On episode 334 of PPC Live The Podcast, I speak to Sophie Fell Head of Paid Media at Liberty Marketing Group about a real PPC mistake involving location targeting. The conversation focuses on how small oversights can have big consequences—and how to recover from them professionally.
The PPC F-Up: worldwide location targeting
Sophie accidentally launched a campaign with worldwide location targeting enabled instead of restricting it to the client’s service area. In just a couple of days, the campaign generated around 1,500 leads that looked impressive on paper but were unusable because they came from outside the target locations.
When great results are a warning sign
The unusually strong performance initially looked like a win, but it became a red flag. When Sophie reviewed the campaign more closely, she discovered the location setting issue. This highlights an important PPC lesson: results that look too good should always be investigated, not celebrated blindly.
Handling the client conversation
The client spotted the issue around the same time Sophie did, while she was already preparing to flag it. The situation was handled with honesty—acknowledging the mistake, explaining what happened, and fixing it immediately. Transparency helped preserve trust, even though the client was understandably unhappy.
Why the mistake happened
This wasn’t a lack of knowledge—it came down to moving too quickly and relying on assumed checks rather than confirmed ones. Like many experienced practitioners, Sophie thought the setting had already been reviewed. The experience reinforced how dangerous platform defaults can be.
The long-term outcome
Once corrected, the campaign went on to perform exceptionally well. The client hit their targets six weeks early and exceeded revenue expectations by £3.5 million. The initial mistake didn’t define the outcome—how it was handled did.
What Sophie does differently now
Sophie now checks campaign settings multiple times, both before and after launch. She reviews settings whenever performance spikes or dips and never reports results without rechecking fundamentals. The key change is recognising that post-launch reviews often reveal what pre-launch checks miss.
Advice for when you’ve made a PPC mistake
Sophie’s guidance is simple: pause, investigate, and be honest. Check metrics and settings immediately, take responsibility, explain what went wrong, and clearly outline how you’ll prevent it from happening again. Mistakes become serious problems only when they’re mishandled.
Common PPC mistakes still seen today
Sophie regularly audits accounts that haven’t been updated for years, rely heavily on brand campaigns, or misuse automation like Performance Max. She also sees poor alignment between keywords, ads, and landing pages—fundamentals that still matter, even in AI-driven campaigns.
Why talking about mistakes matters
Many PPC professionals assume industry leaders no longer make mistakes. Sophie challenges that idea. Everyone is still learning, regardless of experience level. Sharing failures helps juniors feel safer, encourages better leadership, and keeps the industry moving forward.
Creating a healthy PPC team culture
A strong team culture allows for testing, learning, and accountability without fear. Sophie emphasises clear testing frameworks, capped budgets, and open conversations. Teams that claim to be mistake-free rarely innovate.
Final takeaway: Always check your settings
Platforms change, defaults evolve, and assumptions fail. Whether performance is soaring or struggling, always verify that campaigns are doing what you think they’re doing. You can’t over-check your settings—but you can definitely under-check them.
Looking to take the next step in your search marketing career?
Below, you will find the latest SEO, PPC, and digital marketing jobs at brands and agencies. We also include positions from previous weeks that are still open.
Benefits: Flexible schedule Paid time off Training & development Our Mission At Beyond Karate, we provide physical training beyond martial arts. Our programs include a variety of activities geared towards families, teens and children, including individuals with special needs. Our goal is to support and empower growth, self-esteem and teach the tools required to live […]
Job Description Ready to join one of the fastest-growing (and coolest!) marketing agencies in the country? You’ve arrived at the right place! We are: A team of proven growth experts, creatives, and data scientists who help unlock rapid growth for some of the world’s most iconic brands. We’ve successfully grown many companies from hundreds to […]
Job Description We offer a hybrid work environment. Most US-based positions can also be performed remotely (any exceptions will be noted in the Minimum Qualifications below.) Our Mission: To actively connect people to their next great opportunity. Who We Are: ZipRecruiter is a leading online employment marketplace. Powered by AI-driven smart matching technology, the company […]
Location: Remote (Must overlap 4+ hours with US EST) Type: Full-Time Read This Before You Apply (The “Anti-Waiting” Rule) Most SEOs are “Auditors.” They find a problem, write a PDF, and wait. We are not looking for an Auditor. We are looking for a Builder. To us, the worst words in the English language are “I […]
Job Description Status: Full-Time Company: Evening Entertainment Group Location: Scottsdale, Arizona About Evening Entertainment Group: Evening Entertainment Group (EEG) is a hospitality leader behind some of the most recognized dining and nightlife destinations in Arizona, Texas, and Tennessee including Jelly Roll’s Goodnight Nashville, Bottled Blonde, Backyard, HiFi, and more. Our portfolio continues to expand, and […]
This role is a full-time temporary contract position. Employment is limited to the contract period specified and may be ended earlier or extended based on business needs. This position does not imply or guarantee future full-time employment. Duration: 6 months Start Date: January Location: New York or Los Angeles Position: SEO Specialist, Streaming The Marketing […]
Skale is an organic growth agency helping top SaaS and tech brands build predictable, scalable revenue through organic channels. We’ve grown by focusing on what actually drives pipeline: strategy, execution, and results, not vanity metrics. We don’t just do SEO – we build organic revenue engines for ambitious B2B tech and SaaS brands. That now includes traditional […]
Why Terakeet? At Terakeet, we’re comfortable with the uncomfortable. We live in the future of marketing and are revolutionizing how the world’s most valuable brands connect and build trust with their audiences. We are experts who deliver exceptional outcomes. Together, we win. What We Do Terakeet controls online reputation and visibility for global brands. We […]
This is a part time contract position (approximately 10–20 hours per week). Elevated Third is a global B2B digital agency and Drupal expert. We design, build, and optimize complex digital experiences that drive measurable growth for enterprise and mid market clients. We are looking for an experienced SEO Specialist to support analytics, reporting, and insight […]
Role details: Full-time • Remote • Long-term • $60,000/year MarketDing.ai is an AI-powered marketing company focused on search growth for healthcare, SaaS, and ecommerce brands. We’re building a serious agency with serious standards. We don’t do cookie-cutter SEO, we don’t chase vanity rankings, and we don’t touch spam. We build clean, scalable search systems that […]
Job Description Kargo unites the world’s leading brands, retailers and premium publishers across screens using innovative technology and advanced creative ad formats. At Kargo, we’re all about bringing together the best of the best with a spark of creativity to stand out from the crowd. The same is true for our employees. What makes Kargo […]
Job Description Salary: $90,000-$110,000 Annually, DOE About AmeriPharma AmeriPharma is a rapidly growing healthcare company where you will have the opportunity to contribute to our joint success on a daily basis. We value new ideas, creativity, and productivity. We like people who are passionate about their roles and people who like to grow and change […]
Job Description DIRECTOR OF PAID SEARCH Here’s the 411: The Director of Paid Search will lead a team of paid search specialists, providing guidance, mentorship, and performance management to maximize campaign success. Collaboration with cross-functional teams such as analytics, creative, and product marketing is essential to integrate paid search efforts with broader marketing strategies. Ultimately, […]
Job Description As a Senior Campaign Manager at AdParlor, you’ll be the bridge between strategy and execution—owning end-to-end campaign execution, optimization, and performance storytelling across channels like Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat. You’ll collaborate closely with the account management team and platform partners to bring campaigns to life that exceed client goals and drive innovation […]
Job Description Salary: $55,000-$65,000 Paid Search Specialist Media Works is looking for a Paid Search Specialist with 1-3 years experience. Media Works is a highly respected, fast paced, and energetic integrated marketing agency located in Baltimore, MD. The agency has been in the business for over 35 years, serving a diverse client list. Position Summary: […]
Build, manage, and optimize campaigns across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Performance Max, YouTube, and other paid media channels to drive qualified, high-intent leads
Continuously improve lead quality, CPL, ROAS, and cost-per-case through strategic testing, optimization, and bid and budget management
Director, Paid Search, Omnicom Media Group (Hybrid, New York City Metropolitan Area)
Salary: $90,000 – $215,000
Paid Search Strategic Planning: Develop long-term execution plans that align with client business objectives. Implement these plans and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success.
Paid Search Data Analysis: Demonstrate analytical skills to extract meaningful insights from data. Relate these insights back to client business goals and identify actionable recommendations.
You’ll own high-visibility SEO and AI initiatives, architect strategies that drive explosive organic and social visibility, and push the boundaries of what’s possible with search-powered performance.
Every day, you’ll experiment, analyze, and optimize-elevating rankings, boosting conversions across the customer journey, and delivering insights that influence decisions at the highest level.
Google is rolling out a new Performance Max beta that lets advertisers pull video assets directly from Merchant Center — a small tweak with big implications for retail and e-commerce.
How it works. Google Ads will now:
Auto-surface product-associated videos from Merchant Center during PMax setup
Shorten creative workflows for retailers and e-commerce teams
Improve product-to-creative alignment, increasing ad relevance
Boost performance, especially for large SKU catalogs
Why we care. This update removes a friction point in PMax: getting high-quality, product-relevant video into campaigns. By auto-pulling videos from Merchant Center, Google is tightening the link between inventory and creative, which typically translates to higher relevance, stronger engagement, and better performance.
For brands with large SKU counts, this dramatically speeds up workflow and ensures video coverage at scale — something that was previously difficult and resource-heavy to achieve.
The big picture. Google has been rapidly expanding PMax’s creative pipeline — from social video imports to this new Merchant Center integration — signaling a broader push to make PMax more plug-and-play for commerce-heavy advertisers.
First seen. This update was first spotted by senior performance marketing executive, Rakshit Shetty who shared his view of the option on LinkedIn.
The bottom line. A subtle update, but a meaningful win for brands running eCommerce at scale.
For the past two years, we’ve been living in AI’s gold rush era. To borrow from Taylor Swift, think of it as the “Lover” phase where everything is shiny, new, and full of possibility.
The behavior: Buy everything.
The metric: Can it generate something cool?
The vibe: Pure FOMO.
But we’re entering a new era now. Call it the “Reputation” phase, which is darker, edgier, and entirely focused on receipts.
A sign of this shift was in the headlines recently, blaring on about Microsoft lowering its AI sales targets. The hot takes rushed in to frame it as a disappointment, a slowdown, and even a sign that enterprise demand is cooling.
They all misread the moment. This is really a sign of the market graduating.
We’re maturing. The AI gold rush era is coming to an end. Microsoft’s recalibration is one of many signals of this shift being felt broadly across the market, as we enter AI’s Production Phase era.
Another sign is how the questions leaders are asking have started to mature:
Does this actually work inside my business?
Does it connect to our stack?
Does it move revenue?
Leaders are getting smarter and choosier. It confirms what many CMOs have suspected: We don’t need more tools. We need orchestration across the tools, so we use what we have more effectively and cohesively.
This shift comes as the broader AI market remains unsettled.
Nearly 40% of U.S. consumers have tried generative AI, but only half use it regularly, according to eMarketer. Platform loyalty is fluid. ChatGPT’s global traffic share fell from 86.6% to 72.3% in a year, while Google Gemini tripled to 13.7%.
For marketers, this volatility means orchestration is critical to future-proof against a fragmented ecosystem.
The ‘Pilot Theater’ problem
The martech landscape just crossed 15,384 solutions, up 9% from last year according to ChiefMartec. We’ve never had more capability available.
Yet Gartner shows martech utilization has dropped to just 33%. Companies are paying for the full stack but extracting value from one-third of it. Even as budgets are getting slashed everywhere.
During the gold rush, we bought point solutions to fix functional problems. A tool for copy. A tool for creative. A tool for bidding. Each team got their own set of tools. We built rooms full of brilliant soloists but never hired a conductor.
The result is something I call Pilot Theater: impressive AI demos that look innovative but can’t deliver enterprise ROI because they’re trapped in silos.
Here’s what Pilot Theater looks like in your actual P&L:
The budget disconnect:Your CTV campaign sparks a 40% spike in branded search. Your search team has no automated way to adjust bids or shift budget. By next week’s meeting, the moment has passed and a competitor captured the demand you created.
The experience break:A prospect engages with your LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad and visits your pricing page—clear buying intent. Your demand gen platform doesn’t catch that signal. It retargets them with a generic intro-to-brand ad. You just paid to move them backward in the funnel.
The content gap:Sales loses late-stage deals because Finance keeps blocking contracts over compliance questions. Meanwhile, your content team, unaware of this pattern, keeps producing top-funnel brand stories instead of the ROI calculators and security docs needed to close.
The signals exist, as does the technology.
What’s missing is the coordination. And the pressure to fix this is mounting, with 86% of CEOs expecting AI ROI within three years (eMarketer).
Flashy pilots aren’t enough anymore. The orchestration gap is now a revenue risk.
From automation to agentic orchestration
Most leaders still confuse automation with orchestration.
Automation is rigid: “If X happens, do Y.” Orchestration is adaptive: “Achieve goal Z using the best available tools and conditions.”
In this new agentic AI era, you have systems that go beyond generating content to observing, coordinating, and optimizing workflows across your entire stack.
Think of orchestration as the nervous system of your marketing operation. The connective tissue that interprets signals across channels and triggers the next best action, instantly.
I’d even call this a survival strategy. Smaller AI platforms are running out of time as VCs lose patience, according to eMarketer. The prize for winning in AI is massive, but so are the resources required.
Betting on a single vendor is risky. Building adaptive orchestration is how you stay ahead when the ecosystem reshuffles.
What real orchestration looks like
Much of this is happening now, with manual handoffs being replaced with intelligent feedback loops. Here are three real-world examples:
The Budget Fluidity Workflow
Signal: Your prospects exposed to CTV (Connected TV) ads show 3x higher CTR (Click-through-rate) on branded search terms.
Action: Your orchestration layer automatically creates bid modifiers and routes budget toward that high-intent segment in real time.
Result: You capture the demand you created instead of letting competitors conquest it.
The Buying Group Alignment
Signal: Three stakeholders from the same enterprise account engage with your content within 48 hours.
Action: Your system flags the account as “Active,” alerts Sales, and automatically shifts creative strategy from education to social proof to compliance.
Result: You market to the account, not a cluster of disconnected individuals.
Action: Your orchestration layer identifies missing bottom-funnel assets and triggers a workflow for the content team to prioritize those materials.
Result: Your content aligns with real buyer needs not just an editorial calendar built weeks ago.
The rise of the “Builder” leader
One of the most telling stats in the 2025 State of Martech report: Custom-built internal platforms jumped from 2% to 10% of core stacks.
A 5x increase in a single year.
Marketing teams are evolving into product teams. Product management tools grew from 23% to 42% penetration, the highest growth of any martech category.
The off-the-shelf ecosystem isn’t solving the coordination problem fast enough. So marketing leaders are building it themselves.
This mirrors what’s happening in AI platforms. Google’s Gemini is surging thanks to deep integrations across search, browser, and mobile OS. Advantages OpenAI can’t match. The lesson for marketers is that integration wins.
Welcome to your conductor era
Don’t fall for the hot takes touting the end of this era as a sign of the AI bubble popping. This is the end of AI tourism.
In this new era you can’t force growth with volume. You have to orchestrate it with intelligence.
Your competitive advantage will come from building the best AI nervous system. One that can sense a signal in one channel and react across the whole stack before the opportunity moves on.
Especially as AI platforms race to monetize through ads and sponsored content, orchestration layers help you measure and optimize ROI across the entire funnel.
The gold rush is over. The production era is here and it belongs to the orchestrators.
When a TV commercial makes people feel something, it doesn’t just win in the moment – it sparks curiosity, drives searches, and fuels conversions.
That’s why the “Breaking TV Ads Report,” jointly launched by Kinetiq and DAIVID, deserves a spot on every search marketer’s radar.
The monthly report ranks the top-performing new TV ads in the U.S., blending Kinetiq’s real-time TV ad detection with DAIVID’s AI-driven creative analytics to uncover which ads broke through, why they resonated, and what brands can learn from their success.
It’s a powerful reminder that search doesn’t start on Google – it starts in the mind.
As Barney Worfolk-Smith, chief growth officer at DAIVID, recently told me in an email:
“Search + TV matter – together. TV can increase search volume by up to 60%, and even more in well-coordinated campaigns. AI has already changed, and will continue to change, the TV-to-search relationship, but the principle remains the same: impactful, emotive TV advertising drives all desirable brand outcomes – with search being one of them. It’s also worth noting that search volume itself is a valuable measure of TV ad effectiveness.”
How LeBron James and Indeed captured attention
The first edition of the “Breaking TV Ads Report” highlighted a commercial that checks every emotional and strategic box: Indeed’s “What If LeBron James’ Skills Were Never Seen?”
The ad traces James’s journey from his early life to his work with the LeBron James Family Foundation, connecting it to Indeed’s “skills-first” hiring message.
It resonated not only because of its star power but because it made viewers feel something authentic.
The ad generated 11% higher intense positive emotion and 7% higher attention than the average U.S. TV ad, per DAIVID’s data.
It was joined in the top 10 by campaigns from TikTok (twice), Subaru, and Taco Bell, with emotional themes centered on family, mentorship, and belonging.
These aren’t just nice stories – they’re search triggers.
When people connect emotionally with a brand message, they’re more likely to act on it – often by turning to Google or YouTube for more information, reviews, or purchase options.
But the ZMOT stage in the buying journey – when consumers research a product or service online before making a purchase – was the “new” second step.
The first step remained “stimulus,” and it could be “a TV ad.”
Many search marketers focus on what happens in the second ZMOT stage, because we can measure impressions, clicks, and conversions on mobile and laptop screens.
And we ignore the stimulus step because it is sucking money out of our marketing budgets.
But several studies over the past decade have shown that the impact of TV advertising extends directly into search behavior:
In 2015, a joint study by Google and Nielsen found that TV ads can boost branded search queries by up to 20%, especially within the first few hours after an ad airs.
In 2022, Thinkbox discovered that TV advertising in the UK generates the strongest multiplier effect on search, social, and web traffic of any medium.
And in 2024, Comscore research found that when TV and digital are coordinated, cross-channel campaigns deliver stronger engagement, with TV ads prompting “second-screen” behavior – audiences searching, scanning QR codes, or engaging on social media in real time.
Put simply: when a campaign captures attention on TV, search demand spikes – often within minutes.
For SEO and PPC professionals, this presents a clear opportunity to anticipate and capitalize on those moments.
How brands have integrated TV and search
Several major brands have already proven that when TV storytelling and search strategy work together, both channels perform better.
Every time a new iPhone ad airs, search volume for terms like “iPhone 17 Pro Max” or “iPhone 17 release date” skyrockets.
Apple’s branded search traffic increases by up to 40% in the days following a major campaign, according to Semrush.
Apple intentionally designs its TV creative to generate questions – not answer them – encouraging viewers to seek out more details online.
That’s where Apple’s search-optimized landing pages, YouTube product videos, and paid search campaigns complete the journey.
Progressive: Connecting humor to searchable characters
Progressive’s long-running “Flo” campaign shows how consistent creative storytelling translates into search intent.
The insurance brand’s TV spots spark curiosity around characters, slogans, and offers – leading to measurable spikes in branded searches such as “Progressive car insurance” and “Flo from Progressive.”
The brand’s media team aligns paid search and display campaigns with national TV flighting schedules, ensuring that when interest peaks, search ads and organic results are ready to capture demand.
Coca-Cola: The shareable, searchable ad
Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign is another classic case of TV leading to search.
The original “Share a Coke” campaign was launched in Australia in 2011 and involved replacing the Coca-Cola logo on bottles with hundreds of popular first names.
This personalization strategy was a global success, encouraging consumers to find bottles with their names and share them with friends and loved ones, which boosted sales and created emotional connections with the brand.
The latest “Share a Coke” campaign is a global relaunch targeting Gen Z with a focus on digital experiences and authentic, in-person connections.
It features personalized cans, a digital “Memory Maker” tool for creating shareable videos, and a partnership with McDonald’s.
Consumers can find names on bottles or use a QR code to customize bottles – a creative hook that’s sent millions to Google searching “custom Coke” or “share a Coke names.”
The campaign’s success wasn’t just creative; it was data-driven.
By tracking spikes in branded search and social mentions, Coca-Cola refined its targeting and extended the campaign’s life cycle online.
Measuring creative effectiveness with real audience signals
What makes the new “Breaking TV Ads” report particularly valuable is its data-driven framework for measuring creative effectiveness.
Kinetiq’s proprietary ad detection technology identifies every ad that first airs across 210 U.S. DMAs and 15 streaming apps, capturing over a million daily detections.
DAIVID’s AI then evaluates each ad’s emotional response, attention, and brand recall, creating a creative effectiveness score (CES) – a composite metric that mirrors how audiences actually experience content.
In a media landscape increasingly defined by short attention spans and fragmented screens, this data provides a rare window into why certain stories break through – and how that resonance correlates with downstream behaviors like search and site visits.
As Kinetiq CEO Kevin Kohn put it, the partnership “gives marketers a holistic view of the TV and CTV advertising landscape – not just what aired, but why it resonated.”
That’s exactly the kind of insight performance marketers need to connect the dots between creative resonance and measurable outcomes.
In February 2025, Neal Mohan, the CEO of YouTube, revealed that:
“TV has surpassed mobile and is now the primary device for YouTube viewing in the U.S. (by watch time), and according to Nielsen, YouTube has been #1 in streaming watch time in the U.S. for two years.”
So, search marketers can apply the latest findings from the Breaking TV Ads Report in several ways:
Anticipate search spikes: When a high-emotion or celebrity-driven TV ad launches, expect branded searches to rise. Align PPC budgets, ad copy, and keyword targeting around campaign themes and taglines.
Optimize for intent moments: TV ads often generate “navigational” queries (brand name) and “informational” ones (product details, offers, or reviews). Ensure that organic content – landing pages, FAQs, and YouTube videos – are optimized to match these queries.
Sync search campaigns with TV flighting: Use ad scheduling to mirror TV airtime or streaming rollouts. Research from Nielsen Catalina Solutions shows that coordinated campaigns can deliver up to 60% higher conversion lift compared to siloed efforts.
Track branded search as a creative KPI: Branded search volume is one of the most reliable proxies for ad impact. Use tools like Google Trends or Search Console to monitor shifts after major media bursts.
Leverage emotional triggers in copy: DAIVID’s data shows that ads evoking strong positive emotions drive higher attention and brand recall. Translate those emotional cues into ad extensions, headlines, and meta descriptions that mirror what audiences feel after seeing the TV spot.
Why the future of performance marketing is cross-channel
Search has long been viewed as a response channel – the final step in a consumer journey. But that view is outdated.
Today’s most successful campaigns use search as a connective tissue between offline inspiration and online action.
Whether it’s a QR code at the end of a TV ad, a YouTube masthead following a primetime spot, or a Google Shopping ad that captures post-broadcast demand – search is the bridge between storytelling and sales.
As more brands invest in connected TV (CTV) and streaming, the line between “brand” and “performance” marketing will continue to blur.
Creative effectiveness data helps close that gap – showing which emotional and visual cues are most likely to drive measurable search and conversion behavior.
Ultimately, reports like “Breaking TV Ads” remind us that the most powerful search strategy begins long before the query.
It begins with attention and emotion, and, increasingly, on the biggest screen in the house.
Nineteen years. Almost two decades of analyzing, explaining, questioning, challenging, obsessing over, and occasionally shaking our heads at whatever Google and the search industry throw our way.
And this past year? The pace of change has made it one of the most transformative since we launched in 2006.
Through all of it, our mission is the same as Day 1: help you make sense of search with clear news, smart analysis, and practical guidance.
Before we look ahead, I want to say thank you — and take a moment to reflect on the past year at Search Engine Land.
Thank you for reading
Seriously, thank you.
Every day, we start with you: what you need to know, what actually matters, and what changes could shape your work today or your strategy six months from now.
We aim to:
Focus on the stories that matter – not noise or filler.
Deliver news quickly and clearly.
Add essential context, expertise, and nuance.
Be a reliable resource in an industry that seems to shift by the hour.
Help you see where search is headed — even when the path isn’t obvious.
If you haven’t yet, subscribe to our daily newsletter for a curated wrap-up of everything happening in search. It’s still the easiest way to stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
Thank you to the Search Engine Land team
Search Engine Land has always punched above its weight for one reason: the people.
A small team can do big, meaningful work when everyone is aligned, mission-driven, and a little obsessed with search.
A huge thank-you to:
Barry Schwartz. Barry has been covering search for 22 years and still writes with the speed, curiosity, and energy of someone newly in love with the beat. Search would be far less understandable without him.
Anu Adegbola. Anu has become essential for helping readers navigate nonstop shifts in paid media, analytics, and platform changes. Her clarity and steadiness shine in every piece.
Angel Niñofranco. Angel keeps our Subject Matter Expert program running. Editing, wrangling, scheduling, coaching, coordinating — if you’ve enjoyed our SME articles, you’ve seen Angel’s impact.
Kathy Bushman. Kathy makes SMX happen. Her behind-the-scenes work is why our events run smoothly, deliver value, and earn rave reviews year after year.
And to the entire Third Door Media team within Semrush — thank you. Whether or not your name appears here, your work matters and is appreciated.
Top highlights from the past year
In a year defined by uncertainty, it was encouraging to see so many people continue to rely on Search Engine Land as a trusted community resource. And Search Engine Land had a strong 2025.
SMX Advanced returned in person for the first time in 6 years
This was the standout moment of the year. Bringing SMX Advanced back in person after six years felt overdue and incredibly energizing.
Attendance exceeded expectations, sessions were packed, and hallway conversations felt like a reunion of the search marketing community. You could feel how much people missed connecting face-to-face — debating AI’s impact on search, swapping tactics, comparing notes on Google’s latest changes, and simply enjoying each other’s company.
It reaffirmed what we’ve always believed: great things happen when smart marketers share a room. We’re already looking forward to doing it again in Boston, June 3-5.
Defining industry coverage of AI Overviews and the new era of search
This past year brought one of the most dramatic shifts in search since Search Engine Land launched in 2006. Whatever we end up calling this emerging practice, we focused on giving the industry the clarity, context, and reporting it needed.
Readers have told us again and again that Search Engine Land is their go-to source for cutting through the noise during a confusing and often chaotic time. We’re proud that our reporting, explainers, and expert analysis are helping shape the industry’s understanding of where search is headed next.
Subject Matter Expert (SME) program growth
This year brought a surge of new readers and renewed engagement from long-time practitioners. With so many shifts reshaping SEO and PPC – from AI to SERP experiments to advertiser updates – and the continued emergence of GEO, marketers turned to Search Engine Land in record numbers to stay informed.
Our contributors played a significant role in our growth. A huge thank you to all of our excellent SMEs for all the great content and insights you shared in 2025.
Looking ahead: What’s next for Search Engine Land
As we enter our 19th year, our commitment remains unchanged: provide the most trusted, useful coverage of search anywhere.
This year you can expect:
A fresh new website design.
Continued breaking news coverage across SEO, PPC, AI search, SERP features, and platform changes.
Even stronger analysis, guides, and explainers about how search is evolving.
SMX programming designed around the realities of AI search.
More expert perspectives, data, and clarity in a year that promises even more disruption.
Save the dates:
SMX Advanced: June 3-5
SMX Next: Nov. 18-19
There’s much more to come – and as always, our goal is to give you the insight and intelligence you need to do your best work.
A brief look back to where it all began
On Dec. 11, 2006, Search Engine Land officially launched with a simple idea: search was becoming not just a tool, but a place. A world. A community. A discipline shaping how people find information and how businesses connect with customers.
Nineteen years later, that world has grown in ways none of us could have imagined. But the core idea still holds:
Search Engine Land is a place to stay informed, to learn, to connect, and to understand the engines driving the modern web.
Thank you for 19 incredible years
On behalf of everyone at Search Engine Land and Semrush, thank you for reading, for sharing our stories, for asking hard questions, for supporting our mission, and for caring so deeply about all things search.
Here’s to the rest of 2025 – and to a successful, healthy, and insightful 2026.
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