Marketing Arcana for an AI World

Richard Newton · Apr 16, 2026

Zero-Click Is a Symptom, Not a Disease. What Ecommerce Brands Actually Lose When Google Answers for Them

Zero-click search gets treated like the villain because it is easy to count, easy to blame, and easy to put in a slide deck with a grim little arrow pointing downward. A shopper asks a question, the search engine answers it, no visit happens. Very tidy. Very misleading. ...

Richard Newton · Apr 16, 2026

The Ecommerce Content Strategy That Thinks Like a Search Engine

Welcome to the wild world of ecommerce, where content strategy often gets stuck in the SEO slow lane. Traditionally, content's been about cozying up to algorithms, climbing search rankings, optimizing keywords, and chasing visibility like a cat after a laser pointer. But here's the twist: if your content's only ...

Richard Newton · Apr 15, 2026

50 Questions Your Customers Are Asking (That Your Competitors Aren't Answering)

A tactical guide to mining customer questions from search data, reviews, and support tickets, then structuring answers that capture featured snippets and AI overview citations. Most ecommerce content is written for keywords nobody actually types. "Premium merino wool footwear for temperature regulation" is a marketer's phrase. "Do wool sneakers make your feet sweat" is a ...

Richard Newton · Apr 15, 2026

What Google Home's Global Gemini Rollout Tells Us About Who Controls the Content Layer

Picture this: your Google Home knows you so well, it might as well be your personal assistant. That's the bold promise of Google's Global Gemini rollout. It's not just about slapping on some shiny new features. No, this is Google making its move to change the game in how we ...

Richard Newton · Apr 14, 2026

What NASA's Artemis II Crater Naming Teaches Us About Content Personalization

So, NASA decided to let the public name craters on the moon for the Artemis II mission. Sounds like a cosmic game of "Name That Crater," right? But here's the kicker: it's not just about slapping names on lunar potholes. It's about making the moon feel like ...

Richard Newton · Apr 13, 2026

Answer Engine Optimisation Is Just SEO for People Who Read the Question Differently

Picture this: search engines as your personal Jeeves, fetching precisely what you need without the hassle of sifting through a digital haystack. Welcome to the world of Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). Unlike the keyword-centric SEO of yore, AEO is all about crafting content that answers specific questions directly and succinctly. ...

Richard Newton · Apr 12, 2026

The AI SEO Illusion: Why Most AI-Generated Content Misses the Mark

Picture this: an army of writers who never tire, never demand a raise, and never call in sick because they caught a nasty cold. That's the fantasy AI dangles in front of SEO enthusiasts. The promise of AI in content creation is like a siren's call,irresistible and full ...

Richard Newton · Apr 11, 2026

What Ferrari's Pit Crew Taught a Children's Hospital About Handovers (And What It Teaches Ecommerce About Content Operations)

In 2004, two surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital sat down to watch a Formula One race. They weren't relaxing. They were working. Professor Martin Elliott and Dr Allan Goldman had a problem. The handover of children from cardiac surgery to the intensive care unit was, by their own admission, chaotic. Equipment tangled. Information lost. ...