that into pipeline.

Why bottom-of-funnel content is winning in AI search

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-traffic-conversions-grow.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI traffic conversions grow" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-traffic-conversions-grow.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-traffic-conversions-grow-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-traffic-conversions-grow-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-traffic-conversions-grow-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>AI traffic to U.S. retail sites is up — and it's converting better than traditional channels like paid search, according to new Adobe data.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-traffic-conversions-grow.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI traffic conversions grow" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-traffic-conversions-grow.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-traffic-conversions-grow-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-traffic-conversions-grow-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/ai-traffic-conversions-grow-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Traffic from AI sources increased 393% year-over-year in Q1 and 269% in March. But the real surprise? AI traffic is converting better than last year. </p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>AI-driven visits converted 42% better than non-AI traffic in March. A year ago, AI traffic was 38% less likely to result in a purchase.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>By the numbers. </strong>Traffic from AI sources increased engagement by 12%, time on site by 48%, and pages per visit by 13%. Adobe also surveyed consumers and found that:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>39% have used AI for shopping. Of those, 85% said it improved the experience.</li>



<li>66% believe AI tools provide accurate results.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying. </strong>According to Vivek Pandya, director of Adobe Digital Insights:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;Notably, AI traffic continues to convert better (visits that result in purchases) than non-AI traffic, which covers channels such as paid search and email marketing.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Yes, but.</strong> While consumer adoption is up, and traffic, engagement, and conversions are growing, many retail sites still aren’t fully optimized for AI visibility, especially on product pages, according to Adobe.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> Until now, reports have been mixed on whether AI traffic is better, equal to, or worse than organic search traffic (see our Dig deeper resources below). That may be changing, as we expected it would. Like generative AI, AI shopping today is as bad as it will ever be, meaning this channel&#8217;s value will only increase.</p>



<p><strong>About the data</strong>. Adobe’s findings are based on direct transaction data from more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites. The company also surveyed more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to understand how they use AI to shop.</p>



<p><strong>The report.</strong> <a href="https://business.adobe.com/blog/ai-traffic-surge-retail-sites-not-machine-readable" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adobe report: U.S. retailers see surge in AI traffic, but many websites are not entirely readable by machines.</a>



<p><strong>Dig deeper. </strong>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/llms-google-referral-conversion-study-463747">ChatGPT, LLM referrals convert worse than Google Search: Study</a></li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/ai-search-clicks-arent-always-better-traffic-study-457488">AI search clicks aren’t always better traffic: Study</a></li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-vs-non-branded-organic-search-conversions-470321">ChatGPT ecommerce traffic converts 31% higher than non-branded organic search</a></li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/airbnb-traffic-ai-chatbots-google-469415">Airbnb says traffic from AI chatbots converts better than Google</a></li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/why-every-ai-search-study-tells-a-different-story-465511">Why every AI search study tells a different story</a></li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-traffic-rivals-organic-search-engagement-data-461905">ChatGPT traffic rivals organic search engagement: Data</a></li>
</ul>


Traffic from AI sources increased 393% year-over-year in Q1 and 269% in March. But the real surprise? AI traffic is converting better than last year. 
AI-driven visits converted 42% better than non-AI traffic in March. A year ago, AI traffic was 38% less likely to result in a purchase.
By the numbers. Traffic from AI sources increased engagement by 12%, time on site by 48%, and pages per visit by 13%. Adobe also surveyed consumers and found that:
39% have used AI for shopping. Of those, 85% said it improved the experience.
66% believe AI tools provide accurate results.
What they’re saying. According to Vivek Pandya, director of Adobe Digital Insights:
“Notably, AI traffic continues to convert better (visits that result in purchases) than non-AI traffic, which covers channels such as paid search and email marketing.”
Yes, but. While consumer adoption is up, and traffic, engagement, and conversions are growing, many retail sites still aren’t fully optimized for AI visibility, especially on product pages, according to Adobe.
Why we care. Until now, reports have been mixed on whether AI traffic is better, equal to, or worse than organic search traffic (see our Dig deeper resources below). That may be changing, as we expected it would. Like generative AI, AI shopping today is as bad as it will ever be, meaning this channel’s value will only increase.
About the data. Adobe’s findings are based on direct transaction data from more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites. The company also surveyed more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to understand how they use AI to shop.
The report. Adobe report: U.S. retailers see surge in AI traffic, but many websites are not entirely readable by machines.



Dig deeper. 




ChatGPT, LLM referrals convert worse than Google Search: Study
AI search clicks aren’t always better traffic: Study
ChatGPT ecommerce traffic converts 31% higher than non-branded organic search
Airbnb says traffic from AI chatbots converts better than Google
Why every AI search study tells a different story
ChatGPT traffic rivals organic search engagement: Data

AI traffic to U.S. retail sites is up — and it's converting better than traditional channels like paid search, according to new Adobe data.

AI traffic converts better than non-AI visits for U.S. retailers: Report

<div><img width="800" height="445" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-800x445.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="digital advertising" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-800x445.jpg 800w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-600x334.jpg 600w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-200x111.jpg 200w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-768x427.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-1536x855.jpg 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-150x83.jpg 150w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report.jpg 1941w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></div>Search remained the largest ad channel in 2025, but growth slowed as advertisers shifted spend to newer, AI-driven formats.

<div><img width="800" height="445" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-800x445.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="digital advertising" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-800x445.jpg 800w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-600x334.jpg 600w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-200x111.jpg 200w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-768x427.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-1536x855.jpg 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report-150x83.jpg 150w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Digital-advertising-report.jpg 1941w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></div>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Search remained the largest force in digital advertising in 2025. However, its growth slowed as total U.S. ad revenue climbed to a record $294.6 billion.</p>
</blockquote>



<p><strong>Search still dominates. </strong>Search generated $114.2 billion, accounting for 38.8% of total digital ad revenue, according to the latest IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report. But growth slowed to 11%, down from 15.9% in 2024, as advertisers shifted more budget into faster-growing formats and as AI began reshaping how users discover information.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1386" height="856" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-16-at-20.54.36.png" alt="" class="wp-image-474661" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-16-at-20.54.36.png 1386w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-16-at-20.54.36-768x474.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1386px) 100vw, 1386px" /></figure>



<p><strong>Overall market growth accelerated as the year went on.</strong> It climbed from 12.2% in Q1 to 15.4% in Q4. The fourth quarter alone brought in $85 billion, even without major cyclical events like the U.S. election or the Olympics, which boosted 2024.</p>



<p><strong>Video, social, and programmatic all grew faster than search. </strong>Digital video revenue jumped 25.4% to $78 billion, making it the fastest-growing major format. Social rose 32.6% to $117.7 billion, while programmatic increased 20.5% to $162.4 billion — continuing the shift toward automated, performance-driven buying.</p>



<p><strong>The market is more concentrated.</strong> The top 10 companies now control 84.1% of U.S. digital ad revenue, up from 80.8% a year ago, reflecting the advantages of scale, first-party data, and AI-driven platforms.</p>



<p><strong>AI is no longer just a tool layered onto campaigns.</strong> AI is increasingly shaping discovery, media buying, and measurement as consumer journeys fragment across platforms.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> Search still delivers the most scale, but it’s no longer growing the fastest. More budget is flowing into video, social, and programmatic, where automation and AI are more deeply embedded. That means more competition for budget, less visibility into performance, and a greater need to prove incrementality.</p>



<p><strong>About the data.</strong> The IAB/PwC report is based on U.S. internet advertising revenue data compiled across the industry.</p>



<p><strong>The report.</strong> <a href="https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IAB_PwC-Internet-Ad-Revenue-Report-Full-Year-2024.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Internet Advertising Revenue Report Full-year 2025 results</a> (PDF)</p>


Search remained the largest force in digital advertising in 2025. However, its growth slowed as total U.S. ad revenue climbed to a record $294.6 billion.
Search still dominates. Search generated $114.2 billion, accounting for 38.8% of total digital ad revenue, according to the latest IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report. But growth slowed to 11%, down from 15.9% in 2024, as advertisers shifted more budget into faster-growing formats and as AI began reshaping how users discover information.




Overall market growth accelerated as the year went on. It climbed from 12.2% in Q1 to 15.4% in Q4. The fourth quarter alone brought in $85 billion, even without major cyclical events like the U.S. election or the Olympics, which boosted 2024.
Video, social, and programmatic all grew faster than search. Digital video revenue jumped 25.4% to $78 billion, making it the fastest-growing major format. Social rose 32.6% to $117.7 billion, while programmatic increased 20.5% to $162.4 billion — continuing the shift toward automated, performance-driven buying.
The market is more concentrated. The top 10 companies now control 84.1% of U.S. digital ad revenue, up from 80.8% a year ago, reflecting the advantages of scale, first-party data, and AI-driven platforms.
AI is no longer just a tool layered onto campaigns. AI is increasingly shaping discovery, media buying, and measurement as consumer journeys fragment across platforms.
Why we care. Search still delivers the most scale, but it’s no longer growing the fastest. More budget is flowing into video, social, and programmatic, where automation and AI are more deeply embedded. That means more competition for budget, less visibility into performance, and a greater need to prove incrementality.
About the data. The IAB/PwC report is based on U.S. internet advertising revenue data compiled across the industry.
The report. Internet Advertising Revenue Report Full-year 2025 results (PDF)

Search remained the largest ad channel in 2025, but growth slowed as advertisers shifted spend to newer, AI-driven formats.

U.S. search ad revenue reached $114.2 billion in 2025

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/No-JavaScript-fallbacks-in-2026-Less-critical-still-necessary.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="No-JavaScript fallbacks in 2026- Less critical, still necessary" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/No-JavaScript-fallbacks-in-2026-Less-critical-still-necessary.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/No-JavaScript-fallbacks-in-2026-Less-critical-still-necessary-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/No-JavaScript-fallbacks-in-2026-Less-critical-still-necessary-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/No-JavaScript-fallbacks-in-2026-Less-critical-still-necessary-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Rendering isn’t always immediate or complete. Learn where no-JavaScript fallbacks still protect critical content, links, and indexing.

Google can render JavaScript. That’s no longer up for debate. But that doesn’t mean it always does — or that it does so instantly or perfectly.
Since Google’s 2024 comments suggesting it renders all HTML pages, many developers have questioned whether no-JavaScript fallbacks are still necessary. Two years later, the answer is clearer and more nuanced.
Google’s stance on JavaScript rendering
In July 2024, Google sparked debate during an episode of Search Off the Record titled “Rendering JavaScript for Google Search.” When asked how Google decides which pages to render, Martin Splitt said: 
“If it’s so expensive, how do we decide which page should get rendered and which one doesn’t?” 
Zoe Clifford, from Google’s rendering team, replied: 
“We just render all of them, as long as they’re HTML, and not other content types like PDFs.”
That comment quickly led developers, especially those building JavaScript-heavy or single-page applications, to argue that no-JavaScript fallbacks were no longer necessary.
Many SEOs weren’t convinced. The remark was informal, untested at scale, and lacking detail. It wasn’t clear:
How rendering fit into Googlebot’s process.
Whether pages were queued for later execution.
How the system behaved under resource constraints.
Whether Google might fall back to non-rendered crawling under load.
Without clarity on timing, consistency, and limits, removing fallbacks entirely still felt risky.
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What Google’s documentation actually says
Google’s documentation now gives us a much clearer picture of how JavaScript rendering actually works. Let’s start with the “JavaScript SEO basics” page:




What Google says:
“Googlebot queues all pages with a 200 HTTP status code for rendering, unless a robots meta tag or header tells Google not to index the page. The page may stay on this queue for a few seconds, but it can take longer than that. Once Google’s resources allow, a headless Chromium renders the page and executes the JavaScript. Googlebot parses the rendered HTML for links again and queues the URLs it finds for crawling. Google also uses the rendered HTML to index the page.”
Google clearly states that JavaScript rendering doesn’t necessarily happen on the initial crawl. Once resources allow, a headless browser is used to parse JavaScript. 
Googlebot likely won’t click on all JavaScript elements, so this probably only includes scripts that don’t require user interactions to fire.
This is important because it tells us Google may make some basic determinations before JavaScript is rendered, via subsequent execution queues. 
If content is generated behind elements (content tabs, etc.) that Google doesn’t click, it likely won’t be discovered without no-JavaScript fallbacks.
Looking at Google’s “How Search works” documentation:




The language is much simpler. Google states it will attempt, at some point, to execute any discovered JavaScript. There’s nothing here that directly contradicts what we’ve seen so far in other Google documentation.
On March 31, Google published a post titled “Inside Googlebot: demystifying crawling, fetching, and the bytes we process,” which further clarifies JavaScript crawling.




The notes on partial fetching are particularly interesting. Google will only crawl up to 2MB of HTML. If a page exceeds this, Google won’t discard it entirely, but instead examines only the first 2MB of returned code.
Google explicitly states that extreme resource bloat, including large JavaScript modules, can still be a problem for indexing and ranking. 
If your JavaScript approaches 2MB and appears at the top of the page, it may push HTML content far enough down that Google won’t see it. The 2MB limit also applies to individual resources pulled into a page. If a CSS file, image, or JavaScript module exceeds 2MB, Google will ignore it.
We’re beginning to see that Google’s claim that it renders all pages comes with important caveats. 
In practice, it seems unlikely that a page with no consideration for server-side rendering (SSR) or no-JavaScript fallbacks would be handled optimally. This highlights why it’s risky to take comments from Googlers at face value without following how the details evolve over time.
The question we opened with is also evolving. It’s less “Do I need blanket no-JavaScript fallbacks in 2026?” and more “Do I still need critical-path fallbacks and resilient HTML within my application?”
Google’s recent search documentation updates add more context:




Google has recently softened its language around JavaScript. It now says it has been rendering JavaScript for “multiple years” and has removed earlier guidance that suggested JavaScript made things harder for Search. 
It also notes that more assistive technologies now support JavaScript than in the past. 
Within that same documentation, Google still recommends pre-rendering approaches, such as server-side rendering and edge-side rendering.




So while the language is softer, Google isn’t suggesting developers can ignore how JavaScript affects SEO.
Looking again at the December 2025 updates:




Google states that non-200 pages may not receive JavaScript execution. This suggests no-JavaScript fallbacks for internal linking within custom 404 pages may still be important.
Google also notes that canonical tags are processed both before and after JavaScript rendering. If source HTML canonicals and JavaScript-modified canonicals don’t match, this can cause significant issues. Google suggests either omitting canonical directives from the source HTML so they’re only evaluated after rendering, or ensuring JavaScript doesn’t modify them.
These updates reinforce an important point: even as Google becomes more capable at rendering JavaScript, the initial HTML response and status code still play a critical role in discovery, canonical handling, and error processing.
Dig deeper: Google removes accessibility section from JavaScript SEO section




	
	
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What the data shows
JavaScript rendering is introducing new inconsistencies across the web, according to recent HTTP Archive data:




We can see that since November 2024, the percentage of crawled pages with valid canonical links has dropped.
Via the HTTP Archives 2025 Almanac:




About 2-3% of rendered pages exhibit a “changed” canonical URL, something Google’s documentation explicitly states can be confusing for its indexing and ranking systems. That 2-3% doesn’t explain the larger drop in valid canonical deployment since November 2024.
Other factors are likely at play, such as the adoption of new CMS platforms that don’t properly handle canonicals. The rise of vibe-coded websites using tools like Cursor and Claude Code may also be contributing to these issues across the web.
In July 2024, Vercel published a study to help demystify Google’s JavaScript rendering process:




It analyzed more than 100,000 Googlebot fetches and found that all resulted in full-page renders, including pages with complex JavaScript. However, 100,000 fetches is a relatively small sample given Googlebot’s scale. 
The study was also limited to sites built on specific frameworks, so it’s unwise to assume Google always renders pages perfectly. It’s also unclear how deeply those renders were analyzed.
It does suggest that Google attempts to fully render most pages it encounters. Broadly speaking, Google can generate JavaScript-modified renders, but the quality of those renders is still up for debate. As noted earlier, the 2MB page and resource limits still apply.
Because this study dates to mid-2024, any contradictions with Google’s updated 2025–2026 documentation should take precedence.
Vercel also published a notable finding:
“Most AI crawlers don’t execute JavaScript. We tested the major ones (ChatGPT, Claude, and others), and the results were consistent: none of them render client-side content. If your Next.js site ships critical pages as JavaScript-dependent SPAs, those pages are inaccessible to the systems shaping how people discover information.”
So even if Google is far more capable with JavaScript than it used to be, that’s not true across the broader web ecosystem. Many systems still rely on HTML-first delivery. That’s why you shouldn’t rush to remove no-JavaScript fallbacks — they may still be critical to your future visibility.
Cloudflare’s 2025 review is also worth noting:




Cloudflare reported that Googlebot alone accounted for 4.5% of HTML request traffic. While this doesn’t directly explain how Google handles JavaScript, it does highlight the scale at which Google continues to crawl the web.
Dig deeper: How the DOM affects crawling, rendering, and indexing




  
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No-JavaScript fallbacks in 2026
The question we set out to answer was whether no-JavaScript fallbacks are required in 2026.
Google is far more capable with JavaScript than in previous years. Its documentation shows that pages are queued for rendering, and that JavaScript is executed and used for indexing. For many sites, heavy reliance on JavaScript is no longer the red flag it once was.
However, the details of Google’s rendering process still matter. Rendering isn’t always immediate. There are resource constraints, and not all behaviors are supported. 
At the same time, the broader web ecosystem hasn’t necessarily kept pace with Google. The risk of removing all no-JavaScript fallbacks hasn’t disappeared — it’s just changed shape.
Key takeaways:




Google doesn’t necessarily render JavaScript on the first crawl. There’s a rendering queue, and execution happens when resources allow.
Technical limits still exist, including a 2MB HTML and resource cap, and limited interaction with user-triggered elements.
Non-200 responses may not receive rendering treatment, which keeps basic HTML and linking important in some cases.
Differences between raw HTML and rendered output still exist at scale across the web.
Google’s guidance still leans toward SSR (server-side rendering), pre-rendering, and resilient HTML for critical content.
Other crawlers, especially AI-driven ones, often don’t execute JavaScript at all. As these systems become more important, the need for fallbacks may increase again.
Blanket, site-wide no-JavaScript fallbacks aren’t universally required in 2026, but critical content, links, and signals shouldn’t depend entirely on JavaScript. Many modern crawlers still rely on HTML-first delivery.
For now, no-JavaScript fallbacks for critical architecture, links, and content are still strongly recommended, if not required going forward.

Rendering isn’t always immediate or complete. Learn where no-JavaScript fallbacks still protect critical content, links, and indexing.

No-JavaScript fallbacks in 2026: Less critical, still necessary

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Your-ROAS-looks-great-—-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Your ROAS looks great — but is it actually driving growth" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Your-ROAS-looks-great-—-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Your-ROAS-looks-great-—-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Your-ROAS-looks-great-—-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Your-ROAS-looks-great-—-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>High ROAS can hide demand capture, not creation. Use incrementality and marginal ROAS to measure real growth and guide smarter spend.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Your-ROAS-looks-great-—-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Your ROAS looks great — but is it actually driving growth" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Your-ROAS-looks-great-—-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Your-ROAS-looks-great-—-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Your-ROAS-looks-great-—-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/Your-ROAS-looks-great-—-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>An ecommerce company hires your <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-paid-search">PPC</a> agency to explore paid search. A solid plan follows, and after approval, the campaigns go live. Soon, you’re seeing stellar results: high conversion volumes and a healthy ROAS. </p>



<p>On the surface, the strategy is a resounding success. </p>



<p>But look closer. </p>



<p>Some of these conversions might have occurred anyway via direct or organic search traffic — meaning the campaigns may not be driving real growth. Too often, this goes unmeasured. </p>



<p>To truly understand performance, you need to look at incremental lift and marginal ROAS.</p>



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



<p>Perhaps you’ve heard about <a href="https://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/stadelis/BNT_ECMA_rev.pdf">eBay’s paid search experiment</a>? They were spending heavily on brand PPC ads. Then they ran a controlled test, turning those ads off for a portion of users to measure impact.</p>



<p>Organic traffic picked up most of those conversions, with minimal impact on revenue. But guess what? Despite the clear results, eBay turned the branded ads back on. Fear, or smart? You tell me.</p>



<p>With search becoming increasingly automated, and the customer journey spreading across more surfaces than ever, attributing conversions to the right channels is harder than ever. Advertising platforms are quick to claim credit for these conversions, but be skeptical.</p>



<p>What most platforms report is attributed return, not causal lift. In other words, ROAS tells you how much revenue the platform says it influenced; it doesn’t tell you how much of that revenue would have happened without the ads.</p>



<p>When it comes to black-box automation like Performance Max and Advantage+, platforms have become exceptionally good at one thing: finding the path of least resistance to a conversion. They aren’t necessarily finding new customers. They’re often just becoming the most expensive touchpoint in a journey that was already destined to convert.</p>



<p>Without measuring incrementality, automation simply amplifies non-incremental signals, such as:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Brand search campaigns capturing existing demand.</li>



<li>Retargeting campaigns hitting users who were seconds away from purchasing.</li>



<li>Reporting that makes “safe” channels appear more valuable than they truly are.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/paid-media-efficiency-cut-waste-improve-roas-474032">Paid media efficiency: How to cut waste and improve ROAS</a></em></strong>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-incrementality-tells-you-whether-marketing-created-something-extra">Incrementality tells you whether marketing created something extra</h2>



<p>Incrementality is causal lift — what changed because the campaign existed, typically measured by comparing exposed groups with holdout or control groups. So what did this campaign actually drive that wouldn’t have happened otherwise?</p>



<p>Even though you may not want to admit it, this is a much more useful lens for budget allocation than platform attribution alone.</p>



<p>A channel can have a fantastic in-platform ROAS and still generate a weak incremental impact. Why? Because it might be harvesting demand rather than creating it. </p>



<p>If you want to know whether a campaign genuinely drove growth, the better question is incrementality.</p>



<p>But it’s still not the full answer. </p>



<p>To decide what to do next, you also need marginal ROAS.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/why-incrementality-is-the-only-metric-that-proves-marketings-real-impact-463439">Why incrementality is the only metric that proves marketing’s real impact</a></em></strong>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-marginal-roas-tells-you-what-to-do-next">Marginal ROAS tells you what to do next</h2>



<p>A channel may be incremental. But that still doesn’t tell you where the next $10,000 should go. That’s a marginal ROAS question.</p>



<p>Marginal ROAS measures the return on the next unit of spend, not the average return across all spend. Here’s how it works: the first tranche of budget often performs well, then the next performs worse.</p>



<p>Keep going, and the final dollars become dramatically less efficient than the average suggests. The same applies to CPA metrics: a blended CPA may look acceptable, while the last dollars spent were far less efficient, leaving many advertisers bidding beyond where they should.</p>



<p>Imagine you spend $10,000 and generate $50,000 in revenue (500% ROAS). You decide to scale and spend an additional $5,000. This extra spend generates only $5,000 in additional revenue.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Your new average ROAS:</strong> 366%&nbsp;</li>



<li><strong>Your marginal ROAS:</strong> 100% (You essentially traded $1 for $1.)</li>
</ul>



<p>In this scenario, the last $5,000 you spent was entirely wasted, even though the total &#8220;average&#8221; performance still looks decent on your dashboard.</p>



<p>This is the trap of average ROAS. It makes a channel look scalable when it may only be efficient at lower spend levels, and it hides the difference between profitable core demand capture and weak incremental expansion.</p>



<p>To make better decisions, you need to look further. Platform ROAS helps with in-platform optimization, incrementality shows whether campaigns actually created value, and marginal ROAS tells you whether more budget should go there.</p>



<p>A strong ROAS can signal true efficiency, or it can mean the platform is capturing demand that would have converted anyway. That’s why you should focus more on incrementality tests.</p>



<p>Don’t ask whether the channel has been efficient. Ask whether the next dollar is efficient enough — that’s what determines smart scaling.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/marketing-measurement-flywheel-471342">The marketing measurement flywheel: A 4-step framework for proving impact</a></em></strong>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-options-for-incrementality-testing">Options for incrementality testing</h2>



<p>You don’t need a perfect measurement lab before you start. Geo tests, holdouts, audience exclusions, and controlled spend reductions can all teach you more than another month of attribution debates.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Geo-split testing:</strong> Divide your markets into two comparable geographic groups, keep your ads running in the “test” group, and turn them off in the “control” group. The difference in total revenue between the two regions reveals the true incremental lift of your ads.</li>



<li><strong>Search lift tests (holdouts):</strong> Use platform tools to create holdout groups, a small percentage of users who are intentionally not shown your ads. By comparing their behavior to the exposed group, you can see the direct impact of your (for example) Search or YouTube campaigns.</li>
</ul>



<p>Beyond these, you can also test the impact of remarketing, branding, awareness campaigns, or additional social channels.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-real-shift-from-reporting-performance-to-allocating-capital">The real shift: From reporting performance to allocating capital</h2>



<p>Too many marketing teams still use measurement to explain what happened. The better use of measurement is to decide what should happen next.</p>



<p>Incrementality helps you understand whether a channel created value. Marginal ROAS helps you understand whether more investment is justified. Together, they move marketing measurement out of the reporting function and into capital allocation.</p>



<p>ROAS tells you who gets credit. Incrementality tells you what actually moved. Marginal ROAS tells you where the next budget should go. But be aware: incrementality is not the same as attribution. Attribution tells you who, or which channel, should get the credit, while incrementality shows you whether or not it was worth it.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/marketing-measurement-crawl-sprint-473986">How to take your marketing measurement from crawl to sprint</a></em></strong>

An ecommerce company hires your PPC agency to explore paid search. A solid plan follows, and after approval, the campaigns go live. Soon, you’re seeing stellar results: high conversion volumes and a healthy ROAS. 
On the surface, the strategy is a resounding success. 
But look closer. 
Some of these conversions might have occurred anyway via direct or organic search traffic — meaning the campaigns may not be driving real growth. Too often, this goes unmeasured. 
To truly understand performance, you need to look at incremental lift and marginal ROAS.
The truth about ROAS
Perhaps you’ve heard about eBay’s paid search experiment? They were spending heavily on brand PPC ads. Then they ran a controlled test, turning those ads off for a portion of users to measure impact.
Organic traffic picked up most of those conversions, with minimal impact on revenue. But guess what? Despite the clear results, eBay turned the branded ads back on. Fear, or smart? You tell me.
With search becoming increasingly automated, and the customer journey spreading across more surfaces than ever, attributing conversions to the right channels is harder than ever. Advertising platforms are quick to claim credit for these conversions, but be skeptical.
What most platforms report is attributed return, not causal lift. In other words, ROAS tells you how much revenue the platform says it influenced; it doesn’t tell you how much of that revenue would have happened without the ads.
When it comes to black-box automation like Performance Max and Advantage+, platforms have become exceptionally good at one thing: finding the path of least resistance to a conversion. They aren’t necessarily finding new customers. They’re often just becoming the most expensive touchpoint in a journey that was already destined to convert.
Without measuring incrementality, automation simply amplifies non-incremental signals, such as:
Brand search campaigns capturing existing demand.
Retargeting campaigns hitting users who were seconds away from purchasing.
Reporting that makes “safe” channels appear more valuable than they truly are.
Dig deeper: Paid media efficiency: How to cut waste and improve ROAS




  
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Incrementality tells you whether marketing created something extra
Incrementality is causal lift — what changed because the campaign existed, typically measured by comparing exposed groups with holdout or control groups. So what did this campaign actually drive that wouldn’t have happened otherwise?
Even though you may not want to admit it, this is a much more useful lens for budget allocation than platform attribution alone.
A channel can have a fantastic in-platform ROAS and still generate a weak incremental impact. Why? Because it might be harvesting demand rather than creating it. 
If you want to know whether a campaign genuinely drove growth, the better question is incrementality.
But it’s still not the full answer. 
To decide what to do next, you also need marginal ROAS.
Dig deeper: Why incrementality is the only metric that proves marketing’s real impact




	
	
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
				
			
See terms.
		
Marginal ROAS tells you what to do next
A channel may be incremental. But that still doesn’t tell you where the next $10,000 should go. That’s a marginal ROAS question.
Marginal ROAS measures the return on the next unit of spend, not the average return across all spend. Here’s how it works: the first tranche of budget often performs well, then the next performs worse.
Keep going, and the final dollars become dramatically less efficient than the average suggests. The same applies to CPA metrics: a blended CPA may look acceptable, while the last dollars spent were far less efficient, leaving many advertisers bidding beyond where they should.
Imagine you spend $10,000 and generate $50,000 in revenue (500% ROAS). You decide to scale and spend an additional $5,000. This extra spend generates only $5,000 in additional revenue.
Your new average ROAS: 366% 
Your marginal ROAS: 100% (You essentially traded $1 for $1.)
In this scenario, the last $5,000 you spent was entirely wasted, even though the total “average” performance still looks decent on your dashboard.
This is the trap of average ROAS. It makes a channel look scalable when it may only be efficient at lower spend levels, and it hides the difference between profitable core demand capture and weak incremental expansion.
To make better decisions, you need to look further. Platform ROAS helps with in-platform optimization, incrementality shows whether campaigns actually created value, and marginal ROAS tells you whether more budget should go there.
A strong ROAS can signal true efficiency, or it can mean the platform is capturing demand that would have converted anyway. That’s why you should focus more on incrementality tests.
Don’t ask whether the channel has been efficient. Ask whether the next dollar is efficient enough — that’s what determines smart scaling.
Dig deeper: The marketing measurement flywheel: A 4-step framework for proving impact



Options for incrementality testing
You don’t need a perfect measurement lab before you start. Geo tests, holdouts, audience exclusions, and controlled spend reductions can all teach you more than another month of attribution debates.
Geo-split testing: Divide your markets into two comparable geographic groups, keep your ads running in the “test” group, and turn them off in the “control” group. The difference in total revenue between the two regions reveals the true incremental lift of your ads.
Search lift tests (holdouts): Use platform tools to create holdout groups, a small percentage of users who are intentionally not shown your ads. By comparing their behavior to the exposed group, you can see the direct impact of your (for example) Search or YouTube campaigns.
Beyond these, you can also test the impact of remarketing, branding, awareness campaigns, or additional social channels.

  
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Start Free Trial
    
Get started with
The real shift: From reporting performance to allocating capital
Too many marketing teams still use measurement to explain what happened. The better use of measurement is to decide what should happen next.
Incrementality helps you understand whether a channel created value. Marginal ROAS helps you understand whether more investment is justified. Together, they move marketing measurement out of the reporting function and into capital allocation.
ROAS tells you who gets credit. Incrementality tells you what actually moved. Marginal ROAS tells you where the next budget should go. But be aware: incrementality is not the same as attribution. Attribution tells you who, or which channel, should get the credit, while incrementality shows you whether or not it was worth it.
Dig deeper: How to take your marketing measurement from crawl to sprint

High ROAS can hide demand capture, not creation. Use incrementality and marginal ROAS to measure real growth and guide smarter spend.

Your ROAS looks great — but is it actually driving growth?

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-optimize-for-keywords-you-cant-use.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to optimize for keywords you can’t use" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-optimize-for-keywords-you-cant-use.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-optimize-for-keywords-you-cant-use-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-optimize-for-keywords-you-cant-use-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-optimize-for-keywords-you-cant-use-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>When legal, brand, or perception limits block key terms, use related keywords, anchor text, and title tags to capture demand anyway.	

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-optimize-for-keywords-you-cant-use.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to optimize for keywords you can’t use" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-optimize-for-keywords-you-cant-use.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-optimize-for-keywords-you-cant-use-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-optimize-for-keywords-you-cant-use-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/How-to-optimize-for-keywords-you-cant-use-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Sometimes the keywords you need to rank for are the ones you’re not allowed to use. Whether it’s trademark restrictions, brand guidelines, or industry stigma, you might be asked to capture demand without using the exact terms people search.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Here’s how to navigate that challenge, align with search behavior, and still build visibility.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-the-keyword-you-need-is-off-limits">When the keyword you need is off-limits</h2>



<p>It’s a common scenario in <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo">SEO</a>: </p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“We want to rank for <em>(insert super competitive search term)</em>,” and, in the next breath, “Don’t use <em>(that exact same phrase)</em> on the page.”</li>
</ul>



<p>My very first SEO job, over 10 years ago, set the goal of ranking in the top 3 for the term “custom koozies.” I’ve been in heated debates over the proper term for these drink coolers. </p>



<p>In my household, they were called “coolie cups.” The general term is “can coolers,” but search volume tells us the vast majority of the U.S. would call these products “koozies.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>Search volume data settled the debate, but Koozie® was a registered trademark. We worked our way to the top of the search results without relying on the restricted term as the primary on-page language.</p>



<p>A few years later, I landed at a marketing agency that specializes in the senior living industry. There were many new terms to familiarize myself with: assisted living, independent living, skilled nursing, and continuing care retirement community (CCRC), among others.</p>



<p>Keyword research showed that users were searching “nursing home,” but it turned out that many of the organizations had begun to steer away from the term “nursing home” because of its negative connotations.</p>



<p>The problem is, they’re a nursing home, and that’s what real people call them. I felt like I was having déjà vu, with a new goal of ranking for a term that I wasn’t allowed to use.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/branded-search-seo-452676">Branded search and SEO: What you need to know</a></em></strong>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-rank-for-keywords-you-can-t-use">How to rank for keywords you can’t use</h2>



<p>You don’t need to use the exact keyword to rank for it, but you do need to send the right signals when a term is restricted, discouraged, or off-limits — even if it reflects how people actually search.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-pull-the-data-and-confirm-direction">1. Pull the data and confirm direction</h3>



<p>In some cases, you can get an “aha” moment just by showing the data.&nbsp;</p>



<p>When I tell clients that “skilled nursing near me” has 4,400 monthly search volume, but “nursing home near me” gets searched 27,100 times per month, it sometimes softens their stance.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Pulling local search volume or localized search terms can be beneficial, too. Do the research and follow the data.</p>



<p>It’s important to get clear on exactly how off-limits a term is. Is it acceptable to use it in non-focal page copy with a different primary term, or is it OK to use it alongside a preferred term?</p>



<p>Confirm what’s allowed versus unacceptable use.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-use-all-the-terms-around-it">2. Use all the terms around it</h3>



<p>Create a list of terms related to your primary term, and be sure to hit on those, too. For Koozies, this would be “beer,” “drink,” “keeping your drink cold,” and common uses such as “bachelorette party” and “wedding.” These help build context for search engines.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-use-similar-terms-and-break-down-phrases">3. Use similar terms and break down phrases</h3>



<p>Consider whether there are similar terms to the primary term, and be sure to use those, too. For Koozies, we could use “cozies” and “coolies.”</p>



<p>If your primary term is more than one word, use each individual word frequently. For nursing homes, we can discuss “nursing” care and use “home” throughout the page.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-use-the-term-indirectly">4. Use the term indirectly</h3>



<p>This tactic involves referencing the term on the page, but not necessarily directly describing your product. </p>



<p>In the case of nursing homes, you could say “More than a nursing home” in a header, or “Looking for a nursing home in Ann Arbor?” in the page copy.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/semantic-seo">Semantic SEO: How to optimize for meaning over keywords</a></em></strong>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-incorporate-the-product-that-can-t-be-named-onto-the-page">5. Incorporate the product that can’t be named onto the page</h3>



<p>This was key for the Koozies situation. The non-Koozie® brand products couldn’t be called Koozies, but when we added a Koozie brand product alongside the best-selling non-Koozie brand products, suddenly we could call this category “Can Coolers &amp; Koozies.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>The average person wouldn’t consider these separate products, but, officially, we did.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-6-get-creative-with-anchor-text">6. Get creative with anchor text</h3>



<p>The text that links to your page can significantly influence how search engines understand it.</p>



<p>Consider where you can control the anchor text, and use your primary term in both off-site and internal linking.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-7-use-the-term-in-non-visible-elements">7. Use the term in non-visible elements</h3>



<p>Alt text is perfect for keyword placement for those terms that the industry frowns upon but that are publicly accepted. This avoids the text appearing on the page while still describing the product. I’d use caution with trademark terms when using this tactic to avoid misleading or violating trademark guidelines.</p>



<p>Don’t sleep on title tags. This might be the most important tactic: find a way to get your primary term in the title tag.</p>



<p>For those frowned-upon terms, this can be simple if you have approval to use the term in non-focal areas. Although the title tag is the first thing someone may see in the search results, it’s not necessarily visible on the page, making it a strong opportunity to balance the language of the searcher with your brand voice.</p>



<p>For trademarked products, this works well with tactic five. If possible, including the trademarked products on the named page allows you to put both the trademarked term and the generic term in the title tag.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-8-add-definitions">8. Add definitions</h3>



<p>Defining terms on your website is a great way to incorporate them and clarify the relationship between your offering and the common terms. Definition-focused content is great for SEO and AI visibility.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/the-shift-to-semantic-seo-what-vectors-mean-for-your-strategy-452766">The shift to semantic SEO: What vectors mean for your strategy</a></em></strong>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-your-game-plan-for-off-limits-terms">Your game plan for off-limits terms</h2>



<p>Make sure to seek legal counsel’s approval for any tactics around trademarked terms. They can help give you guidelines and rules for clarity.</p>



<p>Try all of these tips, or a combination of a few, to help your site start ranking for those coveted terms that you aren’t allowed to use. Gather the data, create a strategic approach, test, and refine.&nbsp;</p>

Sometimes the keywords you need to rank for are the ones you’re not allowed to use. Whether it’s trademark restrictions, brand guidelines, or industry stigma, you might be asked to capture demand without using the exact terms people search. 
Here’s how to navigate that challenge, align with search behavior, and still build visibility.
When the keyword you need is off-limits
It’s a common scenario in SEO: 
“We want to rank for (insert super competitive search term),” and, in the next breath, “Don’t use (that exact same phrase) on the page.”
My very first SEO job, over 10 years ago, set the goal of ranking in the top 3 for the term “custom koozies.” I’ve been in heated debates over the proper term for these drink coolers. 
In my household, they were called “coolie cups.” The general term is “can coolers,” but search volume tells us the vast majority of the U.S. would call these products “koozies.” 
Search volume data settled the debate, but Koozie® was a registered trademark. We worked our way to the top of the search results without relying on the restricted term as the primary on-page language.
A few years later, I landed at a marketing agency that specializes in the senior living industry. There were many new terms to familiarize myself with: assisted living, independent living, skilled nursing, and continuing care retirement community (CCRC), among others.
Keyword research showed that users were searching “nursing home,” but it turned out that many of the organizations had begun to steer away from the term “nursing home” because of its negative connotations.
The problem is, they’re a nursing home, and that’s what real people call them. I felt like I was having déjà vu, with a new goal of ranking for a term that I wasn’t allowed to use.
Dig deeper: Branded search and SEO: What you need to know




  
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How to rank for keywords you can’t use
You don’t need to use the exact keyword to rank for it, but you do need to send the right signals when a term is restricted, discouraged, or off-limits — even if it reflects how people actually search.
1. Pull the data and confirm direction
In some cases, you can get an “aha” moment just by showing the data. 
When I tell clients that “skilled nursing near me” has 4,400 monthly search volume, but “nursing home near me” gets searched 27,100 times per month, it sometimes softens their stance. 
Pulling local search volume or localized search terms can be beneficial, too. Do the research and follow the data.
It’s important to get clear on exactly how off-limits a term is. Is it acceptable to use it in non-focal page copy with a different primary term, or is it OK to use it alongside a preferred term?
Confirm what’s allowed versus unacceptable use.
2. Use all the terms around it
Create a list of terms related to your primary term, and be sure to hit on those, too. For Koozies, this would be “beer,” “drink,” “keeping your drink cold,” and common uses such as “bachelorette party” and “wedding.” These help build context for search engines.
3. Use similar terms and break down phrases
Consider whether there are similar terms to the primary term, and be sure to use those, too. For Koozies, we could use “cozies” and “coolies.”
If your primary term is more than one word, use each individual word frequently. For nursing homes, we can discuss “nursing” care and use “home” throughout the page.
4. Use the term indirectly
This tactic involves referencing the term on the page, but not necessarily directly describing your product. 
In the case of nursing homes, you could say “More than a nursing home” in a header, or “Looking for a nursing home in Ann Arbor?” in the page copy.
Dig deeper: Semantic SEO: How to optimize for meaning over keywords




	
	
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5. Incorporate the product that can’t be named onto the page
This was key for the Koozies situation. The non-Koozie® brand products couldn’t be called Koozies, but when we added a Koozie brand product alongside the best-selling non-Koozie brand products, suddenly we could call this category “Can Coolers & Koozies.” 
The average person wouldn’t consider these separate products, but, officially, we did.
6. Get creative with anchor text
The text that links to your page can significantly influence how search engines understand it.
Consider where you can control the anchor text, and use your primary term in both off-site and internal linking.
7. Use the term in non-visible elements
Alt text is perfect for keyword placement for those terms that the industry frowns upon but that are publicly accepted. This avoids the text appearing on the page while still describing the product. I’d use caution with trademark terms when using this tactic to avoid misleading or violating trademark guidelines.
Don’t sleep on title tags. This might be the most important tactic: find a way to get your primary term in the title tag.
For those frowned-upon terms, this can be simple if you have approval to use the term in non-focal areas. Although the title tag is the first thing someone may see in the search results, it’s not necessarily visible on the page, making it a strong opportunity to balance the language of the searcher with your brand voice.
For trademarked products, this works well with tactic five. If possible, including the trademarked products on the named page allows you to put both the trademarked term and the generic term in the title tag.
8. Add definitions
Defining terms on your website is a great way to incorporate them and clarify the relationship between your offering and the common terms. Definition-focused content is great for SEO and AI visibility.
Dig deeper: The shift to semantic SEO: What vectors mean for your strategy




  
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Your game plan for off-limits terms
Make sure to seek legal counsel’s approval for any tactics around trademarked terms. They can help give you guidelines and rules for clarity.
Try all of these tips, or a combination of a few, to help your site start ranking for those coveted terms that you aren’t allowed to use. Gather the data, create a strategic approach, test, and refine.

When legal, brand, or perception limits block key terms, use related keywords, anchor text, and title tags to capture demand anyway.

How to optimize for keywords you can’t use

<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-800x450.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Microsoft Ads: How it compares to Google Ads and tips for getting started" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-800x450.png 800w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-600x338.png 600w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-200x113.png 200w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started.png 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></div>Microsoft is making it easier to expand Google PMax campaigns into Microsoft while gaining more visibility and control over performance.

<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-800x450.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Microsoft Ads: How it compares to Google Ads and tips for getting started" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-800x450.png 800w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-600x338.png 600w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-200x113.png 200w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/11/Microsoft-Ads-How-it-compares-to-Google-Ads-and-tips-for-getting-started.png 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></div>
<p>Microsoft Advertising is rolling out a slate of updates aimed at making Performance Max campaigns easier to manage, measure, and migrate — especially for advertisers already using Google Ads.</p>



<p><strong>Driving the news.</strong> Microsoft now lets advertisers import Google PMax campaigns that use new customer acquisition (NCA) goals, a feature that has been generally available in Microsoft since early this year.</p>



<p>The update is now live for all advertisers.</p>



<p>That means marketers can more easily port over campaigns designed to prioritize first-time buyers without rebuilding them from scratch.</p>



<p><strong>What’s new</strong>. Microsoft says imported Google PMax campaigns with NCA goals will carry over if they don’t already exist in the advertiser’s account. Existing Microsoft NCA settings won’t be overwritten.</p>



<p>For audience lists:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Google website visitor segments will convert into Microsoft remarketing lists.</li>



<li>Google’s “all visitors” and “all converters” lists will map to Microsoft equivalents.</li>



<li>Unsupported lists, like Customer Match, will prompt advertisers to use fallback options.</li>
</ul>



<p>Microsoft also says it takes a more conservative approach to “unknown” customers, classifying them as existing customers to avoid overcounting new customer conversions.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> This could make cross-platform campaign expansion faster and lower the friction of testing Microsoft’s PMax inventory removing the need of rebuilding campaigns from scratch. The added landing page reporting and search term visibility also give marketers better insight into what’s driving performance, which can help improve optimization and budget decisions.</p>



<p><strong>More visbility for PMax</strong>. Microsoft is also adding landing page (Final URL) reporting for PMax campaigns. Advertisers can now see spend, clicks, impressions, conversion value, and ROAS by landing page.</p>



<p>They can also segment by campaign, asset group, and other dimensions.</p>



<p>Microsoft also said search term reporting is becoming more visible by default, with more transparency updates — including auction insights and added publisher URL metrics — planned later.</p>



<p><strong>Other key updates:</strong>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Seasonality adjustments</strong> now support portfolio bid strategies, expanding a tool advertisers use for short-term events like promotions.</li>



<li><strong>Campaign name limits</strong> are increasing from 128 to 400 characters, helping agencies and enterprise teams manage naming conventions at scale.</li>



<li><strong>Autogenerated assets</strong> are expanding to underbuilt Responsive Search Ads to improve ad relevance and performance.</li>



<li><strong>Merchant Center</strong> users can now update store names and domains directly without contacting support.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>The bottom line</strong>. <a href="https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en/blog/post/april-2026/performance-max-updates-and-other-product-news-for-april-2026">These updates</a> make it easier to scale across platforms, save time on campaign setup, and get better visibility into what’s actually driving performance — giving advertisers more control over both efficiency and results.</p>


Microsoft Advertising is rolling out a slate of updates aimed at making Performance Max campaigns easier to manage, measure, and migrate — especially for advertisers already using Google Ads.
Driving the news. Microsoft now lets advertisers import Google PMax campaigns that use new customer acquisition (NCA) goals, a feature that has been generally available in Microsoft since early this year.
The update is now live for all advertisers.
That means marketers can more easily port over campaigns designed to prioritize first-time buyers without rebuilding them from scratch.
What’s new. Microsoft says imported Google PMax campaigns with NCA goals will carry over if they don’t already exist in the advertiser’s account. Existing Microsoft NCA settings won’t be overwritten.
For audience lists:
Google website visitor segments will convert into Microsoft remarketing lists.
Google’s “all visitors” and “all converters” lists will map to Microsoft equivalents.
Unsupported lists, like Customer Match, will prompt advertisers to use fallback options.
Microsoft also says it takes a more conservative approach to “unknown” customers, classifying them as existing customers to avoid overcounting new customer conversions.
Why we care. This could make cross-platform campaign expansion faster and lower the friction of testing Microsoft’s PMax inventory removing the need of rebuilding campaigns from scratch. The added landing page reporting and search term visibility also give marketers better insight into what’s driving performance, which can help improve optimization and budget decisions.
More visbility for PMax. Microsoft is also adding landing page (Final URL) reporting for PMax campaigns. Advertisers can now see spend, clicks, impressions, conversion value, and ROAS by landing page.
They can also segment by campaign, asset group, and other dimensions.
Microsoft also said search term reporting is becoming more visible by default, with more transparency updates — including auction insights and added publisher URL metrics — planned later.
Other key updates:




Seasonality adjustments now support portfolio bid strategies, expanding a tool advertisers use for short-term events like promotions.
Campaign name limits are increasing from 128 to 400 characters, helping agencies and enterprise teams manage naming conventions at scale.
Autogenerated assets are expanding to underbuilt Responsive Search Ads to improve ad relevance and performance.
Merchant Center users can now update store names and domains directly without contacting support.
The bottom line. These updates make it easier to scale across platforms, save time on campaign setup, and get better visibility into what’s actually driving performance — giving advertisers more control over both efficiency and results.

Microsoft is making it easier to expand Google PMax campaigns into Microsoft while gaining more visibility and control over performance.

Microsoft makes it easier to import Google PMax campaigns

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/chatgpt-citations.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="ChatGPT citations" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/chatgpt-citations.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/chatgpt-citations-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/chatgpt-citations-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/chatgpt-citations-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Heading alignment and narrow answers drive citations, while long, broad content underperforms, study finds.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/chatgpt-citations.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="ChatGPT citations" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/chatgpt-citations.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/chatgpt-citations-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/chatgpt-citations-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/04/chatgpt-citations-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>ChatGPT citations favor pages that rank well, match the query in their headings, and stay tightly focused, according to an AirOps study of 16,851 queries. The top retrieval result was cited 58% of the time, and pages that answered the main query more narrowly outperformed broader, more comprehensive guides.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care</strong>. This study clarifies how to earn ChatGPT citations: win retrieval, mirror the query in your headings, and answer one question extremely well. In this study, that mattered more than breadth.</p>



<p><strong>The findings.</strong> Retrieval rank was the strongest signal. Pages in the top search position were cited 58.4% of the time, versus 14.2% for pages in position 10.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Heading relevance was the strongest on-page factor. Pages with the strongest heading-query match were cited 41.0% of the time, compared with roughly 30% for weaker matches.</li>



<li>Focused pages also beat comprehensive ones. Pages that answered the main query more narrowly outperformed broader, more comprehensive guides, undercutting the usual “ultimate guide” approach.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>What drove ChatGPT citations</strong>. In this study, pages that won citations usually ranked well, used headings that closely matched the query, and stayed focused on answering it.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Structure helped, but only slightly:</strong> Pages with JSON-LD markup posted a 38.5% citation rate versus 32.0% for pages without it, and articles with 4 to 10 subheadings performed best.</li>



<li><strong>Beyond a certain point, length hurt performance:</strong> Pages between 500 and 2,000 words performed best, but pages longer than 5,000 words were cited less often than pages under 500 words.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Freshness helps, up to a point. </strong>Pages published 30 to 89 days earlier performed best, while pages newer than 30 days performed worse. This suggests new content may need time to build retrieval signals.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Pages more than 2 years old were cited less often, which suggests that content refreshes could help if you&#8217;re already ranking for the right queries.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>About the data</strong>. AirOps said it scraped ChatGPT’s interface, not the API, and analyzed 50,553 responses generated from 16,851 unique queries run three times each. The dataset included 353,799 pages and more than 1.5 million fan-out detail rows across 10 verticals and four query types.</p>



<p><strong>The study.</strong> <a href="https://www.airops.com/report/the-fan-out-effect-what-happens-between-a-query-and-a-citation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Fan-Out Effect: What Happens Between a Query and a Citation</a>


ChatGPT citations favor pages that rank well, match the query in their headings, and stay tightly focused, according to an AirOps study of 16,851 queries. The top retrieval result was cited 58% of the time, and pages that answered the main query more narrowly outperformed broader, more comprehensive guides.
Why we care. This study clarifies how to earn ChatGPT citations: win retrieval, mirror the query in your headings, and answer one question extremely well. In this study, that mattered more than breadth.
The findings. Retrieval rank was the strongest signal. Pages in the top search position were cited 58.4% of the time, versus 14.2% for pages in position 10.
Heading relevance was the strongest on-page factor. Pages with the strongest heading-query match were cited 41.0% of the time, compared with roughly 30% for weaker matches.
Focused pages also beat comprehensive ones. Pages that answered the main query more narrowly outperformed broader, more comprehensive guides, undercutting the usual “ultimate guide” approach.
What drove ChatGPT citations. In this study, pages that won citations usually ranked well, used headings that closely matched the query, and stayed focused on answering it.
Structure helped, but only slightly: Pages with JSON-LD markup posted a 38.5% citation rate versus 32.0% for pages without it, and articles with 4 to 10 subheadings performed best.
Beyond a certain point, length hurt performance: Pages between 500 and 2,000 words performed best, but pages longer than 5,000 words were cited less often than pages under 500 words.
Freshness helps, up to a point. Pages published 30 to 89 days earlier performed best, while pages newer than 30 days performed worse. This suggests new content may need time to build retrieval signals.
Pages more than 2 years old were cited less often, which suggests that content refreshes could help if you’re already ranking for the right queries.
About the data. AirOps said it scraped ChatGPT’s interface, not the API, and analyzed 50,553 responses generated from 16,851 unique queries run three times each. The dataset included 353,799 pages and more than 1.5 million fan-out detail rows across 10 verticals and four query types.
The study. The Fan-Out Effect: What Happens Between a Query and a Citation

Heading alignment and narrow answers drive citations, while long, broad content underperforms, study finds.

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