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6 Best Social Media Management Tools (Tried & Tested)

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There are many tools that let you schedule content across different social media platforms.

But:

Not all of them are built to match your unique workflow.

Some focus on collaboration, others on planning.

That’s why I’ve handpicked the best tools and highlighted the features that go beyond basic scheduling.

Here’s an overview of the best social media management tools included in this article:

Best for Pricing
Buffer Content creators and small teams that need help generating content ideas and staying consistent Starts at $6/month per channel; limited free plan available
Planable Marketing teams that need a centralized hub to collaborate on all types of content Starts at $39/month; limited free plan available
SocialBee Businesses that want a built-in AI assistant to help plan strategy and generate content Starts at $29/month; 14-day free trial
Canva Creators and small businesses that want to design and schedule content in one place Starts at $15/month; 30-day free trial available
Hootsuite Teams that need social selling tools and CRM integration Starts at $149/month; 30-day free trial available
Sprout Social Large teams or agencies that need unified analytics, collaboration tools, and social listening Starts at $249/month; 30-day free trial available

Note: This is not the most extensive list of social media management tools. Instead, I’m sticking to what the title says and only including the very best options.

1. Buffer

Best for content creators and small teams that need help generating content ideas and staying consistent with posting

Pricing: Starts at $6 per month per channel; limited free forever plan available (for up to three channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel per month)

Buffer – Monthly Calendar

Buffer is a simple social media management tool designed to help you plan, create, and schedule content across platforms.

It has a simple layout, a Kanban-style board, AI tools to help you write posts faster, and many other features that let teams work together easily.

Here are the platforms you can manage with Buffer:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Threads
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • X/Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google Business Profile
  • Bluesky
  • Mastodon

Here’s what I love about Buffer:

Manage Your Content Workflow with a Built-in Kanban Board

Buffer gives you a simple, visual way to manage your entire content workflow. You don’t need a separate project management tool.

You can plan, track, and organize your social posts using a built-in Kanban-style layout. This makes it easy to track how your content moves from idea to publication.

Buffer – Built-in kanban board

You can drag and drop posts through each stage, tag them by type or campaign, and convert any idea into a live post when you’re ready to publish.

Each idea card acts like a mini workspace. You can add notes, upload images, assign tags, or even use AI to shape your post.

And when you’re ready to turn an idea into a real post, just click “Create Post”:

Buffer – Turning Idea into Post

From there, you can choose which social media platforms to post on, edit your text, and schedule it. All without leaving the ideas board:

Buffer – Choose Social Media Platform

This is a seamless workflow from idea to publishing. You don’t even need to switch tabs within the tool.

Create a Custom Link in Bio Page

Buffer’s Start Page lets you build a mini landing page to use in your social media bio.

On this page, you can add buttons to your blog, shop, podcast, or freebies — whatever you want people to check out. It’s like a custom homepage for your content.

There are templates to get you started:

Buffer – Choose a starting template

But you can also customize it with your brand colors, fonts, and layout:

Buffer – Start page – Customize template

When you publish your page, you can track views and clicks to see what your audience is interested in:

Buffer – Statistics

Whether you’re a creator, freelancer, or a small business, Start Page helps you lead your followers to the content you want them to see.

Stay Consistent with a Weekly Posting Goal

Buffer helps you build a sustainable content routine. It lets you choose a posting goal, like once, three times, or five times per week:

Buffer – Settings – Posting Goal

Once you select your frequency, Buffer will automatically recommend the best time slots and add them to your queue:

Buffer – Settings – Posting Times

The tool recommends time slots based on when your audience is active.

With this feature, you don’t have to guess when or how often to post.

Just pick a consistency level that fits your bandwidth and goals.

This is helpful if you’re overwhelmed or inconsistent. With your target already set, Buffer takes care of when to post so you can focus on what to post.

Useful resource: Step-By-Step Content Marketing Plan Template


Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
Use AI assistant to draft tailored post captions for different social media platforms Analytics doesn’t support creator accounts for Instagram and LinkedIn; it’s limited to business pages
Manage comments and replies from one dashboard

2. Planable

Best for marketing teams that need a centralized hub to collaborate on all types of content

Pricing: Starts at $39 per month; free plan available (limited to 50 posts)

Planable – Workspace

Planable is a tool built for social media teams to plan, collaborate on, and schedule content together — all in one place.

It’s designed to streamline approvals, keep your calendar organized, and make team (and client) communication seamless.

Here are the platforms you can manage with Planable:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • X/Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • Google Business Profile
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • Threads

And here’s what I love about Planable:

Collaborate with Your Team in Real-Time

Planable makes it easy to work with others and communicate through every step of content development.

For example, your team can leave comments directly on each social media post. This removes the need to send the post back and forth:

Planable – Commenting feature

You can even invite your team members and clients and give each one a unique set of permissions. These include view, edit, publish, approve, or analyze.

You can also make multiple approval workflows and set collaboration levels.

Let’s say you’re part of an in-house marketing team working with an external copywriter. You could create a custom workflow like this:

  • Stage 1: Content team creates the post and adds a caption
  • Stage 2: Design team steps in to finalize visuals
  • Stage 3: The client gives final approval before the post goes live

Planable – Team Roles & Approvals

Once the client approves the content, you can:

  • Automatically schedule the post to publish at the assigned time (or keep manual control if you prefer)
  • Lock the content to prevent last-minute edits or accidental changes

What’s cool is that internal team comments won’t be visible to clients.

You can also hide certain posts from clients to prevent them from seeing unfinished drafts:

Planable – Hide from clients

And if anything ever goes off track, you can see the version history. It lets you see exactly who did what and roll back to a previous version if you need to.

Manage All Your Marketing Content in One Place

Planable helps you schedule, preview, and collaborate on posts for all major platforms in one place.

You can plan your content in a calendar view to visualize what’s going live, where it’s going, and when:

Planable – Calendar view & Connected Channels

But what sets Planable apart is its ability to go beyond just social. You can also write and organize blog posts, newsletters, and other content with the same team setup.

So if your team is posting on Instagram and TikTok, writing email newsletters, and posting on the blog, you can check and edit everything in one place.

Planable keeps it all in sync, so your team stays aligned and consistent — no matter how many channels you’re managing.

Note: While you can manage blog content in Planable using the same workflows as social posts, it doesn’t integrate directly with CMS platforms. So you’ll still need to copy and paste your final draft manually.


Organize Your Content into Campaigns

In Planable, you can group your social media posts into dedicated campaigns.

This makes it easy to plan, manage, and execute content around specific themes, product launches, or events:

Planable – Campaigns

Each campaign can act as a central hub for your content. You can add posts to different social media, work with others, and see how your posts are doing, all in one place.

For example, if you’re launching a new product, you can create a “Product Launch” campaign. Inside that campaign, you can:

  • Keep internal notes (like your campaign objective, key results, and what content the campaign should include)
  • Organize all launch-related posts and visuals for future posts
  • View when each post is scheduled to go live with the calendar view
  • Check consolidated analytics across multiple platforms

Planable – Header bar

This kind of campaign structure helps your team stay focused and aligned. It also ensures every piece of content supports a bigger goal, like driving signups for an event or promoting a product launch.

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
Craft your social media captions with AI in the Planable post editor Currently no integration with CMS platforms to post blog content on your site directly
Import visuals directly from Canva into your posts; no need to download or re-upload designs Analytics is only available for business accounts, not creator profiles
Schedule the first comment on Instagram and LinkedIn posts
Get post and account performance insights with built-in analytics

3. SocialBee

Best for businesses that want a built-in AI assistant to help plan strategy and generate content

Pricing: Starts at $29 per month; 14-day free trial

SocialBee – Create your post

SocialBee is a social media management tool that helps you manage all your content in one place. One unique thing this tool offers is a built-in AI assistant that takes tasks off your hands (more on this later).

Here are the platforms you can manage with SocialBee:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • X/Twitter
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • Google Business Profile
  • Bluesky
  • Threads

SocialBee also offers universal posting. This means you can collaborate with your team on content for a blog or newsletter for example. However, as is the case with Planable, there is currently no integration to post these directly on other platforms.

Here’s some more detail about a few of SocialBee’s best features:

Build a Content Strategy with AI Copilot

SocialBee’s AI Copilot is like having a creative assistant built into your social media tool.

It helps you build a personalized content strategy, come up with content ideas, and draft social media captions.

So, how does it work?

Let’s say you run social media for Tattly, a creative brand selling artist-designed temporary tattoos.

Copilot will ask you a set of questions about your brand, goals, and audience:

SocialBee – Social Media Copilot

Based on your input, the AI Copilot recommends the best platforms to focus on and suggests a weekly posting frequency:

SocialBee – Social Media Copilot – Posting frequency

Copilot also suggests content categories that match your business and tone:

SocialBee – Social Media Copilot – Content categories

It then generates the posting plan based on your content categories:

SocialBee – Social Media Copilot – Posting plan

And finally, it generates the posts. You can use the captions as-is or use AI suggestions as inspiration:

SocialBee – Social Media Copilot – Generated posts

Create Evergreen Content Categories

SocialBee lets you recycle posts on autopilot by marking a content category as evergreen:

SocialBee – Re-queue after posting

This means any post you add to that category will automatically be re-added to your posting queue once it goes live. You don’t need to reschedule it manually.

But why would you want to post the same content over and over?

It’s a great way to keep your content calendar full without constantly creating new content. You can use it to reshare timeless posts like tips, customer testimonials, or motivational quotes:

SocialBee – Your content categories

For example, reposting a helpful blog tip every four to six weeks keeps it fresh in your audience’s feed without feeling repetitive. Especially if you’re recycling through a variety of other content in between.

Plus, new followers may miss these posts the first time around, but still get value from them.

This keeps your content calendar active, saves you time, and ensures your best posts continue delivering value long after they’re first published.

Turn Links Into Posts

SocialBee lets you import a bunch of links and instantly generate social media posts for them:

SocialBee – Content – Import links

Just paste in your links, assign them to a content category, and SocialBee will generate a basic post using the page title and link:

SocialBee – Import links – Created post

From there, you can edit the draft to boost engagement and tailor it to your audience. Like by adding a hook or takeaway.

This is especially helpful if you run a blog or regularly share curated content. It gives you a head start on posting, so you’re not starting from scratch every time.

Further reading: 21+ Proven Strategies to Promote Your Blog in 2025

Get Help from a Dedicated Social Media Concierge

If you’d rather outsource some of your social media tasks to a pro, SocialBee offers concierge services.

SocialBee – ConciergeBee Store

ConciergeBee connects you with a service provider who takes care of tasks like making content or talking to your followers.

You can choose from several service packages (starting at $129/month) based on your needs.

For example, options include:

  • Weekly content creation (graphics, captions, and videos)
  • Community management (inbox and comment replies)
  • LinkedIn lead generation
  • Blog content writing
  • Ads management

SocialBee – Service packages

Compared to hiring freelancers on your own, SocialBee’s concierge service saves you time and guesswork.

You get vetted specialists, ongoing 1:1 communication, and fixed pricing. And you don’t have to go through the process of scouting talent and managing contracts.

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
Turn articles into social media posts in seconds The mobile app is very limited at this time, sometimes not even working at all
Use AI to enhance your social media strategy
Use Canva, Unsplash, and GIPHY integrations for visuals

4. Canva

Best for content creators and small businesses that want to design and schedule content from one place

Pricing: Starts at $15 per month; 30-day free trial available

Canva – Content Planner

With its built-in Content Planner tool, Canva lets you design, write, and schedule posts across multiple platforms in one place.

If you’re already using it to create visual content, it might be enough to handle your entire content workflow. Especially if you heavily rely on graphics in your social media posts.

Here are the platforms you can manage with Canva:

  • Instagram Business Page
  • Facebook Page
  • X/Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr

While more limited than some of the other tools on this list, there are still a lot of reasons to love it as a social media management tool.

Here are my favorite features:

Schedule Posts Right From the Design Dashboard

Canva makes it easy to go from designing a social media post to scheduling it for publishing. You can do it without even leaving the design screen.

Let’s say you run a small cafe and you’re launching a new seasonal breakfast menu. You design an Instagram post in Canva with a mouth-watering photo of your meals.

Once you’re happy with the design, you click “Share” > “Schedule” right from the top menu:

Canva – Schedule design

This built-in scheduling tool helps you post regularly on social media without making more work for yourself.

Instead of switching between tools, you can design, schedule, and publish all from one place.

This saves time and keeps your content calendar on track.

Fill Your Calendar with Holiday-Ready Templates

Canva’s Content Planner shows holidays, awareness days, and seasonal events from around the world:

Canva – Content planer shows holidays

You can click on any event, choose a ready-made template, make it match your brand, and schedule the post right away:

Canva – Ready made template

This is a simple and effortless way to fill your content calendar and engage your audience.

Useful resource: Content Calendar Template for 2025


Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
Design and schedule content without switching platforms Lacks advanced collaboration tools, such as content approvals, needed for larger teams
Pre-designed visuals tied to calendar events and holidays

5. Hootsuite

Best for teams that need social selling tools and CRM integration

Pricing: Starts at $149 per month; 30-day free trial available

Hootsuite – Dashboard

Hootsuite supports everything from collaborative content planning to lead generation and social selling.

It has tools that help your team save time and work efficiently. Like CRM integrations, a smart inbox, and auto-replies for Instagram.

Here are the platforms you can manage with Hootsuite:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • X/Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • WhatApp Business
  • Threads

Here are my favorite Hootsuite features:

Automate Instagram DMs with Comment Keywords

Hootsuite lets you send automated Instagram DMs to your audience:

Hootsuite – DM automation

You can use this feature to deliver lead magnets, coupon codes, or event registrations.

For example, if you’re a fitness coach offering a free meal plan, you could post a Reel with the caption:

“Drop the word MEAL below and I’ll DM you my 7-day meal plan.”

When someone comments “meal,” Hootsuite instantly sends them your custom message with the link.

Here’s how it works:

You choose a keyword and write a message you want to send when someone comments that word on your post.

This method keeps your audience engaged without the hassle of replying to everyone yourself. And because the response is instant, your followers get what you promised right away. No matter when they comment.

Cool, right?

Turn Social Conversations Into Sales

Hootsuite helps you move leads from social interactions to closed deals without leaving the dashboard.

You can reply to comments and DMs, save the conversation in your CRM, and follow up to turn that lead into a customer:

Hootsuite – Turn social conversations into sales

But how’s that possible?

Hootsuite integrates with CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and SugarCRM to streamline this process.

This means your social media manager and sales rep can collaborate in real time. If a follower responds to a campaign or clicks on a product post, you can turn that engagement into a lead profile.

If your business relies on social selling, this feature is a game-changer.

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
Manage inbound messages, engagement, and scheduling in one place DM automation is limited to Instagram only
Integrate Hootsuite with your CRM and project management platform

6. Sprout Social

Best for large teams or agencies that need unified analytics, collaboration tools, and social listening in one platform

Pricing: Starts at $249 per month; 30-day free trial available

Sprout Social – Dashboard

Sprout Social is a premium social media management platform. It combines publishing, engagement, analytics, and social listening all in one place.

Here are the platforms you can manage with Sprout Social:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • X/Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • Pinterest
  • Threads
  • YouTube
  • Google Business Profile

Now let’s talk about what I love most about Sprout Social:

Respond to Every Message in One Place

Sprout’s Smart Inbox pulls direct messages (DMs), comments, and mentions across all your connected platforms.

You don’t need to bounce between tabs or apps. Instead, your entire team can view and respond to each message or comment from one space:

Sprout Social – All Messages

Your team can even tag messages, assign them to teammates, and leave internal notes to add context:

Sprout Social – Internal comments

Sprout Social also tracks your inbox activity. This lets you check how your team handles audience engagement across different platforms.

For example, you can see metrics like:

  • Number of received vs. actioned messages and action rate
  • Response rate and average time to action
  • Performance trends across time or by platform

Sprout Social – Received Messages and Actions Summary

This helps you reply faster, keep your support organized, and make sure you don’t miss any messages. Even when you’re constantly receiving messages at scale.

Track and Visualize Performance Across the Channels

Sprout Social gives you two powerful ways to analyze your results:

  • Cross-network reporting: To track performance across all your social media channels
  • Profile-specific reporting: To dive deeper into individual accounts (like your Instagram or LinkedIn)

This dual setup helps you see the big picture while still being able to zoom in on the details.

View High-Level Metrics in One Dashboard

Its profile performance report shows key stats. Such as views, clicks, engagement, and interaction rate across all your social platforms:

Sprout Social – Profile Performance

You can also track how your audience has grown over time with the Audience Growth graph:

Sprout Social – Audience Growth

This makes it easy to see whether your efforts are growing your followers.

That way, you can identify which platforms are bringing the most momentum. And which ones might need a strategy tweak.

Analyze Content with Post Performance Reports

Sprout Social also gives you post performance insights across all your connected accounts. Or you can focus on a specific platform.

You can view and compare individual post metrics. Like total engagement, reactions, and comments:

Sprout Social – Post Performance

This helps you quickly spot top-performing posts and patterns behind them. This lets you replicate what’s working — without constantly jumping between dashboards.

Listen to What Your Audience Is Saying Online

Sprout Social helps you understand what people say about your brand, industry, or competitors across social media and the web.

You can track specific keywords, hashtags, or brand mentions in real time.

For example, if you manage social media for a coffee shop, you might track the keyword “espresso.”

The conversation breakdown shows the words and phrases people use when they talk about espresso. Such as “recipes,” “easy,” and “home.”

These terms are ranked from highest to lowest engagement:

Sprout Social – Keyword tracked

You can use these words to get content ideas or write relatable captions to match what your audience is saying.

It’s a quick way to spot trends and stay relevant.

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
All-in-one place for managing publishing, engagement, and analytics across many social media platforms Can be overwhelming for solo users or small teams due to the number of tools included in Sprout Social
Advanced analytics to track cross-platform or profile-specific performance

Ready to Choose Your Social Media Management Tool?

The right social media management tool depends on your content needs and workflow:

  • Go with Sprout Social if you’re a large team or agency that needs everything in one place, including analytics, collaboration, customer care, and social listening
  • Pick Hootsuite if your team is focused on lead generation and social selling, and you want powerful CRM integrations and sales automations
  • Choose Planable if you need advanced collaboration features and want to manage all kinds of content in one place
  • Go with Buffer if you’re solo or on a small team and want to stay consistent with posting using a simple, organized workflow
  • Try SocialBee if you want extra help either from AI or a real human handling your strategy and content
  • Stick with Canva if you’re already using it for design and want a streamlined way to schedule your posts without switching tools

Want to explore new platforms to grow on? Check out our list of new social media platforms so you can stay ahead of the curve.

The post 6 Best Social Media Management Tools (Tried & Tested) appeared first on Backlinko.

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The 7 Best PPC Tools for Your Goals, Budget, and Workflow

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Running PPC campaigns isn’t for the faint of heart.

You’re constantly juggling dashboards, tweaking campaigns, and fielding requests from clients who wanted performance reports yesterday.

That’s why the best PPC tools don’t just offer features. They help you move faster.

In this guide, I’ve curated this list of the best PPC tools marketers swear by, organized by use case.

The goal?

To help you quickly find what fits your workflow and skip the ones that don’t.

What Are the Best PPC Tools?

PPC Tool Best for Price
Semrush Advertising Toolkit All-in-one PPC campaign management Starts at $139.95/month. 14-day Pro trial available.
Spyfu Competitor research Starts at $39/month. Free limited account available.
Google Ads Editor Bulk editing & offline ad campaign management Free
Optmyzr Enterprise-level PPC automation and tracking Starts at $249/month. 14-day trial available.
Adalysis Ready-to-go ad automation and tracking Starts at $149/month. 30-day free trial available.
Google Looker Studio Ad campaign visualization and reporting Free
ChatGPT Ideation, ad copywriting, and campaign analysis Starts at $20/month. Free plan available

1. Semrush PPC Advertising Toolkit

Best for all-in-one PPC campaign management

Tired of switching between five tools just to manage your paid search campaigns?

Call in the Semrush PPC Advertising Toolkit.

Domain Overview – Advertising Research

It covers everything from keyword research to competitor tracking for full campaign lifecycle visibility.

Perfect when you’re knee-deep in data but need insights fast. Like onboarding a new client or cleaning up a messy account.

Find High-Value PPC Keywords Fast

Keyword research shouldn’t feel like a full-time job.

Semrush’s Advertising Toolkit makes it simpler.

Start with the Keyword Magic Tool.

Type in a general term like “indoor planters.” You’ll get a full list of related long-tail keywords, complete with cost-per-click (CPC) and search volume.

Keyword Magic Tool – Indoor planters – Keywords

Within seconds, you’ll find high-potential keywords that fit your budget.

Now, if you want to know what your competitors are bidding on, use the Keyword Gap tool.

Let’s say you’re running campaigns for plantologyusa.com.

Add a few competitor URLs — like mygardyn.com and thesill.com — and Semrush will show keywords they’re targeting, but you’re not.

Plus, terms they’re outranking you for.

Keyword Gap – Plantologyusa – Paid Keywords

Instead of reinventing your keyword list, you see what’s driving results for others.

Keyword Gap – Plantologyusa – All keyword details for

And where you may be leaving money on the table.

Bonus: You can easily export your keyword lists from Semrush into Google Ads. Or, use them as the base for Meta campaign planning.

Side note: Google Keyword Planner also offers keyword data straight from Google. It’s solid for search volume, but it lacks Semrush’s competitive context.

Reverse Engineer Your Competitors’ PPC Strategy

Want a fast, clear read on what your competitors are spending in paid search?

Head to Semrush’s Advertising Research Tool and plug in their domains.

For example, if you’re running PPC for Toolstation, you might want to analyze Screwfix’s paid search strategy.

Enter “screwfix.com” and you’ll instantly see:

  • Their top-paid keywords
  • Landing pages tied to those keywords
  • Other domains bidding on the same terms
  • A timeline of their ad activity

Advertising Research – Screwfix – Paid Search Trends

That timeline is gold.

If you notice their ad spend consistently increases every April, it’s likely tied to seasonal demand. Or, a major promo push.

You can respond by launching earlier to capture traffic before everyone starts throwing money at the same keywords.

Or shift bids to lower-cost, related keywords that still convert.

(So you don’t get caught in a who’s-got-the-deeper-pockets contest.)

See What Ads Your Competitors Are Running

There’s no need to guess what copy your competitors are using to get clicks.

Go to the Ads Copies tab under Advertising Research.

You’ll see years of PPC history, including the keywords that triggered each ad, estimated CPC, and the exact ad copy.

Advertising Research – Screwfix – Ads Copies

From there, look at what benefits they lead with.

Free delivery? Next-day shipping? A 10% discount if you act by Thursday?

You’ll start to see patterns like how they position their offers, how they build trust, and where your own messaging might be falling short.

Sure, AI can create ad copy now.

But nothing beats learning from real ads that have been tested in the wild.

Especially ones that have been running for months.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Convinient for larger businesses that want to see how PPC performance connects to SEO, content, and broader marketing strategy Overkill for teams that only need a basic keyword tool or simple ad monitoring

Price

Semrush’s PPC Advertising Toolkit is included with a Semrush subscription.

  • Pro: $139.95/month. Best for freelancers and small teams.
  • Guru: $249.95/month. Ideal for agencies and mid-size businesses.
  • Business: $499.95/month. Built for large agencies and enterprise teams.

Note: Get a free Semrush account and start optimizing your PPC campaigns now.

2. SpyFu

Best for competitor research

SpyFu is one of the longest-running PPC tools.

SpyFu – Google Ads History

The platform’s foundation lies in this question:

“What are your competitors doing, and how well is it working for them?”

With up to 15 years of historical data, you get a full market view of paid search trends.

This allows you to evaluate what’s effective (and what’s not) in your competitors’ strategies so you can plan your own campaigns with a lot less guesswork.

Get Detailed Insights Into Your Competitors’ PPC Campaigns

SpyFu’s PPC Research tool gives you a full breakdown of any of your competitor’s paid search strategies.

All you need is their domain.

Let’s say Salesforce is a competitor. Enter its domain and you’ll instantly see:

  • The keywords they’re bidding on
  • Estimated monthly clicks and ad spend
  • Variations in their ad copy
  • The landing pages linked to each campaign

SpyFu – Monthly PPC Overview

This kind of competitive intel helps you see what’s working in your niche.

And what your competitors are betting on.

If you see that Salesforce has consistently targeted the keyword “customer service apps” for over a year, it’s not a test.

It’s likely delivering strong results.

SpyFu – Google Ads History – Keyword

With that context, you can build campaigns around keywords with proven performance.

Plus, refine your messaging based on how your competitors are framing the same offer.

Track Multiple Competitors at Once

Manually checking competitors one by one is tedious.

Plus, you’re bound to miss patterns.

SpyFu’s PPC Kombat tool makes it easier.

Enter a few competitors’ domains into the Kombat tool, and SpyFu gives you a side-by-side comparison.

Let’s say you’re managing PPC for Monday.com.

Enter salesforce.com, pipedrive.com, and zoho.com, and Kombat will show you:

  • A Venn diagram of shared vs. unique keywords
  • The “Core Keywords” all three are bidding on
  • “Potential Ad Waste,” which are keywords you’re paying for but no one else is

SpyFu – Salesforce – PPC research – Kombat

It’s one of the fastest ways to identify keyword gaps and wasted spend.

Plus, you’ll see where competitors are doubling down.

(And if you’re managing client accounts, it’s one of the fastest ways to deliver data-backed insights that make you look like the expert that you are.)

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Affordable alternative to pricier PPC tools. Great for small agencies that need competitors’ insights without enterprise-level costs. It’s easy to rely too heavily on competitor data. And when you do, you stop spotting new trends and start sounding like everyone else.

Price

SpyFu offers two plans:

  • Basic: $39/month with limited searches and exports. Best for occasional use.
  • Professional: $79/month with unlimited access, full history, and API. Ideal for agencies and power users.
  • Free limited account available

3. Google Ads Editor

Best for bulk editing & offline ad campaign management

Google Ads Editor is a free desktop app.

Google Ads Editor – First message

You can use it to work on your campaigns offline and make bulk edits faster than the standard web interface allows.

If you’re managing large Google Ads accounts with lots of campaigns and hundreds of ads, this tool will keep you sane.

Work on Campaigns Offline

Once you install the editor, download your Google Ads account to your computer.

From there, you can build, edit, and review campaigns even without Wi-Fi.

You can:

  • Create or pause ads
  • Edit ad copy, targeting, bids, or URLs
  • Add new keywords or remove underperformers
  • Review performance data and account structure

Google Ads Editor – Campaign – Ad group

Then, when you’re ready, hit “Post.”

And the updates go live. Just like that.

It’s a great option if you’re on the go or stuck with bad Wi-Fi.

Or, if you just want to batch edits without Slack pinging you every 11 seconds.

Save Time with Bulk Edits

Making one change inside the Google Ads interface? No problem.

Making 100? Use the Google Ads editor.

Instead of tweaking each ad one at a time, you can apply changes across multiple campaigns, ad groups, or entire accounts.

All in one go.

One standout feature: Search and Replace.

It lets you update ad copy, URLs, headlines, or any other text-based field across your entire account.

Google Ads Editor – Advanced change

Need to swap “Spring Sale” with “Summer Sale” in 150 ads?

Do a quick search to find the ads, apply the change in bulk, and move on.

You can also import bulk changes using a spreadsheet.

Or, update bids, budgets, keywords, and schedules without the usual click-edit-repeat routine.

It’s a real time-saver for teams managing large accounts or agencies juggling multiple clients.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Saves hours on large-scale edits Has a bit of a learning curve, so it’s best for intermediate and advanced users

Price

Google Ads Editor is free to use.

4. Optmyzr

Best for enterprise-level PPC automation & tracking

Get Optmyzr when you’re ready to scale your campaigns without scaling your workload.

Optmyzr – Dashboard

This platform gives you the tools to automate PPC campaigns for Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Ads.

If you’re constantly chasing budget issues or fixing the same problems every week, Optmyzr helps you automate the checks, alerts, and tweaks that eat up your time.

So, you can finally stop doing all the repetitive stuff and make room for more important work.

Like watching that YouTube video you’ve had open in a tab since Tuesday.

Automate Campaign Management and Catch Problems Early

Optmyzr helps you eliminate tedious PPC tasks so you can stop doing things a robot would happily handle.

(And save your brainpower for decisions that actually need it.)

Use the Rule Engine to set up custom automation using if/then logic.

You can pause underperforming keywords, flag return on ad spend (ROAS) drops, or trigger emails when daily spend spikes.

Automate campaign management with Rule Engine

You can also automate trend monitoring, clean up low-CTR ads, and optimize ad groups for better conversions.

The Rule Engine is highly flexible. But it’s not plug-and-play.

You’ll need to be comfortable defining your own logic and setting up workflows.

The advantage?

That level of customization makes it especially powerful for high-stakes accounts where fast, automated reactions can protect performance and budget.

Find the Root Cause of Any PPC Performance Drop

When performance dips, your first question is usually: Why?

(After the panic and checking multiple dashboards a few too many times, that is.)

Optmyzr’s PPC Investigator helps you answer that fast with a visual cause-and-effect breakdown.

Pick a top-level metric like Conversions or ROAS. Then, use the “Why did [X] change?” dropdown to compare time periods (e.g., last 30 days vs. previous period).

The chart updates instantly to show how the other related metrics changed.

PPC Investigator

For example, if conversions dropped, PPC Investigator might show that clicks actually increased.

But, your budget was reduced during the same period.

Now, you’re not viewing the conversion dip in isolation. You’re seeing the bigger picture.

Instead of guessing, you can identify which metrics changed at the same time and start connecting the dots.

It won’t hand you the answer, but it gives you a starting point for figuring out what’s really going on.

And that makes digging into the “why” a whole lot easier.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Highly customizable, making it perfect for agencies and enterprise teams that want tailored workflows and automation Steeper learning curve for PPC teams unfamiliar with rule-based logic or scripting

Price

Optmyzr starts at $249/month for accounts spending up to $10K/month. Plans scale with ad spend.

14-day trial available.

5. Adalysis

Best for ready-to-go ad automation and tracking

If your PPC systems are already up and running, Adalysis helps keep them healthy.

Adalysis – Account Overview

It acts as a performance-monitoring layer for your Google and Microsoft Ads accounts with 100+ built-in audits.

You’ll get early alerts when performance is subpar. Plus, practical recommendations to fix issues.

Perfect for teams managing large accounts who want automation that’s ready to go. Not something they have to build first.

Get Alerts the Moment Your KPIs Go Sideways

Adalysis keeps a constant watch on your campaigns, scanning for issues before they turn into expensive surprises.

It flags issues the moment your metrics start drifting off course.

You can set alerts for:

  • CPA rising above target
  • Conversions dipping
  • Budgets maxing out too early
  • Campaigns suddenly losing impressions

Adalysis – Performance monitor

So, what does that actually mean?

It means you won’t be caught off guard by issues that could have been flagged days earlier. Like lost conversions.

You’ll know right away while there’s still time to fix it.

Adalysis – Audit alerts

Automate Budget Adjustments

Manually adjusting budgets across dozens of campaigns is a time suck.

Worse, one mistake can throw off your entire month.

Adalysis gives you two ways to manage your budget.

  • Manual pacing with alerts
  • Full automation based on performance goals

With manual pacing, you can set daily or monthly spend targets and monitor progress in a visual dashboard.

Color-coded indicators show whether you’re overspending, underspending, or on track.

Adalysis – Account target budget pacing

You can also set alerts — or auto-pause campaigns — when spending crosses custom thresholds.

Prefer a hands-off approach?

Switch to Full Automation, and Adalysis dynamically adjusts budgets based on your goals.

Whether that’s more conversions, a better CPA, or higher ROAS.

Adalysis – Automatic budget management

Just set your budget and goal, and the system takes care of the rest.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Significantly reduces time spent on PPC management, making it ideal for high-volume campaigns or managing multiple accounts It leans on its built-in structure, which may not offer as much flexibility as some advanced users want

Price

Adalysis starts at $149/month for up to $50K in monthly ad spend. Pricing increases in tiers based on ad spend.

Free trial available.

6. Google Looker Studio

Best for ad campaign visualization and reporting

If you’re managing multiple accounts across platforms, reporting can eat up your entire week.

Google Looker Studio helps you build reporting dashboards using data from Google Ads, GA4, Search Console, BigQuery, Google Sheets, and more.

Google Looker Studio – Templates

The result?

One central place where your team (and your clients) can track campaign performance.

See the Full PPC Picture

Google Looker Studio’s biggest strength is turning raw data into clear visual dashboards.

So, you can stop sending spreadsheets to numbers-averse clients. And start telling a story they can follow.

You can pull in data from Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, and Facebook Ads (via partner connectors).

Then, layer in insights from Google Analytics, your CRM, ecommerce platform, or email tools.

Google Looker Studio – Ecommerce PPC Dashboard

This gives you a single view of your paid campaigns.

Plus, how they connect to everything else happening in the funnel.

Create Shareable, Client-Ready Reports in Minutes

Whether you’re a freelancer, agency lead, or in-house PPC manager, someone always wants to “see the numbers.”

Google Looker Studio makes it easy to turn Google Ads data into interactive reports that highlight performance and campaign impact.

Google Looker Studio – Top Paid Keywords

Once you’ve set up your dashboard, you can:

  • Share it via a link or scheduled email
  • Embed it into webpages, client portals, or internal platforms
  • Set access permissions (view-only, comment, or edit)

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Completely free to use with no limits on users, reports, or connected platforms Some PPC connectors (like Facebook Ads) require paid third-party tools

Price

Google Looker Studio is free to use.

7. ChatGPT

Best for ad copy and campaign analysis

ChatGPT is quickly becoming a must-have for PPC marketers.

ChatGPT – PPC Ad Writer

You can use it to brainstorm headlines, write ad copy, refresh underperforming creative, and even analyze landing pages.

The catch? It’s only as good as your prompt.

But once you know how to guide it, the possibilities open up fast.

Generate Creative Ad Copy Faster

Need new ad copy ideas?

ChatGPT can help you brainstorm faster than you can type “A/B test.”

You can ask it to:

  • Write multiple ad variations in seconds
  • Refresh underperforming copy with a new tone
  • Explore different angles or CTAs

But the real magic happens when you feed it your brand’s data.

If you’re on the Pro Plan, you can create a project and upload your brand voice and tone guide, product descriptions, audience insights, offers, and more.

ChatGPT – PPC Strategy for example.com

Once those are added to your Project files, ChatGPT starts responding like it actually knows your business.

Goodbye lifeless B2B buzzwords.

Break Down Competitor Messaging for Strategic Insights

ChatGPT can help you reverse-engineer competitor landing pages and ad copy so you can learn from them.

Here’s how:

First, find a competitor’s ad or landing page.

Next, use a tool like WebtoPDF to convert the page into a PDF. Upload that file to ChatGPT.

From there, it’s all about how you prompt it.

Skip the generic “analyze this” request.

Instead, ask for specifics:

  • What benefit is this page emphasizing most?
  • What emotional triggers are being used?
  • What objections are they trying to overcome and how?

ChatGPT – Marketer prompt

This turns ChatGPT into a strategic analyst.

It helps you understand what’s working for others and how you can do it better.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Extremely versatile. Whether you’re writing ad copy or planning campaigns, ChatGPT adapts to what you need You’ll still need to double-check tone, facts, and fit. Especially for client-facing work

Price

ChatGPT has three tiers:

  • Free Plan: Includes GPT‑4o mini with limited features
  • Plus Plan: $20/month with access to its most advanced models
  • Pro Plan: $200/month for unlimited access to all models and much higher usage limits

Note: Never used ChatGPT before? I’ve put together an in-depth guide on “How to Use ChatGPT” with practical tips to help you get started right away. And if you’ve been using it for a while, you’ll still find a few advanced tricks you probably didn’t know it could do.

Find the Right PPC Tool for Your Goals

The fastest way to waste money on ad tech? Choosing a tool that doesn’t solve your specific problem.

Whether you’re trying to outsmart competitors, automate time-consuming tasks, or finally get reporting off your plate, the best PPC tool depends on what you’re trying to fix.

Choose the statement that sounds most like you to find the best tool for your needs.

Use the table below to quickly find the PPC tool that fits your needs.

Just look for the challenge you’re facing and see the tool that can help you solve it.

You can pick one or a few, depending on what you need most.

PPC Pain Point Recommended Tool(s)
I want to see what my competitors are doing Semrush: Find missed keywords + ad history
SpyFu: Spot keyword gaps + spend patterns
My ad copy is getting stale ChatGPT: Rewrite fast + extract insights
Bonus: Combine with Semrush/SpyFu for real campaign ideas
Managing campaigns eats up my time Optmyzr: Automate tasks + flag metric shifts
Adalysis: KPI alerts + budget pacing
I need to make changes quickly Google Ads Editor: Offline, bulk edits at speed
I need client-ready reports Looker Studio: Live dashboards, easy to share
I’m on a tight budget SpyFu Free: Basic keyword + competitor data
ChatGPT Free/$20: Low-cost copywriting help
Ads Editor + Looker: Free tools for edits + reports

The Best PPC Tools Are Just Step One. Here’s Step Two.

You’ve got the tools. You know what they’re best at.

Now, it’s time to make them work even harder.

Before you launch your next campaign or tweak your bids, make sure you’re not throwing money at overpriced keywords.

This PPC keyword cost guide shows you how to find high-intent keywords that convert.

It’s the next step if you want smarter results from the tools you’re already using.

The post The 7 Best PPC Tools for Your Goals, Budget, and Workflow appeared first on Backlinko.

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Meta Tags: What They Are & How to Use Them to Boost Your SEO

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Meta tags are snippets of HTML code that live in your webpage’s <head> section. Your website’s visitors won’t see them. But search engines, browsers, and social media platforms can see and use them.

You can think of meta tags as a way to tell Google and other search engines about what your page contains and how they should display it in search results.

Some meta tags are more important than others. In fact, there are really only a couple of meta tags you need to worry about.

I’ll explain exactly what these are below and how you can optimize yours.

The Components of a Meta Tag

Here’s what a basic meta tag looks like:

<meta name="description" content="This is a description of my webpage that should appear in search results.">

Let’s break down this structure:

  • meta tells browsers and search engines that this is a meta tag
  • name is an attribute that defines what type of information you’re providing
  • “description” tells us it’s the description meta tag
  • content contains the actual information

Components of a Meta Tag

Some meta tags use different attributes. For example, the charset meta tag looks like this:

<meta charset="UTF-8">

And the viewport meta tag uses the following structure:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

You don’t need to memorize these formats. Most content management systems (like WordPress, Shopify, and Wix) handle the technical implementation for you.

What matters is understanding which meta tags are important for SEO and how to optimize them for better visibility online.

Important note: I’m going to discuss a few elements that are not strictly speaking “meta tags.”

Tags like <title> are HTML elements in their own right, not meta tags by definition. But they do provide search engines with useful information.

Plus, they’re often referred to in the same way as other meta tags. So I’ve covered them here anyway. But for the sake of accuracy, if it’s not within theHTML element, it’s not a true meta tag.

Why Should You Care About Meta Tags?

Let me make it clear early on:

Your meta tags are not the most important aspect of your site’s SEO. They matter, but there are usually other areas you can likely optimize for greater impact.

But optimizing them won’t hurt your SEO. And in some cases it can actually make a big difference.

They Can Increase Your Click-Through Rates

Your title tag and meta description are the primary elements people see in search results before they even visit your site.

Think of them as your website’s elevator pitch. You have just a few seconds to convince someone to click through. A compelling title and description can be the difference between a click on your result or your competitor’s.

By writing meta descriptions that address user intent and include a clear call to action, you can increase your click-through rates (CTRs). This means more traffic without necessarily needing higher rankings.

Campaign Monitor – CTA in meta description

But:

Google often chooses its own titles to display, and even more commonly chooses its own descriptions. That’s because it puts a focus on displaying a description relevant to the search query.

For example, here’s a result that displays our chosen meta description for a post about backlinks:

Backlinko – Google chooses its own meta description

And here’s the description Google displays for that same post but for a different query:

Backlinko – Same post, diferent meta description

So while you can improve your CTRs by optimizing some meta tags, it’s not always going to have measurable results.

They Give Instructions to Search Engines

Want to prevent a page from appearing in search results? There’s a meta tag for that. Need to tell Google which version of a page is the original? There’s a meta tag for that too.

These technical meta tags help avoid common SEO issues like duplicate content, indexing of private pages, or incorrect international targeting.

They Improve the User Experience

Meta tags like viewport and charset ensure your website displays correctly across different devices and browsers.

While these may not directly impact your search rankings, they certainly impact user experience. This ultimately affects how long people stay on your site and whether they convert.

They Control Social Sharing

When someone shares your page on Facebook, X/Twitter, or LinkedIn, specialized meta tags determine how your content appears. These are called Open Graph or Twitter Card tags.

Without these tags, social platforms might pull random text or images from your page. This can lead to unappealing or confusing social snippets.

They’re One of the Easiest SEO Elements to Optimize

Unlike many areas of your site that require significant time and resources to optimize, you can update your meta tags relatively quickly.

For most websites, you can improve your meta tags in minutes through your CMS or with simple plugins. For example, Rank Math has an entire section dedicated to “SEO Titles & Meta”:

Rank Math SEO – SEO Titles & Meta

However:

As I’ll discuss later, not all platforms make it easy to change your meta tags. Some (like Squarespace) don’t give you much control at all.

Which Meta Tags Actually Matter for SEO?

Not all meta tags are created equal when it comes to SEO impact. Some directly influence your rankings and visibility. Others play supporting roles or have become obsolete over the years (like the keywords meta tag).

So to keep things simple (and prioritize your efforts and resources), let’s focus on the meta tags that actually matter for your website.

Meta Tag Impact Summary

Tag SEO Impact Supported By Google
Title Tag High Yes
Robots High Yes
Canonical High Yes
Hreflang High (for international sites) Yes
Meta Description Low Yes
Viewport Low Yes
Charset Low Yes

Now let’s break down each important tag in detail.

Title Tag

The title tag isn’t technically a meta tag (it’s an HTML element in its own right). But it’s one of the most important tags in your page’s header from an SEO perspective, so I’ll cover it here.

<title>Backlinko: SEO, Content Marketing, & Link Building Strategies</title>

Your title tag appears in three key places:

  • Browser tabs
  • Search engine results
  • Social sharing (when you don’t specify an OG title — more on that soon)

How to Optimize Your Title Tags

  • Keep title tags under 60 characters (or about 600 pixels) to avoid truncation in search results
  • Put your primary keyword near the beginning (but don’t keyword stuff)
  • Use a unique title tag for every page on your site
  • Make it clickworthy to boost CTRs (numbers can help here)
  • Include the year if recency is key (but make sure it’s up to date)

As an example, compare these two title tags. They both contain a number, which may help boost CTR (depending on the query).

Comparing Meta Titles

But the date in the TeamUpdraft title tag is from last year, making it seem outdated. Meanwhile, the WP Rocket title also tells me their list contains free and paid options.

This helps cater to a wider audience with different budgets. It also adds something unique that could boost engagement by helping it stand out on the search engine results page (SERP).

Robots Meta Tag

The robots meta tag controls how search engines interact with your pages. It looks like this:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

The default value is “all” which you can think of as “index, follow” (even though Google’s documentation doesn’t list these as accepted values). You can still include “index, follow” without any negative impact, but it’s not necessary.

If you don’t add a meta robots tag to your page (which Google’s John Mueller says is perfectly fine), Google assumes there are no restrictions.

If you do want to restrict indexing/following of links, you can use:

  • noindex: Tells Google not to show this page in search results
  • nofollow: Tells Google not to follow the links on this page
  • none: Equivalent to noindex, nofollow
  • indexifembedded: This lets Google index the content of the page if it’s embedded elsewhere through the likes of iframes (only has an effect if there’s also a noindex rule)

You can also use the robots meta tag to control how your site appears in search results via the snippet rules. These include:

  • nosnippet: Tells Google not to show a text snippet or video preview in search results
  • max-snippet: [number]: Tells Google to use a maximum number of characters as the text snippet in search results (a value of 0 shows no snippet, and -1 lets Google decide the snippet length)
  • max-image-preview: [setting]: This tells Google the maximum size of the image preview for this page in search results (values include none, standard, and large)
  • max-video-preview [number]: Tells Google to use a maximum number of seconds as a video snippet (a value of 0 means Google will at most show a static image, while -1 means there is no limit)
  • notranslate: Tells Google to not offer a translation of this page in search results
  • noimageindex: Tells Google not to index images on this page
  • unavailable_after: [date/time]: Tells Google not to show the page in search results after the specific date/time

If you don’t add any of the above rules, Google will just apply its defaults. In other words, if you don’t have any preferences, you don’t need to worry about these meta tags.

How to Optimize Your Robots Meta Tag

Most pages should use “all” or not specify any meta robots tags. This applies to any pages you want Google to index and follow the links on.

But you may want to use “noindex” for:

  • Thank you pages
  • Login pages
  • Duplicate content
  • Private content

You can even target specific search engines:

<meta name="googlebot" content="noindex, nofollow">

Canonical Tag

The canonical tag technically isn’t a meta tag (it goes within the <link> element). But it is something you add to your <head> section that the user won’t see.

It helps prevent duplicate content issues by specifying the “primary” version of a page.

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.yourwebsite.com/primary-page/">

You can learn more about these in our full guide to using canonical tags.

How to Optimize Your Canonical Tags

  • Always use full URLs, including the https:// portion
  • Ensure your canonical tags match your preferred URL versions (with or without www, trailing slashes, etc.)
  • The primary version of the page should also have a canonical tag pointing to itself (we call this self-referencing)
  • For pages with URL parameters, you typically want to canonicalize to the version without parameters

Hreflang Tags

For multi-language websites, hreflang tags help search engines show the right version to the right audience. They’re not meta tags by definition. But like canonical tags, they are important for SEO and your user won’t see them.

They look like this:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="https://es.example.com/page.html">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="it" href="https://it.example.com/page.html">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://en.example.com/page.html">

How to Optimize Your Hreflang Tags

If you don’t run a multilingual site, you don’t need to worry about these tags.

But if you do, here’s how to optimize your hreflang tags:

  • Be careful with the codes you use, ensuring you use the language tag followed by the country value (if needed), like en-us, not us-en
  • Each language version should reference all other versions
  • Each page should have an hreflang tag pointing to itself

It’s easy to make mistakes here, so I recommend checking out our full guide to hreflang tags for more information.

Meta Description

The description meta tag looks like this:

<meta name="description" content="Your compelling ~120-character description that includes your target keyword and encourages clicks.">

While not a direct ranking factor, your meta description can impact click-through rates.

But:

You shouldn’t assign too much value to these, for two reasons:

  1. Not everyone reads the meta description, so influence over CTR is limited
  2. Google often chooses its own description to show, depending on the query (further limiting the impact)

So while you can and (I cautiously say) “should” optimize your meta descriptions, there are likely more important things you can do if you’re limited on time or resources.

With that out of the way, here are a few best practices:

How to Optimize Your Meta Descriptions

You can optimize your meta descriptions by:

  • Aiming for 100-120 characters to avoid Google truncating your meta description on mobile devices
  • Adding a call to action like “Learn how,” “Discover why,” or “Get your free guide” to encourage clicks (but don’t use clickbait)
  • Making sure your description aligns with what users are actually looking for (the search intent)
  • Writing a unique description for each page

Here’s an example of an optimized meta description:

Jack Black Skin Care – Page meta description

It captures the main benefits of the product, making it clear to a searcher why it’s the right one for them (and why they should click).

Viewport Meta Tag

This meta tag ensures your site displays properly on mobile devices. It looks like this:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

This simple tag helps improve your site’s mobile friendliness. While not a direct ranking factor itself as a tag, Google does prioritize sites that provide a great experience on all devices. So it’s a good idea to make sure you implement this one correctly.

Further reading: Mobile SEO: The Definitive Guide

How to Optimize Your Viewport Meta Tag

Most content management systems (like WordPress) will set this tag for you. And you’re unlikely to want or need to change it.

You can tweak values like the width and height, but for most cases, you won’t need to.

Just make sure you have one, and ideally use the following values:

  • width=device-width to match the user’s device width
  • initial-scale=1 controls the default zoom level

Charset Meta Tag

The charset meta tag defines the character encoding for your page. It looks like this:

<meta charset="UTF-8">

If you use the wrong character encoding or implement it incorrectly, you might see some character display issues in your browser:

Charset meta tag on your page

How to Optimize Your Charset Tag

Like the viewport meta tag, you’re unlikely to want or need to make any changes to this. Your CMS will likely add this automatically for you.

But if you’re adding it manually, Google recommends you stick with Unicode/UTF-8.

Open Graph and Twitter Card Tags

Open Graph is a separate type of meta tag that isn’t going to impact your SEO. But these tags can affect how your content appears when you or others share it on social media.

Here’s what Open Graph meta tags look like:

<meta property="og:title" content="Your Compelling Social Title">
<meta property="og:description" content="Your engaging social description">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/image.jpg">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/page">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">

Here’s an example of a blog post with Open Graph meta tags:

Semrush Blog – Post with open graph meta tags

And here’s how that post looks when it’s shared on X/Twitter:

X – Semrush status – Marketing channel

How to Optimize Your Social Meta Tags

Here are some tips to optimize your Open Graph meta tags:

  • Keep titles and descriptions concise
  • Your social titles can be different from your SEO titles, so optimize them for shares
  • Use images with dimensions of 1200 x 630 pixels
  • Always ensure your og:url matches your canonical URL

Other Meta Tags

Before I move on, it’s worth noting a few other meta tags that you may come across.

Here are the main ones and what you can use them for:

  • http-equiv: You might use this to refresh the page or for meta refresh redirects, but this is rarely the best method to use (you might also use it to define content security policies, but you’re unlikely to need to do this)
  • robots: You can specify meta tags for certain search engine bots, but most of the time you won’t need to
  • nopagereadaloud: Tells search engines not to read the page aloud with text-to-speech services
  • google-site-verification: You may use this when verifying that you own a site for Google Search Console
  • rating: Use this only for labeling adult content to signal that SafeSearch results should filter it

Here are a few meta tags that Google doesn’t support (and so you probably shouldn’t use):

  • keywords: A long time ago, you could use this to specify keywords to search engines, but it has no impact on rankings now (don’t use it)
  • lang: Google doesn’t rely on meta tags to determine the language of a page
  • next/prev rel attributes: Google doesn’t use these and they won’t affect indexing
  • nositelinkssearchbox: Google no longer supports this, as the sitelinks search box no longer exists

How to Add or Change Your Meta Tags

How you add or make changes to your meta tags depends on how your site is set up.

If you built your site from scratch or have a custom setup, speak with your developer about adding or changing your meta tags.

If you’re doing it yourself, you can add or change them in the <head> section of your page’s code.

Editing Meta Tags

If your site runs on a content management system (CMS), how much control you have over your meta tags is going to vary depending on the platform you use.

WordPress Meta Tags

WordPress takes care of a lot of meta tags for you. To verify this, I just added a fresh install of WordPress to a domain I own. I deleted all the default plugins my host added, and I only have the 2025 default WordPress theme on the site.

Here are the meta tags it added:

Wordpress – Meta Tags

The platform will:

  • Automatically choose the recommended charset value (UTF-8)
  • Add the default meta viewport tag
  • Add an image-preview meta tag
  • Not add any special indexing meta tags (so the site is set to indexable by default — a good thing)
  • Add a title tag to the page

What it didn’t do:

  • Set a meta description
  • Apply a canonical tag
  • Add hreflang tags (not a problem in this case)
  • Add Open Graph tags

Note that it might vary depending on whether you run a WordPress.com-hosted domain or are self-hosting and using the WordPress.org software. It might also depend on the theme you use.

You can edit your theme files to adjust your meta tags. But it’s just as easy (or easier) to use plugins. You might even already use a plugin that can do a lot of this for you.

For example, Yoast will take care of your page title tags and meta descriptions.

Yoast – Title tag & meta description

It’ll also let you adjust your Open Graph tags:

Yoast – Social media appearance

You can find out more about using this plugin to boost your SEO in our Yoast guide.

As I mentioned earlier, Rank Math is another option that lets you control a lot of your site’s meta tags. These include site-level and page-level controls over Open Graph tags:

Rank Math – Meta tags control

Shopify Meta Tags

You can edit your Shopify store’s main title and meta description for the homepage by going to the Preferences menu in the left-hand sidebar menu:

Shopify – Preferences – Meta tags

You can also change your social sharing image here (for Open Graph).

For other pages like products, access the product page and scroll down to “Search engine listing” and click “Edit”:

Shopify – Pages – Meta tags

Wix Meta Tags

Wix lets you add meta tags through the “Advanced SEO” menu:

Wix – Meta Tags – Advanced SEO

Wix takes care of a lot of meta tags for you by default, including:

  • Title tag (based on the page name)
  • Meta description (it’s blank by default)
  • Robots (all pages are indexable by default)
  • Open Graph title and description (your current title tag and meta description)
  • Canonical tag (will always use the page URL unless you change it)

Squarespace Meta Tags

Squarespace doesn’t give much control over your meta tags. In fact, you can only really change your title tag and meta description.

Do this via the SEO settings in your post or page and editing the “SEO Title” and “SEO Description” fields:

Squarespace Meta Tags

How to Find Issues with Your Meta Tags

Having issues with your meta tags can drastically harm your site’s SEO.

Let’s look at how you can find some of the most common problems.

Using Semrush’s Site Audit

Semrush offers one of the most comprehensive tools for finding meta tag issues with Site Audit.

Just set up an audit for your site and let it run.

Semrush – Site Audit – Enter domain

Then, head to the “Issues” tab and search for “tag.” This will highlight issues related to your meta tags.

Site Audit – Backlinko – Issues

Site Audit will flag issues like:

  • Pages with missing/duplicate title tags
  • Pages with missing/duplicate meta descriptions
  • Title tags that are too long
  • Pages with missing meta viewport width values
  • Pages with missing canonical tags

Note: A free Semrush account lets you audit up to 100 URLs. Or you can use this link to access a 14-day trial on a Semrush Pro subscription.

The Detailed Chrome Extension

You can use the Detailed Chrome extension for quick on-page meta tag checks.

Detailed SEO – Overview

It’ll show you that page’s title tag, meta description, canonical tag, robots tag, and more. This makes it very handy for validating quick changes to specific pages.

Manual Checks with Dev Tools

You can also just check your page’s meta tags manually by right clicking and selecting “Inspect”:

Backlinko post – Inspect

Then, search for “meta” to quickly identify your page’s meta tags:

Backlinko – Page meta tags

This isn’t all that scalable, but it’s handy for checking specific pages.

Optimize Your Meta Tags as Part of Your Technical SEO Strategy

Meta tags clearly play a role in your site’s overall SEO. But making changes to them usually won’t have a huge impact on performance unless you already have major issues.

There are lots of other aspects of SEO and technical SEO in particular that can actually move the needle.

To find out more about these changes and how to make them to boost your site’s performance, check out our guide to technical SEO.

The post Meta Tags: What They Are & How to Use Them to Boost Your SEO appeared first on Backlinko.

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6 Proven Steps to Master Ecommerce Keyword Research

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Strategic ecommerce keyword research can help you reach the right audience and directly impact your bottom line.

Just look at Cosmetify’s success.

This beauty retailer was struggling with an all-too-common challenge: no traffic on its revenue-generating pages.

The team identified and mapped transactional keywords to these money pages.

Dorothy Edgar, SEO Manager at Cosmetify, shares more about her strategy:

“We also created new money pages to fit customer needs and gaps in our current website hierarchy. For example, we segmented the fragrance category page into ‘women’s perfume discounts.’ Then, we added optimized content to all these pages.”

The result?

A 12.6-position average keyword boost and a 250% jump in organic revenue in 2024.

Cosmetify – Monthly SEO Report – UK

That’s just one example of the impact you can create with strategic keyword research.

Want these results for your business?

Use this 6-step framework to find revenue-driving keywords — without wasting time or budget.

Get started with our free Keyword Research Planner Template for ecommerce brands.

Why Ecommerce Brands Need Keyword Research

Keyword research reveals how your customers search, think, and make buying decisions online.

These rich audience insights can benefit your ecommerce business in many ways.

Why Ecommerce Brands Need Keyword Research

Understand the Buyer Journey

Keyword research helps you meet buyers where they are.

You get an insider’s view of your buyers’ psyche and willingness to purchase.

For instance, when people search for “benefits of running,” they want to learn more about this topic.

When they search for “best running shoes for flat feet,” they’re comparing different products.

In short: Choose keywords to target potential customers across the buyer journey and drive conversions.

Discover Micro-Seasonal Trends

The peak shopping season around holidays and festivals is ultra-competitive.

But ecommerce keyword research reveals micro-seasonal trends that your competitors might overlook. These less-competitive opportunities can drive more revenue with less effort.

Keep in mind that micro-seasonal trends differ across geographies and occasions.

For example, “back to school” is a trending topic in the United States from July to August.

If you run an online stationery store, target relevant keywords to tap into this demand.

Google Trends – Back to school – Interest

Validate Product Opportunities

You can also use this research to gauge your buyers’ interest in a new product idea.

A surging search volume for certain terms signals emerging consumer preferences.

For example, more people searching for “plastic-free activewear” could show growing interest in this product.

Analyze your keywords to find an untapped market for a new product category or niche.

Types of Keywords You Should Focus On for Ecommerce

Before I break down our 6-step framework for ecommerce keyword research, let’s cover the basics.
Ecommerce brands can target several types of keywords.
But, three stand out for driving customers through the buying funnel: informational, commercial, and transactional keywords.

Informational

Informational terms drive top-of-funnel traffic to your website.

These keywords make your brand more discoverable, especially when shoppers are looking to solve specific problems.

Target these search terms to provide helpful context about your products and put your brand on potential customers’ radar.

Informational keyword examples:

  • How to choose running shoes
  • Best skincare routine for oily skin
  • Budget-friendly styling tips for small living room

Pro tip: Don’t just go after “best” and “how to” keywords. Use tools like AnswerThePublic or Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to find hidden gems in your niche.

Commercial

Commercial keywords bridge the gap between research and purchase.

Shoppers use these keywords to compare different products’ features that match their needs.

Commercial keyword examples:

  • Best laptops for gamers
  • Top-rated eco-friendly winter jackets
  • Rothy’s vs. Allbirds everyday shoes

Transactional

Transactional keywords lead searchers to purchase and drive revenue.

These terms show a clear buying intent because shoppers use terms like “buy” and “book” or other strong purchase signals like pricing.

Transactional keyword examples:

  • Running shoes under $100
  • Buy a memory foam mattress
  • Buy noise-canceling headphones

Here’s how these three keyword types map to the ecommerce funnel:

Keywords in the Ecommerce Funnel

While these three keyword types map directly to the ecommerce funnel, they’re not the only ones worth targeting.

Navigational

Navigational keywords help searchers find a specific ecommerce brand, product, or page.

These queries also include category-specific navigation patterns people use to find specific products.

For example, “Under Armour men’s joggers” shows clear intent to find a specific brand and product.

Navigational keyword examples:

  • Peloton treadmill
  • Zara winter collection sale
  • Lululemon Align leggings size chart

Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer phrases searchers use for a highly specific need or niche topics.

Take the keyword “best running shoes for women with flat feet” as an example.

It’s longer than usual and searches for a hyperspecific product.

That level of detail can still bring in meaningful traffic — especially if it aligns with strong purchase intent.

Keyword Overview – Best running shoes for women with flat feet – Overview

Long-tail keyword examples:

  • Top-rated camping tents for families with kids
  • Affordable stainless steel cookware sets for small kitchens
  • Best organic baby food brands for sensitive stomachs

How to Conduct Effective Ecommerce Keyword Research

Buy a keyword tool → Find high-volume search queries → Add to landing pages.

That’s the outdated approach to finding keywords for ecommerce brands.

It’s a recipe for draining your time and money.

Let me break down a 6-step ecommerce keyword research process to drive sales and rewrite your growth trajectory.

Step 1: Identify Your Core Terms and Customer Language

Before you sign up for a keyword research tool, build some groundwork for your strategy.

Your first step? Listen to your customers.

The way people search for your products can be very different from how you describe them.

This misalignment could mean missed opportunities.

But when you speak your customers’ language, your content hits home.

Let’s look at the difference:

A skincare brand markets one of its products as a “10% niacinamide serum with zinc PCA.”

On the flip side, its target buyers search for “best serum for large pores” or “how to reduce facial oiliness.”

Same product. Completely different language.

Here are some more before (brands’ language) and after (customers’ language) examples:

Align Keyword Research with Customer Language

Here’s how to fix this language gap:

  • Check product reviews: Notice how customers share their experience with your products. Find patterns in their language.
  • Read support tickets: Note down questions or concerns customers frequently ask. Check your support center and email to find these questions.
  • Monitor social media: Track comments on your social posts, especially questions. Learn how customers talk about your products.
  • Analyze on-site search: See the terms a prospective buyer searches for on your ecommerce site. These direct queries show exactly what they’re looking for.

Let’s understand this with an example from Made In, a cookware brand.

Made In describes its Carbon Steel Wok with this product description. It talks about the wok’s weight, bottom, seasoning time, and more.

Carbon steel wok – Description

But customer reviews echo praise for one unique feature: the wok’s heat distribution.

Now, re-read the description.

You’ll realize it misses the one value proposition that most customers are raving about.

Carbon steel wok – Customer Review

Step 2: Generate a Broad List of Seed Keywords

Once you’ve ticked off Step #1, it’s time to expand your keyword universe.

Most ecommerce sites limit themselves to product-related keywords — like a coffee maker brand targeting “single-serve coffee maker” or “burr grinder with timer.”

The result? Missing out on valuable traffic opportunities.

Customers search for your products in dozens of different ways based on:

  • Their awareness level
  • Their unique pain points
  • Their budget preferences
  • The features they care about

Go beyond your product-specific terms and find seed keywords that match your customers’ search habits.

One way to do this is by listing your products, alternative names, categories, and use cases.

For a product like “coffee maker,” you can start with seed terms like:

  • Coffee maker
  • Coffee brewer
  • French press

Here’s a more detailed matrix for this brand:

Core product Alternative names Product categories Use cases
Coffee maker Coffee machine Drip coffee maker Brewing coffee
Espresso machine Coffee brewer Single-serve coffee maker Morning routine
French press Coffee pot Pour over coffee Office coffee
Cold brew Percolator Coffee grinder Entertaining guests
Moka pot Coffee system Coffee accessories Specialty drinks

When this exercise is complete, add all the keywords to your planner.

As we go through the next steps, gather more details about each keyword and add insights in different columns.

Ecommerce Keyword Research Template by Backlinko

Step 3: Categorize Keywords by Buyer Journey

Not all keywords are created equal.

A person searching for “how to set up a camping tent” is in a completely different mindset than those searching for “buy a lightweight camping stove.”

The first searcher needs educational content. Show them a product page, and they’ll bounce.

The second one is ready to buy. Send them a how-to guide, and you’ll lose the sale.

Take a quick look at the search results and you’ll see this in action:

  • For the “how to” query, Google serves up helpful blogs and videos.
  • For those looking to buy, the search results are filled with different product options.

Google SERP – Collage – Long-tail keywords

Knowing these differences allows you to target people across the entire buyer journey.

Follow this process to map keywords to varying search intents.

Mapping Keywords to Search Intent

Awareness Stage

Keyword type: Informational

In the awareness stage, your buyers are simply discovering their needs.

They want to better understand their problems and find solutions. They’re not ready to buy yet.

Take Andy, for example.

He struggles with a small, messy closet.

So, he searches for “how to organize a small closet” and “closet organization ideas.”

Andy can discover your furniture brand if you have educational content on this topic.

Ecommerce Buyer Journey Stages 1

Consideration Stage

Keyword type: Commercial

In the consideration stage, people want to do their research before buying something.

They evaluate many products and weigh their options for making an informed decision.

At this point, Andy searches for “IKEA vs Target closet” and “best closets for small apartments.”

Ecommerce Buyer Journey Stages 2

Decision Stage

Keyword type: Navigational and transactional

In the decision stage, your prospects are ready to buy.

They’ll search for high-intent keywords that shorten the path to purchase.

So, Andy will search for “buy PAX closet” to access the IKEA product page directly.

Ecommerce Buyer Journey Stages 3

Map Your Keywords to Website Pages

Once you’ve identified a broad set of terms, map them to relevant pages on your site.

Use our planner template to define the content format for each keyword.

Ecommerce Keyword Research Template by Backlinko – Content Format

Keyword mapping gives each page a clear purpose and aligns keywords to these pages.

Nicola Hughes, Head of SEO at TAL Agency, shares how this benefits ecommerce brands.

Her team worked with a premium food and beverage brand to revamp its organic SEO performance and drive more sales.

“We listed all the collection and product pages on the site to define a purpose for every page. From there, we conducted in-depth keyword research to learn what our audience was searching for.

We mapped 1-3 high-intent keywords per page to align content with search queries across every stage of the funnel.”

This tactic, along with a few more, improved the brand’s click-through rate from 17.1% to 22.1%. It also led to 620% quarter-over-quarter growth.

Step 4: Research Your Competitors’ Keywords

Competitor keyword research tells you what’s working in the market — without blowing your budget on trial and error.

Look at direct and indirect competitors to find high-potential keyword opportunities.

An ecommerce keyword research tool like Semrush makes it easy to perform a keyword gap analysis.

Go to the Keyword Gap tool and add your competitors to discover the terms they’re ranking for.

I added three skincare brands and hit “Compare.”

Keyword Gap – Kobaskincare – Compare

In the analysis, I could see how many search terms each brand targets.

This Venn diagram shows that Koba has the smallest share of keywords out of the three.

The tool also curates a set of missing and weak terms that Koba should target.

Keyword Gap – Kobaskincare – Keyword Overlap

Keyword Gap analysis presents a list of 14.1K untapped keywords for Koba. Other competitors are already targeting and
ranking for these search terms.

I can select relevant phrases from this data and add them to a new list of competitor-specific terms.

Keyword Gap – Kobaskincare – Keyword – Untapped

But only finding competitor keywords isn’t enough.

You have to analyze how competing brands target these terms.

Hover over any term in a competitor’s column. You’ll see the page where they use this specific phrase.

Keyword Gap – Kobaskincare – Keyword – Missing

Further reading: Free Competitor Analysis Tool (Analyze SEO & PPC)

Step 5: Prioritize Keywords Based on Data

Now, you’re looking at this long list of target keywords and wondering, “Where do I even start?”

If your first instinct is to go for high-volume queries, pause and hit reset.

A keyword with 10,000 monthly searches might look tempting. But it’s probably difficult to rank for.

For example, we have two queries:

  • “Wireless headphones” with 50,000 monthly searches
  • “Best noise canceling headphones for airplanes” with 1,200 monthly searches

The second keyword is much more attainable since it targets a specific need.

That’s why our planner has space to note the search volume and ranking difficulty for each phrase and choose the right terms.

Ecommerce Keyword Research Template by Backlinko – Volume & Ranking Difficulty

You can use Semrush to prioritize the right keywords.

Go to the Keyword Overview tool and add your seed keyword. I added “exercise bike for home gym” and hit “Search.”

Keyword Overview – Exercise bike for home gym – Overview

Keyword Overview’s comprehensive analysis tells me that this keyword:

  • Has a low search volume in the United States and globally
  • Is fairly competitive with a commercial search intent
  • Has a low cost-per-click (CPC) value, which indicates the average price advertisers pay for this keyword

So, searchers use this keyword to explore different brands and products.

Pro tip: Look for keywords with a high CPC, which signals a strong commercial intent. If advertisers are willing to pay top dollar for a keyword, it probably converts well.

Keyword Overview also gives me a handy list of pages ranking in the search results.

I can analyze metrics like backlinks, traffic, and more to see what I’m competing against.

Keyword Overview – Exercise bike for home gym – SERP Analysis

Once you’ve captured this data, go to Keyword Magic Tool to expand your list of target keywords.

Filter related terms by volume, difficulty, intent, and other metrics to shortlist the most relevant terms.

Keyword Magic Tool – Exercise bike for home gym – Filtered keywords

When you have a set of shortlisted keywords, do an effort-impact analysis.

For each keyword, assess the effort required to create content and rank well. Then, determine its overall impact on your marketing strategy.

This analysis will clarify the order of priority:

  • Low Effort, High Impact: Your quick wins
  • High Effort, High Impact: Long-term investments
  • Low Effort, Low Impact: Fill-in opportunities
  • High Effort, Low Impact: Avoid these

Let’s see this in action with the example of a fitness equipment retailer.

High Effort Low Effort
High Impact best home gym equipment

  • High search volume
  • High competition
  • Valuable for brand authority
 workout bench reviews

  • Good search intent
  • Relatively easy to create comparison content
commercial gym equipment

  • Valuable B2B opportunity
  • Requires extensive content
 home gym setup ideas

  • Popular topic
  • Easily create inspiring content
Low Impact vintage exercise equipment

  • Niche audience
  • Requires specific expertise
 gym equipment maintenance tips

  • Useful for supporting content
  • Good to build credibility
olympic weightlifting equipment

  • Very specific audience
  • Highly technical content needed
 how to clean resistance bands

  • Simple instructional content
  • Supports post-purchase experience, not revenue growth

As a result, the retailer should prioritize phrases like “workout bench reviews” and “home gym setup ideas” to get quick wins.

The brand should also invest effort into terms like “best home gym equipment” and “commercial gym equipment.”

Step 6: Build a Keyword-Focused Content Strategy

In the final step, you’re all set to build a content strategy around your keywords.

Each keyword serves a specific purpose — to educate, convince, or convert buyers.

When building your content strategy, match keywords to a specific phase of the buying process.

Then, align each keyword cluster with the right content format, like:

  • Blog posts for information searches
  • Product pages for transactional intent
  • Videos or landing pages for commercial terms

Use the “Content Format” column in the planner.

This lets you organize keywords well for each term in your strategy.

Ecommerce Keyword Research Template – Content Format

Finally, consolidate your strategy for various keyword opportunities in a content calendar. Focus on quick wins, seasonal trends, and more.

Let’s see how this would work for a dog food and clothing brand.

Buyer Journey Stage Keyword Goal Content Format
Awareness “best dog food for puppies” Educate buyers on options Blog post, guide
“how to measure a dog for a coat” Educate buyers on sizing Blog post with visuals or infographic
Consideration “wet dog food pros and cons” Help buyers compare options Blog post, comparison video
“best dog raincoats” Help buyers decide Video or blog comparing products
Decision/Conversion “buy organic dog food online” Drive conversions Product landing page
“dog jacket sale” Drive conversions Promotional landing page or email

2 Common Mistakes to Avoid in Ecommerce Keyword Research

Even with good keyword research, you can still make costly mistakes.

Your SEO growth can fall flat if you’re stuffing keywords, targeting very broad terms, ignoring search intent, or overlooking long-tail queries.

Watch out for these bigger missteps that can hurt your SEO and sales performance.

Poor Keyword Mapping

Many ecommerce sites target similar keywords across multiple pages, leading to keyword cannibalization.

This internal competition prevents search engines from ranking any page.

Plus, it confuses shoppers by showing them irrelevant pages from your site.

Prevent this by mapping these terms to varying search intent and your product hierarchy.

For instance, a camping equipment retailer can follow this map:

  • “Camping tents” is mapped to a category page with a commercial intent
  • “Foldable 8-person cabin tent” is mapped to a product page with a transactional intent
  • “How to choose the right camping tent” is mapped to a blog page with an informational intent

Here’s what correct and incorrect keyword mapping looks like:

Keyword Mapping for Ecommerce

Each page on your website serves a different purpose in the conversion funnel. Keyword mapping reflects this hierarchy.

Prepare better: Use our free Keyword Mapping Template to prevent any costly mistakes.

Focusing Solely on One Keyword Type

Many ecommerce brands make the rookie mistake of using only transactional keywords.

Sure, “buy board games for children under 10” sounds like a great keyword.

But you’re leaving money on the table if you don’t target other search terms across the buyer journey.

Optimize your website to take buyers from discovery to purchase.

This would include:

  • Informational queries like “what are the top strategy board games”
  • Commercial phrases like “best cooperative games”

Turn Ecommerce Keyword Research into Long-Term Growth

Keyword research helps you understand exactly what buyers want and meet them where they are.

The result?

More qualified traffic, easier conversions, and, ultimately, higher revenue for your ecommerce store.

Use our free Keyword Research Planner Template to follow this guide effortlessly and create a strong strategy.

And when you’re ready to level up your SEO strategy, check out our in-depth guide on ecommerce SEO to make your store search-ready.

The post 6 Proven Steps to Master Ecommerce Keyword Research appeared first on Backlinko.

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Google Ad spend continues to outpace traffic volume: Report

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Google search ad spending grew 9% year over year in Q1 2025, according to new data from digital marketing agency Tinuiti. Increasing costs, rather than click volume, drove most of that growth.

Google Search overall:

  • Google Search spending grew by 9% YoY in Q1 2025 (down slightly from 10% in Q4 2024).
  • Click growth was stable at 4% YoY.
  • Whilst average cost per click (CPC) increased by 5% YoY.

Google Shopping Ads:

  • Shopping ad had a 8% YoY spending growth (however down from 10% in Q4 2024).
  • Click volume improved by 9% YoY (up from just 1% in Q4).
  • CPC remained stable at 1% YoY decrease.

Competitive landscape.

  • Amazon maintained a strong presence in Google shopping auctions with roughly 60% impression share against the median retailer, similar to Q1 2024 levels.
  • Target held steady at 24% impression share (down marginally from 25% in Q1 2024),
  • Walmart maintained 22% impression share year-over-year
  • Temu dramatically reduced its Google shopping presence in early April following news of U.S. tariff changes, dropping to zero impression share by mid-April.

Performance Max:

  • 93% adoption rate among retailers running Google shopping ads
  • Accounts for 53% of Google shopping ad spending (down from 69% in Q4 2024)
  • Has 10% lower conversion rate than standard Shopping
  • Has 13% higher CPC than standard Shopping
  • Delivers 7% lower ROAS (return on ad spend) than standard Shopping

Microsoft Search:

  • 17% YoY spending growth (up from 7% in Q4 2024)
  • 5% YoY click growth (improved from a 3% decline in Q4)
  • 11% YoY increase in CPC

Brand: Brand keywords saw particularly aggressive CPC increases, with costs for text ads containing an advertiser’s own brand name rising 19% compared to just 3% for non-brand keywords.

Why we care. The latest trends show search platforms continue to extract more revenue per click, putting pressure on advertisers’ margins even as competition ramps up between Google and Microsoft. With Microsoft growth rate (+17% YoY) being higher than Google’s growth (+9% YoY), suggesting Microsoft continues to be a strong contender for marketing strategy.

Political factors have also made a big impact, with Temu dropping out of shopping ads, therefore it’s likely there will be further shifts in Shopping traffic and costs in Q2 of 2025.

What we’re watching: Performance Max adoption remained high at 93% of retailers running Google shopping ads, though its share of spending fell from 69% in Q4 2024 to 53% in Q1 2025 as some advertisers shifted budget back to standard shopping campaigns for greater control.

Key takeaways.

  • Shopping ads demonstrate resilience amongst fluctuating political mandates.
  • PMax adoption remains high despite a decrease in spending due to performance deterioration compared to standard shopping.
  • Major retailers maintain dominant positions in shopping ad impressions.
  • Microsoft is seeing positive growth, which should help improve advertisers’ confidence and add the platform to their marketing strategy.
  • Major retailers maintain dominant positions in shopping ad impressions.

The report. Tinuiti’s Q1 2025 Digital Ads Benchmark Report.

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The complete guide to high-impact educational video content

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The complete guide to high-impact educational video content

Educational videos are among the top 10 most-consumed video content formats globally, according to Statista. 

Most popular video content type

And it makes sense. Video is one of the fastest, most engaging ways to teach, demonstrate, and connect. 

But for creators and businesses alike, making a video that actually works (as in: educates, retains, or converts) requires more than hitting “record.”

I’ve been creating online content for years, so I know what works and what doesn’t. 

  • Our online SEO training has helped thousands of marketers level up their skills through self-paced modules, monthly live Q&A webinars, and on-demand videos. 
  • Our “Ask Us Anything” video series and SEO agency commercials are produced with the help of our award-winning video producer.
  • Our YouTube channel continues to serve as a central hub for sharing educational content.

Whether you’re creating onboarding tutorials, educational content for your audience, or a course you plan to sell, below are tips I’ve seen succeed across every stage of the video creation process, from concept to camera to clicks.

1. Define the purpose and audience through a clear strategy

Every great educational video starts with a clear strategy. 

Before you pick up the camera or open your editing software, you must know who you’re creating for and what you’re trying to achieve. 

Clarify the purpose

Just like SEO, intent is everything in video production, so clarify the purpose upfront.

Are you aiming to solely educate or train, or will your video have an element of conversion? Maybe your education video is meant to retain your existing audience instead.

Whatever the purpose, the objective shapes the video’s content, tone, and structure. 

For instance, an SEO training module will differ significantly from an educational demo intended to convert prospects.​

Understand your audience

Understanding your audience is equally important. Consider their goals, challenges, skill levels, and preferred learning styles. 

Are they beginners looking for foundational knowledge or advanced users looking for in-depth insights? 

Tailoring your content to meet their needs will make your video more effective.​

Free or paid?

Consider whether your content will be free or paid. 

Free videos can build brand awareness and provide value to a broad audience, while paid content often offers in-depth training or exclusive insights. 

Knowing the role of videos within your broader content strategy, SEO initiatives, and customer journey will help you incorporate free and paid content where it makes the most sense.

2. Craft content around in-demand topics and the type of video

Whether you’re creating a one-off tutorial or a full training series, the key is to start with a clear plan of attack for the content.

Coming up with video topics

Your videos should align with either audience intent (what they’re searching for) or a structured curriculum (what they need to learn over time).

Here are some ways to generate topic ideas:

  • If your videos support a product or service, look at keyword intent and customer FAQs to generate topics. What questions are coming up in comments, sales calls or support tickets?
  • If you’re building an online course or internal training program, outline a logical progression. 
  • You can also use keyword tools, YouTube’s autocomplete, or even generative AI to help brainstorm ideas around a theme.
  • For more inspiration, you can spy on competitors’ educational videos. 
  • If you already have blog content or written guides, repurposing those into educational videos is another easy place to start.

Define the video format

Choosing the video format dictates the rest of the video creation process. 

For example, how-to videos are great educational formats that provide step-by-step guidance. 

Plus, you can increase your chances of showing up in the search results for target “how to” queries with YouTube videos. 

In 2023, more than 30% of Google desktop SERPs in the U.S. featured a video carousel, video result or featured video, according to Semrush.

People watch more of a how-to video than any other type of video, per Wistia’s “2025 State of Video Report.”

Average engagement rates by video content type

Another thing to consider is how you’ll deliver the content in the video. 

Some companies prefer talking head videos, which add a personal touch and are a great way to build a brand when internal folks serve as educators on camera. 

Others prefer animations, which can help simplify abstract concepts. 

Webinars ​are another great way to help educate your audience. 

The majority of businesses (60%) use webinars for training or coaching sessions, followed by thought leadership events (50%), per Wistia. 

We’ve seen great success with a monthly live Q&A webinar on my SEO training membership site. 

In fact, many of our students become our clients after spending time with our training videos. 

Structure each video 

Most high-performing videos follow a similar structure: 

  • Hook.
  • Introduction.
  • Main content.
  • Recap.
  • A call-to-action (CTA).

This is true whether you’re publishing on YouTube or delivering a paid course. You’ll need to adjust the pacing for training modules versus a marketing video. 

The hook is especially important. We’ve found the most success when you can capture interest within the first five seconds of the video.

This could be done through a surprising fact, a visual teaser, or a question the viewer wants answered.

From there, keep the pacing tight. Avoid over-explaining and cut the fluff where possible. 

Even long-form training videos should feel intentional and well-paced.

Length matters

Not all videos perform equally – and much of it comes down to how long they are. 

Based on Wistia’s analysis of over 100 million videos (linked earlier), viewer engagement varies significantly by duration.

Average engagement rate by video length

Under one minute

Short videos work – especially on social or as top-of-funnel content – but they need to get to the point fast. 

Wistia found that videos under one minute had the highest average engagement rate at 50%. Short videos can be ideal for quick social snippets or teasers for longer video content. . 

One to five minutes

Videos in this range also held attention fairly well.

  • One to three minutes: 46% average engagement.
  • Three to five minutes: 45% average engagement.

Wistia notes that how-to videos under five minutes were especially strong performers, with viewers watching more than two-thirds of the way through, on average.

Five to 30 minutes

Once videos pass the five-minute mark, engagement starts to dip. 

Wistia’s data shows:

  • Five to 30 minutes: 38% average engagement.
  • 30 to 60 minutes: 25%.
  • 60+ minutes: Just 17%.

That doesn’t mean you should avoid longer videos entirely – just be intentional. 

We have found that shorter videos (like reels) tend to get more views because they’re something somebody can watch quickly. 

But long-form videos tend to have higher conversion rates because they demonstrate more knowledge and authority on a topic.

What about course modules?

The most profitable online courses are typically between 10 to 25 hours in total length, per Thinkific’s data from 40,000 course creators. 

The data suggests that five- to 10-hour courses are about 75% as profitable, and longer courses – 25 to 100 hours – are slightly less profitable than those.

Regardless, the advice is that the ideal course length is the shortest time required to achieve the learning objectives.

Courses that drive the most revenue

Sequence for learning

If you’re creating educational content, sequencing matters. 

Build with progression in mind, with lessons getting slightly more advanced over time.

Use reinforcement techniques like callbacks, visual repetition, or simple recap slides to help learners retain key points. 

The flow should feel intuitive and purposeful.

3. Script and storyboard to ensure clarity of the message

Scripting and storyboarding help you organize your message and plan how it will appear on screen. 

Start with a script

Whether you’re creating a tutorial or building an online course, scripting keeps your message focused and easy to follow.

If the video is structured – like a course module or product walkthrough – a full script is ideal. It helps you stay on track and hit all the key points without rambling.

But not every video needs a word-for-word script. 

If you’re podcasting, recording a founder Q&A, or filming a talking-head update, a loose outline with bullet points works better. 

You still need to know where the conversation is going, but it should feel natural, not rehearsed.

Visual planning

Once you have your script or outline, translate it into a visual plan. This is where storyboarding comes in. 

A storyboard helps you map out what will appear on screen and when. 

It’s helpful if your video includes product walkthroughs, charts, or training steps that build on one another.

This part doesn’t have to be complicated. You’re simply matching the visuals with your message to make the content easier to understand. 

Add visual cues that stick

Visual cues matter more than most people realize. 

On-screen text, callouts, arrows, annotations, and simple scene transitions help guide the viewer’s attention and reinforce key points. 

For most educational videos (excluding longer formats like podcasts or webinars), aim to change the visual every five to 10 seconds. 

That could mean:

  • Switching camera angles.
  • Zooming in slightly at the same angle.
  • Cutting to a supporting visual. 

It might feel like a lot, but those subtle shifts keep viewers engaged. 

Also, this may be obvious, but if you’re including a screen recording with a voice-over, make sure what’s happening on-screen matches what’s being said. 

Use tools to perfect the process

There are plenty of tools out there to help you organize and visualize your ideas before you record.

Tools like Boords and Storyboarder are great for visualizing a scene-by-scene breakdown. 

Even Canva can work well for rough storyboarding if you’re already using it for design.

You don’t need anything fancy, just something that lets you sketch things out before you press record.

And when you’re ready to record, you can use teleprompter apps to help you deliver your message smoothly. 

4. Select the right tech stack for your needs

Whether you’re recording a quick tutorial or producing a full online course, choosing the right gear, software, and hosting platform will save time, improve quality, and keep your process sustainable.

Match the tools to your goals

You don’t need the most expensive gear to make great video content. 

What matters most is choosing tools that match the type of content you’re creating and the audience you’re serving.

  • If you’re a solo course creator, a smartphone camera, lapel mic and natural lighting can go a long way. 
  • For internal training, you can level up with a mirrorless camera and external mic. 
  • For a higher-end effect, invest in a more expensive camera, lighting, audio, and nice backgrounds to create a polished brand experience.

Regardless of the setup, don’t skip a test shoot. 

Check your resolution, depth of field, and lighting to ensure the final result looks the way you intend.

Tools for recording your screen

If you’re doing tutorials or walkthroughs, screen recording software is a must.

  • QuickTime is what we use – it’s quick, easy and does everything we need.
  • Loom is a fast, no-fuss option for quick recordings.
  • Camtasia gives you more robust editing tools for polished content.
  • ScreenFlow is a solid choice for Mac users who want both recording and editing features in one place.

Edit smarter, not harder

Editing doesn’t have to be intimidating. Some tools are built to make this part easier, especially for solo creators.

  • Descript is great if you want to edit your video like a document.
  • Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro give you more creative control but come with a steeper learning curve.
  • You can also hire a video editor, especially if you need a high-end result or just want to save time.

Hosting your videos

YouTube is the most widely used video platform globally, making it ideal for reach and search visibility on educational content. 

It’s also the second-most popular social network worldwide, which means a lot of exposure for your brand. 

YouTube videos can be an essential part of an SEO program when targeting certain keywords (like educational and how-to searches). 

But remember, only verified accounts can upload videos longer than 15 minutes. 

Then there are LMS platforms like Thinkific, Teachable, and Kajabi, which are built for structured learning. 

If you’re building a course, these platforms offer features like chaptering, progress tracking, and quizzes to support the full student experience.

Finally, Vimeo and Wistia give you more control over branding, privacy, and analytics. 

They’re especially useful for customer training, B2B product onboarding, or gated video content.

Using AI

AI is quickly changing the video production space. 

About 41% of companies are already using it for video, per Wistia’s most recent data (linked earlier), and another 19% will start using it soon. 

Using AI to create videos

Using AI can be particularly beneficial for short-form content, where speed and efficiency are key. 

Tools like OpusClip use AI to automatically generate short clips from longer videos, optimizing them for platforms such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. 

But AI is also expanding creative possibilities. 

For instance, we’ve successfully used AI to modify our SEO training course online. 

Because SEO is a rapidly changing industry, SEO training can quickly become stale. 

Instead of reshooting whole sections of our training course, we used an AI avatar of me to deliver updated talking points – and it looks surprisingly like me.

However, it’s important to use AI cautiously. 

Love it or hate it, AI is a controversial tool, and some people may be turned off by it. 

That said, overreliance on AI-generated content can lead to videos that feel impersonal or lack authenticity. 

While AI can assist in scripting, editing, and even avatars and visuals, the human touch remains essential to ensure content resonates with viewers.​ 

Stay on top of your video performance with analytics and use your intuition to decide whether AI-generated videos resonate. 

The right balance ensures your videos remain trustworthy.​

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5. Focus on production fundamentals for effective videos

You don’t need a full production crew to make professional-looking videos, but you do need to get the fundamentals right.

Prioritize audio quality

If you’re going to invest in one part of your production setup, start with sound.

Viewers are much more likely to tolerate a slightly grainy video than audio that’s hard to hear.

Multiple studies have found that poor audio quality influences whether people trust what they hear and how they perceive you overall. 

A lav mic or USB condenser mic is an easy and worthwhile upgrade.

Get the basics right

You don’t need a studio setup to get a clear shot. 

Just focus on even lighting (natural light works great), a camera angle that’s eye level or slightly above and a clutter-free background.

If you’re doing a screen recording, make sure the visuals are crisp and readable. 

Zoom in on sections when needed, and don’t clutter the screen with too much at once.

Batch and template your process

The more videos you make, the more it pays to streamline. 

Batching – filming multiple videos in one sitting – helps you stay in flow and save time.

Templating your intros, outros, transitions and even lower-thirds (the graphic overlays that typically appear in the lower third of the screen) can make your content consistent and reduce the decisions you have to make for every single video.

Make it accessible

This isn’t just a “nice to have.” 

Captions help viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing, support people watching in a sound-off environment, and can even boost comprehension for non-native speakers. 

Most video tools now make it easier to autogenerate and edit captions. 

These are key in formal learning environments or when you’re serving global audiences.

Think about the viewer experience

Pacing, tone, and delivery matter. 

What works for an internal training video isn’t the same as a how-to on YouTube.

For instance, in training content, give your viewers time to absorb the information – use pauses, reinforce key points, and keep instructions easy to follow. 

Know when to call backup

Sure, you can technically do everything yourself, but that doesn’t mean you should. 

Even the most experienced video producers hire out when it makes sense. 

Whether you need a motion designer for intro graphics, a video editor to clean up pacing and polish transitions, or a script consultant to help shape the story, know your weaknesses (or resource constraints) and make the call.

6. Optimize for search when visibility is a priority

Up to 82% of marketers say video has helped them increase web traffic. 

Not every video needs to be optimized for search – but when visibility is the goal, it’s worth the effort.

When SEO makes sense

If you’re publishing on YouTube or embedding tutorials on your site, optimization can help your content get discovered. 

Moz data once showed that YouTube videos make up over 94% of all video results in Google. 

If your audience is searching for answers, YouTube is a strong place to meet them.

When it’s not a priority

If your content lives behind a login or paywall – like course modules or internal training – SEO doesn’t need to be part of your workflow. 

In those cases, focus instead on the learning experience and making the video content clear, helpful and well-paced.

Start with keyword research

Google’s Gary Illyes has stated that if you see video results for a keyword, that’s your cue to consider making a video for it. 

Start by targeting topics that already bring up video results in Google or YouTube.

Tools like YouTube’s search predictions, AnswerThePublic, and other keyword tools on the market can help surface what people are actually searching for.

When in doubt, do a search. 

If there’s already a cluster of how-to videos, you’ve got a green light.

Optimize for search

SEO for videos doesn’t have to be complicated. 

However, the approach varies depending on where your video is hosted. Here’s where to focus.

For YouTube-hosted videos

Metadata: Google states that the title, thumbnail, and description are the more important pieces of metadata for video discovery. 

  • Title
    • Write a clear, engaging title that tells viewers exactly what they’ll get. 
    • Include your main keyword near the beginning, and keep it under 60 characters so it doesn’t get cut off in search. 
    • Make sure it reflects the actual content. Clickbait might get the click, but it won’t earn trust. 
    • Use things like all caps or emojis sparingly to highlight the right words. 
  • Thumbnails
    • Design custom thumbnails that are visually appealing and accurately represent the content. 
    • YouTube now has a feature to test your thumbnails. 
  • Description
    • Write a clear, keyword-rich description that tells viewers and YouTube what your video is about. (You have up to 5,000 characters here!) 
    • Include relevant keywords naturally. 
    • Link out to your website, social channels, or other videos when it makes sense. 
    • Use line breaks or bullet points to make it easy to scan.

Dig deeper: The DESCRIBE framework for effective YouTube descriptions

User engagement signals: While metadata is foundational for YouTube SEO, the platform’s algorithm places a lot of emphasis on user engagement and satisfaction. 

YouTube values the following:

  • Click-through rate (CTR): This is where the thumbnail comes into play once again. 
  • Watch time and retention: Videos that hold attention tend to get promoted more.
  • Engagement: Likes, comments, shares and subscribers all tell YouTube your content is valuable.
  • Viewer satisfaction: YouTube looks at behavior after the video ends – like whether someone bounces or keeps watching.
  • Personalization: The algorithm tailors results based on viewer behavior, so understand your audience and create for them.

More optimization tips: Here are additional tips that help optimize videos for YouTube:

  • Timestamps: Break up your video into clear, clickable sections. This is especially helpful in long-form or educational content.
  • Captions: Add closed captions for accessibility and extra context. 
  • End screens and cards: Help people take the next step. Recommend another video, playlist, or even a site link.
  • Group content into playlists: This improves watch time and helps viewers binge your content.
  • Consistent branding: Keep your intros, tone and visual style cohesive so viewers start to recognize your content instantly.
  • Engage in the comments: Respond, ask questions, start conversations. YouTube notices when a video sparks interaction.

For videos hosted on your website

When hosting videos on your own platform, the SEO focus shifts a bit. 

First, understand that self-hosted videos can appear in several key areas on search engines like Google and Bing:​

  • Video search tabs: Both Google and Bing have dedicated “videos” tabs that filter results to show only video content.​ This is a key place to show up.
  • Main search results: Your video might show up as a rich snippet alongside standard web results, complete with a thumbnail, title and description.​
  • Featured video results: For certain queries, Google may highlight a video prominently at the top of the search results.
Google SERPs - Video tab

Key optimization strategies include:​

  • Dedicated video pages: Create individual pages for each video, ensuring that the video is the main content on the page. This allows for more precise optimization.
  • Page title and meta description: Ensure the webpage hosting the video has a clear, keyword-rich title and meta description. This helps search engines understand the page’s content.​
  • Video metadata. This includes things like the video title, description, duration, and thumbnail URL.
  • Structured data: Implement video schema to provide search engines and people with detailed information about your video. You can highlight key moments, live broadcasts, educational content and more. This can enhance your video’s appearance in search results.​ 
  • Transcripts and captions: Including a transcript and/or captions on the page improves accessibility and provides additional content for search engines to index.​
  • Contextual content: On the same note, surround your video with relevant text content on the page to give search engines more context about the video’s subject matter.​
  • Stable video URLs: If your video files or thumbnail URLs change frequently or expire, Google may not be able to index them reliably. So stick with permanent, clean URLs and double-check that they’re not blocked by robots.txt or other restrictions. This is one of those technical details that’s easy to overlook. 
  • Videos above the fold. Put your video front and center on the page – ideally above the fold – so both users and search engines recognize it as the main content. But don’t sacrifice speed to do it. Use lazy loading where possible, and consider lighter formats like WebM to keep load times fast.
  • Video sitemaps: If you’re hosting multiple videos, consider creating a video sitemap. This helps search engines discover and index your video content more efficiently.

Dig deeper: 7 video optimization tips to boost your organic reach in 2025

7. Publish, promote, and measure success to track performance

Creating the video is only half the job. 

To get the most out of it, you need to publish, promote, and pay attention to what happens next.

Publishing and promoting

Whether you are promoting free or paid educational content, don’t just post it and hope for the best.

Publishing with a strategy makes a big difference in who sees your content and how it performs.

Start with your owned channels

Start by embedding videos on your website where it makes sense – on a course landing page, a sales page, or a relevant blog post.

If you have an email list, use it. Email is still one of the most effective ways to get in front of warm leads. 

You can build a short email sequence around a course launch, for instance, or simply drop the video into a newsletter with a clear call to action.

Share where your audience is

Social media can help your video gain traction, especially if your audience already follows you there. 

Don’t just post once – share the video in different formats over time: full video, short clips or even just a quote or takeaway. 

Each platform has its own rhythm and opportunities:

  • Instagram/Facebook: Reels, stories, and carousels can help you showcase educational content in bite-sized ways.
  • LinkedIn: Great for professional or B2B-focused courses. 
  • YouTube: If it’s not your main platform, consider uploading the video as unlisted and embedding it on your course page – or using YouTube Shorts to drive awareness.

Paid promotion

Sometimes organic reach isn’t enough. 

Paid promotion can help you get in front of more of the right people, faster.

YouTube ads, social media boosts, and even Google Ads can support your educational videos. 

Just make sure your landing page is clear, relevant, and compelling when someone clicks.

Tap into your network

If you have relationships with influencers, industry experts, or others in your space, see if they’d be open to collaborating or promoting your educational content in exchange for a commission or cross-promotion.

Look for partnerships that make sense; not just anyone with a following, but people your ideal audience already trusts.

Host live events to build momentum

Webinars, live Q&A sessions, or even a quick Instagram Live can help build buzz around your content. 

These live formats give people a taste of your teaching style and give you a chance to answer objections or highlight what’s inside your paid video content in a more personal way.

For example, we regularly post video content from inside our SEO training membership site to our YouTube channel to give viewers a sneak peek.

Repurpose strategically

Repurposing lets you extend the life of your content without starting from scratch.

Turn long-form videos into short clips for social or YouTube. 

YouTube Shorts has the highest engagement rate across all short video platforms at 5.91% while TikTok was second in line, Statista reports. 

You can also pull out quotes or visuals for blog posts or emails to promote your educational videos. 

Define what success looks like

Before you hit publish, know what you’re aiming for. 

Is it views? Engagement? Course completions? Conversions?

And if the video performs well in one area – even if it’s not the metric you were focused on – that’s still a win. 

For example, maybe conversions were low, but views were through the roof. 

That tells you something’s working, and it might be worth doubling down on similar content.

There’s no shortage of video content online. If something you create breaks through in any way, take that as a signal.

Track performance (and do it often)

Analytics will tell you what’s resonating and what’s not.

You should be checking your analytics regularly – ideally, every day. 

Make sure to use:

  • YouTube Analytics for engagement trends. 
  • Google Search Console to see how your video shows up in search. 
  • LMS analytics for course modules. 
  • Google Analytics 4 for how videos impact user behavior on your site. 

Learn from viewer behavior

Watch for drop-off points. If people keep bailing at the same timestamp, something’s off. 

And check your comments. If people are asking for a follow-up or mentioning another topic they want covered, that’s a content idea handed to you on a silver platter.

If your “How to Make Pizza” video gets many requests for spaghetti, it might be time to make a spaghetti video.

Making videos that teach – and stick

Educational videos work best when they’re built with intention. 

You don’t need a perfect setup or a massive production team, but you need to:

  • Understand your audience.
  • Have a clear message.
  • Stay consistent in how you create your content. 

Whether you’re launching a full course or building out one helpful video at a time, the strategies outlined here are meant to give you a process to start. 

Because when your videos are thoughtful, useful, and well-executed, people notice – and that’s where the real traction starts.

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How to use YouTube Shorts to drive sustained growth, engagement

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How to use YouTube Shorts to drive sustained growth and engagement

With YouTube Shorts now reaching 2 billion monthly users and generating approximately 70 billion daily views, this rapidly growing format represents an untapped opportunity for many brands.

When used effectively, Shorts unlock multiple benefits that other platforms can’t match:

  • Faster channel growth.
  • Higher engagement rates.
  • New monetization streams.
  • A massive established user base of over 122 million daily viewers.
  • Powerful cross-promotion between short and long-form content.
YouTube Shorts - Avg daily views and YoY growth

Plus, YouTube’s established reputation provides a level of stability that newer platforms like TikTok can’t guarantee.

But despite all this potential, many marketers fail with YouTube Shorts.

Why?

Because they struggle to adapt their budgets and strategies to YouTube’s evolving ad products – especially when it comes to:

  • Reallocating TikTok spend.
  • Implementing product feeds.
  • Choosing between Shorts Select and auction.
  • Leveraging YouTube’s new multi-format ad system.

This article will explain why you need to implement Shorts ASAP and the tangible strategies you can use to get started today.

Why YouTube Shorts?

Take this for example: 

One organic Short generated 2 million views, 90,000 likes, and 2,900 comments – with a 4.5% like rate, delivering an earned media value of around $6,000. 

This is the kind of growth YouTube Shorts can drive for your brand.

Why does this matter? 

Because Shorts isn’t just another video format. 

It’s an accelerator for rapid channel growth, offering benefits traditional video can’t match. 

Creators are seeing massive reach through Shorts content, and brands are already seeing results.

Here are five key reasons why you need to jump on the Shorts bandwagon now.

Unique audience

Shorts tap into YouTube’s 122 million daily user base, reaching beyond TikTok’s primarily Gen Z audience. 

YouTube’s established reputation means less regulatory risk than TikTok.

Fast growth 

Shorts drives rapid channel growth, with reach volume taking off via Shorts.

High engagement

Shorts are easily shareable and often earn higher engagement, feeding viewers into full-length videos.

YouTube Select Shorts ads are viewed 90% longer than ads on other platforms. 

Influencer-led Shorts ads have seen view-through rates as high as 15.9%.

Monetization and ads 

New monetization (YouTube Partner Program for Shorts, Super Thanks) encourages creators. 

For brands, Shorts now integrates into ad products like Demand Gen and YouTube Select lineups.

Cross-promotion

Shorts can funnel viewers to a brand’s long-form videos or other channels, creating multi-platform touchpoints. 

One platform houses both short and long content, boosting subscriber growth and retention.

Take a look at Mr. Beast.

He has mastered the art of repackaging long-form content into 60-second Shorts that generate millions of views, creating a seamless funnel from short to long content. 

Even the Voice produces Shorts featuring judges in playful Q&As to promote season premieres, driving measurable increases in fan engagement and viewership.

A few more big names who are jumping on shorts:

  • Graza shares quick recipe Shorts featuring their olive oil, combining valuable content with product awareness in a natural, non-intrusive way.
  • ESPN keeps younger fans engaged between games through quick sports highlights and player updates in Shorts format.
  • Satori Graphics uses animated Shorts to teach design principles in a visually compelling, highly shareable format.

Big brands are embracing Shorts because they deliver results.

YouTube itself has stated: 

  • “As the creator community continues to invest in Shorts, this will only grow.”

But here’s the big mistake I see a lot of brands making.

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

Shorts vs. TikTok vs. Instagram Reels

They go wrong by treating all short-form video platforms identically. 

They miss the fundamental differences in content purpose and audience behavior across platforms. To fix this, you need to understand how these platforms work:

TikTok and Instagram

  • Thrives on viral challenges and trending skits.
  • Their algorithm is interest graph-based and great for broad virality.
  • Instagram Reels often mirror TikTok trends and influencer content.

YouTube

  • Shorts often serve as teasers, driving traffic to longer YouTube content.
  • YouTube’s algorithm also favors engaging Shorts, but when combined with Google’s targeting data, it offers better precision to reach specific audiences when combined with paid media.
  • The platform also uniquely positions Shorts prominently in-app (high visibility, even on TV apps).

YouTube subscribers are incredibly valuable. 

Any new video (short or long) reaches 100% of subscribers’ feeds, whereas TikTok/IG only shows content to a fraction of followers. 

This means repeat engagement (and remarketing) is stronger on YouTube.

Product feeds can now be integrated into Shorts for dynamic product ads. 

While Shorts Select reservation buys are primarily for major budgets, most advertisers should focus on auction-based campaigns with targeted audience parameters. 

YouTube’s 2024-25 multi-format ad system now enables simultaneous deployment across Skippable In-Stream, In-Feed, and Shorts formats to align with specific marketing objectives (massive win for media buyers).

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

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Now that you understand the why behind YouTube Shorts and the fundamental differences between similar social platforms, let’s dive into short strategies you can start using right away.

Content strategy for Shorts

High-level overview: Use shorts for entertainment.

This continues to prove itself as one of the highest performing categories when it comes to the Shorts placement. 

I like to focus on these six creative aspects when building Shorts to entertain audiences.

Nail the first 5 seconds

Use lots of motion, a bold statement, or an intriguing question. Short-form viewers love to scroll fast.

Nothing fancy

Avoid high-polish “TV commercial” looks, and use styles common to UGC. 

Selfie camera monologues, everyday people in real settings.

Leverage popular audio

Sound is a huge part of the Shorts experience. 

Using trending music or audio clips can boost engagement. Just ensure you have rights via YouTube’s library or licensed tracks.

Keep it fun

Short-form content skews toward humor and entertainment. 

Ads that are positive, high-energy, or witty tend to perform better. 

Even if you have a serious message, find a creative angle to deliver it in an engaging, light way. 

Quick cuts, visual effects, or text overlays help maintain a dynamic feel.

Use a clear CTA

Stick to one key message or product per Short ad. 

Too many points can overwhelm the user. 

While Shorts ads themselves may have limited click options, you can prompt viewers to visit your channel or search your brand.

Test and iterate

Use YouTube Analytics to see completion rate, likes, shares, and click-through. 

If one Short ad outperforms, ask why. Was it the hook, music, or topic? 

Produce more variants around that formula. Then repurpose a winning creative across formats (Stories, Reels, TikTok) to refine its performance.

Track how your Shorts support subscriber growth and discover their long-tail discovery potential via YouTube search. 

Unlike TikTok or Reels content that may generate quick virality but lack staying power, YouTube Shorts benefit from the platform’s built-in advantages for continued discovery and engagement.

It’s a more sustainable investment in your brand’s digital presence.

The Anatomy of a Viral Short per Adobe

Dig deeper: Short-form, big impact: What creators can teach performance marketers

TL;DR: You can win with Shorts

YouTube Shorts offers unique advantages over other short-form video platforms, including:

  • Unmatched reach and stability: Tap into YouTube’s massive user base and established platform.
  • Superior engagement: Shorts viewers watch ads 90% longer than on other platforms.
  • Growth engine: Drive rapid channel growth and subscriber acquisition.
  • Cross-promotion power: Create a seamless funnel between short and long-form content.
  • Monetization opportunities: Access YouTube’s partner program and ad integration.

For success, focus on entertaining content with strong hooks, authentic style, trending audio, and clear CTAs. 

Implement promotion strategies including optimized metadata, cross-platform sharing, audience engagement, creator collaborations, and consistent posting.

Unlike TikTok or Instagram trends that quickly fade, YouTube Shorts benefit from long-term discoverability through YouTube’s search functionality, making your ads and audience stay for the long run. 

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Google Ads to show ads in the top ads position, also in the bottom ads position

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GoogleAds_1920

Google will now allow relevant Search ads from advertisers who showed amongst top ads to also participate in the bottom ads auction. As a reminder, the definition of top ads changed about a year ago, as Google began mixing ads in various organic positions throughout the search results.

With this change, Google also reminded us that it updated its unfair ads policy (i.e. double serving) to say this is not double serving. Google added the words, “in a single ad location,” as an exception to the policy last March after Google was caught double serving ads under its old definition.

What Google said. Google wrote:

Today, we’re sharing more about a recent change we made to deliver more relevant Search ads at the bottom of the search results page. When someone searches on Google, we run different auctions for each ad location where we show Search ads—for example top ads are selected by a different Search ad auction from ads that show in other ad locations. Until now, Search ads from a given advertiser were generally restricted to a single ad location on a given page.

Recently, we started looking deeply at the user experience with ads lower down the page and observed something interesting. Often, users would scroll past the top results to review content lower down the page, but then scroll back up if they found top results more relevant relative to content further below.

To help reduce this friction and improve ad relevance lower down the page, we will now allow relevant Search ads from advertisers who showed amongst top ads to also participate in the bottom ads auction. This means a user scrolling lower down the page might see a highly relevant ad from the same advertiser, but not necessarily the exact same content they saw earlier.

We tested this for several months and found that allowing advertisers who showed amongst top ads to also compete in the bottom auction increased rates of highly relevant ads by about 10%1 and increased bottom ad conversions by about 14%2, improving both the user experience and advertiser value lower down the page.

Google’s FAQ. Google also posted a Q&A on these changes:

1. Is Google Ads changing its policy around double serving for Search Ads?

No. The unfair advantage policy for Search ads applies to ads that compete with each other to show in a single ad location and we recently updated our language to make this clearer. With this change, we are allowing advertisers who show up in the top ad location to also be eligible for ad locations further down the page. However, within a single ad location (either top or bottom), we will continue to apply and enforce the existing policy. 

2. How will this change affect the Search ads auction?

With this change, we will now allow relevant Search ads from advertisers who showed amongst top ads to also participate in the bottom ads auction. There are no changes to the auction that we run for top ads. Advertisers will continue to never bid against themselves with this change either in the top or bottom auction.

3. Will the same ad always appear at both the top and bottom of the search results?

No. We show the most relevant Search ad for each specific placement on the Search results page, whether it’s at the top or the bottom. The specific ad content shown to the user may be similar or different from the top to best suit the context of the bottom placement. 

4. Does this change loosen query matching or ad load constraints?

No, our query matching systems and controls remain the same, as do our guidelines around the number of top ads we show on the page. This change is solely focused on the bottom of the page.

5. How can I understand the impact of this change?

This change, which will provide more opportunities for relevant Search ads at the bottom of the page, may impact your overall metrics. To understand the impact on your campaigns, we recommend that you segment your metrics by “Top vs. other” if you’re interested in understanding performance for different ad locations. The search terms report will continue to show query-level clicks, whether your ads are clicked on in top or bottom locations.  

6. How do I best prepare for this change?

Since this update provides more opportunities for relevant Search ads to be seen, ensure your keywords, ad copy, and landing pages are well-themed with what users are searching for. As more opportunities become available at the bottom of the page, you will likely see higher conversion volume at your current targets. We recommend using bid simulator tools to explore potential performance changes and adjust your bids or targets strategically. 

Why we care. Google has been testing various changes to ad positions within its search results for the past couple of years. Google has been happy with the results of those tests and thus continues to allow the same or similar ad, from the same advertiser, in multiple ad locations throughout the search results.

I believe many advertisers are happy about this new policy but some may not be. Either way, you need to be aware of these newish Google Ads rules.

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New data: Google AI Overviews are hurting click-through rates

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Two new studies agree: Google’s AI Overviews steal clicks from organic search results.

While Google told us that AI Overviews citations result in higher-quality clicks, the introduction of AI Overviews correlates with a measurable decline in organic visibility and clicks, particularly for top-ranking, non-branded keywords. That’s according to two new data studies from SEO tool provider Ahrefs and performance agency Amsive.

By the numbers. Here’s how AI Overviews have decreased click-through rate (CTR) for traditional organic listings, according to the two studies:

  • Ahrefs: A 34.5% drop in position 1 CTR when AI Overviews were present, based on an analysis of 300,000 keywords.
  • Amsive: An average 15.49% CTR drop, with much larger losses in specific cases (e.g., -37.04% when combined with featured snippets), based on an analysis of 700,000 keywords.

Non-branded keywords. AI Overviews are much more likely to trigger on non-branded queries, and these terms showed the largest CTR drops:

  • Amsive: -19.98% CTR decline on non-branded keywords.
  • Ahrefs: Focused exclusively on informational intent (99.2% overlap with AI Overviews).

Lower rankings = bigger CTR hits. Google’s AI Overviews push organic results further down, minimizing visibility even for solidly ranking pages.

  • There was a -27.04% CTR drop for keywords not in the Top 3 positions, according to Amsive:

AI Overviews benefit branded queries. Branded keywords are less likely to trigger AI Overviews (only 4.79%) – but when they do, they get a +18.68% CTR boost. This is possibly due to greater user intent and brand familiarity, according to Amsive.

Why we care. These two studies (as well as data from Seer Interactive, which we covered in Google organic and paid CTRs hit new lows: Report) call into question Google’s claim that AI Overviews get more clicks than traditional listings. Google’s claim may or may not be true, but these studies show that overall clicks have gone down – and many websites ranking well in Classic Search aren’t included in AI Overviews.

About the data:

  • Ahrefs: Used Ahrefs + Google Search Console (GSC) data to analyze CTR changes before (March 2024) and after (March 2025) the U.S. rollout of AI Overviews.
  • Amsive: Pulled data from 700,000 keywords across 10 websites and 5 industries to isolate patterns by keyword type, industry, and SERP feature overlap.

The studies. You can read them here:

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Google sends personalized growth plans to advertisers, pushing AI-driven solutions

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Google Ads logo on smartphone

Advertisers are receiving step-by-step guidance emails from Google Ads aimed at improving campaign performance over a three-month period.

The details. Google Ads is sending emails with the subject line “Personalised action plan for growth” to business advertisers, according to an X post from Govind Singh Panwar.

The email contains:

  • A three-month structured improvement plan delivered through weekly emails.
  • A progress tracker showing completed and pending actions.
  • Clear calls to action focused on ad strength improvements.
  • Claims that improving ad strength from “Poor” to “Excellent” results in an average 12% increase in conversions.

AI suggestions. The guidance pushes advertisers toward Google’s preferred strategies, including:

  • Enabling “personalized recommendations” (Google’s AI suggestions).
  • Adding broad-match keywords (which typically increase ad spend).
  • Creating Performance Max campaigns (Google’s black-box AI campaign type).

Why we care. The email campaign essentially represents Google’s effort to standardize advertiser behavior while framing it as personalized guidance. These “personalized” plans appear somewhat templated, potentially leading to more homogenized advertising approaches across competitors.

However, as more advertisers follow these guidelines, those who don’t may see performance impacts as Google’s algorithms increasingly favor accounts aligned with their recommended practices.

Bottom line. While positioned as personalized guidance, the recommendations follow Google’s standard playbook for increasing advertiser adoption of its automated solutions and broader targeting options, which typically require larger budgets.

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