SEO Tools and Resources

AI citations in ChatGPT are far more concentrated than citation distributions in traditional search. Roughly 30 domains capture 67% of citations within a topic. That’s according to Kevin Indig’s latest study, which also found that broad topical coverage, long-form pages, and cluster-based models outperform the old “one keyword, one page” approach. The details. Citation visibility wasn’t evenly distributed. In product comparison topics, the top 10 domains accounted for 46% of citations; the top 30, 67%. AI visibility was slightly less concentrated than classic organic search, but still highly centralized. Indig’s conclusion: you’re effectively shut out u…

A new creative feature has been spotted inside Google Ads Performance Max campaigns — and it could change how advertisers without video budgets approach animated display advertising. What was found. Vice President of Search at JumpFly, Inc. Nikki Kuhlman spotted an option to generate animated video clips directly within PMax asset groups, using AI to enhance and animate a single source image. How it works. Upload a source image — a logo, a product shot, a property photo AI generates several “enhanced” versions of that image Each enhanced image produces two animated clips Select up to five animated clips per asset group Note: faces cannot be us…

AI tools and visibility have dominated the SEO conversation in the past two years. But while discussions focus on these new technologies, most of the biggest SEO risks in 2026 will come from somewhere else: within your own organization. Fragmented data, unclear ownership, outdated KPIs, and weak collaboration can quietly destroy even the best strategies. As SEO expands beyond the website and into AI-driven discovery, the role of the SEO team is becoming broader, more influential, and, paradoxically, harder to define. Here are some of the risks your team should start thinking about now. Relying too much on AI for everything Many SEO teams now rely on AI for …

Apple is preparing to introduce sponsored listings in Apple Maps, marking a significant expansion of its advertising business beyond the App Store. How it will work. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the system will function similarly to Google Maps — allowing retailers and brands to bid for ad slots against search queries. Sponsored businesses will appear in Maps search results, much like sponsored apps already appear in App Store searches. The timeline. An announcement could come as early as this month, with ads beginning to appear inside Maps as early as this summer across iPhone, other Apple devices, and the web version. Why Apple is doing this. Advert…

Microsoft added query-to-page mapping to its AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools, letting you connect AI grounding queries directly to cited URLs. Why we care. The original dashboard showed queries and pages separately, limiting optimization. Now you can tie specific AI-triggering queries to the exact cited pages, so you can prioritize updates based on real AI-driven demand — not guesses. The details. The new Grounding Query–Page Mapping feature links two existing views in the AI Performance dashboard: Click a grounding query to see which pages are cited Click a page to see which grounding queries drive its citations Mapping is many-to-many: o…

The entity home is the single page that anchors how algorithms, bots, and people understand your brand. It’s usually your About page, and it does far more than most teams realize. It’s where algorithms resolve your identity, where bots map your footprint, and where humans verify trust before they convert. In one test, improving that page alone lifted conversions by 6% for visitors who reached it. The reason is simple: the human and the algorithm are doing the same job — checking claims, validating evidence, and deciding whether to trust you. For years, this was overlooked. Most SEOs focused on rankings and traffic while underinvesting in the page that defines what…

In an increasingly automated environment, paid search performance is constrained by a simple reality: Algorithms can only optimize toward the signals they’re given. Improving those signals remains the most reliable way to improve results. That sounds straightforward, but in practice, many people are still optimizing around signals that don’t reflect real business outcomes. Let’s dive into how algorithms function, how you can influence them, and where some people fail. How bidding algorithms actually work Modern bidding systems are often described as “black boxes,” suggesting they operate mysteriously. But that description isn’t helpful. At a high level…

Website migrations have a well-earned reputation for going wrong, with even well-planned migrations leading to rankings slipping, traffic dropping, or tracking breaking. But most migration problems come from small oversights rather than complex technical failures. You can reduce your risk with a staged approach. The checks you complete during staging, on launch day, and in the first few weeks after go-live often determine whether a migration stabilizes quickly or becomes a long recovery project. Before launch: Catch issues on staging Most migration problems should be found and fixed on the staging site. If issues reach the live site, recovery is slower and mor…

The EU’s top antitrust enforcer signaled a decision on whether Google is violating the Digital Markets Act is imminent, without committing to a timeline. What she said. “It will come,” Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera told Dow Jones Newswires, adding the cases are complex and the commission is committed to decisions based on evidence and fair procedure. The backdrop. The European Commission launched its probe into Google’s search business in March 2024 under the Digital Markets Act. The commission gave itself a soft 12-month deadline to wrap up — it has already fined Meta and Apple, but Google’s case remains unresolved nearly two years in. The pressure i…

With AI, you can generate dozens (if not hundreds) of articles in hours and publish at scale. But publishing is the easy part. What happens after they go live is what matters. Together with the research team at SE Ranking, we ran a 16-month experiment to track how well AI-generated content performed on brand-new domains with zero authority. As you will see, the results are hard to call a success. Here’s the full story behind our experiment. Methodology The goal was simple: test how far AI content — with no human editing, rewriting, or enhancement — could go in search. How quickly would it get indexed? Could it rank for relevant queries? Most imp…

A quiet but important change is coming to the Google Ads API that will affect how advertisers and developers create Lookalike user lists — particularly those running Demand Gen campaigns. What’s changing. Google will begin enforcing a uniqueness check on Lookalike user lists, preventing the creation of duplicate lists that share the same seed lists, expansion level, and country targeting. Attempts to create a duplicate after April 30 will return an API error. Why we care. Teams using automated scripts or third-party tools to programmatically generate audience lists, an unhandled error could quietly break campaign workflows if integrations aren’t updated in time. …

OpenAI is pushing ahead with advertising on ChatGPT, but early adopters say the platform is far from ready for serious performance marketing. The big picture. According to a report by The Information, ChatGPT’s ad offering shares almost no data with advertisers, lacks automated buying tools, and offers very limited targeting — leaving brands with little ability to measure whether their spend is actually doing anything. What advertisers are dealing with. Digital marketer Glenn Gabe helped list out what the current issues are: No automated way to buy ad space — deals are being made over phone calls, emails, and spreadsheets No meaningful performance data to …

In a recent keynote at the Industrial Marketing Summit, Rand Fishkin argued that we’re marketing in a “zero-click world.” His observation captures an important surface-level trend: fewer users are clicking through to websites. The deeper shift, however, is structural. What has changed is the way information is evaluated, repeated, and trusted across the web — and that’s where many are drawing the wrong conclusion. As clicks decline, it can look like websites matter less. In reality, their role in shaping what gets seen and trusted may be increasing. Why ‘zero-click’ discussions often lead to the wrong conclusion From a traffic perspective, the trend is unmi…

Most SEO discussions today center on AI — from AI Overviews to ChatGPT and other LLMs — and the concern that they’re taking traffic from business websites, forcing a shift toward GEO or AEO. For the most part, that concern is valid. AI is reducing traffic for many sites, especially those that rely on top-of-funnel, informational content. But the data suggests AI may not be the biggest shift. User behavior has been fragmenting across platforms for years, and I see this play out in agency work every day. Here’s what the data shows about how search behavior is changing across platforms, and why a “search everywhere” strategy matters more than focusing on LLMs alo…

The numbers tell a story that most agency owners already know in their gut: AI anxiety is rising fast. In 2024, 44% of digital marketing agencies viewed AI as a significant threat to their business model. Just one year later, that number jumped to 53%, according to SparkToro’s annual State of Digital Agencies survey of hundreds of agency owners worldwide. But here’s what makes this particularly painful: agencies aren’t just watching AI disrupt their industry from the sidelines. They’re actively using it themselves, automating tasks, reducing costs, and hoping to improve margins. All while their clients are doing the exact same thing, using AI to justify slashing …

A strange pattern has emerged in Google’s paid search results — multiple competing ads are displaying the exact same web statistics, raising questions about a potential bug or intentional design shift. What’s happening. Several paid search ads are surfacing the same website statistics simultaneously, despite the fact that these signals are typically unique to each individual site. The uniformity makes the data appear unreliable, and it’s unclear whether this is a display glitch, a testing experiment, or something more deliberate. Why we care. Trust signals in search ads exist to help users make informed decisions and to boost click-through rates by giving user…

Account suspensions are essential to “maintain a healthy and sustainable digital advertising ecosystem, with user protection at its core,” according to Google Ads. For advertisers, though, navigating the suspension process can be a minefield. Suspensions can happen suddenly, limit what you can do in your account, and, in some cases, affect related accounts as well. Here’s what triggers account suspensions, the different types you might encounter, and what to do if your account is flagged or suspended. Why do accounts get suspended? Accounts get suspended when Google Ads finds a violation of one of its policies. The platform uses a combination of automated s…

As AI agents reshape how advertising platforms are used, Google is bringing focus toward the developers behind the systems and create content specifically for them. What’s happening. Google’s Advertising and Measurement Developer Relations team has launched Ads DevCast, a bi-weekly vodcast and podcast hosted by Cory Liseno. The show focuses on technical deep dives across Google Ads, Google Analytics, Display & Video 360 and related tools. Zoom out. This is a companion to Ads Decoded, hosted by Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin, which focuses on campaign strategy. Ads DevCast is explicitly built for developers and technical practitioners. Driving the news. E…

A new Google Merchant Center update changes how e-commerce sites must handle out-of-stock products, with direct implications for product approvals and ad performance. What’s happening. Google now requires that out-of-stock products must still display a buy button, but it can no longer be active or hidden. Instead, the button must be visibly disabled and appear grayed out. In other words, users should be able to see the button, but not click it. This marks a clear shift from common practices where retailers either left the “Add to Cart” button clickable or removed it entirely. Both approaches are now non-compliant. How it works. In practical terms, the requ…

Google is testing AI-generated review replies in Google Business Profile. Why we care. Responding to reviews can impact conversions and trust. But generic AI replies could be risky and erode trust, especially on negative reviews where authenticity matters most. Response quality matters more than whether a business replies to reviews. What it looks like. Here’s a screenshot: The details. Google appears to be rolling out a limited test of Reply to reviews with AI inside Google Business Profile. The feature generates suggested responses to customer reviews. Users can review, edit, and manually submit replies. Availability is inconsistent across acc…

Google is testing AI-generated headline rewrites in Search results, describing it as a small, narrow experiment for now. What’s happening. Google confirmed to The Verge (subscription required) that it’s testing AI-generated titles in traditional Search results, not just Discover. The test is “small” and “narrow,” and not approved for broader rollout. It impacts news site but isn’t limited to them. The goal is to better match titles to queries and improve engagement, Google said. One example showed Google replacing original headlines with shorter or reworded versions, sometimes changing tone or intent (e.g., reducing “I used the ‘cheat on everything’ AI …

AI won’t make SEO obsolete, but it’ll change how the work gets done. There’s a growing concern that as AI systems improve, they’ll replace the need for human SEO analysis entirely. Early experiments suggest otherwise. While AI can assist with technical tasks and even generate usable outputs, it still depends heavily on detailed human input, structured data, and technical oversight to produce meaningful results. The real shift is toward redistribution. AI is accelerating parts of the workflow, raising the bar for execution, and changing where human expertise matters most. Why AI hasn’t made SEO obsolete AI aims to reduce the need for semi-technical expertis…

AI bots could outnumber humans on the web by 2027, according to Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, as agent-driven browsing explodes alongside generative AI adoption. Prince made the prediction at SXSW, warning that bots are already reshaping how the internet is used — and how it’s monetized. Why we care. Search is shifting from human clicks to AI-generated answers. If bots become the web’s primary “users,” you’ll need to reshape your strategy to ensure AI systems can access, trust, and use your content. The details. Prince said AI agents generate far more web activity than humans because they gather information differently. A person shopping might visit five sit…

You could be ranking in Position 1 and still be completely invisible. I know that sounds counterintuitive. But here’s what’s actually happening: A potential customer opens ChatGPT or Perplexity and asks, “What’s the best [tool/agency/platform] for [your category]?” Your competitor gets mentioned. You don’t. Your No. 1 ranking did absolutely nothing to help you. This is the new SEO reality, and it’s catching many smart marketers off guard. LLMs synthesize consensus across multiple sources, rather than relying on a single source. This means you need corroborating mentions distributed across the web. The game has shifted from ranking to consensus, and if y…

Adobe will shut down the SEO feature in Marketo Engage at the end of March 2026, according to its February 2026 release notes. The tool will be deprecated on March 31, and you must export any existing SEO data before then. (This page includes links to the export instructions.) The SEO tile will be removed from the platform on April 1. What happened? Adobe’s Keith Gluck said deprecating low-use features lets the Marketo Engage team focus on other areas of the platform. For your SEO needs, Adobe announced in 2025 that it was acquiring Semrush, a full-featured SEO and visibility tool. (Reminder: Semrush owns Third Door Media, the publisher of Search Engine Land.…