SEO Tools and Resources

Jeff Dean says Google’s AI Search still works like classic Search: narrow the web to relevant pages, rank them, then let a model generate the answer. In an interview on Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast, Google’s chief AI scientist explained how Google’s AI systems work and how much they rely on traditional search infrastructure. The architecture: filter first, reason last. Visibility still depends on clearing ranking thresholds. Content must enter the broad candidate pool, then survive deeper reranking before it can be used in an AI-generated response. Put simply, AI doesn’t replace ranking. It sits on top of it. Dean said an LLM-powered system doesn’t re…

If you look at job postings on Indeed and LinkedIn, you’ll see a wave of acronyms added to the alphabet soup as companies try to hire people to boost visibility on large language models (LLMs). Some people are calling it generative engine optimization (GEO). Others call it answer engine optimization (AEO). Still others call it artificial intelligence optimization (AIO). I prefer large model answer optimization (LMAO). I find these new acronyms a bit ridiculous because while many like to think AI optimization is new, it isn’t. It’s just long-tail SEO — done the way it was always meant to be done. Why LLMs still rely on search Most LLMs (e.g., GPT-4o, Claude …

Over two months ago, Google began testing its AI-powered configuration tool. It allows you to ask AI questions about the Google Search Console performance reports and it would bring back answers for you. Well, it now seems like this tool is rolling out more broadly, maybe to everyone. AI-powered configuration. AI-powered configuration “lets you describe the analysis you want to see in natural language. Your inputs are then transformed into the appropriate filters and settings, instantly configuring the report for you,” Google said. Rolling out now. If you login to your Search Console account and click on the performance report, you may see a note at the top that s…

Rand Fishkin just published the most important piece of primary research the AI visibility industry has seen so far. His conclusion – that AI tools produce wildly inconsistent brand recommendation lists, making “ranking position” a meaningless metric – is correct, well-evidenced, and long overdue. But Fishkin stopped one step short of the answer that matters. He didn’t explore why some brands appear consistently while others don’t, or what would move a brand from inconsistent to consistent visibility. That solution is already formalized, patent pending, and proven in production across 73 million brand profiles. When I shared this with Fishkin directly, h…

Google Ads is rolling out a beta feature that lets advertisers connect external data sources directly inside conversion action settings, tightening the link between first-party data and campaign measurement. How it works. A new section in conversion action details — labeled “Get deeper insights about your customers’ behavior to improve measurement” — prompts advertisers to connect external databases to their Google tag. Supported integrations include platforms like BigQuery and MySQL The goal is to enrich conversion metrics and improve performance signals The feature appears in a highlighted prompt within data attribution settings Rollout is gradual …

In a perfect world, you could call up a top customer to pick their brain about a piece of content. But in reality, it can be extremely difficult and time-consuming to conduct audience interviews every time you need to create a new topic or refresh an old piece. A few years ago, content marketing was simpler – keyword intent and quality content was enough to rank at the top of Google’s SERP to get clicks. But in the new era of AI, expectations are different. Audience research has become critical. However, some companies may not have the resources to perform it. One way to better understand your target audience is to create a custom GPT in ChatGPT, configured …

Some advertisers are reporting that a Google Ads system tool designed for low-activity bulk changes is automatically enabling paused keywords — a behavior many account managers say they haven’t seen before. What advertisers are seeing. Activity logs show entries tied to Google’s “Low activity system bulk changes” tool that include actions enabling previously paused keywords. The log entries appear as automated bulk updates, with a visible “Undo” option. Historically, the tool has been associated mainly with pausing inactive elements, not reactivating them. What we don’t know. Google hasn’t publicly documented the behavior or clarified whether this is an int…

Hiring an SEO agency can be a game-changer for brands looking to outshine the competition in search results. That said, an SEO agency is only as good as its partnership with its clients. That’s when SEO’s true value can be realized. What this looks like practically is working together towards shared goals and keeping momentum high. Sometimes that’s easier said than done. Here’s what you can do to ensure you get the most from your SEO agency partnership. Because when you’re aligned, you make progress faster and, in turn, can better prove ROI. Align SEO with what moves the business Your company sets the business goals, and SEO’s job is to ge…

On episode 341 of PPC Live The Podcast, I speak to Andrea Cruz, Head of B2B at Tinuiti, to unpack a mistake many senior marketers quietly struggle with: freezing when clients demand answers you don’t immediately have. The conversation explored how communication missteps can escalate client tension — and how the right mindset, preparation, and culture can turn those moments into career-defining growth. From hands-on marketer to team leader As Cruz advanced in her career, she shifted from managing campaigns directly to leading teams running large, complex accounts. That transition introduced a new challenge: representing work she didn’t personally execute day to …

Cloudflare yesterday announced its new Markdown for Agents feature, which serves machine-friendly versions of web content alongside traditional human-facing pages. Cloudflare described the update as a response to the rise of AI crawlers and agentic browsing. When a client requests text/markdown, Cloudflare fetches the HTML from the origin server, converts it at the edge, and returns a Markdown version. The response also includes a token estimate header intended to help developers manage context windows. Early reactions focused on the efficiency gains, as well as the broader implications of serving alternate representations of web content. What’s happen…

Google Ads is rolling out a feature that lets advertisers calculate conversion value for new customers based on a target return on ad spend (ROAS), automatically generating a suggested value instead of relying on manual estimates. The update is designed for campaigns using new customer acquisition goals, where advertisers want to bid more aggressively to attract first-time buyers. How it works. Advertisers enter their desired ROAS target for new customers, and Google Ads proposes a conversion value aligned with that goal. The system removes some of the guesswork involved in estimating how much a new customer should be worth in bidding models. The feature doesn…

SEO is moving out of the marketing silo into organizational design. Visibility now depends on how information is structured, validated, and aligned across the business. When information is fragmented or contradictory, visibility becomes unstable. The risk isn’t just ranking volatility – it’s losing control of how your brand is interpreted and cited. For SEO leaders, the choice is unavoidable: remain a channel optimizer or shape the systems that govern how your organization is understood and cited. That shift isn’t happening in a vacuum. AI systems now interpret, reconcile, and assemble information at scale. The visibility shift beyond rankings The future of…

For a long time, PPC performance conversations inside agencies have centered on bidding – manual versus automated, Target CPA versus Maximize Conversions, incrementality debates, budget pacing and efficiency thresholds. But in 2026, that focus is increasingly misplaced. Across Google Ads, Meta Ads, and other major platforms, bidding has largely been solved by automation. What’s now holding performance back in most accounts isn’t how bids are set, but the quality, volume, and diversity of creative being fed into those systems. Recent platform updates, particularly Meta’s Andromeda system, make this shift impossible to ignore. Bidding has been commoditized by a…

We’re in a new era where web content visibility is fragmenting across a wide range of search and social platforms. While still a dominant force, Google is no longer the default search experience. Video-based social media platforms like TikTok and community-based sites like Reddit are becoming popular search engines with dedicated audiences. This trend is impacting how news content is consumed. Google’s current news SERP evolution is directly influenced by the personalization of query responses offered by LLMs and the rise in influencer authority enabled by social media platforms. Google has responded by creating its own AI-powered SERP features, such as AI …

As the SaaS market reels from a sell-off sparked by autonomous AI agents like Claude Cowork, new data shows a 53% drop in AI-driven discovery sessions. Wall Street dubbed it the “SaaSpocalypse.” Whether AI agents will replace SaaS products is a bigger question than this dataset can answer. But the panic is already distorting interpretation, and this data cuts through the noise to show what SEO teams should actually watch. Copilot went from 0.3% to 9.6% of SaaS AI traffic in 14 months From November 2024 to December 2025, SaaS sites logged 774,331 LLM sessions. ChatGPT drove 82.3% of that traffic, but Copilot’s growth tells a different story: SaaS AI Tra…

In Google AI Overviews and LLM-driven retrieval, credibility isn’t enough. Content must be structured, reinforced, and clear enough for machines to evaluate and reuse confidently. Many SEO strategies still optimize for recognition. But AI systems prioritize utility. If your authority can’t be located, verified, and extracted within a semantic system, it won’t shape retrieval. This article explains how authority works in AI search, why familiar SEO practices fall short, and what it takes to build entity strength that drives visibility. Why traditional authority signals worked – until they didn’t For years, SEOs liked to believe that “doing E-E-A-T” would mak…

AI search visibility in beauty is increasingly shaped before a prompt is ever entered. Brands that appear in generative answers are often those already discussed, validated, and reinforced across social platforms. By the time a user turns to AI search, much of the groundwork has been laid. Using the beauty category as a lens, this article examines how social discovery influences brand visibility – and why AI search ultimately reflects those signals. Discovery didn’t move to AI – it fragmented Brand discovery has fragmented across platforms. AI tools influence mid-funnel consideration, but much discovery happens before a user enters a prompt. The signals…

Local search remains one of the strongest drivers of consistent lead flow for service businesses. Outdated SEO tactics are losing impact as Google’s algorithm updates reshape local visibility. Success now depends on disciplined tracking and consistent execution. This 90-day sprint plan shows how to do both. Why local visibility is more volatile in 2026 Many service businesses aren’t current on how local search has changed or how Google Maps now determines visibility. They have a Google Business Profile (GBP) and a website, yet the phone is quiet. If a GBP isn’t visible, local prospects won’t find the business when they search for its services. That may…

The Wild West of web scraping is changing, due in large part to OpenAI’s deal with Disney. The deal allows OpenAI to train on high-fidelity, human-verified cinematic content – intended to combat AI slop fatigue. https://beimpolite.com/media/Retterspitz/6_VIDEO_800X448.mp4 This is how most of us feel when dealing with AI slop. Video production by Impolite. This deal opens up new opportunities to reinforce your brand’s visibility and recall. AI models are hungry for high-quality data, and this shift turns video into an essential asset for your brand. Here’s a breakdown of why video is the new source of truth for AI and how you can use it to protect your bran…

Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of positioning your brand and content so that AI platforms like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity cite, recommend, or mention you when users search for answers. If that sounds abstract, the results aren’t. For bootstrapped form builder tool, Tally, ChatGPT became the #1 referral source. They’re not alone. Across industries, the shift is already measurable. ChatGPT reaches over 800 million weekly users. Google’s Gemini app has surpassed 750 million monthly users. And AI Overviews are appearing in at least 16% of all searches (significantly higher for comparison and high-intent queries). Th…

Google announced an early preview of WebMCP, which is a protocol for how AI agents interact with websites. “WebMCP aims to provide a standard way for exposing structured tools, ensuring AI agents can perform actions on your side with increased speed, reliability, and precision,” wrote André Cipriani Bandarra from Google. WebMCP enables developers to communicate with LLMs via your website about the actions certain buttons or links take. WebMCP allows websites to explicitly publish a “Tool Contract.” It uses a new browser API (navigator.modelContext). Instead of the AI guessing, the website provides a structured list of tools (e.g., function buyTicket(destination, date…

In her third annual letter, Vidhya Srinivasan, VP/GM of Ads & Commerce at Google, lays out how AI is transforming shopping and advertising in 2026 — making experiences faster, more personal, and more seamless for both consumers and businesses. Key trends: Creators to commerce: YouTube continues to be a discovery hub, with creators acting as trusted tastemakers. AI is helping match brands to the right creators, turning influence into measurable business impact. Search ads evolve: With conversational and visual queries on the rise, AI Mode is reimagining ads as part of the discovery journey. New formats, like sponsored retail listings and Direct Offers…

As consumers lean into AI search, the industry has focused on the technical “how” – tracking everything from Agentic Commerce Protocols (ACP) to ChatGPT’s latest shopping research tools. In doing so, it often misses the larger shift: conversational search, which is changing how visibility is earned. There’s a common argument that big brands will always win in AI. I disagree. When you move beyond the “best running shoes” shorthand and look at the deep context users now provide, the playing field levels. AI is trying to match user needs to specific solutions, and it’s up to your brand to provide the details. This article explains how conversational search changes pr…

In a conversation on the OpenAI podcast, host Andrew Maine spoke with OpenAI executive Assad Awan, who detailed how ads will roll out in ChatGPT, who will see them and how the company plans to protect user trust. Who will see ads: Ads will appear for Free and Go tier users Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscribers won’t see ads Enterprise workspaces will remain fully ad-free The guardrails: Awan emphasized that OpenAI is structuring ads around strict trust principles: Separation: Ads are visually and technically separate from model answers Privacy: Conversations aren’t shared with advertisers Sensitive topics: Health, politics and other sensitive …

Google Ads is rolling out recommended experiments on the Experiments page, surfacing test ideas based on an account’s setup and performance data. How it works: The platform suggests experiment opportunities — such as testing bidding strategies, creative variations, or new campaign features — and presents them directly inside the Experiments dashboard. Each recommendation includes a preconfigured experiment setup Advertisers can launch immediately or customize settings Suggestions appear alongside the standard Create Experiment workflow Why we care. By removing the need to build tests from scratch, Google is lowering the barrier to experimentation. A…