As we approach the end of 2024, the SEO landscape is already shifting, with even bigger changes on the horizon for next year. 

With potential access to Google’s data, competitors could shake up the search landscape, requiring SEOs to rethink their strategies across multiple platforms. 

At the same time, AI tools continue to evolve, offering both opportunities and risks – streamlining tasks but threatening to reduce creativity to a formulaic output. 

The challenge for 2025? Balancing innovation with authenticity and automation with human insight.

What trends should guide your next steps? Let’s take a look.

1. Search alternatives and Google’s antitrust trial

If Google is forced to share its data as part of antitrust rulings, the SEO landscape may face dramatic changes. 

This will allow Google’s competitors to use its search data and algorithms to build their search engines faster. Something that hides the potential to diversify the organic landscape significantly.

Building on this hypothetical future, while all competitors would start with the same foundational data, they could also innovate and introduce new methodologies.

For SEOs, this means we won’t just be developing a single strategy but potentially ten or twenty, ensuring our websites remain competitive across all these new platforms.

We are already experiencing some of this weight with the rise of AI tools – like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity and their plans to integrate search.

Making Google’s data available will also give SEO experts unprecedented transparency into the long-hidden Google algorithms. 

We would gain deeper insights into ranking factors and user behavior, allowing us to optimize like never before by understanding exactly what works.

Unfortunately, this also means manipulating the algorithms will be easier, at least for the short term. 

Something which may bring us back to the dark days of SEO, when it was easier to rank higher with a pile of complete rubbish.

To learn more about this trend and what it will mean for SEO, we may need to wait until later next year.

The current plan is for the U.S. DOJ to propose a more refined proposal in November and then Google to share its own in December. For now, we can only say, “Stay tuned!”

2. AI as a powerful (or terrible) assistant

With so many AI-powered tools available, it’s easy for SEOs to get lost in the sea of options. 

While some of these tools can be helpful, there’s a real risk in relying too heavily on them. 

If you and thousands like you, are all using the same tools trained on identical data, the outcome will be mediocrity at best. 

Everyone’s strategy becomes the same, creating an environment where it’s hard to stand out. Maybe this is why Google has pushed so hard for the new “E” in E-E-A-T – putting the experience in focus.

Adding to this, many AI tools function as “black boxes.” You input data, but what happens in between is unclear. 

Much like grabbing a candy from Harry Potter’s magical sweets – what you get could be great, or it could be a nasty surprise. 

Without knowing how these tools reach their conclusions, you’re left with results you can’t fully trust.

Over-relying on AI can also hinder your critical thinking. A key strength of a great SEO expert is their ability to apply real-world experience, intuition and creativity to problem-solving. 

AI tools still can’t replicate this. Your unique experiences set you apart from others. 

One of the options to overcome some of these risks related to this trend is to consider training your own AI bot. 

Ideally, you should build it from scratch on your own platform, where you don’t have the unknown risk of how your information is used. 

But if this is a no-go option, tools like Google’s Gems and GPTs from ChatGPT will allow you to customize and fine-tune AI to your needs. 

This will let you transform your AI assistant from a basic, generic tool into one that reflects the uniqueness of your brand, website and marketing strategy.

You can also train this tool on your CRM, Google Analytics data, customer reviews and more. The sky is the limit if you have eliminated the security concerns.

By having all these data in an easy-to-access way, you can better respond to Google’s emphasis on originality and establish E-E-A-T.

Dig deeper: AI can’t write this: 10 ways to AI-proof your content for years to come

3. E-E-A-T and the push for originality 

Establishing E-E-A-T will continue to be crucial for SEO success in 2025.

To stand out, brands and content creators must prioritize originality by leveraging their own data and experiences.

Evidence of this can be found in the leaked Google API document, which references an “OriginalContentScore.”

Customer reviews, original research and unique insights will be some of your secret weapons in 2025. 

Analyze customer behavior using internal search queries, product usage patterns or transcripts from your support and sales calls.

This lets you uncover content gaps and key topics that resonate with users so you can create new content and update existing ones.

Google’s recent recognition of content creators underscores the importance of proving expertise.

Verifiable authorship will be a key recipe for success in 2025.

To truly stand out, your brand must highlight the real human experience behind the content, adding authenticity and trustworthiness that users and search engines value. 

If you haven’t planned yet for a complete revamp of those authors’ bios on your website, now is a good time to start.

4. The user versus the keywords

Optimizing for users rather than keywords will also be among the keys to SEO success in 2025.

Instead of focusing solely on keywords, SEOs should build content around user pain points and challenges, targeting the intent behind their searches.

Keywords can be misleading. Often, terms with high search volume mask unclear intent or are dominated by UGC websites (e.g., Reddit, Quora) or listicles and review websites that Google tends to prioritize. 

Users have changed significantly. We no longer search with short phrases; now we use long-tail keywords or complete questions.

Focusing on content inspired by the customer’s pains and challenges can help you avoid wasting efforts on keywords where the competition is too fierce or the intent is mismatched.

Algorithms will reward content that prioritizes the user experience, answering specific questions with valuable, relevant insights.

Dig deeper: How to optimize for search intent: 19 practical tips

5. Technical SEO will matter more than ever

Technical SEO will be more important than ever. Optimizing your site to make it easier for search engine bots to crawl and understand is key.

Having structured data, a well-organized sitemap, internal links and clean code can significantly improve how search engines crawl and understand your site.

Accessibility is also important. Search engines emphasize user-friendly experiences, including accessible design and features. 

If you’re unsure, the Google API leak shows evidence that Google uses clicks and post-click behavior in its ranking algorithms.

Page speed and Core Web Vitals are ranking signals that impact mobile users. Websites that load slowly or offer a poor mobile experience could struggle to rank.

A major focus of technical SEO in 2025 will be on platforms that rely heavily on JavaScript. Rendering issues prevent search engines from properly indexing their content.

Ensuring proper server-side rendering or resolving JavaScript-related problems is crucial for maintaining visibility in search results.

The good news is that both Google and Bing offer helpful checklists to guide your technical SEO efforts. 

Be sure to regularly review the recommendations from Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console (although the latter is not yet available to all users).

Learning and adapting: An evergreen trend in SEO

The need to learn, adapt and evolve is a constant part of SEO. You can’t rely on a single strategy or quick fixes.

Success will come from working across different projects and refining multiple aspects of your SEO efforts. The ability to pivot and apply new learnings faster will set successful SEOs apart.

It looks like 2025 will be another dynamic year for SEO. For those who have been part of the game for a long time, that’s not new.

YouTube is introducing channel-level ad blocking controls, moving this functionality from AdSense directly into the YouTube platform.

How it works:

• Creators can access ad blocking controls via YouTube Studio on desktop.
• Feature available to channels with watch page monetization enabled.
• Controls can be found under Settings.

Why we care. While this change could improve brand safety for your brands, you may face increased competition for fewer placements or see a shift in how their ads align with specific content, affecting campaign performance and reach. So consider what works best for your brand, no one solution fits all.

The catch. YouTube warns that restricting ad categories could potentially reduce channel revenue (and let’s be honest, Google revenue as well).

YouTube has spent years cracking down on ad blockers to the point were it was on the verge of being a legal issue. Therefore as much as it’s wise of Google to give you easy access to these controls, what you consider using them wisely may not correlate with Ad support’s advice.

Between the lines. This move gives creators more direct control over their content monetization without having to navigate through AdSense, potentially improving brand safety and creator satisfaction.

What’s next. The feature will roll out by the end of this week, marking a significant shift in how creators can manage their advertising preferences.

Bottom line. While the new controls offer greater autonomy for creators, they’ll need to balance brand safety concerns against potential revenue impacts.

Setting clear goals is essential to measuring success in SEO. Goals become even more powerful when aligned with a well-defined strategy that informs the tactics used to achieve them.

This article explores setting goals for the people and teams driving your SEO efforts – whether in-house, at an agency or outsourced.

Regardless of the structure, these principles will help ensure your SEO team stays aligned with your broader business objectives and delivers the ROI you need.

Be open and collaborate

As a company leader and CEO, I often remind myself to provide context when making decisions. It’s important to clarify whether a decision is a firm directive, open to input or open to a more democratic process.

Be upfront about firm ROI numbers, requirements the SEO team must meet and other non-negotiables.

It’s great if you can be transparent about how and why certain goals were formulated. However, if they’re tied to sensitive information you can’t discuss, be sure to mention that as well.

Anything that can be collaborative in terms of the goal-setting process and that you open up to the team can be a culture builder and help you gain trust. 

I’m not saying everything should be a democracy or that you don’t understand the broader business, marketing or other factors affecting the SEO team.

However, having been both an employee and now an owner/executive, I’ve seen both sides.

I know how frustrating it can be to have limited context, no chance for feedback, and be expected to do what feels like an impossible job.

Dig deeper: How to create SMART SEO goals (with examples)

Have a healthy understanding of SEO

Many who manage or oversee SEO don’t have direct experience with it – and that’s completely fine. 

As someone who came up through the SEO and digital marketing ranks, I realize I’m in the minority. 

There are pros and cons to having an SEO-first mindset versus approaching it from a broader business and marketing perspective, both offer valuable insights when managing SEO efforts.

No matter what your experience is, having a healthy understanding of SEO is important when setting goals for an SEO team. 

Things go much more smoothly when there’s a shared level of understanding of what SEO is and isn’t for all. That includes knowing:

• What resources go into it (more on that below).
• What performance is reasonable.
• How integrated it could/should be with other digital marketing channels.
• What reporting and KPIs will be available.
• How they integrate with broader marketing and business metrics.

In my experience, most challenges with SEO performance stem from misalignment, often caused by misunderstandings or a lack of clarity. This issue arises whether I’m dealing with clients, agency teams or even tight-knit in-house SEO teams. 

I’ve seen situations where people use the same language and KPIs but have vastly different interpretations – sometimes even after working together for years.

If you or your team don’t have clear expectations, I recommend getting familiar with the basics before diving in. 

This will help you avoid confusion with KPIs and acronyms and manage expectations later.

Dig deeper: SEO meta-skills: How research on goal setting can make you a better SEO

Leverage data

When setting goals, you may sometimes need to create numbers and targets from scratch, or you might receive performance goals dictated by various factors.

Regardless of these constraints, I’ve found that the most effective and meaningful goals for SEO teams come from thoroughly understanding and utilizing data.

Yes, SEO includes a lot of channel-specific research and data. 

At a basic level, if you have siloed teams and are doing PPC, if that data isn’t being shared – that’s priority number one. Data from other digital channels, including UX and CRO, are also critical. 

Getting a further level out, though, sales data is important if you have (want to have) any goals for your SEO team related to sales beyond just driving conversion goals/events.

I encourage you to share as much business data as possible with your SEO team. Involve them in the details to help them see how SEO connects to the overall business. 

This will help them better understand their impact and show what data they can use to work more efficiently. By doing this, they can avoid redundant research and rely on existing sources of information.

Ensure all necessary resources are available

The days when SEOs could handle 95% of the work that drives SEO performance are long gone. 

When I started in the industry, I managed many tasks on my own, including updating page copy. In hindsight, I may not have needed that much control.

Today, with the increasing focus on technical factors, content and trust-building signals, it’s much more challenging for SEOs to work independently. 

Now, they often need to collaborate with various specialists or rely on teams to achieve optimal results.

If you have an in-house or outsourced team, you probably already have plenty of checks and balances for approvals and defined roles.

When you’re setting goals for your team, factor in resources that don’t have “SEO” in their title but are important for SEO success. That includes SEO budgets for software, research tools, AI subscriptions and other hard costs. 

We wouldn’t expect a carpenter to arrive at a job site without basic tools like a hammer and tape measure. Similarly, we need to avoid unrealistic expectations when providing the right tools for SEOs.

SEO also requires collaboration with experts from other roles. While your team may have the skills to make technical changes, create content or handle approvals, it’s unrealistic to expect them to do everything on their own. 

To ensure alignment with brand standards, compliance and company goals, they’ll need support from other resources. 

Be sure to factor these resources into your budget and goals, including flexibility for unexpected needs as SEO evolves quickly.

Be clear about the objective

When setting goals and thinking about digital marketing channels – sometimes especially SEO – it can easily get lost in the details. 

There are so many KPIs and things that we can influence and track. When overlaying them on the overall customer journey or any funnels, it can get detailed in a hurry.

There’s nothing wrong with having a dozen or more KPIs that matter. However, KPIs themselves don’t tell the story and don’t constitute a goal.

Know what your overall objective is. 

The one that matters for you as a business owner, executive, manager or team lead. Work backward from your ultimate goals to get down into what SEO can influence. 

Dig deeper: Does generative AI save time, money and resources in SEO?

You might end up with many KPIs, but clearly understanding how each one supports the objective – and ranking them by importance and connection to the ultimate goal – will keep you on the right track.

Include AI

We’re deep enough into the AI era. Hopefully, AI is a given in SEO work. Regardless of where your team is, set secondary goals around AI use. 

There’s tension between the trade-offs of spending time testing and exploring new ways to incorporate AI versus doing things the predictable way that we always have.

By setting clear secondary goals focused on testing, gaining efficiencies and innovation, you can ensure your team is thinking about the future without losing focus on what’s currently working. 

This helps you avoid chasing “shiny objects” while also staying open to new opportunities, striking a balance between progress and stability.

Bonus: Align with career growth goals

If you manage an in-house SEO team or agency staff, your focus goes beyond performance goals. Think about their growth and retention. 

Aligning team goals with individual career growth is a big win. 

Setting performance goals that also support professional development, valuable experience, mentorship or other growth opportunities can create a stronger, more motivated team. 

The more your team members’ career goals align with your overall SEO objectives, the better the outcomes for both.

Dig deeper: The SEO career path: What it may look like and how to level up

Maximizing your SEO team’s performance through strategic goal-setting

SEO team goal setting could be as simple as telling the team what specific outcome they need to achieve in a given period. In a literal sense, you could communicate that and stop there.

As someone who has worked within, managed and been involved in many fashions with SEO teams, I can tell you that you can get more performance, develop a positive culture and accelerate growth by going deeper in your goal-setting approach and process.

I’m not asking you to make everything a democracy or make it group-think. If you’re in a position as a manager, executive or client, you have expectations and standards that need to be reached. 

How deep you go in working with the team will remove friction, reduce misunderstandings and help everyone pull in the same direction toward your ultimate goals.

Best practices in PPC advertising are helpful. But every account is unique and requires its own strategies for success. The key to optimizing your campaigns lies in systematic testing.

This article will guide you through the essential PPC testing strategies to enhance performance and achieve better results.

What is PPC testing?

PPC testing, at its core, is the process of systematically experimenting with various elements of your PPC campaigns to enhance performance and achieve optimal results. It involves adjusting and comparing components like:

• Headlines.
• Images.
• Calls to action (CTAs).

The goal is to determine what resonates best with your audience, ensuring every dollar spent delivers maximum impact. 

PPC testing offers deeper insights into what drives better clicks and conversions, guiding your campaigns toward greater success and efficiency.

Key PPC testing methods

To maximize the impact of your PPC efforts, it’s essential to use the right testing methods. Two primary strategies stand out: 

• A/B testing.
• Multivariate testing. 

While both aim to optimize campaign performance, they differ in approach, complexity and when they are most effective. Let’s explore each in detail.

A/B testing

A cornerstone method that allows comparison between two versions of an ad or webpage to determine which performs better.

How it works

• Split your audience in half:
  • One group sees version A.
  • The other group sees version B.
• Analyze performance through key metrics such as:
  • Click-through rates (CTR)
  • Conversions
  • Engagement

Benefits

• Helps make informed decisions to enhance campaign efficacy.
• Simple and effective, offering significant improvements with minimal effort.

Common pitfalls

• Uneven audience distribution can skew results.
• Short testing periods may not provide accurate data.

Multivariate testing

Tests multiple variables at once, creating several combinations for deeper insights.

Challenges

• Traffic and data limitations: Campaigns often don’t generate enough traffic for statistical significance across multiple variables.
• Complexity of monitoring: Tracking multiple variants simultaneously is more difficult than A/B testing.
• Misleading results: Simultaneous changes to many elements make it hard to identify the specific change driving performance improvements.

Platform limitations

• Google Ads tools and reporting are designed for simpler A/B tests, not multivariate testing.
• Setting up and managing multivariate tests within the platform is more challenging.

Best use cases

Multivariate testing is more practical for:

• High-traffic websites.
• Landing page optimization.

In most PPC campaigns, A/B testing offers greater clarity, efficiency and reliability.

Dig deeper: A/B testing mistakes PPC marketers make and how to fix them

A step-by-step PPC testing framework

1. Develop a testing thesis

Begin by crafting a clear hypothesis that directly addresses a specific aspect of your campaign you want to improve. 

A well-defined hypothesis gives your testing a sense of direction and is the foundation for meaningful analysis. 

Focus on creating hypotheses that are both meaningful and measurable. A good structure to follow is: 

• “If we change X, will Y happen?”

For example, in a search campaign, you could hypothesize: 

• “If we display more USPs like free shipping or free returns, we will increase CTR because these offers stand out from competitors.” 

The strength of your testing thesis is critical, as it directly impacts the quality of insights gained, shaping the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns.

2. Select key areas for PPC testing

When deciding where to focus your testing efforts, product titles are a good starting point. Testing variations in product titles can reveal which changes improve CTR or conversion rates, helping you fine-tune messaging to resonate better with your audience.

Text ad testing should focus on key elements such as headlines, descriptions and CTAs. These components have the most direct impact on how well an ad engages potential customers.

For video ads, testing variables like length, content and format is essential. Video continues to grow in importance within PPC campaigns. Understanding what captures attention and drives action will help you create more effective video content.

3. Set up tests in Google Ads

Google Ads offers built-in tools that allow you to create controlled experiments for testing. Start by defining the variables you want to test, such as ad copy, keywords or bidding strategies. 

Once your variables are clear, configure the experiment by selecting specific campaigns or ad groups to test. Ensure that you properly designate test and control groups and that the audience is distributed randomly so your results reflect actual changes rather than bias.

After setting up your tests, use Google’s tracking tools to monitor engagement metrics such as CTR, conversion rates and cost-per-conversion. The platform provides real-time insights, making it easier to analyze performance as the tests progress.

4. Conduct custom or advanced tests (beyond Google Ads)

While Google Ads provides useful tools, its testing environment has limitations and may not support all types of experiments. 

For more complex or highly specific tests, you may need to set up your testing framework outside of Google Ads. 

Custom tests allow for greater flexibility in design and ensure that advanced strategies can be evaluated properly, even when the built-in platform tools fall short.

5. Analyze results and iterate continuously

Once your tests are complete, carefully analyze the results to identify patterns in key metrics such as CTR, conversion rates, or cost-per-conversion. Use these insights to refine your strategy – scaling up elements that show promise and adjusting or discarding those that underperform.

Remember, testing is not a one-time task but an ongoing, iterative process. Regularly refining your campaigns based on testing results will help prevent stagnation and ensure that your PPC performance improves over time.

Dig deeper: Peak PPC season is coming: 5 tests to run now

Testing ideas for paid search campaigns

Ad copy

A/B testing ad copy is a fundamental and effective way to optimize PPC performance. 

The key is to focus on one element at a time – such as the headline, description or CTA – so you can directly attribute any performance changes to that specific variation. 

For example, you could test two different headlines while keeping the description and CTA constant, ensuring clear insights into what resonates better with your audience.

Remember to run these tests for an adequate duration to gather sufficient data. Typically, this means at least 2-4 weeks or until you reach statistical significance. This ensures your results are reliable and not just due to random fluctuations.

Use ad rotation settings to give both versions equal exposure to ensure a fair comparison. Most platforms, including Google Ads, offer settings to rotate your ads evenly, allowing for an unbiased test.

The launch of responsive search ads (RSAs) has made traditional ad copy testing more challenging, as RSA automatically tests all assets against each other. 

However, more controlled testing can still be achieved by limiting the number of assets used in an RSA, allowing for more focused comparisons.

Landing pages

Your landing page is crucial in converting clicks into customers, making it another vital element to test. Landing page testing involves creating variations of your page and comparing their performance in terms of conversion rate.

When testing landing pages, consider variations in layout, headlines and CTAs. For example, you might test a long-form page against a shorter, more concise version or compare different headline styles to see which resonates better with your audience.

Tools like Google Optimize can simplify the process of A/B testing your landing pages. These tools allow you to create and test variations without needing extensive coding knowledge.

Remember that your landing page should align closely with your ad messaging. This continuity helps meet user expectations and can significantly impact your quality score and conversion rates.

Common landing page tests include: 

• Product page vs. category page vs. the main page as the landing page. 
• Forwarding traffic directly to the contact form instead of a keyword-related landing page.

Other search test ideas

Other valuable test ideas for PPC campaigns include bid strategy testing and keyword match type testing.

Bid strategy testing

• This involves comparing manual bidding against automated strategies like Target CPA or Maximize Conversions. 
• Finding the approach that best meets your advertising goals helps optimize campaign performance and budget allocation. 
• When conducting these tests, allow sufficient time (typically 2-4 weeks) for machine learning algorithms to optimize.

Keyword match type testing

• This explores the impact of different match types (broad match modified, phrase match and exact match) on your campaign’s reach and efficiency. 
• By analyzing performance differences in CTR, conversion rate and CPA across these match types, you can strike the right balance between reach and relevance, leading to more efficient spend.

Product titles in shopping campaigns are crucial touchpoints influencing click-through rates and overall performance. They help products appear in relevant searches and provide key information at a glance.

Title structure

• Experiment with different arrangements of brand, product type and key features. 
• Example: “Nike Running Shoes with Air Cushion” vs. “Running Shoes by Nike – Air Cushion Technology”

Length

• Test short vs. long titles, keeping in mind Google typically displays the first 70 characters.

Attribute order

• Try different sequences of brand, product type, color, size, material and model number.

Specifications

• Compare titles with specific measurements vs. general descriptions and technical specs vs. layman’s terms.

Promotional language

• Test including terms like “Sale,” “New Arrival,” or “Free Shipping.”

Seasonality

• For relevant products, compare seasonal descriptions to standard ones like “christmas gift,” “gift for men” or “gift for women.”

Problem-solution framing

• Test titles highlighting the problem your product solves.

You can significantly improve your shopping campaign performance by systematically testing these elements. 

Remember that results may vary by industry and product type, so continuous testing is key.

Testing your video campaigns

Here are key areas to focus on when testing your YouTube advertising campaigns:

Thumbnail image variations

• Thumbnail image variations can significantly impact click-through rates. 
• Experiment with different visual elements, text overlays and emotion-evoking imagery to capture viewers’ attention.

Video length

• Test various video lengths, from short 6-second bumper ads to longer-form content, to find the sweet spot for your message and audience engagement.

Ad sequence

• This can help determine the most effective order of multiple video ads for storytelling.

CTA placement and wording

• Experiment with different CTA placements and wording to improve conversion rates.

Audience targeting

• Audience targeting tests, such as comparing affinity audiences versus in-market audiences, can refine your reach.

Bidding strategies

• Test different bidding strategies, like target CPM versus target CPA, to optimize for your campaign goals.

Ad formats

• Don’t forget to experiment with ad formats, comparing skippable vs. non-skippable ads or testing overlay ads against video discovery ads.

Ad copy and video content

• Conduct A/B tests on ad copy and video content, tweaking elements like opening hooks, background music or presenter styles to maximize viewer retention and action.

Dig deeper: YouTube’s triple threat: Mastering Feed, Shorts and Skippable ads

Get your accounts to the next level with PPC testing

A disciplined and methodical approach to PPC testing is essential for effective campaign optimization. Remember that PPC testing is an ongoing process of learning and improvement. 

By continually analyzing results and embracing experimentation, you can better align your campaigns with marketing objectives and business goals, ensuring sustainable success.

Marketing automation platforms (MAPs) are essential for improving efficiency, personalizing customer experiences, and maximizing ROI. With the market expected to grow to $13.48 billion by 2028, businesses of all sizes are recognizing the importance of these tools.

Whether you’re a new user just starting out or a current user evaluating your existing solution, now is the perfect time to explore how these platforms can benefit your business. MarTech’s Marketing Automation Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide provides in-depth insights into the latest trends and top solutions in the market.

When choosing the right platform, start by identifying your business needs and evaluating essential features like email marketing, lead management, and campaign orchestration. Consider the integration with your existing tech stack, especially your CRM, and review pricing models to understand the total cost of ownership.

Want to learn more? MarTech breaks down the top solutions to help you find the best fit for your needs. Read the complete guide today!

Digital PR is one of the most effective ways to earn backlinks and boost brand authority.

However, many are treating digital PR as just another SEO commodity, which puts its true potential at risk.

This article highlights why focusing only on cost-per-link damages digital PR.

We’ll explore how you can leverage digital PR more effectively, going beyond link acquisition to provide genuine value for your brand.

Cost per link is hurting the market

Digital PR has evolved into an essential SEO strategy that builds brand authority, boosts organic traffic and improves search rankings.

With a strong digital PR campaign, you get quality backlinks, brand mentions and improved trust, visibility and growth.

However, focusing on “cost per link” has damaged the market.

Agencies selling fixed link packages have become popular as they offer predictable, low-cost results.

While fixed link packages promise predictability, they come with significant downsides.

It reduces digital PR to a numbers game, sacrificing creativity, scale and, ultimately, higher rankings.

Why hunting link ROI is awful for SEO

ROI is an awful word. The issue isn’t with tracking numbers itself. The problem is that it means different things to different people. 

You need to be clear about its definition and context to avoid misunderstandings.

ROI is an efficiency metric, not an effectiveness one.

When SEOs focus on cost per link, they believe they are increasing the value they gain from digital PR.

In reality, they are reducing the value they gain from digital PR, causing the industry to race to the bottom.

Let me explain.

As an SEO, you want more links and brand mentions. We can all agree on this.

Digital PR offers this. It’s a service that generates brand publicity and backlinks, often based on data, creativity, expert commentary and stories.

So, naturally, bigger brands with larger budgets were the first to enter the digital PR world.

As the success stories emerged, others wanted digital PR for their brands, and the industry grew.

However, for many SEOs, the cost of digital PR was too high, and the retainer contracts were too long.

Additionally, many SEOs still live under the page rank ideology of follow/no-follow link values.

Naturally, it was only a matter of time before lower-priced digital PR emerged and today, fixed-price link packages are becoming the norm.

Buy 10 links for “X” fee.

The problem with this approach is that it places the efficiency of digital PR before the effectiveness.

Dig deeper: How SEO and digital PR can drive maximum brand visibility

Obsession with do-follow links hurts creativity

Efficient digital PR competes with effective digital PR.

If digital PR aims to generate as many links and brand mentions as possible within a given time frame, focusing on cost per link will naturally mean that agencies reduce their waste and risk.

Think about this logically.

A focus on low cost per link is you asking for more links at a lower price.

You get more links from the same budget and the digital pr agency agreeing to this before they do any work.

And it’s here that digital PR finds itself: on a path of commoditization and a race to the bottom.

But does this make any sense? Not really.

Backlinks are important. No one is saying otherwise. But arguably, brand mentions are even more critical.

As a byproduct of digital PR, you usually gain a brand mention with every link.

You also gain brand mentions without links. Yet, cost per link never discusses this.

This is a key mistake by SEOs. 

It’s long been known that Google can parse every sentence on the web, ignore the waffle and see where brands are being cited.

Equally, we know that most “guest posts” use keyword-focused anchor text, not brand mentions.

It doesn’t take a Google engineer to see how powerful a brand citation can be in a relevant and high-authority article, link or not.

This flies in the face of cost per link.

If you’re going to judge digital PR, we need to focus on the effectiveness of digital PR as a whole, not a single part.

Digital PR effectiveness vs. efficiency

Digital PR should be based on effectiveness first, followed by efficiency. 

As we know, digital PR aims to increase the volume of high-quality links and brand mentions. 

We should judge digital PR contracts based on their effectiveness in this task.

Efficiency is a secondary metric when looking at digital PR success.

This creates a massive issue for SEO and digital PR. When you focus on efficiency first, you set the digital PR market to reduce what you want.

More links and brand mentions.

You’re telling the digital PR market to minimize risk and not to focus on reach.

Because, like it or not, links and brand mention volume come from creative thinking. And that takes time and skill.

Efficiency turns digital PR into a product rather than a service.

Agencies are already “on the hook” for more links and can’t afford to waste outreach on ideas that might lead to massive results.

But as an SEO, you’re trying to get value for money.

You want to reduce the risks to your budget and career.

However, the secret lies in measuring digital PR differently.

Dig deeper: How to use digital PR to drive backlinks and business growth

How to negotiate a better digital PR contract as an SEO

The first thing that needs to change is the idea of looking for cost per link before the contracts begin.

This happens because people have limited budgets and seek a link guarantee or minimum KPI. Having a link KPI is now standard practice in digital PR, and it is used to negotiate contracts.

But here’s where the first hurdle of digital PR gets knocked over.

You’re forcing digital PR agencies to be less creative and focus on ideas that win links and don’t carry the risk of not working.

Remember, it’s about effectiveness first. 

We need to judge a contract based on its effectiveness in generating backlinks and that’s the first place you start.

How to judge the effectiveness of digital PR (as an SEO)

When you aim to judge the effectiveness of digital PR, you need to compare it with two things.

• How you generate links through other methods such as guest posts or outreach.
• Previous digital PR campaigns.

Those are your two benchmarks.

The difference between digital PR and traditional link outreach is that PRs reach out to journalists who need stories. 

In contrast, the other approach reaches out to website owners or marketers with the goal of promoting your content as something they’d like to link to.

Digital PR is vastly more effective at generating links because the target audience will likely be more receptive.

An agency is likely to give you an “anticipated link number.” This is where you would compare your current methods to this number.

If a six-month digital PR retainer previously generated 40 links with a high average authority, you’d be right to ask the agency, “How could they beat that?”

They may not be able to. In your sector, links may be difficult to come by, but this is where the agencies’ selling points come in.

Their creativity, their relationships and their sector experience.

Effectiveness must be judged after the retainer ends or over time. 

But what about efficiency?

The efficiency of digital PR (and how it works)

When your digital PR campaign ends or even during the retainer, you’ll start to see its efficiency.

Let’s take a $3,000 per month investment over six months.

• Month 1: No links.
• Month 2: 3 links and 5 brand mentions.
• Month 3: 15 links and 10 brand mentions.
• Month 4: 10 links and 8 brand mentions.
• Month 5: 18 links and 4 brand mentions.
• Month 6: 10 links and 15 brand mentions. 

You have 56 links and 42 brand mentions.

Your total bill was $18,000, giving you a cost per link of $321.

But you also gained 42 mentions, so you paid $183 per piece of coverage.

Now, you might be sitting there thinking, “Yeah, that’s great, but if I have a retainer-based contract rather than a product-based approach, I risk not generating links.”

I’ll explain why this is a false economy.

Retainer digital PR vs. productized digital PR

One of the reasons I love retainer-based PR is that when a client comes on, the team has to ideate and consider the future.

With product-based PR, it’s all about the “now.”

We offer both a product version and a retainer model, but with a retainer, you think strategically over the length of a contract. I say this as an SEO who works inside a digital PR agency.

I get to see the links we earn and the strategy behind them. 

Short-term retainers require a short-term strategy. 

It’s about how we can get links now versus what the best way to generate links and brand mentions for the clients over the length of the contract.

I appreciate that this is hard for some SEOs to swallow, especially if they’re used to gaining links via guest posts. There is a transactional approach to that, often fuelled by cash. But with digital PR, you’re earning links and brand mentions, not buying them.

Which brings me to the final point.

Digital PR as a wider marketing function.

How a focus on links kills the wider benefits that digital PR delivers 

All we’ve talked about is links and mentions here.

But digital PR is more than this. It acts as an advertising function for your brand.

Because it earns links and brand mentions, these stories are seen by thousands and often millions of people.

Some people are either in the market to buy what you sell right now or will be in the future.

The effectiveness of this depends on the link you gain and the subject matter you discuss. However, that’s what we call ‘relevance’ in digital PR.

The point is that digital PR acts as a marketing and sales activation strategy.

I’ve listed many of digital PR’s benefits, but above all else, I want you to remember one thing.

If you’re negotiating on cost per link before signing for digital PR, you’ll reduce the amount of ideation and creativity your agency can undertake.

You’re taking an efficiency metric and using it at the wrong time.

You judge digital PR success at the end of the retainer.

And focusing on the wrong metrics will likely harm your success.

But that’s on you.

As long as SEOs seek low-cost per-link guarantees before signing a contract, you’ll get what you ask for.

But it’s a surefire way to limit the potential of digital PR, and arguably, it’s a case of SEOs shooting themselves in the foot.

For me, as an SEO who uses digital PR to fuel growth. What I care about is as many relevant brand mentions and links as I can get.

And to do that, digital PR teams need to ideate and create strategies to achieve maximum success.

Because as long as real people read the news, digital PR needs to have human creativity at its heart.

And that’s what we buy when we ask for digital PR.

Human talent that maximizes SEO success.

Dig deeper: 12 SEO metrics to add to your digital PR measurement program

Over the last several months, I have tried to outline a more strategic approach to SEO. 

This starts with creating a unique SEO strategy, a lightweight SEO plan and upper funnel SEO content ideation using SCAMPER and the Value Proposition frameworks. Finally, this month, I want to look at optimized service landing pages. 

This is the bottom of the funnel: pages that will work for SEO and PPC traffic and are helpful, user-focused pages that are scientifically constructed to convert. 

By following these articles, you can go from top-level strategy to lead gen with a strategic feather in your SEO cap. 

To help in this endeavor, I have created a simple template you can copy and use as you work through this article. 

Landing page optimization matters for SEO

Your customers may well browse around your website, but there will always be key pages that aim to drive conversions. We can call these landing pages for convenience, but a customer may land directly or get here via another customer journey. 

The vital bit is that these pages are where the marketing rubber hits the website and you must convince the visitor to do business with you. 

If these conversion pages are not finely tuned, you risk losing traction and seeing your customers return to wherever they came from – never to be seen again! 

In this marketing environment, where more searches result in zero clicks, social networks are not keen on referring traffic and AI marches relentlessly on, when you get someone, you must convince them to take action. 

Below is a simple process for building a high-performance landing page that does just that. A page that will rank highly, drive engagement and have customers knocking on your door to do business with you.  

SEO leaks and leaky landing pages

Before we dive in, some important context helps frame the approach. 

Earlier this year, we had the first major Google search algorithm leak, which covered some elements of how the dominant search engine ranks results. 

There is a lot to unpack, and it is outside the scope of this article. However, one area of insight is user engagement metrics. The general takeaway is that behavioral metrics like clicks, time spent on a page and click-through rates (CTR) influence rankings. 

More recently, SEO expert Cindy Krum has theorized that user engagement may be even more critical for SEO. The general idea is that Google is using users’ behavior in Google Chrome to help understand high-engagement pages. 

Think about this for a second. Google has the most popular web browser, Google Chrome and the most popular mobile operating system, Android. That is a lot of engagement data, and in many ways, it would be crazy if they were not using it! 

This is reassuring, as it means that good SEO and good marketing are the same. Sure, we need to dial in our technical SEO and optimize around the language of our target audience, but we also need to make pages that speak to their wants, needs and pains. 

To create a solid landing page that ranks and converts, we focus on understanding and helping our target audience. That is music to my ears! 

Common landing page problems

Before we outline what to do, let’s look at common problems and what you should avoid.

• The page is too complicated. 
• Too wordy – message not clear enough
• No clear calls to action (or weak calls to action)
• Images and wording do not line up
• Unclear or flowery language 
• There is no lead generation to feed the funnel
• Technical niggles like fast sliders etc
• Not focused on the needs of the visitor (and is all about you)

There are many reasons a conversion-focused page fails, but these are some of the usual suspects. It is helpful to know what you are trying to avoid upfront! 

Who is the audience?

Before we get started, make sure to carefully define your audience segment. 

This is marketing basics, but essential. Your messaging can only hit the spot if you are talking to a specific audience segment. 

Choose a carefully defined segment and build your page around their pains, needs and wants. 

A perfectly optimized landing page: 10 key elements

Landing pages must quickly and effectively communicate how you can help solve the customer’s problems or help them achieve their goals. 

Most fail because they confuse or overload visitors by trying to do too much. The best landing pages focus on simplicity, clear messaging and leading the visitor through a series of steps towards a call to action. 

As time-challenged marketers, this approach provides a simple framework for creating powerful, optimized landing pages. This removes some cognition regarding how to structure the page, allowing you to focus on what matters. 

There are ten elements for the perfect landing page. 

Generally, the more of these you use, the better. The order can change somewhat, but you can follow this precisely as laid out (and fill this out in our template as you read the document). 

For some businesses, not all elements are needed and things like video can be a barrier, so consider the first six elements absolutely essential and the others icing on the cake. 

Remember, the most effective landing pages have a clear message, outline the stakes of not taking action, build trust and convert into leads or sales. 

The key components are:

You have around 10 seconds to make an excellent first impression on your visitors and get them to grasp your offer, or you will lose them forever! 

A few valuable aspects to consider here are:

• What do you offer?
• How does it make the customer’s life better?
• How do they buy it?

It is helpful to ask those questions and ensure you are going some way to answering them immediately. 

Clarity matters here. There should be no complexity or clever wording, just concise, clear messaging. 

The components of your header section should be:

• Headline: A clear, concise headline that defines the problem you solve. It should address your customer’s main pain point or goal in as few words as possible.
• Sub-headline: A short line explaining the solution your business offers and how it benefits the customer.
• Call to action (CTA): A strong and visible button that directs visitors to take immediate action, such as “Buy Now,” “Schedule a Call,” or “Get a Quote.” Consider also a transactional CTA for a mailing list, discount or voucher for those needing more time to take action!
• Soft call to action (CTA): A secondary CTA for maybe an email or a download or something to allow you to carry on the conversation (optional)
• Hero image: A visual or video that captures attention and reinforces your message (product image, video, or lifestyle shot of your customer benefiting from the solution).

Note: The visitor is not likely to convert here initially but may well bounce back to the top of the page at any point during the following steps. We want a clear, strong call to action so they know exactly what to do! 

2. The problem section

This section covers what will happen if the prospect does not act. You outline the stakes and paint a picture of failure for them to avoid. 

You want a sprinkle of negative to make the positive that follows all the sweeter! Don’t overdo it. 

Some questions to ask:

• What are you helping the customer avoid or overcome?
• What is the cost of not using your solution? Wasted time etc.

Here, you should: 

• Identify the problem: Briefly outline the specific problem your customer is facing, demonstrating that you understand their pain points.
• Agitate the problem: Emphasize the consequences of not addressing the problem, creating a sense of urgency. 

3. The solution section

This is where the psychological aspects of this structure start to take hold. You have outlined what you offer and the impact of not buying your product. 

Now, you must follow up with the results the customer can expect and what I like to call the promised land. The positive aspects here feel all the more potent due to the negatives in the problem section. 

Outline your value proposition and justify charging more than competitors by adding value. 

Often, these are things that the business already provides but still needs to articulate. 

The Value Proposition Canvas can help with this process by listing all elements of the product and the relevant benefits. 

• Introduce the solution: Present your product or service as the solution to the problem. Be clear about how your offering provides value and solves the customer’s issue.
• Benefits list: Highlight three to four key benefits or results your customer will experience by choosing your product/service.

4. Trust-building section

If you do the above well, we will have the visitor’s attention and must get them to trust us. This continues to add layers to the steps above and nurture them towards action. 

To build trust, you have to demonstrate empathy and authority. Empathy shows that you truly understand how the customer feels and authority shows that you have the hard experience to help. 

Example: “We know how frustrating it is to have a website that is converting. This is why we took 25 years of web design and digital marketing experience to create this winning framework for websites that convert every time.” 

In this section, include the following:

• Empathy and authority statement: a simple statement that shows empathy and experience. Can be a header and subheader. 
• Testimonials: Include customer testimonials demonstrating how your business has successfully helped other people like your target audience. 
• Logos or trust badges: Display logos of well-known clients or certifications that build credibility and trust.

5. A three-step plan 

At this point, your visitor should have their credit card in hand. You need to give them a simple, scannable, three-step plan detailing how they proceed. 

The plan must show the customer how easy it is to work with you and get results, removing complexity and making the customer journey clear.

• Step 1: What the customer needs to do. (e.g., “Schedule a consultation.”)
• Step 2: How your business will help them. (e.g., “We will create a customized plan.”)
• Step 3: The desired outcome. (e.g., “Start growing your business”)

It’s best to keep this bit visually simple. Three columns usually do the trick with a 1, 2 and 3 with a short header, an image and a simple description that is as concise as possible. 

Remember that people will skim through the content before reading it thoroughly, so ensure it’s easy to scan and encourages a second, more detailed read.

6. The explanatory section

Not all products are straightforward. While some customers may be hooked by the earlier sections, others will need more detail. 

This is where the explanatory section comes into play.

Here, you can have a paragraph or other page elements, such as FAQs, drop-down menus, etc., that help explain the offer and answer any customer questions or concerns. 

This section is useful for SEO so always:

• Clarify the offer: In a paragraph or two, explain your offer in more detail without jargon or technical language. Reinforce how the customer will benefit and why it’s the best solution for their problem.
• Overcome objections: Your sales team should be able to provide insight into the most common customer objections. This section can help you overcome some of those and remove any barriers to conversion. 
• Include FAQs: If you need to, you can add a series of FAQ questions that are accessible via a drop-down so the customer can skim and pick out the points of interest. 

7. Video (Optional)

Some people prefer video. They may skim the above but a video may be what pushes them forward. Your video, although optional, should simply lay out the steps above. 

This is optional and can create a barrier in some situations, giving you even more potential traction. 

• Time – 1 to 3 minutes: Keep it short and sweet. Make it as short as possible. 
• Engagement:  Make the first 30 seconds compelling to get people to keep watching.
• Video Hosting: be sure to host the video on a professional video hosting platform so it scales and keeps the site loading fast! 

You have already done the hard work here, so simply lay out everything from the process above, and you will grab those users who prefer to watch rather than read. 

Remember, if you use SEO for your content marketing, you may find other ways to make this video work for you!

8. Pricing (Optional)

If suitable for your product, have a pricing table. There is a reason why pricing pages are often some of the most highly clicked pages on a website. 

This reminds me of the old 4Ps of marketing: product and price being the first two. The product has to be right, but so does the price. 

• Pricing tiers: If applicable, include pricing options that let visitors see what they’ll get for different service levels. Show that you offer value at each price point.
• Options: Customers like options, so have three tiers if possible, even if this means bundling products.

9. Final CTA

Here, I like to have a simple, strong CTA. Typically, just repeat the primary CTA from the top of the page and use both a lightweight (email signup) and heavyweight (buy now) CTA.

• Repeat your CTA: At the bottom of the page, repeat the main call to action. Keep it direct and actionable (e.g., “Get Started Now”).

10. Everything else

Visitors may want to know a bit more about you, so anything else you feel is important can go down here. 

Typically this ends up looking like a standard website footer with links to your About us and Contact pages.

Conversion tips

To recap, there are a few guiding principles here to ensure your landing page is effective:

• Clarity over cleverness: Avoid using fancy language or creative metaphors that might confuse visitors. Be straightforward and focus on solving their problems, using crystal-clear language. 
• Limit distractions: Remove unnecessary links, text, or images that distract from the main call to action. The goal is to guide the customer down the page in a logical, focused way.
• Consistent CTA: Use the same primary call to action (e.g., “Schedule a Call”) throughout the page to avoid confusing visitors with too many options.

• Mobile optimization: Ensure that your landing page is fully optimized for mobile viewing, as many visitors will access it from their smartphones.
• Page load speed: Make sure the page loads quickly. A slow page can cause potential customers to leave before they see your message.
• Video hosting: Use professional video hosting so the video can be scaled to the correct bandwidth for the device used to access the page!

Sample wireframe layout for your landing page

This should then give you something that looks like this

• Hero section
  • Headline
  • Sub-headline
  • Call to action
  • Hero image/video
• Problem section
  • Outline the customer’s problem and agitate it.
• Solution section
  • Introduce your solution and highlight key benefits.
• Trust-building section
  • Include testimonials and logos/trust badges.
• Plan section
  • Present a three-step plan to show how easy it is to work with you.
• Explanatory Paragraph
  • Clarify your offer in simple, clear language.
• Pricing Section (Optional)
  • Display pricing options, if relevant.
• Final CTA
  • Repeat the main call to action with emphasis.

The result

The result of this process is a blueprint for a page that will rank, engage and convert. 

Typically, we fill out each section in the template and maybe even scratch this out on a sheet of paper to get a feel for the layout. 

This can then be fed into your web designer or development team to wire it up and make it look pretty. 

This process makes it easy for you to specify high-impact landing pages that remove any ambiguity for your visitors and guide them inexorably toward a conversion. 

When it comes to PPC, success depends on more than just launching campaigns — it’s about understanding and analyzing the right performance metrics. 

By knowing which data points to focus on and how to interpret them, you can make informed decisions that drive better results and align with your business goals. 

This article breaks down the key metrics you need to monitor, from basic to advanced, and shows you how to use them to measure and improve your PPC performance.

How PPC transformed advertising analytics

When digital advertising first emerged, one of its most exciting features was its ability to offer precise data measurement, something traditional marketing lacked. With PPC, you could track everything:

• How many people visited your website.
• How many viewed or clicked your ad.
• Even the specific search terms they used to find it. 

This was revolutionary, giving advertisers unprecedented insights into their audience’s behavior.

Beyond basic metrics, PPC also introduced conversion tracking, allowing advertisers to see the exact ROI for each ad. Compared to traditional advertising or early banner ads, this level of reporting and attribution was a game-changer.

PPC didn’t just offer data — it allowed for deep dives into ad performance, audience profiling and the customer journey in ways never seen before. 

Advertisers could spot trends early, forecast with greater accuracy and gain valuable insights into their competition. Like AI today, PPC disrupted the industry, forcing marketers to adapt to this new data-driven landscape.

However, just having access to all this data isn’t enough. Success depends on understanding and interpreting it effectively. It’s not just about having the information but knowing what to look for and why. 

Like the Three-Eyed Raven in “Game of Thrones,” possessing all the knowledge in the world is useless without the context and skill to interpret it. Only then can you turn insights into meaningful, actionable strategies. (If you’re not a GOT fan, thanks for sticking with me!)

Reporting

Context is crucial, as it often ties back to the core business and account objectives. 

Weekly, monthly and quarterly reporting of PPC data should align with each client’s goals. While this may seem obvious, it is not always practiced. 

The term “performance metrics” can vary significantly among clients, making it essential to establish a reporting structure tailored to different stakeholders. 

This ensures you have the analytical foundation needed to meet client expectations, whether through a reporting template from platforms like Swydo or Report Garden.

Personally, I prefer a real-time Looker Studio performance dashboard (or other real-time dashboards), where clients can adjust date ranges and access their own reporting without waiting for specific intervals. 

This approach provides immediate insights and allows for the integration of data from various platforms beyond PPC, such as Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce and GA4. 

By doing so, you can create a more comprehensive view that offers deeper context beyond just advertising performance.

Dig deeper: 3 steps for effective PPC reporting and analysis

Fundamental PPC metrics

Before diving into advanced metrics, it’s essential to first consider the bread-and-butter metrics. These are the primary data points you review during your daily checks and serve as the foundation for any performance analysis. 

Many clients prioritize (and some may even dwell on) these metrics because they are easily understood and have more in common with traditional metrics than the more advanced data. Additionally, these fundamental metrics will serve as the basis for the advanced metrics you examine later.

A quick sample of fundamental metrics would include:

• Impressions: The amount of people who have viewed your ads.
• Clicks: The amount of people that have clicked on your ad.
• Average cost per click (CPC): Cost divided by clicks.
• Click-through rate (CTR): Clicks divided by impressions.
• Unique sessions: Amount of users who have been on your website.
• Conversion value: The amount of revenue generated from a sale.

The above metrics often serve as the foundation for most basic PPC reports I’ve encountered. 

Google typically provides these metrics natively, with only minimal coding needed to enable conversion tracking for conversion value. I still consider this fundamental as it is essential for analyzing performance. 

Your advertising objective should focus on improving the click-through rate of your ads and making them more engaging to enhance campaign efficiency. 

This, in turn, can increase the number of impressions and clicks, allowing you to scale performance. 

Also, aim to decrease the average CPC, which theoretically enables you to generate more traffic for your spending, particularly when stepping up with display ads.

They serve a purpose and need to be the first point of analysis, especially in identifying campaign disruptions. Some examples would include:

• Clicks are down 75% day on day on Performance Max ads? Feed issues.
• Clicks are up 100% day on day on Performance Max ads? Spike in Display channel distribution.
• Average CPC up 25% in brand campaign month on month? A couple of new competitors in the market bidding on your brand keywords.
• CTR down 20% month on month? Those new keywords aren’t relevant enough.

Ultimately, though, all the fundamental metrics won’t be enough to analyze independently if your priority objectives are being met. 

Just remember that the next time a client questions why clicks are down 10% year on year or why CTR is down 15%, they need to focus on the fact that POAS is up 25% and LTV is up 15%. 

These metrics are directly related to the business objectives, such as becoming more efficient with advertising spend in a year characterized by tougher market conditions and fewer growth opportunities.

Dig deeper: Setting PPC goals: How to tailor KPIs and metrics for each funnel stage

Advanced PPC metrics

I mentioned a few above, but some advanced metrics include:

• Return on ad spend (ROAS): Advertising cost divided by conversion value.
• Gross profit: The amount of gross profit you make for each sale.
• Profit on ad spend (POAS): Advertising cost divided by gross profit.
• Lifetime value (LTV): The average value of each user who makes a purchase.
• New user acquisition: The amount of new customers generated.
• Returning user %: The proportion of returning users to your website.
• Brand recall: The % users who can remember your brand from a surveyed group.

All of the above can be linked to a common business objective, which can then be translated into advertising goals. 

Some metrics are more challenging to obtain than others — for instance, Google requires a minimum spend of $5,000 on YouTube ads over a 10-day period just to ask one question for its brand lift measurement. 

However, only the appropriate metrics are needed for relevant performance analysis.

To elevate your performance analysis, you must shift from relying solely on Google platform data to incorporating a mix of other platforms for a more holistic view. 

Google Analytics 4 is an obvious supplemental tool, but you can also use third-party attribution or management software like Triple Whale, Profit Metrics, SMEC and Optmyzr for deeper insights. 

While this isn’t always necessary, it becomes a valuable option if your account is large and performance analysis is a collaborative and regular exercise prioritized by the client – especially if Google data alone isn’t trusted.

For instance, Google now tracks lifetime value within the account. However, if tracking was recently installed, it may take time to build accurate data on customer value. More mature and holistic data from other platforms may be used instead in such cases.

Dig deeper: 3 PPC KPIs to track and measure success

Business objective = advertising objective

If expanding the customer base is one of the advertising objectives, identifying and evaluating LTV and new user acquisition will be essential. 

Accurate data is critical, so many look beyond Google tracking. When you’re confident in your data – whether for reporting or optimization – it provides the necessary context for performance analysis. 

For example, if a customer’s LTV is around $5,000 and the is on focus on acquiring new customers, metrics like conversion value and ROAS become less relevant.

A campaign targeting only new user acquisition might have a ROAS of 100%, which, at first glance, isn’t great since you’ve only generated the same amount you spent. 

However, with an average order value of $500 and an LTV of $5,000, your actual ROAS is closer to 1,000% when determining the customer’s future sales.

Accurate evaluation of LTV, combined with precise new user acquisition data, helps achieve your campaign objectives. It also helps identify a target “New User ROAS” that you can regularly analyze and optimize at the campaign level.

If profit is the client’s priority objective, metrics like conversion value and ROAS become less important during performance reviews. 

You might have a campaign that generates a 1,000% ROAS (like the example above), but it turns out the client’s margins are very low, and they actually incur a loss with a 75% POAS (where 100% is break-even). 

In contrast, another campaign might generate a 500% ROAS, but because the products have better margins, the POAS is 150%.

Without context, anyone analyzing the account would recommend allocating more budget to the first campaign since it achieved double the ROAS. 

However, with the business objective in mind, the second campaign would be identified as having the greatest growth opportunity, given its double POAS.

Make your PPC performance analysis more meaningful

When analyzing and reporting on PPC performance, the objectives must remain at the core. 

Foundational metrics are important, but clients and businesses often fixate on them during performance discussions. Instead, the focus should shift to advanced metrics that better show whether the advertising channel is achieving its goals.

Too much focus on clicks, impressions and average CPC diverts attention from what truly matters. This can also affect how campaigns are managed, risking a misalignment of priorities and drifting performance.

It’s the account manager’s responsibility to guide clients toward the metrics that matter. 

Build your reports and dashboards around relevant KPIs that support the performance narrative and assist in deeper analysis of the account, campaigns, products and services. 

This approach will help uncover trends, issues, opportunities and insights that position you for long-term success.

Dig deeper: 6 tips to track and analyze PPC results

In B2B PPC lead generation, the goal of most advertising campaigns isn’t to drive sales but leads.

These leads eventually turn into sales, but it often takes 12–18 months.

There are multiple touchpoints along the journey from initial identification of need to finally signing a contract and there are costs involved in each stage.

Understanding your customer acquisition cost is important, as it can help you determine how much you can invest in advertising and still be profitable.

What is customer acquisition cost?

Customer acquisition cost, or CAC, is defined as the total cost to acquire a customer divided by the total number of customers. 

“Cost” can include marketing costs or overheads such as wages, software and other tools to acquire new customers.

Setting an ideal CAC

Many businesses will already have established their ideal CAC. If you haven’t, you should do so before investing in PPC advertising.

While it’s always possible to simply optimize for the lowest possible cost per acquisition, to be profitable you’ll want to know how much you can afford to spend to acquire a customer.

To do that, you’ll need to know what the lifetime value of a customer is.

The formula for calculating lifetime value is:

• Lifetime value (LTV) = Average order value x Total transactions / Unique customers

Once you know your LTV, you can decide how much of that LTV you’re willing to spend to acquire a customer. It could be 10% or 50% or even 100%. Make sure your business leadership agrees with the percentage.

When setting the percentage, make sure it’s realistic.

If you decide that your CAC should be 10% of LTV and LTV is $1,000, that’s $100. If you’re in a competitive PPC space where CPCs are in the $50 range (and that’s not at all unheard of in B2B), you’d need a 50% conversion rate to meet your goal. That’s probably not realistic or achievable.

Measuring CAC in-platform

You might be thinking, “It’s easy to measure CAC in platform! It’s just cost per conversion.”

And you may be right.

You might also be wrong.

If you’re selling products directly online, such as in ecommerce, then your CAC probably is your cost per conversion, plus any associated costs like overhead.

But in B2B, a conversion doesn’t equal a customer.

A conversion, as measured in Google Ads or Microsoft Ads, can be any action that can be tracked with a pixel.

It could be a page view, a video view, a button click, a Google Maps location visit or a form fill.

Just because someone viewed a page or a video does not mean they’ve become a customer, or even a lead. There is no mechanism to follow up with these users and they’re probably not ready to be followed up with anyway.

Even a user who fills out a lead generation form is not a customer yet, so it would be premature to assume that the cost per form fill is the same as your CAC.

The bulk of the B2B lead generation effort takes place outside of advertising platforms, in the form of salespeople following up directly with prospects. However, it’s still possible to measure PPC CAC in ad platforms.

This is where offline conversion imports come in.

One of the most helpful innovations from Google Ads for B2B advertisers is the ability to import conversions from CRM platforms. 

There is a built-in import to Google Ads from Salesforce and HubSpot and you can connect just about any other CRM by using Zapier. 

Once you’ve connected your CRM to Google Ads, you can see not only initial form fills, but multiple funnel stages such as: 

• Lead. 
• Opportunity.
• Customer.

Here’s an example of a client who’s pulling HubSpot data into Google Ads to measure conversions in the funnel:

In this case:

• Lead represents the initial form fill on the website.
• Opportunity represents the actual lead created in HubSpot, which filters out obvious junk leads.
• Customer is someone who made it all the way through to purchase.

By using offline conversion imports, you can see how much an actual customer costs.

In the example above, the cost per customer is $26,339.03 divided by 11, or $2,394.46.

Now, we have a number we can optimize toward.

Optimizing CAC

Smart bidding in Google Ads will help you optimize your CAC. It uses conversion data in an account to prioritize users who are more likely to perform an action: a click or a conversion, depending on the bid strategy you choose.

When you use offline conversion imports, you can use value-based bidding to get the bidding algorithm to focus on the most valuable actions for your business.

In my example above, we’ve set the following values for conversions:

• Lead: $100.
• Opportunity: $500.
• Customer: $5,000.

These are arbitrary numbers intended to show the relative value of each action to the other. A customer is worth 10 times as much as an opportunity and 50 times as much as a lead.

By using a Maximize Conversion Value bid strategy, Google Ads will try to find users who are not only leads, but customers. 

In this example, we’ve been able to increase the total number of leads for this client while also dramatically increasing the number of customers because the smart bidding algorithm optimizes toward them.

Solving for long sales cycles

In my example, it takes a user about 14 days to move from an initial lead to a customer. In B2B, that’s a relatively short sales cycle.

It’s not unusual for B2B sales cycles to be 12–18 months.

The challenge is, Google Ads only looks at offline conversions for the last 90 days. If your sales cycle is longer than 90 days, you won’t see many if any final customers in your offline conversion data.

There are a couple of workarounds for this.

One is to manually match up data from your CRM to Google Ads.

While you won’t be able to see data down to the keyword level or use it for smart bidding, at least you can calculate your CAC and assign values.

If you’ve captured data in your CRM at the campaign level, which is pretty common, at least you’ll be able to see which campaigns are driving the highest value for you and set bids and budgets accordingly.

Another way to deal with long sales cycles is to use microconversions. 

Microconversions are hand-raising actions that don’t represent an actual lead, such as views of a key page, initiating a chat, watching a video, or interacting with non-gated content.

Track microconversions in addition to lead form fills and funnel data. It doesn’t hurt to track funnel data even if it goes past the 90-day mark. 

As described above, assign values to the microconversions. 

Make them tiny, if needed: a video view might only be worth $1, while a lead form fill is worth $100 or $1,000 or $5,000. 

The idea is to get enough data to feed the optimization machine and generate more users taking hand-raising actions.

A side benefit of tracking microconversions is you can use these audiences for retargeting. 

Retarget people who watched a video about your product with an offer enticing them to take the next step — downloading an ebook or getting a free demo, for example.

By using the features available in Google Ads, such as microconversions, offline conversion imports and Smart Bidding, you can maximize your CAC for B2B PPC.

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Microsoft announced a number of new features for Bing Webmaster Tools including a new recommendations section, 16 months of data (up from six months) and a limited private preview of Copilot.

Recommendations

Bing Webmaster Tools is “evolving” its Top Insights section and renaming it to “Recommendations.” Microsoft said the new recommendations provide a “more comprehensive and powerful” toolset. It gives you “personalized and actionable insights that help you optimize your website for maximum visibility and performance.”

Benefits. Here are the benefits Microsoft explained to us for Recommendations:

• Enhanced data granularity: Recommendations dive deeper into your website’s performance metrics, offering granular data that helps identify specific areas for improvement.
• Actionable insights: The tool goes beyond basic analytics by providing clear, actionable steps tailored to your site’s unique needs. This empowers webmasters to implement changes that can drive significant traffic and engagement.
• Real-time updates: In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, timely information is critical. The new feature offers real-time updates so you always have the latest data at your fingertips.
• Comprehensive SEO recommendations: From keyword optimization to backlink strategies, Recommendations cover all aspects of SEO, providing thorough guidance to help you climb the search engine rankings.

What it looks like. Here is a screenshot of the new “Top Recommendations.”

Google Search Console recently began testing recommendations in Search Console, but it is not fully rolled out to all users.

Extended Search Performance data: 16 months

Microsoft also has extended the amount of data you get within the Search Performance reports within Bing Webmaster Tools. from six months to16 months of data. This matches the amount of data Google gave us for Search Console back in 2018.

According to Microsoft, this was done in response to feedback.

“Whether you’re trying to figure out a sudden traffic drop or planning your next big campaign, the extended data view helps you make confident, informed decisions. All Search Performance data filter options will be available for 16 months immediately, while crawling and indexing history will become accessible as the information is collected,” Microsoft added.

Benefits. Here are the benefits Microsoft sees by extending the data, but as you can imagine, having more data is great:

• Comprehensive trend analysis: With 16 months of data, you can identify long-term trends and patterns that were previously hidden, allowing for more accurate forecasting and strategy development.
• Seasonal insights: Understand how seasonal changes impact your traffic and adjust your marketing strategies accordingly to capitalize on peak periods.
• Campaign effectiveness: Evaluate the success of past campaigns over a longer period helps you refine your tactics and improve future performance.
• Enhanced reporting: Provide stakeholders with more detailed and comprehensive reports, showcasing the impact of your SEO efforts over an extended timeframe.
• Improved resource allocation: Allocate resources more effectively by understanding which strategies and campaigns have the most significant long-term impact.
• Competitive advantage: Gain a competitive edge by leveraging historical data to stay ahead of industry trends and make proactive adjustments to your SEO strategy.

What it looks like: Here is a screenshot that Microsoft provided.

Microsoft also pre-announced new Copilot features in Bing Webmaster Tools. Users can ask Copilot questions about data and information within Bing Webmaster Tools. This will be available as a “limited preview by invitation only,” Microsoft wrote.

Copilot in Bing Webmaster Tools promises to provide “instant, accurate and contextually relevant answers to [user] queries.” It is engineered to provide “streamline workflows, enhance productivity, and provide valuable insights,” Microsoft added.

The Copilot Bing Webmaster Tools features include:

• Real-time question.
• Answer chat.
• Deep data insights.

What it looks like. Here are screenshots of what this will look like.

Why we care

The new recommendations, extended data and Copilot integration are all welcomed additions to Bing Webmaster Tools. While the new recommendations and extended search performance data are coming now, the preview of Copilot integration is an exciting upcoming feature.

LinkedIn Message Ads are a powerful tool for B2B marketers looking to directly engage with their target audience. 

This guide will walk you through everything you should know about Message Ads, from their basic definition to advanced implementation strategies.

What are LinkedIn Message Ads?

Message ads deliver direct messages to your prospects through LinkedIn Messaging, encouraging action. 

These ads are native, meaning they’re designed to blend seamlessly with regular LinkedIn messages. They can appear on both desktop and mobile devices.

Here’s an example of a Message Ad:

Dig deeper: LinkedIn advertising: A comprehensive guide

How can I tell the difference between a Message Ad and a regular message on LinkedIn?

If you go into the Messaging section of LinkedIn, you can see that some messages have the word Sponsored in the preview on the left side. Those are Message Ads.

What’s the difference between Message Ads and Conversation Ads?

Both are forms of sponsored messaging through LinkedIn. 

• Message ads consist of a targeted message with a single call-to-action button that drives to a landing page. 
• Conversation ads consist of a targeted message with multiple call-to-action buttons that can drive to a landing page, open a lead gen form or provide more information in follow-up messages.

Are there any restrictions on Message Ads that I should be aware of?

Yes. You cannot target LinkedIn members based in the European Union (EU). 

If a campaign includes both EU and non-EU targeting, the campaign will deliver to non-EU audiences only.

Why should I use Message Ads?

According to LinkedIn, they drive higher engagement and response rates compared to traditional email marketing. 

While Mailchimp’s industry average open rate is 21%, LinkedIn reports an average of 50%. 

In my experience running multiple Message Ads for an enterprise-level financial services client, I’ve seen an impressive average open rate of 56.69%, closely aligning with LinkedIn’s benchmarks

Which objectives can I use when running Message Ads?

You can only create Message Ads using website visits, lead generation or website conversion objectives. I most often use the Website Visits objective when creating Message Ads.

How to set up a LinkedIn Message Ad

To get started, you only need a few things:

• A sender: There is a process for this that I’ll talk about in the next section.
• Subject line: 60 characters maximum.
• Message text: 1,500 characters maximum.
• Call to action (CTA): Up to 20 characters.
• Image (Optional): 300x250px banner image.
• Custom footer (Optional): This can be a disclaimer or terms and conditions.
• Lead form (Optional): If you selected lead generation as the campaign objective, you’ll need to attach a form to your ad.

Best practices when developing Message Ads

Following best practices is essential for driving engagement and conversions with your LinkedIn Message Ads.

Identify a reputable sender

Ensure the recipient is already a first-degree connection on LinkedIn. You’ll need to send them a request through the platform, which they must approve. 

To do this, click the Add a sender button when creating your ad, type in their name, select them and then hit Send request.

Keep your subject line concise, relevant and conversational

LinkedIn recommends using keywords such as: 

• “Exclusive invitation”
• “Connect” 
• “Opportunities” 
• “Join us/me”

 I’ve personally seen great success using “Join me” in subject lines.

Make sure the sender introduces themselves 

This should be done at the start of the message. Communicate a clear purpose that speaks to your audience. Capture their attention and tell them quickly why they should keep reading.

Customize your message by adding custom fields

If you add %FIRSTNAME%, %LASTNAME%, %COMPANYNAME%, %JOBTITLE%, and/or %INDUSTRY%, these macros will dynamically insert the recipient’s first name, last name, company name, job title and/or industry. 

If the user has more than one current company or job title, then LinkedIn will populate the recipient’s most recently added company or job title.

Keep your message text below 500 characters

While you can have up to 1,500 characters maximum, try to keep it brief.

Test hyperlinks

While LinkedIn suggests that adding a hyperlink in your message can boost click performance, my experience shows no noticeable impact – though it’s still worth testing.

Always test your message before you go live

Once you’ve created the ad, hit save. Before you review and launch your ad, hit the three dots next to your message ad. You’ll see an option to “Send test message.”

This will be sent directly to your LinkedIn messages. You can see how the message renders, including any custom fields.

Testing is also extra important because once you change your ad status from Draft to Active, the ad can no longer be edited.

What metrics should I look at to evaluate Message Ad performance?

This depends on which objective you use:

Website visits objective

• Sends: Number of times your ad was sent (i.e., impressions).
• Opens: Number of times your ad was opened (unique opens).
• Open rate: The percentage of messages opened compared to the total sent.
• Website visits: Number of times someone clicked through your ad to your landing page.
• Cost per action (website visit): Total cost divided by the number of website visits.
• Click-through rate: Number of clicks divided by total impressions.

Website conversions objective

• Sends: Number of times your ad was sent (i.e., impressions).
• Opens: Number of times your ad was opened (unique opens).
• Open rate: The percentage of messages opened compared to the total sent.
• Conversions: Total number of times member accounts took a desired action after clicking on or seeing your ad.
• Cost per action (website conversions): Total cost divided by the number of website conversions.
• Conversion rate: Number of conversions divided by total clicks.

Lead generation objective

• Sends: Number of times your ad was sent (i.e., impressions)
• Opens: Number of times your ad was opened (unique opens)
• Open rate: The percentage of messages opened compared to the total sent.
• Leads: Number of users who have submitted their information through your lead form ad
• Cost per lead: Total cost divided by the number of leads.
• Lead form completion rate: Number of lead form submissions divided by the number of lead form opens.

Maximize your LinkedIn advertising with Message Ads

LinkedIn Message Ads offer a powerful way to directly engage with your target audience on a professional platform.

By understanding the key components, best practices and performance metrics we’ve discussed, you can create compelling campaigns that resonate with your prospects.

Remember to always test your messages, choose your sender wisely and continuously monitor your performance metrics to optimize your campaigns.

With the right strategy, Message Ads can become a valuable tool in your B2B marketing arsenal, helping you build relationships, generate leads and drive conversions.

The way consumers search, discover and purchase products is rapidly changing.

Traditional search engines like Google have dominated this process, but the lengthy, multi-step journey often leads to drop-offs and a fragmented experience.

Today’s consumers, especially younger ones, want faster, seamless experiences. TikTok and YouTube are capitalizing on this, transforming ecommerce by integrating discovery and purchasing directly in-app. This shift threatens to reduce the role of traditional search engines.

If you want to stay competitive in this evolving ecommerce landscape, understanding how TikTok and YouTube are streamlining the buying journey is key. 

This article explores how these platforms transform the traditional search process, offering new opportunities to boost engagement and drive conversions through social search and shoppable content.

A look at the traditional search journey

The traditional search journey takes users from awareness to conversion, starting with broad informational queries as they research their needs, read reviews and compare options. 

As they move through the funnel, searches become more specific, often leading to ecommerce platforms or brand websites where purchases are made. 

SEO and PPC ads play a key role in capturing attention throughout.

However, this process can be long and complex, with multiple touchpoints that may cause distractions or drop-offs. 

TikTok and YouTube simplify this by combining discovery, consideration and purchase into one seamless experience.

How TikTok and YouTube are redefining product discovery

Product discovery is rapidly evolving, with TikTok and YouTube becoming essential for brand awareness and consumer engagement, especially among younger audiences.

These platforms are no longer just for entertainment or education – they’re now key sources for discovering new products and brands. 

At the core of this shift is the influence of visual content and creators.

User-generated videos, influencer marketing and product demos connect with audiences in ways traditional ads can’t, offering authenticity and trust as creators showcase products in real-life scenarios.

A major game-changer is the integration of direct shopping features on both platforms. This allows users to easily buy products without leaving the app.

This streamlined experience encourages instant purchases, perfectly catering to the habits of today’s digital consumers.

Dig deeper: Search, social and retail: The future of digital brand experiences

In-app shopping on TikTok and YouTube is changing traditional search behavior by merging product discovery and purchase into a single, seamless experience.

This reduces the time spent in each stage of the buying process, increasing conversion rates by minimizing distractions. 

The lines between content, commerce and entertainment are blurring, creating a new model for online shopping.

Users are increasingly skipping traditional search engines and turning to social platforms for product recommendations and instant buying options. This shift from research-driven searches to more transactional, trend-focused ones reshapes online search.

Traditional search engines are losing dominance in ecommerce as consumers trust creators, visual content and real-time interactions more. 

TikTok and YouTube’s social commerce is quickly becoming the preferred shopping method, especially among younger users.

This shift presents both challenges and opportunities for brands. They must now optimize for search engines and social commerce, creating engaging, shoppable content and using creators to drive conversions. 

Adapting to these new platforms is essential to staying visible and boosting sales in today’s digital market.

Dig deeper: Is TikTok a search engine? Why meeting searchers’ needs matters more than semantics

How a luxury resale brand uses TikTok: Case study

Luxe Collective, a UK-based luxury resale brand, showcases how brands can use TikTok’s ecommerce tools like TikTok LIVE Shopping and TikTok Shop to boost sales and engage audiences.

Luxe Collective has transformed how consumers find and buy high-end fashion products by blending its pre-loved luxury items with TikTok’s social commerce features.

Embracing TikTok LIVE Shopping

Luxe Collective’s success on TikTok can be attributed to its LIVE shopping events. The brand uses its massive follower base (over 1.6 million on TikTok) to showcase products in real time. 

These live sessions allow them to engage directly with consumers, offer product insights and respond to questions instantly, creating a sense of urgency and trust that encourages impulse buying.

By using creator-style content and live unboxings, Luxe Collective taps into the growing trend of social proof, where customers trust creators and influencers for their product choices.

The proof is in the sales that have come from this effort.

Ben Gallagher, Luxe Collective’s co-founder, recently shared on LinkedIn that they sold two luxury bags for a total of £12,000 during one of their LIVE shopping experiences.

This continues the brand’s success after its initial LIVE shopping experience launch earlier this year, where they sold 127 luxury items.

TikTok Shop integration

In addition to LIVE Shopping, Luxe Collective integrated the TikTok Shop feature, enabling users to purchase items directly within the app. Since the launch, they have sold 3,100 products.

The brand successfully merges educational and entertaining content with authentic storytelling and easy in-app purchases. This approach turns viewer engagement into sales by using the convenience of TikTok’s shopping features.

The impact

This approach has paid off significantly for Luxe Collective, as the positive results described above show.

The brand’s TikTok-driven strategy has helped it disrupt the luxury resale market, grow its sales and expand its audience. 

As a pioneer in TikTok’s social commerce landscape, Luxe Collective’s ability to connect with users through engaging, live and authentic content positions it as a key example of how brands can redefine the search journey within a social platform – building a brand community.

By seamlessly merging discovery, engagement and purchasing, Luxe Collective demonstrates how TikTok’s ecommerce tools reshape the consumer journey, offering a compelling case for other brands to explore these features.

And they are starting too.

Beauty brand P. Louise, which had already embraced TikTok as a content platform, launched a TikTok shop and regularly sells on the platform, with 250,000 monthly orders.

Alongside this, they also launched a live shopping experience on the platform, making £1.5million within the 12-hour live session. 

Key differences between traditional search and social search 

When comparing traditional search to social search platforms like TikTok and YouTube in the context of ecommerce, the user experience diverges sharply.

Traditional search follows a transactional mindset. After initial awareness, users typically arrive with the intent to research, compare and make informed purchasing decisions. The focus is on users seeking out information to facilitate a deliberate decision.

In contrast, TikTok and YouTube center around emotionally driven, social commerce experiences.

Here, purchases are often driven by impulse, spurred on by engaging visual content, creator endorsements and community validation.

Users are not necessarily seeking products but discovering them organically through content, accelerating decision-making.

Content-driven commerce

Video content is key in reducing decision fatigue. The visual nature of TikTok and YouTube allows consumers to quickly assess a product’s utility and appeal without extensive research.

Endorsements by trusted creators lend credibility, making consumers more likely to purchase on the spot.

The community aspect is another key differentiator. Comments, live interactions and creator-led discussions in live streams or videos foster a sense of shared experience. 

This real-time feedback can drive immediate purchases, as users see products in action and feel socially validated by peer and creator opinions.

In essence, TikTok and YouTube and the emerging social search platforms actually transform shopping into an engaging social experience, blurring the lines between content consumption and commerce.

In contrast, traditional search remains a tool for methodical, research-based shopping.

Dig deeper: Social search and the future of brand engagement

What does all this mean for brands, SEOs and wider marketing?

As TikTok and YouTube integrate ecommerce features, brands and marketers need to adapt their search strategies to optimize for both traditional search engines and social commerce platforms. They must embrace a “search everywhere” approach rather than focusing on just one platform.

With in-platform shopping, the search-to-buy process is no longer limited to Google or Bing.

Instead, TikTok and YouTube are becoming essential to the search journey, and brands must create content that thrives within these ecosystems.

Rethinking your search and SEO strategies

Brands must optimize their content for TikTok and YouTube by combining traditional SEO principles with social search strategies. This involves:

• Using relevant keywords for search functions.
• Incorporating hashtags, trending sounds and formats that resonate with these audiences. 

Influencers, user creators and even employee creators play a vital role as brand ambassadors in this new search-to-buy process. Their recommendations can lead directly to purchases without leaving the app.

Embracing opportunities and challenges

There are clear opportunities and challenges for search marketers here. 

• Growth potential: In-platform transactions offer opportunities for faster conversions and higher ROI, as users are more inclined to make impulse purchases when engaged.
• Navigating algorithm challenges: Brands face challenges with unpredictable platform-specific algorithms that often prioritize trending content over consistent engagement. Marketers may need to develop new skills and knowledge to adapt effectively.
• Increased competition: As more brands enter social commerce, competition for attention will intensify. This requires creative and authentic content strategies to maintain visibility.

Adapting to shoppable content

For ecommerce brands to thrive, they must integrate shoppable content effectively into their videos and live streams. 

• Integrating shoppable content: Best practices include:
  • Adding clear, clickable shopping links during live streams.
  • Using in-video prompts to guide viewers to purchase options seamlessly.
• Using authentic creators: Engaging creators to demonstrate products authentically is essential for blending content and commerce. This approach resonates better with younger audiences on these platforms.
• Agility and engagement: Successful brands in social commerce will be those that can quickly adapt, engage audiences authentically and leverage creators and community to convert content into sales.

The rise of social search: TikTok and YouTube as ecommerce powerhouses

The rise of TikTok and YouTube as ecommerce platforms marks a significant shift in the traditional search journey.

Brands and marketers can no longer rely solely on search engines like Google for awareness, discovery and conversions. 

Instead, these platforms – centered around entertainment, community and content – are now essential for consumers looking to find and purchase products.

To thrive in this new landscape, brands must be adaptable. This means optimizing for both traditional and social commerce ecosystems and adopting a holistic “search everywhere” approach. 

Using creator-driven content and seamlessly integrating shopping features into videos and live streams is crucial.

Ultimately, the blending of content and commerce on TikTok and YouTube could redefine the concept of search.

We are moving toward a future where search becomes an experience rather than just a transactional process – especially as AI continues to evolve and influence these dynamics. 

Brands that embrace this “search everywhere” mindset will be well-positioned to lead in the next iteration of the search journey.

A big challenge for many SEO professionals is identifying what needs to change to move the needle. 

This article recaps a topic from my SMX Advanced presentation on determining which URLs you should prioritize for Core Web Vitals.

Qualitative vs. quantitative SEO priorities

I’m a big fan of quantitative SEO changes impacting thousands of URLs simultaneously (especially for enterprise-level websites). 

However, making quantitative improvements on thousands of URLs doesn’t mean the changes you make will actually improve the URLs, causing low or poor performance. 

That’s where the Core Web Vitals opportunity map comes into play.

Meet the Core Web Vitals ‘best opportunity’ map

To determine which action to take, you must locate which URLs have scores that lower your Core Web Vitals metrics. 

Taking it one step further, examine URLs that have the biggest lift potential.

The chart above illustrates various data segments to consider for Core Web Vitals improvements.

Notice it’s the last two segments on the right that have the opportunity to grow traffic if Core Web Vitals metrics improve:

• URLs with an opportunity to improve organic rankings if real user monitoring (RUM) scores improve.
• URLs with the biggest lift potential.

Below is a handy resource to help you understand each segment and identify the segment that warrants your qualitative attention.

To summarize the table above:

• Many SEOs look at Core Web Vitals for any indexable URL. In reality, you should prioritize (and analyze) Core Web Vitals URLs that have RUM Data in Google CrUX. Unfortunately, this segment has too many URLs that won’t experience an increase in rankings and revenue.
• Many SEOs focus on any indexable URL with low-scoring Core Web Vitals metrics from CrUX. However, this segment also has too many URLs that won’t increase rankings and revenue.
• The best approach is to identify a segment of URLs with:
  • RUM data in Google CrUX with scores of “Needs Improvement” or “Poor.”
  • An opportunity to improve rankings if Core Web Vitals Metrics improve. 
  • Keywords mapped to the URL with high search volume (which translates to high traffic and revenue potential).

How to identify URLs with the ‘biggest lift potential’

URLs with the biggest lift potential are those with an opportunity to increase traffic and revenue. Attributes of these URLs include (but are not limited to):

• The URL is not already a top ranker for targeted keywords with high search volume.
• Page copy that is keyword-rich, likely because it was optimized.
• For a given targeted keyword: The top rankers’ scores are high, but your URL mapped to the keyword has low Core Web Vitals scores.

Getting started on qualitative analysis for quantitative changes

How to conduct a qualitative analysis for quantitative changes is beyond the scope of this article. But, to get you started, here are the next steps:

• Segment the URLs into groupings of shared code (e.g., Category Page, Product Grid Page, Product Detail Page, Article, etc.).
• Analyze URLs in each grouping via Google Page Speed Insights and WebPageTest.org. Remember to log in when using WebPageTest.org; it will save all your test results. 
• If you’re savvy enough to use the CrUX API, getting data at scale will be much easier.

Use these tools to analyze individual URLs and identify improvements that can be applied at scale. This enables you to make quantitative changes across hundreds or thousands of URLs simultaneously.

The key outcome of this analysis is that it will find the “best opportunities” for improving URLs with the biggest lift potential (greatest traffic and revenue increase opportunities).

A few tips for analyzing URLs in Google Page Speed Insights

• Confirm that the Core Web Vitals data reported is for the URL, not the origin. This is easily missed by less experienced SEOs and developers, causing them to evaluate origin data rather than URL data.

• Determine which metrics need improvement and use the filters to identify recommendations for improving the metric.

• Use the treemap to identify unused code. 

A few tips for analyzing URLs in WebPageTest.org

WebPageTest.org is a treasure trove of insights for improving the entire page speed experience. Here are just a few tips for using WebPageTest.org for Core Web Vitals.

• Don’t wait until the last minute. All tests go in a queue, and at the end of the month and certain times of the day, tests can take some time to run.
• The filmstrip view is fantastic for developers. They can see how the page loads visually, and beneath it is a waterfall chart showing what loaded when.

• Use the Web Vitals page as a highlights reel for explaining the most important issues to address. It’s a very nice summary page. It does not cover all your opportunities, but it’s a good start for common issues.
  
• The Web Vitals view page allows you to easily see where the CLS issue(s) are. This is great visual for developers to understand the problem quickly.

What’s next?

Begin evaluating Core Web Vitals data differently, prioritizing your attention on URLs with the biggest lift potential. 

To get this data, you need to access the CrUX API and curate it into meaningful segments to analyze (using shared code/templates).

Then, start looking for patterns of problems to analyze that will improve Core Web Vitals metrics across many URLs. You often only need to look at a few URLs to spot clear action items.

This was the fourth article in my series recapping my SMX presentation on identifying action items in technical SEO data. You might find Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 useful, especially for the up-and-coming technical SEOs on your team looking to accelerate their skills.

The next (and final) article in this series will discuss technical SEO use cases and how to use tools for various scenarios to uncover problems.

Measuring PPC success can be challenging when teams lack clear, actionable metrics.

Without the right KPIs, it’s challenging to know whether your paid media campaigns or business initiatives are truly performing.

This lack of clarity can lead to misaligned goals, wasted efforts and missed opportunities, leaving teams confused about what is and isn’t working.

By focusing on the right KPIs for both paid media and overall business success, you can create alignment, drive performance and achieve measurable growth.

Here are five KPIs for each area that will help you stay on track.

1. Cost per click (CPC) 

Formula:

• CPC = Total cost / Total clicks 

CPC doesn’t directly show bottom-line performance but can be a useful early indicator of factors affecting your paid media campaign.

A rising CPC may suggest increased competition and more bids on your target keywords.

This helps you assess how well you’re maintaining your position in the market and holding up against competitors.

While not a main KPI, CPC is helpful for gauging keyword competition and adjusting your targeting strategy as needed.

Track CPCs over various periods of time (e.g., week over week, month over month, quarter over quarter, etc.).

This lets you:

• Understand changes in competition and general search engine results page (SERP) fluctuations over time. 
• Provide a window into seasonality, improved interest or increased competition to become proactive in maintaining presence rather than reactive to competitive fluctuations.

2. Impression share (IS) 

Formula:

• IS = Total impressions / Total available impressions

Impression share is not always a top KPI, but it offers useful insights into ad performance. It shows how well your ads compete in the marketplace, especially when combined with other data.

A low impression share could mean your ads are limited by budget (check auction insights) or low quality (check CTR and quality scores). While not enough on its own, it’s a helpful metric to guide optimizations.

Impression share “lost to rank” could suggest a need for improved ad quality or higher bids.

Impression share “lost to budget” could highlight the need to assess budget allocation and make sure you are cutting irrelevant spend.

Dig deeper: Setting PPC goals: How to tailor KPIs and metrics for each funnel stage

3. Click-through rate (CTR)

Formula:

•  CTR = Clicks / Impressions

CTR is a simple metric, but it reveals a lot about the performance of your paid media campaigns. 

At a high level, it measures engagement and shows if your targeting, messaging, landing pages and offerings meet audience needs. 

A high CTR means your messaging is resonating, while a low one suggests adjustments are needed.

By analyzing CTR at the keyword or audience level, you can identify top-performing segments and eliminate weaker ones to optimize ad spend and scale performance.

Set your CTR-based KPIs by examining your historical averages to understand what has worked/has not worked in the past and combining them with current research. Using context from both past and present will allow for more realistic future goal setting.

Dig deeper: The fallacy of CTR as a KPI: Redefining PPC ad success

4. Cost per acquisition (CPA)

Formula:

• CPA = Total cost / Acquisitions

Setting KPIs for CPA depends on how you define an “acquisition.” 

It’s helpful to have multiple acquisition stages to track performance across the entire user journey. 

Measuring CPA at each step gives a clearer picture of efficiency. If you only measure the top-level conversion (like a form submission), you miss insights from later stages.

For example, a high cost at the top of the funnel with a lower cost at the bottom can still mean success, as it reflects higher-quality conversions.

Ultimately, CPA helps you understand how effectively we’re using ad spend and where you can scale our efforts.

Set CPA targets using both historical data and product details.

• Historical performance shows what’s realistic based on past success.
• Product info – such as price and sales costs – helps determine what you can afford to pay for an acquisition while staying profitable.

5. Conversion rate (CVR)

Formula:

• CVR = Conversions / Clicks 

Conversion rate tracks how many users take the desired action at different stages of the funnel, from clicking an ad to making a purchase. 

Measuring CVR at each stage helps identify where prospects drop off, which could point to issues like misaligned messaging or friction in the user experience. 

For example, low early-stage conversion rates may indicate a need for nurturing prospects before pushing for a conversion. 

Use historical data to set realistic CVR targets and understand the user journey to set meaningful KPIs.

Bonus: Return on ad spend (ROAS)

Formula:

•  ROAS = Return / Ad spend

ROAS is one of the most important KPIs for evaluating paid media success. It shows exactly how much revenue the business earns for every dollar spent on advertising. 

While it may seem straightforward, ROAS is the most accurate way to answer the question, “Is this working?”

For ecommerce, tracking ROAS is simple – just use revenue and ad spend data from your advertising platforms. Set up a custom ROAS metric in Google Ads to monitor performance at every level.

For lead gen businesses, measuring ROAS is more complex, as you need to link offline conversion data, including revenue, back to your CRM. Once set up, ROAS can be tracked just like in ecommerce.

Dig deeper: How to set up an offline conversion import from Salesforce into Google Ads

5 KPIs to track for business success

Measuring marketing performance is important, but it’s just as crucial to set KPIs at the business level. 

Ideally, your marketing KPIs should align with your business KPIs to ensure all efforts are working toward the same goals. 

Some metrics may overlap, but they differ in how they’re calculated and used.

1. Conversion rate

At the business level, conversion rates go beyond just measuring paid media campaigns. They reflect the effectiveness of the overall sales process and how well your offerings meet customer needs. 

By comparing conversion rates across different channels (e.g., paid media, outbound marketing, direct outreach) and at various stages of the user journey (e.g., first touch, first meeting, pricing conversations), you can identify opportunities for improvement.

For instance, if your paid media conversion rate is significantly higher than that of other channels, it may indicate inefficiencies or misalignments in your other customer generation efforts.

Understanding aggregate conversion rates and channel-specific rates is essential. To gain the clearest insights, set KPIs for both based on historical performance.

2. Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Customer acquisition cost measures the total expenses of acquiring a customer, including ad spend, sales team costs and vendor expenses.

This KPI is crucial for setting budgets, forecasting revenue and assessing the long-term sustainability of your business model.

By monitoring CAC across all channels and initiatives, you can proactively adjust your marketing spend and optimize for the most cost-effective customer acquisition methods.

3. Return on investment (ROI)

While ROAS measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising, ROI offers a broader perspective on profitability across all business activities.

By using ROI as a top-level KPI, you can quantify the profitability of investments across various business lines and gain a comprehensive understanding of your initiatives’ financial impact.

When developing your ROI calculations and setting KPIs, ensure you account for all financial elements, including tool costs, staffing expenses and overhead. This approach will help you create a complete and accurate financial picture.

Dig deeper: 3 PPC KPIs to track and measure success

4. Customer lifetime value (LTV)

LTV represents the total revenue generated from a customer throughout their relationship with your business.

Establishing a KPI based on LTV enables accurate revenue projections and long-term profitability modeling. It provides justification for flexibility in your CAC KPIs when needed.

Track LTV both in aggregate and by individual channels to identify the best customer acquisition strategies. This will help you prioritize targeting your highest-value customers.

5. Payback period

The payback period measures the time required to recoup the investment costs associated with acquiring a customer. 

Evaluating the payback period as a business-level KPI provides valuable insights that inform decisions about scaling efforts, optimizing efficiency and assessing potential profitability. 

A shorter payback period supports more aggressive scaling, while a longer payback period indicates a need to optimize acquisition strategies or reduce costs.

To calculate your payback period KPI, align your CAC and LTV KPIs. If your LTV exceeds your CAC, your acquisition costs will be recouped over time. 

Understanding this relationship – both holistically and at the channel level – will help you structure your efforts effectively and ensure long-term profitability.

Setting meaningful KPIs – and why you should stick to them

When setting KPIs, it’s crucial to base them on accurate historical data. Poor or misleading information can skew targets, leading to unattainable goals. Focus on KPIs that significantly impact profitability and long-term business success.

It’s also essential that everyone involved understands their role in achieving these KPIs. Each team member should know they are accountable for their contributions and how their performance will be assessed.

Consistency in KPIs fosters accountability and drives continuous improvement, ensuring that marketing and business objectives align.

Frequently changing KPIs can create confusion and lack of direction, leading to lower performance and reduced cohesion.

By strategically selecting KPIs at both the paid media and business levels, you can align marketing campaign performance with broader business objectives, promoting clarity, cohesion and measurable success.

Google Search is rolling out Store ratings to more countries, the company announced today. Store ratings have been available for US searchers for years, and are now expanding to Australia, Canada, India and the United Kingdom.

What are store ratings. Google defines store ratings as a way to help searchers find businesses that offer high quality customer experiences, helping to build trust and enabling more informed purchasing decisions. As a result, store ratings can help merchants improve the performance of ads and free listings and drive more qualified customers to their landing pages.

Store ratings can be found in the Google shopping search results and searchers can click on the store rating to access detailed information about a business, including reviews, shipping, return policies, and more.

I think they were previously called seller ratings.

What they look like. Here is a screenshot of these store ratings:

Here is a GIF of it in action:

How to get store ratings. Google wrote, “If you’re a merchant serving these countries and don’t already have store ratings enabled, you can participate in a free Google Customer Review program or gather reviews on various independent review websites. If you already participate in either of these, your relevant results are already eligible to appear with a store rating.”

Why we care. Any additional way to get more visibility on your search results or products in Google Search can help drive more traffic and sales to your website and business. Store ratings may help you do that and earn more income from your site.

This may be worth exploring if you have not done so yet.

Microsoft Clarity is one of the best analytics tools you might not know about.

This powerful, free tool enriches your existing analytics and customer profiling, offering deeper insights into user behavior.

This article covers what Microsoft Clarity is and how to set up custom events to maximize its value for your website.

TL;DR

• Clarity is a free, no-frills heatmapping and user session recording tool. It adds color to your existing analytics setup and is an essential tool for digital marketers
• Seamless integration with Google Analytics 4 allows you to paint a deeper picture of your audiences and how they interact with your site.
• Clarity has good prebuilt filters, allowing you to segment out users and answer important analytics questions.
• Advanced segment building with Google Tag Manager event integration lets you track anything you want on your website.

What is Microsoft Clarity?

Microsoft Clarity is an analytics tool that provides heatmapping and session recordings. 

Heatmaps provide a visual map of how users interact with your webpages, where they click most and how far they scroll down your page.

Session recordings are recordings of individual users’ device screens using your website. Clarity allows you to review different user sessions and see how people use your website. 

Many tools, like Hotjar and Mouseflow, offer heatmapping and session recording software, often as part of more comprehensive UX solutions. 

However, Microsoft Clarity stands out by focusing solely on heatmaps and session recordings, and it’s completely free. 

This streamlined approach makes Clarity easy to use and highly appealing for those looking to get started quickly.

Leveling up your analytics

Analytics tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) provide a wealth of user data, but they do not tell the full story of how users interact with and use your website. 

GA4 is useful for tracking how users reach your website, what devices they use and how they engage with it. 

We can see metrics like button clicks, average time on site and top-visited pages. But there are nuances and bits of information missing in between.

Clarity can enrich this data. It’s like moving from black and white to a color picture.

Where previously you could understand which pages get the most views and which events triggered, now you can actually see:

• How users move through the pages.
• Where their mouse gets stuck.
• When they pause to take a minute to consider.
• And so much more. 

Clarity is not just an analytics or UX tool; it should be considered a part of the digital marketer’s basic toolkit.

For instance, when running a PPC campaign, its success is only as strong as its weakest link.

You could create a highly targeted Meta campaign with great creative assets, but it will still fall short if the landing page lacks the right flow or clear calls to action.

Microsoft Clarity provides the insights needed to ensure consistency across the entire campaign, from targeting to conversion.

GA4 integration

Clarity has four key sections: 

• Dashboard.
• Recordings.
• Heatmaps.
• Google Analytics. 

All these sections are straightforward to explore and use. Here, I’d like to focus on specific ways to use Clarity to get the most out of it.

A key part of Clarity to utilize is the Google Analytics reports.

There is an integration between Clarity and Google Analytics which needs to be set up first. This is found in Settings and under { } Setup in the sidebar.

This becomes extremely useful as it allows you to delve deeper into pre-existing GA4 segments. Once you select a particular segment in the GA report, you can review these user sessions.

In the GA report screenshot below, I’ve focused on a key referral source: chatgpt.com, which has recently been driving significant traffic to my site.

With Microsoft Clarity, I can now review session recordings from these users to assess whether they are high-quality prospects.

The same can be done for devices, pages and countries based on Google Analytics segments.

Powerful segmentation

While browsing Clarity’s reports and heatmaps can be interesting, it’s only useful when you start with the right questions.

This is where segmentation comes in. This is one of Clarity’s strengths, thanks to its powerful built-in filters.

For example, I noticed that weekend traffic to my site is high, but conversions are low. 

To understand why, I can use Clarity’s filters to isolate weekend traffic, creating a segment that allows me to analyze this specific audience in more detail.

I can make the following filter selections under User info: Last 14 days > Day of the week > ‘Saturday, Sunday’

Along the top bar, we see that I have built a segment of users (I can also save this as a segment for future use).

All my reports in the dashboard, user sessions and heatmaps are now filtered to this segment of users.

I can now investigate what is happening on weekends through heatmaps and session recordings. 

Clients often ask me, “What do users typically do before converting? Is there a trend we can improve on?” 

While Google Analytics provides previous page paths, it can be difficult to interpret since visitors often navigate the site in a non-linear way. 

With Microsoft Clarity, however, you can create a segment for all converters and leads, allowing you to watch their user sessions up to the point of conversion.

I spend considerable time analyzing these sessions to identify common patterns among purchasers and leads.

To do this, we can build a segment where users have reached a custom URL. This could be a thank you page on a form fill or a checkout thank you page.

Below, I have set one up using Clarity’s built-in filters, where the page URL contains “thank-you.”

The same approach can be applied to ecommerce sites with an “add to cart” feature.

You can easily review customers who added a product to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase by filtering for users who visited one page but didn’t reach the next.

See the example below:

Building custom events with GTM

Prebuilt filters are great, but they are limited. There are many instances where you will want to track specific items and actions on your site that are not available out of the box. 

Google Tag Manager (GTM) allows you to tag and track a wide variety of events. We can then send these events into Clarity as “smart events” and use them to build custom segments. 

This feature allows you to create any event in GTM, send it to Clarity, segment session recordings and gain deeper insights. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting this up. (In this example, we’ll track affiliate link clicks, but the process can be applied to any type of tracking.)

Step 1: First, define the question to plan the events you need to track. 

In this case, I want to gain a deeper understanding of users clicking on affiliate links and how they interact with website articles before clicking out.

To do this, I need to create an event every time a user clicks on a link to the affiliate target.

Step 2: Connect Clarity and GTM by navigating to Settings > { } Setup.

Step 3: Create the GTM tag within your GTM account. Navigate to Tags > New.

Click to add a new tag type. In the sidebar, you’ll find premade tags for Microsoft Clarity.

I added the “luratic” tag, but any of the Clarity tags should work OK.

Step 4: Configure the tag by adding the Clarity project ID, which can be found under Settings > Overview.

See the orange box in the screenshot below. This tells GTM to push the event into your Clarity account (when triggered).

Add the project ID to the GTM tag configuration, as shown in the first red box.

Under Advanced Options, tick Add Custom Events, then add the event name (see the orange box above).

This event will be created by GTM and sent to Clarity. Choose a descriptive name for it.

Step 5: Add the trigger, which is the action on the website that will initiate this tag to fire. 

Click on the Trigger Configuration box to select a trigger option.

In my case, I selected a trigger for “Click – Just Links.” This fires when someone clicks a specific link.

Next, define the conditions. You could enter any text in the URL of a third-party website you’re sending traffic to.

In this example, I want the trigger to activate only when the URL contains the text “bym-windsor.”

Now, whenever someone clicks a link with “bym-windsor” in the URL, this tag will fire and generate the event.

Note that there are many different options for triggers that are worth exploring. Triggers can include elements clicked on the page or pages on a website loading or many other options.

Step 6: Save the tag and publish the GTM container by clicking the Publish button on the top right.

Step 7: You now want to find your new events inside Clarity. 

I recommend manually triggering this event by clicking on it on your website and waiting 24 hours to give enough time for this data to be pushed through. 

Open Clarity and navigate to Settings > Smart Events. Here, you should see your new event from GTM come through as an API event automatically. 

You now have a new smart event, which you can use to build a segment.

Step 7: Create the segment. In Clarity, open your filters and navigate to User actions > Smart events. 

Select the event you have generated in GTM. 

Step 8: The goal is to deepen your understanding of this particular group of users. 

Over time, you can refine this segment further, drilling down into more specific categories. 

Perhaps you want to determine whether they originated from a Meta campaign, whether they are nighttime visitors and whether they use mobile or desktop devices.

Transform your website analytics with Microsoft Clarity

It’s not often you come across a gem like Microsoft Clarity. It will help you paint a colorful picture and better understand your users.

The key to Clarity is in your approach. Start with the right questions, build custom events, use segments and gain deeper insights.

New generative AI video creation tools for advertisers on Facebook and Instagram, Meta announced today.

The tools are rolling out in Advantage+ creative and will be more widely available to advertisers early next year.

Meta rolled out generative AI tools to resize images, change backgrounds and repurpose existing images to create multiple versions of ads in May. Since then, brands have been able to use these capabilities when building out their campaigns on Meta Ads Manager. 

AI-powered analytics and optimization are also available to brands in Advantage+ campaigns.

Video Expansion. The tool allows advertisers to create more immersive video ads for Instagram and Facebook users. It generates unseen pixels in each frame to expand the dimensions of the video, making it a more native experience on the platforms.

The new Video Expansion feature was developed in response to the popularity of a similar feature for images.

Image Animation. This lets advertisers add movement to a fixed image on Instagram Reels. Now, advertisers don’t need an original video asset to upload — they can include videos in their campaigns automatically using genAI.

Brand voice and tone. Meta is testing capabilities to improve brand voice and tone in genAI-powered creative, based on feedback from advertisers and agencies. The company also has a tool with voice prompt capabilities for advertisers building out text creative. Advertisers can also upload a brand logo to guide genAI-created visual assets.

Closer creator partnerships. Meta also unveiled a tool to create more integrated creator campaigns. It lets Advertisers incorporate creator content into collections ads on Reels and elsewhere.

• The advertiser’s and creator’s handles will appear together, a capability managed through Advantage+ Catalog.

Meta also created a new Partnership Ads Hub where advertisers can manage creator campaigns. It lets them set up partnership ads and other content on one page.

Why we care. Meta and some of their advertisers say fixed images work well down-funnel and are simpler to scale with existing genAI tools. Video is better for telling brand stories at the top of the funnel.

The new genAI video tools let advertisers get involved in video where it matters most, with minimal additional resources. These capabilities, especially Video Expansion, ensure brand videos look native, professional and enticing on Meta platforms.

Many search engines rely on structured data to enhance user experiences – and this trend will likely intensify in 2025. 

For this reason, structured data is no longer a “nice-to-have” but an essential part of any SEO strategy. 

Here’s what you need to know about structured data, including why it matters, important trends, key schema types, advanced techniques and more. 

What is structured data?

Structured data is a standardized format for organizing and labeling page content that helps search engines understand it more effectively. 

Google uses structured data to create enhanced listings, rich results and various features in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Being included in these features can boost your website’s visibility and organic reach, especially in entity-based searches.

Vocabulary

The most commonly used vocabulary for structured data is Schema.org, an open-source framework that provides an extensive library of types and properties. 

Schema.org includes hundreds of predefined types, such as Product, Event or Person and properties like name, price and description. 

Format

The preferred format for implementing structured data is JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data), which is endorsed by Google and other search engines. 

JSON-LD encapsulates structured data within a <script> tag, keeping it separate from the core HTML. 

This approach makes it more flexible, easier to implement and less intrusive. JSON-LD is particularly useful for dynamic content on larger websites.

Validation

Correct implementation of structured data is essential to be eligible for rich results. 

To verify that structured data is properly implemented and can be processed by search engines, use tools like: 

These tools check for errors or omissions in the schema, ensuring the markup is valid and effective.

Dig deeper: What is technical SEO?

Why structured data matters more than ever

Structured data enables search engines to interpret website content more deeply, enhancing how pages are indexed and presented in search results. 

It allows brands to reach audiences in less competitive areas of search, such as voice and image search, allowing sites to drive traffic and engagement outside of traditional SEO. 

Zero-click search and brand authority

More and more SERP features, like knowledge panels and featured snippets, depend on structured data to provide answers directly in search results. This means users can get information without clicking through the publisher’s site.

This rise of so-called zero-click searches, has made structured data even more indispensable in SEO. 

While these features offer limited opportunity to drive visits, they can boost organic impressions, enhance brand recognition and maintain user interaction with the brand. 

Being regularly shown in the rich results reinforce top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) – and in the E-E-A-T world, a trusted and authoritative brand is crucial for success in SEO.

Key schema types to use in 2025

While new schema types emerge regularly and should be tested where relevant, several “evergreen” types have proven their effectiveness over time.

Ecommerce

Product schema (often used together with Offer and Review schema) is essential for ecommerce, providing details about products, such as price, availability and reviews. 

This schema powers rich snippets like product carousels and review stars in SERPs, significantly improving click-through rates. 

Merchant listings (a combination of Product and Offer schema) can be a great way for new ecommerce sites to gain early visibility and traffic through Google Shopping.

AggregateOffer schema is ideal for marketplace websites, as it enables multiple vendors’ offers to be represented for the same product, allowing users to compare prices and options.

Informational

FAQ schema allows websites to present common questions and answers directly in the search results. 

It is highly effective for improving user engagement by providing concise answers for conversational queries and can appear in rich results and voice search.

Q&A schema is designed for pages where users can submit questions and multiple answers are provided and is often found in forums or community-based platforms. 

It powers a Q&A carousel that features both questions and answers directly in the SERP, increasing visibility and CTR for long-tail queries and conversational searches.

Article and WebPage schema can boost visibility in Google News, Discover and top stories carousels and get exposure in voice search.

Events

Event schema is used to mark up details about virtual or physical events, such as concerts, conferences, webinars or local meetups. 

It provides specifics like the date, location, start and end times, ticket availability, and performers. This information can be included in Google’s event listings, enhancing visibility in local or event-related searches.

Newly supported properties for BroadcastEvent and ScreeningEvent enhance how live events and screenings are presented in search.

Dig deeper: How to deploy advanced schema at scale

How to use structured data in 2025

While the applications below are not entirely new, their importance is set to increase through 2025 as user behaviors continue to shift.

Entity-based search

Entity-based search is where search engines prioritize entities – people, places, things and concepts – over individual keywords. 

Instead of focusing on isolated words and relationships between them, search engines now better understand connections between entities and how they fit into a broader context. 

Structured data like Person, Organization or Place schema can clearly define relevant entities, enhancing their visibility in Knowledge Graphs and entity-based results. 

Likewsie, SameAs schema can be used to help search engines understand that an entity mentioned on one page is the same as an entity mentioned elsewhere. 

By marking up an entity with SameAs and linking it to trusted external sources, such as Wikidata, Wikipedia or authoritative social media profiles, it’s possible to reinforce the association and improve its recognition and reach in Knowledge Graphs and rich search results. 

Dig deeper: How to use entities in schema to improve Google’s understanding of your content

Speakable

Speakable schema (in beta at Google) is an important tool for optimizing content for voice search results. 

It helps search engines identify which sections of a webpage are best suited for audio playback, including Google Assistant-enabled devices using TTS. 

The goal is to provide concise, clear answers to users’ questions in spoken format. This is especially useful for news websites and publishers, as they can mark up critical content to be featured in voice responses. 

Multimodal search

Multimodal search allows users to query search engines using various forms of input, such as text, images and voice, sometimes combined in a single query. 

This is largely driven by AI models designed to process multiple data types simultaneously. 

Structured data like VideoObject and ImageObject ensure that multimedia content is properly understood, indexed and ranked. 

Schema nesting

Schema nesting allows for the representation of more complex relationships within structured data.

By nesting one schema type within another – such as a Product schema within an Offer schema, further nested within a LocalBusiness schema – it’s possible to communicate layered information about product availability, pricing and location. 

This enables search engines to understand not just individual data points but how they are connected, leading to more contextually rich search results, like specific local availability and offers tied to individual businesses. 

Another example might be a Recipe schema nested within a HowTo schema, further nested within a Person schema. 

This communicates that a specific person (author or chef) created the recipe, which in turn contains step-by-step instructions on how to prepare the dish. 

• Person schema would include the chef’s name, bio and social profiles. 
• HowTo schema would describe the cooking process, including the steps and required materials.
• Recipe schema provides details like the list of ingredients, preparation time and nutritional information. 

This setup would enable search engines to display rich snippets that include the recipe’s creator, ingredients and cooking instructions in a clear and organized manner.

While the primary benefits of schema nesting include improved contextual understanding and enhanced rich results, nesting also adds flexibility for meeting different search intents, allowing search engines to prioritize information based on the query. 

Maximize your search visibility with structured data

Structured data is already a critical driver of SEO success for many websites, both large and small. 

With hundreds of schema types, dozens of Google SERP features and increasing applications in AI and voice search, its importance will only continue to grow in 2025. 

As Google and other search platforms continue to change, carefully and creatively leveraged structured data can provide a significant competitive edge, allowing to gain visibility in existing features and prepare for future opportunities. 

Dig deeper: How schema markup establishes trust and boosts information gain

Many businesses are finding their digital marketing efforts falling flat despite producing content regularly. The culprit? 

An outdated approach that neglects the growing importance of visual content in SEO.

With tech giants like Google and Apple prioritizing AI-powered visual search, companies that don’t adapt risk losing visibility and relevance.

Many enterprises lack the centralized strategies and governance needed to effectively manage visual assets across departments.

This article outlines a seven-step process to futureproof your visual content and SEO for 2025.

By implementing these strategies, you can leverage the latest trends, optimize for AI-powered search and significantly boost your online presence and engagement.

How are major giants pivoting features to embrace visual search? 

Google is now integrating video and image content, primarily from YouTube, websites and third-party sites, into the Top Insights section of product and AI-generated search results pages. 

This change provides users a richer, more engaging experience by offering a diverse range of information beyond text-based results and reviews. 

It also allows brands to leverage image and video content to boost visibility and engagement. 

Similarly, Apple has released Visual Intelligence with Vision 3, offering new features such as image segmentation and object detection. 

These new capabilities allow developers to build more sophisticated and powerful applications that utilize visual information.

Why are visual content and SEO challenging for enterprises and SMEs?

The biggest challenges in visual content and SEO include a lack of centralization, inconsistent policies, governance and knowledge across departments.

Search is multimodal, meaning content creation should focus on customer intent, considering images, videos, PDFs and all other touchpoints and channels. 

It is evolving beyond text to include diverse visual content. This shift requires a customer-centric approach that prioritizes intent and experience. Many companies struggle with implementing consistent best practices for visual assets across departments.  

With the rise of AI-powered search, it becomes even more critical to centralize all visual assets, ensure they are optimized and consistently distribute them across all channels.

Dig deeper: Visual optimization must-haves for AI-powered search

Top trends in visual content and SEO

Featured images and interactive short-form videos

• These elements are critical for enhancing user experience, as consumers are seeking app-like interactions. 
• Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels have popularized short, engaging videos, making them essential for reaching audiences. 
• Overall, video content helps in engagement and improve conversions and saturating SERPs. 

Personalization

• Tailoring experiences based on audience, journey, demographics, location and intent is vital for brands to succeed. 

Mobile dominance

• Since most images and videos are consumed on mobile devices, it is crucial to ensure that your UI, UX and assets are optimized for mobile.

In-video interaction

• Brands are exploring interactive video formats that allow viewers to choose their own path or engage in features like a 360-degree view and zooming.
• Incorporating polls and quizzes can create a more immersive and engaging experience.

7-step process to futureproof your visual content and SEO in 2025

Well-chosen featured images or videos significantly boost a website’s click-through rate (CTR) and encourage user engagement. 

It is important to follow best practices such as image relevance to content, high quality, appropriate file size and format and mobile optimization.

1. Curate

Compile a list of all channels, vendors, departments and touchpoints where visual content is created and consumed.

2. Centralize

Establish policies to organize your content. Ensure all images and videos reside in a digital asset management (DAM) system and are accessible via a content delivery network (CDN). 

All channels should access images directly from the DAM, avoiding multiple copies of the same image or video sitting in file folders.  

3. Optimize

Use high-quality, relevant images with appropriate file formats, image tags, sitemaps and structured data to enhance discovery and visibility. 

Leverage Google NLP to check for content marked as inappropriate and prioritize images relevant to the search query. 

Ensure visual content doesn’t affect site speed by using next-gen image formats and implementing lazy loading.

4. Distribute

Ensure content is consumed from one central location. Use cloud infrastructure and a CDN to host and distribute your assets efficiently. 

5. Application, experience and infrastructure

Leverage entity search to gain a competitive edge by implementing a clear visual hierarchy and enhancing content scannability. 

Well-structured, topical pages with relevant images and videos perform better. Develop snackable videos for your unique selling proposition (USP) and customer reviews. 

Create content suitable for visual snippets, such as how-to guides and recipes. The goal is to optimize for Google’s multisearch feature, which combines image, video and text searches. 

Infrastructure is one of the biggest gaps most businesses face. 

Most DAM systems are designed only to store images and lack the capability to optimize them easily. 

Having a DAM that provides real-time scoring of your asset quality and connects seamlessly with your websites and other channels is essential. 

Dig deeper: Future-proofing digital experience in AI-first semantic search

6. Governance and checklist

Establish robust governance and checklists around quality, consistency and usage across all departments. 

Continuously test which images are performing well in SERPs and conversions to refine your checklist.

7. Metrics and KPIs

Develop metrics to track SERP and rich snippet saturation, presence in AI overviews, overall click-through rates (CTR), clicks from visual search, engagement rates and page bounce rates.

As Google and other search engines incorporate conversational AI, short videos, images, and social media posts into search results – shifting away from traditional website listings – these strategies will help you effectively use visual content in 2025. 

Success stories

Using the seven-step process as mentioned above, our clients were able to drive phenomenal success for their images on search. 

A popular hotel in Georgetown saw a 104% increase in the number of times images appeared in search results versus the previous period. 

Search results appearances lift: 

A Massachusetts Resort and Spa saw a staggering lift in its visual search performance:

• + 871% increase in the number of times images appeared in search results versus the previous period.
• + 101% increase in overall image impressions versus the previous period.

Search results appearances lift: 

Impressions lift: 

Dominate visual search with well-optimized images and videos

Video and images are powerful tools for enhancing SEO and boosting online visibility. As LLMs become increasingly skilled at understanding and generating both text and visuals, you must prepare for more integrated visual-textual content creation and optimization strategies. 

By prioritizing these areas, you can stay ahead of the curve in visual content and SEO for 2025. Embracing the latest technologies and features released by major tech companies will enable you to enhance your online presence and improve searchability.

Are you having trouble finding relevant keywords for your paid search campaigns? It’s time to move beyond only using the Google Keyword Planner and uncover fresh, relevant keywords.

Traditional keyword research tools frequently lack depth, offering only limited insights into the complexities of user search behavior. As a result, PPC managers often struggle to uncover new keyword opportunities.

This article explores 19 tools and strategies for keyword mining to help you discover new search terms and enhance your campaigns. 

By the end, you’ll have an arsenal of techniques to optimize your campaigns and gain a competitive edge in your growth strategy.

Finding new opportunities beyond Google’s Keyword Planner 

Although the Google Keyword Planner is valuable, exploring alternative research methods is crucial for discovering a wider array of relevant searches. 

Increasing the volume of relevant searches is an effective strategy to expand your campaigns and business. A higher volume of qualified and converting traffic can lead to more sales or leads.

Here are some effective tools and strategies you can use when looking to expand your campaigns.

1. Dynamic search ads (DSAs)

These ads leverage website content to automatically generate ads and the associated keywords.

By analyzing the search terms that trigger your DSAs, you can identify valuable keywords to incorporate into your standard search campaigns.

Fellow PPC expert Nils Rooijmans shared on LinkedIn that he likes using DSA campaigns, moving successful terms to revenue-generating campaigns. He also uses ChatGPT for new keyword ideas.

2. Google Search Console

GSC lets you see the search queries that led to clicks on your website. You can use these insights to identify new keywords and optimize your ads accordingly.

Dig deeper: Using search query reports to optimize PPC campaigns

When you enter a search term into Google, scroll down to the bottom of the page for a list of related searches. These can give you ideas for new keywords or variations of existing ones.

In the example above, I was searching for dance costumes for my daughter and came across some excellent search term suggestions. 

If I were managing a paid search account focused on costumes in these categories, these terms would be a fantastic addition to enhance the account’s effectiveness.

4. Competitor websites

Take inspiration from your competitors’ websites by analyzing their content and identifying relevant keywords they may be using in their paid search campaigns.

5. Google Autocomplete

Pay attention to the suggestions that appear as you type in search queries. These autocomplete options often reveal popular search terms and long-tail variations.

6. Microsoft Advertising

While Google Ads may be the dominant platform, Microsoft Ads search term reports can provide new keyword ideas.

Analyze the search terms that trigger your ads on this platform to discover additional keyword opportunities that can be added to your campaigns in Google Ads.

You can also add terms found in the Google Search Query Report and add them into your Microsoft campaigns.

PPC specialist Petya Yildizgoren validated this tactic on LinkedIn and introduced Amazon Ads as another source for new keywords.

Monitor social media platforms to identify industry-specific trends, popular topics and commonly used phrases. 

These insights can help you uncover relevant keywords that align with your target audience’s interests. 

For example, while managing an account, I noticed in the comments that customers favored products made in the U.S.

I added related keywords to key terms, which helped drive additional non-brand traffic for the advertiser.

8. Customer conversations

Listen closely to the conversations your customers have with your support team or sales representatives.

Capture the keywords and phrases they use to describe your products or services.

For example, while working with a client offering a call center service, I discovered that leads used “answering service” instead of “call center” when monitoring their calls.

9. Website survey

Conduct surveys on your website to collect direct feedback from your customers. Focus on the open-ended responses to identify the terms used to describe respondents’ needs and goals.

Many survey tools allow users to analyze and generate reports based on the words in surveys at scale.

Analyze the comments on your social media posts, as the language used by your audience can provide valuable insights into their search intent.

11. Broad match type

Develop campaigns using broad match type terms without negative keywords to find new keywords from search term reports. 

A valuable tip is to separate these campaigns to ensure your entire budget isn’t consumed by irrelevant keywords.

Dig deeper: Broad match keywords: When to test and when to avoid

Don’t limit yourself to one keyword research tool. 

Consider using a combination of tools, such as Semrush, Ahrefs or Moz Keyword Explorer, to uncover different perspectives and insights on potential keywords for your campaigns.

13. Google Trends

Use Google Trends to identify popular search terms and their search volume over time. 

This tool can also show related queries and geographic data, giving you a more comprehensive understanding of user behavior.

14. Analytics data

Dive into your website analytics data to see which organic keywords are driving traffic to your site. This can give you a good starting point for identifying relevant keywords for your paid search campaigns.

Don’t rely solely on Google Analytics. Explore other tools like Adobe Analytics, too.

15. Customer persona research

Create customer personas based on demographic, psychographic and behavioral factors.

Use these personas to guide your search for new keywords that align with their interests and behaviors.

16. Customer demographics analysis

Many customers will search in their native language and still make purchases from a website in the local language. In the U.S., for example, you’ll notice many searches in Spanish. 

Bilingual customers are often tolerant of conducting business across languages. Don’t let the absence of a fully translated website prevent you from bidding on keywords in your native language. 

I worked with a healthcare client who added Cantonese and Punjabi keywords and ads, which performed quite well despite the website being in English.

17. Customer reviews

Pay attention to the language used in customer reviews to identify commonly used keywords and phrases related to your products or services. 

This can provide additional insights into your customers’ search behavior and help you uncover new keyword opportunities.

18. Collaborate with your team

Don’t overlook the valuable input from your team members, whether it’s colleagues in different departments or external agencies. They may have unique perspectives and ideas for relevant keywords that you may not have considered.

Dig deeper: How to maximize PPC and SEO data with co-optimization audits

19. Stay up-to-date

Regularly review industry news, updates and  trends to stay current on any emerging topics or terms that could potentially be relevant for your campaigns. 

This can help you stay ahead of the competition and continue to refine your keyword strategy.

Dig deeper: Top 5 ways to stay up to date on paid search trends

Leveling up your PPC query mining strategy

There are many techniques and tools available to conduct keyword research and discover new opportunities for paid search campaigns. 

Additional strategies include:

• Semantic keyword research, which explores related terms and synonyms to expand your keyword list.
• Topic modeling, which uses advanced tools to identify underlying themes in your website content or customer feedback. 
• Seasonal keyword research, which allows you to adjust your strategy for trends like “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday” and capture additional traffic during peak times.

Suggestions from the paid search community include using Performance Max search categories (as noted by Guillermo Pareja) and tools like Answer the Public for question-based queries (recommended by Neelam Shahzadi).

Many experts also suggest leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT to generate new keyword ideas by seeding prompts with well-performing terms.

Traditional keyword research methods are valuable, but they only scratch the surface of potential opportunities.

By combining these techniques with AI tools, you can uncover hidden gems and optimize your campaigns for maximum ROI.

Whether you’re looking to expand or refine your campaigns, these strategies will help you create a comprehensive keyword approach that goes beyond the limitations of traditional planners and drives business growth.

Phase two of Google’s mobile-first indexing – rendering – is Chrome and has been since 2018, according to SEO expert Cindy Krum. In a newly released video presentation, Krum said:

• “What I believe is happening here is that Google failed to tell us at this time in 2018, when it launched, that what they were using for the second phase of indexing was not a bot, per se. It was our own computers in our homes. Your Chrome being used as a rendering resource became available. That means you. As someone requested the site and executed the JavaScript, they would go and fetch that from their computer. They wouldn’t use their bot to render it. They would wait until a user rendered the page for them and then they would just go capture that full-page render so that they could process it.
• “… Google [is] using our own computers to pre-process information for indexing and our own browsers to capture information and rendering. We haven’t necessarily opted into this and we’re not knowingly getting anything back.
• “…Google is also using our rendering data and our behavior – in terms of making models like cohort models and topic models, history and engagement models – and they’re using this all taking it from our local computers without permission and passing it up to their processors. Now it’s pre-processed locally so that it can be batched and sent up and then sending it to their algorithms to be further processed and evaluated. That’s how they’re able to get the rankings that they do, but also that’s how they’re able to understand things like demographic cohorts, Journeys, where you shop, and make decisions and understanding and modeling that so that they can use that data in their advertising models in PMax, in PPC campaigns. They’re using our own behavior to market to us and to train AI that serves ads to do a better job.”

Put simply in two slides:

Connecting dots. There are a lot of claims made about other huge implications of Google’s switch to mobile-first indexing in Krum’s presentation, as well as how Chrome essentially fuels Google’s illegal search monopoly:

• User computers as resources: Google uses users’ devices to render and process JavaScript, which they then index – essentially outsourcing computational work to users. Essentially, Google is using Chrome in the same way your computer could be used for Bitcoin mining.
• Core Web Vitals: Google captures real user data to assess page load performance and interaction and feeds this data into its ranking algorithms.
• Browser updates and data collection: Frequent Chrome updates ensure data collection aligns with Google’s search and ad models, contributing to targeted advertising and AI training.
• Privacy violations: Google has been found indexing private data (e.g., private WhatsApp groups), likely due to its aggressive caching and data collection practices.
• Chrome’s role in AI: AI is very expensive, so Google could use Chrome’s processing model to help with AI development, giving them an edge in the AI arms race.
• Ad tracking and targeting: Google’s data collection extends into advertising models like cohort targeting and user behavior modeling for ad optimization.
• Cookies and privacy: Despite promising to end third-party cookies, Google continues to use them for extensive tracking and data collection.

Possible SEO implications. I reached out to Krum and asked her what the possible SEO implications are here if all of this is correct. She told me:

• If a page has links that never get clicked, Google is less likely to crawl it. We knew this, in theory, but now we have a better idea of how it works.
• Real user engagement is likely factoring in more than previously thought – we have known this since the Google Search leak.
• Manipulation of SERP and click information is a significant vulnerability, if it happens in Chrome.
• Actual user rendering is critical, so selective serving for GoogleBot might not be a great strategy.

Why we care. We know that Google collects extensive Chrome and end-user data from its other various services (Search, YouTube, Ads, etc.). That said, and to be clear, much of what she discusses is for now an unconfirmed theory (Krum does use the word “tinfoil” during her presentation and there are multiple “X-Files” themed slides).

When I first watched the video, I found it equal parts fantastical, inconceivable and entirely believable. It’s a lot to process. However, in light of all the revelations from the DOJ trial and the leak, nothing Krum discusses in the video seems like too wild of speculation. I’ll be curious to see whether Google responds.

Additional reading. Krum also referenced research by Malte Ubl, a former Googler, who said that “Google uses an up-to-date version of Chrome for rendering” and whose research found that “100% of HTML pages resulted in full-page renders, including pages with complex JS interactions.”

The presentation. Watch the video and decide for yourself (I suggest starting around 6:37): Phase II of Google’s Mobile-First Indexing is just Chrome.

Have you ever read something in the press or on a media site and then searched Google to learn more about the topic?

Almost everyone has. 

After reading an article about a product or idea, many people use a search engine to find deeper details about the topic or its elements.

This workflow can drive short- or long-term brand or non-brand keyword search patterns.

By analyzing these patterns, you can answer very strategic digital marketing, PR and SEO questions:

• What types of media placements drove these search patterns?
• What product messaging and positioning is driving audience interest?
• Should we consistently invest in PR or SEO instead of short-term campaigns?
• How do I steal my competitor’s best placements with our unique positioning?
• What publications should I use to test product positioning for a new go-to-market strategy?
• How do I increase the brand search for a new product launch?

These questions just scratch the surface of ways to apply this analysis to strategic search marketing, new category design or general product management.

First, let’s define brand search behavior in the context of digital media and search.

What is brand search behavior?

How an audience searches out brand details as a result of either short-term or long-term engagement with brand messaging across other platforms.

Brand search behavior is a strong indicator of brand engagement.

As the audience learns about your brand or aspects of it, they will naturally search Google for more details.

Brand search behavior can work like this:

• Problem awareness: Search begins after the audience identifies a need, issue or potential solution from press, social or advertisements, often using non-branded keywords to learn more (e.g., “best fitness tracker”).
• Brand-specific search: After researching or learning about potential solutions, the audience may search for specific brands using branded keywords (e.g., “Fitbit” or “Fitbit data”).
• Deeper search for validation: Consumers compare brands and seek detailed information using keywords like “vs.” or “reviews” to evaluate options.
• Purchase decision: The audience might use search terms focused on finding the best price, how to buy or maybe contact (e.g., “buy Apple Watch” or “Apple Watch price”).
• Post-purchase search: After buying, consumers may search for support, tips or community engagement (e.g., “Fitbit phone”).

This process will provide deep insight into what drove this brand search behavior.

Analysis process overview

This process identifies the messaging, sources and people driving an audience to search for a brand.

I use this tool stack to analyze: 

• Google Trends.
• Glimpse. 
• Ahrefs.
• Grok on the X platform.

The steps are fairly simple:

• Select competitor phasing: This is how people search for a competitor or your brand name.
• Uncover search patterns: Find short-term or long-term patterns for growth in brand search patterns.
• Find the source of influence: Find leading indicators of those patterns. What is driving brand search?

Starting by identifying the phrasing used to search the competitor (e.g., brand name) ensures you’re finding the right keyword phrases that an audience uses to find the brand website.

The leading indicators, or the source of influence, can identify patterns for:

• Growth.
• Decline.
• Random changes.

An audience can search for a brand name after just reading one or a few strategic placements or after constant exposure to a brand’s messaging. 

I’ll use Lectric eBike as an example to show how this process works. They are an ebike brand that has gone from 37,000 to over 210,000 organic clicks per month, with over 150,000 clicks per month from brand searches. 

Their brand search has grown in the short- and long-term over the past few years.

1. Select competitor and phrasing

Use Semrush to identify the top variations of brand keywords. Go to Project > Overview > Organic research > Positions.

Select the top variation or run reports for all variations of the brand or product names.

In this example, the most popular brand variation is “Lectric eBike,” but people also use “lectric.” 

In this case, we see that search terms get an estimated 33.1K searches per month. 

But people also search for one of the ebike product lines, like the “lectric XP 3.0.” 

These terms are a starting point for how the brand drives these searches.

Use these keywords to search for patterns in Google Trends.

2. Identify patterns with Google Trends

Before starting your search, use the Glimpse plugin (for Chrome) to update the Google Trends UI and add some very useful features. 

This tool adds a trendline that shows seasonality or year-over-year (YoY) trends in an easy-to-understand format. This has saved me much time over exporting and analyzing the data.

Identify growth patterns (e.g., spikes or upward trends) like seasonality, year-over-year growth or random spikes. 

The random spikes are my favorite because they can show short-term impact as a result of a specific event. Then, export the data to be analyzed later.

In this case, the growth in brand search interest started in the summer of 2022 but grew substantially in 2024.

Leading indicator questions:

• What causes the initial growth in the summer of 2022?
• What media coverage caused YoY growth in brand search in 2024 from 2023 and 2022?

• Tip: Consistent media coverage can show YoY growth, especially during peak buying seasons. When analyzing growth, look at media coverage from the past 12 months, not just the month when the growth occurred.

Finding leading indicators can be challenging. Sometimes, a few media mentions can lead to a significant spike in interest. At other times, ongoing marketing efforts over several months or years may result in gradual YoY growth.

With the questions ready, use the tool stack to analyze the data and identify the media driving the search.

3. Identify the source of influence

Use the tool stack to identify the source that influenced the growth patterns.

This doesn’t typically include analysis of YouTube videos, Instagram/TikTok or forms like Reddit, but it will provide fast insights into the messaging and trusted media sources.

For each pattern you want to understand, identify potential leading indicators.

Here’s the process:

• Grok for Twitter search: Ask Grok for media coverage of the brand name. Use this to identify potential trends in messaging or product launches.
• Ahrefs brand mentions: Run reports in Content Explorer to identify brand mentions over time. I haven’t found a better tool to do this process.
• ChartGPT analysis: Analyze all three Ahrefs reports to identify brand mentions to analyze.

Search X with Grok

Grok has real-time access to X’s content, so you can get recent information about X’s content and have Grok summarize the findings. 

You can be creative with the prompts, but I like to ask for a summary of brand mentions.

When Grok summarized mentions of “Lectric eBikes” on X, it provided additional details that would require extensive research.

Grok quickly shows the new product launch coverage. The messaging of “quality at a low price” is consistent around the brand.

Grok has some insights, but I use Ahrefs to analyze the media coverage more deeply and validate Grok’s output.

Ahrefs brand mentions

Use the Content Explorer report in Ahrefs to identify historical trends in coverage of the brand on press, blogs and some message boards. Export the full list of publications to be uploaded to ChatGPT for analysis.

In this analysis, the Ahrefs bar chart illustrates the media story. 

Mentions in 2021 were more consistent, while late 2022 saw a focus on holiday promotions. Both trends deserve further analysis.

Tip: 

• Test using phrase (use ” ” for phrase) or exact (use [ ] for exact) match Boolean queries to find more precise mentions. With “lectric,” Ahrefs returned a lot of mentions for “electric,” which was not a relevant brand mention.

Analyzing this data manually can be very laborious, so I use ChatGPT to take much of the work out of the analysis and find specific insights.

ChatGPT analysis

Upload the Google Trends and Content Explorer exports to ChatGPT (I used 4o for this article) to analyze patterns in the brand mentions and brand search trends.

For this example, I quickly identified some key insights from correlation in Google Trends and brand mentions from Content Explorer.

From ChatGPT analysis, I found that the brand focused on some high-authority (e.g., Forbes) and also vertically targeted publications (e.g., Electrek). But also their consistent messaging about low cost and high quality is appealing to the audience on these publications. 

I found these outputs from ChatGPT useful for understanding the media impact on patterns or identifying media to analyze further.

• Get key insights into leading indicators of random patterns/spikes or long-term trends

• Find general trends in media types that correlate with spikes or trends

• Identify what specific sites could have driven spikes

A big limitation is that this model doesn’t include larger market trends that can influence. But you can use Google Trends to help identify those as well.

Bonus

You may want to use the PEST (political, economic, social, technological) model to identify major market factors that could contribute to these growth patterns. I know this doesn’t include competition, but it could fall under each of these categories.

The greater societal trends can have a big impact on demand for certain products or services. 

Google Trends search for “ebike” grew substantially after the pandemic started in 2020. 

It might be caused by a growing number of people are thinking about a healthier lifestyle, which is helping to drive this demand.

• Tip: When uploading, describe the data and the source to ChatGPT and ask for the field names. Then ChatGPT will likely have to clean the data.

Analyzing brand engagement with Google Trends

This article serves as a guide for conducting your own competitor search behavior analysis.

By applying the insights shared here, you can uncover effective strategies to surpass your competitors in organic search and drive sustainable revenue growth.

Notes on data and analysis quality

• Ahrefs: While useful, it doesn’t account for advertising, social media, or physical publications.
• Grok: Provides real-time access to X data, but it’s unclear how many brands are mentioned beyond content from the company or its team members.
• Google Trends: Doesn’t capture all searches and includes some crawler data. The “note” markers could influence growth, but there’s no strong evidence of significant distortion over time.
• ChatGPT: Lacks access to real-time web data and may generate inaccurate insights (“hallucinations”). This can be mitigated by manually verifying media placements.

The Google Ads landscape continues to evolve, with a growing emphasis on data usage that complies with strict privacy guidelines.

To support advertisers navigating this environment, Google introduced a robust toolset designed to advance their AI-driven marketing strategies.

A key part of this transformation is Ads Data Hub (ADH), a platform built on Google Cloud.

ADH allows advertisers to integrate and analyze data from Google Ads and other sources, offering deeper insights into customer journeys and ad performance while maintaining privacy compliance. 

This article explores what Ads Data Hub is, how it works and tips to maximize the tool while improving your Google Ads performance.

What is Ads Data Hub?

The Ads Data Hub is a centralized repository for all your marketing data, integrating information from:

• Your Google Ads account (including search, display, video and shopping campaigns).
• Your Google Analytics account.
• Your CRM system.
• First-party data collected from your websites, apps, physical stores or directly from customers.

Designed with privacy in mind, ADH aggregates all query results to prevent the identification of individual users within the dataset.

Minimum aggregation thresholds are established to avoid accidental exposure of personally identifiable information.

You also cannot download specific user data, ensuring compliance with today’s privacy guidelines and best practices across various industries.

Ads Data Hub: Setup and architecture

The platform’s architecture is specifically designed to securely and efficiently process large-scale advertising datasets. Let’s explore its key components and workflow in detail.

Data ingestion

Advertisers upload their first-party data to ADH, including customer interactions, website analytics and CRM information. 

This data is matched with Google’s ad data (e.g., impressions, clicks, conversions) using hashed identifiers.

Cloud-based processing

The core of ADH is powered by Google Cloud’s BigQuery infrastructure. 

Advertisers can write SQL queries to analyze data, joining their first-party data with Google’s advertising data. 

This system allows businesses to run highly customized analyses without moving the data outside Google’s secure environment.

Querying

Users run SQL queries on aggregated datasets, with results compiled at a user level to protect personally identifiable information (PII).

ADH restricts the types of queries that can be executed to ensure individual user data remains private.

Output

Once the query is complete, ADH provides an aggregated report which can then be exported to BigQuery for further analysis or connected to other reporting tools like Looker Studio.

ADH’s limitations

Despite its robust features, Ads Data Hub has certain limitations that advertisers should be aware of.

• No real-time data access: ADH does not offer real-time data access. There is often a delay in getting campaign data into the platform, which could impact time-sensitive decisions.
• SQL expertise required: Running queries in ADH requires proficiency in SQL, making it necessary for advertisers to have data analysts or skilled marketers to extract meaningful insights.
• Limited access to raw data: Since raw user-level data is inaccessible, you might find limitations in performing deep cohort analysis or certain types of data exploration.

When to use Ads Data Hub

Ads Data Hub provides valuable insights by integrating data from various sources across customer touchpoints.

It enables advertisers to analyze purchase history across channels, identify shopping cart abandoners and create customer segments and audiences. These insights can then be used to inform ad copy, optimize landing pages and improve ROI models.

Here are some specific examples of how Ads Data Hub can be applied:

Cross-platform measurement

• ADH enables the analysis of user behavior across platforms, such as YouTube and Google Display Network.
• This cross-platform measurement capability lets you understand the complete picture of user engagement and track conversions more effectively.

First-party data enrichment

• Uploading first-party data can enrich your analysis, allowing you to gain insights into customer segments, lifetime value and conversion behaviors.
• Combining first-party data with Google Ads data helps improve targeting and retargeting strategies.

Google provides a good table of use cases to help provide some starting points:

Use case examples

Here are a few examples of how businesses have used the Google Ads Data Hub to improve their Google Ads performance.

Churn prevention through ad interaction analysis

• Identify users at risk of churning by analyzing their prior engagement with ads. 
• This helps create a targeted list of potentially churn-prone users who have previously interacted with your ads, indicating some level of engagement.
• By focusing retention efforts on these users, businesses can develop personalized campaigns to re-engage them and reduce churn.

Maximizing lifetime value for high-value users

• Use your CRM data to identify high-value users who are part of your existing customer base and actively engage with your YouTube campaigns.
• By targeting these valuable users with personalized messaging and offers, you can further enhance their lifetime value, encouraging repeat purchases or deeper brand loyalty.

Geo-specific conversion propensity for affinity segments

• Analyze affinity and in-market segments by region to understand user interests and behaviors at a granular level. 
• By evaluating the various interest categories users fall into, you can optimize your campaigns geographically, tailoring content to match regional preferences and increasing conversion rates within specific markets.

Optimizing retargeting with message sequencing

• Create exclusion lists for negative retargeting by identifying users who have already converted or heavily interacted with previous campaigns. 
• This helps avoid over-targeting and ad fatigue, ensuring that your messaging is more relevant to potential customers who have yet to engage while efficiently managing your ad spend.

Tracking new CRM signups from ad exposure

• Identify incremental users who signed up for your CRM after being exposed to your YouTube or Google Ads campaigns.
• By analyzing the data, you can create a list of these newly enrolled users, allowing you to measure the effectiveness of your ad campaigns in driving CRM growth and optimizing future strategies for customer acquisition.

Ads Data Hub: Bridging data sources for enhanced marketing intelligence

Google’s Ads Data Hub is a powerful tool for advertisers seeking actionable insights while maintaining strict privacy standards. 

By leveraging Google Cloud’s infrastructure and combining first-party and Google Ads data, the platform enables advanced analysis without compromising user privacy. 

From campaign optimization to custom attribution modeling, ADH helps you succeed in a privacy-focused advertising landscape.

Let’s face it: Turning raw data into actionable insights can be as cryptic as decoding ancient hieroglyphics, especially for the SEO rookies in your crew.

That’s the challenge I addressed in my SMX Advanced 2024 session.

Didn’t catch it? No worries. I’m recapping it all in this article series, one juicy nugget at a time. This is Part 2, so if you missed Part 1, check it out.

Get ready for a quick overview of key technical SEO metrics to track in Google Search Console. Compare your list with mine – you might spot something your SEO team has missed.

Senior SEO managers: This article is for your technical SEO newcomers. It explains how I would introduce Google Search Console metrics to bridge their knowledge gaps quickly.

Top tips for looking at Google Search Console metrics

• Don’t limit comparisons to just two data points: Avoid comparing just two points in time (end of last month vs. prior month). It’s like looking at two photos and missing the whole movie – especially the drama in the middle. This is a common mistake I see when upskilling SEOs to become advanced SEOs. You need to look at the ups and downs all month.
• Focus on one metric at a time: When looking at the stacked bar charts, look at each metric individually. Google likes to stack data in bar charts, often making fluctuations easier to overlook. This means you’ll turn off metrics to focus on each technical SEO metric one at a time. 

• Save charts for later: Screenshot the charts and tuck them away for future reference. Google’s data only goes back a few months, but those images may be gold down the line.
• Record data regularly: Capture metrics in a spreadsheet that can be calculated in formulas. Choose a point in time, since getting daily data isn’t realistic unless you’re using the API. Consider a date at the end of each month. It’s not ideal, but it’s something that can be used in comparison charts to look for correlations.
• Check for more metrics: Many reports show just the top 10 metrics by default. Always check the bottom right of your screen. More insights might be hiding on page two. Don’t miss out.

• Investigate changes carefully: Every major shift calls for you to play detective. Pin down what date the metrics changed and determine if it’s something to investigate, correct, overlook or monitor closely. Chances are, you’ll need to loop in product management or the dev team for answers.
• Track tickets in each website release: Knowing what went live and when will be extremely helpful for correlating changes to fluctuations in Google Search Console data. Product managers and developers can’t be bothered explaining possible causes of every little blip in the data. Stay plugged into what dev is doing and when it’s going live. This means you should join the dev standups and read the release notes.

Let’s zero in on the essential technical SEO metrics in Google Search Console. 

Page indexing

These reports are the bread and butter of every technical SEO. The Page indexing section of Google Search Console tells you if your content is making it to the SERPs. 

But don’t just glance at the numbers. Dig deeper than the end of the month numbers. Look for fluctuations over time, not just a snapshot of one day at the end of the month.

Pages indexed

This one seems easy, right? If your indexed pages go down, you have fewer URLs ranking over time. That’s usually a problem.

Too many SEOs miss fluctuations in these Google Search Console charts by looking at the default view.

This causes the combination of non-indexed and indexed pages in the chart muddy the waters, causing you to miss what is happening. Instead, turn off Pages not indexed to look at indexed pages alone. 

Pages not indexed

This count reveals how many URLs Google knows about but hasn’t indexed. Remember to toggle off Pages indexed for a clearer view of what actually happened over time.

Why pages are not indexed

Here’s where the sleuthing kicks in because you can dive into why pages aren’t indexed. This section allows you to dig deeper and uncover why those pages aren’t getting indexed, along with a list of reasons and example URLs.

The most common culprits include:

• 404 errors.
• 5xx errors.
• Redirect errors.
• Noindex tags.
• Duplicate content.

I ignore plenty of the usual suspects – unless that fourth column trend line starts shifting. 

For my clients, these metrics rarely budge. So I spend three seconds or less looking at the trend line. If things are trending well and there aren’t any fluctuations, then move on.

The metrics that only get three seconds or less reviewing for major trend line fluctuations:

• Crawled – currently not indexed.
• Discovered – currently not indexed.
• Blocked by robots.txt.
• Soft 404.
• Blocked due to other 4xx issue.

Note: Your Google Search Console might not show every possible reason for pages not being indexed because only the issues your site actually faces make it to your list of reasons why pages aren’t indexed. That said, most enterprise companies will see all (or nearly all) of the reasons above.

Videos indexed

This is where Google breaks down how many videos are indexed. 

In the video mode update on Dec. 4, 2023, many videos were booted from the index for various reasons, which you will find in this section. 

• Videos indexed: This tally reveals how many of your videos are in the Google index. Remember to isolate this metric in the chart – switch off Pages not indexed.
• Videos not indexed: This count shows how many videos didn’t make it into Google’s index. Remember to check this metric solo in the chart – turn off ‘Pages Not Indexed’.

Tip: If video indexing isn’t in your SEO roadmap, skip these metrics.

Why videos are not indexed

This is another place to figure out why Google has rejected your content (in this case, videos). 

Google makes it very clear what must be done to get your videos indexed, and many of the reasons are technical SEO action items.

The most common culprits include:

• Video is not in the main content of the page.
• Cannot determine video position and size.
• Thumbnail is missing or invalid.
• Unsupported thumbnail format.
• Invalid thumbnail size.
• Thumbnail blocked by robots.txt. 

(View Google’s complete list of reasons.)

Tip: If video indexing isn’t in your SEO roadmap, you can breeze past these metrics. Unfortunately, many companies’ video SEO efforts have been sidelined by other priorities and if this is you, then you can probably skip this section until you’re ready to take action on video SEO.

Dig deeper: How to use Google Search Console to unlock easy SEO wins

XML sitemap errors

XML sitemaps are search engine fuel, packed with crucial signals. For small sites, issues here typically don’t create problems. 

Enterprise SEOs, watch these like a hawk – any glitches can prevent new URLs from being crawled, create hreflang tag confusion for search engines and prevent search engines from catching updates and crawling fresh content.

• Confirm each XML sitemap says “Success.”

• XML sitemaps that index high priority pages, confirm all URLs are indexed. 

How to do this:

• Go go the XML sitemaps page.
• Click on the XML sitemap to examine.
• Page refreshes.
• Click on the “Page Indexing” or “Video Page Indexing” link.

• Page refreshes.
• You’ll see the URLs indexed from the XML sitemap you are examining.

Tips: 

• For enterprise sites with hundreds of XML sitemaps, identify bellwether XML files to monitor – those replicated across countries, languages or divisions. Since they’re templated, you may be able to skip reviewing hundreds every month.
• If the number of indexed pages drops significantly, you can use these reports to help figure out which part of the site is not indexed. This becomes particularly useful if XML sitemaps are bokeh into URLs for a particular directory, country, template, category, business line, etc.

Mobile Core Web Vitals 

Mobile Core Web Vitals are the most important for SEO and deserve the most attention. Google also has much higher expectations for these URLs, so this is where you’ll focus most of your Core Web Vitals attention. 

This is a report I like developers to see regularly, because you can see how URLs are flipping between the metrics and on which date. This can help you troubleshoot by coordinating these dates with changes on the site, CMS, DAM, network, etc.

Metrics to monitor: 

• Mobile good URLs.
• Mobile poor URLs.
• Mobile needs improvement URLs.
  

The historical chart is great for quick trends, but it’s limited to a short window. For the bigger picture, drop the data into a spreadsheet and build your own chart. 

You’ll often find that things look fine now, but 5 or 6 months ago, the metrics were far better – don’t let that slip past you.

Tip: This is a good report for development to see on a regular basis. Consider a regular metrics readout cadence with development to discuss what’s going on and compare it with what they know is happening in releases, server maintenance, third-party code and more.

Why mobile URLs don’t have a ‘good’ Core Web Vitals score

This data explains why particular URLs aren’t considered good by Google. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell you how to address the problem (that requires you to do a Core Web Vitals audit). 

In these metrics, you’ll get:

• The count of URLs scoring low in any of the core web vitals audit.
• A handy list of example URLs, thoughtfully grouped by Google based on similar issues. Unfortunately it’s not all URLs with similar issues, bit’s enough to help you spot patterns and identify areas for improvement.

Metrics to monitor in this report:

• LCP issue: longer than 2.5s (mobile)
• LCP issue: longer than 4s (mobile)

• CLS issue: more than 0.1 (mobile)
• CLS issue: more than 0.25 (mobile)
• INP issue: longer than 200ms (mobile)
• INP issue: longer than 500ms (mobile)

Developers usually need more than just metrics. They want the full list of URLs with low scores.

Luckily, Google gives you and your devs sample URLs to evaluate, though it’s not the comprehensive list they crave. To dig deeper for more URL examples, tap into the Google Search Console API for more data.

Tips:

• Include these in your regular metrics readout with development.
• The historical chart is handy for quick trends, but it’s got a short memory. For the full picture, toss the data into a spreadsheet and chart it yourself. Don’t let those historical highs and lows slip into the shadows. Even better if you grap the chart images because your spreadsheet likely won’t have metrics showing day-to-day fluctuations throughout each month.

Desktop Core Web Vitals metrics

This is exactly the same as mobile. Usually, I give this a quick gander, but most of the time is spent on mobile core web vitals metrics.

What is often interesting in the desktop metrics is correlations between metrics improving in desktop, but getting worse on mobile devices. This is a good place for development to figure out why mobile metrics got worse, but desktop improved.

Metrics to monitor: 

• Desktop Good URLs.
• Desktop Poor URLs.
• Desktop Needs Improvement URLs.

Why Desktop Core Web Vitals metrics are low

Frankly, this is not a priority for the sites I work on. Not that I never look at them, but in the grand scheme of things we prioritize fixing mobile issues, anticipating that fixing mobile issues will fix desktop issues.

For a few of my B2B enterprise clients, with a primarily desktop-focused audience, we dial up the attention on these metrics to make sure nothing slips through the cracks:

• LCP issue: longer than 2.5s (desktop)
• LCP issue: longer than 2.5s (desktop)
   
• CLS issue: more than 0.25 (desktop)
• CLS issue: more than 0.1 (desktop)
   
• INP issue: longer than 200ms (desktop)
• INP issue: longer than 500ms (desktop)

Rich results from Schema

Adding Schema markup to your site unlocks special features that enhance your organic listings, such as breadcrumb links, product information and more. 

In Google Search Console, URLs with code intended to trigger these SERP enhancements are tracked in a section called “Enhancements.” 

The list of “Enhancements” listed in Google Search Console will vary based, on your site’s setup. Here are the most common enhancements you’ll likely see:

• Breadcrumbs.
• FAQ.
• Review Snippets.
• Videos.
• Unparsable Structured Data.
• Product Snippets.
• Merchant Listings.
• And more.

Each of these enhancements have a report indicating the number of URLs that are valid, invalid and issues to address. 

What’s next?

Now that you have the key Google Search Console metrics, make sure you track them regularly (monthly works best). 

Remember to drop these metrics into a spreadsheet. Google’s limited historical data might leave you hanging when you need those insights down the road. 

In the next article of this series, I’ll show you a few metrics tucked away in the “settings” section of Google Search Console that few SEOs talk about, but I like to keep an eye on. 

Dig deeper: 3 underutilized Google Search Console reports for diagnosing traffic drops

In digital marketing, agencies and in-house teams often separate into specialized units like SEO, PPC and content marketing. 

While this division makes sense internally, it doesn’t align with how customers experience a brand online. Customers don’t think in silos – they interact with a brand’s digital presence holistically.

This reality calls for a unified approach to digital marketing, where SEO plays a pivotal role.

With its broad skill set encompassing research, copywriting, technical insights and digital PR, SEO professionals are uniquely positioned to bridge gaps between different marketing disciplines.

This article explores how SEOs can collaborate across digital marketing teams to create a more cohesive strategy, enhancing overall effectiveness and delivering better results for both businesses and customers.

Sharing research

SEO teams gather extensive research, which is the foundation of their strategy. 

They analyze keywords customers use and search volumes, which I call the “voice of the customer” – a clear reflection of what they want. 

They also research competitors, compiling data on what ranks well for them and how their sites perform.

This research provides valuable insight into competitors’ SEO strategies and the customer journey they are targeting. It shows what competitors prioritize based on their rankings and recent content.

This information is highly useful to the broader marketing team. For example, it can supply the paid media team with keyword data and give content teams insight into where competitors are focusing their efforts.

Dig deeper: Top 7 Google Ads and SEO synergies you should act upon

Copywriting: Skills sharing and training

Copywriting is a key skill for SEO, as content is one of its main pillars. 

With Google’s improved understanding of context, SEO copy should now simply be excellent writing. While keyword themes are still important, the days of spammy SEO content are over.

This makes copywriting a valuable skill to share and train other teams on.

If other teams are creating website copy, they should understand SEO requirements to ensure the content is optimized.

Likewise, SEO teams can learn from paid media teams.

For example, meta descriptions are like paid ad headlines, so studying high-performing ad copy and click-through rates can help improve SEO content’s impact on search results.

Technical collaboration

Technical SEO pros possess specialized knowledge about how a website’s technical health and decisions affect its visibility on search engines. 

This creates a significant opportunity for technical SEOs to collaborate with website product owners and web developers within the digital marketing team. 

Building a strong relationship between these teams is crucial for a successful search strategy, especially since SEO can often seem mysterious to those outside the field. 

Clear communication and data-driven decision-making can empower both teams.

Additionally, collaboration between the SEO team and the UX team is essential. A website that fails to convert users won’t support the SEO strategy and vice versa. 

By working together on technical optimizations and design enhancements, both teams can improve performance and enhance the customer experience.

Dig deeper: Boosting search conversions: 5 behavioral strategies to test

Digital PR: Building authority for all

Digital PR is often treated as a subset of SEO, overlooking its broader benefits for the overall marketing strategy.

While it originated from link building efforts, in 2024, digital PR encompasses much more.

It closely connects with content, influencer outreach, social media and traditional PR. When these teams collaborate, they can create truly impactful results.

An effective digital PR strategy enhances every stage of the customer journey. Although link building remains a goal for SEO, the authority gained extends beyond that. 

By working with the strategic team to understand audience personas and their online behavior, insights can guide targeted strategies. 

Collaboration with the social media team also opens up opportunities to leverage trends. 

For instance, at my agency, our pet insurance brand relies heavily on social media for topic generation, whether endorsing trends or advising against them, like the trend of dyeing dogs’ fur. This alignment between teams is vital for a successful strategy.

Metrics across the customer journey

Data is one of the greatest strengths and biggest challenges of digital marketing. 

We have access to a wealth of information that can be reported in various ways, leading to numerous reports for different meetings and purposes. 

Aligning data across teams is crucial. It helps everyone agree on how to attribute conversions and understand the customer journey, which can transform the digital marketing strategy.

When channels and campaigns have clarity on their roles, they can focus their efforts effectively.

Not every activity needs to show a direct ROI; some efforts are meant to raise awareness and spark interest, and that’s perfectly valid.

If the SEO team collaborates with other departments to create a unified approach to reporting on the customer journey – mapping their needs and actions – they can unlock tremendous potential for all teams involved.

Champions for the customer

In a digital marketing team, it’s essential to have champions for the customer – team members who remember that our ultimate goal is to inspire the audience to make a purchase, in whatever form that takes.

Whether from the SEO team, PPC team or others, all departments should unite to enhance the customer journey. I often liken the customer to a baton in a relay race; once a team has it, they need to effectively pass it through various channels.

Each team, including SEO, has valuable contributions to make. The key is to foster collaboration, share knowledge and maintain a customer-centric focus. The more teams understand each other’s strengths, the better they can work together.

When was the last time you shared knowledge with another department? If it’s been over six weeks, consider suggesting a lunch-and-learn session.

Improving collaboration isn’t just a leadership responsibility – anyone on the team can initiate it. So, think about how you can make a difference today.

Dig deeper: Customer-centric SEO: Adapting your search strategy for success

AI can significantly streamline SEO tasks, freeing time to focus on high-impact strategies.

However, with new AI tools constantly emerging, it can be overwhelming to know which ones truly enhance productivity and which may complicate things. 

From generating unique images to optimizing content, AI platforms like Grok, ChatGPT and Midjourney offer endless possibilities. 

Below, I’ll share 15 AI tools I’ve used for SEO, each of which has delivered great results.

While many alternatives are available, these tools are a strong starting point for exploring and refining your SEO approach.

1. Alli AI

Alli AI works with any CMS, bypassing technical limitations to use AI to help automate on-page SEO for:

• Links missing titles.
• Missing image alt and title text.
• External link targets.
• Site speed optimization.
• Content recommendations.

The tool analyzes your site and gives you a step-by-step guide that explains how to optimize it for better results. 

I wouldn’t recommend blindly following every recommendation, but you can commit thousands of recommendations in a single click, which saves you countless hours of manual work.

2. RankIQ

RankIQ is a super-charged content optimizer that helps you analyze thousands of factors across blog posts to learn:

• Suggested word count.
• Topics to cover.
• Keywords to include.

There’s even a title recommendation engine that will help you write more impactful titles. 

If you need to find low-competition keywords, optimize posts or write new ones, RankIQ is a must-have option in your AI toolbox.

Dig deeper: AI content creation: A beginner’s guide

3. Surfer

Surfer isn’t new, but it continues to add to its tool that powers 150,000 content creators and agencies. You start with a keyword research engine and will gain access to:

• Content guidelines.
• Keywords and headers to include.
• NLP suggestions.
• Outlining and brief options.

A recent feature lets you auto-optimize posts and insert internal links on autopilot.

With Surfy, the writing assistant, you can have the platform rephrase the content, edit it and refine it while writing. 

If your site needs content updates, Surfer can help you boost organic traffic.

4. NeuralText

NeuralText is a lot like Surfer, with score and word count suggestions and it’s designed to enhance your content creation.

You’ll gain access to tools used by some of the largest brands in the world, including:

• Keyword clustering.
• Live SERP analysis.
• AI writing assistant.
• Search console integration.

Research and keyword analysis alone are two reasons to use Neuraltext to help you refine blog posts and create content briefs that you can pass off to your content team.

If you’re focusing on content to drive organic traffic to your site, you can’t go wrong with Neuraltext.

5. MarketMuse

MarketMuse is a tool that I relied on heavily a few years ago when creating content, and it was always one step ahead of the competition.

You can create brief templates, conduct research, outline content and analyze clusters in an instant.

AI will help you:

• Improve your writing.
• Change your tone.
• Summarize content.
• Fix grammar and spelling.
• Discover missing topics.
• So much more.

If you want to create more impactful content, MarketMuse is a must-have tool.

Dig deeper: 6 guiding principles to leverage AI for SEO content production

6. Pictory

Do you want to create videos but have no editing experience? That’s where Pictory comes in. 

You can leverage the power of video with written and video content that the platform’s AI will turn into short, shareable clips with:

• AI voices.
• Royalty-free music.

You can turn scripts or blog posts into videos in minutes and find matching footage. 

Add in your video SEO, and you’ll have videos ranking for your most valuable keywords.

7. Canva

Canva remains a strong photo and video creation tool, but it has been beefed up with AI capabilities in the last year. 

You and your team can collaborate together within Canva while using AI tools to:

• Generate copy with Magic Write.
• Transform photos with Magic Edit.
• Create on-brand templates.

You can do a lot with Canva, but you can now customize your graphics with AI tools, brainstorm ideas and so much more. 

If you need to edit a photo, change colors or remove a person from the background, you can do so with the help of AI.

8. Jasper

Jasper is another AI tool for brands and claims to be an “AI copilot.” 

For brands creating a lot of content, the platform allows you to create extensive information on brand voice, style guides and knowledge bases.

You can use the platform to:

• Write and edit copy.
• Optimize copy.
• Repurpose content.
• Create captions for social media.
• Help with email marketing.

With the help of Jasper, you can keep your brand unique without losing your voice.

9. Diib

Diib is designed to automate your SEO with an answer engine that dives deep into your analytic data to identify benchmarks that you can start using to grow online brands. 

A few of the ways that Diib will help you optimize your site is with:

• Identifying key issues.
• Implementing improvements.
• Monitoring rankings and opportunities.
• So much more.

For smaller SEO projects, Diib is very useful and provides a wealth of monitoring options that help you get control of a site’s SEO.

Dig deeper: Can AI perform technical SEO analysis effectively?

10. Semrush

Semrush offers a suite of tools for SEOs, including ContentShake AI. This AI-powered tool is designed to create SEO-friendly articles to boost organic traffic.

ContentShake AI can generate weekly content ideas and images, optimize your content and even post to your WordPress site directly.

Content ideas are based on trending topics in your industry and target location. You can even generate entire blog posts that incorporate the best SEO practices and are written in your unique tone and style.

ContentShake AI says it can help you create content 12x faster and even generate compelling posts for any social media platform.

11. WordLift

WordLift markets itself as an AI-powered tool that “does the heavy lifting for you.” 

It can add structured data to your site automatically and help you build knowledge graphs that help search engines understand the structure of our content.

But WordLift can also go beyond these technical tasks and help you create more engaging and informative content, thanks to the power of generative AI. 

Semantic analytics further help you understand search intent and provide usable data that you can use to optimize your content.

WordLift offers solutions for ecommerce brands and enterprises alike.

12. ChatGPT

When you hear the words “artificial intelligence,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? ChatGPT.

Type in a question and ChatGPT will give you the answer. Ask it for ideas or even to write a caption for your Instagram post and ChatGPT will deliver.

ChatGPT ushered in a wave of generative AI tools, but it remains the top tool of choice for many marketers. Today, it has more than 200 million weekly active users.

It’s not without its flaws – fact-checking is a must when using this tool – but for many marketers, it serves as a helpful tool to generate ideas, outlines, content inspiration, recommend on-page SEO changes and more.

Dig deeper: ChatGPT prompts for SEO: What you need to know

13. Topically

What’s the key to creating effective copy and content? Knowing your audience. What are their pain points? What is their intent?

Topically harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to help you analyze search intent and better understand your audience with the tap of a button.

Tools like topical maps, image labels and search modifiers provide valuable insights into your audience’s behavior. You can leverage these insights to improve your content strategy and SEO campaign.

The best part? You can get started for free to see if this tool will enhance your marketing strategy.

14. People Asked

What is the goal of every search engine? To answer people’s questions. If your site can provide these answers, it’s more likely to rank higher in the search results.

The question is: how do you figure out what people are asking? Keyword research can only take you so far and even with tools, the process can be tedious.

People Asked is an AI-powered tool that grabs insights and questions from across the web. Just type in a topic or keyword and it will generate relevant questions asked by real people.

You can use this data to connect with your audience, solve their problems and improve your content creation.

15. FormStory

Web form issues can lead to lost clients, revenue and reputation. FormStory helps you avoid this fate by capturing and storing form data, even if they are abandoned or broken.

This AI-powered tool will monitor your forms and notify you each time they fail to capture submissions. It even stores all of the data in any form fields the visitor filled in before the form was abandoned.

With FormStory, you can view form analytics and performance in real time and use captured data to improve site conversions and performance.

Final thoughts

There’s no shortage of AI tools for SEO, and the right combination of solutions can help streamline your workflows and processes. 

These 15 tools are a great place to start. Take them for a test drive to see if they work for you and can easily integrate into your tech stack.

From your account reps to the interface itself, Google gives you plenty of recommendations on managing your ad campaigns. But are all of those good?

Should you ignore these recommendations and “hack” Google’s machine learning – or should you follow Google’s advice? 

Two Google Ads experts – Ben Kruger and Anthony Higman – had an interesting debate on this topic at SMX Advanced.

Here are the key points from their discussion.

Performance Max (PMax) for non-ecommerce

Kruger, who was on the side of adopting, clearly took the stance that Performance Max is future and that all Google’s tools centers around it:

• “My simple answer is that PMax is clearly the future of Google. It’s where everything is heading as, you know, if you’re talking to your reps, if you’re reading documentation, if you’re watching Gmail, which which happened, recently, everything seems to center around Pmax, and it’s talked about over and over again.”
• “If you’re not learning and mastering the newest thing that Google is clearly pushing, then you’re potentially gonna get left behind when inevitably, whatever you’re used to gets sunsetted, deprecated or you’re forced to migrate over to PMax.”

PMax offers growth opportunities through AI-driven insights across various channels, but Kruger advised against relying solely on it, suggesting it should be part of a broader, strategic approach that includes learning from PMax to enhance dedicated campaigns.

Higman, who was on the side of hacking, said non-ecommerce brands, in particular, should avoid PMax. He sees “a lot of problems” with it:

• “I do understand that Google is aggressively pushing PMax, But just because Google is pushing something doesn’t mean that everybody should jump on board.
• “The more people that adopt PMax because of Google’s push for the new shiny object, the more they make it easier to deprecate certain things.
• “My main beef with PMax is, again, the lack of transparency. They clearly wanna push everybody in automation, which I disagree with because not everybody fits into that box.”

Higman emphasized the importance of maintaining control and visibility over ad spend, especially for those with smaller budgets. He also expressed concern that widespread adoption of PMax could lead to the deprecation of more transparent tools.

Best match type

Kruger said there is a place for exact match, but if he had to choose, it would be broad match:

• “Queries are getting way more, unique, specific and long tail. People are going to be conversing with Google search, asking it different ways, maybe using voice, maybe searching on Google Maps. Queries are evolving, and you’ll never be able to cover that with exact match.
• “Broad match is analyzing past searches that this user has made, their location, thousands of other signals that only Broad Match has.
• “With a growth mindset, it’s gonna find you new keywords. So with an exact match, your search terms are all your keywords, and you’re not gonna be able to move to that next frontier of growth to find new queries for you to acquire.”

Broad match is more effective in capturing the increasingly unique, specific and long-tail queries users are making, according to Kruger. It leverages Google’s AI to understand consumer intent and match ads to relevant searches by analyzing various signals, including the user’s past behavior and the content of landing pages.

Higman’s all-time favorite, of the present and past match types, is broad match modifier. But sticking to what is possible, he said he prefers exact match.

• “This is another one of those control things. As Google removes control, their revenue goes up. Advertisers kinda get a little bit watered down results.”
• “So I am a proponent of exact match, keeping things as tight as possible, and really targeting what you want to target.”

Kruger also noted that while exact match may be more expensive, it offers tighter control and more precise targeting compared to other match types. Despite still using phrase match for specific purposes, exact match is currently his preferred choice for achieving targeted campaign results.

Automation vs. control

When posed the question of automation versus control, Kruger said performance is what matters:

• “That’s a trick question. I think the answer is performance, and I don’t care how I get there. That’s that’s all that matters to me, and I’m gonna use the best tools available to get the performance and the growth”
• “That’s automation because it allows for performance at scale. I’m constantly finding new opportunities, for performance, and I’m able to find new levers of growth, to move my business along.”

While control is important, particularly for agencies focused on hitting specific targets within platforms like Google Ads, relying solely on controlled methods limits growth potential, Kruger said.

Balance is key, Kruger said, where strategic controls are combined with automation to drive significant business growth. In his experience, automation has consistently delivered the best performance outcomes.

Unsurprisingly, Higman’s stance is “1,000% control”:

• “Google is pushing everybody into automation, which, again, it does have its use cases. I’m not saying that it does not, but we need to keep control to keep results.”
• “I think that as privacy legislation meets automation, there’s gonna be a lot of problems down the road as there’s less data that can be fed to the the automation because of privacy legislation, things are gonna get wonky.”
• “I also think from an agency perspective, control is extremely important. Client’s don’t want these weird things that are gonna happen with automation that bring in different kind of things that they’re really not going after.”

Higman is concerned that automation, with its lack of transparency, could lead to undesirable outcomes and urges others to resist the push toward automated systems that reduce control.

RSA (Responsive Search Ads) strategy

Maximizes all the headlines and descriptions that RSA’s have to offer, Kruger said:

• “I completely max them out: 15 headlines, 5 descriptions, 20 images, all extensions, etc.
• “I have seen first-hand that creative is targeting. You could have two different ad groups with the same keywords in it and if you change the assets in one of the RSAs to better match that keyword, the search terms that match to that ad group will move to the one that’s more relevant.
• “Formats are completely gonna change. And by having a diverse set of assets in an RSA, you can increase your chances of landing different placements that those with an ETA definitely could not get into.”

As search engine results pages (SERPs) evolve, having a diverse set of assets in RSAs increases the chances of securing different placements, something expanded text ads (ETAs) cannot achieve, according to Kruger.

But Higman is not a fan of RSAs. He said:

• “I think that the best RSA strategy is not RSAs. We still have accounts that have expanded text ads in them, and they outperform RSAs by miles every time, and they get all of the conversions.
• “My RSA strategy is to keep RSAs as close to ETAs as possible.
• “So we will only provide the minimum required headlines and descriptions, and we will pin those into place exactly where we want them based on past performance on expanded text ads.”

While Higman acknowledged the potential of RSAs to match headlines and descriptions to searches, that hasn’t been his experience. Overall, he has found that ETAs still significantly outperform RSAs.

Both experts agreed that ad strength scores may not be indicative of performance.

Nuanced perspectives

It should be noted that with each point each expert conceded that their “opponent” made valid points:

• Higman conceded that automated solutions could benefit larger advertisers aiming for broad reach.
• Kruger suggested that control-focused strategies might be more suitable for businesses with limited capacity to handle high lead volumes

The debate highlighted the ongoing tension in the PPC community between embracing Google’s automation push and maintaining granular control over campaigns.

The key takeaway is that while Google is clearly moving toward more automated solutions, the best approach depends on an advertiser’s specific goals, budget and capacity for growth.

Watch: The great debate: Should you hack or adopt Google Ads features?

You can watch the full session from SMX Advanced here:

Learn how personalization can boost average order value, click-through rates, and customer satisfaction, leading to increased engagement and loyalty.

Discover how personalization can revolutionize your e-commerce business. Join our Martech webinar, Personalization at Scale: A Blueprint for Global Success and learn from the success of Le Col, a premium cycling apparel brand that saw a 20% increase in average order value and a 10% boost in customer engagement through targeted personalization.

Attend this webinar and:

• Learn how personalization can boost average order value, click-through rates, and customer satisfaction, leading to increased engagement and loyalty.
• Understand the importance of adaptability and cross-team collaboration in delivering personalized experiences that resonate with global audiences.
• Discover how to harness data-driven insights to refine your personalization strategies and deliver ongoing value to your customers.

This webinar is perfect for anyone who wants to increase sales, build customer loyalty, and stay ahead of the competition. You can sign up here.

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About the author

Edna Chavira is the Senior Director of Marketing Services at Third Door Media. She has over 20 years of experience helping B2B companies generate leads and acquire customers.

Browse the web these days, and you’ll likely run into AI-created content (whether you realize it or not).

The line between AI and human-written content continues to blur rapidly, causing confusion and misplaced trust in flawed AI detection tools. 

But these so-called electronic gatekeepers – meant to separate human-crafted content from its artificial counterparts – mistakenly flag genuine human writing as AI-generated.

Despite their questionable reliability, many in our industry are turning to AI checkers as a misguided shield, potentially limiting their own content creation capabilities based on flawed analyses. 

The irony?

This panic is largely unnecessary, especially considering Google’s clear support for responsible AI use in content creation.

We’re seeing a lot of commotion over a largely overstated problem.

Let’s be real: AI has already cemented its place in the content marketing world. Nearly half of businesses have embraced AI in content production in some form. At our agency, we’re not shying away from it either – but we’re using it responsibly (more on that later). 

This article will debunk AI checker myths, show you how to use AI effectively and guide you in creating content that meets Google’s standards and keeps your audience coming back for more.

Let’s begin with an eye-opening case study featuring MediaFeed, one of our syndication partners, and Phrasly, an AI checker. 

Real-world example: Our experience with a syndication partner and AI checkers

Our content team encountered an unexpected hurdle when MediaFeed ran one of our human-written pieces through an AI checker called Phrasly.

The tool flagged this top-funnel content piece (which required clear, concise and concrete definitions related to economics and currencies) as AI-generated, raising immediate concerns about the reliability of such tools.

We ran the same piece through GPTZero to demonstrate the inconsistency of AI checkers.

Interestingly, GPTZero identified the content as 93% human-written, directly contradicting Phrasly’s assessment.

This discrepancy highlighted the potential for false positives and the importance of not relying solely on these tools for content evaluation.

Our content creation process

To address MediaFeed’s concerns, we provided a detailed breakdown of our content production process – one that responsibly incorporates AI.

Our process begins with topic cluster development, where our SEO team identifies keywords to target. Our content team then uses this information for manual SERP research and analysis. They also use approved AI tools to help transform their research into a comprehensive, fact-checked and sourced outline.

Our writers then use this outline as a foundation, employing AI tools for research assistance and to help rewrite specific sections when needed. 

Here’s an example of how one of our writers could use AI to help rewrite a definition of a concept that’s been written about countless times:

• Original sentence: “An exchange rate is how much of one nation’s currency you can buy with another nation’s currency.”
• AI-assisted rewrite: “Think of an exchange rate as the price tag on one country’s money when shopping with another country’s cash. It’s like asking, ‘How many tacos can I get for this burger?’ but with currencies instead of food.”

Our writers then refine this output, ensuring it aligns with our strict quality standards and the client’s voice. Once finalized, our expert copy editors and content lead parse the draft to ensure it meets our best practices.

Each piece of content undergoes four stages of internal review before client delivery: writer, copy editor, content lead and client services. We also use Copyscape to verify originality.

Over the past year, we’ve invested significant time in researching and testing generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Jasper and Perplexity to determine their appropriate use cases for content production.

This research, combined with decades of SEO, content marketing and professional writing experience, enables us to use generative AI properly, effectively and ethically. 

Key learnings

This experience provided us with some valuable insights:

• AI checker limitations: We learned that AI checkers can produce inconsistent results and shouldn’t be the sole way to determine content quality or origin.
• Importance of transparency: Open communication about our process helped strengthen our relationship with MediaFeed.
• Value of human expertise: Our approach, which combines AI assistance with human creativity and expertise, proved effective in producing high-quality, original content.

MediaFeed proceeded to publish the content without further concerns. This experience also led us to develop a more robust strategy for addressing AI-related queries from clients, emphasizing education and process transparency.

Dig deeper: 7 reasons why your AI content sucks (and how to fix it)

AI detectors promise to sniff out AI-generated content, but just like our Mediafeed snafu, they can be inaccurate and unreliable. 

A good example of just how unreliable they are is the fact that OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, took down its AI-written text classifier in July 2023 due to its low accuracy rate. 

Turnitin, one of the most well-known and widely used AI detector tools in the academic space, boasts a less than 1% false positive rate. However, they claim to miss 15% of AI-written text to achieve this. 

Tools like GPTZero seemingly lead the way in accuracy, claiming a 99% success rate when analyzing text from Meta’s Llama 3.1 LLM. Our test also showed that GPTZero correctly identified our human-generated content compared to Phrasly. 

But the company’s claims of “advanced algorithmic precision” and “robust training data” just don’t guarantee accuracy when concrete AI text identifiers (a.k.a. “watermarks”) don’t exist yet. 

Technical limitations

Pattern recognition vs. understanding

• AI checkers rely on similar training data sets that power LLMs and pattern recognition to look for statistical anomalies that might indicate AI-generated text. 
• One such way these tools look for patterns is through the lenses of “perplexity” and “burstiness,” which are qualities that often distinguish human-written content from AI-generated text. 
• Perplexity refers to the complexity and unpredictability of writing, while burstiness captures variations in sentence structure and rhythm. 
• These subtle characteristics are challenging for AI to replicate consistently and for AI checkers to evaluate accurately.

False positives and negatives

• These tools are prone to errors in both directions. 
• They might flag a brilliantly creative piece as “AI-generated” simply because it’s unique or pings overly simplified perplexity and burstiness requirements. 
• Worse, they could miss actual AI-generated content that’s been cleverly tweaked. It’s a coin toss and that’s not good enough for professional content evaluation.

‘Fingerprinting’ AI text

• Promising watermarking technology is being developed for AI-generated text, but it’s still in its infancy and must overcome some serious hurdles before becoming a foolproof solution. 
• OpenAI recently announced that its team successfully developed a highly accurate text watermarking method. However, it will not release it to the public until it can solve its issues with global tampering and potential biases. 
• The OpenAI team is also in the early stages of exploring cryptographically signed metadata as a text provenance technique, which would lead to zero false positives and be more efficient than standard watermarking – but this is currently more science fiction than fact. 

Lagging behind AI advancements 

• LLMs are popping up everywhere and evolving at breakneck speeds while AI checkers struggle to keep up. 

Ethical concerns

The problems with AI checkers go beyond technical issues. They raise serious ethical red flags:

Reputation damage

• A false positive from an AI checker can have serious consequences.
• Content creators might face lost credibility, damaged professional relationships and – in industries with strict regulatory requirements – even legal penalties.
• This creates an environment where genuine creativity can be unfairly penalized.

Bias and discrimination

• AI checkers can perpetuate biases, potentially discriminating against certain writing styles or voices.
• This could lead to a bland, homogenized internet where diverse voices are silenced. Is that the future of content we want?

Creativity killer

• When writers know these flawed tools will scrutinize their work, they might play it safe. No more creative risks, no more unique expressions. 
• The result? Boring, formulaic content that no one wants to read.

Black box problem

• Many organizations rely on AI checkers without understanding how they work. 
• Some AI detector companies aren’t even transparent about their tools’ operations. 

Dig deeper: How to survive the search results when you’re using AI tools for content

The dangers of relying on AI checkers

Think AI checkers are just harmless tools? Beyond their technical limitations, over-reliance on these detectors can lead to unexpected and far-reaching consequences.

Skewed content strategies

Companies might become obsessed with “passing” AI checks, prioritizing this over actual SEO best practices. 

It’s like optimizing your website for a search engine that doesn’t exist – you’re playing the wrong game entirely. 

This misguided focus can lead to ignoring user intent. You might lose sight of what your audience wants when you’re too fixated on beating AI detectors. 

Remember, your readers are human, not algorithms.

Legal and compliance risks

In regulated industries, relying solely on AI checkers for content approval could create a false sense of compliance, leading to overlooking crucial issues. 

These tools aren’t designed to understand complex regulatory requirements. 

Market and competitive disadvantages

Avoiding AI-assisted content creation due to fear of detection might cause you to miss out on efficiency gains that your competitors are leveraging. 

Investing heavily in unreliable AI detection tools means less budget for things that actually improve your content, like subject matter expert (SME) writers or reviewers or professional editing. 

Moreover, constantly running content through AI checkers and dealing with false positives can significantly slow down your content production pipeline.

Long-term industry impacts

As AI checkers become more prevalent, they could create an additional barrier to entry for new writers or smaller organizations trying to enter the content market. 

There’s also a risk of organizations valuing the “ability to pass AI checks” over actual writing skills, potentially changing hiring practices unintendedly. 

If everyone’s trying to create content that passes the same AI checks, we risk an echo chamber effect, amplifying certain voices or styles while suppressing others. This would lead to a less diverse content ecosystem.

Remember, the goal isn’t to avoid AI altogether – it’s to use it responsibly while maintaining the human touch that makes content truly valuable. 

Relying too heavily on AI checkers can paradoxically push us further from this goal.

So, what’s the alternative? How can we ensure content quality without falling into the AI checker trap?

Dig deeper: Is using AI-generated content for SEO plagiarism?

Alternative strategies for ensuring content quality

AI checkers aren’t the solution for analyzing content quality or origin. Let’s explore more effective strategies that actually work.

Embrace human expertise

There’s no substitute for skilled human editors. They catch nuances, inconsistencies and tone issues that AI checkers miss. Human experts can also better assess content for perplexity and burstiness.

For specialized content, involve SME writers or reviewers to ensure accuracy and depth. Their domain knowledge enables them to identify nuanced inaccuracies or oversimplifications that AI generators and checkers might miss. 

Consider assembling diverse review teams to spot potential issues with tone, cultural sensitivity and audience relevance. 

These teams can also evaluate how perplexity and burstiness manifest across different content types and subject areas, providing a more comprehensive assessment of content authenticity and quality.

Leverage more reliable tools

Plagiarism checkers like Copyscape remain valuable and trustworthy. While not perfect, they’re far more reliable than AI content detectors for identifying copied text. 

Readability analyzers such as the Hemingway Editor help assess reading level, sentence structure and clarity, ensuring your content is accessible to your target audience. 

SEO tools like Semrush Writing Assistant can also help you optimize for actual search engines and user intent, not AI detectors.

But there’s a caveat to these AI-powered readability and SEO tools, just like with AI detectors. Overreliance on them to make copy changes could also lead to homogenization in writing, especially regarding sentence flow and word choice. 

When everyone uses the same tools to gauge writing quality and effectiveness, it can water down content all the same. Expert people are important, people!

Implement robust processes

Develop comprehensive content guidelines that reflect your brand voice, style and quality standards. This will provide a consistent framework for both human- and AI-assisted content. 

Implement a tiered review process, starting with self-editing, moving to peer review and then to professional editing. It’s also important to regularly collect and analyze user feedback on your content to gauge its effectiveness and value.

Focus on value and originality

Prioritize original research by conducting your own surveys, interviews or data analysis. This ensures uniqueness and adds real value for your audience. 

Whether using AI assistance or not, always incorporate unique insights and experiences. Focus on creating fewer pieces of higher quality rather than churning out content at scale just to feed the algorithm.

Dig deeper: AI can’t write this: 10 ways to AI-proof your content for years to come

Educate your content team

Ensure your content team understands AI’s capabilities and limitations in content creation. Develop clear policies on how and when to use AI in your content process. 

Also, stay updated on AI developments and best practices in content creation and SEO, as things are changing rapidly.

The bigger picture

Despite their good intentions, AI checkers often produce unreliable results due to their reliance on pattern recognition rather than true understanding. 

The potential for false positives and negatives, along with ethical concerns, make them an imperfect solution for reviewing content quality.

Instead of relying on them, we’ve outlined more effective methods for ensuring content quality, including using established plagiarism checkers and involving human expertise in the content creation and review process. 

Our experience with MediaFeed also demonstrates the value of transparency and a balanced approach that combines AI assistance with human creativity.

Moving forward, it’s crucial to approach AI in content creation with a balanced perspective.

AI tools can significantly enhance content when used responsibly, but they should be seen as aids to human creativity rather than replacements for it.

The goal is to find a middle ground where technology enhances our creative capabilities.

As content creators, marketers and business leaders, we also must stay informed about AI developments and continually refine our strategies. We should be open to leveraging new technologies while recognizing the enduring value of human expertise, creativity and ethical judgment.

The future of content creation lies in our ability to thoughtfully integrate AI tools into a human-led creative process.

This will enable us to produce content that performs well in search rankings and genuinely serves and engages our audiences – the true measure of content success.

Dig deeper: Generative AI to create content: To use or not to use it?

Many redesigned websites fail to improve SEO, often damaging existing rankings and creating challenges for SEO teams trying to recover lost traffic. This can severely affect business visibility, lead generation and sales.

I have been handed many a brand new website and asked to “SEO it” when untold damage has been done and significant time and effort must be spent just to get traffic levels back where they were before the redesign. 

Many articles help with website SEO and how to retain SEO traffic during a redesign. There are also helpful books and frameworks for website planning.

Yet, seemingly no resource combines a sensible approach to planning a new site with the retention and improvement of SEO. 

This article will outline how to plan a new website effectively to retain existing traffic and create a platform to improve your SEO. 

To make following along easier, you can fill out the steps in the template below:

Website planning and SEO 

To ensure your new website retains and improves your SEO, it is helpful to ensure you have a clearly defined SEO strategy and you have articulated this in a simple SEO plan. 

The worst thing in any website design project is when unexpected problems or changes arrive during development. 

A well-developed plan that has input from all stakeholders helps ensure less of this. More importantly, if the customer changes their mind or the scope creeps (the scope always creeps), you have the document to show the original scope and justify the necessary fee increases. 

I wish I had a dollar for every time we were asked to review a new site that was almost finished – only to find that SEO hadn’t been considered, putting its success at risk.

We recently worked on a six-figure project for a business that thrived on organic traffic. The project would essentially destroy all the hard-earned SEO. 

This took several months and probably another six figures in PPC spend (to replace what was free SEO traffic from an SEO vs. PPC perspective), as well as further SEO time and redevelopment. You want to avoid that if at all possible. 

We have also seen other sites that had so comprehensively damaged SEO traffic that the only sensible approach was to roll back to the previous site. 

Suffice it to say that ensuring you retain SEO traffic and set the scene for improvements is not something you can leave to chance. 

The approach laid out here combines a fairly standard approach to website planning, which, done well, will save much time, money and pain, with the kind of jobs needed to retain existing SEO traffic while building a furtive platform for further SEO development. 

The output of this process should be a document that either acts as the foundation of the website brief or is integrated into a traditional brief. 

Note: Where the SEO brief and website brief are separate entities, I always recommend reviewing the final website brief to ensure the SEO brief has been incorporated before the project kicks off. 

There are five key steps to work through to create your SEO-friendly website blueprint:

1. Existing rankings and traffic 

Your must understand your traffic and where it comes from.

To do this, spend some time in Google Analytics and Google Search Console to identify:

• High-ranking keywords.
• High-traffic keywords.
• High-traffic content.
• High-opportunity pages.
• High-opportunity keywords.

Your goal is to clearly document what works currently. These must be included in the new site.

If high-traffic content is removed, not correctly optimized, or lost in the new site’s hierarchy, then you are inviting problems. 

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a treasure trove of SEO information and will give you the straight dope on your rankings and traffic. 

Here, you’ll see high-opportunity keywords and pages with lots of impressions but not many clicks. 

• Visit Search Console
• Performance > Search Results

The main information you are looking for is in the queries and pages tabs. You can order this by clicks (traffic) and impressions (which is an opportunity). 

Work through this information and document your findings in the template. 

Crawl data

Crawl your website and save a copy of the crawl (Screaming Frog is a cost-effective or free way of doing this under 500 pages).

This will allow you to check links to the page and compare with the new site if (and when) problems arise. 

SEO tools

You can also use any SEO tools for rank tracking. 

Still, I prefer Search Console and Google Analytics for this as they give you real data and insight, not the extrapolated data the typical SEO tools provide, which can often be wildly inaccurate and misleading. 

Dig deeper: Website redesign SEO checklist: Retaining and improving SEO

2. SEO and website goals 

Goals are crucial to any project. Starting with clear goals helps you understand your destination, making it easier to find the right path forward.

Goals provide you with a tool for assessing all decisions throughout the project.

Will doing something help us hit our goals? If not, don’t do it. If so, go for it! 

You may have goals for the website project overall, ideally these will be hierarchical. For instance, we may have one super goal that states the goal of the new website is to generate more leads. 

You may then have sub-goals such as to improve SEO and improve conversion rates that work in service of the master goal. 

Remember to make your SEO goals specific and measurable, so SMART goals are helpful here. 

Overall, you may need a hierarchy of goals here that covers:

• Website Goal: Generate more leads/sales.
• SEO Goal 1: Rank our service pages more highly.
• SEO Goal 2: Rank our upper funnel marketing content highly. 

You may also find it useful to look at things you want to avoid with the new site. Determining what you are aiming at and what you are running away from can be just as helpful, if not more so. 

• Anti-goal: Avoid having a site that is essentially no different from our competitors. 

Document your goals in the website plan template and move on. 

3. Audience and customer segments

Carefully define your target audience(s) along with some considerations regarding your competitors. 

Remember, in marketing, targeting everyone is targeting no one. 

That is not to say you can’t target multiple audiences, but you do need to give some consideration to each audience and factor this into the structure and segmentation of your new site.

We want to carefully consider the goals, problems and jobs of our target audience to ensure our business goals, website goals and the goals of the people we serve are all finely aligned. 

Audience questions

We want to start by simply identifying the different audiences: men, women, students, Gen X, Millennials, etc. 

For each audience:

• Audience name.
• Demographics (age, sex, location).
• What is the problem or goal of the target audience?
• Where do they hang out or find information online?

The information you gather here will help you when it comes to structuring your site to support the individual needs of each audience (which, in turn, makes optimizing for each audience so much easier). 

To explore each customer segment in more depth, you can use the SEO Value Proposition Template and SCAMPER to understand your customers and identify the content you need to hit your goals. 

Remember that Google wants you to focus on creating helpful, people-first content. To do this, you need to understand your people (audience) and ensure you are writing for them. 

This process feeds into your SEO like no other, so spend the time getting into the minds of your audience segments. Your SEO will thank you for it.  

Note all of this down in the website plan template and move on. 

4. Structure and sitemap

A sitemap provides a simple overview of the new site and can be cross-referenced with the existing goals. 

For instance, the new sitemap should include high-traffic pages on the current site that drive business performance. 

Sitemaps help gather feedback from all stakeholders and facilitate difficult conversations during the planning stages. Addressing these issues early can prevent problems later on with delivery, timelines and budgets.

I am a big fan of the idea that you should really thrash things out at this point and good ideas get strengthened and remain, while bad ideas can die here – rather than in costly development. 

Creating your sitemap

You want to create a simple bullet point sitemap in the first instance.

• Home 
• About Us
• Category A
• Category B
• Resources
• Contact

I recommend writing this all down in a spreadsheet so you have clarity and numbering for all pages (which will be useful in the next steps).

You can use your favorite drawing tool to create your sitemap. Draw.io has a useful set of templates, including various maps, that you can use for site mapping (all of which are saved to Google Docs).

A visual sitemap can be useful for the major categories and sections of the site and can aid in getting feedback from stakeholders.  

The key takeaway here is that we want to create a sitemap that is segmented by our target audiences and serves the overarching marketing objectives. 

If our SEO goals are to retain traffic and create an optimized structure, then we can assess that here. 

Key pieces of content that have been identified should be recreated on the new site within an optimized structure that sets the scene for growth. 

Remember, the hierarchy here will inform you of your site’s folder structure, which helps provide context for each document. 

This, in turn, helps you structure your keywords from high-level broad keywords to more specific categories and longer-tail product/service keywords. The structure is key, so spend time here until you are happy. 

5. Page scoping

The next step of the planning process is to determine what content will be on each page.

Based on the level of detail you want to use here, you can either create columns in your spreadsheet sitemap that you created previously or go into more detail.

Typically, for each page, we should include:

• Goal of the page.
• Functionality / Features (e.g., forms).
• Content (images, text, video etc).
• SEO (Notes, Page Title, Meta Description).
• Notes.

The SEO aspect here is fairly obvious, and if we have a high-performing page currently, we want to ensure the main content is recreated. 

There is little point in adding a page and changing things radically – minimize the variables wherever possible. 

We want to examine the page’s goal and ensure that its functionality and content support it. 

Some example goals for pages are:

• Generate exposure from SEO (to feed remarketing).
• Generate leads.
• Funnel users to product pages. 

Work through each page detailing the goal for that page and then outline the content that supports that and update the website plan template. 

6. SEO specifics

The planning is important, but we must document a few SEO specifics to ensure this build aspect will be handled correctly.

• Keep the old site live on a temporary URL if possible.
• Create a list of redirections from the old pages to the new ones.
• Migrate content, page titles and meta descriptions for high-performing pages.
• Update external backlinks where possible.
• Monitor performance after launch (rankings, traffic, impressions).

Factoring in these five areas will ensure the main SEO points are covered.

6. Your website plan 

At this point, you should have a comprehensive but concise plan outlining what is needed on your new site. 

The plan should cover:

• Existing rankings and traffic.
• Goals for the project.
• Customer segments.
• Website structure and sitemap.
• Page scoping.
• SEO specifics (redirects, etc.).

Most people don’t do this. They create a super skinny brief and leave it to the web developers. 

But the web developers don’t know your business, so you have to put in the work to ensure the new site retains and improves your SEO (while also hitting the likely myriad of other goals that trickle down from management to marketing). 

While it may seem like an additional step, planning will save you time, money and pain while improving your overall results – a win-win. 

In a nutshell, you will get better results by doing the research and planning work. 

Launch and beyond

The final aspects to consider are the monitoring of the launch and what your marketing and SEO KPIs are to measure results. 

We always expect some turbulence, but keeping a close eye on the Search Console and your KPIs will help you spot issues and squash them quickly. 

SEO-friendly website planning to retain and improve traffic

Most websites could be better planned.

If you follow the simple steps here, you will have done more pre-design planning than 99% of other website projects, which can help you join the 1% of companies that get all the results.

Ensure you understand what works currently and where you want to go. Weave that into the planning for your new site and prepare to fly high.

A successful Google Ads PPC strategy involves more than just picking a few keywords. It requires a structured plan that aligns with your business goals, optimizes your budget and uses data to boost performance.

Whether your audience is solution-aware or problem-aware, understanding the nuances of each stage in the sales funnel and selecting the right Google Ads campaign types is essential. 

In this article, “solution-aware” refers to people who know a solution exists, while “problem-aware” describes those encountering innovative solutions that are new to the market.

Let’s dive in and get those ads working smarter, not harder.

Define your end goal: Revenue

Every successful PPC strategy starts with clearly understanding your end goal: revenue.

Not all revenue is the same. The path to earning it varies between ecommerce and lead generation, so your strategy should reflect those differences.

For ecommerce businesses, the objective is to generate sales directly through purchase checkouts.

This means your PPC campaigns should focus on attracting high-intent buyers ready to whip out their credit cards. 

Think of high-conversion keywords and dynamic product ads that directly showcase your offerings and promotions in the search results.

You want to make the sale as efficiently as possible.

Lead generation businesses focus on gathering potential customers’ information – through forms, calls or other interactions – so you can later turn these leads into sales.

Here, success isn’t just about the volume of leads but their quality. 

Your PPC campaigns should engage potential customers with compelling offers, informative content or demonstrations encouraging them to share their contact details. It’s about starting a conversation that successfully leads to a sale.

Google Ads strategies can maximize ecommerce and lead generation outcomes by tailoring campaigns to align with the specific stages of the sales funnel. 

Dig deeper: Lead gen vs. ecommerce: How to tailor your PPC strategies for success

Evaluate first-party data

Before you launch any campaigns, look hard at the first-party data available. This is your goldmine for creating a targeted and effective strategy.

Zero data

• If you’re starting from scratch, your focus should be on branded and high-intent campaigns to gather initial performance insights. 
• This will help refine audience targeting and identify high-performing segments.
• Think about micro-conversion actions such as button clicks or add-to-carts to propel you faster.

Conversion data

• Use past conversion data to optimize campaigns, honing in on keywords, audiences and ad strategies that have historically delivered.
• Google’s bidding algorithms have a strong relationship with your conversion data. You want to preserve it to the best of your ability.

Customer match lists

• If you have them, use customer match lists to create targeted remarketing campaigns and expand your reach through high-quality audience signals.
• These lists are like a secret weapon – the higher the list quality the better your results will be.

First-party data is the backbone of your strategy, enabling you to make informed decisions and refine your approach over time. The more you know, the better your campaigns will perform.

Map out the sales funnel and develop strategies

Understanding the sales funnel is crucial to creating a PPC strategy that guides your audience from awareness to conversion.

Whether your audience is solution-aware or problem-aware, your approach should vary, using different campaign types and targeting methods to achieve optimal results.

Bottom of funnel (BOFU): Converting prospects to customers

The bottom of the funnel is where the magic happens. Your focus here is on converting high-intent prospects into customers. 

This stage is crucial for increasing Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and ensuring efficiency, so you should maximize your budget here first.

• Branded search campaigns: Capture users searching specifically for your brand. It’s all about staying top-of-mind and ensuring you’re there when they’re ready to take action.
• Non-branded search campaigns: Target high-intent, non-branded keywords that signal a readiness to purchase. Highlight your unique selling propositions (USPs) and competitive advantages to address the needs people are searching for.
• Performance Max campaigns: These are your full-funnel champions, leveraging Google’s machine learning to optimize ad delivery and reach the right audience at the right time.
• Remarketing campaigns: Reengage users who have interacted with your website but haven’t converted yet. Use messaging that emphasizes urgency – like limited-time offers or discounts – to nudge these users toward a purchase.

Focus on high-intent keywords and use clear, action-oriented messaging highlighting product benefits and competitive pricing. 

Differentiate your product from competitors with comparisons, testimonials and guarantees. Show them why you’re the best choice, no contest.

Middle of funnel (MOFU): Nurturing prospects

Once you’ve nailed it at the bottom of the funnel, it’s time to move to the middle. 

In the middle of the funnel, you nurture interested prospects who aren’t quite ready to commit. This is your opportunity to engage users in the research phase.

• Non-branded search and dynamic search ads campaigns: Target broader keywords related to your product or service. These users are still browsing but are starting to get serious. Test different keywords and measure what works based on your average click costs and conversion rates.
• Video campaigns: Use informative or educational videos to build trust and give more insight into your product. Storytelling helps create a connection and build credibility. Target custom segments and in-market audiences specific to your product or service. 
• Remarketing campaigns: Keep the conversation with users who have shown initial interest but need further nurturing before converting. Address their objections and provide additional information to guide them toward a decision.

For solution-aware audiences, provide content that emphasizes the effectiveness of your product or service, like case studies or detailed demonstrations. 

For problem-aware audiences, focus on educating them about the problem and how your product can provide a solution. You’re not just selling a product; you’re solving a problem.

Top of funnel (TOFU): Building awareness

The top of the funnel is all about casting a wide net. Your goal here is to build brand awareness and attract a healthy, engaged audience.

• Video campaigns (YouTube ads): Use video content to introduce your brand and its products to potential customers. Create engaging, informative content that captures interest and establishes your brand’s identity. Think of this as your brand’s first handshake.
• Demand Gen campaigns: Target broader audience segments and lookalikes to engage users who haven’t visited your website before. Use soft calls to action, like “Learn More,” to encourage exploration.

For solution-aware audiences, use educational and entertaining content to pique curiosity and demonstrate the unique value proposition. 

For problem-aware audiences, provide valuable insights or resources to help them understand their problem and consider your product a potential solution. You’re planting seeds that, with the right nurturing, will grow into loyal customers.

Dig deeper: How to implement a full-funnel PPC marketing strategy

Allocate budget strategically for maximum ROAS

If you have a limited budget, start at the bottom of the funnel and work your way up. 

By focusing on high-intent, lower-funnel campaigns first, you maximize ROAS and ensure that your ad spend drives immediate and measurable results. 

Once you’ve solidified that foundation, you can move up the funnel, allocating the remaining budget to nurture leads in the middle and build awareness at the top. 

This approach ensures that you efficiently spend your budget on the highest-return activities first while still investing in future growth.

Why starting with the top of the funnel is a smart approach

When you have the budget to support it, starting with top-of-funnel (TOFU) strategies can be one of the smartest moves you make in your PPC campaigns. Here’s why:

Build brand awareness and trust early

Focusing on TOFU activities allows you to introduce your brand to potential customers who may not yet know they need your product or service. 

By engaging them with educational content, videos and awareness campaigns, you establish trust and build a strong foundation for future conversions. 

Trust and recognition are cultivated through consistent, valuable interactions, making your brand the go-to choice when they’re ready to buy.

Capture attention and influence decisions

Engaging customers early in their journey means you’re shaping their perception before they even consider your competitors. 

The sooner you can capture their attention, the more you can influence their decision-making process, guiding them down the funnel towards conversion.

Prime your audience for conversion

A top-of-funnel strategy doesn’t just generate awareness – it primes your audience for conversion. 

By nurturing these prospects with valuable content and building a relationship from the start, you’re setting the stage for higher conversion rates as they move through the funnel. 

When they’re ready to make a purchase, they already know and trust your brand.

Starting at the top of the funnel isn’t just about casting a wide net; it’s about building a strong, loyal customer base that drives long-term success. 

If your budget allows, don’t hesitate to invest in TOFU strategies. This forward-thinking approach pays dividends down the road.

Dig deeper: How to manage a paid media budget: Allocation, risk and scaling

Crafting a comprehensive PPC strategy for long-term success

By creating a comprehensive PPC strategy that encompasses every stage of the sales funnel, from awareness to conversion, you set your business up for immediate wins and sustainable growth. 

With a thoughtful approach that considers both short-term and long-term goals, your Google Ads campaigns can drive meaningful results and build a loyal customer base.

Focus on building a strategy that is data-driven, customer-centric and adaptable to the changing landscape of digital advertising.

This way, you’ll achieve your revenue goals and cultivate a robust and loyal customer base that will sustain your business for years to come.

Gear up, plan smart and let your Google Ads campaigns work hard for you. Every click has the potential to build something great.

Generative AI is transforming how consumers discover and engage with content, making it essential for brands to rethink and adapt traditional SEO strategies.

Leading this shift is generative engine optimization (GEO) – an evolution of SEO that leverages AI-driven insights to optimize content for visibility and authority across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews.

This article will dive into the five key strategies to help you implement GEO effectively:

Let’s explore these strategies so you can boost engagement, increase visibility and achieve lasting success, positioning your brand as a leader in AI-driven search.

1. Generative AI research and analysis

Generative AI research is the foundation of your GEO strategy, focused on gathering insights to optimize your content and enhance visibility. 

By knowing what your audience is looking for and how your brand matches up with AI algorithms focusing on relevance and authority, you can ensure your content meets their needs.

Let’s break down GEO research into these core components:

• GEO keyword research.
• AI Overview response analysis.
• Competitor research and analysis.
• Brand perception intelligence.

GEO keyword research

GEO keyword research identifies the keywords, queries and conversational phrases that AI-driven search engines prioritize.

AI algorithms favor content that mirrors natural language and comprehensively addresses user intent, so creating contextually rich, conversational content has become more essential than ever.

With over a billion voice searches occurring every month and 8.4 billion voice assistants expected to be in use by the end of the year, optimizing for natural language is no longer optional – it’s crucial.

By effectively leveraging GEO keyword research, you can ensure your content gives users what they’re looking for and aligns with AI preferences, enhancing user engagement and creating stronger connections with your audience.

Actionable tips:

• Understand your target audience:
  • Start by gaining a deep understanding of what drives your audience’s searches – are they looking for information, products or solutions? 
  • Focus on the words, phrases and questions they use to craft content that effectively meets their needs.
• Identify relevant keywords, phrases and entities:
  • Find keywords and phrases that resonate with your audience while aligning with AI’s focus on natural language processing:
    • Long-tail keywords and conversational queries: Longer, more specific phrases that capture user intent and reflect natural, conversational search behavior.
    • Semantic keywords: Related terms, synonyms or variations that add context and depth to your main keyword, making your content more meaningful and relevant.
    • Entities: Recognizable people, places, things or specific concepts that enable AI to accurately categorize and reference your content.
    • Contextually relevant phrases: Phrases that naturally occur within discussions around a topic and reinforce your content’s overall theme, helping AI understand the overall context of your content.
  • Incorporating these elements into your content will help meet user needs while making it easier for AI to interpret and categorize effectively.
    • Example: “best wireless headphones”
      • Long-tail keywords: best wireless headphones under $200, best wireless headphones for working out, wireless headphones with long battery life
      • Conversational queries: what are the best wireless headphones in 2024, which wireless headphones are best for noise cancellation?
      • Semantic keywords: Bluetooth headphones, wireless earbuds, over-ear wireless headphones
      • Entities: Apple, Bluetooth, Bose, Sony
      • Contextually relevant phrases: crystal-clear sound quality, long-lasting battery, comfortable fit for all-day wear
    • Example: “digital marketing strategies”
      • Long-tail keyword: best digital marketing strategies in 2024, digital marketing strategies for small businesses
      • Conversational query: what are the most effective digital marketing strategies, what type of marketing is best for small businesses
      • Semantic keywords: digital marketing channels, digital marketing tips, online advertising strategies, inbound marketing strategies
      • Entities: search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing
      • Contextually relevant phrases:  grow your business, increase brand awareness, drive qualified traffic, reach your target audience
• Explore SERP features and use AI tools:
  • Explore SERP features: Use tools like Google’s “People Also Ask” and Autocomplete to find long-tail queries and related search terms. Tools like AlsoAsked can extract additional insights from this data.
  • Leverage AI tools for topic research: Use platforms like ChatGPT to generate relevant concepts, phrases and queries. This will deepen your content’s relevance and align with AI’s understanding of the topic.
  • Prompt example
    • “Generate a list of long-tail keywords, conversational queries and contextually relevant phrases related to ‘[KEYWORD]’ that address different types of user intent (informational, navigational, commercial, transactional). Include common user queries, semantically related terms and key entities that should be emphasized to create comprehensive, user-focused content. Also, highlight areas where users often seek deeper insights, specific pain points or actionable solutions.”

AI Overview response analysis

AI Overview response analysis involves:

• Identifying the queries that trigger AI-generated overviews in Google.
• Understanding the prioritized topics and structures.
• Ensuring your brand is well-represented. 

As these overviews grow in popularity and become the go-to choice for users seeking personalized, quick and concise answers, they are becoming critical touchpoints with the power to significantly influence your content’s visibility and credibility. 

• Expanded visibility: AI Overviews are visible to all U.S. users, including those in incognito mode, offering broader visibility and new opportunities for content discovery. Google also expanded AI Overview availability to six new countries, increasing its global reach and potential impact on content visibility.
• Semrush AI Overview tracking enhancement: Semrush has enhanced its tracking for AI Overviews, simplifying large-scale analysis. While not all keyword data is fully integrated, the Organic Research report can help track the performance of queries triggering AI Overviews.

Actionable tips:

• Track your key queries triggering AI Overviews:
  • Pinpoint the queries that trigger AI Overviews using a combination of tools to assess content performance and prioritize topics in your GEO strategy.
    • Keyword rank tracking tools: Use tools like Semrush, BrightEdge and others to track keywords, keeping in mind that visibility may still be limited for less frequent triggers.
    • Google Search Console: While it lacks direct AI Overview tracking, GSC provides valuable insights when used alongside other tools.
    • Google Chrome extensions
      • Google AI Overview Impact Analysis: This free extension tracks AI Overviews and cited sources across multiple keywords. You can export data, identify trends and refine your strategy.
      • Google AI Overview Citation Analysis: Use this free extension to compare links cited in AI Overviews with traditional SERPs, allowing for side-by-side comparisons, competitor tracking and trend identification.
• Analyze your brand’s placement in AI Overviews:
  • Ensure your content appears in AI Overviews for key queries, especially if it ranks well organically. AI doesn’t always pull from top-ranking SERP content, so being featured in overviews is essential for maintaining visibility.
  • A recent seoClarity analysis by Mark Traphagen revealed that 99.5% of AI Overview citations now match one or more of the top 10 Google search results. However, the correlation can vary, making it essential to monitor regularly.
  • Tip: Use a regex pattern with ChatGPT to filter top queries from a ranking export likely to trigger AI Overviews. As seen below, run these keywords through the AI Overview Impact Analysis extension to identify which queries generate overviews and the sources cited.

• By combining the downloaded report with your ranking data using VLOOKUP, you can effectively analyze AI Overviews in relation to your organic performance.

• With conditional formatting, you can easily track your brand’s placement and monitor the sources being cited.

• Analyze AI Overview response structures and content elements to:
  • Optimize your content for AI Overviews, it’s essential to understand how AI structures its responses to your key queries. 
  • Identify the common formats – whether lists, tables or videos – and tailor your content to incorporate elements like data points, topics, multimedia and key phrases that AI deems relevant.
  • Examples:
    • “What is SEO” AI Overview: Begins with a concise paragraph, followed by headings and lists that cover the reasons SEO is important and ways to improve a website’s SEO performance. To increase chances of being featured, content should comprehensively address these core aspects.
    • “Best digital marketing strategies for small businesses” AI Overview: Combines text, images and a bulleted list that covers specific digital marketing channels, strategies and actionable tips. If you aim to target this AI Overview, adjust your content to mention similar topics and actionable tips.

Competitor research and analysis

GEO competitor research helps you identify how competitors perform in AI-driven search results. By analyzing their successes, you can uncover effective strategies, spot content gaps and refine your approach to improve visibility and stay competitive.

This research is an opportunity to learn from those excelling in AI-driven search. Analyze how competitors are referenced, then adapt their strategies to improve your own content.

Focus on areas where you can offer more insights or add value while always showcasing your brand’s unique perspective.

Actionable tips:

• Track competitors cited by AI:
  • Start by identifying competitors frequently appearing in AI-generated overviews for your target keywords.
    • Use monitoring tools: Use the free tools mentioned above, like the AI Overview Impact Analysis and Citation Analysis Chrome extensions, to track competitors.
    • Leverage Advanced AI Tools: Integrate tools like the ChatGPT API with Google Sheets to build custom solutions that allow you to efficiently track and analyze your brand’s visibility in AI-driven responses.
• Monitor trends and shifts in sources cited over time:
  • Stay updated on AI’s evolving content preferences, such as shifts toward newer publications or specialized sources and adjust your strategy to maintain relevance and competitiveness.
• Analyze competitors’ source content and adapt successful strategies:
  • Analyze competitors’ content to uncover gaps and opportunities where you can offer more value. 
  • Look at both the structure and depth of their content and adapt successful strategies to improve your own.
    • Evaluate structure and format: Identify the content formats competitors consistently use (e.g., lists, tables or multimedia) that AI may favor.
    • Assess the depth of coverage: Determine if competitors provide comprehensive coverage of key topics or if there are gaps you can fill by expanding on neglected areas.
    • Incorporate multimedia: If competitors frequently use visuals like infographics or videos, enhance your content by including similar elements to engage both AI algorithms and users.
    • Adopt effective formats: Pay attention to how competitors use structures like bullet points, QandA sections or visual elements that improve AI-driven content discoverability.
    • Enhance with your unique perspective: While adopting successful strategies, maintain your brand’s voice and insights to stand out from competitors.
    • Example:
      • For the keyword “benefits of content marketing,” if AI often references competitor content with numbered lists and visuals, consider using similar elements while incorporating your unique perspective to increase your chances of being featured.

Dig deeper: Entity-based competitor analysis: An SEO’s guide

Brand perception intelligence

Brand perception intelligence involves gathering insights from AI platforms on how both AI systems and users perceive your brand. 

In an AI-driven world, brand perception and customer sentiment heavily influence search visibility. AI systems favor brands viewed as authoritative, credible and trustworthy, improving visibility and building customer trust.

Actionable tips:

• Conduct research about your brand on AI platforms:
  • Regularly assess how AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity portray your brand. 
  • Analyze AI-generated summaries, user queries and brand representation in user-generated content (UGC) to identify gaps and areas for improvement.
• Use UGC insights:
  • Analyze how AI platforms use UGC to gauge customer sentiment and overall brand perception. 
  • Automate UGC collection and analysis with AI tools to refine your brand strategy.
  • Tip: Use tailored prompts and custom-built GPT solutions to automate the collection and analysis of brand perception data.
    • Example research output: Showcases a comprehensive sentiment analysis report, including key elements like general sentiment, specific aspects of product/service perception, comparisons with competitors, emotional connection and communication effectiveness.
    • Why this is useful: Helps quickly assess where your brand excels and where it needs improvement. By leveraging these insights, you can make data-driven improvements to your brand’s strategy, both in terms of product/service offerings and customer communication.

• Adapt to customer sentiment:
  • Monitor AI-generated queries and responses to understand customer sentiment. Adjust your content and communication strategies to maintain a positive brand image across digital platforms.
• Monitor brand perception on AI platforms over time:
  • As AI systems evolve, so will the perception of your brand. Continuously track how AI platforms represent your brand and adjust strategies to maintain a consistent and positive narrative as AI systems evolve.
• Integrate insights into your brand strategy:
  • Use AI-driven insights to inform your overall content and brand strategy. Ensure consistency across all channels to enhance your brand’s perception, visibility and credibility.
  • Example: If AI frequently mentions your brand in connection with specific keywords or topics, analyze these mentions to ensure they align with your desired brand image. Adjust your content strategy as needed to emphasize key aspects of your brand.

Dig deeper: How to become a recommended solution provider on Google entity lists

2. Optimizing content for generative AI

Once your research is complete, the next step is putting those insights into action by optimizing your content and applying insights to ensure your content is relevant, structured and accessible for AI systems.

Today, high-quality content alone isn’t enough. Your content must be optimized for AI algorithms to maintain visibility and authority. 

Content quality and relevance

Crafting credible, contextually rich and engaging content that meets user needs is essential. By aligning your content with AI systems, you ensure it remains relevant and trusted by both AI platforms and users.

Actionable tips:

• Expand contextual relevance:
  • Incorporate relevant keywords: Use long-tail, conversational and semantic keywords identified during research to optimize your content. Integrate these keywords naturally to match how users search and interact with AI-driven platforms.
  • Expand related concepts: Apply insights from research to deepen your content, making it more comprehensive and valuable to users. Align with AI’s preference for in-depth content by filling market gaps and offering unique value.
  • Integrate key entities and phrases: Use key entities, phrases and concepts identified during research to build a narrative that resonates with AI’s contextual algorithms, ensuring relevance and authority.
• Establish authority and credibility:
  • Citations: Reference credible, up-to-date sources to validate your claims and connect your content with established research.
  • Quotations: Incorporate authoritative quotes from industry experts to add depth and authority.
  • Statistics: Include relevant and timely data points presented in impactful formats like graphs or charts.
  • Align with E-E-A-T principles: Build websites demonstrating experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
• Craft comprehensive and engaging content:
  • Provide thorough, engaging and varied content that fully addresses user queries and aligns with AI preferences for diverse content types.
  • Provide comprehensive responses: Offer thorough answers that fully address user queries, as AI favors in-depth content.
  • Make content informative and engaging: Focus on creating content that is informative, easy to understand and provides clear, actionable insights.
  • Use varied multi-modal formats: Incorporate a mix of formats – blog posts, guides, videos and interactive content – to keep your audience engaged and align with AI’s preference for diverse content.
• Maintain content freshness:
  • Regularly update your content to signal to search engines that the information is current and relevant. Fresh content aligns with current trends and user interests, improving your content’s relevance.
    • Example: Update a blog post on “2023 Digital Marketing Trends” to reflect the latest trends in 2024, ensuring it remains relevant, timely and more likely to be prioritized in results.

Content structure and clarity

A well-organized, clear structure is essential for engaging users and ensuring alignment with AI.

Simplifying language, maintaining logical flow and integrating visuals make your content more accessible to both AI systems and users.

Actionable tips:

• Improve content clarity and readability:
  • Simplify language: Use clear, straightforward language, avoiding jargon and complex sentences.
  • Break down complex information: Use bullet points, lists and short paragraphs to make ideas more scannable and understandable.
  • Highlight key information: Emphasize important points with bold text, callout boxes or summaries to ensure they stand out.
  • Incorporate visuals and multimedia: Use high-quality images, infographics and other visuals to break up text and illustrate key concepts, enhancing engagement and readability.
  • Consistent formatting: Maintain uniform font sizes, styles and colors across all content elements to enhance readability.
• Enable quick comprehension of your content:
  • Optimize your content to make key details easily accessible, ensuring that AI and users quickly grasp the most important points.
  • State what to expect: Clearly articulate the main purpose or topic at the beginning of the content.
  • Summarize key points: Include brief summaries or lists of key takeaways at the top of your content and throughout relevant sections.
  • Incorporate FAQ sections: Add FAQs to longer content to address common questions, increasing the likelihood of AI using it to answer specific queries.
  • Deliver quick answers: Provide direct answers to queries within the first few sentences, making it easier for AI and users to find the information they need quickly.
    • Example: For the query “What is Generative Engine Optimization?” AI tends to pull responses from content that provides clear, immediate answers, like those in the examples shown below. These examples use structured summaries and concise, digestible points throughout each piece, helping both AI systems and users digest the most relevant information.

• Optimize content structure and fluidity:
  • Prioritize content fluidity: Create a smooth, logical progression throughout your content. Use clear transitions and well-structured paragraphs to enhance readability and engagement.
  • Use clear and descriptive headings: Organize your content with headings that logically guide readers and AI through the material.
  • Design effective navigation: Create a clear hierarchical structure using H1 to H5 headings and distinct sections like FAQs or step-by-step guides to enhance usability and relevance.
• Leverage key insights from research:
  • Use insights from your GEO research to enhance content structure and clarity around your key queries.
  • Refine content structure and format: Adapt your content to align with trends observed in AI-generated responses and cited sources, incorporating elements like lists, tables and other effective formats.
  • Emphasize key information: Incorporate common data points, topics and details that AI frequently emphasizes, filling gaps in your content.
  • Integrate multimedia: Include videos, infographics or other visual elements if AI tends to favor these in its responses.
  • Leverage competitor strategies: Implement content structures and formats used by top competitors frequently cited by AI for your key queries.

Dig deeper: What is content readability and how to make your content easier to read

3. Technical optimization for AI accessibility

Now that your content is well-structured and engaging, it’s crucial to ensure AI systems can easily access, interpret and prioritize it in AI-driven search. 

As the digital landscape evolves, traditional SEO must adapt to meet the sophisticated needs of AI, ensuring your content is not only visible but also understood and valued by search algorithms.

Structured data for AI understanding

Think of structured data as a roadmap that helps AI navigate your content, highlighting what’s most important and ensuring it’s interpreted accurately.

By using the right schema markup, you’re not just organizing your content – you’re making it easier for AI to recognize, categorize and present it in relevant searches. 

Whether optimizing for voice search, product listings or user-generated content, the appropriate schema ensures AI delivers your message to the right audience.

Actionable tips:

• Organize and structure content: Use schemas like Article, Organization and Breadcrumb to help AI understand your content’s structure and context, boosting visibility in relevant searches.
• Support natural language queries: Implement FAQ and QandA schemas to optimize for voice search and generative AI, helping AI find direct answers and increasing your content’s chances of appearing in AI-generated results and featured snippets.
• Highlight important elements: Apply schema markup to key content like products, reviews and FAQs to ensure AI recognizes and prioritizes these elements in enhanced search results.
• Boost visual content visibility: Use ImageObject and VideoObject schemas to enhance the visibility of your visual and video content. Proper markup helps AI identify and prioritize this content in search results.
• Showcase user-generated content: Implement Review, AggregateRating and Testimonial schemas to highlight user feedback, increasing your content’s credibility and visibility in AI-driven searches.
• Broaden schema application: Consider using additional schema types to help AI better understand and prioritize your content in specific contexts.

Technical SEO enhancements

Structured data is just one piece of the puzzle. A strong SEO foundation that focuses on various technical aspects is essential to ensure your site is accessible and efficient, giving AI the best possible framework to work with.

Actionable tips:

• Optimize for speed and accessibility: Ensure fast loading times, mobile-friendliness and clean code. These factors help search engines crawl and index your site efficiently, giving AI systems the data they need for generating relevant responses.
• Enhance performance: Improve server response times, optimize images and fix crawl errors or broken links. A well-performing site is more likely to be accurately indexed, which leads to better search visibility.
• Secure your site: Implement HTTPS and maintain strong security practices. AI systems prioritize secure sites, so ensuring your site is safe boosts credibility and trustworthiness.
• Streamline site architecture: Clear content hierarchy and effective internal linking help AI understand relationships between different pieces of content, improving relevance in search results.
• Prioritize mobile optimization: As mobile search dominates, ensure your content is mobile-friendly. AI favors content optimized for mobile, directly impacting your visibility.

By integrating structured data and improving your technical SEO, you create a solid foundation that allows search engines to accurately index your site. This enables AI to access, understand and prioritize your content based on the data collected.

4. Content distribution and engagement

Your content is only as powerful as the audience it reaches.

To maximize its impact, you need to strategically distribute it across multiple platforms, ensuring it resonates with different audience segments and meets the evolving demands of AI-driven systems.

The more places your content appears, the more opportunities AI has to recognize, elevate and share it, expanding your reach and influence.

Actionable tips:

• Focus on the right platforms:
  • What to do:  Identify 3-5 platforms where your audience is active (e.g., social media, Reddit, Quora) and tailor your content to fit each platform’s style while maintaining a consistent posting schedule.
  • Why: Spreading your content across these platforms signals to AI that it’s credible and worth prioritizing. More visibility across multiple channels increases the chances of AI recognizing and elevating your content.
• Incorporate UGC:
  • What to do: Encourage your audience to share their experiences with campaigns like hashtag challenges or reviews and feature the best UGC on your platforms.
  • Why: User-generated content enhances your brand’s credibility by reflecting authentic user interactions, which AI systems prioritize. This authenticity boosts engagement and makes your content more appealing to both users and AI.
• Engage proactively on social media:
  • What to do: Dedicate time daily to interact with your audience on social media by responding to comments, answering questions and joining conversations.
  • Why: Regular engagement shows AI that your content is relevant and valued, increasing its visibility and helping you reach a wider audience. 
• Create shareable content:
  • What to do: Create shareable content like infographics, tips and visually appealing posts. Use clear calls to action and social sharing buttons to encourage sharing.
  • Why: Shared content gains more visibility, signaling its importance to AI, which can lead to broader reach and greater influence.
• Keep content fresh and relevant:
  • What to do: Regularly update top-performing content with new keywords, relevant links and fresh visuals. Repurpose and re-share it across platforms to keep it current.
  • Why:  AI favors content that is consistently updated and aligned with trends, keeping it relevant and visible.

By distributing content strategically and engaging with your audience actively, you significantly increase your visibility across platforms.

This ensures that both AI systems and a wider audience recognize, prioritize and interact with your content.

5. Building brand authority and credibility

In an AI-driven world, building your brand as a trusted authority means more than just creating great content. It requires a strategic approach that combines credibility, consistency and ethical practices across everything your brand does. 

To truly stand out, your brand must deliver accurate, valuable information while building trust through collaborations, clear communication and a consistent brand identity.

Actionable tips:

• Build backlinks from authoritative sites: Secure backlinks from credible websites to signal trustworthiness to AI systems.
  • Guest blogging: Contribute to reputable industry sites.
  • Partnerships: Collaborate with trusted brands.
  • Shareable content: Create content that naturally attracts high-quality backlinks.
• Use ethical content practices: AI favors content that aligns with user intent and delivers genuine value.
  • Transparency: Be clear and honest, avoiding clickbait.
  • User-centered approach: Create content that truly meets your audience’s needs.
  • Fact-checking and accuracy: Always fact-check your content to ensure accuracy. 
  • Accessibility: Ensure accessibility for all users, including those with disabilities.
• Demonstrate your expertise: Consistently showcase your knowledge and insights to reinforce your authority.
  • Original research: Publish unique, data-driven insights.
  • Case studies: Highlight successful strategies and innovations.
  • Expert opinions: Include industry experts in your content.
• Implement consistent branding: Maintain a recognizable and trustworthy identity across all platforms.
  • Unified messaging: Keep your brand messaging consistent.
  • Visual identity: Ensure cohesive use of logos, colors and design elements.
• Foster relationships with influencers and thought leaders: Collaborations with recognized influencers and thought leaders can significantly amplify your brand’s authority. Focus on:
  • Content collaboration: Co-create content with industry influencers.
  • Endorsements: Seek testimonials from respected figures.
  • Guest appearances: Participate in industry podcasts and panels.

By focusing on credibility, ethical practices and consistent expertise, you can build lasting authority and trust. Aligning your brand with AI systems and maintaining a strong, cohesive identity will pave the way for long-term success.

Key takeaways for mastering GEO strategies

Adapting to AI-driven search isn’t just beneficial. It’s essential to your brand’s long-term success.

Here’s a quick recap of the actionable strategies you need to lead in this evolving landscape:

• Embrace GEO as the future of SEO: Traditional SEO is evolving. GEO ensures your brand remains visible and competitive in AI-powered search.
• Leverage AI research: Success starts with understanding how AI interprets content. Dive into semantic analysis, user intent, competitor strategies, AI-generated responses and brand perception insights to align your content with AI algorithms and position your brand as authoritative.
• Optimize content for AI prioritization: High-quality content is just the start. Structure it for AI by making it clear, relevant and designed to be prioritized in AI-driven results.
• Master technical SEO: Keep your site technically sound with structured data, fast load times and mobile optimization to ensure AI can easily access and rank your content.
• Strategically distribute and engage: Amplify your content across platforms and engage with your audience regularly. The more visible and active your content, the higher AI will prioritize it – so stay consistent and share often.
• Build and maintain brand authority: Trust is everything. Focus on securing high-quality backlinks, consistent branding and ethical, value-driven content to build credibility with both AI and users.

Take the next step

The future of search is AI-driven. By embracing GEO now, you position your brand to lead in this evolving landscape.

The strategies you implement today will ensure your success tomorrow. Get started now and future-proof your brand’s online presence.

Quick question: What exactly does Performance Max maximize?

I’ll let you go first.

You: “Performance Max maximized my profits.”
Me: “No.”

You: “Ah, I see. I am tracking revenue, not profit. So Performance Max maximizes my revenue”
Me:  “Nope.”

You: “Uhh, OK, then it must be conversions
Me:  “No, again.”

You: “What? What else is there? Clicks then?”
Me: “No, no, no!”

You: “WTF?!”
Me: “It’s spend. Ad spend. Performance Max maximizes your ad spend, as long as you let it.”

If you are 100% convinced the last statement is complete BS, you can stop reading now. The rest of this article won’t bring you much. 

If, however, you are like me and you think it’s an interesting hypothesis worth testing and letting the data speak for itself, then read on. This might be of interest to you.

And if you are already convinced it is true, then this is your lucky day because we’ve got some interesting scripts to help prevent Performance Max from wasting your money.

What follows are three scripts taken from my latest SMX Advanced presentation. Use these scripts to your advantage and be sure to watch the full video of the session (at bottom of this article).

Script 1: Negate non-converting Performance Max search terms  

Performance Max excels at reporting averages, such as the average spend per day, conversion rate and campaign ROAS.

It’s not good at reporting the actual performance of individual search terms.

Yes, you can go to the Google Ads interface, click Insights and Reports, navigate the search category report and click around like a rabbit on speed. But it’s clumsy, to say the least!

It’s difficult to find search terms that waste money in your Performance Max campaigns.

The terms themselves are hard to find in the interface, and the performance of bad actors is hidden in the campaign averages.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a list that clearly shows the search terms with poor performance? 

You could easily decide what to do with them (e.g., fix asset groups/landing pages) or add them as negative keywords to your Performance Max campaign.

Luckily, we can use scripts to create such a list for us. Here’s what that looks like:

Script 2: Disapproved products alerts

Let’s say you’ve been running a successful Performance Max campaign for a few weeks. 

The campaign is spending its budget, generating relevant clicks, generating conversions and achieving ROAS slightly over the target. All is well. 

Then, for some reason, the two top-performing products in your campaign, which are responsible for more than 40% of the revenue, get disapproved.  

What do you think will happen?

Performance Max has delivered great results in the past and thinks it can still do so today and tomorrow. 

But the disapproved products are out, and Performance Max has to (re)discover new clicks that perform at least as well as the clicks on these disapproved products. 

This learning phase involves a lot of trial and error, testing new kinds of clicks, most probably with a lot of clicks that do not convert. 

A lot of waste, unless you take action. 

You could, for instance, use seasonality adjustment to indicate lower expected conversion rates until you get the top products re-approved.

Or you could decrease the budget to prevent excessive spending with low returns in the short run.

If you do not act when top-performing products get disapproved, you probably waste spend.

Therefore, I created a script to alert you when products that receive significant clicks (or conversions) are disapproved.

Script 3: Exclude spammy placements

Did you know there is a report called Performance Max campaigns placement? 

It is located in the Template gallery of the Report editor.

The report shows what placements on the Google Display Network (GDN) generated impressions for your Performance Max campaigns. 

Unfortunately, again, the report is not that easy to find.

It only shows the number of impressions – no click data, no conversion data. This makes it hard to judge these impressions’ quality (revenue value). 

The GDN is full of spammy “built-for-AdSense” sites that lead to a lot of fake clicks.

Remember, the horrible performance of these clicks is hidden from us in the aggregates we use to evaluate Performance Max’s performance.

Luckily for us, there are many scripts that will help you exclude these spammy placements. 

Tip: Ask ChatGPT to expand the script to also look at domain spam scores like the Moz spam score (with a tool like Reviewgrower) and auto-exclude the spammy ones.

Use scripts to maximize your profits, not just spend

Performance Max, left on its own, maximizes Google’s revenue, not necessarily yours.

You need to monitor Performance Max campaigns like a hawk and proactively make changes based on your first-party data and insights.

Google Ads Scripts can automate a lot of these tasks for you and alow you to take back control to optimize your profits.

Watch: Mastering Performance Max using Scripts

You can find more scripts and tips to improve your Performance Max performance in my SMX Advanced session.

AI has revolutionized the once-tedious PPC ad creation process. While user-friendliness and innovation remain crucial, the end product must boost sales and ROI. 

By harnessing AI, you can identify real-time market trends, audience profiles and behavior patterns – essential elements for crafting ads that truly connect with viewers.

I’ve evaluated over 15 leading AI ad creation tools and identified the top seven platforms for producing effective image and video ads that drive conversions.

1. AdCreative.ai

AdCreative.ai is a great tool for data-driven marketers.

It creates ad design options based on your brand and visuals, ready for A/B testing on platforms like Meta, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google Ads.

By linking your ad account, AdCreative.ai taps into your core audience data to craft designs.

It also tracks competitor ads, giving you a competitive edge in your market.

Sample ad creation

Pricing structure

The tool provides a 7-day free trial for testing but requires a pricier plan for managing multiple brands and integrating ad platforms.

It also enables users to generate both image and video content:

Dig deeper: Unlock AI’s potential in paid media creative

2. Sivi.ai

Sivi.ai merges chatbot-style text interactions, similar to ChatGPT, with your website’s content to produce ads for major platforms, including Amazon and WhatsApp.

Using Sivi.ai’s text generator, you can develop a comprehensive funnel ad strategy.

Using your brand voice, the tool crafts various headlines, CTAs and content iterations for you to choose from and test.

Sample ad creation

Pricing structure

Sivi.ai offers a free trial to test the tool and a 20% price cut on annual plans.

To create over four ad designs simultaneously, users must opt for a paid subscription:

3. Quickads

Quickads provides a straightforward solution for small business owners seeking a quick and easy way to streamline their ad creation.

The tool is compatible with most major ad platform dimensions and can generate visuals based on the ad text you input.

If you want more control over the visuals used, QuickAds offers a virtual photoshoot option to create and fine-tune images.

Like AdCreative.ai, this tool produces multiple ad versions for split testing.

Sample ad creation

Pricing structure

While QuickAds offers a 7-day free trial, it is only accessible with the use of a credit card:

Dig deeper: Why strong Google Ads creative is THE priority for advertisers

4. Creatopy

Creatopy is the go-to option for those looking for a simplified Photoshop dupe. 

Start your ad design from scratch using the platform’s user-friendly builder or pick from its diverse template collection.

At its core, this tool focuses on animation, offering HTML5 and custom motion options for creating image and video ads. 

Both experienced designers and beginners can produce ads at scale using Creatopy’s royalty-free and AI-powered image search, layering features similar to Photoshop and content enhancement tools. 

It also supports ad translation into over 30 languages and generates unique UTM tracking parameters for each advertisement.

Sample ad creation

Pricing structure

With its full suite of features, Creatopy is costlier than other platforms and offers enterprise-level pricing. 

It’s also worth noting that at certain price points, Creatopy can be integrated with tools like Zapier:

5. Visme

For the Canva aficionado, Visme is worth testing.

This platform offers tools for crafting interactive charts, infographics, videos and slideshows, in addition to digital ad creation.

Brand creation is the cornerstone of Visme.

Users can either build their brand identity with custom fonts and colors or simply input their website URL, allowing the AI to suggest optimal choices. 

Like Canva, Visme uses templates but gives marketers complete freedom to modify every aspect of their ad designs. This flexibility ensures that the final product aligns perfectly with the brand’s vision.

Sample ad creation

Pricing structure

Visme has a simple pricing structure at a much more affordable rate than Canva.

Pro Plan users can integrate the platform with tools like Zoom, Slack, WordPress and DropBox to store and share files:

Dig deeper: 3 creative-driven tips to optimize your PPC performance

6. Visla

Visla is one of the simplest AI video makers, focusing solely on ad creation.

It crafts videos from various inputs – text, websites, images or existing voice and video clips can be fed into Visla to produce a new video.

The tool generates a storyboard, script and captions based on the provided content. Users can easily rearrange scenes using drag-and-drop slides.

Visla also includes a video recording feature, catering to the need for raw, social media-ready video outputs.

Sample ad creation

Pricing structure

Visla offers a free trial. However, a paid subscription is required to download videos made on the platform.

To unlock a wider selection of high-quality stock footage, upgrading to a Business subscription is necessary:

7. Creatify

Similar to Visla, Creatify is a video-first ad creation tool.

While the tool has the ability to create ads for any type of business, it is best suited for ecommerce or retail-specific products. 

The in-take sequence hones in on the audience, tone, problem and the inevitable solution – your product or service.

A range of avatar options is available, which can be tailored to match specific accents or dialects.

Sample ad creation

Pricing structure

While pricier than Visla, Creatify offers a free trial and a 30% discount on yearly subscriptions, making it an attractive option.

Using AI-driven ad creative for better PPC results

AI boosts digital ad creative performance through better personalization, targeting and optimization. 

Yet, the data from these tools doesn’t replace the need for careful metric tracking and ongoing testing.

Stay alert and keep refining your strategies for the best results.

Dig deeper: How to optimize PPC reporting for ad creatives

Throughout my career, I’ve noticed SEO and PPC teams rarely sync and share data and strategies to support each other. This is a major missed opportunity that limits each channel’s full potential.

This article highlights seven practical synergies both your PPC and SEO teams can implement to drive even more revenue for your business.

Ultimately, both are focused on increasing conversions from Google and other search engines, so it makes sense to bring these teams together for greater success.

1. Keyword research

SEO requires significant resources to produce valuable content that ranks well. Instead of just driving clicks, SEO teams should prioritize creating content that converts customers.

While clicks are often a key performance indicator (KPI), they hold little value if they don’t lead to conversions. SEO efforts should target keywords that drive conversions, not just traffic.

Thanks to PPC, we have conversion rates by keyword and search term. Since Google doesn’t share this data from organic search, let’s pull PPC data to understand which keywords to enhance our SEO efforts. 

Share PPC search keyword data with your SEO team

• Pull 12 months of search term PPC data.
  • It’s important that you pull search term data and not keyword data. Keyword data isn’t necessarily the search terms users typed in that drive the click.
  • Pull non-branded data, as you are generally in the top spot for organic.
• Filter based on the top search terms by conversions
• Share the top search terms by conversions with your SEO team so they’re focused on high-converting keywords.

These are the money keywords for which the SEO team should start creating content to rank. If they’re working well for PPC, they will also work well for SEO.

Dig deeper: 6 vital lenses for effective keyword research

Some SEOs tend to emphasize meta descriptions and meta titles less, even though these elements serve as the “ad copy” for organic search results. This lack of focus can be a missed opportunity. 

At our agency, we often find pages missing meta descriptions or using titles and descriptions that haven’t been well thought out or tested.

To put it another way, would a PPC marketer just create one set of ad copy and let it be for years? Unfortunately, that’s what we see in SEO. 

We can use PPC to make sure you have the best meta description and title to earn that organic click. Having a higher CTR will get you more organic traffic and influence ranking. 

How to optimize SEO metadata through PPC

• Identify the top three pages of organic traffic (or organic revenue).
• Create a PPC campaign. Each ad group will have exact match keywords, targeting the queries tied to each respective page. 
• Within the ads, test two copies:
  • One variation that closely resembles the existing metadata.
  • One variation that tests a new meta title and description.
• Remember to pin headlines and descriptions in the order you want them to appear.
• Whatever has the highest CTR should be the meta title or description you should use for that page.

By doing so, you should experience an uptick in CTR and if you do this for your top pages, this could have a meaningful business impact.

3. Landing page UX

Landing page user experience is crucial for driving conversions. 

PPC teams typically focus more on this because they pay for traffic and aim to direct visitors to pages with the highest conversion rates. 

On the other hand, many SEO practitioners prioritize traffic over conversions. 

By collaborating, PPC teams can share valuable insights on the best-performing landing pages to improve SEO strategies.

How to use PPC UX experience to help SEO

• Sit down with the PPC team and review the top converting landing pages.
• Determine the top attributes that seem to be common among the top converting landing pages.
• Of the top organic landing pages by traffic, see how the UX can be upleveled by incorporating best practices from the PPC team.

Dig deeper: How to handle PPC landing pages for SEO

4. Diversify outside of Google

Google is big and drives the majority of traffic, but it’s not the only search engine in town. If PPC and SEO teams also focus on other search engines, they could get 10-20% of customers annually.

How PPC and SEO teams can diversify their efforts

PPC

• Migrate your top Google Ads campaigns to Microsoft Bing. This way, you’ll advertise not only on Bing but also on their network of search engines, including AOL, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and more.
• Microsoft Ads generally offers cheaper CPC (as it’s not as competitive as Google) and can be a great platform for B2B advertisers, given the strong LinkedIn data integration.
• The platform makes it very simple to migrate your top campaigns. Just make sure to: 
  • Have a conversion tracking established on Microsoft.
  • Set budgets to 10-20% of your total Google budget.

SEO

• Ensure you’re on Bing Webmaster Tools and that all your top pages are indexed and accessible via Bing. 

Dig deeper: How to reach new audiences with multi-platform search advertising

Around 96% of site visitors won’t convert during their first session, even on sites with healthy conversion rates. This doesn’t mean they’ll never convert – just that they aren’t ready yet. A strong remarketing strategy can help turn these visitors into customers later.

PPC teams have extensive experience with remarketing, one of the most effective campaigns introduced in the last 15 years. Organic teams should collaborate closely with PPC to maximize conversions from organic traffic through remarketing efforts.

• The SEO team should pull the top pages by organic traffic and share these with the PPC team.
• Leaning on expertise from the PPC team, create a remarketing strategy that brings the organic visitors one step closer to conversion. The remarketing CTA must align with the intent of the visitor. For example:
  • If you’re remarketing from a product page, you could simply offer a coupon code to drive conversions. These users have high intent and are researching products to purchase, so offer something to help them make that decision.
  • If you’re remarketing from low-intent pages (i.e., educational pages), don’t drive them to buy now, as they’re not at that point. Rather, get them one step closer to purchasing by:
    • Drive to a newsletter signup for more information.
    • Send them to another educational page with a slightly lower funnel and closer to purchase intent.
• If you have a YouTube channel, you can link Google Ads to YouTube and remarket to your video viewers and subscribers. This is another effective strategy to make YouTube viewers convert. 

Dig deeper: How to combine Google Ads with other channels to retarget, nurture and convert

6. Product feed optimization

For ecommerce marketers, optimizing product feeds is crucial for effective PPC campaigns. It can benefit SEO, too. 

Google Shopping now offers free organic product listings, so an optimized feed can drive free traffic and boost your shopping and performance max campaigns.

Key product feed optimization areas to focus on

• Price: Is your price competitive with the market to earn the click and sale?
• Categories and subcategories: Make sure each product is in the most relevant category and subcategories. Remember, the categorization Google sets isn’t always right. Sometimes a product could land into two categories that should be tested against each other.
• Targeted keywords: Ensure your targeted keywords are present throughout each product.
• Images: Test different images to see what works best to earn the click. For example: product images vs. lifestyle images. AI can be a helpful tool in creating different image variations.
• Product details: Ensure product details are compelling and include the key targeted keywords. For example, frontload the targeted keywords as that can help Google prioritize these keywords for ranking purposes. 

Dig deeper: Shopping graph optimization: The future of ecommerce SEO

7. Dominating SEO and PPC for your top performing keywords

Of the keywords that are the core business drivers, put together a plan to own these keywords across your search marketing program. 

By working to optimize PPC and SEO to own top positioning on these keywords you will:

• Increase the likelihood of earning the click. Majority of searchers don’t click on ads, so it’s good to be present from both a paid and organic perspective. 
• Owning the ad and top organic results creates double exposure. This can help create solid branding by having your business featured twice to searchers. 

How to corner the market on top converting keywords

• List out the top keywords that drive the majority of revenue for the business. You might be surprised that the 80/20 rule will likely come into play. 80% of your search revenue will likely come from just 20% of keywords (or less). 
• Map out current positioning from both PPC and SEO.
• Put together a plan to increase visibility on PPC and SEO.
  • PPC is easier as it’s more focused on ad copy, bids and budget.
  • SEO will take longer, as that includes content and linking strategy.

Dig deeper: SEO vs. PPC: Differences, pros, cons & an integrated approach

Bridge the SEO-PPC gap to boost your organic and paid search efforts

It’s time to get your SEO and PPC teams coordinated. Implementing these strategies will drive more traffic and conversions across both channels for your business. 

Get practical strategies to reduce your cost-per-click by improving targeting, enhancing landing page performance and leveraging AI tools.

Discover actionable insights to optimize your Google Ads campaigns and achieve maximum ROI. This new guide from Instapage offers advice on:

• Improving Quality Score and ad relevance
• Targeting the right audience with precision
• Optimizing bidding strategies for maximum efficiency
• Creating high-converting landing pages

Download the Guide to Cost-Effective Google Advertising today and start implementing these strategies to boost your Google Ads performance and drive more conversions.

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Are your SEO efforts not delivering the results you expect, and you can’t figure out why?

Traditional SEO tactics are becoming less effective by the day. While you’re focusing on keywords and backlinks, Google’s AI is evolving rapidly, fundamentally changing how search results are ranked.

This shift is happening behind the scenes, making it increasingly difficult to understand why your content isn’t performing as well as it should.

Understanding how Google’s AI systems work is key to adapting your SEO strategy. This article explores the evolution of Google’s AI – RankBrain, neural matching, BERT and MUM – and explains how these advancements are reshaping search.

By grasping these concepts, you’ll be better equipped to create content that aligns with Google’s AI-driven approach, improving your chances of ranking higher in search results.

Google’s AI systems

Google has been using some form of AI to identify, weigh and order URLs since around 2015, with its first AI system called RankBrain.

Three years later, Ben Gomes, Google’s Senior Vice President of Learning and Education and former Head of Search, called AI the “next chapter of Search.”

Gomes explained that AI will allow Google to realize a better user experience, not isolated to just the query. He said AI will create “three fundamental shifts” in how search works:

• From answers to journeys: “To help you resume tasks where you left off and learn new interests and hobbies, we’re bringing new features to Search that help you with ongoing information needs.”
• From queries to providing a queryless way to get to information: “We can surface relevant information related to your interests, even when you don’t have a specific query in mind.”
• From text to a more visual way of finding information: “We’re bringing more visual content to Search and completely redesigning Google Images to help you find information more easily.”

This shift started with RankBrain. 

RankBrain (2015)

The RankBrain system was the first step to help the search engine to “understand how words relate to concepts.”

Understanding the connection a word has to a concept is an intelligent activity and Google’s first step in understanding content like a human.

For example, if you search “What’s the color of the sky?” the AI could understand what “sky” is and that it has a perceived color. So Google could return a result that didn’t have the exact words but did answer the query.

A few years later, Google made more progress in connecting words to concepts with neural matching. 

Neural matching (2018)

This system/sub-system was created to help Google understand how “queries relate to pages” for concepts that are more difficult to understand.

Let’s say you search “tie my laces,” which could mean multiple things. With neural matching, Google could understand that “laces” means shoe laces and return results on ways to tie them.

BERT (2019)

BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers and was considered a “breakthrough.”

Think about BERT as the evolution of RankBrain and neural matching, so now Google could understand how multiple words in a sentence relate to multiple words on the page and the concepts behind them.

BERT seems to be important for entity recognition. This can help google understand a brand name, who a person is and maybe even what their expertise is in a given topic.

This is the type of AI model that makes generative AI and AI Overviews possible. Google has been using it since 2019. 

• Related to BERT is a “deep learning system” called DeepRank. As we learned from Panda Nayuk’s testimony during the DOJ trial, essentially DeepRank is BERT when BERT is used for ranking.
• DeepRank also replaced much of RankBrain.

MUM (2021)