Peter Benes

Receipts: a brief list of prominent articles proclaiming the death of the web. They say AI will replace the web as we know it, and this time they mean it. Here follows a short list of previous times they also meant it, starting way back in 1997. Wired: March 1, 1997: “You can kiss your web browser goodbye” – Kevin Kelly and Gary Wolf, The Big Story. 1Inspired by the success of PointCast, a clever application that displayed news headlines as a screensaver, our "Push!" story argued that Web browsers were about to become obsolete. 

They say AI will replace the web as we know it, and this time they mean it. Here follows a short list of previous times they also meant it, starting way back in 1997.

Gander: The Social Media You Want, Built for Canada Fun, private, and ethical. We're changing the way social media is done around here, all without your data taking an unexpected trip south.

After a long bit of toiling, we're proud to announce the launch of Gander Social—a project to bring a new kind of social to Canadians.

Canadian owned and hosted, a feed you control, privacy-first, consent-based, respectful by default.

Join the Early Access program: gandersocial.ca

I was speaking to @paulphilp.com last weekend about some code editing challenges I have been having with AI, and he suggested I try t3.chat by @t3.gg - Holy crap, I love this tool! Access to the best AI models for $8/m. Thought it was worth sharing with the rest of you geeks.

YouTube video by CNN 'My jaw is dropped': Canadian official's interview stuns Amanpour

This past week has seen a lot of different reactions on social media, and often emotion-filled or containing misinformation, about what’s going on with the USA and Canada. Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly does a great job of respectfully explaining the situation to CNN.
youtu.be/z3rIlAITjXk

A Campfire Chat graphic for our March 5, 2025 Campfire Chat on YouTube with Eli Schwartz.

Get stoked folks. I'm all fired up for this week's Campfire Chat with Eli Schwartz.

Join Us at www.youtube.com/live/mHIrwoh...

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Join us tonight at 7PM MST SEO - Shooting the 💩 on Clubhouse for the most fun you can have talking about SEO.

Jump in: https://buff.ly/3Q5tUlZ

YouTube video by CBC News Is Trump right about the U.S. 'subsidizing' Canada? | About That

This is a great explanation of the Canadian-American trade deficit which is getting a lot of press right now: youtu.be/cw0R0EOEEyA?...

OpenAI is completely screwed. If they're losing money on $200/month, they're losing it on $20/month and their real costs are so much higher than they can ever get anyone to pay. A pale horse.

techcrunch.com/2025/01/05/o...

Join SEO - Shooting the 💩 You were invited to join this live room

We’re live!!!!

www.clubhouse.com/room/dXphkel...

A preview of a SEO updates you need to know post. You can read the full post in text by visiting the LinkedIn link in the post.

The FINAL SEO updates you ✨NEED✨ to know of 2024 [23 Dec]:

Full post, links and text version at: www.linkedin.com/posts/markse...

A really lovely explanation of EEAT for non-SEO folks. I’m going to share this with my clients. Thanks Aimee.

E.E.A.T.s: Your Content vs. Google | Aimee Jurenka Struggling to create content that satisfies Google’s appetite? Learn how E.E.A.T. is the recipe for delivering the quality content Google craves.

E.E.A.T.s: Your Content vs. Google aimeejurenka.com/seo-strategy...

Sweet! Make sure you go on a smaller vessel. There are quantity limitations so the larger ones don’t disembark. They just drive past and wave. Smaller ones can offer a couple expeditions a day to different locations. See if you can find one where you get to take a swim at deception island. :)

Insights From Microsoft Ads Partners: Copilot And PMax Microsoft’s latest updates bring advanced AI-driven ads, insights on user trust in generative AI, and tips to optimize Performance Max campaigns.

Excited about my latest article about Microsoft Ads on @sejournal.bsky.social.
We got:
- Trust: 50% of users “very trusting”
- Engagement: 16% use daily
- PMax campaigns deliver higher CTR than traditional search ads

If you’re into search trends, give it a read here 👉 bit.ly/4ff4EUD

This is great! Thanks for posting. I’ve been considering relaunching ads on Microsoft. Much appreciated.

Are you tracking AI tool visits in your analytics yet?

The numbers are small — but growing faster than we anticipated

If you want to track this quick + easily, here's an excellent guide via @danaditomaso.bsky.social 👏

"How to Report on Traffic from AI Tools in GA4"

kpplaybook.com/resources/ho...

Pro Tip: Commit your brand colors to ChatGPT's memory and and it can create charts and graphs using those exact colors

Useful for creating data visualizations with Advanced Data Analysis

Bluesky Emerges As Traffic Source: Publishers Report 3x Engagement Bluesky gains momentum as publishers report triple engagement rates, attracting media outlets and developers from rival social platforms.

BlueSky is emerging as a potential game-changer in social media. Publishers like The Boston Globe report 3-4x higher engagement, and its open-web approach to link sharing makes it marketer-friendly. It’s early, but worth keeping an eye on. #SocialMedia #BlueSky #Marketing

It's been a good 2 weeks! This is one of my clients' Google Ads accounts that earned $37 for each $1 spent in ads over the last 2 weeks. Just thought I'd share this victory.

Thanks so much for pulling this together! Even the calibre of the expertise in the audience at #brightonseo and #heroconf is incredible

Every time I try to look anything up in regards to first party mode for Google attributions, I get a lot of info about consent mode. I understanding that these two are related, but they’re not the same thing. Consent mode being about user privacy, first party mode being about accurate data.

Huge SEO news: Google has launched "Search Console Recommendations".

Search Console will have automated insights for crawling, indexing + performance:

People often ask me how to know for sure if an image was created by artificial intelligence. So I marked in the attached photo (in the red circles) some clues that make me suspect that it's a fabricated photo, although it's not possible to say with absolute certainty in this case.

Me: 'My ads attribution is way off in 2024 & getting worse.'

SEOs: 'All broken! It’s a dumpster fire! Just guessing now! Here’s how we fix it (but still wrong). Also, here’s a casserole recipe. Let’s talk about dogs. I love you all.'

SEMs: 'Weird. I haven’t seen any issues. Please leave me alone.

It’s a miracle.

Forbes no longer ranks #1 for CBD gummies.

It’s a hemp site. With actual E-E-A-T. Can’t believe my eyes.

And I thought you were in San Diego.

It was the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight on Netflix.

YouTube video by Niche Pursuits Podcast Gaslighting by Google? A Creator Summit Blogger Tells All

I don't post videos often, but this is an EXCELLENT podcast on Google's Creator Summit, and what it means for the future of Google updates

youtu.be/rq77Xjbx_mQ?...

Nice work 👏

Hey blue sky community, I’m looking for other online advertisers, mainly using Google Ads, looking for a community. For me, I’m interested in accurately measuring sales from ads, which has become more and more difficult over the last 12 months. I don’t have the solution, and am happy to share info.