SEO Tools and Resources

Whether it’s time, money, or expertise, marketing resources are finite. In today’s world, with advances in AI and more efficient tools than ever, businesses expect better results with fewer resources. That means every second spent on an SEO campaign matters. To keep up, SEOs must focus on actions that truly move the needle – without wasting time or unnecessary effort. This article highlights SEO activities that have diminishing returns – where the effort eventually outweighs the benefits – and offers tips on optimizing more effectively. 1. Page speed improvements Not long ago, I had a client who was obsessed with page speed. The site’s page spe…

A panel of three PPC marketing experts – Greg Finn (Cypress North), Kerri Amodio (Refine Labs), and Menachem Ani (JXT Group) – tackled a fundamental question at SMX Next: Is AI making marketers better? The panel discussed artificial intelligence’s evolving role in marketing, offering insights into its promises and pitfalls. The discussion was nuanced. While AI excels at increasing output quantity, there are serious concerns about quality. The new PPC mindset Finn notably argued that AI is potentially making marketing worse when used as a complete solution rather than a strategic tool: “Is it being able to produce more items and content, things lik…

Google is adding more engagement options to Performance Max campaigns, adding Message assets alongside those already available in Search campaigns. What’s new: The Message assets functionality, previously exclusive to Search ads, was spotted by digital marketer Emirhan Bayutmuş and is now available in Performance Max campaigns. This feature allows users to initiate conversations with businesses directly from ads, enhancing engagement. Google has updated their message asset help document to reflect this update. Why we care. The expansion gives advertisers another way to connect with potential customers directly through chat-based interactions, potenti…

This webinar explores a structured approach to managing marketing campaigns from start to finish, focusing on practical tools and techniques that drive efficiency and impact. Ideal for marketing campaign managers and project leads, the session covers best practices for planning, executing, and measuring campaigns, with an emphasis on collaboration. Join us on Thursday, March 13th for From Strategy to Execution: Managing Complex Marketing Campaigns, and learn how to integrate key tools and methodologies, while ensuring your campaigns run smoothly and deliver measurable results. Our speakers will cover: Strategic Planning & Goal Setting Building a Collaborat…

Are you ready to take your SEO and PPC campaigns to the next level of success? Tackle the challenges of the New Year with actionable tactics, expert guidance, and the inspiration you need to succeed at the spring edition of the SMX Master Classes — happening live online this March. In-depth training. Actionable tactics. Invaluable Q&A. This spring’s lineup features seven outstanding courses tackling core topics critical to 2025 success: Your Training, Your Way. You asked, and we listened: For the first time ever, each Master Class will take place on different days, giving you the flexibility to attend multiple classes live and customize the perf…

Google Ads is rolling out mandatory brand guidelines. It requires you to officially document your business names and logos by March – or face automated changes to your ad campaigns. The big picture. The move represents Google’s latest effort to standardize brand presentation across its advertising platforms while giving businesses more control over their digital identity. Key details: Advertisers must update their brand guidelines before March. If no action is taken, Google will automatically select “top-performing” business names and logos based on campaign data. The change affects how brands appear across all Google’s ad platforms. Why we care. Cl…

The traditional marketing funnel doesn’t reflect how users actually search and engage with content today—and it’s hurting your SEO. With access to more data than ever before, marketers now have a better framework for driving organic traffic: the spiderweb. By structuring your content strategy around interconnected, high-value pages, you can drive faster rankings, more organic traffic, and better user experiences. Join Think Spiderwebs, Not Funnels For Remarkable SEO Results with Ryan Brock to learn: Why traditional funnels waste organic traffic opportunities What Gartner and leading researchers say about the modern buyer’s journey How to shift your cont…

Google has released the March 2025 core update today, Google said this core update “rollout may take up to 2 weeks to complete.” Core updates happen multiple times per year. Core updates can have significant, broad changes to Google’s search algorithms and systems, which is why Google announces them. This is the first core update of the 2025 year. This core update happened a few months since the last core update, the December 2024 core update. What to do if you are hit. Google has given advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update in the past. Google has not really given much new advice here but here is the past advice the company…

Advertisers are receiving step-by-step guidance emails from Google Ads aimed at improving campaign performance over a three-month period. The details. Google Ads is sending emails with the subject line “Personalised action plan for growth” to business advertisers, according to an X post from Govind Singh Panwar. The email contains: A three-month structured improvement plan delivered through weekly emails. A progress tracker showing completed and pending actions. Clear calls to action focused on ad strength improvements. Claims that improving ad strength from “Poor” to “Excellent” results in an average 12% increase in conversions. AI suggestion…

Brands that have built success on Meta’s ad ecosystem have mastered the art of the thumb-stopping creative. However, as competition heats up and audiences saturate one PPC platform, acquisition costs typically go up. This is when social-first advertisers might start to explore a different channel, like Google Ads. Google’s advertising ecosystem is based on search intent, which fundamentally differs from Meta’s, built around behavioral and interest-based targeting. As people actively search for products, Google offers a massive advantage: It knows exactly what they want. Between legacy campaigns (like Search, Shopping, and YouTube) and newer technolo…

Google released comprehensive answers to the most frequent questions about Performance Max, based on feedback from webinars, advertiser roundtables, and account team interactions. The big picture. Performance Max has become a central piece of Google’s advertising ecosystem, but marketers have expressed concerns about its “black box” nature and effectiveness across different business goals. Why we care. As advertisers grapple with Google’s AI-powered Performance Max campaigns, the company addresses crucial questions about transparency, lead quality, and campaign optimization. Key concerns addressed: Channel-level reporting transparency Lead quality …

With marketing spending down and Google reporting higher earnings, we know that SEO is a tough sell. Below are seven proven methods to increase clients’ payments for SEO (and the value they receive). First, a word on value Before I provide solid ways to increase revenue, we need to discuss value and price. Humans are hard-wired to fear and avoid loss. Loss aversion is heavily linked with SEO because it’s the “pay now, might gain later” of the marketing world. So, as an offer, SEO is automatically less appealing than 99.9% of other marketing activities. Knowing this, SEOs need to understand value like the back of their hands. There are two co…

Google released new information about its ad review process, explaining its hybrid approach to enforcing policy violations across its advertising ecosystem. The details. Google’s clarification emphasizes: Reviews use a combination of AI systems and human evaluators Multiple information sources factor into violation determinations Content removal decisions apply to ads, assets, destinations, and entire accounts English remains the official language for policy enforcement Between the lines. This transparency update comes as regulatory scrutiny of digital advertising platforms increases globally, with lawmakers demanding more accountability around conte…

Google released version 2.9 of Google Ads Editor, adding new campaign management tools, video ad enhancements, and better support for Shopping and Performance Max campaigns. Key updates: Manager Account Labels. Advertisers can now attach labels from Google Ads Manager (MCC) accounts to campaigns, ad groups, and keywords. Expanded Shopping Ads. Retail Performance Max campaigns can now serve shopping ads on brand-related searches, even if those brands are typically excluded. Vertical Video Generation. Responsive video ads now support automatic vertical video creation for Video Views campaigns. Masthead Ads Support. Advertisers can create and manage YouTube…

The SEO industry is undergoing a profound transformation in 2025. As large language models (LLMs) increasingly power search experiences, success now depends on withstanding traditional algorithm fluctuations and strategically positioning brands within AI knowledge systems. This article explores key insights and practical implementation steps to navigate this evolving landscape. Withstanding algorithm updates in 2025 Traditional algorithm updates remain a reality, but our approach to handling them must evolve beyond reactive tactics. The typical SEO response to traffic fluctuations follows a familiar pattern: Identify the drop date. Cross-chec…

Google today announced Shop with AI Mode. This new AI-powered shopping experience combines visual inspiration, real-time product data, and a virtual dressing room – all embedded within Search. Why we care. This tool could be good news for brands, as it should make it easier for shoppers to discover products you sell, try them on virtually using personal photos, and buy them at the right price. How it works. AI Mode uses Gemini AI and Google’s 50-billion-item Shopping Graph to help users search, compare, and refine purchases. Users can describe what they want (e.g., “a cute travel bag for Portland in May”) and AI Mode will generate personalized product panels …

Writing quality content should be a key aspect of every SEO strategy. But when is your content considered good or high-quality? And does quality mean the same for your users as for Google? In this article, we’ll discuss creating content and how you can make sure it hits the mark. It will require some creative writing skills. But don’t worry, you don’t have to become the next big author! By focusing on the right things, you can create high-ranking quality content that your users will happily read. What is quality content? That is the million-dollar question. Knowing how to write good content helps you get more visitors, higher conversions, and lower bounce rates. Bu…

Google had this really visible bug over the past week, where the number of reviews shown on a Google Business Profile, was showing fewer reviews than it should have. In short, Google was not adding up the reviews accurately but no reviews were actually removed from the business listing. That being said, Google posted an update that it has resolved the bulk of the issues but there still may be some that are not fully restored yet. The remaining reviews count should be fixed within the coming days, Google said. What Google said. Victoria Kroll from Google posted an updated statement last night in the forums saying: Most affected profiles now display accurate …

Google Ads will update its Unfair Advantage Policy to clarify that the restriction on showing more than one ad at a time for the same business, app, or site only applies within a single ad location. This change, staring April 14, follows recent experiments allowing multiple ads from the same advertiser in different locations on the search results page. What’s happening. Double serving now permitted: Advertisers can now run multiple ads for the same business, app, or site on a single search results page—provided they occupy different ad locations. This could potentially increase visibility and clicks for top advertisers but may also intensify competition for …

Reddit Ads is introducing a suite of new tools aimed at helping small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) streamline campaign management, optimize ad performance, and improve data accuracy. Easier Campaign Setup and Management: Campaign Import. Reddit Ads now allows advertisers to import campaigns directly from Meta in just three steps. After signing into their Meta account within Reddit Ads Manager, users can select an ad account and campaign to import, then customize it to fit Reddit’s platform. This seamless process enables advertisers to leverage high-performing Meta ads on Reddit quickly. Simplified Campaign QA. A new review page in the Reddit Ads Manager …

We’re all looking to improve our organic performance. We want the latest news, tips, and thought leadership to help push our website past the competition. That’s why we’re here! However, the less glamorous side of staying current in SEO is learning from others’ mistakes. This article looks at eight common mistakes you can easily avoid. 1. Treating organic traffic as the end goal It makes sense to use organic traffic as a key metric to measure SEO success. It’s one of the easiest to define. However, it’s not the reason your company employs you. Traffic doesn’t pay the bills. In reality, it costs money when you factor in hosting and tools. …

Google will soon fully transition to automatically generated publication pages next month, in March. Back in April 2024, Google told us Publisher Center will soon stop allowing you to add publications and now this is the next step. This means that all publication pages in Google News will be generated automatically by Google. What Google said. Google wrote: Following our announcement in April 2024 last year, Google News will fully transition to automatically generated publication pages in March. This change improves our existing publisher workflow and simplifies our current product experience. Moving forward, all publication pages in Google News will be genera…

Reddit is rolling out a new ad control feature that gives users more power over the sponsored content they encounter on the platform. The details: Users can now select Hide from a dropdown menu on any feed-based advertisement. Hiding an ad blocks content from that advertiser account for at least one year. The feature works alongside the existing Report function, which also triggers advertiser blocking. Implementation will roll out gradually across iOS, Android, and desktop over several weeks. Hide option in the ad dropdown. Ad immediately after being hidden. Why we care. Reddit’s new ad hiding feature creates stronger incentives to deliver releva…

When the rules change, smart players adjust their strategy. Google Ads has changed a lot since it first launched. But shifting PPC strategies isn’t always easy. What happens if the rules change and you don’t know about it? Or you’re too confused by the new rules to take decisive action? Here’s how to adapt to changes in Google Ads while keeping your competitive edge and sanity. Google Ads stacks the deck in its own favor Google Ads constantly makes changes to increase its revenue. If there were a Serenity principle for advertisers, it might be: “Grant me the clarity to accept the Google Ads changes I can’t control, the knowledge to push back on the…