No one should be surprised to hear that I am reporting on some intense Google search ranking volatility starting this Friday, December 22nd, through the weekend, with things seeming to calm down today, Sunday, December 24th. Did Google push an algorithm update or tweak before the holiday break? Who knows, but there are signals of…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. Google Analytics now has benchmarking data in GA4. Google Search finally supports AVIF files. Google is testing new shopping search design. Google Ads has product category-level insights….
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. Google is again showing competitor ads above local listings, this time the reviews. Google will host a creator summit later this month, it is invite-only. Google Ads…
The Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) has selected MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Timely Address Space Randomization (TASR) as one of the recipients of their 2024 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award. This cybersecurity technology was transferred in 2019 and 2021 to two companies that develop cloud-based services. TASR has the potential to help harden many cloud-based servers…
Computer programs called large language models provide software with novel options for analyzing and creating text. It is not uncommon for large language models to be trained using petabytes or more of text data, making them tens of terabytes in size. A model’s parameters are the components learned from previous training data and, in essence,…
YouTube appears to be ramping up its efforts to crackdown on ad blocks The platform has reportedly been sending users with ad blockers enabled more aggressive prompts, warning them to either “Allow YouTube ads” or subscribe to YouTube Premium. The notification appears in place of videos or as a pop-up when playing videos on fullscreen….
AI has been the buzzword on everyone’s lips for the last few years, ever since generative AI took off with the launch of ChatGPT. Over time, generative AI models have matured and are now much more capable, but a trend we’ve been noticing lately is local compute. Because data is precious, and no one…
AI companies (e.g., Google, OpenAI) are primarily using high-quality content created by news publishers to train generative AI systems, which then compete directly against those publishers. That’s the core argument made in a new report from News Media Alliance, a trade association that says it represents about 2,000 publishers in the U.S. and Canada. Why…
The allure of a personalized shopping experience is undeniable. You walk into your favorite clothing store in search of the perfect outfit. Unsure of what to choose, a personal shopper comes up to you. They know exactly what would work, because you’ve told them about your past purchases, current preferences, and budget. They take you…
IPG Mediabrands advised its clients to temporarily pause campaigns using Google’s Performance Max. The company issued a “privacy alert” email in response to allegations in a new report that YouTube ads may have led to improperly tracking children. Brands using PMax may inadvertently violate the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) as a result, according…