TMU 2.0 Just Hit #1 on Netflix (for SEOs)

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SEO

AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 34.5%

Google says AI Overviews increase clicks. Ryan Law says otherwise and has the data to back it up. After analyzing 300,000 keywords, Ahrefs found that when AI Overviews appear, top-ranking pages see their clickthrough rates nosedive by 34.5 percent. Why does that happen? AI Overviews answer the query right in the SERP, reducing the need to click through. Ryan lays out a compelling case that as AI summaries grow, so will zero-click searches.

Local SEO vs. National SEO vs. Global SEO: A Strategy Guide

Joshua Saxon breaks down the tactical differences between local, national, and global SEO, and shows how each demands a distinct playbook. If your SEO strategy tries to be everything to everyone, you risk reaching no one. Want to dominate your neighborhood? Focus on citations, NAP accuracy, and Google Business. Selling nationally? You’ll need content, authority, and scalable technical SEO. Going global? Think hreflang, cultural nuance, and ccTLDs. Joshua explains what to do and how to align your strategy with your business goals so your SEO actually performs.

SEO Ripples

• Roger Montti dives into the SEOFOMO survey results, sharing how SEOs are using AI for content at scale, keyword clustering, UX/CRO audits, technical SEO, and even brand voice tuning. One insight: 37 percent haven’t meaningfully adopted AI yet, but most plan to. See the full SEOFOMO survey results.

• Google is sunsetting its use of country-specific domains like google.ca or google.co.uk in favor of a unified experience on google.com. The move reflects how far local search has come since 2017, when Google began serving localized results regardless of the domain entered. This update streamlines the experience, redirects ccTLDs to google.com, and may require users to reset some search preferences. It’s a small shift on the surface, but under the hood, it’s a nod to how search personalization is now driven by context and location, not URLs.

• In episode 89 of Search Off the Record, Martin Splitt and Gary Illyes from Google discuss the world of web standards and how they become “standard.” Creating a standard can take years due to technical, security, and language scrutiny. They talk about how standards like robots.txt and sitemaps go from informal practices to formalized, consensus-driven protocols. Gary covers the roles of bodies like IETF and W3C, while Martin raises the question: could something as silly as cool.txt ever become real? Turns out, if enough people agree, maybe.

AI

LLMs Don’t Reward Originality, They Flatten It

Despina Gavoyannis delivers a reality check for creators in the age of AI-driven search. LLMs aren't praising originality. If your idea hasn’t been echoed by others, it’s invisible to the machine. Even if you rank #1, AI may ignore your innovation in favor of consensus. To fight back, Despina shares tactical advice: give your idea a name, define it clearly, link it to your brand, and distribute it far and wide. Originality is still vital, but in AI-land, it must become repetition before it becomes recognition.

Claude Takes Research to New Places

Anthropic’s latest update gives Claude two upgrades: Research and full Google Workspace integration. The new Research tool lets Claude search across both your documents and the web, pulling together thorough, cited answers that help you move faster on strategy, writing, and planning. Meanwhile, Gmail, Calendar, and Docs access means Claude can summarize meetings, scan email threads, and surface key insights without you lifting a finger.

Generate Videos in Gemini and Whisk With Veo 2

Google’s Veo 2 is now available in Gemini API and Google AI Studio, giving developers the power to generate cinematic eight-second videos from just text or image prompts. Veo 2 understands real-world physics and visual nuance, offering tools for precision control over style, lighting, camera angles, and subject behavior. Whether you're building marketing assets, creative tools, or product demos, Veo 2 delivers high-quality results with speed and consistency. Teams like AlphaWave and Trakto are already using it to scale content creation, turning static visuals into dynamic branded stories in minutes.

OpenAI Releases GPT-4.1 in the API & o3 and o4-mini in ChatGPT

OpenAI just dropped a triple threat of API models: GPT-4.1, Mini, and Nano. And they're not just marginal upgrades. They bring upgrades in long-context reasoning, instruction following, and real-world coding. It supports up to 1 million tokens and outperforms GPT-4o across key benchmarks, and slashes costs. Meanwhile, o3 and o4-mini mark a leap in ChatGPT’s smarts. Trained to "think longer," they integrate web data and tools with sharper reasoning, faster output, and multimodal capabilities.

My Take: I tried each of them out a little and the most underwhelming was GPT-4.1 Nano. If you need any thinking from the AI, I wouldn’t both with it. I didn’t both adding it to Floyi either because the quality output hasn’t been good for the thinking and reasoning required.

How People Are Really Using Gen AI in 2025

In the Harvard Business Review, Marc Zao-Sanders shares how humans are actually applying generative AI in everyday life - and the results are both surprising and telling. Forget marketing and automation. In 2025, the top use cases are emotional, existential, and deeply personal. AI is no longer just a productivity tool. It’s a therapist, life coach, tutor, and travel planner. This shift reveals a powerful insight: the most impactful applications of AI are the ones that meet people emotionally, mentally, and practically. Some of the insights:

• Therapy and companionship ranked as the #1 gen AI use case in 2025.

• Organizing one’s life jumped to #2, up 38 spots from last year.

• “Finding purpose” debuted at #3 among all AI use cases.

• AI is widely used for learning support, personal goal-setting, and habit formation.

• Ad/marketing copy ranked #64, with social content even lower at #98 (where most of us probably are).

• People use AI to boost confidence, challenge thinking, and explore ideas

AI Ripples

• Google’s new Gemini 2.5 Flash model introduces “thinking budgets,” giving you control over how much reasoning the model does before responding. Set it low for lightning-fast responses or crank it up to tackle complex, multi-step tasks. It’s built to be cost-efficient, accurate, and flexible, great for developers juggling speed, quality, and cost.

• ChatGPT has gone full GeoGuessr in the latest trend. With OpenAI’s new o3 and o4-mini models, users are uploading images and asking ChatGPT to guess the location — and it's nailing it. From blurry restaurant menus to random facades, these models can crop, zoom, rotate, and reason their way to real-world locations with surprising accuracy.

• In a TED2025 interview, Sam Altman revealed plans to launch a powerful open source model that he claims will outperform every current alternative. He says the world now better understands AI risks, so it’s time to open things up again. While he admits not everyone will love the decision, the move reintroduces competition and transparency to AI development.

• In a behind-the-scenes scoop, TechCrunch’s Marina Temkin reveals that OpenAI didn’t immediately target Windsurf for its $3 billion acquisition bid. First, it tried to buy Cursor-maker Anysphere—twice. With Cursor reportedly pulling in $200 million ARR (five times Windsurf’s), and already backed by OpenAI’s own startup fund, it seemed like the obvious first pick. But Anysphere passed, aiming for a $10 billion valuation instead.

MARKETING

Marketing to AI Agents Is the Future – Research Shows Why

Roger Montti unpacks a fascinating study that reveals a shift already underway: machines are becoming your next customers. AI agents are now researching products and services for people, and the way you market to them matters. The research shows these bots respond best to clear, keyword-rich content and structured on-page data like price and location. Some of the insights:

• Banner ads received more clicks than other ad formats across all AI models.

• Keyword-rich visible text influenced AI agents more than images or design.

• GPT-4o showed the highest specificity at 95% by consistently selecting a single booking option.

• Claude Sonnet 3.7 integrated the most ad language, quoting 35.79% of promotional copy.

• Gemini was the least decisive, with a 60% specificity score and less consistent selections.

Google: 39 Million Advertisers Suspended; 5.5 Billion Ads Removed in 2024

In 2024 alone, Google removed 5.5 billion bad ads and suspended 39 million advertiser accounts. Anu Adegbola breaks down how AI is now doing the heavy lifting: spotting scams faster, flagging fake accounts, and cracking down on impersonation with 97 percent precision. But with policy updates outpacing clarity, even legit advertisers are feeling the heat.

LINK BUILDING

Help a Reporter Out (HARO) Is Back! (We Talked to the New Owner)

Vince Nero brings the scoop on HARO’s long-awaited revival. Under new owner Brett Farmiloe of Featured.com, HARO is relaunching April 22 with tighter controls to weed out AI-generated pitches, fake personas, and spammy tactics. Expect LinkedIn checks, image analysis, and a ban-for-life policy for bad actors. Brett’s betting on HARO’s iconic brand to outpace competitors like Source of Sources by focusing on what it always did best — connecting real journalists with real experts in real time.

How to Use FOI Requests as a Digital PR Campaign Data Source

Jamie Dixon shows how Freedom of Information (FOI) requests can become your secret weapon for sourcing unique, journalist-friendly data in digital PR. By tapping into UK public bodies like councils, NHS Trusts, and police forces, you can uncover stories with built-in authority and media appeal. The guide walks through exactly where to send requests, how to write them for better success, and how to turn dry datasets into newsworthy narratives.

SOCIAL MEDIA

LinkedIn Study Finds Adding Links Boosts Engagement by 13%

Forget the “no links” gospel. Matt G. Southern breaks down a fresh LinkedIn study that analyzed over half a million posts and found that adding links actually lifts engagement by 13.57%. Carousels top the charts, polls are underused but wildly effective, and video is booming with an 87% engagement surge. Mix your formats, use links strategically, and stop fearing the algorithm. Even industries with small followings can punch above their weight.

BUSINESS IDEAS

Why AI Will Break the Traditional SEO Agency Model

AI is not knocking at the SEO agency’s door. It’s already inside, rearranging the furniture. Andrew Holland outlines how AI platforms are slashing costs, automating audits, and delivering unbiased SEO strategies at scale. Traditional agencies now face a stark choice: evolve fast or fade out. He urges agencies to pivot hard: embrace lean operations, invest in brand trust, and combine AI efficiencies with human creativity. The winners won’t be the most technical, but the most strategic.

NEWS

• 25 of the Best SEO Conferences & Events - James Brockbank shares his handpicked list of 2025’s top SEO events. From heavyweights like BrightonSEO and MozCon to niche gems like SEO Estonia and The MasterMinders.

• The U.S. Department of Justice just dealt Google a major blow. In a landmark antitrust ruling, Judge Leonie Brinkema found Google guilty of abusing its dominance in ad tech to shut out competition and exploit publishers. For over a decade, Google tied its ad server and exchange together, locking in market control and driving up costs.

• The FTC is trying to undo Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing that Mark Zuckerberg used them to eliminate competition in the personal social networking market. In court, Zuckerberg defended the deals as visionary bets, not monopolistic moves. Meanwhile, Meta’s former COO Sheryl Sandberg admitted she was “very wrong” for doubting Instagram’s value.

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