SEO automation: Tools and tips for SEO success

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SEO is like a never-ending story. There are always things to do. And these things need your undivided attention, from keyword research to content audits and performance reporting. Many of these are repetitive, recurring, and time-consuming. And that’s why you need SEO automation. 

Table of contents

What is SEO automation?

By automating SEO, you use tools and software to do the repetitive optimization tasks for you. These tools don’t eliminate the need for a person to be involved, but they can do the heavy lifting. These tasks often contain data-heavy and time-consuming work. 

Think of all the manual work you must do to run an SEO campaign. You have to crawl your website for technical errors, do keyword research, track how your ranking develops, and generate insightful reports — important work but tedious. SEO automation tools take these tasks and do them for you. These tools work faster and more accurately than you do. As a result, you can focus on the fun stuff — the creative and strategic work. 

For example, you could manually try to find broken links on your site, but that would take forever. An automated tool can do that in minutes and provide a nice report. For your content, keyword research tools can generate a list of terms to target in just a few minutes. You’ll even get search volume data and information about the level of competition. 

The benefits of SEO automation

Automating your SEO has many advantages. Handing over repetitive tasks can save you a lot of time, leaving you with more time to work on your strategy and content. Automation is also more accurate in handling data, which leads to fewer errors and, thus, more dependable data. SEO automation streamlines your work and allows you to scale quickly once your site grows.

Tasks you can automate right now

Today, most SEO automation tools are designed to handle specific tasks. We’ll list the most common tasks you can automate.

Keyword research

Keyword research is the foundation of SEO. It is also very time-consuming to do manually. You’re looking at search volumes, competition, relevancy, and more, and you’ll have to make deductions from that. It’s not weird that almost everyone uses keyword research tools such as Semrush and Wincher to do the hard work.

Keyword research tools can automatically:

  • Generate lists with relevant keywords for your topic or niche.
  • Give essential supporting data such as search volume and difficulty.
  • Suggest related keywords that you can use to build up your.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you run a gardening blog. Keyword research tools like Semrush can identify not only popular keywords like “best gardening tools” but also related terms such as “gardening tool maintenance” or “best hoes for gardening in specific conditions.” These insights allow you to build content clusters that improve your site’s authority.   

Content optimization

Content optimization is another field in which SEO automation comes in. For instance, Yoast SEO can analyze your content to make sure it is properly optimized for search engines. An SEO tool like this gives feedback on:

  • How you use keywords in your content and suggest improvements to make.
  • How readable is your content, and are your sentences too complex?
  • Where and how you can add relevant links to other content on your site. 
  • Improvements to make to your meta descriptions and titles (with AI in Yoast SEO’s case)

Yoast SEO is a very popular plugin for WordPress and Shopify. It helps you optimize each post or page on your site to make it user-friendly, search-engine-friendly, and, of course, make that process as easy as possible.  

Website audits

Automatically auditing your website regularly is also a popular form of SEO automation. Such an audit can help you catch issues that might influence your site’s performance. These can include:

  • Broken links.
  • Slow loading speeds.
  • Missing meta tags.
  • Duplicate content.  

Tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb can perform these audits automatically. These tools even let you schedule recurring audits, so you’re always updated on your site’s health. In addition, the tools provide actionable reports that highlight what needs fixing.  

Rank tracking

There are many ways to gauge your site’s performance; one of the most important is to check its rankings. However, tracking your rankings manually is a lot of work. Luckily, rank-tracking tools such as Wincher, Semrush, and Ahrefs make this incredibly easy. These tools automate this process and provide you with regular updates on your keyword positions.  

Among the things these tools can track are:

  • Changes in your rankings over time.
  • The performance of specific target keywords.
  • Competitor rankings for similar keywords.  

You get all kinds of reporting for your rankings. Plus, with the built-in alerting systems, you are always on top of things without constantly monitoring them.

SEO reporting

Another part of your SEO work that can be automated is reporting. Building custom reports is grueling work that can take hours of precious time. Luckily, tools like Looker Studio can combine data from different sources, such as Google Analytics, Search Console, Semrush, and others, to build custom dashboards that update automatically.  

With proper SEO automation tools, you can create reusable templates for your reports, so you have something predefined to start from. These can also be generated automatically at scheduled times to save you even more time.   

How to get started with SEO automation

At one point, you will be ready to start automating your SEO workflow. But where do you start?

Find the tasks you need to automate

Think about your work and find the tasks that take the most time or recur most often. Such tasks are often the best options to automate. For example, if you spend much of your time on reporting, that would be a good option.  

Choose the right tools

Not all tools are created equal, so choose one that does what you want them to do. Here are some options, but there are many others.

  • Yoast SEO: Optimizes on-page SEO and provides content suggestions.  
  • Semrush: Offers keyword research, content outlines, and optimization
  • Google Search Console: Tracks performance and identifies site issues.  
  • Screaming Frog: Conducts in-depth site audits.  
  • Looker Studio: Automates reporting by integrating with Google Analytics and other data sources.  

Start small

Diving head-first into SEO automation might be exciting, but it will probably not end well. Please start small. Pick a couple of time-consuming tasks and see how you can make them more manageable and insightful. Once you see what works and what doesn’t, build from there.

Final thoughts on automating your SEO

SEO automation is a handy way to save time, improve data accuracy, and scale your work. We’re not looking to replace people but rather support them in their jobs. Tools can do many tasks, from keyword research to audits and data analysis. This leaves you more time for your high-impact work! 

Start small and experiment with a range of tools. You’ll find what works and what doesn’t, which will help you fine-tune your process. Ultimately, you want SEO automation to help you work smarter, not harder. 

The post SEO automation: Tools and tips for SEO success appeared first on Yoast.

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Google reverses stance on Performance Max campaign controls

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How to create and optimize Google Ads custom segment audiences

Google acknowledged that Performance Max (PMax) campaigns can be controlled through API placement exclusions — contradicting months of its own documentation and support guidance, according to new research from ad tech firm Optmyzr.

This revelation gives advertisers more programmatic control over their PMax campaigns than previously thought possible, potentially saving significant time and resources in campaign management.

The big picture. Performance Max campaigns, Google’s AI-driven ad format, have been a source of frustration for advertisers seeking more granular control over where their ads appear.

Lead up. Earlier this year we saw that despite Navah Hopkins, Brand Evangelist of Optmyzr, reporting that Google said that API based placements exclusions don’t work for PMax campaigns, multiple advertisers were reporting the opposite.

By the numbers. Optmyzr ran an experiment, running from Dec. 30 to Jan. 21. It showed:

  • Zero ad spend on excluded placements after implementing API controls.
  • Complete effectiveness of API-based exclusions, despite Google’s previous claims.
  • Faster implementation compared to manual UI controls.

Behind the scenes. Google’s documentation and AI help center had explicitly stated that placement exclusions would only work through their user interface, not via API.

  • Multiple support channels reinforced this incorrect guidance.
  • This misinformation was shared for months.
  • Google has since updated its stance after Optmyzr’s findings.

What they’re saying. Following the experiment, Google admitted that placement exclusions work through both the API and UI as we see in this response from Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Liaison:

Why we care. Performance Max campaigns represent a significant portion of many advertisers’ Google Ads spend, but the lack of control over where ads appear has been a major pain point. This situation also highlights a broader point: you shouldn’t take platform limitations as gospel, even when they come directly from Google. Testing and verification could reveal hidden capabilities that provide competitive advantages.

Bottom line. This discovery highlights a broader issue in ad tech: platform documentation doesn’t always reflect actual capabilities, requiring advertisers to actively test and verify functionality.

What’s next. As advertisers, you should:

  • Review your PMax campaign controls.
  • Consider implementing API-based exclusions for more efficient management.
  • Maintain active oversight despite automated controls.
  • Confidently question capabilities they may have strong reason to believe isn’t true.

Between the lines. The finding suggests other undocumented capabilities might exist across Google’s ad platforms, encouraging advertisers to question and test official limitations.

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Google testing new-look search results in EU

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Google is testing a new search results display for a small group of EU users when they search for products, restaurants, flights, and hotels. The test is part of Google’s efforts to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act.

What’s happening. According to a report from Dow Jones Newswires:

  • “Under the test started Monday, Google has set up new units for users to choose between results from price comparison sites such as Booking Holdings’ Booking.com and results that take them directly to supplier websites when they are searching for products, restaurants, flights or hotels.”

What Google EU search results look like. Here are screenshots showing what it looks like to search for [flight to boston from vienna] right now:

You can then filter to see only Airline options:

Or Flight sites:

And if you search for [steak dinner in vienna], you can filter down to Places:

And Places Sites:

New units. These images don’t show the new units mentioned in the report. Please contact us if you spot these new units in the wild and share screenshots. These images are meant to give our readers outside of the EU an idea of what search results look like when Google doesn’t self-preference.

What Google is saying. A Google spokesperson said:

  • “To find a better balance between these sites, while meeting the goals of the DMA, we have proposed a new solution to give people a choice between intermediary comparison sites and direct suppliers like hotels.”

Why we care. The Digital Markets Act is meant to promote more competition and diversity in search results. For websites in the EU, it will be worth monitoring whether these changes result in any impact on traffic.

Dig deeper. How the Digital Markets Act is reshaping search and Google’s monopoly in Europe

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Technical SEO: Don’t rush the process

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Technical SEO: Don’t rush the process

In an era where efficiency is key, many businesses question the time and resources spent on technical SEO audits. 

However, cutting corners in this critical area can lead to incomplete insights and missed opportunities. 

Let’s dive into why technical SEO deserves a firm investment in both human effort and time, starting with the often-overlooked challenge of crawl time.

Crawl time: The primary hindrance

Reducing human resource time in your SEO or digital marketing department by cutting technical SEO may be unwise. 

Why? 

The primary factor behind the time taken for audits is crawl time.

With today’s complex web architectures, this is inevitable. 

Ecommerce websites, in particular, have rapidly expanding footprints with countless product and blog pages. 

Each product often includes multiple images, increasing the number of on-site addresses exponentially.

Employers and clients frequently ask:

“Why do these audits take so long? Can’t you just focus on the top issues and save time?”

The answer is both “yes” and “no.” 

While focusing on top issues can slightly reduce the time spent on commentary and data visualization, most of the time taken in technical SEO audits is crawl time. 

The impact on overall audit accuracy remains negligible because the crawl itself – rather than data analysis – dominates the timeline.

While some argue crawl time is machine time and should not affect human effort, this is only partially true. 

Dig deeper: 7 tips for delivering high-impact technical SEO audits

Platforms like Semrush or Ahrefs can streamline crawling if properly set up, monitored, and funded to handle all web properties continuously. 

However, exporting, pivoting, and analyzing data still require significant manual effort. 

Technical SEO experts can rarely rely on platform-generated reports without further refinement.

For instance, most SEO crawlers struggle with identifying true duplicate content. 

Often, what is flagged as duplicate turns out to be parameter URLs, which Google ignores for indexing. 

Similarly, failed canonical tag implementations can falsely appear as duplicate content.

Using tools like Screaming Frog adds another layer of complexity. 

While highly cost-effective and powerful, it outputs raw spreadsheets requiring manual analysis. Its issues tab is rarely accurate without further data filtering. 

As a client-side tool, Screaming Frog also requires the user’s machine to remain active during crawls. 

If employees are using personal machines, they may be reluctant to leave them running overnight without proper compensation. 

Additionally, the tool does not automatically adjust crawl rates, necessitating human supervision to avoid unintentional DDoS-like behavior.

While crawl time is primarily machine-driven, human oversight and intervention are often required. 

Assuming that reducing crawl time will significantly shorten technical SEO audits can lead to inaccurate results and neglected insights.

Dig deeper: Top 6 technical SEO action items for 2025

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HTML tag mutuality

HTML tag mutuality, particularly with hreflang tags, demonstrates why reducing crawl time is inadvisable if you want accurate technical SEO insights.

As SEO has evolved, mutually dependent HTML tags, like hreflang tags, have become increasingly common. 

Hreflang tags define relationships between pages in different languages and must always be reciprocal. 

If one page links to another with a hreflang tag, but the destination URL does not return the same tag, the relationship is invalid and ignored by Google.

Even non-mutual tags, such as canonical tags, often reference external addresses that also need to be crawled. 

Crawling only one section of a site (e.g., one language variant) leaves you unable to verify whether hreflang tags point back as required. 

This can result in unflagged errors that are critical for site performance but remain undetected due to partial crawl data.

Similarly, canonical tags, though not requiring mutuality, can also pose challenges. 

If a canonical tag points to a page outside your crawl sample, you cannot confirm whether it references a valid address.

Here is a diagram of how canonical tags and hreflang tags should interface:

How canonical tags and hreflang tags should interface
The diagram above is an updated and more detailed version of a simpler one I’ve used for years. It was originally published on BSS Commerce in 2019. You can find the earlier version here. 

These issues illustrate how incomplete crawl data can hinder a thorough technical SEO audit. 

Partial data forces you to rely on assumptions rather than concrete evidence, making it unwise to reduce crawl time to expedite audits.

Dig deeper: 4 of the best technical SEO tools

Links and redirects

Producing accurate crawl data has required significant effort since the early days of the web, long before HTML tag mutuality became common. 

Pages have always linked to others using the <A> tag. 

If your crawl sample includes links pointing to addresses outside of it, you cannot verify whether those links function correctly without crawling the destination pages.

Some cloud crawling platforms address this by checking the status codes of external or redirected pages without analyzing their full HTML. 

While this can help in certain cases, it often defers deeper issues that remain unexamined.

Redirects present similar challenges. 

If a page in your crawl sample points to a destination outside it, you cannot fully analyze the redirect chain. 

This can lead to inaccurate redirect-shrinking recommendations, potentially causing significant problems for the site.

Dig deeper: How to prioritize technical SEO tasks

Be careful when reducing technical SEO time

There is no substitute for investing the necessary time in technical SEO.

While incomplete crawl samples or unattended crawls might seem like a way to reduce audit production time, they often create more issues than they solve. 

Cutting corners can lead to overlooked problems, so it’s crucial to give your audits – and the experts conducting them – the time they require.

This doesn’t even account for the manual checks SEO professionals perform in addition to crawling, data handling, formatting, and analysis.

These combined efforts make it clear that the time spent on technical SEO is justified. 

Avoid excessive pruning or shortcuts in this discipline.

If you must work with partial crawl data, ensure at least 70% crawl completion – 50% at an absolute minimum. 

Anything less risks compromising the accuracy of your audit.

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The top 5 strategic SEO mistakes enterprises make (and how to avoid them)

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The top 5 strategic SEO mistakes enterprises make (and how to avoid them)

Enterprise SEO comes with unique challenges: massive websites, coordination across departments, and the need for a strategic vision.

Without careful planning, common SEO mistakes can lead to wasted resources and underperformance in the search results.

This article explores some of the top strategic mistakes enterprises make with SEO and, more importantly, how to avoid them.

1. Failing to secure the ‘right’ buy-in for SEO initiatives

When you get buy-in from the right people in your organization, you can rest assured the SEO program will have more resources and prioritization.

This is not just about the CMO seeing the value in SEO, either. SEO must be seen as a strategic business initiative all the way to the top.

Case in point: An enterprise client of my SEO agency knew that their SEO program would only be successful if every department with a stake in the website’s success were on board.

The company chairman called a meeting to discuss the value of SEO.

This is not common but was necessary for this project. Every key team got behind the SEO program, and the company experienced massive results.

So, what are some of the common challenges when securing buy-in? One of the biggest is a lack of understanding of SEO’s value.

The C-suite is working hard on their own initiatives and areas of expertise. They may not fully grasp how SEO contributes to business growth and revenue.

This is where you come in.

  • Show them the data, like how people are searching for the things your organization provides.
  • Explain to them how SEO supports the customer journey in many different ways.
  • Demonstrate how SEO can support company goals.
  • Illustrate how SEO drives revenue and its long-term ROI compared to initiatives like digital advertising.
  • Address common misconceptions about SEO as a non-essential or supplementary activity.
  • Pilot a small project or address the “quick wins” and give tangible results.
  • Propose an SEO plan that can be executed with current resources, but that could be scaled later.
  • Assign an SEO champion within each department to advocate for best practices and drive implementation across teams.

Having SEO conversations can be an eye-opener for leadership. And it may be just the thing they need to take notice of SEO as an essential marketing program.

Once you get buy-in from the right groups, you can break down those business silos that can slow progress in an enterprise organization.

Dig deeper: How to convince leadership why they can’t ignore SEO

2. Underinvesting in SEO continuing education or training

Continuing education is one of the most powerful tools in your SEO team’s toolbelt.

It can:

  • Help your team stay proactive, not reactive, in the ever-changing world of SEO.
  • Facilitate better collaboration between internal teams and external SEO vendors.
  • Empower your team to innovate and test new strategies.

Any good SEO professional or team will naturally want to stay up-to-date with what’s happening in the SEO world. It’s a requirement to succeed.

But the question is, how are you supporting them in their continuing education?

Make time

Ensure that employees are allowed the time for continuing education, not just working on projects.

For employees, this means not trying to cram learning in after hours but as a part of their regular work week without feeling stressed about it.

Give support

What educational opportunities resonate with your SEO professional or team?

Give them the freedom to choose and the budget to buy. This includes virtual and in-person events, professional memberships and materials.

Foster knowledge sharing

Since you’re working on making SEO a strategic business initiative, all stakeholders will benefit from learning about SEO.

Invest in SEO training for other teams beyond marketing, for example, the C-suite or IT, to create a baseline knowledge of SEO at the company.

Host internal workshops regularly to share insights and updates about SEO, too.

Test what’s been learned

Encourage your team to test what they learn through small-scale experiments or pilot projects.

Dig deeper: 5 questions to evaluate any SEO training course

3. Ineffective hiring and onboarding of an SEO agency 

When companies are ready to partner with SEO agencies, they must hire and onboard effectively for the best chance at a productive partnership.

Missteps here can lead to misaligned goals, wasted resources and subpar performance. So what to do?

When hiring an SEO agency, be sure to:

  • Properly vet the agency.
  • Evaluate the agency’s company ethics and level of expertise.
  • Figure out if the services offered are actually what you require to succeed.
  • Make sure the agency’s processes mesh well with your company culture.
  • Watch out for any red flags that signal a poor-quality agency.

The onboarding process is just as important as the hiring process. Here are some important things to consider as you forge a new partnership with an SEO agency:

  • Make sure they know your business: Share detailed insights into your company’s history, products, services and market positioning.
  • Define roles and responsibilities: Clearly outline the tasks and expectations for both your team and the agency.
  • Establish regular communication channels: Set up consistent meetings and reporting to keep things aligned.
  • Set realistic expectations: Agree on achievable timelines and outcomes.

Dig deeper: How to hire an SEO agency: The definitive guide

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4. Overlooking the value of maintaining high-quality content

Enterprise companies usually need volumes of content for their SEO programs to compete in the search results.

With the sometimes overwhelming amount of content needed, it can be easy to lose sight of quality while trying to hit targets.

With multiple teams and departments contributing content, enterprises also struggle with inconsistency in quality, tone and SEO best practices.

Here are some tips for high-quality enterprise SEO content:

Establish centralized guidelines and quality control

Managing content at the enterprise level requires consistency and collaboration:

  • Create a centralized content quality framework for all departments. Include standards for tone, formatting, SEO best practices and E-E-A-T.
  • Provide cross-departmental training to establish a baseline understanding of SEO principles for all contributors.
  • Consider a dedicated quality control person in each department to review and approve all content before publication.

Prioritize search intent 

Focus on creating content that addresses the needs of your target audience first. Decide how you will maintain this quality while scaling content as needed.

Meeting search intent will result in higher engagement and better rankings than producing high volumes of generic content.

Use tools to monitor and optimize performance

Use analytics to measure content performance and identify gaps. Regularly refresh top-performing, outdated or underperforming content to maintain relevance and effectiveness.

I recommend spending 50% of the time refreshing older content.

Ensure AI-generated content meets quality standards

While AI tools can be valuable for scaling production, human oversight is key.

Have a system in place to uphold quality when using AI-generated content. Make sure it meets your brand’s standards and complies with Google’s quality guidelines.

Dig deeper: How to survive the search results when you’re using AI tools for content

5. Not prioritizing technical SEO 

Enterprise websites can be massive, creating unique challenges for technical SEO. Unfortunately, these challenges compound at scale.

Even the best SEO strategies can fail if technical SEO isn’t handled well.

But technical SEO at the enterprise level isn’t just about fixing bugs; it’s about creating sustainable processes.

Prioritize processes and cross-departmental responsibilities

Enterprise websites need workflows for technical SEO issues. Start by creating clear systems that outline how to identify, prioritiz, and resolve issues.

Assign ownership to specific teams, such as IT or web development, to ensure a quick response when challenges arise.

Finally, educate teams about the importance of technical SEO and their responsibilities.

For example, content creators should structure new pages with proper tags and metadata, while developers should ensure site changes are vetted for SEO implications.

When all departments work together, technical SEO becomes a seamless part of the workflow.

Use automation and tools to manage complexity

With massive websites and multiple teams, automation and tools are helpful for enterprise SEO.

Here are some tips:

  • Centralize and align your toolset: As much as possible, streamline your SEO tools into a unified system that integrates with the platforms you use.
  • Focus on scalable tools: Invest in tools that can grow with your website’s needs.
  • Automate the repetition: Use automation for predictable, time-intensive technical SEO tasks.
  • Monitor, refine, repeat: Regularly audit tool performance and workflows to ensure tools are aligned with your SEO goals as they evolve.

Plan for long-term maintenance

As your website grows, so will its technical challenges. A proactive approach will sustain SEO performance:

  • Schedule technical audits before major initiatives.
  • Stay ahead of the curve by aligning site initiatives with emerging search engine changes.
  • Make sure SEO is built into any major update to a website.

Avoiding common SEO mistakes is the path to enterprise success

Success at the enterprise level is defined by adopting the right mindset and workflows. This means creating a culture that prioritizes SEO as a strategic initiative and embedding it into every department that has a stake in the website.

With a clear vision, a commitment to improvements and the right processes, your enterprise can stand out in the search results and achieve sustained search growth.

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Google sending manual actions for site reputation abuse in Germany

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Google appears to be rolling out manual actions, search penalties, across German-based sites over the site reputation abuse policy. This comes a week or so after Google expanded the penalties across Europe, for sites in Italy, Spain, and France.

What we’re seeing. Christian Kunz, posted on his German-based SEO blog that Google has probably taken first manual actions in Germany against site reputation abuse. A search results set for coupon codes that previously showed many news websites is now no longer showing these sites in the top rankings. Laura Chiocciora, head of SEO at Bravo Savings Network, posted on X adding this morning:

Why we care. Google seems to accelerating its enforcement of the site reputation abuse policy well beyond the US and other regions now. It is just a matter of time until this expands to more and more regions and locations.

If you have content on your site that is going against this policy, then it might be time to start planning on removing it, even if you are in a country that has not been impacted yet.

U.S. manual actions. Google began penalizing sites under its (then) new search spam policies in March 2024. This was announced at the same time as the March 2024 Google core update, which Google’s Elizabeth Tucker called the biggest core update ever at SMX Advanced last year.

What is site reputation abuse? When third-party sites host low-quality content provided by third parties to piggyback on the ranking power of those third-party websites. As Google told us in March 2024:

  • “A third party might publish payday loan reviews on a trusted educational website to gain ranking benefit from the site.”
  • “Such content ranking highly in Search can confuse or mislead visitors who may have vastly different expectations for the content on a given website.”

Under Google’s new policy, site reputation abuse is defined as “third-party content produced primarily for ranking purposes and without close oversight of a website owner” and “intended to manipulate Search rankings” will be considered spam.

The new Google Search spam policies about reputation abuse was announced by Google over here and and the updated policies are over here.

Later, Google expanded the policy to include first party content.

About manual actions. Websites that Google takes manual action are reviewed by humans – they are not given algorithmically. According to Google:

  • “Google issues a manual action against a site when a human reviewer at Google has determined that pages on the site are not compliant with Google’s spam policies. Most manual actions address attempts to manipulate our search index. Most issues reported here will result in pages or sites being ranked lower or omitted from search results without any visual indication to the user.”

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10 SEO tips for your Valentine’s Day sale

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Valentine’s Day is an interesting shopping event for ecommerce stores. Customers are looking for gifts that help express their love for one another, with flowers, jewelry, and other interesting options. It’s a great opportunity to attract and convert online shoppers. Here are some SEO tips to help make the most of your Valentine’s Day sale!

Table of contents

Start preparing early

As with most sales, you need to plan ahead. Begin planning your Valentine’s Day SEO strategy as early as possible. Ideally, you’d start several months in advance. Research keywords related to Valentine’s Day and your industry to see what comes up. When the sale comes, you’ll be inspired and have new ways to promote your products. If you set up gift guide pages, do so in advance so search engines have enough time to index your pages. This increases your chance to rank when the shopping rush begins.

Create a landing page specifically for your Valentine’s Day sale. Use it to highlight your best deals and popular items that make great gifts. Keep the URL simple and undated so that you can update and reuse it yearly. This approach helps you build SEO value over time while keeping backlinks intact. It also makes your seasonal campaigns easier to manage in the future.

an example of an ecommerce store for tea using seo to boost a valentines day sale
It doesn’t have to be just jewelry or flowers; there are plenty of interesting gift options, like tea

Optimize your product pages

Your product pages will probably see the most traffic and conversions, so be sure to optimize them. Use proper related keywords in the places where they make sense, but don’t overdo it. For example, instead of “Rose bouquet,” try “Classic rose bouquet for Valentine’s Day.” Yoast SEO for Shopify or WooCommerce SEO can help you do this.

Consider conveying that your products are made with a good heart without relying on traditional red heart symbolism. This could involve creative descriptions, imagery, or design elements that convey a sense of warmth, kindness, and generosity without being overtly literal.

As always, add high-quality images to your sales pages with descriptive alt-text, such as “red roses for Valentine’s Day delivery.” This will make your product pages more accessible and understandable for search engines. If you sell jewelry, create specific pages with phrases like “Valentine’s Day jewelry sale.”

When you have options to deliver your product, include the final delivery date in your communication to build trust and ensure customers receive their items on time.

an valentines day seo example from a lego gift guide featuring a bouquet build
Lego published a great gift guide on its site, including great images and content

Create gift guides and seasonal content

Content marketing drives traffic to your site. Good content can help shoppers find the perfect gift. For SEO purposes, Valentine’s Day gift guides can serve well. Make guides like “Top 10 gifts for her” or “Romantic ideas for Valentine’s Day.” In these guides, link to the proper product pages to make it easy for shoppers to buy the listed products.

Keywords like “Unique Valentine’s Day gift” or “Valentine’s Day flower delivery” work well in blog content. There are plenty of relevant content ideas. For instance, you could create themed infographics or videos to share on social media.

Focus on local SEO for delivery or pick-up

Is your business locally oriented, and do you offer local delivery or in-store pick-up? Optimize your sales for local searches! Edit your Google Business Profile and add details about your Valentine’s Day sales, opening hours, and local delivery options. Don’t forget to use location-specific keywords in your content.

Build a bond with your customers and encourage them to leave reviews. Positive reviews are an important part of building your local business. Use local SEO properly to attract customers needing last-minute Valentine’s Day gifts or same-day delivery. 

Use social media and influencers

Social media is a great tool for promoting your Valentine’s Day deals. Remember to post appealing images of your products, such as flower arrangements, gift boxes, or jewelry. Depending on your business, Instagram and Facebook are especially good for showcasing your Valentine’s gifts. You might even try TikTok if you’re good at video content. TikTok even published a guide to help you with your Valentine’s Day sale. 

Remember to think about influencers who like your brand. Influencers can create authentic content to drive traffic to your site. Be sure to include special offers to make them actionable.

Use user-generated content

Social media is also a great place to encourage customers to share their Valentine’s Day experiences with your products. Ask them to post photos of the gifts they purchased, the stories of how they were received, or even a review of the experience of buying from your store. You could even create a branded hashtag and promote it in your social media and email campaigns.

As your website is the focal point, remember to add these posts to it. User-generated content helps build trust and acts as social proof. It’s great for potential customers to see that other customers have had an excellent experience with your business. Seeing happy customers share photos of their Valentine’s Day flower arrangements or jewelry gifts can help others do the same. In addition, you are creating a human connection with your customers.

Run exclusive Valentine’s Day promotions

It’s not just about inspiring customers to want to buy but also about getting them to buy it. Special offers help shoppers complete that last step. Create urgency with limited-time deals, such as “20% off Valentine’s Day gifts for 48 hours.” You can also offer free shipping or discounts on bundles for couples.

Don’t forget to use your email newsletters to announce these promotions. Write subject lines like “Valentine’s Day sale — Shop the perfect gift now” to grab attention and get clicks to your site.

an example of a jewelry store using seo to build rankings and good pages
For a jewelry store, this is always a busy time, so it needs to come prepared

Add festive details to your website

A subtle way to get shoppers in the mood for Valentine’s Day is to add small festive design elements to your store. For example, you can update banners, landing pages, and CTA buttons with a subtle Valentine’s theme, such as hearts or pink and red color schemes. But be sure to keep it subtle. 

You can directly link your Valentine’s Day landing page or related content from your website’s header navigation during the sale to improve your SEO. Many ecommerce stores use dynamic navigation to feature seasonal categories like “New In,” “Back to School,” or “Holiday Deals.” Adding a Valentine’s section makes it easy for shoppers to find your offers quickly.

Offer last-minute shopping options

Some people like to shop at the last moment, so please also cater to them. You can always offer digital gift cards and same-day delivery services. Highlight these offers prominently on your website with phrases like “Still looking? Get it today!” or “Instant Valentine’s Day gifts.” 

PPC ads like “last-minute Valentine’s Day gifts”  in search or on social media help target people needing an urgent solution. It’s a quick and easy solution to get sales from customers running out of time. 

an seo example of a last-minute valentine's day sale at harry and david
You won’t be the only one looking for last-minute Valentine’s gifts!

Track and adjust your strategy

Last but not least, monitor the campaign’s performance. Use analytics and internet marketing tools to track keyword rankings, traffic, and conversions. Find out which products or pages perform well and adjust your strategy where needed. For example, if certain keywords like “Valentine’s Day exclusive jewelry sale” drive traffic, create more content around those topics.

Keep an eye on your competitors, too. If they offer something unique, consider how you might adapt your approach.

That’s it for Valentine’s Day SEO

Planning and great content are the most important things to make your Valentine’s Day sale successful. A targeted campaign can attract more shoppers to your store. Optimize your product pages, create engaging content, and promote your offers via social media and email campaigns. Now, you’ll be ready to turn the season of love into a successful sales season.

The post 10 SEO tips for your Valentine’s Day sale appeared first on Yoast.

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Microsoft Performance Max testing LinkedIn targeting, measurement tools

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Microsoft Ads: How it compares to Google Ads and tips for getting started

Microsoft Ads will soon roll out four major updates to Performance Max, significantly expanding your ability to target, measure, and optimize your campaigns.

These updates will give advertisers more granular control over their automated campaigns while introducing LinkedIn’s professional targeting data — a unique advantage over competing platforms.

What’s new. Here are the four new features:

  • LinkedIn integration. Advertisers in six major markets (U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, France, and Germany) will be able to tap into LinkedIn’s professional targeting data, including company, industry, and job function signals.
  • Reporting gets granular. Advertisers will be able to analyze performance by audience segments and track individual asset performance, providing clearer insights into what’s working.
  • Smart conversion tracking. New conversion value rules will let advertisers adjust values in real-time based on business-specific factors like location and device usage, making automated bidding more precise.
  • New customer focus. You will be able to enable specific targeting of new customers, with options to either increase bids for new customers or focus exclusively on acquiring them.

Why we care. Should these long awaited changes fully roll out, it should give you more precise control over automated campaigns while providing better measurement tools and access to professional audience data. For B2B marketers especially, the LinkedIn targeting integration across represents a significant competitive advantage with these new sophisticated audience targeting opportunities.

What’s next. These features are in pilot, suggesting Microsoft is gathering feedback before a broader rollout.

Bottom line. Microsoft is positioning Performance Max as a more sophisticated alternative to competing automated ad platforms by leveraging its unique access to LinkedIn’s professional network data.

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YouTube testing cost-per-hour masthead

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3 YouTube Ad formats you need to reach and engage viewers in 2025

YouTube is testing a new advertising offering that lets brands own its most prominent ad space — the Masthead — by the hour, marking a significant shift in how marketers can capture attention.

This new Cost-Per-Hour (CPH) Masthead gives advertisers 100% share of voice across all YouTube devices during crucial timeframes, potentially transforming how brands approach major launches and cultural moments, according to a slide obtained by Search Engine Land.

The big picture. The CPH Masthead complements YouTube’s existing CPM (cost per thousand impressions) Masthead offering, providing advertisers more flexibility in how they dominate YouTube’s prime advertising real estate.

How it works. Advertisers can purchase specific hours leading up to, during, or after their priority moments, guaranteeing complete ownership of eligible Masthead impressions across desktop, mobile, connected TV, and tablet devices.

Preview of a Masthead ad

Why we care. YouTube’s new Cost-Per-Hour Masthead offering represents a significant shift in premium advertising control, giving brands guaranteed 100% share of voice across all YouTube platforms during specific hours. This offering would give you maximum visibility during your most critical marketing moments, with the added flexibility to combine these hourly takeovers with regular CPM campaigns for comprehensive coverage.

Between the lines. This move signals YouTube’s recognition that advertisers need more precise timing control for major brand moments, rather than just broad reach.

By the numbers. While YouTube hasn’t disclosed specific pricing, the flat cost-per-hour pricing model offers predictable budgeting for marketers — a departure from traditional impression-based pricing.

Target use cases:

  • Major product launches
  • Time-sensitive announcements
  • Holiday campaigns
  • Livestream event promotion
  • Cultural moment marketing

How to get it. Advertisers are advised to reach out to their representative to learn more about CPH Masthead buys.

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Ex-Hubspotters reveal 5 SEO insights about HubSpot’s traffic woes

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HubSpot’s SEO collapse has been the talk of the SEO world for the last several days.

As a reminder, here’s a screenshot of HubSpot’s organic traffic drop, based on Semrush data:

Among the endless reactions and perspectives, two former HubSpot employees shared five good reminders about SEO strategy.

1. SEO takes time

Pruning content and focusing on E-E-A-T were among the many obvious remedies SEOs pointed out following the news of HubSpot’s apparent organic traffic decline.

Well, these aren’t simple tweaks for a brand the size of HubSpot. They’re massive undertakings, according to this LinkedIn post by Bianca Anderson, HubSpot’s former SEO strategist (who is now manager, organic growth for hims and hers):

  • “When HubSpot began optimizing for EEAT, it required overhauling processes in a way that significantly slowed the output of net-new content AND optimizations. Additionally, pruning a blog at HubSpot’s scale, with thousands of articles, is no small task and takes extensive effort to execute effectively (and SMARTLY).
  • “…fixing this kind of thing isn’t an overnight process. It’s not as simple as mass redirects. This type of work can take YEARS to properly execute.”

Dig deeper. How long SEO takes to work

2. Google’s algorithm is extremely volatile

This may feel like an obvious observation for many of you reading, but Anderson made an important point about how volatile Google’s algorithm has been lately:

  • “Algorithm updates over the past two years have been unprecedented in their volatility (I know we all know this, but just want to emphasize) — it’s been an onslaught. Major brands like HubSpot and WordStream, are feeling these changes deeply.”

Dig deeper. Google algorithm updates.

3. There is no shared definition of ‘content quality’

Google is not the sole arbiter of quality, according to this LinkedIn post by Braden Becker, former principal growth marketing manager at HubSpot (who is now the global SEO lead for Faire):

  • “I believe their quality standards are vastly more sophisticated than they were when I was working on the HubSpot Blog, and the company is surely paying a little for that. But just because Google makes a grand decision on a big website doesn’t mean the victim objectively deserved it.”

Becker highlighted another key point about quality:

  • “There’s a difference between ‘quality’ and ‘the most helpful answer’ to a given search term. I think Google consistently focuses on the latter, despite not always being clear about that.”

Dig deeper. Mastering content quality: The ultimate guide

4. SEO strategies must always evolve

SEO strategy is fluid, Becker said:

  • “You try to do what’s right for the business at the time. What worked, we kept doing. And what didn’t work, we stopped doing.”

Anderson added:

  • “From what I’ve seen, TOFU (top-of-funnel) non-ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) targeting content seems to be the most impacted. Is this partly the result of a wide-scale strategic de-prioritization? Maybe. I don’t know.
  • “What I do know is this: HubSpot has been actively working on this long before these traffic declines became more publicly known.”

Dig deeper. Evolving SEO for 2025: What needs to change

5. Traffic is not a leading metric of success

Traffic and revenue are not the same thing, as Anderson pointed out:

  • “Traffic is cool, but it should rarely be a leading metric of success (especially now). Conversions or other core KPIs that drive business matter far more.”

Dig deeper. SEO KPIs to track and measure SEO success

Bottom line. Peter Rota, senior technical SEO manager, HUB International, made several great points in this LinkedIn post. Of note:

  • We can only see a portion of what happened – we don’t have Google Analytics or Google Search Console data.
  • We don’t know how many of these keywords brought meaningful visitors.
  • We don’t know whether any of this lost traffic impacted their sales/revenue. We might get more insight Feb. 12 – that’s the date when HubSpot is expected to release its Q4 results.

Rota added:

  • “In SEO, you can literally do everything right, and one day, Google could be like know what, we’re changing things. No site is truly ‘white hat,’ and everyone thinks they’re doing amazing SEO until you get hit.
  • “We all have access to the same public data, but the reality is that the SEOs who are working/ worked at HubSpot only know the true story of what happened.
  • “So, stop giving advice, stop thinking you know better. They literally wrote the book on inbound marketing and have taught many of us SEO or we’ve learned something from them.”

More analysis. Leading international SEO expert Aleyda Solis wrote a good analysis of Hubspot’s (public) rankings and traffic data in Hubspot’s Blog Organic Search Traffic Drop: What happened? Is it really that bad? What does it mean for SEO?

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