MarTech Conference Online Free 17 September 2025

The Third Door Media unit of Boston-based digital marketing platform Semrush has opened free registration for a MarTech Conference to be offered online on 17 September 2025.

Speakers will include:

• Alex Cash, OneTrust
• Florian Delval, Snowflake
• Adam Eisler, IAB
• Jessica Kao, Adobe
• Sav Khetan, Tealium
• AJ Sedlak, Ford Motor Company
• Jiaxi Zhu, Google
• More...

Agenda

• 1100: How to get your organization aligned for the AI age
• 1145: Navigating the chaos of consent, compliance and customer trust in an AI world
• 1230: How AI and data activation deliver unforgettable customer experiences
• 1315: Unlock the power of the underutilized data hiding right in front of your team
• 1400: Martech reimagined: Building a stack for the dominant forces of data and AI
• 1445: How AI decisioning will change your marketing

Go here to register .

Conference is short, but looks like it will get right to the point. If you're involved with digital marketing, you should participate. I'm going to.

Tests reveal that ChatGPT Plus is using Google's index as well as Bing as a source of answers to questions.

Recent tests by Abhishek Iyer and Backlinko provide evidence that ChatGPT Plus is using data from the Google search index.

Until now it has ben widely believed that, because Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI, search results from ChatGPT Plus are coming exclusively from Bing. But these new tests - in which a made-up piece of information that was provided only to Google quickly appeared in ChatGPT Plus results - make it clear that ChatGPT Plus is using the Google search index.

The implication of that for businesses is: AI search is becoming dependent on Google's index, and if your pages don't rank there, ChatGPT Plus won't see them.

And, of course, neither will Google Gemini, the #2 provider of AI search.

Bottom line: it's now going to be doubly important for google to be able to crawl, index and understand your website, and find there good, clear answers to users' most relevant questions.

Go here for more on Maine search engine optimization.

https://x.com/distantgradient

https://backlinko.com/chatgpt-using-google-search

The Canadian Department of Finance at the last minute announced the cancellation of a planned Digital Services Tax (DST) which had been scheduled to go into effect 30 June 2025.

This happened 48 hours after US President Donald Trump - who called the tax a "blatant attack" on US tech giants - suspended trade talks with Canada.

The DST would have applied retroactively to 1 January 2022 to revenues collected by US tech companies in excess of $20M from Canadian customers for:

• Online marketplace services
• Online advertising revenue
• Social media services
• Sales of user data

As of 30 June 2025, tax owed by US companies would have been around $2.7 billion.

US-Canada trade talks are now back on track for reaching an agreement on trade and tariffs by 21 July.

Canadian exports of steel and aluminum to the US are currently subject to a 50% tariff which is problematic for Canadian producers.

Google Launches AI Mode for Search in US

At the I/O Developer Conference yesterday, Google announced new upgrades to AI-powered search that are intended to enhance users' interactive search experiences:

- More accurate AI Overviews (AIOs) available in 200+ countries and 40+ languages

- AI Mode will now be available to all US users without having to sign up for Search Labs.

- New tools now available include Deep Search, Live Visual Search and AI-powered Agents.

• Deep Search can run hundreds of searches simultaneously and produce results in minutes.
• Using Live Visual Search you can point your phone's camera at something and get quick answers to questions about whatever the camera is seeing.
• In AI Mode, AI Agents can perform multi-step tasks like scheduling meetings or buying tickets using partners like Ticketmaster, StubHub, Resy, Vagaro.
• New shopping tools use Gemini and the Shopping Graph to:
  • showcase items that resemble your past choices
  • enable "virtual try-on" using a photo you provide
  • automated checkout using Google Pay when price you set becomes available
  • build custom charts for sports, finance, etc.

At the same time, Google is using AI Mode and AIOs to test its Gemini 2.5 AI model.

Google VP/Product, Google Search Robby Stein said in a post:

"... AI Mode is particularly helpful for questions that need further exploration, comparisons and reasoning. You can ask nuanced questions that might have previously taken multiple searches - " like exploring a new concept or comparing detailed options " - and get a helpful AI-powered response with links to learn more..."

Go here for more on Maine search engine optimization.

Martech Spring 2025 Conference will be presented online FREE 25-26 March by Third Door Media (a trademark of SEMRUSH).

From the organizers:

"Join us online -- for FREE -- at The MarTech Conference to explore essential changes, challenges, and opportunities in buyer behavior -- and discover the marketing technologies that can help you achieve your organizational goals. MarTech is for senior marketing, technology, and digital executives and experts at the intersection of marketing, technology, and customer experience. If you’re looking to connect the dots between technical possibilities and strategic opportunities in the reshaping of modern marketing, this conference is for you."

Attendee registration, speaking opportunities and sponsorships are available now:

Attendee registration is here: https://events.martech.org/spring-2025/

Speaking opportunities are here: https://martech.org/conference/submit-speaking-pitch/

Sponsorship information is here: https://martech.org/conference/sponsor-contact/

Conference will be available live FREE online 25-26 March, with recordings available on-demand until 24 July.

Full agenda will be available 17 February. Watch for it here.