George W. Bush had just begun his second presidential term when we launched Practical Ecommerce in mid-2005. An innovative ecommerce platform (requiring no software downloads!) would soon debut in Canada. The founders, former snowboard sellers, called it Shopify.
Like many of you, we’ve experienced the rise of cloud computing, social media, logistics, and marketplaces, but nothing compares to the disruption of artificial intelligence. Apparently, our audience agrees.
We published roughly 300 articles in 2025. Of the 25 most read, 17 addressed AI.
Having completed our 20th year, I’m grateful. Grateful for being part of a progressive industry. Grateful to our advertisers, our colleagues. Grateful to our contributors — the genius of Armando Roggio, the great Ann Smarty, screenwriter-turned-reporter Sig Ueland, entrepreneur Eric Bandholz, ad guru Matt Umbro, so many more.
I’m grateful to Joy, my accountant and co-owner wife who manages all financial aspects of this business. Never have I labored over payroll, payables, tax returns, financial statements, or banks. Joy does all of that and more.
Finally, I’m grateful to our readers. Without you, there is no Practical Ecommerce.
Top 25 in 2025
Ted Kubaitis once feared competing against the ecommerce giant for organic rankings. Then an epiphany hit. Read more >
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Did Google Just Prevent Rank Tracking?
Search bots and AI crawlers can no longer generate 100 listings per page. It’s a telling change by Google. Read more >
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Google-Criteo Deal Unlocks Retail Media
Retail media advertisers can now run placements on enterprise ecommerce sites via Google’s Search Ads 360 platform, upending the digital retail media market. Read more >
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Get Your Products on ChatGPT Shopping
ChatGPT recommends products directly in search results for prompts with clear purchase intent. Read more >
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ChatGPT’s JavaScript now includes Shopify variable names, fueling speculation of an AI-powered shopping launch. Read more >
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Regex in GSC Reveals ChatGPT Searches
Search Console reports AI-bot queries as if they’re human. Here’s how to isolate the bots from real people. Read more >
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The Pricing Strategy of Temu Sellers
Temu sellers show massive discounts to boost perceived savings and win customers. Read more >
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How to Track ChatGPT Traffic in GA4
Traffic from ChatGPT is a low-volume but often the most engaging referral source, even more than organic search. Read more >
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How to Extract ChatGPT’s Fan-Out Queries
Knowing the fan-out queries associated with an initial prompt helps publishers understand the platform’s interpretations and priorities. Read more >
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AI Prompts for Better Product Descriptions
The best AI-generated product descriptions come from skilled prompting. Read more >
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Better ‘Welcome’ Emails for Ecommerce
Done well, welcome emails drive revenue and long-term customers. Read more >
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Ecommerce after De Minimis Tariff Exemption
What began as a convenience rule in the 1930s grew into a key component of global ecommerce. Read more >
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SEO for Google’s AI Fan-Out Results
Google’s new AI Mode delivers “query fan out” search results. The term is new, but the concept is not. Read more >
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Brand Visibility Is the New SEO
Search engines drive brand discovery for genAI platforms and research for humans. Read more >
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How Google’s Web Guide Helps SEO
The new Google Labs experiment uses AI to organize a user’s search results. It’s also handy for SEO. Read more >
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Google’s new post on optimizing content for AI answers offers few new tactics but does hint at the future of organic search traffic. Read more >
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Control AI Answers about Your Brand
Search engine optimization has shifted from traditional organic rankings to AI-generated citations. Read more >
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11 Books on Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon
In just 30 years, Jeff Bezos’s company upended entire industries. How did he do it? Read more >
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Brand mentions, entity recognition, and problem-solving now matter more than keywords and rankings. Read more >
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GEO for ChatGPT Instant Checkout
Generative engine optimization relies on context, not just product data. Read more >
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Visa’s VAMP Could Cost Banks and Merchants
The new framework could detect four times more fraud, Visa claims, saving $2.5 billion annually. Read more >
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Google’s Index Now Powers ChatGPT
ChatGPT does not maintain an index of global websites, instead relying initially on Bing’s index and now, apparently, on Google’s. Read more >
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AI Shopping Tools Threaten Affiliates
Shoppers who ask AI for product recommendations bypass traditional review sites, potentially causing lost or unattributed traffic from affiliates. Read more >
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Ecommerce SMBs Need Faceless Videos
Videos are an excellent way to showcase products and convert shoppers. Thanks to ever-improving AI, they are relatively easy to produce. Read more >
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Optimizing for generative AI is different from traditional search engines. The distinction lies in the underlying technology. Read more >
