Do browsers suddenly matter again?
đ° NoGood News Vol. 105 | ChatGPT Atlas and the assistant becoming the interface
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Welcome to NoGood News, your bi-weekly pulse on all things growth. We break down successful brand campaigns, provide you with the best guides for all things growth marketing, and share emerging trends and insights to keep you ahead of the curve. Plus, exclusive interviews with some of the best in the game.
Here's a quick TL;DR of what's below:
ChatGPT Atlas and why browsers suddenly matter again: On October 21, 2025, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, a full web browser with intelligence at its core. This isnât an âassistant in a tab.â This is the assistant becoming the interface.
The âCrocodile Mouthâ and the death of num=100: Nicknamed âThe Crocodile Mouth Effect,â the widening gap between clicks and impressions is sending panic throughout the SEO world.
Fintech marketing just got more entertaining: Ramp put Kevin from The Office in a glass box for 7 hours, and had him process expenses by hand while Rampâs software handled 600,000 in the background.
Ready? Let's get into it.Â
đ ChatGPT Atlas: Why Browsers Matter Again
The browser is no longer just a window to the web
The marketing funnel as you know it just collapsed.
With the launch of ChatGPT Atlas, the browser is no longer just a window to the web.
Itâs a task-driven operating environment.
And your customer journey just got way, way shorter.
With ChatGPT Atlas, agents now remember past interactions across sessions.
A user compared your products last week? The agent surfaces them first.
Added to cart yesterday? The next suggestion picks up exactly where they left off.
Awareness, consideration, and conversion all blur into one continuous, memory-driven journey.
If youâre not in that memory, youâre invisible.
Marketing just moved from âbe seenâ to be remembered by the AI that acts for your customer.
What do you think of Atlas?
Is the browser the next AI frontier, or just a passing phase?
đ The âCrocodile Mouthâ and the Death of Num=100
Hereâs what to do about the widening gap between clicks and impressions
Aptly nicknamed âThe Crocodile Mouth Effect,â the widening gap between clicks and impressions is sending panic throughout the SEO world.
Why did impressions and clicks suddenly level out?
This can be attributed to Google suddenly removing the num=100 parameter.
Essentially, Google retired the ability to view 100 results per page, forcing Ahrefs to readjust how they source data, and GSC showing a loss of impressions.
The TL;DR is this: Monitoring tools were running num=100, and now that the parameter doesnât exist anymore, theyâre only running the top 10 results, revealing the likelihood that your data has been inflated for years.
Ahrefs, Semrush, GSC, and other critical trade tools were overcounting impressions, leading to a false understanding of your brandâs organic search performance.
While it might come as a shock that your impressions werenât as high as you thought, look at it this way:
Your impressions are accurate now, and the playing field has been leveled.
𧞠Since when did Fintech marketing become entertaining?
Ramp just put Kevin from The Office in a glass box for 7 hours
Kevin, aka, Brian Baumgartner processed expenses by hand while Rampâs software handled 600,000 in the background.
He even officiated a wedding with The Rizzler as ring bearer.
Ramp may have just rewritten the traditional fintech playbook in under a day.
Most B2B companies are stuck following the same tactics â function forward marketing.
Think clean graphics showing in-app features, customer testimonials, and product updates.
But Ramp decided to bring a TV character to life in a way that actually fits their brand.
Kevin struggling with paperwork isnât just nostalgia bait â itâs literally their value prop.
Manual processes are painful and automation fixes that.
But instead of telling you that in a carousel, they showed you by using Kevin who was actually an accountant in The Office.
Fans of The Office were quick to film the scene in NYC and UGC soon flooded TikTok and IG Reels.
The location (which was posted on their socials) and livestream all created the perfect opportunity for organic content.
Remember when Cash App dropped that TimothĂŠe Chalamet billboard with zero context?
Just a picture of him next to the logo and people stopped mid-walk because they were confused.
Thatâs the shift weâre witnessing â Fintech marketing doesnât have to be buttoned-up 24/7.
Sometimes the best way to explain what you do is through characters people already love, making content feel more like entertainment than advertising.
And Rampâs setting the tone for what B2B companies can do when they stop treating marketing like campaigns and start treating it like a show.
Function will always matter, but creating content that makes people care is what will break through the noise.
What are your thoughts on Rampâs OOH stunt?
đď¸ Q&A with an expert
A bi-weekly interview series with the best in the game
Q: What is group 7 and why is everyone talking about it?
A: Group 7 started when artist Sophia James ran an experiment posting 7 nearly identical videos on TikTok to see which would go viral. Video #7 unexpectedly gained millions of views, and now everyoneâs claiming their âgroupâ as if it were an exclusive club or community! The real irony of the situation is that you only feel special because TikTokâs algorithm randomly picked you at first (and continued providing more information based on your interactions), not because of a clear community or connection (hate to break it to you!).
Q: What does the âgroup 7â phenomenon say about content discoverability and visibility through organic social algorithms?
A: The Group 7 trend is a prime example of how weâve shifted from creating content for our followers to creating content for the algorithm that curates each userâs feed. Itâs no longer about who follows you â itâs about whether the algorithm decides you belong in a certain category. Creators are essentially optimizing themselves to be âalgorithm-readable,â using specific language and patterns that signal to TikTokâs AI where they fit. Whatâs wild is that discoverability now depends less on your audience size or engagement (goodbye, follower count as a key metric) and more on whether you can crack the algorithmic code and to indicate your niche, or what audience you want your content served to. Group 7 shows that the definition of virality is changing: itâs now about understanding and aligning with whatever content patterns the algorithm is currently rewarding.
âď¸ We wish we wrote this
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