SEO Tools and Resources

Meta unveiled new AI products – including a “Business AI” concierge, generative video, and creative tools – designed to help advertisers scale faster and more efficiently. Driving the news. The centerpiece is Business AI, an always-on sales agent that guides customers from discovery to purchase across Meta ads, messaging apps, and websites. It learns from posts and campaigns to deliver personalized responses. No coding or setup is required. Meta also introduced new generative AI tools for video that help advertisers create more immersive content, including AI-generated music, multilingual dubbing, and HDR video. Shoppers may soon be able to upload a ph…

In June, Fractl and Search Engine Land surveyed 2,000 consumers and uncovered a startling statistic: 82% find AI-powered search more helpful than traditional search. While the SEO industry panicked, thought leaders and snakeoil salesmen took to LinkedIn to lay claim to this new frontier of AI-driven brand visibility: “It’s called GEO!” “No, it’s AEO!” “Oh, we use AISO! Wait, I meant LLMO now!” …Or, maybe, it’s just effective SEO? Industry banter aside, we’ve entered a world where old-school search and AI-driven discovery coexist – and the terminology isn’t trivial. It’s the roadmap for how brands show up across fast-growing search platform…

Google is quietly updating its Personalized Ads policy on Dec. 12, expanding access to Custom Segments for certain Display campaigns — a shift that could unlock new targeting options for advertisers previously restricted under the policy. Driving the news. Advertisers received a brief, mandatory service email from Google announcing the change but offering no details beyond the policy update. The key clarification: this update applies specifically to campaigns limited by the Personalized Ads policy, not to all Display campaigns. The confusion: Google Ads Coach Jyll Saskin Gales noted that Custom Segments have already been available for most Display campaigns by …

Journalists have been using the inverted pyramid writing style for ages. Using it, you put your most important information upfront. Don’t hedge. Don’t bury your key point halfway down the third paragraph. And don’t hold back; tell the complete story in the first paragraph. Even online, this writing style holds up pretty well for some types of articles. It even comes in handy now that web content is increasingly used to answer every type of question a searcher might have. Find out how! Table of contents What is the inverted pyramid? The power of paragraphs The pyramid, SEO, and AI Answering questions Summaries vs. the pyramid How to write with the inverted pyramid in…

AI agents are poised to reshape how people buy online – not by helping users find where to convert, but by doing the work themselves. In ChatGPT’s Agent mode, I prompted more than 100 agentic actions – from shopping and booking travel to reserving restaurants, buying apartments, and finding jobs. A clear pattern emerged: agents are gradually edging out transactional search as they move beyond information retrieval to act on your behalf, dramatically reducing cognitive load. They handle the drudgery – searching, filtering, and comparing options to find the best fit – before handing off to a human at the decision gate, such as the point of conversion or a critic…

Today’s consumers get pulled in a thousand different directions online: Scrolling YouTube Shorts. Tracking TikTok influencer content. Browsing Gmail promotions. Deciding whether the latest viral Facebook video is real or AI. And that’s all before lunch. Once, the path between intent and conversion was nearly a straight line. Now, in our new attention economy, constant advertising noise makes buying decisions much more complex. Most advertisers, however, have not adjusted to this new dynamic. They’re only focused on showing up when intent is obvious in search, missing entire audiences who never reach the search bar. Google’s Deman…

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…

Consumers are increasingly using AI tools — not Google — as their first source of information. This is driven by frustration with traditional search and rising expectations that AI will play a much larger role this year, according to a new report from Eight Oh Two, an SEO and PPC marketing agency. Why we care. AI isn’t replacing search, but it’s reshaping where search begins, how people discover brands, and which options they consider. A hybrid journey is emerging: AI delivers the first answer, and traditional search confirms it. Brands now need consistency across both or risk losing credibility when users cross-check. As more consumers turn to AI, visibility, trust, …

On episode 328 of PPC Live The Podcast I speak to Susan Yen, PPC team lead at Search Lab, discussing everything from Performance Max pitfalls to the growing (and sometimes risky) role of AI in marketing. Susan’s biggest PPC f-up: Performance Max gone wrong Susan’s most memorable mistake came when she dove headfirst into Performance Max (PMax) campaigns too soon. At first, results looked incredible — traffic spiked, conversions multiplied, and reports looked great. But soon, the client noticed the leads were poor quality or fake. After investigating, Susan discovered that traffic was coming from low-quality placements, conversion tracking was misconfigured, and …

Affiliate marketing drives billions in sales – and billions more in hidden losses. Brand bidding, ad hijacking, coupon abuse, and more subtle forms of affiliate fraud can quietly drain ROI and distort attribution. For performance leaders, the question isn’t if this happens, but how much you’re already losing. This article breaks down the most common types of affiliate marketing fraud and shows how modern monitoring tools like Bluepear help brands protect growth, reputation, and spend through smarter affiliate fraud detection strategies. Why affiliate programs are under threat Not all affiliate programs are created equal – and neither are their incentive…

Google Search’s Danny Sullivan and John Mueller pushed back – yet again – on the idea that brands need a separate AI SEO strategy, during the latest Search Off the Record episode. Sullivan’s take is simple: the acronyms keep multiplying (GEO, AEO, etc.), but the advice stays unchanged: Write for humans, not for ranking systems, whether those systems are traditional search or LLM-powered experiences. Why we care. As AI search grows, a lot of publishers and SEOs are feeling pressured to try something new. Google’s take: chasing AI tricks can actually hurt and distract you from making content people actually like. Google says the north star hasn’t moved. Sullivan…

If you’re planning to build a website or publish a blog post, you’ve probably heard the word permalink pop up. But what is a permalink, really? In simple words, it’s the permanent link to a page on your website, like the official street address of your house. No matter how many times you update your content, this link remains the same and tells people (and Google) exactly where that page is located. In this blog, we’ll break down what a permalink is, why it matters, how to pick the right permalink structure, and how Yoast SEO helps you manage everything easily. Quick note: If your website is already established, changing existing permalinks can cause broken links and …

Microsoft Copilot is transforming search advertising by turning everyday conversations into intent-rich signals advertisers can act on. ROAS increases 13-fold when users engage with Copilot before performing a search, according to Microsoft. Drawing from billions of first-party audience insights across Microsoft’s consumer ecosystem – including Bing, Edge, Xbox, LinkedIn, and Activision – Copilot identifies high-value audiences using deterministic data built from search intent, web activity, and profile information. This allows advertisers to reduce wasted impressions and stretch budgets further. The mechanics of intent-rich search The core propositi…

Microsoft Advertising is shutting down its Ads for Social Impact grant program, which provided free ad credits to nonprofits. Final grants will be issued November 30, 2025, with a 45-day window to spend them. Why we care. The decision ends a program that helped nonprofits amplify their missions through free advertising dollars. Starting in 2026, nonprofits that don’t pause campaigns risk being automatically charged on the payment methods tied to their accounts. Driving the news: The program officially ends December 2025, with campaigns required to be paused by early January if funds are exhausted. Microsoft says nonprofits will still have access to discoun…

Google made a handful of tweaks to its Channel Performance and Asset reports this week – including long-awaited ROI metrics like ROAS and CPA. But the most revealing update wasn’t in the announcement at all. A new, currently non-functional attribute called Campaign Type appeared in the Channel Performance report. Why we care. This addition — though inactive — signals that Google may soon expand the Channel Performance report beyond Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. The intrigue. For weeks, a tooltip in the interface has read: “Channel performance data is only available for Performance Max campaigns at this time.” That phrasing hinted expansion was coming. …

Microsoft Advertising is rolling out Image Animation, a new Copilot-powered feature that automatically converts static images into short, dynamic video assets — giving advertisers a faster path into video without traditional production. How it works: Copilot transforms existing static images into scroll-stopping animated video formats. The tool extends the lifespan of strong image creatives by repurposing them for video placements across Microsoft’s global publisher network. The feature is now in global pilot (excluding mainland China) and accessible through Ads Studio’s video templates. Why we care. Video continues to dominate digital attention, wi…

The shift away from fully keyword-targeted search campaigns has been building for years – but this week, it reached a tipping point. Two account managers on my team, each handling different clients in different industries, came to me with the same uneasy admission. They were leaning toward dropping some of their keyword search campaigns in favor of Performance Max. Not all of them. But some. These weren’t impulsive calls. They were data-backed decisions made after months of testing, optimization, and watching Performance Max consistently outperform keyword-targeted campaigns. Are we heading toward keywordless targeting? Not quite. But we’ve reac…

Link building is the practice of earning links from other websites to your own. These links act as signals of trust and authority for search engines, helping your pages rank higher in search results. Quality matters more than quantity. A few relevant, high-authority links are far more valuable than many low-quality ones. Modern link building focuses on creating genuinely useful content, building genuine relationships, and earning links naturally, rather than manipulating rankings. Table of contents What is link building? What is a link? Why do we build links ? How to earn high-quality links Link building in the era of AI and LLM search Examples of effective link bui…

ChatGPT started mentioning more brands and websites over the past three months, while Google’s AI Mode narrowed its focus, according to new data from Semrush’s AI Visibility Index. Reddit, in particular, stood out: it dropped sharply as a source in ChatGPT but became one of the most frequently used sources in Google’s AI Mode. The big picture. ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode are changing in different ways. ChatGPT is experimenting more while Google’s AI Mode seems more stable: ChatGPT mentioned about 12% more brands in September, then dropped back in October, suggesting it’s experimenting with answers. Google’s mentions fell 4% over the same period, suggesti…

Google is investigating a disruption affecting Google Ad Manager, according to an update posted on the Google Ads Status Dashboard. The incident began at 13:49 UTC on March 4. By 13:54 UTC, Google said it was reviewing reports that some users could access Ad Manager but weren’t seeing the most up-to-date data. What’s happening. The issue appears to impact reporting consistency. Specifically, Ad Exchange match rate and Ad Exchange request values are not aligning between Ad Manager’s interactive reports and the legacy reporting query tool (now deprecated). Why we care. Reporting discrepancies in Google Ad Manager can directly impact how you evaluate performance …

Content has long been the fuel for SEO, and its importance continues as AI-driven search relies on rich, trustworthy information. I’ve always believed in doing the “good” and “right” things when it comes to creating content at scale – but even good things can become problems when overdone. Too often, SEO and AI visibility efforts get reduced to publishing more blogs, landing pages, or articles in the pursuit of quick wins that executives want to see. While content is critical, treating SEO as a production machine creates the illusion of progress. Activity without performance bloats sites with duplicative, commoditized, or low-value pages that both search…

The Alpha Beta account structure was the gold standard of paid search. Over the past several years, PPC marketers have adapted to Google’s push into automation and AI by first tweaking Alpha Beta – built on single keyword ad groups (SKAGs) – and eventually moving away from it altogether. SKAG maintenance and buildout are no longer ideal for paid search in 2026 and beyond – but that transition isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Existing SKAGs still hold valuable data and insights you can carry into a more consolidated setup. This article covers the benefits of SKAG consolidation and best practices for building a structure that sets your campaigns up fo…

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…

Google will update its Misrepresentation policy specific to the Dishonest Pricing Practices. Specifically, this will require advertisers to disclose the payment model or full expense that a user will incur before and after purchase, and clarify any false or misleading impressions of the cost of a product or service. What is changing. Google will update the policy specific to these changes: Advertisers must clearly and conspicuously disclose the payment model or full expense that a user will bear before and after purchase. Pricing practices that create a false or misleading impression of the cost of a product or service, leading to inflated or unexpected charge…

TikTok has moved well beyond its roots as a short-form video app. It now serves as a search destination where people turn for answers, ideas, and products. Creator Search Insights gives creators and brands a window into that behavior – highlighting trending queries, underserved topics, and real audience interests. And the data backs up this shift: two-thirds of U.S. consumers use at least one social network for search, nearly half use several, and four of the top seven search platforms – YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok – are social. What TikTok’s Creator Search Insights can do for you TikTok’s Creator Search Insights tool gives creators visi…