lodestar marketing group

09/30/2026

In our opinion, building trust matters more for business than price or quality.

Read about the dynamic and how trust helps businesses connect with customers in a way that neither price nor quality can.

Find out more in our most recent blog.
https://tinyurl.com/ycx4c26u

09/23/2026

Heads up for all using Google Local Service Ads!

Starting October 1, Google will charge for missed calls that ring longer than 20 seconds during business hours, plus any qualifying follow-up calls. Businesses using a phone menu get an exception, since the timer doesn't start until the caller presses a key. Missed calls used to be free on LSAs. Before October 1, make sure to check that your listed business hours actually match when someone picks up.

If you have questions about Local Service Ads, contact us, and we can clear it up! https://tinyurl.com/2ss6umts

09/16/2026

Bad news: Reddit's share of ChatGPT Search citations just fell 86% in four days.

The idea of leveraging Reddit to increase AI citations may be dead. Nobody outside OpenAI knows why, and that's the point: betting your visibility on one channel works right up until it doesn't.

Keeping track of every new change can feel overwhelming. Contact us if you'd rather stop worrying about what changes next. https://tinyurl.com/2ss6umts

09/09/2026

Pew analyzed nearly 500,000 webpages and found that 35% of pages published after ChatGPT's launch show signs of AI authorship or editing. They also posted the tells:

· Em dashes doubled, from 5.79 to 11.19 per 10,000 words
· Oxford commas up 63%
· "Delve" and "interplay" more than doubled
· The "it's not just X, it's Y" construction rose sharply

Although Pew notes none of these prove AI on their own, your readers are judging on them anyway. What's the signal that screams AI to you?

Learn more about AI use in digital marketing here: https://tinyurl.com/3pzuvwf2

09/02/2026

Are ChatGPT ads worth it yet?

A few months in, first movers to adopt ChatGPT ads are seeing results but also finding a new conundrum. Ads only show up for users on Free and Go plans, which means consumers who pay for an ad-free plan never see them.

Our take while the space matures: keep Google Ads and social doing what they already do well, and build GEO alongside them so AI surfaces your site to every user, regardless of plan (or platform).

Want to know how well AI can retrieve information about your business today? Let us know here. https://tinyurl.com/2ss6umts

08/26/2026

AI market share is on the move again. ChatGPT's share of AI chatbot traffic has slid from over 80% in 2024 to just above 50% today, per new Similarweb data. Claude nearly tripled its traffic. Gemini kept climbing. ChatGPT still leads, but the gap is closing fast.

Brands that are betting on one AI platform are already missing half the conversation. Show up in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews.

Similarweb puts AI Overviews in 43% of US searches, with gen AI web visits reaching 9.5 billion monthly, up 70% in one year. What happens to publishers now?

08/19/2026

Alphabet recently reported stronger-than-expected earnings, with CEO Sundar Pichai citing AI as a major driver. Google says AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users, and the Gemini app is close behind at 950 million. Search advertising also remained strong, which suggests AI search is expanding rather than replacing Google's ad business.

Read an edited transcript of Sundar Pichai’s remarks from the Q2 2026 Alphabet earnings call.

08/12/2026

Google now has three AI products. Here's the difference.
AI Overviews: AI answers inside Google Search.
AI Mode: A conversational version of Google Search.
Gemini: Google's AI assistant, similar to ChatGPT.

Think of it this way:
You look at AI Overviews in search results.
You choose AI Mode instead of traditional search for more back-and-forth refinements.
You open Gemini when you want a full-on AI assistant.

Make sure your business is prepared for AI search: https://www.lodestarmg.com/generative-engine-optimization-geo/

08/12/2026

AI-referred shoppers now outspend other site visitors by 53%. A year ago, AI traffic converted worse than every other channel — now it converts 42% better. The flip happened fast, and most sites aren't set up to catch it. Is yours visible to AI? Read our latest on what it takes to capture this high-intent traffic.

AI-referred shoppers convert higher and spend more per visit. Learn what it takes to make your site visible to AI and win this high-intent traffic.

08/05/2026

Looking for a marketing partner, not just another vendor? Since 2000, Lodestar Marketing Group has driven growth for businesses as a Google Premier Partner and Microsoft Advertising Partner, offering PPC, SEO, GEO, social media, display, and creative services under one roof. Curious where your marketing stands today? Get a free digital marketing analysis. https://www.lodestarmg.com/lets-talk/