[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-google-ai-search-billions-clicks":3},{"message":4,"data":5},"Blogs retrieved successfully",{"blog":6,"latest_blogs":33},{"id":7,"author_id":8,"title":9,"slug":10,"content":11,"short_summary":12,"featured_image":13,"status":14,"meta_title":9,"meta_description":15,"canonical_url":13,"keywords":13,"blog_type":16,"is_featured":17,"word_count":18,"published_at":19,"created_at":20,"updated_at":20,"deleted_at":13,"author":21,"categories":26},391,9,"Google Put a Number on AI Clicks. You Can’t Check It.","google-ai-search-billions-clicks","\u003Ch1>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Google Put a Number on AI Clicks. You Can’t Check It.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh1>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">For more than a year, the anxiety around AI search has come down to one question. When Google answers something at the top of the page, does anyone still click through to the sites underneath? Google’s head of Search has now given the most direct answer the company has offered yet, and it lands as a big, round, reassuring number that nobody outside Google can actually verify.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">What Google said\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Nick Fox, Google’s senior vice president of knowledge and information, laid it out in a post on LinkedIn, with a shorter version on X. He was answering the fear directly, that AI in Search would mean people stop clicking to websites. His response was that the opposite is happening. In his words, Google is now sending billions of clicks to websites every week through its AI features in Search alone, and he framed the whole thing as deliberate, since Google designed those features to connect people to sites.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">He stacked that next to a figure Google has repeated for a while, that Search overall sends billions of clicks to the web every day. His argument, in short, is that people are using Google more than ever now that they can ask anything in their own words, and that AI search is adding traffic rather than taking it away.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The number without a denominator\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The claim sounds decisive, and then you try to do anything with it. The daily figure for Search overall is one Google has said before. The weekly number tied specifically to AI features is new, and Google has never documented it anywhere. Both are rounded to billions, and that rounding is the problem.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">A daily total for all of Search and a weekly total for AI features, both expressed in the same vague unit, can’t be lined up against each other. You can’t work out what share of clicks actually come from AI features, because there’s no denominator to divide by. Billions of clicks a week sounds enormous, but its real meaning depends entirely on the total it lives inside. If overall clicks are vastly larger, the AI slice could be modest. The number tells you AI features send some traffic. It doesn’t tell you how much, relative to everything else.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The gap gets more frustrating when you go looking for your own version of the figure. Search Console still doesn’t show it. The generative AI reports Google added earlier this year give you impressions, how often you appeared in an AI feature, but no click-level attribution for those features on your specific site. So the one company that can measure this precisely shared a platform-wide number you can’t break down, while the tool it gives you for your own data leaves that exact box empty.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">What the outside studies show\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Independent research keeps pointing the other way on the metric that reaches individual sites. A randomized field experiment run by researchers at the Indian School of Business and Carnegie Mellon University, covering more than a thousand people in the United States, found that AI Overviews cut organic clicks to outside websites by 38% on the queries where they showed up. What’s striking is the second half of that result. When the summaries were removed, people’s own reported satisfaction barely moved, which suggests the answer on the page was doing the job the click used to do.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The apparent contradiction resolves once you see both things can be true at once. Google’s billions-per-week is an absolute count across an enormous number of searches. The studies measure the click rate on individual result pages. Total clicks can stay gigantic while the odds that any single search sends a visit to any particular website keep falling. A rising tide of total volume and a shrinking per-page click rate are not in conflict, and most site owners are living in the second number, not the first.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">What to actually do with this\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The fair way to read Fox’s post is as a morale note, not a measurement. It’s Google defending a narrative, that the web is fine and AI search is traffic-positive, and it may well be right in aggregate. It simply can’t be checked, and it says nothing about your site in particular. Treating a denominator-free platform number as evidence about your own traffic is how teams end up reassured by data that was never about them.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">So measure your own reality instead of anyone’s headline. Watch your actual visits in analytics, segment the queries where AI features appear against the ones where they don’t, and track where you’re cited rather than only where you rank. And keep doing the work that earns a click in a world with fewer of them to go around. When an AI answer only links to a handful of sources, being one of them is the entire game, and that comes from the same authority and citation-worthy content that \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Flink-building\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">link building\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"> and earned coverage have always built. Google can send billions of clicks a week and your site can still be losing them, and the only way to know which is true for you is to stop reading the aggregate and read your own numbers.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>","Google’s head of Search says AI features now send billions of clicks to websites weekly, the first number Google has named. It has no denominator and no site-level data to verify, while a study found AI Overviews cut clicks 38%. Both can be true, so measure your own traffic.",null,"published","Google says its AI features send billions of clicks to sites weekly. Why the figure can’t be verified, how it squares with the studies, what to measure.","blog",false,859,"2026-07-22T15:35:44.000000Z","2026-07-22T15:36:41.000000Z",{"id":8,"name":22,"email":23,"about":13,"avatar":24,"created_at":25,"updated_at":13,"deleted_at":13},"Rasit Cakir","rasit@nobsmarketplace.com","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Frasit.webp","2026-01-26T11:10:22.000000Z",[27],{"id":28,"name":29,"slug":30,"created_at":31,"updated_at":31,"deleted_at":13,"pivot":32},3,"SEO","seo","2025-10-26T11:10:22.000000Z",{"blog_id":7,"category_id":28},[34,39,75,89],{"id":7,"author_id":8,"title":9,"slug":10,"content":11,"short_summary":12,"featured_image":13,"status":14,"meta_title":9,"meta_description":15,"canonical_url":13,"keywords":13,"blog_type":16,"is_featured":17,"word_count":18,"published_at":19,"created_at":20,"updated_at":20,"deleted_at":13,"author":35,"categories":36},{"id":8,"name":22,"email":23,"about":13,"avatar":24,"created_at":25,"updated_at":13,"deleted_at":13},[37],{"id":28,"name":29,"slug":30,"created_at":31,"updated_at":31,"deleted_at":13,"pivot":38},{"blog_id":7,"category_id":28},{"id":40,"author_id":28,"title":41,"slug":42,"content":43,"short_summary":44,"featured_image":45,"status":14,"meta_title":41,"meta_description":46,"canonical_url":13,"keywords":13,"blog_type":16,"is_featured":47,"word_count":48,"published_at":49,"created_at":50,"updated_at":50,"deleted_at":13,"author":51,"categories":56},390,"Is Opting Out of Google Search a Good Idea?","google-gemini-opt-out","\u003Cblockquote>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>KEY TAKEAWAYS:\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">A growing number of publishers are considering pulling out of Google. This comes amid the search engine giant scraping their content without compensation.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">These publishers are refocusing their efforts on other channels, particularly social media and newsletters. Still, these won’t be enough to fill the gap.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Google is expected to remain dominant in the long term, even as its competitors are intensifying efforts to make the market less one-sided.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">More publishers have just about had it with Google—and they’re taking action.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Adweek last week reported that major publishers are preparing to \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.adweek.com\u002Fmedia\u002Fpublishers-opt-out-google-search\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>pull their content\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> from Google search results. Among the leading efforts comes from Cloudflare, which hosts a fifth of all websites on the Web. Effective September 15, new free and paid accounts will have bot management set to block multipurpose crawlers by default.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Stephanie Cohen, Cloudflare chief strategy officer, made her company’s stance clear.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>“We’ve been clear about what we want. We want a technical solution that allows you to be discoverable without having to give your content away for free.”\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">This ultimatum comes amid publishers’ concerns about Google scraping their content for AI training without compensation. With zero-click search a reality driven by AI summaries, they’re forced to either accept the data scraping or give up being visible on search results.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">There are as many reasons to love Google as to hate it. That said, does removing yourself from the world’s largest search engine make business sense? Is there a way to break free from this rock-and-a-hard-place situation?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">It’s Hard To Deny The Giant\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Despite recent challenges, Google remains the giant of the search engine market. As of last month, it owns more than 90% of the global market. The second-largest, Bing, doesn’t even come close to challenging it.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002Fpicture65-20260722022413-J504FHBF.webp\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>Data source: \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fgs.statcounter.com\u002Fsearch-engine-market-share\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>\u003Cu>Statcounter Global Stats\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">However, it’s not necessarily because Google is the best at what it does.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">In a study led by Wharton professor of business economics and public policy Leon Musolff, his team discovered that most users tend to stick with the default. This lack of an “active choice has benefited Google over the long term, at least in devices where it’s the default.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">1\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Even \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">after over half of respondents were paid $10 to switch to Bing\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">, only a third stayed with it. Musolff argued that simply removing the Google default function won’t work, as users have little to no incentive to try the alternatives.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">1\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">It also helps that Google revolutionized search. While not the first search engine in history, it introduced PageRank that laid the foundation for the modern search algorithm and, later, SEO. It benefited from innovations ahead of its time, cementing its status as a household name in the search engine market.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">However, it’s this status that makes opting out of Google no less than commercial suicide. Roughly half of the globe uses it to start their day on the Web, making it the largest source of leads. Disappearing from its search results is a risk not many would normally take.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Can Other Media Fill The Gap?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The businesses considering walking away from Google are well aware of the ramifications. USA Today, a well-known American daily, is reportedly considering bolstering its visibility in other areas, such as social media and newsletters. CEO Mike Reed told Adweek that USA Today still managed to hit its pageview goals for the past three years.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">But can they make up for a brand’s absence in search? Not really.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">For one, your content will still be at the mercy of an algorithm—maybe a more ruthless one. Unlike search engine algorithms designed to favor relevance, social media algorithms favor engagement. A person’s interests and preferences determine which post or video shows up at the top of their feed, and it won’t always be relevant.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Even if your content goes viral, know that attention on social media dies down as quickly as it builds up. For example, a Facebook post has an average half-life (the time required to get half of its total engagement) of 1.43 hours. That means its engagement is expected to taper off after almost three hours since going live.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002Fscott-m-graffius-lifespan-halflife-of-social-media-posts-update-for-2026-summary-visual-v26012207-png-hires-20260722022603-mKvhtcdZ.webp\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>Source: \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.scottgraffius.com\u002Fblog\u002Ffiles\u002Flifespan-halflife-of-social-media-posts-update-2026.html\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>\u003Cu>Scott Graffius\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Maintaining engagement on Facebook requires consistently posting interesting content, at least eight times a day if the math checks out. This isn’t much of a problem for, say, general news brands, but it can be hard for retailers or service providers.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">What about newsletters? They’re a viable alternative to social media posts, given that some platforms have a character limit (e.g., 280 characters per post for free X users). Sadly, these pieces of content also can’t fill the gap for several reasons.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">For one, creating a newsletter is a major project in its own right. Guest posting still requires planning, but at least you have platforms like \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>NO-BS Marketplace\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> making the process easy. With newsletters, there’s a wider range of factors to consider, from the target audience to the delivery method.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">If you plan on monetizing your newsletter, expect to be up a creek. In \u003Cem>Escape the Cubicle, \u003C\u002Fem>Wes Pearce outlined the downsides of several models.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">2\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Paid subscription: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Generates decent income provided you keep pumping out high-quality content every period. Missing one increases the risk of unsubscribing.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Sponsorships:\u003C\u002Fstrong> Not worth it unless your newsletter has at least 10,000 subscribers. Also, sponsors will often require you to put their brand in a positive light.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Affiliate marketing: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Like sponsorships, the gains are too little to justify the effort. If you aren’t selling anything, this method may feel like you are.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>High-ticket coaching: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Great for earning money, but you’ll still be just as exhausted as with other methods. Not worth it unless you hate yourself.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Partnerships:\u003C\u002Fstrong> Good for reputation building but not for making money. Pearce said it’s “just a hobby with added pressure.”\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Donations: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Work that deserves a tip can vary in interpretation. Not to mention that people typically don’t expect to tip for free content.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Pearce mentioned a seventh method that worked for him: selling online courses. That said, you need to ask yourself if offering such products makes sense for your brand. It’s sensible for niches that rely on thought leadership (e.g., SEO) but not for generic ones.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Can Anyone Beat Google?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">As much as we want to see a David rise to this occasion, it won’t happen anytime soon. The gap between Google and its competitors is too huge to change in the short or medium term. Antitrust lawsuits against it may have gained ground, but it’s fighting tooth and nail.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Musolff also cited that antitrust efforts alone won’t be enough because the real problem lies with consumer behavior. Other search engines—and policymakers to some extent—need to step up their game if they hope to dent Google’s dominance.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Until that time comes, however, exiting Google is ill-advised.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">References:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">1.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;\">  \t\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“Why Google Dominates the Search Engine Market,” Source:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fknowledge.wharton.upenn.edu\u002Farticle\u002Fwhy-google-dominates-the-search-engine-market\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>https:\u002F\u002Fknowledge.wharton.upenn.edu\u002Farticle\u002Fwhy-google-dominates-the-search-engine-market\u002F\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">2.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;\">  \t\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“I Tried 7 Ways to Monetize my Newsletter. Six Flopped, One Brings Me $5K+ Monthly.” Source:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fescapethecubicle.substack.com\u002Fp\u002Fi-tried-7-ways-to-monetize-my-newsletter\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>https:\u002F\u002Fescapethecubicle.substack.com\u002Fp\u002Fi-tried-7-ways-to-monetize-my-newsletter\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fp>","Major publishers have recently announced plans to opt out of Google Search, citing the search engine's scraping of their content without compensation. While it may seem like the beginning of the end for Google, the harsh reality is that it isn't.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fsimon-search-engine-76519-1280-20260722020615-XQ8G31vA.webp","Google’s continued push toward AI search has pushed publishers to pull out of its search results. But is it a good idea?",true,1113,"2026-07-22T10:39:00.000000Z","2026-07-22T02:39:13.000000Z",{"id":28,"name":52,"email":53,"about":54,"avatar":55,"created_at":31,"updated_at":31,"deleted_at":13},"Jonas Trinidad","jonas@nobsmarketplace.com","","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog-authors\u002F2023\u002F05\u002Fjonas-trinidad.jpg",[57,61,63,69],{"id":58,"name":59,"slug":16,"created_at":31,"updated_at":31,"deleted_at":13,"pivot":60},1,"Blogs",{"blog_id":40,"category_id":58},{"id":28,"name":29,"slug":30,"created_at":31,"updated_at":31,"deleted_at":13,"pivot":62},{"blog_id":40,"category_id":28},{"id":64,"name":65,"slug":66,"created_at":67,"updated_at":67,"deleted_at":13,"pivot":68},15,"Industry News","industry-news","2026-02-10T11:18:29.000000Z",{"blog_id":40,"category_id":64},{"id":70,"name":71,"slug":72,"created_at":73,"updated_at":73,"deleted_at":13,"pivot":74},23,"AI","ai","2026-03-10T11:18:29.000000Z",{"blog_id":40,"category_id":70},{"id":76,"author_id":8,"title":77,"slug":78,"content":79,"short_summary":80,"featured_image":81,"status":14,"meta_title":77,"meta_description":82,"canonical_url":13,"keywords":13,"blog_type":16,"is_featured":17,"word_count":83,"published_at":84,"created_at":85,"updated_at":86,"deleted_at":13,"author":87,"categories":88},389,"When an AI Agent Can’t Read Your Price, It Quotes G2","ai-agents-b2b-pricing-third-party","\u003Ch1>When an AI Agent Can’t Read Your Price, It Quotes G2\u003C\u002Fh1>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>A buyer already knows your product. They send an AI agent to check the pricing and features before booking a call. The agent goes to your site, tries to read your pricing page, and can’t. So it does the next logical thing. It goes and finds your prices somewhere else, on a review site or a competitor’s comparison blog, and answers the buyer using numbers you didn’t write and might not agree with.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>That scenario is more common than most B2B teams realize, and a new study puts numbers on it.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan>What the study found\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>The data comes from Siteline, a company that tracks AI agent traffic, and it was written up this month by Kevin Indig in Search Engine Land. Siteline ran a simulated Claude agent through 534 attempts to find pricing across 100 top B2B software products. The pattern was consistent. Only about 65% of plans had prices the agent could read directly. Another 14% listed no price at all and pushed the agent toward a contact-sales form.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>The interesting number is what happened when the agent got stuck. Roughly a third of runs hit some kind of access error, a blocked bot, a broken page, or a pricing table the agent couldn’t parse. On those runs, the agent pulled 58% of its final answer from third-party sources, against 12% on the runs that went smoothly. So a page it couldn’t read didn’t stop the agent. It sent the agent to G2, Capterra, and vendor comparison blogs instead, and those became the source of truth.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Two named examples made it concrete. One well-known vendor had a pricing table that loaded fine for a human but was built in JavaScript the agent couldn’t read, so it turned to third-party blogs at roughly five times the cost of a clean run. Another vendor’s pricing page couldn’t be reached at all, and the agent pulled its numbers from a review site and a procurement platform.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan>Why the page keeps breaking\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Indig’s write-up traced the failures to three root causes, and none of them are exotic. The first is opacity, simply not showing a price and routing everyone to sales. The second is poor machine-readability, where the price technically exists on the page but is locked inside JavaScript, an image, or a PDF that the agent doesn’t execute or open. One thing to remember, the agents behind Claude and ChatGPT don’t run JavaScript the way Google does, so a table that renders in a browser can come back empty to them. The third is access friction, where bot blocking or a slow, oversized page makes the fetch fail before it starts.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>The technical fixes are well understood. Serve prices in plain server-rendered HTML rather than client-side JavaScript. Use real table markup so plan names map cleanly to prices. Add Product and Offer structured data with the actual price and currency. Keep a pricing page reachable even if the real numbers wait behind a conversation, so the agent has something to read instead of guessing. None of that is groundbreaking, and that’s rather the point. All of it is old-fashioned technical hygiene, applied to a new kind of visitor.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan>The part that’s really about authority\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Here the problem stops being purely technical. Fixing your pricing page controls what the agent reads on your site. It does nothing about what the agent reads everywhere else, and everywhere else is where it goes the moment your page falls short.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>When an agent gives up on your site and turns to G2 or a comparison blog, the answer your buyer gets is only as good as those third-party sources. If the review sites list stale pricing, if a competitor’s comparison frames you unfavorably, if the top-ranking roundup for your category barely mentions you, that becomes the version of your product the agent presents. You can build a flawless pricing page and still lose the narrative on someone else’s.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>So the full defense has two halves. Make your own pricing readable to a machine, and shape what the credible third-party sources say about you, because the agent treats those as a fallback the instant it needs one. That second half is familiar work. Earning accurate, favorable coverage on the review platforms and comparison sites that AI agents trust is what \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fdigital-pr\">\u003Cspan>digital PR\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan> has always done, and it decides which outside sources speak for you when the agent can’t read your own.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>A couple of caveats belong on this. Siteline sells agent-readiness tooling, so it has a stake in the finding that sites aren’t ready, which is reason to read the numbers as directional rather than gospel. And an unreadable pricing page doesn’t directly lower your Google rankings. What it changes is quieter and possibly more expensive, whether your own numbers or a stranger’s represent you at the exact moment a buyer is deciding.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>","A Siteline study found AI shopping agents fail to read B2B pricing on a third of runs, and then pull 58% of their answer from third-party sites like G2 instead of your page. Fixing the page is half the job. Your standing on those sources is the other half.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fai-agents-blank-price-nobs-20260721072951-f40ox1uo.webp","A study of 100 B2B products found AI agents pull pricing from third-party sites when your page is unreadable. What breaks, and why authority decides it.",803,"2026-07-20T13:54:07.000000Z","2026-07-20T13:56:06.000000Z","2026-07-21T07:30:03.000000Z",{"id":8,"name":22,"email":23,"about":13,"avatar":24,"created_at":25,"updated_at":13,"deleted_at":13},[],{"id":90,"author_id":28,"title":91,"slug":92,"content":93,"short_summary":94,"featured_image":95,"status":14,"meta_title":91,"meta_description":96,"canonical_url":13,"keywords":13,"blog_type":16,"is_featured":47,"word_count":97,"published_at":98,"created_at":99,"updated_at":99,"deleted_at":13,"author":100,"categories":101},386,"The Smartest AI Marketing Strategy is Made of Stupid","ai-marketing-seo","\u003Cblockquote>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>KEY TAKEAWAYS:\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">AI may make creating marketing campaigns today much easier, but it doesn’t always result in effective ones.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Human creativity is still crucial in an AI-dominated landscape, starting with finding good ideas from bad ones.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Bubble wrap started as an idea that was, at the time, stupid.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Howard Fielding created the material alongside chemist Marc Chavannes in the late 1950s. They originally marketed it as a textured wallpaper for the Beat Generation: expressionists, modernists, and anyone wanting to break tradition. It was definitely unique but too unique to appeal to consumers’ tastes for wall coverings at the time.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Then, IBM needed something capable of keeping its then-new computer safe during transit. Suddenly, bubble wrap got a second chance at success as packaging that far outperformed other available options back then. Once a stupid idea, bubble wrap is primed to be a $10-billion global market by the next decade (and bring hours of amusement after use).\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Where am I going with this? Well, this success story was made before AI was mainstream.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Marketers tend to think that they have to come up with smarter messaging to help a brand gain or keep its edge. They resort to AI to create their campaigns, only to fall short because the campaigns are flat, tone deaf, or context-blind—or all three. Such are the qualities of a stupid marketing strategy, but that’s not the kind of “stupid” we’re after.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The Silly Kind of ‘Stupid’\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Before anything else, let’s address the elephant in the room. \u003Cstrong>\u003Cu>AI is making us dumb.\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">At least, that’s what researchers at MIT believe. They had people write an essay using AI tools, search engines, or only their brains and found that the AI-tool group exhibited low brain engagement and activity. With the tool doing the heavy lifting, it lessens the mental burden on users but discourages critical thinking.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> (1)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">It also risks making future AI models dumber to the point of a \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcacm.acm.org\u002Fblogcacm\u002Fmodel-collapse-is-already-happening-we-just-pretend-it-isnt\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>model collapse\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">. Imagine a successor model trained on the predecessor’s output rather than raw data. It degrades in accuracy and reliability over time, ultimately leading to an entire model line dying off and significantly stifling AI development.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">This isn’t the stupid we want. Instead, we need the silly kind.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">To understand this, we have to learn why people are attracted to unique content but ignore generic content. The human brain can only handle so much data at a given time, even if it’s capable of processing more. Also, to avoid getting overwhelmed, it cherry-picks important or meaningful details over anything irrelevant.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Generic marketing is less likely to work now as years of such have desensitized consumers. They might just flat-out ignore an ad, let alone one purely made with generative AI.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Instead, experts believe that effective marketing invokes emotions: joy, inspiration, hilarity, nostalgia, etc. Humans are emotional beings, even those who let logic do the talking all the time. Tapping into the right feelings helps brands resonate with their customers.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">And we don’t have to travel to the distant past to look for examples.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Sony’s recent decision to stop selling physical video game copies by 2028 in favor of digital ones has been largely criticized. That said, what’s remarkable about this ongoing debacle is the response by many brands—some of whom, like Domino’s, aren’t direct competitors.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002F734555328-27416028811389896-4566513644736973291-n-20260716060356-KmGDThg2.webp\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>Source: Domino’s Pizza UK\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">As one of the first responses, the post went viral almost immediately. The\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fx.com\u002FDominos_UK\u002Fstatus\u002F2072602429959340517\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>original post\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> on X has earned over 515,000 likes and been reposted over 65,000 times as of this writing. Also, when I read a version of this on their official Facebook page, some people in the comments stated that it motivated them to order pizza.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Of course, the post is satire (a world without physical pizza is nothing short of a dystopia). Nevertheless, it resonated with people because the thought of serving intangible food is plain silly. And the humor wasn’t lost in similar responses that followed.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002F732165141-18602891017054976-5270423190831894170-n-20260716060425-GUF5hZev.webp\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>Source: \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.instagram.com\u002Fp\u002FDaTIwoOn7Lq\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>\u003Cu>G Fuel\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002Fsnaplyticsio-photo-1-20260716060448-rs11EbBv.webp\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>Source: \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fx.com\u002FProtonPrivacy\u002Fstatus\u002F2072656285120565502\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>\u003Cu>Proton\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">It’s stupid, but it’s \u003Cem>ridiculously \u003C\u002Fem>stupid.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">How to Stupid-fy Your Marketing\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Admit That Your Brand Isn’t Perfect\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The first thing you need to do to make this approach work is accept the fact that your brand isn’t infallible. Behind every brand is an imperfect human managing it, and there’s no need to be ashamed of this. If anything, it can help make your message more genuine.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">See, AI may be capable of creating perfect content, but sometimes it’s \u003Cem>too \u003C\u002Fem>perfect. Clean design and messaging can look less natural, which consumers don’t want to see. It might even appear like the brand is trying too hard or forcing its message on consumers.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Embracing flaws is more authentic because it interrupts predictable patterns. Most don’t expect a business to post a meme, which often doesn’t need clean lines, or, in Duolingo’s case, to have its marketing run by a quirky persona.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002Fiy17kidk744c1-20260716060519-9vTale1a.webp\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">But more importantly, it gives people someone they can relate to. In an interview after its campaign to\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnypost.com\u002F2025\u002F02\u002F12\u002Flifestyle\u002Fduolingo-announces-the-death-of-its-beloved-owl-mascot-duo\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>“kill off” Duo the bird\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">, Duolingo CMO Emmanuel Orssaud said:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> (2)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cblockquote>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>“Duo works because he’s not just a mascot; he’s an internet personality that people feel connected to. This campaign reminded us that sustained engagement comes from building a character people care about, then giving them a story they want to be part of.”\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">A mascot isn’t necessary to pull this off. Your brand only needs to stay true to its identity.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Stop Worrying Too Much Over Metrics\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Make no mistake: marketing is a numbers game. Everything from organic traffic to return on investment measures the success of any campaign. But if winning this game were as easy as outscoring the competition, we wouldn’t be talking about smart marketing at all.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Think about it: of the thousands of new leads to your site, how many are willing to convert? Of the thousands of reactions to your post on social media, how many are part of the target audience? Numbers mean nothing if a campaign isn’t hitting the right people.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Many businesses and marketers fall into the trap of obsessing over metrics, specifically so-called “vanity metrics.” These metrics look good at first glance, but a closer look makes you realize that you can’t act on them. Any metric can be a vanity metric, but determining if one is such usually requires comparing it with another metric.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002Fpicture64-20260716060619-RHEUQxxU.webp\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>An example of how metrics devolve into vanity metrics.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Taking metrics at face value can prevent you from making better decisions. Instead, talking with customers can paint a clearer picture of what makes them tick. Experts refer to this as “taking a metrics vacation,” ignoring raw numbers in favor of customer feedback.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">This doesn’t mean cutting yourself off from metrics cold turkey. Taking a week off analytics every few weeks is enough.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 13pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Don’t Be Afraid To Brainstorm Stupid Ideas\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Eureka moments can come from even the most peculiar situations. One director’s account had him call up an impromptu meeting, a typical discussion of budgets, timelines, etc. But halfway through, he asks the team to come up with the worst ideas.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 0.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">3\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Not just stupid ones, but also those that can get any brand in trouble.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The purpose isn’t to implement those ideas but rather to come up with ways to turn them into advantages they can use. That meeting, he said, yielded four ideas that could be used in their then-upcoming marketing campaign.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> (3)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Not all bad ideas can be turned into good ones, but some are worth exploring. That’s how you get daring in marketing, as Burger King did with its Moldy Whopper campaign in 2020.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002F106396371-1582050045839kv-moldy-whopper-resized1-20260716060641-shrAwqWN.webp\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>Source: Burger King\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">To prove its commitment to using no preservatives in its food, Burger King let its signature burger rot over 35 days. The result was just as anyone expected, earning as much praise as it raised eyebrows. Despite critics calling it uncouth, the campaign gave the fast-food giant an increase of 14% in sales and 88% in positive brand sentiment.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> (4)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Did such an idea actually come from an employee’s suggestion in the boardroom? It’s hard to tell, but that’s beside the point. To take marketing to the next level, find inspiration where no one else dares to look.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Making Sense of a Nonsensical Idea\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">In an era where achieving perfection can take just a few clicks, it’s important to rethink and embrace our flaws. Technology may be able to generate ideas, but only humans can shape them into what clicks.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">So the next time your team is racking your brains, don’t be quick to dismiss stupid ideas. Among them may be the smartest idea you’ve had since the last one.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">References:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Col>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task,” Source:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Farxiv.org\u002Fpdf\u002F2506.08872v1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>https:\u002F\u002Farxiv.org\u002Fpdf\u002F2506.08872v1\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“How Duolingo turns social stunts into long-term growth,” Source:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.marketingbrew.com\u002Fstories\u002F2025\u002F09\u002F09\u002Fhow-duolingo-turns-social-stunts-into-long-term-growth\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>https:\u002F\u002Fwww.marketingbrew.com\u002Fstories\u002F2025\u002F09\u002F09\u002Fhow-duolingo-turns-social-stunts-into-long-term-growth\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“Make Your Brainstorms Better by Making Them Worse,” Source:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.inc.com\u002Fstacey-macnaught\u002Fneed-great-ideas-ask-your-team-for-bad-ones.html\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>https:\u002F\u002Fwww.inc.com\u002Fstacey-macnaught\u002Fneed-great-ideas-ask-your-team-for-bad-ones.html\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“DAVID & INGO: Burger King's Moldy Whopper,” Source:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.wpp.com\u002Fen\u002Fcase-studies\u002Fdavid---burger-king-moldy-whopper\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12px; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>https:\u002F\u002Fwww.wpp.com\u002Fen\u002Fcase-studies\u002Fdavid---burger-king-moldy-whopper\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Fol>\u003Cp>\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fp>","Businesses are under pressure to make their marketing today better than yesterday, prompting them to ask technology for help. But sometimes, the best campaigns are hiding in the worst ideas.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fgeralt-puzzle-432569-1280-20260716055610-eyvvuUUe.webp","Letting AI think of your next big marketing idea is tempting. However, keep in mind that not all good ideas start as good ideas.",1423,"2026-07-16T14:08:00.000000Z","2026-07-16T06:08:59.000000Z",{"id":28,"name":52,"email":53,"about":54,"avatar":55,"created_at":31,"updated_at":31,"deleted_at":13},[102,104,109,114],{"id":58,"name":59,"slug":16,"created_at":31,"updated_at":31,"deleted_at":13,"pivot":103},{"blog_id":90,"category_id":58},{"id":105,"name":106,"slug":107,"created_at":31,"updated_at":31,"deleted_at":13,"pivot":108},2,"Digital Marketing","digital-marketing",{"blog_id":90,"category_id":105},{"id":110,"name":111,"slug":112,"created_at":31,"updated_at":31,"deleted_at":13,"pivot":113},4,"Content Marketing","content-marketing",{"blog_id":90,"category_id":110},{"id":115,"name":116,"slug":117,"created_at":67,"updated_at":67,"deleted_at":13,"pivot":118},16,"Educative Content","educative-content",{"blog_id":90,"category_id":115}]