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What Is Generative AI and How Does It Work?

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Generative AI refers to technology that uses machine learning models to create content. Machine learning models are computer programs that seek to replicate aspects of human intelligence.

These models can produce various content formats, including code, text, visuals, audio, and video.

Various programs have the ability to learn almost any kind of information.

For example, different generative AI models can understand coding, visual, scientific, and human languages.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a popular example of a model that understands and produces textual content.

In this article, we’ll explore how this and other gen AI tools work.

How Generative AI Works

Gen AI uses libraries of existing material to produce original content. Here’s how the process works.

Step 1: Users Provide Prompts

The technology generates content based on user prompts.

Depending on the tool you use, you may be able to enter freeform, text-based prompts.

Suppose you want to generate a description for a new ecommerce item.

A simple ChatGPT prompt could look like this:

“Write a 100-word product description for [insert product details]. Use a friendly, upbeat tone of voice.”

Some AI tools use parameters rather than freeform input.

For example, Semrush’s Ecommerce Booster app generates ad descriptions based on keywords, text length, readability, tone of voice, and format settings.

Step 2: Generative AI Models Produce Content

Once the system receives the user’s prompt, it uses machine learning models to generate content.

These models train using libraries that may contain billions of pieces of existing content.

As they train, the models learn the components and structures of this existing content. Then, they use what they’ve learned to generate “new” material. (It’s not truly new as it’s based entirely on existing content.)

The mechanics of the content generation process vary, depending on the type of output.

Some of the most common models include:

  • Large language models (LLMs): Algorithms that use large data sets to predict the next output (word) in a piece of content—typically used to generate textual content
  • Generative adversarial networks (GANs): Deep learning systems that use two competing neural networks to produce new output, mostly for visual or audio content generation
  • Variational autoencoders (VAEs): Neural network systems that encode and decode input to create new output, often to generate visual or code content

Gen AI vs. Other Types of AI

The standard generative AI meaning doesn’t include all types of artificial intelligence.

Unlike gen AI, so-called “normal” AI analyzes and synthesizes data rather than generating new outputs.

Here are two other types of AI:

  • Conversational AI: Uses natural language processing (NLP) techniques to analyze human language, understand what users are saying or typing, and provide relevant responses. This type of AI is most common in chatbots and AI assistants.
  • Predictive AI: Analyzes historical data to anticipate outcomes from specific events and suggest actionable steps. This kind of AI is common with data analysts who need to manage risk and make data-driven decisions.

Popular Gen AI Tools

Now that we’ve covered a comprehensive generative AI definition, let’s take a closer look at some of the most widely used gen AI tools.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI that produces text responses to prompts.

Like this:

ChatGPT can do a range of tasks, like creating lists, producing code, and answering questions.

It also generates outlines and creative content.

How does ChatGPT work?

It uses generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) technology to produce human-like responses to text prompts.

OpenAI also offers custom GPTs—versions of ChatGPT that perform specific tasks using personalized prompts.

For example, you could create a custom GPT to edit written content to reflect your brand voice.

Further reading: ChatGPT for SEO: Ultimate Guide, Tips & Prompts

Claude

Like ChatGPT, Claude is an AI chatbot that generates text responses to prompts.

Claude can also analyze the content you upload (like a spreadsheet or a PDF).

It then provides summaries or answers questions based on your prompts.

Claude can assist with tasks like AI copywriting and content generation, too.

In your prompt, you can include guidelines for the format and style of content you want to create.

Gemini

Similar to ChatGPT and Claude, Gemini (formerly Google Bard) is another AI chatbot that provides text responses to prompts.

Like this:

As a Google app, Gemini is integrated with many Google products. This lets you verify its responses via Google Search with one click.

You can also prompt Gemini to summarize files in Google Drive, like a virtual assistant.

Microsoft Copilot

Another AI chatbot, Microsoft Copilot generates multimedia responses to prompts.

Along with producing a text answer, it shows you relevant images and links from Bing’s search results.

DALL-E

DALL-E is a text-to-image generative AI tool developed by OpenAI (creators of ChatGPT) that generates images based on prompts. Like this one:

In addition to describing the contents of the image, prompts can also request a style.

The more specific and detailed your prompt, the more likely the image will meet your needs.

DALL-E uses a diffusion model to analyze images and look for patterns in the components.

Then, the image generation app uses what it’s learned to piece together its own AI image.

Note: A diffusion model adds random noise (variations) to available training data. Then, it reverses the process to recover the data and create new combinations of information.

Midjourney

Midjourney is a text-to-image generator that uses diffusion models and LLMs to create realistic content.

Like this:

Compared to DALL-E, Midjourney’s prompts are often much more complex.

For example, prompts typically need to include things like style and composition guidelines to get the best results.

Unlike many other generative AI tools, Midjourney isn’t a standalone app but a Discord bot. To use it, you’ll need to join the Midjourney Discord server and prompt the bot.

What Can You Use Generative AI for?

Here are the most common applications of generative artificial intelligence today.

Marketing

Generative AI tools let you quickly brainstorm marketing campaign ideas as well as draft blog posts and articles.

AI marketing software also helps with rewriting content and applying a consistent tone of voice.

For example, a tool like Semrush’s ContentShake AI generates written and visual content in seconds.

Even better?

It guides you through the whole process—from ideation to publication.

Here’s how to use it:

Head to the app and click “My own idea” from the main dashboard.

Then, enter your topic and hit “Start writing.”

Review the suggested title, target keywords, word count, tone of voice, and readability level.

Then click “Create article.”

Read through the AI-generated article.

Hit “Publish” to proceed as is or “Go to regenerate” to start again.

To edit and optimize the content manually (which we recommend you do), click “Go to editor.”

Use ContentShake AI’s preset prompts to speed up the optimization process.

You can even enter your custom prompts in the chat window.

Another Semrush tool, the SEO Writing Assistant, includes AI features to help you write online marketing content faster.

It also checks the SEO potential of your work.

Head to the tool and click the “+ Analyze new text” button on the tool dashboard.

If you’ve used the tool before, click the “Set a new goal” drop-down.

If you’re using this tool for the first time, input the keyword you intend to target and click “Get recommendations.”

Draft or outline your content.

Then, use SEO Writing Assistant’s AI features to improve your writing.

Select any phrase, sentence, or paragraph and click “Expand” to elaborate on those sections.

Review the content for accuracy and style.

Then, click “Accept,” “Reject,” or “Try again.”

Alternatively, open the “Smart Writer” drop-down and select “Rephraser.”

Input your text and choose one of the four optimization options.

Then, click “Rephrase.”

Review the AI-generated ideas and click “Rephrase” again to generate more.

Use the copy button to choose where to paste the text, or click “Replace and close” to insert it where the cursor is positioned.

Use the AI-powered Smart Writer to elaborate on existing content.

Write at least a few sentences.

Then, click “Compose” to generate more copy.

Select the “Ask AI” feature to submit custom questions or prompts.

Then, click “Ask.”

As you create your content, keep an eye on the score in the upper right corner.

This score factors in readability, tone of voice, originality, and SEO. The higher the score, the better optimized your content is and the easier it is to read.

Advertising

You can take advantage of AI advertising tools to generate both copy and creatives for your paid promotions.

For example, Semrush’s AI Writing Assistant allows you to compose ad headlines quickly.

Open the app from the Semrush App Center and select “All Tools” > “Social Media & Ads.”

Then, choose either “Facebook Headlines” or “Google Ads Headlines” to generate ad headlines.

Or “Facebook Primary Text” or “Google Ads Description” for ad description text.

Then, select a language, creativity level, and tone of voice.

Next, input your audience and product name details and write a short product description.

Click “Generate” when you’re ready.

Review the results and save any headlines you like—or copy and paste them directly into your ad platform.

To generate complete ad creatives, open Semrush’s AdCreative.ai.

Enter your domain or landing page and click “Import Brand” to add brand elements.

The app automatically identifies your brand name, logo, and colors.

Review them and click the “Create Brand” button.

Note: If you’ve already set up a brand, click “Create a Brand” from the “Brand Setup” section to add a new one to your dashboard.

From the list of asset types, select “Ad Creatives.”

Choose the creative format that best fits the advertising platform and hit “Next Step.”

Click the “Generate Texts” button to create text with AI.

Then click “Next Step.”

Input some information about the content you want to generate.

Then click “Save & Generate.”

Upload a background image, crop it if necessary, and enter a project name (optional).

You can also use the app’s image search engine to source background images.

Finally, click “Generate.”

Check the box below each of the AI-generated assets you want to use, and hit the “Download” button.

You can now upload the digital assets to your ad platform and set up your ad campaign.

Media

Film, animation, and gaming studios use generative AI to produce creative content more efficiently.

With advanced AI tools, they can generate realistic 3D models, avatars, and video content.

For example, large gaming studios can use gen AI to create more photorealistic characters or speed up game design workflows.

Coding

Software developers are able to code programs and applications with generative AI tools like GitHub Copilot.

The benefits include writing more consistent code in various programming languages, debugging code faster, and improving developer efficiency.

Healthcare

Generative AI models serve the medical industry across a wide range of applications.

For example, medical researchers use gen AI for genome sequencing and drug research. While health practitioners use them for medical imaging and assigning accurate medical codes.

Automotive

Auto manufacturers use AI models to improve vehicle design and implement in-vehicle AI-powered virtual assistants.

Generative design inspired BMW’s “Alive Geometry” in the Vision Next 100 concept car, which enables shape-shifting parts that interact with the driver.

[ss: bmw-vision-next.png]

Image Source: BMW

Many manufacturers also provide basic customer service using AI before involving human agents.

A 2023 Deloitte report anticipates that generative AI will lead to a 20% equipment availability increase and a 10% annual maintenance cost decrease for the automotive industry.

Data Synthesis

It’s impossible for generative AI models to learn or improve their processes and computations without training data.

However, training data doesn’t necessarily exist for every possible industry or use case.

To resolve this issue, generative models can themselves produce synthetic data for training purposes.

They also effectively address challenges and ethical concerns that may otherwise prevent industries from using generative AI.

For example, gen AI tools may create larger datasets for underrepresented groups. Or generate datasets that offer a more fair version of the original data.

Benefits and Limitations of Generative AI

To set appropriate expectations for any AI-generated content you produce, you should familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of using these models.

Benefits of Generative AI

  • Produces almost any type of digital media based on a brief prompt
  • Creates different types of content in a consistent style or format defined by the user
  • Gives individuals and teams of any size the capacity to create large volumes of content
  • Allows users to save time and money on the content creation process
  • Simplifies lengthy content or expands on short content in seconds

Here’s an example prompt using ChatGPT to tighten up a very wordy explanation of the law of inertia.

As compelling as these benefits are, they don’t necessarily mean anyone should create exclusively AI-generated content.

Human feedback, fact-checking, and manual editing can help ensure higher quality and improved accuracy.

Further reading: 15 Benefits of ChatGPT (+8 Disadvantages)

Limitations of Generative AI Tools

The main limitations of generative AI tools are that they:

  • May reflect biases or inaccuracies present in their training content
  • May not cite original sources or attribute concepts accurately
  • Offer insufficient transparency into their technology and methods
  • Can’t think independently or generate new ideas
  • Lack firsthand experience and personal opinions

Here’s what happened when we asked Notion AI to generate an opinion about the TV show “Family Guy”:

Although these limitations may seem daunting, they shouldn’t prevent you from using generative AI applications to improve your business’s efficiency.

Then, use your human intelligence to detect AI-written content bias, ethical considerations, and attribution issues. And tweak the content as necessary.

Concerns Surrounding Generative AI

Although gen AI can certainly be used for good, it has the potential to create serious concerns.

As an example, deepfakes are digitally altered photos or videos that make the subject appear to be another person.

They can be used to maliciously propagate false information.

Although deepfake detectors can increasingly identify images and videos that simulate another person, foolproof methods to alleviate these concerns don’t yet exist.

Instead, it’s essential to analyze content closely for anomalies. And to adhere to security protocols to protect sensitive information.

Because generative models create content that emulates existing visual, audio, and textual patterns, they have the power to mislead.

Particularly, their ability to mimic human language can be used for social engineering.

The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity defines this as:

“All techniques aimed at talking a target into revealing specific information or performing a specific action for illegitimate reasons.”

For example, gen AI models can encourage people to disclose sensitive information. Or compromise either personal privacy or their company’s security.

And as generative AI becomes more advanced, the infrastructure these models require may reach an unsustainable scale.

Keeping up with computational demands and coming up with the capital necessary to fund it is an ongoing concern for AI model developers.

A History of the Development of Generative AI

Generative AI has consistently made headlines since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 (and other foundation models shortly after).

However, the technology existed long before this date.

We list some major generative AI advancements in the table below.

A Brief History of Generative AI
1947 Intelligent machinery
In one of the first recorded references to artificial intelligence, Alan Turing used the term “intelligent machinery” in a research paper. The study explored whether machines could spot rational behavior.
1950 Turing Test
Turing developed the Turing Test, which evaluated conversations between machines and human brains to identify machine responses.
1956 Dartmouth AI conference
The Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, considered the birth of AI, brought together AI experts.
1961 ELIZA chatbot
Joseph Weizenbaum developed the ELIZA chatbot, a psychotherapy program that could converse with humans. And one of the first examples of generative AI.
1980s RNN architecture
Several researchers advanced recurrent neural network (RNN) architecture. Furthering the development of this bidirectional artificial neural network.
1997 LSTM networks
Josef Hochreiter and Jürgen Schmidhuber invented long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, significantly improving the accuracy of AI models.
2014 GANs and VAEs
The development of GANs and VAEs dramatically advanced generative AI technology.
2017 Transformer models
Newly developed transformer models allowed gen AI systems to create natural language text for the first time.
2018 OpenAI GPT
OpenAI released GPT, a neural network that could generate human-like text and converse with users.
2021 OpenAI DALL-E
OpenAI introduced DALL-E to generate digital images from prompts through deep learning.
2022 OpenAI ChatGPT, Midjourney beta
OpenAI launched ChatGPT (also known as GPT-3.5), a transformer-based model that one million users adopted in only five days.
Text-to-image generator Midjourney launched in beta the same year.

What Does Generative AI Mean for the Future?

While generative AI’s timeline is relatively long, many significant developments have happened in a few short years.

Given this rapid evolution, it’s reasonable to expect that gen AI will continue to develop quickly.

So, what will AI look like in the future? And how could it affect your industry?

Here are a few developments to monitor:

  • Increased adoption of generative AI tools: In many industries, companies are already pressuring leaders to implement AI tools. A Qualtrics survey of customer experience professionals revealed that 75% feel the pressure to use generative AI for business.
  • More advanced AI prompts: The more companies adopt generative AI strategies, the more advanced their prompting skills are likely to become. With extensive testing, users will probably develop more specific, nuanced prompts for producing higher-quality content.
  • Higher volume of AI-generated content: As more individuals and business processes use gen AI tools, the amount of AI-generated content will increase. Harvard Professor Latanya Sweeney predicts 90% of online content creation will no longer be by humans.
  • Improved AI detection: As AI evolves, AI detection tools may become more sophisticated. Increasingly advanced tools will better address issues with cybersecurity, deepfakes, and other growing concerns—potentially making AI content more credible.

Further reading: 15 Must-Watch AI Trends to Empower Your Business

Use Advanced AI Tools to Improve Your Content

Whether you’re just getting started with generative AI or looking for ways to level up your AI skills, you need the right tools at your disposal.

Tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Semrush’s AI-powered suite are game-changers for content creation.

Not sure which one to pick?

Check out our in-depth guide to the top 5 AI writing generators, where we break down the features, pros and cons, and pricing of the best tools on the market.

The post What Is Generative AI and How Does It Work? appeared first on Backlinko.

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Top 10 PPC news of the year 2024 on Search Engine Land

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The world of digital marketing in 2024 has been nothing short of transformative, with Google once again taking center stage in many of the year’s biggest developments. From the ongoing debates about third-party cookies to advancements in Google Analytics and the rising distrust among advertisers, the year was marked by shifts that tested the adaptability and resilience of marketers everywhere.

As we enter the last few weeks of the year, let’s take a look at the top newsworthy headlines according to pageviews.

10. Google Ads phasing out card payments

In June Google notified some high-spending advertisers that they would need to stop using credit or debit cards for Google Ads payments by July 31, 2024. Affected accounts needed to transition to bank-based payment methods or risk suspension.

  • Advertisers expressed frustration, citing financial strain, loss of cashflow flexibility and lack of benefits.
  • Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin confirmed that only a small subset of advertisers would be impacted.

9. Google Ads ad copy: what works and what doesn’t in 2024

Optmyzr analyzed over 1 million Google Ads to uncover key insights into ad copy strategies, focusing on metrics like CPA, CTR, and ROAS. The findings challenge conventional wisdom and highlight opportunities for marketers to improve performance.

The report covered:

  • Ad strength – its misleading
  • Pinning Assets – against Google’s recommendations, it could be worth pinning all headlines
  • Sentence case vs Title Case – sentence case is a clear winner especially for RSAs
  • Creative length – shorter headlines performed better

8. Google is shutting down websites made with business profiles

Google Business Profile (GBP) websites were discontinued in March 2024. Visitors to these websites were redirected to the associated Business Profile form March until June 10 and from then it will be a “page not found error” they would see whenever such a link is clicked.

This caused the need of a new site for brands who had GBP websites, using platforms like Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, WordPress, Google Sites, or GoDaddy

7. Advertisers don’t trust Google

2024 saw advertisers trust level at an all time low as the Department of Justice’s laid out a damning case against Google, releasing a document even, detailing extensively why there should be trust issues against Google.

It took little coaxing to have several advertisers let us know why their trust is at an all time low. Advertisers complained of manipulative practices, lack of transparency, erosion of trust and much more.

6. Costs increasing

Advertising spend on Google search ads in the U.S. increased by 17% year-over-year in Q4 2023, with steady click growth at 8% and cost-per-click (CPC) rising by 9%, according to Tinuiti’s Q4 2023 Digital Ads Benchmark Report.

The rise in ad spend and growing confidence in paid media suggest advertisers adapted to challenges in 2023, leveraging mobile and emerging platforms like PMax to drive performance.

However by April, despite CPCs being up, spend was plateauing as advertisers were seeing a decline in clicks.

5. Google exposes competitor data

Advertisers are used to the odd Google Ads reporting glitch here and there, however in August, a unique one happened where competitor data was exposed.

Advertisers were unable to manage campaigns or access critical performance data. Additionally, a serious data breach has exposed unrelated item IDs, product titles, and Merchant Center information, potentially revealing competitors’ sensitive information.

It took a week for the issue to be fully resolved.

4. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) adds new dimensions

In February, GA4 introduced eight new dimensions to enhance tracking and analysis of paid and organic traffic sources. With new dimensions like Manual source, Manual medium, Manual Campaign and more, these dimensions provide deeper insights into user behavior and performance across channels.

3. Google Ads discrepancies

In July, advertiser Brais Calvo Vázquez’s discovered that Google Analytics 4 (GA4) includes a hidden report that allows users to compare conversion data exported to Google Ads, helping to identify and explain discrepancies between the two platforms.

This tool, accessible by appending “/advertising/key-event-differences” to a GA4 property URL, provides advertisers with insights to improve campaign accuracy and performance.

Some users have had access to this report for over a year, indicating it may have been in extended testing. Google made no comment to this discovery.

2. Search Partner Update

February Google announced introducing greater advertiser control over ad placements within its Search Partner Network (SPN). Starting March 4, advertisers using Performance Max (PMax) campaigns will gain access to impression-level reporting for SPN sites. Additionally, exclusions applied at the account level will extend to SPN placements, YouTube, and display ads.

The changes aim to provide advertisers with enhanced transparency and control, allowing them to safeguard their brand reputation. The SPN includes websites and apps that display search ads, extending beyond Google’s main properties like YouTube and Google Discover.

1. Third Party Cookies

There had been back and forth about third party cookies for years now and whether to deprecate it and in 2024, Google had high hopes of going ahead with doing getting rid of it. However, their hopes were dashed almost as soon as they started their tests.

In January the report was Google started phasing out third party cookies. They were axing cookies from 1% of browser traffic, and the speculation at that stage was that they would phase out third-party cookies by the second half of 2024 as a crucial move in its Privacy Sandbox initiative.

In February due to concerns raised by UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, Google were stopped in their tracks form going ahead with the third party deprecation until concerns around its proposed Privacy Sandbox changes were sufficiently appeased. According to Google’s documentation:

  • “The Privacy Sandbox initiative aims to create technologies that both protect people’s privacy online and give companies and developers tools to build thriving digital businesses.”

However CMA had lots (39 and counting) of concerns, the three key ones being:

  • Google would still benefit from user data whilst competitors would be limited form this data,
  • That they will show favoritism towards their ad tech,
  • Publishers and advertisers won’t able to detect fraudulent activity.

In April the deadline for third party cookie deprecation moved from end of 2024 to 2025, conceding to the concerns the CMA raised in February. The had put evidence together that they were still doing the right by the industry and wanted to give the CMA enough time go over all the documentation they had provided.

Later that same month the concerns increased to 111 with the primary concern now being that Google will become too dominant in the market if their Privacy Sandbox solution went ahead.

After a couple of months of silence, the final decision came – Google scraps plans to kill third-party cookies in Chrome. The new promise is to introduce a new experience in Chrome whilst the Privacy Sandbox AMI will continue to be developed for alternative solutions.

That is a wrap on 2024. Several major talking points there, unsurprisingly mostly focused around Google there. What do we think 2025 will bring us? I reckon a lot more AI updates and experts truly needing to different themselves from those who just use AI as their selling point. It would also be interesting to see whether the Google we know now will have all its brands still intact by this time next year.

Google ads rolls out Brand Report for enhanced advertiser insights

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Top 10 Google Ads mistakes to avoid in 2025

Google Ads introduced Brand Report, a new dashboard tool that gives advertisers consolidated insights into reach and frequency across campaigns.

The tool simplifies how brand advertisers track campaign performance by providing deduplicated metrics in one place, rather than scattered across multiple reports.

The details. Brand Report consolidates data from multiple tools, streamlining analysis of KPIs and demographic performance.

  • Advertisers can filter results by age, gender, and other on-target demographics.
  • Accessible directly in the Google Ads dashboard under “Insights and reports.”

Why we care. This update is significant because it finally solves the headache of piecing together reach and frequency data from multiple places.

By providing deduplicated metrics in one dashboard, you can now easily see who they’re actually reaching across campaigns, spot where they’re overspending on the same audiences, and make faster, smarter decisions about their brand advertising investments.

Key requirements:

  • Available at the single account level (no multi-account or MCC support).
  • Metrics cover a max of 92 days and up to 10,000 campaigns.
  • Requires 10,000+ impressions per campaign for data to populate.
  • Search, Shopping, and Performance Max campaigns are excluded.

What’s next. You should now look out for when other campaign types, like Search, Performance Max and Shopping, will be included in the reports.

Google Ads alert: broad match auto-toggle raises concerns

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7 tips for conducting Google Ads audits

When moving from non-conversion to conversion-based bidding, Google appears to automatically enable broad match on campaigns.

  • This affects existing exact and phrase match keywords, converting them to broad match without user confirmation.

Why we care. Advertisers switching to conversion-based bidding could unknowingly have their keywords shifted to broad match. Broad match can drastically alter campaign targeting, leading to spikes in irrelevant clicks.

The response:

  • Advertisers, including Navah Hopkins from Optmyzr, flagged the issue, raising concerns about wasted budget and campaign performance.
    • Navah led the criticism, reminding us that she isn’t one to just disapprove of Google with no cause – “Those of you who know me know I’m usually pretty balanced when it comes to Google “choices” but this is a pretty horrible one (especially for those who aren’t as comfortable with Google Ads).”
    • Harrison Jack Hepp (Founder of Industrious Marketing) questions what happens to the original keyword – “Ugh, now I’m wondering does it pause the old keywords or remove them? Not exactly a simple change in most campaigns”
    • Christi Olson (Sr. Director Digital Marketing) expresses how self-serving Google strategies are – “Google has always prioritized what makes them the most $$ … not what is efficient or effective for ad spend. It’s not shocking.
  • Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin responded, stating this behavior is not expected and is under investigation.

Be smart:

  • Regularly audit keyword match types after changing bidding strategies.
  • Monitor campaign performance closely and revert any unintended broad match changes.

The bottom line. While Google reviews the issue, advertisers should stay vigilant. Overlooking keyword match toggles could mean the difference between a controlled PPC strategy and runaway ad spend.

Read more at Read More

Google tightens ad policies to align with Search spam rules

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Starting December, Google will expand its “Abusing the ad network” policy to explicitly disapprove ads pointing to destinations penalized for violating Google Search spam policies.

The details:

  • Ads directing users to websites subjected to manual actions under Google Search’s Spam Policies will face automatic disapproval.
  • Site owners impacted by manual actions are notified through Google Search Console, giving them a chance to rectify issues.
  • The move aims to curb deceptive practices where advertisers attempt to drive traffic to spammy or manipulated web pages that have already been flagged by search enforcement teams.

Why we care. This update directly ties PPC performance to a site’s overall search health. If a site receives a manual action for violating Google’s spam policies, not only will organic traffic suffer, but paid campaigns driving to that destination will also be disapproved.

Neglecting site quality could now cut off both organic and paid traffic, amplifying revenue losses and disrupting marketing strategies.

Between the lines:

  • This enforcement raises the stakes for PPC managers (as well as SEO managers) . Sites hit with manual actions could see a direct impact on ad campaigns, not just organic search performance.
  • You will need to monitor Google Search Console closely and resolve any manual actions to prevent ad disapprovals.

The bottom line. By linking ad disapprovals to search penalties, Google is doubling down on ensuring a high-integrity digital ecosystem, nudging advertisers towards long-term best practices rather than short-term gains.

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How to Find Competitors’ Keywords to Boost Your SEO

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Finding competitor keywords is essential to building your SEO strategy.

Why?

Because they show what’s working for others, highlight opportunities, and uncover gaps in your approach.

At Backlinko, we’ve spied on Ahrefs, Moz, and Semrush’s keywords for years—and found many opportunities.

For instance, Ahrefs gets an estimated 2.5k monthly organic visits from the keyword “website authority checker.”

Organic Research – Ahrefs – Website authority checker – Organic Traffic

But this is only part of the story.

The page targets over 1.7k keywords and drives an estimated 30k monthly organic visits.

Organic Research – Ahrefs – Website authority checker – Positions

Clearly, A LOT of people are interested.

So we published a free tool with a supporting blog post on the same topic. Now this page ranks for 1,000 queries and gets over 13k clicks a month from Google.

GSC – Backlinko – Website authority – Clicks

That’s the power of finding competitor keywords.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

  • What competitor keywords are and how they fit into an SEO strategy
  • How to find and analyze these keywords, step-by-step
  • Where to integrate them into your content and SEO plans

The Power of Using Competitor’s Keywords for SEO

When you find competitors’ keywords, you uncover what content they’re ranking for.

But it’s more than just ranking for a specific keyword.

Think bigger: You’re getting a snapshot of your competitors’ SEO strategy.

SEO Strategy

Competitor keywords reveal opportunities to boost your SEO in three ways.

First, spotting patterns in your competitor’s keyword strategy and capitalize on gaps.

Say a competitor is going after terms like “best vegan protein powder.” But they might be ignoring budget-conscious customers.

That’s your chance to swoop in and target keywords like “affordable vegan protein powder.”

The goal?

Position yourself to win over the segments they’re missing. Whether it’s budget-friendly options, niche markets, or untapped audiences.

Second, understanding their focus.

Whether they’re targeting broad, high-traffic terms or niche, long-tail keywords.

Say a competitor is focused on targeting top-funnel keywords like “online course platforms.”

Here, you can take a different route.

Why not target bottom-funnel queries like “how to create an online course for free?”

It will help you reach an audience ready to buy.

Third, building a content plan based on your strategy.

Finding competitors’ keywords gives you ideas for a content calendar.

Use them to plan your next topics, decide on content formats. And, finally, create content that meets your audience’s needs better than anyone else.

Now, you’ll learn techniques to find competitors’ keywords.

Step 1: Identify Your SEO Competitors

If you want to find competitors’ keywords, focus on SEO competitors.

These are websites competing with you for similar keywords and rankings.

They may not even be direct business competitors.

Start with a manual search and analysis.

Imagine your business is in the crypto space.

Think of relevant keywords that your potential customers might use.

Like “best crypto platforms 2024.”

Search the keyword on Google.

Google SERP – Best crypto platforms 2024

Take note of the websites that rank for this keyword.

In our example: Investopedia, Alchemy, and NerdWallet.

These are your content competitors.

Next, check the “People also ask” box.

People Also Ask – Best crypto platforms 2024

It’s a good tool for finding additional keywords and content ideas.

Now, let’s explore another method for finding competitors.

First, create a free Semrush account and follow these steps:

Head to the Organic Research tool.

Add your URL and hit “Search.”

Organic Research – Backlinko – Search

Then, scroll down to “Main Organic Competitors.”

Organic Research – Backlinko – Main Organic Competitors

Click the “View all 35.3K competitors” button to show your rivals.

Organic Research –Backlinko – Organic Competitors

Now, locate the “Com. Level” column.

You’ll see a percentage showing keyword alignment with your competitor.

For Backlinko, Ahrefs has a 35% competitive overlap, and Moz has 25% overlap.

Both are close content competitors.

Now that you’ve identified your competitors, it’s time to analyze their keywords.

Step 2: Find Competitor Keywords Using Tools

By examining the keywords your competitors rank for, you can uncover opportunities to improve your SEO strategy.

This step will help you find the exact terms your competitors are targeting and how you can potentially outrank them.

We’ll continue with our Backlinko example.

Since we identified Moz as a competitor, let’s enter its URL into the Organic Research tool.

Click “Search.”

Organic Research – Moz – Search

In the “Overview” section, you’ll immediately see key data such as the total keywords Moz ranks for, their traffic volume, and the estimated cost of that traffic.

Organic Research – Moz – Overview

Click the “Positions” tab to view a detailed list.

Here, you’ll find important data:

  • “Keyword positions” for each term
  • “Intent” showing the user’s goal behind searched query
  • “Traffic” generated from these keywords
  • “Keyword volume” (searches per month)
  • “Keyword difficulty (KD%)” telling you how competitive each keyword is

You can use this information to identify high-value keywords your competitor is targeting and analyze their performance.

How?

Look for keywords with high search volume but lower keyword difficulty.

Use filters to narrow your search and focus on the most promising keywords:

  • Set the position filter to “Top 10”: Focus on keywords where your competitors rank high but you don’t
  • Adjust the volume filter to “101-1,000 searches per month”: Target keywords with moderate volume so you actually drive organic traffic to your website
  • Set keyword difficulty (KD%) to “Possible”: Target keywords where you can rank without having to go all-in on building external backlinks

Organic Research – Moz – Organic Search Positions – Filters

These filters help you pinpoint keywords that offer a good balance of traffic potential and achievable competition.

For example, a keyword like “seo terms” gets 1K searches per month. And has a KD% of 46.

Organic Research – Moz – Organic Search Positions – Filtered keyword

Not bad.

Create better content and optimize it to close gaps and outrank your competition.

Pro tip: Don’t stop at organic keywords—check what terms your competitors are paying for, too. Using tools like Semrush’s Advertising Research, you can uncover the keywords they’re investing in. These paid keywords signal strong opportunities for your SEO campaign.

Step 3: Expand Your Keyword List Through Research

Nuanced research helps you better target and prioritize audience-focused keywords.

In the end, it helps you expand your keyword database in ways that align with your overall strategy.

Let’s explore more advanced techniques to find competitors’ keywords.

Customer Feedback Analysis

Customer feedback is one of the most underrated sources of keyword inspiration.

Customers often use natural terms not found in keyword tools.

By diving into reviews, you can discover keywords that reflect real customer needs.

Let’s say you’re competing with a project management tool like Monday.

Analyze customer reviews on platforms like G2, Trustpilot, or even Google Reviews for local businesses.

They might reveal phrases like “Monday.com prevents copying and pasting data without exporting.”

Monday – Customer review

These kinds of comments give you direct insight into the pain points users are facing with competitors’ products.

And they’re a perfect example of long-tail keywords that you can tackle.

For instance, paste “project management software with data import/export” into Google search to see how saturated the space is.

Google SERP – Project management software with data import/export

Here, GetApp’s software comparison page ranks organically in the top spot.

Monday’s competitor, Asana, is also present.

This indicates that content creators see value in addressing this specific pain point for users.

If you’re selling project management software with data import and export features, you could create a blog post or comparison page.

These pieces help attract frustrated users seeking better alternatives.

Private Communities

Your competitor’s private communities like Facebook Groups, Slack channels and Discord servers are gold mines for keyword ideas.

Simply watch what people talk about. You’ll discover:

  • Questions they ask (that aren’t being answered)
  • Problems they face (that you could solve)
  • Terms they use naturally (not marketing speak)

For example, let’s say you’re competing with Nike Training Club.

Join a few fitness Facebook groups where their users hang out.

You might spot people asking about:

  • “Best bodyweight exercises for beginners”
  • “Home workout equipment”
  • “Affordable fitness gear”

These terms could be perfect keywords that a competitor isn’t targeting yet.

Here’s what to do next:

Head to Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Enter your target keyword into the search bar.

Then, hit “Search.”

We’ll use “home workout equipment” as an example.

Keyword Magic Tool – Home gym equipment – Search

This generates us a list of relevant keywords.

Next, we’ll set some filters to refine the list.

Adjust the “Volume” filter to 101–1,000, and for “Keyword Difficulty,” choose “Possible.”

Keyword Magic Tool – Home gym equipment – Filters

This will help you identify high-value terms that have decent traffic potential but aren’t overly competitive.

Keyword Magic Tool – Home gym equipment – Keywords

For example, these keywords stand out as prime content opportunities:

  • “compact home gym equipment” (320 searches/month)
  • “essential home gym equipment” (320 searches/month)
  • “affordable home gym equipment” (260 searches/month)

Why?

They have a solid search volume per month. At the same time, they’re not too competitive.

It means you have chances to rank relatively high on the search engine results page (SERP).

Google Search Operators

Google search operators are a powerful tool to find competitor content and gaps in your strategy.

By using specific search queries, you can reveal the topics your competitors are covering and how well they’re doing it.

Start by typing site:competitor.com followed by a keyword or phrase related to your niche.

In our example, we’ll use the niche of organic beauty products.

Let’s say one of our organic competitors is Our Oily House.

We searched: site:https://www.ouroilyhouse.com/ “natural face moisturizer“

This gives us a list of pages on that competitor’s site that mention or target this keyword.

Google SERP – Ouroilhouse

But we don’t stop there.

Now, we’ll look for patterns.

Are they creating topic clusters around natural skincare?

Or organic ingredients?

Or maybe DIY beauty tips?

Examining their content reveals pillar topics and related subtopics they rank for.

For example, we’ll jump back to the Keyword Overview and check “skincare kits.”

Keyword Overview – Skincare kits – Overview

It has transactional intent, it gets 1,300 monthly average searches, and the “Keyword Difficulty” is 27.

Great!

Step 4: Evaluate Your Competitors’ Keywords

You know how to find competitors’ keywords.

The next step is to evaluate them.

Analyze competitor keywords to see how intent-based terms target different funnel stages.

Let’s take a keyword like “best online course platforms.”

Now, check the search intent.

Domain Overview – Best online course platforms – Intent

It’s “Commercial.”

Meaning users want to investigate and compare brands or services.

This implies a content format that should be a comparison post.

Or a landing page evaluating various platform’s capabilities.

Second, look for keyword relevance.

Focus on competitor keywords that align with your business goals.

These have high keyword relevance.

If your platform offers course creation tools, focus on keywords like “best course software” or “create a membership site.”

For example, broad terms like “passive income from online courses” won’t be useful.

Third, search for volume and difficulty.

Ideally, you’re looking for keywords with high search volume and moderate to low keyword difficulty.

Let’s head back to the Keyword Magic Tool.

We’ll use Teachable as our example.

Enter “best online course platform.”

And add the website URL for personalized results.

Now, hit “Search.”

Keyword Magic Tool – Best online course platform – Search

You’ll see a list of related keywords.

Take a look at the intent, search volume, and personal keyword difficulty (PKD%).

Also, see the position in the SERP.

Keyword Magic Tool – Best online course platform – Keywords

For example, “best online course platforms” has 480 monthly searches with a PKD% of 0.

Another strong keyword is “best platform to sell online courses,” with 170 searches and a PKD% of 0.

Both are prime targets.

They also have commercial intent.

Meaning searchers are closer to making a purchase decision.

Targeting these can help improve your rankings and capture more organic traffic from competitors.

Step 5: Prioritize Your Competitors’ Keywords List

Now that you’ve analyzed the competitor keywords, the next step is to integrate them into your strategy.

First, compare the competitor keywords with the ones you’re already targeting.

But what exactly are you looking for?

  • Are there any high-volume keywords you’re not targeting yet?
  • Are there terms they’re ranking for where you could compete?
  • Are there areas where you’re already ranking, but could improve?

This will ensure you’re not leaving valuable opportunities on the table.

Earlier, we used the example of vegan supplements.

Here’s a spreadsheet with keyword data for this niche, showing volume, difficulty, and value.

Later, we’ll show you how to create this spreadsheet (and provide a template.)

Keyword Prioritization Framework – Spreadsheet

The more keywords you have in your database, the better.

This gives you plenty of options to choose what to write about.

(After all, the better keywords you choose, the faster you can grow your organic traffic and bring more leads.)

Now, go to Keyword Overview, and add all your keywords.

Keyword Overview – Vegan suplements – Enter keywords

Then, click “Analyze.”

Scroll down and press “Export.”

Choose between XLXS, CSV or CSV semicolon.

Keyword list – Export data

To prioritize your keywords well, use a simple scoring framework.

Download the template and follow our steps

We’ll use Google Sheets—we’ve exported our data in CSV format.

Go there and press “Import.”

Keyword Prioritization Framework – Data import

An “Import file” window will open.

Switch to the tab “Upload,” and choose your exported file.

Then, click “Browse,” and choose your exported file.

Google Docs – Import file – Upload

Then, click “Import data.”

Google Docs – Upload – Import data

Now, you have your raw data.

What interests you is Volume (column C) and Keyword Difficulty (column E).

Keyword Prioritization Framework – Raw data

Click over to the “Framework” tab and check VLOOKUP formulas.

In our case it’s:

  • =VLOOKUP(A2, Data_import!$A$1:$G$16, 3, FALSE) to get Search Volume
  • =VLOOKUP(A2, Data_import!$A$1:$G$16, 5, FALSE) to get Ranking Difficulty

At this point, you should have Search Volume and Ranking Difficulty columns and scores for these two (they’re automatic.)

Keyword Prioritization Framework – Ranking Difficulty & Search Volume

First, let’s talk about Ranking Difficulty.

This tells you how tough it’ll be to rank for a keyword:

  • Under 30: Low competition (easy to rank for), score = 1
  • 30-60: Medium competition, score = 2
  • Over 60: High competition, score = 3

Next, we’ve got Business Value.

This is a manual assessment (you have to insert numbers between 1 and 3 yourself) of how well the keyword aligns with your product or service.

  • 3 (High value): If your product fits well into content targeting that keyword
  • 2 (Medium value): If your product fits, but not perfectly
  • 1 (Low value): If the keyword is barely relevant

Lastly, consider Search Volume.

  • Over 800 searches/month: High volume, score = 3
  • 500-800 searches/month: Medium volume, score = 2
  • Under 500 searches/month: Low volume, score = 1

Once you score all your keywords on these three factors, formulas in the sheet gives you the final score.

This helps you prioritize what to target.

Focus on keywords with high volume, low difficulty, and strong business value.

Here’s how:

  • High search volume (over 800 searches per month) means more potential traffic
  • Low ranking difficulty (anything under 30) means it’s easier to break into the rankings
  • Strong business value means it’s a perfect fit for what you offer, so it’s worth your time to go after it

For example a keyword “vegan protein powder.”

It has high search volume, low ranking difficulty, and business value.

Which means it’s going to be a top priority.

Meanwhile, something like “affordable vegan protein powder” has lower search volume and tougher competition.

So, it might fall to the bottom of the list.

This way, you’re focusing on keywords that’ll actually move the needle.

But remember:

In the end, any framework is just a framework.

Consider market trends, customer feedback, and lifetime value, too.

Now it’s time to create a content plan.

Step 6: Turn Competitor Keywords into Content

Once you’ve integrated competitor keywords into your strategy, it’s time to plan your content around them.

Say you’re a fast-growing brand that can’t compete with big players that rank high for high-volume and high-difficulty keywords.

But you have authority in one field.

And you found loads of decent-volume but low-competition keywords.

So, your strategy should focus on this untapped area.

Suppose your framework lists “vegan vitamins” as a high-priority keyword.

Google SERP – Vegan vitamins

It has commercial intent.

And you know your customers often ask about it.

First, review the types of pages that currently rank for this keyword.

Then, create a landing page that lists all the vegan vitamins.

Ensure it provides more value and depth than competing pages.

Apply this workflow to each of your high-priority keywords for maximum impact.

Get a Strategic Start for Using Your Competitors’ Keywords

Competitor keywords provide valuable insights for a focused SEO strategy.

The most important thing is to approach this task through a strategic lens.

To help you set the right priorities, download our keyword prioritization framework.

Use it to create an at-a-glance reference of your keywords and related data.

Then, put those insights to use to build a better SEO strategy and ultimately outrank your rivals.


Download the template

The post How to Find Competitors’ Keywords to Boost Your SEO appeared first on Backlinko.

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A brief history of Google’s algorithm updates

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SEO has changed significantly over the last decade, largely because Google has continuously updated its algorithms to improve search results. These updates aim to better understand user intent, reward high-quality content, and discourage manipulative practices. From foundational changes like Panda and Penguin to more recent updates like the November and December 2024 core updates, each has shaped how websites rank and how we approach optimization. Below is a look at some of Google’s most impactful updates and what they mean for SEO today.

Table of contents

2011 – Panda

The Panda update marked a shift in SEO by targeting low-quality content and spammy practices. It penalized sites with thin content or those created solely to manipulate rankings, such as affiliate-heavy pages. Over time, Panda became part of Google’s core algorithm, reinforcing the need for meaningful, high-quality content that provides real value to users.

2012 – Venice

Google’s algorithm update Venice was a noteworthy update, as it showed that Google understood that searchers are sometimes looking for results that are local to them. After Venice, Google’s search results included pages based on the location you set, or your IP address.

2012 – Penguin

The Google Penguin update focused on eliminating manipulative link-building practices. It penalized sites with spammy or paid backlinks, shifting the focus to earning genuine, high-quality links. By 2016, Penguin became part of the core algorithm, emphasizing the importance of ethical and relevant link-building strategies.

2012 – Pirate

The Pirate update addressed copyright infringement by penalizing sites with repeated DMCA takedown requests. It aimed to reduce the visibility of websites sharing unauthorized content, ensuring legitimate sources were prioritized in search results. This update highlighted the importance of respecting intellectual property online.

2013 – Hummingbird

The Hummingbird update improved Google’s ability to understand the meaning behind search queries. Rather than focusing on individual keywords, it considered the entire phrase to deliver more accurate results. This shift encouraged natural, conversational content and reduced the need for over-optimized keyword stuffing. It also laid the foundation for advancements in voice search and semantic search technology.

2014 – Pigeon

Another bird-related Google update followed in 2014 with Google Pigeon, which focused on local SEO. The Pigeon update affected both the results pages and Google Maps. It led to more accurate localization, giving preference to results near the user’s location. It also aimed to make local results more relevant and higher quality, taking organic ranking factors into account. 

2014 – HTTPS/SSL

Google introduced HTTPS as a ranking signal to encourage secure web connections. Sites using HTTPS gained a slight ranking advantage, promoting better data encryption and security for users. While initially a minor factor, it signaled Google’s growing focus on user safety and set the stage for security becoming a standard expectation online.

2015 – Mobile Update

Known as “Mobilegeddon,” this update prioritized mobile-friendly websites in mobile search results. As mobile usage surpassed desktop, Google aimed to ensure a better experience for users on smaller screens. While the immediate impact wasn’t drastic, it marked a clear shift toward mobile-first indexing, emphasizing the importance of mobile optimization for long-term SEO success.

2015 – RankBrain

RankBrain introduced machine learning to Google’s algorithm, helping the search engine interpret unfamiliar or complex queries. It analyzed past searches to predict the most relevant results, even for terms it hadn’t encountered before. While you can’t directly optimize for RankBrain, creating clear, helpful, and user-focused content ensures your site aligns with its goal of improving search relevance.

2016 – Possum 

In September 2016 it was time for another local update. Google’s algorithm update ​Possum update​ applied several changes to Google’s local ranking filter to further improve local search. After Possum, local results became more varied, depending more on the physical location of the searcher and the phrasing of the query. Some businesses, not doing well in organic search, found it easier to rank locally after this update. This indicated that this update made local search more independent of the organic results.

Read more: Near me searches: Is that a Possum near me? »

2018 – (Mobile) Speed Update

The Speed Update made page load time a ranking factor for mobile searches, building on its previous importance for desktop. Slow-loading sites were more likely to see a drop in rankings, especially on mobile devices. This update reinforced the need for fast, seamless user experiences, encouraging site owners to prioritize performance optimization.

2018 – Medic

The Medic Update was a broad core algorithm change that heavily impacted “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) websites, such as health, finance, and legal sites. It appeared to prioritize expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) in content, especially for topics affecting users’ well-being. While it wasn’t exclusively aimed at medical sites, it underscored the importance of credible, accurate, and user-focused information.

Keep reading: Google’s Medic update »

2019 – BERT

The BERT update (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) enhanced Google’s ability to understand the context of words in a search query. By analyzing words in relation to the ones around them, BERT improved how Google interpreted natural language and intent. This update particularly helped with more conversational or complex queries, making search results more accurate and relevant. For content creators, it emphasized the value of clear, natural writing that directly addresses user needs.

Read on: Google BERT: A better understanding of complex queries »

2021 – Page Experience Update

The Page Experience update introduced a new ranking signal combining existing factors like mobile-friendliness and HTTPS with Core Web Vitals. These metrics measured real-world user experience, focusing on loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. While content quality remained the top priority, this update emphasized the importance of delivering a smooth and user-friendly browsing experience.

Keep on reading: Page experience: a new Google ranking factor »

2021 – MUM (Multitask United Model)

Announced in 2021, MUM introduced a powerful AI system capable of processing information across multiple formats and languages. It can analyze text, images, and videos to deliver more comprehensive answers to complex queries. For example, MUM can combine insights from various sources to provide layered, context-rich results. This update signaled Google’s focus on deeper understanding and more diverse content delivery in search.

Read more: Google’s MUM understands what you need: 1000x more powerful than BERT »

2021 – Product Reviews Update

First run in April 2021, these updates prioritized detailed, insightful product reviews over thin or generic content. Google rewarded reviews that showed expertise, included real-world usage, and helped users make informed decisions. It’s a key update for affiliate and e-commerce sites focused on providing genuine value. The update ran multiple times over the years.

2022 – Helpful Content Update

The Helpful Content Update targeted low-quality, unoriginal content designed primarily to game search rankings. Instead, it rewarded “people-first” content—material that genuinely answers user questions and provides a satisfying experience. Sites with lots of unhelpful or shallow content saw declines, while those focused on creating valuable, user-centric content were prioritized. This update reinforced the importance of writing with the audience in mind, not just search engines.

Keep reading: Google to launch Helpful Content Update to diversify search results »

2023 / 2024 – A mix of updates

Between 2023 and 2024, Google rolled out a mix of core and spam algorithm updates to enhance search quality and combat manipulative practices. Core updates focused on refining how content is evaluated, rewarding pages that provide high-quality, relevant, and trustworthy information. At the same time, spam updates targeted tactics like keyword stuffing, spammy backlinks, and low-quality AI-generated content. These changes reinforced Google’s priorities: surfacing helpful, user-focused content while penalizing manipulative SEO strategies.

2024 – Site Reputation Abuse

Google is cracking down on site reputation abuse, including parasite SEO. This tactic involves using trusted domains to host unrelated third-party content, like payday loans or casino reviews, to manipulate rankings. Sites caught violating this policy risk manual penalties, which require removing or noindexing the problematic content to recover. Legitimate uses of third-party content, such as syndicated news or user-generated material, are still allowed when properly managed.

Google algorithm updates: What’s next?

Google continues to refine its search algorithms with a growing focus on AI-driven search experiences. Recent advancements, such as Google AI Overviews, show a shift toward providing users with more intuitive and context-rich results. These tools combine AI to summarize complex topics, pull insights from multiple sources, and answer broader questions in a concise way.

Looking ahead, we can expect updates to further enhance understanding of search intent, prioritize high-quality content, and improve how information is presented. At the same time, technical factors like site speed, mobile usability, and security will remain essential. For website owners, the key is to stay adaptable by focusing on creating helpful, accurate, and user-centered content while keeping an eye on emerging AI trends in search.

Read on: Should I follow every change Google makes? »

The post A brief history of Google’s algorithm updates appeared first on Yoast.

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Features of the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

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Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) offers more than just a list of links. Its layout can change based on what you’re searching for, presenting various SERP features tailored to your needs. You might see different elements like featured snippets, shopping options, or local listings and also AI Overviews. Understanding these can help you navigate the results more effectively. This guide will help you identify and differentiate between the paid and organic results you encounter.

Table of contents

What are SERP features?

Search features are elements on a search engine results page (SERP) that provide information beyond the standard list of links. They include things like featured snippets, image packs, and knowledge panels. These features make it easier for users to quickly find answers and relevant information in search results.

an example of how rich google search is based on a search for footballer cody gakpo
Google Search is really rich with information these days

A new SERP feature: Google AI Overviews

AI Overviews are a new feature in Google’s search results. They use artificial intelligence to create concise summaries that answer user queries quickly. These summaries appear at the top of search pages, providing immediate information without the user needing to click through links, although links are provided. This feature helps users find the information they need faster and increases the visibility of diverse websites.

google ai overviews are a new type of feature, here showing results for yoast seo
Google AI Overview provide a new way of accessing information from search

It depends on what you’re searching for

What the result page looks like largely depends on what you are searching for. If you’re searching for a product you can buy, Google will show shop results on the SERP. For example, when we searched for hockey equipment for an eight-year-old, Google showed us this:

an example of a product search on Google, showing listing for hockey equipment
An example of a product search on Google

This results page starts with shopping results, with images on top. On the left-hand side, you will see all kinds of filters to fine-tune your product search as well. To enter the Sponsored section, you must pay Google – note the word ‘sponsored’ in the upper left corner. After those results, the first is an ad, which is another paid result. And then the organic results start.

However, if you’re searching for information about the planet Neptune – because your son is writing an essay about that – you’ll encounter a different-looking SERP:

an example the serp features for the search term neptune planet
Different searches show different SERP features on Google

These search results do not show any paid or sponsored results. At the top, you’ll see an AI Overview for the topic, and on the right, you’ll notice a knowledge graph with lots of information about the planet Neptune. There’s even an interactive diagram to learn more about what Neptune looks like.

Read on: What is search intent? »

Browsing through the result page

The default page of Google’s search result is a page on which different results appear. Google decides which results fit your search query best. That could be ‘normal’ results, but also news results, shopping results or images. If you’re searching for information, a knowledge graph could turn up. When you’re searching to buy something online, you’ll probably get lots of shopping results on the default result page.

the google bar serp feature gives you quick access to images, news, videos, shopping, maps, forums and more
Google Search has many options than just regular search

You can apply some filters on the search results yourself if you want to. You can, for instance, click on ‘images’ if you’re searching for an image. This allows you to browse through images only. You can also choose ‘shopping’, ‘maps’, ‘forums’, ‘videos’, ‘news’ and ‘more’.

Keep on reading: How to get your Shopify store on Google »

Sponsored results and ads

Google shows both paid results and organic results. It can be pretty hard to notice the difference between the two. The ads usually appear on top of the search results. Sometimes it’s only one ad, but Google can show more ads as well. This depends on how many people search for a certain search term and who wants to pay for it.

an example of a sponsored ad on google for the term holiday home south of france
There are many sponsored listings in Google

You’ll recognize the paid result by the word Sponsored shown in front of the link to the website. The shopping results in Google are also paid results: a company pays Google to appear in the shopping results. If you want to advertise on Google, you should check out Google Adwords.

Organic results

Google’s organic results are all non-paid results. According to Google’s algorithm, the organic results shown first are the best fit for the user’s search query. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) improves the chances of ranking in organic search results.

Snippets

The search result page consists of a number of snippets. A snippet is a result Google shows to the user in the search results.  A ‘normal’ snippet usually looks like this:

an example of a regular snippet in google
A regular Google snippet

Google shows the title in blue, the URL in grey, and a description of the page. You’ll also encounter rich snippets on the SERP. A rich snippet shows extra information between the URL and the description. A rich snippet looks like this:

an example of a rich snippet in google showing a recipe with image and star rating
A rich result as shown in Google search

In this snippet, a picture of the ice cream is added. You can see the recipe’s rating and the time it takes to prepare this type of ice cream. A rich snippet contains much more information than a normal snippet does.

Read more: What are rich snippets? »

Other elements on the SERPs

Besides snippets, images, videos, news results, shopping results and maps, Google also shows some other elements on the SERPs.

Knowledge Graph panel

The Knowledge Graph Panel appears on the right side of the search results. According to Google, this information is retrieved from many sources, including the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia. Information from the Knowledge Graph is used to answer spoken questions in Google Assistant and Google Home voice queries.

an example of a serp feature known as a knowledge graph panel, this case about minecraft
An example of a knowledge graph panel Google search feature

People also ask

This box appears somewhere between the organic search results. It’ll suggest questions related to the search query you typed in. You’ll encounter these related questions in the organic search results if you’re searching for Minecraft. Clicking on one of the suggestions will directly answer the specific question.

an example of a feature on the google search results pages known as people also ask
Google’s People also ask search feature

Featured snippets

A featured snippet, aka answer box, is a highlighted search box that answers the question you type in the Google search bar. This featured snippet box is situated above the regular organic search results. Featured snippets often appear as a paragraph or a bulleted list, accompanied by an image.

an example of a serp feature known as a featured snippet
Featured highlight answers directly at the top of the Google search results

Keep reading: How to get featured snippets »

Local 3-pack

When you search from something locally, the Local 3-pack can show up to highlight three related local businesses. It’s a Google search feature that provides information such as business names, addresses, phone numbers, and customer reviews. This feature is often integrated with Google Maps. It helps users find directions and learn more about local businesses.

a serp feature called a local three-pack after searching for best spaghetti seattle
This search feature shows three local result based on the query

Image pack

The image pack search feature shows a collection of images related to a search. Typically shown in a grid or carousel format, they allow users to quickly browse visual content without leaving the search page. For some searches, images are a better fit than just regular links or other SERP features.

an example of a google search results page showing an image pack for the search space needle photos
An example of an image pack in Google’s search results

Top stories

Top stories is a search feature on Google that displays the most recent and relevant news articles. This section typically appears near the top of the search results, highlighting breaking news and timely updates. It includes headlines, publication names, and often images to quickly inform users about current events.

a serp feature called top stories in google
Google’re Top stories feature shows the most important news

Conclusion about SERP features

Google’s search engine results pages can show various elements: the search results (so-called snippets), AI Overviews, a knowledge graph, a featured snippet, an answer box, images, shopping results, and more. Some of these elements will show up depending on the type of query and the data Google finds. You can add structured data to your page so Google can show a ‘rich’ snippet, providing more information about your product or recipe, for instance.

You can pay Google to make the snippet of your page end up high on the search results page as an ad. Or, you can optimize your pages for the search engines – and users! – so it will rank high organically. That’s SEO, and that’s what we write about!

Read on: Yoast SEO: how to make your site stand out in the search results »

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7 Best SaaS SEO Agencies For Pipeline Growth

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There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all SEO strategy for SaaS companies. The best SaaS SEO agencies will take the time to learn your business inside out and adapt their services to your goals.

Read on to find out what else separates the best from the rest, along with our recommendations for the top SaaS SEO agencies in today’s market.

How to Choose the Best SaaS SEO Company

Choosing the best SaaS SEO agency comes down to how well it can meet your requirements for factors like:

  • Services offered
  • Results they’ve delivered
  • Ability to scale services
  • Experience in your industry
  • Reporting and analytics provided
  • Pricing and deliverables
  • Discovery process

Ultimately, no single agency is a good fit for every business. But it’s worth understanding what separates the wheat from the chaff for each factor so you can choose the best agency for your needs.

Services

Effective SaaS SEO hinges on a comprehensive approach that usually includes:

  • Full-funnel keyword research
  • Competitive analysis
  • Product-led content creation
  • Digital PR and authoritative link building
  • Technical audits and fixes
  • Performance reporting and optimizations

If you hire a full-service agency, you should get all of the above (and then some).

The best full-service SaaS SEO agencies will likely go above and beyond by also focusing on other areas, such as:

  • Aligning SEO and paid search strategies
  • Conversion rate optimization
  • Thought leadership development
  • Programmatic SEO opportunities to help scale content output and lead generation

In saying this, if you only need a specific service from the list above, a full-stack agency may be overkill. That’s where specialists or consultants are a better fit for some projects. For instance, content production is often a significant bottleneck that you can scale much easier if you outsource it to a dedicated SaaS content agency.

Specialist Agencies Full-Service Agencies
Ideal if you:
– Already have some in-house resources
– Need a specific skills gap filled
– Want to scale one area of your marketing quickly		 Ideal for:
– Avoiding the risk of over-hiring
– Scaling at a comfortable pace
– Leveraging experts in multiple areas
– Streamlining communications across campaigns and channels

Results

All decent SEO agencies showcase their results somehow, usually by publishing case studies. But the best SaaS SEO agencies have case studies that connect specific actions to tangible business results, like improvements in:

  • New trial sign-ups
  • Demos booked
  • Marketing and sales qualified leads
  • Cost-per-lead
  • Closed deals
  • Revenue

While SEO-specific metrics, like rankings and traffic, are a good leading indicator of campaign performance, they don’t show bottom-line value. So, ideally, you should look beyond these metrics and scope out the tangible impact on core business objectives instead.

For example, here’s a SaaS SEO case study showcasing the approach, services delivered, and the growth in SQLs.

Scale

Whether you’ve decided to hire a specialist or a full-service agency, their ability to scale services to match your pace is crucial.

In your decision-making process, assess how well an agency might be able to adapt to the future needs of your business.

Consider things like:

  • What size companies have they worked with?
  • Are the services delivered in a fixed package or a flexible arrangement that you can scale up or down as needed?
  • How big is the team, and how well might they handle sudden influxes of new projects during busy times?

The best agencies will be able to scale with you well into the future.

Industry experience

Look for agencies with extensive experience working with other SaaS companies.

They need to implicitly understand just how different SaaS is from eCommerce or other types of business models. Many generalist agencies that work with all types of businesses don’t have this understanding and lean on cookie-cutter strategies for all clients.

Reporting

Reporting is a critical piece of any SEO service. It’s how you can keep an agency accountable for the services and results they’re delivering.

All good agencies deliver reporting from analytics tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or SEO tools like Ahrefs. The best agencies also align these reports to the metrics you track in-house via your CRM. Leveraging this mix of reporting technology will give you a complete picture of campaign performance and business impact, from rankings and traffic to leads and revenue.

If an agency doesn’t mention business metrics like qualified leads, demos booked, or cost per lead in its case studies, it’s likely they don’t track or report on these. It never hurts to ask if they can report on the metrics that matter most to you during your initial discussions. Or, even better, ask for examples of how they track pipeline impact with other SaaS clients.

Pricing

When looking for the best SaaS SEO services, pricing can be an arbitrary factor. For instance, which scenario is better?

A. You hire a cost-effective agency. In 12 months, you’ve barely broken even on the service.
B. You hire a premium agency. In 12 months, they’ve delivered 2x return on investment.

In our book, option B is always better, no matter how big your investment is. In saying this, there is a point of diminishing returns with SEO, as with many other services. That is, there’s a point where spending more money won’t get you proportionally better results. So, you need to find a balance.

To work with most quality agencies, plan a monthly budget in the mid-high 4-figure or low 5-figure range as a starting point. If you’re growing fast and can afford to put more resources behind an engagement, aim for low to mid 5-figures per month for an agency that can scale with you.

The way we like to explain pricing to our clients is through the payback period. Often, a client can choose a lower engagement pricing tier that simply means we’ll work slower through the deliverables compared to our higher tiers. Essentially, you can achieve the same output, and likely results, for a similar price point on both engagement tiers. On higher tiers the client is paying more in the initial months, but also reaches ROI+ faster.

For example: One SaaS company chooses a $5,000/mo. engagement for 12 months to hit its organic growth goal. Another SaaS business chooses a $10,000/mo. engagement for 6 months to hit the same goal. The investment amount is the same, but the second company reach its goal, or payback period, faster. The decision between the two will often come down to risk tolerance, which should be addressed on the discovery call..

Discovery call

The discovery call is a great opportunity to vet your shortlist of agencies.

Most agencies will book a call to get to know your business and needs. It’s how they go about the call that makes all the difference.

During the call, consider these questions:

  • Has the agency researched your business, competitors and industry?
  • Did the agency provide any valuable insights on the call?
  • Did the agency explain how their process will meet your business needs?
  • What capacity can the agency operate in – strategic partner, extension of team, full-service?
  • How does the agency show business impact?

7 Best SaaS SEO Agencies

You now know how to evaluate the best SaaS SEO agencies. Here’s a list of the best in the market.

And yes, of course, my agency is on it 😉

But as mentioned above, no agency’s an ideal fit for every business out there. We specialize in integrated search marketing strategies for SaaS brands. The other agencies on this list offer a different take, but are also reputable.

Either way, we’re confident you’ll find the ideal partner for your needs below.

Virayo – Full Service B2B SaaS SEO and Google Ads Agency

Virayo B2B SaaS SEO agency

Notable clients: Truckstop, Brandfolder, SPOTIO, Cedreo

Clutch rating: 4.9

Virayo has proven track record of helping industry-leading B2B SaaS companies scale organic traffic, qualified lead volume and ARR, with its repeatable 7-step search marketing framework.

The agency has a selective client intake process, only taking on 1-2 new clients per month that it believes it can help scale, and is invested in growth.

Services Offered

  • Technical SEO
  • Content Audits
  • Keyword Strategy
  • Content Production
  • Content Optimization
  • Link Building
  • Analytics and Reporting
  • QBRs

Results

Testimonial

“Over the last two years, Virayo has helped grow our organic traffic from around 6,000 organic visits per month to over 70,000 organic visits per month. More importantly, organic traffic is now the number one driver of new trial signups for our business.”

– Charlotte Morineau, CMO, Cedreo

Robbie Richards SEO Consultant

Book a call with me

If you’re interested in learning how my agency, Virayo, can help your SaaS business achieve its growth targets, schedule a 1:1 discovery call with me.

Schedule Call

Powered By Search – B2B SaaS Marketing Agency

B2B SaaS Marketing Agency

Notable clients: Cloudways, CallRail, Basecamp, Click funnels, VMware

Powered by Search specializes in helping mid-market and mature B2B SaaS companies achieve unstoppable growth through its Predictable Growth Method. The agency focuses on scaling demos, trials, and sales, ensuring clients hit their revenue and pipeline targets efficiently.

Services Offered

  • SEO
  • PPC
  • Paid Social Media Marketing
  • Content Marketing
  • Full-Funnel Marketing Strategies

Results

  • Generated $11.1M in SEO Pipeline for a Data Privacy SaaS.
  • Delivered 135% of Paid Ads Pipeline Target for a CyberSec SaaS.
  • Doubled MQL to SQL Conversion with ABM for Named Accounts.

Testimonial

“I 100% recommend Powered By Search. They’ve completely transformed our paid media strategy. The results are incredible and we’re extremely happy with them.”

— Jill McCarville, VP Marketing, iWave

Kalungi – Full-Service B2B SaaS Marketing Agency

B2B SaaS Marketing Agency

Notable clients: FleetRunner, Fraxion, Degrees of Change, Beezy, CPGVision

Kalungi offers “Growth-as-a-Service” for B2B SaaS ventures, scaling with their clients’ needs to increase speed and achieve ambitious growth goals. Specializing in outsourced marketing, Kalungi uses a proven playbook to support software entrepreneurs needing more time or expertise to build an in-house team.

Services Offered

  • Fractional CMO Services
  • Full-Stack Marketing Team
  • SEO and Content Creation
  • Paid Media
  • CRO
  • Branding Design
  • Web Development
  • HubSpot Management

Results

  • Boosted Patch’s MQLs by 1500%
  • Sourced $4.7M in pipeline for CPGvision
  • Enhanced CCD Health’s MQLs by 750% with full-service engagement

Testimonial

“Not only does Kalungi have the experience and expertise, they have the people to execute everything from establishing positioning and messaging to building websites and SEO. They’re an all-in-one solution.”

— Jon Parrish, CEO and Founder, Patch

Directive Consulting – SaaS Performance Marketing Agency

SaaS Performance Marketing Agency

Notable clients: Uber Freight, Snap Inc., Amazon, Calendly, Supermetrics

Clutch rating: 4.8

Directive Consulting excels in performance marketing and leverages a comprehensive customer generation methodology. Trusted by some of the world’s largest tech brands, Directive has driven over $1 billion in client revenue in the last decade. Their integrated approach combines Paid Media, SEO, Lifecycle Marketing, and more to meet growth goals efficiently and predictably.

Services Offered

  • Paid Media (Search, Social, Programmatic)
  • Content Marketing & SEO
  • Integrated Strategy Development
  • Marketing Operations Optimization
  • Creative Design & Video Production

Results

  • Generated over $1B in revenue for clients.
  • Trusted by 200+ tech companies.
  • Architected growth for major brands like Adobe and Amazon.

Testimonial

“Directive is our trusted performance marketing agency that really covers everything from paid media all the way to strategy. From day one, they helped us look at the right metrics that made sense to enable growth efficiency, and they gave us a good base for what we should be looking at going forward.”

— Jose Bormey, Head of Digital Marketing, Manta

SimpleTiger – SEO, PPC and Web Design for SaaS Companies

SimpleTiger SEM and web design for SaaS companies

Notable clients: CleverTap, Chargify, credit.com, MAXIO, Bitly, Jotform

Clutch rating: 5.0

SimpleTiger uses a proprietary AI-empowered methodology to drive demand and convert customers. It offers clients keyword data intelligence, content optimization to target buyers at every stage of the buying journey, and holistic marketing efforts across organic and paid channels for maximum efficiency.

Services Offered

  • SEO
  • PPC (Paid Search & Social)
  • Content Marketing
  • Link Building
  • Web Design

Results

  • 597% increase in organic traffic to the primary page target for Jotform.
  • 1200% increase in first-page keyword rankings for Gelato.

Testimonial

“SimpleTiger fits their services around your specific SEO needs. After working with them, I am confident in my own SEO knowledge and can help my team out for quick decisions and questions.”

— Andy Jiang, Success Engineer at Segment

Codeless – SaaS Content Production Agency

SaaS content production agency

Notable clients: monday.com, Kissmetrics, BetterBuys, Crazy Egg, WordStream, Kinsta

Clutch rating: 4.8

Codeless delivers high-quality content that achieves top rankings, specializing in SEO and content marketing for competitive industries. Their “Pillar and Post” strategy, combined with expert vertical writers and rigorous optimization processes, ensures that content reaches and resonates with the target audience, driving traffic, leads, and sales effectively.

Services Offered

  • SEO Content Strategy
  • Content Production and Management
  • SEO Advisory for SaaS brands

Results

  • Increased keyword visibility by 96.15% for Remote.
  • Boosted new organic keywords for Miro by 28,000 with 2,400 achieving 1st page rankings.

Testimonial

“By far the best decision we’ve made.”
— Comment from monday.com highlighting the impactful results from Codeless’s content strategies.

Single Grain – Digital Marketing Agency for SaaS Companies

Single Grain SaaS digital marketing agency

Notable clients: Amazon, Uber, Lyft, Salesforce, AirBnB, Crunchbase

Clutch rating: 4.8

Single Grain is a full-service digital marketing agency focused on helping companies expand their business through strategic and effective digital marketing solutions. They excel in search engine marketing, and various other digital ad channels. Their team of expert marketers uses a data-driven approach to ensure the best return on investment, constantly innovating to keep their clients ahead of the curve.

Services Offered

  • SEO & Content Marketing
  • PPC: Google & Facebook Advertising
  • Conversion Rate Optimization
  • SaaS Marketing
  • Paid Social (across platforms)
  • Programmatic SEO

Results

  • Reduced cost per click by 41.37% while increasing leads for Nextiva.
  • Achieved a 44% increase in organic sessions for BatteriesPlus.

Testimonial

“Their expertise has helped Nextiva grow its brand and overall business
The Single Grain team has been instrumental in providing us with forward-thinking, growth-impacting marketing support. Their expertise has helped Nextiva grow its brand and overall business.”
— Yaniv Masjedi, CMO, Nextiva

Choose the right agency for your SaaS business

Hiring a SaaS SEO agency is a big investment for most companies. Getting it wrong can be costly.

Use the evaluation criteria above to shortlist agency candidates, and then schedule discovery calls with each one to better gauge the right partner for your business.

Robbie Richards SEO Consultant

Book a call with me

If you’re interested in learning how my agency, Virayo, can help your SaaS business achieve its growth targets, schedule a 1:1 discovery call with me.

Schedule Call

The post 7 Best SaaS SEO Agencies For Pipeline Growth appeared first on Robbie Richards.

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How to Use Semrush for Keyword Research (Including Template and Examples)

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If you want to learn how to use Semrush for keyword research, you’re in the right place.

In this tutorial, we’ll cover everything from topical and competitor keyword research, to gap analysis and topic clustering.

Semrush has a number of powerful keyword research tools – Keyword Manager, Keyword Magic Tool and Keyword Gap – that will enable you to do it all.

We’ll also cover working examples for each of the main keyword research use cases so you can immediately start implementing the training in your business.

If you don’t yet have a Semrush account, you can use this 14-day free trial link to get access to all the features covered in this guide so you can follow along step-by-step.

If you prefer video, I’ve put together a comprehensive over-the-shoulder tutorial below that walks through seven ways to do keyword research with Semrush:

Disclaimer: This article does contain affiliate links. If you purchase a tool through one of my links I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate links are one of the ways I fund the blog. Thanks for the support!

Find Existing Keyword Opportunities With Semrush (Template Included)

The first way you can use Semrush for keyword research is to identify existing keyword opportunities.

Specifically, find all the keywords with search demand that your website is already ranking for in positions 4-15.

Here’s how to do it:

Open the Semrush SEO Toolkit and go to the Organic Research >> Positions report:

Finding existing keyword opportunities in Semrush

This will generate a report showing all the keywords your website is ranking for in the top 100 positions.

Next, you’ll need to apply some advanced filters. These will vary from business to business, but I’ll typically use Position, Volume and Keyword Difficulty (KD).

To illustrate, here are the filters I’d use for my website:

  • Position: 4-15
  • Volume: 100+
  • KD: 0-49
Adding keyword filters in Semrush

These filters will extract keywords that my website is already ranking for on page one or two, that have search demand, and aren’t ultra competitive.

Review the remaining keywords and add any that you’d like to target to a new list.

Building a new keyword list inside Semrush

This is usually the best place to start when you’re working with a website that has an existing content footprint as you’ll be able to capture some quick organic traffic gains.

Note: I’ll typically segment keyword opportunities into two lists – Existing and New.

Existing keyword list in Semrush

This will make it easy to see which keywords have already been added to a list inside Semrush.

Existing keyword research template

If you’d prefer to analyze keyword data outside of Semrush, I’ve created a template that you can use to automate a lot of the filtering and formatting.

Existing keyword research template

Simply export all the keywords your site is ranking for in positions 4-15 and paste them into the template. The template will organize all the opportunities in descending search volume and add color coding so you can quickly spot the keywords that are already ranking the highest with the lowest SERP competition.

I put together a full video walk-through of the template below:

Semrush existing keyword research template.

Competitor Keyword Research With Semrush

One of the fastest ways to find new high-intent keywords is to analyze your competitors.

Semrush provides several different ways to perform competitor keyword research. We’ll walk through each one and look at some working examples.

Semrush Top Pages report:

For this example, let’s pretend we have a beard products ecommerce business and are looking for some new target keywords.

One of the competitors might be Beardbrand.

I’d enter that domain into the SEO Toolkit and go to the Organic Research >> Pages report:

Top Pages report in Semrush

The report shows which pages are driving the most organic traffic to their website. You can see what percentage of total organic traffic each page is generating, along with the total number of keywords the page is ranking for in the top 100 positions. You can also click through to view all of those keywords.

Top Pages metrics in Semrush

This is great insight, but let’s take it a step further.

Since this is an ecommerce website, we’d want to prioritize product-related keywords as these will present the best direct monetization opportunity.

One way to do this is apply a URL filter to only return product pages.

For example, we can see that Beardbrand houses all of its product pages under a /products subfolder:

Filtering only the product pages in Semrush

As a result, I’d add a URL contains /products filter to the report.

Now I can see 22 product pages that are driving the most organic traffic to the website. This would be the best place to start the keyword analysis.

You can use competitor subfolder analysis for any type of business.

Let’s pretend that you’re a personal injury lawyer in Florida. One of the competitors might be Dolman Law Group. After reviewing their main navigation, I can see that all the services pages are nested under the /legal-services subfolder:

Finding service subfolders to analyze in Semrush

As a result, I’d apply a URL contains /legal-services filter in the Pages report, or just enter the subfolder into the main search bar, to see which services pages are driving the most organic traffic to their website and check to make sure our firm was also targeting those keywords.

Analyzing competitor subfolders in Semrush

But, what if your competitors don’t organize content into subfolders?

You can use keyword modifiers instead to uncover the highest intent opportunities.

For example:

If I was analyzing a competitor for my website I would apply the following filters:

  • Position: 0-20
  • Volume: 100+
  • KD: 0-49
  • Keyword Contains: best, review, software, alternatives, vs, tools
Using keyword modifiers to filter keyword targets

These filters will return the best keyword opportunities for affiliate monetization.

Repeat this process for your top organic search competitors. You can find these by search for your main product or services keywords in Google, or look at the Competitors report in Semrush which shows the websites with the most keyword overlap:

Semrush Organic Competitors Map

If you want to learn more about performing competitor subfolder analysis with Semrush, check out the video tutorial below:

Find low competition long tail keywords with Semrush

You can use Semrush to extract low competition long tail keywords from your competitors.

Here’s how to do it:

Enter your competitor into the Semrush SEO Toolkit and navigate to the Organic Research >> Organic Positions report.

Apply the following filters:

  • Position: top 20
  • Volume: 100+
  • KD: 0-49
  • Word count: 4+
Finding long tail keyword opportunities in Semrush

You’ll get a set of potential long tail keyword targets that have search demand and a low level of competition.

If you still have a large list of keywords to review, increase the minimum volume filters or add an additional URL filter to focus on a specific section of your competitor’s website.

For example, you could only analyze the /legal-services folder:

Using URL filters to find high intent long tail keyword ideas

Keyword Gap analysis with Semrush

Semrush’ Keyword Gap tool makes it easy to find all the valuable keywords (both organic and paid) that one, or multiple competitors rank for, but you do not.

In Semrush:

  • Enter your root domain – e.g. robbierichards.com
  • Enter up to 5 competitor domains – e.g. http://marketingarsenal.io/
  • Click the green “Compare” button
Semrush keyword gap tool

First, you can view missing keywords to check all the keywords your competitor ranks for, but you don’t:

Missing keywords report in Semrush

Next, you can check weak keywords to see all the keywords where you rank lower than your competitor(s):

Weak keywords report in Semrush

These could be keywords that require content optimization or even a new dedicated piece of content to rank higher.

When performing keyword gap analysis inside Semrush, I’ll usually add some advanced filters to streamline the keyword set down to the most relevant opportunities that have search demand and aren’t ultra competitive. This makes the analysis faster, and helps narrow in on the most immediate opportunities.

For example, I’ll add the following filters:

  • Competitors in Top 10:
    • If I see a competitor with a comparable domain authority ranking in the top 10 positions it tells me that I also have a chance of ranking in the top 10 as long as I create quality content and any necessary backlinks.
  • Volume: 100+
    • I want to make sure there is enough search demand to warrant targeting a keyword.
  • KD: 0-29
    • I want to start with low competition keywords.
Semrush keyword gap tool filters

Similar to the previous section, you can also add keyword modifiers to trim the keyword set down further.

For example, I might also add a keyword containing “software” or “best” filter to surface the best affiliate monetization opportunities:

Advanced filters in the Keyword Gap tool

Scan down the list and add any new targets to your master keyword list.

Subfolder gap analysis with Semrush

Subfolder gap analysis is another way you can use Semrush to quickly identify high-value keyword opportunities for your business.

Let’s return to a couple of the previous working examples to illustrate.

Local business

Fellerman Law is a competitor of Dolman Law. If they wanted to quickly see all the service-related keywords that Dolman Law was ranking for, but they are not, they could analyze their /legal-services/ subfolder.

In the Semrush Keyword Gap tool:

  • Enter your root domain – e.g. https://www.fellermanlaw.com/
  • Enter your competitor’s subfolder – e.g. https://www.dolmanlaw.com/legal-services/
  • Click the green “Compare” button

Add the Position, Volume and KD filters again to first focus on the quick-win opportunities.

Scroll down and we can see 163 Missing Keywords that Dolman is ranking for in the top 10, but Fellerman is not targeting.

Semrush keyword gap analysis

Fellerman could now scan down the list and select relevant keywords to create new service pages for and start driving more qualified organic to their website.

This subfolder analysis process can be applied to any type of business.

For example:

  • Ecommerce businesses: analyze competitor /product or /category subfolders.
  • Affiliate businesses: analyze competitor /review subfolders.
  • AdSense business: analyze competitor /blog or /category subfolders to find high volume, low competition keywords that you can rank for quickly and drive loads of eyeballs to ads.

The key to this strategy is to look for the subfolders that contain keywords that align directly with your website’s monetization model.

I have created a dedicated video tutorial for this strategy here.

PPC-organic gap analysis

Semrush’ keyword gap analysis tool is unique in that it enables you to analyze paid vs organic keyword gaps.

A couple use cases include:

  • Find all the keywords that your competitors are bidding on that you are not.
  • Find all the keywords you rank for outside the top 3 positions, but are not bidding on. These are areas where you may need to provide some paid aircover.
  • Find all the keywords that your competitors are bidding on that you are not targeting as part of your organic strategy. This will highlight higher-intent keyword gaps.

Provide paid aircover

Let’s pretend Semrush wanted to provide air cover for all the keywords that they were not yet ranking inside the top 3 positions.

In the Semrush Keyword Gap tool:

  • Enter your paid root domain – e.g. https://www.semrush.com/
  • Enter your organic product subfolder – e.g. https://www.semrush.com/features/
  • Click the green “Compare” button

Next, they could add a Position and Intent filter:

Now, we can see a list of keywords that Semrush is ranking for outside the top 3 positions, and is not currently bidding on in paid search.

Semrush could scan down the list and select any high-priority keywords that they want to bid on until they rank in the top organic position.

Identify high-value keyword gaps

You can use Semrush to identify all the keywords that your competitors are bidding on that you don’t currently rank for in the organic search results. The idea here is that if a competitor is bidding on a keyword, chances are it’s going to have high-intent and the potential to drive conversions.

In the Semrush Keyword Gap tool:

  • Enter your root domain – e.g. https://www.copper.com/ – and select Organic keywords
  • Enter your competitor’s root domain – e.g. https://www.pipedrive.com/ – and select Paid keywords
  • Click the green “Compare” button

Scroll down to the Missing Keywords report and select any high-intent keywords that you are not already targeting.

Note: because paid keywords will typically have higher intent, they will usually have a higher level of competition. As a result, you might also start with a maximum KD filter to trim the opportunities down to the most realistic targets.

Generate topical keyword Ideas with the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool

Semrush’ Keyword Magic tool enables you to enter a seed term and generate thousands of new keyword ideas. Semrush claims to have the largest keyword database (24B+).

Semrush Keyword Magic Tool

However, the real power of this tool lies in the advanced filtering options.

For instance:

My blog monetizes primarily through affiliate marketing. As a result, I want to rank for keywords that people are searching for during the consideration stage of the buyer journey where they are actively evaluating different types of solutions and/or deciding between specific products.

Since I write about SEO-related topics, I would enter relevant category keywords – keyword research, link building, rank tracking, etc. – with those consideration stage modifiers.

In the Keyword Magic Tool:

  • Enter an investigational intent modifier – e.g. “best”
  • Add an Any keywords filter containing core category keywords – e.g. “keyword research, link building, ranking tracking, technical SEO, on-page seo, content optimization, seo reporting, local seo, competitor analysis, seo audit” etc.
Using modifiers in the Semrush Keyword Magic tool

This will return a list of solid consideration stage keyword opportunities. But, I wouldn’t stop there.

Next, I would look for keywords that show a user is actively comparing the products that I promote against competitors.

For example, in the Keyword Magic Tool:

  • Enter a seed term – e.g. “Semrush”
  • Add 3 comparative keyword modifiers – e.g. “alternative, competitor, vs” – and select “Any keywords” in the Include Keywords filter:
Keyword Magic Tool example

From the results, we have 584 potential keyword targets. These mid-funnel terms include “Ahrefs vs Semrush, Moz vs Semrush, Serpstat vs Semrush, SpyFu vs Semrush etc”.

I can try to rank for these keywords and showcase why Semrush might be a better solution, and subsequently drive referral traffic that converts into commissions.

Note: The Keyword Magic tool also groups keywords by Popularity and search demand:

Grouping in the Semrush Keyword Magic tool

This is an extremely handy feature if you have a large keyword set to review and aren’t sure how to streamline it with the advanced keyword filters at the top of the table. Simply review the groupings and click into the one that appears most relevant to your business.

Find question-based keyword opportunities with Semrush

You can also use the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool to generate loads of question-based keyword ideas.

In Semrush:

  • Enter a seed term – e.g. “CRM” – into the Keyword Magic Tool.
  • Then click on the Questions tab:

Scroll down the list and look for relevant product or service-related questions your ideal customer might be searching for at the top, middle and bottom of the funnel.

For example:

As I scroll down the list I can see people asking questions around like:

  • How to select a CRM system?
  • How to maintain a CRM database?

Most of these question keywords are relatively low-competition opportunities:

Tip: you can use Semrush’ Intent and Grouping filters to quickly surface the highest intent opportunities:

If you want to learn more about using Semrush to generate question-based keyword ideas, check out the video below:

Create Topical Keyword Clusters with Semrush

Note: I’ve included a video overview of the Semrush keyword cluster tool at the end of this section.

Semrush enables you to create keyword clusters from scratch, as well as cluster existing keyword lists.

Semrush Keyword Manager

To illustrate, let’s return to our personal injury lawyer example.

If I wanted to generate keyword clusters from scratch, I’d click Create List and then enter up to 5 seed keywords, along with a domain for added context:

Creating keyword clusters in Semrush

The tool returns 50 clusters containing 900 keywords.

In the table you can see:

  • Intent
  • # of keywords in each cluster
  • KD %
  • Aggregate search volume across the keyword cluster

Semrush will flag “high ranking potential” keywords. These are terms with high volume and relatively low KD percentages.

Scrolling down the list we can see some interesting results that fall outside typical top-level service pages:

Semrush keyword cluster results

Click to open a cluster and you’ll see all the keywords along with their respective search intent, KD% and search volume metrics.

Keyword cluster metrics in Semrush

Tip: It’s important to review the Content references section because you want to understand if you need to optimize an existing page for this cluster, or create a new dedicated URL.

For example:

After hovering over the URLs in the reference section I can see that the competitors are ranking with dedicated pages for the “hit and run attorney” keywords.

As a result, I’d create new sub-service landing pages to target those high-intent clusters.

You can also use Semrush to cluster an existing keyword list.

From the Keyword Manager, select the second option to create a list:

Clustering existing keyword sets in Semrush

Paste in your existing keyword set:

Entering keywords into the Semrush Cluster tool

Semrush will automatically cluster all the keywords.

Here’s what it looks like after I uploaded 214 keywords that I’m interested in targeting:

I Like How Semrush Tools Are Integrated

One of the things I really like about Semrush is that its keyword research tools are all integrated.

Once you have finished building your target keyword list in Semrush, you can select keywords and send them to the Position Tracking tool to monitor rankings or transfer them to the SEO Writing Assistant for content production and on-page analysis.

Semrush keyword research tools are integrated

These integrations make it easy to scale your content workflow and monitor performance over time, all without having to leave the platform or rely on other standalone SEO tools.

Level-Up Your Keyword Research With Semrush

You now know how to use Semrush to extract high-value keyword opportunities for any type of business.

If you haven’t done so already, remember to grab a full-access 14-day free trial of Semrush and start implementing these tactics in your business.

The post How to Use Semrush for Keyword Research (Including Template and Examples) appeared first on Robbie Richards.

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