OpenAI announced the launch of its first web browser, which they named ChatGPT Atlas. Atlas is currently available on Mac only right now and has all the features you would expect from an AI browser. But the most surprising part is that its built-in search features seem to be powered by Google and not Microsoft Bing, its early partner and one of its largest investors.
How to download Atlas. If you are on a Mac, you can download ChatGPT Atlas at chatgpt.com/atlas. From there, the web browser will download to your computer, you double click on the installer and then drag the application to your application folder.
What Atlas does. It is a web browser, first and foremost. You can go directly to web pages and browse them, but as you do that, there is ChatGPT available on the sidebar, like other AI powered web browsers. You can ask ChatGPT questions, you can have it re-write your content in Gmail and other tabs, offers personalization and memory, plus it will help you complete tasks, code and even shop using agentic features.
Search in Atlas. The interesting thing is that when you search in ChatGPT Atlas, it gives you a ChatGPT like response but also adds search vertical tabs to the top, like you have in other search engines. Like web, images, videos, news and more. Then when you go to those tabs, there is a link at the top of each set of search results to Google.
Here are screenshots:
More details. ChatGPT Atlas is launching worldwide on macOS today to Free, Plus, Pro, and Go users. Atlas is also available in beta for Business, and if enabled by their plan administrator, for Enterprise and Edu users. Experiences for Windows, iOS, and Android are coming soon.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/chatgpt-atlas-search-web-1-58f6Gh.png?fit=1862%2C1302&ssl=113021862http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-10-21 17:58:422025-10-21 17:58:42OpenAI launches a web browser – ChatGPT Atlas
Google Merchant Center is rolling out a new Issue Details Page (IDP) to help advertisers more easily diagnose and resolve account or product-level problems.
How it works:
Located under the “Needs attention” tab, the page provides a consolidated overview of current issues.
It surfaces recommended actions, business impact metrics, and sample affected products — giving merchants a clearer sense of what to fix first.
Why we care. Until now, identifying and fixing issues in Merchant Center often required navigating multiple sections and reports. The new Issue Details Page (IDP) in Google Merchant Center gives advertisers a single place to view and fix account or product issues.
It highlights the problem’s impact, recommends actions, and shows affected products, helping advertisers resolve issues faster and keep listings active. In short, it saves time, improves visibility, and helps prevent lost sales.
The big picture. The update is part of Google’s broader push to improve Merchant Center usability ahead of the holiday shopping season, when product accuracy and uptime are critical for advertisers.
The bottom line.Google’s new IDP could save advertisers time and guesswork by putting all issue diagnostics and solutions in one place.
First seen. The newly released help doc was spotted by PPC News Feed founder, Hana Kobzová
Noticed your traffic dropping even though your rankings look stable? You’re not alone.
AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews are now answering the same questions that used to send people to your site.
If your brand isn’t showing up in those AI-generated responses, you may be losing visibility. And the tough part? You won’t be able to measure that lost visibility with traditional analytics tools.
That’s where AI visibility tools come in. They tell you when your brand shows up in AI answers, which platforms mention you, and how often your content gets cited. In short, they track your presence across large language models (LLMs) and AI search engines so you know if your LLM seeding efforts are paying off.
The good news is a handful of tools are already helping brands track their AI visibility. Some existing platforms have added AI tracking to their SEO suites. Others focus exclusively on LLM citations.
Each gives a different way to see (and improve) your AI presence. Let’s look at some of the best AI visibility tools available right now.
Key Takeaways
AI visibility tools track brand mentions and content citations across LLM platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google’s AI Overviews.
Think of these tools as the AI-era version of SEO tools. They give you hard data on whether your optimization tactics are actually working.
Most platforms are still adapting alongside AI search behavior, so look for tools that update often.
The right tool for you depends on your budget, whether you want standalone tracking or built-in SEO features, and how technical your team is.
Combining AI visibility metrics with traditional analytics gives you the complete picture of content performance across all channels.
Why Are AI Visibility Tools Important?
The way people search is fundamentally changing. Gartner predicts traditional search engine volume will drop 25 percent by 2026 due to AI platform and virtual agent usage.
People are getting answers directly from AI platforms instead of clicking through to websites. That makes knowing where your brand appears in AI responses as vital as tracking your Google rankings.
AI visibility tools solve a measurement problem. They monitor which LLM platforms cite your content and your brand mentions in AI Overviews. They measure changes over time so you can evaluate whether your LLM SEO efforts are actually working.
Think of these tools as Google Analytics for AI search. Without this data, you’re guessing about what resonates with AI platforms. With it, you see exactly what content drives citations and what gets ignored. These tools reveal patterns in what content formats, topics, and structures earn the most AI citations.
Traditional SEO metrics like page views, rankings, and backlinks still matter. But they tell only part of the story.
Don’t ignore the growing segment of your audience interacting with your content through AI platforms. They might not visit your site, but their interactions still influence visibility and authority.
Combining standard analytics with AI visibility data shows the complete picture of your content’s reach and what’s actually driving results across channels.
Top 5 AI Visibility Tools on The Market
The LLM visibility tool market is growing fast. New platforms launch regularly with different features, tracking methods, and pricing structures.
After comparing what’s out there, these five AI visibility tools stand out. They range from budget-friendly all-in-one platforms to enterprise-focused citation intelligence.
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest has added new AI Visibility features to its SEO toolkit. The big win? You can now monitor AI citations and see how they connect to your traditional search performance, all from one dashboard.
Ubersuggest AI Visibility makes it easy to add AI visibility tracking into your marketing program. Key metrics the tool tracks include:
Brand Visibility: How often your brand gets mentioned across AI-generated answers in a given period.
Industry Rank: Your average position compared to other brands in your space.
Top Prompts: The main questions people are asking in AI platforms relevant to your industry, and how your brand appears in those answers.
Competitor Visibility: How your brand’s presence in AI visibility trends compared to competitors over time.
Along with the easy-to-navigate interface, Ubersuggest’s pricing is a major advantage. Most enterprise tools charge per project or lock you into long-term contracts. Ubersuggest takes a different route with flat monthly pricing and unlimited project tracking. That means an agency managing 20 clients pays the same as someone tracking just two sites.
You also get full access to all the traditional SEO features Ubersuggest is known for, so you don’t have to pay for two separate platforms to see the full picture.
Because Ubersuggest is built on years of SEO infrastructure, its data is consistent and reliable. And some teams might not be comfortable with other new visibility tools, many of which launched in the past year and are still working out bugs in their tracking.
Profound is a new platform specifically designed for enterprise brands that need detailed intelligence about how AI platforms discuss them. This goes beyond counting citations.
The system analyzes the context around every brand mention, including:
Sentiment: Whether AI platforms position you positively or negatively.
Competitive mentions: Which competitors get mentioned alongside your brand.
Authority: Topic clusters where you’re seen as an authority versus areas where others dominate.
Profound is built for customization. Its team builds dashboards tailored to your industry, integrates with your existing systems, and creates reporting formats that match your organization’s workflow.
Need specialized tracking for regulated industries? They configure it. Competitive intelligence can also be scaled across hundreds of queries, and alert systems can let you know if your brand suddenly drops from an AI response.
The tradeoff? Price. Annual contract costs typically start high and scale based on how many brands you track, query volume, and customization needs. This isn’t built for small businesses.
With that said, Profound’s depth and customization justify the cost for brands where AI visibility directly impacts market position and revenue.
Semrush added AI visibility tracking to its existing SEO suite. Already using the platform? The new features integrate smoothly into your workflow.
The tool monitors citations across major AI platforms and provides visibility scoring that works like domain authority, providing a single number showing how your AI presence compares to competitors over time.
The real benefit of Semrush’s functionality is that it connects AI visibility data with everything else it already tracks. You can see which pages earn both backlinks and AI citations. You can see whether content that ranks in traditional search also appears in AI responses. That integrated view helps you understand what’s working across all your marketing channels.
For teams trying to consolidate tools, this setup is efficient. You get traditional SEO and AI visibility data in one report, no platform-switching required.
The tradeoff is its agency pricing. Semrush limits how many projects you can track per account tier. Adding clients means upgrading plans or buying additional accounts. Managing 30-plus brands? Costs climb fast compared to platforms with unlimited project tracking.
Overall, this may be a smart add-on if you are already onboarded onto Semrush. But it might not be the most affordable option for smaller teams or tighter budgets.
Ahrefs made its name with backlink analysis and competitive research before becoming one of the most popular SEO tools around. Its move into AI visibility adds another layer to an already powerful platform.
This new functionality tracks citations across AI platforms and lets you filter by specific engines, monitor changes over time, and compare your visibility to competitors. Standard stuff.
Ahrefs stands out by connecting link data with AI citations. Its backlink index is one of the largest available and updates frequently. The platform shows correlations between your link profile and AI visibility, revealing which linked pages get cited most often in AI responses.
That connection offers real insight. Content earning quality backlinks tends to appear more in AI citations. Understanding that relationship helps you identify what makes content citation-worthy and apply those patterns to other pieces. Combine that with Ahrefs’ broader SEO features, and you get a well-rounded picture of your brand visibility online.
The major caveat, though, is the pricing, which follows a similar structure as Semrush. Plans limit tracked projects, so costs increase as you scale. Five clients work fine. Fifty clients get expensive.
For teams that prioritize link building alongside AI visibility, Ahrefs handles both well. Just know you’ll pay premium prices.
ScrunchAI is a newer offering that focuses exclusively on AI visibility. Already using other tools for standard optimization and just need LLM citation tracking? Scrunch’s specialized approach might fit.
The platform monitors brand appearances across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews, Bing AI, and emerging AI search engines. Real-time tracking alerts you to citation frequency changes, new platforms surfacing your content, or sudden visibility drops.
Where ScrunchAI stands out is that it tracks both citation quality and frequency. It can tell whether AI platforms position your brand as a primary resource, secondary resource, and if any misinformation shows up alongside your name.
ScrunchAI also provides recommendations based on your data. Certain content structures get cited more often? It suggests creating similar pieces. Missing from responses where competitors appear? It flags those gaps with specific topic ideas.
Another interesting feature is query simulation. You can run industry-specific prompts to see if your brand appears and compare results across different AI engines. That gives you a clear picture of where you’re strong and where to focus your next optimization push.
In terms of pricing, Scrunch lands in the middle of our list. Monthly plans scale based on query volume and update frequency rather than limiting projects. That makes costs predictable for agencies.
The tradeoff is betting on a newer company. Established platforms have proven track records. ScrunchAI is still building its reputation, though early users report solid performance and responsive support.
Choosing the Right AI Visibility Tool for You
Selecting an AI visibility tool requires matching capabilities with your specific constraints and goals.
Start with three core questions: What’s your budget? How technical is your team? Do you need standalone AI tracking or an integrated SEO platform? Here are some key focus areas:
Budget determines realistic options. Tools like Ubersuggest provide AI visibility alongside comprehensive SEO features at accessible prices for small businesses and agencies. Enterprise platforms like Profound deliver granular intelligence but require substantial financial commitment that only makes sense at scale.
Technical capabilities matter. Some platforms assume comfort with data analysis and provide extensive export, API, and customization options. Others prioritize simplicity with clear dashboards and straightforward recommendations. Match the tool’s complexity to your team’s skills and bandwidth.
Consider your existing technology stack. Already investing in Ubersuggest, Semrush, or Ahrefs for SEO? Their AI visibility features extend current workflows. You avoid learning new interfaces and keep data centralized. If you’re starting from scratch or want laser focus on AI tracking, a specialized platform like ScrunchAI might be the better fit.
Consider your scaling needs. Requirements differ dramatically between tracking five websites versus managing 50 client accounts. Some tools charge per project or impose account limits, creating expensive scaling challenges. Others offer unlimited projects under single subscriptions, simplifying budgeting as you grow.
Data reliability should influence decisions. Newer tools might offer attractive features but lack infrastructure for consistent metrics. Established platforms benefit from years of data collection and algorithm refinement. Request demos, compare results across tools, and check user reviews before committing.
Finally, assess how tools adapt to AI search changes. AI search is changing at lightning speed, and the tools that don’t update will quickly fall behind. The best platforms have active roadmaps, regular feature updates, and expanding coverage across emerging AI engines.
FAQs
What is the best AI tool for increasing visibility?
The best AI visibility tool depends on your budget and needs. Ubersuggest offers strong value for small businesses and agencies, combining AI citation tracking with full SEO capabilities at accessible pricing. Enterprise brands might prefer Profound’s deeper analytics. Test several options to find which interface and features match your workflow best.
Are AI visibility tools better than traditional marketing methods?
AI visibility tools complement traditional marketing rather than replacing it. You still need solid content strategy, SEO fundamentals, and audience understanding. Think of them as an extension of your analytics, not a replacement. Use them alongside traditional metrics for a complete view of performance across all channels where audiences find information.
How do AI visibility tools integrate with existing SEO strategies?
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AI visibility tools track LLM citations the same way traditional tools monitor search rankings. Platforms like Ubersuggest, Semrush, and Ahrefs combine both metrics in unified dashboards. This lets you optimize content for standard search results and AI citations simultaneously, creating strategies that cover all the ways people discover information today.
Conclusion
AI search isn’t slowing down. Platforms that answer questions before users ever click a link are expanding fast. Tracking your presence in AI-generated responses is essential now.
The tools covered here provide visibility into how AI platforms cite your content and mention your brand. Some integrate AI tracking into broader SEO platforms. Others focus exclusively on LLM citations. Your choice depends on budget, needs, and existing systems.
Start measuring your AI visibility now. The brands paying attention today will outperform the ones waiting to catch up later.
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Google Ads appears to be testing an automatic assignment of New Customer Value within New Customer Acquisition (NCA) campaigns — and it’s doing so without advertisers’ explicit consent.
The change, first spotted by performance marketer Bilal Yasin, has led to unexpected reporting shifts and frustration among advertisers.
“Without any heads-up, and without it being in the change history, a new customer value has suddenly been applied to a customer,” Yasin wrote on LinkedIn. “It was set to 200 DKK… One thing is that Google has assigned a value, but another is that I can’t remove it again!”
Why we care. Advertisers rely on New Customer Value settings to determine how campaigns optimize toward acquiring new users. When Google sets those values automatically, it can distort revenue reporting and campaign efficiency metrics.
Yasin noted several issues:
Google doesn’t know the true lifetime value of a new customer.
Many conversions are still classified as “unknown,” further clouding data.
What they’re saying. Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin confirmed the behavior is part of an experiment.
“This guidance is part of an experiment aimed at helping advertisers use settings that will improve results—specifically, to increase new customer ratios,” Marvin wrote.
She added that when the New Customer Value is too low—or not set—it can hinder campaign optimization.
What’s next. Google says it plans to roll out new customer reporting for all purchase conversion campaigns “in the next couple of quarters.”
The bottom line. While Google frames the test as a way to improve campaign performance, advertisers are raising alarms over transparency — especially when automatic value assignments alter reported revenue without clear notice or control.
A website redesign is essential for remaining competitive, but for multi-location businesses, the risks are much higher. Stripping away the local relevance that drives traffic to location pages can cause rankings and online visibility to plummet.
Using localized content on location pages resulted in a 107% rankings lift, something businesses risk losing if a redesign hurts these pages.
To mitigate the risk of fallen local rankings and to get the most from your website redesign, you need to maintain good multi-location local SEO and take key steps for a successful redesign.
Prioritizing SEO during a location page redesign helps multi-location businesses stay competitive.
Technical SEO pre-redesign audit checklist
Before launching a new website redesign, it’s essential to perform a comprehensive audit to ensure that your SEO foundation is retained. Thorough auditing before launch can help prevent common mistakes and preserve your rankings.
Manage inventory: Document all business locations, Google Business Profile IDs, current URLs, organic rankings, and highest-converting queries.
Identify issues: Use a site crawler to uncover duplicate/thin content, poor Core Web Vitals, slow loading, mobile responsiveness, or accessibility gaps.
Conduct a technical crawl audit: Confirm crawl budget, indexing, updated sitemaps, and hreflang configuration on multinational sites.
Audit and enhance structured data: Ensure LocalBusiness schema is present and NAP is perfectly consistent. Validate canonical tags for duplicate prevention.
Expand structured data: Consider implementing review, FAQ, and service schema types for additional SEO coverage.
Set up robust tracking: Implement UTM tagging, conversion tracking, and phone call analytics to precisely measure local and national SEO performance
PageSpeed Insights can let you know how fast your website loads and indicate potential performance issues.
How to optimize site architecture and your URL strate
Once your pre-redesign audit is complete and you’ve identified areas for improvement, it’s time to shift focus to your site architecture for SEO. A solid foundation in site architecture ensures both search engines and users can navigate your website with ease.
Common structures include:
Subfolders (/locations/city)
Subdomains (city.brand.com)
Multisite frameworks
Dedicated microsites
Subfolders generally work best for centralizing authority and scalability, with a primary website that branches out into many pages, including one for each location.
Note that it’s crucial to maintain consistency with your URL structure. If the existing site already has a URL for each location within a subfolder structure, do not change it! Ensuring that the URL structure remains identical between the existing and new website design is essential for retaining your SEO value and preventing any loss in rankings.
Here are some other key considerations:
Canonical URLs: Identify canonical URLs that help mitigate the risk of duplicate content.
Sitemap strategy: Determine whether your site should implement an XML sitemap or an HTML sitemap, with XML sitemaps being more explicitly effective for site crawlers and SEO, while HTML sitemaps could help with user navigation.
URL templates: Use static URLs, they’re cleaner and more optimization-friendly design (e.g., example.com/services/dentistry/location/).
Location page content considerations
Technical SEO components are important, but so is content. When redesigning your website, it’s crucial to prioritize the content elements that impact the SEO performance of your location pages.
A successful redesign should seamlessly integrate these elements to preserve and boost your SEO efforts.
Unique H1 on each location page with city intent that targets a relevant keyword, such as “housekeeping services in [city]”
Full name, address, and phone number that’s consistent across all directory listings
Link to each location’s corresponding GBP page.
Business hours that are up-to-date and unique to each location, further aligning with directory information
Local phone number, preferably static to maintain consistency with NAP data
Service-specific content, including details about each of your offerings, with locally optimized keywords for each
Staff and team photos showing the people behind your business, potentially at each location
Local testimonials from satisfied customers, including review and schema markup for aggregate ratings
h1 optimized for location and main keyword with custom text and clear CTAs. Source
As you incorporate these essential content elements into your location page redesign, it’s critical to ensure each page is unique and tailored to its specific location.
Each location page should include a designated content block section where you can add customized details about that individual location. This will additionally help reduce duplicate content across your location pages.
Location page with h1 and copy optimization Source
Top design elements to consider for a multi-location website
Redesigning location pages can be challenging because it requires balancing brand consistency with the unique identity of each location. Achieving this balance involves the strategic use of design elements that appeal to both local audiences and the overarching brand.
Top design elements include:
Location-specific imagery: For brick-and-mortar locations, use high-quality images of the storefronts. For service-based locations, showcase custom visuals that reflect the areas they serve.
Interactive maps or location finders: Adding Google Maps or a custom location finder helps users easily find the nearest store or service center. This feature not only enhances usability but also provides a tailored experience for visitors.
Social media feed integration: Integrating a live social media feed on location pages adds dynamic content and more localized imagery. It also provides a space to showcase promotions, events, and local engagement, keeping the page fresh and relevant.
Team photos: Featuring photos of local team members helps humanize the brand and create a personal connection with your audience. It’s a great way to reinforce the idea that your business is part of the local community, building trust and authenticity.
Example of an optimized H1 with custom images on the team page. Source
Complete multi-location redesign audit checklist
Website redesigns often require several months of planning and execution. However, before you push the new site live, it’s essential to ensure it passes the following key tests if you want to retain your traffic:
Brand consistency: Ensure that branding elements, such as colors, typography, logos, and tone, are consistent across all pages and location-specific content.
URL mapping: Double-check that all important URLs are correctly mapped to the new design and are still functional, preserving the SEO value of your existing pages.
No URL structure changes: If you’re maintaining a subfolder structure, confirm that no URL structures are altered to prevent any loss of SEO rankings or broken links.
Site performance: Test the website’s speed to ensure it meets performance standards, passes Core Web Vitals, is mobile-responsive, and is free of any accessibility issues.
Clear CTAs: Ensure that each page features clear, concise calls to action (CTAs) above the fold to encourage user engagement and conversions from the moment visitors land on the page.
Analytics setup: Verify that all necessary analytics and tracking codes (e.g., Google Analytics, conversion goals, UTM parameters) are properly implemented to monitor site performance and user behavior across all locations.
Mobile optimization: Check that the site is fully optimized for mobile users, with responsive design elements that scale and display well on all devices.
SEO-friendly content: Review content for SEO optimization, ensuring that each location page is targeted with local keywords, meta descriptions, and proper header tag hierarchy.
Structured data implementation: Verify that all relevant schema markup (e.g., LocalBusiness, Service, Review) is correctly applied to each location page to support search engines in indexing your content.
Internal linking: Ensure that all location pages have strong internal linking, guiding users through the site, and boosting SEO by connecting related content.
User testing and feedback: Conduct user testing or gather feedback from stakeholders to ensure the new design is intuitive, user-friendly, and aligns with business goals.
Content uniqueness: Confirm that all location pages have unique, location-specific content to avoid any potential issues with duplicate content.
Legal and compliance checks: Ensure that the website complies with any industry-specific regulations (e.g., ADA compliance, GDPR, HIPAA) before launch.
Cross-browser compatibility: Test the website across various browsers to ensure it functions smoothly for all users, regardless of their preferred browser.
Backup and contingency plans: Create a backup of the current website before launching the redesign, and have a contingency plan in place in case issues arise post-launch.
By ensuring that these elements are in place, you can launch a multi-location website redesign that performs well across all locations and provides a seamless, user-friendly experience for your visitors.
Example of before website redesign and after a website redesign
The business case: search and revenue impact at scale
Partnering with a web design and development agency that truly understands the complexities of multi-location businesses, technical SEO, and CRO is essential.
Ignite Visibility is a prime example of this expertise. We implemented a performance-driven SEO strategy to help a home services franchise with over 60 locations across the U.S.
The team optimized city-specific landing pages, standardized keyword-rich updates across Google Business Profiles, and strategically matched high-intent keywords to local markets to maximize visibility.
The results speak for themselves. The Ignite Visibility approach doesn’t just maintain rankings – it creates massive growth opportunities.
If you’re ready to maximize the impact of your next website redesign and achieve measurable, scalable growth, reach out to Ignite Visibility. With our proven track record, we’ll help you stay ahead of the competition and deliver results that matter.
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Google is starting to roll out its new Text Guidelines feature in Google Ads, a tool first announced at the Think Retail event five weeks ago that gives advertisers more control over AI-generated ad copy.
Driving the news. The feature, now appearing in some accounts, lets marketers set campaign-level text parameters — guiding Google’s AI to stay within brand tone, language preferences, and compliance requirements when generating text assets.
Why we care. As Google Ads leans deeper into AI-powered creative, advertisers have been asking for stronger brand safety and message consistency controls. Text Guidelines offer a way to fine-tune AI output without sacrificing automation or performance.
How it works:
Found at the campaign level, Text Guidelines apply only when text customization is turned on.
Advertisers can define rules to steer AI-generated text assets toward specific brand or legal standards.
Designed to support “brand-safe creative” and improve asset quality.
The bottom line. Text Guidelines give brands a new lever to shape how Google’s AI writes for them — tightening control without slowing down automation.
First seen. This rollout was spotted by PPC Speacialist Arpan Banerjee
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Google is tightening its account retention policy — canceled Google Ads accounts will now be permanently deleted six months after cancellation, marking the end of indefinite account storage.
Driving the news. Under the new policy, Google will begin a cleanup of inactive accounts, sending a 30-day email warning before deletion. Previously, advertisers could reactivate canceled accounts at any time, preserving data and structure indefinitely.
Why we care. This change could impact advertisers who rely on historical performance data, conversion tracking, or campaign templates stored in inactive accounts. Once deleted, all account history and assets — including campaigns, reports, and settings — will be gone for good.
How it works:
Canceled accounts with no active campaigns will be deleted six months after cancellation.
A 30-day warning email will be sent before deletion.
Reactivating an account within the six-month window will prevent deletion.
Between the lines. The policy shift underscores Google’s broader effort to streamline its ad systems and purge unused data, mirroring similar moves across other Google services.
The bottom line. Advertisers who want to preserve old campaign data or structures should reactivate or export data from canceled accounts before the six-month clock runs out.
First seen. This update was spotted by PPC News Feed founder Hana Kobzová.
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After years of delays and scaled-back ambitions, Google officially killed its Privacy Sandbox, the once-flagship initiative aimed at replacing third-party cookies with privacy-preserving ad technologies.
Driving the news. In a blog post Friday, Anthony Chavez, VP of Privacy Sandbox, confirmed that Google is retiring 10 remaining Sandbox APIs, including Attribution Reporting, Topics, and Protected Audience for both Chrome and Android. The move comes over a year after Google abandoned plans to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome altogether.
Why we care. The Privacy Sandbox was Google’s answer to growing privacy regulation and industry backlash against cross-site tracking — but its complexity, limited adoption, and regulatory scrutiny stalled momentum. At last, Google is no longer forcing a shift away from third-party cookies, preserving the familiar targeting and measurement tools that power much of digital advertising.
While this offers short-term stability and fewer disruptions to campaign performance, it also signals that true privacy-safe ad solutions are still unresolved, leaving the industry without a clear path forward as regulators and browsers continue tightening data rules. In short — advertisers get breathing room today, but more uncertainty tomorrow.
The details. Google will phase out:
Attribution Reporting API (Chrome and Android)
Topics API (Chrome and Android)
Protected Audience API (Chrome and Android)
IP Protection, On-Device Personalization, and others
What stays.
CHIPS (Cookies Having Independent Partitioned State) – isolates cookie data to prevent cross-site tracking.
Private State Tokens – helps verify legitimate traffic without tracking users.
Between the lines. Google’s retreat follows years of industry skepticism. Many advertisers and publishers viewed Sandbox tools as confusing, limited, and unlikely to preserve ad performance at scale. By contrast, maintaining cookies while adding optional privacy controls keeps Chrome aligned with user choice — and ad revenue stability.
What they’re saying. “We’ll continue our work to improve privacy across Chrome, Android and the web, but moving away from the Privacy Sandbox branding,” a Google spokesperson told Adweek.
The bottom line. After five years, countless tests, and intense debate, Google’s grand privacy experiment is over — and the web’s future looks a lot more like its past.
Anchor text, which is also known as link text, is the visible, clickable text of a hyperlink. It usually appears in a different color and is often underlined. Good anchor text tells readers what to expect when they click and gives search engines valuable context about the linked page. Getting your anchor text right helps users navigate your content more easily, improves your internal link structure, and provides search engines with clues about your page relationships, which can positively influence your SEO.
Anchor text enhances user navigation and provides context for search engines, improving SEO outcomes.
Good anchor text clearly describes the linked content and avoids misleading or over-optimized phrases.
Different types of anchor text exist, each with specific use cases; mix them for variety and clarity.
Yoast SEO offers tools to analyze competing links and improve anchor text for better search engine ranking.
To enhance anchor text, ensure it matches the linked content, flows naturally, and clearly signals clickable links.
What does an anchor text look like?
Anchor text is the part of a link that describes the linked page. It guides both readers and search engines toward relevant information. For example, if we link to our post about keyword research tools, the phrase “keyword research tools” is the anchor text.
In HTML, it looks like this:
<a href="https://yoast.com/keyword-research-tools/">keyword research tools</a>
The first part is the URL, while the second, the visible text, is the anchor text. Ideally, the words you choose should naturally describe the content on the linked page.
Why are link/anchor texts important?
Links are vital for SEO. They show how your pages connect and help search engines understand your site structure. The anchor text in those links provides extra context.
When Google crawls your site, it uses link text as a clue to what each linked page is about. If multiple links all use the same focus keyphrase, Google might not know which page should rank highest for that topic, leading to competition between your own pages.
That’s why thoughtful, descriptive anchor text matters. It helps search engines interpret your site and helps readers decide whether a link is worth clicking. Over-optimized or misleading link text can confuse both.
Tip: Avoid using your main focus keyphrase in multiple anchor texts within one post, as it can create competing links. Your linking should always feel natural and avoid over-optimization.
An example of internal links with good anchor texts
Different kinds of anchor text
Anchor text applies to both internal and external links. External sites can link to your content in various ways, and each type sends a different signal to search engines:
Branded links: Use your brand name as anchor text (e.g., Yoast)
If Yoast SEO detects that one of your links contains your focus keyphrase or a synonym of it, then Premium users get a warning. The reason? You don’t want multiple pages trying to rank for the same phrase.
For example, say your focus keyphrase is potato chips. If you link to another page using that exact phrase, Yoast SEO will flag it as a competing link. You’ll see a notification in your SEO analysis, so you can adjust it before publishing. If you have Yoast SEO Premium or Yoast SEO for Shopify, the check will also look for the synonyms of your keyphrase.
The competing links check in Yoast SEO helps you improve your linking
How to improve your anchor link texts
If Yoast SEO alerts you about competing links, or if you simply want to improve the quality of your link text, here are some best practices to follow.
1. Create a natural flow
Your writing should feel effortless. If a link feels awkward or forced into a sentence, it probably doesn’t belong there. Always prioritize readability, as a smooth flow improves both engagement and SEO. For more advice on writing content that feels natural while still ranking well, read our SEO copywriting guide.
2. Match the link text to the linked content
Readers should immediately understand what to expect when they click on a link. For example, a link that says meta description should lead to a post explaining what a meta description is and how to optimize it. Clear, logical linking builds trust and helps users navigate your content with ease.
3. Don’t trick your readers
Never mislead readers with inaccurate or confusing link text. If your link text says, “potato chips,” it shouldn’t lead to a page about cars. Consistent and honest linking keeps readers engaged and signals quality to search engines.
4. Make it clear that the link is clickable
Use visual cues such as color contrast or underlining, so it’s easy to tell when text is a link. This not only improves usability but also helps people using assistive technology to navigate your content. To see more on writing accessible, well-structured posts, visit our blogging guide.
5. Bonus tip: put your entire keyphrase in quotes
When using long tail keyphrases, you might see a warning about links that include parts of your focus keyphrase. To avoid this, put your full keyphrase in quotes, for example, “learning how to knit.” This tells Yoast SEO to look for the entire phrase rather than matching individual words.
If you’d like to learn more about writing effective link text and improving your content for SEO, take our SEO copywriting course, which is included with Yoast SEO Premium.
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But internal links work best when you write good anchor text for them. Each link should serve a clear purpose and guide readers naturally to related topics. Avoid adding unnecessary or irrelevant links just for the sake of having more connections.
Thoughtful internal linking improves the user experience and helps search engines understand your site’s structure, which is essential for strong SEO performance.
This is anchor text
Anchor text remains a small but powerful element of SEO. It helps users decide whether to click, gives search engines valuable context, and supports a logical site structure.
Keep your anchor text relevant, natural, and transparent and avoid manipulative or over-optimized linking practices. Search engines are now smarter than ever at spotting unnatural links, especially in the era of AI and semantic understanding.
So stay genuine, link with intent, and use Yoast SEO to guide you along the way.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-10-20 12:00:002025-10-20 12:00:00What is anchor text, and how can you improve your link texts?
Have you noticed that your site analytics feel a little, well, off lately? It’s not just your imagination. We’ve found a subtle growing issue popping up across multiple clients, and it might be hitting your site, too.
It comes down to GTM tag priority and how these tags fire in relation to consent management. If tags load out of order or before the user gives proper consent, your tracking can break. This means lost sessions, broken attribution, and inaccurate conversion data.
We’ve seen this firsthand, but we’ve taken steps to fix it. Let’s break down what tag sequencing is and why it matters. In addition, we’ll give you some tips to help make sure your data stays clean and compliant without sacrificing its usefulness.
Key Takeaways
Poor tag sequencing can lead to missing data, inflated conversion rates, and inaccurate attribution.
Tag priority matters, especially when consent management platforms are in play.
We’ve seen clients lose up to 20% of reported traffic due to sequencing issues.
Fixes include loading the consent script first, mapping tags to categories, and blocking tags until consent is confirmed.
Regular audits are non-negotiable. One misstep in your CMP or tag manager setup can break your entire funnel.
What is Tag Sequencing And Why Is It Important?
Tag sequencing is the order in which tracking tags, like analytics, advertising, or personalization, fire on your website. While it sounds simple, it plays a big role in the accuracy of your data.
When you use a consent management platform (CMP), sequencing these tags becomes even more important. Some tags aren’t allowed to fire if users don’t give specific consent. Others rely on earlier tags to work correctly. If the order’s off or a critical tag doesn’t fire, your tracking capabilities break down, and so does your reporting. CMP triggers or blocks tags in the right sequence so only authorized data collection occurs. This preserves regulatory compliance and performance accuracy.
Tags load in the right area (keeping your data clean)
Your campaigns see proper attribution (keeping your ROI real)
If you ignore tag sequencing, you risk bad data. Even worse, you can lose conversions and break your customer insights.
The Impact of Tag Sequencing on Data Quality (and the bottom line)
When you fail to set your GTM tag priority correctly, it can distort your data (sometimes massively). We’ve seen this across major brands in finance, hospitality, and automotive industries. In each case, the same issue kept popping up: the first page of a user’s visit wasn’t being tracked.
That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it is. That one misstep led to a massive ripple effect:
Traffic was underreported by as much as 10 to 20 percent.
Here’s why that’s a problem: broken data could also lead to broken strategies. You could be pulling budget from channels that are working or double down on content that doesn’t actually convert. Either way, your decisions are off base.
The scary part is that this isn’t always obvious unless someone digs into the tags and sequencing logic; if you’re not actively spending time in the sequence, you may not notice an issue.
The Causes Behind Tag Sequencing Issues We’ve Found
Most tag sequencing issues come down to one of five things, which are often more common than you’d expect. If you’ve noticed attribution issues, you might have the following issues:
Consent misconfiguration. Tags aren’t properly mapped to categories like analytics, marketing, or performance. Even if a user opts in, the right tags may not fire.
Network latency. If your consent platform loads too slowly, it could delay or block tags entirely.
Script placement. Tags placed above the consent script in the site header will run before user choices are processed.
Direct-to-page scripts. It’s important to note that not all scripts necessarily sit in GTM, for a variety of reasons. If the consent banner configuration on the site doesn’t fire before these scripts and the GTM tags, it will cause issues. This applies whether you implement tags directly in GTM or the site itself.
When these problems stack up, you can often get missing data or broken attribution. This skews performance and could impact your decisions surrounding future resource allocation.
How To Fix Your Tag Sequencing Before It Impacts Data Quality
Fixing tag sequencing isn’t complicated, but it is important. We’ve helped our clients clean up their setup and reclaim accurate tracking with the following best practices:
Load your consent script first. This should be the very first script in your header. Put it before any analytics, marketing, or tracker tags.
Use your CMP to block everything else until the user’s choice is known. See below for an example of how to use OneTrust CMP to create active group triggers.
Assign consent categories to every tag. These categories ensure your platform knows what to load and when.
Audit your tags regularly. Site updates, script changes, and even CMP updates can reset sequencing logic without any warning. These screenshots are from our partner, ObservePoint, that we utilize for scaled audits. This tool can help scale up consent audits and can help us validate user consent selections. The below example shows what categories of tags fire when a user opts in vs. opts out and can be a quick way to determine whether further investigation is needed – for example, if we expect zero analytics tags to fire when consent is not given, and we see analytics tags firing on 4% of pages scanned that are opt out, that would flag to us that there is an issue with configuration.
How does this work in action? Take a look at the below examples to show how we utilize OneTrust CMP and create groupings based on cookie types: ( Performance, Marketing, Analytics, etc.). Mapping cookie types to their corresponding cookie groups and then assigning them to appropriate tags within GTM so the users cookie choices map with what tags fire once consent is given.
Below, by assigning that active group trigger as an And statement to an existing tag, this ensures both values are present before the tag fires, avoiding the issue we’ve been seeing.
Failure to fix tag sequencing means you break your compliance and your data, which will inevitably trickle into every marketing decision you make.
FAQs
What is tag sequencing in GTM?
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It’s the order in which tags are triggered on your site. When using consent management, this sequence determines which tags fire—and when—based on user permissions.
How can bad tag sequencing affect my data?
If tags fire too early (or not at all), you’ll miss sessions, inflate conversion rates, and get unreliable channel attribution.
Can I manage tag sequencing without a developer?
Yes—tools like Google Tag Manager and modern CMPs make it easy to handle sequencing logic without code, as long as they’re set up properly.
How often should I check my tag sequencing setup?
Audit it quarterly, or anytime you update your website, CMP, or launch a new campaign. One misplaced script can throw off everything.
Conclusion
Tag sequencing may seem like a simple technical skill, but it’s so much more than that. It creates a backbone for reliable data that underpins many of your marketing decisions. Tags that fire out of order can break tracking, skew analytics, and cause you to miss valuable opportunities.
But it’s a fixable issue, and a few key adjustments to your GTM setup and consent platform can get things back on track and keep them there.
If you want to dive deeper into clean data, consider performing a technical SEO audit and explore how your site’s structure can impact your results. But if you’re still unsure whether your tag setup costs you conversions, let’s talk. Fixing it now can save you wasted spend (and effort) down the line.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-10-16 07:00:002025-10-16 07:00:00How Tag Sequencing Is Affecting Website Data Quality When Utilizing Consent Management
