SEO Tools and Resources

Google updated its Ads Transparency policy to show more detailed information about the entities funding ads – a move aimed at increasing accountability in digital advertising. Driving the news. Starting today, Google is displaying the payer name – drawn from an advertiser’s payment profile – if it differs from their verified advertiser name. For agency accounts, the client’s payment profile will be used as the payer name when applicable. This information will appear in the My Ad Center panel and the Ads Transparency Center. Why we care. This update increases public visibility into who is actually funding ads, which can impact brand perception, trust, and comp…

Return on ad spend (ROAS) has been the default metric for evaluating Google Ads performance for years. It’s easy to calculate, works well with automated bidding, and provides a quick snapshot of efficiency. However, as ad costs rise and tracking becomes less reliable, relying solely on ROAS is no longer enough, especially for businesses focused on long-term growth and profitability. This article: Unpacks why ROAS can be misleading. Introduces better metrics to consider. Explains how to start moving toward a performance strategy that aligns with real business outcomes. Why ROAS can be misleading ROAS seems like the perfect metric. Spend $1, …

AI Overviews are now less likely to cite pages that rank in Google’s top 10 organic positions, according to new BrightEdge data. This change was observed following Google’s March 2025 core update. By the numbers. The overlap between AI Overview citations and Google’s top 10 organic positions dropped from 16% to 15% following the March 2025 core update. Why we care. Tens of millions of searches per day now feature AI-generated summaries that don’t cite the highest-ranked results from organic search. The good news? Pages ranking outside Google’s top 10 positions now have a better shot at being cited in AI Overviews. But. This appears to be a major shift in how G…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is upending the economic engine of the web, and Google is at the center of the disruption, according to Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince. What Prince said. In a recent interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, Prince said: “AI is going to fundamentally change the business model of the web. The business model of the web for the last 15 years has been search… search drives everything that happens online.” The Google tipping point. Google’s value exchange with content creators has collapsed, Prince said: “Ten years ago… for every two pages of a website that Google scraped, they would send you one visitor. … That was the trad…

You need compelling titles and meta descriptions to attract visitors from search results and encourage users to click. Manually writing these elements for every page can be quite challenging. Generative AI can streamline this process by automating it. However, you should check the AI-generated suggestions critically. This post will show various methods for generating effective titles and meta descriptions using generative AI for SEO. Table of contents AI titles and meta descriptions for SEO Use the AI in Yoast SEO Premium to generate titles Using generative AI to create powerful titles Checking generated content using human expertise Balancing SEO optimization and u…

If your website suddenly disappears from Google search results, it can be a stressful experience. A significant drop in traffic with no clear explanation and the absence of a penalty usually means your site, in the eyes of Google, has fallen out of favor and potentially below the quality threshold. This article explains why sites get deindexed, what to check first, and how to recover if it happens to you. What does ‘deindexed’ mean? When a page or a whole website is deindexed, it means Google has removed it from its search index. As a result, your site won’t appear in search results for any keywords, not even when you search your domain name. Somet…

One of the things you can do to present your local business better in search results is to use structured data for rich snippets. Adding structured data to your site can help search engines understand your business and how it performs. Because of this, you’ll need to add your NAP details, store/location map, reviews, and images. Find out how Schema.org structured data can help your local SEO. Table of contents Local customers use search engines Improve local rankings Why schema structured data Rich search results for businesses Why you should use JSON-LD How to add structured data to a local business listing Required properties for local businesses Recommended prope…

SEO is something of a nebulous concept. To some, SEO is technical; to others, it is creative. Neither of these is 100% right or wrong. SEO is all of this and more, depending entirely on the unique situation and goals of the business looking to use SEO. This loose definition leads to some common and fairly troublesome issues. One of these issues, which we see repeatedly and completely derails the success of projects – even by experienced agencies – is the misunderstanding between SEO strategy and SEO planning. This article defines these terms and shows a simple way to ensure both strategy and planning are tackled with the rigor that the modern, h…

Google Ads quietly rolled out Tree Table Views within its reporting interface, offering advertisers a more structured way to analyze campaign performance data. The new view transforms traditional flat data tables into hierarchical layouts where dimensions are visually stacked and nested, creating clearer relationships between data points. The big picture. The Tree Table View offers several practical benefits: Organized hierarchy. Clearer visualization of multi-level dimensions Improved navigation. Faster insight discovery across nested segments Enhanced structure. Better organization for complex performance breakdowns For example, users can now easi…

Google search ad spending grew 9% year over year in Q1 2025, according to new data from digital marketing agency Tinuiti. Increasing costs, rather than click volume, drove most of that growth. Google Search overall: Google Search spending grew by 9% YoY in Q1 2025 (down slightly from 10% in Q4 2024). Click growth was stable at 4% YoY. Whilst average cost per click (CPC) increased by 5% YoY. Google Shopping Ads: Shopping ad had a 8% YoY spending growth (however down from 10% in Q4 2024). Click volume improved by 9% YoY (up from just 1% in Q4). CPC remained stable at 1% YoY decrease. Competitive landscape. Amazon maintained a s…

Google AI Overviews are now available in more countries and regions and in more languages. Google announced today at Google I/O that AI Overviews are now available in over 200 countries and territories and more than 40 different languages. AI Overviews for more Google searchers. Google said they have expanded access to AI Overviews within Google Search to more searchers. In October, Google released them in over 100 countries and regions, now they are available in over 200 countries and regions. Google added more support for languages including support for for Arabic, Chinese, Malay, Urdu and more. You can see the full list of countries and territories that Go…

Separate accounts, separate campaigns, or one shared setup? It’s often the first question marketers face when launching Google Ads in multiple countries or languages. The structure you choose lays the groundwork for how well you can: Localize ads. Manage regional budgets. Analyze performance by market. While consolidation simplifies PPC management, it can limit your ability to connect with diverse audiences. Full separation allows for maximum customization but can lead to administrative overhead and missed efficiencies. Striking the right balance is key to aligning effort with impact while maintaining centralized data. Effective loca…

Search and Shopping ads in AI Overviews are now rolling out to desktop users in the U.S., as announced today at Google Marketing Live 2025. Driving the news. Starting today, desktop users in the U.S. will begin seeing Search and Shopping ads embedded within AI Overviews. Later this year, these ad formats will expand globally to select countries on both mobile and desktop, focusing on English-language queries. Google is also testing ads in AI Mode, the company’s advanced AI search experience, designed for complex, follow-up-heavy queries. How it works. In AI Mode, users can ask open-ended questions and receive in-depth, conversational responses, com…

Google has doubled down on its automation-first strategy with a key update to Performance Max (PMax) campaigns: some advertisers can now add up to 50 Search themes. Why we care. This update gives advertisers more flexibility and control in guiding Google’s AI-powered targeting. Search themes, which help steer PMax toward relevant search traffic, are increasingly critical for advertisers looking to influence automation without relying on traditional keywords. Catch up quick. Search themes act as keyword-like signals to help Performance Max campaigns align with user intent. The limit started at 10, was raised to 25 in late 2023, and now sits at 50. Between …

WordPress offers two primary content types: Pages and Posts. Choosing the right format for your content can improve your website’s organization, user experience, and even SEO. But how do they differ – and when should you use one over the other? Let’s break it down. WordPress Pages Pages are best suited for static, “evergreen” content – information that doesn’t change frequently and forms the foundation of your website. Typical examples include: Home page. About us. Services or products. Contact page. Key features: Not time-sensitive. Not included in RSS feeds. Do not use categories or tags by default (can be implement…

Online advertising platform Marin Software announced plans today to dissolve the company, subject to shareholder approval. Marin’s board of directors approved a formal Plan of Dissolution and Liquidation. The San Francisco-based software provider, founded 19 years ago (in April 2006), was once a leading search and social marketing platform. Why we care. Marin was one of the first companies to offer a cross-channel ad management platform to help advertisers optimize campaigns. However, Marin struggled in recent years with declining revenue and customer churn. In Q3 2024, Marin reduced its headcount by 26% to cut costs. What’s next. If shareholders vote in favor…

AI-powered search is changing fast. Are you ready? Join our expert panelists for The Impact of ChatGPT and Generative AI on Search: Insights from Industry Experts where they will dive deep into the evolving landscape of AI and search marketing. In this insightful session you’ll discover: How AI search is reshaping SEO and what it means for your strategy. Practical tips to optimize your content for AI tools Why brand awareness and authoritative content are crucial for success in AI-powered search. Whether you’re an SEO professional, marketer, or business leader, this webinar offers the strategic insights you need to stay competitive in an AI-driven digit…

Apple is officially dropping the “Search” from Search Ads to better represent its expanding ad placements across the App Store. The rebrand reflects Apple’s growing ad footprint beyond App Store search results — a signal that the iPhone maker is eyeing a more aggressive play in the broader digital ad market. What’s changed: The original Search Ads product, launched in 2016, showed promoted apps at the top of App Store search results. Ads now appear in the Today tab and in app listings under “You Might Also Like.” The rebrand aligns with Apple’s naming convention (think Apple Music, Apple TV+) and sets the stage for future ad expansion. Between the …

In the era of Google’s smart bidding, we’ve come to appreciate the power of feeding solid data to AI. But that data can do more than just improve bids. When connected to a large language model (LLM), it opens up entirely new ways to manage and optimize your PPC accounts. As generative AI becomes more embedded in our daily workflows, it’s worth exploring the latest methods for connecting it with your performance data. This way, it can deliver insights that are not just creative but also grounded and actionable. Sure, you could manually upload a CSV or paste metrics into each prompt, but that defeats the very promise of AI: faster, smarter, and more ef…

“Just Google it” – ah, so 2021. These days, organic search and discovery – although still largely conducted on Google – have fanned out to many sources, with user behavior more multi-layered and dynamic than ever. SEO professionals these days need to follow course. Consider a user who: Starts by watching a TikTok video of a runner boasting about hitting a new PR with the help of a coach. Then does a top-of-funnel search on Perplexity (“what does a running coach help with”). Then hits Google for a search of online running coaches. Then browses a list of sources from AI Overviews. Then hits up a running community on Reddit to ask about peoples…

AI Overviews, Google’s AI-generated summaries that sit above organic search results, are already eroding traffic for many publishers and creators. However, publishers are getting “higher-quality clicks,” according to Elizabeth Reid, Head of Google Search, in a new interview. Why we care. Google Search is continuing to evolve in the direction of AI Overviews, where less clicks to websites is the new normal. Clicks. Here are some quotes from Reid’s interview with the Financial Times about the AI Overviews and the impact on clicks and traffic (a.k.a., that necessary evil) to publishers: “We see the clicks are of higher quality, because they’re not clicking on a…

To meet the web content crawlability and indexability needs of large language models, a new standards proposal for AI/LLMs by Australian technologist Jeremy Howard is here. His proposed llms.txt acts somewhat similarly to robots.txt and XML sitemaps protocols, in order to allow for a crawling and readability of entire websites, putting less of a resource strain on LLMs for crawling and discovering your website content. But it also offers an additional benefit – full content flattening – and this may be a good thing for brands and content creators. While many content creators are interested in the proposal’s potential merits, it also has detractors. But…

Google Gemini is an advanced, deeply integrated AI model that can help you reshape how you approach content creation, technical audits, reporting, and beyond. Gemini is built into Google Search and Google Workspace (including Docs and Sheets). It reflects Google’s evolving approach to understanding, ranking, and displaying information, especially in an AI-dominated search landscape. As zero-click searches become more common and traditional blue links get pushed further down the page, Gemini offers a powerful opportunity: real-time guidance from within the ecosystem you’re optimizing for. While tools like ChatGPT remain highly capable, Gemini’s integration…

Google has confirmed issues with the Local Service Ads advertiser console and said they are “investigating and working to resolve this with high priority.” Since this morning, advertisers trying to access the Google Local Service Ads advertiser console have been hit by timeouts, 500 status codes and other errors preventing them from manage LSAs. Confirmation. Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Liaison, confirmed the issue on X just minutes ago: The team is investigating and working to resolve this with high priority. — AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) April 2, 2025 The issue. There are a number of complaints on social media about LSAs not being accessible. Here are some …

Uber Advertising will integrate Instacart’s Carrot Ads solution to extend the reach of Uber Eats’ Sponsored Items to more Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) advertisers in the U.S. market. By the numbers. Instacart’s advertiser network includes more than 7,000 brands. More than 220 retailer banners use Carrot Ads to power their retail media. How it works. Starting this month, CPG advertisers can create campaigns through Instacart Ads Manager that will automatically extend across both Instacart’s ecosystem and the Uber Eats marketplace, reaching millions of high-intent grocery shoppers. Why we care. CPG brands of all sizes now have a powerful new advertising…