∞

Vibecession tea leave reading

Economists say:

median forecasts for economic growth for 2025 and 2026 have been revised upward…still expect tariffs to be a drag on activity

&

look for the Federal Reserve to lower its interest rate target by another quarter of a percentage point by year-end, followed by three-quarters of a percentage-point reduction in 2026

&

[inflation] forecasted to be 3.0% from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the fourth quarter of 2025…projected to cool to 2.5% by the end of 2026

People are spending, but don’t feel good about it

via NABE

∞

Search keeps splintering and everything is omnichannel

Just 11% of U.S. consumers trust the first tool they use when searching online.

double-check or expand their search elsewhere “because they don’t trust the first answer”

The funnel is dead.
Linear journey? Who dat?
Own your brand. Stay aligned.

via Search Engine Land

∞

Forgot one in my earlier post

Big G has tweaked how search ads appear now:

  • All ads will appear under one larger “Sponsored Results” header (like the “People Also Ask” section)
  • “At the bottom of the section you’ll see a button to hide sponsored results”

via The Verge

∞

Fistful of Google Ads Bits

Google is continuing its transformation to Meta Ads:

The agents are coming: Open Source Google Ads API MCP Server

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is the open standard that allows Large Language Models (LLMs), like Google Gemini, to connect with and act upon external data sources and applications. By releasing an MCP Server specifically for the Google Ads API, we are making it possible for any MCP-compatible AI application to understand and analyze advertising campaigns through natural language.

(If you don’t know what any of that means, you’re fine.)

Old news at this point, but Google is trying to toss some pennies at the publishers that took a traffic hit after its AI glow up with Offerwall:

Offerwall lets publishers give their sites’ readers a variety of ways to access their content, including through options like micropayments, taking surveys, watching ads, and more.

Getting a lot of spam from PMax?
Block app placements: tools > content suitability > excluded placements

∞

Sometimes the best change is the one you don’t make.