Nine spots left to join us in NYC on July 15
This Media Buying Briefing covers the latest in agency news and media buying for Digiday+ members and is distributed over email every Monday at 10 a.m. ET. More from the series →
More advertisers and their media agencies are considering DV360, Google’s demand-side platform (DSP), for their connected TV (CTV) campaigns. It’s another sign that competition between the big DSP providers — a triumvirate including The Trade Desk, Amazon and Google — continues to heat up. And it comes despite Google’s recent challenges in court to its expanded power and influence over the marketing and media landscape.
The status quo in previous years has directed most advertisers toward The Trade Desk as their chosen DSP for CTV inventory, due in part to the company’s strong connections to publishers. By and large, DV360 has been reserved for YouTube, audio and display ads.
But investment in CTV has accelerated in recent years. Global ad spend on CTV rose 16% between 2023 and 2024, and is expected to reach $26.6 billion in 2025, per an IAB study released in April (and 36% of the dollars invested in CTV came from budgets previously earmarked for linear TV). And as more of that CTV investment gets allocated programmatically, Google wants to make sure it’s getting a share.
Because streaming TV is often watched in groups, it can make more sense for media buyers to target ads based on data held on a household, than to aim for individuals. “In CTV, we recognize that a lot of impressions are served to a household, to multiple people viewing at once. So different household targeting capabilities are always an advantage,” said Harry Browne, innovation and growth lead for TV, audio and display at Tinuiti.
In an update Google made to DV360 in March, the tech firm began offering audience targeting across demographics, shared interests, or purchase intent signals at a household level, as well as household conversion measurement. Google did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication.
The move was part of an ongoing effort to bring DV360 to “feature parity” with Amazon DSP and The Trade Desk, which already offer household targeting, according to Forrester analyst Nikhil Lai.
Though it’s early days, the tools have gained some traction among brand clients, according to Skyler McGill, head of programmatic and video at Wpromote. The media agency has been testing the new capabilities with three advertising clients, he said. (He didn’t name the brands).
Wpromote’s clients have typically preferred The Trade Desk as their gateway to CTV spending, but “[t]hat paradigm is now shifting,” McGill said, as providers like Google close the gap with the independent DSP’s head start.
“I don’t think it’s going to be the silver bullet per se to open advertisers’ pockets. … It certainly will be a positive catalyst [for spending on Google],” he said.
For now, those clients are in the minority. Partly, that’s because the household targeting features added to DV360 have only been available for a matter of weeks. But the move does come in time to become a possible factor in upfront negotiations with media agencies.
“It has not had a dramatic impact on investment. … These kinds of impacts take much longer to materialize in the market,” one holding company media buyer, who exchanged anonymity for candor, told Digiday.
And partly, it’s because the update brings Google to par with established competitors – but not beyond their capabilities. “They’re playing catch-up. They’re not in the driving seat,” said Guillermo Dvorak, managing partner of digital and data at Mediaplus.
Still, the update highlights the growing competition between DSPs outside the walled gardens to attract more programmatic investment. Amazon, for example, harbors a well-documented ambition to displace The Trade Desk as the primary DSP for brand advertisers and it’s used Prime Video as an effective wedge. 
Google adding tools that bring its CTV targeting abilities in line with rivals, and which make investing in YouTube as CTV-like as possible, is another facet of that struggle. YouTube isn’t just a major advertising asset in its own right — it’s a way of getting more advertisers through the DV360 door for other video inventory, according to Andrew Sandoval, vp of biddable media at Croud.
Whether YouTube belongs in the CTV bucket remains in the eye of the beholder. But, as viewing habits on that platform continue to shift towards living-room viewing, advertisers are aware they at least need to consider it alongside other CTV destinations.
They want to avoid a situation where viewers end up tired of seeing the same ads run on CTV channels (for example, Netflix) and YouTube, on the same screen. “They need a way to measure the overlap and the reach of frequency in one place,” said Sandoval. To achieve that, he noted, “there’s only one game in town.”
And for advertisers concerned about platform fees during a time of economic uncertainty, the opportunity to collapse the number of DSPs they’re using across their programmatic buying is “game changing,” said Noble People’s director of performance marketing Peter Hlinka.
As competition increases, Forrester’s Lai noted the differences among the DSPs, save the key assets like Prime Video or YouTube, are likely to fall away.
“I think that you’re seeing the commodification of DSPs because there aren’t enough viable alternatives to the walled gardens,” he said. “If you don’t have enough independent alternatives, then you squelch innovation across the open market.”
The IAB released its latest study on the digital economy, claiming it has doubled since 2020 to a whopping $4.9 trillion in economic activity. Conducted with Harvard Business School, findings include: 
“Things have started to shift a bit in the month of April. Specifically it’s in two categories we’re seeing: in CPG and in auto. We’re beginning to see a bit of softness. The overall market is still up [and] robust — the only question is, is that the beginning? Is that sort of the canary? Or will we see things recover?” 
— Andrew Casale, CEO of Index Exchange, in a video interview with Digiday at Possible. 
British, Australian and EU regulators are all looking into mega agency merger.
The FTC has granted the Omnicom-IPG merger under unusual conditions with major implications for brand clients.
Much of the large announcements at last week’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity involved TV streaming and ad tech.
Get access to tools and analysis to stay ahead of the trends transforming media and marketing
Visit your account page to make changes and renew.
Get Digiday's top stories every morning in your email inbox.
Follow @Digiday for the latest news, insider access to events and more.

source

May 06, 2025
Here’s a recap of some of our biggest AI updates from April, including a big expansion of AI Mode, new releases at Cloud Next 25 and a Google AI offer for college students.

• April’s Google AI news covers advancements across products, research, and more.
• Multimodal search in AI Mode lets you search visually and get detailed answers.
• Gemini 2.5 Pro and Deep Research are now more accessible to developers and users.
• Google’s investing in AI for education, grid optimization, and cybersecurity.
• New AI tools help decode dolphin communication and improve healthcare research.

In April’s news, Google’s AI did shine,
New tools unveiled, a wondrous, bright design.
From Gemini’s growth to Cloud’s mighty hand,
Progress was shown throughout the land.
For students’ aid, and developers’ gain,
New features sprung, to ease their toil and pain.
In healthcare, too, and grids of power’s might,
AI’s bright star did pierce the darkest night.
With dolphins’ songs, and secrets it did seek,
In cybersecurity, a stronger shield to speak.
Thus Google’s AI, a force for good and more,
Did spread its wings, and reach from shore to shore.
For more than 20 years, we’ve invested in machine learning and AI research, tools and infrastructure to build products that make everyday life better for more people. Teams across Google are working on ways to unlock AI’s benefits in fields as wide-ranging as healthcare, crisis response and education. To keep you posted on our progress, we’re doing a regular roundup of Google’s most recent AI news across products, research and more.
Here’s a look back at just some of our AI announcements from April.

April was one of our busiest months for applying AI in ways that would have once seemed totally over the rainbow. From helping people turn simple text prompts into short cinematic videos to unveiling a more immersive trip down the yellow brick road, our approach to AI makes it easier to create and build in new ways.
We’re also applying AI so you can ask anything on your mind, and get richer, more helpful results. That’s why in April we brought multimodal search to AI Mode — helping people search what they see, ask a question about it and get a comprehensive response with links to dive deeper. This experience brings together powerful visual search capabilities in Lens with a custom version of Gemini.

We hosted Google Cloud Next 25. Google Cloud’s signature annual event brought together tens of thousands of people — developers, organizations, businesses and the public sector — to experience the latest from Google Cloud. The event featured the release of Ironwood, our most powerful, capable and energy efficient TPU yet. And we unveiled Agent2Agent (A2A), a new open protocol that gives AI agents a common language to collaborate, no matter which framework or vendor they’re built on. Dive into everything we announced at Google Cloud Next 25.

We made the best of Google AI free for college students in the U.S. through spring finals 2026. College students in the U.S. are now eligible to get tools like Gemini Advanced, NotebookLM Plus and 2 TB of storage free of charge for this and next school year. This means that students now have more tools to study, understand complex concepts and research new ideas.
We made Gemini 2.5 Pro available to more developers. We’ve seen a lot of enthusiasm and early adoption of 2.5 Pro from developers using it for help and productivity gains with coding. So we made it available in public preview and gave developers access to increased rate limits. We also rolled out an early version of Gemini 2.5 Flash in preview for developers in the Gemini API via Google AI Studio and Vertex AI.
We made Deep Research available on Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental. Gemini Deep Research is our personal AI research assistant built for you. In testing Deep Research powered by Gemini 2.5 Pro, we found that raters preferred the reports it generated over its leading competitors by more than a 2-to-1 margin. So we made it available to Gemini Advanced subscribers.
We shared five ways to use Gemini Live with camera and screen sharing. Gemini Live lets you have conversations with Gemini in over 45 different languages. It’s a great way to talk to Gemini about anything you see on your phone’s screen or through its camera. To help you get started, we shared ideas for how Gemini Live can help you with organizing your space, brainstorming a project or even getting personalized shopping advice. We also started to roll out these camera and screen sharing abilities to all Android users with the Gemini app, free of charge.
We expanded image editing in the Gemini app. Now you can easily edit your AI creations and images you upload directly in the Gemini app. Earlier this year, we were the first to put the power of native AI image editing directly in people’s hands with AI Studio. Building on the positive feedback from people using this feature, we’re expanding these capabilities to the Gemini app.

We shared our recommendations and new funding to power a new era of American innovation. AI presents the United States with a generational opportunity for creating jobs, powering growth and accelerating scientific advances. Realizing these opportunities means deep investments in the capacity of the nation’s energy infrastructure and supporting the workforce to make it happen. We shared our policy recommendations on how to get there, and announced new funding from Google.org to help industry players train 100,000 electrical workers and 30,000 new apprentices in the United States.
We announced new investments in AI-powered solutions for the U.S. electric grid. In our biggest step yet to use AI for building a stronger electricity system, we announced our collaboration with PJM Interconnection, the largest grid operator in North America, and Tapestry, an Alphabet incubated moonshot, to use AI to intelligently manage and optimize interconnecting power generation.

We shared how one Googler used Gemini to understand his son’s diagnosis, and help others. In 2023, Googler Thomas Wagner’s son Max was diagnosed with Alexander disease — a rare, and fatal, neurodegenerative disease for which there is no known treatment or cure. This month, Thomas shared how the diagnosis pushed him to use technology to find answers, understand what was happening to his son and activate the research community.
We shared how Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication. In collaboration with researchers at Georgia Tech and the Wild Dolphin Project (WDP), we announced DolphinGemma, an AI model that has been trained using WDP’s extensive acoustic database. The new open model will help researchers understand the structure of dolphin vocalizations and generate novel dolphin-like sound sequences, pushing the boundaries of AI and our potential connection with the marine world.

We announced a new experimental cybersecurity model. Sec-Gemini v1 is our new experimental AI model focused on improving cybersecurity. Cybersecurity defenders face the daunting task of securing against all cyber threats, while attackers need to successfully find and exploit only a single vulnerability. AI-powered cybersecurity has the potential to help shift the balance back to the defenders and cybersecurity professionals by acting as a force multiplier.

“60 Minutes” offered a look at Google DeepMind and our AI technologies. Host Scott Pelley sat down with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis in London this month for a wide-ranging conversation about the current state of AI and his vision for the future. They discussed the incredibly fast pace of AI development and the path to artificial general intelligence (AGI). We’re optimistic about AGI’s potential — and we’re working with others to ensure that this new technology is developed safely and responsibly. Scott also explored the future of AGI through the lens of Google DeepMind products with a particular focus on agentic experiences and robotics. Along with Demis, GDMers Tom Hume and Jack Parker-Holder are featured in Overtime, an online-only “60 Minutes” segment showcasing our recent breakthroughs including Astra, Genie and SIMA.
Let’s stay in touch. Get the latest news from Google in your inbox.
Follow Us

source

For the past half-century, AI-powered voice machines have pervaded our pop culture consciousness. From characters like Hal from “2001: A Space Odyssey” to Samantha from “Her,” we have witnessed the transition from what was once science fiction to what is now commonplace. 
Today, voice responding technology can be found practically everywhere, from docked stations using Alexa, to computers through Cortana, and to smartphones with Siri. The prevalence of these pieces of software presents marketers with a surprising opportunity to reach prospective customers.
It’s important to unpack how the different kinds of voice search technology function. When people use voice search technology, they typically ask questions like, “What will the weather be today?” The voice technology responds with an appropriate answer after scouring a search engine with keywords included in the question. Companies large and small are tapping into the voice search trend, and marketers need to keep pace to stay ahead of competition. 
With the rise of voice search technology, search engine optimization, or SEO, is changing. Marketers are no longer competing for the first spot on Google but, instead, the ranking known as position zero, according to Entrepreneur. 
Position zero is the featured snippet or small information box that Google places above all the other search results. In the context of voice search marketing, this concept is hugely important because technology like Siri or Alexa will often read from the content in position zero.
Considering the importance of position zero and the featured snippet in search results, companies should optimize voice search. To improve your business’ position in voice search, experts recommend using long-tail keywords in your SEO and clear answers to questions on your website and social media pages. 
SEO marketing can help companies achieve their search objectives. 
Many consumers use mobile phones to conduct voice searches, so companies should focus on their mobile SEO rankings, according to the Forbes Communications Council. This means that when companies look to revise their content for their mobile websites, they should consider making their material more voice search friendly. 
The Forbes Agency Council notes that location is also hugely important in both keyword generation and content optimization. The more localized a company makes its content, the more effective its SEO will be, especially for voice searches. For example, if a consumer asks a device, “Where is a printing service nearby?”, the content that has been written to feature local information will appear sooner.
The purpose and necessity of longer keywords require attention. The major benefit of longer keywords is how specific they can be and that they’re more likely to be seen. With higher specificity and lower competition, longer keywords are tailored particularly well for voice searches. Still, marketers need to be careful about how they select these keywords. Voice search keywords must have a low-stakes, casual tone and be structured as an answer to a question.
Scholars have begun to weigh in on the effectiveness of conversational tone in voice search marketing. An Applied Marketing Analytics article notes, “As adoption of conversational interfaces increases, so will opportunities for marketers to use them to better meet consumer needs.” People are talking to their machines as if they are having a personal, informal conversation, and it’s only natural that machines adapt to that form of communication.
As voice search technology continues to grow more sophisticated and popular, voice search marketing will be necessary for companies to reach customers. By engaging with voice search today, marketers can prepare for future trends within the industry. The best way to gain this kind of experience is with an online BA or BS in integrated marketing communications. Students gain firsthand knowledge of how marketers use specific content to optimize for voice search.
The University of West Alabama offers this degree track, which feeds into an online MA in integrated marketing communications. Both programs offer a nuanced look into the ways that different technologies are changing how people consume media and how future marketers can position themselves as a result of that change. In these flexible, fully online courses, students can develop skills for a dynamic field at their own pace. Voice search technology is going to grow more immersive, and the marketers who jump into the game today will have a strong foundation.
Learn more about online courses to start a voice search marketing strategy here.
This post was created by the University of West Alabama Online and Insider Studios.

Jump to

source

Content consolidation among winning SEO strategies, award winners say  Search Engine Land
source

A 14-day trial for premium features. 55+ tools.
Free access for core features.
Backlinko readers get unlimited
access for 14 days. 55+ tools.
Boost SEO results with powerful keyword research
Written by Ankit Vora, In collaboration with Semrush
Most SEO courses suck.
They’re outdated, too basic, or packed with theory that falls apart in the real world.
And in 2025, when search is evolving faster than ever, wasting time on the wrong course isn’t just frustrating — it can seriously stall your growth.
Whether you’re learning SEO to grow a business, land a job, or get better at your current one, you need training that’s current, actionable, and taught by people who actually do SEO.
You also need support. Not just videos or slides. A real community where you can ask questions, get feedback, and learn from others in the trenches.
That’s why we spent 50+ hours testing and evaluating 20+ SEO courses (free and paid) to find the ones that are actually worth your time.
Our top pick for 2025? Semrush Academy, which offers up-to-date, expert-led SEO training at no cost.
You get both foundational skills and advanced strategies—plus a certificate for every course you complete.
Runner-up: Traffic Think Tank, with 200+ hours of deep-dive SEO training and a thriving private community where you can get help, swap strategies, and stay sharp.
No certificate — but easily one of the most useful memberships if you’re serious about SEO.
And those are just two.
We found 7 total programs — some free, some paid — that actually deliver. Each one teaches practical skills you can apply immediately.
But first, let’s clear up a common question:
Kind of. But not for the reason you think.
An SEO certification is official recognition of your search engine optimization knowledge, earned by completing a course and passing an assessment. It’s basically proof you’ve completed a course and passed a test that says, “I understand how SEO works.”
And for some people, that is valuable — especially if you’re just starting out or applying for entry-level roles.
Bottom line: the certification itself isn’t the goal. The structure, guidance, and real-world skills you build along the way—that’s what actually matters.
Free or paid doesn’t matter — employers care about your SEO skills, not how much you spent on training.
Look for courses with hands-on projects and experienced instructors who have proven SEO results. Student reviews and community access are valuable bonuses.
Remember: A certification just shows you’ve invested time in learning SEO. Your ability to drive results is what matters.
Now, let’s explore the best SEO courses available in 2025.
We’ve narrowed down our top SEO courses and certification list to the following:
Semrush Academy is a great place to start.
It’s home to some of the most value-packed digital marketing courses on the internet.
The Semrush Academy team closely collaborates with industry leaders (both external and in-house) to produce informative, engaging, and insightful courses.
Semrush Academy offers a wide range of courses, catering to digital marketers at every level of expertise, from beginners to advanced training, ensuring they grasp core concepts and gain a deeper understanding of cutting-edge industry practices.
For example, Semrush partnered with Kevin Indig, an SEO genius who helped G2 scale their organic traffic from 3M to 5M and led a team of 25 SEOs at Shopify to produce a highly informative and actionable course on SEO strategy.
Kevin’s training is just an appetizer.
As of 2024, the Semrush Academy has more than 15 value-packed SEO courses.
Check these out:
Upon completing these courses, you can participate in their respective assessments. If you pass, you’ll receive a personalized and downloadable certificate.
Like this:
Here’s a review of Semrush Academy on LinkedIn:
“I’d highly recommend the Semrush Academy courses to anyone of any level in #marketing or who has a general interest in the area. I’ve found them to be very accessible, with short, to the point, yet informative videos with transcripts/subtitles.” – Louise Frost DipGAI
Traffic Think Tank (TTT) is another well-known name in the SEO industry.
It’s a paid SEO academy that offers 200+ hours of training. Along with templates and process docs created and used by industry leaders themselves.
TTT offers a wide range of SEO training courses that cover different aspects of SEO and are suitable for all skill levels.
So whether you’re a complete beginner who wants to understand how to perform keyword research or an advanced practitioner who wants to build a results-driven SEO strategy that can get you executive buy-in, TTT is the place to be for gaining in-demand skills and a comprehensive understanding of SEO tactics.
You also have the option to join their tight-knit Slack community by enrolling in their premium-tier plan. This community is a place for industry leaders to hang out, expand their networks, ask/answer questions, and progress in their careers.
Check out their pricing:
See the value for yourself – begin a 14-Day Free Trial now!
Here’s a review of TTT on ProductHunt:
“TTT is the place to be for all the latest in SEO (and which outdated approaches to ditch). So many amazing thought leaders are leading webinars and responding to users’ questions. Got a specific SEO blog you love? The writer is probably in TTT. Can’t live without a certain keyword research software? The leadership team is totally in here. Need a new approach to content briefs or technical audits? So did someone else two weeks ago and there’s an excellent thread on it. Highly recommend this community for all-things-SEO!” – Leah Shapiro
Google SEO Fundamentals is a great course for SEO beginners.
This course has been created by the University of California, Davis, and is available on Coursera.
The training comprises 28 videos divided into the following four modules:
The course takes 29 hours to complete. Meaning it requires a significant time investment.
However, it’s worth it. And if you’re a beginner looking to master SEO basics, you should definitely give it a try.
This course has four assessments. After passing them, you’ll receive a personalized and downloadable career certificate.
Like this:
Here’s a review on Coursera:
“Excellent course. Really breaks down all aspects of on-page, technical, and off-page SEO in an understandable, easily-digestible, and applicable way. The instructor was great and easy to follow. The additional readings, recommended resources, and suggested tools were extremely helpful if you want to dig deeper into more advanced aspects of SEO.” – Jordan Y.
HubSpot’s SEO Certification Course is ideal for you if you want to learn and understand the fundamentals.
This course comprises 26 videos divided into six modules and takes about four hours to complete.
You’ll learn:
The course also includes five quizzes to test your knowledge.
After completing the course, you’ll earn a personalized and downloadable certification like this:
A genuine customer review couldn’t be found for this course.
Alex Genadinik’s SEO Training Masterclass is one of the most popular and comprehensive paid SEO courses on Udemy, with more than 7,000 ratings and 95,000 students.
It’s an 18+ hours course with over 274 video lectures divided into 35 sections.
These lectures cover everything from keyword research to how to use SEO tools to URL structure for SEO, backlink strategies, local SEO and more.
Despite its comprehensive scope, Alex has skillfully structured the course.
So that you can effortlessly navigate through it or watch it without feeling lost or overwhelmed.
After completing the training, you’ll also earn a certificate of completion that you can display on professional platforms.
Like this:
The course also has dedicated sections to help you become a freelance SEO specialist, get a full-time job, or build an SEO agency.
The SEO Training Masterclass 2024 by Alex Genadinik is way better than many other courses on this list. It dives deep into the nitty-gritty of SEO and provides a practical approach.
Here’s a review of the SEO Training Masterclass on Udemy.
“This is an excellent course. It’s in-depth and provides a lot of different avenues towards improving your SEO with unique strategies and easy-to-follow instructions.” – Cassandra I.
SEO Essentials Certificate course is a six-part course offered by Moz.
If you aren’t familiar with Moz, it’s a popular all-in-one SEO platform.
It’s ideal for beginners as it covers:
Each course section has quizzes to test your knowledge along the way.
The final part of this course includes an assessment that you need to pass to earn your Moz SEO Essentials Certification.
Like this:
Moz SEO Essentials teaches you how to apply your newly learned skills using Moz’s paid SEO tool called Moz Pro. So if you’re looking to use any other tools, this course may not be the right fit for you.
Also, its $595 price tag may be just too much, especially if you have a tight budget. Many free courses on this list offer similar educational value. So that’s something to consider as well.
For this course, a genuine customer review was not available.
Matt Bailey’s Advanced SEO Certification Training is a high-value SEO course that dives deep into the fundamentals, search engine algorithms, different SEO strategies, and content marketing. It’s available on MarketMotive, a respected online marketing training and certification company.
This course offers 30+ hours of video content and 15+ hours of live instructor-led online classes.
You can get your certification by:
For this course, a genuine customer review couldn’t be found.
When evaluating SEO courses, focus on what your goal is.
If you want to dominate your local rankings, Semrush Academy’s “How to Outrank Your Competition in Local Search” is a must-watch.
Alex Genadinik’s SEO Training Masterclass is a great choice if you want to learn SEO from scratch without feeling overwhelmed.
Moreover, the TTT community is a great place to discuss the concepts and strategies you learn.
Backlinko is owned by Semrush. We’re still obsessed with bringing you world-class SEO insights, backed by hands-on experience. Unless otherwise noted, this content was written by either an employee or paid contractor of Semrush Inc.
Next-level SEO training and link building strategies
© 2025 Backlinko is a Trademark of Semrush Inc

source