Today's Digital Marketing Pulse
Ad tech vendors pivot to cloud‑hardware ownership to cut latency and costs
Vendors are splitting between owning their own cloud infrastructure and renting from public clouds such as AWS, Google Cloud and Azure. SSPs PubMatic and Index Exchange introduced containerized solutions—Decision Fabric and Index Cloud—that let DSPs run models on‑premise, lowering latency and data‑transfer expenses. The shift balances cost savings against control of the stack.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Accenture Song acquires influencer marketing agency Whalar
From Ad Exposure to In-Store Sales
PadSquad and Cuebiq have launched a partnership that ties digital ad exposure directly to physical store visits and, for the first time, transaction outcomes. The solution uses Cuebiq’s mobility intelligence and a dwell‑time filter to count only meaningful foot traffic, delivering metrics such as cost per visit and sales uplift at the individual store level. Real‑time daily reporting lets marketers adjust budgets and creative while campaigns run, shifting the attribution model from post‑campaign reporting to an operational decision‑making tool. The collaboration also integrates transaction data, giving brands a holistic view of ad‑driven revenue.
Different Skills Needed: Content Creation vs Live Selling
On a previous #TeawithGaryVee I was asked "Can you break down the skill set required to be a great content creator on social versus the skill set to be a great live seller?" if you have a question for me, drop...

Google to No Longer Support FAQ Rich Results
Google announced that FAQ rich results will be discontinued on May 7, 2026, ending the display of FAQ snippets in organic search. The change also removes the FAQ appearance from the Rich Results Test and the Search Console report in June 2026, with...

SpeedyIndex Emerges as a Disruptive Semrush Alternative, Launching Live JS-Rendered Backlink Audits Within Its Unified SEO Ecosystem
SpeedyIndex launched a Live JS‑Rendered Bulk Backlink Checker that scans webpages in real time, replacing traditional cached databases. The tool offers pay‑as‑you‑go pricing, letting users audit up to 100,000 URLs without a mandatory monthly subscription. By rendering JavaScript on the...
See What Happens when Creative Legends Use AI to Make Ads for Small Businesses.
Google today unveiled The Small Brief, an initiative that teams three advertising legends—Jayanta Jenkins, Tiffany Rolfe and Susan Credle—with local businesses to produce studio‑quality campaigns. The creatives were given unrestricted access to Flow, Google’s AI‑driven creative studio, to craft ads...

14 SEO Trends 2026: What's Real, What's Hype and What We Don't Know Yet
In 2026 AI search has moved from pure keyword matching to Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG), where search engines first retrieve relevant pages and then generate answers. Studies show AI overviews appear in nearly half of queries, but the sources they cite...
New Marketing Skills v1.10 Adds Co‑Marketing Toolkit
Marketing Skills v1.10.0 is out. What shipped: 🆕 /co-marketing — Partner identification and joint campaign planning. Partner scoring framework, campaign types (content, webinars, integrations, community), outreach templates, partnership structuring, and checklists. Tools: Crossbeam, Introw, PartnerStack. Now shipping 41 skills and 52 tool integrations. Free, open...
Creator Agency NewGen Launches AI Platform to Help Brands Scale Creator Campaigns With Compliance Controls
London‑based creator agency NewGen has unveiled Multiple, an AI‑driven platform that consolidates every stage of influencer campaigns—from creator matching and outreach to contract generation, payment tracking and performance reporting. The system promises to cut campaign launch times by up to...
Levanta Makes the Case That Creator Channels Belong Alongside Every Amazon Ad Budget
Levanta, the Seattle‑based affiliate and creator platform, announced the acquisition of Perch+, an early Amazon‑focused affiliate network. The deal brings hundreds of brands and publishers into Levanta’s marketplace, consolidating two of the longest‑standing players in the Amazon affiliate space. Levanta...
Your Offer, Not Leads, Holds Back Sales
Harsh truth: You don’t have a lead generation problem. You have an offer problem. Weak offers struggle even with great traffic.
Duluth Trading Launches Cheeky Underwear Marketing Campaign
Duluth Trading Company unveiled a cheeky underwear campaign featuring its new mascot, Max Gluteus, timed with March Madness. The initiative leveraged humor to position low‑priced underwear as a gateway product, driving first‑time purchases and long‑term loyalty. On Meta the campaign...

How to Run Prompt-Level SEO Experiments for AI Search
As large language models (LLMs) become primary answer engines, brands must ensure they appear in AI‑generated responses. The article outlines a hypothesis‑driven, prompt‑level SEO framework that structures tests with an if‑then‑because format to isolate variables such as content tweaks or...

Amazon Brings Content-To-Commerce Technology Into Publisher Services
Amazon Publisher Services has added Shopsense, an AI‑driven content‑to‑commerce platform, to its Connections Marketplace. Shopsense analyzes images in articles, videos and photos, automatically generating product‑listing ads that link to more than 1,000 retailers. The integration requires no code and promises...
How IAB Sweden Expelled Meta—And Why It Might Not Happen in Other Chapters Anytime Soon
Meta has been expelled from IAB Sweden after a year‑long campaign by Swedish publishers over a surge of fraudulent advertisements on its platforms. The move follows a Reuters investigation that accused Meta of earning billions from scam ads and a...
Renting Customers or Building a Business: Ishan Manchanda on LTV, Retention, and the Next Wave of B2B Growth
Ishan Manchanda, CEO of GrowthSpree, explains how his agency fills the missing playbook for B2B SaaS growth, emphasizing LTV over vanity revenue metrics. He warns that static LTV calculations and weak retention undermine unit economics, while a 5‑point boost in...
PubMatic’s Agentic AI Is Going Beyond Direct Deals
PubMatic announced that its AgenticOS platform has run more than 30 fully autonomous, end‑to‑end campaigns and over 1,000 direct publisher deals, signaling a shift from agentic ad tech being limited to direct buys. The AI‑driven product helped lift emerging‑revenue growth...
Amazon Data Will Be Available on Netflix Inventory in the UK May 18
Amazon’s demand‑side platform will let UK and EMEA advertisers overlay Amazon shopping data onto Netflix’s connected‑TV inventory starting May 18. The feature, first rolled out in the United States on April 13, enables Amazon Audiences to be applied to Netflix campaigns via...
Google Unlikely to Tailor Spam Policy for EU Advantage
I have a hard time believing that Google will adjust a spam policy for just the EU. That would give news publishers in the EU an unfair advantage. And I highly doubt Google will get rid of the spam policy...
HMH Names Jessica Naeve CMO to Drive Data‑Driven Global Marketing
HMH announced Jessica Naeve as its new chief marketing officer. Naeve will steer the publisher's global, data‑informed digital marketing across curriculum, assessment and professional learning solutions. The hire signals HMH’s push to modernize outreach to educators worldwide.

On‑site Shoot Creates Fresh Content for Client Marketing
On site for another client this morning, capturing photos and videos that will be used for social media and marketing #video #videoshoot #marketing #smallbusiness

Meet Stan, Caitlin Clark's New Teammate
State Farm has transformed its long‑standing stanchion‑pad logo into a animated robot mascot named Stan, pairing him with WNBA star Caitlin Clark in a new advertising campaign. The spots debut with the opening night of the WNBA season and will...

SEO’s New Goal in 2026: Recognition, Not Rankings
The search ecosystem has shifted from ranking‑centric tactics to a recognition‑first model as AI overviews, large language models and zero‑click answers now dominate user journeys. Traditional #1 SERP positions no longer guarantee visibility because generative AI draws on brand citations,...

Week in Review: CTV and AI Dominate Ad Tech Earnings, Major Distributors Back Microdramas, and Kraft Heinz Ramps Up Ad...
Ad‑tech leaders The Trade Desk, PubMatic and Magnite all highlighted CTV and AI in their Q1 earnings, with mixed market reactions. The Trade Desk’s shares dropped 15% despite 12% revenue growth, while PubMatic and Magnite posted modest revenue gains driven...

New Claude Plugin Generates Viral LinkedIn Posts Instantly
Last week, I spent 7+ hours building a set of Claude Skills to help you write viral LinkedIn posts faster. The result? A Claude Cowork plugin anyone can install to write publish-ready LinkedIn posts in minutes. Now, I originally built this to share...

New AI Search Links, Core Update Winners And Losers – SEO Pulse via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google rolled out five tweaks that add inline links, end‑of‑answer citations, and public‑forum previews to AI Overviews and AI Mode, giving each reference more context. A March core update analysis shows aggregators such as YouTube, Reddit and travel OTAs losing...

Google Ads Expands Out‑of‑stock Display Options
Running Google Ads? This is a good change -> Out-of-Stock Product Landing Page Requirements Updated It used to be a single requirement for a grayed-out button... Advertisers can now indicate out-of-stock products with several options: *Display text such as “Sold Out” or “Item...

One Skillset that Everyone in the Industry Needs to Master
In this 1‑minute‑43‑second episode of The Voices of Search, host Jordan Cooney chats with growth advisor Kevin Indig about the common missteps teams make with AI‑driven search and the true drivers of online visibility. They argue that the essential skill...

Why Intent Alignment Matters More than Perfect Technical SEO
Once a site reaches technical parity with its rivals, further technical tweaks yield diminishing returns, and Google’s ranking algorithm shifts focus to relevance. Relevance is measured by how well a page’s content aligns with the searcher’s intent, influencing signals such...
Google AI Search Evolves; New Tools, Rankings Shift
SEO Video Recap covering Google Search black box AI systems, links improves in Google AI search, UCP checkout expands, ChatGPT Ad Manager live, Ask.com shutters, ranking volatility and so much more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyZx4i5UM3U Sponsored by @ahrefs

Google Ranking Volatility Spikes, Possible Unconfirmed Update
Google Search ranking volatility heating up today - May 8th - may be an unconfirmed Google update - what are you seeing https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-ranking-volatility-heated-41293.html #google #googleupdate #googlealgorithmupdate #googleseo #seo

Google Ads To Require Passkey For Certain Sensitive Actions After July 15
Google announced that, beginning July 15, 2026, Google Ads will require advertisers to use passkeys for certain sensitive actions. The policy shift follows a recent spike in account hijacks targeting the platform. Passkeys are password‑free credentials that rely on device‑based cryptography, making...

Doctors Must Google Themselves to Avoid Misidentification
Tag a physician who has never Googled their own name. They need to. Dr. Stephanie Waggel did, and the top result wasn’t her. It was a large corporate clinic she has no affiliation with. Save this before the next time...

AI Companies Are Selling Heartwarming Ads – They’re Racing To Automate Your Job via @Sejournal, @Gregjarboe
OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are running heart‑warming consumer ads that portray their AI as friendly household helpers, while simultaneously developing agentic systems that automate complex professional workflows. Their latest models—OpenAI’s GPT‑5.5, Google’s Gemini 3.1 Pro, and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.7—are being positioned to replace...

Earning Buyer Trust in an AI Driven Marketing World
Artificial intelligence now powers most demand‑generation tactics, with 96% of marketers deploying some form of AI. Yet the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer shows only 32% of U.S. respondents trust AI, creating a confidence gap that can stall B2B deals. The...

Soralios Launches AVAATR, an AI-Based Digital Cloning Platform for Professional Communication and Automation
Soralios announced AVAATR, an AI‑powered digital cloning platform that acts as a 24/7 “Better Self” for professionals. Unlike static clones, AVAATR can conduct voice and video conversations, integrate a user’s entire knowledge base, and operate across social, CRM, and meeting‑room...
The New York Times Grew Digital Ad Revenue 32% in Q1. Here’s How to Copy It
The New York Times posted a 31.6% year‑over‑year rise in digital advertising revenue in Q1 2026, reaching $93.3 million. The growth follows a 24.9% increase in the prior quarter, marking two straight quarters of outsized ad performance. Chief advertising officer Joy Robins credits a clear...
Advertising Week’s Tech Editorials Spotlight Agency Debt, Martech Overload and Quantum Marketing
Advertising Week’s tech editorial series this week highlighted five key themes: cultural roots of agency tech debt, the paradox of 15,000 martech tools, mid‑market programmatic complexity, collaborative data as a competitive edge, and a quantum‑marketing mindset. The pieces, authored by...
How to Connect Social KPIs to Larger Business Objectives
Patrick Pho, head of the content studio at Volkswagen of America, stresses that social media must be tied to clear business objectives to avoid wasted effort. He outlines a three‑step process: define a specific objective (exposure, consumption, or engagement), set...
CTV Evolves Into Guaranteed Performance Channel with LG Partnership
Last week at Possible Miami, I had the pleasure of hitting the stage with Serge Matta, President of LG Ad Solutions ((@LG_Ad_Solutions). Serge made the points that CTV is no longer just about "awareness" - it’s officially a performance channel. In fact...

AEO Beats SEO: Get Cited in AI Answers
SEO focused on ranking pages. AEO focuses on being cited in the answer. That changes: • how content is written • how it’s structured • what gets rewarded Buyers ask AI differently than they search Google. The companies getting cited are adapting to that first. https://t.co/oPV35z2aVm
A Love Letter to Hong Kong, a Fictional Country Star, and Thierry Henry in a K-Drama
Ad5’s latest roundup spotlights five standout campaigns across Asia and Europe. Cathay Pacific marked its 80th anniversary with a 10‑minute film that weaves Hong Kong nostalgia into brand storytelling. Thailand’s insurance‑driven road‑safety sign flips conventional messaging, while Woodstock Bourbon introduced a...
TikTok: Musicians' Ultimate Guide to Audience Growth
TikTok is the most powerful music discovery tool ever built. Here's everything you need to know about using it to grow your audience, straight from the musicians who've figured it out. https://t.co/qRVoz0fI6E
Content Marketers Must Evolve Into Editorial Guardians
Content marketers need to shift into more editorial roles. AI makes content *production* easier than ever, but you still need someone to oversee all the various activities and act as the quality bar/voice of taste. https://t.co/MvWpoOG3Gs

Write2Sell: My Welcome Email Formula Behind 21% On-the-Spot Upgrades
Writer Yana G. reports that 21% of new paid Substack subscribers upgrade on the spot after receiving her welcome email, far above industry norms. She attributes the lift to a conversion‑focused email built on a four‑part PPSA (Pain → Proof...
Research-Backed Content Earns Links and Authority
If your content is not earning links, ask why. Research does. It gives writers proof. It gives journalists sources. It gives your brand authority. Tools matter. Research dominates. https://t.co/PNytCOQeuq
Tailor Content per Platform: Subtle Remixes Boost Repurposing
Slight remixes of your content across every channel is the key to repurposing. https://t.co/M8688t4CuW modifies content based on your voice and the platform best practices.
Is ChatGPT Turning Into Yahoo! Or Netscape? (531)
In this episode the hosts dissect a wave of corporate missteps, from Apple’s $250 million settlement over misleading AI claims to OpenAI’s turbulent week, including missed user‑growth targets, revenue worries, internal lawsuits, and a new self‑service ad platform. They also explore...
2026 Social Media Job Ads: New Strategies Unveiled
Brainfood Live On Air - Ep377 - Job Advertising on Social Media in 2026 https://t.co/RdC3dRlfGy

SEO Delivered $80K Annual Value for SaaS
10 months of SEO for this SaaS. If you were paying for all this traffic, you'd be paying $6,638 per month. That's about $80,000/year. It'll increase further because the client won't stop doing SEO. What we did in the next tweet....

Netflix Awards India Media Mandate to Omnicom Media Group
Netflix has transferred its India media planning and buying mandate from Wavemaker to Omnicom Media Group after a multi‑agency pitch. The new contract covers both traditional and digital media channels, reflecting Netflix’s broader strategic overhaul of its Indian market approach....