SEO Tools and Resources

Most advertisers will confidently tell you that the cost per click (CPC) on Google Ads rises year after year. But is that actually true? And if it is, how quickly are CPCs inflating? Surprisingly, there’s no simple answer. To get closer to the truth, we’ll explore three reliable data sources – and explain why this question matters more than most advertisers realize. The problem of CPC inflation If you advertise on Google, CPC inflation should be high on your list of concerns. Why? Because rising CPCs directly erode advertising performance. For example, if CPCs increase by 5% this year, your budget will deliver 5% fewer clicks – assuming all othe…

Whether they’re digital natives or prefer traditional channels, today’s customers share one expectation: relevance, wherever and however they engage. But for organizations balancing privacy mandates, data governance, and legacy systems, delivering that kind of personalization at scale is no small feat. Join Adobe for Secure, Scalable Omnichannel Engagement—For the Most Demanding Industries and get an inside look at how leading organizations in complex industries are evolving from fragmented messaging to seamless, secure, and scalable cross-channel experiences. In this session, you’ll learn: How to architect personalized journeys across touchpoints without…

AI systems are getting better at generating Spanish. They’re not getting better at understanding Spanish markets. What we’re seeing instead is a consistent pattern: more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries collapsed into a single default. Spain becomes “standard.” Mexico becomes interchangeable. The rest get flattened into statistical averages. The failure modes are structural — dialect defaulting, format contamination, and regulatory hallucination — and they’re amplified in a generative search environment where one synthesized answer replaces 10 blue links. That distinction is now a visibility constraint. Generative systems resolve ambiguity. When your content…

Think about the last time you binged those true crime documentaries. The next time you opened your streaming app, the homepage likely shifted. Investigative series rose to the top. Maybe a notification alerted you when a new series dropped. Promotional emails highlighted only what you hadn’t watched. You didn’t see the data parsing or the decisioning behind it. You just looked forward to enjoying the next title. That’s the standard. According to the Adobe 2025 AI and digital trends report , 71% of consumers want personalized — or personally relevant — offers and information, and 78% expect seamless experiences across channels. Yet fewer than half of brands consistentl…

On episode 331 of PPC Live The Podcast, I speak to Dale Olorenshaw, Head of Paid Media and Search at StrategiQ, who shares a painful but valuable experience involving a high-budget test campaign and a critical oversight. The costly PPC mistake The story centers on a test campaign with a £15,000 budget. Despite strong clicks and engagement, the campaign delivered almost no conversions. After a month, the client emailed to point out that traffic had been sent to the wrong landing page. The dedicated test page they built had never been used. What went wrong internally The error happened for several reasons. Dale bypassed the internal QA process because he manag…

The Google March 2025 core update finished rolling out over a 14-day period, starting on March 13, 2025, and completed about 14 days later on March 27, 2025. This March core update took about a week longer than Google’s December 2024 core update, which started December 12, 2024 and completed about 6 days later on December 18, 2024. Please understand that if a core update impacts a site, it can result in a huge change for that site’s search visibility. So, I do not want to diminish any core updates, including the March core update; those could have been really big for you or the sites you manage. Data providers on the Google March 2025 core update Semrush. Semru…

A new analysis of more than 40,000 daily ChatGPT ad placements by AI ad intelligence firm Adthena suggests the format is rapidly standardizing, revealing that what once felt experimental is now becoming a disciplined, high-intent messaging system built for users already deep in decision-making mode. The big picture: ChatGPT ads are converging on a style that is short, structured, and highly contextual, favoring precision over persuasion and utility over storytelling, which marks a shift away from traditional creative-led advertising toward something closer to real-time, intent-driven assistance. By the numbers: The average headline clocks in at just 30 chara…

Google Ads has 718 reviews on TrustPilot with a 1.1-star rating. That’s a shockingly low score for a platform that has helped countless businesses grow and created entire careers in digital marketing. Let me preface this by saying that this isn’t meant to be an angry rant. Google Ads has provided incredible opportunities, but the overwhelming number of negative reviews clearly shows that advertisers face serious frustrations daily. Poor support, unexplained account suspensions, rising costs, and a lack of transparency have left many users feeling helpless. These aren’t just isolated issues – they’re widespread problems that need attention. So, wh…

In the crowded field of AI-powered SEO tools, one open-source large language model (LLM) is quietly gaining traction: DeepSeek. While giants like Google and OpenAI dominate the LLM landscape, DeepSeek offers a different approach. Free to use and with a focus on coding and logical reasoning, it presents a unique opportunity for SEOs, particularly those focused on technical optimization. Is DeepSeek the hidden gem SEOs have been searching for, or are its limitations too significant to ignore? Let’s dive in. What is DeepSeek? DeepSeek is an open-source large language model developed by DeepSeek AI, a China-based research lab. It was launched in la…

Imagine your ideal customer going to ChatGPT and asking, “Is [BRAND] worth it?” They’re not getting a vetted list of links in response. They’re getting a synthesized answer, most likely summarizing who you are, what you’re known for, and whether you’re credible. They’ll get a confident answer to the nebulous question of assigning worth. You don’t control that summary. But it will shape their decision before they convert, possibly before they ever visit your site. This is the new reality of search. SEO has traditionally been a discovery channel: higher rankings led to more traffic, which led to more conversions. But AI-powered search experiences, from AI Overvi…

Traffic from agentic AI sources is rising at Dell, but the impact remains minimal and inconsistent, according to the company’s ecommerce lead. The details. Dell is seeing increased visits from platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude, according to Breanna Fowler, head of global consumer revenue programs. But the growth isn’t “earth-shaking,” and agentic shopping has yet to deliver meaningful results, Fowler told Digital Commerce 360. Dell is still testing how to integrate with LLM-driven shopping, with efforts in early proof-of-concept stages and internal debate over long-term strategy, Fowler said. Fowler expects agentic AI to function more like an aggr…

You’ve probably played around with Demographics in your Google Ads campaigns, but have you experimented with Detailed Demographics? This audience targeting technique is a powerful tool for reaching your ideal customers – and excluding your not-ideal customers. This article will cover: Basic vs. Detailed Demographics: What’s the difference? What type of Detailed Demographics are available in Google Ads? How to use Detailed Demographics in your campaigns Sample use cases for Detailed Demographics Basic vs. Detailed Demographics: What’s the difference? Your basic demographic options in Google Ads are age, gender, parental status, and household i…

Discord has started testing unskippable, reward-based video ads — marking its most aggressive move yet into monetization outside of its Nitro subscriptions. The ads pause if users tab away, guaranteeing full impressions for brands. Details. Discord has begun rolling out In-Game Rewards — branded video ads tied to game-related perks. While these ads appear for everyone, users can opt into more personalized promotions via their privacy settings. Discord originally gained traction as a “safe space” for gamers and niche communities. With over 200 million monthly active users, it has quietly become one of the largest social platforms. Until now, monetization was limite…

Over the last 12-18 months, the rhetoric across Search Engine Land has shifted. There’s now broad agreement that people don’t just “Google” to discover brands anymore. Audiences are finding brands on TikTok, researching on Reddit, watching YouTube, and increasingly asking AI to summarize everything for them – determining whether a brand is found or ignored. Discoverability is no longer about ranking first on a single platform. It’s about showing up consistently across the touchpoints that make up your audience’s search universe, wherever decisions are actually being made. In this new landscape, two tactics are quietly doing much of the heavy lifting…

In the early days of SEO, owning an exact match domain (EMD) was like holding a cheat code. If someone searched for “siamese kittens,” you could bet that siamesekittens.com would be sitting pretty at or near the top of the search results. The algorithm heavily weighted the presence of keywords in the domain, and for a while, that simple trick delivered serious ROI. But it’s 2025 now. AI has reshaped search, large language models (LLMs) are rewriting how answers are generated and delivered, and the rules of the game have changed. So, what role – if any – do exact match domains still play? The EMD of yesteryear: Keyword first, brand second In th…

UK doctor and YouTuber Dr. Ed Hope said Google’s AI falsely claimed he was suspended by the General Medical Council earlier this year for selling sick notes. Hope called the allegation completely made up and warned that it could seriously damage his career. Google’s AI generated a detailed narrative accusing Hope of professional misconduct, despite no investigations, complaints, or sanctions in his 10-year medical career, he said in a new video. Why we care. Google’s AI-generated answers appear to now be presenting false, career-damaging claims about real people as fact. That raises serious questions about defamation, accountability, and whether AI-generated stat…

The debate around llms.txt has become one of the most polarized topics in web optimization. Some treat llms.txt as foundational infrastructure, while many SEO veterans dismiss it as speculative theater. Platform tools flag missing llms.txt files as site issues, yet server logs show that AI crawlers rarely request them. Google even adopted it. Sort of. In December, the company added llms.txt files across many developer and documentation sites. The signal seemed clear: if the company behind the sitemap standard is implementing llms.txt, it likely matters. Except Google pulled it from its Search developer docs within 24 hours. Google’s John Mueller sai…

The Justice Department and Google wrapped a two-week hearing over how to address Google’s illegal monopoly in online advertising technology, setting up a pivotal antitrust showdown that could reshape the digital ad industry. Driving the news. The hearing, held in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, concluded after testimony from more than two dozen witnesses – including Google executives, rival ad tech leaders, publishers, and expert economists. The Justice Department wants Google to sell off its ad exchange and possibly parts of its publisher tools to restore competition. Google argues that a breakup would disrupt publishers and adve…

The U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of states plan to appeal a federal judge’s remedies ruling in the Google search antitrust case. The appeal challenges a decision that found Google illegally monopolized search but stopped short of imposing major structural changes, such as forcing a divestiture of Chrome or banning default search deals outright. What’s happening. The DOJ and state attorneys general filed notices of appeal yesterday, challenging U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta’s September remedies ruling, Bloomberg and Reuters reported. Mehta ruled in August 2024 that Google unlawfully maintained its search monopoly through default search agreements w…

The U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of states unveiled their proposed remedies today aimed at dismantling Google’s illegal monopoly in search and search advertising. These include breaking off Chrome and banning default search payments. The remedies. They break down into five categories meant to enable and increase competition: Distribution remedies. This would mean ending payments that “freeze the ecosystem in place,” including Google’s multi-billion-dollar payments to Apple and Android device makers. Chrome divestiture. This would separate Chrome from Google – organizationally and financially. Chrome accounts for 35% of all Google search queries …

Domain extensions have been a core part of the web since its early days. In SEO, debates have continued for decades about how a domain extension, such as a TLD (top-level domain) or ccTLD (country-code top-level domain), affects rankings. The discussion often concerns whether search engines like Google, Baidu, or Microsoft Bing prefer specific domain extensions when ranking websites in different countries. Some aspects are clearly outlined in official documentation, while others rely more heavily on anecdotal evidence and testing. Do domain extensions directly impact rankings? One of the most common SEO questions is whether a domain extension directly i…

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…

Most PPC marketers still default to static landing pages, whether it’s one catch-all page or a growing library of customized versions. You might already have dozens of static pages built for different campaigns, audiences, and offers. This is a proven approach: Create a page. Personalize it. Launch it. Optimize it. Repeat. The question isn’t whether to customize – it’s whether managing 60 static pages is more effective than running 12 dynamic ones that adapt in real time. Dynamic landing pages offer a different solution by adapting headlines, calls to action, visuals, and offers based on signals from the campaign itself. In theory, this…

Product pages. Ads. Emails. Headlines. Every word you publish either builds momentum or loses it. Great ecommerce copy does more than describe a product. It earns trust, sparks emotion, and clears doubt. Most importantly, it helps someone say yes with confidence. This guide includes 20 practical, proven tips to sharpen your copy across strategy, product pages, persuasion, and retention. They’re not theory. Just tested techniques from brands that convert. Table of contents How to choose the right copywriting framework and emotional trigger Copywriting frameworks Emotional triggers Strategies for clearer copy Product copy tips for conversion What most eco…

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…