SEO Tools and Resources

Jerry Dischler, the former Google executive who was in charge of Google Ads is now leaving the company right before his 20th year work anniversary. Dischler in November 2023 stepped down as the ad boss, during the height of the DOJ Google anti-trust case. What Dischler said. Jerry Dischler announced today that it would be his last day at Google. He posted a message on LinkedIn. He said, “After nearly 20 years, I’ve decided to leave Google, and today is my last day.” Here is the full post: After nearly 20 years, I’ve decided to leave Google, and today is my last day. Google is a remarkable company and I’m proud of the incredible things we’ve accomplished in …

Google is being forced to cap all default search and AI app deals at one year. This will end the long-term agreements (think: Apple, Samsung) that helped secure its default status on billions of devices. Just don’t expect this to end Google’s search dynasty anytime soon. Driving the news. Judge Amit Mehta on Friday called the one-year cap a “hard-and-fast termination requirement” needed to enforce antitrust remedies after his 2024 ruling that Google illegally monopolized search and search ads, Business Insider reported. In September, Mehta ruled on Google search deals: “Google will be barred from entering or maintaining any exclusive contract relating to the dist…

If you optimize your articles for similar terms, your rankings might suffer from keyword or content cannibalization: you’ll be ‘devouring’ your chances to rank in Google! Especially when your site is growing, your content could start competing with itself. Here, we’ll explain why keyword and content cannibalism can harm SEO, how to recognize it, and what to do about it. Table of contents What is keyword cannibalization? What is content cannibalization? Is cannibalization harmful? How to identify cannibalization issues How to fix cannibalization issues Preventive measures Common mistakes in addressing cannibalization Final thoughts on keyword and content cannibalizat…

On episode 339 of PPC Live The Podcast, I speak to Kirk Williams, a long-time PPC professional who’s been in the industry since 2009. Kirk is the founder of Zato, a specialist PPC micro-agency, and the author of Ponderings of a PPC Professional and Stop the Scale. He’s also a familiar face on the global conference circuit, speaking at events like BrightonSEO, SMX, HeroConf, and more. The big f-Up: Taking on the wrong clients Kirk’s biggest mistake wasn’t a platform error or a bad bid — it was taking on clients who weren’t a good fit. He explains that these decisions often came during moments of pressure: wanting to grow quickly, dealing with client churn, or na…

Black Friday is three weeks away, so it’s time to finalize the last adjustments. Here’s what to focus on now, based on two Yoast Black Friday coffee chats with our own principal SEOs, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss. Alex states, “Black Friday isn’t one day anymore, but a season. If you’re not visible to AI now, you won’t be in the results when shoppers ask for recommendations.” Table of contents 1. Stop breaking things (seriously) 2. Fix these right now (or regret it later) 3. Optimize for AI and search (quick wins) 4. Last-minute hacks (do these soon) 5. What not to do before Black Friday Your Black Friday success starts now 1. Stop breaking things (seriously…

Google Ads scripts have long been a powerful way to automate account management, improve efficiency, and reduce manual work. Whether it’s managing search terms, optimizing bids, or generating reports, scripts allow you to scale your efforts while maintaining control over your campaigns. Now, with generative AI, particularly GPT, scripts are becoming even more accessible and adaptable. Advertisers no longer need to write every line of code manually or rely solely on predefined automation rules. GPT can generate, refine, and enhance scripts based on simple prompts, allowing even those with little coding experience to build powerful automation tools. A…

As search engines continue to evolve, so too must our approach to link building. In 2025, the focus has shifted more than ever toward quality over quantity, prioritizing authoritative, relevant backlinks from trustworthy sources. This article outlines 12 essential dos and don’ts for effective link building, covering the most common pitfalls to avoid and the proven strategies that drive SEO success. Fails: Common link building mistakes to avoid 1. Don’t: Prioritize quantity over quality More is not better. Better is better. Earning numerous low-quality backlinks can harm your site’s credibility and rankings. Google values the quality and relevance of…

LinkedIn Ads consistently delivers some of the highest-quality B2B leads in paid media. But it also has a reputation for being very expensive — for both cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-lead (CPL) metrics. Because of that reputation, I wanted to test a theory: that I could get low CPCs and low-cost qualified leads from LinkedIn Ads by creating a highly valuable, audience-specific piece of content. As an agency, we usually run LinkedIn Ads campaigns for our clients. We don’t really run many paid ads for ourselves. However, to have the most control over this test, I decided that Saltbox Solutions would be the guinea pig. (Disclosure: I’m the director of strategy at…

Most B2B marketers know LinkedIn Ads for its strong prospecting capabilities. But one of its most powerful features – retargeting – is often overlooked. Beyond website visitors, LinkedIn offers creative retargeting options to keep prospects moving through the funnel. This article shows how to structure retargeting across every stage and what to offer audiences along the way. Top of funnel: Awareness and trust-building Even in the earliest stages, retargeting has a role. Prospects who have lightly engaged with your brand need reinforcement and education before they’ll move further down the funnel. Types of retargeting to use at this stage: Vide…

LinkedIn is rolling out Off-Platform Event Ads, giving marketers a new way to promote events without needing a native LinkedIn Event Page. What’s happening. The new format allows advertisers to run Event Ads that link directly to external destinations — such as webinar platforms, landing pages or livestream sites — instead of keeping traffic on LinkedIn. This marks a shift from platform-contained experiences to more flexible, marketer-controlled journeys. How it works. Marketers can create an Event Ad using a third-party URL, add event details like date and format, and choose from objectives including awareness, engagement, traffic or lead generation. Clic…

LinkedIn released automation updates that could help advertisers leverage advanced forecasting, automation, and insights to streamline ad creation and maximize ROI with new levels of efficiency. The big picture: The new Media Planner helps you forecast ad performance before launch. Ad Duplication and Dynamic UTMs simplify campaign creation and tracking. Marketing Overview, Measurement Insights, and AI-driven Performance Digest provide deeper measurement capabilities. What’s new: Media Planner. Forecast ROI before you launch What it does. Helps you test different audience segments, placements, and budgets to predict campaign outcomes. Key ben…

LinkedIn introduced two new features aimed at helping marketers optimize their campaigns and prove their impact: the Conversions API (CAPI) and the Revenue Attribution Report (RAR). Driving the news: Conversions API (CAPI). Enables marketers to securely connect first-party online and offline data to LinkedIn. Tracks conversions from website actions, phone sales, and in-person events. Sends marketing data directly from a server to LinkedIn to measure campaign performance. Helps optimize campaigns using LinkedIn’s analytics. Revenue Attribution Report (RAR). Connects CRM data to LinkedIn campaigns for long-term tracking. Extends review periods up…

LinkedIn is making Reserved Ads generally available to all managed accounts, giving marketers the ability to lock in the first ad slot in the feed for premium visibility. What’s new. Reserved Ads let advertisers secure top-of-feed placement at a fixed rate, providing predictable delivery, consistent reach, and greater share of voice. Early results show the format drives up to 75% higher dwell time, 88% higher view-through rates, and delivers 99% of forecasted impressions, according to LinkedIn. How it works. Reserved Ads appear in the most visible ad slot on LinkedIn’s feed and support most Sponsored Content formats, including Video, Single Image, Carousel, Do…

LinkedIn is introducing new ad innovations designed to help B2B marketers strengthen brand awareness, personalize messaging, and accelerate creative workflows — all aimed at reaching potential buyers earlier in the funnel. What’s new: Reserved Ads give marketers front-row placement in the LinkedIn feed, ensuring premium visibility, predictable impressions, and a higher share of top-of-feed attention than competitors. The format works across Video, Thought Leader, Single Image, and Document Ads, letting brands maximize creative impact. Ad personalization allows messages to dynamically adjust using member profile data like first name, job title, industry, or com…

LinkedIn is launching a new AI-powered feed ranking system that uses large language models and GPUs to analyze post content and surface more relevant updates to its 1.3 billion members. Why we care. Understanding how LinkedIn surfaces content is critical if you want your posts — or your brand’s — to be discovered. The new system prioritizes topical relevance and engagement patterns, LinkedIn said. Posts that demonstrate expertise and align with emerging professional conversations may travel farther across the network — even without existing connections. The details. LinkedIn rebuilt much of its feed recommendation system using large language models, transformer mo…

AI-powered search gutted LinkedIn’s B2B awareness traffic. Across a subset of topics, non-brand organic visits fell by as much as 60% even while rankings stayed stable, the company said. LinkedIn is moving past the old “search, click, website” model and adopting a new framework: “Be seen, be mentioned, be considered, be chosen.” By the numbers. In a new article, LinkedIn said its B2B organic growth team started researching Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) in early 2024. By early 2025, when SGE evolved into AI Overviews, the impact became significant. Non-brand, awareness-driven traffic declined by up to 60% across a subset of B2B topics. Ranki…

Search is no longer a blue-links game. Discovery increasingly happens inside AI-generated answers – in Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other LLM-driven interfaces. Visibility isn’t determined solely by rankings, and influence doesn’t always produce a click. Traditional SEO KPIs like rankings, impressions, and CTR don’t capture this shift. As search becomes recommendation-driven and attribution grows more opaque, SEO needs a new measurement layer. LLM consistency and recommendation share (LCRS) fills that gap. It measures how reliably and competitively a brand appears in AI-generated responses – serving a role similar to keyword tracking in traditiona…

LLMs have become a starting point for nearly everything — work, play, consumerism, health, and more. But one thing gets overlooked: how they finish answering prompts. They don’t — and that matters. They operate in a “no, you hang up first” mentality. The prompts we enter don’t just end. LLMs “nudge” us to continue the conversation, offering to take the next step. “Would you like me to create that travel itinerary for you?” “Would you like me to compare the Nike and New Balance running shoes and tell you which is best for a marathon?” These nudges make it easy to keep going. Most of the time, I enter “sure” or “sounds good. Thank you,” and move to the nex…

Marketing, technology, and business leaders today are asking an important question: how do you optimize for large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude? LLM optimization is taking shape as a new discipline focused on how brands surface in AI-generated results and what can be measured today. For decision makers, the challenge is separating signal from noise – identifying the technologies worth tracking and the efforts that lead to tangible outcomes. The discussion comes down to two core areas – and the timeline and work required to act on them: Tracking and monitoring your brand’s presence in LLMs. Improving visibility and performanc…

Table of contents How to make your content visible in the age of AI search What are LLMs and why should you care? The new way of searching SEO vs. GEO vs. AEO vs. LLMO: Are we just rebranding SEO? Key LLM SEO optimization techniques The bar has been raised on the quality of content Use structure, chunked formatting Be factual, transparent, and authoritative Optimize for summarization Use schema Bonus strategies for LLM optimization Use explicit context and clear language Leverage FAQs and Conversational Formats Enhance trust with freshness signals Prioritize author visibility and credibility Use internal linking strategically The role of llms.txt: Giving AI search …

Users who arrive on websites from LLMs are generally less likely to engage than those from traditional organic search. That’s according to a new study published today by Dan Taylor of SALT.agency. This new data seems to challenge claims by Google and Microsoft Bing that citations from AI search results result in higher-quality clicks. Why we care. It’s good to know that SEO remains a valuable channel. But it’s not good to know that search engines seem to be making fallacious statements to the entire community, all to support their “AI is the best thing ever” narrative. By the numbers. In most sectors, organic traffic outperforms LLM referrals in driving engage…

From answering complex queries to generating creative content, large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and others are becoming integral to how users seek and consume information online. This technology presents a paradox for brands and website owners: the potential for new avenues of traffic generation alongside the growing challenge of zero-click results. The initial excitement surrounding LLMs often focuses on their ability to simplify workflows and provide instant answers. However, for businesses that rely on website traffic for leads, sales, and brand visibility, the implications are far more nuanced. While LLMs can act as powerful referral…

Google’s AI Overviews and large language models (LLMs) have severely eroded clicks, click-through rates, and organic traffic to websites. But a new Siege Media report may have found a silver lining: even if your sitewide traffic is down, your homepage may be increasing. By the numbers. For the websites examined in this study, homepage clicks increased: Overall: 10.7% B2C: 8% B2B: 15% Why we care. As the report put it: “The sky isn’t falling. It’s shifting.” Because homepage traffic tends to convert better, brands with strong visibility in AI Overviews and LLM-generated results can reap the rewards. Yes, but. Not all brands win. If your website isn’t…

One of the things you can do to present your local business better in search results is to use structured data for rich snippets. Adding structured data to your site can help search engines understand your business and how it performs. Because of this, you’ll need to add your NAP details, store/location map, reviews, and images. Find out how Schema.org structured data can help your local SEO. Table of contents Local customers use search engines Improve local rankings Why schema structured data Rich search results for businesses Why you should use JSON-LD How to add structured data to a local business listing Required properties for local businesses Recommended prope…

Local SEO has a visibility problem, but it’s not where most teams think. It’s not about rankings for “near me” or service keywords. It’s everything that happens before that moment, when customers are trying to figure out what’s wrong, what it means, and whether they need help at all. That gap is why so much high-intent demand slips through the cracks. Service-first site structures miss real search behavior Most local service websites are built the same way: a homepage at the top, then service pages, and often location pages underneath. It’s a good, clean structure, and it makes sense because it mirrors how the business thinks. You offer drain cleaning, fu…