SEO Tools and Resources

Website migrations are one of the most challenging aspects of SEO. No matter how much experience you have in technical SEO, how detailed your plan is, or how thorough your checklist may be, unexpected issues can still arise. That’s why post-migration monitoring is just as crucial as the migration itself – especially in the first month when hidden problems are most likely to surface. This article tackles some of the most surprising post-launch errors I’ve encountered, along with practical tips on how to identify and resolve them before they cause serious damage. Random 404 pages This issue drove me crazy. It’s a nightmare for SEO testing because it skew…

In an era where efficiency is key, many businesses question the time and resources spent on technical SEO audits. However, cutting corners in this critical area can lead to incomplete insights and missed opportunities. Let’s dive into why technical SEO deserves a firm investment in both human effort and time, starting with the often-overlooked challenge of crawl time. Crawl time: The primary hindrance Reducing human resource time in your SEO or digital marketing department by cutting technical SEO may be unwise. Why? The primary factor behind the time taken for audits is crawl time. With today’s complex web architectures, this is inevitable.…

If you’re managing multiple campaigns for your brand or your clients, you know how hard it is to scale landing page creation without sacrificing performance. This guide breaks it down—with real examples, tactical insights, and repeatable strategies from a designer who helped generate 14.8 million conversions using Unbounce. Inside, you’ll get: 5 high-performing landing page designs from SaaS, education, and entertainment industries Conversion-driven tactics you can apply to your own campaigns Smart tips for building faster, designing for mobile, and increasing results without reinventing the wheel Whether you’re designing in-house or outsourcing to …

Chinese ecommerce giant Temu was a dominant force in paid acquisition across Google, Meta, and other platforms – until mid-April, when it abruptly halted all U.S. advertising. This was a stunning move from one of the internet’s most aggressive spenders. Temu’s sudden absence opened up a flood of ad inventory – and with it, new questions: Who won? Who lost? And what does it say about market dynamics? The impact on the digital ad ecosystem was immediate and profound, based on research by Mike Ryan, head of ecommerce insights at Smarter Ecommerce. Catch up quick: Over three days in April, Temu’s Google Shopping impression share collapsed, signaling a total …

Temu completely shut off Google Shopping ads in the U.S. on April 9, with its App Store ranking subsequently plummeting from a typical third or fourth position to 58th in just three days. The company’s impression share, which measures how often their ads appear compared to eligibility, dropped sharply before disappearing completely from advertiser auction data by April 12. The timing coincided with the The President administration’s hardened stance on Chinese imports, raising tariffs to 125% while maintaining a more moderate approach to other trading partners. First seen. Mike Ryan, head of ecommerce insights at Smarter Ecommerce, shared this news on LinkedIn…

SEO didn’t stand still in 2025. It didn’t reinvent itself either. It clarified what actually matters. If you followed The SEO Update by Yoast monthly webinars this year, you’ll recognize the pattern. Throughout 2025, our Principal SEOs, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss, cut through the noise to explain not just what was changing but why it mattered as AI-powered search reshaped visibility, trust, and performance. If you missed some sessions or want the full picture in one place, this wrap-up is for you. We’re looking back at how SEO evolved over the year, what those changes mean in practice, and what they signal going forward. Key takeaways In 2025, SEO shifted its focus…

The Positionless Marketer is the new marketing professional who is a triple threat with data, creative and optimization power. They blow up the traditional marketing assembly line, where roles are rigidly defined. Instead, they have agility, intelligence and execution speed in defining success. A blueprint for the way Positionless Marketers achieve this level of independence and mastery is Stephen R. Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Covey’s principles, trusted by millions as an excellent foundation for personal and business growth, align with the principles of Positionless Marketing. Covey’s seven habits are divided into three basic groups. The …

The web’s purpose is shifting. Once a link graph – a network of pages for users and crawlers to navigate – it’s rapidly becoming a queryable knowledge graph. For technical SEOs, that means the goal has evolved from optimizing for clicks to optimizing for visibility and even direct machine interaction. Enter NLWeb – Microsoft’s open-source bridge to the agentic web At the forefront of this evolution is NLWeb (Natural Language Web), an open-source project developed by Microsoft. NLWeb simplifies the creation of natural language interfaces for any website, allowing publishers to transform existing sites into AI-powered applications where users and intelligen…

For the past two years, we’ve been living in AI’s gold rush era. To borrow from Taylor Swift, think of it as the “Lover” phase where everything is shiny, new, and full of possibility. The behavior: Buy everything. The metric: Can it generate something cool? The vibe: Pure FOMO. But we’re entering a new era now. Call it the “Reputation” phase, which is darker, edgier, and entirely focused on receipts. A sign of this shift was in the headlines recently, blaring on about Microsoft lowering its AI sales targets. The hot takes rushed in to frame it as a disappointment, a slowdown, and even a sign that enterprise demand is cooling. They all misread the m…

Some brands are watching their organic traffic – and revenue – slip away. Others? They’re optimizing for this new search channel and seeing theirs rise. That’s why Semrush Enterprise built the AI Visibility Index. It’s the definitive study into how brands perform across the world’s leading AI search engines. Leveraging Semrush Enterprise’s AI Optimization (AIO) platform, the Index analyzes 2,500 real-world prompts in both ChatGPT and AI Mode across five key verticals: Business & Professional Services Digital Technology & Software Consumer Electronics Fashion & Apparel Finance Revealing which brands are leading the AI search landsca…

Most advertisers spend hours managing keywords, bids, and targeting – but overlook the one thing searchers actually notice: the ad itself. If your ads aren’t strong, nothing else in your account can save you. Why ad copy is the heart of your PPC account When I look at how many Google and Microsoft Ads accounts are being managed, I see a lot of time devoted to: Search term management. Complex bid strategies. Keyword research. Inactionable data analysis. In many accounts, the ads are often neglected. However, your ads are the most crucial part of your PPC account. Your ads are the only aspect of your account that a searcher sees. …

When you work on your site’s SEO, reflecting on those efforts should be part of your ongoing strategy. Whether it’s for a client, your manager, or your team, creating an SEO report is the best way to do so. This helps you justify your efforts, keep track of performance and figure out what needs to be tackled next. And it’s not as hard as you would think. In this blog post, we’ll explain what SEO reporting is and take you through the process step by step. Table of contents What is SEO reporting exactly? What to include in your SEO report A general data overview Data on (content) performance Activities previous period A summary with recommendations Creating an SEO …

Affiliate networks aren’t one-size-fits-all. Between evolving tracking laws, new tech capabilities, and shifting fee structures, the best choice depends on your business model and goals. This guide breaks down top affiliate networks by use case, so you can make a smarter, more strategic decision. The data-driven approach to choosing an affiliate network If you’re ready to launch an affiliate program – a marketing channel where others promote you on a revenue-sharing or performance basis – but aren’t sure which affiliate network to choose, I’ve got you covered. Over the last 20+ years, I’ve worked as an affiliate, an in-house affiliate manager, managed…

If there’s one area of Google Ads that often baffles even seasoned practitioners, it’s audience targeting. Within audience targeting, there’s a special option called custom segments that allows us to build our own audiences using Google’s proprietary data. While custom segments can be immensely powerful, they are also immensely confusing. What is a custom segment in Google Ads? A custom segment lets you build a targeted audience based on the content a user has recently interacted with. Think of it this way: instead of saying, “I want to show an ad on a website about running shoes,” you’re saying, “I want to show an ad to a person who has recently shown in…

Educational videos are among the top 10 most-consumed video content formats globally, according to Statista. And it makes sense. Video is one of the fastest, most engaging ways to teach, demonstrate, and connect. But for creators and businesses alike, making a video that actually works (as in: educates, retains, or converts) requires more than hitting “record.” I’ve been creating online content for years, so I know what works and what doesn’t. Our online SEO training has helped thousands of marketers level up their skills through self-paced modules, monthly live Q&A webinars, and on-demand videos. Our “Ask Us Anything” video series and SEO a…

Missed the final SEO Update by Yoast of 2025? Our in-house principal SEOs, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss, broke down December’s biggest search shifts, from Gemini’s integration to Google’s publisher deals, and answered your burning questions. Don’t forget to watch the replay and sign up for the next edition! Watch the full replay below (or read on for the highlights). 2025 in a nutshell: The three biggest SEO shifts 2025 was the year AI officially took over search. Here’s what mattered most: From rankings to retrieval: AI overviews and chat interfaces made being cited more important than ranking #1. EEAT became non-negotiable: Google (and users) demand…

For years, search campaigns have been an imperative part of one’s PPC strategy. However, the landscape is shifting and Google is increasingly prioritizing shopping within the user experience, changing how users interact with the SERPs and how we as advertisers approach strategy for ecommerce clients. With continued investment in AI-powered tools like Performance Max, which has absorbed much of what traditional search once offered, recent betas such as AI Max, and now Google testing a massive new carousel format for Shopping ads, the platform is clearly moving toward a Shopping-first ecosystem. As these changes roll out, traditional search ads are getting less…

For years, SEO and PPC defined two sides of search – one focused on organic authority, the other on paid performance. Both aimed to capture traffic but often worked in silos, optimizing toward different goals. Now, that separation is ending. The rise of generative AI has redrawn the map, merging once-distinct disciplines into a single, fluid ecosystem. Search engines like Google and Bing have evolved into conversational AI platforms that deliver instant, often singular answers while seamlessly integrating ads. This shift – marked by zero-click results, conversational interfaces, and pre-packaged information – means no single strategy can guarantee…

People are already turning to AI to answer questions, compare products, and make decisions in seconds. That shift exposes a fundamental problem: the web’s underlying structure was never built for machines. As AI agents mature, the way information is delivered – and the need for traditional webpages – could change dramatically. Disruption is normal – even when we don’t see it coming The idea that the web as we know it could end, which I mentioned during a live OXD podcast in Salzburg, drew reactions ranging from thoughtful to angry. Someone even insisted, “The web will always be there.” But anyone paying attention knows that “always” and “never” r…

We are navigating the “search everywhere” revolution – a disruptive shift driven by generative AI and large language models (LLMs) that is reshaping the relationship between brands, consumers, and search engines. For the last two decades, the digital economy ran on a simple exchange: content for clicks. With the rise of zero-click experiences, AI Overviews, and assistant-led research, that exchange is breaking down. AI now synthesizes answers directly on the SERP, often satisfying intent without a visit to a website. Platforms such as Gemini and ChatGPT are fundamentally changing how information is discovered. For enterprises, visibility increasingl…

If you have ever run your writing through a readability checker like Yoast SEO, you have probably come across the Flesch reading score. This metric was developed more than 70 years ago and is still one of the most widely used ways to measure how easy your text is to read. But what does it actually mean, and how does it affect your writing for the web? In this guide, we will explain how the Flesch reading score works, why it became so prominent in publishing and SEO, and how you can use it effectively today. We will also show you where it fits into the Yoast SEO plugin and why we have introduced new readability checks alongside it. Table of contents What is the F…

Shoppers expect fast, accurate, and personalized search results—but many retailers still struggle with product discovery. The State of Product Discovery in Digital Commerce 2025 report, based on insights from 200+ retailers, reveals how AI-driven search is transforming ecommerce. Conducted by London Research in partnership with Crownpeak, this report reveals how leading brands are: Optimizing site search with AI to improve relevance and reduce friction Personalizing results in real-time to increase conversions Investing in smarter product discovery tools to stay ahead in 2025 Download the full report to discover the product discovery strategies driving …

Today’s customers don’t separate their lives into channels, and they don’t expect brands to either. They want experiences that feel relevant and personal, whether that’s confirming a delivery, getting a reminder about an appointment, or receiving an offer they actually care about. Imagine a shopper who adds items to their cart but never checks out. Hours later, the reminder email arrives, but by then it’s buried in a crowded inbox. The opportunity to recapture their attention has passed. This is the challenge marketers face today: timing and trust matter just as much as the content itself. For marketers, the challenge is not in deciding which channel to use in i…

For much of its history, marketing thrived on creativity, intuition and an almost magical ability to connect with audiences. Campaigns were conceived in brainstorming sessions, executed over weeks or months and celebrated (or dissected) once the results rolled in. Theodore Levitt’s “The Marketing Imagination” stays on most marketers’ bookcases alongside their team’s awards. Much of the technology we buy inside marketing is mostly isolated and gives fractal views of the customer, never a complete one and never of the customer in motion (with or without us). The one platform to solve it all has been the misnomer we have been hunting for but will never find. The promise…

For much of its history, marketing thrived on creativity, intuition and an almost magical ability to connect with audiences. Campaigns were conceived in brainstorming sessions, executed over weeks or months and celebrated (or dissected) once the results rolled in. Theodore Levitt’s “The Marketing Imagination” stays on most marketers’ bookcases alongside their team’s awards. Much of the technology we buy inside marketing is mostly isolated and gives fractal views of the customer, never a complete one and never of the customer in motion (with or without us). The one platform to solve it all has been the misnomer we have been hunting for but will never find. The promise…