u/RiddhiSharma-

Spent the last few days going through everything from Google Marketing Live 2026 and turning it into an actual action list rather than a hype summary.

The short version of what changed:

- Ads now appear inside AI Mode responses (not just beside them), new formats: Direct Offers, Conversational Discovery, Highlighted Answers
- AI Brief lets you give Google plain-language instructions about brand messaging, matching, and audiences, important if AI Max has ever gone off-brand for you
- Journey-aware Bidding lets your CRM funnel data train Smart Bidding form fills stop being the optimisation goal
- Smart Bidding Exploration is showing +27% more unique converting users in early data and is expanding to Shopping
- Campaign Total Budgets are GA and showing 66% fewer manual adjustments
- Checkout Links for Demand Gen now work on Shorts and in-feed, available in 6 markets
- Conversational Attributes in Merchant Center feed AI Mode discovery directly: Q&A pairs, popularity rank, related products

Things I'd prioritise first:

1. AI Max toggle if you haven't already (GA, no rebuild needed)
2. Enhanced Conversions + Data Manager, biggest ROAS lever on the list 3. Journey-aware Bidding if you run lead gen
3. AI Brief to stop AI Max going rogue on your messaging

Happy to discuss anything here though, what are people actually seeing from AI Max? Curious if the 7% conversion lift is holding across different verticals?

Spent the last few days going through everything from Google Marketing Live 2026 and turning it into an actual action list rather than a hype summary.

The short version of what changed:

- Ads now appear inside AI Mode responses (not just beside them), new formats: Direct Offers, Conversational Discovery, Highlighted Answers
- AI Brief lets you give Google plain-language instructions about brand messaging, matching, and audiences, important if AI Max has ever gone off-brand for you
- Journey-aware Bidding lets your CRM funnel data train Smart Bidding form fills stop being the optimisation goal
- Smart Bidding Exploration is showing +27% more unique converting users in early data and is expanding to Shopping
- Campaign Total Budgets are GA and showing 66% fewer manual adjustments
- Checkout Links for Demand Gen now work on Shorts and in-feed, available in 6 markets
- Conversational Attributes in Merchant Center feed AI Mode discovery directly: Q&A pairs, popularity rank, related products

Things I'd prioritise first:

1. AI Max toggle if you haven't already (GA, no rebuild needed)
2. Enhanced Conversions + Data Manager, biggest ROAS lever on the list 3. Journey-aware Bidding if you run lead gen
3. AI Brief to stop AI Max going rogue on your messaging

Happy to discuss anything here though, what are people actually seeing from AI Max in the wild?

Curious if the 7% conversion lift is holding across different verticals.

I went through the list of all the updates for Google Ads and IMO these are the five things that actually matter:

1. Search is changing shape: Ads now appear inside AI Mode responses, not just beside them. New formats are conversational and reasoning-based. If you're not set up for AI Max, you're missing placements that didn't exist six months ago.
2. You can now brief Google AI on your brand: AI Brief is a new tool where you tell Google in plain English what your ads should/shouldn't say, which searches to target or avoid, and how to speak to different audiences. Huge deal for anyone who's had AI Max generate off-brand copy.
3. Measurement is growing up: Qualified Future Conversions, Journey-aware Bidding, and Meridian-powered budgeting in GA360 finally connect upper-funnel spend to actual revenue. Not just form fills and last-click.
4. Commerce is unifying: Universal Commerce Protocol is becoming the checkout standard across Google's AI surfaces. Now expanding to hotel booking and food ordering. Worth paying attention to if you're in those verticals.
5. Creative production is being compressed: One brief → text, images, and video campaign assets. Powered by Gemini and Veo. The cost of creative variety just dropped significantly.

Would love to everyone's thoughts on this and open to questions here if anyone wants to dig into specific features.

I went through the list of all the updates for Google Ads and IMO these are the five things that actually matter:

1. Search is changing shape: Ads now appear inside AI Mode responses, not just beside them. New formats are conversational and reasoning-based. If you're not set up for AI Max, you're missing placements that didn't exist six months ago.

2. You can now brief Google AI on your brand: AI Brief is a new tool where you tell Google in plain English what your ads should/shouldn't say, which searches to target or avoid, and how to speak to different audiences. Huge deal for anyone who's had AI Max generate off-brand copy.

3. Measurement is growing up: Qualified Future Conversions, Journey-aware Bidding, and Meridian-powered budgeting in GA360 finally connect upper-funnel spend to actual revenue. Not just form fills and last-click.

4. Commerce is unifying: Universal Commerce Protocol is becoming the checkout standard across Google's AI surfaces. Now expanding to hotel booking and food ordering. Worth paying attention to if you're in those verticals.

5. Creative production is being compressed: One brief → text, images, and video campaign assets. Powered by Gemini and Veo. The cost of creative variety just dropped significantly.

Would love to everyone's thoughts on this and open to questions here if anyone wants to dig into specific features.

After a decade in marketing and growth, I'm now doing something I probably should have started earlier, building my own presence.

I've been active on LinkedIn for a while, but I'm expanding to Reddit, Substack, and Instagram this year. Not to chase follower counts, but to think out loud, share what I'm learning, and find people worth exchanging ideas with.

Currently working as an independent marketing consultant, so building a genuine presence (not just a following) feels more important than ever.

If you've successfully built presence on any platform outside LinkedIn, what worked? What would you do differently? Would love real answers over generic "post consistently" advice.

Two days. Five tools. One website that is now almost ready.

And I think I finally understand why so many people keep putting off building their website. It is not the tech. The tech is solved. Framer, Canva, Wix, AI tools, any of them will give you something that looks professional in a few hours. No code required.

The real blocker is something nobody talks about.

Every single tool, at some point, asks you the same question in different ways:

What do you actually want to say? To whom? And why should they care?

And most of us do not have a clean answer to that. So we fiddle with fonts. Pick templates. Obsess over layouts. And call it "working on the website."

Here is what I noticed across five tools:

Framer gave me beautiful templates that made me feel like a fraud the moment I had to replace the placeholder text with something real.

Canva gave me something decent in an hour. Decent is not the same as right.

Wix gave me too many options and I spent more time making layout decisions than communication decisions.

The AI tool I used last was the one that actually worked. Not because it is magic because it works conversationally. When I was vague, it gave me something vague. When I got specific about who I am building this for and what I want them to feel, everything clicked.

But here is the thing. The clarity I needed to make the AI tool work had nothing to do with the tool itself. It came from two days of uncomfortable questions about my own positioning.

The world has solved the technical problem of building a website. The harder problem now is knowing what to say when you get there.

That part has not been automated yet.

Has anyone else experienced this? Curious whether the "clarity before tools" problem is something others ran into or whether I just massively overthought this.

Two days. Five tools. One website that is now almost ready.

And I think I finally understand why so many people keep putting off building their website. It is not the tech. The tech is solved. Framer, Canva, Wix, AI tools, any of them will give you something that looks professional in a few hours. No code required.

The real blocker is something nobody talks about.

Every single tool, at some point, asks you the same question in different ways:

What do you actually want to say? To whom? And why should they care?

And most of us do not have a clean answer to that. So we fiddle with fonts. Pick templates. Obsess over layouts. And call it "working on the website."

Here is what I noticed across five tools:

Framer gave me beautiful templates that made me feel like a fraud the moment I had to replace the placeholder text with something real.

Canva gave me something decent in an hour. Decent is not the same as right.

Wix gave me too many options and I spent more time making layout decisions than communication decisions.

The AI tool I used last was the one that actually worked. Not because it is magic because it works conversationally. When I was vague, it gave me something vague. When I got specific about who I am building this for and what I want them to feel, everything clicked.

But here is the thing. The clarity I needed to make the AI tool work had nothing to do with the tool itself. It came from two days of uncomfortable questions about my own positioning.

The world has solved the technical problem of building a website. The harder problem now is knowing what to say when you get there.

That part has not been automated yet.

Has anyone else experienced this? Curious whether the "clarity before tools" problem is something others ran into or whether I just massively overthought this.

Two days. Five tools. One website that is now almost ready.

And I think I finally understand why so many people keep putting off building their website. It is not the tech. The tech is solved. Framer, Canva, Wix, AI tools, any of them will give you something that looks professional in a few hours. No code required.

The real blocker is something nobody talks about.

Every single tool, at some point, asks you the same question in different ways:

What do you actually want to say? To whom? And why should they care?

And most of us do not have a clean answer to that. So we fiddle with fonts. Pick templates. Obsess over layouts. And call it "working on the website."

Here is what I noticed across five tools:

Framer gave me beautiful templates that made me feel like a fraud the moment I had to replace the placeholder text with something real.

Canva gave me something decent in an hour. Decent is not the same as right.

Wix gave me too many options and I spent more time making layout decisions than communication decisions.

The AI tool I used last was the one that actually worked. Not because it is magic because it works conversationally. When I was vague, it gave me something vague. When I got specific about who I am building this for and what I want them to feel, everything clicked.

But here is the thing. The clarity I needed to make the AI tool work had nothing to do with the tool itself. It came from two days of uncomfortable questions about my own positioning.

The world has solved the technical problem of building a website. The harder problem now is knowing what to say when you get there.

That part has not been automated yet.

Has anyone else experienced this? Curious whether the "clarity before tools" problem is something others ran into or whether I just massively overthought this.

Before I start, just want to mention it is not a collab/paid post. I've been in digital marketing for almost a decade and I love analysing campaign and thought this can benefit other fellow marketers. Would love to learn from everyone here too, if you have any inputs.

Wispr Flow, a $700M Silicon Valley voice-to-text app just launched in India. And instead of doing what every other tech company does (LinkedIn ads, influencer deals, press release), their founder spotted something most people miss completely (Btw, I really really loved their India launch video - such a fun and insightful watch).

He wrote: "US tech companies are burning millions on digital ads to reach Bangalore. But the physical attention of an entire city is sitting right there, mostly unclaimed."

Bengaluru has some of the worst traffic in the world. The average person spends hours a day stuck in it, staring at the back of an auto rickshaw. So they wrapped 100 autos in Wispr Flow branding and put them on the streets.

No skip button. No scroll. Just a captive audience with nothing else to look at.

The insight is genuinely brilliant, they found unclaimed physical real estate in a city where every digital channel is oversaturated. And their branded search volume was already doubling organically before the campaign even launched. The demand was real but there are a few gaps in the execution that I think if solved can bring larger impact

Gap 1: Play Store rating is 3.6

The first thing anyone does after seeing that auto is Google it and check the app store. A 3.6 rating creates friction right at the moment someone is closest to converting. Ideally we should fix the product or fix the reviews, then launch.

Gap 2: The landing page doesn't answer the most important question fast enough

I saw the campaign. Got curious. Landed on the website. And I still couldn't immediately answer, when exactly would I use this?

The page explains the product. It lists the features. But it doesn't show me one specific moment in my day where Wispr Flow makes my life easier.

Not "voice to text app" but "draft that follow-up email while you're still walking out of the meeting." That's the line that makes someone feel like it was built for them. Right now the landing page doesn't get there fast enough, and for a product whose entire value prop is about saving time, that's a problem.

Gap 3: 100 autos is not enough for Bengaluru

Bengaluru has over 1.5 lakh registered autos. 100 is less than 0.1% of the fleet. The insight is that this physical attention is unclaimed but if that's true, you need enough frequency for it to actually register. A person needs to see something multiple times before it becomes a memory. 500 autos. 1000 autos. Make it impossible to sit in Bengaluru traffic without seeing Wispr Flow.

One thing they got completely right

Go to their website and find this section: "Don't take our word for it. Let ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity do the thinking for you."

One click and your chosen AI tells you what it thinks about Wispr Flow. Instead of a testimonial written by their own team, they're letting the AI you already trust do the convincing. That's GEO built directly into the purchase journey. Most brands are still hoping AI mentions them. Wispr Flow turned it into a conversion tool.

Overall: the insight behind this campaign is the kind of thing that gets written about in marketing case studies. The execution just needs tightening to match it.

Curious to know what your thoughts are if you have seen the launch video or auto campaign?

Before I start, just want to mention it is not a collab/paid post. I've been in digital marketing for almost a decade and I love analysing campaign and thought this can benefit other fellow marketers. Would love to learn from everyone here too, if you have any inputs.

Wispr Flow, a $700M Silicon Valley voice-to-text app just launched in India. And instead of doing what every other tech company does (LinkedIn ads, influencer deals, press release), their founder spotted something most people miss completely (Btw, I really really loved their India launch video - such a fun and insightful watch).

He wrote: "US tech companies are burning millions on digital ads to reach Bangalore. But the physical attention of an entire city is sitting right there, mostly unclaimed."

Bengaluru has some of the worst traffic in the world. The average person spends hours a day stuck in it, staring at the back of an auto rickshaw. So they wrapped 100 autos in Wispr Flow branding and put them on the streets.

No skip button. No scroll. Just a captive audience with nothing else to look at.

The insight is genuinely brilliant, they found unclaimed physical real estate in a city where every digital channel is oversaturated. And their branded search volume was already doubling organically before the campaign even launched. The demand was real but there are a few gaps in the execution that I think if solved can bring larger impact

Gap 1: Play Store rating is 3.6

The first thing anyone does after seeing that auto is Google it and check the app store. A 3.6 rating creates friction right at the moment someone is closest to converting. Ideally we should fix the product or fix the reviews, then launch.

Gap 2: The landing page doesn't answer the most important question fast enough

I saw the campaign. Got curious. Landed on the website. And I still couldn't immediately answer, when exactly would I use this?

The page explains the product. It lists the features. But it doesn't show me one specific moment in my day where Wispr Flow makes my life easier.

Not "voice to text app" but "draft that follow-up email while you're still walking out of the meeting." That's the line that makes someone feel like it was built for them. Right now the landing page doesn't get there fast enough, and for a product whose entire value prop is about saving time, that's a problem.

Gap 3: 100 autos is not enough for Bengaluru

Bengaluru has over 1.5 lakh registered autos. 100 is less than 0.1% of the fleet. The insight is that this physical attention is unclaimed but if that's true, you need enough frequency for it to actually register. A person needs to see something multiple times before it becomes a memory. 500 autos. 1000 autos. Make it impossible to sit in Bengaluru traffic without seeing Wispr Flow.

One thing they got completely right

Go to their website and find this section: "Don't take our word for it. Let ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity do the thinking for you."

One click and your chosen AI tells you what it thinks about Wispr Flow. Instead of a testimonial written by their own team, they're letting the AI you already trust do the convincing. That's GEO built directly into the purchase journey. Most brands are still hoping AI mentions them. Wispr Flow turned it into a conversion tool.

Overall: the insight behind this campaign is the kind of thing that gets written about in marketing case studies. The execution just needs tightening to match it.

Curious to know what your thoughts are if you have seen the launch video or auto campaign?

Nearly a decade managing digital marketing and this stat genuinely surprised me: celebrity endorsement volumes fell 22% in 2025, the steepest annual decline on record. Influencer-led campaigns absorbed almost all of that redirected budget.

And it's not just budget shiftin, it's pricing flipping. Some mid-tier digital creators with highly engaged audiences are commanding rates that rival or exceed mid-tier celebrity deals, while delivering fewer assets.

The logic from brands seems to be: celebrities have reach, creators have trust. And trust converts better.

For those managing influencer programs:

- Are you seeing the same pricing dynamics in your niche?

- Has your strategy shifted from one-off campaigns to always-on creator programs?

- How are you measuring creator ROI vs traditional media spend?

- Any pushback from clients or leadership on justifying creator spend at these rates?

Curious what practitioners are actually seeing in the numbers.

Nearly a decade managing digital marketing and this stat genuinely surprised me: celebrity endorsement volumes fell 22% in 2025, the steepest annual decline on record. Influencer-led campaigns absorbed almost all of that redirected budget.

And it's not just budget shifting, it's pricing flipping. Some mid-tier digital creators with highly engaged audiences are commanding rates that rival or exceed mid-tier celebrity deals, while delivering fewer assets.

The logic from brands seems to be: celebrities have reach, creators have trust. And trust converts better.

For those managing influencer programs:

- Are you seeing the same pricing dynamics in your niche?

- Has your strategy shifted from one-off campaigns to always-on creator programs?

- How are you measuring creator ROI vs traditional media spend?

- Any pushback from clients or leadership on justifying creator spend at these rates?

Curious what practitioners are actually seeing in the numbers.

I've spent close to a decade in marketing and growth. Every year I think I have a handle on what works and something still catches me off guard.

This year for me it was organic Reddit. Not ads, just genuinely being helpful in communities relevant to my clients' niches. The direct traffic impact is hard to measure, but the downstream effect on AI search visibility has been significant. AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity heavily cite Reddit, and older helpful posts keep resurfacing in answers months later.

No right answers here, just curious what people building real businesses are actually experiencing.

Almost a decade in this industry. I've watched the "SEO is dead" take cycle through so many times that I stopped reacting to it, until this year.

The 2025/2026 shift feels different. Not because Google rankings stopped mattering, but because ranking and visibility are no longer the same thing. You can rank #1 and still be invisible in the AI-generated answer your potential customer actually reads.

For marketing teams managing organic strategy:

- How has your measurement approach changed as zero-click becomes the norm?

- Are you treating AI search visibility as a separate KPI or folding it into existing SEO reporting?

- Has GEO made it into your roadmap yet, or still waiting for clearer measurement frameworks?

- What content investments from 2024/2025 are paying off and what's underperforming?

Looking for real strategic perspectives, not vendor takes. What's your team actually doing differently?