Local SEO

Founded in 2023, DeepSeek is a Chinese AI startup known for its new chatbot beating many existing models and rivaling dominance of ChatGPT. Since the public release of DeepSeek-R1 on January 20, the startup attracted worldwide attention thanks to its reported cost-efficient model outpacing leading US-based AI chatbots. Today, DeepSeek ranks as the #1 most downloaded app in the App Store in over 160 countries and has been downloaded more than 2.6 million across App Store and Google Play. AI chatbot by DeepSeek is currently one of the fastest-growing tech products but as a private company, they don’t disclose many details. We plan to update this page as more information …

There’s been a lot of buzz around llms.txt. But no major AI platform has confirmed that they use it. Not yet, anyway. And there’s no evidence that any major large language model (LLM) actually uses it when crawling. So, why are some SEOs and site owners already adding it to their sites? Because LLM traffic is projected to explode over the next few years. Which means AI models could soon become your biggest traffic source. Remember: robots.txt was once optional, too. Today, it’s essential for managing search crawlers. LLMs.txt could follow a similar path — becoming the standard way to guide AI to your most important content. In this guide, you’ll learn how llms.…

Websites have been the foundation of SEO strategy for 20-odd years. That’s changing with AI search. When someone asks ChatGPT for a product in your category, it doesn’t always crawl websites in real-time. Its first move is to pull from what it already knows about you and your competitors from its existing knowledge. Clear and recognizable entities in AI training data are just as important as having the most authoritative and optimized website. This shift means your webpage might rank #1 in classic search, but if your brand isn’t well-structured for entities, AI might overlook you entirely in the answer. The rules we’ve relied on for decades don’t fully apply when m…

AI chat is changing how people shop for fashion — fast. Before AI, buying something as simple as casual leggings meant typing keywords into Google. Then, sifting through pages of results. Comparing prices. Reading reviews. Getting overwhelmed. In fact, 74% of shoppers give up because there’s too much choice, according to research by Business of Fashion and McKinsey. Now? A shopper submits a query. AI gives one clear answer — often with direct links to products, reviews, and retailers. They can even click straight to purchase. So, how do you make sure AI recommends your fashion brand? We analyzed how fashion brands appear in AI search. And why some brands dominate …

Fintech in AI search plays by much stricter rules. Because it’s a Your Money or Your Life category, products must clear higher verification thresholds before AI mentions you: Is your product legitimate? Are your fees and protections explicit? Do other trusted sources back up your claims? To find these answers, AI draws from your website and the wider web — including sources you don’t control. That risks misrepresentation of your brand. What matters, then, is whether those sources tell an accurate story. In this article, I’ll explain how to influence that narrative. Because the real goal is for your fintech brand to show up in AI search AND be represented accuratel…

At just under 200 employees, Descript is not the biggest name in video editing software. It’s not the most robust or the most popular, either. But it’s punching way above its weight, competing with much bigger companies (like Adobe, and CapCut) in LLM search. Using Semrush’s AI Visibility score, you can see that Descript is competing closely with giant brands like Adobe. Descript found the way in. And so can you. In this SaaS LLM visibility case study, we’ll break down exactly how Descript is getting seen. And more importantly, what you can copy to improve visibility for your own product. Choosing Clear Niche Messaging For years, Descript has been known as a podc…

Search engines help users find webpages related to specific search terms (called queries). Understanding how search engines work can help you make your pages more accessible. And ultimately direct more potential customers to your site. This guide explains how search engines discover, store, and rank content. You’ll also get tips on how to increase visibility in search results. How Do Search Engines Work? Search engines provide users with a list of relevant webpage results related to their search queries (i.e., the words they type into the search bar). They accomplish this by following a three-step process: Crawling: Discovering and downloading the content of webpa…

AI search is reshaping how ecommerce brands get discovered. One week, your products show up in ChatGPT. The next week, they’re replaced by competitors. For many brands, this uncertainty can feel overwhelming. Organic visibility now depends less on rankings and keywords, and more on how LLMs gather information, which platforms they rely on, and what signals help them highlight your brand. In this guide, I’ll explain this crucial shift in detail. I’ll unpack: What actually shapes visibility inside AI answers The business impact of compressed buyer journeys and broken attribution How you can build lasting relevance in this new search ecosystem The 3 Types of AI Visib…

I analyzed over one million keywords across 10 industries. The average cost per click (CPC) for Google Search ads in 2025 is $8.34. And the median CPC is $4.52. Legal had the highest average CPC at $22.75. Ecommerce had the lowest, at just $0.82 per click. But there’s no flat rate for CPC. Even if two advertisers bid on the same keyword, they won’t pay the same. Costs can vary based on several factors — and CPC is just one part of the equation. Google Ads pricing also involves other expenses that can affect your total budget. In this guide, you’ll learn: How much Google Ads really cost What your budget should be How you can lower your ad costs (without hurting …

Everybody wants smoother workflows and fewer manual tasks. And thanks to AI models, automation is at the center of conversations in marketing departments across all industries. But most rarely get the results they’re looking for. According to Ascend2’s State of Marketing Automation Report, only 28% of marketers say their automation “very successfully” supports their objectives. While 69% felt it was only somewhat successful. While this specific stat is from 2024, I imagine the broad idea is still true. Especially since there are so many more automation options and tools. It can get overwhelming to decide a go-forward plan and implement effectively. So if you feel st…

Creating an official brand subreddit is one of the hardest marketing spaces to get right. Why? Because it’s hostile ground for traditional brand messaging, with some of the internet’s snarkiest users watching every move. But if you strike the right balance, the payoff is huge. Just look at r/fidelityinvestments. This brand subreddit has grown into a self-sustaining community. Members trade tips, ask questions, and help resolve issues before the company’s reps even show up. Fidelity’s still there, keeping things on track. But because the users trust the brand and the space, conversations flow without much hand-holding. So how do you get there? This guide breaks …

Competitive intelligence (CI) gives you the clarity to make the right moves for your business—whether that’s meeting customer needs, finding new opportunities, or outsmarting competitors. Marketing agency Thrive proves this perfectly. I spoke to Aaron Whittaker, the VP of Demand Gen and Marketing at Thrive, to understand how they use CI. His team gathered intel to solve a specific challenge. Prospects were choosing AI marketing solutions over traditional agencies. “We monitored our competitors’ customer reviews and social media mentions. Our takeaway was that clients often felt …

Modern SEO teams aren’t just optimizing for rankings in traditional search anymore. They’re also optimizing for visibility in AI-powered search and answer engines. And that shift is showing up in job listings. I recently came across this position: This isn’t an outlier. Dozens of companies are now posting similar roles, and the shift runs deeper than new job titles. I reviewed 100+ general SEO job postings. 96% mentioned AI somewhere in the description. AI is creating entirely new positions, but it’s also changing what existing roles require. Why? Because AI search works differently from traditional Google ranking. It extracts passages, synthesizes informatio…

Search has changed, and so should your audience personas. Your audience searches across Google, ChatGPT, Reddit, YouTube, and many other channels. Knowing who they are isn’t enough anymore. You need to know how they search. Search-focused audience personas fill gaps that traditional personas miss. Think insights like: Where this person actually goes for answers What triggers them to look for solutions right now Which proof points win their trust And you don’t need months of research or expensive tools to build them. An audience persona is a profile of who you’re creating for…

You found a digital marketing agency that feels like the one. The pitch was perfect. They “get” your goals. Their case studies are impressive. But a few weeks later, reality starts to set in: slow responses, recycled strategies, and reports that don’t show any tangible results. This scenario is painfully common, but it’s not inevitable. Choosing an agency that performs as well as they sell is possible — if you know what to look for. In this guide, I’ll cover: Red flags that signal an agency might overpromise and underdeliver Green flags that separate the great partners from the mediocre ones Must-ask questions to help you spot these flags before you sign the contra…

Whenever you move content, change domain names, or simply tweak a page’s URL, you’ll likely use a redirect. This ensures your users (and Google) get to the right page, and it preserves the SEO value from your backlinks. You can use .htaccess redirects specifically to do this. But I get that messing with your site’s server files can sound daunting. So the goal of this guide is to make .htaccess redirects as accessible as possible. To help, there are two free resources you’ll find in this post: A simple spreadsheet to automatically generate rules for the most common scenarios An…

A website audit helps you find what’s holding your site back. It highlights technical issues that affect your rankings and UX problems that hurt conversions. In this guide, I’ll walk you through five essential steps to maximize your site’s performance. And to make it easier, I’ve created a free website audit checklist that you can refer to as you follow along. Note: This post covers the fundamentals of website audits for small to medium sites. Enterprise sites have extra considerations and may need specialized tools and processes. …

You’re setting goals. Publishing content. Reporting on growth. But deep down, you’re still asking: “Are we aiming too high? Too low? Are we even on track?” That uncertainty is normal — but it’s also a signal that you need an SEO forecast. At Backlinko, we do SEO forecasting throughout the year. We use it to map planned content, track production costs, and project traffic and revenue gains. This approach lets us prioritize effectively. Pivot when content underperforms. And build lasting trust with our stakeholders. As Leigh McKenzie, our Head of SEO puts it: “Forecasting is har…

If you’ve ever run an ad campaign, you know that keyword costs can quickly eat up your budget. This is especially true if you’re not strategic about your selections. Of course, you can’t control all the factors that determine pricing. But you can reduce costs by choosing the right keywords and creating experiences that convert. Take digital marketing agency Turn Key Lead, for example. They reduced a mortgage bank client’s cost per conversion in Google Ads by 30% in seven days. Source How’d they do it? Through keyword and landing page optimization—tactics you’ll master today. In this guide, you’ll learn: How to find keyword costs using proven tools Optimization t…

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is one of Google’s three Core Web Vitals. Like the other two (Cumulative Layout Shift and Interaction to Next Paint), it’s not exactly clear what it means. Lots of tools can show your LCP score and outline ways to improve it. But their tips are often generic, and lack the detail you need to actually take action. So, in this guide I’ll walk you through actionable steps to improve your LCP. I’ll separate them by: Their potential impact The effort required to make the fix Which specific aspect of your LCP score they help with But first, let’s talk about what LCP actually means for your website (jump to this part for the fixes). What Does…

Travel SEO is about turning strangers into guests. But it’s no small task competing with major sites like Booking.com, TripAdvisor, and Expedia. With so many players in the market, standing out in search engine results can feel impossible. Yet, small players can still succeed. Live Oak Lake, a boutique resort in Texas built a strong direct booking website that ranks No. 1 for search terms like “waco cabins.” They made $1.1 million in their first year and sold the business for $7 million in 2024. In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how to implement an effective travel SEO strategy, including: How to optimize for travel-specific search intent 10 proven strategies t…

AI has changed the way people shop. 58% of consumers now use GenAI tools instead of traditional search to find products. Imagine your customer runs a simple query in Google’s AI Mode: “Winter jackets for women.” Instead of a long list of links, they get direct product recommendations — alongside: Descriptions of features and best use cases Ratings and reviews Editorial sites that mention the product Direct comparisons with top competitors All in one response. Which raises an obvious question: Why do some products show up, while others are ignored entirely? Many factors influence AI recommendations. But one of the most important — and most controllable — is your…

Learning how to sell SEO isn’t easy. Why? Your prospects don’t want to buy SEO—they want to buy results. I learned this the hard way. After years of trial and error, I found a system. It consistently delivers what people want: more customers, revenue, and growth. In fact, I’ve maintained a 75% close rate by focusing on one thing: demonstrating value before asking for the sale. Think about it: AI advancements. Nontraditional search results. Constant algorithm shifts. SEO looks different every year. But these changes have made skilled SEOs more valuable than ever. In this guide, you’ll learn my exact process for selling SEO services, backed by insights from industr…

If you publish writing, you’d be crazy not to use artificial intelligence. It’s like telling a carpenter not to use a drill. You can build a deck without one. But why would you? Writers have always embraced new tools to improve their craft. The challenge with AI, or any technology, is that we want the easy way out. We hope the tech will magically automate everything. And for mediocre content, AI is the perfect solution. But creating exceptional content is HARD. No matter what tool you use. For example, I used AI extensively to write this article. Yet, it still took me 40+ hours to produce. Why? AI has made me realize how much I can improve my content. And you ca…

This guide will show you how to use ChatGPT the right way. Brand new to using it? I’ll help you skip the rookie mistakes that leave most beginners frustrated. Tried it before and had an average experience? No problem. You’ll learn how to refine your approach to get useful, high-quality responses (finally). Because here’s the thing: ChatGPT IS a powerful tool. But only if you know how to use it effectively. Let’s make that happen. What is ChatGPT (And What Can It Do)? ChatGPT is an AI assistant that answers your questions like a human would. It can also generate ideas and assist with writing, problem-solving, and research tasks. How does it do this? It analyzes …