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6 Best Ad Intelligence Software to Outsmart the Competition

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Ad intelligence software promises to show you everything your competitors are doing: their keywords, budgets, creatives, and landing pages.

But many surface insights you could get for free.

Meta’s Ad Library shows what advertisers are currently running. Google’s Transparency Center does the same for search and YouTube. TikTok’s Creative Center reveals top performers by industry.

So, when does paid software earn its cost?

  • You’re tracking multiple competitors across platforms and losing hours to manual checks
  • You need historical data on which ads they tested and killed
  • You rely on spend benchmarks and real-time alerts to catch shifts before your clients do

That’s the gap paid tools fill. If they’re good.

Many aren’t. They bury useful insights under dashboards that create more work than they save. The data looks complete until you actually try to use it.

This guide covers six platforms that deliver real intelligence (if you know what you’re looking at).

We’re not promising magic improvements. We’re showing what each tool reveals, who it’s built for, and what you give up at each price point.

What Is the Best Ad Intelligence Software?

Ad Intelligence Tools Best For Price
Similarweb Best for stalking competitors’ ads at scale — plus, their SEO, traffic, and market moves $649+/month. (Only higher-tier plans come with ad intelligence.)
Semrush Advertising Toolkit Best for multi-platform ad intelligence, from Meta and TikTok to Google Shopping $99-$220/month
SpyFu Best for affordable Google Ads intelligence with deep historical data $39-$249/month
PowerAdSpy Best for analyzing ad engagement across social media platforms $69-$399/month
Adbeat Best for tracking competitor display ads and landing pages $249+/month
Pathmatics Best for enterprise-level ad spend intelligence across mobile, social, and video Pricing is not publicly available

1. Similarweb

Best for stalking competitors’ ads at scale — plus, their SEO, traffic, and market moves

Similarweb – Homepage

Similarweb reveals your competitors’ complete paid strategies, from their winning ad creatives to their most successful publishers.

It also includes SEO and competitive intelligence tools in every subscription, so you get the full picture of how your rivals attract and convert traffic across every channel.

This cross-channel context is especially helpful if you already use native ad libraries but want scalable intel that ties everything together.

Learn Your Competitors’ Highest-Performing Publishers and Ad Networks

If your competitors are running ads, Similarweb shows you where (and how to beat them).

You’ll see:

  • Which ad networks and placements work best for your top competitors
  • Where their ad budgets go, broken down by channel
  • Industry-wide trends that reveal missed opportunities

Similarweb – The Spruce – Website Intelligence

Say Similarweb shows that multiple competitors spend over 50% of their display budgets on a single publisher.

That’s a data-backed signal you can’t ignore.

Use that data to target the same publisher to test similar placements. Or find underused publishers in the same category for more affordable traffic.

Similarweb – Huffpost – Publisher Performance

Get Inspired by Proven Ad Creatives

Similarweb’s database makes it easy to browse display ads by publisher, network, and format.

  • See the messaging and offers competitors use to get conversions
  • Learn how many days each ad was active, so you know which ones excelled (and which ones failed)
  • Find out which formats your competitors are using, including product, display, and video ads

Similarweb – Creatives

Of course, copying your competitors’ ads word-for-word isn’t the goal.

The real value is in spotting patterns: the hooks they repeat, the formats they invest in, and the offers they continually test.

These insights let you design campaigns that build on what already works in your market.

When you’re juggling multiple accounts, this saves hours of creative testing, and points you directly toward proven formats.

Reverse-Engineer Competitors’ Search and Shopping Campaigns

Similarweb shows you which keywords your competitors bid on and how much they’re spending.

This helps you identify high-value keywords that drive conversions and avoid wasting budget on terms that don’t perform.

Similarweb – Paid Keywords

From there, you can build stronger landing pages that target your competitors’ most successful keywords and match intent.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Tracks 500M+ ads across publishers, networks, and formats for deep competitive insights Ad intelligence tools only available with the most expensive plan
Uncovers competitors’ top-performing publishers and ad placements Can feel overwhelming for smaller teams due to the platform’s depth
Includes SEO, traffic, and market data for a full competitive picture If you only want ad intelligence, you’ll be paying for much more than you need

Pricing

Similarweb – Pricing

Similarweb offers multiple plans, but only the most expensive one includes dedicated tools for ad intelligence.

This plan costs $649/month ($540 billed annually). Similarweb also offers business and enterprise plans, but pricing and tools are not publicly available online.

Further reading: How to Use Similarweb for SEO and Content Marketing

2. Semrush Advertising Toolkit

Best for multi-platform ad intelligence, from Meta and TikTok to Google Shopping

Semrush – Advertising Research – Ebay – Positions

When you’re managing multiple clients or campaigns, switching between Meta, TikTok, and Google dashboards gets messy fast.

Semrush’s Advertising Toolkit consolidates that chaos into one workspace — letting you analyze competitor campaigns and build your own in the same place.

You’ll get deep intel on keywords, budgets, ad copy, and creative trends.

Plus, actionable advice on how to turn that data into high-performing campaigns.

Track Competitor Keywords and Budgets

The Advertising Research tool reveals everything, and we mean everything, about your competitors’ Google Ads strategies.

Enter any domain and you’ll see:

  • Estimated ad traffic
  • Cost per click (CPC)
  • Highest- and lowest-performing keywords
  • Organic search position
  • Keyword difficulty
  • URL

No more wasting ad budget on terms that don’t perform. You’ll know exactly which ones to target in your next campaign.

Semrush – Advertising Research – Ebay – Position Changes

The tool also tracks keyword trends over time.

See which keywords competitors continuously invest in month after month.

When a keyword consistently appears in their paid strategy with stable or growing volume, that’s a clear sign it’s profitable.

Semrush – Advertising Research – Ebay – Paid Search Trends – Keywords

With this data, you might test variations of the keyword in multiple ads to capitalize on its success.

Or use them to inform your broader content strategy beyond paid campaigns.

Spy on Google Shopping Ads

Have an ecommerce brand?

The PLA Research tool shows you which products your competitors promote most heavily in Google Shopping.

You’ll see position, volume, price, product titles, URLs, and trend data for each listing.

When a product shows up month after month, it’s likely a top seller.

Semrush – PLA Research – Ebay – PLA Positions

If you don’t carry that product yet, you might consider adding it to your catalog.

Already sell it? Increase your Shopping ads to compete directly.

You can also view all of your competitors’ Google Shopping ads in one place.

Semrush – PLA Research – Ebay – PLA Copies

Analyze their copy, images, and offers.

Then, apply these insights to your own listings:

  • Adjust your product titles to match high-performing formats
  • Test pricing strategies that undercut or match theirs
  • Prioritize ads for products where you have a competitive advantage. Think better reviews, faster shipping, or exclusive features they don’t offer.

Here’s another cool feature:

Instead of bouncing between tools, Semrush’s AI-powered Ad Launch Assistant lets you create and optimize Google and Meta ads directly inside the platform.

Semrush's AI powered Ad launch assistant

The tool generates copy and visuals tailored to your brand, from attention-grabbing headlines to conversion-focused descriptions.

Instead of writing everything from scratch, all you have to do is review each element:

  • Headlines
  • Descriptions
  • Site links
  • Callouts
  • Images
  • Videos

Simply refine the voice and messaging as needed. You’ll be able to test multiple variations in minutes instead of hours.

Unlock Deeper Insights with AdClarity

AdClarity is Semrush’s advanced cross-channel ad intelligence tool.

Need complete visibility into competitor display, social, and video campaigns?

This is where you’ll find it.

Semrush – AdClarity

You’ll get a lot of data with this tool.

Including how much rivals spend, which publishers drive the most impact, and the exact creatives they’re using across platforms:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • X
  • Google Display
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn

Say a competitor suddenly doubles their TikTok spend. You’ll spot the shift immediately and can adjust your strategy in real time.

Semrush – AdClarity – Advertising Intelligence

AdClarity also automatically identifies your competitors’ top publishers and campaigns.

So there’s no guessing or testing which ones work well for your target audience.

Semrush – AdClarity – Top Publishers

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Combines robust multi-site ad intelligence with Meta and Google campaign execution in one platform The base plan includes only Google and Meta ad intelligence
Google Shopping insights are especially strong for ecommerce brands AdClarity is only included the higher-tier plan
AdClarity offers advanced ad intelligence across display, social, and video Doesn’t include SEO tools; you’ll need a separate toolkit for that

Pricing

Semrush – Advertising Toolkit – Pricing

The Semrush Advertising Toolkit is $99 per month.

It includes Advertising Research, PLA Research, Ads Launch Assistant, and more.

The higher-tier plan ($220/month) includes AdClarity, along with all of the above.

3. SpyFu

Best for affordable Google Ads intelligence with deep historical data

SpyFu – Homepage

SpyFu is built for one thing: uncovering Google Ads strategies.

If your strategy leans heavily on Google, it’s one of the most detailed and budget-friendly advertising intelligence software options available.

Download Competitor Keywords Without Limits

SpyFu shows you everything your competitors do on Google Ads — and lets you export it all with no limits.

Many ad intelligence platforms cap your keyword downloads, so this is a plus.

Type in any competitor’s domain and you’ll see:

  • Every keyword they’ve ever bought on Google Ads
  • Estimated monthly clicks and CPC
  • Total spend on paid search

SpyFu – Monthly PPC Overview

For example, say you’re in SaaS project management and Asana is your top competitor.

Search their domain, and SpyFu shows you their current and historical ad keywords. We’re talking thousands of terms, not just the top 50 or 100.

Download the complete dataset and…

  • Feed it into your analytics tools or Google Sheets
  • Share it with your team for campaign planning
  • Build custom reports for leadership
  • Cross-reference it with your CRM to see which keywords actually convert

SpyFu – Asana – Most Successful Paid Keywords

Spot Overlaps and Waste in PPC Strategies

SpyFu’s Kombat tool compares your PPC strategy against up to two competitors at once.

But instead of having to sift through 10,000 keywords, the ad intelligence tool automatically groups them into helpful buckets:

  • Core Keywords: Terms all competitors are bidding on
  • Consider Buying: Valuable keywords they use, but you don’t
  • Potential Ad Waste: Terms that neither competitor uses but you do

SpyFu – Asana – Kombat tool

So, you know exactly which terms to focus on (and which to remove from your campaigns).

This is especially helpful if you’re newer to paid campaigns.

Or have limited time (or tolerance) for turning data into actionable insights.

SpyFu also tags certain terms as “Great Buys” and estimates how many impressions you’ll get for each one.

Plus, it shows which competitors already bid on them, so you can piggyback on proven opportunities.

SpyFu – Asana – PPC Overview

For example, the report below reveals that Asana’s competitor, Monday.com, uses “top task management apps” and “work time tracker app” in its ad strategy.

Asana could (and probably should) target both terms since SpyFu’s data shows they’re worth the investment.

SpyFu – Asana – Top Google Ads Buy Recommendations

Learn From Ads That Worked (or Failed)

SpyFu’s Ad History tool shows every ad variation competitors have tested for a given keyword.

If an ad copy ran for 14 consecutive months, you know it was effective.

If it vanished after a week? Probably a dud.

This kind of insight lets you write ads with fewer flops and faster wins.

This is especially valuable if you handle multiple accounts. You can skip obvious mistakes and start from proven winners.

SpyFu – Asana – Ad History

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Unlimited keyword exports with no download caps Focused exclusively on Google Ads; no social or display coverage
10+ years of historical ad data for deep competitive analysis Historical data (10+ years) requires paying for higher-tier plans
Kombat tool automatically identifies keyword overlaps and wasted spend The base plan doesn’t come with unlimited downloads

Pricing

SpyFu – Pricing

SpyFu offers three main plans, all of which come with ad intelligence and SEO reports.

The most affordable plan is $39 per month.

However, you’ll need to upgrade to a higher tier to get 10+ years of historical insights ($59-$249/month).

Further reading: SpyFu Guide: How to Get the Most Out of This SEO Tool

4. PowerAdSpy

Best for analyzing ad engagement across social media platforms

PowerAdSpy – Homepage

PowerAdSpy specializes in social advertising intelligence with one key differentiator: engagement data that shows what’s actually resonating.

You’ll see which competitor social ads are getting likes, shares, and comments across 11 platforms:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Google
  • Google Display Network
  • Native
  • Quora
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok

If you need to understand which creatives are worth replicating at scale, PowerAdSpy is a strong option.

Search Ads by Keyword, Competitor, or Domain

Want to know which competitor ads crush it on Instagram Reels?

Or which offers rivals push hardest on YouTube or TikTok?

Plug in a keyword, competitor’s name, or domain, and you’ll instantly see all of their active and historical campaigns.

That single search can replace hours of platform hopping between ad libraries.

PowerAdSpy – Domain, Advertiser, Keyword – Filter

Reveal What’s Actually Driving Engagement

Every ad includes engagement data specific to the platform you’re analyzing.

Assessing competitors’ or clients’ Facebook ads? Sort by likes, comments, impressions, and popularity.

PowerAdSpy – Likes, Shares – Filter

You can also filter by ad type and call to action, depending on the platform.

This is especially useful for spotting:

  • Whether video or static images dominate your niche
  • Which CTAs (“Learn More” vs. “Sign Up”) consistently get clicks
  • What ad hooks (“Free trial” vs. “Save 50%”) keep resurfacing across competitors

PowerAdSpy – Call to action – Filter

See How Competitors Win Attention on Reddit and Quora

PowerAdSpy tracks sponsored posts on Reddit and Quora.

These platforms matter because buying decisions often start there.

Conversations on these sites can also influence how LLMs (such as ChatGPT and Perplexity) surface your brand in answers.

PowerAdSpy – Ad Spy Tool – Quora

By analyzing these ads, you’ll see:

  • Which threads your competitors target (like “best project management software” on r/productivity)
  • How they position offers in Q&A format
  • Which ads earn upvotes, shares, and comments

PowerAdSpy – Filter with Likes

See what competitors are saying and which conversations are shaping buyer intent.

Spot content angles that consistently earn engagement. Identify threads or audiences they’re overlooking.

Another helpful feature?

Search by topic, like “games,” to find the competitors dominating that ad niche.

PowerAdSpy – Likes sort by filter

Include a custom “like” range so you narrow results to the level of popularity you prefer.

Then, zero in on the highest-performing ads and gather details such as ad copy and social engagement to improve your campaigns.

PowerAdSpy – Reddit ad spy tool

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Large, frequently updated database of social ads across 10+ major platforms Mainly focused on social media; lacks advanced search or display ad data
Engagement metrics (likes, shares, comments) reveal which creatives actually resonate Advanced filtering options are locked behind higher plans
Powerful filters for ad type, placement, geography, and CTA performance Only the highest-tier plan includes insights from all 11 platforms

Pricing

PowerAdSpy – Pricing

PowerAdSpy has six different plans.

The one you choose depends on the social platforms you want to analyze, and the features you need.

Only need Facebook, Instagram, Google, and YouTube?

(And don’t mind missing out on features like ad budget, ad type filter, and advanced analytics?)

The most affordable plan ($69/month) might work for you.

Need all the features and platforms? You’ll pay $399 per month.

5. Adbeat

Best for tracking competitor display ads and landing pages

Adbeat – Homepage

Adbeat specializes in display, native, and programmatic advertising.

But it goes beyond ad creatives.

You’ll also see landing page insights, so you get intel on the complete customer journey.

See Which Landing Pages Are Actually Converting

Adbeat shows you which landing pages drive the most ad traffic. And how long each page has been live.

For example, Squarespace’s longest-running landing page has been active for 794 days.

That’s over two years.

Adbeat – Squarespace – Advertiser profile

When a page stays live that long, you know it’s consistently converting.

This intel helps you see which page layouts, offers, and messaging are worth replicating.

If you work for an agency and have multiple clients, this is particularly valuable. It’s a fast way to benchmark what “good” looks like in each vertical.

Reveal Media Buying Strategies and Publisher Insights

The Advertiser Dashboard breaks down where competitors allocate their budgets across channels, networks, and publishers.

You’ll also see share-of-voice data to understand their market presence.

For example, Adbeat found that Squarespace ran 524 ads in one month.

Adbeat – Squarespace – Monthly Ads

And 78% of their spend went to programmatic ads.

Details like this highlight which channels matter most in your niche. And where you can reallocate budget to get better performance for your own campaigns.

Adbeat – Squarespace – Ad Channels breakdown

Benchmark Campaign Performance and Spot Trends

Adbeat’s ad intelligence software lets you monitor how your competitors’ budgets shift over time.

But what’s especially helpful is that they break it down by ad type: standard, native, and video.

For example, Squarespace’s longest-running video ad has been live for 413 days.

Adbeat – Squarespace – Video Ads

If they’ve kept it running that long, it’s a moneymaker.

In other words, it’s worth considering if you’re investing enough in video ads. And studying individual high performers for hooks, visuals, and offers.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Lets you analyze ads and landing pages together for complete funnel insights Limited coverage of search and social campaigns
Reveals media spend, publisher performance, and traffic sources Pricing is higher than ad-creative-only tools
Great for agencies, affiliate marketers, and display-heavy advertisers Enterprise pricing is not publicly available

Pricing

Adbeat – Pricing

Adbeat’s pricing starts at $249 per month for display, programmatic, and native ad intelligence.

For advanced filters, alerts, and historical data, you’ll need the higher plan ($399 per month).

There’s also an enterprise plan, but pricing isn’t listed publicly.

6. Pathmatics by Sensor Tower

Best for enterprise-level ad spend intelligence across mobile, social, and video

SensorTower – Pathmatics

Pathmatics is built for large teams and big brands.

Household names like P&G and Unilever use this platform, so expect enterprise-level pricing and complexity.

But if you’re managing high-volume spend or reporting to leadership, it offers the transparency and benchmarking you can’t get from native tools.

Uncover Competitors’ Ad Spend Across Every Channel

Pathmatics shows you where every ad dollar goes in a pretty granular way.

It breaks down spend by platform, campaign, or creative — and tracks impressions, reach, and frequency over time.

Pathmatics – Gain Visibility

Say you notice a competitor’s Instagram spend suddenly increased by a significant amount in a single week during Q4.

That signals a major campaign launch — possibly holiday shopping or Black Friday prep.

With this data, you can adjust your strategy immediately. And compete head-to-head with your main competitors.

Pathmatics also lets you benchmark your ad spend against multiple competitors at once.

If you’re investing $500K on display while your top three competitors each spend $2M+, you’ll see that gap.

Pathmatics – Identify seasonal advertising trend

Use this data to justify budget increases to leadership.

Or to identify where smaller reallocations could close the gap faster.

Benchmark Market Share and Share of Voice

Pathmatics tracks your share of voice against competitors in your industry and region.

If three brands dominate 80% of impressions in your category, you’ll see who owns what percentage.

This data helps you understand your position in the market.

Are you a distant fourth? Or neck-and-neck with the leader?

Pathmatics – Benchmark Market Share

You can also identify which competitors dominate specific channels and spot opportunities where they’re underinvesting.

If the market leader owns Facebook but ignores TikTok, that’s your opening.

Evaluate Creatives That Resonate

Every ad includes details like format, placement, messaging, CTAs, and audience profiles.

See which creatives competitors keep running and which ones they kill after a few days.

Track the exact messaging and offers that stick around for months or years.

Pathmatics – Analyze Top Creatives

Use these insights to refine your own creative strategy.

Double down on formats that consistently deliver, and try localized messaging in new markets where your competitors are seeing success.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
Provides cross-channel visibility across social, display, mobile, video, and OTT Pricing is custom and can be expensive for smaller teams and startups
Combines creative data with detailed spend, reach, and audience insights Steeper learning curve due to platform depth and data complexity
Ideal for enterprise-level teams, app publishers, and multi-channel marketers Some users report data accuracy issues

Pricing

Pathmatics – Pricing

Pathmatics’ pricing is custom.

Request a quote if you’re interested.

Turn Competitive Intel into Campaign Wins

The right ad intelligence software isn’t the one with the most features.

It’s the one you can trust.

This means reliable data, less manual work, and the ability to scale campaigns across platforms with ease.

On a budget and focused mainly on Google Ads? Start with SpyFu.

Need deep, multi-site advertising intelligence across search and social with campaign execution built in?

Go for Semrush’s Advertising Toolkit.

Once you’ve picked your platform and gathered competitive intel, the next step is making sure your paid and organic strategies work together.

Learn how to align SEO and PPC to maximize visibility, reduce wasted spend, and improve your ROI.

The post 6 Best Ad Intelligence Software to Outsmart the Competition appeared first on Backlinko.

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October 2025 Digital Marketing Roundup: What Changed and What You Should Do About It

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October showed just how fast AI is reshaping how brands connect, convert, and stay visible. OpenAI turned chats into checkout experiences. Google tested AI-written snippets and agent-driven search. The line between platforms, ads, and transactions keeps disappearing.

Creators gained new credibility. Rebrands proved riskier than ever. Data-driven PR entered a new era.

Here’s what mattered most and how to stay ahead.

Key Takeaways

  • • AI is officially a channel, not a tool. Search, shopping, and PR are all happening inside AI environments now.
  • • Authenticity outperforms aspiration. Whether you’re selling luxury goods or refreshing your brand, identity, and connection drive growth.
  • • Visibility depends on AI citations and structure. The brands getting mentioned in AI results are building more trust and traffic everywhere.
  • • Automation is powerful, but it still needs control. As Google’s AI Max expands, you need to balance efficiency with oversight to protect budgets and brand safety.
  • • Every brand action is a public statement. From rebrands to creator partnerships, perception moves fast. Plan your narratives or risk losing control of them.

Search & AI Evolution 

Search has moved beyond discovery. October’s updates from OpenAI and Google show how AI is collapsing the gap between queries and actions. Visibility means something different now.

OpenAI launches in-chat purchases

OpenAI rolled out Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. U.S. users can now buy products directly inside the chat. Powered by Stripe, the feature starts with Etsy listings and will expand to more merchants soon. Sellers on Shopify are auto-enrolled. Others can join by connecting product feeds and enabling Stripe checkout.

An ad in ChatGPT.

Our POV: ChatGPT shopping changes product discovery completely. If your product data isn’t complete, detailed, and conversational, you won’t show up. The most visible listings will have rich attributes and language that reflects how users naturally describe what they want.

What to do next: Audit your product feeds. Fill every field. Use detailed, long-form descriptions that anticipate real-world queries. Give the e-commerce agent what it needs to surface your products.

<h3> Google tests AI-written meta descriptions <h3>

Google began testing AI-generated snippets powered by Gemini. Instead of pulling your written meta description, the model writes or summarizes one based on on-page content.

Our POV: Google’s been rewriting descriptions for years. AI just made it smarter and less predictable. Treat your page intros as the new meta description because that’s what AI will pull from.

What to do next: Front-load the first 150 words of each key page with a clear summary of what the page delivers and why it matters. Tighten headings and intros, monitor CTR shifts, and adjust language when AI summaries drift from your brand’s tone.

<h3> Google Search Labs adds Agentic AI <h3>

Google’s AI Mode now lets users book restaurants and other services directly from results. Search is moving from recommending to acting.

Our POV: This isn’t a traffic killer. But signals are shifting. AI will handle the click path. The brands that win will have structured, verified, action-ready data.

What to do next: Audit structured data, integrate local feeds, and make sure your listings are up to date across booking platforms. When the search agent starts acting on your behalf, data hygiene becomes your conversion strategy.

Paid Media & Automation

AI is taking over ad delivery. Control is the new currency. You have to balance efficiency with visibility to keep performance from becoming unpredictable.

Google doubles down on AI Max

Google refreshed its AI Max ad pitch. The system is fully automated: it matches intent, rewrites copy, and routes users to brand assets. Powerful, but still a black box.

Google AI Max.

Our POV: Automation doesn’t replace strategy. Advertisers need visibility, not just results. Without strict guardrails, budgets can leak into low-value placements or off-brand creative.

What to do next: Run low-risk tests first. Add negative keyword lists, set URL exclusions, and manually review creative. Monitor performance closely until you can prove control before scaling.

Apple launches dedicated Games app

Apple introduced a standalone Games app with iOS 26, bridging Game Center and the App Store. Developers can now feature their games, run dual search visibility, and analyze engagement with new metrics later this year.

Apple's Games app.

Our POV: This isn’t a small tweak, Apple’s essentially building a second storefront. Game publishers who adapt early will own discoverability.

What to do next: Refresh creatives, optimize In-App Events, and plan for dual indexing between the Games app and App Store. When analytics arrive, use them to refine ASO and campaign timing.

Social & Content Trends

Creators and consumers are rewriting the rules. Authenticity, identity, and emotional connection drive engagement across platforms that once ran on aspiration and polish.

TikTok reframes luxury branding

TikTok’s new research shows luxury audiences care more about self-expression than status. It’s about showing who you are, not showing off.

TikTok's 4 Ls of Luxury concept.

Our POV: That shift goes way beyond luxury. Audiences in every category now expect brands to reflect their identity. Connection beats aspiration. Authenticity beats polish.

What to do next: Reevaluate your brand’s emotional identity. Work with creators who reinterpret your message through their lens. Build content that feels participatory, not performative.

UK YouTubers contribute £2.2B to the economy

YouTube creators generated £2.2 billion for the UK economy last year, supporting over 45,000 jobs. Parliament even launched a cross-party group to represent them.

Our POV: Creators aren’t influencers anymore. They’re small businesses with real economic weight. Partnering with them means investing in industries, not individuals.

What to do next: Build collaborations that help creators grow beyond campaigns. Shared education, joint products, or community-driven initiatives create deeper, longer-term value.

PR, Reputation & Brand Risk

Reputation management has become real-time and AI-measurable. From LLM citation tracking to brand backlash, every communication choice now echoes faster and louder.

Notified + Profound launch AI-driven PR monitoring

A first-of-its-kind industry partnership between these two companies now offers a tool that tracks how often press releases are cited by LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini. It finally gives brands visibility into their “AI footprint.”

Our POV: PR just gained a measurable seat in AI discoverability. Knowing when AI cites your releases helps you shape future narratives.

What to do next: Integrate AI citation metrics into your analytics stack. Identify which stories get surfaced and refine future language to match the tone that earns citations.

Rebrands are riskier than ever

Cracker Barrel’s attempted rebrand backfired almost instantly. Modest design updates triggered outrage and political backlash—proof that brand refreshes now carry reputational stakes.

Our POV: Rebrands still matter, but they demand foresight. A design tweak is a message, whether you mean it or not.

What to do next: Before launching a new look, test reactions across audience segments and scenario-plan your communication strategy. Shape the story before the internet does.

Olivia Brown automates PR outreach

A new AI platform called Olivia Brown is automating nearly every part of digital PR, from writing press releases to pitching journalists and sending aggressive follow-ups. It promises to “democratize publicity,” but its bulk-send approach is flooding inboxes and straining relationships between brands and reporters who value relevance and trust.

The Olivia Brown interface.

Our POV: Rebrands still matter, but they demand foresight. A design tweak is a message, whether you mean it or not.

What to do next: Before launching a new look, test reactions across audience segments and scenario-plan your communication strategy. Shape the story before the internet does.

SEO 2.0: The New Search Game

Traditional rankings are giving way to AI visibility. The brands that master structure, credibility, and omnichannel authority are the ones AI systems will learn to trust and users will keep choosing.

Rankings + AI Citations

Traditional SEO metrics can’t capture how visible you are inside AI systems. NP Digital’s SEO 2.0 approach tracks AI citations alongside rankings to see how content performs in generative search.

Our POV: Rankings aren’t the endgame anymore. Visibility inside AI summaries is. The brands that get cited are the ones shaping what users read next.

What to do next: Create original, data-backed content that builds authority across multiple platforms: YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, and forums. These are the signals AI models use to decide who to trust.

<America’s favorite new query: “Is it good or bad?”

SEMrush found that U.S. users are now searching in binary terms. Tens of millions of queries every month ask if something is “good” or “bad.”

A graphic showing the main topics behind "Good/Bad" searches from SEMrush.

Source

Our POV: AI Overviews have trained users to expect clear answers. If your content hedges or buries the lead, you’ll lose clicks and credibility.

What to do next: Structure pages for speed and certainty. Use FAQ blocks, schema markup, and straightforward intros that deliver the verdict early. This is how you earn trust in zero-click environments.

Conclusion

AI is rewriting the rules of visibility, discovery, and trust. Success no longer depends on who publishes most. It depends on who provides the clearest data, most credible voice, and strongest structure. The brands investing in AI-ready content, authentic storytelling, and measurable strategy will own the next wave of search, social, and PR.

Need help applying these insights? Talk to the NP Digital team. We’re already helping brands adapt as things develop.

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Google expands image search ads with mobile carousel format

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Google rolled out AI-powered ad carousels in the Images tab on mobile, now appearing across all categories — not just shopping-related ones.

Why we care. Ads are now showing directly within image search results, giving brands a new, highly visual placement to grab attention where users are actively browsing and comparing visuals. With users often browsing images to explore ideas or compare options, these AI-powered carousels give brands a chance to influence discovery earlier in the journey.

The details:

  • The new format features horizontally scrollable carousels with images, headlines, and links.
  • These carousels are powered by AI-driven ad matching, pulling in visuals relevant to the user’s query — even in non-commerce categories like law or insurance.
  • The feature was first spotted by ADSQUIRE founder Anthony Higman, who shared screenshots of the new layout on X.

The big picture. By integrating ads more seamlessly into visual search, Google is blurring the line between organic and paid discovery a continued shift toward immersive, image-based ad experiences that go beyond traditional text and product listings.

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Google tightens rules on fraud-linked phone numbers in ads

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Google Ads tactics to drop

Google Ads is updating its Destination requirements policy to block phone numbers tied to fraud or prior policy violations, part of the company’s ongoing effort to curb deceptive advertising practices.

The timeline:

  • Policy update effective: December 10, 2025
  • Enforcement ramp-up: Over roughly 8 weeks after rollout

What’s changing. Phone numbers flagged as fraudulent or with a history of violations will now be deemed unacceptable under the Destination requirements policy, leading to ad disapprovals.

Why we care. The change targets bad actors who use legitimate-looking phone numbers to mislead users or bypass enforcement, a recurring issue in sectors like tech support scams and lead generation. It’s a reminder to audit contact information across campaigns and ensure all numbers are verified and legitimate. Failing to do so could disrupt ad delivery, delay approvals, and hurt campaign performance during the enforcement rollout.

For advertisers. Those impacted will receive disapproval notices and can refer to Google’s help center for guidance on fixing disapproved ads or assets.

First seen. This update was shared by ADSQUIRE founder, Anthony Higman on X.

Between the lines. Google continues tightening ad verification and destination standards amid growing scrutiny over scams and consumer trust — showing that accountability for ad content now extends beyond just the landing page.

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Home Services Digital Marketing Strategies

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Over 2.5 million home services businesses operate in the U.S., from HVAC companies and plumbers to pest control specialists and landscapers. Most compete within a 10-15 mile radius, fighting for the same local customers.

Here’s the problem: your potential customers need help right now. A burst pipe. A broken AC in July. A wasp nest over the front door. They’re Googling “emergency plumber near me,” asking ChatGPT for recommendations, or searching through Google’s AI Overviews for “same-day HVAC repair.” They’re calling the first business that looks trustworthy.

If you don’t show up in those searches, either traditional Google results or AI-generated answers, with strong reviews and clear contact info, you’ve already lost the job.

Home services marketing gets you in front of customers at the exact moment they need you, across every platform they’re using. This guide breaks down the specific tactics that work for local service businesses.

Key Takeaways

  • Home services marketing drives visibility when customers search during emergencies or urgent needs in your local area.
  • Reviews and your Google Business Profile directly impact whether customers call you or scroll to the next listing.
  • Effective home services marketing combines local SEO, paid search for high-intent keywords, and reputation management.
  • Mobile-optimized websites with click-to-call functionality are critical since most home services searches happen on phones.
  • AI search tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews now influence how customers find local service providers.
  • Tracking call volume, form submissions, and cost per lead helps you invest in what actually brings customers through the door.

Why Do Home Services Businesses Need Marketing?

Referrals and repeat customers built your business. But what happens when your best referral source retires? Or when a new competitor opens two miles away and starts undercutting your prices?

Marketing creates a predictable lead pipeline that doesn’t depend on word-of-mouth alone.

Here’s what effective marketing does for home services businesses:

  • Generates leads during slow seasons. HVAC companies can’t survive on summer AC calls alone. Marketing keeps your calendar full with maintenance appointments, system upgrades, and off-season work.
  • Captures customers before they call your competitor. When someone searches “24-hour electrician,” three businesses appear in Google’s map pack. Marketing gets you in that top three instead of buried on page two.
    • Look at the example below. These three electricians dominate the local map pack for emergency searches. Notice how each has over 100 reviews, clear phone numbers, and “Open 24 hours” indicators. The businesses below this fold get far fewer calls.
Google results for "24 hour electrician Phoenix."
  • Builds pricing power through reputation. When you have 200+ five-star reviews and your competitor has 15, customers stop shopping on price alone. They’ll pay more for the business that looks trustworthy and established.
  • Lets you choose your customers. Good marketing attracts the right jobs at the right price points. You’re not just taking whatever walks through the door.

Without marketing, you’re reacting. With it, you’re in control of your growth.

What Makes Home Services Marketing Unique?

Home services marketing operates differently than retail, ecommerce, or B2B software. You’re selling an in-person service that requires customers to let strangers into their homes, often during stressful situations.

That creates three unique challenges:

Hyper-local competition. You’re not competing nationally. You’re fighting for visibility against 15-30 other plumbers, electricians, or HVAC companies within a 10-mile radius. Your customer in Austin doesn’t care about the best roofer in Dallas.

Trust is the primary buying factor. Customers research your business before opening their door. They check if you’re licensed, read what other homeowners say about you, and look for proof you won’t rip them off or do shoddy work.

Look below for an example of what customers see when researching a home services business. This HVAC company’s Google Business Profile displays detailed reviews mentioning specific technicians and response times. These trust signals matter more than flashy branding.

A Google Business Profile from an HVAC company.

Speed matters more than polish. Most home services searches are urgent. Customers need someone today, not next week. They’ll call the first business that answers the phone and can schedule them quickly. A beautiful website means nothing if your contact info is buried or your phone goes to voicemail.

This means your marketing needs to prioritize:

  • Mobile-first design since 70% of home services searches happen on phones.
  • Click-to-call buttons on every page, above the fold.
  • Service area pages for each city or neighborhood you cover.
  • Real customer photos showing your team, trucks, and completed work.
  • Fast page load times because impatient customers bounce quickly.

Digital Marketing Strategies For Home Services

Winning in local home services marketing requires a mix of visibility tactics and trust-building. You need customers to find you when they search, trust you enough to call, and remember you for future jobs.

The strategies below work specifically for home services businesses. Each section covers what the tactic does, why it matters for local service companies, and how to implement it without wasting money on tactics built for other industries.

Home Services LLM Marketing

Large Language Model (LLM) marketing optimizes your content to appear in AI-generated search results from tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews.

When someone asks ChatGPT “Who’s the best emergency plumber in Austin?” or uses AI Overviews to search “how to choose an HVAC company,” you want your business cited in those responses.

How to optimize for LLMs:

Answer specific questions clearly. Create content that directly answers common home services questions: “How much does furnace replacement cost in Chicago?” or “What causes low water pressure?” AI tools favor content that gets straight to the answer in the first paragraph.

Use structured data markup. Add schema markup (LocalBusiness, FAQPage, HowTo) to help AI understand your services, location, and expertise. This increases your chances of being cited as a source.

Build authority with detailed guides. Publish comprehensive resources like “Complete Guide to Emergency Plumbing Repairs” or “HVAC Maintenance Checklist for Homeowners.” AI models pull from authoritative, in-depth content when generating recommendations.

Check out this Google’s AI Overview for landscaping companies near Seattle. These businesses earned placement by creating structured, authoritative content that AI can parse and reference.

An AI Overview for landscaping companies near Seattle.

Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile. AI tools often reference Google’s local business data when making recommendations for service providers.

Home Services Content Marketing

Content marketing for home services means creating blog posts, videos, and guides that answer customer questions, build trust, and improve your local SEO rankings.

Customers research before calling. They want to know what the job costs, how long it takes, and whether they can trust you. Content answers those questions and positions you as the expert.

What works for home services:

Location-specific service pages. Create dedicated local landing pages for each service in each city you cover: “Emergency Plumbing in Austin, TX” or “AC Repair in Round Rock.” Include local details like average response times, areas served, and city-specific regulations.

Educational blog posts targeting search queries. Answer questions customers actually ask: “How do I know if my water heater needs replacing?” or “Why is my AC blowing warm air?” These posts drive organic traffic and demonstrate expertise.

Video content showing your work. Film your technicians diagnosing problems, completing repairs, or explaining maintenance tips. Video builds trust faster than text. The River Pools YouTube channel is a good example, showing repair tutorials and walkthroughs..

The River Pools YouTube channel.

FAQs on every service page. Add 3-5 frequently asked questions at the bottom of each service page. This helps with SEO and reduces pre-call questions.

Paid Media for Home Services

Paid search (PPC) puts your business at the top of Google instantly, above the map pack and organic results. For urgent home services searches, paid ads capture customers who need help now and will call the first number they see.

Home services keywords are expensive. “Emergency plumber” or “AC repair near me” can cost $15-$75 per click in competitive markets. That’s why your campaigns need tight targeting and strong conversion tracking.

Here are some best practices for home services PPC:

Target hyper-local, high-intent keywords. Bid on “emergency electrician in [neighborhood]” or “same-day HVAC repair [city].” Skip broad terms like “plumbing tips” that attract researchers, not buyers.

Use call extensions and location extensions. Make your phone number and address visible in every ad. Most home services customers call directly rather than visiting your website first.

Run call-only campaigns for mobile. Over 70% of home services searches happen on phones. Call-only ads display just your phone number and business info with a tap-to-call button.

In the paid ads for “emergency plumber NYC,” you can see book buttons, star ratings, and location info. Notice how these ads dominate the top of results before any organic listings appear.

Sponsored listings for "Emergency Plumber NYC."

Track phone calls, not just clicks. Use call tracking software like CallRail to measure which keywords drive actual phone inquiries and booked jobs.

Home Services SEO

SEO (search engine optimization) helps your business rank organically in Google without paying for every click. For home services, local SEO drives the most valuable traffic because customers search for providers in their immediate area.

Local SEO focuses on appearing in the map pack (the top three businesses with pins) and ranking for city-specific keywords. Getting into that map pack means more calls.

How to optimize local SEO for home services: 

Optimize your Google Business Profile completely. Fill out every section: business description, service areas, hours, attributes (veteran-owned, emergency services, etc.), and upload at least 10 photos. Add posts weekly to stay active.

Create dedicated pages for each service and location. If you serve five cities, create five separate pages for “AC Repair in [City].” Include local landmarks, neighborhoods, and zip codes in your content.

Build local citations. Get your business listed on Yelp, Angi, BBB, Chamber of Commerce, and industry directories. Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across all sites signals legitimacy to Google.

The example below shows a location-specific service page optimized for local SEO. Notice how the plumbing company includes the city name in the H1, mentions specific neighborhoods served, references local weather patterns, and includes a map showing their service area.

A location-specific page for a plumbing company.

Optimize for mobile speed. Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights and fix any issues slowing load times. Slow sites lose impatient mobile customers.

Social Media For Home Services

Social media for home services builds local recognition and trust. You’re not trying to go viral. You’re staying visible so customers think of you first when their water heater breaks or their AC stops working.

Focus on Facebook and Instagram for residential customers, and add YouTube for educational content. LinkedIn works if you target commercial property managers or businesses.

What works for home services social media:

Post before-and-after photos of completed jobs. Show the clogged drain versus the clean pipe. The old HVAC unit versus the new installation. Visual proof builds credibility and gives customers confidence in your work quality.

Share customer testimonials and video reviews. Ask satisfied customers to record a 30-second video explaining their experience. Video testimonials feel more authentic than text reviews and perform better on social platforms.

Show your team and trucks in action. Post photos of your technicians arriving at jobs, working on repairs, or attending training. This humanizes your business and helps customers recognize your branded vehicles in their neighborhood.

The example below shows a foundation repair company’s Instagram feed with informational content, team photos, and customer shoutouts. 

A foundation repair company's Instagram page.

Engage with local community content. Share local events, sponsor youth sports teams, or highlight neighborhood news. This positions you as a community business, not just a service provider.

Post 3-4 times per week minimum. Consistency matters more than perfection.

Email Marketing For Home Services

Most home services businesses ignore email marketing, which leaves money on the table. Email keeps you connected with past customers and turns one-time jobs into repeat business.

Home services have natural repeat cycles. HVAC systems need annual maintenance. Gutters need cleaning twice a year. Pest control requires quarterly treatments. Email reminds customers to book before they call someone else.

How to use email for home services:

Send seasonal maintenance reminders. Email past customers in April about AC tune-ups before summer heat. In October, remind them about furnace inspections before winter. These emails generate easy repeat bookings.

Automate post-job follow-ups. Three days after completing a job, send an automated email asking for a review with direct links to your Google Business Profile. Follow up 30 days later with maintenance tips or related service offers.

Share monthly tips in newsletters. Send seasonal advice like “How to prevent frozen pipes” or “Signs your water heater is failing.” Educational emails keep you top-of-mind without being pushy.

The screenshot below shows a house cleaning company’s new stripping and waxing service seasonal email reminding customers to book spring maintenance. Notice the clear call-to-action button, features, and service photos.

A seasonal email from a house cleaning company.

Win back inactive customers. Email customers who haven’t booked in 12+ months with a special offer.

Home Services Reputation Management

Your online reputation directly impacts whether customers call you or scroll to the next business. Studies show 97% of consumers read customer reviews before choosing a local service provider. For home services, where customers invite strangers into their homes, reviews matter even more.

A competitor with 150 five-star reviews will get calls over you, even if your prices are lower and your service is better. Reputation management isn’t optional.

How to manage your reputation:

Ask for reviews immediately after completing jobs. Send a text or email within 24 hours with direct links to your Google Business Profile and Yelp. Happy customers forget to leave reviews if you wait too long. Make it easy with one-click links.

Respond to every review within 48 hours. Thank customers for positive reviews and mention specific details (“Glad Tom could solve your drainage issue so quickly”). For negative reviews, respond professionally, acknowledge the problem, and offer to make it right offline.

Display reviews prominently. Add a reviews widget to your website homepage. Screenshot your best Google reviews and share them on social media. Ideally, you should have as many ways as possible to feature testimonials.

Reviews on a home service website.

Monitor mentions across platforms. Use tools like Podium, Birdeye, or Google Alerts to track when your business is mentioned online.

Home Services Mobile/SMS Marketing

SMS marketing works exceptionally well for home services because customers open 98% of text messages within minutes. For time-sensitive communications like appointment confirmations and service updates, texting beats email every time.

How home services use SMS effectively:

Send appointment confirmations and reminders. Text customers 24 hours before scheduled service: “Reminder: Tom will arrive tomorrow at 2pm for your AC repair. Reply C to confirm or R to reschedule.” This reduces no-shows significantly.

Update customers on technician arrival. Text “Your technician is 15 minutes away” when your crew is en route. This courtesy builds trust and reduces anxious phone calls asking “Where are you?”

Request reviews via text. Send a review request within hours of completing a job: “Thanks for choosing us! How did we do? Leave a review: [link].” SMS review requests get 3x higher response rates than email.

Send seasonal promotions to past customers. Text previous clients with limited-time offers: “Spring AC tune-up special: $79 (reg $129). Book by 4/30. Reply BOOK to schedule.”

Keep messages short, personalized, and always include an opt-out option to stay compliant with 

Measuring Your Home Services Marketing Success

Tracking results tells you what’s working and where to invest more budget. Home services businesses should focus on metrics that directly tie to revenue: calls, bookings, and cost per customer.

Key metrics to track:

Phone call volume and source. Use call tracking software like CallRail or CallTrackingMetrics to see which marketing channels drive calls. Tag different phone numbers for your website, Google ads, and Facebook page to identify your best sources.

Form submissions and online bookings. Track how many people fill out contact forms or book appointments through your website. Set up conversion tracking in Google Analytics to measure this.

Google Business Profile insights. Check your profile’s dashboard monthly to see how many people viewed your listing, clicked for directions, called your business, or visited your website. This shows your local visibility trends.

Cost per lead and cost per customer. Calculate how much you spend to acquire each lead and each paying customer. If your Google ads cost $2,000/month and generate 40 leads with 10 becoming customers, your cost per customer is $200.

The screenshot below shows a CallRail dashboard tracking phone calls by source. Notice how it attributes calls to specific campaigns (Google Ads, organic search, Facebook) so you know exactly what’s driving results.

The CallRail Interface.

Source

Use Google Analytics, Ubersuggest, and your CRM to centralize this data in one dashboard.

FAQs

What is home services marketing?

Home services marketing is the process of promoting businesses like HVAC, plumbing, roofing, pest control, and other similar categories. It includes strategies like SEO, paid ads, local listings, email, and referral programs to attract and retain customers.

How to market home services?

Start with the basics: claim your Google Business Profile, build a review strategy, create local SEO-optimized service pages, and run targeted PPC campaigns. From there, test channels like email and SMS to nurture leads and win repeat business.

Conclusion

More leads, more reviews, and a full calendar don’t happen by accident. Home services marketing builds the visibility and trust that turn searchers into paying customers.

Start with local SEO and your Google Business Profile. These give you the foundation to appear when customers search for help. Add customer reviews to build credibility, then layer in paid ads and content to capture customers at every stage.

Track your results monthly. Know which channels drive calls and which waste budget. Double down on what works.

If you need help building a marketing strategy that fills your schedule, NP Digital works with home services businesses to create campaigns that generate real ROI.

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Google adds asset-level reporting to display campaigns

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Inside Google Ads’ AI-powered Shopping ecosystem: Performance Max, AI Max and more

Google is rolling out asset-level reporting for Display campaigns, giving advertisers a clearer view of how individual creative assets perform — a move that brings Display closer to the visibility already seen in Performance Max campaigns.

Why we care. Until now, Display campaign insights have been limited to overall ad performance. With this update, advertisers can analyze results at the asset level — images, headlines, descriptions — to pinpoint what’s driving engagement and what’s not.

How it works. A new Assets tab in Google Ads will let users:

  • Compare performance of each creative asset.
  • View when assets were last updated to track iteration history.
  • Decide which assets to keep, refresh, or remove based on data.

The details. A new Google support page, “About asset reporting in Display,” outlines the update with links to:

  • Get started
  • How it works
  • Asset reporting for your Display campaigns
  • Evaluating asset performance

Between the lines. This upgrade mirrors reporting tools available in Performance Max, signaling Google’s continued effort to unify insights across campaign types and improve transparency in automated advertising.

What’s next. The feature hasn’t been spotted live yet, but its appearance on Google’s help center — first noticed by PPC News Feed founder Hana Kobzová — suggests a wider rollout is imminent.

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The reign of forums: How AI made conversation king

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The reign of forums: How AI made conversation king

A year and a half ago, I wrote “The rise of forums: Why Google prefers them and how to adapt,” arguing that brands should build their own online forums and communities.

Let’s look at what’s happened since.

  • As of this writing, Reddit’s stock price has risen 177.6%. If you’d bought 100 shares of RDDT then, you’d be $13,113 richer today.
Reddit's stock price
  • In a June 2025 analysis of 150,000 AI citations, Semrush found that Reddit was the top source, appearing in more than 40% of LLM responses.
Top domains cited on LLMs per Semrush

So what happened? It comes down to the law of supply and demand. 

The supply-and-demand crisis of online answers

The demand for answers has skyrocketed as people increasingly turn to LLMs.

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Grok will try to come up with the answers from their training data, and failing that, they’ll search the web.

ChatGPT uses Bing, Gemini uses Google, and Claude, Grok, and Perplexity use their own internal search engine.

The web search engine will quickly find that the supply of long-tail answers is nonexistent. 

And so it will surface the closest thing it can find: a Reddit thread that matches the keywords, but could very well have been written by a novice, an armchair expert, or a troll.

Whose fault is it that the web is devoid of meaningful long-tail content?

Ultimately, it was Google’s. 

Even the best SEO professionals among us were told by our clients and bosses that nothing mattered except for the One Ring – getting ranked on the top for a competitive head term. 

We all started to write the same blog posts to try to grab that top spot, while the vast long tail went ignored.

The irony is that if your brand has any kind of expertise or authority in your space, you always could – and still can – completely own the undiscovered country of the long-tail of search for your industry, a frontier of questions no brand has yet answered.

The advantages of user-generated content

The best way to do this – by far – is through user-generated content (UGC), which has several key characteristics:

  • It matches search intent: Users post the same way they search, using the same words.
  • It’s always up-to-date: New posts keep topics current without constant editorial work.
  • It’s accurate: Assuming your brand can attract experienced experts who contribute, each new reply will add value or correction. 
  • It builds semantic depth: Conversations naturally surface related terms, subtopics, and entities that boost SEO and LLM discovery.
  • It’s trustworthy and AI-proof: Authentic human discussion is the one thing that LLMs can’t replicate.

If this all sounds familiar to you, it’s the same old E-E-A-T that Google has been trying to get us to do for years.

Only now, it really counts. 

Why brands hesitate

Most companies instinctively resist the idea of launching a forum. 

Here are the objections I hear most often – and how I respond.

  • It’s too expensive: Ironically, forum and Q&A software is among the most mature software in the open-source world. You can literally have a production-ready system up and running in a week at a cost less than a few cups of coffee. I’ll share some examples below. 
  • We don’t have the development resources: If you’re not familiar with the concept of open-source, you don’t need development resources other than for tasks like skinning and building single sign-on, which your developers can do in their sleep. 
  • We tried it before, and it didn’t work: In most cases, this is because forums were treated as side projects, and not owned media.
  • There’s no clear ROI: Forums have always reduced support tickets, but because it’s hard to prove a negative, most companies treated both online and offline customer service as cost centers – and the first things to cut. Today, forums still lower service costs and add valuable, search-friendly content. It’s time to redo the math.
  • Moderation is too much of a hassle: Today’s spam filters, coupled with smart heuristics, enforced policies, and AI-supported moderation, can handle 90% of bad actors. A strong community of users and in-house moderators can easily handle the rest. 
  • Everyone’s already on Reddit or Discord: Exactly. And those platforms own your audience, your brand, and your data. It’s time to take it back.
  • Forums are outdated: Reddit is a forum. It has a market cap of $38 billion. Time to re-do the math on that one, too. 

Discussion boards vs. Q&A sites

I tend to use the phrase “forums” interchangeably to refer to two kinds of sites: discussion boards and Q&A sites.

There are key differences, depending on your company’s goals.

A discussion board is built for ongoing conversation. 

It’s a social space where customers can connect, share experiences, swap ideas, and engage in the occasional friendly debate, like an always-on company event or conference.

A Q&A site, by contrast, is built for resolution. Each post centers on a single question from a community member. 

Some brands limit responses to verified experts, while others invite the whole community to contribute and vote on the best answer. 

The goal is clarity: one question, one accepted solution.

Both formats create a treasure trove of owned, uniquely human content. 

While other companies rely on generative AI to churn out soulless copy, with the help of your community, you’ll be building fresh content that feeds AI and, more importantly, reaches real customers. 

As derivative AI-generated content floods the web, that authentic human signal will become a huge competitive edge.

Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.

See terms.

The open-source path to ownership

While many enterprise and SaaS options exist, most businesses can start with open-source software – ideal for small, mid-sized, or cost-conscious enterprises.

Here’s why open source makes sense.

Open source software is free

Every software package I recommend below will be free. 

All you need is a web server or hosting plan (your own infrastructure, a cloud provider, or even a managed host), and you can run it yourself.

Open source software is customizable 

Most mature open-source platforms enable brands to easily customize and extend functionality through plug-ins and extensions – all with a fraction of the development effort required to build a system from scratch.

Instead of building a huge system from scratch, your team can focus on customization, such as: 

  • Customizing the front-end design to match your brand website.
  • Using single sign-on with your existing customer database to make access seamless for your customers. 
  • Adding reputation and gamification systems, such as upvotes, leaderboards, and badges, to promote the most credible voices.

You own your own data

When you self-host your forum, you own the data and can export it at any time, with no dependencies on third-party platforms or APIs. 

This is increasingly important as we enter an era where unique content is literally an asset. 

SEO and LLM visibility

Most mature forum and Q&A software have SEO best practices built in, from automatic title tags to best internal linking practices that make it easy for search engines and AI bots to discover content. 

Moderation tools

Active moderation is crucial to the success of online communities. 

Choosing the right discussion board software

After extensive research, my go-to recommendations for discussion boards are Flarum and Discourse.

I like Flarum for its sleek, minimalist interface and Reddit-like familiarity. 

Built on PHP with Laravel components, it’s fast, lightweight, and highly extensible, supported by an active developer community. 

It’s ideal for small to mid-sized businesses, startups, and niche communities.

Flarum

Discourse is the gold standard for modern forums, built on Ruby on Rails and Ember.js. 

It offers robust features out of the box, including SSO, analytics, trust levels, and a powerful API, plus a paid option for fully managed deployments. 

Used by major brands like OpenAI, Samsung, and Shopify, it’s ideal for larger organizations, SaaS companies, and professional communities.

Discourse

Honorable mention goes to NodeBB and phpBB, older platforms that require a bit more care and feeding, but also have their advantages. 

Platforms built for Q&A

My go-tos here include Apache Answer and Question2Answer. 

Apache Answer is a modern, actively supported platform from the Apache Software Foundation, with a solid pedigree. 

Built on Go and Vue.js, it offers a full feature set – voting, accepted answers, categories, and a Reddit-style reputation system.

Apache Answer

Question2Answer, first released in 2010 and still actively maintained, is inspired by Stack Overflow, offering features such as voting and tagging. 

Its out-of-the-box interface looks dated, but a good designer can easily modernize it. It’s built in PHP.

Question2Answer

AskBot and Scoold are also worth exploring.

Test them out. They all have links to a demo and real-world client implementations on their sites. 

Find one you like. Pay $50 for a shared web hosting service, and another $50 for pizza for engineers and developers. 

You’ll have a fully functional forum within a week. 

Where most forums succeed – or fail

Unlike most software projects, building a discussion board or Q&A site is relatively straightforward. 

But it’s maintaining and running it that will determine whether it’ll be successful.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have launched, managed, and moderated several successful discussion forums and Q&A sites over the years. 

Here’s some practical advice.

Have a zero tolerance for spam

I mentioned this in my previous article; it’s the number one reason forums fail. 

The moment you launch a discussion board, it will be attacked. 

Fortunately, tools like Akismet, StopForumSpam, CleanTalk, and reCAPTCHA can block most spam before it reaches your site. 

You can even run your server logs through an LLM to generate smart filtering rules for your CDN. 

And if anything slips through, remove it fast – spam spreads apathy faster than any troll.

With Q&A sites, you’ll have a bit more control, depending on how many of the questions and answers you’d like to open up to the public. 

Require detailed and authentic titles 

This is another Achilles’ Heel of many forums. 

Discussion boards often have non-descript titles, such as “Help!” or “Need Advice!” You’ll also want to have a zero-tolerance policy toward those. 

Have instructional copy that reminds them to leave detailed titles, and if any slip through the cracks, either generate a title for them or reject the post.

Similarly, for Q&A sites, your titles must reflect actual questions that users ask in their own language, not the words of a marketer or other internal voice. 

Seed popular topics

To understand the questions people are asking, review:

  • Your on-site search data.
  • Google Search Console data.
  • Customer service inquiries.
  • External sites like Reddit. 

Post them to the discussion board from a moderator account, provide high-quality answers, and invite comments. 

As long as you’re authentic and transparent, users will respond.

Establish clear, public community guidelines

Set rules and boundaries clearly up-front and display them prominently. 

Keep them short enough that real users will read them, ideally 5-7 bullet points. 

Some thought starters:

  • Linking policy: Generally, you’ll want to allow only accounts that have been vetted or passed certain criteria to be able to post links.
  • Reinforce tone: “Disagree without being disagreeable”
  • Rules against harassment and bad language.
  • Rules against off-topic posts.

Establish clear categories

Define categories and tags clearly. 

Take a large pool of typical questions or discussion topics and categorize them. (Hint: Use your favorite LLM to help.)

Ensure that category names are immediately intuitive to users. Move or delete off-topic content quickly. 

Empower trusted regulars

Over time, many forums start to attract regular visitors. 

If this happens to your brand, tap into their passion by inviting them to take on small moderation privileges (e.g., editing titles, retagging, or flagging spam). 

Depending on your relationship with these fans, you can incentivize them with recognition, branded merchandise, free product, or monetary compensation. 

Community self-correction scales far better than centralized policing.

Gamify contributions for everyone with leaderboards, badges, upvote milestones, etc. 

Archive or merge duplicates

Especially in Q&A boards, you’ll want to make sure to avoid repeating questions. 

That causes duplicate content issues for SEO, but worse, it can frustrate visitors. 

Own the conversation before your competitors do

There are plenty more ways to run a successful discussion board or Q&A site. 

But the most important rule is this: don’t treat it as an SEO tactic, an LLM feeder, or a necessary evil. 

Build a destination you and your team would actually want to visit – a place for lively conversation, useful knowledge, and genuine connection with your customers and fans. 

That’s the real formula for success.

A year ago, I suggested that you start a forum. This year, it’s not optional. 

Reddit has proven that conversation has real value, and your competitors will soon catch on. 

Claim the conversations that belong to your brand, and you’ll:

  • Delight customers.
  • Strengthen your reputation.
  • Drive conversions.
  • Become the authority AI learns from – and trusts.

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Multi-Location SEO: How to Scale Without the Chaos

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Managing local search marketing for one location is straightforward.

But managing multi-location SEO — whether it’s 10, 50, or 100 branches — gets complicated fast.

Each location needs unique content.

A single mistake in your business info can mislead customers and hurt trust.

And it’s tough to see which branches are actually driving results.

Everything changes when you’re managing SEO for multiple locations.

Single Location SEO vs. Multi-Location SEO

Our six-step system below tackles these challenges in order of priority.

You’ll learn exactly how to:

  • Create high-performing location pages
  • Optimize Google Business Profiles (GBPs) across every branch
  • Manage reviews, citations, and backlinks efficiently
  • Track performance by location to see what’s really working

Plus, you’ll get our free toolkit to help you build a scalable SEO strategy for multiple locations.

Let’s dive in.

Step 1. Create Location Landing Pages

Every branch needs its own home online.

Without a dedicated location landing page, your GBP has nowhere reliable to link. And customers looking for local hours, directions, or services may bounce straight to a competitor.

So, start by confirming the basics.

Talk with branch managers or franchise owners to verify core business details — official name, address, phone number, operating hours, and available services.

Copy our location details sheet and use it to gather and confirm accurate data for every branch.

Multi-Location SEO Toolkit by Backlinko

Once it’s filled out, this sheet becomes your single “source of truth” — helping you prevent endless downstream errors when managing dozens of listings and citations later on.

Do Location-Focused Keyword Research

Once you’ve gathered accurate data, move into keyword targeting.

Each page should focus on one primary keyword set that combines your core service with its city or neighborhood modifier (e.g., “dentist in Austin”).

Doing this avoids keyword cannibalization between branches while signaling clear relevance for local searchers.

If you’re unsure where to start, use tools like Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Keyword Magic Tool – Dentist in Austin

Then, check Google’s “People also search for” suggestions to find real-world queries customers use in each market.

People also search for – Dentist in Austin

Map those target keywords to their corresponding locations in your spreadsheet.

Further reading: 4 Steps to Do Local Keyword Research

Build a Modular Template and Page Structure

To scale efficiently, create a modular framework for every location page. This ensures consistency across branches while letting you customize local details.

Start with a simple, SEO-friendly URL structure.

Use subfolders (e.g., example.com/locations/austin).

Why?

They inherit more domain authority and are easier to maintain across large sites.

Each page should include these essential content blocks:

  • Name, address, and phone number (NAP)
  • An embedded map and clear driving directions
  • Local photos and customer reviews
  • A concise overview of services offered
  • A strong, localized call to action

Once your template is set, link to these pages internally so search engines and users can easily find them.

Add links from your main navigation or a dedicated HTML sitemap, and cross-link between related locations or service pages when relevant.

This type of modular setup helps every page stay on-brand while still serving unique, location-specific content.

Want a shortcut?

That’s where our Location Page Template comes in.

It’s a plug-and-play framework that keeps pages consistent while giving you room to localize copy, visuals, and CTAs.

Instead of rebuilding from scratch, just fill in the blanks and launch pages faster.

Location Page Template

Publish Unique, Optimized Content

Even with templates, every location page should feel distinct and relevant to its community. Boilerplate content can hurt engagement and limit your local visibility.

So, add local flavor wherever you can — photos of the branch exterior or team, nearby landmarks, or community involvement.

These small touches make each page authentic and help prevent duplicate content issues.

But don’t just stop there.

Rotate seasonal offers, update photos, and feature new testimonials to show both search engines and customers that your locations are active and trusted.

Finally, dial in your SEO details.

Titles, headers, image alt text, and LocalBusiness schema should all include the branch’s city or neighborhood.

These signals help Google connect each page to the right local search intent.

Pro tip: Start with your highest-traffic or flagship markets first. Once those pages are performing, use the same structure and workflow and apply it to the rest.

Step 2. Build and Optimize Google Business Profiles for Every Location

Multi-location SEO starts with accuracy and consistency in your GBPs.

One wrong detail — or a suspended profile — can tank visibility for that branch. And when you’re handling dozens of listings, a small mistake can spread fast.

Claim and Verify Every Listing

Start by claiming and verifying each profile.

If you have 10 or more branches, use Google’s bulk verification process. It’s faster and easier than doing it one by one.

Next, check every listing against your master spreadsheet from Step 1.

Make sure the name, address, phone number, hours, and landing page URL all match. Even one typo can hurt rankings.

Then, add UTM tracking to your website links.

Google Business Profile – Business information

This lets you see which branches drive traffic, leads, and sales in Google Analytics (GA4) or your customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Optimize Your GBPs Completely

Verification is just the start.

If you’re doing SEO for multiple locations, it’s not a one-time job — it’s a system you have to run efficiently across every branch.

Start with categories.

Google Business Profile – About

One wrong choice can confuse Google, so build a shared list of approved options every branch can use.

Precision matters more than volume. So, pick one main category and a few secondary ones that match what that branch actually offers.

Not sure which categories competitors use?

Tools like GMBspy show the primary and secondary categories of top-ranking businesses in your market.

GMBspy – Categories

From there, focus on consistency and automation across every profile:

  • Standardize visuals: Give each manager a short photo checklist (e.g., storefront, interior, team, and one or two local highlights) to keep listings current.
  • Use a brand-approved description template: Maintain a consistent tone but personalize each listing with local details.
  • Keep data aligned: Hours, URLs, and phone numbers should always match your website and location pages. Even one mismatch can cause issues across your network.
  • Automate updates: Tools like Semrush Local or BrightLocal can push edits, track reviews, and monitor changes in bulk.
  • Pre-load FAQs: Seed each profile’s Q&A section with verified, brand-approved answers before customers fill in the gaps.

Pro tip: Want to make life easier? Use our GBP optimization checklist to stay consistent across every location.


Post and Update Regularly

Google rewards freshness.

Regular posts, photos, and updates show that your business is active. And they help each location stand out in Maps and the local pack.

GBP – Update

Share short posts for promos, events, and new services. Rotate new photos or short videos every few months to keep your listings looking current.

Even small updates like adding seasonal offers or highlighting staff can make a difference in clicks and calls.

And don’t forget the Q&A section.

Add common customer questions yourself with accurate, brand-approved answers. Then, monitor it regularly so you can respond fast when new ones appear.

GBP – Q&A section

The hard part?

Doing this for dozens — or hundreds — of branches. Manually updating each profile is exhausting and easy to fall behind on.

Tools like Semrush Local can make it easier by letting you manage posts, photos, and info for all your locations from a single dashboard.

Semrush Local – Edit post for Your Business

Step 3. Collect and Manage Reviews

Reviews drive both rankings and trust.

At scale, the challenge isn’t getting one review — it’s managing hundreds across locations every month without dropping the ball.

Automate Review Acquisition

Start by collecting customer contact info at checkout or after service.

That lets you send automated review requests by text or email through your point of sale (POS) system or CRM.

Each branch should have its own short review link or QR code so customers can find the right profile fast.

GBP – Get more reviews & QR code

Add those links to receipts, follow-up emails, and even in-store signage. Small touches like that can boost response rates over time.

Google review – Door sticker

Most customers don’t ignore review requests on purpose, they just forget.

A simple reminder can make a big difference in review volume.

Direct Google review link in email

Centralize Review Monitoring

Tracking reviews one branch at a time wastes hours.

Use review management software like Semrush’s Review Management or GatherUp to pull feedback from every location into one dashboard.

RM – Analytics

Set alerts for negative reviews so you can respond quickly and win back unhappy customers.

Listing Management – Reviews

Over time, you’ll start spotting trends — like which cities get the most reviews or which teams need more support.

Standardize Responses

Consistency matters as much as speed.

Create a few brand-approved templates for positive, neutral, and negative reviews. Then, teach local staff how to personalize them with names or specific details from the customer’s experience.

Small touches like that make responses feel authentic while staying on brand.

You can also make a copy of our Review Response Templates to speed things up and keep messaging consistent.

Local SEO Toolkit by Backlinko – Review Response

The goal is to sound human without going off-script. That balance keeps your tone aligned across every branch while still making each customer feel heard.

Further reading: How to Get More Google Reviews: Proven Strategies

Step 4. Ensure NAP Consistency and Manage Citations

With one location, you can fix a wrong phone number in minutes.

With dozens, a single typo can spread across aggregators, directories, and maps — causing mass confusion for customers.

And the fallout doesn’t stop there.

Inconsistent business information leads to missed calls and negative reviews. Which can snowball into lost traffic and weaker local performance.

Centralize Your Data

Keep using our Multi-Location SEO Toolkit you built earlier to track each branch’s core details.

List the official name, address, phone number, hours, Google Business Profile URL, and landing-page URL for every location.

Keep it updated — this one file keeps every branch aligned.

Next, make it easy to see what’s current and what’s not. Use the “Last Verified” column to track when each location’s details were last checked.

Multi Location SEO Toolkit by Backlinko – Last verified – Column

If different people manage different regions, assign ownership right in the sheet. That one small habit prevents duplicate edits and conflicting updates later on.

Automate Distribution

Once your data is solid, automation makes running multiple locations easier and saves hours of manual updates.

Tools like Semrush Local and Moz Local keep your listings in sync across the web.

Semrush Local – Pride Plumbing Services – Listings

They also make it easy to update details like hours, phone numbers, and URLs whenever something changes.

Audit and Monitor Listings Regularly for Accuracy

Your listings won’t stay accurate forever. That’s where routine maintenance makes all the difference.

Run a quarterly NAP audit to catch inconsistencies before they snowball. Your listings tool can scan every profile and flag details that don’t match your master sheet.

Then, spot-check the platforms that matter most: GBP, Apple Maps, Yelp, and Facebook. If you’re in a specialized industry, check directories like ZocDoc or FindLaw, too.

Keep a running log of what you fix each quarter.

Over time, patterns will reveal which platforms or regions slip most often. That insight helps you tighten your process and prevent repeat issues.

Step 5. Build Local Backlinks That Actually Move the Needle

With one location, a few chamber of commerce links or directory listings can boost authority.

But when you’re managing dozens of branches, growing that process across your entire network takes more than luck. It takes systems.

Focus on Community and Local Partnerships

Local links help boost visibility and build trust.

They show that real people in each community engage with your business.

So, encourage branch managers to get involved. Sponsor events, join community groups, or collaborate with nearby businesses.

These efforts often lead to natural mentions and backlinks that show local relevance to search engines.

To streamline the process, collect ideas that work and turn them into a shared playbook.

Focus on Community and Local Partnerships

Pro tip: Use your location landing pages as link destinations instead of the homepage. They’re more relevant to searchers in each market and can strengthen those pages’ ability to rank locally.

Systematize Outreach

Multi-location SEO relies on repeatable systems that make expansion easier.

Document what’s working so every branch can replicate it.

Use our Local Backlink Opportunity Tracker as your central database to log outreach, track live links, and measure results across all locations.

Backlinko – Multi-Location SEO Toolkit

Add notes on what type of partnership or content earned each link so others can reuse the same playbook.

Centralize research at the brand level to save time. Identify sponsorship pages, community events, and local publishers that align with your audience before branches start outreach.

Over time, you’ll start to see what works best.

Certain link types, partner categories, or content formats will consistently deliver stronger results.

Use those insights to refine your playbook and make link acquisition faster, easier, and more predictable across your entire network.

Use Tools to Prioritize and Track

Link research tools come to the rescue in automating link opportunity discovery for every branch.

Start with Semrush’s Backlink Analytics to see which local websites link to your competitors. Those same sponsors, media outlets, and directories are strong prospects for your own branches.

Backlink Analytics – Geminihomemodeling – Backlinks

You can also build city-specific prospect lists using searches like “our sponsors” + city name or “community partners” + city.

Try prompting AI tools like ChatGPT or Google’s AI Mode to surface local organizations, events, and publications worth contacting.

ChatGPT – Surface local organizations

Make sure you track every outreach attempt and live link in the Backlink Opportunity Tracker.

Review your data regularly to see which branches or regions are earning coverage and which need extra support.

If some locations have fewer opportunities, that’s normal.

Smaller towns and rural areas often have limited local media or sponsorship options. In those cases, expand your search to nearby cities or regional publishers.

Step 6. Track and Attribute Performance by Location

Tracking performance can get complicated, especially when you’re running a local SEO strategy for multiple locations.

Without clear attribution, you can’t prove which branches — or tactics — are driving results.

Use UTMs + Location IDs Everywhere

Building a consistent local SEO strategy for multiple locations means tracking every branch the same way — from clicks and calls to conversions and revenue.

Multi-location tracking starts with structure.

Add UTM tags to every GBP link, ad campaign, and email.

They make it possible to separate traffic, leads, and conversions by branch inside GA4 and your CRM system.

Use a clear naming convention so you can filter results without digging through rows of messy data.

code icon
utm_source=gbp&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=chicago

Tie Calls and Forms to Branches Automatically

Phone calls and form fills are two of the strongest conversion signals in local SEO.

Don’t lose them in a generic tracking setup.

Use tools like CallRail to assign unique phone numbers to each branch. That way, you can see which campaigns and locations are driving calls directly from search or ads.

CallRail – Account home

For web forms or booking widgets, embed hidden location IDs so submissions are tagged automatically to the right branch. It takes a few minutes to set up, but it eliminates hours of manual cleanup later.

Centralize in a Multi-Location Dashboard

You can’t improve what you can’t measure.

Use a platform like Looker Studio. It can combine GBP insights, GA4 data, call-tracking results, and CRM metrics into one dashboard.

Semrush – Position Tracking – Visibility graph

At a glance, you’ll see how all locations perform side by side. Then, drill into individual cities or stores to find what’s working and what needs attention.

Optimize Based on Insights

Once you have consistent tracking, insights start to stand out.

Spot underperforming branches early and dig into the “why.”

Maybe reviews are trending negative, citations are inaccurate, or local pages haven’t been updated in months.

At the same time, identify top-performing branches and replicate their wins across the rest of your network. Share these insights regularly with local managers so strategy and execution stay aligned.

Level Up Your Multi-Location SEO Game

Consistency is the quiet advantage in multi-location SEO.

Why?

Because brands that systemize how each branch builds trust, relevance, and citations win the long game in local search.

In short: The top performers don’t rely on guesswork. They build repeatable frameworks.

If you’re ready to scale smarter, explore our Local SEO Tools comparison.

You’ll find the platforms and features that make local SEO for multiple locations faster, easier, and far more effective — no matter how many branches you manage.

The post Multi-Location SEO: How to Scale Without the Chaos appeared first on Backlinko.

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Google’s “Smart Cropping” may be trimming your Shopping Ad images

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Google Shopping Ads - Google Ads

Some advertisers are noticing oddly cropped product images in Google Shopping ads — and it turns out Google Merchant Center’s “Smart Cropping” feature is behind it.

Why we care. Smart Cropping, enabled by default, uses automation to zoom in on what Google determines is the most relevant part of a product image. While the goal is to improve ad visuals, the result can sometimes be awkwardly cropped images that don’t match the uploaded product photos.

The backstory. An email from Google explains that there’s no option in the Merchant Center UI to disable Smart Cropping. Advertisers must instead contact Google support to have it manually turned off for their account.

The tip-off. Zato Founder Kirk Williams first raised the issue after spotting unusual ad visuals despite correctly formatted image uploads. He shared the finding on LinkedIn — and Google’s response — with the PPC community.

The bottom line. If your Shopping ads look off, Smart Cropping could be the culprit. Check your visuals and reach out to Google support if you want the feature disabled.

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Aja Frost on AI search, content strategy, and AEO success metrics

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Aja Frost interview 2025

Google’s AI Overviews and AI-driven search are reshaping content creation, SEO, and user behavior.

As we watch this fascinating evolution of search – and continue to debate what we call this new marketing discipline (HubSpot is opting for AEO, or answer engine optimization) – I interviewed Aja Frost, senior director of global growth and paid media at HubSpot. Some of the topics covered in our interview:

  • The need to redefine success metrics for AEO, prioritizing visibility and share of voice
  • HubSpot’s experimental journey, including creating hyperspecific, data-rich content and optimizing for LLMs.
  • Traffic directly from LLMs converts about 3x better than traditional search traffic for HubSpot.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Danny Goodwin:
Hey everybody, this is Danny Goodwin, editorial director of Search Engine Land, and, today I’m being joined by Aja Frost. We have an interesting discussion coming up about GEO, AEO, AI, and all the good hot topics. It’s great to meet you Aja. ’cause I’ve actually never, uh, run into you on the conferences or anywhere. So it’s really nice to connect with you.

Aja Frost:
You know, Danny, I was gonna say, it’s nice to see you, which is my go-to if I’m not sure whether I’ve seen someone, I met someone before. I figured we had met because we definitely run in the same circles. But I’m delighted to be finally, officially making your acquaintance.

Danny Goodwin:
Absolutely. Before we dive in for the people watching or listening, do you want to introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Aja Frost:
Yep. I am Senior Director of Global Growth and Paid Media at HubSpot. Global Growth is our catch-all for top-of-funnel non-paid demand, which largely translates to SEO and now AEO. And I’ve been at HubSpot for a little over nine years, which is about eight years longer than I thought I would be. For those who don’t know, HubSpot is the customer platform that powers 268,000 teams. And it changes, I would say, as a company, every few years, which is what has kept me there. I think we have had a really interesting journey to this point, and we are embarking on what I believe is the most interesting era of SEO, AEO, and really marketing yet.

Danny Goodwin:
Absolutely. So, yeah, it is a very fun time and you’ve been around for a few years at this point, so very curious to get your take. So, we had SMX Advanced a while back, our conference returned in person and at that point in time I’m like, oh, this whole a AEO versus GEO versus whatever we’re gonna call a debate – it’s gotta be settled by the time like October, November comes around. And I’m surprised that it has not still been settled. So I’m curious from your perspective, where do you stand on that whole name debate? What are you calling it, you know, this new form of SEO, or if it’s some, even if you consider it a new form of SEO, you know, has been GEO, AEO, some people call it AI SEO. What are you kind of calling this practice right now internally and, and why have you settled on whatever term that is?

Aja Frost:
Yeah, great question because this was the topic of much debate internally at HubSpot. I think we debated all of the names that you just mentioned and probably 10 more. And we ultimately landed on AEO, or answer engine optimization, because we think it best reflects how people are using AI and what businesses/brands should be doing in response. So I think SEO, you wanted to rank in the results, like that was pretty clear. Now you wanna be a part of the answer. And so answer engine optimization is the tactics, the plays that you run to show up as part of that answer. Also, it just sounds cooler than GEO in my opinion, but we’ll see how long the debate rages on. I have learned not to underestimate how long people in our particular world can spend haggling and debating this type of thing.

Danny Goodwin:
Yes, I know it’s, it’s sort of like subdomains versus subfolders. If you’ve been around long enough, you’ll know what that means and how long that debate has been going on. And I can’t even tell you, uh, more than a decade, I’m safe in assuming. Whatever we call it ultimately or whatever it gets decided it is called, this does feel like a big transition point for search from traditional ranking search to AI search is more about retrieval. So for you, how has it changed the way you’re thinking about visibility and strategy?

Aja Frost:
Yeah, we are very much thinking about AEO as an evolution of SEO, which I did my homework and I’m just a Danny Goodwin fan, so I know that I think we’re on the same page there. And yes, that was an intentional pun. I think one thing that has actually always been a very HubSpot philosophy is do what’s best for the customer. And that’s always overlapped really neatly with our SEO strategy. It’s also what Google has preached for many years – do what’s best for the customer. You may miss out on some short-term wins, but in the long run, your site is going to perform better. And that is at the heart of our AEO strategy. I also think that the three buckets of plays that we’re running are familiar from SEO.
So the what hasn’t changed, but the how has, and I’ll go a click deeper there. Those three buckets for us are content, technical, and offsite.

Our content for AEO looks fairly different than it does for SEO. It’s much more specific. It’s much nicher and deeper. It’s structured differently. It’s written differently. But it’s always intended to be what’s best for the customer or best for the reader.

The second bucket is technical. And again, I think that Google indexes/ingests content differently than AI bots do. And so we need to adjust our technical strategies to match while not doing anything that’s harmful for GoogleBot, because of course we still care about Google.

And then offsite, one thing that is probably the clearest from SEO to AEO is the emphasis on brand mentions rather than links. And so we’re really shifting our offsite strategy to be much more about positive mentions in the places that AI is training and citing versus getting backlinks on high domain authority websites.

Danny Goodwin:
That is a big shift. I think still a lot of people aren’t ready for. So much of the stuff the tactics have been ingrained for – and I forget, how long have you been doing SEO roughly?

Aja Frost:
I’ve been doing SEO for a little over a decade.

Danny Goodwin:
So SEO is probably about near 30 years old at this point.

Aja Frost:
Oh, Danny, we didn’t say we were gonna talk about my age on the podcast.

Danny Goodwin:
Hey. But yeah. Um, sorry about that.

Aja Frost:
No, they’re all good.

Danny Goodwin:
So yeah, I mean, it’s just like, there’s this kind of, this whole playbook I think that a lot of people are attached to. And change is scary for a lot of people. Rethinking that stuff is important because nothing is static. And especially right now things are just kind of chaotic. The amount of changes we’re
seeing, it’s crazy.

Aja Frost:
Oh my God. Change is so scary. I think change is scary for us. We also had the pressure of not just figuring this out for our own internal strategy, but for figuring it out for our customers. The strategy that we are shipping right now, I have a very direct line to our VP of product for our marketing hub. I also spend a lot of time with the head of product for content hub. Those two products basically represent your website and content strategy and HubSpot. Everything that we’re doing. I’m telling them about the stuff that’s working, the stuff that’s not working, so they can turn that into product learnings as quickly as possible. I think it is terrifying and exhilarating and exciting all at once.

Danny Goodwin:
Yeah. And with that change, I think there’s a lot of rethinking about how we define success, right? So AEO is not going to be the same success metrics that we had with SEO. So how are you actually
thinking about that right now? It used to be like, how many links can I acquire? But what are you thinking about now? What’s important? Is it visibility in a AI answers, getting citations or mentions the actual conversions from the traffic, which again, is not as large as traffic from search, but – there is debate over whether it’s higher quality at this point, which maybe we’ll get into a little bit later. How are you sort of defining success with AEO?

Aja Frost:
This was also a topic of much debate, and we actually published the results on our Loop Marketing page.
We have a new scorecard for how companies should be thinking about marketing in the age of AI. And AEO, which fits into this loop marketing framework has a few new North Star metrics.

The first, and the one that I would argue is the most important, is visibility. And it’s visibility and not traffic, or not citations, because visibility is what’s going to ultimately inform whether someone converts. And they might not convert in that session. They’re probably not gonna convert directly from their interaction with the LLM. We know that LLMs just are really bad at navigational search. And so they’re probably opening up a new tab or maybe two days later, five days later, going to the website. But the, the visibility is what informs what we care about, which is the conversion. So that’s number one.

That takes, by the way, a lot of education with your exec leadership. And I am very lucky to work at a company, whose leadership is deeply embedded in all these conversations, and I think gets it. But if you are at a company where your CEO is not reading Search Engine Land, it’s definitely worth doing a deep dive to help them understand why visibility is the number one.

Second is share of voice. So what is your visibility like relative to your competitors? And I think that’s a really useful benchmark. I know that there was a lot of coverage back in mid-September when ChatGPT really turned down the dial on visibility for brands. And if you are just looking at visibility, you might think, oh, something’s going haywire with my strategy. If you look at share voice and share voice is constant or growing, you know that you’re doing the right thing, agnostic of some of the algorithmic changes.

Then we get to mentions, or sorry, mentions goes into visibility, then we get to citations. How many times is your website used as a source in answer engine responses? And I think this is really important. I think a lot of brands go after citations first. I’m putting it third on our list. I think it is important because if you get the citation, what we have found is your average ranking and the response and the sentiment of that description, they’re both better, which makes a ton of sense. If you control the source,
you’re always gonna say the nicest things about yourself and put yourself first. If you overindex on citations, however, you’re gonna miss out on a wide swath of visibility that I think is pretty critical.

Danny Goodwin:
You’ve done a lot of experimenting, which I want to get into in a minute, with optimizing for LLMs and AI-generated answers. What ways do you see SEO and AEO being similar? And then maybe where do you see them separating a little bit?

Aja Frost:
Yeah, I think this goes back to what I was talking about – solving for the customer or doing what is good for the end user. I think that is shared for SEO and AEO. And one of the questions you probably get, ’cause I get it all the time, is, well, if I do this for AEO, will it be bad for SEO? And my answer is always no. If you are doing, if you were rolling out an AEO strategy that is good for the end user.

So an example of what would be bad for the end user would be burying secret instructions in content for an AI agent. A good thing would be creating really helpful specific content that’s going to answer a really niche query that someone is asking ChatGPT. And as long as you are solving for that end user, I think
that you’ll benefit in both disciplines. You’ll, benefit in answer engines as well as Google.

And then I think the three higher level categories of plays are similar, but where I think things get very different are, again, the content is just, we’re going from these very broad, high level topics, these ultimate guides, which HubSpot – this is a, I don’t know, a dubious claim to fame. But when I started an SEO at HubSpot, then I was telling the blog team what keywords I thought we should target and, and recommending search friendly titles. And I really liked Ultimate Guide. I just thought it sounded nice. So every title I recommended was Ultimate Guide, this Ultimate Guide that. And then of course, a lot of websites started using Ultimate Guide, and now I’ll click through the SERPs and I see Ultimate Guide. I’m like, I think this is my fault.

So you’re going from the ultimate guide to, you know, this is the exact use case that this exact persona wants to accomplish, and here’s how to do it, and here’s some original data that we’ve gotten from customers just like you. And if you come from an answer engine, it’s gonna be tailored exactly to what we know about you. And so it’s a very different style of content and content journey.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure. ’cause I, I feel like, and I’ve, I had this conversation not publicly, but there were conversations after the whole bruhaha about all the traffic. HubSpot lost when that, that came out on, I don’t even remember what month that was this year, earlier probably in the spring. And just how much traffic they were losing. Everybody was losing their minds over it. And I was like, wow. You know, you kind of forget the influence that HubSpot had on content marketing as a whole. Your playbook that you guys came up with was used by so many other websites. Like there’s just, you know, repurposed for their specific topic or niche or whatever. But yeah, like HubSpot, that playbook was huge for a lot of years. Right. I think that’s, that was started like right before COVID around that time and then just sort of exploded., Is that the right timeframe?

Aja Frost:
I think it depends on what you are talking about. If you’re talking about inbound, inbound I think is really at the heart of the web. At least for a lot of companies that were publishing educational content and inbound goes way, way back. I think we have always been very much a build and public company and, and we share our successes and our strategies along the way. Which is what we’re doing right now with Loop Marketing. I think that has led to a lot of companies saying, oh, this was really successful for HubSpot, I’m gonna adopt it as well, which is good. That’s what we wanted.

But I also think that when we started seeing declines from the emergence of AI Overviews and the changing nature of Google, that was a bit of a bellwether for what I think a lot of websites are now seeing. And so one response could have been, oh, we’re not gonna build in public anymore. We’re gonna be very cagey about what we’re doing and what’s working. So that doesn’t happen again. But that’s obviously not what we’re doing. We’re trying to be even more transparent and helpful. I really hope and believe that loop marketing, which is not a replacement of inbound, but meant to be, again, an extension of and, and a really helpful framework for companies can play that role.

Danny Goodwin:
So just going back to that, that traffic drop. I was basically told it was about an 80% traffic drop and you kind of helped the company through that. And now in LLM world, HubSpot is the most cited CRM, is that correct?

Aja Frost:
Or the most visible CRM

Danny Goodwin:
Most visible. Okay. Gotcha. All right. And, and obviously this is, again, this is a fairly new technology. So, when you were starting to approach optimization on LLMs and AEO, how did you start that journey? Like, what were the first few things that you maybe either thought about or tried that did or did not work?

Aja Frost:
Yeah. Well, the first thing I did that I would really recommend folks do if they don’t have an AEO function already stood up was I, um, pulled together some of the ICS on our team that were already doing a lot of experimentation and research in their own time. In my day-to-day, I am usually working
with managers or directors. I’m not super close to the work. But I knew that I needed to be really close to this and really help guide it. And so I said, the three of us, we’re gonna meet once a day. We are going to launch one experiment per week if we can. I’m working with the dev team so that whatever we need to do, we can execute as quickly as possible. And so we took a very experimental mindset from the get go.

What we started out with was how do we scale good quality data-rich content? We had been thinking, and I think most people thought about content, maybe in a month you put out 30 pieces. If you’re a news publication, you could be putting out hundreds. But we’re thinking in multipliers of tens most teams. And I think we need to be thinking in multipliers of hundreds or thousands. And so with the team, I wanted to figure out how do we create that content? How do we start relatively small? So like batches of 10, generated with AI reviewed by a human, and then how do we scale that over time? That I think has been very successful.

We’re still experimenting with the types of content that get the most visibility in answer engines. And so that’s what a lot of experimentation revolves around. We also did a lot of what I think of as good clean AEO. Making sure that we were using all the available schema types across our website, making sure that things were really well structured and that we’re leading with the answer. And each section of the page is semantically complete and things are formatted in a Q and A format. You know, a lot of things that I think are now becoming like the standard AEO playbook.

Danny Goodwin:
So you mentioned content types. I know there’s been a lot of noise about how some people are abusing top X lists – the top 10 best insert thing here. Is that the sort of stuff you’ve been playing around with? When you say content form, is there anything you can share about what you found that works maybe better?

Aja Frost:
Yeah, so I’m not thinking so much about top X for Y, although I think that that still very much has a
place in people’s content playbooks. But what we’re really experimenting with is – Danny,
what’s the last thing you did research with ChatGPT to buy?

Danny Goodwin:
Oh, to buy?

Aja Frost:
Yeah.

Danny Goodwin:
Uh, it’s, it’s probably researching to find a hotel for Christmas.

Aja Frost:
Okay. Find a hotel for Christmas. So the context that ChapGPT is going to have when it recommends a hotel for you is probably about how much money you typically spend based on some demographic data it’s collected about you, if you’ve done any hotel research in the past, where you’re going, obviously how long you’re gonna stay. Hotels, we wanna provide the answers for all of those contextual clues. So if I were a hotel and I was trying to show up in answer engines, I would be creating content that spoke to your particular persona type and your particular use case. Now, I think the challenge is doing that without that content being duplicative or spammy. And to do that, this is what we spend a lot of time on. What are all the data sources that we can ingest to feed these systems essentially, so that all the content is unique, it’s grounded in what we know the persona needs, and it’s not repetitive from page to page.

Danny Goodwin:
As, as you’ve gone through this process, were there any maybe big surprises like, oh my God, I didn’t think that would work. Or is there just like any kind of aha! moments, um, as you’ve been doing all this optimization for AI answers?

Aja Frost:
The hardest part has been the measurement. I think that we are still very much as an industry, and I know this ’cause I talked to a lot of AEO vendors, figuring out how to correlate the actions that we are taking with specific visibility increases. And it’s highly dependent on the prompts you are tracking. I think that leaves the room for uncertainty and ambiguity because what if you’re tracking the wrong prompts? Or what if you’re tracking the right prompts, but not enough of them? It’s far less clear to say “I did X and Y happened” than it was with SEO. And even with SEO, you know, we couldn’t run A/B tests. We are always doing look backs. There’s so many variables at play.

I talked about education with execs around why visibility is the most important. I think the other really important piece of education, not just for executive leadership, but for, SEO/AEO teams is getting comfortable with less data and fewer direct lines between what we’re doing and the results. So that’s been, I don’t know if that’s been surprising ’cause I think I knew going in that that was going to be hard. But as we’ve progressed and we’ve done more and more teasing apart, the impact of individual experiments has gotten harder and harder.

Danny Goodwin:
So I heard through on background of getting this interview set up that you sort of have a formula for getting ChatGPT to recommend a brand. So I want to hear all about that. What can you tell us about that?

Aja Frost:
Well, I think that many of the best tactics that we are successfully using are ones that I’ve already mentioned. So we’ve spent a lot of time talking about hyper-specific persona-centric content. What we’ve talked about a little less is the off-site tactics that we’re using. And what we’ve done is identified ChatGPT and Google, because those are priority engines, we’ve identified their top training and citation sources. And then we have put together a concerted strategy to show up as positively and frequently as possible in those places. And two big areas for us have been YouTube and Reddit, which probably won’t surprise anyone as being very influential for answer engines. I can go a little bit more into some of the things we’ve done there, if that’s useful?

Danny Goodwin:
Yeah, I think so. There’s been some research done around how heavily cited Reddit and YouTube and a few other sites are. So yeah, I’d be kinda curious to know, like from a strategic standpoint, maybe like how you guys are approaching Reddit and YouTube.

Aja Frost:
Yeah. Very different strategies for each and one big learning for us, I wouldn’t say this is in the last year because we’ve been very active on both platforms for several years, but, um, treating every social
media platform as its own beast and really getting to know the lay of the land and understanding the culture and the rules and the unspoken rules before we engage. I mean, that’s just a general best practice for any community or social media site.

But on YouTube, uh, we have a large slate of owned channels from Marketing Against the Grain and HubSpot Marketing, to how to HubSpot, science of scaling. It really runs the gamut. And we, the global growth or SEO AEO team works really closely with the teams creating those conthat content to weave in organic mentions of the products where they make sense and make sure that we are creating content on topics that we know answer engines and people care about. We also have a lot of creator partnerships with folks who speak to our relevant audience and somewhat similar playbook there. We want organic, relevant, contextual mentions of HubSpot.

Danny Goodwin:
So that’s like influencer marketing, that sort of thing when you say creator?

Aja Frost:
Yeah. I think you could call it influencer marketing. I mean, we, we sign, um, multi-month sometimes one-year contracts with creators and, and say, you know, we will pay you X, Y, Z and, in exchange you will create content on these wide topics. Well, we give them a lot of editorial freedom, but you know. You’ll mention HubSpot in X videos, that sort of thing.

And then on Reddit, it is a much more advocacy and community-centric approach. And I should have shouted out HubSpot Media on the YouTube front. They are a fantastic partner to my team. On the Reddit front, we work really closely with HubSpot community, another internal team. And in the last year we became the co-moderator of HubSpot’s subreddit. And we have spent most of our time making that subreddit as productive and engaging as possible because what we’ve seen, which is really interesting, is that the more activity that happens in our HubSpot, the more positive mentions of HubSpot there are across Reddit. Because basically you’re creating a team of advocates who are really excited about your brand, your product, and then they organically go out into conversations on our sales, our marketing, our CRM, and they say good things about HubSpot. So, very, very different strategies, but both focused on getting the right people to say nice things about HubSpot.

Danny Goodwin:
I think we touched on this a little bit earlier. Google search versus traffic you get from AI engines, it’s very different. It’s not as large. We’ve actually reported, in the last couple months, three different stories basically saying that traffic that you get from LLMs is either worse or about on par with Google search in terms of converting. I’m curious what you’ve seen there. Do you see that to be the case or do you see quality traffic coming through?

Aja Frost:
Yeah, the traffic that directly comes from LLMs converts at about three times better than traditional search for us. So we’re definitely seeing higher conversion rates. And I, I’ve read the SEL stories. I was looking at the one you most recently published, which was like 900 e-comm website over the course of a year. I shared that with my team last week. I was curious whether the difference in conversion rates had anything to do with the difference in the type of product and the buying journey. Like, I think by the time someone is coming to hubspot.com from an LLM, they’ve done a lot of research, at least that’s what our analysis suggests. And so they’re much readier to convert than someone who might in the old world have been coming to the blog to download an ebook on content marketing. It’s been another really fascinating area to watch the industry debate because I’ve also seen several different, uh, different stats.

Danny Goodwin:
Right. Yeah. Again, it’s very early and these are not large scale studies, it’s just sort of anecdotal I guess we would say. But any data, I think is useful ’cause at least it gets people thinking about all of these things and it’s gonna always go back to, it depends. It may be different for ecomm versus B2B or whatever the case may be. I think there’s still a lot that’s going to change and where AI is now. I even today was seeing somebody saying we’re at peak AI already. Like really? Like it’s, it’s two years old. Like, come on.

Aja Frost:
Yeah. I would disagree with that. Yeah. I think there are, to your point, some things that could be step function increases in conversion rates. Obviously instant checkout, that’s huge. I think that, yeah, I mean this was obviously over the course of a year and I do remember seeing in the study that conversion rates had increased over time, maybe as people got more comfortable or familiar with ChatGPT. But instant checkout’s huge. I don’t know what adoption for Atlas is going to be or for any of these ad browsers to be fair. But agent mode or agentic checkout would definitely improve conversion rates. So I think we’re at the very early innings of this.

Danny Goodwin:
Where do you think AEO as a practice will be at maybe a year from now? Do you think it’ll be kind of its own thing? Do you think it’ll be part of SEO and is there anything that you were maybe kinda excited to see happen from ChatGPT or some of these other engines that could make these systems even better?

Aja Frost:
I think a lot hinges on when Google makes AI Mode more of the primary search experience. I don’t believe that you are going to get an AI-powered answer for every search. My belief is for navigational queries, at the very least, you’re probably always gonna have something that feels like the traditional SERP and that it gets you from point A to point B very quickly. But I think for a lot, if not most other searches, you will probably be in some form of AI Mode and at that point, SEO and AEO become merged because there is no real traditional SERP to optimize for anymore.

Danny Goodwin:
Yep. Exactly. That’s sort of been my problem with this whole naming debate. If you’re gonna call it AI SEO, what happens if that search engine goes away? There’s no more, there’s no more SE in SEO.

Aja Frost:
Totally. Yeah. But yeah, and also that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Like I don’t wanna stand up and and say I am an AI SEO.

Danny Goodwin:
Right. Exactly. So if you could maybe give people one AEO type of experiment you think maybe they could run before the end of the year to kinda get a feel for it or just anything that you think might be helpful for them to kinda experiment with. Is there anything maybe you could suggest to people like, try this tactic or this strategy or whatever?

Aja Frost:
I think if you want a real project, then I would try creating those hyper-specific, very persona-focused pages. I think if you’re looking for something that you could run with and get live by the end of the week, use one of the many query fan-out tools that are available online. Take a page that already exists on your website, plug like a, a likely reasonable query that would lead someone to that page into a query fan-out pool, and then assess whether your page answers or has content for all of the subqueries that that pool provides. And if it doesn’t add them and then see does your visibility for that head question increase.

Danny Goodwin:
Awesome. Any final thoughts? Anything we didn’t talk about that you’d love to comment on or leave people with some parting words of wisdom?

Aja Frost:
Yeah, I would, I would be remiss not to direct people to hubspot.com/loopmarketing. We have spent a lot of time on AEO. Of course, AEO is one of the tactics in this new growth framework for the AI era, but there’s a lot more that we believe businesses can and should be doing to not just survive but thrive. Check it out. I think there’s a lot there.

Danny Goodwin:
Awesome. And just, just for anyone who’s listening and doesn’t know what is loop marketing like, can you give us just a quick overview of what that is? ’cause you mentioned a couple times.

Aja Frost:
Yeah. Loop marketing is a growth framework for businesses. There are four phases: express, tailor, amplify, and evolve. Each of those four phases has a host of plays and tactics. But the general idea is that, as the web changes, as folks go from progressing through this ever narrowing funnel to
getting an answer in an LLM, then going to your Instagram, then reading a review and, and really having like a much more messy, much less linear journey, we need a new framework for marketing. And so this framework is an ever-evolving, much more flexible dynamic framework.

Danny Goodwin:
Right. So it’s sort of like that old bendy straw, the messy middle as Google put it, I think. Right?

Aja Frost:
Yes. Yes. I will say messy middle came up many times in our conversations around the loop.

Danny Goodwin:
Yeah. Awesome. Alright, well that is all the time I have for you for today. It was a great conversation. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us. Look forward to seeing more from you in the future and wishing you nothing but success heading forward.

Aja Frost:
Thanks so much, Danny. This was really fun.

Danny Goodwin:
All right. Thanks. Aja. Bye everybody.

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