Email marketing has changed in the last 24 months. Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) now pre-fetches the open pixel for roughly 64% of Apple Mail users, so open rate is no longer a reliable headline KPI. In February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo started enforcing three sender requirements for anyone sending 5,000 or more messages a day: authenticate with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC; offer one-click unsubscribe; and keep your spam complaint rate under 0.3%. Microsoft followed with the same rules for Outlook.com and Hotmail in May 2025.

With the proliferation of generative AI tools, the problem of email spam will become even more complex, and email providers will likely respond with more complicated rules and restrictions.

As someone who has spent 10+ years working across a variety of different types of email marketing campaigns, I’ve created this guide to be a current look at email marketing: what to build, what to measure, and what to retire.

Contents

• What is email marketing?
• How email marketing works in 30 seconds
• Why email is still effective in 2026
• Types of email marketing
• How to build an email list
• Email marketing segmentation and personalization
• Email marketing deliverability
• How to write and design emails that get opened and clicked
• What to know about automation, drip campaigns, and lifecycle email
• KPIs and benchmarks in the post-MPP era
• Understanding compliance: CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CASL, CCPA
• How to choose an email service provider (ESP)
• What to know about AI in email marketing
• Common email marketing mistakes to avoid
• Email marketing FAQs

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is the practice of sending opt-in commercial or relationship-based emails to a permission-based subscriber list, with the goal of driving revenue, retention, or engagement.

An example of an email marketing message.

The list belongs to you. Other digital marketing channels are rented from a platform that can change its rules tomorrow.

What separates email marketing from spam is consent. Marketing email requires explicit opt-in, identifies the sender, and gives the recipient a one-click way to leave the list. Spam does none of those things, and the line is now enforced by both law (CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CASL) and by Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft’s deliverability rules.

Get everything you need for great emails >> The Complete Email Marketing Toolkit: Free Email Templates, Subject Lines & Tips

How email marketing works in 30 seconds

Every email program runs the same five-step loop:

1. Capture consent through a signup form, a checkout opt-in, or a gated content download.
2. Store and segment the subscribers in your email service provider (ESP) or CRM.
3. Design and send either a scheduled campaign (newsletter, promo) or an automated message triggered by behavior (welcome, cart, post-purchase).
4. Measure click-through rate, conversion rate, revenue per email, and spam complaint rate.
5. Iterate. Cut what does not work, double down on what does.

The three-layer chart below explains why most email programs leak money: marketers invest in the visible campaign layer without investing in the lifecycle layer or the deliverability foundation underneath it.

Why email is still effective in 2026

Email marketing is still the highest-ROI digital channel for most small and mid-market programs in 2026, and it reaches an estimated 4.7 billion users worldwide.

Email is a fully owned digital channel. Your subscriber list belongs to you. Google can change a ranking algorithm, Meta can raise its CPMs by 40% next quarter, an iOS update can break your retargeting overnight, and your email list still works the same way it did the day before.

That is exactly why email got more important after Apple’s iOS privacy changes and the cookieless squeeze, not less. As paid acquisition got more expensive and harder to measure, the channel you already own at zero marginal cost is the channel that compounds. You can run the numbers for the ROI of your own list below.

Types of email marketing

Email marketing breaks into two high-level buckets: campaign emails (one-to-many broadcasts sent on a schedule to a list segment) and lifecycle emails (one-to-one messages triggered automatically by user behavior or lifecycle stage).

Lifecycle email flows typically generate roughly 41% of total email revenue from just 5.3% of sends, per Klaviyo’s 2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks, which is why lifecycle is the highest-leverage place to invest after the foundation is built.

Campaign emails (one-to-many broadcasts)

Campaign emails go out on a schedule to a list segment, regardless of what any individual subscriber has done recently.

Lifecycle/triggered emails (one-to-one, behavioral)

Lifecycle emails fire automatically when a subscriber takes an action or hits a milestone. They are the highest-ROI flows in most programs.

Pick the four or five flows that match your business and ship those before adding new campaigns.

How to build an email list

To build an email list, you want to capture explicit opt-in consent through a clear form, route every subscriber into your email service provider (ESP) tagged with their source, deliver the value you promised, without buying or scraping addresses.

Permission-based lists drive engagement; bought lists can be effective in well-executed cold email campaigns, but can also drive spam complaints and can get your sending domain blocked.

Permission-based list building

Offering something of value (like a free download or newsletter subscription) is the safest way to build a high-value email list. Cold email tactics and buying or scraping email addresses can be effective for some companies, but can also kill a program before it starts. Recipients have no idea who you are, may hit “Report Spam,” and once your complaint rate clears 0.3%, Gmail and Yahoo will throttle or block your mail.

Single vs. double opt-in

A core consideration as you set up your email marketing campaigns is single versus double opt-in:

• Single opt-in adds the subscriber the moment they submit the form.and bots.
• Double opt-in requires the subscriber to click a confirmation link before they are added. This can lead to smaller lists and limited reach, but also a cleaner list, lower bounce rate, fewer spam complaints, and is required de facto under GDPR.

An example of a double opt-in.

For most SMBs in 2026, double opt-in is the safer default. The deliverability gain pays back the volume loss.

Lead magnets that work in 2026

Lead magnets that convert in 2026 are specific, not generic. A “free guide to marketing” gets ignored. A “five-minute checklist for fixing your Google Business Profile” gets signups. Interactive assets (quizzes, calculators, benchmark scorers) outperform static PDFs because they feel earned. Match the magnet to a real, narrow problem your reader has.

Capture email anywhere a visitor is already paying attention:

• Site signup forms (above the fold, exit-intent, embedded mid-content)
• Checkout opt-in (a single consent box, where permitted)
• Gated content (the lead-magnet download)
• Webinar or event registration
• In-store or POS signup if you’re a local business

Email marketing segmentation and personalization

Email segmentation is the practice of dividing your subscriber list into smaller groups based on shared traits (lifecycle stage, behavior, purchase history, source, geography, declared preferences) and sending each group content that fits its context.

Segmented campaigns outperform blasts on every metric that matters (click-through rate, conversion rate, revenue per email, unsubscribe rate), because every recipient is closer to the offer.

Blasting the same email to your full list is the cheapest way to send an email and the most expensive way to lose subscribers.

Segmentation dimensions to start with

Segmented email campaigns generate roughly 30% more opens and 50% more clicks than unsegmented sends, and on the revenue side, segmented campaigns have been reported to drive substantially more revenue per send than blasts (Mailchimp/Campaign Monitor benchmark data).

Six segmentation dimensions cover most of the practical value for SMB programs.

Start with lifecycle stage and engagement recency. Layer the others in once those two are working reliably.

Personalization beyond first name

Real personalization is not “Hi Joe.” It is sending different content to different segments based on what you know about them. Four tactics that can impact performance:

1. Dynamic content blocks that swap copy or imagery based on segment.
2. Product recommendations drawn from purchase or browse history.
3. Send-time optimization that delivers each message at the recipient’s most-likely-open hour.
4. Behavioral triggers that fire when a subscriber takes a specific action (visits a page, abandons a cart, downloads a guide).

An example of a product recommendation email.

AI-powered predictive segmentation in 2026

Most major ESPs now ship predictive segmentation: churn risk scores, predicted next purchase, propensity to buy, AI-optimized send times. These work, but they need volume to be valuable. If your list is under 10,000 active subscribers, focus on the six segments above before turning on predictive features.

Want to use AI the right way? Free download >> The Complete Guide to AI for Marketing

Email deliverability: The foundation most marketers skip

Email deliverability is the share of your sent messages that actually reach the inbox, and as of February 2024 it depends on three things: sender authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), one-click unsubscribe, and a spam complaint rate under 0.3%, per Google’s Email Sender Guidelines. Miss any one of those three and Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft will throttle, junk, or block your mail.

Sender authentication explained (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI)

Authentication is how an email provider verifies that you actually own the domain in your From: address. Four protocols, plain-English:

You need all three of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. BIMI is a nice-to-have once the other three are clean.

Sender reputation, IP warming, and list hygiene

Sender reputation is the running score every mailbox provider keeps on your sending domain and IP. Three habits protect it.

• Sunset inactive subscribers. Anyone who has not opened or clicked in 90 to 180 days goes through one re-engagement attempt, then moves to a suppression list.
• Remove hard bounces immediately. Hard-bouncing addresses are dead. Continuing to mail them tanks your reputation.
• Warm new IPs slowly. If you change ESPs or add a dedicated IP, ramp volume over two to four weeks. Mailbox providers treat brand-new senders with suspicion.

What to do if you are already in spam

If your mail is landing in spam, diagnose before remediating. Check Google Postmaster Tools and Yahoo’s Sender Hub for your current spam rate, authentication status, and reputation score.

The fix usually has three steps:

1. Pause sends to your least engaged segment for two weeks.
2. Fix the underlying cause (authentication, list quality, or content).
3. Ramp volume back up slowly against your most engaged subscribers first.

To get a general deliverability health check, you can use our free tool:

Writing and designing emails that get opened and clicked

The fundamentals of email creative in 2026 are simple: a 30 to 50 character subject line that says what is inside, one primary call to action per message, and a layout that loads cleanly on a phone before it loads on a desktop. Treat every email as something a busy person will read in quickly on their commute.

Subject lines

A good email subject line is specific, 30 to 50 characters long, and clear about what is inside the message. Clarity beats cleverness. The preheader (the snippet of text that appears next to the subject in most inboxes) acts as a second subject line and should expand on the hook, not repeat it.

AI tools (your ESP’s built-in subject-line scorer, the WordStream Subject Line Scorer below, or any LLM you trust) are useful for generating variants and pressure-testing your lines. Never ship a generated subject line without an editor’s pass.

Avoid the patterns that filters and humans both flag: ALL CAPS, manipulative urgency, multiple exclamation marks, “FREE!!!” style hooks, and any phrase that would feel sleazy out loud.

Email body structure

Every marketing email should have one goal and one primary call to action. If a message is asking the reader to do two things, they may not take action on either.

Six practical rules:

1. Write to one reader (not “a list”)
2. Put the most important content above the fold
3. Use a clear visual hierarchy with one headline
4. One supporting image, and one primary button
5. Keep body font at 14 pixels or larger
6. Make every tap target at least 44 by 44 pixels so it works on a phone

Visual design, dark mode, and accessibility

Most subscribers will open your email on a phone, often in dark mode. Three habits keep your design from breaking.

• Alt text on every image. Half your audience may be reading with images blocked.
• Semantic HTML and high color contrast. Aim for WCAG AA at minimum (4.5:1 ratio for body text).
• Test dark mode before you send. Logos and dark-on-dark text can disappear; use transparent PNGs and check the rendering in your ESP’s preview pane.

All about automation, drip campaigns, and lifecycle email

Email automation is the practice of sending pre-built sequences triggered by user behavior or lifecycle stage (signup, purchase, cart abandonment, inactivity) rather than scheduling each send manually. Lifecycle email flows generate roughly 41% of total email revenue from just 5.3% of sends, per Klaviyo’s 2026 Email Marketing Benchmarks, which is why automation is the highest-leverage place to invest after deliverability is solid.

The starter five automations every SMB should run

Build these five before adding anything fancier.

• Welcome series. 4 to 6 messages over the first 14 days. Sets frequency expectations, delivers the lead magnet, introduces your best content, and asks for a first conversion.
• Cart abandonment (ecommerce) or lead nurture (B2B / SaaS). Triggers when a shopper leaves items in the cart, or when a lead fills a form but does not convert. Typically the single highest-ROI flow in an ecommerce program.
• Post-purchase. Confirms the order, sets delivery expectations, asks for a review at the right moment, and primes the next purchase.
• Re-engagement / win-back. Fires when a subscriber goes 60 to 90 days without an open or click. Recovers the still-engaged and sunsets the rest, which protects your sender reputation.
• Transactional. Order confirmations, password resets, shipping notifications. Legally distinct under CAN-SPAM, and the place subscribers actually pay attention.

How to design a drip sequence

Every drip sequence has the same five-part anatomy. Design each one before you write the first email.

1. Trigger. What user action or lifecycle event starts the sequence.
2. Goal. The single outcome the sequence is meant to drive (first purchase, demo booked, review submitted).
3. Step count. 4 to 6 messages is typical. More steps is rarely better.
4. Timing. A common welcome cadence is Day 0, Day 1, Day 3, Day 7, Day 14.
5. Exit criteria. What stops the sequence (conversion, unsubscribe, manual tag).

KPIs and benchmarks in the post-MPP era

Open rate is no longer a reliable headline KPI for email marketing because Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) pre-fetches the tracking pixel for approximately 64% of Apple Mail users, inflating reported opens regardless of whether the message was actually read.

The KPIs that still tell you the truth in 2026 are click-through rate, conversion rate, revenue per email, list growth, unsubscribe rate, and spam complaint rate.

Treat open rate as a directional signal, not a primary target.

The KPIs that still matter

Track these nine email marketing KPIs. The first four tell you whether the program is working, the next three tell you whether it is sustainable, the last two tell you whether you are growing.

• Click-through rate (CTR). Clicks divided by delivered messages.
• Click-to-open ratio (CTOR). Clicks divided by opens; useful for testing creative, even with inflated opens.
• Conversion rate. The share of clickers who take the goal action.
• Revenue per email (RPE). Total revenue divided by emails sent. The cleanest top-level health metric for ecommerce.
• Unsubscribe rate. Percentage of people who opt out of your email list. Target under 0.5% per send.
• Spam complaint rate. Target under 0.1%, hard ceiling at 0.3% under the Gmail and Yahoo February 2024 rules.
• Deliverability/inbox placement rate. Share of sends that land in the primary inbox versus spam or promotions.
• List growth rate (net). New subscribers minus unsubscribes minus bounces.
• Engaged subscriber percentage. Share of the list that opened or clicked in the last 60 to 90 days.

How to handle opens when you still need them

You still need opens for two things: subject-line A/B testing and engagement segmentation. Two ways to handle MPP noise:

• Exclude MPP-flagged opens where your ESP supports it. Most major ESPs now flag pre-fetched opens explicitly.
• Move to click-based engagement segmentation. Define your “engaged” segment as anyone who clicked in the last 60 to 90 days, not anyone who “opened.” Clicks are still a real signal.

Benchmarks

Industry benchmarks are useful for direction, but not for goal-setting.

• Average open rates run roughly 30 to 45% across industries (heavily inflated by MPP).
• Average click-through rates land between 1-5% by industry.
• Revenue per email varies by an order of magnitude depending on category, list quality, and program maturity.

Use your own previous 90 days as the baseline you measure against, not an industry average. Some sources to reference include Klaviyo 2026 Benchmarks (ecommerce) and Mailchimp Email Marketing Benchmarks (multi-industry).

Compliance: CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CASL, CCPA

Four laws govern marketing email in the major English-speaking and EU markets, and they sit on a spectrum from permissive to strict:

1. CAN-SPAM (United States, opt-out)
2. CCPA/CPRA (California, opt-out plus data rights)
3. CASL (Canada, express opt-in)
4. GDPR (European Union/EEA, lawful basis with explicit consent in most marketing cases)

If you mail anyone in any of these regions, you are under the rules for that region, regardless of where your business is based.

The table below summarizes the consent model, what each email must include, and the penalty range for each law.

The practical operator rule: build to the strictest law you are subject to. If you send to anyone in the EU, run a GDPR-compliant program globally. The added rigor will not hurt your US or Canadian deliverability, and it will protect you when an EU subscriber slips onto your list through a partner integration or a referral.

California DROP took effect January 1, 2026

California’s Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP) lets consumers submit a single request that propagates to every data broker registered in the state, requiring them to delete the consumer’s personal information. If your business sells or shares California consumer data, you have to honor DROP requests on the same timeline as a direct CCPA deletion request. Flag this with your legal team if it applies to you.

Choosing an email service provider (ESP)

The best email service provider (ESP) for your business is the one that matches your use case, not the one with the most features on a comparison chart. Evaluate every ESP on nine dimensions: deliverability infrastructure, segmentation and automation depth, integrations with your CRM and ecommerce stack, reporting, pricing model, compliance tooling, AI features, support, and data export and portability.

There is no universal “best” ESP. There is the right one for ecommerce, the right one for B2B SaaS, and the right one for a local SMB, and they are rarely the same tool.

What to evaluate

Score every candidate on these nine criteria before you sign anything.

• Deliverability infrastructure. Dedicated IP options, authentication setup, and postmaster integrations.
• Segmentation and automation depth. Can you build the lifecycle flows you actually need without external glue?
• Integrations. CRM, ecommerce platform, ad platforms (Google Customer Match, Meta Custom Audiences).
• Reporting. Cross-flow revenue reporting, not just per-send metrics.
• Pricing model. By contacts, sends, seats, or hybrid. The right model depends on your list-growth shape.
• Compliance tooling. Consent records, GDPR data export requests, suppression lists.
• AI features. Subject-line variants, send-time optimization, predictive segmentation (useful only at scale).
• Support. Whether a human answers in hours or days when something breaks.
• Data export and portability. You should be able to leave on a weekend.

Match to use case

Local SMBs and event-driven businesses lean toward Constant Contact, Mailchimp, or Brevo. Ecommerce teams typically pick Klaviyo or Omnisend for the lifecycle-flow depth. B2B and SaaS teams lean toward HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, or Customer.io for the CRM integration. Agencies managing multiple accounts pick a multi-client platform. Enterprise programs go to Marketing Cloud, Iterable, or Braze.

CRM and attribution integration

ESP-native reports tell you what happened inside the email tool. They do not tell you whether email closed a deal or drove a repeat purchase six weeks later. Connect email engagement events to your CRM and your analytics so revenue gets credited correctly. That single integration is what separates a program that “looks good in Mailchimp” from one you can defend in a budget meeting.

AI in email marketing: What’s actually useful in 2026

AI is impacting five specific places in email marketing in 2026: subject-line variants and pre-flight scoring, first-draft body copy, predictive send-time optimization, predictive segmentation and churn scoring, and image generation for hero or lifestyle imagery. The places it is still overhyped are the ones that promise to replace the work, not augment it.

Where AI is valuable

• Subject-line variants and scoring. Generate5-10 options, score them, and ship the best after a human edit.
• First-draft copy. Speeds up the blank-page problem. Treat the output as a starting point, not the final draft.
• Predictive send time. Delivers each message at the recipient’s most likely open hour. Works at list sizes above ~10,000 active subscribers.
• Predictive segmentation and churn scoring. Identifies who is about to lapse so you can pull them into a re-engagement flow before they do.
• Image generation for hero and lifestyle imagery. Useful for variant testing and seasonal swaps. Still inconsistent for product photography.

Where AI is overhyped (for now)

Full set-and-forget campaign generation. AI replacing human strategy. AI-generated subject lines shipped without an editor’s pass. These all promise to remove the work, and they all currently deliver lower-quality output than a human plus an AI assistant would produce.

Common email marketing mistakes to avoid

The most common email marketing mistakes in 2026 are buying or scraping email lists, skipping sender authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), treating open rate as a primary KPI in the post-MPP era, blasting the same email to the full list, hiding the unsubscribe link, sending from a no-reply@ address, running a one-and-done welcome email instead of a series, ignoring list hygiene, and optimizing only for desktop preview.

Email marketing FAQs

What is email marketing in simple terms?

Email marketing is the practice of sending commercial or relationship-based email to a permission-based subscriber list, with the goal of driving revenue, retention, or engagement. Unlike spam, it requires consent from the recipient, identifies the sender, and gives recipients a clear way to opt out. Common examples include newsletters, promotional offers, welcome series, and abandoned-cart reminders.

Is email marketing still effective in 2026?

Yes. Email marketing returns roughly $36 for every $1 spent, per Litmus’s 2025 State of Email Survey, and email reaches an estimated 4.7 billion users worldwide. Because email is an owned channel rather than a rented one, it has become more important as cookies, paid social CPMs, and platform algorithms have grown less reliable.

What is the ROI of email marketing?

Email marketing returns roughly $36 for every $1 spent, per Litmus’s 2025 State of Email Survey. Variance is wide: top-quartile programs see significantly higher returns, while poorly segmented programs may only break even. Automated lifecycle flows (welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase, win-back) typically generate the highest ROI within a program.

How do I start email marketing?

To start email marketing: 1) pick an email service provider (ESP) like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or Constant Contact, 2) authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, 3) build a permission-based list with an opt-in form and a lead magnet, 4) launch a welcome series and one campaign, 5) measure click-through rate, conversion, and revenue per email.

What is a good open rate for email marketing in 2026?

Industry averages for email open rates range roughly 30 to 45%, but open rate is unreliable after Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), which pre-fetches the tracking pixel for approximately 64% of Apple Mail users. Click-through rate (around 1 to 5% by industry), conversion rate, and revenue per email are more reliable metrics.

What changed with Gmail and Yahoo’s 2024 bulk sender requirements?

Starting February 2024, senders mailing 5,000 or more messages a day to Gmail or Yahoo must authenticate with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, offer one-click unsubscribe (RFC 8058, enforced June 2024), and keep spam complaint rates under 0.3% (target under 0.1%). Microsoft added the same requirements for Outlook.com and Hotmail in May 2025.

Do I need permission before sending marketing emails?

Yes, in most cases. CASL (Canada) and GDPR (European Union) require express opt-in consent before sending marketing emails. CAN-SPAM (United States) technically allows opt-out, but Gmail and Yahoo’s spam-rate enforcement makes consent practically mandatory. Use double opt-in (a confirmation click) for cleaner lists and better inbox placement.

What email marketing software should small businesses use?

The best email marketing software for a small business depends on the use case. Ecommerce programs typically choose Klaviyo or Omnisend; local services and event-driven businesses pick Constant Contact or Mailchimp; B2B teams lean toward HubSpot or ActiveCampaign. Evaluate on deliverability, automation depth, integrations (CRM, ecommerce, ads), pricing, and compliance tooling rather than feature count alone.

What is the difference between a newsletter, a promotional email, and a transactional email?

A newsletter is recurring informational content sent to subscribers (a weekly digest, a monthly roundup). A promotional email pitches a specific product, offer, or campaign. A transactional email is triggered by a user action like an order confirmation or password reset, and is legally distinct under CAN-SPAM (no unsubscribe link required, though it should still feel on-brand).

Make email marketing part of your strategy

Now, you’re armed with everything you need to know about email marketing, including tips and tools, so you’re ready to build your email list and execute a successful campaign.

For support running effective email marketing campaigns, let’s talk.

The post Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing in 2026 (+Free Tools) appeared first on WordStream.

Seemingly everyone in the marketing world has pivoted to saying stuff like this: “Citations are the new rankings.” “Brand exposure is the new traffic.” In other words, most marketers have capitulated to a world where AI tools scrape content from sites that have built up authority and expertise for years–and then don’t send traffic back to those sites where it came from. They tell us to accept this new reality and optimize for it to survive.

Our director of content and SEO, Elisa Gabbert, sees things differently. She has argued that optimizing solely for AI search is misguided—and not just because the click-through rates are so low. She also noticed that the AI Overviews she saw for similar queries cited different sites every time. If there’s no consistency in what Google chooses to pull into the AIO, how can you even figure out what they’re looking for? What assurance would you have that a citation wouldn’t disappear the next day?

The experiment

To test Elisa’s hypothesis, every Thursday afternoon for six weeks, I conducted the same 14 searches (using common marketing terms) and manually (the horror!) recorded the top 10 sources Google cited in the resulting AI Overview.

And while, for one, this experiment did solidify our team’s hypothesis that optimizing for AI search is unreliable, it also uncovered some interesting information about what Google is valuing in its AI results (for now).

And because I spent a collective 10 hours conducting this experiment and analyzing the data, I’m going to share it with you here along with some takeaways I find particularly interesting.

Contents

• AI Overview results are not stable over time
• Results follow a bit of a formula
• Reddit is a big winner
• Social sites and videos present an opportunity for creators and smaller brands
• Content from educational institutions is a sleeper hit
• Google’s read on search intent is iffy
• Thought leadership is nowhere to be found

6 surprising results from our AI results stability study

How stable are AI results in AI Overviews, what types of sites does Google prioritize, and who were the big winners (and losers) when it comes to AI results? We’re answering those questions and more.

AI Overview results are not stable over time

The crux of our experiment was to see whether AI Overview results remained stable (or even stable-ish) over time. Because if you’re going to put in a bunch of time and effort to show up for these AI answers, you want to know that it’s going to be worth it.

And yeah, the AI Overviews looked different pretty much every single time. On average, source retention was only 50% (a coin flip). For some it was much lower, closer to 20%.

Overall, roughly three out of every four AI Overview sources changed from one week to the next.

Not only were the sites the results cited different, but the actual layout of the AI Overview changed, too.

For instance, the search “keyword research tools” fluctuated between six and 15 cited sites. One week, my search for “ai prompts” had no AIO at all. So one week, you’re killing it in the top 10 results cited in AIOs, and then the next week you completely fall off the map.

And yes, you might be thinking “Well, traditional search results also change.” And while that’s true, they didn’t use to change this much unless there was a major algorithm update. AI search results are proving to be much more volatile. (Plus, even a short-lived ranking in the old Google search actually drove some clicks.)

You might also be thinking, “Well, yes, but these are your results. Mine look or would look different.” And you would be correct. But that’s also proving my point. No one’s getting the same results—hence, the moving target.

And our results are only from AI Overviews. BuzzStream ran their own experiment to see what the overlap looked like for results across different AI search platforms and found 76% appear on only one, and less than 1% appear across multiple. So even if you’re getting visibility in AIOs, you’re probably not getting visibility in other platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini.

What this means for you

AI visibility is important (for brand awareness, at least) but you shouldn’t put all your eggs in the AI search results basket. The results will continue changing, and even if you show up there, chances are, you’re not going to get very many clicks.

Need help understanding the modern rules for SEO? Download our free guide >> How to Do SEO Right—Right Now!

AIO results tend to follow a formula

One thing that stood out to me while conducting this experiment was an interesting formula Google seemed to follow for AI Overviews. Results for each search reliably included:

• A few industry-specific sites
• A community platform result
• A YouTube video (or two)
• One to two education, government, or nonprofit sites
• Often a social media post or two (typically TikTok or Facebook)

So you are seeing some variation in the types of content that Google is pulling into results, but they almost always fall into one of these categories. And if your site doesn’t fall into any of these categories, you might be out of luck, regardless of how useful or optimized your content is.

Our friend and SEO expert Tom Demers pointed out a comparable pattern he found when conducting an SEO audit of the first page of organic search results. So it seems Google is using a similar system across the board.

What this means for you

If you’re only relying on articles to rank in AI Overviews (or in organic results on Google), you have a competitive road ahead of you. Google is giving those slots to pretty high domain authority websites—in my searches, that included Forbes (DR 94), Mailchimp (DR 93), and Semrush (DR 92), just to name a few.

You may have a better chance of showing up if you’re consistently publishing content on social media sites like TikTok and Facebook or as videos on YouTube (including YouTube Shorts).

Either way, publishing on social sites is important—according to our Small Business Website Trends Report, 64% of small businesses say social media is a main source of traffic (compared to 52% for SEO).

Download our Small Business Website Trends Report to find out how businesses are planning and thinking about SEO and their web presence.

Reddit is a big winner

We’ve seen Reddit’s star on the rise over the last five years, so it’s no surprise Google is sourcing results here. They’ve been significantly prioritizing community results—even more so over the last two years.

Many of the searches we conducted included Reddit results, especially for tips and definition-based queries, showing Google’s reliance on experience-driven content to inform its AI results.

What this means for you

Establishing a presence for your business on Reddit can help you see increased referral traffic directly from the source, which is going to be more valuable than an impression in an AIO.

Reddit makes it difficult to proactively market your business on the platform, so you have to get creative here.

Find the right subreddits to engage in, build up brand awareness to increase the chances Redditors might mention you, and potentially invest in paid ads.

Get our guide to Reddit marketing for more tips.

Social sites and videos present an opportunity for creators and smaller brands

As I mentioned, YouTube and social sites like TikTok and Facebook had consistent visibility in AI Overviews results.

It was interesting to see so many TikTok results, especially over Instagram considering Instagram content is now indexed on Google. This opens a potential path for businesses already building a community on TikTok to see some crossover visibility in AI results.

The YouTube and social site results also varied between larger, industry-specific brands and individual creators and smaller brands.

What this means for you

Google sourcing social content presents an opportunity for your business. You can edge out larger, higher-domain authority sites if you’re creating video and social content that aligns with searches your customers are conducting.

Plus, sharing regular social media content and short-form videos is just good for business overall. We already shared that social media is a top driver of traffic for SMBs, and one study found that short-form videos have the highest return on investment among content types.

Content from educational institutions is a sleeper hit

I’ll be honest, I was pretty surprised to see so many .edu sites showing up in AI Overview results—but it happened in almost every search. This seems to go against Google’s guidelines to build out your niche and stick to it.

I wouldn’t say a college or university has more expertise in social media marketing over sites like Sprout Social and Hootsuite, but what do I know? I’m just a human woman with 15 years of social media marketing experience and not an AI bot.

Snark aside, this does further prove the hypothesis that AI systems prioritize content from trustworthy sources. Edu and Org sites are often seen as highly trustworthy, which lends itself well to AI results here.

What this means for you

Unless you’re an Edu or Org site, there’s not really much for you here. But if you do have one of these types of sites, this is good news for you! You have a pretty good chance of surfacing in AI results if you’re creating content around these AI searches.

Search intent interpretations are iffy

For many of the searches, the AI’s perception of query intent shifted from week to week. This was especially true for definition-based searches like “What is PPC” and “What is SEO.” Google seemed to have a difficult time 1) understanding what I was searching for, and 2) surfacing results with the correct intent.

For example, “What is PPC” yielded results about pay per click but also about production planning and control and the public procurement commission. And this was a search done on my browser where I search for marketing-related content five days a week.

The results also included a mix of definition results from sites like Wikipedia and tips or strategies from industry sites. But, most of the results were in-depth guides around PPC.

What this means for you

The content that was consistently cited in AI Overviews was pretty in-depth, essentially providing a 101-level guide of the topic that included definitions, tips, strategies, tools, and examples. This shows the importance of comprehensive educational content for your areas of focus.

It also further proves the importance of optimizing for query fan-out. Query fan-out describes the process AI systems use to address questions and topics related to the initial query in the results. Optimizing for query fan-out can give you a better chance of appearing in AI results, especially when Google is a little confused about the intent.

Thought leadership is nowhere to be found

Google says it values original, well-written content—and this used to be the case. Thought leadership content from trusted brands previously ranked well in organic search, but we know that’s fallen off in recent years, and it was glaringly absent in AI Overviews.

In a way, this makes sense, as AI systems surface content they can easily verify or that at least conforms to consensus. And you can’t verify an opinion or a strong take on a subject.

In my (unverifiable) opinion (although I can find some other sources to back me up), this is going to lead to a bunch of lousy, repetitive slop filling search results. If the content being sourced is pretty beginner-friendly definition articles (i.e., What Is Keyword Research?), businesses aren’t going to put in the time and effort to create original thought leadership content that goes beyond the basic and can help readers think critically about what they’re doing—or why they’re doing it.

In other words, Google says you should create non-commodity content (and plenty of marketers are saying that too), but they’re not actually rewarding it.

What this means for you

Thought leadership content might not be what AI systems are looking for, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. It’s a strong fit for your social sites where you can start a conversation with your audience. And thought leadership content is still getting surfaced in other important channels like newsletters. (A recent thought leadership report we released got more traffic from marketing newsletters than organic search!)

Thought leadership isn’t dead—it just might not have a place in organic search like it once used to.

Free guide >> 10 Tangible & Free Ways to Get on the First Page of Google

What the lack of AI stability means for your strategy

What’s the bottom line here? Yes, AI results are unstable. Yes, it’s difficult to optimize for (and track) these results. No, you shouldn’t ignore optimizing for AI results as a strategy (completely).

The best generative engine optimization strategy is one that will also drive meaningful performance in channels that still contribute to your real business goals. In other words, don’t chase AI citations as an end goal in themselves.

The SEO and content strategies that make sense in an AIO world include:

• Focus on creating in-depth, helpful content for your audience addressing their most pressing questions and concerns.
• Make sure your content is structured so it’s easy to digest and organize by both humans and AI.
• Create a variety of content types including articles for your website or blog and video content for YouTube and social sites.
• Build brand awareness and increase brand authority to get more mentions across the web and in community sites.

That’s just the start. We cover more ways to optimize for GEO here. And you can always reach out if you’d like more help adapting your strategy for AI search.

About the experiment and the data

For this experiment, I solely looked at the websites listed in the sources section of Google AI Overviews. We chose these searches based on queries we found in our own Google Search Console dashboard as ways that people are finding WordStream by LocaliQ content. I conducted the same set of searches one time per week around the same time, starting on April 2, 2026, and ending on May 7, 2026, and recorded the first 10 results that appeared in the source section.

The post Should You Even Try to Optimize for AI Overviews? [Study] appeared first on WordStream.

In this article, I’ve taken care of all of the brainstorming and planning for you with a complete list of July awareness causes, themes, national days, and holidays. Plus, get over 30 creative ideas for incorporating them into your articles, posts, events, and promotions, along with real examples of these ideas in action.

Contents

• Marketing ideas for July holidays
• 4th of July marketing ideas
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion marketing ideas in July
• July national awareness causes and themes
• July national day highlights
• Full list of national days/holidays

Want marketing ideas for every month of the year? Download our free mega must-have marketing calendar!

July marketing ideas for month-long results

And now, it’s time to get down to (marketing your) business. We’ll start with July marketing ideas based on monthly awareness causes and then move to single-day observances. And don’t forget to check out these July content ideas, too!

National Independent Retailer Month

July is the designated month for celebrating independent retailers who, like all local businesses, help to build our economy, towns, and communities. Promote your own business if you are one, or show your support for independent retailers in your community.

National Anti-Boredom Month

After the July 4th festivities, the summer heat and structureless days can start to creep in with looming threats of boredom.

Here are some ideas to help your target audience avoid the dog days of summer:

• Host a gratifying month-long challenge around food, fitness, hydration, or something related to your business.
• Share your favorite summer spots and activities.
• Write a blog post compiling events going on in your area.
• Ask your followers for recommendations on books, places to go, DIY projects, etc.

Or, take a no-nonsense approach like this business did:

National Grilling Month

I tried to think of ways to put a creative twist on things to make it more widely applicable, but to no avail—unless you’re into grilling your customers for feedback…

But I did find some ideas on Facebook. This business ran a contest with a grilling-themed prize.

National UV Safety Month

The sun won’t run out of hydrogen for another 5 billion years, so consider it an evergreen topic. No matter what business you’re in, you can’t go wrong with posting UV safety tips.

Make your own image with a content marketing tool like Canva, or borrow an infographic from the CDC:

Everybody Deserves a Massage Week (third week in July)

If you are in any way connected to massages, whether that be a traditional massage studio, a physical therapist, or a salon, you should definitely be taking advantage of this week by running sales promotions.

If you’re not a spa or salon, partner up with a local provider to see if you can run a mutually beneficial deal.

Or take it a step further like these guys:

Christmas in July (varies)

According to my cursory research (aka Real Simple magazine), Christmas in July began in 1993 with a summer camp in Brevard, NC. And then somewhere along the line, businesses began using it as a marketing tool. Here are some ways you can follow suit.

Run deals and sales to get new customers coming in. In fact, repeat customers spend 25% more per transaction during the (real) holiday season, while a new customer spends only 17% more. So start building that repeat customer base now!

This photographer promoted family photo shoots, framed as a way to get your Christmas card photo taken care of early (and when you’ve got that summer look going). Depending on the weather, winter clothes may or may not be a good idea!

National Compliment Your Mirror Day (July 3)

National Compliment Your Mirror Day, observed on July 3, encourages people to feel positive about themselves—inside and out. If it fits with the tone of your brand and your audience, acknowledge it on social media.

You could even run an Instagram campaign where customers receive a percentage off products or services in exchange for posting a selfie and a custom hashtag.

  For more ideas to promote your business this July, download our free guide to The 30 Best Ways to Promote Your Business (With or Without Money!)

World Chocolate Day (July 7)

Anyone can get behind this holiday. Whether it’s with a candy counting contest, giving out Hershey’s Kisses to customers, or just posting a funny meme. Or, you could get some chocolatey USB drives made up with your logo on ’em!

Gruntled Workers Day (July 13)

So yes, gruntled is a word. It means pleased, satisfied, or content.

• Gather feedback from your employees to see if you can make any improvements to their experience. Happy employees make for happy customers (who write reviews).
• Write a thought leadership post on company culture building and highlight yours in the process.
• Remind your audience of your commitment to customer experience.

Give Something Away Day (July 15)

Rather than running an Instagram giveaway, consider hosting a charity fundraiser for Give Something Away Day. Consumers like doing business with people who share their values. Doing something for your community or a greater cause will engage your followers and make a positive impact.

Source

National Ice Cream Day (third Sunday in July)

I’m going to spare you the “I scream, you scream” and share a little history with you. Back in the day (1984), former President Ronald Reagan decided July was to be National Ice Cream Month and that the third Sunday in July would be National Ice Cream Day. Ice cream shops, you know this one well. For the non-frozen dairy-delighted, try out these ideas:

• Run an ice cream social: Use that frozen sugary goodness to lure customers into your store! In addition to offering free ice cream, provide special discounts on items or coupons with a purchase.
• Have an internal ice cream sundae party at your business and share on social media: the delicious masterpieces, the mess, the people indulging. Even better, purchase the ice cream from a local store and tag them in your posts.
• Offer free ice cream after a class or session: Get more signups for a workout or yoga class with the promise of a free ice cream afterward. (Organic ice cream for the yoga folks).
• Try getting creative with your content: We don’t always use ice cream cones to explain marketing concepts, but when we do…

Get to Know Your Customers Day (third Thursday)

You should already know your customers like the back of your hand, but you should also always be learning—especially with the shape-shifters we consumers have become due to the pandemic.

Get to Know Your Customers Day happens on the third Thursday of every quarter—a good reminder to stay on your toes and a good opportunity to strengthen your client relationships.

Share a survey via email or social media—something brief but meaningful enough to demonstrate that you value your customers and to be informative to you.

You could also take a lighter approach on social media. Ask more playful questions, like “would you rather,” “yea or nay,” “when was the last time you…” but keep the topics relevant so you can glean something from the answers.

National Parents’ Day (fourth Sunday in July)

With Mother’s and Father’s Day taking up all the wholesome limelight, Parents’ Day often gets neglected. Parents work tirelessly for their children, so honor the parents in your audience!

Source

Consider taking a more emotional approach with your brand on this day. Acknowledge the hard-working parents out there, but stay sensitive to the fact that not everyone has living parents, that not all parents are one item, and that there are many caretakers who are like a parent.

Fourth of July marketing ideas

But of course! It’s the biggest holiday of the summer. Here are some ways to incorporate 4th of July marketing ideas, slogans, promotions, and more into your monthly strategy:

• Holiday promotions: Offer a 17.76% discount, reduce an item price to $17.76, or use promo codes like FIREWORKS or FREEDOM. Create buy-one-get-one deals for appropriately-themed products. Or just run a sale simply because it’s a holiday—ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.
• Run a giveaway: Offer up a red, white, and blue-themed prize, barbeque supplies, a gift card, or even a survival kit like a lawn chair, bug spray, hand sanitizer, glowsticks, etc.
• Write a blog post on topics related to your business, through the lens of themes like freedom, independence, stars, stripes, and more. Or, if applicable to your business, write more practical posts like firecracker safety tips, tips for keeping your dog calm during fireworks, or travel tips. You can use this for your July newsletter, too.
• Get creative: Ditch the stock photography and get creative with your 4th of July social media posts.
• Send a greeting to your customers: Whether it’s through a card, email, social post, or text, send a little 4th of July message to your customers wishing them a safe and happy holiday.

Source

Diversity, equity, and inclusion marketing ideas in July

While it’s always a good idea to include diversity, equity, and inclusion marketing in your plans year-round, there are a few observances specifically in July that you won’t want to miss:

National Minority Mental Health Month

Minority Mental Health Month helps ensure that not only do people of color have access to adequate mental healthcare, but also that health professionals are culturally aware, empathetic, non-judgmental, and able to properly diagnose each patient who walks into their office.

Spread awareness using resources like BIPOC’s MMHM toolkit, or come up with an event of your own to support this inclusivity-related cause.

Source

Special Recreation for the Disabled Day (July 2)

Did you know over 15% of the world’s population lives with a disability? Historically, people with different abilities have had limited access to recreational activities. Special Recreation for the Disabled Day aims to change that by bringing awareness to the ways the world can be more inclusive for all.

To take part in this day, sponsor or volunteer at a local recreation center that’s accessible to folks with varying abilities. Alternatively, reminding your audience to help spread awareness and providing tips on how they can make a difference can be just as effective.

Source

Malala Day (July 12)

Malala Day celebrates the work of Malala Yousafzai, an international human rights activist and the world’s youngest Nobel prize winner. Malala is from Pakistan which is an area known to deprive women and young girls of education. Her stand on education for all ultimately led to her being shot by the Taliban. Despite this event, Malala courageously continued with the cause she believed in.

Her perseverance has inspired a worldwide movement for more accessible education across all corners of the world. Inspire your audience with Malala quotes, like those included in her memoir: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot. Another idea would be to celebrate the work of Malala and share how your business’s community is working towards better education accessibility for minorities.

Image source

National Buffalo Soldiers Day (July 28)

It’s important to seize every opportunity you can to celebrate diversity in your marketing. Acknowledge National Buffalo Soldiers Day on July 28 to commemorate some of the earliest Black troops in the US Military who served on the Western frontier after the Civil War.

July awareness causes

July holidays and national days

You can see a more complete list at the end of this post, but here is my curated mix of the serious, the sophisticated, and the downright silly:

Got any July marketing ideas? Run with them!

Not all of the July awareness causes and observances were covered in this post. There are far too many. But if you have any ideas of your own, feel free to add your own unique twist to help your business stand out this month! Plus, for more July marketing help, see how our solutions can help you maximize your campaigns every month of the year!

PS: Here’s our full series of monthly marketing ideas, plus a few more July marketing resources:

• Sparkling July Content Ideas for a Booming Month
• July Promotion Ideas to Launch Your Sales
• July Newsletter Ideas That Pop (With Examples!)
• July Social Media Holidays & Ideas to Jazz Up Results
• July Email Subject Lines for Booming ROI
• 4th of July Social Media Posts to Make Your Brand Sparkle & Shine
• Dazzling 4th of July Slogans for Explosive Marketing
• January Marketing Ideas to Start the New Year with a Bang
• Fabulous (and Affordable) February Marketing Ideas
• Creative and Cost-Friendly March Marketing Ideas
• Free April Marketing Ideas to Freshen Up Your Content Calendar
• May Marketing Ideas for Any Business or Budget
• Free June Marketing Ideas for Sizzlin’ Hot Campaigns
• Easy & Engaging August Marketing ideas (with Examples)
• Free and Creative September Marketing Ideas
• Free and Effective October Marketing Ideas
• Simple Yet Superb November Marketing Ideas (with Examples)
• Super-Festive December Marketing Ideas

And for a year’s worth of marketing ideas, check out this marketing calendar template from our friends at LocaliQ.

Full list of July holidays

As promised, here is a more complete list of July observances that may or may not apply to your business.

July 1

• Canada Day
• International Joke Day
• American Zoo Day
• National Postal Worker Day

July 2

• Made in the USA Day
• National Anisette Day
• National Disco Day
• World UFO Day

July 3

• National Eat Your Beans Day
• National Fried Clam Day

July 4

• Independence Day (Get 4th of July message ideas here)
• National Barbecued Spareribs Day
• National Hop-a-Park Day – first Saturday in July

July 5

• National Hawaii Day
• National Workaholics Day
• National Bikini Day
• National Graham Crackers Day

July 6

• International Kissing Day
• National Fried Chicken Day
• Virtually Hug a Virtual Assistant Day

July 7

• National Tell the Truth Day
• National Dive Bar Day
• National Father-Daughter Take a Walk Day
• National Strawberry Sundae Day

July 9

• Barn Day
• Fashion Day
• National Sugar Cookie Day

July 10

• National Kitten Day
• National Pina Colada Day

July 11

• National Cheer Up The Lonely Day
• All American Pet Photo Day
• National Mojito Day
• National 7-Eleven Day

July 12

• National Simplicity Day
• National Different Colored Eyes Day
• National Pecan Pie Day
• National Hair Creator’s Day

July 13

• National French Fry Day
• National Barbershop Music Appreciation Day
• National Beans and Franks Day
• Embrace Your Geekness Day

July 14

• National Pandemonium Day
• National Tape Measure Day
• National Nude Day

July 15

• National Give Something Away Day
• National I Love Horses Day
• National Pet Fire Safety Day

July 17

• National Lottery Day
• World Emoji Day

July 18

• National Caviar Day
• National Sour Candy Day

July 19

• National Football Day
• National Hot Dog Day
• National Words with Friends Day

July 20

• National Fortune Cookie Day
• National Lollipop Day

July 21

• National Junk Food Day
• National Be Someone Day

July 22

• National Hammock Day
• National Rat Catcher’s Day

July 23

• Gorgeous Grandma Day
• National Refreshment Day – fourth Thursday in July

July 24

• National Drive-Thru Day
• National Cousins Day
• National Amelia Earhart Day

July 25

• National Hire a Veteran Day
• National Wine and Cheese Day
• National Day of the Cowboy – fourth Saturday in July

July 26

• National Aunt and Uncle’s Day
• National Bagelfest Day
• National Disability Independence Day
• National All or Nothing Day
• National Parent’s Day – fourth Sunday in July

July 27

• National Love is Kind Day

July 28

• Buffalo Soldiers Day
• National Waterpark Day

July 29

• International Tiger Day
• National Chicken Wing Day
• National Lasagna Day
• National Lipstick Day

July 30

• National Father-in-Law Day
• National Whistleblower Day
• National Support Public Education Day
• International Day of Friendship
• National Intern Day – last Thursday in July

July 31

• National Mutt Day
• Harry Potter’s Birthday
• International Lifeguard Appreciation Day
• National Avocado Day
• Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day
• World Ranger Day
• National Talk in an Elevator Day – last Friday in July
• National System Administrator Appreciation Day – last Friday in July
• National Get Gnarly Day – last Friday in July

The post 36 Free & Creative July Marketing Ideas (+Examples) appeared first on WordStream.

Contents

• Why advertise on Facebook?
• Facebook ad account overview
• How to advertise on Facebook in 8 steps
• Facebook advertising tips
• Facebook ad FAQs

Why advertise on Facebook?

If you’re reading this post, chances are you’ve already made up your mind as to whether you should advertise on Facebook. But in case you’re still on the fence, here are some reasons:

• Build brand awareness. Unlike Google Ads, which are all text, Facebook ads allow you to use images and video, which can support your branding. And while purchase intent is not as high on Facebook as on Google, imagery gives you the power to stand out in users’ feeds through emotional marketing.
• Cost-effective. Because Facebook ads offer such specific targeting, you can rest assured that you’re making the most of your ad budget.
• Versatility. Between the wide range of ad formats and the different objectives available, you can use Facebook ads to target users at every stage of your marketing funnel.
• Gain audience insights. People spend a lot of time on Facebook and use it for a number of reasons in their day-to-day lives. The data you collect through Facebook ads provides invaluable customer insights you can use to inform your strategy elsewhere.

And if that’s not enough, here are some numbers for ya:

• Nearly 90% of businesses use Facebook advertising.
• The average Facebook user clicks on 11 ads per month.
• Facebook ads have the lowest average cost per click of all social media advertising platforms.
• The average CPC in Facebook ads is $1.92 for lead campaigns and $0.70 for traffic campaigns. That’s significantly lower than the overall average CPC in Google and Microsoft Ads, which is $5.42, making advertising on Meta the perfect strategy to complement your search campaigns.

Already running Facebook Ads? Optimize your campaigns fast using our Free Facebook Ads Grader!

Facebook ad account overview

When you run Google Ads, you set up a Google Ads account and then off you go, but with the Meta Business Suite, there are several different properties involved. If you’re new to Facebook advertising or Meta Business Suite in general, you’re highly susceptible to falling into a black hole of confusion surrounding which accounts you need.

Here’s the breakdown (and don’t worry, I’m going to walk you through setting up all of these):

• Meta Business Suite (formerly Facebook Business Suite) is the umbrella account that encompasses everything. It’s a free account where you can manage your Facebook and Instagram pages in one place. You can create and schedule posts, reply to messages, get insights and notifications, and more.
  • Business Manager is now one and the same as Business Suite. It used to be the backend where you manage permissions, payments, pixels, and more things that don’t begin with a P. All of these functions are now part of Meta Business Suite, but if you really want to perform them outside of the old Business Manager interface, you can click the help button and select Switch to Business Manager.
• Ads Manager. This is where your ad account(s) live. If you’re an agency, you will have multiple ad accounts in one Ads Manager account. If you’re the only one managing your properties, you don’t need a Meta Business Suites/Business Manager account to use Ads Manager, but it is recommended (and it’s free, so it can’t hurt).
• Ad account. This is what you create within Ads Manager. You should only have one ad account per business (or per Facebook business Page)
• Facebook Page. You need a Facebook Page in order to advertise on Facebook, but you don’t need to be advertising on Facebook in order to create a Page. In fact, this is a staple in any organic social media marketing strategy. You can create a page entirely separate from all of the above, right from your Facebook profile. Or you can create one out of Business Suite.
• Ad campaign. This is where you choose an objective. You can (and should) have multiple campaign types within one ad account.
• Ad set. This is where you determine your ad budget/bidding, schedule, and audience targeting, such as by demographics, interests, age, and more. You can have multiple ad sets in one campaign.
• Ad. This is your actual copy and creative. You’ll want to have at least two ads per ad set. We’ll talk more about Facebook ad account structure later on.

How to advertise on Facebook

Alright, now that we have the visual map to an actual Facebook ad, grab your charger and buckle up because it’s time for us to hit the road. Here are the steps that we’ll be covering:

1. Create a Business Suite account
2. Connect or create your Facebook Page
3. Create your ad account
4. Add the pixel to your website
5. Create your Facebook ad campaign
6. Create your Facebook ad set
7. Create your ad
8. Publish

1. Create a Business Suite account

To create an account, go to business.facebook.com and click create new account. 

You’ll be asked to add your business name, your name, and then your business email. Upon confirming your email, your account will be set up.

Here is where you’ll be brought to the Meta Business Suite interface.

2. Connect or create your Facebook Page

Head down to the bottom left and click on Settings.

From there, click the second gear you see, or you might see a prompt to go to Business Settings. Both take you to the same place.

You need a Facebook Page in order to advertise. On the left window, select Pages and then click Add. Here you can either add an existing Page, create a new Page, or request access to a Page (such as if you’re running ads for another business).

While you can supply the bare minimum just to get your page created, it’s best to build it out fully before you start advertising since users can navigate to your Page from your ad.

3. Create your ad account

Okay, now navigate back to Ad accounts in that left-hand pane. You’ll see an option on the right to create a new ad account.

Provide your Ad account name, time zone, and currency, then click Next. Facebook will then ask you whether the ad account is going to be used to manage ads for the business account through which you’ve created this ad account or for another business or client.

Next, you’ll be asked to add people and permissions. Select your name and give yourself full control over everything.

Click Assign and then click Add Payment Info. Now you have an ad account set up.

4. Add the Meta pixel to your site (and set up the Meta Conversions API)

You don’t have to do this step now, but you’re going to have to do it eventually, so you may as well get it over with! The pixel is a little snippet of code that will tell you what your ad viewers do once they land on your website. Insights from the pixel help you to further optimize your ads as well as create Facebook retargeting audiences that tend to perform well.

For a strong first-party data strategy in Meta, you’ll also want to set up the Facebook Conversions API as well, as this is the best way to get the most complete picture of your data possible.

To set up the Meta pixel, go to Data Sources, select Pixels, and on the right, click Add.

Facebook will ask you whether you want to install it manually or use a partner integration.

The partner integration methods are designed to make the process easier without using code, so I’d encourage you to go that route first. Current partners include:

• WordPress
• WooCommerce
• Tealium
• Shopify
• Makeshop
• Magento
• Google Tag Manager
• Conversions API Gateway
• Cafe24
• Zapier
• Segment

Set up your web events

As part of the pixel setup process, you’ll have to verify your domain and configure your web events.

 For more intel on how to advertise on Facebook, check out our free guide to the most effective strategies for Facebook ads success!

5. Create your Facebook ad campaign

Now, click the hamburger menu at the top left (All tools) and select Ads Manager.

On the left, select “Create.”

Choose your campaign objective

Facebook offers six ad objectives: awareness, traffic, engagement, leads, app promotion, and sales.

In terms of which objective to choose, it will depend on what your offer is and who you’re targeting. Ultimately, you want to have a full-funnel Facebook ad strategy where you create different campaigns for each stage of your funnel.

Campaign settings

Next, depending on the objective you choose, you may be prompted to choose your setup type. You can either go for an automated, “recommended settings” route or a manual setup route. We break down all the differences between the two Facebook ad setup options here.

Facebook ad campaigns built using recommended settings rely on the Meta Advantage+ suite, which is a set of AI-powered ad functions that behave similarly to Smart campaigns in Google Ads.

There is no right or wrong answer here, as you might want to try an Advantage+ campaign if you’re not sure where to start. Or, Advantage+ can be helpful if you’re tight on bandwidth and can’t optimize and manage your campaigns to the fullest capacity.

On the opposite end, you may want more manual control over specific settings, placements, and audiences, as you test and scale your strategy. It all comes down to you and your team’s preferences and goals, so don’t be afraid to try both to see what works best.

If you opt for manual setup, you’ll see a panel of options like this:

• Campaign name: Use whatever you want, as long as it makes sense to you.
• Campaign details: Here you can change your objective if you need to. Under “Show more options,” you can also set a campaign spending limit.
• Advantage+ Campaign Budget: With this setting turned on, instead of choosing your budget separately for each ad set within a campaign, Meta Advantage+ machine learning will decide which ad sets should receive a higher percentage of the spend based on performance.
• A/B test: Where you can split your campaigns into ad experiments.
• Special Ad Categories: If you fall into any of those special categories, declare that here so you can take care of any further documentation you may need to provide, depending on Facebook advertising policies.

6. Create your Facebook ad set

Now we’re in the ad set stage. There are more features and settings here, too, but here’s what matters.

• Performance goal: Choosing a performance goal helps Meta’s algorithms know how to best serve your ad according to your desired results. This may look different for different objectives.
• Cost per result goal: If you’re familiar with search ads, think of this like a maximum CPC bid target. You’re telling Meta your desired cost per result to help it deliver your ads according to your budget goals. However, know that way over- or under-shooting here could throw off the algorithm.

• Frequency control: Depending on your campaign setup, you could set a cap or target for the number of times a user sees your ad.
• Delivery. Under “more options,” you may be able to edit your ad set’s delivery settings depending on your overall campaign settings. This is where you tell the algorithm what you see as success for your ad set so that Facebook can further refine who it shows your ads to.

• Meta Advantage+ Creative. Where you can opt in to having Facebook create, mix, and match your ad assets (images, videos, headlines, and descriptions).

Scrolling further, there are a few more settings to set at the ad set level that you’ll have to select before moving on. Again, the options here will vary depending on your campaign objective, but here is a quick guide on how to choose:

Budget and schedule

Here is where, depending on your campaign type, you might get an option to choose a daily budget or a lifetime budget. You can learn about daily vs. lifetime budgets here, but in general:

Choose daily budgets when:

• Your campaign will be evergreen
• You want to maximize strong performance
• You expect to change your budget regularly

Choose lifetime budgets when:

• You need to run your ads on a schedule
• Your campaign has a set budget and end date

If you go with a daily budget, it’s best to start with something like $5-10 a day. If you set it too low, your ad may not compete as well, meaning it will show less and not collect enough data for Facebook to further optimize for the best results. More on that in this list of Facebook advertising mistakes.

Depending on your settings, you might also get the option here to set up your ad scheduling, which is fairly easy on Facebook. You can tell Facebook to only run your ads when it makes sense for your business (such as only during your operating hours) or audience (such as only running your breakfast cafe ads in the morning).

Audience controls

In this step, you select exactly who you want to reach with your Facebook ad, which you can define based on:

• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Interests and behaviors

You can check out our full guide to Facebook ad targeting, but here’s a quick crash course:

Though it has taken a bit of a hit due to privacy changes, Facebook’s targeting is still among the most powerful out there since users provide such detailed information about themselves on this platform—their age, marital status, job, interests, and more. There are four types of audiences you can target in Facebook ads.

• Core audiences: target users based on their demographics, interests, and behaviors.
• Custom audiences: target and retarget customers and leads. These are pixel-based.
• Lookalike audiences: target people similar to your existing customers and leads.
• Advantage+ audiences: target people who fit your chosen “audience themes” using AI.

• For detailed targeting, you can create rules so that the ad targets users with one OR another, or one AND another interest. Either way, it’s best to stick to just one or two interests or demographics per ad set. Otherwise, you won’t know what audiences are working for you. If you have more interests to target, you can always create new ad sets.
• On the right, Audience definition will tell you how large or small your audience will be based on the criteria chosen, and Estimated daily results will tell you how many people you’re estimated to reach based on your daily spend. Keep in mind that these are just estimates and aren’t always 100% reliable, so take them with a grain of salt.

Choose your placements

Now you’ll choose your placements. Placements refer to where your Facebook ad will appear on the Facebook network. Between mobile and desktop, Instagram and Facebook, there are a number of placements to choose from.

You’ll have three options here: automatic, manual, or Advantage+ placements. You may be tempted to manually choose which placements you want, but if you’re just starting out, it’s best to leave it on the default, automatic placements, or choose Advantage+, and let your ad show on every possible placement to start. Then, after a week or two, you can look at which placements are performing best, switch to manual, and optimize your placements from there.

7. Create your ad

Now the fun part—creating your ad! The possibilities here are endless, but if you need a little inspiration, check out these Facebook ad examples.

Create your ad creative

The creative refers to the visual part of your ad, and this should be the focal point of the ad. Facebook supports three ad formats: single image and video ads, carousel ads, and collection ads, and you have three creation options: use an existing post, a Creative hub mockup, or upload your own design.

The choice is entirely yours, and there are all kinds of free tools to design Facebook ads.

Facebook video ad templates in Canva.

Write your copy

Next, it’s time for your ad copy, which consists of:

• Primary text: above the ad creative; only the first 125 characters show.
• Headline: just below the creative, 40 characters or less.
• Description: just below the headline, 30 characters or less.

Try regularly switching up your ad copy, so you’ll be able to see which appeal resonates best with your audience.

Choose your call to action

Once you enter your ad copy, enter your website URL, and choose the call to action that makes the most sense for your offer. You can always A/B test this later!

Confirm your tracking

Last but definitely not least, make sure your website event tracking is set up (if you skipped it earlier). You’ll have the option to set up app and offline events if applicable, as well as set a unique URL parameter so you can identify visitors to your website from this ad.

8. Publish!

That green button on the bottom right of your screen has never looked so beautiful. Once you hit publish, an algorithm (and sometimes a person) will review for any Meta Ad disapprovals, so your ad can take 24 hours (sometimes more) to get approved.

Once it’s up and running, your ad will go through a learning period during which Facebook will gather the performance data it needs to optimize who it delivers the ad to and when.

To recap, here is how to run Facebook ads:

• Create a Business Suite account
• Connect or create your Facebook Page
• Create your ad account
  • Add the pixel to your website
  • Set up your web events
• Set up the pixel
  • Verify your domain
  • Configure your web events
• Create your Facebook ad campaign
  • Choose your campaign objective
  • Campaign settings
• Create your Facebook ad set
  • Budget & schedule
  • Audience
  • Choose your placements
• Create your ad
  • Create your ad creative
  • Write your copy
• Hit publish

Quick tips to advertise on Facebook

Now that you’ve got the steps to run ads on Meta, here are some Facebook advertising tips to help you get started.

1. Rake in leads with Facebook lead ads

Facebook lead ads were created to help advertisers convert prospective customers into leads right from the Meta platform. Lead forms are great for collecting names and job titles, phone numbers, addresses, demographics—pretty much any information that can be used to market (or remarket) your products.

Regardless of your product or service offerings, Facebook lead ads can be a hit. Be sure to try out this ad type when building out your strategy, especially since the form options are so customizable.

2. Don’t sweat a small budget

Running a successful, optimized Facebook campaign is less about having a huge budget than about maximizing the one at your disposal. Don’t let a limited budget stop you from taking advantage of the powerful Meta Ads platform. I covered earlier how the cost of Facebook ads is relatively cheap compared to other channels, and to stretch your budget further, you can spend time perfecting the campaigns you can afford to have so that your ads make the most impact possible.

3. Create relevant Facebook Ads

All types of social ads need to be extremely timely, since social media trends shift fast. Follow accounts relevant to your business to see what types of Meta ad content might be most interesting to your audience during your campaign’s timeframe. You could even check out the Facebook ads library or look into influencer partnerships to source inspiration for ads that are relevant to your audience.

4. Match your competitors

To help you actually compete in Facebook ads, our much-celebrated Facebook Ad Benchmarks can help you see how you stack up to others in your industry. For example, you might adjust your bidding and budget approach depending on how the average Meta Ads CPCs in your industry are pacing against your current performance.

Whatever your industry—you can leverage this data to see how your Facebook ad performance stacks up to your competitors.

How to run Facebook ads: FAQs

Let’s close out with some answers to frequently asked questions so you can truly compete in Facebook ads.

Want help running Facebook ads? Check out our digital marketing solutions!

How does the Facebook ad auction work?

The Facebook ad auction works differently from the Google Ads auction. The key factors involved in determining who wins the Facebook Ads auction include:

• Your bid
• Your ad quality and relevance
• Your estimated action rates

These qualities ultimately determine your Facebook cost per click, which goes a long way in determining Facebook metrics that are tied more closely to revenue, like cost per action and cost per lead.

In order to make your ads as relevant as possible, make sure your audience is meticulously crafted, your Facebook ad creative and messaging resonate with said audience, and you’re rotating new ads in and out of your campaign periodically.

How much do Facebook ads cost?

Depending on industry, campaign objective, and other factors, the average Facebook cost per click can range anywhere from a quarter to $5. For a deeper dive, refer to our post on Facebook ad costs.

Use our free Facebook Ads Grader to make sure you’re not wasting any spend in your account.

How does Facebook remarketing work?

Facebook remarketing (or retargeting) allows you to advertise to users who have already engaged with your business, such as on your website, app, Facebook Page, other Facebook ads, or even offline. You can upload lists of leads or customers to target, or the pixel and Conversions API can also help identify these users. You can even layer audiences by combining retargeting with detailed targeting.

However, as pixel data is less reliable due to privacy, retargeting users based on their engagement with your business on Facebook itself is the way to go.

How should I structure my account?

For effective Facebook advertising, your Meta Ads account structure should resemble a typical marketing funnel, with upper-funnel campaigns devoted to prospecting, mid-funnel campaigns devoted to Facebook lookalike audiences and other audiences with mid-tier granularity, and lower-funnel campaigns devoted to highly refined Facebook remarketing audiences.

If you have the volume, you can also add broader Facebook lookalike audiences to your upper-funnel ad sets. And don’t forget to adjust your campaign objective based on the goal of each campaign. Your upper funnel campaigns should be geared toward driving awareness, getting clicks, and swelling your remarketing audiences, while your mid-and-lower-funnel audiences should be geared toward conversions (purchases, form fills, etc.). Head here for more Facebook ad optimization tips.

Why aren’t my Facebook ads working?

Running into the snafu in which your Facebook ads can happen to anybody. Some reasons your Facebook ads might not be working:

1. Your campaign objective doesn’t match your goals.
2. Your targeting is too broad.
3. You’re lacking a message match.
4. Your ad creative is bland.

If your Facebook ads aren’t working for one of these reasons, don’t panic. Use the tips and resources in this article you will be back up and running in no time.

Start running Meta Ads today

Well, there you have it! I’ve run through everything you need to know about how to advertise on Facebook. Don’t be afraid to take the leap to building your next Meta campaign and experience some trial and error along the way. It’s all part of the process! For more ways to maximize your social advertising campaigns, see how our solutions can help!

The post How to Advertise on Facebook: Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on WordStream.

“Broad match is terrible!”

“AI Max is dumb!”

“You have to use AI Max now!”

“Broad match or bust, baby!”

In this article, I’ll break down how broad match and AI Max are similar, what’s different, and how to choose the right features for your Search campaigns.

Contents

• The similarities: Why AI Max and broad match can feel like the “same thing”
• The key differences: What sets AI Max and broad match apart
• AI Max vs. broad match: Which works best?

The similarities: Why AI Max and broad match can feel like the “same thing”

Both broad match and AI Max are automated search targeting solutions that require you to use Smart Bidding. Both are designed to help you expand your reach and find novel queries that you wouldn’t capture with exact match or even phrase match keywords. They use a whole variety of signals like your landing page, your ad creative, other keywords in the ad group, and more to determine which ad auctions to enter, and–in combination with your bid strategy–how much to bid.

Because they are powered by AI, broad match and AI Max need data to learn. That means on day one of using either, you will check your search terms report and see a whole host of generic, irrelevant, or seemingly “stupid” searches. The more conversion data you can feed your Search campaign, the faster it will learn which queries and users are likely to be valuable for you, and which are not.

Contrary to popular belief, there’s no set timeframe for this learning. If your campaign gets 50 conversions a day, then it will learn what it needs to know within a day or two–and of course, continue learning after that as auction dynamics evolve. If your campaign gets five conversions a month, you will probably get fed up and turn off your campaign before it gets enough data to learn.

While broad match and AI Max both cast the widest net in terms of query eligibility, they respect your negative keywords. Still, keyword optimization can be tricky as 50-80% of your search terms are likely to fall under hidden “Other search terms,” so think carefully before applying negatives; they could have unintended consequences.

Want to know how your Google Ads campaigns are doing right now? Find out with a free, instant audit >> Google Ads Performance Grader

The key differences: What sets AI Max and broad match apart

While the “keywordless” part of broad match and AI Max is similar, everything else about them is different.

Broad match is a specific keyword match type that tells Google to find queries related to your keyword. AI Max for Search Campaigns is a suite of automation features that includes keywordless targeting, but also optional text customization, final URL expansion, brand settings, and location intent targeting.

Let’s explore these optional AI Max for Search features one by one.

Text customization

When you turn text customization on with keywordless targeting, Google’s AI can dynamically generate headlines and descriptions for you. While it can still use the 15 headlines and four descriptions from your Responsive Search Ads, I’ve seen text customization generate dozens of different headlines for my clients. Some may be very similar to or even the same as your existing headlines, while others can be…shall we say, a little out of left field.

The newly launched “AI Brief” feature, along with the highly anticipated “text disclaimers” option, should help text customization get better over time.

Source

Final URL expansion

Performance Max (PMax) and AI Max both have the option to turn on final URL expansion, so that Google can send users to any relevant page on your site, not just your designated final URL.

In AI Max for Search (and now AI Max for Shopping as well), you must have text customization turned on in order to use final URL expansion.

Unlike in PMax, though, AI Max offers detailed landing page reporting so you’ll know exactly where final URL expansion sent your paid traffic, and how it performed (or didn’t).

Brand settings

Brand inclusions and exclusions used to be compatible with broad match, but now they have been “upgraded” to AI Max. That means you must be using AI Max keywordless targeting in order to leverage brand settings.

As a quick refresh:

• Brand inclusion means you only want to advertise on searches that have to do with specific brands, whether they are your brands or competitor brands. This is designed as a substitute for using brand and/or competitor exact match keywords.
• Brand exclusion means you don’t want to advertise on searches that have to do with specific brands, whether they are your brands or competitor brands. This is designed as a substitute for using brand and/or competitor negative keywords.
• Unbranded only is a hot-off-the-presses feature that will prevent your ads from showing on any branded searches. Importantly, you don’t need to provide a brand list to use this setting, as you would with brand inclusion or brand exclusion; AI Max uses its semantic understanding of queries to automatically categorize (and exclude) any type of branded search from your campaign.

As with all AI-powered features, I’ve found that brand settings work best with more established brands/competitors and larger budgets.

Location intent targeting

AI Max introduced a new feature where you can set location intent at the ad group level. For example, let’s say you want to reach Americans looking for a hotel in Toronto. You would set your campaign location targeting settings to the United States, and your ad group intent settings to Toronto. Then, your keywords could simply be hotel or 5-star hotels, and the AI would match those ads with users expressing interest in Toronto hotels, specifically.

So if the user search for hotels in kensington market or skydome hotel, AI-powered location intent would understand that kensington market and skydome are both Toronto-specific locations.

Free guide download >> PPC 101: Complete Guide to Google Ads

Enhanced search term reporting

Last but not least: With broad match, you cannot see which specific Responsive Search Ad headline served alongside a search query. With AI Max, the enhanced search terms report will show you the exact search term, the specific headline(s) that served with it, and the landing page the user was directed to. Be sure to keep a close eye on this level of detail for the first few weeks of using AI Max, to ensure you don’t see any unintended behavior from Google’s AI.

AI Max vs. broad match: Which should you use?

Given the suite of AI Max-exclusive features like Brand settings, text customization, and AI Brief, I have recently changed my recommendation. I now recommend using AI Max instead of broad match keywords.

Broader query targeting is more likely to convert when paired with customized text and, if needed, a customized landing page; AI Max is better suited to achieve this than broad match, especially in new AI-first formats like Ads in AI Overviews and Ads in AI Mode.

Capability	Broad match	AI Max
Runs in Search campaigns
Uses Smart Bidding
Expands reach beyond exact keyword wording
Matches based on search intent
Works with negative keywords
Aims to drive more conversions
Requires keywords as primary targeting method		Optional—can also use keywordless signals
Discovers searches beyond provided keywords	Limited to keyword intent expansion	More aggressively uses AI to discover new queries
“Keywordless” targeting	Targets keywords beyond what’s input but base keywords are still needed
Uses landing page content as a targeting signal
Uses website content to find new opportunities
Automatically customizes ad copy
Automatically selects the most relevant landing page
Final URL Expansion
Text customization/generative AI assets
Additional AI-driven query matching controls
Locations of Interest controls
Higher level of automation	Moderate	High
Greater advertiser control		Lower due to automation
Best for advertisers wanting tighter control
Best for advertisers seeking maximum reach and discovery	Somewhat

If you’ve been using broad match keywords for some time and your Search campaigns are performing well, now is the time to test AI Max. There may be some queries that you can’t reach because you don’t have the right assets/landing page, and AI Max’s text customization + final URL expansion can fix that.

If you’re currently using phrase match keywords, your impression share is 50% or more, you’re happy with performance, and you’re looking to scale, I would feel comfortable skipping broad match and going straight to AI Max.

But if you’re in a similar scenario with exact match keywords, I recommend adding a single broad match keyword into your ad group(s) first, giving that 1-2 conversion cycles and evaluating results before either moving up to AI Max, or moving back to exact match.

A refresher on keyword match types.

When you test AI Max, I recommend turning it on within an existing campaign rather than starting a new one. Remember, AI needs data to learn, and AI Max needs a lot of data. Let it learn from an already-established campaign rather than starting from scratch.

And if your keyword-targeted Search campaign is not meeting your performance goals, please do not turn on AI Max to “try to fix it!” AI is an amplifier, not a problem solver. A campaign that’s performing well has a good foundation to grow from with AI Max, while a campaign that’s not performing well will probably perform even worse with AI Max. Fix the root cause of your performance issue first, before you consider testing AI Max.

Of course, neither AI Max nor broad match can achieve your desired results without the right bid strategy and conversion tracking. If you cannot supply Google with the necessary data it needs (such as offline conversion tracking for lead generation), you will not get the results you need.

Want to learn how AI can supercharge your ads strategy? Free guide >> 9 Powerful Ways to Use AI in Google & Facebook Ads

AI Max vs. broad match: Are they actually different?

Yes, broad match and AI Max are different. While they share similar query targeting capabilities, broad match is a Search keyword match type, while AI Max is a full suite of AI-powered features for Search and Shopping campaigns.

In addition to keywordless targeting, AI Max for Search offers text customization with AI briefing, final URL expansion, brand settings, location intent targeting, enhanced search term reporting, and text disclaimers. The new AI Max for Shopping will offer text customization, final URL expansion, and format selection alongside your Standard Shopping campaign features.

The post AI Max vs. Broad Match: Which Works Best? appeared first on WordStream.

A common pitfall is landing pages full of polished language that reads well but doesn’t actually make it easy and automatic for the visitor to take action.

Effective landing page copy goes beyond the marketing buzz and does something simpler. It helps someone quickly understand what the offer is, whether it is relevant to them, and what the next step will be. When those things are clear, conversion becomes much easier.

In this guide, we’ll explain the non-negotiable characteristics of high-converting landing page copy, how to write it, and give you a simple audit to make sure your landing pages are built to keep those leads and customers coming.

Contents

• What makes landing page copywriting effective?
• How to write high-converting landing page copy
• How to audit your landing page copy
• Landing page copywriting template

What makes landing page copywriting effective?

Effective landing page copy supports a decision. A visitor comes to you with a certain level of intent and limited attention, and the page needs to help them evaluate whether your offer is worth pursuing (and do it quickly!).

Strong landing page copy shares several traits: The value of the offer becomes clear early on, the language focuses on outcomes the visitor cares about, and the structure makes the page easy to scan (skimability).

Effective landing page copy reflects visitor intent

Landing pages appear at different points of the marketing funnel. Someone reading an educational article may still be exploring a problem, while someone clicking an ad for a demo or free trial is often much closer to making a decision.

Copy that performs well reflects that difference. High-intent visitors usually want practical details such as how the solution works, what it requires of them, and what they can expect after signing up. When the page spends too much time on broad messaging and empty promises, it can feel unfocused and vague.

Want to turn more visitors into customers? Get 14 Super-Fast Ways to Boost Conversions

Effective copy communicates value quickly

Most visitors scan a landing page before they read it closely. If the headline and opening section do not clarify the offer, many users will leave. Strong landing pages make the value easy to understand. The headline shows what the product or service is about, and the surrounding text explains why that might matter to the visitor.

Clear, straightforward writing helps. Pages written at a 5th-to-7th-grade reading level (simple language) converted at a median rate of over 11%. That is 56% higher than pages written at an 8th- to 9th-grade level and more than double the conversion rate of professional-level writing.

Simpler words perform better because they reduce the effort needed to understand an offer.

Effective copy reduces friction

High-converting pages remove obstacles that slow down the decision process. Sometimes this means clarifying how something works. Other times, it means addressing practical concerns such as pricing transparency, onboarding time, or support availability.

Small details placed in the right part of the page can build more confidence than long explanations.

Every great landing page starts with a compelling value proposition. Download How to Create a Unique Value Proposition From the Ground Up

How to write landing page copy that converts

Strong landing page copy helps visitors quickly understand the offer and decide what to do next. There are a few practical ways to improve clarity, reduce friction, capture the reader’s focus, and make your landing pages unmistakably compelling.

1. Start with one clear goal for the page

Landing pages work best when they are built around a single objective. The goal might be to start a free trial, subscribe to a newsletter, request a quote, or complete a purchase. Whatever the action is, the copy should always support it.

One message, one goal…that’s the key to highly focused landing page copy.

When a page tries to serve several goals, the messaging becomes mixed. Visitors run into competing calls to action or sections that feel only loosely related to the decision they are being asked to make. Defining the goal first makes the writing process easier. The headline, supporting sections, and call to action can (and should) all align around the same outcome.

2. Lead with a value-focused headline

The headline carries much of the weight on a landing page. It’s usually the first thing visitors notice, and it often determines whether they continue reading or bounce.

This is the time to focus on the real value of your offer. You want every visitor to instantly feel the benefit they’ll get.

More “focused, fit, and confident” is what you’ll get when you sign up.

This doesn’t mean that your brand tone should be avoided—definitely not—but it should never interfere with what you’re trying to say. Clarity always performs better. When the headline communicates the core benefit or outcome of the offer, the page becomes easier to navigate. Specific language gives readers a reason to keep reading.

3. Answer the visitor’s questions

Landing pages are sometimes written like condensed homepages. The copy includes mission statements, brand positioning, or internal descriptions of the company. While those elements have their place, they often distract from the task a landing page is meant to accomplish.

Visitors arrive with practical questions. They want to understand if your offer fits their situation and, if it does, how to get it. Copy that addresses those questions directly feels more useful.

For example, someone considering a software demo might want to know how long it takes, what features will be covered, or whether preparation is required. Clear answers to questions like these can move the decision forward more effectively.

4. Use specifics to build trust

Trust matters in conversion, but the way trust is communicated matters more. Unclear assurances rarely carry the same weight as concrete information.

Specific details help visitors evaluate if an offer is actually credible. This might include customer outcomes, the number of clients served, turnaround times, or a clear explanation of the process someone can expect after signing up.

Specific details, like your number of customers, build trust quickly.

When these details appear naturally on the page, they create transparency and reduce uncertainty.

5. Be careful with reassurance on high-intent pages

Reassurance is common in marketing copy. Statements about customer support, quality, or commitment to success appear frequently across landing pages (even when they’re simply not true).

These messages can help when visitors are encountering a brand for the first time. On high-intent pages, however, excessive reassurance can introduce doubt. If the page repeatedly emphasizes trust or ease, visitors may begin to wonder why that reassurance is necessary.

Pages that perform well in these moments rely more on clarity. Clear explanations of what happens next, what the user receives, and how the process works often provide stronger signals of confidence.

6. Make your call to action easy to understand

The call to action is where the landing page leads. The language around it should make the next step feel straightforward. General buttons like “Submit” or “Learn More” might be okay sometimes, but they leave room for interpretation. Visitors might think twice because they’re unsure what will happen next.

More descriptive language can reduce that hesitation. If the action is to schedule a demo, start a free trial, or receive a quote, the call-to-action text should reflect that outcome. Supporting copy nearby can also clarify what happens after the click.

Even small wording changes can have measurable effects. In one experiment, a landing page replaced the call-to-action phrase “Request a demo” with “Watch a demo.” The new wording increased conversions by 139%, mainly because it reduced the friction of scheduling a future meeting and instead offered immediate access.

7. Write for readers who scan

Even strong copy loses impact if visitors cannot easily navigate the page. Attention spans are limited. People tend to skim digital content when evaluating options.

Clear structure and concise copy help important points stand out. Subheadings guide the reader through the page, short paragraphs keep sections approachable, and supporting elements make key details easier to find.

How to audit landing page copy in 10 minutes

Improving landing page copy doesn’t always require a full rewrite. A short review can often reveal where clarity or confidence could be improved. Use these steps and the checklist to keep your landing page copy converting more sales.

Give it a fresh look

One helpful approach is to imagine you’re seeing the page for the first time. Open the page in a new tab and scroll through it once. Pay attention to what stands out immediately and what remains unclear. The goal of the audit is not to critique the design but to determine whether the copy makes the decision easier.

Start with the headline and opening section. Within a few seconds, you should understand what the offer is and why it might matter. If the headline relies on vague language or abstract messaging, consider whether a more direct description of the offer would help.

Double-check the structure

Next, review the page structure. As you scroll, look for sections that repeat the same idea or introduce unrelated messaging. Landing pages often become cluttered as different teams (with different KPIs) add more information over time. Simplifying these sections can make the page easier to process.

Apply these questions to your landing page copy

After giving the page a fresh look and you’ve checked the structure, apply this list of questions to the copy itself:

1. Is the offer clear within the first few seconds?
2. Does the headline communicate the value of the page?
3. Is there a single action the visitor is encouraged to take?
4. Does the copy match the intent of someone arriving here?
5. Are vague claims replacing useful details?
6. Does reassurance language introduce hesitation?
7. Is the call to action clear about what happens next?
8. Can the page be understood quickly while scanning?
9. Are common questions addressed directly in the copy?
10. Does the page communicate confidence in the offer?

As you go through this checklist, look for small edits that improve clarity. A headline might benefit from a more specific description, a call to action might need clearer wording, or a paragraph might be simplified to make the message easier to scan.

Running this quick review on an existing landing page often reveals straightforward opportunities to strengthen the copy without redesigning the page.

Landing page copywriting template

Here’s a landing page copywriting template with tips on writing the core components.

Level-up your landing page copywriting

High-converting landing page copy rarely relies on clever wording or heavy persuasion. It works because the page communicates clearly, answers practical questions, and helps visitors feel comfortable taking the next step.

When the offer is easy to understand, and the next step feels predictable, conversion becomes far more likely. Small improvements—clarifying a headline, adding a specific detail, or simplifying a call to action—can have a huge impact on how your page performs.

The post Landing Page Copywriting: How to Write Copy That Converts appeared first on WordStream.

Customers no longer type short phrases; they ask real questions. Instead of “plumber near me,” people ask: “Who can fix a leaking water heater this week without charging an emergency fee?” Instead of “email marketing tips,” they type: “How can I get more people to open my weekend specials without spamming them?”

These prompts are conversational, specific, and tied to real problems. AI models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini interpret them as context-rich messages that reveal who the user is and what they want.

The result is a new discovery model where answers appear instantly, often without a single click. A Bain and Dynata study found that 80% of consumers now rely on zero-click results for at least 40% of their searches, cutting organic traffic by up to 25% across industries.

Based on that data alone, it’s safe to say that static keyword research is becoming a thing of the past.

To stay visible, marketers need to study prompts (the real language customers use when they talk to AI) and create content that joins those conversations instead of waiting for clicks that may never come.

This article will show you how to rethink keyword research for the AI era and optimize your content for prompt-based search.

Contents

• Why traditional keyword research is breaking down
• What prompt-based keyword research looks like
• How to do prompt-based keyword research
• How to turn prompts into content wins
• Tools and tactics to help you find prompt-based keywords
• How to measure success in prompt-driven content

Why traditional keyword research is breaking down

Traditional keyword research is still valuable for many marketing activities but struggles to keep up with AI-driven search for a few key reasons:

• Stale data: Keyword tools still rely on historical Google queries that fail to capture live AI interactions.
• Flat intent: Traditional tools measure volume but not motivation, tone, or situational context.
• Fragmented meaning: Old SEO models treat words in isolation. AI interprets them through relationships, synonyms, and user goals.
• Single-answer logic: Legacy SEO assumes one query leads to one result. AI generates branching follow-up questions that reveal new layers of intent (AKA query fan-out).

“Keyword tools tell you what people searched. Prompts tell you what they meant,” says Nikiya Griffith, Director of Growth at BX Studio. “That difference decides who gets seen in AI search results.”

This interactive tool below can help you visualize how AI systems take an initial search and expand upon it in the AI-generated answer to better address search intent.

Get everything you need to know about showing up in AI search in our free guide: The AI Search Toolkit >>

What prompt-based keyword research looks like

Unlike traditional keywords, prompts contain context. They reveal:

• Who is asking: “I own a small bakery in Austin.”
• What they want: “I need to get more local customers ordering online.”
• How they frame it: “Without paying for ads or hiring an agency to run our social media accounts.”

For example, instead of targeting a generic phrase like “local marketing ideas,” you might uncover prompts such as:

• “How can I get more people to find my bakery on Google Maps?”
• “What’s the best way to collect emails from customers in-store?”
• “Write a short post to promote our new seasonal menu on Instagram.”

These kinds of prompts expose your audience’s real problems, goals, and language. A plumber might ask, “What’s the best way to get reviews without bothering customers?” or a fitness-studio owner might ask, “How do I keep class bookings full during summer slow months?”

These prompts uncover your audience’s challenges, expectations, and preferred language. That insight gives you a content advantage that search volume never could.

Need help finding the right keywords? Try our Free Keyword Tool!

How to do prompt-based keyword research

There are five sure-fire ways to research prompts to optimize for so you can increase your chances of appearing in AI search results.

1. Observe real prompts in AI interfaces

Think of this as listening in on your customer’s thought process. Go beyond keyword tools and start collecting real language from AI chats.

Enter your seed topics into ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini and pay attention to what happens next.

• How does the AI autocomplete your query?
• What related questions does it suggest?
• Which words or phrases appear most often in the responses?

Patterns such as “best way to,” “how can I,” or “should I” show how people naturally frame their problems.

For example, a local gym owner might type, “How can I get more members without running discounts?” That prompt reveals not just interest in marketing but also a concern about profit margins.

“Gym offers that convert without discounts” could be a helpful content topic to cover.

Capture at least 20 to 30 authentic prompts around your topic. This small dataset becomes the foundation for understanding your audience’s mindset, something no keyword tool can show.

Get ready-to-use AI prompts to help you begin your prompt-based research journey >> 200+ Best AI Prompts Any Business Can Use

2. Visualize conversation flows

Prompts rarely stop at one question. People ask, refine, and follow up, just as they would in a conversation with an expert. Mapping that flow helps you see the journey from curiosity to decision.

Use a simple mind-mapping tool or even paper to diagram how questions evolve.

Start with an initial query such as “How can I promote my bakery locally?”

Then branch out.

• Follow-up 1: “What’s the best way to advertise without paying for ads?”
• Follow-up 2: “Can Instagram help small bakeries get more orders?”
• Follow-up 3: “What should I post to attract morning customers?”

Label each question by intent: informational (learning), comparative (evaluating), or transactional (ready to act).

This exercise shows you where people shift from research to action. When your content mirrors this flow, from awareness to conversion, AI tools recognize it as a comprehensive answer path.

3. Extract entities and themes

Generative AI doesn’t think in keywords. It understands meaning through entities: people, brands, products, and ideas that appear together in context. When you understand which entities your audience connects with, you can structure your content the same way AI understands relationships.

Start by reviewing your list of prompts. Highlight every time a tool, platform, or concept repeats. Then group those mentions into clusters around shared goals or industries.

For example:

• A café owner might ask about Instagram Reels, Canva, and brand visibility.
• A fitness coach might mention Calendly, email reminders, and client retention.
• A local contractor might talk about Google Reviews, Nextdoor, and word-of-mouth referrals.

Each cluster tells you what that audience values, which tools they trust, and what outcomes they are chasing. From there, you can create content that directly connects those same entities.

A topic like “How Local Shops Can Use Canva Templates to Create Instagram Reels That Drive Foot Traffic” does more than target a keyword. It mirrors how users think and talk. That alignment makes your content more recognizable to AI systems that are trained to surface material reflecting those relationships.

When you consistently connect the right entities in your articles, your brand starts to “live” in those associations. Over time, AI begins to understand that you are part of that conversation, not just another website trying to rank.

4. Cross-validate with search data

Prompt analysis shows how people talk to AI, but you still need to confirm there is real search demand. That is where SEO validation comes in.

Plug your top prompts or variations into Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or Semrush and check:

• Which of these prompts or variations already generate impressions?
• What related queries appear in Google’s “People Also Ask” section?
• Are there modifiers that signal purchase intent, such as “best,” “affordable,” or “pricing comparison”?

This process helps you filter out prompts that sound interesting but have little visibility potential. For instance, if you discover that “How do I get more walk-ins to my coffee shop on weekdays” has no measurable impressions, try simplifying it to “How to get more customers to a local café.” Keep the natural tone, but align with what people actually type.

This is where old and new SEO meet. Prompt analysis gives you the language of your audience; search validation keeps your strategy grounded in discoverability. When you combine the two, you create content that feels human, performs in search, and stands a chance of being surfaced inside AI-generated answers.

How to turn prompts into content wins

Once you have collected and analyzed your prompts, you can turn them into assets that attract both readers and AI engines.

1. Form “prompt clusters”

Group related prompts by shared goals or pain points.

Example goal: Attract more local customers

• “How can I get more walk-ins to my coffee shop during weekdays?”
• “What type of social media posts bring customers back?”
• “How do I ask for Google reviews without sounding pushy?”

Each prompt can become its own section or article that mirrors the path users take when asking AI for help. By organizing your content this way, you create what search systems recognize as an “answer hub” that covers every angle of a problem.

2. Write conversationally

The best AI-optimized content sounds like it was written for people, not algorithms. Start each section by setting context, for example, “If you manage a small business newsletter…” and then answer the core question clearly before expanding with examples, visuals, or short data points.

End with a “Next question” prompt, such as “What’s the best day to send your weekly newsletter?” to signal related intent.

This pattern improves clarity for readers and helps AI models understand the structure of your ideas.

3. Structure for AI extraction

Even the most useful content can be ignored if it is not formatted for easy parsing. AI engines and readers both prefer clarity and structure.

Use:

• Descriptive subheadings that match user intent.
• Bullet points and short paragraphs.
• HowTo or QAPage schema markup.
• Concise definitions and data points that can be quoted or cited.

This type of formatting gives your pages dual value, making them easy for readers to scan and easy for AI systems to extract.

Tools and tactics to help you find prompt-based keywords

If you need help finding prompt-based keywords, here’s a list of tools we recommend.

Prompt insights guide where to dig; SEO tools validate where to invest.

How to measure success in prompt-driven content

Prompt-based optimization changes what success looks like. Focus on engagement and visibility rather than clicks alone.

• Impressions: Track growth in conversational queries in Search Console.
• AI presence: Test your prompts inside ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to see if your content appears or is referenced.
• Engagement: Monitor time on page, scroll depth, and repeat visitors. These reflect how effectively your content satisfies user intent.
• Attribution: Use GA4 to analyze assisted conversions from visitors who found your content indirectly through AI exposure.

These signals reveal whether your content is participating in the conversation, not just listed in search results.

The road ahead: Conversation as SEO foundation

Search and chat are merging into a single experience. Users expect instant, personalized responses, not pages of links. In 2026, most companies will rely on generative AI for marketing and research. The ones that succeed will see every prompt as a clue to customer intent.

Prompt-based research is no longer experimental. It is the new foundation of SEO, built on understanding how people ask, how AI interprets, and how your content becomes part of that dialogue.

As Oskar Duberg, Freelance Content Specialist, explains: “SEO is shifting from search to conversation. It is not about being the loudest or ranking the highest anymore, but about being the most relevant voice in the dialogue. When your content reflects how people actually speak, think, and build on ideas, AI systems start recognizing your brand as a trusted contributor. Visibility will depend on authority within context, not just keywords.”

Marketers who adapt to this conversational model will move beyond optimizing for clicks. They will learn to participate in the exchanges that now define discovery itself.

The post How to Do Prompt-Based Keyword Research to Show Up Better in AI Results appeared first on WordStream.

Luckily, there are some benchmarks I can use to guide your answer, but there are also plenty of factors that can mean your Google Ads cost will be lower (or higher) than these numbers.

But don’t worry. In this guide, I’m going to cover all of the variables involved in Google Ads pricing so you can understand how much Google Ads will cost for your business and how to set a realistic budget. 

Contents

• Typical Google Ads costs
• The average cost per click in Google Ads
• The average cost per lead in Google Ads
• How much the average business spends on Google Ads
• Factors that influence Google Ads costs
• How Google determines your cost per click
• How Google Ads bids and budgets work
• Other Google Ads cost considerations
• Other Google Ads costs to be aware of
• Key takeaways

Typical Google Ads costs

Let’s start by reviewing some average Google Ads costs overall:

• The average cost per click in Google Ads in 2026 was $5.42.
• The average cost per lead in Google Ads in 2026 was $66.69.
• The average starting budget to cover Google Ads costs for SMBs is $1,000-$2,500 per month.
• Most new Google Ads campaigns can cost around $20-50 per day.
• Our study of over 15,000 Google Ads accounts found that 24% of accounts spend under $1K/month, 39% spend between $1K–$10K/month, and 37% spend over $10K/month.

How much does a typical click cost in Google Ads?

Google Ads charges by the click, and how much that click will cost you varies, so here’s a breakdown.

What is the average CPC in Google Ads?

If you take the average CPCs across all different types of businesses and keywords in the US, the overall average CPC in Google Ads is $5.42. That’s on the Search Network. On the Google Display network, clicks tend to be cheaper, averaging under $1.

The key influence on pricing in Google Ads: keywords

In some ways, you can think of PPC advertising roughly along the same lines as traditional print advertising; you’d expect to spend more on a glossy full-page ad in a national magazine than you would for a classified ad in a local newspaper. In digital marketing, however, the pricing isn’t influenced by the format of the ad, but rather the intent of and competition for the keywords you’re bidding on. So you can expect to spend more on a high-intent keyword like “roof repair near me” than something lower intent like “how much does it cost to repair a roof.”

In super-competitive markets like legal and accounting, clicks can get much pricier. Keyword costs can also fluctuate, and I typically see changes in Google Ads costs across industries year over year. Let’s take a look at some CPC benchmarks year over year in Google Ads to give you an idea of how much click costs can fluctuate for your business.

What is the cost per click for long-tail keywords?

People sometimes like to point at the grand, show-stopping keyword categories above as a definitive example of how expensive Google Ads can be. The reality, however, is that these keyword categories only make up a small portion of total search volumes. Long-tail keywords actually account for the majority of web searches and are also often significantly cheaper than shorter keyword-rich queries and can have as much—if not more—commercial intent.

For example, if someone has an ant problem in their kitchen, “exterminator [their town],” is one search they might perform. “Exterminator” as a broad keyword will likely have a high search volume and may be pricey. But they might also search for “how to get rid of ants in the kitchen.” This is a long-tail keyword with potentially lower competition and associated costs. The intent may not be as strong, since they could be looking to DIY, but it’s still pretty strong, so they’ll likely be open to—or even click on—an ad for an exterminator.

This is the kind of opportunity that long-tail keyword targeting presents to advertisers. In addition to making up the vast majority of searches,

What are the most expensive keywords in Google Ads and Bing Ads?

As Google owns the largest paid search platform, I’ll focus on Google Ads first.

Listed below are the most expensive keyword categories in Google Ads, and the average cost-per-click of each. It’s worth noting that these are keyword categories, not actual keywords themselves—in some cases, the CPCs of keywords within each category may be higher than the averages stated:

The post How Much Does Google Ads Cost? appeared first on WordStream.

And brands are betting on it. From retro Pepsi cans to Spotify Wrapped, today’s marketers understand that even though we’re obsessed with newness, it’s the past that makes us feel safe. This isn’t just for legacy brands with global recognition. Small businesses can use nostalgia, too—through a local tradition, a familiar product, an old storefront photo, or a customer memory that already belongs to the community. But why does it work so well?

“Nostalgia hits hard because it reconnects us with the moments that shaped us,” says Willem Haen, Brand Consultant. “A brand doesn’t have to be perfect—it just has to have been there when great memories were made.”

In this article, I’ll walk through why nostalgia marketing works so well and how businesses of all sizes can harness it to build connections with customers.

Contents

• Why nostalgia marketing works
• When nostalgia works in marketing (and when it doesn’t)
• The nostalgia marketing playbook

Why nostalgia marketing works

Before nostalgia is turned into your favorite marketing strategy, it’s just a basic chemical reaction. Neuroscience, culture, and connection all play their parts—and together, they explain why our brains (and hearts) keep leaning back in time.

1. Familiarity feels safe for our brains

When we recognize something from our past (a logo, a melody, or a color palette), our brain fires up its reward system. That sweet hit of dopamine is small but powerful. It’s the same thing that makes us feel good when we hear an old song or smell something that reminds us of home. Recognition is comfort, and comfort is safety.

Why it matters for marketers

That quick flash of recognition is what makes nostalgia so effective in communication. When something feels familiar, people instinctively drop their guard and start listening with emotion rather than skepticism. It’s human. This means that nostalgic cues in marketing visuals or ads can make you appear more reliable and emotionally genuine—especially when consumers face choice overload.

“Nostalgia in marketing works because it taps into the brain’s efficiency bias,” said Goran Mirkovic, Head of Content at Multiplier. “Familiarity lowers cognitive load, which means people don’t have to analyze what they’re seeing; they just feel it. That’s why a brand like LEGO can bring back a 90s set and instantly spark joy. The memory does the work. You’re not asking people to notice your message; you’re inviting them to recognize themselves in it.”

Speaking of marketing for our brains…Get our free guide >> 26 Brilliant Ways to Use Psychology in Your Copywriting (with Examples)

2. It’s comforting

Every era has its escape. In the 2020s, with pandemics, conflicts, and unrelenting AI slop, it’s the past. We’re all desperate for simpler times. Not necessarily “better” times, but ones that feel easier to understand.

Nostalgia is comfort. When an ad hints at something we already know, it lowers friction and allows emotion to take the lead. That’s why older aesthetics like film grain, analog textures, and classic typography are everywhere (again). They act as emotional probes, telling our brains that “you’ve seen this before, it’s okay to relax.”

Why it matters for marketers

It’s the same psychological lever that drives recent trends like the Y2K revival or lo-fi filters on social media. People aren’t just consuming aesthetics—they’re looking for calm. Nostalgia marketing performs best in times of turbulence because it creates positive feelings that can (when done right) transfer to the brand itself.

3. It helps us connect with others

Nostalgia doesn’t just make us happy. It helps us belong. Remembering shared experiences—even ones we didn’t live through—creates instant connection. It’s why people comment “aww, childhood!” under old commercials or tag their friends in retro memes.

Why it matters for marketers

It’s a social emotion, not just a trip down memory lane. When people feel lonely or disconnected, nostalgia can help restore a sense of belonging by reactivating memories of meaningful relationships and shared joy. That’s why nostalgia-based campaigns often feel communal: they remind people of who they were with, not just who they were.

“Nostalgia creates emotional closeness,” says Barbara Houdayer, Head of Marketing at Caplena. “It gives people a sense of continuity—of belonging to something bigger than the present moment. That’s why nostalgia-led campaigns work. They don’t just remind us of a product, they remind us of the relationships and stories attached to it.”

When nostalgia works in marketing (and when it doesn’t)

Not every throwback lands. The difference between nostalgia that charms and nostalgia that cringes comes down to fit, freshness, and feeling. Here’s how to tell whether your idea will land or flop.

What this looks like in action

Pepsi’s Retro Cans 

For Pepsi’s 125-year celebration, the brand relaunched its old can designs with new colors and a clean typography. It balanced heritage with modern energy, reminding consumers where the brand came from while still looking fresh. It felt authentic because it had history as well as purpose.

Coca-Cola’s “New Coke” Revival

When Coca-Cola brought back “New Coke” during a Stranger Things collaboration, it leaned too hard on irony (New Coke was arguably a flop back then, too). The nostalgia was clever but hollow, and reminded people of the brand’s worst decision, not their fondest memories.

The lesson here: Nostalgia only works when it honors emotion, not embarrassment.

The nostalgia marketing playbook

Understanding nostalgia is one thing. Using it without looking desperate is another. Let’s talk about how you can do nostalgia marketing right—authentic, relevant, and creative.

Step 1: Start with emotion instead of era

Don’t start with the decade. Start with the feeling.

• What emotion do we want to reawaken?
• Is it safety? Wonder? Rebellion? That’s your anchor.

The most successful nostalgia campaigns don’t sell time periods. They sell feelings. LEGO’s “Mindfulness” campaign isn’t about 1980s bricks; it’s about rediscovering childhood joy in a grown-up setting. And Spotify Wrapped isn’t old at all—it just uses the same psychology as a yearbook: personal reflection, shared moments, and inside jokes.

For smaller businesses, this could be as simple as bringing back a seasonal special, reviving an old packaging style, or building a campaign around a memory your customers already share. A bakery might bring back a childhood pastry (like in the example below). A gym might run a 90s-themed class. A neighborhood shop might post old photos of the street it grew up on. The format can be small as long as the feeling is real.

Free guide download >> 135 of the Best Words & Phrases for Marketing with Emotion

Step 2: Filter it through fit, freshness, and feeling

Every nostalgic idea should pass the same three-filter test from earlier. Fit the audience, refresh the form, and protect the feeling.

AI throwbacks and template-made Y2K filters might look nostalgic, but they rarely feel it. Aesthetic nostalgia without emotional truth is nothing but decoration. The magic happens when the reference still connects to your brand’s present reality.

A recent trend showed brands sharing baby pictures of their employees with the caption “This is who…” and then something related to their current role.

This local restaurant jumped on the trend for their 40th anniversary with captions like “This is who’s making your favorite margarita,” “This is who gives you the best menu recs,” and more. This humanizes the business and its employees while building a real emotional connection with their restaurant patrons and relying on the nostalgia of seeing their favorite employees’ cute childhood photos.

Step 3: Remix, don’t rewind

Nostalgia works best when it evolves. It shouldn’t look like you’re trying to press rewind on the past—it should feel like you’re remixing it for today.

Brands today are learning that nostalgia marketing is all about letting old cues meet new formats. Think of Barbie’s 2023 campaign—not a return to pink plastic innocence, but a reclamation of it through irony, empowerment, and cinematic excellence. That balance between memory and reinvention made it feel fresh instead of dusty.

When a brand borrows nostalgia, it borrows memory equity. To keep it relevant, it has to add new value—updated visuals, humor that fits the current moment, or storytelling that mirrors the way people consume media now. A smart way to approach this is to treat nostalgia like a color in your palette, not the entire painting. It adds warmth, but your audience still needs to see who you are today.

This restaurant shared a video featuring some of its past history with new additions to highlight its 106 years in business.

Step 4: Keep it authentic (and test it)

Every successful nostalgia campaign has one thing in common: truth.

When nostalgia feels fake, it dies fast. The most effective examples tie the emotion back to something the brand genuinely represents—a shared value, a product lineage, or a customer memory that actually exists.

That’s why brands like Nintendo can lean on their past without sounding forced. They have credibility because they’ve been there. But even if your brand doesn’t have decades of history, you can still use nostalgia authentically. Borrow emotions, not logos. Tap into cultural moments your audience relates to—like growing up online, learning through YouTube, or the feeling of discovering new music before algorithms did it for you.

This is where small businesses often have an advantage. You may not have decades of national brand equity, but you do have proximity. You know the customers, the neighborhood, the local references, and the small rituals that bigger brands can only imitate. Use that.

Before launching a nostalgia-driven concept, though, test how it lands.

• Does it create joy, or does it remind people of something they’d rather forget?
• Does this memory feel shared or exclusive?

Step 5: Let people participate

The most powerful nostalgia doesn’t just remind people of the past—it lets them relive it. Brands can do this by turning nostalgic cues into interactive experiences: playlists, filters, visual prompts, or community-driven campaigns that invite people to share their own stories.

The reason Spotify Wrapped works so well (every year) is simple: it turns reflection into social currency. It’s a mirror that lets people broadcast their own story. The same is true for user-generated nostalgia campaigns. When people share their memories, they extend your brand’s reach organically—and with far more authenticity than an ad ever could.

“Nostalgia doesn’t have to be grand to work. As long as it’s shared, it can hide in the smallest details,” said Janine Bosshart, Team Lead Brand & Marketing at grape insurance. “That’s what nostalgia does when it’s done right, for the right audience; tying meaning, memory, and brand together in a way that just feels real.”

Step 6: Make it local

Big brands use nostalgia to tap into cultural memory. SMBs can use it to tap into community memory. That might mean sharing an old photo of your storefront, bringing back a discontinued menu item, referencing a local event people still talk about, or asking longtime customers to share their favorite memory with your business.

Source

The key is specificity. “Remember the 90s?” is broad. “Remember when this block had three record shops, and our lunch special was $5?” feels personal. For small businesses, nostalgia works best when it reminds people that your brand has been part of their real lives—not just their feeds.

Remember: The past is a tool, not a template

Nostalgia is powerful because it reconnects emotion, memory, and meaning. That’s three things algorithms can’t fake. But it’s not about living in the past—it’s about using the past to make the present feel warmer, safer, and more human. So if your new brand campaign looks like it’s from the 90s, make sure it doesn’t think like it too. Because the past only sells well when it helps people believe in the future.

The post Nostalgia Marketing: When & How to Use It for More Compelling Campaigns appeared first on WordStream.

This is called “query fan-out,” and it’s a critical component of AI responses (and, subsequently, getting more visibility, traffic, leads, and sales from AI search/GEO/AEO).

Surfer SEO’s query fan-out study found that you’re 161% more likely to get cited in Google’s AI Overviews if you also rank for fan-outs

While AI Overviews and AI search/AI response optimization (or GEO) are relatively new, I’ve already worked with a number of businesses of various sizes to get more visibility in AI search. A key component of getting that increased visibility is understanding how query fan-out works.

In this article, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about query fan-out so you can improve your visibility in AIOs and AI search.

Contents

• What is query fan-out?
• Query fan-out examples
• How does query fan-out work?
• What does this mean for SEO and AI search optimization?
• Query fan-out optimization
• Query fan-out calculator

What is query fan-out?

Query fan-out is a process where AI tools like ChatGPT, Google, and Gemini take the question, prompt, or search term (query) that you entered and generate a series of sub-queries related to the initial query to help develop a comprehensive response.

🛠️ Get everything you need to know about showing up in AI search in our free guide: The AI Search Toolkit >>

Query fan-out examples

Let’s walk through a specific example: you want help from ChatGPT choosing the best CRM software for your specific needs. You type in “what’s the best CRM software for a small business?”

Rather than simply pulling up lists of CRM software, ChatGPT would look at queries it assumes will help provide a better response, such as:

1. CRM pricing comparison
2. CRM feature comparison
3. CRM reviews
4. CRM statistics

This helps give the tool a more complete picture of CRM tools so that it can provide a comprehensive, specific answer related to the initial query. It’s actually a bit like how you might research the topic yourself if you were trying to do a deep dive—digging into specific aspects of CRMs and the CRM market rather than just taking the first listicle you see as gospel.

We built the interactive query fan-out visualization below with some pre-loaded examples so you can see how the query fan-out process works:

How does query fan-out work? Query fan-out technique

Query fan-out works differently in different systems (ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Claude, etc.), but there are multiple patents and research papers we can use to get to the root of how query fan-out works:

• “Search with stateful chat:” Google Patents — This patent states that the AI creates queries with intent diversity (comparing, exploring, buying), lexical variation (synonyms, paraphrasing), and entity-based reformulations (specific brands or features).
• “Systems and methods for prompt-based query generation for diverse his retrieval:” Google Patents — This patent shows how Google trains a “query expansion model” to offer “diverse intent interpretation” or different answers for different intents.
• “Query Expansion by Prompting Large Language Models” (Google Research Paper, May 2023): arXiv — Another prompting technique for expanding queries.

The query fan-out process is generally similar across platforms, but the volume and types of sub-queries run by each platform do vary.

👀 Looking for more ways to drive people to your site? Free guide >> 25 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website

What does this mean for SEO and AI search optimization?

What difference does it make to business and website owners that AI tools are using query fan-out to build responses for their users?

The existence of query fan-out means that you have to consider two things as you build your content:

1. You want to anticipate and service “fan-out queries.”
2. You want to format your content in a way that makes it more likely to be cited and potentially linked to in AI Overviews and AI responses.

Surfer SEO’s study found that the more often you cover and rank for a sub-query (or fan-out query), the more likely you are to be cited in AI Overviews. Here’s a visual representation of that across a series of simulated pages, where you can see the inflection points of how frequently your content is ranking for sub-queries versus how often it’s getting shown in AI Overviews:

Another important note: visibility in fan-out queries can help you to “jump over” resources that are ranking in traditional search to show up more prominently in AI search for queries you could never rank for in traditional search.

Surfer SEO’s study further found that while there is a high correlation between ranking well for fan-out queries and being cited in an AI response, a majority of sites being cited for a query in AIOs didn’t actually rank in traditional search results for that query:

And while there is some correlation between ranking higher in search results and being more likely to be cited for an AI response (if you’re not in the top 100, it’s very unlikely you’d be cited, and the top 10 rankings for a given query were responsible for a significant percentage–32%–of citations) there was an even stronger correlation in the data between ranking for sub-queries or fan-out queries:

Query fan-out optimization

So if you’re looking for AI visibility, there’s clearly value in optimizing for fan-out queries and ranking for them. How do you actually do it? So if we’re trying to get visibility for people looking for the “best CRM software” and we want to show up prominently in AI results, we need to be optimizing for not just the core term, but also the sub-queries.

First, how do we know what those are?

Use query fan-out tools

There are several tools that can help simulate query fan-out or even capture the actual fan-out of queries run by tools like ChatGPT in real time.

Dejan’s Query Fan-out Tool is very simple to use and gives you multiple ways to use it. Qforia from iPullRank is also free with an API key.

Previously, ChatGPT had actually exposed fan-out queries in a way that Chrome extensions were able to capture, but that stopped working with one update to ChatGPT.

David McSweeney shares a good framework for predicting likely query fan-outs in his tweet about fan-out queries from ChatGPT no longer being shared publicly:

The query fan-outs are probabilistic anyway folks.

If you know how to do SEO in any way, you already know what they are/were/will be for a given head term. It’s a little thing called topic/keyword research.

Stop tracking and obsessing over noise.

Want to pretty much replicate… https://t.co/zHlV8pGO5f

— David McSweeney (@top5seo) March 6, 2026

The Resoneo Chrome Extension is actually able to get query fan-out data if you switch the ChatGPT model to 5.4 rather than 5.3 instant.

Here’s a more in-depth breakdown of additional query fan-out tools:

Create fan-out friendly content

Once you have a list of fan-out queries to target, how do you put your page and your site in a position to rank well for those queries?

The good news is, many of the things you should be focusing on to perform better in organic rankings will help you rank well in fan-out queries, including:

• The link popularity and authority of your site.
• Your topical authority for the subject in question.
• Providing “information gain” in your content—unique expertise and perspective, proprietary data and research, etc.
• Having accessible, fast-loading pages that are resource-efficient for AI tools to consume.

Tactically, you also want to answer the fan-out queries directly and with specific formatting:

• Create self-contained content “chunks” of 100-300 words addressing specific sub-queries.
• Write content that stands alone when extracted. AI pulls passages, not full pages.
• Use clear, direct language at the start of sections.
• Provide definitive answers to questions, not hedging or vague statements.
• Add structured data for entity/relationship understanding.

Mike King, who built the Qforia tool, wrote: “Citation-worthy content must present facts clearly, avoid speculation, and include attributes like sources or structured claims (semantic triples).”

He also goes on to outline the importance of vector embeddings in AI search, specifically how, if you want to rank for a sub-query and be cited in AI, you have to be sure your “content chunk” is seen by AI tools as more relevant than other documents (or what’s already been cited).

If you want to get a sense of whether you’re on the right track with a specific passage, we built the tool below to help you determine if your passage is likely to “beat” a competitor passage or (better yet) the passage you see being cited in AI Overviews or in ChatGPT or other AI tools:

Query fan-out calculator

Use this query fan-out calculator we built to estimate your chances of appearing in AI results for a page’s covered topic. Plus get tips to improve your coverage.

Make optimizing for query fan-out part of your search strategy

As with many things related to AI search/GEO/AEO, the reality when it comes to query fan-out optimization is:

• Many SEO best practices represent the underpinnings of your opportunity to rank well in sub-queries (and subsequently in AI results).
• In addition to many general best practices, some specific best practices (content formatting, tone, content) are particularly important for ranking for fan-out queries.
• Some specific elements (relevance of specific passages) are much more important for AI search than for traditional SEO.

You can also check out our query fan-out resource library below if you want to dive deeper into specific tools, long-form articles, webinars, etc., on the topic of query fan-out.

The Query Fan Out Library

The definitive collection of patents, research, expert analysis, data studies, tools, and commentary on AI search query decomposition

Google Patents

The technical blueprints behind query fan out live in Google's patent filings. These documents describe the systems that decompose queries, route sub-queries to retrieval, and synthesize AI-generated answers.

US20240289407A1 — Search System with Stateful Chat-Based Interaction

Patent Google LLC · 2024

The closest public documentation of the fan out mechanism powering AI Overviews. Describes Google's architecture for decomposing a single user query into multiple sub-queries, routing them to different retrieval systems, and merging results into a unified AI-generated response.

WO2024064249A1 — Prompt-Based Query Generation for Search

Patent Google LLC · WIPO 2024

Details how an LLM generates reformulated search queries from an original prompt — covering intent diversification, lexical variation, and entity reformulation. Foundational to understanding how AI search systems expand a single question into dozens of retrieval sub-queries.

WO2024030443 — Generating Search Results Using LLMs

Patent Google LLC · WIPO 2024

Covers how large language models generate search results by synthesizing information from multiple retrieved passages, including how source attribution and citation ranking work in AI-generated answers.

US20240346256A1 — Response Generation Using a Retrieval-Augmented AI Model

Patent Google LLC · 2024

Describes the retrieval-augmented generation pipeline where queries retrieve augmentation information that gets injected into LLM prompts for grounded response generation — the mechanism that determines which passages become citations in AI answers.

US11769017B1 — Generative Summaries for Search Results

Patent Google LLC · 2023

Google's approach to generating summaries for search results using generative models. Establishes how the system selects, ranks, and synthesizes passages from multiple sources into a coherent summary — the output side of the fan out pipeline.

US11874863B2 — Query Expansion in Information Retrieval Systems

Patent Google LLC · 2023

Details query expansion techniques using machine-learned language models to enhance query relevance beyond traditional pseudo-relevance feedback. The technical precursor to LLM-powered query decomposition in modern AI search.

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Academic Research

The theoretical foundations behind query decomposition and retrieval-augmented generation, from the research teams building these systems.

Query Expansion by Prompting Large Language Models

Research Paper Jagerman et al. · arXiv 2023

The seminal paper demonstrating that LLM-generated query expansions significantly outperform traditional pseudo-relevance feedback methods. Provides the theoretical grounding for why AI systems decompose queries into sub-queries rather than relying on single-query retrieval.

FanOutQA: A Multi-Hop, Multi-Document Question Answering Benchmark

Research Paper Zhong et al. · ACL 2024

A benchmark of 1,034 fan-out questions requiring complex multi-hop reasoning across multiple documents, with 7,305 human-written decompositions. The most direct academic framing of the "fan out" retrieval pattern as a distinct information retrieval challenge.

Chain-of-Retrieval Augmented Generation (CoRAG)

Research Paper arXiv 2025

Introduces CoRAG for multi-hop question answering with explicit retrieval chains that dynamically reformulate queries at each step. Shows 10+ point improvements over single-query baselines — demonstrating why iterative decomposition beats one-shot retrieval.

DeepRAG: Thinking to Retrieval Step by Step for Large Language Models

Research Paper arXiv 2025

Models retrieval-augmented reasoning as a Markov Decision Process, bridging query expansion and decomposition. Achieves 21.99% accuracy improvements by having the system decide when and how to decompose queries during the retrieval process.

Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Large Language Models: A Survey

Research Paper arXiv 2023

The comprehensive RAG survey covering Naive RAG, Advanced RAG, and Modular RAG paradigms. Essential context for understanding where query fan out fits within the broader architecture of AI search systems.

A Survey of Query Optimization in Large Language Models

Research Paper arXiv 2024

Comprehensive survey of query optimization techniques in LLM systems, covering decomposition strategies, expansion methods, and rewriting approaches. Maps the full landscape of how AI systems transform user queries before retrieval.

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Data Studies & Empirical Research

Large-scale studies measuring how AI Overviews actually cite sources, where citations come from, and the real traffic impact of AI search.

SurferSEO: AI Overviews Study of 173,902 URLs

Data Study SurferSEO Research Team · 2025

The largest empirical study of AI citation patterns. Key finding: 68% of AI-cited pages don't rank in the traditional top 10 — proving that fan out optimization creates citation opportunities independent of classic ranking position.

Semrush: AI Overviews Study of 10M+ Keywords

Data Study Semrush Research · 2025

Analysis of 10M+ keywords showing AI Overviews peaked at 24.61% prevalence. Tracks zero-click rate changes and citation source distribution over time — essential data for understanding the scale of fan out's impact on organic search.

Ahrefs: AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 58%

Data Study Ahrefs Research · 2025

Tracks the escalating click impact of AI Overviews over time. Key finding: citation sourcing from top 10 results has been declining — more citations are pulled from pages that wouldn't traditionally rank, underscoring the fan out opportunity.

seoClarity: Impact of Google's AI Overviews

Data Study seoClarity Research · 2025

Ongoing longitudinal tracking of AI Overviews across seoClarity's keyword database. Documents the rapid expansion of mobile AIOs and the shrinking overlap between traditional top-10 rankings and AI citation sources.

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Expert Analysis & Strategy

The practitioners and researchers leading the conversation on what fan out means for SEO strategy.

Query Fan Out: The New SEO Battleground

Mike King · iPullRank · 2025

The definitive practitioner guide to query fan out. King breaks down Google's patent filings, introduces his "Relevance Engineering" framework for optimizing passage-level content, and explains how semantic triples and cosine similarity scoring determine which pages get cited in AI responses.

Everything We Know So Far About AI Overviews

Kevin Indig · iPullRank · 2025

Continuously updated analysis of AI Overviews drawing on a dataset of 546,000+ AIOs. Documents citation patterns, appearance rates by query type, and the distribution of cited URLs across ranking positions — the empirical backbone for fan out strategy.

Query Fan Out Technique in AI Mode: New Details From Google

Search Engine Journal · 2025

Google VP Robby Stein's official explanation of query fan out mechanics: one user query expands to multiple related searches, with Deep Search issuing dozens to hundreds of background queries. The closest thing to a first-party confirmation of how fan out works.

Optimizing for AI: How Search Engines Power ChatGPT, Gemini, and More

Search Engine Land · 2025

Explains the multi-step query decomposition and fan out process across different AI search providers — Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity — with practical optimization guidance for each platform's retrieval approach.

A Reflection on SEO, GEO & AI Search in 2025

Lily Ray · 2025

Amsive's VP of SEO Strategy on why SEO isn't dead in the age of AI search, and how many AI visibility tactics — including fan out optimization — are evolved versions of existing SEO and digital PR processes rather than entirely new disciplines.

SearchPilot Podcast: Fan Out & AI Search

Will Critchlow · SearchPilot · 2025

Will Critchlow discusses the implications of query decomposition for enterprise SEO, including A/B testing approaches for measuring AI citation impact and how fan out changes the ROI calculation for content investment.

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Videos & Webinars

Watch experts break down fan out strategy in depth.

Query Fan Out — What It Is, How It Works, and What You Should Do About It

Video Mike King · iPullRank · 2025

King's comprehensive video breakdown of query fan out: what it is, how Google's AI systems decompose queries into sub-queries, and actionable steps for optimizing your content to get cited in AI-generated responses.

How to Optimize for AI Mode Using Query Fan Outs and User Context

Video Mike King · iPullRank · 2025

Practical walkthrough of optimizing for Google's AI Mode, covering how fan out sub-queries incorporate user context, and how to structure content so it matches the reformulated queries AI systems actually send to retrieval.

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Expert Commentary

Key social posts and threads from SEO practitioners breaking down fan out in real time.

Mike King on Qforia & Fan Out Analysis

X/Twitter @iPullRank · 2025

King announces Qforia, his tool for reverse-engineering query fan out sub-queries, and demonstrates how to identify which sub-queries your content is (and isn't) being surfaced for.

DEJAN on Query Reformulations

X/Twitter @dejanseo · 2025

Dan Petrovic breaks down how Google reformulates queries before sending them to retrieval systems — showing the gap between what users type and what the AI actually searches for.

Aleyda Solis on Locomotive & AI Search Visibility

X/Twitter @aleyda · 2025

Aleyda previews Locomotive, her AI search optimization tool that maps fan out sub-query coverage and identifies content gaps across AI citation sources.

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Tools for Fan Out Optimization

Emerging tools purpose-built for analyzing and optimizing content for AI query decomposition.

Qforia

Tool iPullRank

Mike King's tool for reverse-engineering the sub-queries AI systems generate from a seed query. Maps which sub-queries your content currently covers and where gaps exist — the most direct way to audit fan out coverage.

Locomotive

Tool Aleyda Solis

AI search visibility platform that tracks how your pages appear across AI-generated results, maps sub-query coverage, and identifies optimization opportunities for fan out.

SurferSEO

Tool SurferSEO

Content optimization platform whose research team produced the 173,902-URL study on AI citations. Their content editor can help structure pages to cover fan out sub-topics with appropriate depth and semantic relevance.

Stay Ahead of AI Search

Query fan out is changing how content gets discovered. Bookmark this resource library — we'll update it as new research, tools, and patents emerge.

The post Query Fan-Out: What It Is & Why It Matters for AI Visibility appeared first on WordStream.