Hope you’ve had your morning karak, because it has been anything but quiet in the world of search and ads.
AI-driven traffic is surging, click-through rates are dipping, Amazon has pulled out of Google Shopping, and TikTok is making moves to become a full-fledged search platform. At the same time, Google is testing new ad formats across familiar spaces and a few surprising ones too.
Here’s what’s been happening and, more importantly, what UAE businesses need to know to stay ahead.
Big stat to start: traffic from platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity has jumped 527% in five months. Some SaaS and finance sites are now seeing 1%+ of all sessions from AI tools alone.
It’s not just tech either—health, insurance, legal, and SMBs are all seeing more visits from AI platforms as users trust bots with deeper, more personal queries.
So what’s changing? It’s not just about appearing in Google anymore. It’s about being selected by AI. That means your content needs to be structured, scannable, and super clear—because the AI isn’t scrolling.
Read more: View the full update
Perplexity’s picking up steam as an AI search tool—and we’re finally getting a peek at how it ranks content.
Key takeaways from new research:
Low-quality results don’t just rank lower—they’re tossed out completely.
Big-name domains (think Amazon, GitHub) get manual boosts.
Trending YouTube titles can help you rank, which suggests it looks across platforms.
Tech and science content is favoured, while sports and entertainment get less visibility.
So what does it want? Content that’s deep, useful, well-linked, and updated often. Sounds familiar—but with higher stakes.
Read more: View full article
For anyone tired of manually pulling Google Trends data, good news: there’s now an official API in alpha. It gives you access to five years of trend data, updated as recently as two days ago, and lets you filter by region and timeframe.
It’s still early access, but this is a solid step toward making search trend analysis feel less like a spreadsheet hackathon.
New data shows Gen Z is switching things up. While older generations still turn to Google first, Gen Z is blending AI tools and social platforms into their search habits.
Here’s the quick breakdown:
34% use AI chatbots regularly
79% of all users trust AI tools nearly as much as Google
Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram are now major discovery channels
They’re also smart about where they search. Want a deal? Walmart. Want a big-ticket item? Amazon. Want inspo? TikTok.
Bottom line: if you’re only focused on Google rankings, you might be missing where your future customers are actually looking.
Google’s conversational search experience—AI Mode—is rolling out to UK users (UAE will have to wait).
It’s built on Gemini 2.5 and is designed to handle multi-step, complex queries by breaking them into subtopics, supporting voice/image/text input, and keeping the conversation going with follow-ups.
Best part? It still shows links to websites. So helpful content can still drive clicks. But only if it’s structured enough to get picked up in the first place.
If you’ve been wondering how Google’s AI experiences compare, new research from BrightEdge lays it out.
AI Mode features brands 90% of the time. Overviews? Just 43%.
AI Mode cites 5–7 sources. Overviews go heavy, with 20+ links.
Overviews are way more volatile, changing week to week.
In short: AI Mode is friendlier to brands. AI Overviews are more selective—and harder to influence. If you want to win in both, your content needs to be broad and authoritative.
Bad news for everyone gunning for position one: it’s not pulling the same weight anymore. New data shows CTR for the top organic result has dropped from 28% to 19% since AI Overviews rolled out. That’s a 32% drop.
Interestingly, positions 6–10 are seeing more clicks. Seems like users are either skipping past AI answers—or doing more scrolling before they click. So if your traffic’s down but rankings look solid, this could be why.
Before AI tools decide whether your content is relevant, they ask a different question: is your brand even a match for this query?
That’s what “LLM Perception Match” is all about.
If your site doesn’t feel like the right fit—based on UX signals, content tone, forum mentions, or even reviews—you might not even make it into the shortlist. Especially important for B2B brands, where long sales cycles mean AI might be filtering vendors before buyers even click.
The June core update wrapped up in early July. Focus areas: improving result relevance, reducing spam, and boosting authority—especially in verticals like finance, health, and news.
If you saw volatility, now’s the time to audit pages for:
Thin or outdated content
Poor formatting or UX
Weak trust signals
No panic needed—but worth checking where you stand. If you saw unusual drops, it’s a good time to audit for outdated content, weak trust signals, or poor E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority, trustworthiness).
This one’s wild.
In the US, Google’s AI can now call local businesses to check prices and availability—then show that info directly in the search results.It only calls businesses that show up in the local pack, so ranking there now has real-world lead gen consequences. If your info’s outdated or missing, you won’t just lose a click—you’ll lose a call you never knew happened.
Google has launched an experimental tool that lets you ask natural-language questions about your GA4 data. You can say things like:
“What were my top products last month?”
“Which channel had the highest bounce rate?”
The system connects via a new Model Context Protocol and integrates with Gemini CLI for conversational querying. It’s open-source and ideal for account managers or marketers looking for fast insights without building reports.
Instead of showing you every query a user typed, Google’s starting to group search terms into categories like “near me” or “brand terms.”
Why it’s a big deal:
You lose keyword-level control
It’s harder to spot irrelevant queries
Optimising RSAs just got fuzzier
This is still in beta, but we’re keeping an eye on performance and using campaign-level exclusions to stay sharp.
TikTok’s building out its Search Ads product, letting advertisers target based on user intent and behaviour.
They’re also testing placements in the “related searches” section and expanding availability of the Search Ads Toggle. It’s a big sign TikTok wants a slice of Google’s pie—especially for Gen Z.
Even if you’re not running TikTok campaigns yet, it’s one to watch if you’re in ecommerce or discovery-heavy categories.
No warning, no announcement—Amazon just… left. Between July 21–23, Amazon dropped out of Shopping Ad auctions across 20+ international markets. Their 60% impression share? Gone.
If you’re a retailer, this opens up real space. Lower CPCs. Higher impression share. A better shot at visibility.
We’ve been adjusting feeds, raising branded bids, and benchmarking post-Amazon performance to see what sticks.
The worlds of SEO and paid media are evolving quickly, and the pace of change is only accelerating.
For marketers in the UAE, staying ahead means:
Maintaining visibility across AI, search, and social platforms
Creating content that appeals to both people and algorithms
Rethinking traditional performance metrics such as CTR and rankings
Staying flexible as platforms introduce and test new features
If you are ready to adapt your strategy and make the most of these changes, our team is here to help.