Blog

Notes from building Charlie.

How an AI marketing team actually works - positioning calls, playbooks, and the decisions behind the product.

PlaybookAugust 6, 20264 min read

Meta Ads & paid search: Q2 2026 reality check

Paid search growth slowed in Q2 2026, Meta ad prices are rising, and a low match rate is quietly draining campaign performance. Here is what to do.

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PlaybookAugust 4, 2026

Cloudflare Blocking Googlebot: Act Before Sept 15

Cloudflare's new AI bot defaults may block Googlebot from indexing your site. Here's what to check now, plus how to read the new GSC AI impressions report.

4 min read
PlaybookAugust 2, 2026

AI brand mentions: why off-site signals decide

AI recognises 96% of brands but mentions only 11%. New research shows why AI visibility depends on off-site signals, not your own website.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 30, 2026

Google Ads bidding changes: August 2026 guide

From August 17, Google Ads stops letting budget-limited campaigns overperform their Target CPA or ROAS. Here is what to audit before the deadline.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 28, 2026

SEO, blended CAC and AI visibility: one budget

SEO doesn't just lower organic CPA. It reduces blended CAC across every channel, and AI visibility amplifies that effect. Here's how to measure it.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 26, 2026

Google Shopping Feed Quality in the Age of AI Agents

Poor Google Shopping feed quality tanks your CTR and makes AI agents skip your products entirely. Here's what to fix and in what order.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 23, 2026

Content SEO Manager: skills for the AI era

The Content SEO Manager role barely existed in 2023 and now makes up 20% of US content marketing jobs. Here's what that shift means for your visibility strategy.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 19, 2026

Meta Ads 2026: Creative Is the New Targeting

Meta's algorithms now own targeting decisions, but your creative must qualify the audience. Here's what's actually breaking your Meta Ads and how to fix it.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 16, 2026

Brand Positioning as an AI Search Variable: What to Measure

AI search engines now evaluate your brand positioning like a probabilistic model, here's what that means for your metrics and your strategy.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 14, 2026

PPC Post-Click Leaks Killing Your Budget in 2026

Smart Bidding, agentic commerce and broken conversion tracking create a new layer of PPC leaks most teams never catch. Here is what to fix first.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 12, 2026

Google Ads 2026: data quality, AI Overviews & bidding

AI Overviews expanded 71% across commercial searches and Google Ads is changing bidding and tracking. Here is what you need to fix before August.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 9, 2026

B2B AI Buying, Content Gaps & Smart Bidding

66% of B2B buyers use AI to research vendors. Here's what that means for your content strategy, Smart Bidding setup and PPC tracking.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 7, 2026

PPC Strategy 2026: Scale Without Burning Cash

How to build a PPC strategy that survives scaling: the right platform mix, testing guardrails, and cross-channel reporting that doesn't eat your week.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 5, 2026

AI visibility: earned media, tech SEO and agents

Classic SEO no longer guarantees AI visibility: 88% of AI Mode citations come from outside the top 10. Here's what actually determines whether AI mentions your brand.

4 min read
PlaybookJuly 2, 2026

Enterprise SEO & AI Visibility: Getting Buy-In

Enterprise SEO strategies fail at the boardroom, not the keyword level. Here's how to get leadership buy-in and stay visible as AI reshapes search.

4 min read
PlaybookJune 30, 2026

Ad Budget in the AI Bidding Era: 2026 Guide

2026 ad cost benchmarks, Google Display's end, and why bad conversion data is the biggest threat to AI bidding performance.

4 min read
PlaybookJune 28, 2026

AI Search in 2026: BOFU Content and Agent Transactions

AI Overviews are reshaping SEO. Learn why BOFU content wins in AI search and how to prepare your site for agentic transactions in 2026.

4 min read
PlaybookJune 25, 2026

Online Advertising Benchmarks 2026: What the Data Says

Google Ads CPC averages $3.20, Meta $1.10, TikTok $0.55. Here is what 2026 ad cost benchmarks mean for your budget and how to actually measure campaign performance.

4 min read
PlaybookJune 23, 2026

AI Overviews Are Reshaping B2B SEO

AI Overviews cut organic CTR by up to 67%. Here's how to rebuild your B2B content strategy so AI models cite you and agents complete transactions on your site.

4 min read
PlaybookJune 18, 2026

PPC in 2026: specs, tracking and lower CPC

What actually drives PPC performance in 2026? The right ad specs, server-side tracking and Quality Score are three levers that change results fast.

4 min read
PlaybookJune 18, 2026

Google Kills Display Campaigns: AI Search Playbook

Google is retiring standalone Display campaigns in favour of Demand Gen while AI reshapes SEO. Here is what marketers need to do right now.

4 min read
ProductJune 9, 2026

Why Charlie is 43 specialists, not one chatbot

A single prompt box cannot run a marketing department. We split Charlie into 43 named specialists across 7 teams - and the org chart is the product.

4 min read
PlaybookMay 26, 2026

How many hours does an AI marketing team actually save?

Everyone claims to save time. Almost no one puts a number on it. Here is how we calculate 152-311 hours per client, per month - and why the footnote matters.

5 min read
CompanyMay 12, 2026

Generating content isn't enough. Charlie audits its own work.

Most AI tools generate and walk away. Charlie closes the loop: a Performance Review agent compares the campaign plan against real GA4, Search Console and Ads data.

4 min read

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