SEO Tools and Resources

“Did our organic traffic just drop again – even though our rankings went up?” If that question has come up in your marketing meetings lately, you aren’t alone. AI is reshaping SEO, breaking the traditional link between rankings, clicks, and conversions. We’re all trying to redefine what “good” SEO performance looks like. When Google serves your answer directly in a featured snippet or AI Overview, is that a win – or a lost click? In 2025, measuring SEO success demands a new approach. AI-driven search may boost your content’s visibility, but it also shifts user behavior in ways that make legacy metrics unreliable, if not completely misleading. …

Even the most old-school PPC managers can’t deny it anymore: Performance Max is capable of amazing things. It does require a certain level of setup (like good-quality data inputs) and a different mindset than Search and Shopping, but it’s no longer the struggling tech we knew from the beta four years ago. Let me give you an example. Years ago, when working with retailers selling products from many different brands, you’d typically make a separate Shopping campaign for each one. Try that with Performance Max, and you’ll force it into doing something it’s not built for. And performance certainly won’t be at max. Consolidation is the name of the ga…

SEO has always involved a lot of manual, repetitive work. Keyword research, writing title tags and meta descriptions, parsing GA4 exports, auditing massive content libraries – it’s all important, but it’s also time-consuming. Now, we have tools that can help lighten the load. From accelerating content ideation to pulling insights from performance data, AI can be a powerful (and efficient) part of your daily SEO workflow. The real question isn’t if you should use AI – it’s how to use it well. 1. Build a custom AI assistant A custom GPT is a tailored version of the AI language model that you can create to perform specific tasks or provide particula…

Site Kit by Google is a free WordPress plugin that connects your site to important tools like Analytics, Search Console, and Ads. After installing, it’s easy to verify your accounts, after which you see data in your dashboard. That data is nice to have, but it has limits, especially if you need detailed reports. Table of contents What is Site Kit by Google and why use it? What does it look like? What Google services can you connect? Managing Analytics in Site Kit by Google What’s Enhanced Conversion tracking? Key Metrics widget for quick performance insights Is Site Kit by Google enough for your goals? Should you use Site Kit by Google? What is Site Kit by G…

Leaked internal emails from Google executives show that the company’s heavily promoted “Power Pair” campaign (using broad matched kywords and PMax) push at Google Marketing Live 2024 failed to resonate with advertisers who were frustrated about being forced into automated solutions. Key points: Internal emails show Google executives acknowledged advertiser frustration with the company’s aggressive push toward Performance Max automation The “Power Pair” campaign from Google Marketing Live 2024 became symbolic of Google’s all-in strategy on automated solutions Executive concern: “There was some real frustration that Google isn’t listening and pushing ‘full au…

Is there a spam problem in AI Overviews? Yes – and apparently it’s growing. Don’t believe me? Just ask Google and you’ll get the following response: Yes, there is a growing spam problem in Google AI Overviews. A recent LinkedIn post highlighted that AI Overviews are easily manipulated, regurgitating content verbatim or hallucinating incorrect information, and that spammers are exploiting this to promote low-quality content. How AI Overviews are being abused: Hallucination and Incorrect Information: AI Overviews often generate answers that are factually incorrect or hallucinate information, even when contradicting accurate data from Google Business Pr…

Google Ads rolled out device targeting options for Performance Max (PMax) campaigns, which gives you granular control that was previously unavailable at the campaign level. The new targeting options appear in PMax campaign settings. You can now include or exclude specific device types You can now gain critical control over which devices see your Performance Max ads, a long-requested feature that allows for more precise campaign management and optimization. Details. The update allows targeting across four distinct device categories: Computers: Desktop or laptop devices with screens larger than 7″ diagonal. Mobile phones: Hand-held devices with phone …

For decades, the SEO world has been divided into two camps: black hat and white hat practitioners. These opposing forces have waged countless battles across digital forums and social media. But now, a new breed of SEO has emerged. One that’s mastered the art of attention-grabbing and self-promotion. Enter the “like hat.” SEO practitioners who trade in social currency rather than business outcomes. They’re not optimizing for search engines or users – they’re optimizing for likes. And it’s becoming one of the industry’s most pressing problems. The social media mirage Nowhere is the like hat trend more visible than on LinkedIn, which has be…

Even when it ranks in Position 1, Mail Online loses over half its clicks when AI Overviews appear in Google’s search results. Calling the click-through rate (CTR) “pretty shocking” Carly Steven, SEO and editorial ecommerce director for the UK newspaper, told the WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress (as reported by PressGazette): “On desktop, when we are ranking number one in organic search, it [clickthrough] effectively is about 13% on desktop and about 20% on mobile. When we are still ranking number one organically but there is an AI Overview present, that drops to less than 5% on desktop and 7% on mobile, so a pretty profound change in clickthrough.” Why we c…

If you’ve played around with audience targeting in a Demand Gen or Video campaign lately, you may have thought to yourself, “Um… does something look different here?!” It’s not just you. Audience Builder is the new workflow for audience targeting in Demand Gen and Video campaigns, and audience signals in Performance Max campaigns. This isn’t just a cosmetic change. Audience Builder brings different capabilities than those you may be used to. This Audience Builder breakdown will cover: What is Audience Builder in Google Ads? How is Audience Builder different from the old audiences workflow? Audience Targeting vs Audience Signals with Audience Bu…

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…

A strong Google review strategy is one of the most effective – and accessible – ways to boost your local SEO. Unlike other ranking signals that may feel out of reach, reviews are something business owners can actively influence. And their impact is only growing. Google reviews play a major role in map pack rankings, and yet many businesses still underestimate just how much they matter. By consistently earning new, high-quality reviews and keeping the momentum going, you can dramatically improve your local visibility and stay competitive in your market. Learn how to build and manage a Google review strategy that works in 2025 – helping your business grow,…

Google started rolling out new image optimization tools for Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. The feature, first announced last month, gives Google’s AI more control over how images appear in your ads. The shift to default-on image enhancements signals deeper AI involvement in creative decisions, potentially affecting ad look, feel, and performance without advertiser awareness. What’s new: Image Enhancements: Google’s AI can now automatically reformat uploaded images, adjusting layout and style to drive better results. Landing Page Images: PMax may pull visuals directly from your website to dynamically populate ad creatives. Between the lines. If y…

The U.S. Department of Justice has released several new trial exhibits as part of the ongoing remedies hearing. These exhibits include interviews with two key Google engineers – Pandu Nayak and HJ Kim – which offer insights into Google’s ranking signals and systems, search features, and the future of Google. Key Google search ranking system terminology Nayak defined some key Google terminology and explained Google’s search structure: Document: What Google calls a webpage, or its stored version. Signals: How Google ranks documents that ultimately generate the SERP (search engine results pages). Google talked about using predictive signals from machine lear…

Google is rolling out a new feature in Google Business Profiles named “What’s Happening.” This feature offers restaurants and bars a new way to highlight events, deals, and specials prominently at the top of your Google Business Profile. Google said, “What’s Happening” puts your timely updates, like “Today’s Special” or “Live Music on Saturday,” front and center!” What it looks like. Here is a screenshot of this feature in action: Eglibility. To be eligible to appear in this new space, share What’s Happening at your business via Google Posts or connect your Facebook, Instagram and/ or X profiles to your Google Business Profiles for automatic syncing. …

Google is facing a legal reckoning across Europe, with at least €12 billion ($12.9B) in damages sought by price comparison sites who say the tech giant abused its dominance in search to siphon traffic and revenue. The civil suits stem from the EU’s landmark 2017 decision to fine Google €2.4B for antitrust violations related to its shopping service. With that ruling upheld, plaintiffs now only need to prove financial harm – not the legal wrongdoing itself – opening the door to massive payouts. Driving the news. A Bloomberg review identified 12 active civil suits in seven EU countries. Nine of the cases have disclosed claims totaling more than €12B. The lawsuits com…

For years, SEO professionals have obsessed over rankings. What position are we in? Did we move up or down? Can we get back to Position 1? But as AI-driven search continues to reshape how information is retrieved and delivered, we need to ask a different question: Are we relevant enough to be included at all? I still remember the first time I dropped from Position 1 to 7 for a major keyword – I literally sat on the floor and sobbed. Back then, rankings weren’t just about traffic – they were validation. If Google said you were the best, it was so. Everyone believed it. Holding that top spot meant everything. Losing it – even by a few places – fel…

In the world of Google Ads, profitability remains the ultimate goal, driving PPC advertisers to constantly refine bidding strategies. In recent years, value-based bidding (VBB) has helped businesses optimize for high-value actions. But the economic pressures of 2025 – marked by volatile markets and shrinking margins – demand a sharper focus: profit-based bidding (PBB). In a climate where every dollar counts, relying solely on conversion value may no longer be enough. Are your current strategies aligned with actual profit, or are you still optimizing for actions that don’t fully support your bottom line? While many advertisers embrace VBB, a crucial q…

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a bold claim about the future of advertising in a recent interview (emphasis mine): “You’re a business, you come to us, you tell us what your objective is, you connect to your bank account, you don’t need any creative, you don’t need any targeting demographic, you don’t need any measurement, except to be able to read the results that we spit out. I think that’s going to be huge, I think it is a redefinition of the category of advertising.” Zuckerberg paints an interesting future. But it’s not quite reality. Meta Ads’ AI isn’t replacing digital marketers anytime soon. Still, its best practices – from automation to targeting –…

By now, most marketers have at least dabbled with generative AI (GenAI) tools and large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. They’ve heard that their competitors are using the technology to practically create entire campaigns with the push of a button. And they’re aware that AI is reshaping marketing and perhaps are both excited and a little worried about what the future will bring. To date, much of the early conversation about putting AI into production at scale has centered on the need for good prompt engineering — the ability to ask the right questions of this powerful technology. We’ve been told our successful use of the technology hinges on thi…

Calling it “inevitable,” Google executives expect Search to lose traffic to Gemini or rival AI answer engine ChatGPT, according to an internal document from October. Why we care. Google generated nearly $200 billion in revenue from Search in 2024. However, Google launched many new AI features and products (e.g., AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini) in the past two years that have radically changed search as we’ve known it for more than two decades. Now it’s confirmed that Google executives think it’s “inevitable” that Google will lose search traffic due to AI. ChatGPT’s impact. An internal summary of takeaways from a meeting with top execs – including Liz Reid, Vidhya S…

The newly released Dotdigital Global Benchmark Report 2025 reveals a surprising trend: email volumes rose 23.9% year-over-year, and engagement metrics improved alongside them. Click-through rates doubled. Click-to-open rates jumped by 50%. Unsubscribes remained low at just 0.13%. The report analyzes billions of cross-channel interactions across industries, offering marketing teams rare insight into how leading brands are outperforming. With smarter segmentation, deeper personalization, and multi-channel orchestration, the data suggests that more can indeed mean better—when it’s done right. Why It Matters For digital marketers, ops leads, and marketing direc…

Google is facing a potential €2.97 billion ($3.3 billion) antitrust lawsuit in Italy, accusing the tech giant of stifling competition through anticompetitive practices. The lawsuit, filed by Moltiply Group, claims Google used its dominance in the search engine market to undermine the growth of its rival price comparison platform, Trovaprezzi.it, operated by Moltiply subsidiary 7Pixel. Key allegations. Moltiply argues that between 2010 and 2017, Google prioritized its own Google Shopping service over competitors, suppressing other comparison websites’ visibility. The lawsuit leans on a significant 2017 ruling by the European Court of Justice, which fined Goo…

Google has released a detailed Q&A for advertisers to clarify how its new AI Max tool works, addressing key questions around performance, control, and automation in search advertising. With the rollout of AI Max, a suite of ad tools powered by generative AI and search intelligence, the company is pitching it as the future of automated, performance-driven search advertising. What it does AI Max uses Google AI to: Match your ads with more relevant searches – even ones you aren’t bidding on. Customize ad copy dynamically based on user intent. Send users to your most relevant landing pages automatically. Questions asked by advertisers, answered b…

Users who arrive on websites from LLMs are generally less likely to engage than those from traditional organic search. That’s according to a new study published today by Dan Taylor of SALT.agency. This new data seems to challenge claims by Google and Microsoft Bing that citations from AI search results result in higher-quality clicks. Why we care. It’s good to know that SEO remains a valuable channel. But it’s not good to know that search engines seem to be making fallacious statements to the entire community, all to support their “AI is the best thing ever” narrative. By the numbers. In most sectors, organic traffic outperforms LLM referrals in driving engage…