Perplexity is expanding its use of creators as it looks to promote products such as Perplexity Computer and drive more measurable results from influencer marketing.

According to Digiday, the company recently hired for a Creator & Influencer Marketing Lead who would oversee campaigns involving more than 100 creators and multimillion-dollar budgets.

The role covers platforms including YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and X, and includes working with creators on original projects built with Perplexity Computer.

Perplexity is also looking beyond basic reach metrics. The job description says the program should be tied to engagement and conversions rather than impressions alone.

That is where the strategy starts to become more relevant to search marketers.

Creator content is increasingly showing up as a source inside AI search engines. YouTube videos, reviews, Reddit discussions and other third-party content can all be retrieved and cited in AI-generated answers.

An analysis of Perplexity’s retrieval system published earlier this year found YouTube appearing frequently for some product and how-to searches. The sample was limited, so it should not be treated as a broad ranking study, but it showed that creator videos can be used directly as sources inside Perplexity answers.

Other brands are already paying attention to this overlap.

Zoom has used creator partnerships as part of its effort to improve how the company appears in AI search, while agencies have started looking at whether creators and their content are being cited by AI platforms.

For SEO teams, that adds another consideration when working with creators.

A creator may not only deliver views and clicks. Their content can also become another third-party source that search engines and AI systems use when answering questions about a product or brand.

There is no indication that Perplexity’s creator program is designed specifically to influence its own search results, and there is no evidence that sponsored creator content receives preferential treatment.

But the timing is notable.

Perplexity is increasing its investment in creator content just as creators are becoming a more visible source of information inside AI search.

That makes creator marketing increasingly relevant to SEO, particularly for brands trying to build visibility beyond their own websites.

The post Perplexity is betting on creators as AI search’s new distribution layer appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

Google homepage is testing a new hover animation. Previously, hovering over the “+” icon didn’t trigger anything special, but recently, hovering over it shows a new animation.

This isn’t a major change, but it’s worth sharing with the marketing community as another small example of how Google continues to refine its homepage design.

Here is a video of this.

Have you seen this animation on your own Google homepage?

The post Google Homepage tests new hover animation on + icon appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

Google is now testing URL breadcrumbs shown alongside sitelinks within sponsored ads on mobile. I spotted this today clicking a sitelink redirects to its specific page, with the URL.

We’ve covered several recent changes to Google’s sponsored ad, including AI-generated review summaries and larger sitelink designs, but this breadcrumb addition is something new and different.

Here is a screenshot of how it looks.

I’m not entirely sure how useful showing URL breadcrumbs for sitelinks will be in practice, but from a design perspective, this update looks like a clean addition.

The post Google tests URL breadcrumbs for sitelinks in sponsored ads appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

Google AI Mode is now showing sponsored ads alongside organic products together on mobile as well.

Brodie Clark previously shared this happening within AI Mode on desktop, and today he spotted it appearing on mobile too.

Here is a screenshot of how it looks.

Google continues running more tests within AI Mode, and these changes suggest Google is increasingly focused on integrating more ads directly into the AI Mode experience.

The post Google AI Mode now shows sponsored ads and organic products together appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

Have you seen this change to sitelink descriptions on Bing?

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Bing is testing a change to how sitelink descriptions are displayed. Previously, Bing would show the description for each sitelink by default. Now, these descriptions appear to be hidden unless a user hovers over the sitelink.

Here is a screenshot and video of this.

Here is what it looked like without hovering previously, Bing showed the description for every sitelink upfront.

Have you seen this change to sitelink descriptions on Bing?

The post Bing tests hiding sitelink descriptions until hovered appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com