If you’re in digital marketing and depending on organic traffic, there’s something
important you need to know: Google’s AI Overviews – the new AI-generated
summaries appearing at the top of many search results – are significantly reducing
the number of clicks to traditional organic listings.

Two major studies, from SEO platform Ahrefs and performance agency Amsive, both
show that AI Overviews are causing measurable drops in click-through rates (CTR),
especially for non-branded, informational searches.

What are AI Overviews – and why are they a problem?

AI Overviews aim to give users a quick, AI-generated answer to their search without
needing to click a link. While that might be helpful to users, it’s bad news for
marketers. These summaries often take the place of organic listings near the top of
the page, pushing other results further down.
Google claims that links cited within AI Overviews actually get more clicks, but the
data from these two independent studies tells a different story.

The numbers tell a clear story

Ahrefs analysed 300,000 keywords and found that when an AI Overview was
present, the average CTR for the top-ranking result dropped by 34.5%. Amsive
looked at 700,000 keywords and found an average CTR drop of 15.5%, with some
cases seeing losses of over 37%.
These are not small changes. They suggest a significant shift in how users interact
with search results – and where their clicks are going.

Informational and non-branded searches are hit hardest

The steepest declines are seen on non-branded, informational queries – the kind of
content many brands create to educate their audience and bring in traffic at the top
of the funnel.
Ahrefs found that 99.2% of keywords triggering AI Overviews had informational
intent. Amsive reported a 20% drop in CTR for non-branded keywords alone. This
means blog posts, how-to guides, and explainer content may now be much less
visible in search.
Even good rankings don’t guarantee traffic

AI Overviews don’t just hurt position one. Amsive’s data showed that listings outside
the top three saw a 27% decline in CTR when an AI Overview was present. So even
well-ranking content is being buried.
Branded searches are less affected – and sometimes benefit
There’s one silver lining. Branded searches – where users include your brand name
are much less likely to trigger an AI Overview. In fact, when they do, they can
actually lead to more clicks. Amsive found that branded queries with an AI Overview
saw an 18.7% boost in CTR, likely because users were already looking for
something specific.

Why marketers should care

These findings challenge Google’s suggestion that AI Overviews improve the quality
of clicks. Even if some links in the AI Overview get clicked, overall traffic appears to
be falling—and most websites that rank well in standard search aren’t being featured
in the AI section at all.
To make things more difficult, Google doesn’t currently break out AI Overview data in
Search Console. That means there’s no clear way to see how these overviews are
impacting your site’s impressions and clicks.

What to do now

If your traffic depends heavily on informational content, you may want to reassess
your strategy. Building brand recognition could become even more important, as
branded searches seem to be more resistant to these changes. It’s also worth
keeping a close eye on keyword-level CTR and adjusting your content and SEO
efforts accordingly.
Search is evolving quickly and if AI Overviews remain as prominent as they are now,
marketers will need to rethink how they earn visibility and clicks.

YouTube is experimenting with a new AI feature in its search results – and it could
change how people discover video content on the platform.
The new test, called AI Overviews, shows a scrollable carousel of video highlights
when users search for certain topics. Instead of just listing full videos, YouTube’s AI
picks out and displays what it thinks are the most helpful clips from relevant videos.

Why this matters for marketers and creators

This might sound helpful for viewers but for brands and creators, it could go either
way. On one hand, it might improve content discovery and get your videos in front of
new audiences. On the other, it could reduce clicks and watch time if people only
watch the AI-generated clip instead of the full video.
We’ve already seen how Google’s AI Overviews in search can reduce traffic to
websites. If YouTube rolls out this AI feature more widely, creators might see a
similar dip in views.

What we know so far

 Only a small group of users can see it right now – specifically, some
YouTube Premium subscribers in the U.S.
 It’s focused on specific types of searches, like product reviews or travel
recommendations. Think: “best wireless earbuds” or “things to do in San
Francisco.”
 YouTube is gathering feedback on the test – users can give a thumbs up or
down on what the AI recommends. This will help decide whether the feature is
rolled out more broadly.

What’s next?

YouTube runs tests like this all the time to see what helps people find and enjoy
content more easily. If you’re seeing something new on your YouTube account that
others aren’t – chances are, you’re part of a test group.
It’s worth keeping an eye on this one. If AI Overviews become a standard feature,
marketers and creators may need to think differently about how their videos are
structured – especially if only the most “useful” parts are being shown.

Crawl depth refers to the distance between a web page from the homepage within a
website’s structure, this is important for SEO as it impacts how your website is crawled by
search engines, such as Google.

Why is crawl depth important?

Crawl depth is important because it affects how your site is indexed by search engine
crawlers. Crawlers are automated bots that search websites and index content so it can then
be ranked and shown to audiences. Having an organised crawl depth makes it easier for
these bots to navigate your site.

How does site architecture affect crawl depth?

Site architecture refers to the way your pages are organised on your site. Making sure your
architecture makes sense for your users to understand but also for search engines to
navigate will help your site be crawled more easily and will help you avoid any orphan pages
(pages without any internal links). In his article on crawl depth Neil Patel says that ‘’it’s
generally best to keep pages within five clicks of the homepage.’’ Once again reaffirming the
point that a simple structure is best when it comes to setting up your site even if it is a
complex site.

Updating XML Sitemaps

Once you are happy with your site structure, making sure your xml sitemaps are up to date
is important for optimising your search engine rankings. An xml sitemap is a map submitted
to search engines that lists all the pages on a website, providing search engines with a
structured overview of your site’s content. Updated sitemaps can be submitted to Google
through Google Search Console to make them aware that your site has been updated and
needs recrawling.

Internal Linking

Having an up to date site structure helps to be able to have a clear internal linking strategy
where you can link relevant pages on your site to one another. This further reduces crawl
depth and allows relevant content to be found more easily by crawlers. Sites can find certain
content more quickly through internal links than through the menu bar.

Crawl depth is an important component of SEO, making sure your site architecture, XML
sitemaps and internal links are all up to date will help to improve crawl depth and online
visibility.

SEO is the process of optimising your content for search engines so that it appears to a
wider audience, but what about adapting your content for audiences in specific locations? In
this article, we will discuss the creation of specific location pages you can use on your site to
optimise content in certain areas to boost local or international SEO efforts.

What are location pages?

Location pages are content created around a specific location and service to boost your
visibility in that area. For example, a car salesman working in Halifax, might want to attract
more customers locally to his independent car dealership. To do this, he could create
location pages targeting surrounding areas such as “Car dealership Wakefield”, “Car
dealership Bradford”, “Car dealership Leeds” etc. This would allow the car salesman to
capture traffic in all these different areas instead of just in his primary location of Halifax.
This also applies to international business. A business may run out of a certain country and
be organically generating traffic in that region but by creating international location pages,
they can target different countries with their content.

How to create location page content

There are three crucial steps to follow when creating location page content:
Find relevant keywords – If you are creating content for different locations, doing keyword
research is a crucial first step. Firstly, checking if people are searching for your services in a
specific area is important because there is no point optimising your content in locations
where your services are not in demand. If people are searching for your services in these
locations they will often attach local phrases to their searches such as “near me” “city
location”. You can use a keyword tool to see which searches people are using and optimise
your content for these.

Create location specific content – Make sure when creating your content it is location specific
and helps people in the area with their needs, for example, to use the car dealership as an
example again, explaining how your service has helped thousands of people in Halifax and
the surrounding areas find their dream car and that you are rated highly by previous
customers. Another good way to do this is to include FAQs that are location specific,
answering any questions users might have such as “Does your Halifax location have
parking” or “What services are available at our Halifax location?” This helps users and is
ultimately Google’s end goal, to show users the most relevant and specific answers to their
search queries.

Add local business schema – Adding local business schema is an important way of letting
search engines know your content should show up in a specific area. Schema refers to a
piece of code you add to a web page to help search engines categorise the content on the
page. There are hundreds of different types of Schema you can use on your pages but one
of the best types of schema for location pages is local business schema. This schema
attaches the name, address, location and contact info of the local business to your webpage
so Google knows where you are based and adds you to any local business listings.

Make sure after you have created your location pages you track the success of your
keywords and how they are ranking to see if your content is performing well, if not adjust
accordingly to try and see an improvement in rankings.

What is a micro-influencer?

A micro-influencer is a content creator with a smaller but highly engaged following,
typically between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. These individuals are well-known to
their specific audience but aren’t considered celebrities in the mainstream sense.

What are the benefits of collaborating with a micro-influencer?

Being able to build trust and transfer authority

Micro-influencers often hold authority in niche areas, which makes them ideal for
promoting products or services authentically. Their established credibility allows
brands to tap into that trust, signalling to audiences that the collaboration is both
informed and genuine.

Garner more engagement

Micro-influencers tend to have more active communities, resulting in higher-quality
interactions. Their audiences are often more loyal and engaged than those of larger
influencers. One effective way to boost engagement is through collaborative posts
that appear on both the brand’s and the influencer’s profiles.
Targeted promotions

While some micro-influencers are known for specific topics, others are local figures
with strong community ties. Partnering with them can be a powerful tactic when
running location-specific campaigns, helping you connect with a targeted and
relevant audience.

Getting the most out of your budget

Collaborating with micro-influencers is typically far more cost-effective than working
with celebrities or macro-influencers. This affordability frees up the budget for other
marketing efforts, or to reinvest back into the business.

How to approach working with an influencer

Partnering with a micro-influencer takes thoughtful planning. It’s important to ensure
the fit is right—for both your brand and the creator—before reaching out.

1. Define Your Objectives and Goals
   Start by identifying what you want to achieve from the campaign. Clear goals will
   help guide your strategy and also make it easier to measure performance
   afterwards.
2. Assess Alignment and Suitability – Evaluate whether the influencer’s content and persona align with your brand. Their
   style should complement your vision for the campaign. If you’re unsure where to
   start, use platform search tools and keywords to find creators producing content that
   fits your niche.
3. Consider Your Offer, think about what you’re bringing to the table—whether that’s a paid partnership or gifting products/services in exchange for content. If you can’t offer some form of value, it’s unlikely the collaboration will take off.
4. Create a Clear Project Brief – Outline exactly what you expect in terms of deliverables, messaging, and content format. A well-crafted brief is essential—it keeps everyone aligned and ensures thethe
   output reflects your brand’s goals.
5. Let Their Content Shine -Authenticity is key. While it’s important to communicate your brand message, give
   influencers the freedom to present it in their own voice. This personalisation deepens
   trust and helps the content resonate more naturally with the audience.

Google is making some big changes to Gmail that aim to improve your experience, protect your inbox from spam, and boost security, but not without raising some concerns.

Less Spam in Your Inbox

The good news? Google is tightening its rules around spam, and it’s working. Many companies that send out bulk marketing emails are seeing their messages blocked or flagged as spam unless people regularly open and engage with them. That means you should see fewer unwanted messages cluttering your inbox.

Smarter Scams Are on the Rise

At the same time, a serious threat has come to light. A long-running email scam has been using fake login pages that look like real sites—Gmail, Outlook, banks, delivery companies—to trick people into entering their usernames and passwords. After stealing the information, the scam redirects victims to the real login page, making it seem like nothing happened.

These attacks have flown under the radar for years, using clever techniques to bypass security tools and hide behind trusted-looking links and websites.

Google’s AI and Privacy Debate

Google is also rolling out AI-powered tools in Gmail to help users manage their inboxes more efficiently. But not everyone is thrilled—some are worried about what it means for privacy if AI is scanning personal emails. Google says users remain in control and can switch off these features if they prefer.

New Encryption, but Limited Access

To further strengthen email security, Google is introducing end-to-end encryption. This means only the sender and receiver can read the email. However, it’s only available to business users for now and will be rolled out more broadly later.

Stay Safe Going Forward

Email is getting safer, but no system is perfect. Always be cautious of unexpected emails asking for login details. Use strong two-factor authentication or, even better, switch to passkeys if available. Staying alert is still your best line of defence.

What’s Instagram SEO?

Like traditional SEO, Instagram SEO focuses on optimising your content in order for it to be easier to discover. Optimisation ensures that content is positioned to an audience without having to invest money in ad campaigns. 

How does Instagram SEO work?

Instagram will display the searched for content depending on a few elements of the content:

• The captions
• Using hashtags
• Profile bios

What factors are considered for the algorithm?

Instagram’s algorithm works in various ways for each area of its app, i.e., reels, the main feed, and the explore page. It factors in context from the search term, the searcher’s profile, and then considers all the content out there to provide an accurate response. 

Instagram’s algorithm utilises the keywords from users’ search terms to provide profiles and posts that are relevant to the search. Instagram looks to marry the search term to existing content containing hashtags, locations, captions, and profile bios. So it works in a very similar way to that of search engines like Google.

The algorithm will prioritise displaying content that is successful. So, content that has successfully garnered clicks, likes, saves, follows, shares, and comments will also be a factor in whether it is displayed to people.

Instagram’s algorithm will factor in context for display results, so things like the kind of content the user interacts with, or the people the searcher follows. This will allow Instagram to provide more tailored results.

Does my business need to do Instagram SEO?

Instagram SEO gives businesses an opportunity to get more from their social content, increasing the probability for newer audiences to see their content.

Having an awareness and appreciation for the impact of Instagram SEO can inform how content is created. When content is properly optimised, it increases the probability of the content seeing success, as well as an increased chance of expanding your audience. 

How to optimise your Instagram content?

Account optimisations – bio, name, captions, link trees

Optimising your Instagram is essential, and there’s no better place to begin the process than on your profile. Optimising your profile is actually quite simple, just follow these simple steps:

1. Make sure your username is aligned with your brand, ensuring you’re easy to find online. Use your business’s name, if it’s taken, consider adding the year of establishment to the end of the handle.
2. Make sure your business’s location is attached to the page; Instagram will then be able to factor this in when displaying geo-relevant content. This applies to both your profile and the posts you share.
3. Your bio should utilise the keywords that summarise your business and what it offers in terms of products or services. Clear sign posting will ensure you’re connected to the right potential audience sooner.

Geo-tagging //Location-based Optimisation

Tagging your location in posts can be just as important as including this information on your profile. Location tagging, like with hashtags, can be a great way to ‘tag’ content, which then groups that particular content with anything else that tags that location. 

Caption optimisation (including hashtags) – Implementing your keywords

Hashtags can serve as a really useful tool. They can be used as a tagging tool that can differentiate your content from others. So instead of using your keywords as a hashtag, create a quality caption utilising keywords.

Then use the hashtags as additional qualifiers, so tag the location or maybe a niche that the content pertains to. For instance, if a photographer shares a photo of a bird, instead of tagging #bird, they would be better typing #50mmbirdphotgraphy – This provides the search engine with a little bit more information, and it diversifies the hashtag enough that your content wont be lost in a sea of content using the same generic hashtag.

Include alt text – making content accessible – including captions on video content and descriptive captions.

Alt text is different from the caption, it’s an accessibility feature that allows a brand to describe what is featured in the content. This allows those with impairments to still access social content. This is critical, not only to improve your general strategy but to demonstrate your brand’s ability to deal with accessibility challenges. Alike alt text, captions allow those with auditory impairments to still access and enjoy content alike their peers without accessibility hurdles.

To add alt text, you’ll need to create a new post > press more options at the bottom of the controls panel > scroll to the bottom of the more options page to find the alt text feature.

Scheduling – knowing the optimal posting times

Another facet of Instagram optimisation is to perfect your scheduling. Pinpointing your audience’s most responsive periods will increase the likelihood of driving engagement and traffic.

Instagram helps businesses figure this out in its insights dashboard. Simply navigate to > Settings and activity > Under the for professionals section, you’ll see ‘Insights’, click on this > The navigate to new followers and tap again > Swipe down and you’ll be able to see when your followers utilise Instagram.

Using Instagram’s collaborative tool for influencer campaigns and collaborations

Utilise the features Instagram provides to make the most of your content. Particularly the collaborative feature, which, like link building in traditional SEO, can help provide authority by sharing content across 2 accounts.

This works particularly well when collaborating with influencers or brands that have an established audience that intersects with your existing one. It positions your brand to many more people, whilst still placing it in front of relevant members.

Optimising for Instagram helps you to create a strategy that focuses on a symbiotic relationship between the different aspects of your marketing strategy, ensuring the goals for your website are being supported by the output of content on your social channels. It helps you to direct your traffic to the product, service, or content that you’re trying to push!

From May 5, Microsoft Advertising will start enforcing something called Consent Mode. If you run Microsoft ads or work with a team that does, this is important news – especially if you’re responsible for performance, compliance, or customer trust.

So, what is Consent Mode?

Put simply, Consent Mode is a way for Microsoft to respect user privacy. It makes sure that ads only collect data if a person has agreed to it. If someone hasn’t given consent, your ads will work differently to protect their privacy – but you’ll still get some useful insights.

This is all part of a growing shift in the digital world: more regulations, more awareness of data privacy, and more pressure on advertisers to do the right thing.

Why this matters to you

If you’re in marketing, you rely on data to see what’s working and improve performance. At the same time, your audience wants transparency and control over how their information is used. Consent Mode helps you do both.

By using Consent Mode, you stay compliant with privacy laws and still collect the data needed to measure results and improve campaigns.

What’s changing?

Starting May 5, Microsoft will require you to send a “consent signal”. This signal shows whether a person has agreed to be tracked. Without it, Microsoft might not be able to collect or report on certain data from your ads.

This applies to:

• Microsoft’s Universal Event Tracking (UET)
• Universal Pixels, Segment, and Conversion pixels used on platforms like Microsoft Invest, Curate, and Monetize

How do you make sure your ads are ready?

You don’t need to be a developer – but you do need to make sure someone on your team (or your agency) has set this up properly.

There are three main ways to send a consent signal:

1. Direct integration: Add the consent signal directly to your Microsoft tracking pixels.
2. Through a consent platform: Use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) or the IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) to handle this for you.
3. With Google Tag Manager: If you use GTM, you can configure it to pass on consent signals to Microsoft.

If you’re not sure how your tracking is set up, now’s a good time to check in with your developers or digital team.

What are the negatives associated with this?

While Consent Mode is a positive step for privacy, it can create some challenges for marketers.

The biggest concern is data loss. If users don’t consent to tracking, Microsoft won’t collect or report on their activity. That means you might miss conversions or see incomplete performance data, making it harder to assess what’s working.

There’s also the technical setup to consider. Implementing Consent Mode correctly may require help from developers or your digital team. If it’s misconfigured, tracking could break or underperform.

With fewer people being tracked, you may also see smaller retargeting audiences and less data for campaign optimisation. Plus, expect a period of reporting disruption—even with everything set up, your numbers might dip as the system adjusts.

Finally, your cookie banner or consent tool plays a big role. If it’s confusing or off-putting, users are more likely to decline tracking—leading to even more missing data.

Planning ahead and reviewing your setup can help minimise these issues while keeping your campaigns compliant and effective.

In summary…

This isn’t just about ticking a compliance box. It’s about building trust with your audience while still getting the insights you need to grow. Consent Mode helps you do both – and now Microsoft is making it a must-have.

Make sure your team is ready by May 5, so your Microsoft Ads continue to work smoothly without any data disruptions.

Keyword clusters break down keywords into groups that can then be targeted by one piece of content. This process allows users to target more keywords speeding up organic traffic while going into more depth on a specific piece of content.

Benefits of Keyword Clustering

Improved SEO – Keyword clustering allows users to enhance website visibility by targeting multiple keywords on a singular web page.

Enhanced User Experience – Covering multiple keywords also lets you delve more deeply into certain topics which enhances user experience as there is more chance their questions are answered on your web page.

Content Creation – While targeting more keywords, it is easier to create more relevant content as there are more keywords to focus content around.

Better Site Structure – Having more relevant content grouped together makes it easier to keep a more coherent and organised site structure.

Keyword Cannibalisation

One of the potential drawbacks of keyword clustering is keyword cannibalisation. Web pages in the same cluster might compete with each other for rankings. To combat this, users should make sure they have one main page per keyword cluster and any other content in the cluster is content mainly focused around secondary keywords.

Balancing Act

While clustering keywords to create more in-depth rich content is great on the surface, it remains a balancing act. Collating a broad range of keywords and topics in one piece of work requires the user to make sure that there is a good balance between the content and your addressing the needs of the user pertaining to all the keywords.

How to measure Impact of keyword clusters

It can be tricky to analyse performance of keyword clusters performing well as most keyword research tools only track individual keywords. However, SERanking allows users to combine their keywords into groups or tags to track overall performance. This will allow you to monitor the performance of your clusters and make sure they’re performing well if they require adjustment.

What is a pop-up shop?

A pop-up shop is a one-time event open for a limited amount of time, allowing customers to purchase items in a physical location. This could be anywhere from an empty retail store in a shopping centre, a kiosk, a free-standing pop-up spaces built as a temporary location, to a stall at a business convention (relevant to your industry).

This can be a particularly useful marketing venture for an E-commerce store, to scope out the potential of transitioning into a location, or to even get a better sense of their customer’s sentiment around the brand.

How to know if a pop-up shop is the right business choice for you?

The main thing to consider with a pop-up shop is whether it is suited to your business, and if so- how to successfully launch a pop-up store. Defining your expectations, goals and business needs can help prevent your business from making any poor business choices.

These are some of the essential considerations to make before making the leap and deciding to set up a pop-up:

1. Is it the right time? Are you doing this on a whim, or is it the practical next step in generating traffic or scouting a potential location to set up a shop?
2. Do you have the resources or stock available? Make sure you have a clear budget for the pop-up. You also need to ensure you have enough stock. Be prepared, as running out will likely cause frustration for the customer- especially if they have waited or made a long commute to your store.
3. What is your goal? Do you want to sell lots of products, get a better sense of your customers, and test the waters in a physical store? Set your expectations beforehand, so you can realistically measure the success after.
4. Where do you want to set up your pop-up shop? Are you going to do it based on the majority of your customer’s geo-location, or are you going to capitalise on an event in a fixed location where it feels relevant to set up a pop-up?
5. How does your brand look when it’s a physical space? Think about the design of the space, how you are going to represent your store, what colour palettes will you use, and what branding will you incorporate. Will you create customised retail items like printed bags or business cards?

Why a pop-up shop could be the best marketing decision you make?

Allows customers to come see a physical representation of your E-commerce store, creating an opportunity for a rapport to be established. This process can also generate conversation around the brand, pop-ups often prompt intrigue and if physical marketing elements tease the pop-up happening prior, it starts the discussion around the brand or product.

The opportunity to sell old stock and promote new products. Capitalise on the eagerness of customers being able to see all the physical items of your store and create the chance for your business to shift old products. Making these products even more desirable with discounts is one way to promote impulse buying.

Equally, using the conversation and excitement around your pop-ups for product launches is one way to ensure your product campaign starts with success! Launching it both on your e-commerce store and in a physical location for your pop-up can give you a frame of reference for what type of buying suits your customer base, which is particularly useful if brands are considering launching a physical store.

It allows businesses to question if a physical store is suitable for them, and to test it out on a short-term basis with less commitment. It will help in gathering insights around customer sentiment, as well as the probability of the physical store driving profit. This can also provide clarity on what location best suits your business.