SEO Tools and Resources

Think about how people ask about sunglasses. In the old search model, someone queries “best smart sunglasses” and scans the links in a SERP. In the new model, they ask, “What’s the deal with Meta Ray-Bans?” and get a synthesized answer with specs, use cases, and reviews – often without seeing a single webpage, including the SERP. That shift defines the new frontier: your content doesn’t have to rank. It has to be retrieved, understood, and assembled into an answer. The game used to be: write a page, wait for Google/Bing to crawl it, hope your keywords matched the query, and pray no one bought the ad slot above you. But that model is quietly collapsing. …

If you want the lowdown on Google’s I/O hoedown, look no further than… 2013. Or maybe 2014. 2016 works too. Honestly, take your pick because it barely matters. Most of the coverage I’ve seen this year reads like AI-generated summaries written by folks with more letters after their names than a prescription bottle. Bless their hearts. But remember—Google’s founders didn’t show up with alphabet soup credentials. They showed up to solve a problem. A big, fascinating one that demanded thinking, tinkering, troubleshooting, and a lot of stops and starts. It wasn’t about polish; it was about the ridiculous drive to solve a problem. And have your own personal 767, but l…

User intent is evolving, and so are our habits around technology. With the rise of AI, the ways people search and find information are diversifying fast. Naturally, the way we think about SEO is shifting, too. But this isn’t a pitch for AI. Instead, I want to explore how we can treat AI as a collaborator, not a replacement for human expertise, to make our workflows more efficient and adaptive in this increasingly complex landscape. I see AI as a telescope, not the North Star. It helps us see farther and move faster, but we still need to navigate the path ourselves. With that mindset, I’ll walk you through a series of practical, low-barrier SEO ex…

As we are approaching the halfway point in the year, you want to ensure your PPC campaigns are in the best shape possible going into peak season for many advertisers Whether you’re getting great results, struggling to perform, or somewhere in between, below is a checklist of 12 features to help set your campaigns up for success. 1. Align and reassess client objectives Campaign performance is only as good as its ultimate objective. Just because you see year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth or improved return on ad spend (ROAS) doesn’t mean you can get the party poppers out. What is the client’s priority objective? Has this changed? Is it still revenue growth…

Google has confirmed that you will be able to see AI Mode performance data in the Search Console performance reports but you won’t be able to break out that data individually to see how AI Mode is performing compared to web search or other Google surfaces. Last week, Google rolled out AI Mode to all US searchers and when AI Mode launched in labs in March, Google told us then that since it was in Labs, it would not be reported in Search Console. Now that it is out of Labs, the data will come to Search Console. What Google said. As I reported and also mentioned in my story on the future of SEO and search, John Mueller from Google confirmed on my LinkedIn post sayin…

Discord has started testing unskippable, reward-based video ads — marking its most aggressive move yet into monetization outside of its Nitro subscriptions. The ads pause if users tab away, guaranteeing full impressions for brands. Details. Discord has begun rolling out In-Game Rewards — branded video ads tied to game-related perks. While these ads appear for everyone, users can opt into more personalized promotions via their privacy settings. Discord originally gained traction as a “safe space” for gamers and niche communities. With over 200 million monthly active users, it has quietly become one of the largest social platforms. Until now, monetization was limite…

Tuesday, at Google I/O, Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai keynote led with how AI is transforming Google Search, Liz Reid, Google’s head of Search, called AI Mode the future of search (see video). With all this change to Google Search quickly approaching, SEOs are wondering where this leaves them. Will SEO die again? Are we all out of jobs? What changes do we need to make to adapt to the future of Google Search, AI search engines and new AI experiences? The video. A number of search marketers asked my thoughts, so I thought I’d put together a video with my thoughts on all of this and them summarize it below: After attending Google I/O, watching the keynote, s…

Google reduced the minimum audience size requirement for customer match lists in Search campaigns from 1,000 to just 100 users — a significant update for small and midsize businesses. The big picture. This update makes precision targeting more accessible to SMBs, who often struggle to meet high list-size minimums. According to Google’s documentation, the new threshold applies only to customer match lists — not to remarketing lists or other audience types. It also mirrors YouTube’s recent customer list minimums, signaling a broader push for consistency across Google’s platforms. Why we care. Previously, advertisers needed at least 1,000 users to qualify a c…

The world of generative AI is evolving rapidly, with breakthroughs in image and video generation, multimodal capabilities, and – crucially for marketers – data analysis. For PPC professionals, these tools offer a new level of speed and depth in uncovering insights and optimizing performance. One standout capability is ChatGPT’s Advanced Data Analysis, which allows users to upload raw data, ask natural language questions, and receive clear, actionable insights – fast. What once took hours can now happen in minutes. Advanced data analysis in ChatGPT: Access and availability Originally launched in July 2023 as a beta feature for Plus and Enterprise user…

Search intent is easy to define but harder to truly understand. It’s more than just categories like informational or transactional. It’s about: What someone is trying to do in a moment. How that action fits into a larger journey. How your content and brand meet them there. If you’re still thinking in linear funnels or rigid personas, it’s time to go deeper. Rethinking the journey: Why search intent demands more nuance Before we dive in, let’s step back and ask a few questions: Do you have audience personas? A customer journey map? Funnels? And more importantly, are those tools still accurate? Are they as linear or predictable as the…

Modern SEO is all about data. Rankings can change overnight, user behavior as well, and search engines increasingly use AI to power the search results. To be able to respond, your decisions should be dictated by real, measurable insights. This article offers a practical way to turn SEO data into actionable insights. Table of contents The role of data in modern SEO Turning data into insights An example: Addressing brand performance in LLMs Tools and techniques to get data insights Iterative optimization and reporting Towards a data-driven SEO strategy The role of data in modern SEO The search landscape is more complex than ever, so you need all the help yo…

Google’s AI Overviews and large language models (LLMs) have severely eroded clicks, click-through rates, and organic traffic to websites. But a new Siege Media report may have found a silver lining: even if your sitewide traffic is down, your homepage may be increasing. By the numbers. For the websites examined in this study, homepage clicks increased: Overall: 10.7% B2C: 8% B2B: 15% Why we care. As the report put it: “The sky isn’t falling. It’s shifting.” Because homepage traffic tends to convert better, brands with strong visibility in AI Overviews and LLM-generated results can reap the rewards. Yes, but. Not all brands win. If your website isn’t…

For the first time, ads are appearing directly within Google’s AI Overviews on desktop search, marking a major expansion of monetization within generative search experiences. Driving the news. The Shopping ads, which appear within AI Overviews, Google’s AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of certain search results, were spotted and shared by independent SEO consultant Brodie Clark on LinkedIn. Hours earlier, Google announced ads would begin rolling out in both AI Overview and AI Mode. Why we care. This shift, confirmed at Google Marketing Live 2025, signals Google’s intent to fully integrate paid placements into its evolving AI search experienc…

PPC best practices come from a variety of places. Some of those sources are: Google Ads reps. The Help Center. Official certifications. Auto-apply and manual recommendations. Ad strength recommendations. And even automated assets to an extent. However, depending on those sources, you could end up with highly different answers. So, how do you know when to apply or be critical of a “best practice”? Many PPC professionals can relate: You see “Google” on your caller ID, and you momentarily feel a boost in ego. But reality sets in when you realize it’s often a junior Google representative or even a third-party service who needs to tick som…

Just like most other website owners, you want your website to attract customers. But how can you see who visits your website? And how can you use this knowledge to increase website traffic over time? Luckily, there are loads of tools that can help you. Let’s get you started with the right one for your website without the need to become a data expert! What is website traffic? The term website traffic refers to the number of internet users visiting your website. Traffic can arrive from wide-ranging sources, such as directly typing in your website address, through other websites that link to your site, organic traffic (meaning they come to your site from the search re…

Google’s newly launched AI Mode in Search isn’t passing referral data. That means it’s impossible to know how many clicks you got from AI Mode in Google Search Console (GSC) or other analytics tools. Why we care. You have no way of knowing how much traffic you’re getting from AI Mode. Google continues to tell us its AI answers drive higher-quality clicks, without proof. We have no data to verify this. Frustratingly, Google continues to take away helpful data, making it impossible for us to make data-driven decisions. Driving the news: Tom Critchlow, EVP audience growth at Raptive, first raised the issue on LinkedIn. Testing from Patrick Stox, product advisor, tech…

The fundamentals of SEO haven’t changed. You still need technical access, content clarity, and external credibility. But the requirements inside those pillars are evolving fast. AI-driven discovery systems are now shaping how your brand is surfaced, trusted, and recommended. And for many enterprise teams, the response has been: A content brainstorm. A wait-and-see approach. Or nothing at all. That’s not a strategy gap. It’s an execution problem in the making. Is your company preparing for what’s coming after ‘SEO’ fades away? Your SEO team may be running efficiently – protecting rankings, publishing content, and salvaging what they can from G…

Now that AI Mode is fully live in the U.S. and Google is even testing ads within AI Mode, I noticed that the AI Mode tab under the Google Search bar is consistently on the left side. It even comes before the “All” tab that serves the primary search results. Generally, Google will dynamically show search modes and tabs under the search bar based on the query. So if Google thinks you will want to see the video tab, Google may show that closer to the “All” tab. But with AI Mode, that tab is shown before the “All” tab and always on the left, consistently, for all queries. What it looks like. Here are a few screenshots showing how the AI Mode tab is always on the lef…

If you see “Discovered – currently not indexed” in Google Search Console, it means Google is aware of the URL, but hasn’t crawled and indexed it yet. It doesn’t necessarily mean the page will never be processed. As their documentation says, they may come back to it later without any extra effort on your part. But other factors could be preventing Google from crawling and indexing the page, including: Server issues and onsite technical issues are restricting or preventing Google’s crawl capability. Issues relating to the page itself, such as quality. You can also use Google Search Console Inspection API to queue URLs for their coverageState status (as …

Google Marketing Live 2025 was – no surprise – all about AI. Again. Google Marketing Live 2025 made one thing clear: AI isn’t just an assistant anymore. It’s becoming a co-strategist. This year’s event was packed with updates where AI played a central role, powering everything from bidding and creative to product listings and campaign insights. Google announced the expansion of ad placements, cinematic creative AI tools, real-time campaign copilots, AI agents that do the work for you, and more. This year’s updates are designed to make Google’s tools more autonomous, immersive, and interconnected. Here’s a recap of everything that matters from Google Marketi…

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…

Four new AI-powered updates aimed at supercharging how brands create content, capture attention, and convert clicks to customers, all through smarter automation and immersive visuals, were unveiled at Google Marketing Live 2025. 1. Next-gen creatives: Lights, camera, Veo Google is upgrading its creative suite with cinematic AI tools: Image-to-video transformation, now powered by the company’s Veo model (recently demoed at I/O), lets advertisers convert still product shots into motion-driven visuals. It’s live in Merchant Center and coming soon to Google Ads. AI outpainting, the same tech used to expand “The Wizard of Oz” visuals at Las Vegas’ Sphere, now al…

Google is rolling out Smart Bidding Exploration, as announced today at Google Marketing Live 2025. This major update is designed to give advertisers more flexibility – and more conversions – by tapping into previously overlooked search queries. What’s new: Flexible ROAS targets. Advertisers (e.g., mortgage lenders) can now broaden their reach beyond narrow, high-intent searches (e.g., “mortgage rates”) to more exploratory ones (e.g., “how to buy a home”). Smarter AI. Built on existing AI-powered tools like AI Max, Smart Bidding Exploration helps campaigns capture high-performing searches from new, unique categories. Why we care. Digital marketers have l…

Google is rolling out a suite of updates aimed at giving marketers sharper insight into what works, and why, across campaigns and platforms, as announced today at Google Marketing Live 2025. What’s new: Easier incrementality testing: You can now test what’s truly driving value across all campaign types, with lower spend thresholds and better testing methods. Smarter cross-channel insights: Google Analytics now offers improved measurement of the full customer journey and ROI, with deeper impression-level data coming soon across Google and beyond. New Data Manager tools: A centralized hub helps marketers gather, store, and activate first-party data from …

AI-powered agentic tools is being rolled across Google Ads and Google Analytics to give marketers hands-on help with campaign creation, optimization, and analysis, as announced today at Google Marketing Live 2025. These tools act more like expert collaborators than passive software. They can suggest, implement, and troubleshoot campaign elements in real time, Google said. Driving the news. Two years after launching its conversational experience in Google Ads, which has been used by more than 500,000 advertisers, Google said it’s ready to go further. New AI agents in Google Ads will provide personalized campaign recommendations, like keyword and creative ideas…