Manual Focus

James Vickers, Manual Focus
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James Vickers and Hannah, the Manual Focus AI expert, talk through each article from the Manual Focus blog: what changed in AI and search, what it means for marketing teams, and the jobs you can hand to AI this month. Both voices are AI-generated from our own scripts.

  1. 6d ago

    What the first ChatGPT ads returns study means for paid teams

    James and Hannah go through the first independent study of what ChatGPT ads return. Maximilian Kaiser and Christian Schulze's working paper, dated October 2026, finds that in US traffic a paid ChatGPT visit earned $0.89 against $2.45 for a paid Google Search visit, which puts a ChatGPT click's parity price at about $0.26. They cover how the study used OpenAI's country-by-country rollout, why the largest advertiser makes the result look better rather than worse, what it means for bids and budgets, why organic ChatGPT referrals still matter, and three jobs to hand to AI before Black Friday. Read the article and get the prompts: What the first ChatGPT ads returns study means for paid teams

  2. 6d ago

    What the shared AI training opt-out means for brand websites

    James and Hannah talk through the shared AI training opt-out that Google and Microsoft said on 30 October 2026 they will honour, a robots.txt token defined in an IETF draft by Anthropic's Kevin Kelley. They cover how it works, why Microsoft now separates training from grounding, the traps that could cost a brand visibility in AI answers, and why most brands should allow training by default and opt out only on the paths that carry content they sell or license. Read the article and get the prompts: What the shared AI training opt-out means for brand websites

  3. Nov 2

    The WattPlan messaging house, how we built it and what it does

    James and Hannah go inside the messaging house for WattPlan, the cycling training app Manual Focus builds. It has six levels, from the two-word tagline Train. Adapt. down to the features, each naming the code behind it, and writing it that way caught five stale claims before they reached a store listing. They walk each level with its definition, the four readings of the tagline, the message path and routing table, the understood and consistent test, the three banned lists, the foundation, the App Store and Google Play limits, and three jobs to hand to AI if you are building a house for your own product. Read the article and get the prompts: The WattPlan messaging house, how we built it and what it does

  4. Oct 30

    Reddit plans a logged-in-only site, what it means for marketers

    James and Hannah go through Reddit's third-quarter letter to shareholders, published on 29 October 2026. Reddit plans a logged-in-only site and will start testing it this quarter in markets outside the US, after its search referrals fell by more than 1 million a week in October. They explain why Google is better placed than other AI engines to keep showing Reddit content. Brand teams lose a free route into search while paid teams may gain sharper targeting. The episode ends on what Reddit hasn't said, after three jobs to hand to AI. Read the article and get the prompts: Reddit plans a logged-in-only site, what it means for marketers

  5. Oct 29

    Go-to-market automation, a basics guide with Claude and Apollo

    The second long-form Manual Focus Basics episode, and the second half of the story that began with What is marketing. James and Hannah take a finished plan to real buyers, following a hypothetical UK software start-up that sells project-profitability software to architecture practices. They separate growth strategy from growth tactics, then work through eight steps, the ideal customer profile, a wide list from Apollo, AI research and scoring with Claude, the shortlist, messages from the communication hierarchy, landing pages built with Claude Code in GitHub, sequences, and measurement, before pulling it together in SOSTAC. They cover the UK rules on B2B email, Google's sender guidelines, GitHub's terms for hosting and the mistakes that most often break the method. The start-up is an illustration, not a real company. Read the article and get the prompts: Go-to-market automation, a basics guide with Claude and Apollo

  6. Oct 29

    What ads in Google's AI Mode mean for UK paid search teams

    James and Hannah talk through Google's 28 October 2026 announcement that ads in AI Mode are scaling to ten countries now, with the UK, Brazil and Mexico due in the fourth quarter, and that multiturn ads have launched in the US. Google's help page says existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are eligible automatically, there's no separate opt-out, and results are reported only in aggregate. They cover why the UK launch lands in peak trading, what it means for Shopping and search teams, and three jobs to hand to AI before December. Read the article and get the prompts: What ads in Google's AI Mode mean for UK paid search teams

  7. Oct 28

    What is marketing, a basics guide from market fit to SOSTAC

    A long-form Manual Focus Basics episode that pulls the series together into one answer to "what is marketing?". James and Hannah start from the Chartered Institute of Marketing's definition, then follow a hypothetical new cycling helmet from the first question, is there a market, through market research, the product requirements brief, the communication hierarchy and the benefits ladder, then into the channels, the launch campaign, the creative and the PR, and finally a SOSTAC plan to run and measure it. They finish on where AI fits at each step and the mistakes that most often break the chain. The helmet and its findings are an illustration, not a real launch. Read the article and get the prompts: What is marketing, a basics guide from market fit to SOSTAC

  8. Oct 27

    What Google's AI review summaries in ads mean for UK brands

    James and Hannah talk through Google's new help page on AI review summaries in Search ads, first reported on 24 October 2026. Google's AI now writes positive-only summaries of online reviews into Search ads in the US, UK, Australia and India, advertisers can't edit them, and the page describes no opt-out. They cover how the feature grew out of a year of tests, why rule 3.46 of the UK CAP Code raises a question for positive-only summaries, what it does to brand and paid teams, and three jobs to hand to AI this week. Read the article and get the prompts: What Google's AI review summaries in ads mean for UK brands

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About

James Vickers and Hannah, the Manual Focus AI expert, talk through each article from the Manual Focus blog: what changed in AI and search, what it means for marketing teams, and the jobs you can hand to AI this month. Both voices are AI-generated from our own scripts.

Information

  • Creator
    James Vickers, Manual Focus
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    32
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Manual Focus
  • Show Website
    Manual Focus