Google’s AI Mode, Alibaba’s Qwen, & TikTok’s Ticking Time

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SEO & SAIO

• AI Overviews’ expansion is leading to decreased CTR on organic results, according to an AWR study. Some caveats: 1) the decreased CTR is primarily limited to searches using "terms like what, when, where, and how" where the AI Overview result is providing sufficient information that meets the search intent and 2) CTR declines vary greatly by industry with some sectors actually experiencing CTR gains.

?? Opportunity for marketers: answering “what/when/where/how questions” through topic pages will improve the probability of your website being a cited in AI Overviews. Lost traffic from natural search results can be recouped in AI Overviews link traffic.

• Google is rolling out "AI Mode" that "goes beyond AI Overviews with a more immersive Google Search AI interface." It is meant to provide “more advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities.” Right now, it is only available to Google Search Lab users who are Google One AI Premium subscribers so we are a long way away from being able to gauge the potential impact of this option in terms of SAIO.

• Alibaba released a rival to DeepSeek. [insert gasp here] Meet Qwen 2.5 Max, and she’s already outperformed DeepSeek’s V3 model. What are people saying about it? Seems lots of folks are excited about its capabilities for being 20 times smaller than other AI models. Get in-depth news on LinkedIn.

• 36% of content and creative professionals struggle with inconsistent metrics across platforms, while 34% of them face a lack of collaboration across teams/functions. At least with DBE, our SEO/SAIO implementation rides partly on the optimized content that gets implemented so the creative team shares in the measurable success generated.

• Redirecting 404s to your homepage — is it a good idea? NOPE, don’t do it. Google’s SEO Office Hours series states that 404s serve a purpose. 301 redirecting to your homepage provides a poor user experience. (It’s super confusing… like you’re driving without navigation and you pass the same Wendy’s for the third time…. Did you just make another circle? Ugh.) Check out more episodes in the series here.

Digital Marketing

• Nearly two-thirds of adults are not on board with AI-generated ads. Surprise, surprise. With AI, comes mistakes… like this cheesy ad from Google. With AI, comes a copyright infringement gray area. AI is a superpower that must be wielded with caution in marketing.

• Time ticks away on TikTok negotiations. With only a month left for a deal, confusion still ensues as to who the U.S government has appointed to lead the discussions and whether another ban extension could be enacted (considering the first extension wasn’t legal).

Do Good Spotlight: Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) ??

Protecting endangered wildlife and supporting conservationists are their mission. WCN does this through their vast Network of Conservation Partners, Wildlife Funds, and investing in local conservationists. Learn more about them: Wildlife Conservation Network.

Thoughts to Take With You… ??

Allen Stone has done it again in his song, “Already There”…

“Could've waited for a lifetime

But I'd still be waiting

How did I find a real love inside

Could I be mistaken

It feels like Heaven’s following me

Everywhere

Who would have thought that Heaven’s all in me

It's already there”

Patience, acceptance, love… they reside within us all. Life is wild and messy, but our own peace is following us everywhere, waiting for us to recover it.

You are awesome. Keep on keepin’ on,

Natalie Lorenzo

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P.S. Nobody’s Perfect… We’re Ready to Work It ??

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