The next 90 days in Internet marketing (2 March to 31 May 2026)

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What’s changing in SEO, WordPress, WooCommerce and Google Ads and what to do about it

The next 90 days will reward boring competence. Clean tracking. Fast pages. Safe updates. Content built for the surfaces that are actually sending traffic. If your marketing has felt “soft” lately, it’s usually not a creativity problem, it’s a measurement and platform-change problem. That’s the theme from March through May 2026.

Four moving parts are colliding at once:

  1. WordPress core is about to move with WordPress 7.0 scheduled for 9 April 2026 and it introduces changes that can affect how the editor renders and how plugins interact with admin screens.

  2. WooCommerce is about to move with WooCommerce 10.6 scheduled for 10 March 2026 and it includes performance and block refinements plus specific behaviour changes like default lazy-loading in Product Image blocks.

  3. Google’s discovery and SERP layouts are shifting. Google launched a February 2026 Discover core update on 5 February 2026 and confirmed rollout completion on 27 February 2026. In parallel, Google is preparing EU search-result experiments that may change how visibility is distributed in certain verticals, especially travel and hospitality style queries.

  4. Paid media measurement is still being rebuilt around consent and first-party data, while Google is also pulling creator marketing deeper into the Ads product with Creator Partnerships Hub and Partnership ads.

So what do you do with that?

This article is a practical plan you can run across your marketing stack in the next 90 days. If you only do one thing, do this: treat March as “measurement and performance month” then treat April as “platform updates month” then treat May as “distribution month” (SEO surfaces, creators and diversification). That sequencing reduces risk and it keeps you shipping.

March 2026: fix measurement first so every click counts

If your tracking is wrong, you can’t trust the campaign data and you can’t trust the automated bidding. The result is the worst kind of waste: you pay for traffic, then you pay again to “learn” from noisy data.

1) Consent Mode is now operational, not optional

For UK and EU businesses, you need a consent signal that is consistent and testable. Google’s own Consent Mode reference spells out consent types such as ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization. Importantly, Google explicitly ties ad_user_data to measurement use cases like enhanced conversions and tag-based conversion tracking.

What to do this week (two-hour audit):

  • Open Tag Assistant and confirm consent states change correctly on accept and reject. Google’s verification guidance literally tells you what parameters to check.

  • Ensure the default consent state is set, then updated after a user choice (Google’s developer guide is clear on the “default then update” model).

  • Check for double-tagging: GA4, Ads and GTM misfires are common after “quick fixes”.

What success looks like by end of March:
Your conversion numbers won’t necessarily go up overnight, but they stop behaving like a random number generator. Your “top campaigns” don’t change every day and smart bidding stops oscillating.

2) Enhanced Conversions is the fastest win for lead gen and ecommerce measurement

Enhanced Conversions uses hashed first-party data from conversion pages to improve conversion measurement accuracy. Google describes it as capturing hashed, user-provided customer data and matching it in a privacy-safe way.

Where this matters most:

  • Lead gen forms (trades, B2B services, local service businesses)

  • Checkout completion (WooCommerce stores)

  • Any account where “conversion loss” has been creeping up

What to do this week:

  • Implement Enhanced Conversions on the conversion page templates (thank-you pages, lead form confirmations).

  • Confirm your data collection is minimal and relevant. You are not trying to hoover up everything, you are trying to restore measurement and maintain compliance.

  • Run a controlled before/after comparison over 14 days with identical budgets, then check conversion modelling stability.

If you run Google Ads in 2026 without Enhanced Conversions and a correct consent implementation, you’re flying with instruments that flicker.

3) Landing pages: speed and clarity beat gimmicks in March

Before you scale spend or content, get your money page experience tight:

  • One page, one job (call, quote request, add to cart)

  • Remove friction (forms that feel like a tax return)

  • Prioritise Core Web Vitals type basics: image sizing, caching, lazy-loading, preloading critical assets

This sets you up for April’s WordPress and WooCommerce changes without chaos.

Late March into April 2026: build the paid creative pipeline, then test creator-led ads

Google is not hiding the direction of travel: creator marketing is being productised inside Ads.

4) Creator Partnerships Hub and Partnership ads are becoming a serious lever

Google calls Creator Partnerships Hub “a new central place in Google Ads” for managing creator collaborations, including discovery, reporting across paid and organic and creator search and outreach.
Partnership ads powered by BrandConnect let advertisers promote YouTube creator videos in ad campaigns.

This matters for two reasons:

  • It reduces the friction of creator outreach and measurement

  • It makes creator content a scalable performance channel instead of a messy PR exercise

What to do in April (two-stage test):

  1. Stage 1 (7 days): Run a small creator-style creative test without creators. Film “creator format” assets yourself: face-to-camera, product or service demonstration, before/after, FAQs, short proofs.

  2. Stage 2 (14 days): If Stage 1 beats your baseline CPA or ROAS, run a Partnership ads test with a local creator or niche creator that matches your customer profile.

How to choose creators in a UK SME context:

  • Location relevance beats fame for local services

  • Demonstration beats vibe for ecommerce

  • Trust cues beat polish (show the work, show the process, show outcomes)

You’re not paying for celebrity. You’re buying credibility at scale.

April 2026: platform updates month (WordPress 7.0 and WooCommerce 10.6)

April is where good businesses quietly win because they update safely while competitors break things.

5) WordPress 7.0 is scheduled for 9 April 2026. Treat it as a project, not a button

WordPress.org’s own Beta 2 post states the scheduled final release date for WordPress 7.0 is 9 April 2026 and it highlights a new Connectors UI for managing external AI connections in wp-admin.

There is also a documented change around the editor: WordPress core has a post on “Iframed editor changes in WordPress 7.0” and notes that editors have been iframed already while the post editor is part of this shift.

What to do before you update:

  • Clone production to staging

  • Update plugins and themes in staging first

  • Click through every revenue path: contact forms, checkout, email confirmations, analytics events

  • Specifically test any custom admin UI your site relies on (page builders, custom metaboxes, bespoke blocks)

Why the Connectors UI matters even if you “don’t use AI”:
Anything that centralises external connections becomes a governance surface. You want to know what is connected, who can connect things and where the logs are. Even if you never touch it, your stack should be auditable.

6) WooCommerce 10.6 is scheduled for 10 March 2026. If you haven’t done it yet, don’t delay

WooCommerce’s developer update confirms 10 March 2026 as the final release date.

There are also specific performance-related behaviour changes like product images in the Product Image block being lazy-loaded by default starting with WooCommerce 10.6.

Lazy-loading is usually positive but it can change how images appear during loading states, it can affect LCP measurement and it can expose theme quirks. So test it.

WooCommerce 10.6 checklist for store owners:

  • Checkout blocks and payment gateways: test 5 full orders end-to-end in staging

  • Shipping rules: edge cases (postcode restrictions, free shipping thresholds)

  • Product pages: image galleries, zoom, variation switching

  • Tracking: GA4 purchase events, Ads conversion tags, server-side events if used

  • Performance: compare product page load and LCP before and after

If your WooCommerce store makes money every day, treat upgrades like you’d treat changing the till system in a busy shop. Rehearse it.

May 2026: SEO distribution shifts (Discover, EU SERP changes and what it means for you)

May is where you stop pretending “SEO” means ten blue links only. It doesn’t.

7) Google Discover is in play and it just had a confirmed update

Google’s Search Central blog announced the February 2026 Discover core update on 5 February 2026. Industry tracking and reporting also notes it completed rollout on 27 February 2026.

What this changes for content planning:

  • Discover rewards compelling topics and packaging, not just keyword targeting

  • Consistency matters. One good article is not a strategy

  • Relevance and local expertise are increasingly important in how content performs in these surfaces (and clickbait is a long-term loser)

Practical Discover-ready content moves for UK businesses:

  • Build a “90-day newsroom” for your niche: weekly commentary posts tied to customer questions, prices, regulations, seasonal demand

  • Use real photos where possible (job photos, product shots, behind the scenes). Keep them sharp and well framed

  • Put your best proof above the fold: outcomes, timelines, case studies, constraints, what you do and what you refuse to do

  • Refresh top performers: update the date, add new sections, add new FAQs, improve images, fix internal links

Discover is not something you “do once”. It is a publishing habit.

8) EU SERP layout changes are a reminder to diversify

Reuters reports Google plans to test search result changes in Europe under DMA pressure, including giving more visibility to rival vertical services especially for “hotels, flights and restaurants” style queries. The Verge summarises the same direction of travel: more prominence for rivals and phased rollout across Europe.

Even if you are not a travel business, the lesson is bigger: layout changes can move your clicks without your rankings changing. So May is diversification month.

Diversification moves that actually help:

  • Build an email list that is not rented attention

  • Strengthen brand search demand (content and social that makes people search your name)

  • Use YouTube and short video for “how it works” content (then repurpose into ads)

  • Build local citations and review velocity for local service queries

  • Create comparison pages and alternatives pages where appropriate (high-intent pages)

The goal is simple: no single Google surface should be able to wipe out your pipeline overnight.

Security and resilience: the quiet multiplier across the whole quarter

Updates bring benefits and risk, and attackers love slow-moving sites.

A recent example: Patchstack reported an SQL injection vulnerability in the “Quiz and Survey Master (QSM)” plugin affecting 40k+ sites and advised updating to a fixed version.

You don’t need to run that plugin to learn the lesson. The lesson is that WordPress sites are ecosystems of third-party code. If you want growth, you need a minimum viable security routine.

Minimum viable security routine (set it and keep it):

  • Weekly updates on staging, monthly on production (or faster if critical)

  • Remove unused plugins and themes

  • Enforce least-privilege user roles

  • Use reputable security monitoring and alerts

  • Keep backups and practise restore

Security is not a fear story, it is how you avoid losing a month of marketing progress to a preventable incident.

The 90-day scoreboard: what to track weekly

If you want to know whether the plan is working, track a short set of metrics weekly:

  • Leads or orders (the real number)

  • Cost per lead or cost per acquisition (by campaign type)

  • Conversion rate (sitewide and on the main money pages)

  • “Tracked conversions” vs “actual outcomes” gap (CRM or order records)

  • Top landing pages by revenue contribution

  • Search Console: clicks and impressions for your top topics

  • Site performance: LCP and page speed on your top pages

If any of these lines drift, you act fast. The point of weekly tracking is not reporting, it’s correction.

A clean 90-day action plan you can follow

If you want the simplest version, here it is:

Week 1–2 (March): Consent Mode audit, Enhanced Conversions, landing page friction fixes.
Week 3–4 (late March): Creative refresh, creator-format tests, rebuild your offer pages.
Week 5–6 (April): WordPress 7.0 staging rehearsal, WooCommerce 10.6 checks and performance review.
Week 7–9 (May): Discover-ready publishing cadence, refresh top pages, improve internal linking and media.
Week 10–12 (late May): Diversification sprint: email capture, YouTube pipeline, local SEO reinforcement, creator partnership pilot.

If you want Online Media Direct to run this for you

A sensible “done with you” stack for the quarter looks like:

  • Tracking and consent implementation audit, then Enhanced Conversions rollout

  • WordPress 7.0 and WooCommerce 10.6 staging rehearsal with a pass/fail report

  • A 12-week SEO and Discover content plan with internal links mapped to revenue pages

  • A Google Ads creative refresh and a creator partnership pilot with strict measurement

If you want, paste your main service pages and your primary conversion action (calls, quote forms or checkout) and I’ll tailor this plan to your exact site structure and niche.

Stop over-relying on Online travel agencies, grow direct bookings

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Booking.com and Online Travel Agencies like Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Agoda, etc. can be valuable partners, but an over-reliance on any single source of bookings is not healthy for a hotel business.

Direct bookings are the only channel you fully control, your own pricing, your own guest relationship and your own long-term value.

Why direct bookings matter

When a guest books direct you gain:

  • Higher margin per booking (less commission leakage)
  • Stronger customer loyalty and repeat stays
  • Email list capture for future offers and quieter periods
  • Better guest data, preferences and personalisation
  • More upsells (breakfast, parking, late checkout, room upgrades, dining)
  • More resilience if a platform changes fees, policies or rankings
  • The ability to market your other locations if you run a small group of hotels

The practical problem: making direct booking effortless

Hotel owners often agree with all of the above, but they still face one hurdle:

Guests will only book direct if it is fast, clear and trustworthy.

That is where a proper booking engine on your own site pays for itself.

How WooCommerce Bookings helps you win more direct bookings

If you are already using WooCommerce, WooCommerce Bookings gives you the building blocks to run a direct booking channel that feels like a “real” booking site, but stays under your control:

  • Guests can select a date range that suits them (ideal for hotel-style stays)
  • You can set fixed time slots where needed and block out dates or times when you are unavailable
  • You can add buffer time between bookings (useful for housekeeping and changeovers)
  • You can set rules to avoid overbooking and manage availability cleanly
  • You can require confirmation before a booking is final if you want manual control
  • You can set cancellation rules to match your policy
  • Automated emails keep guests informed at key moments (booking made, confirmed and reminders)
  • A calendar view makes it easy to manage bookings and you can add phone bookings manually
  • Google Calendar sync helps keep your team aligned

A simple way to start this month

  1. Create a clear “Book Direct” offer (not necessarily cheaper, just better)
    Examples: free parking, breakfast upgrade, late checkout, welcome drink, flexible changes.
  2. Make the booking journey frictionless
    Fast page speed, obvious availability, clear room options and strong trust signals (reviews, policies, contact details).
  3. Capture the guest for repeat business
    Post-stay email, seasonal offers and local-event packages, this is where direct becomes a compounding asset.

If you want, I can review your current direct booking flow and highlight the quickest wins to increase direct bookings without switching off Online Travel Agencies like Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Agoda, etc.