SEO Tools and Resources

Take a look at your SEO to-do list. Most of it is probably the same rote, repetitive tasks. Turning everyday work into faster, easier outputs is easier than ever with AI. Besides obvious tasks like note-taking and team reminders, you can automate tasks such as content audits, page outlines, and keyword research. Start with simple strategies to save time on the repetitive work you do every day, then expand into using AI tools for automation. Always do a final check yourself, rather than trusting 100% of your work to LLMs, which rarely get things exactly right. Identify automation opportunities One simple way to decide what you can automate is to ask yourself…

There’s a common misconception that GEO is a technical problem. Just scroll through LinkedIn or X for 30 seconds, and you’ll find the next viral GEO hack. Like “create an AI info page” so LLMs can easily understand your brand. Maybe “create markdown versions of your content” to skyrocket AI visibility. Perhaps “get an automated Claude audit” that scans your robots.txt and automatically generates an llms.txt file for you. But most of these tactics have limited impact because they don’t address how LLMs actually decide which brands to recommend. GEO performance is shaped less by technical tweaks and more by how consistently your brand is positioned…

Google updated its spam report page for the second time in the past week or so, this time to say that if you include personally identifying information, the spam report will not be processed or used. This comes just a week after Google said that information would be used and passed along to the reported site. What changed. Google posted on its spam report page a new highlight box which says two points: (1) Don’t include personally identifying information in your spam report. (2) If you do include personally identifying information, then Google won’t process your submission. The text block reads: “Don’t include any personally identifying information i…

Whether you lead a scaling brand or an established global enterprise, you already know the frustration. You’re watching massive digital budgets yield diminishing returns, while agile disruptors consistently beat you to the punch. When you audit the citations within AI Overviews, ChatGPT responses, and Claude summaries, the reality is stark. Smaller, faster competitors are claiming more of the most lucrative, bottom-of-funnel commercial queries. It’s time to challenge the outdated assumption that legacy domain authority is enough to protect your pipeline. We’ve entered an era where operational agility often beats legacy brand equity. AI models demand rapid, mac…

OpenAI is beginning to show ads in ChatGPT to users who aren’t logged in — a move that could significantly increase available inventory as demand from advertisers grows. What’s happening. Early reports suggest ads are now appearing seamlessly within conversations for unauthenticated users, even though OpenAI hasn’t formally announced the change. The ads are integrated into chat responses rather than displayed as traditional banners. Why we care. By expanding ads to logged-out users, OpenAI increases available inventory, making it easier to spend budgets and reach more high-intent users. If this continues, ChatGPT could quickly become a more viable and competit…

Google search traffic is dropping. If you’ve spent years building organic strategies, watching it happen in real time is uncomfortable. But it’s also clarifying. I started seeing the shift across SaaS clients. Pages that had driven steady traffic for years — educational, top-of-funnel (TOFU) content — were losing ground. Not because the content got worse, but because users no longer needed to click. AI Overviews were doing the job for them. That forced a decision: keep defending the old model or adjust the strategy. I chose to adjust. What became clear pretty quickly is that while informational content is losing clicks, bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) content is hold…

SEO in 2026 is expanding, not changing. Traditional search still matters, but now SEO also includes AI-driven discovery, social platforms, and chatbots. The principles are the same, like clarity, structure, authority, and relevance, but the platforms are multiplying. We surveyed 59 SEOs to see how they’re handling these changes. Table of contents Download the PDF report now 1. SEO isn’t dying, but evolving 2. Keep the name Search Engine Optimization 3. Good SEO is LLM optimization 4. Rankings still matter, but not like they used to 5. Organic traffic is still king, but for how long? 6. Content saturation is a big threat 7. Most SEOs are ignoring a fast-growing s…

Google updated its YouTube and Discover Feed ad requirements as of April 2026 to clarify how election-related ads are handled, without changing how the rules are enforced. Why it matters. Advertisers using YouTube and Discover placements already operate under tight guidelines, and election ads have historically been a gray area. This update is meant to remove confusion rather than introduce new restrictions. What’s new (and what’s not). The update explicitly states that election ads are exempt from YouTube and Discover Feed ad requirements, but this is purely a clarification. There are no changes to enforcement, meaning advertisers who were compliant before should…

Google is experimenting with video ads inside the local pack, signaling a shift toward more immersive, visual formats in location-based search. Driving the news. The test was spotted by Anthony Higman, who shared that Google is integrating “immersive map view videos” into PPC ads tied to local results. These video ads appear within the local pack — the map-based listings that show businesses near a user’s search. What’s new. Instead of static listings or text-based ads, some advertisers may now have the option to surface video content directly in local search results. The feature appears tied to settings within Google Ads’ Location Manager. I…

Every digital PR (DPR) team’s been there: New data drops and the team huddles while someone stares at a blank Google doc spiraling over angles and journalist targets. Eventually, a pitch limps out the door just in time to hit “Send” before end of day. The pitch then lands in a top-tier publication, everyone celebrates, and the next month the whole team does the exact same thing over again, like it never happened. But here’s the thing nobody talks about: That winning pitch is a valuable asset, and most teams will just leave it sitting in their sent folder collecting virtual dust. Whether it was a data study, a product launch, or an expert quote, that pitch is …

Back in December, Google began showing read more links on some of the search result snippets within Google Search. Today, Google published new documentation around best practices on how to show Read more links in the Google search results. The best practices. The new documentation was posted over here in the snippets section and it lists three best practices: Make sure content is immediately visible on the page to a human (and not hidden behind an expandable section or tabbed interface, for example). Avoid using JavaScript to control the user’s scroll position on page load (for example, don’t force the user’s scroll position to the top of the page). If you …

Watch this video on YouTube Rand Fishkin didn’t get into SEO because he saw the future. He got into it because he had no choice. In the early 2000s, Fishkin helped run a small web business with his mom in Seattle. They hired another company to do SEO until they couldn’t afford to pay them anymore. That moment pushed him into search marketing. More than 20 years later, Fishkin has become one of the best-known voices in SEO — and one of Google’s biggest critics. In this interview, he looks back at how search has changed, what went wrong, and what may happen next. Early SEO was wild SEO today can feel messy. But in the early days, it was even more…

If you know anything about Google Ads Asset Studio, you’ve heard the hype: “Google just killed every excuse for not running video ads.” “Total game changer! You don’t need a production budget anymore.” “Upload a few product images and get campaign-ready video in minutes.” From Google Ads > Tools > Asset Studio, you can build, manage, and scale images and videos across ad formats. The recent addition of Veo (Google’s AI video generation model) and Nano Banana Pro means you can now turn a handful of product images into full-motion video ads, for free, in no time. Apparently, video creative is no longer a constraint. But does Asset Studio actuall…

You’ve audited your client’s website and compiled performance data. You’ve identified what’s working, what can be improved, and your recommendations for future strategies. But how do you turn that data into a presentation that’s easy to explain and builds trust? Start with stories. Storytelling isn’t just for entertainment. It’s how people make sense of information. That’s what makes it so effective for data presentation. One of the simplest ways to structure that story is the three-act structure. It’s a familiar framework used everywhere, from Aristotle’s Poetics to Star Wars. What is the three-act structure? The three-act structure is a simple framework…

AI has quickly become the most overconfident line item in the modern marketing roadmap. Budgets are shifting. Teams are being restructured. Vendors are being evaluated almost exclusively through the lens of how “AI-powered” they appear. There is a growing assumption that once the right models are in place, performance will follow. Better targeting. Smarter segmentation. Higher conversion. More efficient spend. It sounds almost inevitable. But there is a quieter reality beneath the momentum. One that rarely makes it into boardroom conversations or conference keynotes. Most organizations are not struggling to use AI. They are struggling to feed it. And w…

OpenAI is emerging as a new advertising channel, but early advertiser sentiment is mixed as brands grapple with limited data, unclear performance, and a rapidly evolving product. Driving the news. Two months after launching ads in ChatGPT, advertisers are experimenting — but still lack clear measurement tools and performance benchmarks. Early campaigns are largely impression-based, with little insight into outcomes. CPMs have reportedly been high, with initial minimum spends in the six figures. Some advertisers say the product feels early and slow to mature. The vibe check. According to Ad Age reporting, advertiser sentiment sits somewhere between cauti…

Google is tightening security across its ads ecosystem, requiring multi-factor authentication (MFA) for API users — a move that could impact how developers and advertisers access and manage accounts. Driving the news. Google will begin rolling out mandatory MFA for the Google Ads API starting April 21, with full enforcement expected over the following weeks. The update applies to users generating new OAuth 2.0 refresh tokens through standard authentication workflows. What’s changing. Users will now need to verify their identity with a second factor — such as a phone or authenticator app — in addition to their password when authenticating. Existing OAuth r…

OpenAI is continuing its push into ad-supported monetization — a strategy it began earlier this year — by expanding ads to more countries while keeping premium tiers ad-free. Driving the news. OpenAI is starting to roll out ads for users on Free and Go plans in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The rollout applies only to lower-tier plans. Paid tiers — including Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education — will remain ad-free. Why we care. This opens up a new and rapidly growing channel to reach users inside AI-driven experiences. As OpenAI expands ads into more markets, it signals early opportunities to test and understand how advertising works in convers…

Google may be streamlining one of the most error-prone parts of campaign setup — conversion tracking — by reducing the need for manual tag implementation. Driving the news. Google Ads is testing a new “Set up in Google Tag Manager” option within its conversion setup flow, according to screenshots shared by Google Ads Specialist, Natasha Kaurra. The feature appears alongside existing installation methods and allows advertisers to push conversion tracking setups directly into Google Tag Manager. What’s new. Instead of copying conversion IDs and labels between platforms, advertisers can click the new button to open a pre-filled tag setup inside GTM. That …

AI is changing search and rewriting the rules. If your brand isn’t visible in AI-generated answers, you have a bigger problem than just traffic. You’re missing out on trust, credibility, and customers who now expect AI to recommend the best options everywhere. Table of contents Why modern SEO is about AI visibility AI search is a blind spot for most Controlling the narrative of your brand Yoast AI Brand Insights is here to help Understanding the AI visibility metrics 5 Ways to improve your AI brand visibility How to influence LLMs to mention your brand The future of brand visibility is AI-driven Ready to take control of your AI brand visibility? We see that …

Google announced updates to Chrome that let searchers use AI Mode in a more “engaging” and “deeper” way. Chrome lets you do all of this without switching tabs and potentially losing your place. What is new. Chrome added these new features: (1) Search side-by-side: When you’re using AI Mode in Chrome desktop, clicking a link will open the webpage side-by-side with AI Mode. This makes it easier to visit relevant websites, compare details, and ask follow-up questions while maintaining the context of your search. Here is what it looks like: (2) Search across your tabs: On Chrome desktop or mobile, you can tap the new “plus” menu on the New Tab page (or t…

Google is leaning harder on Gemini to police its ad ecosystem, saying the AI upgrade sharply improved scam detection while reducing false suspensions for legitimate advertisers. The numbers also show how fast ad safety is becoming an AI arms race. Driving the news. In its 2025 Ads Safety Report, Google said it blocked or removed 8.3 billion ads globally and suspended 24.9 million advertiser accounts last year. More than 99% of policy-violating ads were stopped before they were ever shown, according to the company. Google also said Gemini helped: cut incorrect advertiser suspensions by 80%, process 4x more user reports than the prior year, and catch scam…

Open ChatGPT, then search for a local business you know has a strong online presence. Ask for a recommendation in that category. Chances are, it comes up. If you check what the AI cites as sources, you’ll almost certainly find the business’s own website in the mix. That tells you something important: AI doesn’t conjure answers out of thin air. It pulls from whatever it can find. If your website isn’t the best, most complete, most authoritative source of information about your business, the AI will assemble its answer from scraps. You lose control of your own narrative. That’s what’s driving a growing question among business owners and marketers: “Do I even need a …

ChatGPT citations favor pages that rank well, match the query in their headings, and stay tightly focused, according to an AirOps study of 16,851 queries. The top retrieval result was cited 58% of the time, and pages that answered the main query more narrowly outperformed broader, more comprehensive guides. Why we care. This study clarifies how to earn ChatGPT citations: win retrieval, mirror the query in your headings, and answer one question extremely well. In this study, that mattered more than breadth. The findings. Retrieval rank was the strongest signal. Pages in the top search position were cited 58.4% of the time, versus 14.2% for pages in position 10. …