In marketing, we have to pay attention to what’s changing without losing sight of what never will. Here are five things worth thinking about this week.

This Week’s Uncommon Five

1. Trust Is the New SEO

In this 31 minute video, Kevin Indig explains why clicks are disappearing as users stay in-platform, and why brand trust is starting to matter more than being cited at all.

2. Email Marketing Trends From 79,235 Emails

A quarterly analysis of real sends found the weekend send gap vanished, subject lines shrank, and exclamation points are disappearing.

3. Why Unpaid Media Is Essential to AI Visibility

AI search engines weigh backlink quality, media coverage, and third-party mentions the same way search algorithms once weighed keywords.

4. What Al Pacino Can Teach You About Copy

It’s a full persuasion template with a quiet opening, a damaging admission, a controlling idea, and a close that hands the decision back to the listener.

5. Everyone’s a Marketing Expert Until They’re Not

It’s not inexperience that leads marketers astray, but unchecked certainty that makes marketers misread their audience.

Before You Go

One last thought on how quickly things are changing.

Whether you’re a fan of AI search or not, Greg Isenberg’s take on Google search nostalgia is hard to argue with. Future generations may look back on 100,000 blue links the way we look back on dial-up.

Have an inspired week!