☕️ Google spam policies apply to AI responses

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In today's MarketingShot:

🚨 Google spam policies apply to AI responses

🤖 78% of consumers wish marketers would stop using AI

📺 Microsoft Advertising brings LinkedIn targeting to CTV

📈 YouTube's 18x surge in Google Discover

💡 + 4 strategies & tactics

🎁 + 8 other news & articles you might like

🧰 + 1 trending marketing tools

FROM OUR PARTNER

• Google has updated its search spam policies to spell out that the rules also cover AI-generated responses in Google Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode, closing any doubt about which surfaces fall under the guidelines.
• The leading paragraph of the spam policies document now carries a new line stating that "the Google Search spam policies also apply to generative AI responses in Google Search," a wording confirmed by comparing the page against the Wayback Machine.
• Google said the change was made to make it clear the spam policies apply to all of Google Search, meaning tactics aimed at pushing brand names into AI Overviews or AI Mode could now be treated as spam policy violations.

• Canva's State of Marketing and AI Report 2026 reveals that 78% of consumers would rather see adverts made by people than by AI, even if the machine-made versions might be better, while 87% believe great advertising still needs a human touch.
• The report, drawing on surveys of 1,415 marketing leaders and 3,547 consumers across seven countries, found that 97% of marketing leaders use AI daily in creative work and 99% plan to raise their AI spending this year.
• Consumers want guardrails: 53% asked for data protection, 52% for disclosure of AI use, 37% for the option to opt out of AI-generated adverts, and mentions of "AI slop" have climbed ninefold in media monitoring data.

• Microsoft Advertising is rolling out LinkedIn profile targeting for connected TV campaigns, letting advertisers combine professional audience data with streaming inventory, as announced by Product Liaison Navah Hopkins during the SEM Stories event on May 14.
• Advertisers can now reach connected TV viewers based on LinkedIn profile attributes tied to their profession, including industry, job function, company category, and professional identity signals, according to Hopkins.
• Hopkins described the feature as a way to build audience lists that lean less on click-based intent signals, positioning CTV as a format where B2B marketers can connect brand awareness with tighter performance measurement.

• A research study from 1492.vision has mapped a hidden three-stage YouTube amplification pipeline inside Google Discover, with the final stage called neoncluster growing 18.2x between December 2025 and February 2026.
• The pipeline runs from creatorcontent (72% YouTube, 23% x.com) through freshvideos (94% video) to neoncluster, which is 100% YouTube and 100% English, reaching 13% of devices in English-language markets.
• Full transit from social intake to broadcast takes roughly 17.3 hours, with neoncluster carrying news-heavy channels covering international news, celebrity, entertainment, and politics, while the French version recorded only 20 hits in February 2026.

Strategies & Tactics

Other news & articles you might like

• Most advertisers see AI gains only in walled gardens, Taboola study finds LINK

• ChatGPT Ads finally leave the US: UK, Japan, Korea, Brazil and Mexico next LINK

• Pacvue's MCP server brings retail media data to ChatGPT and Claude LINK

• Why Albertsons Is Adding The LTV Metric To Its Analytics LINK

• The Keywords To The Kingdom; Can’t Afford To Pay Attention LINK

• YouTube Inserts Itself Further Into the Creator-Ad Morass LINK

• What Target’s Creator Program Pivot Tells Us About the New Influencer Math LINK

• Future PLC's Google problem: profit falls 67% as search traffic shrinks LINK

Trending Marketing Tools

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