SEO Tools and Resources

Undoubtedly, one of the hot topics in SEO over the last few months has been how to influence LLM answers. Every SEO is trying to come up with strategies. Many have created their own tools using “vibe coding,” where they test their hypotheses and engage in heated debates about what each LLM and Google use to pick their sources. Some of these debates can get very technical, touching on topics like vector embeddings, passage ranking, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and chunking. These theories are great—there’s a lot to learn from them and turn into practice. However, if some of these AI concepts are going way over your head, let’s take a step back. I’ll walk you…

Marketers love a good line graph that goes up and to the right, but with overwhelming data, graphs alone can’t communicate complex data effectively. A good data display should do more than convey information – it should reveal insights, guide decisions, and prioritize actions. In 2025, marketing data must evolve from reporting to storytelling, because effective charts don’t just show data; they help us understand what it means and what to do next. Why traditional reporting is no longer good enough One of the most common formats for SEO and PPC reporting is the classic, tried-and-true line graph. Even Google – in Search Console and Google Ads – defaults…

As generative AI continues to shape website performance, much of the conversation has focused on its negative impact. Factors like AI Overviews, increased zero-click searches, and a growing demographic that turns to ChatGPT instead of traditional research methods may all play a role. While these shifts raise concerns, it’s equally important to examine the traffic these AI engines are driving to websites. To better understand this, we analyzed traffic data from 391 SMB websites, breaking them down by industry and AI search engine referrals. Our goal was to see exactly how much traffic these companies were getting – and whether it was significant enough y…

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. …

Social media now drives more traffic to small and medium-sized businesses than search, and many SMBs are beginning to track AI-generated referrals. They also see competitors showing up in AI summaries as an emerging threat, according to new survey data published today by WordStream by LocaliQ. Why we care. Small businesses now see AI summaries as an emerging and important channel. These summaries shape buyers’ early decisions and can steer them toward competing products. AI referrals have also become clear and trackable, convincing businesses that they can – and should – optimize for them. Google traffic losses rise. Forty percent of SMBs say they’ve lost traffic …

Are you tired of your social media efforts not achieving the results you hoped for? It might be time to scale up your social media optimization efforts. Your content might be good, but you could do various enhancements to make it stand out. For instance, your content needs proper metadata for X, Facebook, and the like to appear properly on each platform. Yoast SEO can help you do this quickly. Table of contents What is social media optimization? Facebook and other social media X Use templates for social media snippets What about Pinterest? Conclusion on social media optimization Sharing your freshly written (or optimized) content on social media is important…

The way people search for information is changing, and Gen Z is leading the shift. Instead of turning to Google, they’re searching on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, and Discord for everything from product recommendations to restaurant reviews and how-to guides. This isn’t just a trend – it’s a fundamental shift in digital discovery. Google usage among Gen Z has dropped by 25% compared to Gen X, a 2024 Forbes study shows. eMarketer reports that 46% of Gen Z and 35% of millennials prefer social media over traditional search engines. Why? They crave fast, visual, and community-driven content rather than sifting through traditional search resu…

On episode 334 of PPC Live The Podcast, I speak to Sophie Fell Head of Paid Media at Liberty Marketing Group about a real PPC mistake involving location targeting. The conversation focuses on how small oversights can have big consequences—and how to recover from them professionally. The PPC F-Up: worldwide location targeting Sophie accidentally launched a campaign with worldwide location targeting enabled instead of restricting it to the client’s service area. In just a couple of days, the campaign generated around 1,500 leads that looked impressive on paper but were unusable because they came from outside the target locations. When great results are a warning …

Spotify is expanding access to its ad inventory through new partnerships with Amazon DSP and Yahoo DSP, marking a major step in broadening brands’ programmatic buying options. The big picture. Amazon DSP users can now buy Spotify’s ad inventory across nine markets: the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. Also: Yahoo DSP buyers gain direct access to Spotify Ad Exchange, the platform’s programmatic marketplace. In Europe, Spotify is teaming with ID5 to boost addressability for programmatic campaigns. Spotify also previewed: A new Split Testing tool for creative experiments. A partnership with Smartly to expand inventory …

Bring your Shopify products to life in Google searches. Highlight product variants that shoppers care about—color, size, pattern, material and audience demography—and watch your clicks and sales soar. Why you and your customers will love it Attract more shoppers Make it easier for Google to show exactly what customers are searching for. Stand apart Richer product details and search snippets help you outshine competitors. Confidence and clarity Easily check your structured data in the Schema tab—no more confusion. No extra cost Available immediately for all Yoast SEO for Shopify users. Here’s how to try it: To access the Yoast …

Heads up! Black Friday is almost here, and if you still haven’t prepared, it’s time to act fast. The clock is ticking, but you can still make meaningful updates that count. This article covers practical and straightforward last minute Black Friday tips to help you make quick, effective changes to your eCommerce store. Even with just a few days left, there’s still room to attract customers and make the most of the biggest shopping event of the year. Table of contents The must-dos (essentials you can’t miss) The nice-to-dos (if you have a little more time) Make your Black Friday deals shine with Yoast SEO for free! Bonus: Automate structured data for rich results Fina…

Headlines predicting another “AI winter” are beginning to emerge, and the numbers back the skepticism. MIT reports that while 80% of organizations have piloted GenAI and 40% report deployment, only 5% have reached scale, with seven of nine sectors showing no structural change. McKinsey finds the same disconnect: 36% of executives report no revenue impact, only 19% say revenues have grown more than 5%, and 87% admit growth is still years away. Adoption is everywhere, but impact is almost nowhere. But those headlines and numbers miss what’s happening inside enterprises right now. SEO leaders are being tapped to guide GEO—generative engine optimization. Not because we’re…

For over a decade, Google rewarded rankings with visits, so SEO practitioners learned to justify success with rankings, clicks, and traffic. For a long time, that proxy worked. But in B2B, it was always fragile—and now it’s collapsing. Zero-click searches siphon visits, SERP features crowd out listings, and generative engines influence early discovery with answer-first experiences. What once looked like performance is now little more than hope-based marketing. The real challenge for practitioners has never been about proving activity—it’s been about translating our expertise into outcomes the business actually cares about. Aligning with business objectives is crit…

Since its inception in 2015, the Search Engine Land Awards have recognized exceptional marketers on an annual basis — showcasing outstanding work, providing well-earned exposure in coverage and interviews, and bestowing upon them the highest honor in search. But the road between deciding to begin an application and winning the award can be a long one. Although the submission process is exceptionally streamlined — it’s never been faster or easier to apply — there’s still a story that has to be told. The way you tell that story is entirely up to you… but why not bear in mind some first-hand advice from select 2025 judges while you’re at it? Keep reading for a ro…

My SEO colleagues have a tall task on their hands, one that grows taller by the day as AI-powered search proliferates: compensating for eroding website traffic. Yes, I’m talking about zero-click search, which is taking root across AI search and LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini – and the AI Overviews creeping into more traditional SERPs. A recent report featured in these pages cites an organic SERP CTR drop between .64% and 1.41%. The smart money is on that CTR dropping as zero-click search behavior gains momentum. (Though recent Semrush data showed zero-click behavior declined slightly.) I would also bet on Google finding more ways to minimize th…

Structured data helps search engines, Large Language Models (LLMs), AI assistants, and other tools understand your website. Using Schema.org and JSON-LD, you make your content clearer and easier to use across platforms. This guide explains what structured data is, why it matters today, and how you can set it up the right way. Table of contents What is structured data? A simple example of structured data Why do you need structured data? Is structured data important for SEO? Structured data can lead to rich results Different kinds of structured data Which structured data types matter most? Structured data for voice assistants The technical details Structured data shou…

Black Friday is peak retail season, yet many brands still lose money on Google Shopping ads for products they’ve already sold out of. The problem. Ads continue to run after items go out of stock, triggering cost-per-click charges with little to no chance of conversion. In a ShoppingIQ study of 500 global retailers, 97% continued to pay for clicks on unavailable products, often for 24 to 48 hours. Why we care. Out-of-stock ads waste budget, distort campaign performance, and confuse algorithmic learning. When clicks lead to dead ends, conversion rates drop, rankings slip, ROI falls, and future bidding becomes less efficient. Example. Argos reportedly continued t…

A three-year analysis of up to 6,000 advertisers shows that using Google’s seasonality bid adjustments during Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) consistently harms efficiency — even though the platforms keep recommending them. The big picture. Smart Bidding’s models are designed to anticipate predictable retail spikes. Optmyzr’s analysis of tens of billions of impressions across 2022–2024 found that advertisers who skipped seasonality adjustments consistently performed better on efficiency metrics. Without adjustments, Smart Bidding: Identified the BFCM conversion lift on its own Raised bids rationally Kept ROAS stable — even improving it in 2024 …

AI-powered search won’t kill the web, according to Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai. This despite the growing evidence that AI Overviews and AI Mode are cannibalizing traffic and content, according to multiple publishers and SEOs. Why we care. Google is transforming its core search product into a more conversational, AI-driven experience. Critics like the News/Media Alliance called AI Mode “theft,” while Cloudflare’s CEO said AI is killing the business model of web. Search is growing. Pichai told The Verge’s Nilay Patel that AI Overviews are fueling more and longer queries – including on Apple devices and platforms. That news about Safari traffic falling for the …

Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified today that the U.S. government’s proposed remedies could upend how the company handles search and how users experience the web. Why we care. A judge ruled that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in search. Now, the court is deciding how to fix it. If the court adopts the DOJ’s proposals, it could reshape the search landscape. What Pichai said. Today, Pichai called the data-sharing requirements “so far-reaching, so extraordinary” that it amounts to a “de facto divestiture” of Google Search itself. Also: Pichai argued that forcing Google to share search data compromises user privacy. “People search in their most v…

More than a third of consumers – including nearly 4 in 10 Gen Z users – have ditched Google Search in favor of Pinterest’s visual-first search experience, according to a new Adobe survey. And businesses are following their lead to capture traffic and engagement. By the numbers. Thirty-six percent of consumers said they start searches on Pinterest instead of Google. That includes 39% Gen Z users. Other findings: 39% of consumers use Pinterest as a search engine. 24% of business owners use Pinterest – and nearly a quarter of those businesses plan to boost ad spending on Pinterest this year. 80% of businesses say Pinterest drives more engagement than other sea…

Google continues to lose ground among younger generations, with 61% of Gen Z and 53% of Millennials using AI tools instead of Google or other traditional search engines. That’s according to a new Vox Media survey. Why we care. We continue to see early signs that Google search may be starting to slip – from Google’s market share dropping below 90% for the first time since 2015 to other surveys indicating searchers are frustrated with search quality. Things are changing rapidly – from the rise of AI answer engines and generative engine optimization, to the growth of social platforms for discovery (e.g., TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest). Many brands and marketers are still …

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 …

Are you ready to take your SEO and PPC campaigns to the next level of success? Tackle the challenges of the New Year with actionable tactics, expert guidance, and the inspiration you need to succeed at the spring edition of the SMX Master Classes — happening live online this March. In-depth training. Actionable tactics. Invaluable Q&A. This spring’s lineup features seven outstanding courses tackling core topics critical to 2025 success: Your Training, Your Way. You asked, and we listened: For the first time ever, each Master Class will take place on different days, giving you the flexibility to attend multiple classes live and customize the perf…

What would you do if you realized that you had lost 15% of your market share last month? Can your brand afford to fall behind in Google Ads, even for a week? Right now, the recent tariff shifts (taxes on imported goods) are sending shockwaves through global industries. Supply chains are strained. Pricing strategies are in flux. And consumer behavior is shifting faster than many advertisers can track. When the ground moves this quickly, visibility into your paid search market share isn’t just helpful, it’s essential. Even a few percentage points can mean the difference between leading or lagging in Google Ads. That’s exactly what Adthena’s PPC Market Share Rep…