AI search drains Google as Meta ads soar

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AI search is draining your Google traffic as Meta ads soar LINK

• Meta's advertising revenue climbed 26% to $63.2 billion last quarter, outpacing Google's search business as AI chatbots pull users away from clicking links in search results.
• The 14-percentage-point growth gap is the widest in Meta's favour since 2021, leaving the two businesses roughly level in size since Google's search division grew 12% to $63.4 billion.
• According to Meta CFO Susan Li, advertisers using its recommendation systems saw 5% more conversions and raised their ad spending by 9% compared with similar brands that did not adopt the tools.

X just opened lead gen ads to small businesses LINK

• X opened its Lead Gen Ads to every advertiser worldwide on Friday, bringing the in-feed sign-up form to small and medium-sized businesses and to advertisers who buy through X Ads Manager on their own.
• Someone taps the ad and fills in a short form that stays inside X, with later forms pre-filled, and the collected contact details can be exported or passed to a CRM through a dedicated Leads objective and Leads Center.
• X backs the launch with one case study, tester micro1, but the post gives two clashing figures for its cost-per-lead drop, 75% in one spot and a smaller cut in a quote, leaving how well the format works for others unclear.

AI agents hit checkout more often than your human shoppers LINK

• Microsoft Clarity reported that checkout was the most common action in website visits run by AI agents, appearing in 25.21% of those sessions compared with 14.65% of visits by people alone across the same sites.
• The analysis covered more than 5.2 million agent-classified sessions on 230,511 Clarity projects between August 13 and September 9, 2026, detecting agents from three operator ecosystems: OpenAI, Google and Anthropic.
• Microsoft says it cannot separate agent clicks from human ones within a session, so the percentages describe activity on sites rather than proof that agents complete purchases, and the figures appear to rest on about 1.22 million sessions, roughly 23% of the headline total.

SiriusXM's Giggly Squad deal signals where creator ad dollars go next LINK

• SiriusXM's multi-year deal with Paige DeSorbo and Hannah Berner for their Giggly Squad podcast, reportedly worth $160 million, points to platforms chasing creator-led businesses rather than single shows as they compete for ad dollars.
• The agreement treats a podcast as audio, video, social, and live, with Giggly Squad becoming the first female-hosted podcast to headline Madison Square Garden, selling out four nights at tickets averaging in the mid-$100s.
• Brands are now entering talks wanting to "buy a creator" and asking for exclusivity across every touchpoint, while SiriusXM says it paused the Giggly deal to reset how it brings the podcast to market as a one-stop shop.

Strategies & Tactics

> Lookalike Audience Suggestions for Leads Campaigns: Meta now suggests feeding lead campaigns a lookalike built from qualified leads, promising cheaper quality leads, though whether suggestions actually help remains unproven.

> Your 2027 media plan has a channel problem: Build the 2027 media budget around customer segments like new, occasional, and loyal buyers rather than channel returns, since high per-channel results hide who actually drives profitable growth.

> Evaluating martech stacks to cut underutilized tools: Audit marketing software by what capability and business outcome it delivers, not by vendor or login counts, to cut overlapping tools before renewals.

> What Is BLUF? How to Write Bottom Line Up Front (+ Free Rewriter Tool): Lead every message and page section with your main point, since both busy readers and AI search tools pay the most attention to the opening.

> One Video, Three Platforms: Short Form Video Repurposing on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube: Film one vertical video, then adapt its caption and cover per platform and judge TikTok by views, Instagram by shares, and YouTube by steady growth.

> 20 Zero Click Marketing Questions Everyone’s Asking: Answer reader questions about marketing that no longer sends clicks to your site, since buyers now research inside social platforms and AI assistants.

Other news you might like

• Amazon Positions Alexa for Shopping to Counter Third-Party Agents LINK

• Microsoft Audience ads gain option to show only to chosen LinkedIn job roles LINK

• Majority of teens and tweens now use chat bots, new research finds LINK

• AI Search Is Growing Faster Than Its Business Model LINK

• ChatGPT ad visits earn shops $0.89 against $2.45 for Google search ads LINK

• Microsoft lets advertisers set up to 40 guidelines for AI-written ads LINK

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rankme.fast: a self-hosted SEO platform that lets you track website rankings, analyze search performance, and manage optimization on your own servers. LINK

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