The 7 Findings That Matter Most for Marketers
Stanford University’s Human-Centred AI Institute published its annual AI Index report this week, the most comprehensive data-driven assessment of the state of AI available anywhere. The 2026 edition covers model performance, adoption rates, economic impact, workforce effects, and the geopolitical dimensions of AI
Google Is Testing an AI Contribution Report in Search Console: What It Means and How to Prepare
Google is piloting a new report inside Search Console called the AI Contribution Report. First spotted in Google’s support documentation on April 13, 2026, by Search Engine Roundtable, the feature appears under the “AI contribution pilot” reference, with no screenshots, no formal launch
Break-Even ROAS Calculator: How to Know If Your Facebook Ads Are Actually Profitable
Here’s something we’ve noticed after auditing dozens of D2C Shopify accounts over the last two years: Most founders can tell you their Meta ad ROAS to the second decimal. Very few can tell you their break-even ROAS. That gap is where the money
Meta Advantage+ Placements Explained: Should You Really Let Meta Decide Where Your Ads Run?
Every Meta advertiser has seen the prompt. “Turn on Advantage+ placements to reach more people.” It sounds helpful. It feels modern. And it’s one of the most common suggestions inside Meta’s Opportunity Score recommendations — the scoring system Meta uses to grade how
LinkedIn Is Now ChatGPT’s 5th Most-Cited Source
Between December 2025 and mid-February 2026, LinkedIn more than doubled its domain rank on ChatGPT, becoming the chatbot’s fifth-most-cited source globally, according to data from Profound, an AI marketing intelligence firm. This is not a minor platform statistic. It is a structural signal
Listicles Get 21.9% of AI Citations, Articles 16.7%, Product Pages 13.7%:
New research from Wix, analyzing 75,000 AI-generated answers across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity, has produced the most specific content-format data available for AI search optimization: over half of all AI citations point to just three content formats. Listicles account for 21.9%
AI-Generated Content Did Not Improve SEO Visibility: A 16-Month Study of 20 Domains Has the Results
A new study published by Search Engine Land tracked 20 brand-new domains across multiple industries for 16 months, specifically to test whether AI-generated content delivers meaningful SEO visibility gains. The finding is direct: AI-generated content, on its own, did not improve search visibility
AI Search Engines Only Cite HTML — New Research Confirms Markdown Is Invisible to LLMs
New research from OtterlyAI, published this April, has identified a technical blind spot that should immediately change how content teams publish: AI search engines — including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity — only cite HTML pages. Markdown (.md) files are invisible to these
44% of All LLM Citations Come From the First 30% of Your Content — The Research That Should Change How You Structure Every Page
Research from Growth Memo analyzing thousands of AI-generated answers has produced one of the most actionable content findings of 2026: 44.2% of all LLM citations come from the first 30% of a page’s text. The middle section — from 30% to 70% of the
Meta Just Overtook Google in Global Ad Revenue: The Strategic Implications for Every Performance Marketer
eMarketer’s forecast released yesterday marks a historic first: Meta Platforms will surpass Google in total worldwide digital advertising revenue in 2026. Meta’s net global ad revenues are projected to reach $243.46 billion, surpassing Google’s $239.54 billion, ending Google’s unbroken reign as the world’s
