SEO Tools and Resources

Just like a deep “spring cleaning” clears out the clutter after a long winter or a rejuvenating scalp massage melts away stress after a tough work week, we all need a refresh occasionally. The same goes for your website – which can quickly get cluttered with outdated, unoptimized content. That’s why taking the time to reset, refresh, and re-optimize your content is so important. A content refresh isn’t just about tidying up, though. It’s also about making room for new ideas, renewed value for your readers, and timely relevance in the eyes of search engines. This can improve your website’s speed and rankings and drive new visitors to take action (su…

Regex is a powerful – yet overlooked – tool in search and data analysis. With just a single line, you can automate what would otherwise take dozens of lines of code. Short for “regular expression,” regex is a sequence of characters used to define a pattern for matching text. It’s what allows you to find, extract, or replace specific strings of data with precision. In SEO, regex helps you extract and filter information efficiently – from analyzing keyword variations to cleaning messy query data. But its value extends well beyond SEO. Regex is also fundamental to natural language processing (NLP), offering insight into how machines read, parse, an…

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…

There has been a striking drop in remote SEO role listings — down to just 34% — as well as SEO content job listings – down 28%. That’s according to The 2025 Previsible State of SEO Jobs Report, released today. Meanwhile, SEO job listings for leadership positions (e.g., vice president of SEO) grew by 50% in 2024, while SEO manager positions increased 58%. Why we care. It may be too early to know whether this is a blip or a trend, but this data indicates that companies are looking to hire SEOs skilled in strategy, technical, and AI. Although content-focused roles are being squeezed by generative AI, leadership and technical skills remain as valuable as ever. Job…

Google parent Alphabet is expected to face a new EU investigation over claims that it demotes news publishers in search results if they run sponsored or promotional content, a significant revenue source for many media outlets. What’s happening. The European Commission, the EU’s top antitrust enforcer, is expected to announce the probe as soon as Thursday. The case falls under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law that bars tech “gatekeepers” from unfairly favoring their own services or penalizing others. Companies that break the rules can be fined up to 10% of their global revenue. Site reputation abuse. Google’s enforcement against publishers is based on a…

Adding fake publication dates to online content can dramatically boost its visibility across leading AI models, a team from Waseda University discovered. This seems to confirm that tools like ChatGPT systematically favor newer content over older, equally relevant material. Why we care. AI models seem to reward timestamps more than quality. That means your older high-quality content could vanish from AI search results unless it’s regularly updated – apparently, regardless of whether those updates are substantial or artificial. How they did it. Researchers added fake publication dates to passages from standardized test collections with no other changes. Then they as…

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 –…

For a decade, marketing strategy was engineered to master Google’s “messy middle.” Today, the customer’s exploration and evaluation journey has migrated from the open web (PPC, Reddit, YouTube, websites) into closed AI environments (ChatGPT, AI Mode, Perplexity), making direct observation impossible. Your marketing analytics stack faces funnel blindness. You must reconstruct customer journeys from fragmented data offered by LLM visibility tools. Funnel reconstruction relies on two primary data streams The rush to measure LLM performance has vendors promising dashboards to help you “Analyze your AI visibility right now.” This work requires reconciling two f…

The Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP), commonly known as robots.txt, has been a web standard since 1994 and remains a key tool for website optimization today. This simple yet powerful file helps control how search engines and other bots interact with a site. Recent updates have made it important to understand the best ways to use it. Why robots.txt matters Robots.txt is a set of instructions for web crawlers, telling them what they can and can’t do on your site. It helps you keep certain parts of your website private or avoid crawling pages that aren’t important. This way, you can improve your SEO and keep your site running smoothly. Setting up…

Sam Altman’s once said advertising was a “last resort” for ChatGPT. Now he seems to think that “maybe ads don’t always suck.” What Altman is saying. In a new Stratechery interview, Altman admitted Instagram changed his mind about ads: “I love Instagram ads, they’ve added value to me, I found stuff I never would’ve found, I bought a bunch of stuff, I actively like Instagram ads. I think there’s many things I respect about Meta, but getting that so right was a surprisingly cool thing for me. Other than that, I viewed ads on the Internet as sort of like a tax.” “I believe there probably is some cool ad product we can do that is a net win to the user and a sort of…

SEO is, for a large part, all about getting the right content in front of the right audience. When you’ve been doing that for a while, there comes a time when you want to scale content production. Scaling content creation means you aim to make more content to reach new targets. While that’s a good idea, you need to find a way to scale while keeping the same level of quality you’ve always had. Let’s go over how to scale your content production step by step, showing common problems and solutions. Table of contents What is content scaling? Why scaling content matters The biggest challenges in scaling content Building a repeatable content creation process Strategies to …

The holiday season saw a significant increase in digital ad spending across retail media, paid search, and paid social channels according to the Q4 2024 Digital Marketing Quarterly Trends Report by omnichannel advertising platform for commerce media, Skai. Despite concerns over a shorter shopping season and ongoing economic pressures, advertisers doubled down on digital campaigns, driving a 20% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) increase in ad spend across all channels. Retail media emerged as the biggest winner, with remarkable year-over-year (YoY) growth. By the numbers: Paid search. While spending increased 20% QoQ, YoY spending dipped by 2%, with a decline in sta…

When we talk about search, we usually focus on what people are looking for – keywords, queries, and intent. But in 2025, there’s a more powerful question to ask: “Where are they searching – and why that platform, in that moment?” The search landscape is evolving fast. AI tools like ChatGPT are gaining traction. Social platforms like TikTok and Instagram are doubling as discovery engines. Yet, Google remains the top choice – the default, the go-to for most people right now. But platform preference isn’t just about functionality. It’s rooted in human behavior. How we think, feel, and choose depends on the journey we’re on. Behavior takes t…

Every year, Search Engine Land is delighted to celebrate the best of search marketing by rewarding the agencies, in-house teams, and individuals worldwide for delivering exceptional results. Today, I’m excited to announce all 18 winners of the 11th annual Search Engine Land Awards. The 2025 Search Engine Land Awards winners Best Use Of AI Technology In Search Marketing 15x ROAS with AI: How CAMP Digital Redefined Paid Search for Home Services Best Overall PPC Initiative – Small Business Anchor Rides – Post-Hurricane PPC Comeback (AIMCLEAR) Best Overall PPC Initiative – Enterprise ATRA & Jason Stone Injury Lawyers – Leveraging CRM Data to…

Adviso once again is leading the way in the 11th annual Search Engine Land Awards. The Canadian agency is a finalist in six categories in 2025. This is the second year in a row that Adviso has topped our list of finalists. In 2024, the Canadian agency was a finalist in five Search Engine Land categories and won two Search Engine Land Awards. Two other agencies earning finalist status five times are: Razorfish LocalIQ Meanwhile, four agencies earned finalist status three times in the 2025 Search Engine Land Awards: Amsive. ATRA Bloom Digital. Digital Hitmen. The competition was once again stiff in nearly all of our categories. A…

Search Engine Land turns 19 today. Nineteen years. Almost two decades of analyzing, explaining, questioning, challenging, obsessing over, and occasionally shaking our heads at whatever Google and the search industry throw our way. And this past year? The pace of change has made it one of the most transformative since we launched in 2006. Through all of it, our mission is the same as Day 1: help you make sense of search with clear news, smart analysis, and practical guidance. Before we look ahead, I want to say thank you — and take a moment to reflect on the past year at Search Engine Land. Thank you for reading Seriously, thank you. Every day, w…

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…

SEO is all about optimizing for, well, search. In 2018, I defined SEO as: “The art and science of persuading search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, to recommend your content to their users as the best solution to their problem.” In 2025 (and beyond), we can define search, answer, and assistive engine optimization as “The art and science of persuading recommendation engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Siri, Alexa, and Copilot to recommend your solution to their users as the best in the market.” The aim is the same – get the conversion. The difference? We have more engines. The recommendation is often further…

Semify acquired Dragon Metrics, a Hong Kong–based SEO, AI, and PPC reporting platform known for its international reach. The move boosts Semify’s reporting strength and AI optimization tools as the search landscape shifts more toward AI. Why we care. Dragon Metrics customers can expect business as usual, plus faster product updates. Co-founder Simon Lesser said on LinkedIn that the platform will stay a standalone brand with the same contacts and product experience. Customers also gain access to Semify’s growing AI optimization methodology and future software integrations. About the acquisition. Semify announced on Dec. 8 that it is acquiring Dragon Metrics: F…

SEO is like a never-ending story. There are always things to do. And these things need your undivided attention, from keyword research to content audits and performance reporting. Many of these are repetitive, recurring, and time-consuming. And that’s why you need SEO automation. Table of contents What is SEO automation? The benefits of SEO automation Tasks you can automate right now How to get started with SEO automation Final thoughts on automating your SEO What is SEO automation? By automating SEO, you use tools and software to do the repetitive optimization tasks for you. These tools don’t eliminate the need for a person to be involved, but they can …

Link building is an essential part of SEO. It helps search engines find, understand, and rank your pages. You can write the perfect post, but if search engines cannot follow at least one link to it, your content may stay hidden from view. Table of Contents What is link building? What is a link? Internal and external links Anchor text and why it matters Why we build links Link building as digital PR Link quality over quantity Avoid shady link-building tactics How to earn high-quality links Link building in the era of AI and LLM search Examples of effective link building In conclusion TL;DR For Google to discover your pages, you need links from other websites. T…

SEO is something of a nebulous concept. To some, SEO is technical; to others, it is creative. Neither of these is 100% right or wrong. SEO is all of this and more, depending entirely on the unique situation and goals of the business looking to use SEO. This loose definition leads to some common and fairly troublesome issues. One of these issues, which we see repeatedly and completely derails the success of projects – even by experienced agencies – is the misunderstanding between SEO strategy and SEO planning. This article defines these terms and shows a simple way to ensure both strategy and planning are tackled with the rigor that the modern, h…

We love to say that SEO is always changing, and 2024 proved that true. There’s hardly been a year more challenging and exciting than that. But as we’re heading into 2025, we’re sure we have not seen the last of it. With everyone banking on AI, search, and the search industry are set for another sea change. In this post, we hear from seasoned SEO experts for their predictions on the future and how you can prepare. Table of contents A look back at SEO in 2024 The SEO experts in this article Main trends and SEO insights for 2025 AI’s role in SEO Adapting to zero-click searches The rising importance of video content E-commerce SEO shifts Local SEO trends for 2025 User …

If there’s one takeaway as we look toward SEO in 2026, it’s that visibility is no longer just about ranking pages, but about being understood by increasingly selective AI-driven systems. In 2025, SEO proved it was not disappearing, but evolving, as search engines leaned more heavily on structure, authority, and trust to interpret content beyond the click. In this article, we share SEO predictions for 2026 from Yoast SEO experts, Alex Moss and Carolyn Shelby, highlighting the shifts that will shape how brands earn visibility across search and AI-powered discovery experiences. Key takeaways In 2026, SEO focuses on visibility defined by clarity, authority, and trust rat…

A little over a year ago, I wrote an article titled “The future of SEO in an AI-powered world.” I wanted my opening line to be dramatic, so I wrote “The Google interface we know today will be gone in less than three years.” At the time, this line sounded outlandish. Could the world’s most popular website, with close to 2.5 billion daily users, just vanish? It’s a year later, and I find myself overwhelmingly turning to LLMs over Google for all kinds of information. In my case, the prediction of three years was an understatement. I suspect the same is true of many of you reading this. Is Google dead? Not quite. To paraphrase Mark Twain, news of Go…