SEO Tools and Resources

Google isn’t rewarding whoever buys the most ads or uploads the glossiest photos. It’s rewarding the business that matches what people expect in the moment. That’s why the old checklist approach to local SEO breaks down – it assumes every customer behaves the same. In other words, Google does play favorites, the “signal-fit” kind. Google’s ranking system isn’t swinging blindly; it’s tuned to intent, behavior, and category nuance. However, recent trends call that old assumption into question. A single formula doesn’t guide Google’s Local Pack – it’s shaped by how people actually search. The notion that a generic playbook can successfully deliver the …

Google DeepMind is rolling out Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image), its latest image generation model, combining the intelligence and production controls of Nano Banana Pro with the rapid performance of Gemini Flash. What’s new. Nano Banana 2 introduces: Advanced world knowledge: Powered by Gemini’s real-time web grounding to better render specific subjects and generate infographics or data visualizations. Precision text rendering and translation: Cleaner, legible text inside images — including localization. Stronger instruction adherence: Improved handling of complex, multi-layered prompts. Subject consistency: Maintains up to five characters and …

Google Ads coach Jyll Saskin Gales spent 24 hours testing Google’s new “agentic” Ads Advisor — an experimental AI assistant designed to help advertisers optimize campaigns. Her verdict: promising, but far from perfect. Why we care. The Ads Advisor represents Google’s push toward agentic AI tools — systems that can act autonomously on users’ behalf. This review offers an early, real-world look at how Ads Advisor actually performs — beyond Google’s marketing claims. As AI tools begin playing a bigger role in campaign management, understanding their accuracy, limitations, and decision-making is critical. This feedback helps advertisers know what tasks they can safel…

A recent Google blog post announced the expansion of Opal, a Google tool that uses AI to get people create mini apps, and touted that the tool can be used to create “optimized” content in a “scalable way.” Many SEOs are asking if this is against Google search guidelines, specifically the scaled content abuse policy. What Google wrote. Google wrote on the Google blog about reasons one should use Opal: “Creators and marketers have also quickly adopted Opal to help them create custom content in a consistent, scalable way.” “Marketing asset generators: Tools that take a single product concept and instantly generate optimized blog posts, social media captions and v…

Google is launching a suite of updates across Ad Manager, AdSense, and AdMob to help publishers save time, strengthen advertiser relationships, and better monetize content — with major additions powered by AI and real-time technology. AI-driven automation: Smarter brand safety: A new AI tool learns a publisher’s specific brand standards and will soon automatically block unwanted ads, reducing time spent in manual ad reviews. Generative AI reporting: Publishers can now ask questions like “Which ad units had the highest CPM last week?” and instantly generate tailored performance reports in Ad Manager. AI Help guide: Rolling out in Ad Manager, AdMob, and AdSen…

Google is rolling out channel controls in beta for Demand Gen campaigns, giving advertisers more granular control over where their visual ads appear across Google’s ecosystem. The new controls, first announced in January and spotted in March, allow marketers to choose specific placements across YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and the Google Display Network — including the ability to target YouTube Shorts specifically. Between the lines. The beta release signals Google’s recognition that advertisers want more transparency and control over ad placements, especially as competition with social media platforms intensifies. The YouTube Shorts targeting option specifically app…

AI hasn’t replaced traditional search – it’s expanding it, according to Robby Stein, Google’s VP of Product for Search, speaking in a new interview on Lenny’s Podcast. Google is seeing more searches than ever as people ask harder, more conversational, and more visual questions powered by AI, Stein said: “People come to search for just ridiculously wide set of things. … They want specific phone number. They want a price for something. They want to get directions. They want to find a payment web page for their taxes. Like every possible thing you can imagine. “I think the vastness of that is underappreciated by many people. And what we see is that … AI hasn’t r…

AI may be reshaping search, but ads aren’t going away, according to Google VP of Product, Search Robbie Stein. What he’s saying. Asked by Marina Mogilko of Silicon Valley Girl whether Google Ads will go away in the future, Stein replied: “Don’t see them going away.” He added that user behavior is “really expanding” with AI, not shifting away from search. Google is already experimenting with ads inside AI experiences: “And so we started some experiments on ads within AI Mode and within Google AI experiences.” “We’ve been really focused on building great consumer products first and foremost… but I think users are starting to see some ads experiments there, too.…

Remember when it was easy to rank partial-match domains and headings to commercially intended search queries? When paired with the right methodologies and conversion-optimized widgets, you could silently earn tens of thousands of dollars in affiliate revenue per month with minimal maintenance. It was possible to get by with just updating articles for relevancy and freshness signals, for example. Pressure-testing Google’s spam update Before the experiment, I had spent several months scaling an affiliate initiative in a much more above-board way for a longstanding website in a YMYL category. We had success with hiring subject matter experts (SMEs) to wri…

John Mueller from Google said you can block a complete TLD, top-level-domain, using the link disavow tool. He said it is not something Google documents because “Given how big of a hammer it is, I don’t know if it’s something we should really suggest in the docs.” How does it work. All you need to do is use the syntax “domain:abc” in the disavow file. John posted this one Bluesky saying: “If you’re sure that it’s what you want to do, you can use “domain:abc” in the disavow file. Keep in mind that you can’t carve out specific domains if you like some, but if you find the TLD is almost only annoying spammers, it’ll save you time.” He later added: “Given ho…

Google’s AI-powered Try On feature, which lets users see how clothing items look on them, is adding shoes and expanding to Australia, Canada, and Japan. How it works. The AI uses advanced shape and depth perception to show how items – now including sneakers and heels – fit your body. Users upload a full-length photo, tap “try it on,” and see themselves in the item in seconds. Why we care. For advertisers, this opens up a new frontier in online shopping. Brands can showcase products in a way that feels personalized and interactive, increasing engagement and the likelihood of conversions. Try On data also provides insights into which styles are popular and …

Google today released its 2025 Year in Search list, but don’t mistake it for a ranking of the “top searches” or the “most searched” terms. This year’s recap focused on trending queries – the topics that grew the fastest compared with 2024. That shift reveals a lot about where Google Search is heading, and how it’s been evolving for years. Why we care. Google chose to spotlight fast-rising, emerging queries. Freshness has long mattered in search, but the 2025 top trending queries list underscores an accelerating shift: the biggest AI search and SEO opportunities will come from new, developing topics – not evergreen informational ones. Your strongest wins may hinge on q…

Google’s YouTube Insights Finder tool, launched to help advertisers understand intent-based audience insights, is now available in over 20 markets worldwide. How it works: Explore interests and trends: Find out what your audience is searching for and interested in. Discover top creators: Identify trending creators by topic, category, or audience segment. Measure engagement: Access detailed metrics on viewer engagement and content preferences. Understand device usage: Analyze how audiences watch across devices, including Connected TV. Why we care. The tool taps into YouTube’s trove of viewing behavior and trending topics, helping you tailor c…

Googlebot once again generated more traffic than any other crawler in 2025, according to a new Cloudflare report. It outpaced every search and AI bot as Google continued crawling the web for search indexing and AI training. By the numbers. Googlebot accounted for more than 25% of all Verified Bot traffic observed by Cloudflare. Googlebot alone generated 4.5% of all HTML request traffic – more than all other AI bots combined (4.2%). AI “user action” crawling surged more than 15x year over year, showing a sharp rise in bots that simulate human behavior. Googlebot’s crawl volume dwarfed every other AI crawler, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta. AI craw…

We celebrated a major milestone in June: the return of SMX Advanced as an in-person event. It was our first since 2019. More than a conference, SMX Advanced 2025 was a reunion. Search marketers from around the world came together to connect, exchange ideas, and learn the most current and advanced insights in search. But search never stands still. With rapid shifts in AI SEO, constant algorithm changes, and the challenge of balancing generative AI with a human touch, the need for truly advanced, actionable education has never been greater. Help shape SMX Advanced 2026 We’re committed to making the SMX Advanced 2026 program our most relevant, advanced, and e…

U.S. consumers are expected to spend a record $253.4 billion online this holiday season, according to Adobe’s annual shopping forecast. That’s a 5.3% year-over-year increase covering the period from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31. Adobe’s analysis, based on over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites and 100 million SKUs across 18 categories, suggests that this year’s season will be shaped by the dominance of mobile shopping, flexible payment options and the growing influence of generative AI and social platforms on consumer behavior. Cyber Week to drive nearly a fifth of spend. Adobe expects 10 separate days where online spending will top $5 billion. Cyber Week – the five-day…

The summer is well on its way. Should you already start preparing for Black Friday and the holiday season? Yes! They’re the biggest sales of the year, and ranking in Google is something you take time to do. It’s never too early to start getting your deals ready. So, if you are a merchant with an online store or an ecommerce business, let’s start working on your holiday season and Black Friday SEO immediately! Don’t forget that Black Friday (November 28, 2025) and Cyber Monday (December 1, 2025) are kicking off this year’s holiday shopping season. You can set up a lot of content for all occasions. In this post, we’ll review some things you can do to prepare! Table…

No one knows how the agentic AI race will end, but its impact is already clear. Online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Expedia, Booking.com, and Trip.com are entering a new era of disruption – one that rivals the rise of Google search. AI assistants are now planning, comparing, and completing bookings for users – reducing direct interaction with OTA sites. This article examines how this change could impact their visibility, loyalty programs, and role in search. Booking in the age of AI I recently tested ChatGPT’s new Agent Mode to book a hotel in Paris. It managed the entire process within its own interface – searching Expedia, comparing results, r…

Publishers and search engines have long depended on ad placements and affiliate marketing to make money. Search engines rely on pay-per-click (PPC) models, while publishers blend display ads, affiliate links, and sponsored content. But with chat-based AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity on the rise, that foundation is starting to crack. If users get the information they need directly from AI, why would they keep clicking search ads or publisher display links? And as search engines push further into AI-driven results – including features like Google’s AI Mode – what incentive remains for users to engage with traditional ad units? If fewer…

Negative reviews are more visible than ever. They can shape how thousands of potential customers see your brand. Responding to that kind of feedback has traditionally been a manual, time-consuming task, requiring emotional nuance and a strong grasp of brand voice. Now, artificial intelligence (AI) is changing that. With smarter tools and more human-like language capabilities, brands can respond faster, more consistently, and with greater empathy. This article tackles how AI is transforming the way businesses handle negative reviews, focusing on three key areas: Empathy. Brand alignment. Scalability. The rise of AI in online reputation man…

AI is no longer an experimental layer in search. It’s actively mediating how customers discover, evaluate, and choose local businesses, increasingly without a traditional search interaction. The real risk is data stagnation. As AI systems act on local data for users, brands that fail to adapt risk declining visibility, data inconsistencies, and loss of control over how locations are represented across AI surfaces. Learn how AI is changing local search and what you can do to stay visible in this new landscape. How AI search is different from traditional search We are experiencing a platform shift where machine inference, not database retrieval, drives d…

Table of contents How AI perceives your brand The new gatekeepers: LLMs & generative search What shapes your brand’s AI profile What you can do about it: building brand equity in the AI era The future of brand perception What does ChatGPT say about your brand? Or Perplexity, Gemini, or Claude? As AI agents emerge alongside traditional search engines as the starting point of discovery, the way they perceive and present your brand can directly shape customer trust and buying decisions. These models don’t know your brand the way people do. They learn it from the web, from structured data, citations, reviews, and the context you’ve built across digital touchpoint…

Paid search audits are essential. But let’s face it: they can be a beast to do. It’s not just about understanding complex strategies; it’s about meticulously reviewing every setting, campaign, keyword, and ad, then translating all those details into actionable insights for stakeholders who may not be PPC experts. Before AI, I spent countless hours refining audit checklists and presentations, constantly second-guessing myself. Did I miss a crucial setting? Did I fully grasp the account’s nuances and how they align with business goals? I even resorted to downloading templates from other experts for reassurance. Now, AI chatbots like ChatGPT and G…

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 AI Overviews have reshaped search almost overnight. For paid search marketers, the fight for above-the-fold visibility is no longer just about ad rank – it’s now a push to appear above the AI result itself. This shift follows the rapid surge in AI Overviews that Adthena highlighted in our previous study. That analysis showed AI Overviews quickly moving beyond informational queries and into shorter, high-volume commercial searches. The mechanism behind this decline is clear: AI Overviews intercept attention, cut click-through rates (CTRs), and push both organic and paid listings lower on the page. The result: fewer clicks and less revenue. Adthena’s ne…