• Google AI Overviews expand and may soon appear in more than half of desktop searches.
• Even as AI grows, alarms sound about growing user discontent around Google’s AI Mode.
• Look out, local businesses: users can now edit your Google Business Profile themselves.
• Google Analytics is making it easier than ever to fight spam, including unwanted bots.
• Spending is up, but actual results are declining for online advertising on Facebook.

Google AI Overviews Are Becoming Increasingly Inescapable

After a cautious and somewhat error-prone roll-out, Google is hitting the gas on its AI Overviews. As of the most recent figures available (June 2026), AI Overviews were featured in 39.4% of desktop searches after rising about 13.6% year-on-year. By comparison, Bing’s Copilot Search appeared in just 17.3% of searches.

What does it mean? As Reddit and YouTube continue to account for an overwhelming number of AI search citations, digital marketing needs to adapt to a future where search ranking is less important to successful search engine optimization. Businesses should strive to get cited in AI snippets to enhance visibility.

User Satisfaction with AI Search Performance Is Flagging

In a further sign that companies are more enthusiastic about AI than many of their users, a recent study has shown that Google AI Mode doesn’t just reduce outbound clicks to websites like yours. In the opinion of a substantial number of users, it makes search less useful and fun.

AI Mode users perform fewer searches per day on average and click on external websites nearly 20% less than non-users. All website categories are affected, from news websites (12.5% fewer clicks) to Reddit (21.2%). Over one third of AI Mode users gave the tool negative feedback (34%).

What does it mean? Despite the push to use more AI just about everywhere, it’s clear some customers aren’t going for it. Alternative search providers like Yahoo and DuckDuckGo are becoming more important to digital marketing as some users peel away in search of platforms that don’t spotlight AI quite as aggressively. Your digital marketing partner should ensure your strategy expands your reach on these platforms, too.

It’s More Important than Ever to Keep an Eye on Your Google Business Profile

In a move that’s, at best, puzzling, Google has made it possible for users to edit any company’s Google Business Profile directly. Previously, users were encouraged to update hours or post photos, but were usually kept out of the nitty-gritty details.

Users can now make “suggested edits” to any Google Business Profile, even if they have no connection to the business itself. The name is a little bit misleading, as “suggested edits” will generally go live four days after the user makes them, “if [the edit] is supported by other publicly available information.”

What does it mean? Given that edits go live after a short period of time, Google is likely using AI to determine what edits are “supported.” Sooner or later, this could lead to inaccurate information on your Google Business Profile. To keep that from happening, make sure that your team or digital marketing partners keep a close eye on your GBP and swat down any bad edits within four days.

Google Analytics Now Comes with Bundled Anti-Spam Measures

Many digital marketing professionals have found themselves frustrated over the last several months as traffic from automated bots, especially AI crawlers, makes it more difficult to figure out exactly what’s going on with a website’s traffic. Until recently, solving this problem required separate security features on your website’s host or a software plugin on your WordPress installation. Now, spam traffic can be blocked from Google Analytics.

What does it mean? These days, spam traffic is almost always automated – and it’s pure overhead for your business. Now, you’ll be able to set up allowlists of known safe hostnames. But you don’t need to be an IT engineer to benefit: a one-click preset feature lets you block traffic from any source that doesn’t specify a hostname, which is usually malicious traffic of one sort or another.

Meta Is Getting More Expensive, But Less Effective for Many Businesses

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and the rest, is in a quandary: ad spending on its platforms is up 47%, but actual returns on that investment are dwindling. Average cost per lead is up 14%, to $6, across Meta as a whole. What’s more, the company is making some controversial changes: businesses will now be paying on a per-link basis if they want to post links for their followers to visit.

Digital marketing never stands still. Contact us to get started with the marketing team you can count on to keep your strategy moving forward.