Google Marketing Live 2026 & the Future of Google Ads
Google Marketing Live has always been part product showcase, part signal about where the company sees advertising heading. The 2026…
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Why data management matters more than ever in Google Ads
Google Marketing Live 2026 covered a lot of ground – search, YouTube, commerce, agentic AI. But running through almost everything…
Google Announces AI Max Upgrade for Shopping Campaigns
On the 30th of April, Google announced that it’s expanding its existing AI Max into Shopping campaigns. The aim is…
Everything We Learned at Google Marketing Live 2026
Google Marketing Live (GML) for the EMEA region took place on the 21st of May 2026 and featured the latest…
New Study Finds Google Click-Through Rates Are Increasing for Organic Searches with AI Overviews
When Google first rolled out AI Overviews, the reaction we observed across the SEO community was deep concern over declining…
Google Enhances Demand Gen to Turn YouTube Views into Conversions
In April, Google announced that it’s adding a new update to Demand Gen campaigns in Google Ads. They’ll be included…
X Is Launching a New Ads Manager for Better Simplicity and Control with AI-Driven Performance
In May, the social media network X announced that it’s launching a new advertising platform, which it has rebuilt from…
Here’s What You Need to Know About Google Marketing Live 2026
Google has announced that its annual event, Google Marketing Live, will take place on Thursday, the 21st of May 2026,…
How Topical Ownership in SEO and GEO Impacts AI Search
For many years, topical authority has been an essential part of SEO. If your website covered a subject in depth…
Google Is Phasing Out Dynamic Search Ads as AI Max Takes Over
In April 2026, Google confirmed that Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) will be phased out and replaced by AI Max for…
Meta Expands Creator Marketplace With Smarter Discovery Tools
Meta is continuing to build out its Creator Marketplace by introducing new features designed to help brands find and partner…
Low-Quality and Deceptive Listicles May No Longer Perform Well in Google Search and AI Overviews
Listicles have been a staple in SEO for years. They’re easy to scan, simple to structure and often perform well…
ChatGPT Is Launching Self-Service Ads in April
OpenAI is preparing to launch self-service advertising within ChatGPT in April, taking the platform from limited pilot campaigns to broader…
Understanding How AI-Generated Content Ranks in Search Results and Why You Still Need a Human Touch
The term “AI slop” was named Word of the Year in 2025 by Merriam-Webster, and for good reason. Across blog…
LinkedIn Is Rebuilding Its Feed Using an LLM-Based Retrieval System
On 12 March 2026, LinkedIn’s Hristo Danchev announced that the platform will be introducing a new AI-powered ranking and retrieval…
How to Determine If Your Cost Per Qualified Lead (CPQL) Is Increasing
There’s no shortage of metrics to track in paid media. Click-through rate, cost per click, impressions, conversions, return on ad…
ChatGPT Shifts From Instant Checkout to Apps in New Shopping Update
OpenAI is changing how shopping will now work inside ChatGPT. The company is shifting away from in-platform purchases and toward…
Meta is Passing Europe’s Digital Service Taxes to Advertisers (2% for the UK)
Meta has announced that it’ll start passing Europe’s Digital Services Taxes (DST) on to advertisers from July 2026, which includes…
Best Practices for Image Optimisation for SEO
Images play an important role in how people experience your website. They add context, bring products to life and help…
Google Expands Circle to Search to Identify Multiple Items at Once
Google has updated its visual search feature, Circle to Search, to allow users to identify and explore multiple objects within…
Reddit Tests AI Shopping Carousels In Search Results
Reddit has announced that it’s testing a new AI-powered shopping feature that could completely reshape how product discovery works on…
Google Updates Demand Gen Lookalike Audiences
In a recent email to Google Ads administrators, Google announced an upcoming update to Demand Gen Lookalike segments. Google has…
80 Million Users Turn to Reddit Search Every Week
In its Q4 2025 earnings call, Reddit revealed that 80 million people now use its on-platform search feature every week.…
Threads Overtakes X as Ads Roll Out Globally
Meta’s Threads surpassed X (formerly Twitter) in daily mobile users worldwide in January. Threads has seen a roughly 37.8% year-over-year…
The Way People Search for Information is Changing
Search behaviour is shifting as AI Overviews change how people look for information and make decisions. People aren’t browsing as…
OpenAI is Testing Ads in ChatGPT
OpenAI has confirmed it will begin testing advertising inside ChatGPT for users on its Free and Go plans in the…
Universal Commerce Protocol Launches for AI Shopping
Google has introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a new open standard designed to power agentic commerce. This next step…
Google’s December 2025 Core Update
Google wrapped up its December 2025 core update on 29th December after an 18-day rollout. If you’ve noticed your rankings…
Google AI Mode Drives Traffic on High-Intent Searches
Google’s AI Mode has been getting a lot of heat for ‘killing clicks’ by answering users’ questions directly, eliminating the…
Structuring Content for Search and AI Answers
If there’s one thing that humans, search engines, and AI platforms have in common, it’s that they all respond in…
How Reddit is Shaping Search Visibility
Reddit has quickly become one of the most influential platforms in the search ecosystem. With over 110.4 million daily active…
How Meta’s Andromeda Update Changes Facebook and Instagram Ads
Meta has quietly rolled out Andromeda, a new AI-driven ad delivery engine that changes how ads are matched to users…
AI Overviews Influence Research While Traditional Search Drives Sales
New research reveals how shoppers are using Google’s AI Overviews across different shopping categories and phases of their buying journey.…
ChatGPT Relies on Traditional SEO to Answer Questions
A new study by Nectiv has revealed that ChatGPT still depends on traditional search to find its answers. The data…
Google Introduces ‘Sponsored Results’ Ad Label in Search Results
Google has rolled out a new “Sponsored results” label that groups ads together under a single heading. The change affects…
Do Backlinks Still Matter?
If you’ve ever wondered whether backlinks still make a difference in SEO, the answer is yes – backlinks are a…
OpenAI Launches Shopping Features Through ChatGPT Search
OpenAI recently rolled out shopping features directly inside ChatGPT Search. Ask about “the best running shoes for flat feet” or…
A Guide to Email Marketing
A lot of businesses dismiss email marketing as outdated, pouring resources into other marketing activities while what’s potentially your most…
Instagram SEO Guide for Google Search Visibility
Your Instagram posts can now compete with websites in Google search results. From 10 July 2025, Instagram began allowing public…
CRO Fundamentals That Build Trust With Website Visitors
In our 13+ years as a digital marketing agency, we’ve seen how customer purchases rarely happen in a single moment.…
Is Your Website Losing Customers & Can CRO Help?
You’ve invested effort and resources driving traffic to your website, but are those visitors converting? A lot of companies are…
Writing with AI
Writing content has become one of the most common use cases for AI. Large language models (LLMs) are, by nature,…
Google I/O 2025
This year’s Google I/O 2025 conference (coupled with key announcements from Google Marketing Live) delivered a clear message: Artificial Intelligence…
Optimise Your Title Tags for SEO
Title tags are an important (yet often overlooked) component of effective on-page SEO. They influence your search rankings for target…
Content-Driven SEO Strategies
Why Content Strategy Matters for SEO When a user types a query in Google, the search engine acts as a…
Internal Link Strategies for SEO
We previously provided information on internal link strategies back in 2018 – while our approach hasn’t changed dramatically since then,…
Content Pyramids for SEO
What is a Content Pyramid? A content pyramid is a strategic approach to structuring website content that creates a clear…
AI in Digital Marketing
The AI Trend Right now, AI is clearly the hot trend – and no one wants to miss out. But…
Scaling Flexibly with Google Ads
Scaling a Google Ads account isn’t as simple as increasing budgets and hoping for the best. Google’s systems are sensitive…
We’re Supporting Pedestrian’s Opening Doors Campaign
We are pleased to share an incredible opportunity to support Leicester’s young adults through a local charity – Pedestrian’s transformative…
Google Shopping Feed Optimisation
Almost every eCommerce brand runs Google Shopping ads – and if they aren’t they should be! Surprisingly, very few optimise…
Effective Google Ads Strategies for eCommerce Brands
Make the Biggest Difference as Early as Possible There’s a fundamental principle we apply at Herdl that transforms how eCommerce…
Why Overcomplicating Your Messaging Loses Customers
Often brands fall into a trap of overcomplicating their messaging. In doing so, these businesses create multiple problems for themselves…
Why Customers Don’t See Your Business the Way You Do
Businesses often assume that customers see them the way they see themselves. We know from experience that’s rarely the case.…
If You Can’t Explain Why People Should Buy From You, Neither Can Your Marketing
Businesses sometimes struggle with this concept because they’ve never actually taken the time to look at what makes them different…
When AI Gets It Badly Wrong
I’m following up on a previous article about AI in Google Ads with an example of where AI has got…
Leaking Google Ads Spend?
As a Google Ads agency, we’re in a unique position, having had access to many Google Ads accounts over many…
AI in Google Ads
Over the last 12+ months, Google’s platform changes spotlight an important shift in digital advertising. The integration of AI and…
A Year in Review 2024
We’re proud to share another year where we’ve delivered fantastic results for our clients. Digital marketing is always changing and…
Message-Audience Alignment
We’ve come across situations time and time again where a client has attempted to generate better marketing results independently without…
Marketing Events in Leicester
If you’re working in SEO in Leicester, PPC or any other digital marketing discipline, attending regular meet ups and events…
E-E-A-T Predictions for 2025
E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) was introduced in 2014 as part of Google’s quality rater guidelines. The framework gained significant…
Why We Offer Free SEO Audits
As long as we’ve offered SEO services, starting back in 2012, we’ve always began every relationship with a free SEO…
Marketing Degrees in Leicester
As a specialist PPC and SEO agency in Leicester, we have a strong connection with the educational institutions in our…
Search Max Spotted
A new advertising option called Search Max might transform how businesses run their paid search campaigns in the near future.…
SEO Tool Disruption
As an SEO agency, we rely heavily on several tools to get our job done effectively. However, many major SEO…
Market Position & Targeting in Google Ads
Most brands face challenges with Google Ads because they misunderstand their market position. There are some basic principles that can…
CRO But Not As You Know It
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is a key part of our role as a PPC agency. In order to deliver results…
Scaling Google Ads Accounts
Ambitious brands are always looking to achieve more from their paid media campaigns. It’s not uncommon for us to work…
Strategic Direction for SEO
Establishing a clear and concise strategy for any marketing campaign is crucial. Without one, activities become directionless and fragmented, and…
Targeting Different Users with SEO
Understanding SEO targeting With SEO, we can’t rely on user data like demographics, interests or tracked behaviours like other marketing…
The Trend Towards Account Consolidation
The trend of account consolidation in Google Ads refers to Google’s encouragement to move away from highly granular account structures.…
AI Overviews Roll Out in UK
After the rolling out in the US several weeks ago, we’re beginning to see AI Overviews appearing in search results…
Google Loses Anti Trust Case
A US judge has ruled against Google in a recent anti trust case, potentially leading to huge changes in how…
Traffic vs Conversions in SEO
More traffic often equates to success in SEO. But what happens when that traffic doesn’t translate to increased revenue? This…
Shopify Review
Shopify feels to some like a new entrant compared to other platforms like WordPress. However, the Shopify platform has been…
Soft 404s and Other Errors
Imagine you’re a hipster going to your favourite restaurant. You’ve checked their online menu and you’re excited to try the…
Rest in Pieces: Universal Analytics
We couldn’t mark the passing of Google’s Universal Analytics without a short farewell from the Herdl team. Universal Analytics (GA3)…
Upcoming Changes in Google Ads
As a PPC agency, we’re always keeping a close eye on updates that could impact our campaigns. Today, we’re excited…
Google Indexing Issue
Throughout last night and into this morning, Google Search has experienced a serious indexing issue affecting both large and small…
Strategies for Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2024
It might feel like you’ve got plenty of time between now and November, but with the year flying by, the…
Google Algorithm Leak Follow Up
The Google documentation leak is still a hot topic at Herdl. As you can imagine, for SEO agencies, this in…
Google Algorithm Leak Analysed
The SEO community is clambering to get their collective head around an unprecedented leak of Google’s algorithm. Through this leak,…
AI Noise & SEO
Even in the age of AI, SEO still lacks the mythical “easy button.” Despite the advanced tools at our disposal,…
Google Marketing Live 2024
Google Marketing Live 2024, held yesterday evening, unveiled a suite of new features designed to elevate advertisers’ strategies and improve…
Key Events and Conversions
A few weeks ago, Ginny Mavin from Google Ads Liaison announced the introduction of key events and conversions in Google…
Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research is an integral part of both SEO and PPC planning. Choosing the right tool to aide keyword research…
Introducing ChatGPT-4o
OpenAI has rocked the digital landscape again with the release of their latest mode “GPT-4o”. This latest model promises faster…
New Google SGE Updates
Google’s recent announcement at their I/O event has sparked a lot of interest and debate within the digital marketing community.…
Create Leicester: Why is Creativity Critical Today?
At the core of Leicester’s creative sector you’ll find Create Leicester, a quarterly event held at the LCB Depot representing…