SEO Tools and Resources

Search has moved far beyond blue links and basic ranking signals. People now discover information on Google, TikTok, Pinterest, Amazon, YouTube, and an expanding layer of generative AI platforms that synthesize answers from trusted sources. As SERPs shift toward rich results and AI summaries, users often get what they need without needing to click at all. In this environment, brand authority isn’t just tied to your domain. It spans platforms, formats, and the systems that learn from your content. Modern off-page SEO must support both search engines and the AI models that evaluate and surface your expertise. This off-page optimization guide breaks down …

PPC for ecommerce operates differently from PPC for lead gen or SaaS. The way campaigns learn, the volume of conversion data, and the role each platform plays all require a distinct approach. After shifting into ecommerce, it became clear which fundamentals matter most. The guidance in this article reflects those lessons and can help whether you’re new to ecommerce PPC or building on existing experience. We’ll look at how the core differences between ecommerce and non-ecommerce models influence PPC strategy and how to use each platform’s strengths to support your products. 1. Performance Max is built for ecommerce Google Ads is a key platform for…

Cloudflare has blocked 416 billion AI bot requests for customers since July 1, according to CEO Matthew Prince. To highlight Google’s massive edge in AI, Prince revealed that Google can see 3.2x more pages on the web than OpenAI. Why we care. Generative AI systems are consuming huge amounts of web content, and many publishers have no way to push back. Cloudflare’s numbers show how aggressively AI bots are scraping the web – and how uneven access is for the big AI companies. Driving the news. Cloudflare customers have been automatically blocking AI crawlers since the company launched its pay-per-crawl initiative July 1, Prince said yesterday at WIRED’s Big Intervie…

Google rolled out a beta that lets merchants display different loyalty-member prices by region in Shopping ads — giving retailers a new way to localize promotions without managing separate offers. Why we care. The feature gives merchants more flexibility to tailor pricing to local markets and highlight loyalty perks directly in ads, potentially boosting conversion and membership sign-ups. How it works Merchants must join Google’s loyalty add-on, set up regions in Merchant Center, and add loyalty_program attributes — including program label, tier, and price — to their regional inventory feed. When a shopper clicks an ad, Google appends a region ID to the UR…

On episode 333 of PPC Live The Podcast, I speak to Nils Rooijmans, a renowned Google Ads script expert and top 10 PPC influencer, where she shares the experience of a costly error that serves as a valuable lesson for anyone managing paid search campaigns. The Setup: A quick account onboarding gone wrong The trouble began when one of Rooijmans’ existing clients acquired another company in the airport parking services industry. The acquired company was already running a small Google Ads account, and the client wanted Rooijmans to manage it without paying additional fees for proper onboarding. Against his better judgment, Rooijmans agreed to a compromise: they wou…

SMX Advanced – the premier conference for senior-level search marketers – returns to Boston June 3 to 5, 2026 at the Westin Boston Seaport. We want to bring the most advanced strategies in SEO, PPC, and AI to our community – and we need your help to make it happen. Search is changing faster than ever. SEOs are scrambling to master AI SEO, navigate a SERP now dominated by AI Overviews, and make sense of Google volatility and algorithm updates. For PPC advertisers, making smart, data-driven decisions is getting harder. And on top of that, you’re expected to adopt new AI tools while still applying the right human touch. SMX Advanced is looking for speak…

Long sales cycles, low conversion volume, and multi-stage purchase journeys make measurement and attribution harder, creating real obstacles to campaign optimization. For B2Bs and brands selling high-ticket items, this is the reality. A campaign launched today may take weeks or even months to show revenue, retention, or lifetime value – delaying your ability to use those measurements to refine bidding and targeting. That’s where proxy metrics – also known as soft metrics, or micro-conversions – can come into play. Let’s dig into proxy metrics. What are proxy metrics? Proxy metrics are early indicators of future outcomes. They give you a way to …

Google Search Console will be gaining social channel data in the Insights report tab. This is a new “experiment” that “unified view of their Google Search performance across their websites and social channels,” Google wrote. The Insights report will show performance data for some of your social channels, including YouTube, Tiktok and Instagram. What Google said. Google said: “Today, we are excited to announce a new experiment in Search Console that offers site owners a unified view of their Google Search performance across their websites and social channels.” “With this update, we are expanding the Search Console Insights report to include performance data no…

OpenAI is trying to reassure paying users after ChatGPT surfaced what looked like ads from brands like Target and Peloton – and said those prompts weren’t ads at all. What happened. Paying ChatGPT users shared screenshots of promotional-style prompts, including a message urging them to “Shop for home and groceries. Connect Target.” In response, OpenAI said those prompts were recommendations for apps built on the ChatGPT platform, with “no financial component.” Users saw a brand logo and a call to action – and drew the obvious conclusion: these were ads. Users were not pleased. One response: “Bruhhh… Don’t insult your paying users.” What OpenAI is sayi…

LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude now sit across search, content generation, and recommendations. Now, 80% of tech buyers rely on generative AI at least as much as traditional search to research vendors, according to a Responsive survey of B2B buyers. This effective transfer of trust in AI discovery has become an enablement tool for B2B buyers, quietly deciding which brands get remembered and which get ignored. And those decisions, once invisible, are now measurable. Previsible has been studying this shift through a new lens called LLM perception drift, the month-over-month change in how AI models reference and position brands inside a given catego…

If it feels like the entire internet woke up one day and decided to start every sentence with “AI,” you’re not wrong. Marketers are being hit with a daily wave of LinkedIn thought leaders, half-baked prompt hacks, and promises that ChatGPT is either going to 10x your productivity or take your job entirely. And in the middle of all this? You (the digital marketer). Marketers are trying to figure out if this is just another buzzword cycle or the beginning of a complete rewrite of how we do content, SEO, PPC, reporting, and, well, everything. So let’s break it down. Consider this your AI starting guide, written for marketers who are tired of needing a young…

Shopify is expanding its advertising ambitions with the launch of the Shopify Product Network, a new system that surfaces products from across participating merchants—even if the item isn’t carried by the store a shopper is currently visiting. The pitch. If a shopper searches for “organic cleaning supplies” on a Shopify store that doesn’t carry that product, the Product Network may show alternatives from other merchants. Items can also appear natively on another merchant’s homepage, indistinguishable from the store’s own inventory. Shoppers purchase all items in a single cart, often without knowing some items come from other merchants. Shopify’s angle. The Product…

Do you want to immediately raise the blood pressure of the Google Ads practitioner sitting next to you? Say one word: Recommendations. If you’ve spent any time in the Google Ads platform, you’ve seen Recommendations jumping out at you on every screen: when you’re adding keywords, when you’re adjusting your campaign settings, when you’re changing your bid strategy, when you’re minding your own business! And we’ve all received that email from a client asking why their “Optimization Score” is falling. In this article, I’ll explain what Recommendations actually are (and aren’t), where they come from, and how you should handle them. Why does everyone hate Google A…

YouTube is rolling out new ad features for Shorts aimed at helping brands stretch their holiday marketing budgets — and capitalize on short-form video momentum. What’s new: Comments on Shorts ads: Advertisers can now enable comments on eligible Shorts ads, bringing the ad experience closer to organic content and creating new avenues for real-time audience engagement. Creator links to brand sites: Shorts creators posting branded content can now link directly to a brand’s website — giving viewers a seamless path from discovery to action. Shorts ads on mobile web: YouTube is expanding Shorts ad placement to the mobile web, adding another surface to reach viewe…

Google is rolling out Preferred Sources globally after launching the feature in the US and India last August. Plus, Google announced a new feature Spotlighting subscriptions that highlights links from your news subscriptions within Gemini and will later come to Google Search via AI Overviewa and AI Mode. Preferred Sources. Preferred sources let searchers star sources within the Top Stories section of Google Search, and then Google will use that information to show more stories from that starred source. It was in beta in June and then rolled old in the US and India in August. It is now rolling out globally. Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search, wrote, “We’re n…

Google is updating the links within AI Mode to encourage searchers to click on those links. Google also expanded its Web Guides labs test to the all tab, you still need to opt-in to the experiment. Links in AI Mode. Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search, wrote, “We’re increasing the number of inline links in AI Mode, and updating the design of those links to make them more useful.” We’ve seen Google testing variations of inline links and contextual links in AI Mode and Google is now releasing some of those user experiences. Robby Stein told us in August Google would be releasing some of these features and here they are. Google is also adding contextual introdu…

Instagram launched Your Algorithm in the U.S. today, a tool that lets people see – and directly edit – the topics shaping their Reels recommendations. Why we care. This could reshape how users discover content. When people signal interest in specific niches, hobbies, or brands – from running shoes to vintage clothing to home organizers – Instagram may surface more of that content, boosting reach for brands that publish relevant Reels. How it works. A new Reels icon opens a personalized list of topics (e.g., sports, thrifting, horror movies, pop music, chess, day in the life, college football, skateboarding) Instagram believes “you’ve been into” lately, generated b…

Google is releasing the Google Ads API Developer Assistant v1.0, a new Gemini CLI extension that lets developers interact with the Ads API using natural language — turning plain-English prompts into answers, code, and even live API calls. How it works: The assistant sits inside the Gemini CLI and uses project context from GEMINI.md and configuration files to generate accurate code based on the user’s environment. Ask a question — for example, “How do I filter by date in GAQL?” — and it delivers instant guidance. Describe a task — “Show me campaigns with the most conversions in the last 30 days” — and it outputs both the GAQL query and a complete Python script aligned …

LinkedIn is introducing new ad innovations designed to help B2B marketers strengthen brand awareness, personalize messaging, and accelerate creative workflows — all aimed at reaching potential buyers earlier in the funnel. What’s new: Reserved Ads give marketers front-row placement in the LinkedIn feed, ensuring premium visibility, predictable impressions, and a higher share of top-of-feed attention than competitors. The format works across Video, Thought Leader, Single Image, and Document Ads, letting brands maximize creative impact. Ad personalization allows messages to dynamically adjust using member profile data like first name, job title, industry, or com…

Headings structure your content for both readers and search engines. They help users scan a page, understand its content, and quickly locate the information they need. Search engines and AI systems use headings to interpret the topic and structure of your content. By using one clear H1, supported by well-written H2 and H3 headings, you can improve readability, accessibility, and SEO simultaneously. Table of contents What are headings? Why are headings important for SEO? Why are headings important for readers? How to use headings correctly How many H1 headings should you use? How to use H2 and H3 headings Common mistakes when using headings Headings and accessibility…

We’ve established the AI resume as the new C-suite-level asset that defines your brand at the bottom of the funnel, and we’ve mapped the strategic landscape that shows how it operates across explicit, implicit, and ambient research modes. So, how do you build this asset to thrive in a three-part environment? The answer is shifting from ranking in search results to the discipline of brand-focused algorithmic education – a multi-speed strategy aligned with the trio of technologies powering all modern recommendation engines. The digital marketing ecosystem has been reshaped by AI assistive engines – platforms like Google AI, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot that no…

I expected the dark-themed landing page to lose. Everything I knew about conversion optimization said the light background should win. Light themes are standard for B2B lead generation pages because they offer better readability, cleaner visual hierarchy, and align with accessibility standards. Unbounce’s analysis of 41,000 landing pages establishes baseline patterns favoring light backgrounds. It seemed like a safe bet. But after splitting paid traffic 50/50 between a dark landing page and a light landing page for our industrial fleet repair SaaS, the light variant achieved a 16.62% higher CTR yet delivered 42% fewer total conversions. This isn’t a…

One of the major things we talk about with large language models (LLMs) is content creation at scale, and it’s easy for that to become a crutch. We’re all time poor and looking for ways to make our lives easier – so what if you could use tools like Claude and ChatGPT to frame your processes in a way that humanizes your website work and eases your day, rather than taking the creativity out of it? This article tackles how to: Analyze customer feedback and questions at scale. Automate getting detailed and unique information from subject matter experts. Analyze competitors. These are all tasks we could do manually, and sometimes still might, but they’r…

Pinterest attracts users who want inspiration and solutions, not passive browsing. The platform now reaches 600 million monthly active users, many of whom arrive with clear intent to research, plan, or purchase. That makes its ad formats especially valuable for marketers who want to appear in moments when people are actively looking for ideas and products. Here’s how each format works and when to consider it. Ad formats explained Pinterest Ads offers a variety of ad formats, many of which aren’t available on other social media platforms. Let’s take a look at what formats they offer and when you might want to consider using them. Carousel ads …

Most brands don’t realize how much traffic they lose each day to unauthorized bidding, affiliate violations, and ad hijacking. Industry data shows ad fraud reached an estimated $84 billion of global digital ad spend in 2023. If your branded CPCs keep rising or competitors keep appearing above you in searches for your own name, this PPC brand protection guide can help you understand why – and what to do next. What is brand protection in PPC? Brand protection is the practice of defending your brand from unauthorized use of your branded search terms in PPC and from deceptive or fraudulent ad placements. The goal: make sure people searching for your bran…