SEO Tools and Resources

Whether it’s Google signing Reddit to a deal to deepen its AI partnership, more traditional SEO results that have favored Reddit content, or Reddit’s share of ChatGPT references (down but still leading among social platforms), there are plenty of compelling reasons to prioritize Reddit in your organic strategy. That’s why it’s one of the first initiatives we tackle for new clients who aren’t yet building an organic Reddit presence. For clients already well underway with their core SEO strategies, we add it as a complementary layer. On its own, Reddit offers a strong pocket of qualified leads in discrete sub-verticals. Paired with the catnip-like appeal o…

Automation has shaped PPC for decades, and the landscape keeps shifting. I’ve seen that evolution firsthand, from helping build the first AdWords Editor to developing early Google Ads scripts and writing about automation layering. Now we’re entering another major transition. As AI changes how we search and get answers, it’s also transforming how automation itself gets built. And this time, the momentum isn’t coming from ad platforms like Google – it’s coming from AI companies like OpenAI. Until recently, AI mostly helped with human language tasks like writing ad copy, summaries, or reports. But the latest generation of LLMs can increasingly gene…

For much of its history, marketing thrived on creativity, intuition and an almost magical ability to connect with audiences. Campaigns were conceived in brainstorming sessions, executed over weeks or months and celebrated (or dissected) once the results rolled in. Theodore Levitt’s “The Marketing Imagination” stays on most marketers’ bookcases alongside their team’s awards. Much of the technology we buy inside marketing is mostly isolated and gives fractal views of the customer, never a complete one and never of the customer in motion (with or without us). The one platform to solve it all has been the misnomer we have been hunting for but will never find. The promise…

Brands often invest in influencer and affiliate promotions but stop short of giving the content additional reach, assuming the creator’s audience is enough. Using paid marketing, adding it to your site, and sharing it across your channels isn’t doing their job for them. It’s a way to grow your company by using their brand recognition and strengthening the relationship. Yes, you pay an influencer an upfront fee, a commission, or send them a product in exchange for a promotion, but that doesn’t mean the relationship stops there. And that’s where amplification becomes a real advantage. It unlocks more value from the creator relationships you already have. …

Microsoft is alerting users that the Microsoft Advertising mobile app will be shut down in January 2026, ending mobile-based campaign management for advertisers. Why we care. Advertisers who rely on the mobile app for quick monitoring or urgent adjustments will need to shift workflows to the Microsoft Advertising web interface, the only remaining place to manage campaigns after the app is removed. What’s changing: The app has been removed form both the Apple App store and Google Play. It will be retired entirely in January 2026, users will lose access to campaign management through the app, and Microsoft is directing advertisers to the web UI, which supports…

Headlines predicting another “AI winter” are beginning to emerge, and the numbers back the skepticism. MIT reports that while 80% of organizations have piloted GenAI and 40% report deployment, only 5% have reached scale, with seven of nine sectors showing no structural change. McKinsey finds the same disconnect: 36% of executives report no revenue impact, only 19% say revenues have grown more than 5%, and 87% admit growth is still years away. Adoption is everywhere, but impact is almost nowhere. But those headlines and numbers miss what’s happening inside enterprises right now. SEO leaders are being tapped to guide GEO—generative engine optimization. Not because we’re…

Last month, I asked ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini the same question about three of my clients: “Who is [Brand Name] and what do they do?” Two out of three got it wrong. Wrong services. Outdated office locations. One even suggested a competitor as a better alternative. Here’s what makes that more than a curious mistake. What today’s AI errors reveal about brand visibility AI-sourced traffic jumped 527% year-over-year from early 2024 to early 2025. While that growth is real, it’s growing from a very small base. Most sites still see AI referrals representing less than 1% of total traffic. But when half the AI-generated descriptions of your brand ar…

Canonicalization has long been a core SEO practice, yet it’s still one of the easiest to overlook. At its simplest, canonicalization helps search engines identify the original source of content and prevents duplicate versions from competing with each other. Large sites rely on solid canonical structures to stay organized, and small sites benefit by avoiding duplicates that can dilute rankings and visibility. As we move into 2026, canonicalization is becoming even more important as generative engine optimization (GEO) rises alongside traditional SEO. With AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other generative systems shaping how content is selected, summa…

Publishers and search engines have long depended on ad placements and affiliate marketing to make money. Search engines rely on pay-per-click (PPC) models, while publishers blend display ads, affiliate links, and sponsored content. But with chat-based AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity on the rise, that foundation is starting to crack. If users get the information they need directly from AI, why would they keep clicking search ads or publisher display links? And as search engines push further into AI-driven results – including features like Google’s AI Mode – what incentive remains for users to engage with traditional ad units? If fewer…

The European Commission is asking industry players to weigh in on Google’s proposal to resolve sweeping antitrust charges tied to its advertising technology business — a case that has already triggered nearly €3 billion ($3.5B) in fines. What’s happening. The Commission is circulating a non-confidential version of Google’s proposal to roughly 200 industry stakeholders, including publishers, advertisers, and ad tech rivals. Officials say the feedback will inform the final assessment of whether Google’s commitments restore fair competition in the EU’s digital ad market. The backstory. Google was fined €2.95B and ordered to stop favoring its own ad tech services…

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…

With generative AI tools attracting hundreds of millions of users and AI-enhanced results appearing in more search experiences, the way people discover brands is changing. Traditional SEO metrics alone no longer capture this full picture. Welcome to the era of generative engine optimization (GEO). If you aren’t tracking your brand’s visibility across AI search engines, you’re flying blind. The AI search revolution is already here The numbers are striking: 58% of consumers have replaced traditional search engines with generative AI tools for product recommendations, according to Capgemini research. Traditional organic search traffic is expected to decli…

Semify acquired Dragon Metrics, a Hong Kong–based SEO, AI, and PPC reporting platform known for its international reach. The move boosts Semify’s reporting strength and AI optimization tools as the search landscape shifts more toward AI. Why we care. Dragon Metrics customers can expect business as usual, plus faster product updates. Co-founder Simon Lesser said on LinkedIn that the platform will stay a standalone brand with the same contacts and product experience. Customers also gain access to Semify’s growing AI optimization methodology and future software integrations. About the acquisition. Semify announced on Dec. 8 that it is acquiring Dragon Metrics: F…

Google today began rolling out Gemini 3 Flash as the default model powering AI Mode in Search worldwide. The upgrade brings faster performance and stronger reasoning to AI-generated search responses, Google said. Why we care. With AI Mode, Google continues to transition toward an AI-first search approach. More queries could be answered directly in AI Mode, reducing reliance on traditional organic listings. Improved reasoning allows AI Mode to handle comparison and planning tasks, multi-intent searches, and research-style queries. What’s changing. Gemini 3 Flash now powers AI Mode in Search globally. It replaces earlier Flash-class models previously used in AI…

I get it, these are uncertain times. Organic traffic is dropping like a rock, and new referral traffic coming in from LLMs like ChatGPT barely scratches the surface of what’s been lost. The narrative of “traffic is simply coming from a new source” is not accurate. Search and engagement are happening in new ways, but CTRs are dropping significantly across nearly all industries. It’s no surprise that many in the industry are feeling anxious about the future of SEO and whether AI might eventually render their roles obsolete. Bringing this up with your C-suite team might feel like the last thing you want to do. But here’s the reality: Now is exactly the time to …

Advertisers digging through Google Ads change history often lose time hopping between reports, campaigns, and ad groups. A new “Go to…” button cuts out those extra clicks — a small UI tweak that can save meaningful time during audits and troubleshooting. What’s new. Google has added a “Go to…” dropdown in the Change history report. Advertisers can now jump directly from a logged change to the relevant campaign or ad group. The feature is especially useful when reviewing bulk edits, script-driven changes, or updates made in Google Ads Editor. How it works: Select one or more changes in the Change history report. Use the “Go to…” dropdown to navigate str…

Budgeting in paid search isn’t just about setting a daily number. It requires understanding how platforms pace spend, the exceptions to those rules, and what changes when budgets are adjusted mid-month. Most PPC advertisers change budgets during the month and want to know how it will affect performance. Enterprise advertisers add complexity, with fiscal cycles and promotional flights that rarely align with calendar months. The problem is that many advertisers assume platforms will simply spread spend evenly. When that doesn’t happen, campaigns overspend one week and underspend the next. Both outcomes are costly. Overspending erodes profita…

Google is pushing more Demand Gen features (boosting shoppable and travel ads) into general availability, expanding its role as a full-funnel performance channel that blends discovery, video, and commerce across YouTube and Google surfaces. What’s new: Shoppable CTV via Demand Gen is now live, letting viewers browse and buy products directly from YouTube ads on connected TVs. Attributed Branded Searches are available for Demand Gen, giving advertisers visibility into how campaigns drive brand search activity across Google and YouTube (activation required via a Google rep). Travel Feeds allow advertisers to connect Hotel Center feeds to create dyna…

Google is asking a federal judge to pause enforcement of DOJ antitrust remedies, arguing that mandatory search and ad syndication would expose its proprietary technology and harm advertisers. The argument appears in a new affidavit from Jesse Adkins, Google’s director of product management for search and ads syndication, filed Jan. 16 as part of the company’s motion to stay Judge Amit Mehta’s Final Judgment while it appeals. The big picture. Adkins’ affidavit focuses on damage that cannot be undone: exposure of proprietary ad technology, advertiser harm, and loss of control over query and pricing data. Mehta’s Final Judgment requires Google to license search…

On episode 339 of PPC Live The Podcast, I speak to Kirk Williams, a long-time PPC professional who’s been in the industry since 2009. Kirk is the founder of Zato, a specialist PPC micro-agency, and the author of Ponderings of a PPC Professional and Stop the Scale. He’s also a familiar face on the global conference circuit, speaking at events like BrightonSEO, SMX, HeroConf, and more. The big f-Up: Taking on the wrong clients Kirk’s biggest mistake wasn’t a platform error or a bad bid — it was taking on clients who weren’t a good fit. He explains that these decisions often came during moments of pressure: wanting to grow quickly, dealing with client churn, or na…

Microsoft has rolled out multi-turn search globally within Bing search results. Microsoft will add a Copilot search box to the bottom of the Bing search results, as you scroll down the search results page, this feature will dynamically appear. What is multi-turn search. This is when a searcher goes from the Bing search results, types in a follow up query into the Copilot search box at the bottom of the search results. Here is a screenshot of this feature: Here is a video of it in action: What Microsoft said. Jordi Ribas, CVP, Head of Search at Microsoft, posted this news on X – he said, “After shipping in the US last year, multi-turn search in Bing i…

OpenAI is updating its privacy policy with new details on ads, data usage and upcoming features across its products, including ChatGPT. The update was shared with ChatGPT users and outlines how advertising will work inside ChatGPT — and what data advertisers can and cannot access. Why we care. OpenAI’s update makes it clear that user privacy is a top priority: personal chats, histories, and details are never shared with advertisers. Ads can still be personalized using anonymized engagement signals, meaning brands can reach relevant audiences without compromising sensitive data. This approach lets advertisers measure performance safely while building trust…

Visibility in Google’s AI Overviews doesn’t equal traffic. In my research from the first half of this year, AI Overview citations consistently underperformed – even compared to traditional blue links near the bottom of the SERP. An AI Overview citation can still help with authority, brand recall, positioning, and maybe even long-term LLM training. But for short-term clicks? The data paints a sobering picture. How AI Overviews vs. blue links compare: What the data shows Are AI Overview citations actually gathering clicks? Or are they just pushing the real click-producers further down the page? That question led me to look at the performance of cla…

Content has long been the fuel for SEO, and its importance continues as AI-driven search relies on rich, trustworthy information. I’ve always believed in doing the “good” and “right” things when it comes to creating content at scale – but even good things can become problems when overdone. Too often, SEO and AI visibility efforts get reduced to publishing more blogs, landing pages, or articles in the pursuit of quick wins that executives want to see. While content is critical, treating SEO as a production machine creates the illusion of progress. Activity without performance bloats sites with duplicative, commoditized, or low-value pages that both search…