If you’ve noticed that your Google Business Profile has fewer reviews than usual, you’re not alone. Since Friday, February 7th, businesses have reported missing reviews in Google Search and Google Maps.

At first, it was unclear whether this was a new feature or a technical issue. However, Google has since confirmed that it’s a bug affecting review counts, and they are actively working on a fix. The good news? The reviews themselves haven’t been deleted—it’s just a display error.

Why Google Reviews matter for your business

Google Reviews are critical for building trust, increasing visibility, and driving sales. Here’s why:

✅ Boosts Credibility – A strong collection of reviews helps establish trust with potential customers. 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

✅ Improves Local SEO – More positive reviews can help your business rank higher in local search results, increasing your chances of being discovered.

✅ Drives Conversions – Businesses with higher ratings and more reviews see higher click-through rates and more bookings or sales.

✅ Customer Insights & Feedback – Reviews provide direct feedback, helping businesses improve their services and understand customer expectations.

Missing reviews, even temporarily, can impact your reputation and visibility, so this bug is a major concern for affected businesses.

What’s happening?

• Some businesses have lost a handful of reviews, while others report losing dozens.
• In some cases, the total review count doesn’t match the number of visible reviews.
• Google has now acknowledged the issue and is rolling out a fix.

What should you do?

If your reviews have disappeared, don’t panic—they should be restored soon. Google has reassured businesses that this is temporary and not due to policy violations. However, if you believe a review was removed unfairly, you can check Google’s review policies before taking further action.

Update: A fix is rolling out

As of Tuesday, February 12th, Google has started implementing a fix. If your reviews haven’t reappeared yet, they should soon.

In the meantime, keep encouraging happy customers to leave reviews, as fresh positive feedback is always beneficial!

Organic traffic is users coming to your site due to natural visibility, by ranking on search engines due to the quality of content you have created. Other ways users could come to your site is by directly typing in your URL, through social media channels or through paid advertising. For Search Engine Optimisation it is important to be able to monitor organic traffic levels as it is a good indicator of how your SEO is performing.

What is Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 is a free tool from Google that allows users to monitor and analyse website data to make informed decisions. You can set up GA4 in different ways to monitor metrics on your website such as e-commerce tracking, organic performance, device type and more.

It is important to note that businesses should make sure their GA4 accounts are set up correctly, because if not, you could be receiving inaccurate traffic measurements. One way to do this is by cross referencing the data with other data sources. For example, Google also offers another free platform, Google Search Console, GSC is a platform that allows users to monitor and improve their websites performance in Google Search. You can also monitor organic performance in GSC and check your analytics account syncs up.

How to monitor Organic traffic in GA4

By accessing the reports tab in Google Analytics 4 a number of customisable website reports will become available to you including the real time reports, acquisition reports and engagement reports. There are two main traffic acquisition reports that help us analyse data in GA4.

• User Acquisition Report – This report tells us how different users were acquired including total users, new users and returning users and where they came from e.g. organic search, direct, paid search etc.

• Traffic Acquisition Report – The traffic acquisition report is similar to the user acquisition report as it tells us how much traffic has been coming through the site. This isn’t necessarily individual users but it could be one user having multiple sessions.

There is also more information available on the acquisition overview page such as including the source that users are coming from such e.g. Google, Bing etc.

Why its important

Organic performance is important for driving long-term growth that is sustainable for business. Therefore knowing how to track, monitor and analyse organic performance is important for making informed strategic marketing decisions.

In 2025, we’ve already seen campaigns of all varieties, with clever product positioning and playful ways to engage with audiences. Brands are setting the bar high with creative and innovative marketing campaigns. Some of this year’s noteworthy campaigns include Burger King’s witty AI banner to Cadbury’s Made to Share campaign.

Cadbury’s: Made to share

Cadburys have started 2025 off strong with a new and clever campaign, combining innovation with consumer participation to bring the Made to Share campaign. The campaign was developed with Cadbury’s global creative agency VCCP and crafted by Bulletproof. The concept of the piece plays on the nature of how the product is consumed, more particularly, our sharing habits with others.

The creative execution showcases a humorous take on scenarios and the gestures three individuals would make in scenarios to make a joke about how we should share a Cadbury’s chocolate bar.

 One design from the campaign features a chocolate bar split into different portions with the labelling:

• ‘Who cooked’ has the largest section of the bar.
• ‘Who cleaned’ has the mid-sized chunk of chocolate
• ‘Who ate’ has the smallest section of the bar.

 The idea emphasises Cadbury’s core value of generosity, with the chocolate being positioned not just as a treat but a social connector, creatively and playfully reinforcing the brand values.

Surreal: The OG

Surreal, the newcomer in the cereal industry continues to deliver witty yet effortless campaigns that blend ingenuity with immaculate product placement. Their latest ad spotted on a bus stop advert spot is a zoomed-in part of Kellogg’s logo to frame the letters O and G.

 This clever twist subtly compares Surreal to established brands by using recognisable visual cues to highlight their nutritional advantages. By borrowing elements from well-known competitors, surreal challenges customer perceptions and redefines the narrative, positioning themselves as a healthier brand to go toward in the cereal aisle.

Heinz Dropping the Logo: It Has to Be, Trigger the Taste.  

Following Tesco’s lead, Heinz has embraced dropping their logo from billboard ads. Proving how established brands like Heinz and Tesco can simply be recognised by their products. Created by Wieden+Kennedy London, this campaign capitalizes on Heinz’s unmistakable products, reinforcing the power of brand recognition through association.

The campaign replaces the traditional Heinz logo with a simple yet effective copy strategy:

• For an image of soup, the tagline reads: “It has to be bread.”
• For beans, it states: “It has to be toast.”

This approach subtly nudges the audience, allowing them to mentally fill in the blanks, making the brand instantly recognizable without explicit branding. It’s a testament to Heinz’s legacy and an invitation for consumers to engage with the ad rather than just observe it.

Burger King versus McDonald’s: Battle of AI ads

In the ongoing rivalry between McDonald’s and Burger King, the latest battleground is AI-generated marketing. McDonald’s Japan initiated the campaign by using AI to ask: “What is the most iconic burger in the world?” Predictably, AI responded with McDonald’s Big Mac—a response that reinforced their brand dominance.

Burger King, however, saw an opportunity. Their ad followed up by asking AI:

“And which one is the biggest?” The response? A Burger King burger.

This campaign is a masterclass in reactive advertising—Burger King didn’t need to claim superiority outright. Instead, they cleverly highlighted a factual advantage (burger size) in a way that undermined McDonald’s claim without confrontation.

This playful yet strategic use of AI-generated marketing exemplifies how brands can use technology to engage audiences in creative ways while maintaining a competitive edge.

Google is making changes to how businesses present themselves in Google Ads. Starting in March, all advertisers must officially document their business name and logo, or Google will automatically select them based on performance data from past campaigns. This new policy is part of Google’s effort to create a more consistent brand experience across its advertising platforms and give businesses more control over how they’re represented online.

Why This is Important?

Google Ads is one of the most powerful tools for businesses to get noticed, offering immediate visibility to potential customers searching for specific products or services. The platform allows businesses to target users based on factors such as search intent, location, and even behavior. However, how your brand appears in ads is just as important as the message. Clear and consistent brand guidelines help create trust, build recognition, and increase the effectiveness of your ads. Without defined brand guidelines, businesses risk losing control over their image, which could impact customer perceptions and ad performance.

What Businesses Need to Do?

To ensure their brand is represented correctly, businesses must update their brand guidelines by March. This includes ensuring that their business name and logo are clearly defined. If no action is taken, Google will automatically choose the “top-performing” business name and logo based on campaign data, which could lead to branding that doesn’t align with the business’s identity. Taking the time to review and update brand guidelines will ensure that your business maintains control over how it is seen across Google’s advertising network.

In summary, the new policy gives businesses the chance to define their brand identity more clearly while maintaining control. Advertisers should take action now to avoid any automatic changes and ensure their branding stays consistent across Google Ads platforms.

Instagram is about to roll out a highly anticipated feature that lets you rearrange your profile grid, giving you complete control over how your posts appear. Instead of being stuck with chronological order, you’ll soon be able to curate your content for a more strategic and visually appealing layout. 

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri confirmed the update, saying: “We’re building a tool so you can re-order your entire grid and make it whatever you want.” The feature is already appearing in the app’s back-end code, meaning its launch is likely just around the corner. 

Key Changes Coming to the Grid 

Post Reordering – You’ll soon be able to drag and rearrange posts in your profile grid, rather than being stuck with the default chronological order. This means you can organize your content however you want without deleting or reposting. 

Larger Thumbnails – Instagram has already updated the grid to feature bigger post previews, making it more optimized for vertical content. This change was implemented before bringing back the “Edit Grid” feature. 

More Creative Control – Users will be able to curate their grid layout to highlight key posts, create visual themes, and make their profile look more appealing to visitors. 

Why This Matters for Marketers? 

This update is a game-changer for brands, creators, and businesses looking to optimize their Instagram presence. With the ability to reorder posts, you can highlight key content, improve brand storytelling, and align your grid with marketing campaigns. This means you can keep your best-performing posts at the top, arrange content in a way that guides visitors through your brand message, and adjust your grid for promotions, seasonal updates, or product launches. 

Previously, Instagram tested this feature in 2022 but paused it to focus on larger thumbnail displays. Now that those updates are live, the Edit Grid option is back on the roadmap. 

How to Prepare for the Update? 

With the rollout expected soon, now is the perfect time to plan your ideal grid layout. Consider which posts should be featured at the top, refresh outdated content to align with your current brand strategy, and stay updated on Instagram’s settings for the official launch of the “Edit Grid” option. 

This update gives marketers a powerful new way to craft a stronger first impression—get ready to make the most of it!  

SEO and PPC are staples of a robust digital marketing approach that is focused on online growth. While SEO is all about improving organic traffic levels, PPC takes a different approach, using online advertising to boost website visitors and sales. In this article, we will be discussing the pros, cons and differences of SEO and PPC, as well as how the two approaches can be combined for a highly effective digital marketing campaign.

Pros and Cons of SEO

SEO is a core principle of digital marketing for any business looking to maximise online growth. By optimising your site and its content for search engines the goal is to elevate your content above your competitors and gain more traffic and sales. 

SEO is an organic approach which means it has minimal cost and the rewards can be very cost effective in the long term. However, organic fixes are not a short term solution and improving traffic levels is a slow process that can take months or even years. This can often cause business to get frustrated with the process and abandon the strategy altogether, however a long term approach is always the best approach. 

Pros and Cons of PPC

Pay-per-click (PPC) is the process of bidding on ad space on search engines and websites, in order to generate traffic to your site. Every time someone clicks on your ad, you pay a varying fee depending on how competitive the ad space is. 

PPC is great for short term wins, generating higher traffic levels in a short space of time to boost sales and visibility. However, long term PPC is not as cost effective as SEO with high ad spends often required to compete for profitable ad spaces. 

Combining Approaches

The best digital marketing strategies will combine SEO and PPC efforts as both approaches help negate the others weaknesses. PPC can be used in the short term while organic performance is still growing, in order to generate increased sales. While in the long term SEO is the more cost effective strategy. When SEO performance is peaking, less money can be spent on PPC resulting in better margins for business growth.

Mordy Oberstein’s recent article on Search Engine Land highlights a sharp increase in ranking volatility throughout 2024, with rankings shifting 26% more than in 2023. Some industries saw even greater fluctuations, raising concerns about what’s driving this instability and how SEO professionals should adapt.

Ranking instability is rising across most sectors

• The average volatility increased by 26%, but some industries saw over 50% more fluctuation in search rankings.
• Real Estate was the only vertical that remained relatively stable, while industries like eCommerce and Health experienced significant turbulence.

Desktop vs. Mobile – Different degrees of volatility

• On desktop, volatility increased by 26%, while mobile searches were 16% more volatile compared to 2023.
• This suggests Google’s ranking changes don’t impact all devices equally, making mobile-specific SEO strategies even more critical.

Volatility was consistently high throughout 2024

1. Unlike previous years where fluctuations were linked to specific algorithm updates, 2024 saw sustained volatility every month, except for slight dips in July and August.
2. This indicates a fundamental change in how Google ranks pages rather than just temporary spikes.

What’s causing this ranking instability?

Mordy Oberstein’s insights raise the question: why is Google’s ranking system more unstable than ever? Several factors likely contribute to this ongoing turbulence:

1. Continuous Algorithm Updates

Google has shifted from periodic core updates to frequent, rolling updates, meaning there’s no longer a “settled” period where rankings stabilize. This continuous evolution creates unpredictable ranking fluctuations.

2. Increased AI Integration in Search

Google’s reliance on AI-driven ranking adjustments means search results are constantly being refined in real-time. These machine learning models adjust rankings dynamically, making it harder to predict outcomes.

3. Search Personalisation and User Behaviour

Google’s personalisation features (such as localized search and user-specific recommendations) mean rankings are less universal and more tailored to individual users. A site may rank highly for one person but not another, making traditional ranking tracking more complex.

4. Content Freshness and Quality Metrics

Google is prioritizing frequent content updates and stricter E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines. Websites that fail to keep up with these evolving standards risk sudden ranking drops.

5. Expansion of SERP Features

Organic results are now competing with featured snippets, knowledge panels, and AI-generated summaries, making ranking fluctuations more extreme as Google tests different formats.

6. Spam and Competitive Factors

With more websites optimizing aggressively, competition is at an all-time high. Google’s frequent anti-spam updates also cause significant shifts, penalising low-quality content while boosting authoritative sources.

Impact on SEO

With ranking stability becoming a thing of the past, SEO strategies need to evolve:

• Monitor rankings more frequently and track both desktop and mobile performance separately.
• Prioritise long-term content strategy by focusing on quality, authority, and regular updates rather than short-term ranking hacks.
• Diversify traffic sources – relying solely on Google is becoming increasingly risky. Building owned audiences (email, social, direct visits) is more important than ever.
• Adapt quickly – SEO is now an ongoing process that requires continuous testing and optimization, not just a set-it-and-forget-it approach.

Oberstein’s article reinforces a hard truth: ranking volatility is here to stay. Google’s ongoing updates and AI-driven ranking systems mean that SEO professionals must stay agile, experiment with new strategies, and prepare for constant shifts.

The old days of SEO, where rankings remained stable for months, are long gone – those who adapt will thrive, while those who don’t will struggle to keep up.

Guerilla marketing is a bold style of marketing which diverges from traditional marketing methods like print media, TV advertising and audio ads. Instead of relying on conventional advertising channels, guerilla marketing leverages innovative and unexpected tactics to promote a product or service in a fresh and engaging way.

These campaigns are often memorable because they break the mould of standard advertising, particularly for those creating pop-ups, interactive experiences or real-world activations that transcend beyond digital screens and billboards.

Why is guerilla marketing so effective?

Guerilla marketing stands out because of its ability to captivate audiences and spark conversation. Rather than passively exposing people to ads, it creates an experience—one that prompts interaction and engagement, making the audience an active participant in the campaign.

Once people engage with a guerilla marketing campaign, it naturally fuels word-of-mouth promotion. The uniqueness of the experience often leads audiences to share it, generating organic buzz and excitement around the brand. This, in turn, drives traffic, enhances brand visibility, and increases the likelihood of converting leads.

Another advantage of guerilla marketing is its ability to forge deeper connections with audiences—especially when campaigns are interactive and take place in physical spaces. By inviting direct participation, brands can create a more personal and memorable experience for their target audience while also reaching new potential customers.

At its core, guerilla marketing is designed to evoke a response. Whether it’s surprise, curiosity, or delight, these emotional responses contribute to increased brand awareness. As more people talk about the campaign, the brand gains exposure, ensuring a lasting impression on its audience.

What are some examples of Guerilla marketing?

Smile – 2022

Smile, a Paramount horror had a campaign which had a profound impact on audiences, with a campaign of high impact. The campaign saw actors positioned around sporting stadiums adorning the jarring smile (synonymous with the horror). This placement was effective for two reasons in particular.

The first is the attendees of the game, which will generate conversation in the stadium as well as make a lasting connection between the game and the campaign for spectators. The second was the fact the event was being live-streamed to masses of people. This immediately gave the campaign more reach, prompting viewers all over to share their sentiments online.

For this campaign in particular, social media was a catalyst in promoting the film, simply because the campaign generated so much conversation about the jarring technique.

Severance – 2025

Severance, the new Apple TV show made waves in January after the cast was seen acting at a pop-up in a glass box at Grand Central Station.  With numerous members of the cast acting as though the show were real, it gave fans an even closer look at the show.

This was a very clever method used to make the surreal show feel all the more tangible for viewers. Everything about the marketing stunt is so well-thought-out, from being located in one of the busiest spaces in New York with a significant amount of foot traffic, and therefore potential spectators.

This pop-up made many people stop in their tracks to pull out their phones and begin to record, which also propelled talks around Severance, which was already garnering a lot of attention from existing fans ahead of the new season release.

McDonald’s Singapore – 2022, I scream, You scream, We all scream for ice cream

McDonald’s Singapore set up a fascinating guerilla campaign, an interactive ice cream machine which prompted customers to scream to earn an ice cream. The interactive machine used sound technology to identify the decibels of participators’ screams, turning the vanilla ice cream on the screen into a chocolate one before rewarding the screamers with free ice cream.

This unique way to promote a product, elicited an emotional and physical response from those who participate, not only making the experience memorable but rewarding them with a free product as a result.

British Airways – Magic of Flying

British Airways took a particularly clever approach to their adverts, creating billboards which ‘interacted’ with the planes in the sky around them. The ad featured a young child running and pointing directly at planes which were in the sky.

The billboard would then have a little tagline about the place, including the flight number and the destination they’re flying towards. This playful technique utilised the child-like innocence and curiosity around planes in the sky and made these interests a proposition to their customer.

It again puts the brand in the mind of the audience, without necessarily forcing them to book a holiday. This natural positioning shows that guerilla tact-tics can be very subtle, yet super effective for positioning a brand and product.

Meta has announced the introduction of advertisements on its social media platform, Threads, marking a significant shift in the app’s evolution. Initially, a select group of advertisers in the U.S. and Japan will participate in this early test phase, where image-based ads will appear between posts in users’ home feeds. Meta plans to monitor user engagement and feedback closely before expanding this feature to a broader audience.

Understanding Threads

Launched in July 2023, Threads is Meta’s text-based social media application designed to facilitate real-time public conversations. Closely integrated with Instagram, Threads allows users to share text updates, images, and videos, fostering a space for dynamic discussions. The platform has experienced rapid growth, reaching over 300 million monthly active users as of December 2024.

Advertising Opportunities on Threads

With the introduction of ads, businesses can now extend their existing Meta advertising campaigns to include Threads. This integration is streamlined, requiring minimal additional effort from marketers. Meta is also implementing an AI-powered inventory filter, allowing advertisers to control the sensitivity level of content adjacent to their ads, ensuring brand safety and suitability.

Image Ads in Home Feed

Currently, the initial test phase includes image ads appearing intermittently in users’ home feeds. These ads blend seamlessly with organic content, offering advertisers a native advertising experience within the platform.

Easy Campaign Integration

Advertisers can extend their existing Meta campaigns to Threads without creating additional content. By simply checking a box in Ads Manager, brands can increase their reach across Meta’s platforms with minimal additional resources.

AI-Powered Brand Safety Controls

To ensure advertisers feel confident in where their ads appear, Meta has introduced an AI-powered inventory filter. This tool allows businesses to control the types of content their ads are placed next to, ensuring they align with brand values and marketing goals.

User Control Over Ads

Threads users will have the ability to skip ads, hide them, or report any content they find irrelevant or inappropriate. This provides users with greater control over their ad experience while allowing Meta to refine its advertising strategy based on feedback.

Comparison with Twitter (X), Instagram, and Facebook

Threads shares similarities with platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, particularly in its focus on real-time, text-based interactions. However, each platform offers distinct features:

• Twitter (now X): Known for its microblogging format, Twitter allows users to post short messages and engage in public discussions. As of late 2024, Twitter reported 335 million users, a decline from previous years.
• Instagram: Primarily a visual platform, Instagram focuses on photo and video sharing. It boasts a substantial user base, with millions of active users worldwide.
• Facebook: As one of the largest social media platforms globally, Facebook offers a comprehensive range of features, including text posts, photo and video sharing, and event organization.

Threads differentiates itself by emphasizing text-based, real-time conversations, aiming to combine the immediacy of Twitter with the community-oriented aspects of Instagram.

Importance of this development

The introduction of ads on Threads represents a significant opportunity for businesses to reach a rapidly growing audience. For marketers, this means access to a new platform with an expanding user base, allowing for diversified advertising strategies. By leveraging Threads’ integration with Meta’s existing advertising infrastructure, businesses can efficiently extend their campaigns to this platform, potentially enhancing their reach and engagement.

In summary, Meta’s move to incorporate advertising into Threads signifies the platform’s maturation and offers marketers a promising avenue to connect with a broad audience through real-time, text-based interactions.

For months, Google said advertisers couldn’t block certain websites or placements in Performance Max (PMax) campaigns using automated tools (API). However, new research proved otherwise, and Google has now admitted that these controls do work—giving advertisers more control than they previously thought. A Performance Max (PMax) campaign is an automated ad campaign in Google Ads that uses AI and machine learning to show ads across multiple platforms, including Google Search, YouTube, Display Network, Gmail, Discover, and Maps. Instead of manually selecting where ads appear, advertisers provide creative assets, a budget, and a goal (such as sales or leads), and Google’s AI optimizes the campaign for the best results. PMax is popular because it saves time, expands reach, and focuses on driving conversions. However, many advertisers find it lacks control and transparency, making it difficult to see where ads are placed or make manual adjustments.

A Simple Experiment Proved Google Was Wrong

A marketing tech company, Optmyzr, tested Google’s claims by running an experiment from December 30 to January 21. They found that ads completely avoided the blocked placements when using API exclusions. This method also worked faster and more efficiently than manually blocking placements through Google’s interface.

Google’s Misinformation Misled Advertisers

For months, Google’s official documentation and customer support said API-based blocking wasn’t possible. This misinformation meant advertisers wasted time using less efficient methods—or didn’t block bad placements at all. After the experiment proved otherwise, Google quietly updated its guidance.

What This Means for Advertisers

Now that Google has confirmed these controls work, advertisers can prevent their ads from appearing on irrelevant or low-quality sites more easily. This discovery also shows that companies shouldn’t blindly trust what ad platforms say—they should test things for themselves.

Lesson Learned: Always Question Tech Platforms

This case is a reminder that big tech platforms don’t always provide accurate information about their tools. Advertisers—and anyone using digital platforms—should question official claims, test features themselves, and look for hidden options that could improve their results.