[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"cms-page:\u002Fblog\u002Fviral-puzzle-science-success-roi":3},{"date":4,"date_gmt":4,"content":5,"sticky":7,"format":8,"categories":9,"collections":11,"coauthors":12,"class_list":14,"acf":23,"head_links":358,"breadcrumbs":359,"reading_minutes":169,"category":368,"head":370},"2016-11-22T10:43:14",{"rendered":6},"\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Viral campaigns are the Holy Grail of content marketing. It seems to be assumed pretty much anywhere you look that viral content will be a huge boost for your brand’s success. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is it that simple? I want to have a look at the science behind viral campaigns and the implications that it has for business to see whether or not marketers should be spending time and money hunting for the next viral hit.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"what-makes-us-share-content-online\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What makes us share content online?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fjournals.ama.org\u002Fdoi\u002Fabs\u002F10.1509\u002Fjmr.10.0353\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2012 study\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Jonah Berger and Katherine Milkman, both professors at the University of Pennsylvania, investigated common features in the most shared New York Times blog posts over a three month period.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their research found that the most successful posts were those that caused strong psychological arousal in readers. On the positive side, these were posts that inspired awe, and on the negative side, posts that brought on anxiety and anger.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their findings are routed in known evolutionary processes, as explained by \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.psychologytoday.com\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-human-beast\u002F201602\u002Fwhat-goes-viral-in-cyberspace\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">biopsychologist Nigel Barber\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. On the one hand, humans approach sources of pleasure to avoid negative emotions, and sharing that source of pleasure with friends can help strengthen social cohesion. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the other hand, serious threats are highly prioritised by humans as a survival mechanism, which is why the news is dominated by stories of crime, war, and terror. Unsurprisingly, Berger &amp; Milkman found a causal link between emotion and transmission: the more emotion someone felt in reading a post, the more likely they were to share it. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Humans are social creatures. To keep our group strong, we want to enjoy positive things with them, and warn them of negative things. There’s nothing mysterious in that.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another finding from the study was that shareable content meets either informational or practical needs that its readers have. If your content can answer a reader’s burning question, or help them to solve a practical problem, like how to make the world’s best lasagne, it’s likely to gain more traction.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understanding the fundamentals of shareable content is essential for marketers looking to create it. People don’t just share any old junk that gets put out. As digital-media guru \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Ftwitter.com\u002FEmersonSpartz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Emerson Spartz\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> puts it: ‘The more incentive you give people to share, the more likely they are to share’. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But creating content like this is tough, and the hard truth is that most companies aren’t publishing content on the level of the New York Times. Talking about many industries, products and services often doesn’t inspire feelings of awe, anger, or fear. In order to go viral, marketers often need to go off their company’s beaten path and invest in coming up with something new. So is it worth it?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"do-viral-campaigns-work\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do viral campaigns work?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There’s no easy answer to this question. If there was, either nobody would be doing viral campaigns or everyone would be. Marketers need to go deeper and ask two major questions when considering a viral campaign:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Will my\u003C\u002Fspan> \u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">campaign go viral?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If it does, will it give me any lasting benefits?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\u003Ch3 id=\"will-my-campaign-go-viral\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Will my campaign go viral\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are plenty of sites telling you how to construct a viral campaign, many of them ostensibly based on the science that I’ve already talked about. Those same sites will probably list a load of case studies that tell you how one piece of content got hundreds of thousands of views and web traffic increased and they got thousands of social shares etc. That can happen, but it’s not a guarantee.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regardless of the science behind them, there are no guarantees with viral campaigns. You could produce the most fantastic content and it could bomb, and you could post a random picture and have it take off &#8211; remember \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FThe_dress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the dress\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are undoubtedly ways to make a campaign more likely to go viral, but if the most likely things always happened then Leicester wouldn’t have won the Premiership last year. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch3 id=\"if-it-does-will-it-give-me-any-lasting-benefits\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If it does, will it give me any lasting benefits?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a recent \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmoz.com\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-seo-myth-of-going-viral\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in-depth article\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> digital marketing speaker \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Ftwitter.com\u002Fearnedmarketing?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tomas Vaitulevicius\u003C\u002Fa> discussed several viral case studies. Vaitulevicius looked at four different examples of companies that had ‘big win’ campaigns, analysing their traffic before, during, and after the viral content, as well as looking at which keywords the viral content helped them to rank for.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His conclusion was that the viral campaigns had very little benefit for their creators, with most of the traffic dying down shortly after the viral surge, and ranking increases only occurring in search terms that related to the content, but not the business’s products.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For some of the case studies mentioned, they could possibly still be considered successful if their goal was to get their name out to lots of people. However, Vaitulevicius revealed that for one that he worked on, the goal was to raise DA (domain authority) through acquiring backlinks, and they fell well short of their goal.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The real problem seems to be that a lot of viral content doesn’t really relate to the creator’s products or services, which means they fail to turn links and exposure into meaningful traffic and conversions.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"taking-viral-campaigns-off-their-pedestal\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Taking viral campaigns off their pedestal\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We’re better served considering viral campaigns to be one tool among many in the digital marketer’s toolbox, rather than some kind of Holy Grail. Instead of aiming for 200k social shares, we need to be aiming for a good ROI. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those two targets aren’t mutually exclusive &#8211; 200k shares \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ci>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">could \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fi>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">help you achieve a good ROI &#8211; but ROI, not shares, has to be the priority. It’s better to put your company in front of 100 people who will go and buy your products than 200,000 people who’ll do nothing and forget about you.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you pursue a viral campaign that has little relevance to your business instead of a content campaign that will get you featured on all of the sites that your audience visits, don’t be surprised if you see a lower return than you wanted.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ideal situation is that good content planning and viral campaigns go hand in hand. If you’re being proactive in looking for opportunities to provide unique, excellent content in your industry &#8211; along the lines of Moz’s \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmoz.com\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-create-10x-content-whiteboard-friday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10x content\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; you might hit the goldmine of viral coverage in front of relevant audiences. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m not some marketing genie promising that if you do X, Y will happen, but there are reasons that digital giants like Moz talk so much about quality content. If you create really high quality campaigns that are relevant to your industry, you are putting yourself on a more sustainable, lucrative path than if you spend your meetings looking for the next Buzzfeed-esque hit.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of us marketers would love to see a bit of content that we create go big, and there is some worth in considering the science that I’ve mentioned and looking at how to make content more appealing and shareable. However, if you want to turn traffic into conversions, I would be wary of pursuing emotive content over something that is really valuable to your audience. If you’re not turning traffic into conversions, then you’re probably just throwing away money.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"read-more\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read more\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want to find out more about what it takes to make a successful campaign, check out Rebecca’s post on \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fpr-firms-winning-big-marketing-campaigns\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PR marketing wins\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\n",false,"standard",[10],39,[],[13],109,[15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22],"post-2877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-marketing",{"page_content_modules":24,"hero":165},[25,122],{"acf_fc_layout":26,"reduced":27,"top_overlap":-1,"bottom_underlap":-1,"disable_observer":27,"title":28,"content":6,"authors":29},"blog_post_content",true,"The viral puzzle: science, success &#038; ROI",[30],{"id":31,"path":32,"display_name":33,"job_title":34,"description":35,"avatar_url":36,"acf":37},19,"\u002Fabout\u002Four-team\u002Fcharlie-norledge\u002F","Charlie Norledge","Director, Head of SEO","I am the Director, Head of SEO at Impression. I work on a variety of client accounts across different industries. I am responsible for devising and executing their SEO strategies and also spend a lot of time helping the wider team at Impression with any technical SEO challenges.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress&fit=crop&fm=jpg&h=150&q=80&w=150&bg=CFE6F9",{"full_bio":38,"job_title":34,"specialist_service_links":39,"photo":66},"\u003Cp>Director, Head of SEO. Joined Impression in 2015.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My background is in web development but I moved away from this when I decided that I wanted a more customer-facing role. I wanted the opportunity to be able to apply my expertise and also deal with clients directly and technical SEO allowed me to do this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Day to day, I work on a variety of client accounts across different industries. I am responsible for devising and executing their SEO strategies and also spend a lot of time helping the wider team at Impression with any technical SEO challenges.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Something that I’m proud of:\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cbr \u002F>\nSpeaking at Brighton SEO! I&#8217;ve delivered a talks and training on structured data and \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fjavascript-seo-guide\u002F\">JavaScript SEO\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Outside of work:\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cbr \u002F>\nI enjoy surfing and Skiing (although living in the midlands isn&#8217;t good for this!)\u003C\u002Fp>\n",[40,57],{"page":41,"link_text":46},{"ID":42,"post_author":43,"post_date":44,"post_date_gmt":44,"post_content":45,"post_title":46,"post_excerpt":45,"post_status":47,"comment_status":48,"ping_status":48,"post_password":45,"post_name":49,"to_ping":45,"pinged":45,"post_modified":50,"post_modified_gmt":50,"post_content_filtered":45,"post_parent":51,"guid":52,"menu_order":51,"post_type":53,"post_mime_type":45,"comment_count":54,"filter":55,"url_path":56},35,"98","2020-03-12 15:02:03","","SEO","publish","closed","seo","2026-09-10 09:29:45",0,"\u002F?page_id=35","page","0","raw","\u002Fseo\u002F",{"page":58,"link_text":61},{"ID":59,"post_author":43,"post_date":60,"post_date_gmt":60,"post_content":45,"post_title":61,"post_excerpt":45,"post_status":47,"comment_status":48,"ping_status":48,"post_password":45,"post_name":62,"to_ping":45,"pinged":45,"post_modified":63,"post_modified_gmt":63,"post_content_filtered":45,"post_parent":42,"guid":64,"menu_order":51,"post_type":53,"post_mime_type":45,"comment_count":54,"filter":55,"url_path":65},57,"2020-03-12 15:49:37","Technical SEO","technical-seo","2025-10-28 09:41:49","\u002F?page_id=57","\u002Fseo\u002Ftechnical-seo\u002F",{"ID":67,"id":67,"title":68,"filename":69,"filesize":51,"url":70,"link":71,"alt":45,"author":72,"description":45,"caption":45,"name":73,"status":74,"uploaded_to":51,"date":75,"modified":76,"menu_order":51,"mime_type":77,"type":78,"subtype":79,"icon":80,"width":81,"height":82,"sizes":83},8558,"Charlie-Norledge","jVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90","\u002Fcharlie-norledge\u002F","12","charlie-norledge","inherit","2021-07-15 16:28:10","2021-10-11 10:06:22","image\u002Fpng","image","png","\u002Fwp\u002Fwp-includes\u002Fimages\u002Fmedia\u002Fdefault.png",696,600,{"thumbnail":84,"thumbnail-width":85,"thumbnail-height":85,"medium":86,"medium-width":87,"medium-height":88,"medium_large":89,"medium_large-width":90,"medium_large-height":91,"large":92,"large-width":93,"large-height":94,"1536x1536":95,"1536x1536-width":96,"1536x1536-height":97,"2048x2048":98,"2048x2048-width":99,"2048x2048-height":100,"post-thumbnail":101,"post-thumbnail-width":102,"post-thumbnail-height":103,"12_col":104,"12_col-width":105,"12_col-height":106,"default_landscape":107,"default_landscape-width":108,"default_landscape-height":82,"default_portrait":109,"default_portrait-width":82,"default_portrait-height":108,"6_col_and_margin_short":110,"6_col_and_margin_short-width":102,"6_col_and_margin_short-height":106,"11_col_and_margin":111,"11_col_and_margin-width":112,"11_col_and_margin-height":106,"9_col_rectangle":113,"9_col_rectangle-width":114,"9_col_rectangle-height":115,"11_col":116,"11_col-width":117,"11_col-height":106,"staff_image_696_600":118,"staff_image_696_600-width":81,"staff_image_696_600-height":82,"rectangular_thumbnail":119,"rectangular_thumbnail-width":120,"rectangular_thumbnail-height":121},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=640&q=90&w=640","640","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=172&q=90&w=200",200,172,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=662&q=90&w=768",768,662,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1000&q=90&w=1892","1892","1000","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=1324&q=90&w=1536",1536,1324,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=1766&q=90&w=2048",2048,1766,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1180&q=90&w=1860",1860,1180,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=2880",2880,870,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=600&q=90&w=800",800,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=800&q=90&w=600","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=1860","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=3080",3080,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1400&q=90&w=2150",2150,1400,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=2640",2640,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=600&q=90&w=696","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=300&q=90&w=750",750,300,{"acf_fc_layout":123,"reduced":27,"top_overlap":124,"bottom_underlap":124,"disable_observer":-1,"heading":125,"cta_text":126,"cta_link":127,"items":128},"related_module","small","See more posts","See all articles","\u002Fblog\u002F",[129,143,153],{"type_key":16,"title":130,"excerpt":131,"to":132,"postedAt":133,"readingTime":134,"image":135,"authors":136,"category":140},"A guide to WebMCP for marketing leaders","\u003Cp>The structure of web traffic is undergoing a fundamental structural transition. We’re certainly seeing the impacts of these changes en masse. Whilst SEO visibility is driving, in part, Generative Engine Optimisation (&#8220;GEO&#8221;) visibility, clicks in traditional SEO rankings are harder to come by, and customer behaviour is fragmented as users are using new places to [&hellip;]\u003C\u002Fp>\n","\u002Fblog\u002Fa-guide-to-webmcp-for-marketing-leaders\u002F","2026-08-27T13:51:35",13,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F08\u002Fyasa-design-studio-Ot2wQ8jF43s-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=640&q=90&w=640",[137],{"name":138,"image":139},"Aaron Dicks","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2023\u002F10\u002FAaron-Dicks2.png?auto=compress&fit=crop&fm=jpg&h=150&q=80&w=150&bg=CFE6F9",{"to":141,"name":142},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcategory\u002Fdigital-marketing\u002F","Digital Marketing",{"type_key":16,"title":144,"excerpt":145,"to":146,"postedAt":147,"readingTime":148,"image":149,"authors":150,"category":152},"Navigating Agentic Commerce with Universal Commerce Protocol","\u003Cp>As artificial intelligence transitions from information retrieval to autonomous task execution, the underlying infrastructure supporting ecommerce is undergoing a fundamental architectural shift.&nbsp; The Universal Commerce Protocol (&#8220;UCP&#8221;) provides the unified communication layer required for AI agents to browse, negotiate, and execute transactions directly across merchant back-ends such as payment gateways. It’s an open-source standard co-developed [&hellip;]\u003C\u002Fp>\n","\u002Fblog\u002Fnavigating-agentic-commerce-with-universal-commerce-protocol\u002F","2026-08-27T13:51:17",9,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F08\u002Fa-c-dqg4QeDNUi8-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=640&q=90&w=640",[151],{"name":138,"image":139},{"to":141,"name":142},{"type_key":16,"title":154,"excerpt":155,"to":156,"postedAt":157,"readingTime":158,"image":159,"authors":160,"category":164},"Bing vs Google: Search Engine Comparison 2026","\u003Cp>In the Bing vs Google debate, many would point to the widespread popularity of Google – the world’s largest search engine – as evidence that users prefer it to its closest rival. Figures suggest that Google has 1 billion daily active users compared to Bing’s 100 million. Yet whilst Google continues to dominate the global [&hellip;]\u003C\u002Fp>\n","\u002Fblog\u002Fbing-differ-google\u002F","2026-06-11T16:15:35",31,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2022\u002F10\u002FBing-logo.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=640&q=90&w=640",[161],{"name":162,"image":163},"Jonathan Theuring","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F05\u002F6bhGbuWP-Jonathan-Theuring.png?auto=compress&fit=crop&fm=jpg&h=150&q=80&w=150&bg=CFE6F9",{"to":141,"name":142},{"type":166,"style":167,"heading":28,"date":4,"updatedAt":168,"reading_minutes":169,"image":170,"imageAlt":28,"categories":171,"collections":357},"blog-post","light","2022-02-07T16:48:41",6,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FMKNmyVsF-050720211625525472_viral-content.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1180&q=90&w=1860",[172],{"id":10,"count":173,"description":174,"link":141,"name":142,"slug":175,"taxonomy":176,"parent":51,"meta":177,"acf":178,"head_links":179,"resource_count":180,"yoast_title":181,"yoast_meta":182,"yoast_json_ld":227,"_links":325,"path":141},281,"\u003Cp class=\"p1\">Keeping up to date with the latest digital trends, strategies, and announcements can be difficult. Our experts regularly blog about the digital marketing news that’s stirring up the industry, so check back regularly or \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fnewsletter\u002F\">sign up to our newsletter\u003C\u002Fa> to stay informed!\u003C\u002Fp>\r\n\u003Cp class=\"p1\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Impression is a multi-award-winning \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca href=\"\u002Fdigital-marketing\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">digital marketing agency\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that provides services\u003C\u002Fspan> that provides services including \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fdigital-marketing\u002Fstrategy\u002F\">Strategy\u003C\u002Fa>, \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fseo\u002F\">SEO\u003C\u002Fa>, \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fpaid-media\u002Fppc\u002F\">PPC\u003C\u002Fa>, \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fdigital-experience\u002Fcro\u002F\">CRO\u003C\u002Fa>, \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fpr-social\u002Fdigital-pr\u002F\">PR\u003C\u002Fa>, \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fanalytics\u002F\">Analytics\u003C\u002Fa> and \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fmedia-solutions\u002Fmedia-effectiveness\u002F\">Media Effectiveness\u003C\u002Fa> to its wide range of clients. Browse our latest thinking around digital marketing below, or \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fget-in-touch\u002F\">get in touch\u003C\u002Fa> to discuss how we can help you.\u003C\u002Fp>","digital-marketing","category",[],{"sub_title_override":45,"title_override":45,"hidden":7},[],95,"Digital Marketing Blog | Tips, Advice & Guides | Impression",[183,185,188,191,194,197,200,202,204,206,209,212,215,218,221,224],{"property":184,"content":181},"title",{"property":186,"content":187},"description","Keeping up to date with the latest digital marketing trends, strategies, and announcements can be difficult. Browse our tips and advice in our latest blogs!",{"name":189,"content":190},"robots","index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1",{"property":192,"content":193},"canonical","https:\u002F\u002Fadmin.impressiondigital.com\u002Fblog\u002Fcategory\u002Fdigital-marketing\u002F",{"name":195,"content":196},"og:locale","en-GB",{"property":198,"content":199},"og:type","article",{"property":201,"content":181},"og:title",{"property":203,"content":187},"og:description",{"property":205,"content":193},"og:url",{"property":207,"content":208},"og:site_name","Impression",{"property":210,"content":211},"og:image","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F06\u002FABFPXguH-Opengraph-BLUE.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90",{"property":213,"content":214},"og:image:width",1200,{"property":216,"content":217},"og:image:height",630,{"property":219,"content":220},"og:image:type","image\u002Fjpeg",{"property":222,"content":223},"twitter:card","summary_large_image",{"property":225,"content":226},"twitter:site","@impressiontalk",{"@context":228,"@graph":229},"https:\u002F\u002Fschema.org",[230,238,248,258],{"@type":231,"@id":232,"url":232,"name":181,"isPartOf":233,"description":187,"breadcrumb":235,"inLanguage":237},"CollectionPage","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fblog\u002Fcategory\u002Fdigital-marketing\u002F",{"@id":234},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002F#website",{"@id":236},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fblog\u002Fcategory\u002Fdigital-marketing\u002F#breadcrumb","en",{"@type":239,"@id":236,"itemListElement":240},"BreadcrumbList",[241,246],{"@type":242,"position":243,"name":244,"item":245},"ListItem",1,"Home","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002F",{"@type":242,"position":247,"name":142},2,{"@type":249,"@id":234,"url":245,"name":208,"description":45,"publisher":250,"inLanguage":196,"potentialAction":252},"WebSite",{"@id":251},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002F#organization",{"@type":253,"target":254,"query-input":257},"SearchAction",{"@type":255,"urlTemplate":256},"EntryPoint","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fsearch?q={search_term_string}","required name=search_term_string",{"@type":259,"@id":251,"name":208,"url":245,"logo":260,"image":266,"sameAs":267,"@context":271,"email":272,"foundingDate":273,"legalName":274,"vatID":275,"description":276,"telephone":277,"address":278,"location":285,"areaServed":318},"Organization",{"@type":261,"inLanguage":196,"@id":262,"url":263,"contentUrl":263,"width":264,"height":265,"caption":208},"ImageObject","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002F#\u002Fschema\u002Flogo\u002Fimage\u002F","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F06\u002FA5LuTDrq-Impression_Wordmark.png",920,176,"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F04\u002FFAVxDeOS-Nottingham.jpg",[268,269,270],"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fcompany\u002Fimpression-digital-limited","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.facebook.com\u002Fimpression\u002F","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.instagram.com\u002Fimpressiontalk\u002F","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.schema.org\u002F","hello@impressiondigital.com","2012-11-07","Impression Digital Limited","GB186363774","Impression is an award-winning digital marketing agency based in the UK and USA. We offer SEO agency, PPC agency, Digital PR agency and Analytics services to companies of all sizes across the UK, North America, Europe and beyond. Get in touch with us if you think we can work together.","01158 242 212",{"@type":279,"streetAddress":280,"addressLocality":281,"addressRegion":282,"postalCode":283,"addressCountry":284},"PostalAddress","Fothergill House, 16 King Street","Nottingham","Nottinghamshire","NG1 2AS","United Kingdom",[286,295,307],{"@type":287,"name":288,"geo":289,"address":293,"photo":266,"telephone":294},"Place","Impression Digital - Nottingham",{"@type":290,"latitude":291,"longitude":292},"GeoCoordinates","52.95501401025914","-1.1494887460285232",{"@type":279,"streetAddress":280,"addressLocality":281,"addressRegion":282,"postalCode":283,"addressCountry":284},"+44 01158 242 212",{"@type":287,"name":296,"geo":297,"address":300,"photo":305,"telephone":306},"Impression Digital - London",{"@type":290,"latitude":298,"longitude":299},"51.50237208377361","-0.09229841534284115",{"@type":279,"streetAddress":301,"addressLocality":302,"addressRegion":303,"postalCode":304,"addressCountry":284},"201 Borough High St","Southwark","London","SE1 1JA","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F04\u002FwD0pPVWz-London.jpg","+44 020 7112 8148",{"@type":287,"name":308,"geo":309,"address":312},"Impression Digital - New York",{"@type":290,"latitude":310,"longitude":311},"40.726722746949","-74.00527778220652",{"@type":279,"streetAddress":313,"addressLocality":314,"addressRegion":315,"postalCode":316,"addressCountry":317},"160 Varick St","New York","NY","10013","USA",[319,322,324],{"@type":320,"name":321},"Country","Worldwide",{"@type":320,"name":323},"GBR",{"@type":320,"name":317},{"self":326,"collection":336,"about":339,"wp:post_type":342,"curies":353},[327],{"href":328,"targetHints":329},"\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcategories\u002F39",{"allow":330},[331,332,333,334,335],"GET","POST","PUT","PATCH","DELETE",[337],{"href":338},"\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcategories",[340],{"href":341},"\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Ftaxonomies\u002Fcategory",[343,345,347,349,351],{"href":344},"\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts?categories=39",{"href":346},"\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fwhite_papers?categories=39",{"href":348},"\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Ftools?categories=39",{"href":350},"\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fwebinars?categories=39",{"href":352},"\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fevents?categories=39",[354],{"name":355,"href":356,"templated":27},"wp","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.w.org\u002F{rel}",[],[],[360,362,364,365],{"path":361,"name":244},"\u002F",{"path":127,"name":363},"Blog",{"path":141,"name":142},{"path":366,"name":367},null,"The viral puzzle: science, success & ROI",[369],{"id":10,"name":142,"path":141},{"title":371,"script":372,"meta":452,"link":481},"The viral puzzle: science, success & ROI - Impression",[373],{"type":374,"key":375,"innerHTML":376},"application\u002Fld+json","yoast-json-ld",{"@context":228,"@graph":377},[378,401,409,411,420,424,442],{"@type":379,"@id":380,"isPartOf":381,"author":383,"headline":28,"datePublished":385,"dateModified":386,"mainEntityOfPage":387,"wordCount":388,"commentCount":51,"publisher":389,"image":391,"thumbnailUrl":393,"articleSection":394,"inLanguage":196,"potentialAction":395},"Article","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fblog\u002Fviral-puzzle-science-success-roi\u002F#article",{"@id":382},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fblog\u002Fviral-puzzle-science-success-roi\u002F",{"name":33,"@id":384},"https:\u002F\u002Fadmin.impressiondigital.com\u002F#\u002Fschema\u002Fperson\u002Fda6bfab4cfa3123547b3491ceea076e9","2016-11-22T10:43:14+00:00","2022-02-07T16:48:41+00:00",{"@id":382},1242,{"@id":390},"https:\u002F\u002Fadmin.impressiondigital.com\u002F#organization",{"@id":392},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fblog\u002Fviral-puzzle-science-success-roi\u002F#primaryimage","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FMKNmyVsF-050720211625525472_viral-content.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90",[142],[396],{"@type":397,"name":398,"target":399},"CommentAction","Comment",[400],"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fblog\u002Fviral-puzzle-science-success-roi\u002F#respond",{"@type":402,"@id":382,"url":382,"name":371,"isPartOf":403,"primaryImageOfPage":404,"image":405,"thumbnailUrl":393,"datePublished":385,"dateModified":386,"description":406,"breadcrumb":407,"inLanguage":237},"WebPage",{"@id":234},{"@id":392},{"@id":392},"Are viral campaigns the Holy Grail that they're often assumed to be? To make good content, we need to look at them more thoroughly.",{"@id":408},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fblog\u002Fviral-puzzle-science-success-roi\u002F#breadcrumb",{"@type":261,"inLanguage":196,"@id":392,"url":393,"contentUrl":393,"width":410,"height":120},1125,{"@type":239,"@id":408,"itemListElement":412},[413,414,416,418],{"@type":242,"position":243,"name":244,"item":245},{"@type":242,"position":247,"name":363,"item":415},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fblog\u002F",{"@type":242,"position":417,"name":142,"item":232},3,{"@type":242,"position":419,"name":28},4,{"@type":249,"@id":234,"url":245,"name":208,"description":45,"publisher":421,"inLanguage":196,"potentialAction":422},{"@id":251},{"@type":253,"target":423,"query-input":257},{"@type":255,"urlTemplate":256},{"@type":259,"@id":251,"name":208,"url":245,"logo":425,"image":266,"sameAs":426,"@context":271,"email":272,"foundingDate":273,"legalName":274,"vatID":275,"description":276,"telephone":277,"address":427,"location":428,"areaServed":438},{"@type":261,"inLanguage":196,"@id":262,"url":263,"contentUrl":263,"width":264,"height":265,"caption":208},[268,269,270],{"@type":279,"streetAddress":280,"addressLocality":281,"addressRegion":282,"postalCode":283,"addressCountry":284},[429,432,435],{"@type":287,"name":288,"geo":430,"address":431,"photo":266,"telephone":294},{"@type":290,"latitude":291,"longitude":292},{"@type":279,"streetAddress":280,"addressLocality":281,"addressRegion":282,"postalCode":283,"addressCountry":284},{"@type":287,"name":296,"geo":433,"address":434,"photo":305,"telephone":306},{"@type":290,"latitude":298,"longitude":299},{"@type":279,"streetAddress":301,"addressLocality":302,"addressRegion":303,"postalCode":304,"addressCountry":284},{"@type":287,"name":308,"geo":436,"address":437},{"@type":290,"latitude":310,"longitude":311},{"@type":279,"streetAddress":313,"addressLocality":314,"addressRegion":315,"postalCode":316,"addressCountry":317},[439,440,441],{"@type":320,"name":321},{"@type":320,"name":323},{"@type":320,"name":317},{"@type":443,"@id":444,"name":33,"image":445,"description":35,"sameAs":448,"url":451},"Person","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002F#\u002Fschema\u002Fperson\u002Fda6bfab4cfa3123547b3491ceea076e9",{"@type":261,"inLanguage":196,"@id":446,"url":447,"contentUrl":447,"caption":33},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=96&q=90&w=960b079bc4f22eec1a6d2b164bfcebb677","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FjVjBhz1i-Charlie-Norledge.png?auto=compress&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=96&q=90&w=96",[449,450],"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fin\u002Fcharlie-norledge-97984099\u002F","https:\u002F\u002Fx.com\u002Fhttps:\u002F\u002Ftwitter.com\u002FNorledgeCharlie","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fabout\u002Four-team\u002Fcharlie-norledge\u002F",[453,454,455,457,458,459,460,461,462,465,467,469,471,472,473,474,476,477,480],{"name":186,"content":406},{"name":189,"content":190},{"property":195,"content":456},"en_GB",{"property":198,"content":199},{"property":201,"content":371},{"property":203,"content":406},{"property":205,"content":382},{"property":207,"content":208},{"property":463,"content":464},"article:publisher","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.facebook.com\u002Fimpression",{"property":466,"content":385},"article:published_time",{"property":468,"content":386},"article:modified_time",{"property":210,"content":470},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2021\u002F07\u002FMKNmyVsF-050720211625525472_viral-content.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat",{"property":213,"content":410},{"property":216,"content":120},{"property":219,"content":220},{"name":475,"content":33},"author",{"name":222,"content":223},{"name":478,"content":479},"twitter:creator","@https:\u002F\u002Ftwitter.com\u002FNorledgeCharlie",{"name":225,"content":226},[]]