SEO Tools and Resources

Google is releasing some new ways to book your flights and hotels through AI Mode, plus new tools to plan your travel and find travel deals. These updates include Canvas in AI Mode for travel, flight deals rolling out globally, agentic booking for dinner reservations, flights and hotels. Some of these features are similar to the AI Shopping updates that Google announced last week. Agentic booking. Google in AI Mode can now not just recommend restaurants, hotels and flights but now also help you book them. We saw some of these features for reservations and events but that was while in Labs, opting into Labs is no longer required. Dinner reservations agentic …

Google is rolling out two key updates to Performance Max (PMax) campaigns — adding Waze ad inventory for store goal campaigns and introducing channel performance reporting for greater visbility. Why we care. Advertisers using PMax for store goals in the U.S. can now reach drivers directly on Waze through “Promoted Places in Navigation” pins — no extra setup required. The integration automatically optimizes existing assets for store visits or sales, arriving just in time for the holiday travel season, with a global rollout planned for 2026. Search partner comes to Channel reporting. PMax campaigns are also getting enhanced channel performance reporting, allowin…

Historically, Google Search has driven innovation by rewarding high-quality content with visibility and traffic. In the last article in this series, we talked about the risks of Google AI over-personalizing results and reinforcing filter bubbles. In this article, we’ll look at the opposite risk. If Google’s new AI results skew away from diversity and towards standardized results that favor big brands and consensus views, it could limit creativity and innovation and accelerate the commodification of the web. Some may find this concern naive because the internet is already very commodified, but historically, even small websites and businesses believed that they had…

YouTube has removed the “close” button on sidebar panels in some horizontal video ads on mobile, making the ad’s sidebar — often used for shoppable products or sitelinks — permanently visible during playback. Why we care. The change means users can no longer dismiss the sidebar to view the ad full-screen, leaving part of the video blocked by the fixed panel. That could impact both viewer experience and ad creative performance. The difference: Old layout: Users could tap an “X” to close the sidebar and focus on the main video. New layout: The sidebar remains locked, displaying additional ad content throughout. The source. The update was first spotte…

Google’s AI Overviews and AI-driven search are reshaping content creation, SEO, and user behavior. As we watch this fascinating evolution of search – and continue to debate what we call this new marketing discipline (HubSpot is opting for AEO, or answer engine optimization) – I interviewed Aja Frost, senior director of global growth and paid media at HubSpot. Some of the topics covered in our interview: The need to redefine success metrics for AEO, prioritizing visibility and share of voice HubSpot’s experimental journey, including creating hyperspecific, data-rich content and optimizing for LLMs. Traffic directly from LLMs converts about 3x better than tr…

AI search isn’t killing SEO. It’s forcing it to evolve into a new, multi-platform discipline called search everywhere optimization, where social and user-generated content (UGC) are the new trust engines driving discoverability. When I presented this concept at brightonSEO San Diego, what stood out wasn’t just the excitement around AI. What stood out was the unexpected convergence of ideas across sessions. You might expect every talk to center on AI, yet a broader shift was quietly taking shape. Five standout voices – Wil Reynolds, Josh Blyskal, Samanyou Garg, Ross Hudgens, and Ashley Liddell – all surfaced similar insights about where search is headed. …

Search Engine Land is expanding its contributor roster in 2026 – and we’re looking for seasoned experts in SEO, PPC, AI, and analytics to join us. Why we care. Search Engine Land is not just our publication – it’s yours. For 20 years, Search Engine Land has been the go-to source for search marketing insights, reaching more than 1 million professionals every month. We’re growing again and want to amplify a trusted and diverse set of voices across the industry – whether you’ve been doing it for 5 years or you’re old enough to remember the Google Florida update. The details. We’re seeking contributors with 5+ years of hands-on experience in their field who can share …

Want your business to show up in Google’s AI-driven results? The same principles that help you rank in Google Search still matter – but AI introduces new dimensions of context, reputation, and reasoning, according to Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search. PR for AI. In an interview with Marina Mogilko of Silicon Valley Girl, Stein said AI “thinks a lot like a person would,” and agreed with her assessment that you’re investing in PR not for people to see it, but for AI. Stein said: “If you’re a business and you’re mentioned in top business lists or from a public article that lots of people end up finding, those kinds of things become useful for the AI to find…

Your website is live – now it’s time to measure what matters. To sustain traffic growth, you need to track performance, collect meaningful data, and make informed, data-driven decisions that shape your site’s success. Here are the key areas to monitor and the tools that can automate much of the work. How to monitor your website for SEO performance Website performance and uptime alerts When a page loads slowly, conversions drop, engagement falls, and the user experience suffers. Visitors expect pages to respond instantly, whether they’re comparing products or just beginning their research journey on your blog. Monitor site speed with PageSpeed Ins…

The conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) has been dominated by “replacement theory” headlines. From front-line service roles to white-collar knowledge work, there’s a growing narrative that human capital is under threat. Economic anxiety has fueled research and debate, but many of the arguments remain narrow in scope. Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab found that since generative AI became widespread, early-career workers in the most exposed jobs have seen a 13% decline in employment. This fear has spread into higher-paid sectors as well, with hedge fund managers and CEOs predicting large-scale restructuring of white-collar roles over the next decade…

On episode 329 of PPC Live The Podcast I speak to Jack Hepp, founder of industrious Marketing LLC, discussing the fallout and what it took to bring him back to feet after he got fired from his first PPC job. The big f-up: fired from his first agency job Jack’s defining career moment came just a year and a half into his first agency role. Despite being eager to learn, he was still new to digital marketing when a major mistake occurred. “We dramatically underspent a client’s ad budget for the month — by almost 50%,” Jack recalls. That underspend had serious consequences. The client relied heavily on Google Ads for online sales, and the missed spend transla…

In the early days of SEO, ranking algorithms were easy to game with simple tactics that became known as “black hat” SEO – white text on a white background, hidden links, keyword stuffing, and paid link farms. Early algorithms weren’t sophisticated enough to detect these schemes, and sites that used them often ranked higher. Today, large language models power the next generation of search, and a new wave of black hat techniques are emerging to manipulate rankings and prompt results for advantage. The AI content boom – and the temptation to cut corners Up to 21% of U.S. users access AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, and DeepSeek mo…

In a recent study, Search Engine Land and Fractl found that 82% of consumers find AI-powered search more helpful than traditional SERPs. While the emergence of generative engine optimization (GEO) has marketers in a frenzy to own the latest industry keyword, agency thought leaders are finding common ground. Whether it’s Google or generative AI, brand visibility still comes down to two things: The depth of your original subject matter expertise. The breadth of your brand mentions. Together, these build a digital footprint of authority that both algorithms and knowledge graphs use to surface your brand. Here’s the rub: most brands are still playing…

Google’s crawl stats report is missing a single day of crawl data, which seems to be impacting all sites within Google Search Console. Google has not yet confirmed the issue but it seems to be impacting everyone. What it looks like. Here is a screenshot from one of my profiles within Search Console, showing the date that is missing for this site is October 14, 2025: Crawl stats report. The Crawl Stats report in Google Search Console shows you statistics about Google’s crawling history on your website. For instance, how many requests were made and when, what your server response was, and any availability issues encountered. You can use this report to detect whe…

Google is rolling out a new video creation tool for its Demand Gen campaigns that automatically turns advertisers’ existing image and text assets into videos across all aspect ratios. Driving the news. According to a notice sent to advertisers, the feature will apply to all image-only ad groups created before August 27th, with auto-generated videos beginning to serve after October 31st — unless advertisers opt out. How it works: The tool pulls from current image and text assets to produce branded video variations. These videos are designed to extend reach across more channels and formats, optimizing for both vertical and horizontal placements. Adver…

Marketers face AI news every day, and it’s almost impossible to keep up. AI agents are on the rise, but many are still in early development, beta testing, or lack real market adoption. So let’s skip ahead five years and look at what the future could hold. Picture this: You wake up in 2030 and check your phone. While you were sleeping, your AI agent optimized 50 campaigns, negotiated media buys with other agents, and earned $3,000 helping solve problems around the world. This isn’t science fiction – it’s where performance marketing is headed, and it may become reality soon. From scripts to personal AI assistants Today’s PPC automation still f…

Google is expanding ecommerce options in the U.S. by allowing merchants to sell physical goods through subscription models directly in Shopping ads. This move aims to boost convenience for shoppers and flexibility for sellers. What’s new. Starting this month, eligible U.S. Shopping ad merchants can offer physical goods on a recurring basis. The policy formally opens subscriptions in categories like apparel, coffee, healthcare (excluding prescription drugs), home and garden, personal care, pet supplies, prepared foods, and toys. To participate, merchants must update their product feeds with the subscription_cost attribute, including subattributes for the billi…

Do you want to immediately raise the blood pressure of the Google Ads practitioner sitting next to you? Say one word: Recommendations. If you’ve spent any time in the Google Ads platform, you’ve seen Recommendations jumping out at you on every screen: when you’re adding keywords, when you’re adjusting your campaign settings, when you’re changing your bid strategy, when you’re minding your own business! And we’ve all received that email from a client asking why their “Optimization Score” is falling. In this article, I’ll explain what Recommendations actually are (and aren’t), where they come from, and how you should handle them. Why does everyone hate Google A…

When a TV commercial makes people feel something, it doesn’t just win in the moment – it sparks curiosity, drives searches, and fuels conversions. That’s why the “Breaking TV Ads Report,” jointly launched by Kinetiq and DAIVID, deserves a spot on every search marketer’s radar. The monthly report ranks the top-performing new TV ads in the U.S., blending Kinetiq’s real-time TV ad detection with DAIVID’s AI-driven creative analytics to uncover which ads broke through, why they resonated, and what brands can learn from their success. It’s a powerful reminder that search doesn’t start on Google – it starts in the mind. As Barney Worfolk-Smith, chief growth offi…

This first release of 2026 brings Site Kit by Google insights into your Yoast SEO Dashboard. After introducing the integration in phases throughout 2025, we are pleased to share that the rollout is now complete and available to all Yoast customers using WordPress. What you can see in your Yoast SEO Dashboard You can now view key performance data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics via Site Kit in your Yoast SEO Dashboard, without changing tools or tabs. These insights include search impressions, clicks, average click through rate, average position, and organic sessions, which are combined with your Yoast SEO and readability scores so you can better un…

Headings structure your content for both readers and search engines. They help users scan a page, understand its content, and quickly locate the information they need. Search engines and AI systems use headings to interpret the topic and structure of your content. By using one clear H1, supported by well-written H2 and H3 headings, you can improve readability, accessibility, and SEO simultaneously. Table of contents What are headings? Why are headings important for SEO? Why are headings important for readers? How to use headings correctly How many H1 headings should you use? How to use H2 and H3 headings Common mistakes when using headings Headings and accessibility…

YouTube is rolling out new ad features for Shorts aimed at helping brands stretch their holiday marketing budgets — and capitalize on short-form video momentum. What’s new: Comments on Shorts ads: Advertisers can now enable comments on eligible Shorts ads, bringing the ad experience closer to organic content and creating new avenues for real-time audience engagement. Creator links to brand sites: Shorts creators posting branded content can now link directly to a brand’s website — giving viewers a seamless path from discovery to action. Shorts ads on mobile web: YouTube is expanding Shorts ad placement to the mobile web, adding another surface to reach viewe…

The rules of search have changed. Marketing funnels aren’t meant to stall. You pour hours into creating content, refining workflows, optimizing landing pages, and protecting brand consistency. How can all that effort, content, and creativity go to waste? But your funnel feels it. The uncomfortable truth is that even the strongest funnel can’t save you if a large portion of your audience never sees your work. SEO is flatlining. AI-generated summaries are pushing your branded content aside. The metrics start to tell a story you don’t want to hear, one that makes it look like you don’t even have a marketing team. Even if you keep pace with endless de…

Google will shut down three long-running Google Groups support forums for advertising developers early next year as it consolidates technical support into official channels. Driving the news. Google announced it will stop responding to new posts starting January 28, 2026. The forums will remain visible as read-only archives until later in the year, when Google plans to disable new posts entirely. After Jan. 28: Support agents will no longer reply on Google Groups. Replies to existing threads will trigger a new email thread with Google support instead. Content will stay online for reference — including past discussions and solutions. The shift. Googl…

Google is clarifying its Misrepresentation policy for Shopping ads and free listings. The update doesn’t change enforcement but adds more examples and guidance to help advertisers comply. Enforcement clarification: Google added examples related to non-delivery and inoperable return or refund processes. These are clarifications, not new rules. Support clarification: New guidance explains best practices for maintaining compliance and provides more detail on the appeals process. Why we care. Advertisers now have clearer expectations about what counts as misrepresentation. This can help prevent policy violations, reduce account suspensions, and improve customer tr…