AI In Search Is Driving More Queries And Higher Quality Clicks 👆 Good Marketers Think In Probabilities 💭 Unlocking Enhanced Performance Max Targeting 🔓

This issue of Marketing Machine is brought to you by…. Marketing Machine! 🚀

if you haven’t heard, we’re growing up around here.

We’re launching a paid upgrade structure (and a book.) If you upgrade you’ll help the project grow and get access to the paid Friday edition with links and breakdowns, as well as the new Tuesday edition with all the playbooks, templates, case studies, and pre-release book content. Don’t worry, the free version will continue, but we’re shaking it up a bit and switching to links only.

You can also just pre-order the book, which will be a compact version of everything we’ve learned over 20 years of machine building.

AI In Search Is Driving More Queries And Higher Quality Clicks, According To Google [3 min read]

Google says their AI search features are actually driving more searches and better quality clicks to websites, not reducing traffic like some reports claim, because AI helps people ask more complex questions and the users who do click are more engaged and less likely to bounce back immediately. People are changing what they want to click on, moving away from quick-answer sites toward more authentic content like forums, videos, reviews, and first-hand experiences, so some sites are losing traffic while others that provide deeper content are gaining it. Google designed their AI to support websites by including prominent links and source citations in AI responses, and they continue sending billions of clicks to websites every day while letting site owners control how their content appears in search results.

Good Marketers Think In Probabilities, Not Certainties [5 min read]

Marketing is inherently uncertain because it involves people making complex decisions with countless unknown factors, so trying to predict exact outcomes like a simple cause-and-effect chain doesn't work in the messy world of consumer behavior. The traditional approach of seeking certainty fails because marketing outcomes come from multiple hidden, interconnected causes that can't all be discovered or predicted, even with the best data and analytics. Instead, successful marketers should think like statisticians by accepting uncertainty, gathering diverse information sources, making multiple small bets instead of one big gamble, and using clear definitions and scales to make better decisions in unpredictable situations.

Unlocking Enhanced Performance Max Targeting In The Google Ads API [2 min read]

Google just added three new targeting options to Performance Max campaigns in their Ads API to give advertisers more control over where and how their ads show up. The new features let you target specific devices, exclude irrelevant keywords with negative keyword lists, and block certain age groups from seeing your ads, all of which help you reach the right audience more precisely. These updates are available right now with easy-to-follow documentation, making it simpler for developers and advertisers to set up better-performing campaigns.

New Instagram Features to Help Connect With Friends [3 min read]

Instagram now lets you repost your favorite public reels and posts to share with your friends, which also helps creators reach new audiences when their content gets shared by others. They've added a map feature where you can choose to share your location with selected friends and see cool content from places your friends and creators are visiting, with full privacy controls so you can turn it off anytime. There's also a new "Friends" tab in Reels that shows you what content your friends are liking, creating, and commenting on, making it easier to discover what they're enjoying and start conversations about it.

Apple Might Be Building Its Own AI ‘Answer Engine’ [1 min read]

Apple is building a new team to create their own AI "answer engine" similar to ChatGPT that can answer questions using information from across the internet, which could become a standalone app or be built into Siri and Safari. They're actively hiring people with search engine experience to work on this project, showing they're serious about competing with existing AI search tools. Building their own AI search could help Apple become less dependent on other companies.

Google Says Its AI-Based Bug Hunter Found 20 Security Vulnerabilities [2 min read]

Google's AI bug hunter called "Big Sleep" successfully found 20 real security flaws in popular software like FFmpeg and ImageMagick, proving that AI can now automatically discover genuine cybersecurity vulnerabilities without human help (though humans still double-check before reporting them). This is a big breakthrough showing that AI security tools are starting to work for real, joining other successful AI bug hunters like XBOW that are already finding vulnerabilities and earning recognition on bug bounty platforms. However, there's a downside because many AI tools also create fake bug reports that waste developers' time, with some calling these false alarms "AI slop" that looks real but is actually junk.

OpenAI Releases A Free GPT Model That Can Run On Your Laptop [3 min read]

OpenAI released new open-source AI models called gpt-oss (in 20B and 120B sizes) that work on Databricks and are designed to be high-quality alternatives to closed AI models, with advanced reasoning abilities and support for using tools. These models are built to be fast and cost-effective for businesses, can handle large amounts of data, work with enterprise security requirements, and can be customized for specific company needs through fine-tuning. Databricks makes it easy to use these models by providing simple access through their platform, automatic security and governance features, and the ability to connect the AI directly to your company's data to build smart assistants and automate business tasks.

Your Fast Track To Mastering Keyword Gap Analysis [7 min read]

Keyword gap analysis serves as a powerful SEO technique that identifies valuable ranking opportunities where competitors outperform you, helping to uncover underperforming keywords and content gaps in your strategy. Advanced keyword research tools streamline this process with features like customizable Venn diagrams, expanded keyword coverage, traffic lift metrics, and in-depth SERP analysis to efficiently pinpoint high-value competitive opportunities. Implementing keyword gap analysis involves identifying competitors, prioritizing keywords, exploring all gaps, developing a strategic approach, selecting specific targets, creating content briefs, and monitoring rankings to drive meaningful traffic improvements.

12 Client Onboarding Tools To Scale Your SEO Agency [9 min read]

Effective client onboarding is essential for SEO agencies as it builds lasting relationships, aligns with client needs, and frees up time for strategic work. Manual onboarding processes create frustrating bottlenecks that waste resources and can lead to lost clients. Specialized automation tools can streamline various aspects of onboarding, from information collection to project management, helping agencies scale more efficiently.

How To Persuade Skeptical People [8 min read]

Effective copywriting targets a specific audience precisely, using their language and addressing their unique concerns without wasting time on generic preambles. When persuading skeptical customers, it's important to address objections directly with facts, statistics, and testimonials rather than relying on hyperbole or empty adjectives. Finally, strong copy brings the audience to a clear decision framework - a "crossroads" where they must choose between continuing their current path or embracing the better alternative your product offers.

The Efficiency Paradox: Why Over-Optimizing Could Kill Your Startup [10 min read]

Premature optimization kills startups more than bad product-market fit because founders often fall into the "efficiency trap" by building elaborate systems and workflows before understanding what actually needs to be done, creating rigid structures that become obstacles during inevitable pivots. There are two fundamentally different types of work requiring opposite approaches: discovery work needs flexibility and experimentation, while delivery work benefits from systematization, but most founders mistakenly apply delivery optimization to discovery problems before understanding their business model or customers. Systematization should only happen after observing proven patterns, using a framework where founders first study what works repeatedly before organizing it, following examples like GitHub and Figma that systematized around emergent user behaviors rather than theoretical best practices.

Reddit Plans To Unify Its Search Interface As It Looks To Become A Search Engine [2 min read]

Reddit's CEO Steve Huffman announced that the company aims to become a major search engine destination, capitalizing on users' tendency to add "reddit" to their Google searches for authentic answers. The company plans to unify its traditional search function with its AI-powered Reddit Answers product into a single, more prominent search experience within the app interface. This strategy is supported by strong user engagement, with over 70 million weekly search users and 6 million Reddit Answers users, alongside impressive financial growth of 78% revenue increase to $500 million in Q2.

Native Advertising: Paid content that matches the form and function of the platform where it appears. It blends naturally with regular content while being clearly labeled as sponsored. Native advertising provides value to readers while promoting your brand subtly.

Example: A fitness equipment company publishes a sponsored article about "10 Home Workout Tips" on a health website, matching the site's regular content style.

Contextual Marketing: The practice of delivering content based on what users are currently doing or interested in. It provides relevant information or offers at the exact moment users need them. Contextual marketing makes messages more timely and valuable to recipients.

Example: A recipe website shows ads for cooking equipment next to specific recipes where those tools would be useful.

Oh hello. It’s us again. Marketing Machine. Here’s some more about the book.

If you didn’t catch it above. We’re restructuring a bit which means launching paid tiers and a book. Because this is Marketing Machine, they’re intertwined. Upgrade to support us, and to get all the content as we make it.

You can also just pre-order a copy of the book and we’ll send you a beautiful hardcover when it’s ready. (Early 2026)

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That's it for this week! See you next week. 😎

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