Data Strategy · Analysis Chrome kept third-party cookies. Privacy Sandbox was shut down. Six years of industry preparation for a deadline that never arrived — and the case for owning your own data is stronger than it was. Updated August 2026 · 15 min read · Timeline verified against published announcements For most of six … Read more
Experimentation · Buyer’s Guide Google Optimize died in 2023 and was never replaced. The market that filled the gap is now consolidating hard — and most sites buying into it don’t have the traffic to use it. Updated August 2026 · 14 min read · Market changes and pricing verified Google shut down Optimize on … Read more
Operations · Strategy The average stack isn’t designed. It accretes — one tool per problem, each bought by a different person, none of them ever removed. Here’s how to build one deliberately, and how to dismantle one that already happened to you. Updated August 2026 · 14 min read · Written after auditing rather too … Read more
Content · Field Guide Google does not penalise AI-written content. It penalises what AI makes trivially easy to produce — and in March 2026 it enforced that distinction hard enough to remove some sites entirely. Updated August 2026 · 15 min read · Policy verified against Google Search Central The question “does Google penalise AI … Read more
Compliance · Field Guide The legal rules differ sharply by jurisdiction and are less restrictive than most people assume. The technical rules apply everywhere, are enforced automatically, and will stop you long before a regulator does. Updated August 2026 · 15 min read · Not legal advice — see the note below Two things are … Read more
Email · Strategy Subject line testing is the most-written-about and least-productive activity in email marketing. Who receives the message determines more than what it says — and in 2026, it determines whether it arrives at all. Updated August 2026 · 14 min read · Deliverability mechanics verified against sender requirements There is an entire genre … Read more
Automation · Practical Guide Most automation advice assumes a marketing department. Here are the five sequences that actually earn their keep for one person, in the order worth building them, and the ones to skip entirely. Updated August 2026 · 14 min read · Written from things that broke The promise of marketing automation is … Read more
Email · Buyer’s Guide Nearly every major platform repriced in the last eighteen months, and almost all of it went one direction. Here’s what each one now costs at the sizes that matter, and which limits you’ll actually hit. Updated August 2026 · 15 min read · Pricing verified against published tiers Something happened to … Read more
Monetisation · Explainer Three acronyms, two sides of the same transaction, and one arithmetic relationship that determines whether a business makes money or quietly bleeds it. Most people never learn which number they’re actually looking at. Updated August 2026 · 14 min read · Formulas worked through with real arithmetic The confusing thing about advertising … Read more
Paid Media · Buyer’s Guide One platform harvests demand that already exists. The other manufactures it. Almost everything about how you should spend a small budget follows from that single distinction. Updated August 2026 · 14 min read · Benchmark figures sourced and caveated The standard advice for a first advertising budget is to split … Read more