Missed the final SEO Update by Yoast of 2025? Our in-house principal SEOs, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss, broke down December’s biggest search shifts, from Gemini’s integration to Google’s publisher deals, and answered your burning questions. Don’t forget to watch the replay and sign up for the next edition!
Watch the full replay below (or read on for the highlights).
2025 in a nutshell: The three biggest SEO shifts
2025 was the year AI officially took over search. Here’s what mattered most:
From rankings to retrieval: AI overviews and chat interfaces made being cited more important than ranking #1.
EEAT became non-negotiable: Google (and users) demanded real expertise, not just keyword-stuffed content.
Publishers vs. AI: Lawsuits and deals reshaped how content is licensed and monetized.
Want the full breakdown? Our in-depth 2025 SEO recap post will be released next week. Also, hear Carolyn and Alex share their insights in the December SEO Update by Yoast on YouTube.
Google Ads in AI mode? Some users have reported seeing sponsored results in AI overviews, which occupy half the screen. Expect more tests in 2026.
OpenAI’s “Code Red”: After user feedback favored Gemini, OpenAI rushed out GPT-5.2. The takeaway? AI platforms are in a feature war, and your content needs to work across all of them.
Action: Audit your content for retrieval (not just rankings). Use tools like Yoast’s Brand Insights AI visibility tracker to see where you’re cited in AI responses in LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
Google’s publisher deals: A band-aid or the future?
Our take: It’s low-effort, so why not? Yoast SEO’s free tool generates a valid llms.txt file in seconds.
Action: Add llms.txt if you’re curious, but don’t expect miracles.
Q&A highlights
Carolyn and Alex answered live questions during the webinar. Here are the top three:
1. Should we stop using background images to improve load speed?
Carolyn: “Optimize them, but don’t stress. Focus on non-blocking load times. If the image is lazy-loaded and doesn’t delay interactivity, it’s fine.”
Alex: “Test it. If your audience cares about visuals (e.g., fashion, design), keep them. If not, simplify.”
2. Can we make big changes during a Google core update?
Carolyn: “Act like there’s no update. If you need to make changes, make them. Google’s updates are continuous, so they’re not a deadline.”
Alex: “Worst case? You’ll see fluctuations. But if your site’s broken, fix it now.”
3. FAQ pages or FAQs on every page?
Alex: “Both. Put unique FAQs on product/service pages. Use a central FAQ for shared questions (e.g., shipping, returns).”
Carolyn: “Avoid hiding answers in toggles, because AI won’t read them.”
Stay ahead in 2026
The news in this December edition of the SEO Update by Yoast proves one thing: SEO is changing faster than ever. Whether it’s AI-driven search, publisher deals, or smarter tools, the rules are being rewritten at a rapid pace.
Here’s how to keep up:
Join us for the next SEO Update by Yoast on January 27, 2026. We’ll dive into the latest trends and explore their implications for your strategy. Sign up now.
Missed the 2025 recap? Our in-depth post will be released next week; don’t forget to read it!
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-12-18 14:03:402025-12-18 14:03:40The December 2025 edition of the SEO Update by Yoast: AI search, publisher deals & more
Search engines have become significantly more intelligent than they were in the past. You no longer need to repeat the same keyword a dozen times to be noticed. Google’s AI models, as well as large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini, now understand meaning, intent, and context. So, does that mean you don’t need to use synonyms and related keywords? Of course not, and to avoid any confusion, you should definitely. Using synonyms and related keywords isn’t just about improving your writing style. It also helps both people and search engines interpret what your page is about.
Search engines now understand context, making it essential to use synonyms and related keywords for improved clarity.
Using synonyms enhances readability and helps both people and search engines understand the content’s meaning more effectively.
Tools like Yoast SEO Premium can suggest related keywords, making the writing process easier.
Focus on natural language rather than keyword density to enhance your SEO strategy.
Writing for readers and AI involves selecting word choices that create engaging and informative content.
What are synonyms and related keyphrases?
A synonym is a word that shares the same or a very similar meaning as another. For example, “fast” and “quick” are synonyms.
A related keyphrase, on the other hand, isn’t necessarily a direct synonym; it’s a word or phrase connected to the same topic. If your main keyphrase is chocolate candy, then sweets, dessert, or sugary treats could all be related keyphrases.
When you use synonyms and related keywords, you make your writing more natural to read and more informative. You also help search engines understand your topic in greater depth, which improves your chances of appearing in relevant searches.
Why variation matters for SEO and readability
Modern SEO copywriting and readability are all about helping people and search engines understand the context of your writing. When you vary your word choice and use synonyms and related keywords, you make your text more engaging for readers and clearer for algorithms.
If you’ve ever read a page that repeats the same keyword endlessly, you know how mechanical it feels. Years ago, that might have worked. Today, it can frustrate readers and even harm your SEO.
Using synonyms and related keywords also improves your readability score, a ranking factor that reflects how easy your text is to follow. When your content is varied, visitors stay longer, bounce less, and gain a better understanding of you.
How search engines and AI understand language today
Search engines rely on natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to interpret meaning. Instead of simply counting keywords, they analyze how words relate to each other in context.
That’s why a post about AI copywriting tools can appear in searches for AI content writing software. Google understands those terms belong to the same topic. This is part of semantic SEO, which involves optimizing content so that search engines can grasp its overall context rather than just individual words.
By naturally incorporating synonyms and related keywords, you help Google recognize that your content addresses a broader range of questions related to your topic.
Understanding search intent is crucial here. Once you know what users expect to find, you can use language that naturally fits their intent while still covering your main keyphrases.
Keyword density versus natural language
In early SEO, keyword density, or the percentage of times a keyword appeared in your text, was seen as a signal of relevance. But search engines have outgrown that. Today, keyword density has little to no impact on search engine rankings.
Still, using your synonyms and related keywords naturally throughout your text can help clarify context. The key is balance: write as if you’re explaining the topic to a colleague or client.
Yoast SEO’s readability and SEO guidelines highlight why tone, pacing, and sentence length are now essential parts of optimization. The goal isn’t to count words, it’s to communicate clearly.
If you remember the candy shop analogy from before, let’s look at a real-world example. If you type in ‘best candy store New York’ on Google, the results will show pages about ‘candy stores’ and ‘candy shops’. Google understands that ‘store’ and ‘shop’ are synonyms and treats them as such.
Snippets from the search result page for the search ‘best candy store New York’
This doesn’t detract from the fact that you should still incorporate your focus keyword a few times throughout your post. After all, the focus keyword is still the word or phrase your audience was searching for. These are the words your audience uses and will expect to find in your text. That exact match remains important. However, to avoid using your keyword too many times, also known as keyword stuffing, you can use synonyms and related keywords to achieve a more natural flow of language. That way, you can rank on these keywords while keeping your text attractive and readable.
Find related keyphrases using our Semrush integration
Yoast SEO can help you find related keyphrases based on your focus keyword, saving you time and hassle. All you need to do is click the button to ‘Get related keyphrases’; you’ll find it right underneath your focus keyword in the Yoast SEO sidebar. You’ll see a list of related keywords and search trend data when you click that button.
This is how the related keyphrases feature looks in Yoast SEO
As a Yoast SEO Premium or Yoast SEO for Shopify user, you can add up to five related keyphrases to your SEO analysis. This lets you optimize your text for these additional terms similarly to your focus keyphrase. As always, you’ll see our familiar feedback bullets to guide you. If you’re a Yoast SEO Free user, you can explore related keyphrases using the tool, but you won’t be able to add these to your SEO analysis.
Yoast SEO can help you balance the use of your keywords, synonyms, and related keywords by recognizing word forms in different languages. If you want to know more, you can read about the related keywords feature in Yoast SEO for WordPress and the related keywords featured in Yoast SEO for Shopify.
How often should you use synonyms and related keywords?
The use of synonyms versus the use of focus keywords is not an exact science. The most important criterion is the way readers will experience your text. So, read and re-read it. Is it engaging and easy to read? Or are you getting annoyed by the constant use of a certain term? Be critical of your writing and ask others for feedback on your text.
As mentioned earlier, you can add your related keywords to the analysis in Yoast SEO Premium and Yoast SEO for Shopify. By adding these, the plugin can check whether you’re using them in your text. Your focus keyword remains the most important keyword, though, and that’s why the plugin is less strict in its analysis of your related keyphrases.
You can add keyphrases that are related to your focus keyphrase in Yoast SEO Premium and Yoast SEO for Shopify
You’ll also be able to add synonyms of your focus and related keywords when you use our Premium SEO analysis or Yoast SEO for Shopify. These analyses include checks to ensure you’ve used these synonyms in your text and your meta description, introduction, subheadings, or image alt text. Moreover, our keyphrase distribution check will reward you for alternately using your keyphrase and its synonyms throughout your text.
You can add multiple synonyms for your focus keyphrase in Yoast SEO Premium and Yoast SEO for Shopify
Make those related keyphrases and synonyms work for you
As we mentioned earlier, Google has come a long way since its early days in the field of SEO. It can understand texts, consider related concepts and synonyms, and recognize related entities. This enables it to serve its users with the best results. And part of being the best result is ensuring your texts are easy to read. Google wants to serve readable texts.
So make sure you deliver! Consider synonyms for your keyword or keyphrase and utilize them to your advantage. Take a moment to come up with a few alternatives for your keyword. Additionally, consider topics closely related to your keyword. You’ll notice that writing a naturally flowing text becomes much easier when you don’t have to use your focus keyword in every other sentence. Using synonyms and related key phrases helps Google understand the context of your text, which increases your chances of ranking.
In conclusion
Using synonyms and related keywords isn’t about tricking algorithms. It’s about writing naturally for humans while helping machines interpret meaning. When you vary your word choice, your writing becomes clearer, richer, and more engaging. That’s what today’s search engines reward: real content that genuinely helps users and shows topical depth.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-12-18 10:00:192025-12-18 10:00:19Why you should use synonyms and related keywords
People trust the creators they follow every day. That’s why influencer marketing has become such a big part of how brands grow.
The numbers back it up.
A staggering 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from influencers more than traditional ads or celebrity endorsements.
That credibility is a big reason why influencer marketing keeps growing each year.
Brands also turn to influencers because people want authenticity. They want real voices and real experiences. They want content that feels personal.
What happens when you combine that with the massive reach creators have on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube? You get a marketing channel that can drive awareness, traffic, and sales faster than most alternatives. That includes standard social media marketing.
In this guide, you’ll learn what influencers do, how influencer marketing works, and how to find the right partners for your brand.
Key Takeaways
Influencer marketing is about tapping into creators who already have trust and attention with your ideal customers. You’re not just renting their reach for a single post.
Every tier has a role: Mega- and macro-influencers drive reach, while mid-tier, micro-, and nano-creators tend to deliver stronger engagement and conversions.
Almost any business can use influencer marketing, including B2B. The key is audience fit, not brand size or industry.
Costs range widely by platform and tier, so treat rate charts as benchmarks. Pay for impact you can measure, not just vanity metrics.
Strong programs follow a process: clear goals, the right creators, tight contracts, transparent FTC-compliant disclosure, and performance tracking with links, codes, and real business metrics.
What Is Influencer Marketing
An influencer is someone who can shape opinions or buying decisions because people trust their voice.
Social platforms made that influence accessible to almost anyone. Creators like Charli D’Amelio and Khaby Lame (pictured below) built massive audiences from scratch, while celebrities like Kylie Jenner amplify the reach they already have.
Influencer marketing uses that trust to promote products or services.
Brands work with influencers to create content that feels native to the platform:
Short-form videos
Product reviews
Tutorials
Unboxings
Livestreams
Some brands even build full campaign partnerships with influencers, bringing them into everything from creative planning to multi-post launches that run across several platforms.
These formats work because they blend into the creator’s everyday content instead of feeling like traditional ads.
The influencer industry keeps expanding. The global influencer marketing market topped $30 billion in 2025 and is on pace to surpass $120 billion by 2030. And brands are investing heavily, with 80 percent of them maintaining or increasing their influencer marketing budgets in 2025.
Who Can Use Influencer Marketing?
You’ll see these collaborations across every sector. Fashion, beauty, e-commerce, entertainment, you name it. Heck, even the World Health Organization used a virtual influencer to lead a COVID-19 prevention campaign.
Close to 90 percent of companies with more than 100 employees planned to use influencers in 2025, showing just how mainstream influencer marketing has become.
On the B2C side, creators drive real traction for e-commerce, food and beverage, fitness, home décor, travel, and entertainment. These industries benefit from how visual and fast-moving platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are.
Experts, analysts, and technical creators now build large followings on LinkedIn, X, and YouTube by teaching complex topics in simple ways. Brands tap these voices to explain products, review tools, share workflows, or demonstrate use cases. And it works because the creator already has trust and credibility with the exact audience you want.
If your customers spend time online (and they do), there’s an influencer with reach in your category.
Why Is Influencer Marketing Important?
Influencer marketing matters because people trust other people more than they trust brands. Your brand becomes more enticing and trustworthy just by association.
It makes sense if you think about it, particularly in a world where AI-generated content floods every corner of the internet.
When consumers aren’t sure what’s real, they lean on creators they already follow—people who show their faces and share their processes.
Think of it this way: You probably wouldn’t trust a person at a cocktail party who brags about themselves, trying to convince you to become their friend. But chances are you’ll believe the mutual friend who vouches for that person.
An influencer is that mutual friend.
Their credibility transfers to you. If a creator your audience respects talks about your product, it lands differently than a traditional ad or a brand-written post. It feels like a recommendation from someone they know.
A quick walkthrough, a tutorial, or a “day in the life” clip can show how your product works far better than a polished studio ad. It helps buyers understand what you do before they ever hit your site.
Influencers also give you reach you can’t get on your own. Their communities already exist. You tap into that attention instantly, instead of building it from scratch.
Why Is Influencer Marketing Effective?
There must be a reason so many brands are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into influencer marketing, right? Consider this staggering statistic: 94 percent of marketers say influencer marketing drives more return on investment (ROI) than traditional digital advertising.
But what makes it so effective?
The unstoppable rise of social media obviously plays a part. There are now well over 5 billion social media users around the world, equating to more than two-thirds of people on Earth. On average, users spend more than two hours per day on average on social media.
Then there’s the person-to-person connection.
It seems that a lot of consumers trust the opinions of influencers. In fact, research shows that a whopping 77 percent of consumers trust content from influencers over traditional ads.
There’s also a generational element to it. Younger buyers—Gen Z and millennials—tend to rely heavily on influencer guidance when making purchase decisions. In fact, Gen Z is twice as likely to trust influencers as baby boomers.
Influencers also explain products in ways people understand. A quick tutorial, demo, or “I use this every day” clip can communicate value faster than any static ad. It reduces uncertainty and helps potential customers visualize your product in their world.
What Are the Different Types of Influencers?
Influencers are typically grouped by audience size, not just by what they’re known for. Most brands work within five tiers:
Mega-influencers
Macro-influencers
Mid-tier influencers
Micro-influencers
Nano-influencers
Each group brings different reach and engagement levels (price points, too, but more on that later). And each plays a unique role in a campaign.
Mega-Influencers
Follower count: Typically more than 1 million
Mega-influencers are some of the biggest and most popular influencers.
Many are celebrities who became famous away from social media. Think movie stars, pop stars, sports stars, and TV personalities, like Ryan Reynolds or Kim Kardashian.
Others are creators who built massive audiences entirely online. Think people like Khaby Lame, Addison Rae, or MrBeast, whose platforms turned them into global names.
This tier works best when the goal is broad awareness. You’re paying for cultural reach, not deep engagement. That’s why they’re often used for major launches, national campaigns, product drops, or high-impact moments.
Brands need bigger budgets to work with mega-influencers, but the payoff is unmatched scale.
Macro-Influencers
Follower count: Typically between 100,000 and 1 million
Macro-influencers tend to be well-known creators, podcasters, YouTubers, or niche personalities. They’ve often built their fame online and not through traditional celebrity channels.
They hit a sweet spot for many brands: They offer high reach, but with more consistent engagement than mega-influencers. Their audiences tend to be more aligned with their niches, like travel, fitness, tech, gaming, beauty, and more. This gives brands stronger relevance and better targeting.
Think of creators like Taryn Truly, a body-positive fashion creator whose Instagram profile is pictured below, or Mina Le, a fashion and culture commentator.
Macro-influencers may not be household names to everyone, but they wield major influence in specific categories. Their endorsement carries real weight with fans.
This influencer tier works well for brands that want meaningful visibility without the mega-influencer price tag. They’re extra valuable for things like product launches, category education, or content series that need a consistent creator presence.
Mid-Tier Influencers
Follower count: Typically between 50,000 and 100,000
Mid-tier influencers are established creators who have proven they can grow and sustain an audience, but they aren’t yet operating at celebrity scale.
What makes mid-tier influencers valuable is the balance of reach and strong engagement. Their communities are still highly invested in their content, and their rates are more accessible than macro-level talent. That combination makes them ideal for performance-driven campaigns where you want conversions, affiliate sales, tutorials, or product demos that feel personal and trusted.
Maya Abdallah (wellness) is a great example of a mid-tier voice who consistently moves her audiences to action.
This tier is often the “workhorse” of influencer marketing, as they’re scalable and cost-efficient.
Micro-Influencers
Follower count: Typically between 10,000 and 50,000
Micro-influencers are known for having some of the most engaged communities online. Their audiences follow them for specific expertise, like fitness, wellness, tech tips, budgeting, parenting, home decor, you name it.
Because their followers trust them deeply, micro-influencers often outperform larger influencers on engagement rate and conversion rate. They’re perfect for brands that need authenticity or niche targeting.
A strong example is creators like Jen Lauren, who built a tight-knit community around self-care and women’s fitness. Partners in wellness, boutique fitness, and online coaching spaces often see better ROI with creators like this than with larger names.
Micro-influencers are especially helpful for small and mid-sized brands. They’re also a great place to start if you’re testing influencer marketing.
Nano-Influencers
Follower count: Typically between 1,000 and 10,000
Nano-influencers have extremely tight, loyal communities. Their audiences know them personally or feel like they do, which can drive high engagement rates.
This group is powerful for brands that want authentic word-of-mouth or hyper-local impact. They’re great for early-stage launches or local business marketing. With nano-influencers, it’s all about campaigns where credibility matters more than massive reach.
You’ll see nano-influencers thriving in categories like beauty, food, wellness, fashion basics, small business recommendations, and travel. An example is Marc Wanderlust, a nano travel creator whose tight-knit audience trusts his quick, practical destination tips.
Nano-influencers help brands show up in real conversations with audiences that actually care, making them one of the more cost-effective influencer tiers.
How Much Do Influencers Cost?
The short answer: It varies. Rates depend on audience size, engagement, niche, platform, and the type of content you need.
Mega: $10,000 or more per post; could be $1 million or more for some celebrities
TikTok
Nano: $5–$25 per post
Micro: $25–$125 per post
Mid-tier: $125–$1,250 per post
Macro: $1,250–$2,500 per post (or more)
Mega: $2,500–$20,000 per post (or more)
Most creators work on flat-fee pricing, but affiliate commissions, usage rights, content licensing, and whitelisting can add to the cost. Product-only compensation is usually limited to nano creators and early-stage campaigns.
Influencer campaigns can reach five or six figures depending on talent and scope, so the key is paying at a level where you can realistically drive ROI.
How to Get Started With Influencer Marketing
Ready to run your first influencer campaign? Here’s a clear, practical process you can follow from start to finish.
1. Set clear goals.
Decide what you want to achieve before you reach out to anyone. Maybe that’s brand awareness, traffic, lead generation, content creation, or sales. Whatever the case, your goal determines the type of creator you work with and how you measure success.
2. Understand your audience.
Look at what your customers actually watch and follow online. Pay attention to the platforms they prefer and the types of creators they already trust. If I wanted to promote Ubersuggest, for example, I might look for SEO educators and marketing YouTubers.
3. Build a shortlist of relevant influencers.
We’ll cover this in depth below, but use influencer-discovery tools, social search, hashtags, competitor research, or even your own follower lists to find creators who already reach your target audience. Relevance beats reach every time.
4. Make your pitch.
Keep outreach simple and personal. Explain why you chose them, what you’re proposing, and what they’d get in return. Bigger creators may prefer email or agency contact; smaller creators often respond quickly to DMs.
5. Negotiate the scope and contract.
Outline deliverables, deadlines, usage rights, exclusivity, compensation, and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) disclosure requirements (more on this later). A straightforward contract protects both sides and keeps the project on track.
6. Launch and measure performance.
Use trackable links, codes, or UTM parameters to see what each creator drives. Review engagement, traffic, reach, saves, comments, and sales—whatever aligns with your original goals.
Influencer marketing works best when you treat it like a repeatable process and not a one-off post. Each campaign gives you data you can use to refine the next.
How to Find Your Ideal Influencers
Once you know your goals and your audience, you can start identifying influencers who actually make sense for your brand. I like to use three simple criteria to find influencers:
Context: Does the creator naturally talk about topics related to your product or category?
Reach: Do they have enough visibility for the results you want? Bigger isn’t always better, but your goals should match their audience size.
Actionability: Can they inspire their followers to take action? Creators with the right niche and trust tend to perform best.
Use multiple discovery methods (not just one), and build a shortlist of creators who consistently show up in conversations your audience already cares about.
Social Media Monitoring
Brand advocates are the loudest influencers your brand can have. They’re already talking about you, and they’re reaching people who trust their recommendations.
You can find them by tuning in to your social media mentions and blog posts about your brand. Track who tags you, reviews your product, or mentions your name in posts or videos. Tools like Brandwatch, Sprout Social, Hootsuite Streams, and Mention make this easier by pulling all relevant mentions into one dashboard.
Social listening with tools like AnswerThePublic can also help you spot creators who consistently talk about your niche, even if they haven’t discovered your brand yet. For example, a skincare brand might find rising creators who frequently review moisturizers or post “routine” content that aligns with their audience.
Start by adding promising creators to a shortlist and tracking their engagement and niche fit.
Research Hashtags
Identify the hashtags that your target market is using. Tuning in to the conversations surrounding these hashtags won’t just show potential influencers, you can also use it to identify blog topics, too.
Hashtags are one of the fastest ways to find creators your audience already follows. Search for hashtags related to your niche or customer interests and not just your brand name. This is especially effective on Instagram and TikTok, where creators tag content by topic, format, or trend.
For example, if you sell running shoes, hashtags like #runnersofinstagram or #runtok will surface creators who post content your customers care about. You’ll quickly spot who gets real engagement versus who’s posting generic or low-quality content.
Scroll the TikTok grid for #runtok, and you’ll see it’s packed with running creators your audience already follows.
Once you identify potential influencers, follow them for a while. Note their engagement rate, tone and the types of products they naturally feature.
Save strong candidates to a spreadsheet so you can compare them later.
Dedicated Influencer Platforms
Influencer platforms make discovery much easier by giving you searchable databases of creators, complete with audience insights, engagement metrics, and pricing estimates. Many also include campaign management tools.
Some of the most widely used platforms include:
Aspire
Upfluence
GRIN
Tagger
CreatorIQ
Impact.com
These tools let you filter by niche, location, platform, follower count, demographics, and brand affinity. That way, you can build a targeted shortlist in minutes instead of hours.
They’re especially useful if you want to scale your influencer program or track ROI more accurately.
Even if you’re running a small pilot, using a platform can help you confirm whether an influencer’s audience is real and aligned with your ideal customer.
Influencers and Disclosure
Influencer marketing only works when it’s transparent. The FTC has made that crystal clear. If a creator is paid, receives free products, earns affiliate commissions, or has any kind of material connection to your brand, they must disclose it clearly and up front.
That means no buried hashtags, no vague captions, and no “implied” relationships. The FTC expects disclosures like “#ad,” “#paidpartner,” or “Sponsored by…” to appear where viewers will actually see them. They can’t be hidden at the end of a long caption or inside a collapsed list of hashtags.
On video platforms, disclosures need to be spoken and written on screen, not just added in the description.
As a brand, you’re on the hook, too. Put disclosure requirements in your contracts, then actually enforce them by reviewing posts before they go live and saving copies of what was approved. That paper trail and clear labeling aren’t just to keep regulators off your back. They also signal to your audience that you’re being straight with them.
If your creator partnerships are transparent, everybody wins. That includes your customers.
FAQs
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is a strategy where brands partner with creators who have built trust and attention with a specific audience, then collaborate on content that features the brand or product. Instead of running a traditional ad, you tap into the influencer’s relationship with their followers through things like reviews, tutorials, “day in the life” videos, or sponsored posts.
Do influencers get paid?
Yes! In fact, many influencers make a full-time living out of their social media presence. Brands pay them to promote their products or services to their followers.
Does influencer marketing work?
Influencers have a loyal following of people who trust their opinions and recommendations. By partnering with an influencer, brands can tap into this trust and reach a wider audience than ever before. Plus, influencers often create visually appealing and engaging content that can help capture viewers’ attention.
How do you create an influencer marketing strategy?
Start with a clear goal (awareness, leads, or sales), then pick the platforms your audience actually uses. Set a budget, choose the right influencer tier, and shortlist creators who fit your niche. Agree on deliverables, timelines, and success metrics before you sign anything.
How do you track influencer marketing?
Give each creator unique links or codes, then watch what they drive—traffic, sign-ups, and sales, not just likes. Use your analytics tools to compare creators and content types. Double down on the partnerships that move real numbers and drop the ones that don’t.
Conclusion
The internet has changed, but the idea behind influencer marketing hasn’t.
Brands still want their products in the hands of people who can shape opinions. Today, influencer marketing is simply a faster, more targeted way to do it.
You might partner with a celebrity who can put your brand in front of millions, or build a roster of micro-influencers with smaller but highly engaged communities.
Both approaches can work when they match your goals and budget. If you’re serious about doing this at scale, check out our guide on using ChatGPT to automate parts of the influencer marketing process.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-12-17 20:00:002025-12-17 20:00:00What Is an Influencer? A Guide to Influencer Marketing
Some product types just naturally fit Reddit’s community culture, including:
Technical or complex tools: SaaS, software, or tools where users want support and feature breakdowns
Niche ecommerce brands: Mattresses, supplements, and other high-consideration DTC products people love to compare and review
Finance and service tools: Banks, brokers, and budgeting apps where transparency matters
Gaming and entertainment: Games or media with built-in fandoms
Consumer tech: Gadgets and devices that need troubleshooting and setup discussions
News and media brands: Outlets and publishers where audiences already debate coverage and breaking stories
Are You Committed to Building a Community?
If your only goal is to “control the narrative,” stop right here.
(I can already hear the Reddit mob sharpening their pitchforks.)
Yes, a brand subreddit can absolutely strengthen your reputation. But only as a byproduct of serving your community first.
Your reason for being should be to create a space where users can connect and feel heard.
For example, r/fidelityinvestments is a customer care channel with official Fidelity associates.
But it’s also a community.
Where members troubleshoot for each other, share feedback, and even defend the brand when criticisms pop up.
Do You Have an Assigned Moderator?
Someone has to own your brand subreddit.
And they need to be there every day:
Sparking conversations and posting prompts. Plus, modelling the tone you want until the community naturally mirrors it.
That takes a rare mix of skills:
Technical familiarity with your product
Context across marketing, support, and PR
Sharp community instinct and tone awareness
Without that person, keeping your subreddit healthy will always feel like a grind.
Are You Cool with Public Scrutiny?
Even the best teams take hits on Reddit.
The question is: Can you handle it?
Because you will get complaints, and you will get called out.
Sometimes, it’s a full-blown PR storm. Like when REI’s CEO hosted an AMA and got flooded with employee complaints about wages, hours, and sales quotas.
Other times, it’s smaller.
Like when a Sonos marketing email revealed someone’s password.
Big or small, the spotlight’s the same.
And the internet expects one thing:
That you stand there, take it, and handle it in stride.
(To their credit, both the REI CEO and u/keithfromSonos did just that.)
So, ask yourself:
“Do we have a team that can handle that pressure and keep the tone steady?”
If not, skip the brand subreddit rather than lose your cool in public for everyone to screenshot.
Alternatives to a Brand Subreddit
If you don’t meet the above conditions, it doesn’t mean you can’t be on Reddit.
You can still build visibility without launching an official community.
Start by getting active in existing unofficial brand-related subreddits.
GoPro, for example, doesn’t run r/gopro.
Yet, it’s one of the most vibrant product spaces on the platform.
Another option is to create a non-branded subreddit around your niche.
For example, if you sell hiking gear, launch r/TrailTips or r/UltralightKit.
You still get visibility without the pressure of running an official branded space.
Another alternative is using your user account as your brand’s central presence.
Many media companies do this well. Like The Washington Post at u/washingtonpost/ and Drop.com at u/drop_official/.
How to Create a Company Subreddit (5 Steps)
Think a company subreddit fits your brand?
Perfect! When done right, it can deliver real results, including:
Deeper customer insights
A self-sustaining community
More visibility in SEO and large language models (LLMs)
“Our share of voice has definitely improved. Two months ago, Reddit Answers didn’t even mention Favikon when I searched for the best influencer marketing platforms. Now, it’s up there in Reddit’s search results.”
– Olena Bomko
Ready to build yours? Let’s get into it.
Step 0: Meet the Minimum Requirements
Before creating a subreddit, become a Redditor first.
Spend time on the platform and learn the culture.
Observe how conversations flow, how moderators maintain order, and what earns trust.
(We’ll talk about cadence, staffing, and moderation in later steps.)
Plus, when everyone knows the “why,” every post naturally lines up with it.
Side note: Your community can support other goals. But your primary goal should define how you measure success. That’s what makes it easier to see whether it’s actually working.
For example, a support-first subreddit focuses on speed, accuracy, and trust.
It needs moderators who know the product and can solve problems publicly.
r/fidelityinvestments is an example of this.
Verified associates answer customer questions, while pinned announcements guide users through service updates.
And, if they were tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), they’d likely focus on response time and resolution rate.
Now, compare that to a community-first subreddit.
It usually thrives on curation, conversation, and peer support.
Moderators act more like hosts, encouraging user-generated content (UGC) and keeping discussions flowing.
r/LifeOnPurple runs this way.
The mattress brand posts lightly, shares occasional updates, and lets UGC drive momentum.
Their key metrics probably include:
Percentage of UGC
Active users
Returning posters
Common Brand Subreddit Goals
Here are the top three core goals most brand subreddits serve.
Choose one, commit to it, and let the rest orbit naturally to keep your subreddit focused.
Goal Type
Main Tasks
Typical Post Types
Brand Presence & Awareness
Customer Care
Reduce support load and create a searchable archive
FAQs, tutorials, outage updates, support megathreads
UGC ratio, non-brand posts/week, returning posters
Engagement rate, sentiment, referral traffic
Step 2: Put People (and Rules) in Place
Once you’ve set your goals, decide who’ll run the subreddit. And how.
The right person (or team) makes sure that:
Questions get answered quickly
Moderation feels fair
Brand messaging stays consistent
Start by assigning one primary moderator.
They’ll be accountable for growth, moderation quality, and reporting insights.
In most teams, that’s your community manager, social media lead, or support head.
Preferably, someone who knows the product and understands community dynamics.
But a great subreddit is rarely a one-person show.
So, make sure your moderator has access to others in the company.
Here’s how that can look depending on your subreddit type:
Support-heavy subreddits: Include a product specialist or customer service rep who can jump in fast
Community-first spaces: Bring in someone from marketing or content to spark conversations or highlight great posts
Developer or technical subs: Involve a product manager or engineer who can step in when discussions get technical
For example, r/SEMrush is run by Semrush employees who actively join conversations and clarify product questions when needed.
In contrast, r/hubspot’s moderators are a combination of members from the HubSpot support team and a power user.
Bring Key People to Your Subreddit
You should also have a few “guest stars” lined up.
These are your execs, product managers (PMs), or team leads.
They don’t need to be available all the time.
But, having them join conversations signals two things: access and accountability.
For example, as Favikon builds its company subreddit in its early stages, the team regularly runs AMAs with leaders and associates.
Define Your Ground Rules
Everyone who represents your brand on Reddit should know exactly how to show up.
So, create an internal guide — like a company subreddit playbook — outlining how your brand speaks and behaves on Reddit.
At a minimum, cover these areas:
Brand tone: How your company sounds when it speaks
Disclosure: Make it clear you’re speaking for the brand. Use verified handles or flairs like “Official Response” or “From the CEO.”
Confidentiality: Define what can be shared publicly vs. what stays internal
Escalation: Outline how moderators flag issues to support, PR, or product teams
Response guidelines: When to jump in, when to step back, and when to let the community self-resolve
Moderation scenarios: How to handle misinformation, conflict, or spam consistently and fairly
Crisis protocols: Who leads if a post goes viral, a complaint snowballs, or a product issue surfaces
Reality check: You don’t need an extensive playbook on day one. Start with the essentials that help moderators act confidently. Then, evolve it as your subreddit — and your instincts — mature.
Step 3: Set Up Your Subreddit
With your moderators and rules ready, it’s time to build the actual space.
To set it up, use a desktop. It’s much smoother than mobile.
Start by clicking “Start a ccommunity” in the left-hand sidebar.
You’ll see a pop-up window that walks you through setup.
Here’s what matters most in each step.
Pick the Right 3 Topics
First, you’ll be asked to choose three topics your community belongs to.
These help Reddit’s discovery algorithm surface your subreddit to the right users.
So, your topic choice could affect who finds you.
In other words:
Treat topic selection like SEO for community discovery.
Choose Your Community Type
Next, decide how open your subreddit will be:
Public: Best for most brand launches
Restricted: Useful for soft launches
Private: Good for internal pilots or early betas
Mature (18+): Only if your content genuinely requires age restriction.
Most brands should go “Public” for organic reach.
But there are also situations where “Private” or “Restricted” makes sense.
For example, if you want to keep everything hidden while you build, set it to “Private.”
And, if you’re not launching yet — but you want to own the URL before someone else grabs it — go “Restricted.”
Just remember, switching later requires Reddit’s approval.
Name Your Subreddit
Next comes naming your community.
This one’s permanent. So, check spelling and capitalization.
Stick with r/YourBrand or r/yourbrand when possible.
If it’s taken, use a clear variant such as r/YourBrandOfficial, r/YourProduct, or r/YourBrandSupport.
Here are a few examples:
r/0xPolygon (Polygon Labs)
r/SEMrush (Semrush)
r/LifeOnPurple (Purple Mattress)
Next, add a short description in the field below the subreddit name.
You can update this anytime.
So, keep it simple for now. (Unless you’ve already got a strong one.)
An effective subreddit description should:
Say who it’s for
Say what members can do
Set expectations
For example, Favikon’s description clearly states what the community is for and what the brand will provide.
It’s obvious that the space serves both the community (creators) and the brand’s updates.
Fidelity’s description, on the other hand, is clear that it’s a customer care channel. With Fidelity associates answering product-related questions.
It also clarifies that they don’t handle account-specific issues:
A small but crucial detail that manages expectations early.
Add Visuals to Make It Look Official
After writing your description, it’s time to add visuals:
Specifically, your icon and banner.
For your icon, upload a recognizable asset, such as your logo.
This helps users instantly see that the subreddit is official.
Next, add your banner.
A 1920 x 384 pixel image works best, though Reddit also allows slimmer options like 1920 x 256 or 1920 x 128.
Your banner should reflect your brand identity without feeling like an ad.
The r/LifeOnPurple subreddit, for example, uses the Purple Mattress logo and a clean purple banner consistent with its brand design.
But r/MobileLegendsGame uses detailed artwork that fits its gaming audience.
Once you’ve uploaded your logo and banner, click “Create Community.”
And voila! That’s your subreddit live.
Step 4: Personalize and Prepare for Launch
Once your subreddit exists, the next step is to make it feel alive.
Do these four things to make it feel welcoming:
Add clear community rules
Write and pin a welcome post
Add a few starter threads
Set up sticky highlights
Let’s walk through each.
Define Community Rules
Every subreddit needs community rules.
They define the kind of space you’re building.
You don’t need a long list, especially at the start. Four to six guidelines are enough to set expectations and boundaries.
Cover the basics first:
No spam
Be respectful
Don’t share personal information
Then, add one or two brand-specific rules.
For example, r/mintmobile, a community with heavy customer engagement, adds a rule against spreading false information.
Plus, a reminder not to post personal details.
While r/hubspot, a fairly new subreddit, has only three rules.
To add rules, click “Mod Tools” at the top right sidebar of your subreddit page.
Then, scroll down to the “MODERATION” section in the left sidebar.
Click “Rules” > “Create Rule.”
Pro tip: Spend time exploring Mod Tools. That’s where you customize your subreddit’s look, rules, and automation. The more familiar you are with that panel, the smoother your moderation as the community grows.
Write the Welcome Post
A welcome post helps new visitors understand what the subreddit’s for and how to participate.
There’s no single right format.
Just make it clear and approachable.
r/reolinkcam, for example, uses a pinned “Please Read This Before Posting” thread.
It starts with short, practical guidance, followed by a quick intro, links to product setup guides, and an FAQ section.
r/Comcast_Xfinity takes a different approach.
Its welcome post lays out the community code of conduct, explains how to use flairs, and summarizes key rules.
To create your first post, click “Create Post.”
It’s at the top right corner of your subreddit page.
Post Conversation Starters
Once your welcome post is live, add a few early posts to make your community feel active.
Some threads you can write include:
FAQ: Answer common support or sales questions your team already gets
Product updates or announcements: Share new releases to keep people in the loop
Community guidelines: Restate the rules and add context, like where to report bugs or how to tag posts
How to/tutorial: Solve a top recurring problem. It reduces tickets and becomes a reusable resource.
Pin Community Highlights
Sticky posts are the first thing visitors see when they land on your subreddit.
They’re pinned to the top of your feed.
When used well, they double as trust signals. A kind of proof that your brand is active and organized.
Start by pinning your “Welcome Post,” then layer in others as your community grows.
For example, r/SEMrush keeps its biggest updates (like the AI Visibility Toolkit launch) and company news pinned.
This way, new visitors instantly see what’s new.
Meanwhile, r/fidelityinvestments often features
Engagement prompts
Weekly Q&As
Official announcements
To make any post sticky, open the post, scroll down, and click the shield icon.
Then, select “Add to highlights.”
That post will now appear at the top of your subreddit.
Step 5: Launch Your Subreddit
Now that everything’s in place, it’s time to spark the first lights of community.
Invite Founding Members
Founding members help set the tone and the tempo of your brand subreddit.
Ideally, they’re your superfans. People who already share your enthusiasm.
They’re usually:
Power users who love your product
Loyal customers who actively engage
Industry peers who enjoy sharing what they know
These voices bring authenticity and fill your first threads with real conversation.
They’ll also help define your culture.
So, treat them like subreddit co-founders, not just early users.
How do you get them?
Start with a simple, genuine invitation.
A one-on-one message always beats a mass announcement.
“Hey [name],We’re launching a small community on Reddit. It’s going to be a place to share ideas, ask questions, and help shape how our products evolve. You’ve been one of the most insightful voices in our space. I would love for you to be part of it from the start.”
[Your name]
Announce It Publicly (But Frame It Right)
Once you’ve got a few active members and threads, announce your subreddit in your owned channels, including:
Frame it as a shared space where your team and users exchange insights, solve problems, and showcase projects.
You can also invite followers from other platforms when there’s something happening — like an AMA or live discussion.
The way Olena does it on X, for example.
This approach builds awareness and attracts people who genuinely want to be part of your community.
Cross-Promote in Related Subreddits (Carefully)
If you or your team already participates in related subreddits, mention your new community when it genuinely adds value to a discussion.
Side note: Always check each subreddit’s rules first. Many ban self-promotion.
This tactic works best when your user account already has credibility in that subreddit.
If people recognize your username from your past helpful comments, the subreddit mention feels natural, not sneaky.
Pro tip: NEVER ask employees to pose as independent users to promote your brand. That’s called astroturfing — and it’s one of the fastest ways to destroy credibility on Reddit.
How to Keep Your Brand Subreddit Alive
Once your founding members are active, the real work begins:
Keeping your subreddit alive and thriving.
You don’t need dozens of posts a day, but you do need steady participation.
Moderate and Engage Consistently
How often you show up depends on your subreddit’s purpose, but the principle stays the same:
Be present.
Respond quickly: Aim to reply within 24 hours
Enforce rules fairly: Remove spam and toxic behavior, but don’t over-police
Check in daily (or at least on weekdays): Even 15–20 minutes a day keeps threads from going unanswered
For example, moderators in r/Comcast_Xfinity regularly pin troubleshooting threads and reply to outage questions.
From their flairs alone, you can tell they’re listening and available.
Side note: A flair is a small label that appears next to a username or post title. It adds instant context to every interaction. You can customize flairs in Mod Tools.
Start Meaningful Rituals and Events
Rituals keep communities alive and give people a reason to come back.
Some easy ones to start include:
Weekly or monthly megathreads for support or feedback
Recurring posts like “Feedback Friday” or “Tutorial Tuesday”
Regular AMAs with your CEO or product team
Community contests or creative prompts
Keep these rituals going long enough, and people start showing up out of habit.
It becomes a place where regulars connect through shared threads and interests.
And that’s how your subreddit turns from just another space into a familiar home.
Not sure where to start?
Look at non-brand subreddits for inspiration.
For example, r/bullcity — Durham, North Carolina’s official subreddit — has a biweekly anything goes thread.
This is where people can add any posts that “would otherwise be considered spam” into the thread.
It’s pinned in the community highlights and keeps local conversations active and open.
Encourage User Contributions
Invite members to share their own tips, advice, and projects.
Then, amplify their participation:
Make a special flair for “Top Contributor”
Highlight the most useful tips
Feature a “Member of the Month”
These small bits of recognition let people know their voice matters. And can turn a casual user into a loyal regular.
Pro tip: Reddit’s spam filter can be overzealous. Keep an eye on auto-removed posts so real users don’t lose motivation.
Handle Criticism Transparently (and With Grace)
Negative posts are inevitable, and deleting them is the worst move you can make.
Instead, respond honestly. Acknowledge the issue, and explain what’s being done about it.
Even if your answer isn’t perfect, that transparency helps build credibility.
To see how it’s done well, look at how other brands handle criticism or answer tough questions.
For example, Beardbrand owner, u/bandholz, once replied to the question:
“Is Beardbrand just not great anymore?” in a calm and factual way.
This turned a critical post into a constructive discussion.
Track Your Subreddit Engagement and Growth
To grow your subreddit, think less about control and more about connection.
And always watch the engagement:
Are members helping each other? Are discussions happening without you prompting them?
When activity dips, nudge it with a new prompt or AMA.
When it grows, resist the urge to overmanage.
Then, use Reddit Analytics to see whether the community is growing or slowing.
This helps you quickly gauge what’s working.
“I spend time in Reddit’s native analytics tools. They’re not super detailed, but I can track member growth and weekly contributions. I can also see daily numbers for posts, comments, and unique users. For what I do — and what I need to track right now — that’s more than enough.”
Make Your Brand Subreddit the Hub
Your brand subreddit works best as part of a complete Reddit presence, not in isolation.
Once it’s well-established, blend it with smart Reddit marketing, including ads, partnerships, and organic participation.
That’s when Reddit stops being just another forum and becomes an ecosystem that grows your visibility and your credibility at the same time.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-12-17 14:53:022025-12-17 14:53:02How to Build a Brand Subreddit: Full Setup Guide (+ Examples)
Good business to consumer marketing (B2C marketing) is the lifeblood of any consumer-facing business. Even Apple, the best-known and most valuable consumer electronics company in the world still invests heavily in B2C digital marketing and advertising.
Here’s a brief look at some of the trends driving the shifting B2C market:
Recent data shows email marketing, paid social, and content were the top three channels for B2C brands.
63% of customers prefer to do their brand research on mobile devices.
In this guide, I’ll dive into the strategies driving these trends. We’ll also discuss what B2C marketing means, which channels should you use, and how can you improve your odds of your success. I’ll explain everything in this article. If you’re ready to start implementing B2C marketing ideas, then let’s begin.
Key Takeaways
B2C marketing is about connecting directly with consumers using strategies like SEO, social media, content, email, and paid ads to drive sales and loyalty.
Consumer expectations have shifted. Mobile-first design, personalization, and fast-loading websites, and are now essential for success.
Strong foundations matter: Define your brand strategy, craft a clear value proposition, build detailed buyer personas, and set SMART goals to guide your campaigns.
Top-performing channels include social media (especially TikTok and Instagram), SEO, content marketing, influencer partnerships, and email. Use a mix based on where your audience spends time.
Measurement is key: Track relevant KPIs like conversion rates, retention, engagement, and emerging metrics like AI visibility to evaluate campaign performance.
What Is B2C Marketing?
B2C marketing—also known as business-to-consumer marketing or just consumer marketing—is the process of selling to individual consumers (rather than other businesses). The process can involve multiple marketing channels, including targeted digital campaigns, social media engagement, and personalized communication like emails and newsletters.
A lot of people will tell you that the B2C marketing funnel is short. Customers are looking to fill an immediate need. They want a product and they do a Google search (or head to Amazon) to buy it. But I don’t think that’s always true.
In many cases—and especially for expensive products—customers do a significant amount of research and comparison shopping. In other words, the customer journey can be very direct, but it can also be fairly convoluted and have a lot of different touch points.
Because of the proliferation of e-commerce, social media, and the internet in general, B2C marketing happens mostly online. But there are plenty of traditional, offline B2C marketing strategies you can use, too.
B2C vs. B2B Marketing
Unlike B2C marketing, brands use B2B marketing to target other companies rather than individual consumers. But it’s not just the target audience that is different between these two marketing strategies.
Here are some more ways B2C marketing is different from B2B marketing:
B2C sales cycles tend to be shorter
B2B products tend to cost more
B2C marketers usually target a more general audience
B2C buyers aren’t doing as much research as B2B (but it’s getting closer now)
B2B buyers typically have a strict approval process, while B2C buyers are making decisions often on an individual basis
Because of the longer and more complex buying process I’ve described above, many marketers will tell you B2C marketing is easier than its B2B sibling. But I think that’s unfair. B2C marketing is often much more competitive—and that can make it just as tough a nut to crack.
B2C Marketing Facts and Stats
Want to get the top line on the size and importance of the B2C space? Check out these facts:
The global B2C e-commerce market was worth $7.69 trillion in 2025.
The vast majority (80 percent) of marketers plan to keep the same B2C inbound marketing budget or add more for this strategy.
How B2C Marketing Strategies Have Evolved
B2C marketing used to be about interruption. Flashy TV ads. Cold emails. Pop-ups. Now, it’s about value.
Consumers expect more, and they want it right away. Personalized product recommendations, mobile-first experiences, and lightning-quick responses are the new normal. If your marketing doesn’t deliver that, people will bounce.
Speed, social proof, and user experience now drive buying decisions. That’s why influencer marketing and user-generated content (UGC) have exploded. People trust TikTok creators and Instagram reviews more than traditional ads. If you’re not building social credibility, you’re losing trust and sales.
AI and machine learning are powering this shift. Real-time email triggers, personalized content, predictive product suggestions—all of it runs on data. AI isn’t a future tool. It’s already shaping how we create better e-commerce marketing funnels that convert.
Take mobile commerce. It’s dominating the space. Fifty-sevenpercent of global e-commerce sales now happen on smartphones, and that number’s still growing. If your site isn’t fast, clean, and easy to use on mobile, you’re leaving money on the table.
Even customer support is getting a tech makeover. AI-powered chat and automation now handle real-time engagement without compromising the user experience. If you’re curious how this plays out, check out how brands are using AI in e-commerce to deliver smarter, faster service.
Today, B2C marketing is about relevance, not reach. Serve value. Stay fast. Stay human.
Build a Strong Foundation for B2C Marketing Campaigns
Here’s my four-step plan to get you started on the path of a killer marketing B2C campaign.
1. Define Your Brand Identity
A brand strategy is the blueprint for how your business presents itself and connects with customers. It includes your brand purpose, voice, positioning, values, visual identity, and messaging. Together, these elements guide how you show up consistently across marketing, products, and customer experiences to build recognition and trust.
The B2C space is incredibly competitive. You need to have a strong brand identity to stand out from the crowd and get the attention of competitors.
Think about Oatly. There are dozens of milk alternatives, as well as specific oat-based drink brands, but Oatly has done a fantastic job of creating a bold brand identity. Although we saw a slight downtrend (3%) in sales of refrigerated oat milk recently, Oatly is steadily increasing its market share, rising 5% from 2023 to 2024. One of their keys to success is sticking to strong brand principles like their sustainability ethos:
So, what does your brand stand for? How do you want to be seen?
Once you’ve answered these questions, you can craft a consistent image and tone of voice and apply them to all of your B2C marketing efforts.
2. Develop Compelling Value Propositions
A value proposition is a statement that communicates the benefits you offer to customers and the things that make your brand stand apart.
Think of it like a 30-second elevator pitch. What’s going to make customers choose your brand over your competitors?
A strong value proposition is clear, specific, and customer-focused. It should answer three key questions fast:
What are you offering?
Who is it for?
Why is it better or different?
If you need inspiration, look at what your top competitors are claiming and then find the gap they’re not addressing.
Avoid vague promises. “High quality” or “great service” doesn’t mean much unless you back it up. Focus on tangible outcomes—”save time, save money, feel better, look better, get results.”
You also want to speak your customer’s language. Use words they actually use when they talk about their problems or goals. That’s how you build relevance and trust.
3. Create Buyer Personas
Who are you targeting? Without a clearly defined target audience, it can be difficult to find the right B2C marketing channels and your campaigns can quickly lose money. That’s where a buyer persona comes in.
A buyer persona is a detailed description of an imaginary member of your target audience. It includes demographic information, as well as their preferences, behaviors, desires, and pain points. The more detailed your buyer personas are, the easier it will be to build B2C marketing strategies that target them effectively.
Here’s a simple example of a buyer persona to give you a starting point: Sarah, 34, is a busy working mom living in the suburbs. She shops primarily on mobile, values fast delivery, and trusts online reviews. Her biggest pain point is finding affordable, healthy meals her kids will actually eat. She follows parenting influencers on Instagram and prefers brands that save her time without sacrificing quality.
4. Set Clear Goals
What do you want to achieve from your B2C marketing ideas?
Think about your overall business objectives, and then highlight one or more specific improvements that will help you get there. The more specific and measurable your goal, the more likely you’ll be to achieve it.
One proven framework is SMART goals. These help you stay focused and track real progress:
Specific – Clear and well-defined
Measurable – Can be tracked with data
Achievable – Realistic based on your resources
Relevant – Tied to business objectives
Time-bound – Has a clear deadline
Here are some example goals to inspire you:
Increase SEO traffic by 30% in six months
Acquire 2,000 email signups through PPC Ads within 2 months
Decrease shopping cart abandonment rates by 5 percent in 12 months
B2C Marketing Channels
There are countless B2C marketing channels you can use to promote your product. Let’s quickly run through some of the most popular below.
Your Website
This one is easy. Your website is arguably your most important B2C marketing channel—especially if you are an e-commerce store. It’s a great way to collect leads (via email signups), nurture customers (via blog posts and other forms of content marketing) and sell directly to users.
If you’re looking for an example of how to use your website as a B2C marketing channel, look no further than a well-established e-commerce website like Amazon. It’s tough to leave the site without making a sale. Even then, there’s plenty of additional content to keep you sticking around.
But it’s not just about content or offers. Your site’s technical performance matters. Slow-loading pages or images are some of the top reasons customers will leave your site.
This plays into your overall user experience (UX). Your UX needs to be fast, intuitive, and mobile-friendly. Accessibility matters, too. If users can’t navigate or trust your site, they won’t convert. B2C websites need to feel smooth and make buying (or signing up) effortless. That’s what keeps people coming back.
SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the process of optimizing your website to increase the chances it appears on the first page of Google (and other search engines) for relevant terms. This is a powerful strategy since ninety-three percent of online experiences begin with a search engine.
The right SEO strategy can have an incredibly high ROI. In the e-commerce sector, that number is 317 percent. B2C brands like Gymshark prove how powerful it can be. They rank for over 356,000 keywords and generate about 1.5 million organic monthly visitors.
To be effective, you’ll need a mix of on-page and off-page SEO strategies. Start by optimizing all e-commerce product and category pages with relevant keywords in headers, body copy, and URLs.
Then build authority with high-quality backlinks through digital public relations (DPR) or linkable content like data roundup pieces.
Don’t skip technical SEO either. Behind-the-scenes metrics like site speed, mobile usability, internal linking, and clean navigation all influence rankings. Tools like Google Search Console and Ubersuggest can help you monitor performance and spot issues.
SEO takes time, but once it kicks in, it drives traffic without having to continue spending on ads.
Email
Email is a huge marketing channel in the B2C space. Think about how many emails you get every week from brands. It’s probably a lot, given there are 376.4 billion emails sent every day. There’s a reason that number is so high; it’s because they are easy and cheap to send, and they can generate a huge ROI.
Here’s a great example of a B2C abandoned cart email from McDonald’s encouraging users to go back and make a purchase:
Social Media
Social media is a more popular marketing channel for B2C brands than B2B companies. Research from HubSpot shows that social media produces the highest ROI for marketers, and marketing teams are doubling down. Don’t believe me? Just look at the breakdown of the roles that marketing managers consider a top priority:
Whether it’s Facebook and Instagram or Twitter and TikTok, almost every B2C brand will find its audience somewhere on these platforms.
Consumers spend an average of 141 minutes per day on social media. That’s time you could be connecting with them. That doesn’t mean you have to constantly promote your products, however. You can use social media to showcase your brand’s personality (like Wendy’s does below) or use it as a customer support channel. Some brands, like Crypto.com, even have dedicated customer support accounts.
But you don’t even have to sell or offer customer support to make a splash on social media. Fast food chain Wendy’s uses social media to build huge brand awareness and increase customer loyalty.
The key is not to treat every platform the same. Here’s how to win on the big ones:
Instagram: Prioritize eye-catching visuals and short-form video (Reels). Partner with influencers for reach and credibility.
TikTok: Focus on trends, sound-driven content, and authentic, behind-the-scenes videos. It’s great for discovery.
Facebook: Best for community building, retargeting, and paid ads. Use Groups and Lives to engage.
Pinterest: Strong for e-commerce, especially fashion, beauty, and home. Optimize pins with keywords.
X (Twitter): Lean into real-time conversation, updates, and brand voice.
YouTube: Great for tutorials, product demos, and long-form storytelling. It also helps with SEO.
Stay consistent, track what works, and lean into the platforms where your audience actually hangs out.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the most powerful strategies for B2B businesses. But I find B2C brands regularly overlook it. That’s a shame, because B2C content marketing can be incredibly effective.
The more content you create, the more chances you have to engage your audience. And it’s not just about blog posts. Men’s grooming brand Beardbrand built a loyal customer base through educational and entertaining YouTube videos.
You don’t always have to create content yourself, either. User-generated content (UGC) like reviews, forum replies, or social posts from customers can be just as powerful. Just make sure you have permission before sharing.
Great content marketing helps customers see themselves in your brand. Keep it authentic, consistent, and valuable.
Whether you’re writing how-to guides, sharing tips on Instagram, or curating UGC, the goal is the same: create content your audience actually wants, not just what you want to say.
Influencer Marketing
Love them or hate them, influencers are a big deal in the B2C marketing space. When used right, they can be strategic partners for your business. You don’t need to blow your budget on someone like Bella Hadid to see success, though.
Micro-influencers—people with fewer than 100,000 followers—are often more cost-effective and deliver stronger engagement. Their audiences trust them, which means your product comes with built-in credibility.
Influencer marketing works best when it feels authentic. Give creators creative freedom to showcase your product in a way that fits their style. Forced or overly scripted content sticks out—and not in a good way.
Fashion brand Princess Polly is a great example. They’ve built a massive presence by consistently partnering with mid-tier and micro-influencers across TikTok and Instagram. The result? Relatable content that drives real conversions.
Looking to scale? This guide can help you build a team of social media influencers without draining your budget.
SMS
SMS (or text messaging) marketing lets your brand slide into your potential customers’ messages. Given that almost eighty percent of consumers have used their phones to make a purchase, reaching them directly on these devices can be powerful.
Here’s a fantastic example of how you can promote your products by text, courtesy of Crocs.
Paid Media
B2C paid media offers fast visibility and scalable reach, if you know how to use it.
Paid search is one of the most popular options. With over two-thirds of web experiences starting on search engines, it’s no surprise brands pay to show up first. You only pay when someone clicks, and attribution is clear. Just know that competitive industries (like insurance or legal) come with higher costs.
Display ads—text, image, or video banners on third-party sites—are another widely used tactic. Platforms like the Google Display Network make it easy to target specific audiences based on their interests, behaviors, or locations. These work well for building awareness and retargeting past visitors.
If you’ve got a bigger budget, TV and streaming ads can be incredibly effective. A 30-second primetime spot can cost hundreds of thousands just for placement—like $828,501 for Sunday Night Football. But when done right, the impact is massive. Think of iconic Apple or Nike ads that people still remember years later.
Paid media is especially powerful in e-commerce marketing, where you can track every click, view, and sale. The best B2C strategies use a mix: search for intent, display for awareness, and streaming for emotional punch. Test often, watch performance closely, and optimize based on results, not guesses.
YouTube
YouTube can be used as a full-funnel B2C marketing channel.
You can use it to build brand awareness, educate customers, showcase products, drive traffic, and even close sales. Think of it as a visual search engine. People go to YouTube to solve problems, research products, and get inspired. That gives you plenty of room to meet them where they are.
A well-optimized branded channel lets you create evergreen content that drives traffic long after it’s published. Tutorials, reviews, and behind-the-scenes videos all perform well, especially when they’re authentic and useful.
And yes, YouTube ads still have their place. Skippable in-stream ads can be effective if you hook the viewer fast. Just lead with value, not a hard sell.
Brands like GoPro grew massive followings by turning product use into entertainment. That’s the real power of YouTube: it sells without feeling like an ad.
CRO
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of improving your website or landing pages to increase the percentage of visitors who take a desired action—like making a purchase, signing up for emails, or adding to cart.
In B2C, where buying decisions are often made quickly and impulsively, even small improvements can lead to significant gains. CRO is all about reducing friction and making it as easy as possible for someone to say “yes.”
Start with your product pages and checkout flow. Are CTAs clear? Is mobile performance smooth? Are you building trust with reviews, photos, and guarantees?
A strong CRO strategy includes A/B testing elements like headlines, images, button copy, and layouts. Use data—heatmaps, session recordings, and analytics—to help you make data-driven changes that will move the needle.
At its core, CRO helps you get more value from the traffic you already have. And in a crowded B2C space, that can be a serious edge.
B2C Marketing Strategies to Attract and Engage Customers
There’s no shortage of B2C marketing strategies you can use to attract buyers. Below, I cover some of the most popular and powerful methods.
Run Retargeting Campaigns
Not every consumer who lands on your website is going to make a purchase immediately. The B2C sales cycle may be short, but it’s not that short. But you can use a retargeting campaign to advertise to those consumers until they do.
When you launch a retargeting campaign, you show relevant ads on websites and social media platforms to users who have visited your site but didn’t convert.
To make it work, tailor your ads based on user behavior. Show product reminders or testimonials to establish trust and create a sense of urgency. Keep the messaging consistent with what they viewed.
For example, fashion brand ASOS uses dynamic retargeting to show shoppers the exact items they browsed, often with a discount or low-stock warning to prompt action.
The goal isn’t to annoy, it’s to stay top of mind until they’re ready to buy.
Offer Rewards and Exclusive Discounts
If there’s one strategy I know that almost always works, it’s giving your customers exclusive rewards and discounts. Not only do customers love getting something for free, but they also love feeling like they are part of a special club.
Beauty Insider Benefits from Sephora is a great example of a rewards program. Members earn 1 point for every $1 they spend, as well as additional savings like 20 percent off all year and free gifts on your birthday. Customers can also unlock more benefits based on what they spend each year.
The best thing about rewards and discounts is that they don’t have to cost your brand anything. Sure, you’re giving a small bit away, but you should more than make up for it through an increase in sales.
Consider Starting A Podcast
If you really want to stand out and take your content marketing to the next level, then consider starting a podcast. There are plenty of examples of B2C brands doing this effectively. Check out Duolingo, Bobbie Baby Formula, and Thrive Market.
The best B2C podcasts focus on storytelling, shared values, and topics your audience already cares about. They don’t just promote products—they entertain or educate.
A successful podcast is about giving listeners something worth coming back for. Keep episodes short, focused, and consistent. Interview experts, share behind-the-scenes insights, or answer real customer questions.
And when done right, it doesn’t just support brand awareness. It builds trust, loyalty, and long-term engagement.
Emphasize Your Commitment To Social Responsibility
It’s not enough to sell great products. Consumers also care about what brands stand for and how they behave. It’s why brands like Patagonia have become so popular.
This is particularly important if you target younger generations. Over two-thirds (70%) of Gen Z-ers say they are willing to pay more to support brands that are committed to positive social and environmental impact. Eighty-one percent expect brands to make a public statement about the initiatives they stand for.
Create and Implement Product Schema
If you want your products to stand out in search—and get picked up by AI-driven tools and language models—product schema is a must.
Product schema is a type of structured data that helps search engines understand what’s on your page. When implemented correctly, it can enhance your listings with rich results like star ratings, pricing, availability, and more.
It also gives Google and large language models better context, increasing your chances of showing up in relevant queries or AI summaries.
Start by optimizing your product pages with clear titles, images, and persuasive copy. Then layer in product schema to give search engines a detailed blueprint of each item.
There are plugins and generators that make adding schema easier—even for non-developers.
Product schema helps your pages look better in search, perform better in rankings, and stay visible in an AI-powered search future. Sixty-three percent believe a brand’s actions should reflect what they stand for.
Measuring the Success of Your B2C Campaigns
How you measure the success of your B2C marketing campaigns will depend largely on your goals. You’ll want to make sure the key performance indicators (KPIs) you track are as relevant as possible. So if you want to increase website traffic from SEO, for example, you’ll want to track SERP rankings, SERP click through rates, and web traffic from Google.
Here are some common B2C marketing KPIs to get you started:
Web traffic: If you want to drive customers to your website, this KPI is key. Don’t forget to split it into channels to see which B2C marketing channel is driving the most traffic.
Conversion rate: Traffic isn’t any good if it doesn’t convert. That’s why you need to measure your site’s conversion rate. You can also measure the conversion rate of specific B2C marketing strategies like PPC ads.
Social engagement: Social media is a vital part of the B2C marketing mix. Forget about vanity metrics such as Likes and Views. Measure engagement instead.
Customer retention rate: You don’t just want to win customers; you want to retain them. That’s why I always recommend B2C brands measure their retention rates.
Customer satisfaction score: One of the most accurate forecasters of customer retention rate is your customer satisfaction score. NPS is my favorite metric to measure this.
AI visibility: As search engines evolve, so should your metrics. Track how often your content appears in AI-generated responses or overviews, especially for branded and product-related queries. This helps you measure reach in AI-powered search experiences.
B2C Marketing Tools
B2C marketing becomes a lot easier when you have access to the right tools. Here are some solutions I think will greatly help your efforts.
SEO and PPC marketing tools: Tools like Ubersuggest and Semrush are virtually mandatory to improve your SEO and PPC efforts.
Market research tools: The more you can learn about your market the easier you’ll find it to create messages that cut through the noise. I turn to Answer the Public for help here.
B2C marketplaces: You don’t have to sell directly to consumers from your website or storefront. B2C marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy mean you don’t have to invest thousands into acquiring customers.
Analytics platforms: You need to know how customers behave on your website. There’s no better tool than Google Analytics.
Email marketing tools: These platforms can be one of the most cost-effective ways to reach your target audience. Try Mailchimp or MailerLite to start.
Overcoming Challenges in B2C Marketing
Marketing a B2C business isn’t plain sailing. You’ll need to overcome the following challenges:
Rising Competition and Saturation: One way to beat the competition is to have a superior product. Another is to have a superior marketing strategy. You can outwork the competition by optimizing your ad campaigns to the nth degree or building the perfect SEO strategy. Or you can do something no one else is doing, like launch a controversial campaign or invest in a PR stunt.
Data Privacy and Security Concerns: Privacy and security are major concerns in the B2C environment. Customers care about their data more than ever, with eighty-four percent saying the government should do something to regulate the way companies collect and use user data. When you are capturing and storing data from customers, you need to make sure you are doing so in a compliant manner. That means adhering to the GDPR if you operate in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act if you operate in the U.S. If you’re concerned about privacy issues, I recommend keeping your efforts focused on first-party data.
Adapting to Changing Consumer Trends and Preferences: In the B2C world, consumer trends and preferences can change in an instant. As a B2C brand, you need to adapt quickly and stay ahead of rapidly changing consumer sentiment. In some cases, this may involve adjusting your messaging, imagery, and other marketing materials. In other cases, it may mean creating new consumer products that you can market if the popularity of your main product fades.
FAQs
What is B2C marketing?
Business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing refers to the strategies brands use to reach, engage and convert individual consumers. B2C marketers use a mix of digital channels—including SEO, social media, email, and PPC—as well as other tactics to attract and retain customers.
How do I do B2C marketing?
Start by identifying your ideal customer and creating messaging that speaks directly to their needs or desires. Use a mix of channels—like social media, content marketing, SEO, and paid ads—to reach them where they are. Track results and keep optimizing based on what drives engagement and sales.
Is LinkedIn good for B2C marketing?
B2B and B2C are two differeLinkedIn isn’t a go-to platform for most B2C brands, but it can work in specific cases—especially for high-end, education-focused, or career-related products. If your target audience includes professionals or working parents, it may be worth testing. Just keep the content tailored to the platform’s tone and audience.
Conclusion
B2C marketing is one of the most important strategies any consumer-facing brand can use to grow its business. As you’ll now realize, there’s no single B2C marketing strategy or channel that will work for everyone.
That’s why I advise you to try one or two channels and a couple of different marketing strategies first. Only once you’ve got a firm grasp of who your audience is and how they behave, should you start to tailor your efforts and start experimenting with new channels.
Google rapidly expanded AI Overviews in search during 2025, then pulled back as they moved into commercial and navigational queries. These findings are based on a new Semrush analysis of more than 10 million keywords from January to November.
AI Overviews surged, then retreated. Google didn’t roll out AI Overviews in a straight line in 2025. A mid-year spike gave way to a pullback, suggesting Google moved fast to test the feature, then eased off based on user data:
January: 6.5% of queries triggered an AI Overview
July: AI Overview visibility peaked, appearing in just under 25% of queries.
November: Coverage fell back to less than 16% of queries.
Zero-click behavior defied expectations. Surprisingly, click-through rates for keywords with AI Overviews have steadily risen since January. AI Overviews don’t automatically reduce clicks and may even encourage them.
AI Overviews still appear more often on searches that already tend to drive no clicks.
But when Semrush compared the same keywords before and after an AI Overview appeared, zero-click rates fell from 33.75% to 31.53%.
Informational queries no longer dominate. Early 2025 AI Overviews were almost entirely informational:
January: 91% informational
October: 57% informational
Now, AI Overviews are appearing for commercial and transactional queries:
Commercial queries: Increased from 8% to 18%
Transactional queries: Increased from 2% to 14%
Navigational queries are rising fast. In an unexpected shift, AI summaries are increasingly intercepting brand and destination searches:
Navigational AI Overviews grew from under 1% in January to more than 10% by November.
Google Ads + AI Overviews. Earlier this year, ads rarely appeared next to AI Overviews. Now they’re common:
Ads alongside AI Overviews rose from about 3% in January to roughly 40% by November.
Ads show at the bottom of around 25% of AI Overview SERPs.
Science is the most impacted industry. By keyword saturation, Science leads all verticals for AI Overviews at 25.96%. Computers & Electronics follows at 17.92%, with People & Society close behind at 17.29%.
Since March, Food & Drink has seen the fastest growth in AI Overviews of any category.
Meanwhile, Real Estate, Shopping, and Arts & Entertainment remain lightly affected, with AI Overviews appearing on fewer than 3% of keywords.
Why we care. AI Overviews are unevenly and persistently reshaping click behavior, commercial visibility, and ad placement. Volatility is likely to continue, so closely monitor performance shifts tied to AI Overviews.
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We are navigating the “search everywhere” revolution – a disruptive shift driven by generative AI and large language models (LLMs) that is reshaping the relationship between brands, consumers, and search engines.
For the last two decades, the digital economy ran on a simple exchange: content for clicks.
With the rise of zero-click experiences, AI Overviews, and assistant-led research, that exchange is breaking down.
AI now synthesizes answers directly on the SERP, often satisfying intent without a visit to a website.
Platforms such as Gemini and ChatGPT are fundamentally changing how information is discovered.
For enterprises, visibility increasingly depends on whether content is recognized as authoritative by both search engines and AI systems.
That shift introduces a new goal – to become the source that AI cites.
A content knowledge graph is essential to achieving that goal.
By leveraging structured data and entity SEO, brands can build a semantic data layer that enables AI to accurately interpret their entities and relationships, ensuring continued discoverability in this evolving economy.
This article explores:
The difference between traditional search and AI search, including the concept of comprehension budget.
Why schema and entity optimization are foundational to discovery in AI search.
The content knowledge graph and the importance of organizational entity lineage.
The enterprise entity optimization playbook and deployment checklist.
The role of schema in the agentic web.
How connected journeys improve customer discovery and total cost of ownership.
The fundamental difference between traditional and AI search
To become a source that AI cites, it’s essential to understand how traditional search differs from AI-driven search.
Traditional search functioned much like software as a service.
It was deterministic, following fixed, rule-based logic and producing the same output for the same input every time.
AI search is probabilistic.
It generates responses based on patterns and likelihoods, which means results can vary from one query to the next.
Even with multimodal content, AI converts text, images, and audio into numerical representations that capture meaning and relationships rather than exact matches.
For AI to cite your content, you need a strong data layer combined with context engineering – structuring and optimizing information so AI can interpret it as reliable and trustworthy for a given query.
As AI systems rely increasingly on large-scale inference rather than keyword-driven indexing, a new reality has emerged: the cost of comprehension.
Each time an AI model interprets text, resolves ambiguity, or infers relationships between entities, it consumes GPU cycles, increasing already significant computing costs.
A comprehension budget is the finite allocation of compute that determines whether content is worth the effort for an AI system to understand.
4 foundational elements for AI discovery
For content to be cited by AI, it must first be discovered and understood.
While many discovery requirements overlap with traditional search, key differences emerge in how AI systems process and evaluate content.
1. Technical foundation
Your site’s infrastructure must allow AI engines to crawl and access content efficiently.
With limited compute and a finite comprehension budget, platform architecture matters.
Enterprises should support progressive crawling of fresh content through IndexNow integration to optimize that budget.
Ideally, this capability is native to the platform and CMS.
2. Helpful content
Before creating content, you need an entity strategy that accurately and comprehensively represents your brand.
Content should meet audience needs and answer their questions.
Structuring content around customer intent, presenting it in clear “chunks,” and keeping it fresh are all important considerations.
Schema markup, clean information architecture, consistent headings, and clear entity relationships help AI engines understand both individual pages and how multiple pieces of content relate to one another.
Rather than forcing models to infer what a page is about, who it applies to, or how information connects, businesses make those relationships explicit.
4. Authority
AI engines, like traditional search engines, prioritize authoritative content from trusted sources.
Establishing topical authority is essential. For location-based businesses, local relevance and authority are also critical to becoming a trusted source.
The myth: Schema doesn’t work
Many enterprises claim to use schema but see no measurable lift, leading to the belief that schema doesn’t work.
The reality is that most failures stem from basic implementations or schema deployed with errors.
Tags such as Organization or Breadcrumb are foundational, but they provide limited insight into a business.
Used in isolation, they create disconnected data points rather than a cohesive story AI can interpret.
The content knowledge graph: Telling AI your story
The more AI knows about your business, the better it can cite it.
A content knowledge graph is a structured map of entities and their relationships, providing reliable information about your business to AI systems.
Deep nested schema plays a central role in building this graph.
A deep nested schema architecture expresses the full entity lineage of a business in a machine-readable form.
In resource description framework (RDF) terms, AI systems need to understand that:
An organization creates a brand.
The brand manufactures a product.
The product belongs to a category.
Each category serves a specific purpose or use case.
By fully nesting entities – Organization → Brand → Product → Offer → PriceSpecification → Review → Person – you publish a closed-loop content knowledge graph that models your business with precision.
In “How to deploy advanced schema at scale,” I outlined the full process for effective schema deployment – from developing an entity strategy through deployment, maintenance, and measurement.
Automating for operational excellence
At the enterprise level, facts change constantly, including product specifications, availability, categories, reviews, offers, and prices.
If structured data, entity lineage, and topic clusters do not update dynamically to reflect these changes, AI systems begin to detect inconsistencies.
In an AI-driven ecosystem where accuracy, coherence, and consistency determine inclusion, even small discrepancies can erode trust.
Manual schema management is not sustainable.
The only scalable approach is automation – using a schema management solution aligned with your entity strategy and integrated into your discovery and marketing flywheel.
Measuring success: KPIs for the generative AI era
As keyword rankings lose relevance and traffic declines, you need new KPIs to evaluate performance in AI search.
Brand visibility: Is your brand appearing in AI search results?
Brand sentiment: When your brand is cited, is the sentiment positive, negative, or neutral?
LLM visibility: Beyond branded queries, how does your performance on non-branded terms compare with competitors?
Conversions: At the bottom of the funnel, are conversion metrics being tracked and optimized?
From reading to acting: Preparing for the agentic web
The web is shifting from a “read” model to an “act” model.
AI agents will increasingly execute tasks on behalf of users, such as booking appointments, reserving tables, or comparing specifications.
To be discovered by these agents, brands must make their capabilities machine-callable. Key steps to prepare include:
Create a schema layer: Define entity lineage and executable capabilities in a machine-readable format so agents can act on your behalf.
Use action vocabularies: Leverage Schema.org action vocabularies to provide semantic meaning and define agent capabilities, including:
ReserveAction.
BookAction.
CommunicateAction.
PotentialAction.
Establish guardrails: Declare engagement rules, required inputs, authentication, and success or failure semantics in a structured format that machines can interpret.
Brands that are callable are the ones that will be found. Acting early provides a compounding advantage by shaping the standards agents learn first.
The enterprise entity deployment checklist
Use this checklist to evaluate whether your entity strategy is operational, scalable, and aligned with AI discovery requirements.
Entity audit: Have you defined your core entities and validated the facts?
Deep nesting: Does your JSON-LD reflect your business ontology, or is it flat?
Authority linking: Are you using sameAs to connect entities to Wikidata and the Knowledge Graph?
Actionable schema: Have you implemented PotentialAction for the agentic web?
Automation: Do you have a system in place to prevent schema drift?
Single source of truth (SSOT): Is schema synchronized across your CMS, GBP, and internal systems?
Technical SEO: Are the technical foundations in place to support an effective entity strategy?
IndexNow: Are you enabling progressive and rapid indexing of fresh content?
Connected customer journeys and total cost of ownership
Your martech stack must align with the evolving customer discovery journey.
This requires a shift from treating schema as a point solution for visibility to managing a holistic presence with total cost of ownership in mind.
Data is the foundation of any composable architecture.
A centralized data repository connects technologies, enables seamless flow, breaks down departmental silos, and optimizes cost of ownership.
This reduces redundancy and improves the consistency and accuracy AI systems expect.
When schema is treated as a point solution, content changes can break not only schema deployment but the entire entity lineage.
Fixing individual tags does not restore performance. Instead, multiple teams – SEO, content, IT, and analytics – are pulled into investigations, increasing cost and inefficiency.
The solution is to integrate schema markup directly into brand and entity strategy.
When structured content changes, it should be:
Revalidated against the organization’s entity lineage.
Dynamically redeployed.
Pushed for progressive indexing through IndexNow.
This enables faster recovery and lower compute overhead.
Integrating schema into your entity lineage and discovery flywheel helps optimize total cost of ownership while maximizing efficiency.
A strategic blueprint for AI readiness
Several core requirements define AI readiness.
Data: Centralized, unified, consistent, and reliable data aligned to customer intent is the foundation of any AI strategy.
Connected journeys and composable architecture: When data is unified and structured with schema, customer journeys can be connected across channels. A composable martech stack enables consistent, personalized experiences at every touchpoint.
Structured content: Define organizational entity lineage and create a semantic layer that makes content machine- and agent-ready.
Distribution: Break down silos and move from channel-specific tactics to an omnichannel strategy, supported by a centralized data source and progressive crawling of fresh content.
Together, these efforts make your omnichannel strategy more durable while reducing total cost of ownership across the technology stack.
Thanks to Bill Hunt and Tushar Prabhu for their contributions to this article.
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Google’s pitch for AI-powered bidding is seductive.
Feed the algorithm your conversion data, set a target, and let it optimize your campaigns while you focus on strategy.
Machine learning will handle the rest.
What Google doesn’t emphasize is that its algorithms optimize for Google’s goals, not necessarily yours.
In 2026, as Smart Bidding becomes more opaque and Performance Max absorbs more campaign types, knowing when to guide the algorithm – and when to override it – has become a defining skill that separates average PPC managers from exceptional ones.
AI bidding can deliver spectacular results, but it can also quietly destroy profitable campaigns by chasing volume at the expense of efficiency.
The difference is not the technology. It is knowing when the algorithm needs direction, tighter constraints, or a full override.
This article explains:
How AI bidding actually works.
The warning signs that it is failing.
The strategic intervention points where human judgment still outperforms machine learning.
How AI bidding actually works – and what Google doesn’t tell you
Smart Bidding comes in several strategies, including:
Each uses machine learning to predict the likelihood of a conversion and adjust bids in real time based on contextual signals.
The algorithm analyzes hundreds of signals at auction time, such as:
Device type.
Location.
Time of day.
Browser.
Operating system.
Audience membership.
Remarketing lists.
Past site interactions.
Search query.
It compares these signals with historical conversion data to calculate an optimal bid for each auction.
During the “learning period,” typically seven to 14 days, the algorithm explores the bid landscape, testing bid levels to understand the conversion probability curve.
Google recommends patience during this phase, and in general, that advice holds. The algorithm needs data.
The first problem is that learning periods are not always temporary.
Some campaigns get stuck in perpetual learning and never achieve stable performance.
Google’s optimization goals vs. your business goals
The algorithm optimizes for metrics that drive Google’s revenue, not necessarily your profitability.
When a Target ROAS of 400% is set, the algorithm interprets that as “maximize total conversion value while maintaining a 400% average ROAS.”
Notice the word “maximize.”
The system is designed to spend the full budget and, ideally, encourage increases over time.
More spend means more revenue for Google.
Business goals are often different.
You may want a 400% ROAS with a specific volume threshold.
You may need to maintain margin requirements that vary by product line.
Or you may prefer a 500% ROAS at lower volume because fulfillment capacity is constrained.
The algorithm does not understand this context.
It sees a ROAS target and optimizes accordingly, often pushing volume at the expense of efficiency once the target is reached.
This pattern is common. An algorithm increases spend by 40% to deliver 15% more conversions at the target ROAS. Technically, it succeeds.
In practice, cash flow cannot support the higher ad spend, even at the same efficiency.
The algorithm does not account for working capital constraints.
Key signals the algorithm can’t understand
AI bidding works well, but it has limits.
Without intervention, several factors can’t be fully accounted for.
Seasonal patterns not yet reflected in historical data
Launch a campaign in October, and the algorithm has no visibility into a December peak season.
It optimizes based on October performance until December data proves otherwise, often missing early seasonal demand.
Product margin differences
A $100 sale of Product A with a 60% margin and a $100 sale of Product B with a 15% margin look identical to the algorithm.
Both register as $100 conversions. The business impact, however, is very different.
This is where profit tracking, profit bidding, and margin-based segmentation matter.
Customer lifetime value variations
Unless lifetime value modeling is explicitly built into conversion values, the algorithm treats a first-time customer the same as a repeat buyer.
In most accounts, that modeling does not exist.
Market and competitive changes
When a competitor launches an aggressive promotion or a new entrant appears, the algorithm continues bidding based on historical conditions until performance degrades enough to force adjustment.
Market share is often lost during that lag.
Inventory and supply chain constraints
If a best-selling product is out of stock for two weeks, the algorithm may continue bidding aggressively on related searches because of past performance.
The result is paid traffic that cannot convert.
This is not a criticism of the technology. It’s a reminder that the algorithm optimizes only within the data and parameters provided.
When those inputs fail to reflect business reality, optimization may be mathematically correct but strategically wrong.
Warning signs your AI bidding strategy is failing
The perpetual learning phase
Learning periods are normal. Extended learning periods are red flags.
If your campaign shows a “Learning” status for more than two weeks, something is broken.
Common causes include:
Insufficient conversion volume – the algorithm typically needs at least 30 to 50 conversions per month.
Frequent changes that reset the learning period.
Unstable performance with wide day-to-day fluctuations.
When to intervene
If learning extends beyond three weeks, either:
Increase the budget to accelerate data collection.
Loosen the target to allow more conversions.
Or switch to a less aggressive bid strategy like Enhanced CPC.
Sometimes the algorithm is simply telling you it does not have enough data to succeed.
Budget pacing issues
Healthy AI bidding campaigns show relatively smooth budget pacing.
Daily spend fluctuates, but it stays within reasonable bounds.
Problematic patterns include:
Front-loaded spending – 80% of the daily budget gone by 10 a.m.
Consistent underspending, such as averaging 60% of budget per day.
Volatile day-to-day swings, like spending $800 one day, $200 the next, then $650 after that.
Budget pacing is a proxy for algorithm confidence.
Smooth pacing suggests the system understands your conversion landscape.
Erratic pacing usually means it is guessing.
The efficiency cliff
This is the most dangerous pattern. Performance starts strong, then gradually or suddenly deteriorates.
This shows up often in Target ROAS campaigns.
Month 1: 450% ROAS, excellent.
Month 2: 420%, still good.
Month 3: 380%, concerning.
Month 4: 310%, alarm bells.
What happened?
The algorithm exhausted the most efficient audience segments and search terms.
To keep growing volume – because it is designed to maximize – it expanded into less qualified traffic.
Broad match reached further. Audiences widened. Bid efficiency declined.
Traffic quality deterioration
Sometimes the numbers look fine, but qualitative signals tell a different story.
Engagement declines – bounce rate rises, time on site falls, pages per session drop.
Geographic shifts appear as the algorithm drives traffic from lower-value regions.
Device mix changes, often skewing toward mobile because CPCs are cheaper, even when desktop converts better.
Time-of-day misalignment can also emerge, with traffic arriving when sales teams are unavailable.
These quality signals do not directly influence optimization because they are not part of the conversion data.
To address them, the algorithm needs constraints: bid adjustments, audience exclusions, or ad scheduling.
The search terms report reveals the truth
The search terms report is the truth serum for AI bidding performance.
Export it regularly and look for:
Low-intent queries receiving aggressive bids.
Informational searches mixed with transactional ones.
Irrelevant expansions where the algorithm chased conversions into entirely different intent.
A high-end furniture retailer should not spend $8 per click on “free furniture donation pickup.”
A B2B software company targeting “project management software” should not appear for “project manager jobs.”
These situations occur when the algorithm operates without constraints.
Keyword matching is also looser than it was in the past, which means even small gaps can allow the system to bid on queries you never intended to target.
Strategic intervention points: When and how to take control
Segmentation for better control
One-size-fits-all AI bidding breaks down when a business has diverse economics.
The solution is segmentation, so each algorithm optimizes toward a clear, coherent goal.
Separate high-margin products – 40%+ margin – into one campaign with more aggressive ROAS targets, and low-margin products – 10% to 15% margin – into another with more conservative targets.
If the Northeast region delivers 450% ROAS while the Southeast delivers 250%, separate them.
Brand campaigns operate under fundamentally different economics than nonbrand campaigns, so optimizing both with the same algorithm and target rarely makes sense.
Segmentation gives each algorithm a clear mission. Better focus leads to better results.
Bid strategy layering
Pure automation is not always the answer.
In many cases, hybrid approaches deliver better results.
Run Target ROAS at 400% under normal conditions, then manually lower it to 300% during peak season to capture more volume when demand is high.
Use Maximize Conversion Value with a bid cap if unit economics cannot support bids above $12.
Group related campaigns under a portfolio Target ROAS strategy so the algorithm can optimize across them.
For campaigns with limited conversion data or volatile performance, Enhanced CPC offers algorithmic assistance without full black box automation.
The hybrid approach
The most effective setups combine AI bidding with manual control campaigns.
Allocate 70% of the budget to AI bidding campaigns, such as Target ROAS or Maximize Conversion Value, and 30% to Enhanced CPC or manual CPC campaigns.
Manual campaigns act as a baseline. If AI underperforms manual by more than 20% after 90 days, the algorithm is not working for the business.
Use tightly controlled manual campaigns to capture the most valuable traffic – brand terms and high-intent keywords – while AI campaigns handle broader prospecting and discovery.
This approach protects the core business while still exploring growth opportunities.
COGS and cart data reporting (plus profit optimization beta)
Google now allows advertisers to report cost of goods sold, or COGS, and detailed cart data alongside conversions.
This is not about bidding yet, but seeing true profitability inside Google Ads reporting.
Most accounts optimize for revenue, or ROAS, not profit.
A $100 sale with $80 in COGS is very different from a $100 sale with $20 in COGS, but standard reporting treats them the same.
With COGS reporting in place, actual profit becomes visible, dramatically improving the quality of performance analysis.
To set it up, conversions must include cart-level parameters added to existing tracking.
These typically include item ID, item name, quantity, price, and, critically, the cost_of_goods_sold parameter for each product.
Access is limited, but advertisers with clean COGS data flowing into Google Ads can request entry.
In this model, bids are optimized around actual profit margins rather than raw conversion value.
This is especially powerful for retailers with wide margin variation across products.
For advertisers without access to the beta, a custom margin-tracking pixel can be implemented manually. It is more technical to set up, but it achieves the same outcome.
AI bidding works best when the fundamentals are in place:
Sufficient conversion volume.
A stable business model with consistent margins and predictable seasonality.
Clean conversion tracking.
Enough historical data to support learning.
In these conditions, AI bidding often outperforms manual management by processing more signals and making more granular optimizations than humans can execute at scale.
This tends to be true in:
Mature ecommerce accounts.
Lead generation programs with consistent lead values.
SaaS models with predictable trial-to-paid conversion paths.
When those conditions hold, the role shifts.
Bid management gives way to strategic oversight – monitoring trends, identifying expansion opportunities, and testing new structures.
The algorithm then handles tactical optimization.
Preparing for AI-first advertising
Google is steadily reducing advertiser control under the banner of automation.
Performance Max has absorbed Smart Shopping and Local campaigns.
Asset groups replace ad groups.
Broad match becomes mandatory in more contexts.
Negative keywords increasingly function as suggestions the system may or may not honor.
For advertisers with complex business models or specific strategic goals, this loss of granularity creates tension.
You are often asked to trust the algorithm even when business context suggests a different decision.
That shift changes the role. You are no longer a bid manager.
You are an AI strategy director who:
Defines objectives.
Provides business context.
Sets constraints.
Monitors outcomes.
Intervenes when the system drifts away from strategic intent.
No matter how advanced AI bidding becomes, certain decisions still require human judgment.
Strategic positioning – which markets to enter and which product lines to emphasize – cannot be automated.
Neither can creative testing, competitive intelligence, or operational realities like inventory constraints, margin requirements, and broader business priorities.
This is not a story of humans versus AI. It is humans directing AI.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/When-Googles-AI-bidding-breaks-E28093-and-how-to-take-control-9Z1HvO.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=110801920http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-12-16 15:00:002025-12-16 15:00:00When Google’s AI bidding breaks – and how to take control
Shopify powers more than 6 million live ecommerce websites, supported by a robust app ecosystem that can extend nearly every part of the customer journey.
Anyone can develop an app to perform virtually any function.
But with so many integrations to choose from, ecommerce teams often waste time testing add-ons that promise revenue gains but fail to deliver.
Having worked across a wide range of Shopify implementations, I’ve seen which tools consistently improve checkout completion, recover abandoned carts, and increase revenue.
Based on that experience, I’ve organized the most effective integrations into three tiers by priority – so you can implement the essentials first, then move on to more advanced optimization.
As a result, every Shopify site should have two components integrated into its storefront:
A digital wallet compatibility.
A buy now, pay later (BNPL) option.
Without these in place, Shopify users introduce unnecessary friction into the purchase journey and risk sending customers to competitors.
The good news is that both components integrate natively with Shopify, requiring no custom development.
Why you need digital wallets
Digital wallets, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal, autofill delivery and payment information with a single click, eliminating the friction of typing on a small screen.
This ease of use can shorten the purchase journey to just a few clicks between a social ad and checkout.
Adoption is accelerating. Up to 64% of Americans use digital wallets at least as often as traditional payment methods, and 54% use them more often.
Eliminate price objections with BNPL
Beyond payment convenience, customers also expect flexibility.
BNPL providers, including Klarna and Afterpay, allow buyers to spread payments over time, reducing price objections at checkout.
These options contributed $18.2 billion to online spending during last year’s holiday season – an all-time high, according to Adobe.
Together, digital wallets and BNPL form the foundation of a modern, mobile-first checkout experience.
With these essentials in place, Shopify users can focus on tools that re-engage customers and bring them back to complete their purchases.
The second tier focuses on re-engagement – tools designed to bring back customers who have already shown intent.
These integrations improve abandoned-cart recovery, increase repeat purchases, and build trust through social proof.
Re-engage customers with email and SMS
Email remains one of the most effective channels for re-engaging customers at every stage of the journey.
Klaviyo and Attentive are strong options for Shopify users because both offer deep platform integration with minimal setup.
Both platforms also support SMS, allowing Shopify sellers to send automated text messages directly to customers’ mobile devices.
SMS consistently delivers higher open, click-through, and conversion rates than email, making it especially effective for re-engagement use cases such as abandoned-cart recovery.
Together, these tools enable targeted campaigns and sophisticated automated flows that drive incremental revenue.
However, CAN-SPAM and TCPA regulations require explicit opt-in for email and SMS marketing, respectively.
As a result, sellers can only use these channels to contact customers who have agreed to receive marketing messages.
Use human-centered SMS outreach
While Attentive and Klaviyo effectively reach customers who have opted in to marketing, CartConvert helps sellers engage the 50% to 60% of shoppers who have not.
The platform uses real people to contact cart abandoners via SMS. Because the outreach is not automated, TCPA restrictions do not apply.
CartConvert agents have live conversations with potential customers about their shopping experience.
They are familiar with the products and can guide buyers back toward a purchase by suggesting alternatives or offering discounts.
Running CartConvert alongside Klaviyo or Attentive ensures both subscribers and non-subscribers are included in re-engagement efforts.
Human-centered marketing also plays a role in building buyer confidence.
Today’s online shoppers rely heavily on reviews when making purchasing decisions.
When reviews are integrated directly into the shopping experience, they help establish trust and legitimacy, which in turn drive higher conversion rates.
A product with five reviews is 270% more likely to be purchased than one with no reviews, research from the Spiegel Research Center at Northwestern University found.
Shopify users can choose from several review aggregators that pull Google reviews into product pages.
Sellers should prioritize aggregators that also sync with Google Merchant Center, which powers Google Ads.
Tools such as Okendo, Yotpo, and Shopper Approved integrate smoothly with both Shopify and Google’s ecosystem.
When reviews sync with Merchant Center, they can appear in Google Shopping ads, improving ad performance.
While these tools add cost, they are also proven to generate incremental revenue that offsets the investment.
The final tier includes more advanced integrations designed to help sellers optimize their sales funnel and performance at scale.
Attribution and analytics: Triple Whale
GA4’s changes to reporting, session logic, and interface have made attribution more difficult for many ecommerce teams.
As a result, sellers are increasingly seeking clearer, independent performance insights.
Since 2023, Triple Whale has emerged as a leading alternative to Google Analytics, offering third-party attribution tools that integrate seamlessly with Shopify.
The platform supports multiple attribution models – including first-click, last-click, and linear – along with cross-platform cost integration.
It also provides real-time data, which Google Analytics does not.
This capability becomes especially valuable during high-pressure sales periods, such as Black Friday, when delayed reporting can lead to missed opportunities.
Although Triple Whale can cost up to $10,000 annually for mid-size brands, the improved data quality often justifies the investment for teams scaling paid acquisition.
Landing page customization: Replo
For sellers focused on improving conversion rates, landing page testing is essential.
While Shopify is relatively easy to use, making changes to a live storefront for A/B testing carries the risk of breaking the site.
Replo allows Shopify users to build custom landing pages that can be tested at scale without coding.
These pages typically provide a better user experience than default Shopify themes.
It can also use site data to personalize landing pages based on a shopper’s browsing history.
As a result, Replo-built pages often convert at higher rates than static site pages.
TikTok ads integration
TikTok continues to grow as a paid media channel, but it has traditionally presented a higher barrier to entry for advertisers.
Previously, sellers needed an active TikTok account and could only purchase ads within the app, adding complexity and cost.
TikTok’s Shopify integration allows sellers to create ads that link directly to their websites, rather than keeping users inside the app.
This change has lowered the barrier to entry and expanded access to the platform.
Early testing shows promise for use cases such as cart abandonment, making the integration worth exploring despite its relative immaturity.
Prioritizing Shopify integrations for maximum impact
Shopify is a powerful platform for ecommerce, but maximizing results requires going beyond its default features.
Start with essentials such as digital wallets and BNPL to reduce checkout friction.
Then layer in email, SMS, and review integrations to re-engage interested shoppers.
Finally, add analytics, attribution, and landing-page testing to optimize performance at scale.
Sellers do not need to implement every solution at once.
Instead, conduct a quick audit of the existing stack against this framework, identify gaps, and prioritize the tools that improve conversion and re-engagement.
Shopify’s flexibility is its greatest strength, and its app ecosystem enables sellers to turn more visitors into buyers.
Google’s Nick Fox, the SVP of Knowledge and Information at Google, said in a recent podcast that doing optimization for AI search is “the same” as doing optimization and SEO for traditional search. He added, you want to build great sites, with great content, for your users.
More details. This came up in the AI Inside podcast with Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis interviewing Nick Fox. Here is the transcript from the 22 minute mark:
Jeff Jarvis ask, “And is is there are there is there guidance for enlightened publishers who want to be part of AI about how they should view, should they view their content in any say differently no?”
Nick Fox responded, “The short answer is no. The short answer is what you would have built and the way to optimize to do well in Google’s AI experiences is very similar, I would say the same, as how as as how to perform well in traditional search. And it really does come down to build a great site, build great content. The way we put it is build for users, build what you would want to read, what you would want to access.”
Here is the video embed, skip to 22 minutes and 5 seconds in:
This jives with what Danny Sullivan from Google said, that good GEO is good SEO.
Why we care. Many of you have been practicing SEO for many years, and now with this AI revolution in Search, you should know you are very well equipped to perform well in AI Search with many, if not all, of the skills you learned doing SEO.
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