PractitionerLily Ray, 2026

Google has released four spam updates in 2026 so far, compared to just one in all of 2025, and the gap between them is getting shorter

Strategy review & optimization

Reader Note:: The two sides of this comparison are not the same length: four updates in part of 2026 against one across all of 2025. The rate gap is therefore wider than the counts suggest, but the counts themselves are not like for like. The timeline is the author's own tracking of Google's announcements, and which releases count as a spam update is her judgement, since Google does not always label them. Four points is also thin ground for saying the gap between them is shortening.
Evidence:: Expert judgment
Vendor interest:: Moderate — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Not disclosed

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Getting a rough orientation, and deciding what to check yourself.

Not for

Anything that needs a measurement. Nobody counted or tested this.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
The source never says how this number was measured.
The source never says how big its sample was or what went into it.

More than half of brands said economic volatility pushed them to focus harder on ROI

How Economic Volatility Has Affected Marketing Strategy, Overall vs Enterprise Brands
Response	Brands overall (%)	Enterprise brands (%)
Increased focus on ROI	51%	56%
Seeking cost saving measures	46%	49%
Budget restrictions	44%	43%
Reallocation of resources to proven channels	38%	43%
Job or role uncertainty	29%	39%

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Planning questions suggested by Gartner: objectives and goals, primary strategies and execution, direction of product lines or services, success measures, long-term success factors, and major obstacles

Template: Strategic Alignment Discussion Guide for Business Partner Conversations
Questions about that business partner's domain	Notes of your business partner's answer
What are your key business objectives and resultant goals for the next two to five years?	—
What are your primary strategies? How do you plan to execute on these strategies?	—
What is the direction of the key product line, supply chain, service offerings, etc.?	—
How will you know if your unit is successful? What will you measure?	—
What are the key success factors that will make or break your unit's success in the long term?	—

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48% of B2B SaaS leaders say aligning affiliate partnerships with sales and marketing shortens sales cycles

Revenue impacts reported from strong alignment between partnerships and other go-to-market teams
Revenue impact	Share of respondents (%)
Shortens sales cycles	48%
Partnerships open doors to customers	31%
Land bigger deals	23%
Drive pipeline growth	12%
Help lower churn	10%

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Our Substack turns the data behind these cards into full breakdowns: what changed, why, and what to do about it.

Fixing your influencer marketing campaign: How to get into the top 10% of advertisers

Lead quality and MQLs are the top KPI marketers track overall

Top KPIs marketers prioritize overall (2026)
KPI	Share of marketers prioritizing it (%)
Lead quality and MQLs	39%
Lead-to-customer conversion rates	34%
Return on marketing investment	31%
Customer acquisition cost	30%
Lead generation volume	29%

34%

of CEOs and CFOs are aligned with their CMOs about how marketing supports growth

1.5x

more likely CMOs who plan 18 months or more ahead are to report high marketing and business performance than those who do not

Google has released four spam updates in 2026 so far, compared to just one in all of 2025, and the gap between them is getting shorter

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