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Understanding AI Overviews

JANUARY 6, 2025

Louise Linehan analyzed 300K keywords for Ahrefs to understand what triggers AI Overviews (AIO).

Here’s what she learned:

AI Overviews populate for low volume, long-tail keywords. These have lower traffic potential but display clearer intent and are often question-focused.
AIO keywords have an average keyword difficulty of 12, compared to non-AIO keywords (median 33). Ranking for these typically requires fewer referring domains (13 vs. 41 for non-AIO keywords).
Almost all AIO keywords target informational intent—about 99.2%, while commercial and transactional intents make up less than 10%.
People Also Ask and Featured Snippets are prominent in over 99% of AI SERPs.
Mobile optimization is essential. Mobile traffic dominates AIO queries (81% mobile vs. 19% desktop).

Take a closer look at the Ahrefs blog.

30 Ways to Grow Your Email List (for Free)

JANUARY 5, 2025

2025 is the year you hit your list goals. Here’s how:

Create high-value lead magnets like cheat sheets, templates, or short videos that solve specific problems.
Post social content with CTAs 3–5 times per week.
Add pre- and post-CTAs to tease newsletter topics and share highlights.
Send auto DMs to new followers.
Reply to popular accounts.
Add CTAs to your website, email signature, social bios, etc.
Email warm contacts inviting them to subscribe.
Start a LinkedIn newsletter to funnel users to email.
Launch a referral program with incentives.
Do cross-promotions with similar newsletters.
Ask readers to forward your newsletter.
Build relationships with other creators.
Host partner giveaways.
Be a podcast guest.
Write guest posts for other newsletters.
Submit content to curated link sections.
Join engagement groups to boost each other’s content.
Republish content with syndication.
Engage in active forums, Slack groups, or Facebook groups related to your niche.
Leverage Reddit to subtly link to your newsletter.
Add web pop-ups, banners, or inline forms.
Offer free work for exposure.
Answer questions on Quora.
Repurpose content for SEO.
Turn newsletter content into SEO-friendly blog posts.
Launch on Product Hunt.
Advertise at events.
Host virtual events.
Celebrate milestones with giveaways.
Run referral giveaways.

Dig into each tactic at Newsletter Operator.

About Web Push Notifications

JANUARY 1, 2025

Let’s talk web push notifications—browser messages that you can send to users who have visited your site and opted in to receive them.

It’s all about re-engaging users with a CTA. Common use cases for web push include:

Promotions about exclusive offers, flash sales, or discounts.
Content updates about new blog posts or articles related to user interests.
Event reminders about upcoming occasions or important dates.
Cart abandonment alerts enticing shoppers to complete their purchases.
Feedback requests asking customers to rate or review products and services.
Transactional communications regarding order status or delivery.

Here are some stats to consider:

22.3% of ecommerce brands are using web push, compared to media & publishing at 18.79% and insurance at 8.35%. Travel and hospitality use it the least at 2.61%.
Browser notifications show an open or view rate from 45-90%, compared to the average for email newsletters at 15-30%. Adding emojis in the copy was also shown to improve open rates by 20%.
39% of subscribers prefer receiving browser notifications in the morning and another 15% appreciate updates while they’re commuting to work. Personalizing send time increases reaction rates by 40%.

Head to Iterable to take a closer look.

Using the Prism Content Strategy to Maximize Content Impact

DECEMBER 29, 2024

Are you getting the most out of your content? It might be time to revisit your framework for a new year.

Carmen Hill’s Prism Content Strategy offers a structured, three-dimensional approach that ensures every piece of of your content serves multiple purposes and aligns with both business goals and audience needs.

The Three Dimensions of the Prism Framework:

Intent: Understand the purpose of your content to calibrate with business goals (e.g., brand awareness, sales enablement) with audience preferences.
Information: Tailor your message and format based on your audience’s content consumption. For example, quick info might work better as text, while complex ideas may need visuals.
Interaction: Deliver content in the right format, on the appropriate platform, and with an optimal user experience.

Here’s how to get started:

Start with strategy and alignment—document audience research, goals, and workflows.
Prioritize reuse—design content to serve multiple functions and formats from the outset.
Evaluate success—test, measure engagement, and refine content based on audience behavior.

Dig in at Agora Pulse.

Top 10 Business Directories

DECEMBER 22, 2024

Listing your business in online directories helps you build citations and improve visibility in Google’s featured local results and main SERPs.

Here’s what to include in an online business listing:

Consistent NAP (Name, address, phone number).
A link to your website (plus UTM to track traffic from each directory).
A detailed company description, including mission, culture, and values.
Photos or video of your office, employees, or daily business operations.

And the top 10 free business listings you should start with…

Google Business Profile
Yellow Pages
Foursquare
Better Business Bureau
Superpages
Hotfrog
Merchant Circle
EZLocal
eLocal
Manta

Check out HubSpot’s comprehensive guide for more.

Key Impacts of iOS 18 on Email Marketing

DECEMBER 18, 2024

Let’s talk about how iOS might be affecting your email marketing.

Preheader text is now replaced by AI summaries of your email content. So, make sure your subject lines can stand alone and that your email content is clear, concise, and optimized for AI interpretation to mitigate errors in summaries. This means prioritizing text over images.
AI-powered automatic reply suggestions now have the potential to increase subscriber churn. Ensure you have processes in place to manage unsubscribe requests initiated through automatic replies.
Messages are now sorted into Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions tabs, similar to Gmail. Emails that land in Promotions may see reduced visibility but—as we saw with Gmail—potentially higher click-to-conversion rates.
Tab placement now depends on content and the subscriber’s past engagement with the sender. Your best bet is to focus on creating consistent, engaging, and relevant content to build healthy relationships with recipients.

As ever, segment, test, and evaluate how new features affect your campaigns using segmented approaches.

2025, According to GIPHY

DECEMBER 17, 2024

When you think about it, who has a better pulse on the budding trends among the youths than… GIPHY?

GIPHY used its treasure trove of search data from this year to predict what’s to come for culture in 2025.

Here’s the trend forecast:

Verbosity. We’re done abbreviating! Increased search volume for vocab like “lugubriousness” and “pulchritudinous” suggests that we’re fighting back from brain rot.
Group Chat Slang. “gm chat,” “gn chat,” “hey chat.” The world is just one big group chat.
RIP Millennial Internet Slang. Searches for “lol” and “vibe” are dwindling, while “aura” and “ijbol” are rocketing. Sksksk.
Viral Zooperstars. The Moo Deng moment represents a new preference for animal and animated influencers.
Vintage Internet. Put on your “flare jeans,” grab your “digital camera,” and go play some “flash games” with your friends.

Learn more from GIPHY’s data.

How to Get Started with GEO

DECEMBER 16, 2024

That’s Generative Engine Optimization, SEO’s smarter sibling. It’s all about optimizing your content for AI systems that think and respond like consumers.

Why? Brands that tighten up their digital presence can influence up to 52% of the sources cited by generative models, according to a recent study by Terakeet.

Here’s how to do GEO right:

Understand how generative AI selects sources. Educate yourself on how various genAI models identify and cite digital assets. Ensure your digital assets meet each model’s criteria for high-quality, relevant sources, and keep this process up-to-date.
Build a web of high-ranking content. Improving your search engine rankings and UX naturally increases your chances of inclusion in AI-generated outputs. Focus on building a robust network of blogs, videos, whitepapers, and other owned assets for AI to draw from.
Own your digital narrative. Proactively manage your digital footprint by owning and telling your brand’s story. Create content that reflects your authenticity, values, and expertise. Inject your brand message into all of your owned assets for maximum visibility.

Learn more at MarTech.

Writers on Procrastination

DECEMBER 15, 2024

Working on something? Or, rather, avoiding working on something?

LitHub asked 6 real-deal writers for advice on procrastination.

Miranda July: “It’s best to procrastinate with other things I don’t want to do. The amount of business emails and household chores I’ve gotten done while not writing! The best part of this is that when you finally do get down to writing, and then eventually stop for the day, you discover that the bills have been magically paid, the floors washed…”

George Saunders: “I have guitars in my writing room. But I don’t think of it as ‘procrastinating’ but as, you know, ‘getting ready.’ There’s something about goofing around on the guitar for a few minutes that has the effect of priming the pump, sort of. It feels like it reminds the creative mind to try to stay light and free and fun and not take itself too seriously.”

Anna Hoagland: “There is a crucial distinction to be made between the two forces that can take you away from the desk: inspiration and avoidance. When I walked with my old friend at the nature preserve, when I went to view the Louise Bourgeois, I was pulled by desire, energy, interest—there was psychic libido at play, a musing force—and this was why those activities were enjoyable in the moment, but also fruitful creatively.”

Head to LitHub for more.