蘑菇AV

This is the first installment of our quarterly 鈥淎d Spending Benchmarks鈥� series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

鈥淔AQs become the new keywords,鈥� said Michael Bonfils, managing director at SEM International and Digital International Group on 鈥淭he Search Session鈥� podcast. 鈥淲e need to take the whole question鈥攖he full query鈥攁nd as many variations of those questions as possible that relate to a product, and optimize around that.鈥�.

The news: The UK鈥檚 Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposed giving Google a 鈥渟pecial market status鈥� for its dominance in search and search marketing, which would open the company up to even more regulation and oversight. The CMA鈥檚 blog post on its investigation reads like a roll call of criticisms of Google鈥檚 market power.

Efficiency is driving the loss of headcount: Voluntary Exit Programs (VEP) have replaced blanket layoffs in 10 key divisions鈥攎ost notably search, marketing, and hardware. Uptake has been modest but steady, with 3%鈥�5% of targeted staff opting in. Google鈥檚 leadership now accounts for a smaller share of total staff. CEO Sundar Pichai stresses scaling capacity without expanding staff.

These include rewards programs through partners like Ibotta or Neptune, and increased investment in search marketing to convert aware consumers into customers. This approach aligns with broader retail trends. 鈥淣owadays, with the holiday calendars, especially being pulled forward more, it becomes more important to get brand awareness earlier into the year,鈥� said our analyst Sky Canaves.

Amazon鈥檚 latest test could transform how shoppers engage with the ecommerce platform: The retailer鈥檚 mobile search results will feature links to products not available on its site.

AI is revolutionizing B2B SEO, but the fundamentals still apply. By strategically using AI and focusing on SEO content, B2B marketers can leverage AI tools to stay ahead of algorithm changes and AI-powered models.

According to an October 2024 Pipeline360 and Demand Metric survey, 38% of B2B marketers in the UK and the US rely on SEO and search engine marketing (SEM) for lead generation, ahead of webinars, content syndication, and events. SEO budgets should reflect that up to 90% of search activity still occurs on traditional platforms like Google and Bing.