JB’s Digital Update 30th March 2026

AI search now prefers content machines can read, checkout is still quietly leaking revenue, migrations continue to break things that were working perfectly fine, Instagram finally lets you fix carousel order after posting, and storytelling is being rediscovered again. The common thread: most “new” problems are just old ones we never really fixed.

You’ve probably noticed search results feeling a bit… different lately. The push behind AI search playbooks is simple enough, content needs to be structured in a way machines can read without guessing. Clear headings, clean hierarchy, and proper formatting now matter as much as what you’re actually saying.

If you’re still writing content the same way you did a year ago, this will start to show. You can have something genuinely useful, but if it’s buried in a messy layout, it won’t surface. That’s the part most teams underestimate.

Search is shifting from rewarding content that exists to content that can be understood quickly. You’re not just writing for people anymore, you’re writing for systems that decide whether people see it at all.

If your visibility has dipped and nothing obvious explains it, this is where I’d start. We work through this in SEO & Content Strategy. It’s usually less about writing more, and more about fixing what’s already there.

You don’t need another study to tell you checkout is broken in most ecommerce setups. The patterns outlined in why checkout kills conversions are the same ones we’ve seen for years, too many steps, forced logins, unnecessary friction.

If you’re spending heavily on ads and not seeing the return, have you actually gone through your own checkout recently. Not as the owner, but as someone who just wants to buy something quickly. It’s usually a different experience.

There’s a strange tendency to treat checkout like a finished product. It rarely is. It’s one of the few places where small changes can directly increase revenue, yet it gets less attention than campaign tweaks.

If conversion rates feel stuck, look here before anything else. We focus on this in Conversion Rate Optimisation. It’s not exciting work, but it tends to pay for itself.

You’d think by now website migrations would be handled more carefully. Yet the same issues keep showing up in migration checks, redirects missed, pages dropped, links broken.

If you’re planning a migration, are you treating SEO as part of the process or something to check at the end. Because most of the damage happens before anyone looks at it properly.

The uncomfortable reality is that migrations fail quietly. Traffic dips, rankings slide, and it’s rarely traced back to one clear mistake. Instead, it’s a collection of small misses that add up.

If something dropped after a launch, it’s worth digging into properly. We handle this in Technical SEO. It’s easier to get ahead of it than explain it later.

If you’ve ever posted a carousel and realised the first slide wasn’t strong enough, you’ll appreciate this. Instagram now allows reordering after publishing, covered in this update.

If you’re using carousels seriously, this is more useful than it sounds. You can test hooks, adjust flow, and fix posts that didn’t quite land without starting over.

It also says something about where platforms are heading. Control is being tightened in some areas, while small freedoms are being handed back in others. A bit of give, a bit of take.

If carousels are part of your mix, try this properly rather than treating it as a minor feature. We build this into Paid Social & Content Strategy. Small adjustments here can change how a post performs.

Every few months, storytelling comes back as if it’s a new idea. The frameworks in these storytelling approaches are useful, but the concept itself hasn’t changed.

If your content feels flat, it’s usually not because you need more ideas. It’s because nothing is holding attention. Most business content reads like it’s trying to explain, not engage.

Here’s the sharper take. A lot of brands hide behind “informative content” because it’s safer. No one pushes back on something that says nothing interesting. But it also doesn’t do anything.

If you want content to work, it needs structure, tension, and a reason to keep reading. We work through this in Content Strategy. Otherwise, it’s just more words.

There’s a consistent pattern here. Most of the issues showing up right now aren’t new, they’re just harder to ignore. Structure, experience, and clarity are doing more of the work.

If something isn’t performing, it’s probably not because you need a new tactic. It’s because something basic hasn’t been addressed properly.

Take a closer look at what’s already in place before adding anything new.

Your slightly world-weary guide to all of it, JB.

You may have missed these articles and be champing at the bit to read them :-)

• Writing for Real People: How Natural Language is Changing SEO
• E-commerce Success: Seasonal Strategies That Work
• Get Noticed Locally: Mastering Hyper-Local SEO