Good morning!
One of the most popular WordPress plugins in the world was doing something during installation that its five million users never agreed to. More on that below. What is one part of your online setup you have not looked at in the past six months? Hit reply and I'll tell you where to start. |
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Six in ten Australian consumers say they never buy at full price anymore |
Australia Post's latest quarterly ecommerce report found Australians spent $21.9 billion online last quarter, up 14% year on year. But average basket sizes dropped to a record low of $90 as shoppers hold out for sales events and trade down to smaller purchases.
Why It Matters: If your pricing assumes customers will pay full price on first visit, test a structured offer for new buyers this week. The data says most of them are waiting for one. Read the full article |
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Structured data and semantic HTML do different jobs, and your site probably neglects one of them |
Teams often treat structured data and semantic HTML as interchangeable. Semantic HTML tells crawlers how a page is organised. Structured data tells them who published it, what it costs and whether it is in stock. A page needs both, implemented in the right order.
Why It Matters: If your site uses a page builder, the HTML may look right but lack real structure underneath. View-source one product or service page this week and check whether headings use real heading tags. Fixing this once removes a structural drag that quietly limits rankings regardless of how much content you publish or how many links you build.
Read the full article |
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WPForms Lite’s setup wizard redirects 5 million WordPress sites to an external server during installation |
A security researcher found that WPForms Lite’s onboarding wizard silently sends new users to an external site and installs extra plugins without clear consent. The plugin issues a one-hour admin access token during setup. It runs on over 5 million WordPress sites.
Why It Matters: If your WordPress site uses WPForms Lite, check what was installed alongside it. Deactivate anything you did not choose. Ten minutes protects your admin access. Read the full article |
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SE Ranking analysed 50,000 prompts and found ChatGPT shows ads on 26% of commercial queries |
ChatGPT serves a single sponsored placement below its generated answer on roughly one in four commercial prompts. But 14% of those ads appear alongside unrelated topics, and buying an ad does not increase a brand’s chance of being cited in the AI answer above it.
Why It Matters: ChatGPT Ads is a new paid channel approaching Google AI Mode’s ad frequency. If you run Google Ads, add ChatGPT Ads to your watchlist this quarter and test a small budget. Early movers on a new channel pay less before competition drives costs up.
Read the full article |
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YouTube doubles Partner Program entry thresholds and adds a 10 million Shorts views minimum from February 2027 |
New creators will need 8,000 watch hours or 20 million Shorts views to qualify for ad revenue, double the current requirement. Existing partners must accept updated terms in YouTube Studio by 31 January 2027 or lose earnings immediately. Why It Matters: If your business has a YouTube channel, log into YouTube Studio this week and check whether new terms are waiting. Missing the deadline pauses revenue automatically. Read the full article |
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Open your WordPress plugin list and count the ones you do not recognise. |
Deactivate and delete any plugin you are not actively using. Each unused plugin is an unmonitored door into your site. The WPForms story this week is a reminder: even popular plugins can behave in ways you did not agree to. Ten minutes, one less attack surface. |
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When was the last time you checked what your website plugins actually do when no one is watching? Hit reply, I read every one. |
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