Aug 26, 2025
In this episode of The Digital Marketing Podcast, hosts Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers return with a fresh round of insights and hands-on tools to help digital marketers adapt and experiment in the evolving AI-driven marketing landscape.
From Google's AI Max campaigns to the explosion of generative engine optimisation, Daniel and Ciaran unpack the shifts happening across search, paid media, and SEO. This isn’t just another roundup of shiny tools, this episode explores how to think strategically about the role of AI in search, the real impact on your organic performance, and the mindset required to stay ahead of the curve.
What’s Inside This Episode:
AI Max Campaigns in Google
Ads
Discover how Google’s new AI-powered campaign structure is changing
the game. It’s not just another bidding strategy, it’s an
integrated layer that leverages keywordless signals, context, and
user behaviour across Google properties to personalise campaigns.
Learn why separating these into siloed budgets might actually
hinder performance and what you need to consider before rolling
out.
The Vanishing Organic Click
While impressions are up, clicks are down. Daniel shares Target
Internet’s own data showing a drop in organic click-through rates
and explains why Google’s AI-generated answers, Reddit posts, and
video content are pushing traditional organic listings further down
the page.
LLM Refs and the New SEO
Frontier
With AI overviews, ChatGPT, and other LLMs becoming key discovery
engines, how do you make sure your brand shows up? The hosts
explore LLMRefs, a tool that shows how different brands are ranking
across major AI models, and reveal just how fragmented and
competitive this new landscape is.
Structured Data, Schema & the Knowledge
Graph
Daniel and Ciaran highlight the importance of schema markup and
entity relationships in Google’s Knowledge Graph, using tools like
the Knowledge Graph Explorer to demonstrate how Google perceives
your brand and its connections. If you're not surfacing in the
right contexts, it could just be due to a missing link,
literally.
Search Engine Optimization ≠ Generative Engine
Optimization
The hosts challenge the idea that SEO principles remain unchanged
in the world of AI. With so many variables, location, devices, user
intent, history, and model-specific behavior, your approach needs
to be more agile and nuanced than ever.
Key Takeaways:
Performance Max and AI Max are now core to Google Ads - understanding signals and context is essential
Organic traffic is declining, but impressions may still rise - CTR is the new battleground
You can’t game the system anymore with a few smart keywords; LLMs require strong content, schema, and reputation
The tools are out there - you just need to experiment, validate, and iterate
Don’t fall into the trap of “a little knowledge” - simplifying complex changes leads to bad decisions
AI models aren't clairvoyant -
you need to structure and declare your content clearly
📥 Access the show
notes, tools, and links at: https://targetinternet.com/resources/tips-and-tools-special
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