With AI tools at everyone’s fingertips, what does “great” content writing mean in 2026?
Content writing is about using words and psychology to deliver value, earn trust, and move readers toward action.
It includes blog posts, social media content, newsletters, and white papers. Or it can be scripts for video, podcasts, and presentations.
Content Type
Purpose
Key Characteristics
Blog posts
Educate; build brand awareness and authority
In-depth, structured, research-backed
Social media posts
Engage, entertain, build community
Conversational, visual, platform-specific
Email newsletters
Nurture relationships; drive action
Personal tone, value-driven, scannable
Video/podcast scripts
Entertain; educate through audio/visual
Conversational, paced for speech, engaging hooks
Presentations/webinars
Educate and engage viewers for awareness
Educational, crisp content presented visually
Unlike copywriting, which persuades the audience to take an action, content writing builds trust through teaching.
Thanks to AI tools, filling pages is easier and faster than ever.
And as content becomes easier to produce, attention becomes harder to earn — whether readers are scrolling social feeds, skimming search results, or asking AI tools for quick answers.
The best content writers bring a full toolkit: deep research, sharp critical thinking, strategic judgment, and the ability to apply those strengths in ways AI can’t replicate.
In this guide, you’ll learn eight content writing skills that set top performers apart, shaped by my work with leading brands and insights from my colleagues at Backlinko.
Important: Research and editing are learnable skills. But the instinct for what makes content memorable — what makes someone stop scrolling, what creates emotional resonance — that’s the human layer AI can’t recreate.
1. Build and Hone Your Research Skills
Strong research is what separates fluff from content people trust.
Here’s how to build a hands-on research process.
Start with Your Audience
Audience research is the easiest way to understand your readers: their pain points, goals, and hesitations.
Start your research in a few simple but effective ways:
Mine social media platforms to find emotional drivers behind buying decisions
Skim product reviews to learn what excites or frustrates your audience
Talk directly to your audience through polls, surveys, or 1:1 interviews
Browse community forums to see real conversations around your subject
For example, if you’re writing about the “best SaaS tools,” don’t rely on generic feature lists to inspire your content.
Rosanna Campbell, a senior writer for Backlinko, shares what she looks for when researching an audience:
At a minimum, I like to spend time learning the jargon, current issues, etc., affecting my target reader — usually by lurking on platforms like Reddit, Quora, industry forums, LinkedIn threads, etc. I’ll also find one or two leading voices and read some of their recent content.
But you don’t have to do all the heavy lifting yourself.
AI can speed up much of this process.
Note: AI won’t write great content for you, but it can streamline your research and editing process. Throughout this guide, I’ve included prompts to help you work smarter and faster — not let AI do the thinking for you.
For instance, Michael Ofei, our managing editor, uses a strategic prompt to aggregate audience insights from multiple channels.
Copy/paste this prompt into any AI tool to jumpstart your research (just update your topic description first).
You are a content strategist researching audience pain points for: [TOPIC DESCRIPTION]
RESEARCH SOURCES: Analyze discussions from Reddit, Quora, YouTube comments, LinkedIn posts, and People Also Ask sections from the last 12 months.
PAIN POINT CRITERIA:
Written as first-person “I” statements
Specific and actionable (not vague)
Include emotional context where relevant
Reflect different sophistication levels (beginner to advanced)
OUTPUT FORMAT: First, suggest 3-5 pain point categories for this topic’s user journey.
Then create a table with:
Category (from your suggested categories)
Pain Point Statement (first person)
User Level (Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced – use one for each pain point)
Emotional Intensity (Low/Medium/High)
Semantic Queries (related searches)
Aim for 8-12 total pain points that help content rank for both traditional search and LLM responses. Provide only the essential table output, minimize explanatory text.
After using this prompt for the topic “journalist outreach,” Michael received a helpful list of pain points mapped to user level and emotional intensity.
Perform a Search Analysis
Next, it’s time to review organic search results to assess what content already exists and where you can add value.
Chris Shirlow, our senior editor, stresses the importance of looking closely at who’s ranking and how when studying search results:
Analyzing search results gives me a quick pulse on the topic: how people are talking about it, what questions they’re asking, and even what pain points are showing up. From there, I can identify gaps, spot patterns in language and structure, and figure out how to create something that adds value, rather than just echoing what’s already out there.
Pay attention to:
Content depth: Is the content shallow (short posts) or comprehensive (long guides)?
Authority: Who’s ranking — big brands, niche experts, or smaller sites?
Visuals: What kind of visuals can make your content stand out?
Gaps and missing angles: What’s missing that you could add?
Then, repeat the same process with large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.
AI has changed how people discover and consume information.
This means it’s no longer enough to rank on Google; your content also needs to surface in AI-generated answers.
Notice the type of insights coming up in AI-generated responses, and find gaps in the results.
Pay attention to the frequently cited brands and content formats to understand what AI considers “trusted.”
Study those articles closely to see how they’re earning citations and mentions.
Map Out Key Topics with Content Tools
Tools like Semrush’s Topic Research also help you learn more about the topics your audience is interested in.
Enter a topic like “lifecycle email marketing” and you’ll get a visual map of related themes like “loyalty program” and “segmenting your audience.”
This gives you insight into the subtopics to cover, questions to answer, and angles that resonate with your audience.
2. Find Fresh Angles to Create Standout Content
Don’t fall into the trap of rehashing what’s already ranking.
Find new angles and content ideas to break through the crowd.
Angles come from tension. This can be a surprising insight, a common mistake, a high-stakes story, or a view that challenges the norm.
Without tension, you’re just adding to the noise. Here’s how to find them.
Find Gaps in Existing Content
Study the top-ranking and frequently cited articles for your topic, and see what’s missing.
It could be:
Shallow sections that need a deeper analysis
Topics explained without visuals, examples, or case studies
Predictable “safe takes” that ignore alternative perspectives and bold advice
Use this framework to document these gaps.
Content Gap
What to Assess
Depth
Is the content surface-level? Are key topics rushed, repetitive, or missing nuance?
Evidence
Are claims backed by credible proof like examples, case studies, data, or visuals?
Perspective
Does it repeat what everyone else is saying, or bring a fresh angle?
Format
Is the information structured logically and easy to scan?
Consider Opportunities for Information Gain
Information gain adds unique value to your content compared to the existing content on the same topic.
Think original data, free templates, and new strategies.
Basically, it helps your content stand out from the crowd. And creates an “aha” moment for your readers.
Use these tips to add information gain to your articles:
Find concrete proof: Support your claims with original research, case studies, quotes, or real examples from your own experience or industry experts
Expand on throwaway insights: Take loosely discussed ideas and cover them in detail with additional context, data, and actionable takeaways
Counter predictable advice: Stand out with contrarian perspectives, exceptions, or overlooked approaches
Address unanswered questions: Find what confuses readers and fill those gaps with your content
At Backlinko, our writers and editors consider information gain early in outlining to uncover gaps and add value from the start.
Here’s how our senior editor, Shannon Willoby, approaches it:
I try not to default to common industry sources when gathering research. Everyone pulls from these, which is why you’ll often see industry blogs all quoting the same people, statistics, and insights. Instead, I look for lesser-known sources for information gain, like podcasts with industry experts, webinar transcripts, niche newsletters, and conference presentations. AI tools can also help with this task, but you’ll have to thoroughly vet the recommendations.
In my own article on ecommerce SEO audits, I proposed a simplified, goal-based structure for the outline, with an actionable checklist — something missing from existing content.
This approach gave readers a clearer roadmap instead of just another generic audit guide.
Use AI as a Creativity Multiplier
AI content tools make great sparring partners that enhance your thinking.
For instance, Shannon shares her process for using AI to refine her research.
Once I’ve drafted my main points, I’ll ask ChatGPT or Claude a question like, ‘What’s the next question a reader might have after this?’ This helps me spot gaps and add supporting details that make the article more valuable to the audience.
The following prompts can help you find deeper angles and improve your audience alignment:
How to use AI to improve content
Prompts
Find blind spots
Here’s my research for an article on [topic]. What questions or objections would readers still have after going through this? List gaps I should address to make it feel more complete.
Challenge assumptions
I’m arguing that [insert your point]. Play devil’s advocate: what would be the strongest counterarguments against this view, and what evidence could support them?
Explore alternative perspectives
Rewrite this idea as if you were speaking to: (a) a total beginner, (b) a mid-level practitioner, and (c) a skeptic. Show me how each group would interpret or question it differently.
3. Back Up Your Points with Evidence
Evidence-backed content gives weight to your arguments and makes abstract ideas easier to digest.
It also helps your content stick in readers’ minds long after they’ve clicked away.
This includes firsthand examples, data, case studies, and expert insights.
The key is using reputable, industry-leading sources in your content writing. And backing up claims with verifiable proof.
Pro tip: LLMs favor evidence-backed content when generating responses — boosting both your authority as a writer and your clients’ visibility.
Here’s how different types of evidence can strengthen your content:
Recent research data: Backs up trends and industry shifts with hard numbers
Case studies: Proves outcomes are achievable with real-world results
Expert quotes: Adds credibility when challenging assumptions or introducing new ideas
Examples: Makes abstract concepts concrete and relatable
4. Structure Your Ideas in a Detailed Outline
An outline organizes your ideas and insights into a clear structure before you start writing.
It maps out the key sections you’ll cover, supporting evidence, and the order in which you’ll present your points.
I included a working headline, H2s, and main points. I also added my plans for information gain.
This shows clients or employers how you’ll deliver unique value — and keeps you focused on differentiating your content from the start.
To get started with your outline, think of your core argument: what’s the most important takeaway you want readers to leave with?
From there, use the inverted pyramid to create an intuitive structure.
Include the most important details at the start of every section, then layer additional context as you go.
Pro tip: Save time with Semrush’s SEO Brief Generator. Add your topic and keywords, and it generates a solid outline instantly. From there, you can refine it with your own research and insights.
5. Develop Your Unique Writing Voice
Two people can write about the same topic.
But the one with a distinct voice is the one people quote, bookmark, and remember.
Assess Your Writing Personality
To define your writing personality, start by analyzing how you naturally communicate.
Look at your emails, Slack messages, and social posts.
Notice patterns in tone, humor, pacing, analogies, pop-culture references, or how often you use data and stats.
Then, distill these insights into a few adjectives that describe how you want to sound.
Like professional, insightful, and authoritative.
Use these to guide your writing voice.
For example, let’s say your adjectives are conversational, humorous, and authentic.
Here’s how that might look in practice:
Conversational: Short sentences with casual, relatable language. “Let’s be real — writing your first draft is 90% staring at a blinking cursor.”
Humorous: Use wit or funny references to engage readers. Instead of “Most introductions are too long,” you might say, “Most intros drag on longer than a Marvel end-credit scene.”
Authentic: Add stories from your lived experiences to make people feel seen. “When I first launched my blog, my mom was my only reader for six months.”
Get Inspired by Your Favorite Writers
To keep sharpening your voice, study writers you admire.
Pay attention to their rhythm, tone, and structure.
What terms do they use? How do they hold your attention — whether in a long-form blog post or a quick LinkedIn update?
Borrow what works, then put your own spin on it so it still sounds like you.
Adapt to Your Clients’ Voices
As a content writer, clients and employers will often expect you to adapt your writing to their brand voice.
This might mean adjusting your tone, pacing, or word choice to match their brand’s personality.
Study a few of their blog posts or emails to understand their style.
Note patterns in rhythm and vocabulary, and mirror those in your draft — without losing what makes your writing yours.
AI tools can help you check how well your draft matches your client’s voice.
Upload both the brand’s voice guidelines and your draft to an LLM and use this prompt:
I’ve added the brand voice guidelines and my draft for this brand.
Compare my draft against the guidelines and tell me:
Where my tone, word choice, or style drifts away from the brand voice
Specific sentences I should rewrite to better match the guidelines
Suggestions for how to make the overall flow feel more consistent with the brand voice
6. Add Rich Media to Improve Scannability
Even the best ideas lose impact when hidden behind walls of text.
Plus, research shows that most people skim web pages. Their eyes dart to headlines, opening lines, and anything that stands out visually.
That’s why adding visual breaks, such as images, screenshots, and tables, is so important.
Visual content works well when you want to illustrate a point.
It also simplifies or amplifies ideas that are hard to convey with text alone.
As Chris Hanna, our senior editor, puts it:
Often, words alone just won’t make full sense in the reader’s mind, or they won’t have the desired impact on their own. Anytime you’d personally prefer to see a visual explanation, it’s worth thinking about how you can convey it through visuals. If you can imagine watching a video on the topic you’re writing about, use that as your guide for how you could illustrate it with graphics.
Here are a few places where infographics can supplement your writing:
Comparisons:
Tables or side-by-side visuals
Frameworks and models:
Diagrams or matrices
Workflows and processes:
Flowcharts or timelines
Abstract concepts:
Layered visuals (like Venn diagrams)
At Backlinko, we track visual break density (VBD) — the ratio of visuals to text.
Our goal is a visual break density of 12% or higher for every article.
That’s about 12 visuals (images, GIFs, callout boxes, or tables) per 1,000 words to keep content easy to scan and engaging.
Here’s how this looks in practice:
We do this to improve the readability, retention, and engagement of our articles, from start to finish.
7. Understand How to Sell Through Your Content
Every piece of content sells something — a product, a signup, a return visit.
But good content doesn’t read like a pitch.
It gently nudges people to take action by building trust and solving real problems.
Lead with Value
This is what Klaviyo, an email marketing platform, does through its blog content.
They include helpful examples, original data, and actionable tips in their content writing.
But they also weave in product mentions that feel helpful, not salesy.
There are case studies, screenshots, and examples that show how real clients used their platform to increase revenue.
This is smart for a few reasons.
It proves their expertise, reinforces how their product solves real problems, and delivers value — even if the reader never becomes a customer.
Focus on Outcomes, Not Features
People don’t care what a company offers — they care what it helps them achieve.
Features talk about what you offer. Outcomes show people how they can benefit.
Here’s what this looks like in practice:
Feature-driven writing
Outcome-driven writing
“Redesigned homepage using Figma and custom CSS”
“After my redesign, load time dropped to 2 seconds and conversions jumped 40%. Here’s how I planned it.”
“Our tool automates monthly reporting.”
“One agency cut reporting time from 5 hours to 1 and reinvested those 4 hours into client growth. Let’s break down this workflow to help you achieve similar results.”
Show people you understand their frustrations by baking their pain points into your content writing.
When readers sense you’ve been in their shoes, they’re more open to your advice.
Take this HubSpot CRM product page, for example.
It highlights real frustrations — setup hassles, messy migrations, lost data — the exact headaches their audience feels.
Then, it shifts to outcomes with copy like “unified data” and higher productivity from “day one.”
That’s outcome-driven content writing. It connects with the audience immediately and makes the benefits crystal clear.
Share Your Firsthand Struggles
Authority matters, but so does humility.
Be honest about your wins and failures. It makes your content feel real.
Here’s an example from one of my Backlinko articles where I shared my struggles with creating a social media calendar:
I relate to the audience with language like “too many tabs” and “overwhelming categorization.”
And provide a free calendar template so readers can apply what they learn.
Pro tip: Free resources, such as tools, frameworks, and templates, make your content more actionable. Even a simple checklist or worksheet can help readers take the next step, and make your work far more memorable.
8. Finalize Your Work
Here’s the truth: your first draft is never your best draft.
Editing is where your content truly comes alive.
Step Away from Your Draft
One of the simplest editing tricks in the book? Give your draft some breathing room.
Chris Shirlow, our senior content editor, explains why:
Spend too much time in an article and you lose all perspective. Take a walk, sleep on it, or do something totally unrelated. When you come back, you’ll see what’s working — and what’s not — much more clearly.
It may take a few rounds of editing and refining before you get everything just right:
Round 1 (quick wins): Go through the article. Does it flow logically? Is it easy to understand? Do your examples clearly illustrate the core ideas?
Round 2 (structure): Ask AI for editing feedback. What are you missing? Does the structure/writing flow naturally? Is there any room to add more value?
Round 3 (polish): Tighten sentences, transitions, audience alignment, and examples
Here’s a prompt you can use for Round 2:
You are an expert editor specializing in long-form content writing. Please analyze my draft on the topic [ADD TOPIC] for its structure, flow, and reader experience.
Specifically, give feedback and suggestions on:
Structure: Are the sections ordered logically? Does each section build on the previous one?
Depth and focus: Which parts feel under-explained or too detailed? How can I tighten or expand them to improve the flow?
Reader journey: Where might readers drop off or lose context?
Summarize your feedback into 3–5 actionable editing priorities.
Pro tip: AI suggestions feel generic? Train the tool on your style first. Both Claude and ChatGPT let you upload writing samples and guidelines so their suggestions align with your voice.
Prioritize Clarity Over Cleverness
If your audience has to re-read a sentence to understand it, you’ve lost them.
As Yongi Barnard, our senior content writer, says:
A clever turn of phrase is nice, but the goal is for readers to understand your point immediately. Edit out any language that makes them pause to figure out what you mean.
Take a quick litmus test: Is this sentence/phrase/word here because it helps my audience, or because I like how it sounds?
You’ll know a sentence/phrase needs to be cut if it…
Slows down the flow
Makes the point harder to understand
Is redundant
Common issues in content writing (and how to fix them) include:
Problem Areas
Weak Example
Strong Example
Wordiness
“At this point in time, in order to improve your rankings, you need to be focusing on the basics of SEO.”
“To improve rankings, focus on SEO basics.”
Jargon
“We need to leverage synergies across verticals.”
“We need different teams to work together.”
Abstract Claims
“Content quality is important for SEO success.”
“Sites that publish in-depth content (2,000+ words) rank higher than thin pages.”
Build Your Personal Editing Checklist
Every writer has blind spots: repeated grammar errors, overused words, or formatting mistakes.
That’s why Yongi suggests creating a personal editing checklist that includes common errors and recurring feedback from editors.
Chris Hanna suggests going through the checklist before submitting your draft:
Run a cmd+F (Mac) or CTRL+F (Windows) search in the doc each time. It’ll help you catch the most important but easy-to-fix errors.
Over time, you’ll naturally make fewer mistakes.
Here’s an editing checklist to get you started:
The Self-Editing Checklist
Big picture
Does the piece serve the reader (not me)?
Is the main takeaway crystal clear from the start?
Does the flow make sense, with each section leading naturally to the next?
Clarity and value
Is every section genuinely useful, not filler?
Did I back up claims with examples, data, or stories?
Did I explain the ideas simply enough that my target readers would get it?
Language and style
Am I prioritizing clarity over cleverness?
Are any sentences too long or clunky — could I cut or split them?
Did I cut filler words (actually, very, really, in order to, due to the fact that)?
Engagement
Did I vary sentence lengths?
Does the tone feel human — not robotic, not overly formal?
Is there at least a touch of personality (humor, storytelling, relatability)?
Polish
Are transitions smooth between sections?
Did I run a spell-check and grammar-check?
Did I read it out loud (or edit bottom-up) to catch awkward phrasing?
Did I run through my personal “repeat offender” list (words/phrases I overuse)?
Final Pass
Did I add relevant internal links?
Does the article end with a clear, valuable takeaway?
Did I include a natural next step (CTA, resource, or link) without sounding pushy?
Pro tip: Use a free tool like Hemingway Editor to tighten your writing. It gives you a readability grade and highlights long sentences, passive voice, and other clarity issues.
How to Become a Content Writer: A Quick Roadmap
If you’re starting from scratch, don’t worry — every great content writer began exactly where you are.
Here’s how to build momentum and get noticed.
Find a Niche You’re Passionate About
The fastest way to level up as a writer? Specialize.
Niching down builds authority — and makes clients trust you faster.
Passion: You care enough to keep learning and writing when it gets tough
Potential: There’s growing demand for this information
Profitability: Businesses invest in content on this topic
Pro tip: Validate before you commit. Check job boards, freelance platforms, and brand blogs to see who’s hiring and publishing in that niche. If both interest and demand line up, you’ve found a winner.
Build Expertise and Authority in Your Niche
Once you pick a niche, become a trusted voice.
This gives you multiple advantages:
Traditional and AI search engines see your content as authoritative
Readers are more likely to trust what you say
Your content is more likely to be shared and quoted
Start with what you know. Draw from your own experiences to add depth and credibility.
For example, the travel writer India Amos built her authority by writing firsthand reviews.
Her Business Insider piece about a ferry ride is grounded in real experience, making the content trustworthy and relatable.
But don’t limit yourself to content writing for clients. Get your name out there.
Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini: AI search insight and prompt-based content discovery
Pro tip: Consider pursuing niche-specific certifications to stand out. This is especially helpful in “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) fields like finance, health, or law, where expertise and trust matter most.
Show Proof of Work with a Portfolio
A portfolio showcases what you bring to the table and provides proof of your accomplishments as a writer.
But you don’t have to spend weeks (or months) building one.
What matters most is what’s inside your portfolio, such as:
A short intro about who you are and what you offer
Writing samples that showcase your expertise
Testimonials or references
Contact information
Tools like Notion, Contra, Authory, and Bento let you design a portfolio in minutes.
For instance, here’s my Authory portfolio:
I like this platform because it automatically adds all articles credited to my name.
You can also invest in a website for more control and search visibility.
I did both — having a portfolio and website helps me improve my online visibility:
LinkedIn can also double as your portfolio.
Add details about each client and link to your articles in the “Experience” section of your profile.
Share your on-the-job insights, feature testimonials, and engage in relevant conversations.
And don’t forget to post your favorite work, from blog posts to copywriting.
Unlike a static site, LinkedIn keeps you visible in real time.
Future-Proof Your Content Writing Skills
Use what you’ve learned here to create content that builds your reputation and lands clients.
Because great content writing doesn’t just fill pages. It opens doors.
And as AI continues to reshape the content world, the best writers don’t resist it — they evolve with it.
So, don’t fear artificial intelligence as a writer. Use it to your advantage.
Read our guide:How to Use AI to Create Exceptional Content. It’s packed with practical workflows, expert insights, and handy prompts that will help you work smarter and stay ahead.
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This first release of 2026 brings Site Kit by Google insights into your Yoast SEO Dashboard. After introducing the integration in phases throughout 2025, we are pleased to share that the rollout is now complete and available to all Yoast customers using WordPress.
What you can see in your Yoast SEO Dashboard
You can now view key performance data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics via Site Kit in your Yoast SEO Dashboard, without changing tools or tabs. These insights include search impressions, clicks, average click through rate, average position, and organic sessions, which are combined with your Yoast SEO and readability scores so you can better understand how content quality relates to real search performance.
Find opportunities faster
The integration also surfaces your top performing content and search queries, helping you quickly spot which pages and topics are driving results and where improvements may have the most impact. Connecting Site Kit by Google is straightforward. Once connected, insights become available immediately, giving you faster access to the data you need to guide your SEO work.
If you are interested in the technical background of this integration and our collaboration with Google, we share the full story on our developer blog.
Get started
Update to Yoast SEO 26.7 to start using Site Kit by Google insights in your Dashboard and streamline your workflow with key performance data in one place. For step by step guidance on enabling the integration, see our help center guide.
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The way people discover brands has changed faster than most teams realize. Visibility does not start on your website anymore. It begins in the places where people trade unfiltered opinions such as Reddit threads, TikTok videos, YouTube reviews, niche forums, expert interviews, creator breakdowns, and news articles.
These are the signals AI tools and search engines now rely on. They mirror the conversations people trust most. If your brand is not present in those conversations, you are handing visibility to someone else.
Digital PR sits in the middle of this shift. Not as a press release machine, but as the strategy that fuels the narrative across the platforms and communities that feed Google, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and every major language model.
This article breaks down how to use digital PR, social media content, and community engagement to increase discoverability everywhere people search today.
Key Takeaways
People move across 11 or more platforms while researching, comparing, and validating decisions. Your brand needs to meet them across those touchpoints.
Forums like Reddit and niche communities carry firsthand experience, which is why Google and language models are pulling them directly into search results.
Short-form video has become a high-impact discovery surface both inside social platforms and on Google page one.
Digital PR fuels AI visibility by supplying the fresh, authoritative, third-party information that language models prefer.
SEO becomes more powerful when PR, social content, and community insights work together.
The New Discovery Journey and Why Visibility Starts Beyond Your Website
A few years ago, someone looking for a new espresso machine would have gone straight to Google. They would have clicked a few product pages and made a decision. That journey looks nothing like what consumers do today.
Now they might ask ChatGPT for recommendations, check TikTok for short-form reviews, watch long breakdowns on YouTube, scan Reddit for real-world pros and cons, and then head to Google for price comparisons or final research.
By the time someone reaches your website, they already formed opinions based on content across half a dozen platforms.
This is the messy middle. It is where brands win or lose visibility.
People are searching more often and in more places. Google reflects this change. Page one now includes short-form videos, Reddit threads, social carousels, media articles, and AI Overviews. This is not a reinvention of search. It is Google responding to real user behavior.
To stay visible, your brand needs to show up where people learn, evaluate, and talk, not just where they click.
Why Forums and Community Conversations Matter More Than Ever
Reddit and niche forums are not fringe communities anymore. Reddit alone is projected to pass 1.5 billion monthly active users in 2026. The scale matters, but the reason it impacts search runs deeper.
Forums contain the firsthand experiences that AI and search engines trust.
Let’s talk a bit more about Reddit. Reddit content appears in at least four locations.
Reddit search.
Subreddit communities.
Reddit Answers, which is the platform’s AI search tool.
Google’s search results, especially in the Discussions and Forums section.
This means a well-written Reddit thread can live for years and continue influencing decisions long after the original post.
There are other reasons why forum and community content is so important today.
Forums Shape Brand Perception Faster Than Brands Realize
These conversations happen with or without you. People share frustrations, recommendations, and detailed use cases that no brand site ever captures.
Many brands worry Reddit is hostile. In reality, it performs well when brands participate genuinely and respectfully. NP Digital activated Reddit profiles for two major brands. One saw one hundred percent positive or neutral sentiment on every comment. The other reached ninety-eight point seven percent positive. Yet general Reddit conversation about the same brand sat around forty-one percent positive.
The difference was authentic participation that added value to the community.
Reddit Drives Traffic and Influences Search Behavior
Some brands have seen organic declines this year because users spend more time researching on social platforms and forums. Reddit helps fill that gap by driving referral traffic. If people are searching for “best espresso machines Reddit”, you want your brand involved in those discussions or at least contributing useful insights.
With these notes in mind, you don’t want to rush into a Reddit strategy. Follow a progression that respects the community. At NP Digital, we recommend sticking to a crawl-walk-run strategy.
Answer questions honestly. Participate in low-risk threads. Add context or correct misinformation. Avoid promotion entirely.
Run
Launch a brand subreddit if needed. Build content pillars. Create new threads that contribute information. Scale moderation and community responses.
Once your brand understands the culture and adds value, Reddit becomes a powerful discovery engine and insight tool.
Social Search as a Visibility Engine
Social is no longer just a place to publish helpful content. It has become a core part of the search journey for both consumers and business decision-makers. Sixty-seven percent of social users rely on social search at some point in their purchase process. That shift alone explains why Google has started indexing more social posts in page one results, including TikToks, LinkedIn posts, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram videos.
For example, if you search for a term like VPS hosting, you will often see a carousel labeled “What People Are Saying” that blends Reddit threads, TikToks, LinkedIn posts, and YouTube content in one feed.
Google is pulling from the places people already trust. It is a direct signal that social engagement and social authority now influence how visible a brand becomes across multiple search surfaces.
Social search depends on two things. You need keywords people are actively searching for, and you need content that earns engagement. Keyword research happens inside each platform. TikTok’s Creator Search Insights, Instagram’s autocomplete, YouTube’s search can all reveal the questions and topics users care about. Once you know those keywords, place them where platforms can detect them. Captions, spoken audio, on-screen text, subtitles, and alt text are all signals that help social platforms and search engines understand your content.
Engagement plays the second role. Social performs well when content feels timely, helpful, or relatable. It does not require studio production. You need clear audio, a strong hook, and information that teaches or entertains. Short-form video remains one of the most effective ways to earn reach, both inside social platforms and across search results. It is visible, digestible, and easy for people to interact with quickly.
How Platforms Understand Keywords
Platforms are using audio transcription, text recognition, caption scanning, and behavioral signals to understand what your content is about. Hashtags still help in some cases, but they are not the main factor anymore. If you say the keyword in your video, write it on screen, and include it in your caption, platforms know the topic and can connect your content to the right search behavior.
Why UGC and Employee-Generated Content Matter
User-generated content has been an effective marketing tool for years because it feels relatable and trustworthy. Now it plays a role in discoverability as well. Employee-generated videos carry even more authority because they combine authenticity with expertise. They help social content rise faster and make your presence stronger across search and AI surfaces.
Social search works best when keyword strategy, content quality, and audience signals all point in the same direction. When those elements align, your videos and posts can appear across multiple platforms, gain reach quickly, and support the rest of your visibility strategy.
How Digital PR Fuels AI Overviews, LLM Citations, and Brand Visibility
AI search tools and language models work by gathering information from sources they consider reliable. They scan news articles, expert commentary, public forums, brand websites, and structured datasets. The goal is simple. They want to provide information that feels trustworthy, current, and grounded in real experience.
Digital PR supports this optimization ecosystem by producing brand information that is easy for AI tools to interpret and cite. Data studies, surveys, annual roundups, expert insight, and product comparisons all fall into content types that language models treat as credible. When this information exists across reputable publications, media outlets, and authoritative websites, AI systems have more material to work with. That increases the chances of being referenced when users search for answers.
Recency also plays a strong role. In one example, news coverage tied to a press release led to AI Overview citations within a couple of days. This shows how quickly language models can incorporate new information when it comes from a trusted source. Fresh material signals relevance.
Where coverage appears also influences visibility. Some publishers partner with AI companies or contribute more frequently to the datasets models learn from. Securing placement with these outlets increases the likelihood that the information will be integrated into AI responses. Add community discussions from platforms like Reddit or structured content from first-party research, and brands create a multi-layered presence that AI tools can draw from.
This approach has measurable impact. Several brands that we’ve worked with at NP Digital saw substantial growth in referrals from AI tools. The increases ranged from nearly one thousand percent to more than sixteen hundred percent within a year.
Digital PR is a key part of all this success, helping supply the authoritative signals, data, and context that help AI tools understand a brand’s expertise. As search expands across platforms and models, PR becomes part of the information layer that shapes how brands are represented wherever users look for answers.
Bringing It All Together: How to Build a Unified Search Everywhere Strategy
With this in mind, let’s talk about using a strategy that leans on all these different levers to ensure an article on say, the most secure web browser, earns the most value by appearing where the ideal audience would be, versus forcing the fit.
Here is what a unified workflow would look like in those circumstances:
Create a first-party study that tests browser security.
Turn the findings into multiple assets. YouTube videos, Shorts, TikToks, Reels, media pitches, bylines, and Reddit threads.
Join relevant subreddit conversations that mention browser security and contribute insights or data.
Pitch journalists covering the topic.
Reach out to writers of existing articles to provide updated data that improves the piece.
Repurpose your content across newsletters, blog posts, paid ads, and social channels.
This is not just traditional SEO. This is visibility architecture. You are building a presence across every surface where people search, compare, and validate decisions. Search engines and AI tools follow those signals.
FAQs
How quickly can a brand appear in AI Overviews?
When a brand distributes fresh, authoritative information and earns credible media coverage, inclusion can happen in a matter of days.
Should every brand activate on Reddit?
Every brand should at least listen on Reddit. Activation makes sense once you understand the community and can contribute meaningfully. Listening alone offers valuable insights into customer needs, sentiment, and content opportunities.
Does social content influence search visibility?
Yes. Google increasingly pulls social posts and short-form videos into search results. High engagement on social platforms often correlates with stronger visibility across search surfaces.
What makes AI cite one brand more often than another?
Language models cite sources that appear reliable, current, widely referenced, and easy to interpret. Digital PR accelerates this by producing data, expert insight, and media mentions that models treat as credible.
Conclusion
People search everywhere now. They ask questions on social platforms, browse forums, follow creators, read news, and use AI tools before they ever visit a brand’s website. The brands winning visibility are shaping conversations in those places. They are publishing authoritative content, creating engaging social experiences, and participating in the communities that influence decisions.
Digital PR, social content, and community engagement support all of this. When these channels work together, your brand becomes easier to find across every surface where people search.
Starting in March 2026, Google Merchant Center will enforce a new system for multi-channel products — items sold both online and in physical stores — requiring advertisers to use separate product IDs when those products differ by channel.
What’s changing. Under the new approach, online product attributes will become the default. If a product’s in-store details differ, advertisers will need to create a second version with a distinct product ID and manage it independently in their feeds.
What advertisers should do. Google has started emailing affected accounts, flagging products that need updates ahead of the March deadline. Retailers should review their product data feeds now to ensure online and in-store items are properly segmented — especially if they rely on Local Inventory Ads or sell across multiple Google surfaces.
Why we care. Many retailers currently manage online and in-store versions of the same product under a single ID. Google’s update changes that assumption, pushing advertisers to explicitly separate products when attributes like price, availability, or condition aren’t identical.
The big picture. This update gives Google cleaner, more consistent product data across channels, but shifts more feed management responsibility onto advertisers — particularly large retailers with complex inventories.
First seen. The update and news of Google’s comms was first mentioned by PPC News Feed founder Hana Kobzová.
Bottom line. If your online and in-store products aren’t truly identical, Google will soon require you to treat them as separate items, or risk issues with visibility and eligibility.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/merchant-multi-channel-products-6mfOLg.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=17201280http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2026-01-06 17:41:142026-01-06 17:41:14Google to require separate product IDs for multi-channel items
Google is updating its advertising policies to allow ads for Prediction Markets in the U.S. starting January 21st — but only for federally regulated entities.
Who qualifies. Eligibility is limited to entities authorized by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) whose primary business is listing exchange-listed event contracts, or brokerages registered with the National Futures Association (NFA) that offer access to products listed by qualifying DCMs. Advertisers must also apply for Google certification to run ads in the U.S.
Why we care. Prediction markets have long been restricted on Google Ads. This change opens a new advertising channel while keeping tight controls around compliance and regulation. The narrow eligibility and certification requirements mean only compliant, federally regulated players can participate, potentially reducing competition. For qualifying advertisers, this offers earlier access to a high-intent audience within a tightly controlled ad environment.
The fine print. All ads, products, and landing pages must comply with applicable local laws, financial regulations, industry standards, and Google Ads policies. The new policy will appear in the Advertising Policies Help Center, with references in the Financial Services and Gambling and Games sections, and is available now for preview.
The big picture. Google is cautiously expanding access for prediction markets by recognizing them as regulated financial products — while continuing to block unregulated platforms.
The new year is here, which means it’s time to deliver your end-of-year (EOY) PPC report.
But an EOY report isn’t just a longer version of your monthly performance check-in.
It’s typically read by a different audience – often leadership teams who don’t see your regular reporting – and it needs to tell a different story.
Done well, your year-end report sets the tone for 2026, earns buy-in for your strategy, and positions you as a strategic partner rather than just a campaign manager.
Done poorly, it creates confusion and undermines confidence in your work.
Here’s how to build an EOY PPC report that speaks to leadership and sets your work up for success in the year ahead.
1. Identify your audience and their priorities
You wouldn’t launch a new campaign without clearly defined goals and audiences.
Don’t do it with your EOY report, either. Different stakeholders evaluate performance through very different lenses.
For example, among the clients I’m preparing reports for this year are:
A leadership team I’ve never met (despite working with this client for eight years) that wants a maximum five-page report at a very high level.
A data-driven CEO who wants a clear narrative connecting PPC spend, decisions, and outcomes.
A new director who wants context on the competitive landscape, performance, and specific opportunities for next year.
If I were to use a carbon-copy EOY report template for all of them, I’d have at best one happy leadership team and two confused or frustrated teams.
I don’t care for those odds. Instead, I’m customizing each report to match the readers and their specific needs.
If you don’t know the recipients (and if you’re at an agency, there’s a good chance you don’t), ask your primary contact questions like:
Who will be receiving the report?
What do they care about most?
What’s top of mind for them heading into next year?
What decisions will they be making based on this report?
The answers should directly inform the report’s structure, depth, metrics, and length.
When your audience is clearly defined upfront, the final report is far more likely to drive clarity, alignment, and confidence.
2. Create an easy-to-read executive summary
Your executive summary has one job – help leadership quickly understand how PPC performed across key metrics.
Think of it as the “at a glance” page that sets the context for everything that follows.
If you studied communications formally, you probably learned to write executive summaries last, even though they appear first.
Since you’re pulling data rather than crafting prose, flip that approach.
Build this section first to guide the flow of what comes next.
Lead with the KPIs that matter most
Start with the metrics your audience actually cares about – the ones that were established as priorities at the beginning of the engagement or year.
This will usually include revenue, leads, and conversions, but your mileage may vary.
If your leadership team obsesses over market share or engagement, lead with those instead.
Include meaningful benchmarks
Unless your leadership team is dialed into PPC goals and performance, you need to give them benchmarks so they have a comparison tool.
Use at least one of these three key benchmarks:
Year-over-year performance: How did this year stack up against last year?
Performance against target: Did we hit the goals we set out to achieve?
Industry benchmarks: How do we compare to competitors or industry averages?
In the example below, I’m showing revenue, ROAS, and cost for the year, with both percentage changes and raw numbers from the previous year.
This format does the heavy lifting for busy executives.
At a quick glance, they know what happened and whether it’s good news.
More importantly, it sets the stage for invisible CTAs and the deeper analysis that follows.
3. Break down performance details
In the following section, you’ll move from “what happened” to “why it happened and what we learned.”
The executive summary told your reader whether the year was successful. Now you need to show them the engine under the hood.
The level of detail will depend on the format. A five-page executive report may only have room for a few pivotal moments, while a more comprehensive report can get into the weeds.
In either case, selectivity is critical. You can’t — and shouldn’t — document every metric, test, or optimization from the year.
Instead, focus on insights that either explain the results in your executive summary or point directly to opportunities for the year ahead.
Here are some categories to get you started.
What performed best
Show them the winners: your best-converting creative, highest-revenue products, or most efficient channels.
Leadership loves to see what’s working, and it can point to where to double down.
How resources were allocated
Break down spend distribution across campaign types, the split between brand and non-brand, or platform-specific investments like Google versus Bing.
Leadership wants to know if you’re putting money where it matters most, and this section answers that question.
If you made tracking or conversion definition changes during the year, call them out here.
Leadership needs to understand if a metric shift reflects actual performance or a measurement change.
Keep this section platform-specific and substantive. Each insight should clearly tie back to the executive summary.
Use visuals (charts, trend lines, and comparison tables) to make complex data easier to interpret. And resist the temptation to include everything you track.
If a metric doesn’t explain results, answer a question from leadership, or inform future strategy, leave it out.
You’ve already explained what happened in the account and why performance moved the way it did.
Now you need to zoom out and show leadership what else was happening. What external forces shaped your results, for better or worse?
This is where you separate execution from environment.
Without this context, strong strategic work can look mediocre in a difficult year, or weak decisions can hide behind tailwinds.
Leadership needs to understand what you controlled versus what you were responding to.
Think of it this way: performance details add context to your KPIs. External factors add context to your performance.
Digital marketing factors
What influenced performance that was external to paid search execution, but internal to the broader marketing ecosystem?
Non-PPC marketing initiatives: Product launches, pricing changes, promotions, website redesigns, or messaging shifts can all impact conversion rates and search behavior – positively or negatively.
Non-PPC channel performance: Performance in organic search, email, social, affiliates, or offline channels can meaningfully influence paid search results. It also provides a clearer picture of market factors beyond paid channels.
Platform and policy changes:Google Ads feature rollouts, automation shifts, policy enforcement, or reporting changes often affect performance in ways that aren’t immediately visible in metrics alone.
Competitive dynamics: New entrants, aggressive bidding, creative shifts, or changes in competitor behavior can alter auction pressure and efficiency over time.
Macro-economic factors
What forces outside the marketing organization shaped demand, behavior, and constraints?
A useful way to structure this analysis is with a lightweight PESTEL lens, adapted for a marketing context.
Political: Gov actions and policy shifts (e.g., tariffs, shutdowns).
Environmental: Weather and seasonality (e.g., storms, climate shifts).
Legal: Regulations and compliance (e.g., privacy laws, labor rules).
You don’t need to address every category. The goal is to highlight the factors that materially influenced performance and decisions during the year.
In a volatile year like this one, it can even make sense to highlight big events thatdidn’t have an impact on performance, just to assuage any worries.
Doing this helps stakeholders understand what factors contributed to performance. And just as important, it positions you as someone who sees beyond the interface to meaningful business implications.
5. Answer the ‘what’s next?’ question
Leadership wants to know what to expect for next year.
They’re not necessarily expecting a crystal ball, but they do want confidence that there’s a plan, even if the path changes.
The reality is that most paid search strategy isn’t mapped a year in advance.
Platforms change, competitors react, budgets shift, and new constraints appear with little warning.
What matters isn’t having every answer upfront, it’s having a clear way to decide what to do next when conditions change.
This section of your EOY report is your opportunity to show that decision-making framework, and get your audience excited to work with you on what’s to come.
Next steps and recommendations
These are the initiatives you’re committed to pursuing; the strategic moves grounded in last year’s data:
Applied learnings: How insights from the past year are shaping priorities, structure, and decision-making going forward.
Identified opportunities: Areas where data consistently pointed to upside: channels, audiences, products, or tactics that warrant attention.
Known risks: Challenges leadership should expect, along with how you’re monitoring or mitigating them.
Resource clarity: What additional budget, tools, or support would enable — and what remains constrained without them. Be concrete: “With X additional budget, we can test Y based on Z insight from last year.”
These recommendations should feel inevitable; the logical next steps given what happened last year.
Testing pipeline
Then there’s the other category: things you’re watching, interested in, or ready to jump on if circumstances align.
These scratch leadership’s itch for innovation and cutting-edge solutions without overcommitting:
New platform features you’ll test when they’re released.
Emerging platforms or initiatives worth monitoring.
Competitive tactics you’ve identified but need more validation.
Opportunistic tests if budget or priorities shift.
Frame these as “if/then” scenarios or “things we’re monitoring” rather than firm commitments.
Leadership gets to feel like you’re on top of industry trends without expecting guarantees.
A final pass through a leadership lens
You’ve covered a lot of ground.
This final pass is about tightening credibility and making sure this work pays dividends in the coming years, not just this one.
Give your report a final pass
Before sending, review the report the way leadership will:
Source your data clearly: Label where each chart’s data came from and when it was pulled. This prevents follow-up questions and builds trust.
Address negatives head-on: Leadership expects challenges. What erodes confidence isn’t bad news, it’s unexplained bad news. Show what didn’t work, why, and what you did about it.
Pressure-test against the brief: Review your stakeholders’ original requests. Did you actually answer their questions? Ask a colleague (or AI) for a second set of eyes.
Make next year easier
Now that you’ve done the heavy lifting, leverage this work going forward:
Turn your EOY report into a client-specific template: A single format won’t work across all clients, but once you find a structure that resonates with a given audience, reuse it year over year. Incorporate feedback and refresh the data, but keep the core framework consistent.
Track big issues as they happen: Document key events as you progress through the year. Keep a running list, outside of emails and reports. Even the biggest issues today will be hard to accurately remember in 12 months without this.
Year-end reports take real effort. Make sure yours actually resonates.
Follow these steps to strengthen stakeholder relationships and position yourself as a strategic partner for 2026 and beyond.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/sel-reports-25-G1ZyHX.webp?fit=1544%2C486&ssl=14861544http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2026-01-06 14:00:002026-01-06 14:00:00A 5-step framework for year-end PPC reports that resonate with leadership
When approached thoughtfully, it allows you to apply professional understanding to intent‑driven inventory without breaking the bank.
The key is knowing how the targeting methods work together across the various campaign types.
What follows is a practical guide to using LinkedIn data inside Microsoft Advertising, including:
LinkedIn in Search campaigns (includes Multimedia ads).
Using LinkedIn insights to inform broader audience strategy.
Performance Max targeting signals.
Directional insights into audience reach and composition through Audience Planner.
Disclosure: I am a Microsoft employee. I attempted to keep this article as objective as possible, focusing on how LinkedIn targeting works as well as action items for targeting, reporting, and creative message mapping.
LinkedIn profile targeting in search
LinkedIn profile targeting is fully available in Microsoft Advertising search campaigns and lets you layer professional attributes on top of keyword targeting.
The supported attributes are:
Company.
Industry.
Job function.
These audiences apply across Microsoft‑owned environments such as Bing Search, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Start, and other eligible search surfaces, as long as users are signed in.
In search, LinkedIn targeting works best as a contextual guide, not a standalone target.
The keywords still do the heavy lifting. LinkedIn data helps you respond differently when professional relevance is present.
How to approach it
Start with keywords that already convert: LinkedIn targeting can help amplify existing intent on proven keywords. Apply bid adjustments to campaigns/ad groups where search terms already demonstrate business value. This might mean a 10%-15% increase if you’re bidding aggressively, or a more aggressive bid adjustment if your impression share lost to rank is high.
Choose one professional dimension first: Begin with either company, industry, or job function – not all three. If you’re targeting someone who works for a company in an industry you’re also targeting, it’s very easy to bid on them twice.
Use bid‑only mode to establish a baseline: Observation gives you performance clarity before you make delivery decisions. Treat this as audience research on who is engaging with you in a profitable way.
LinkedIn Professional Demographics in Audience ads
Audience ads support LinkedIn Professional Demographics as both a targeting and observation layer – bringing professional context into native, display, and video formats designed for scalable reach.
While Audience ads are not driven by keyword intent, Professional Demographics provide a way to anchor delivery and insights in a real‑world business context, bridging the gap between broad reach and professional relevance.
Audience ads allow you to apply company, industry, and job function as professional audience layers.
These can be used either to observe performance trends or to influence delivery, depending on campaign objectives.
Unlike search, where intent is explicit, Audience ads rely more heavily on audience signals and creative relevance.
LinkedIn Professional Demographics help ensure that reach is oriented toward users who are more likely to be operating in a business mindset, even when browsing content.
How to approach it
Start in observation to understand natural performance: Use Professional Demographics in observation mode to learn which industries, job functions, or company types naturally engage with your Audience ads before applying delivery constraints.
Let LinkedIn data inform creative, not just delivery: Because Audience ads appear in feed‑based and content‑rich environments, creative matters more than targeting alone. Use insights from high‑performing professional segments to inform tone, examples, and value framing in messaging.
Align format choice with professional mindset: Different formats serve different roles:
Native and display perform well for awareness and education within professional segments
Video supports storytelling and category framing, particularly when aligned with industry‑specific narratives
Professional Demographic insights help guide which formats are most appropriate for different business audiences.
LinkedIn data in Performance Max: Guiding automation with purpose
Within Performance Max, these signals help the system understand which professional profiles have a high probability for profit to your business and help influence how budget is allocated across inventory.
Professional signals are most effective in Performance Max when they are representative and directional, not exhaustive.
They work best when they give the system a strong starting point rather than a narrow definition of success.
How to approach it
Select signals that reflect your best customers, not every customer: Use LinkedIn attributes that describe your most valuable segments, not the full universe of potential buyers. This is especially important if the different personas represent different ROAS/CPA goals, as all asset groups in a PMax campaign will share the same ROAS/CPA bidding.
Pair LinkedIn signals with strong conversion definitions: Automation performs better when professional context is reinforced by clear success metrics. It’s critical to ensure there are at least 30 conversions in a 30-day period for any autobidding.
Allow time for learning: Audience signals need sufficient volume to influence delivery. Avoid frequent changes in the first learning period (two weeks). Once you clear this, budget changes of up to 15% can be made without triggering learning period fluctuation.
Aggregated reporting for LinkedIn audiences is broken down by company, industry, and job function, allowing you to see how different professional segments contribute to performance across campaigns.
LinkedIn reporting can be found in Reporting > Professional demographics, and includes any LinkedIn targeting or audiences applied through predictive targeting.
How to approach it
Look for consistency across time, not single spikes: Patterns that repeat across weeks or months are more actionable than short‑term anomalies. Give “observation” audiences the time to prove themselves out. If you don’t have time for that, lean on Audience Planner to help you make informed decisions at scale.
Use reporting to inform creative and bids together: When a professional segment outperforms, examine both messaging and bidding before making changes. It’s possible that the audience really resonated with the creative, but you also want to confirm you didn’t overbid on a particular group.
Avoid over‑segmentation early: Too many audience cuts can dilute signal strength (especially if you’re running up against conversion scarcity).
Bidding with LinkedIn audiences
In Microsoft Advertising, you can use bid adjustments alongside automated bidding strategies, giving flexibility in how LinkedIn audiences influence auctions.
Because users can belong to multiple professional dimensions, bid adjustments may compound when audiences overlap within auctions, making overlap awareness an important part of bid strategy.
Bidding adjustments are most effective when they are incremental and reversible. The goal is calibration, not acceleration.
How to approach it
Keep initial bid adjustments small: Single‑digit percentage changes preserve learning while still allowing differentiation.
Audit audience overlap before increasing bids: Review how company, industry, and job function audiences intersect within campaigns.
Apply bid changes gradually and sequentially: Adjust one audience dimension at a time to understand its individual impact.
Reassess after enough volume accumulates: Make decisions only after performance reaches statistical relevance.
Creative strategy: Professional relevance without narrow assumptions
LinkedIn targeting shapes who is more likely to see your ads. Creative determines whether those impressions turn into engagement.
Professional cohorts include a wide range of experiences, identities, and perspectives. Effective creative respects that diversity while remaining relevant to the shared context.
Creative works best when it reflects professional empathy – acknowledging challenges, goals, and constraints without relying on shortcuts or stereotypes.
How to approach it
Anchor creative in shared problems, not titles: Focus on challenges that span roles and seniority levels within a LinkedIn targeting segment.
Keep language inclusive and adaptable: Avoid assumptions about background, experience, or decision‑making authority.
Use AI tools to localize, not homogenize: Adapt tone or examples by region or industry while preserving message intent.
Test creative alongside audience layers: Evaluate messaging performance within LinkedIn segments to refine both together.
Extending LinkedIn insights across B2B campaigns
LinkedIn targeting in Microsoft Advertising presents an opportunity to combine professional expertise with intent-driven media in a way that is scalable, privacy-conscious, and economically sustainable.
For teams already running LinkedIn Ads, it also provides a practical way to extend learnings into additional inventory through automation, supporting reach and efficiency beyond search.
The value doesn’t come from complexity. It comes from alignment – between data, mechanics, and human behavior.
Key takeaways:
LinkedIn profile targeting is fully available across Search and Performance Max on Microsoft‑owned surfaces.
Professional attributes function as targeting layers in search and as optimization signals in Performance Max.
Observation‑first approaches build understanding before commitment.
Aggregated reporting supports informed optimization without exposing individual data.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/LinkedIn-profile-targeting-in-search-s5Y61z.png?fit=1498%2C555&ssl=15551498http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2026-01-06 13:00:002026-01-06 13:00:00How to use LinkedIn targeting in Microsoft Advertising
Google introduced Creator Search, which allows advertisers to discover YouTube creators using keywords or channel handles, then narrow results by subscriber count, average views, location, and contact availability. The update significantly reduces the manual work involved in creator research and outreach.
Alongside search, Google added a new Management section that centralizes creator communications. Advertisers can now see creator names, inquiry status, subjects, latest updates, and respond-by dates in one place, with direct email access built in.
Why we care. As creator-led campaigns become more central to media strategies, advertisers need better tools to find the right creators and keep partnerships organized. Google Ads’ latest update to Creator Partnerships (beta) aims to solve both problems.
First seen. This update was first spotted by Google Ads Specialist Thomas Eccel when he shared it on Linkedin.
The big picture. These changes move Creator Partnerships closer to a full-fledged workflow tool, helping teams manage creator collaborations with the same structure and accountability as other paid media efforts.
Bottom line. By improving both discovery and organization, Google Ads is making it easier for advertisers to run creator partnerships at scale.
December made one thing clear: AI is no longer a feature layered on top of marketing. It is the system deciding what gets seen, what gets skipped, and what earns trust.
Search pushed deeper into zero-click behavior. Paid ads lost prime real estate. Influencer content matured into a full‑funnel channel. Platforms added tools while quietly tightening control. At the same time, security and data ownership became real business risks, not abstract concerns.
This roundup breaks down what actually mattered in December and how to adjust before these shifts harden in 2026.
Key Takeaways
Google accelerated AI-first search with Gemini 3, AI Mode, and AI-powered Search Console reporting.
AI Overviews and AI Mode are pushing both organic and paid clicks down, reshaping SERP strategy.
Influencer marketing expanded beyond Gen Z, pulling older, high-value audiences into creator ecosystems.
LinkedIn doubled down on video and events, reinforcing its position as the B2B growth platform.
Security threats like Google Ads MCC hijacks escalated, making account governance a priority.
Search & AI
AI is now deciding what gets seen before a click ever happens. December’s updates show Google tightening its grip on discovery while pushing brands to earn visibility inside AI systems.
Search Console Gets AI-Driven Reporting
Google rolled out AI-powered configuration in Search Console, allowing users to request custom reports using natural language. Instead of manually stitching filters together, teams can now ask questions the way they think about performance.
Our POV: This changes who gets access to insight. Reporting no longer bottlenecks around technical SEO or analytics specialists. Strategy conversations can happen faster, and closer to the business question that triggered them.
What this unlocks: Faster pattern recognition across large sites, quicker validation of hypotheses, and fewer reporting cycles spent just getting the data into shape.
What to do next: Standardize a small set of executive-level prompts tied to growth questions (discovery, decline, opportunity). Use this to shorten the distance between signal and decision.
Gemini 3 Lands Directly in Google Search
Google deployed Gemini 3 straight into Search across 120 countries, delivering richer answers, visuals, and interactive elements without requiring users to leave the results page.
Our POV: This is Google asserting itself as the destination, not the doorway. Content that once earned traffic by being explanatory or comparative now competes with Google’s own synthesized answers.
Strategic impact: Informational content becomes less about volume and more about authority. If your content is interchangeable, it becomes invisible.
What to do next: Identify where your content overlaps with Gemini-style answers. Invest more heavily in insight, proprietary data, and perspective that AI cannot compress without losing value.
Google Embeds AI Mode Into the Search Flow
When users tap “show more” under an AI Overview, Google now routes them into a full AI chat experience rather than expanding citations.
Our POV: This confirms that Google is intentionally reducing outbound traffic in favor of guided, AI-mediated discovery.
Strategic impact: Attribution gets murkier. Influence matters more than visits. Brands that only measure success by clicks will underinvest in visibility where decisions actually form.
What to do next: Start treating AI inclusion as a visibility channel. Track brand mentions, citations, and presence inside AI responses alongside traditional KPIs.
AI Overviews Push Ads Below the Fold
Research shows that roughly a quarter of search results now place paid ads beneath AI Overviews, with mobile SERPs most affected.
Our POV: Paid search is losing guaranteed prominence. Bidding harder no longer guarantees being seen.
Strategic impact: Paid media performance becomes dependent on how well it aligns with AI-generated context, not just auction dynamics.
What to do next: Re-evaluate high-value keywords where ads routinely fall below AI content. Coordinate paid and organic teams so messaging reinforces what users see first.
Branded Query Filtering and Chart Notes Arrive in GSC
Search Console now separates branded and non‑branded queries automatically and allows chart-level annotations.
Our POV: This finally closes long-standing reporting gaps that distorted SEO performance narratives.
What to do next: Capture a baseline brand vs non‑brand split now. Add annotations for launches, migrations, PR wins, and algorithm shifts to preserve institutional knowledge.
Paid Media & Risk
Automation keeps increasing, but so does exposure. December highlighted how fragile performance can be without strong governance and clear safeguards.
OpenAI Pauses ChatGPT Ads
OpenAI halted its early test of native ads inside ChatGPT after users struggled to distinguish sponsored content from AI-generated answers.
Our POV: This pause is less about ads failing and more about timing. Conversational interfaces collapse the distance between advice and influence, which raises the bar for trust.
Strategic impact: Future AI advertising will not behave like traditional display or search ads. Brands will compete on usefulness, credibility, and contextual fit rather than interruption.
What to do next: Start pressure-testing what value-driven, answer-oriented advertising could look like for your category. Focus on scenarios where a brand genuinely helps a user decide, not just where it can appear.
Google Ads MCC Hijacks Surge
Phishing attacks targeting Google Ads manager accounts increased sharply, allowing attackers to drain budgets and lock out advertisers within hours.
Our POV: This is no longer an edge case. As accounts scale, risk compounds.
Strategic impact: Performance gains mean little if governance fails. Security lapses can erase months of optimization and undermine executive confidence in paid media.
What to do next: Treat access control as part of your growth strategy. Limit permissions aggressively, audit users regularly, and align security reviews with budget planning.
Product, Design & UX
Product and design updates are quietly shaping how fast teams can ship, test, and iterate. December brought one change that materially reduces friction between design and development.
Figma Introduces CSS Grid-Like Layout Controls
Figma rolled out a new grid system that more closely mirrors how CSS Grid and Flexbox behave in production. Designers can now edit rows and columns directly, reposition elements with keyboard controls, and build layouts that respond more like real front-end frameworks.
Our POV: This narrows the long-standing gap between design intent and shipped experience. Fewer handoff mismatches mean faster iteration and fewer compromises downstream.
Strategic impact: Design systems become more scalable when layouts behave predictably across breakpoints. Teams that rely on rapid experimentation benefit most.
What to do next: Revisit your design system and layout standards. Align designers and developers on grid conventions so prototypes map cleanly to production.
Social & Creator Economy
Creator content is no longer niche or youth-driven. Platforms are shaping social into a full-funnel, multi-generational influence engine.
LinkedIn Sees Another Video Surge
LinkedIn reported continued double-digit growth in video uploads and watch time, with short-form content driving disproportionate reach.
Our POV: LinkedIn has quietly become a daily content destination, not just a professional directory.
Strategic impact: B2B visibility increasingly depends on consistent, human-led storytelling. Brands that delay video adoption will find it harder to build authority as the feed fills up.
What to do next: Commit to a repeatable LinkedIn video cadence. Prioritize clarity and expertise over production polish, and measure engagement trends over time.
LinkedIn Upgrades Event Ads
New integrations with ON24 and Cvent allow LinkedIn Event Ads to capture and route leads directly into CRMs.
Our POV: Events are moving out of the brand bucket and into the revenue conversation.
Strategic impact: This blurs the line between awareness and pipeline, making events accountable in ways they historically avoided.
What to do next: Reframe events as performance channels. Align messaging, registration, and follow-up under a single measurement framework.
Influencer Content Expands Beyond Gen Z
New data shows that more than half of adults aged fifty-five to sixty-four now watch influencer content weekly, often via connected televisions.
Our POV: Influencer marketing has crossed into mainstream media behavior. This is no longer a youth or trend-driven channel.
Strategic impact: Influencers are shaping consideration and trust for higher-value purchases, not just discovery for impulse buys.
What to do next: Test creator partnerships that emphasize expertise and credibility. Treat influencer content as a mid-funnel and upper-funnel asset, not just awareness.
Meta Enhances the Creator Marketplace
Instagram expanded its Creator Marketplace with better discovery, AI recommendations, and stronger paid amplification tools.
Our POV: Meta is positioning creators as a scalable performance input, not just an organic reach lever.
Strategic impact: The line between influencer marketing and paid social continues to erode. Creative quality and creator trust now directly affect efficiency.
What to do next: Identify creators whose content already performs organically. Use paid support to scale what works instead of forcing performance from scratch.
PR, Media, and Trust
As AI pulls from third-party sources, brand credibility is being shaped outside your owned channels. Relationships and presence matter more than volume.
Journalists Push Back on AI Pitches
Surveys show most journalists still prefer human-led outreach, citing AI-written pitches as generic and misaligned with their coverage needs.
Our POV: Efficiency without judgment damages relationships.
Strategic impact: As AI-generated noise increases, thoughtful and relevant outreach becomes a stronger differentiator.
What to do next: Use AI for research and preparation, not substitution. Preserve human insight where trust and creativity matter most.
Discord Emerges as a Media Hub
PR teams are increasingly using Discord servers as live, on-demand press rooms.
Our POV: This flips traditional outreach from push to pull.
Strategic impact: Brands that make themselves accessible become resources journalists return to, not just sources they react to.
What to do next: Pilot a controlled Discord environment for media. Offer clear channels, real access, and timely updates without overwhelming participants.
Platform Playbooks
Smaller platform updates often hide the most practical gains. December delivered clear lessons on how context and native execution drive results.
Reddit Releases Dynamic Product Ad Guidance
Reddit published best practices showing that focused optimizations can lift Dynamic Product Ad performance meaningfully.
Our POV: Reddit rewards relevance over polish.
Strategic impact: Brands that adapt creative to platform norms outperform those that recycle ads from other networks.
What to do next: Speak directly to subreddit context, keep messaging tight, and test incrementally to isolate what actually moves performance.
Conclusion
December reinforced a hard truth: visibility is no longer owned. It is earned repeatedly across AI systems, platforms, and communities.
The brands that win in 2026 will build authority machines, not traffic hacks. They will secure their data, design for AI interpretation, and show up consistently wherever decisions are shaped.
If you want help translating these shifts into a durable growth strategy, the NP Digital team is already doing this work every day.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2026-01-05 20:00:002026-01-05 20:00:00December 2025 Digital Marketing Roundup: What Changed and What You Should Do About It
The PPC landscape in 2025 shifted faster than ever, with updates arriving at a pace unmatched in the industry’s 20-year history. At SMX Next, a panel of industry experts broke down what’s working, what’s failing, and what advertisers should prepare for in 2026 and beyond.
The state of PPC
The panelists agreed that 2025 marked a major shift, especially in how quickly Google responded to advertiser feedback.
Ameet Khabra, founder of Hop Skip Media, called the year “interesting” and said he was genuinely surprised by Google’s willingness to listen to advertisers, especially on channel reporting for Performance Max.
“It was really cool to see the people who were in that room sit there and be like, this is exactly what we asked for,” she noted, referring to discussions at Google Marketing Live.
Chris Ridley, head of paid media at Evoluted, said 2025 wasn’t just about Google listening — it was the year AI and AI search truly took off.
“Everyone is now talking about the different platforms available, like Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, and they just seem to be dominating. AI Overviews have kind of taken over as well.”
Reva Minkoff, founder and president of Digital4Startups, called 2025 “the year of the max,” pointing to Performance Max, AI Max, and the growing list of “max” campaign types. She said more features launched this year than at any other time in her 20-year search career.
“It’s just every day there’s a new thing, which is really exciting. But there’s definitely a lot happening now.”
What’s working in PPC
Back to basics: Structure and signals
All panelists stressed that success in 2025 came from returning to the fundamentals.
Minkoff stressed the importance of proper campaign structure and quality signals:
“It’s still important to have a good search campaign with keywords that you control and ads you create that goes to an audience that you think it should be going to.”
Minkoff noted that Performance Max is working well, but only when the signals are right — “if you’re not putting good stuff in, you won’t get good stuff out.”
She also pointed to strong results from Demand Gen (formerly Video Action campaigns), user-generated content, and influencer marketing:
“I think people want to hear from real people.”
Khabra stressed the importance of using scripts and automation oversight to catch issues before they turn into problems.
“We’ll have scripts in place that are like anomaly detectors, just so we know that tracking is off. The broken URL script is a lifesaver, honestly — how many times have we had a developer push a change and we didn’t even know it happened?”
The human touch in creative
Ridley underscored the need for authentic creative in an AI-driven landscape:
“Going back with our authentic user-generated content is getting really good results compared to this slick, polished stuff, especially with AI coming out now and people questioning whether it’s real or not. Having that human touch is really working for us.”
“Making sure that we understand what their business objectives are rather than just their ROAS and CPAs” has been essential for success.
What not working in PPC
Automatically created assets (ACAs)
The panel unanimously agreed that Automatically Created Assets are problematic, primarily from a brand safety perspective.
Khabra was particularly critical:
“We can’t put in guidelines. We’re not allowed to approve things beforehand. So we really have to sit there and kind of just figure out what the system has created for us.”
“AI is a pattern matcher, not a creator. It’s going to generate the most probable thing, not something that’s actually new or exciting, or even correct.”
Minkoff echoed these concerns:
“A lot of clients need to be able to control their brand story and what they’re talking about, and the words that they use. I just don’t trust the automatically generated anything to reflect those guidelines.”
Minkoff noted that automatically generated content often misses business nuances, such as which products deserve budget and which items shouldn’t be advertised at all.
User interface and UX issues
Ridley voiced frustration with ongoing platform user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) changes.
“Having to click campaign, campaign, campaign makes no sense. I’m finding everything a lot easier to do in Editor now or using tools like Optmyzr where it kind of skips that UI.”
He apologized to Google representatives on other panels but maintained that UI changes are “counterproductive in terms of making it quicker, easier, more natural for people to find what they need.”
The problem is compounded by gaps between the UI and Editor, forcing advertisers to jump back and forth between the two.
Learning periods and flexibility
Minkoff pointed to extended learning periods as a major challenge, especially for smaller campaigns or time-sensitive moments like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
“How do you navigate a learning period on these platforms that feel no longer designed to let you do those pushes for one day that are honestly a real part of the business calendar?”
Measurement challenges
Khabra flagged measurement as a major pain point, especially for small business owners with limited budgets and data.
“Trying to figure out how to make that work with automation that needs a lot of it has been really, really interesting.”
Khabra warned that Google’s modeled conversions reflect a “best possible outcome” scenario that business owners may mistakenly treat as reality.
Biggest surprises of 2025
Google Marketing Live announcements
Ridley said Google Marketing Live was his biggest surprise, noting that Google “announced loads of new things for small and medium businesses, but also big things we’ve been asking for.” Key announcements included:
“I did not see that coming. I think it’s very exciting, although the next step is going to be being able to do something about it, which is kind of what I’m hoping for come soon.”
“That was definitely not on my bingo card. I would’ve never, ever in a million years thought the Waze pins would be a placement in PMax.”
The speed of AI/LLM rollout
Minkoff was struck by how quickly AI Overviews and LLMs became ubiquitous.
“It felt like overnight in a way. It was kind of coming out and then it was out and it’s there a good chunk of the time. The cat is out of the bag and it is very out of the bag and not coming back.”
The channel reporting debate
The Performance Max channel reporting discussion exposed tension between what advertisers want and what the platform was built to do.
The problem
Minkoff explained that many campaigns now see 95% or more of their budget flowing into a single placement, usually display:
“I just don’t think that was the point of PMax. The thing that I’ve always liked about PMax is that it can fill the whole funnel, that it can fill these different placements, that it wasn’t gonna be completely overrun by one.”
The fence-sitting position
Khabra acknowledged sitting on the fence:
“It was meant to be a black box this entire time. Although I’m really happy about the channel reporting, there was a little piece of you that was like, were we supposed to — should this have actually happened?”
She worried that everyone is now trying to manipulate the system in ways that defeat its purpose:
“We’re supposed to put in clean data, we’re supposed to put in good signals, and it’s supposed to do its job.”
Potential solutions
Ridley raised an intriguing idea: What if Google offered media mix controls that let advertisers suggest percentage splits — like 20% search and 30% display — as guidance rather than hard limits?
Minkoff suggested bid adjustments as a middle ground:
“Bid up, bid down. I want more of this, I want less of this. I’m not even necessarily asking for me to figure it out because if I was right, I would just run them in the other campaign. But more a matter of like, do a little more of this, do a little less of this.”
The consensus was clear: until better controls exist, advertisers should focus on sending the right signals so Google can make smarter decisions on the backend.
Biggest struggles right now
Controlling automated AI features
Ridley called the automatic rollout of AI recommendations and features the biggest challenge:
“Even sometimes after you turn it off and you go through the whole review, the campaign setup, you see it turned back on.”
He pointed to Matt Beswick’s recent experience, where forgetting to disable search partners led to most of the budget being spent on wasted traffic.
The challenge goes further with hidden toggles and hard-to-find settings, creating constant stress for advertisers trying to stay in control.
Finding hidden settings
Minkoff echoed this concern:
“A lot of the boxes are hidden, so it’s hard to even find where it was turned on or turned off, or the option that you can adjust it.”
Measurement for small businesses
Khabra’s biggest concern remains measurement challenges, especially with privacy concerns making tracking increasingly difficult:
“I think that’s just gonna continually become more of an issue.”
What we’ll be talking about in 2026
The unknown unknown
Minkoff offered a fascinating perspective: “My favorite thing about this question is that I honestly don’t know. And I feel like this is the first time I can say that—the first time where I felt like things were changing that quickly.”
She emphasized that the biggest thing we’ll discuss in a year probably hasn’t even been released yet:
“We have to make sure that we have budget, we have flexibility to factor that into our planning. I really think it’ll be something completely new, which is super exciting, but also kind of crazy.”
The antitrust trial
Khabra is watching the Google antitrust trial closely:
“They lost the first part of it. They’re appealing it. I’m really curious just to see what happens on that front and what the implications are.”
Ads within AI platforms
Ridley expects AI to remain the focus a year from now, but with ads running inside AI platforms.
“Ads within each of the AI platforms as well, and probably Google and other platforms integrating them as network partners as well.”
The only certainty in PPC is uncertainty
PPC changed at an unprecedented pace in 2025. Google finally listened to advertisers while pushing deeper into AI-driven automation. The advertisers who performed best embraced automation without giving up strategic control, prioritized quality signals over volume, and stayed agile enough to adapt to changes that seemed to come weekly, rather than quarterly.
As 2026 approaches, platforms are evolving faster than ever, and the biggest changes likely haven’t even been announced yet. Advertisers who build flexibility into their strategies, stick to strong fundamentals, and feed high-quality signals into automated systems will be best positioned to succeed — whatever 2026 brings.
Watch: 2026 PPC trends to get ahead of now + Live Q&A
Here is the full panel discussion from SMX Next 2025:
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