Happy hump day,
Here’s a pro tip you didn’t ask for: if the weather’s nice, take your reading outside.
Something about the smell of spring mixing with the smell of a good book is dangerously good. Borderline addictive, even. We’d warn you about the risks, but there aren’t any.
Post-view Reels ads go global, you can now reorder your profile grid, and Snapchat says video ads gain the most attention
Instagram doesn’t want anyone to feel left out.
The whole class gets invited: Every advertiser worldwide can now run post-view ads inside Reels, a placement that drops between organic clips and rolls out over the next few days.
These auto-play spots show up only after Reels longer than 60 seconds. Viewers get a 5-second countdown plus a manual skip button, and a skip sends them back to the original Reel.
Why bother? Because everyone’s watching Reels. Your Dad, your sister, your best friend. And Meta says half of all time spent on Instagram now goes to Reels.
Tidy up your shelf: Instagram also released grid reordering, so you can finally drag posts around your profile and put your best work up front.
Tap and hold any post, hit “Reorder grid,” then drag. Changes are saved instantly and are shown to every visitor.
A small tool, but a handy one for forming that crucial first impression.
Now for the data drop: Snapchat published a Dentsu-backed study that says its video ads punch above their weight on attention.
Snapchat says Commercials drove a 24% jump in long-term sales lift over other non-skippable formats, and did it at far lower CPMs than rival placements.
Snapchat holds attention instead of renting exposure, which it frames as a stickier home for promotions that need to land.
Sponsored links get more breathing space, how to fix your ad disapprovals, and YouTube hides the dislike button
Just like the VIP area, the more important things get more space.
Real estate is everything: Google’s testing a Top pages format that gives your most important pages extra room inside sponsored listings.
These look a lot like sitelinks, but they carry a Top pages label and surface the links Google considers your domain’s heavy hitters.
If it rolls out widely, watch how it reshapes your sitelink strategy and which pages Google decides to elevate on your behalf.
Of course, none of that matters if your ads get disapproved of in the first place…
Mind your manners: One overlooked rule can sink your ad before it ever runs, and Google’s editorial standards cover every ad, asset, and destination.
The big ones to watch:
- Business name consistency. It must match your domain, your recognized advertiser name, or your promoted app.
- Clean capitalization and punctuation. No gimmicky symbols, excessive spacing, or repeated words across your account.
- Professional imagery. Nothing blurry, oddly oriented, or spilling past the frame.
- Clear identification. Your ad and destination must name what you’re promoting.
None of this is particularly glamorous, but clean ads are approved ads. Approved ads are the ones that run.
Heartbreak, but make it UX: Over on YouTube, the Shorts redesign swaps the thumbs-up for a heart and pulls the dislike button off the sidebar.
YouTube reportedly buried the dislike button in the three-dot menu, where far fewer people will hunt for it.
That matters more than it sounds. Your dislikes train the algorithm to show you less repetitive or low-quality stuff. Bury the button, and that signal gets weaker.
YouTube floated this in 2024 and 2025, and the rollout stays patchy, so it may not stick. We’d give this update a thumbs down.
Protect and grow revenue with better data and visibility
As customer journeys become more fragmented across search, social, content, influencers, loyalty platforms, and AI-powered discovery tools, affiliate marketing helps brands connect with consumers through trusted partners across the buying journey.
But maximizing performance requires clear, accurate measurement.
Key takeaways:
- Affiliate marketing gives brands access to a diverse ecosystem of partners that can drive awareness, consideration, and conversions.
- As partner programs grow, unified reporting and strong tracking become essential for understanding what drives incremental revenue.
- Transaction-level data helps reduce attribution gaps, protect commissions, and build trust between brands and partners.
- Revenue protection is increasingly important in today’s complex digital landscape. Through Awin’s Conversion Protection Initiative, more than $578M in revenue has been recovered globally, while 29.4M+ transactions have been protected through Soft Click technology.
AI visibility brings new rules, here’s how to prepare
For years, SEO success was measurable because the journey was visible. User searches. User clicks. User converts. Clean.
AI search muddies that sequence. And just like Dua Lipa, Aleyda Solis breaks down the new rules
Now, a user can ask a detailed question, get a synthesized answer, compare options, and form a strong preference before clicking a single result.
Why this matters: Brands can now be mentioned, cited, recommended, misrepresented, or outright ignored inside AI-generated answers.
Let’s be clear, AI search doesn’t replace traditional search. Crawlability, indexability, and helpful content still apply.
Google has confirmed its generative AI features are rooted in its core ranking and quality systems.
Our take: If your pages aren’t accessible or authoritative, AI systems simply have fewer reliable signals to work with. You’ve got to fix the foundation first.
Agentic flows introduce new challenges: AI currently dominates the research and shortlisting stages. But in e-commerce, that’s already shifting.
ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode are rolling out agentic checkout features, bringing conversion closer to the AI interface itself.
Traffic becomes a weaker proxy for performance when AI is influencing decisions upstream.
AI search is now a performance and a branding channel: AI recommendations in platforms like ChatGPT or Gemini shape brand recall and preference even without a click.
The bottom line: Monitor how your brand appears across AI platforms, focusing on accuracy, sentiment, and third-party validation.
Conversational prompts are harder to predict than traditional keywords. Users aren’t typing “comfortable jeans.” They’re asking: “What are comfortable jeans options for outdoor activities that don’t feel too stiff?”
Don’t chase prompt variations. Build topical authority across the full customer journey.
The ten key brand traits that correlate with AI performance: Accessible, Useful, Extractable, Recognizable, Consistent, Corroborated, Credible, Differentiated, Fresh, and Transactable.
Start with accessibility and extractability. There’s no point earning mentions if AI systems can’t retrieve your existing content. From there, prioritize based on your gap.
Write funny content in minutes a day.
Every day, you stumble across boring content.
The kind that feels like getting stabbed in the eye. With a plastic fork. Dipped in Absolut Vodka.
The cold, harsh truth? Boring content kills sales.
The good news? You’re not boring. You just need better inspiration.
That’s what this free newsletter is for.
Inside, you’ll find some of the funniest, sharpest, most effective writing on the internet.
Every weekday, you’ll get one funny example, plus a quick breakdown of exactly why it works. You’ll read, laugh, steal a few ideas, and write content that gets more attention.
And more sales.
Settling for mediocrity is a B2B content killer
Is B2B content still the heavyweight champion of marketing? Or is it starting to look a bit winded?
At the moment, most marketers are still seeing the glass as half-full. Or at least “somewhat” full:
This recent data shows that 59% of B2B marketers find their content efforts effective. Specifically, 12% report being “highly effective” by exceeding their goals, while 47% are meeting most of their targets.
However, a significant 31% are hovering in the “neutral” zone with mixed results, which suggests that a third of the industry is still searching for a winning formula.
Only 10% admit to falling short or failing to meet their goals entirely.
What we think: While the majority find success, the high percentage of neutral responses reflects a struggle to stand out in a saturated market.
Food for thought: The most dangerous place in marketing is the middle. Those in the “neutral” zone may be in a worse position than the 10% who are failing.
Failure creates urgency. Neutral creates complacency. If your content is generating mild engagement with no clear business impact, you’re burning budget with a smile on your face.
Audit content that’s bringing mixed results first.
AI MARKETING: The Deep View gives you the AI context in five minutes a day: what changed, why it matters, and what to watch next. It is built for people who need signal, not another feed to manage. Free, clear, and trusted by 700,000+ readers at Google, Meta, Microsoft, and beyond. Subscribe here. *
REDDIT: After May’s core update, SE Ranking’s 100K-keyword study shows the platform taking one in ten top-three spots, surging in pet and education niches. YouTube’s blue-links slipped into video features. Recovery looks rough, since two-thirds of March’s losers never came back.
CHATGPT: The chatbot’s ads are going global, with targeting reaching the UK, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and Mexico. OpenAI is testing slots that bundle several sponsored results through a second-price auction. New Ads Manager tools round things out, so get familiar now.
AI SEARCH: Reuters and Time flipped the script in May, blocking AI bots by default and waving through only approved crawlers. Reuters says traffic held while bot-serving costs fell, and People Inc.’s blocklist ballooned past 30,000. Content has value, so make robots pay rent.
TIKTOK: Working with Circana across 97 studies in six European markets, the platform found FMCG campaigns lift in-store sales 2.7% against a 2.3% social baseline. And going live during quiet, non-seasonal stretches drove 46% higher lift. Stay always-on rather than chasing peaks.
AI MARKETING: Machines now dominate ad-industry chatter, with marketers warming to campaigns running through tools like ChatGPT and scrambling to shape how they appear in AI search. Treat AI as an assistant, keeping humans in charge rather than asleep at the wheel.
GOOGLE: Search owners are reporting a quiet deindexing wave, with pages vanishing without manual actions, errors, or explanation. The pattern points to thin, author-less content that parrots what AI Overviews already say. Check your Search Console coverage report for drops.
*This is a sponsored post.
Which of the following words don’t belong in the group and why? CORSET, COSTER, SECTOR, ESCORT, COURTS
You can find the answer here.
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