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Is SEO Dead?

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Short answer: Not yet.

But SEO as we know it is dying.

SEO used to work fairly consistently: write great content, sprinkle in keywords, land a few links — boom, rankings.

The better you followed the recipe, the better your results.

That worked because search was a relatively closed system.

Now?

It’s probabilistic.

You show up if you’ve done enough of the right things in enough places. If the system infers you’re part of the answer.

People have been announcing the death of SEO for years.

But this time, the question feels more urgent.

Google and LLM Unique Visitor Growth Projection (Moderate Case)

You might look at this projection from Semrush — showing traditional search declining while LLM traffic takes over — and call it: Game Over.

But here’s the thing:

Decline doesn’t equal death.

In this article, we’ll lay out exactly what happens as a channel moves from goldmine to ghost town — and show you where SEO sits on that curve today.

Spoiler: SEO isn’t dead yet.

But it’s changing.

And understanding that shift is how you can stay ahead.

What Makes a Marketing Channel “Dead”?

To determine whether SEO is dead, we need to understand how a marketing channel evolves.

Marketing channels follow a relatively standard lifecycle.

Marketing Channel Lifecycle

They start out as experimental, high-risk, and unproven (think Bluesky).

If they gain traction, they enter what Gary Vaynerchuk calls the “underpriced attention” phase. Even basic strategies see outsized returns.

Early Facebook Ads. Early TikTok. Peak LinkedIn.

But attention doesn’t stay cheap. As more people jump in, the channel becomes fairly priced.

It still delivers, but not without skill. You need strategy. Execution. Patience.

Email marketing today, for example.

Eventually, some channels tip into overpriced. You can still win — but only with deep pockets or elite execution.

Competitive Google Ads. Facebook Ads in 2025. Viable? Yes. Worth it? Not for everyone.

And then, some channels just… flatline. Negative ROI. Abandoned by 80%+ of marketers.

Still technically there — but not usually worth the time. Facebook organic for traffic, say, or Yellow Pages.

Phase Name Definition Key Traits Examples
0 Experimental / Unproven New channel with unclear viability Small user base, high failure risk, low cost, limited data Bluesky, BeReal, Google+ (entire lifecycle)
1 Underpriced Attention Proven demand, low competition High ROI, easy wins, basic tactics work, early adopters benefit Early Google Ads, Facebook Ads (2007–2012), TikTok organic (current)
2 Fairly Priced Attention Balanced supply and demand Requires skill, sustainable long-term, good ROI with consistent strategy Email marketing (current), SEO (sophisticated strategies)
3 Overpriced Attention ROI declining for average users Expensive, competitive, only works with high budgets or elite execution Competitive Google Ads, Facebook Ads (current), SEO (basic tactics)
4 Dead / Flatline Channel no longer viable for most 80%+ of businesses exit, negative ROI, only useful in rare cases Facebook organic (for traffic), Yellow Pages, Direct mail (for most businesses)

A single platform can have parts in completely different phases.

  • Facebook organic for website traffic? Dead.
  • Facebook organic for brand building and community? Still fairly priced.

And some channels that looked dead? They weren’t.

  • The Yellow Pages are Phase 4 in most cities. But in some rural areas, they still convert.
  • Direct mail is Phase 4 for most. But for hyper-local businesses, it can still be gold.

My point:

Phase 4 is rare.

Most channels don’t die. They evolve.

So, where does SEO sit on the curve?

Why People Keep Saying SEO Is Dead

Well, partly because marketers delight in announcing the death of clearly not dead things.

It’s a weird industry habit.

But also because SEO is sliding from Phase 2: Fairly Priced to Phase 3: Overpriced.

This is where SEO is now

And when that happens, ROI drops, easy wins disappear, and frustration grows.

Traffic is dropping. Search behavior is shifting. The content landscape is flooded. And the job market feels unstable.

Reddit – r/SEO – Comments

Put all that together?

It’s no surprise people are asking if SEO is on its last legs.

Let’s break down the four biggest reasons behind the panic — and separate signal from noise.

1. No-Click Search Results Are Killing Traffic

This didn’t start with AI answers.

Google’s been reducing clicks for a decade.

  • Knowledge panels, calculators, unit converters: Handled factual queries
  • Local packs & shopping carousels: Took over commercial-intent real estate
  • Featured snippets (2015): Answered questions directly in the SERP
  • People Also Ask (2016): Offered related answers—no clicks required
  • AI Overviews (2024): Just the next step

Modern Search Journey

So why does it feel worse now?

Because it is.

AI Overviews are among the most disruptive features Google has ever introduced for organic traffic.

Their click-stealing impact rivals or exceeds Featured Snippets — and in some cases, even Knowledge Panels.

The biggest difference is:

AI Overviews affect a much broader range of queries — especially informational and non-branded ones.

SERP Feature Year Introduced Estimated Click Impact on Organic Results
AI Overviews 2023–2024 –34.5% CTR drop for position 1 results; average –15.49%; up to –37.04% in combo with snippets. Most impact seen on non-branded informational queries. Lower-ranked results see –27.04% CTR drop.
Featured Snippets 2014–2015 Featured snippet captures ~35% of clicks; CTR to regular results drops ~26%
Knowledge Panels 2012–2013 Significant drop in organic CTR; <50% of searches result in a click when shown
Calculators / Converters 2010s No reliable data available on click impact, but the logic is clear: when Google converts 50 miles to kilometers instantly, users rarely need to visit a conversion website.

So yes, AI overviews are the latest in a long line of click-killing moves by Google.

Knowledge Panels hurt branded queries. AIOs impact every query type.

Calculators killed clicks for simple tasks. AIOs apply that behavior to everything.

If Featured Snippets were death by a thousand cuts, AIOs are a guillotine.

But here’s the twist:

Google’s AI Overviews aren’t pulling random answers out of thin air.

They’re sourcing from the same types of content that show up in organic search.

Google SERP – What is SEO – AI Overview

According to a study by Search Engine Land:

  • Blog posts (46%) and news articles (20%) make up the majority of sources cited by AIOs.
  • Structured, crawlable, keyword-aligned pages still earn visibility.
  • And, while ChatGPT skews towards Wikipedia and global news sources for its data, Google’s Gemini relies heavily on company blogs.
LLM Top Sources Avoids SEO Strategy
ChatGPT Wikipedia, Reuters, FT Reddit, product pages Build authority on neutral sources (Wikipedia, major news)
Gemini Blogs, YouTube, PCMag Low-quality UGC Prioritize high-quality blogs and media reviews
Perplexity NerdWallet, Investopedia, niche blogs Low-quality UGC Get on niche review sites, expert blogs, forums
AI Overviews Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, product blogs Homepages Target forums, blogs, social Q&A, deep guides

In other words:

The SEO content you’re already creating still matters.

You just need to make it easier for AI to read and reuse.

Further reading: Want more tips for showing up in AIOs? Check out our guide to AI overviews.

2. Search Behavior Has Fragmented

We’re in the Search Everywhere era.

Cross-Platform Share of Search

Google still dominates, but things are changing.

Gen-Z uses social media as a search engine.

Forbes – Younger Generations Are More Likely To Use Social Media To Search

40% of young US adults are getting their news on TikTok.

More Americans regularly get news on TikTok – Especially young adults

Forums like Reddit and Quora are booming.

LLMs currently make up around 5.6% of all search behavior, up from 1.3% in early 2024.

So yes, search behavior is changing.

But this shift doesn’t mean traditional search engines are obsolete.

94.4% of searchers still use SERPs.

They’re just more likely to consult other sources as well.

Further reading: Build a Search Everywhere Optimization strategy with our guide.

3. It Feels Like AI Content Is Everywhere

The theory goes that, because anyone can create content in minutes with AI, SEO becomes a race to the bottom.

And it’s true that it’s easier than ever to create SEO content at scale.

But in practice, most content is still being created by human beings — entirely or with AI assistance.

In June 2025, AI content made up around 16% of all content (down from 19% in January) according to Originality.AI.

Originality – AI content in Google search results

4. The SEO Job Market Might Be Tanking

SEO job listings dropped 37% in Q1 2024 compared to the same time in 2023.

SEO Jobs Listings

But if you zoom in on the types of SEO roles being hired for across the year, the picture is more nuanced.

Some executional roles saw a dip in share over 2024:

  • Content SEO made up 12.6% of SEO listings in Q1 — just 9.9% by Q4
  • SEO Analyst roles dropped from 11.2% to 10.1%
  • Technical SEO inched down from 5.8% to 5.4%

Meanwhile, more senior roles gained share:

  • SEO Manager roles increased from 58% to 61%
  • Director of SEO grew from 10.3% to 11.6%
  • VP-level roles doubled their share — from 0.7% to 1.4%

Change in SEO Job Title Composition

The shift isn’t dramatic. But it’s directional.

Companies appear to be consolidating around smaller, more senior teams.

Less grunt work. More strategic oversight. And possibly, more reliance on AI or freelancers for execution.

So no, the SEO job market isn’t collapsing — just being restructured.

Why SEO Isn’t Dead in 2025

SEO today looks very different than it used to.

But it doesn’t meet the criteria of a dead marketing channel.

Search Volume Is Still Rising

Search activity isn’t shrinking—it’s growing.

Google search grew by over 21% in 2024, despite the impact of AI overviews. And it’s projected to increase again in 2025, according to estimates by Exploding Topics:

Google Daily Searches Growth

The narrative that searchers are switching over to LLMs is also flawed.

While people are using LLMs more and more, they aren’t necessarily using them for search.

Search Intent on ChatGPT

Semrush says only 30% of ChatGPT prompts are similar to how people use search.

Things like:

  • Asking for information
  • Finding a website
  • Comparing options
  • Getting help with a purchase

The rest? More like chatting, writing, or brainstorming.

SEO Still Works

91% of marketers said SEO had a positive impact on their website performance and marketing goals in 2024.

Far from cutting SEO spend, companies are investing more.

The global SEO services market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2%.

It’s booming, not dying.

SEO Industry Growth Projection

AI Overviews aren’t everywhere (yet)

As of May 2025, they show up in just 13.14% of all Google searches.

That means traditional search still handles about 86% of queries — for now.

Sharing of Queries Triggering AI Overviews

More importantly, they’re still mostly triggered by low-value, informational queries.

But when it comes to commercial-intent keywords?

They’re still wide open.

Think long-tail phrases with CPCs over $2 and Keyword Difficulty under 30%.

That’s where you still need SEO.

SEO Job Listings Have Declined, But Only in Part

Entry-level and senior-level SEO roles actually increased in 2024.

This shift reflects more automation of routine SEO tasks — and heightened demand for strategic, senior-level expertise.

There are over 117,000 SEO jobs live on LinkedIn worldwide:

LinkedIn – SEO Jobs Worldwide

Looks like there’s still plenty of demand for SEO experts.

“Dead Channel” Test Reality in 2025
80% abandonment No — most businesses still earn value from SEO strategy and content.
Declining volume No — search volume continues rising, with growth in both queries and impressions.
Drop in hiring or investment Mixed — SEO roles dropped, but demand for skilled strategists remains strong.
Investment in SEO is increasing YOY.
Platform redundancy No — 91% of marketers confirm that SEO still works well

SEO Isn’t Dead — But It’s Changing Fast

SEO still drives results.

But ranking alone isn’t enough anymore.

To stay visible, you need to show up in search results and in AI-generated answers.

That’s where Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) comes in.

It’s not about abandoning SEO. It’s about building on it.

Learn how to optimize for AI search with our 7-step GEO playbook.

The post Is SEO Dead? appeared first on Backlinko.

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ChatGPT-5 Is Here: What Search Marketers Need to Know

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ChatGPT-5 is here. Rolling out to 700M+ weekly users.

ChatGPT-5 – Features

With it comes the usual hype and hot takes.

But if you’re in digital marketing, the real question is:

How does this change how people discover, research, and buy?

After months of using ChatGPT extensively (and watching competitors like Google, Perplexity, Claude, and Grok evolve), one thing’s clear:

The brands that win in AI search aren’t just chasing keywords and backlinks.

They’re building topical authority, earning third-party mentions, showing up on YouTube and social, and shaping how people talk about their brand.

In other words: they’re optimizing for how they get recommended in answers — no matter who’s asking the question.

If you want to see exactly how your brand shows up in AI answers, check out our guide to the best LLM tracking tools.

 

What’s New in ChatGPT-5

GPT-5 is definitely an improvement over GPT-4. But the early feeling among marketers, business owners, and even software developers is that it might not be the huge leap many thought it would be.

But still, in certain areas, there are some notable gains.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s new:

Overall Capabilities

In Sam Altman’s words: GPT-4 was like talking to a college student. GPT-5 is more like talking to an expert. A legitimate PhD in any topic area that you want. And it will be broadly available to the free tier, with limits.

For a lot of queries (think fairly basic questions), it’s much faster too. And while you used to have to choose which model to use for specific tasks to prioritize speed or raw ability, GPT-5 now makes that decision for you.

ChatGPT-5 – Models

No more messing around with lots of different model names.

Better Writing

OpenAI claims that GPT-5 should write better, more natural content. For SEOs and digital marketers, this should mean improvements when it comes to AI-assisted content.

In particular, GPT-5 is significantly more accurate than its predecessors. Compared to previous models like GPT-4o and OpenAI o3, it hallucinates 4 to 10 times less often, depending on the task.

ChatGPT-5 – Reliability & Accuracy

On typical ChatGPT prompts, the error rate drops to just 4.8% when using its “thinking” mode. This makes it much more reliable for research, planning, and everyday use.

But its outputs are still not a replacement for human-reviewed, high-quality content.

Coding

The biggest improvements with ChatGPT-5 over GPT-4, at least per OpenAI, are in the math and coding departments. The company seems particularly excited about its advanced coding abilities, trying to beat out competition from Google (Gemini) and Anthropic (Claude).

“It opens up a whole new world of vibe coding, with some rough edges.”


I can see these improved coding capabilities being particularly useful for custom use cases.

For example, I could upload my fitness levels and preferred workouts, then ask ChatGPT to build a workout app that can give me specific workouts and help me track my progress over time.

Voice Mode Enhancements

You get more control over how to interact with the chatbot and, eventually, also the voice assistant. You’ll be able to choose between styles like concise and professional, or thoughtful and supportive.

Memory

The goal in terms of memory is for ChatGPT to really understand what’s meaningful to you. This way, the tool has more context about your specific situation. This should in theory lead to more tailored responses.

Plus, by mid-August, ChatGPT is gaining access to Gmail and Google Calendar. I can see this being super powerful from a business organization and productivity perspective.

Safety

ChatGPT-5 is significantly less deceptive. They have completely overhauled how they do safety training. Before, it was either to outright refuse or comply. Now it’s more nuanced.

ChatGPT-5 – Deception

OpenAI also introduced a new concept called “safe completions.” Essentially, it should maximize helpfulness, within safety constraints. If the model has to refuse, it will tell you why.

Knowledge Cutoff

According to OpenAI’s documentation, the model’s training data cutoff was Oct 1, 2024.

OpenAI – GPT-5 model

That’s newer than GPT-4o’s October 2023 cutoff, so it has a better grasp of late-2024 news changes, other trends.

It means more up-to-date baseline knowledge — but you’ll still need real-time data for anything happening in 2025.

Note: As with any new major release, it’s worth testing out for yourself to understand its capabilities for your specific needs. It’s easy for reviewers to cherry pick examples of it working incredibly well or not so well. The only way to know for sure is to try it yourself.


What Marketers Need to Know

ChatGPT-5 is a clear step up from GPT-4, with huge potential for both business and personal use.

But the fundamentals for marketers haven’t changed — the way you use LLMs and what they mean for your strategy still comes down to the same core principles.

1. ChatGPT-5 Still Pulls From Search Engines

We don’t know the exact mix GPT-5 uses for live lookups.

It could still be leaning on Google like ChatGPT-4o. It could be Bing. Most likely, it’s a blend of both plus OpenAI’s own retrieval system.

Either way, the rule for marketers stays the same:

  • If you want to be in the mix for citations, you need to be findable in search engines
  • That means optimizing for the right terms, having a technically sound site, and matching search intent

Optimizing for AI doesn’t replace SEO. It just makes SEO table stakes for getting recommended in AI answers.

2. AI Visibility Is a Multi-Surface Challenge

Here’s the reality today:

ChatGPT currently dominates in terms of total users. And its usage is growing:

Desktop users using AI

But aside from ChatGPT, you need to consider the larger AI search space.

While ChatGPT reaches ~5X more users than Google’s Gemini app, the gap is not necessarily going to stay like that.

Traffic Overview – ChatGPT

Just think back to the rise of Slack.

Guess who eventually reached the most users?

Slack vs Microsoft Teams

And the broad LLM technology behind ChatGPT is being used by all of its competitors.

For Google, that’s in AI Overviews (which reach nearly 17% of US queries) and Google AI Mode (their chat search experience).

Semrush Sensor – SERP Features

Smaller competitors like Claude, Perplexity, Grok are still gaining share fast.

What’s the pattern?

AI discovery is not just tied to one tool. It’s happening across multiple generative engines — all with their own rules.

You need a brand strategy that works across:

  • Prompts and questions
  • Web results and citations
  • Source quality and brand authority

Don’t just focus on ChatGPT because it’s the biggest, and your brand currently shows up there.

If your customers are using Google AI Mode, Claude, or Perplexity, and you’re not showing up in these tools, you’re leaving money on the table.

3. Brand Mentions > Backlinks

Search engines reward links.

LLMs reward mentions.

If your brand keeps showing up in high-quality content — and that content is clear, well-structured, and semantically relevant — you get pulled into more answers.

Whether GPT-5 now cites sources differently or not, it’s trained on the same core patterns, meaning:

Strong brands get surfaced more often.

If you want to future-proof your visibility:

  • Publish content that earns mentions naturally
  • Use clear product and brand language that LLMs can understand
  • Strengthen your position in category-defining content

Want to know where you stand right now?

Use Semrush’s AI SEO Toolkit to find out exactly how you fare against your competitors in terms of AI citations across Google AI Mode, SearchGPT, and Perplexity:

Semrush AI Toolkit – Citations

You’ll also see how often your brand is mentioned by these tools over time, so you can track the impact of your LLM optimization efforts:

Semrush AI Toolkit – Citations – Brand mentions

4. Prompts Are the New Keywords

People don’t talk to LLMs like they search Google.

Instead of “best bed sheets,” they ask:

  • “What are the comfiest bed sheets that don’t get too hot at night?”
  • “I need high-quality sheets that won’t pill after a few washes. Any brand recs?”
  • “What do hotels use for sheets, and can I buy something similar for home?”

The winners in ChatGPT-5 aren’t the ones who just rank in Google.

They’re the ones whose brand comes up when your ideal customer asks tools like ChatGPT a high-intent question.

Optimize for this by building a prompt library based on customer jobs-to-be-done.

Do this even faster with tools like Semrush’s AI SEO Toolkit. Just enter your domain name and head to the “Questions” tab.

Scroll down and you’ll see questions real customers in your industry are asking.

Semrush AI Toolkit – Questions

Create new content around these questions, and use them to optimize your existing content.

Then, use the “Visibility” tab to monitor your share of voice across not just ChatGPT, but also Google’s AI Mode, Perplexity, and Gemini:

Semrush AI Toolkit – Share of Voice by Platform

How to Win With GPT-5

GPT-5 is faster, more accurate, and more powerful.

But it won’t change the underlying reality for marketers:

If your brand isn’t clear, trusted, and visible in high-quality content, you will be invisible in AI answers.

Learn more about what really matters in our guide to LLM visibility.

The post ChatGPT-5 Is Here: What Search Marketers Need to Know appeared first on Backlinko.

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

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Another month, another avalanche of platform updates and game-changing industry developments. 

Not all the updates will move the needle for your business, but some absolutely will. That’s why I cut through the noise to bring you the changes that actually matter for marketers and agencies.

These 20 trends from July 2025 are reshaping how we think about visibility, attribution, and growth. Let’s take a closer look.

Key Takeaways

  • Search is evolving fast: AI citations favor high-traffic sites, while Google adds audio responses and Instagram posts show up in search results.
  • Attribution is getting better: Meta restores advanced mobile tracking, while Apple now indexes screenshot text for app store optimization (ASO).
  • Automation is winning: Manual campaigns are dying as platforms push AI-driven optimization.
  • Trust drives B2B: LinkedIn data shows 94 percent of marketers rank trust as the top driver of brand success.
  • Video dominates everywhere: From Instagram Trial Reels to connected TV partnerships, video content rules.
  • Download the full roundup report for July 2025 at the NP Digital website.

Search and AI Evolution

The search world is transforming faster than most marketers can keep up. Here’s what’s changing and why it matters.

High-Traffic Sites Get More AI Citations

What happened: Ahrefs analyzed mention share versus website traffic and found something crucial. Higher-traffic websites get cited more frequently in AI-generated responses. This creates a powerful feedback loop where traffic attracts more traffic through AI mentions.

Ahrefs' Brand Radar.

Why it matters: We’re seeing the birth of a new authority signal. AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini are moving beyond content quality, favoring sources that already get traffic and engagement. If you’re not driving consistent traffic, you’re essentially invisible to AI systems that millions of people use daily.

What to do:

  • Prioritize strategies that grow traffic holistically across all channels.
  • Track brand mentions in AI platforms as a new key performance indicator (KPI) alongside traditional search rankings.
  • Repurpose your highest-traffic content across multiple formats and platforms.
  • Build out topic clusters around your most successful content themes.

Google Adds Audio Search Responses

What happened: Google launched “Audio Overviews”—AI-generated spoken responses that sound like podcast conversations between two voices. One explains the topic, while the other asks clarifying questions, making complex information more digestible.

Google's Audio Overviews.

Why it matters: Don’t confuse this with text-to-speech. It’s a fundamental shift toward conversational search experiences. Users can now get rich, contextual answers without reading a single word. For content creators, this means your content needs to work in multiple formats.

What to do:

  • Write with conversation in mind, using natural language and clear explanations.
  • Structure content with clear Q&A sections that can be easily extracted.
  • Optimize for featured snippets, as these often feed AI Overview systems.
  • Test how your key topics sound when read aloud, and adjust accordingly.

Instagram Posts Show Up in Google Search

What happened: Starting July 10, Instagram began allowing search engines to index public content from professional accounts. Your Instagram posts can now appear in Google search results, extending reach beyond Instagram’s internal algorithm.

Why it matters: Social media keeps developing as an SEO channel. This bridges the gap between social engagement and search visibility, giving brands a new way to rank for competitive keywords through social content.

What to do:

  • Audit your Instagram content strategy with SEO in mind.
  • Use keyword-rich captions that would make sense in search results.
  • Create carousel posts that provide substantial value and context.
  • Consider Instagram posts as part of your broader content distribution strategy.

Google’s Search Updates Continues

What happened: Google initiated its second core update of 2025 in June, with effects still rolling out. Early data suggests this update coincides with changes to Google’s Gemini AI models, affecting both traditional rankings and AI Overview visibility.

Why it matters: Core updates assess long-term content quality, and this one seems particularly focused on how content performs in AI-driven features. Sites optimized only for traditional search may see fluctuations.

What to do:

  • Monitor your AI Overview visibility alongside traditional rankings.
  • Focus on E-E-A-T principles: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
  • Avoid making reactive changes to short-term ranking fluctuations.
  • Double down on creating genuinely helpful, user-centric content.

Link Building Gets Smarter in 2025

What happened: Search Engine Land outlined 12 critical link-building best practices for 2025, emphasizing that volume-based backlink strategies are deadweight. The new approach focuses on quality over quantity, contextual relevance, and unlinked brand mentions over raw domain authority.

Why it matters: Link building used to be a numbers game. Now it’s about authority and authenticity. With AI search gaining popularity, the focus has shifted from “who links to you” to “why they link to you” and whether those links enhance your reputation across multiple discovery platforms.

What to do:

  • Shift from volume-based outreach to relationship-driven link building.
  • Focus on unlinked mention outreach to convert brand citations into backlinks.
  • Build editorial partnerships with industry-aligned publications and thought leaders.
  • Create content that naturally earns links through genuine value and shareability.
  • Treat link building as an ongoing authority-building strategy, not a one-time project.

Paid Advertising Evolution

Advertising is getting more sophisticated, with better attribution and expanded inventory. Here’s what’s changing.

Amazon and Roku Transform Connected TV

What happened: Amazon DSP now integrates Roku’s connected TV inventory, giving advertisers access to approximately 80 million U.S. households, over 80 percent of the connected TV (CTV) market. Early tests show a 40 percent increase in unique viewer reach and a 30 percent reduction in ad repetition.

Why it matters: This partnership creates the largest CTV advertising platform in the U.S., combining Amazon’s rich consumer data with Roku’s massive reach. For the first time, brands can use actual shopping behavior to target audiences across major streaming platforms.

What to do:

  • Evaluate your current CTV strategy and consider expanding into this unified platform.
  • Use Amazon’s shopping signals to create more precise audience segments.
  • Develop creative specifically for the combined Prime Video and Roku audience.
  • Track unique reach metrics to optimize for audience expansion and not just frequency.

Meta Restores Advanced Mobile Measurement

What happened: Meta re-enabled Advanced Mobile Measurement (AMM), allowing opted-in advertisers to access device-level attribution data. Starting July 21, Meta’s “Engaged Views” count like clicks in attribution models, aligning with other advertising platforms.

Why it matters: Mobile marketers finally have the granular data they’ve been missing. With device-level attribution and better understanding of user journeys, campaign optimization becomes significantly more precise.

What to do:

  • Opt into Meta’s AMM by accepting the terms (requires admin access).
  • Integrate with your mobile measurement partner (MMP) for unified reporting.
  • Start optimizing for Engaged Views as meaningful conversion signals.
  • Use device-level data to identify highest-value user segments.

Meta Phases Out Manual Campaigns

What happened: Meta is rebranding Advantage+ Shopping to Advantage+ Sales, consolidating sales, app, and lead campaigns into one automated format. Manual campaign setup is being phased out, though some targeting controls remain.

Why it matters: This signals Meta’s complete shift toward AI-driven advertising. Manual bid management and granular targeting controls are becoming obsolete as they’re replaced by machine learning optimization.

What to do:

  • Transition existing manual campaigns to the Advantage+ format.
  • Focus optimization efforts on creative quality and audience signals rather than manual controls.
  • Use broad targeting to unlock the full benefits of Meta’s AI.
  • Monitor performance closely during the transition and adjust creative accordingly.

Amazon Prime Day Doubles Down

What happened: Prime Day 2025 extended to four days (July 8-11), doubling its usual length. New deals dropped every five minutes, giving brands more time to optimize but potentially diluting urgency.

Why it matters: If Amazon sticks with this four-day model, the extended window allows for real-time campaign optimization and better inventory management, but brands need to maintain momentum across four days instead of creating a two-day sprint.

What to do:

  • Implement hourly performance reviews and budget reallocation.
  • Prepare multiple creative assets to refresh messaging throughout the event.
  • Set different KPIs for each day to maintain focus and urgency.
  • Use the extended timeframe for better attribution analysis.

Social Media and Content Strategy

Social platforms are evolving into search engines, discovery platforms, and attribution tools rolled into one. Here’s how to adapt.

Sephora Succeeds With Experiential Marketing

What happened: Sephora launched its “Delivered to Beauty” campaign, offering $20 Lyft credits to bring customers to select stores during July 7-10. The initiative included in-store activations like giveaways and makeup demos, blending digital engagement with physical experiences.

An example of Sephora's Delivered to Beauty campaign.

Why it matters: This shows how experiential marketing can bridge online buzz and in-store traffic. Strategic brand partnerships can unlock new audiences and create unexpected touchpoints in the customer journey, but only when supported by solid digital infrastructure.

What to do:

  • Plan experiential campaigns with digital amplification in mind from day one.
  • Create optimized landing pages and campaign-aligned content for every activation.
  • Use local SEO tactics to capture search traffic during events.
  • Measure both foot traffic and digital engagement to calculate true ROI.

Instagram Trial Reels Show Results

What happened: Instagram’s Trial Reels feature lets creators test content with non-followers before posting to their main feed. Data shows 40 percent of creators using Trial Reels post more frequently, with 80 percent seeing increased reach among non-followers.

Examples of Instagram Reels.

Why it matters: This is like A/B testing but for social algorithms. Instead of guessing what will perform, creators can get real feedback from fresh audiences within 24 hours.

What to do:

  • Use up to 20 Trial Reels daily to test different content formats and topics.
  • Track engagement patterns to identify what drives reach beyond your existing audience.
  • Convert successful trials into regular posts and build content calendars around proven winners.
  • Include Trial Reel performance in your social media reporting.

Pinterest Boosts Visual Search

What happened: Pinterest released new guidance for brands to align their content with AI-powered visual search trends. Key recommendations include updated catalogs, lifestyle imagery, and Performance+ targeting for broader reach.

An example of Pinterest Visual Search.

Why it matters: With 570 million monthly active users, Pinterest remains an underutilized search channel for many brands. These updates make it easier to appear in visual searches without manual keyword optimization.

What to do:

  • Audit existing Pinterest catalogs for accuracy and completeness.
  • Test lifestyle imagery alongside product shots to increase discovery.
  • Enable Performance+ targeting to expand reach beyond manual audience selection.
  • Treat Pinterest as part of your omnichannel search strategy (not just social media).

LinkedIn Emphasizes Business Influencers

What happened: LinkedIn released a 22-page guide highlighting the power of B2B creators and influencer partnerships. It shows that B2B buyers actively seek out creator content as trusted resources throughout their purchasing journey.

Why it matters: B2B influence goes beyond follower counts to credibility and industry expertise. Decision-makers trust individual voices more than brand messaging in complex B2B purchases.

What to do:

  • Identify industry-specific creators who resonate with your target audience.
  • Focus on value-driven content that addresses real buyer needs and challenges.
  • Use video and thought leadership formats to amplify reach and engagement.
  • Measure influence through pipeline impact, not just engagement metrics.

Platforms and Technical Updates

Behind-the-scenes changes are set to affect how your content gets discovered and measured.

Apple Indexes Screenshot Copy

What happened: Apple now uses visible text in App Store screenshot captions as searchable metadata. This means your visual assets directly impact search rankings and app discovery.

Examples of visible text in App Store screenshot captions.

Why it matters: Screenshot captions were previously just conversion tools. Now, they’re discovery tools. Apps can rank for keywords included in their visual content, expanding ASO beyond traditional metadata fields.

What to do:

  • Add relevant keywords to screenshot captions while maintaining conversion focus.
  • Avoid duplicating keywords across metadata fields, but strategically repeat key terms.
  • Use captions to reinforce core product benefits and use cases.
  • Track keyword performance changes after implementing caption optimization.

Cloudflare Blocks AI Crawlers by Default

What happened: New Cloudflare users (representing about 20 percent of the internet) must now explicitly opt in to allow AI crawlers to access their websites for content scraping and model training.

Why it matters: Millions of websites could be excluded from AI search results and language model training unless they take action. This creates a potential visibility gap for brands that don’t adjust their settings.

What to do:

  • Review your Cloudflare settings and enable AI crawler access if you want AI visibility.
  • Consider the trade-offs between content protection and AI platform inclusion.
  • Monitor AI citation tracking (like Ubersuggest’s upcoming feature) to measure impact.
  • Treat this like submitting sitemaps to search engines. You’re telling AI platforms what to crawl.

B2B and Trust Building

B2B marketing is shifting toward relationship-building and credibility over pure lead generation.

LinkedIn Data: Trust Drives B2B Success

What happened: LinkedIn’s latest research shows 93.7 percent of B2B marketers say trust is the top factor for brand success. Customer recommendations outrank product features as purchase drivers.

B2B research from LinkedIn.
A close-up of a survey AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Why it matters: With AI-generated content and automated outreach rising in popularity, authentic human validation becomes the ultimate differentiator. Trust has gone from a “nice to have” to a competitive necessity.

What to do:

  • Prioritize collecting and amplifying authentic customer testimonials.
  • Integrate social proof into every stage of your content funnel.
  • Use customer success stories in sales presentations vs. just in marketing materials.
  • Evaluate your brand messaging to ensure it conveys credibility at every touchpoint.

Ubersuggest Gets AI Search Optimization

What happened: Ubersuggest is rolling out AI Search Optimization reporting in beta, tracking brand mentions and citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other AI platforms. The tool monitors visibility, sentiment, and competitive positioning in AI-generated responses.

Why it matters: This addresses a massive blind spot for marketers. You can optimize for Google rankings all day, but if you’re invisible in AI platforms handling billions of queries, you’re missing huge opportunities. This is the first major tool to treat AI visibility as a measurable, trackable metric.

What to do:

  • Audit your current brand mentions across AI platforms manually until the tool launches.
  • Start optimizing content for AI Overview inclusion using structured data and clear answers.
  • Track competitors’ AI citations to identify content gaps and opportunities.

Looking Ahead: What This Means for Marketers

These updates share a common thread: The marketing world is becoming more sophisticated, more automated, and more focused on authentic value.

  • The search-everywhere reality is here. Your content needs to perform across Google, Instagram, AI platforms, and voice interfaces. SEO now means search everywhere optimization.
  • Attribution is getting better, but complexity is increasing. With Meta’s restored mobile measurement and Apple’s expanded ASO signals, you have more data, but you need better systems to make sense of it.
  • AI is becoming the default. From Meta’s automated campaigns to Google’s audio responses, machine learning is handling more of the heavy lifting. Your job is shifting from manual optimization to strategic input.
  • Trust and relationships matter more than ever. With automated content and AI-generated responses on the rise, human credibility becomes the ultimate competitive advantage.

The brands that win in this environment won’t be the ones with the biggest budgets or the most sophisticated tools. They’ll be the ones that adapt quickly, test constantly, and focus on creating genuine value across every platform that matters. 

Ready to put these insights to work? Let’s talk about how we can help you navigate these changes.

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5 LLM Visibility Tools to Track Your Brand in AI Search (2025)

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LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini are quickly becoming the first place people turn when researching brands, products, and services.

But most companies have no idea how they’re actually showing up.

That’s a huge blind spot — especially as AI-generated answers start shaping what people believe about your brand before they ever hit your site.

At Backlinko, we’ve already seen the shift.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors per month still come from organic search…

Domain Overview – Backlinko – Organic Traffic

But LLM-driven traffic is up 800% year-over-year. And accelerating.

Backlinko LLM Traffic

That’s why tracking your visibility in AI search matters. Because it’s not just about traffic anymore — it’s about presence, perception, and positioning.

So: what tools can actually help you do that?

I’ve tested more than a dozen. These are the five that stand out. The ones I trust right now for speed, scale, and signal.

Some are scrappy startups. Others are built for enterprise.

But every tool on this list does one thing well:

They help you see how your brand shows up in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and more.

Let’s break them down.

What to Look For in an LLM Tracking Tool

A lot of LLM tracking tools look impressive at first glance.

But once you dig in, many fall short — either because they’re built on a shaky foundation, limited scraping technology, or generic dashboards that miss what actually matters.

Here’s what to consider:

  • Real scale: Thousands of prompts. From the UI, not just the APIs. Otherwise, you miss key results (like tables and maps).
  • Multi-engine coverage: ChatGPT is table stakes. Top tools also track Google AI Mode, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Claude, and Copilot.
  • Actionable insights: Breakdowns by model, topic, sentiment. Bonus if it flags missed opportunities and quick wins.
  • Roadmap momentum: Is the team shipping fast? If not, skip it.
  • Global support: Need multi-language prompts or market-level insights? Not all tools can do it.
  • Enterprise-ready: Solid support. Clean data policies. And a team that’s leading the space, not chasing it.

1. Semrush AIO

Semrush AIO isn’t like the other tools on this list.

Semrush AIO – Backlinko – AIO Overview

Yes, it’s on the more expensive side.

But I also think it’s the most complete product on the market right now for tracking your brand across LLMs.

Why?

Because Semrush has something most others don’t: infrastructure and scale.

They’ve spent over a decade building one of the most robust search visibility platforms, and now they’re applying that to AI.

My favorite feature is the Competitor Rankings and Market Analysis. Once you have your prompts, and categories, dialed in, you can really get a detailed look at your visibility across all (or each individual) LLM that you track.

Semrush AIO – Backlinko – Competitor Rankings

And then you can really start honing your strategy by focusing on the top-performing Source Domains and specific URLs.

Semrush AIO – Backlinko – Source Analysis

Plans & Pricing

Enterprise pricing upon request. Request a demo here.

Semrush AI SEO Toolkit starts at $99/month per domain. It gives you a solid snapshot of how your brand shows up in AI responses — great for just getting started.

LLMs Covered

ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Perplexity, Deepseek

Key Capabilities

  • Real-time brand, product, and concept tracking
  • Quote-level visibility and sentiment scoring
  • Share of Voice metrics across platforms
  • Platform-by-platform performance insights
  • Workflow automation and optimization guidance
  • Deep integrations with Semrush’s core platform for multi-channel visibility

2. Profound

Profound is one of the more interesting new companies in the space right now.

Profound – Semrush – Platforms

They launched in 2024 and in June 2025 raised a $20M seed round to go all-in on AI search.

The product looks great. It feels fast. And they’re shipping like crazy.

Prompt-level insights, platform-by-platform visibility, real crawl logs. There’s a lot to like.

Profound – Prompt Analysis

But one thing to watch: Profound is still new.

They don’t have the infrastructure or track record of the bigger players (yet).

So while the pace of innovation is impressive, the long-term durability is something to keep in mind.

Plans & Pricing

Starts at $499/month for 200 prompts. Enterprise plans available.

LLMs Covered

Lite plan includes: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot. Enterprise plan includes Google AI Mode. And more on the horizon.

Key Capabilities

  • Prompt-level tracking + AI-generated prompt suggestions
  • Visibility and Share of Voice by topic, region, and platform
  • Citation analysis with URLs, domains, and page-level stats
  • Real-time LLM crawl and citation logs
  • Conversation Explorer with topic-level ChatGPT demand
  • “Actions” workspace for optimizing slugs, content, and targeting

3. ZipTie.Dev

ZipTie is one of the simplest tools on this list, and that’s exactly why it works.

ZipTie – Petlibro – Overview

There’s no bloat, no complex setup, and no sales process. You just plug in your brand and get visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews.

It’s not built for teams that want deep prompt logic or workflow integrations.

ZipTie – Petlibro – Queries

But if you want fast answers, clean dashboards, and a dead-simple way to check how your brand is showing up in AI search, ZipTie gets the job done.

Great for early-stage teams or solo operators who want signal without complexity.

Plans & Pricing

Starts at $99/month (Basic plan with 400 AI search checks)

LLMs Covered

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews

Key Capabilities

  • Tracks brand presence across top AI search engines
  • Provides visibility and citation data in one view
  • Includes prompt-based monitoring with simple tagging
  • Export-friendly dashboard and fast onboarding
  • Basic UI with just the essentials

4. Peec AI

Peec AI is one of the newest players in the LLM tracking space, founded in 2025 and backed by a €5.2M seed round.

Peec AI – Underfit – Dashboard

The platform is built to monitor brand visibility and sentiment across major AI search engines while keeping the interface simple and focused.

You can track your active prompts:

Peec AI – Underfit – Prompts

And the top performing sources, to guide your strategy:

Peec AI – Underfit – Sources

Plans & Pricing

  • Starter: $89/month (25 prompts, 3-country coverage)
  • Pro: $199/month(100 prompts, 5 countries)
  • Enterprise: $499+/month (300+ prompts, 10+ countries)
  • Add‑ons
    • GPT‑4 Search: $19–$49
    • Claude 4: $29–$159
    • Gemini Search Preview: $99–$499

LLMs Covered

Included: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews

Optional Add-ons: Claude 4, Gemini, GPT-4 (via SearchGPT plugin)

Key Capabilities

  • Tracks brand mentions, sentiment, and visibility across top LLMs
  • Clean, modern UI with prompt-level reporting and tagging
  • Country-specific visibility insights (multi-language capable)
  • Easy onboarding and export-friendly reports
  • Modular pricing for expanding LLM coverage without overpaying

5. Gumshoe.AI

Gumshoe AI is in public beta — no clear pricing or enterprise polish yet.

Gumshoe – Backlinko – Report

But its approach? I’m super interested.

Unlike tools that start with prompts, Gumshoe starts with personas.

You define your audience — their roles, goals, and pain points — and Gumshoe reverse-engineers the kinds of prompts they’re likely to ask across AI chat tools.

The project setup flow is what really stands out.

You start by verifying your brand positioning. Then you choose one analysis focus area — usually your clearest product or service.

From there, Gumshoe builds a list of rich, realistic target personas. Not fluffy archetypes like “SaaS Sally” or “Paul the Plumber” — actual roles with meaningful intent.

Gumshoe – Personas

Then it generates detailed, relevant prompts based on those personas and associated topic clusters.

This is (early-stage) structured AI search research, tied directly to how your audience thinks and searches.

Gumshoe – Brand Reach

Plans & Pricing

None announced yet.

LLMs Covered

Perplexity AI Sonar, Google Gemini 2.5 Flash, OpenAI 4o Mini, Anthropic Claude 3.5

Key Capabilities

  • Persona-based prompt generation and tracking
  • Visibility scoring by persona, topic, and LLM
  • Citation source tracking across answers
  • Topic visibility matrix for how your brand is mentioned by each persona for a given topic

Whichever Tool You Choose, Just Start Tracking

Whether you’re measuring it or not, users are discovering your competitors through AI interactions. So, it’s a good idea to have your finger on the pulse.

To get started, pick one tool, add 3-5 competitors, and track 10+ prompts about your products/services for 30 days. You’ll start seeing where you have opportunities.

Don’t expect overnight changes. This is like early-stage SEO — you’re building a foundation for long-term authority.

Once you have the data, what do you do next? Take a look at our guide on Generative Engine Optimization. We show you how to influence how LLMs mention and cite your brand.

The post 5 LLM Visibility Tools to Track Your Brand in AI Search (2025) appeared first on Backlinko.

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ChatGPT Is Using Google Search – We Tested It

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Last month, Abhishek Iyer ran a sharp experiment:

He created a brand-new nonsense term, got it indexed only in Google, and then asked ChatGPT about it.

ChatGPT returned a perfect summary — despite the fact that Bing had never seen the page.

That test got our attention.

So we ran our own.

We invented a new fake SEO term, NexorbalOptimization, published a dedicated page on Backlinko, and made sure only Googlebot could crawl it.

Then we waited.

The results confirmed what Abhishek — and a handful of others — have started to suspect:

ChatGPT Plus is using Google Search data. Not just Bing.

Here’s how we ran the test, what we found, and what this means for the future of AI search visibility.

Step 1: Create a Term That Doesn’t Exist

We made up a new SEO buzzword: NexorbalOptimization.

It had:

  • Zero mentions online
  • No search volume
  • No overlap with real words, acronyms, or brand names

We built a new page on Backlinko with fake-but-professional sounding content explaining what “NexorbalOptimization” supposedly is.

Backlinko – Nexorbaloptimization

Here’s the live URL: https://backlinko.com/nexorbaloptimization

Step 2: Let Google In (and Block Everyone Else)

Next, we updated our robots.txt file with the following:

code icon
# Allow Googlebot to access the specific page
User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /nexorbaloptimization
# Block all other bots from that page only
User-agent: *
Disallow: /nexorbaloptimization

We also made sure this URL wasn’t included in our public sitemap.xml file.

That meant:

  • Googlebot could crawl and index the page
  • Bing, Perplexity, DuckDuckGo, Claude, and other bots were blocked
  • The page was invisible to public crawlers and AI tools, unless they were using Google

We manually submitted the URL to Google Search Console and waited for indexing.

GSC – Inspect – Backlinko – Nexorbaloptimization

Step 3: Wait for Indexing, Then Ask ChatGPT

Once the page was live, it took a few hours to get indexed in Google:

Google SERP – Backlinko – Nexorbaloptimization

We confirmed that it still wasn’t indexed in Bing:

Bing SERP – Backlinko – Nexorbaloptimization

Or DuckDuckGo:

DuckDuckGo SERP – Backlinko – Nexorbaloptimization

Then, we tested a prompt in different LLMs / models:

What is nexorbaloptimization?

ChatGPT Plus (temporary chat, with web browsing) found our page and quoted it word-for-word:

ChatGPT – What is nexorbaloptimization?

ChatGPT Free (with web browsing, not logged in) couldn’t find anything:

ChatGPT – Logged out prompt result

Neither could Claude 4 Sonnet:

Claude – What is nexorbaloptimization?

Interestingly, Perplexity was the only other one that managed to find it:

Perplexity – What is nexorbaloptimization?

The Results

Only ChatGPT Plus and Perplexity’s Free plan returned a valid answer based on the Backlinko page.

All other models either:

  • Returned nothing
  • Said the term didn’t exist
  • Or made something up without referencing the page

This confirmed two things:

  1. Google was the only search engine that knew about the term
  2. The AI responses reflected the exact phrasing, structure, and concepts from our made-up page

Why This Matters

There’s been speculation for months that ChatGPT specifically might be relying on more than just Bing.

OpenAI has an official partnership with Microsoft.

ChatGPT’s default browsing model is often described as using Bing.

But these experiments tell a different story.

Here’s what’s becoming increasingly clear:

1. ChatGPT Plus is indexing Google Search

Especially when other engines haven’t seen the page.

2. SEO visibility in Google directly influences AI answers

If your page doesn’t rank in Google, ChatGPT likely won’t “see” it — regardless of whether you rank in Bing or not.

3. Google is the trusted source of truth for LLMs

Not because it’s stated — but because it’s indexed faster, deeper, and more completely.

What This Means for SEO in the Age of AI

This test, and others like it, reveal something critical:

AI search visibility is becoming an extension of Google’s reliable index and search visibility.

You’re not just optimizing to appear in a SERP.

You’re optimizing to be pulled into a ChatGPT answer box.

Or a Perplexity paragraph.

Or a Gemini-generated comparison.

If Google doesn’t index you — many AI tools won’t surface you.

That makes indexation and crawl access even more strategic than before.

Why LLM Visibility Still Starts with Google (And How to Track It)

If you’re trying to understand where your brand shows up in AI-generated content, you need to start with a simple truth:

Google’s index is the foundation layer for most LLMs.

Even as tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity generate answers on the fly, they’re pulling from a mix of:

  • Crawled web results (often from Google-indexed pages)
  • Structured data
  • High-authority brand mentions

If your content isn’t indexed — or isn’t ranking — it’s invisible to the most important LLMs.

That’s why traditional SEO fundamentals still matter:

  • Crawlability
  • Fast indexing
  • Content structured for semantic clarity
  • Owning your brand queries and product terms

Want to track your presence in AI tools?

You’ll need more than just a rank tracker.

Thinking Ahead

As LLMs become more influential in the discovery process, you’ll want to start tracking how your brand shows up across tools — not just in SERPs.

That means finding a tool (or set of tools) that:

  • Can scale with your brand and content footprint
  • Tracks citations, summaries, and AI-generated exposure
  • Is transparent about what it’s monitoring and how

If you’re already using Semrush, their AI SEO Toolkit is a solid starting point.

Semrush AI Toolkit – Brand Performance

For enterprise teams managing multiple properties or international markets, Semrush Enterprise AIO adds more depth.

Bottom line:

LLM visibility is a new surface area. And the earlier you start tracking it, the better positioned you’ll be to influence it.

Want to Run the Test Yourself?

  1. Invent a fake phrase
  2. Create a page with unique content
  3. Submit to Google Search Console
  4. Block all other bots via robots.txt
  5. Wait for indexing
  6. Prompt ChatGPT (Plus with browsing) with a simple question
  7. See what it says

This kind of sting-test isn’t just clever — it’s revealing how the AI discovery layer is actually working.

Shoutout

Big credit to Abhishek Iyer for running the original experiment that sparked this.

You can read his breakdown here.

We just followed the trail — with a slightly sillier term.

The post ChatGPT Is Using Google Search – We Tested It appeared first on Backlinko.

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Reddit SEO Guide to Increasing Brand Visibility in Google in 2025

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Have you noticed Reddit showing up more and more in search results lately?

You’re not imagining it.

Reddit has quietly become a major player in Google’s search ecosystem and will only grow. As of 2024, Google rolled out multiple search engine results page (SERP) features prioritizing Reddit content, including “Discussions and forums” and “What people are saying” panels. 

Plus, Reddit struck a licensing deal with Google to train AI models using its content. That means Reddit insights are now baked into how Google’s AI Overviews are shaped.

So, what does that mean for you?

It means your SEO strategy needs to account for Reddit. Whether you’re trying to show up on Reddit or rank because of Reddit, this platform can unlock a surprising amount of visibility. If you know how to work it, that is.

In this guide, we’ll break down how to use Reddit SEO to connect with real users and earn space in today’s evolving SERPs.

Key Takeaways 

  • Reddit threads increasingly appear in Google features like “Discussions and forums” and AI Overviews, making Reddit a key player in search visibility.
  • Strategic participation in relevant subreddits can boost brand authority, uncover content gaps, and influence what ranks for your target keywords.
  • SERP analysis helps identify high-ranking threads to engage with, or keyword opportunities where new threads have a chance of appearing.
  • A phased strategy (Crawl → Walk → Run) helps brands build trust before scaling Reddit engagement across profiles and subreddits.
  • NP Digital achieved real-world results for TurboTax, proving that Reddit SEO can drive SERP wins when paired with link building and blog optimization.

What Is Reddit SEO?

Reddit SEO refers to optimizing for two interconnected opportunities:

  • On-platform SEO: How your content appears and performs within Reddit’s search and subreddit ecosystems.
  • Off-platform SEO: How Reddit content ranks and contributes to visibility in Google’s SERPs, especially in features like “Discussions and forums,” “What people are saying,” and even traditional organic listings.

Reddit itself functions like a mini search engine. Users search subreddits for recommendations, reviews, and answers to specific problems. Search engine optimization for Reddit posts, comments, and titles using relevant keywords (without sounding spammy) helps them show up in internal search results and gain more upvotes, which helps with visibility.

But that’s just one side of it.

The bigger opportunity right now is off-platform SEO. Google is increasingly pulling Reddit content into its results because of its authenticity and community-driven value. Threads with genuine discussions or useful information often rank alongside blog posts and product pages, especially when the query is intent-driven or phrased like a question.

Ultimately, Reddit SEO is less about manipulating the algorithm and more about participating in conversations that matter, adding real value, and positioning your content so both Reddit users and search engines can find it.

A search for "Best Tax Software Reddit."
Reddit search results for "Crypto Tax Tips."

Why Reddit Is More Important Than Ever for Digital Marketing

As an online forum, Reddit mirrors how real people research, evaluate, and decide. That’s why it matters so much for digital marketers in 2025. It gives us something that’s becoming harder to find in traditional SEO: authentic intent signals.

People aren’t searching on Reddit for fluff. They’re looking for real experiences, firsthand reviews, product feedback, or deep-dive discussions. And that kind of raw, unfiltered demand is gold for modern content and SEO teams.

But Reddit also feeds the broader shift we’re seeing in how search works. We’re no longer optimizing for one destination (Google). We’re optimizing for a network of discovery channels, including Reddit. This plays into an important concept known as search everywhere optimization: getting found in the places where people ask questions and search for answers they can trust.

Ignore Reddit SEO, and you overlook where real buying conversations happen. Embrace it, and you tap into a platform that builds trust, informs content creation, and amplifies search visibility—without the traditional gatekeepers.

Reddit visibility in the "Discussions and forums" tab in Google.

What Makes Reddit and SEO a Unique Combo

Reddit and SEO work together, but not in the way most marketers are used to. In short, Reddit rewards what Google is increasingly prioritizing: helpful, experience-driven content.

Unlike platforms built for brands and publishers, Reddit is built for communities. That means the usual SEO tactics (link building or keyword integration) fall flat here. In fact, they’ll probably backfire. Reddit’s user base is naturally skeptical and vocal about anything that feels inauthentic.

But that’s exactly what makes it powerful.

When done right, Reddit SEO isn’t about broadcasting or promotion; it’s about earning trust. Threads that genuinely answer questions or share insights have a much higher chance of engagement within Reddit, and even get featured in Google search results.

A Reddit post example.

Reddit also functions as a real-time SEO feedback loop. What users upvote (or ignore) can help you validate keyword intent, content angles, and topic resonance before investing in a full-blown content campaign. 

How to Use Reddit for SEO

We’ve discussed how using Reddit for SEO strategy can boost your visibility and improve your rankings. But how, exactly?

Below are the core Reddit SEO tips you can use to get the most out of the platform:

Brand Visibility in Google SERPs

Since Reddit threads and comments increasingly appear in organic search results and SERP features, your Reddit content can rank in Google, even if your site doesn’t.

Whether you’re answering questions or sharing original insights, helpful content on Reddit can land in top positions for highly specific, intent-driven keywords.

Target your Reddit content to answer question-based phrases and long-tail keywords. These tend to trigger SERP features that pull in Reddit threads. Using the pre-populated options in the Google search bar or a platform like AnswerThePublic.com is a great way to research and uncover these types of search terms. 

Appear in AI-Generated Search Results

Thanks to Reddit’s licensing deal with Google, Google’s AI Overviews (and other LLM-powered results) are being trained on Reddit data. As generative search becomes more mainstream, the odds of your Reddit content being cited in these answers increase. Focusing on creating content that’s genuinely useful, experience-based, and conversational gives you a better chance of being surfaced, especially for product queries, comparisons, or niche how-tos.

Build Topical Authority and Trust

Reddit allows you to engage with users in a way that builds brand trust and positions you as an expert. The best way to leverage this direct contact with your audience is to participate consistently and establish credibility. Whether you’re answering a technical question or offering a thoughtful opinion, you’ll build a solid digital footprint over time that both Google and your audience recognize.

It’s also a great hedge against negative chatter. Owning your narrative through proactive engagement can reduce reputational risk and save you from frustrating hurdles or shadow banning.

Get Customer and Content Insights

Think of Reddit as a real-time content lab. It’s where users ask questions that don’t always appear in keyword tools—yet. Search relevant subreddits for your industry and see what your audience is talking about. You’ll start to uncover content gaps like audience pain points and phrasing you may have overlooked.

Fuel Keyword Research and Topic Ideation

Reddit is a keyword opportunity goldmine, especially long-tail, low-competition keyword ideas that may not even register in traditional tools until the trend explodes. When you’re browsing subreddits, look for:

  • Questions with multiple upvotes or engagement
  • Recurring themes or product mentions
  • Specific phrasing that reflects how your audience thinks (not how marketers write)

This intel is especially helpful when building keyword or topic clusters or aiming to dominate topical authority around a niche subject. Couple this Reddit SEO strategy with our SERP Analysis Guide to supercharge your overall SEO performance. 

You can also validate ideas by seeing what gets traction (and what doesn’t) before investing in full-scale production. Tools like Ubersuggest, Google Trends, AnswerThePublic, and Reddit’s own search bar can help spot growing or redundant trends and help inform your content topics and strategy. 

Building Your Reddit SEO Strategy

Successfully using Reddit for SEO doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a long game that requires consistency and a plan that evolves with your investment level. That’s why we recommend thinking of your Reddit SEO strategy in phases.

The best approach is to start small and learn the landscape. Get familiar with the structure of communities and how users behave in them. Once you get the hang of it and develop an eye for what works, you can scale your efforts over time.

We call this strategy “Crawl → Walk → Run.” Each phase builds on the last. The goal is to move from passive listening to full-scale community engagement, ending in a lasting, high-visibility Reddit presence.

Crawl

Reddit isn’t the place for hard sells. Coming in too strong can backfire fast, which is why the Crawl phase is all about listening first. It’s where observation and subtle engagement take center stage.

Start by identifying subreddits where your audience hangs out. Pay attention to tone, post formats, and what kinds of answers get upvoted. Use a few branded profiles to upvote and comment occasionally to build familiarity without promoting anything.

You’ll also want to analyze SERPs. Use tools like Ubersuggest or a simple “site:reddit.com” Google search to find Reddit threads ranking for your target keywords. Engaging in these threads boosts visibility both on Reddit and in search. You can also pull information from Google’s “Discussions and forums” and “What people are saying” features. 

A Reddit site search for tax preparation.
Reddit Discussions and Forums results in Google with "What happens if you file taxes late."

At this stage, your goal isn’t to go viral. It’s to learn the landscape and get your brand’s foot in the door.

Walk

In the Walk phase, you begin starting threads and offering expert commentary. Focus on subreddits where your audience is most engaged. Share genuine insights and respond to user pain points. This develops a foundation for content pillars around topics that align with your brand but still feel native to Reddit.

Using SERP analysis proactively also helps at this stage. Look for target keywords and SERPs where Reddit threads currently rank. If a competitor’s blog shows up and Reddit is pulled into SERP features, that’s your chance to start a new thread and own that discussion. Aim for question-based titles and intent-matching content. If no Reddit threads currently rank in the SERP, there’s less of a chance for ranking on Reddit for that search since Google doesn’t find Reddit valuable for said search.

You’ll need more profiles and daily management here. But the goal remains the same: Build trust and start shaping the narrative in spaces your audience already values to improve your brand visibility.

Run

In the Run phase, you’re starting to lead conversations within the Reddit forums. That means launching your own branded subreddit. You’ll be investing time responding in real time across high-priority threads and maintaining visibility in multiple subreddits tied to your niche.

At this level, Reddit becomes a content and community engine. You’re scaling engagement, managing 10 to 40 (or more) branded profiles, and integrating SEO, content, and customer service teams to create a unified presence.

You’re also building authority that flows off Reddit. High-quality threads are more likely to provide SEO results through backlinks and appearances in Google features, like AI Overviews and “What people are saying.”

Google results for Quarterly tax deadlines.

Converting these positive signals to traffic from Reddit SEO requires consistency and credibility. By owning the space, you position your brand as a go-to source, both for search engines and the community itself.

The Impact of Reddit SEO: A Case Study

Recently, NP Digital ran a Reddit campaign for TurboTax. Their case study is a strong example of what the Crawl phase can achieve when executed with intention and paired with SEO.

From January to April 2025, TurboTax-branded Reddit profiles engaged in relevant subreddits, contributing 159 comments and launching strategic threads. A few appeared in Google’s “What people are saying” feature for the keywords “quarterly tax deadlines” and “turbotax early refund.” Another comment was cited in AI-generated Reddit answers within days of posting.

Reddit mentions hit 5,404 (an increase of 10 percent year over year (YoY)), and while sentiment was still mixed (59 percent negative; 6 percent positive), positive mentions increased 2 percent  YoY, even amid brand-sensitive issues like early refunds and pricing.

The team also saw success combining Reddit engagement with targeted SEO tactics. A refreshed blog post, Ways to File for Free, secured the featured snippet for “is Turbotax free” (14,800 monthly search volume (MSV)) within weeks, helping to outrank negative Reddit content.

The takeaway is that Reddit SEO drives real results. When done right, it drives visibility in SERPs and gives brands more control over their search narrative.

FAQs

How to use Reddit for SEO?

Reddit can support your SEO strategy in a few powerful ways. First, Reddit threads often appear in Google’s SERPs, especially in features like “Discussions and forums.” By starting or contributing to high-value threads, your content can gain direct visibility in search results. Second, Reddit helps with content discovery. You can analyze subreddits to find trending topics, language patterns, and user intent that can inform your broader SEO and content strategies.

You can also use SERP analysis to find keyword gaps where Reddit threads are being pulled into SERP features and create new threads to increase visibility in those spaces. Just remember: Value and authenticity win. Spam won’t get you anywhere.

Is Reddit a search engine?

Not in the traditional sense, but it functions like one.

Reddit has a robust internal search engine that allows users to find content across thousands of subreddits. People use it to get advice, vet products, read reviews, and solve problems phrased as long-tail queries that mirror Google searches. In fact, younger audiences usually search Reddit directly for information instead of using Google.

While Reddit doesn’t index the open web, it absolutely influences the way people search and make decisions. That’s why optimizing for Reddit search and contributing to high-performing threads can give you a dual benefit: Visibility within Reddit and in Google SERPs.

Does Reddit help with SEO?

Yes, Reddit can be a powerful SEO enhancer when you use it strategically.

High-value Reddit threads often rank in Google’s organic results and featured SERP modules. Creating or contributing to those threads increases your chances of gaining real estate in search results, even for competitive terms. Reddit is also a great place to uncover keyword and content opportunities before they trend.

It doesn’t directly boost domain authority like backlinks might, but it shapes user perception, generates traffic, and helps Google associate your brand with helpful, trustworthy content. As Google’s AI-driven search continues to evolve, Reddit’s role in shaping what gets surfaced will likely grow.

Conclusion

Reddit SEO gives you something traditional channels can’t: direct access to how people think, search, and talk in real time.

It’s a space where trust matters more than tactics. And that’s exactly why it’s showing up more in Google’s SERPs, AI Overviews, and user journeys. When you treat Reddit as a community to engage with (and not just another traffic source), you open the door to brand visibility you can’t buy or fake.

Success on Reddit takes three simple steps. Start with authentic participation, back it with smart SEO, and grow into a presence that earns results both on and off the platform. 

It’s not easy, but it is simple. Stick to the plan, and your consistency will pay off before you know it. 

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How Perplexity ranks content: Research uncovers core ranking factors and systems

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Perplexity

Want to know how content is scored, ranked, and in some cases, discarded by Perplexity? Independent researcher Metehan Yesilyurt analyzed browser-level interactions with Perplexity’s infrastructure to reveal how the AI answer engine evaluates and ranks content.

Why we care. Everybody involved with driving SEO and/or GEO success wants to understand how to gain visibility (citations and mentions) in AI answer engines. This research (albeit unverified at this point) offers some clues about Perplexity’s ranking signals, manual overrides, and content evaluation systems that could improve your optimization strategies for Perplexity (and possibly other answer engines) to gain a ranking advantage.

Entity search reranking system. One significant Perplexity system uncovered is a three-layer (L3) machine learning reranker. It is used for entity searches (people, companies, topics, concepts). Here’s how it works:

  • Initial results are retrieved and scored, like traditional search.
  • Then, L3 kicks in, applying stricter machine learning filters.
  • If too few results meet the threshold, the entire result set is scrapped.

This means quality signals and topical authority are super important for L3 – and keyword optimization isn’t enough, according to Yesilyurt.

Authoritative domains. Yesilyurt also discovered manual lists of authoritative domains (e.g., Amazon, GitHub, LinkedIn, Coursera). Yesilyurt wrote:

  • “This manual curation means that content associated with or referenced by these domains receives inherent authority boosts. The implication is clear: building relationships with these platforms or creating content that naturally incorporates their data provides algorithmic advantages.”

YouTube synchronization = ranking boost. Another interesting find: YouTube titles that exactly match Perplexity trending queries see enhanced visibility on both platforms.

  • This hints at cross-platform validation. Perplexity might validate trending interest using YouTube behavior – rewarding creators who act fast on emerging topics, according to Yesilyurt.

Core ranking factors. Yesilyurt documented dozens of what he called Perplexity’s “core ranking factors” that influence content visibility:

  • New post performance: Early clicks determine long-term visibility.
  • Topic classification: Tech, AI, and science get boosted; sports and entertainment get suppressed.
  • Time decay: Publish and update content frequently to avoid rapid visibility declines.
  • Semantic relevance: Content must be rich and comprehensive – not just keyword-matched.
  • User engagement: Clicks and historic engagement signals feed performance models.
  • Memory networks: Interlinked content clusters rank better together.
  • Feed distribution: Visibility in feeds is tightly controlled via cache limits and freshness timers.
  • Negative signals: User feedback and redundancy checks can bury underperforming content.

What’s next. Yesilyurt said success on Perplexity requires a combination of strategic topic selection, early user engagement, interconnected value, continuous optimization, and prioritizing quality over gaming.

  • Sound familiar? To me, it sure sounds like doing the SEO fundamentals.

Dig deeper. AI search is booming, but SEO is still not dead

The post. Breaking: Perplexity’s 59 Ranking Patterns and Secret Browser Architecture Revealed (With Code)

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How to Run a Competitor Traffic Analysis (9 Steps)

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You know that feeling when you see a brand new competitor swooping in and snatching leads away from you?

It can make you start questioning your whole approach.

But instead of panicking, it’s far more useful to break down what they’re doing.

That way, you can cherry-pick their best ideas. And spot the gaps they’ve missed.

This post will show you exactly how to do that.

As you read it, imagine you’re a new pet supplies brand going head-to-head with the retailer Hollywood Feed.

Hollywood Feed – Homepage

To get the upper hand, you’ll need to understand how they’re driving traffic and converting customers, answering questions like:

  • Which channels bring the most visits and sales?
  • How much of their traffic is organic vs. paid?
  • Which pages, platforms, and campaigns are working best?

In this guide, you’ll learn how to run a competitor analysis to find the answers to these questions and more — regardless of your brand, industry, and experience.

Free resource: You can follow along with our Competitive Analysis Worksheet. Just open it up in another tab, and use this article as a guide to fill it out for your top 3-5 competitors.

Competitive Traffic Analysis Worksheet – Backlinko

Before you start, this guide assumes you’ve already covered the basics.

You know your ideal customer. You’ve nailed your positioning. You’re clear on the category or niche you’re competing in.

If not, start here: The Complete Guide to Market Research

It’ll make everything in this guide way more useful.

Let’s start by identifying your real competition.

Step 1: Spot the Competitors Grabbing Your Traffic

You need to build a live list of 5–10 competitors.

Begin Googling broad, high-intent terms like:

  • “best dog food”
  • “pet store near me” (or “pet store in [city]”)
  • “cat toys online”

Not sure where to start? Try this AI prompt to gather some terms you can then type into Google:

“What high-intent keywords do people use when searching for [your product/service] online?”

Make a note of:

  • Who ranks organically
  • Who’s running paid ads
  • Who’s in the local pack (map section that shows nearby businesses) or shopping results

Google SERP – Pet food online

Next, check out popular Reddit threads and pet owner forums. This is where you’ll often find smaller, more niche brand mentions. But they might still be your competitors depending on your location and/or stage of growth.

(As a bonus it’ll also often reveal the sentiment around your rivals from real customers.)

Reddit – Pet supply store preferences

Now go to Google and look for “best of” listicles from publishers and bloggers.

The Spruce Pets – Best Places to Buy Dog Food

Find these by searching for modifiers like “best” and “cheapest” followed by:

  • [product] in [industry]
  • [product] in [city]
  • [product] for [specific need]
  • [product] under $[amount]
  • [product] in [year]
  • [industry] brands

Google SERP – Best dog food for sensitive stomach

Tip: Also check which competitors rank for these terms directly. These are generally high volume, competitive, and valuable. If your rivals rank for them, you likely want to as well.

Want a more straightforward way to find your rivals?

You can use an SEO platform like Semrush to instantly find your main competitors.

Just pop your domain into the Organic Research tool. Head to the “Competitors” tab and you’ll see the Competitive Positioning Map.

This shows your top rivals on a chart of the number of keywords they rank for vs. their organic search traffic.

Organic Research – Petfoodexpress – Competitors Map

You’ll also see more information below that about each competitor. Like common keywords, paid keywords, and more.

Note: A free Semrush account gives you 10 searches in the Organic Research tool per day. Or you can use this link to access a 14-day trial on a Semrush Pro subscription.

Finally, AI tools like ChatGPT can help uncover competitors that traffic tools might miss. Here are a few prompts you can try:

Use Case Example Prompt What It Reveals
General Discovery What are the best places to buy [your product] in [your market]?

E.g. What are the best places to buy pet supplies online in the U.S.?

 Returns top names, but might sometimes surface lesser-known brands too
Niche-Specific Top-rated [your business] for [your niche] in [your market]

E.g., Top-rated pet stores for natural dog food in the U.S.

 Highlights specialty brands focused on natural or premium products
Emerging and Hidden Players Fastest-growing [your vertical] business in [your market]

E.g., Fastest-growing pet retailers in the US

 Surfaces rising brands that may not rank in traffic tools yet

Note that AI tools may personalize answers based on your chat history. Run prompts in a fresh window, and always verify unfamiliar results.

Pro tip: It’s easy to watch the big names and miss smaller players like Hollywood Feed who are gaining ground.

Don’t just check Google.

Search Reddit, niche listicles, and online communities to spot emerging competitors.

Reminder: Add these competitors to your copy of our competitor analysis worksheet.

Step 2: Find Your Edge by Comparing Products and Positioning

Once you’ve got your competitor list, go through them one by one, and start by looking at the basics:

  • What products do your competitors sell?
  • How do those products compare to yours?

Then, look at how they talk about themselves.

What value propositions are they leaning on: quality, price, convenience, or something else?

Head to their website to find this out.

Have a click around, paying particular attention to the product and category pages. Use what you find to fill out the “Product and Positioning” sections of our template:

Competitive Traffic Analysis Worksheet – Backlinko

You can use AI to gather a lot of this info even faster (although I still recommend actually visiting their website too).

Here’s an example of a prompt you could use:

I’m analyzing competitors to understand how to position my brand more effectively.

Here’s what I’d like help with:

  • My brand: [insert brief description — product, audience, values]
  • Competitors: [insert 3–5 competitor names]

For each competitor, please:

  1. List their main products
  2. Compare their offerings to mine in terms of variety, pricing, target customer, and positioning
  3. Identify their core value propositions (price, convenience, quality, speed, etc.)
  4. Describe their messaging tone and website language

Then suggest 2–3 ways I can differentiate — based on gaps or overlaps in their positioning. Format your answer using tables and bullet points

Here’s an example using Hollywood Feed and Chewy:

Section Brand Details
Product Comparison Chewy Wide selection: pet food (all types), toys, meds, grooming. Convenience-focused.
Hollywood Feed Natural/premium food, boutique accessories, regional in-store experience.
Value Propositions Chewy Convenience, speed, selection, 24/7 service.
Hollywood Feed High quality, local expertise, boutique service.
Messaging & Tone Chewy Warm, mass-market tone. “Trusted by millions.” Friendly and supportive.
Hollywood Feed Expert-led, local authority. “Nutrition-trained associates.” Boutique feel.
Differentiation Opportunities 1. Sustainable + subscription niche Neither competitor clearly owns this space — potential to stand out.
2. Ingredient transparency Competitors mention quality, but don’t emphasize traceability or sourcing.
3. Radical simplicity Chewy offers everything; Hollywood Feed is regional. There’s room for a frictionless, curated experience.

Note: We’ve included a section at the end of the downloadable worksheet to go a step further and analyze your rivals’ customer experience and checkout flows.

Competitive Traffic Analysis Worksheet – Backlinko – Customer Experience Audit

There are too many checks to cover in detail here. But they’re still super important as they can help you understand where your rivals are winning at the end of the buyer journey.

Step 3: Analyze Their Traffic Channels

Looking at your competitor’s website traffic can tell you where they’re investing. And how fast they’re growing.

Here’s how.

Start with the Top-Level Traffic Numbers

Start by checking competitor website traffic in general. You can do this with a tool like Semrush’s Domain Overview (although there are other options out there — including our own free website traffic checker).

Domain Overview – Hollywood Feed – Search

Here’s what to check:

Total Traffic

Look for their estimated monthly visits.

A higher number doesn’t always mean more sales.

But it does show the scale of their online presence.

Domain Overview – Hollywood Feed – Overview

For example, Hollywood Feed has around 193K organic visits per month. That’s a significant number to contend with if I’m a new player, and I shouldn’t expect to reach that number overnight.

Paid vs. Organic

Comparing paid traffic to organic traffic reveals how your rivals are acquiring customers.

A brand with mostly organic traffic is typically investing in SEO and content.

A brand leaning on paid search or social is buying quick traffic. But they may be vulnerable to rising costs.

Hollywood Feed brings in only 8.4K from paid search. It looks like they’re betting on SEO over ads.

If your pet store has the budget to invest in paid search, you could reach customers they’re missing.

Further reading: Learn more about using paid ads effectively in our guide on advertising your business.

Traffic Share

Use traffic share metrics to compare competitor website traffic and understand where you fit in the picture.

For example, Hollywood Feed holds a 9% traffic share compared to its main competitors.

They’re a meaningful player in the market, but not the dominant one.

Branded vs. Non-Branded

Are people searching for their brand name or just looking for what they sell?

Domain Overview – Hollywood Feed – Branded vs. Non-Branded Traffic

Hollywood Feed gets 68.1% of its traffic from branded keywords.

That shows strong name recognition but also reveals an opportunity.

Aim to rank for the non-branded, high-intent searches they’re missing.

Analyze Their Traffic Split

Moving away from just traffic, you can learn a lot about your competitor’s SEO and content marketing strategy from the outside.

You can do this with Semrush’s Organic Research tool.

Organic Research – Hollywoodfeed – Overview

Scroll down to see their top pages.

Are they blog posts, category pages, product pages, or store locators?

This helps you spot where they’re strongest, and where there might be opportunities.

Organic Research – Hollywoodfeed – Top Pages

For example, 61% of Hollywood Feed’s traffic goes to their home page.

This suggests strong brand recognition but potentially limited organic discovery.

Their location pages also drive some traffic, suggesting investment in local SEO.

Blog content contributes less than 3% of visits.

So there’s a chance to compete on content.

Next, look at their Keywords by Intent:

  • Informational keywords represent people looking for advice
  • Navigational keywords come from people searching for a specific site
  • Commercial keywords are searched by those comparing products
  • Transactional keywords are used by shoppers ready to buy

Note: Traffic numbers can look impressive, but context matters. A competitor with 200K visits might not be a real threat if most traffic is just browsing educational content. Focus on traffic quality and intent, not just volume.

Here’s the breakdown for Hollywood Feed:

Organic Research – Hollywoodfeed – Keywords by Intent

Their keywords primarily cover informational, commercial, and transactional intent. And it’s a pretty even split.

This means they reach searchers at every stage of the buying journey.

No obvious gaps here.

But as they’re evenly spread, you could consider going deeper on one keyword set to compete.

For instance, better product comparisons could help you compete for commercial keywords.

Further reading: For more tips on finding these opportunities, check out our full guide to uncovering competitor keywords.

Step 4: Look at Their Paid Media Performance

Next, check how your competitors are using paid media to drive traffic and sales.

Start with Google Ads.

Search for their brand name to find branded search ads.

Also, look for relevant non-branded keywords. Like “natural dog food” or “best dog treats.”

Google SERP – Best dog food delivery – Google Ads

Look for Google Search ads and Google Shopping ads (product images with prices).

Pro tip: Use Google’s Ads Transparency Center to browse a brand’s live and past ads.

Next, visit the Meta Ad Library and type in their brand name.

Meta Ad Library – Search ads

This will show you any active ads they’re running on Facebook or Instagram.

Meta Ad Library – Hollywood Feed – Results

You can do the same on TikTok’s Ad Library.

As you review their ads, pay attention to:

  • What products they’re promoting (specific brands, seasonal items, top-sellers)
  • What offers they’re using (discounts, bundles, subscriptions, free shipping)
  • Which platforms they’re investing in (Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok)

This gives you a snapshot of their paid strategy on social media.

Hollywood Feed’s Meta ads are a mix of product promotions and local messages.

You could stand out by using stronger calls to action.

You might also try content-driven ads or user-generated videos to boost engagement.

Further reading: You can also use this free Competitor Search Ads tool to spy on your competitors’ ads.

Step 5: Deep Dive Into Their Content and Messaging

Take a closer look at how your competitors are talking to their audience.

Start with their homepage copy.

Is it clear who they’re targeting and what makes them different?

Hollywood Feed – Homepage copy

Hollywood Feed does a good job of highlighting benefits upfront.

Same-day delivery. Curated product picks. “Why we’re a different breed” messaging.

It’s all there — baked right into the homepage.

Steal that move.

Make sure your top benefits are front and center.

What makes you different? Why should someone buy from you instead of the competition?

If that’s not obvious in the first few scrolls, fix it.

Hollywood Feed – Top benefits

Also analyze their:

  • Product descriptions: Are they just listing features, or are they showing how their products solve problems? Do they use benefit-driven language?
  • Blog/educational content: Is their content deep, or is it thin and only covering the basics? Could you create more engaging, valuable blog posts for your audience to outrank and outcompete them?
  • Tone, style, and trust signals: Do they prominently feature social proof? Do they show off guarantees or certifications/awards?

Finally, look into their content structure.

Topic clusters are groups of related articles linked to a central pillar page. This can help build authority around key topics.

The Hollywood Feed University blog covers topics like pet care and nutrition.

But they haven’t built out strong topical clusters to organize this content.

When you click on a category, you get a list of articles, not a central pillar page.

That’s a missed SEO opportunity — and a chance for you to win.

Create clear pillar pages that link out to related content.

It helps Google understand your site and builds topical authority.

Hollywood Feed – Mission

Compare the insights you gather with your own content to identify areas you can improve — and gaps you can fill.

Step 6: Explore Their Social Media Presence

Next, see which social media platforms your competitor uses.

Tip: B2C brands often use Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. B2B brands usually focus on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and YouTube.

Scroll through their recent posts and take note of the content formats they use.

Are they sharing educational posts, demos, customer stories, or thought leadership?

Look at follower engagement too.

Are people commenting, sharing, or ignoring the content?

Strong engagement signals an active community and loyal audience.

Finally, assess their brand personality and values.

Are they playful, bold, helpful, or professional?

Instagram – Hollywood Feed

For our pet food example, we find that Hollywood Feed is on Instagram. And they have a large following (around 35K followers).

Their social content leans into friendly, community-focused messaging, with discounts for followers.

You could stand out by adding more educational content.

You might also try more engaging formats, like videos or user-generated posts.

Step 7: Check Their LLM Visibility

Research from Semrush suggests that LLM traffic will overtake Google search by 2027.

That means getting visibility in AI answers is about to matter as much as (or more than) traditional rankings.

Google and LLM Unique Visitor Growth Projection (Moderate Case)

Here’s how to analyze your competitors’ LLM visibility to make sure you’re not falling behind:

First, open a fresh incognito window or use a VPN to avoid personalized results.

Then, in Google Search, look for an AI Overview by searching for broad, high-intent keywords. (Or take a look at the results in AI Mode.)

Think “best dog food delivery” or “top pet stores near me.”

Try the same searches in tools like Perplexity.ai and ChatGPT.

ChatGPT – Best dog delivery in Texas

Look for mentions of your competitor’s brand name and links to their site in AI responses.

Also note the sentiment:

  • Are they being mentioned as a top brand?
  • What specific features are the AI tools calling out?
  • Are the AI responses pulling from reviews, or are they also citing round-up posts and forum discussions?

LLM visibility and optimization is a massive topic in its own right. This post would get too long if we tried to cover all the ways you can analyze your competitors’ performance in these tools.

So for a more detailed guide, check out our dedicated article on LLM visibility.

Step 8: Review Their Local SEO (If Applicable)

If your competitor has a physical presence, search for their brand name + city (e.g., “Hollywood Feed Austin TX”) in Google Search and Google Maps.

Google SERP – Brand name + City

Look for their Google Business Profile.

Is it optimized with photos, opening hours, and reviews?

Do they rank for proximity-based keywords like “pet store near [city]” or “dog food delivery [city]”?

Hollywood Feed appears to be investing in local landing pages.

They have active Google Business Profiles for each store:

Hollywood Feed – Google Business Profiles

If you wanted to compete on a local search level, you’d better make sure you’ve done the same.

Further reading: Read our Google Business Profile guide to find out how to compete at the local level.

Step 9: Turn Competitive Insights Into Action

Now it’s time to bring all your research together so you can act on it.

If you’ve been following along with our competitor analysis worksheet, you’ll have a lot of info already.

I recommend filling it out for your top 3-5 competitors. Then, download our competitor analysis summary template.

Competitor Analysis Summary Template by Backlinko

Here’s where you’ll turn data into actionable strategies that you’ll use to beat your rivals.

It helps you dig deeper into what each competitor is doing well, where they’re falling short, and how you can differentiate.

Competitor Analysis Summary Template by Backlinko – Strenghts

Pro tip: Competitor insights are valuable. But they should never replace your own market research.

Use their playbook as a reference, not a roadmap.

And don’t try to beat them at everything. Find one or two clear openings and double down.

Don’t Just Copy Your Competitors — Outsmart Them

Competitor analysis isn’t about copying. It’s about learning.

Use this process to sharpen your edge, not mirror theirs.

Begin by picking one competitor and analyzing their online presence using the steps in this guide.

To help you get started, download the free Competitive Traffic Analysis Tracker.

The post How to Run a Competitor Traffic Analysis (9 Steps) appeared first on Backlinko.

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Google Ads lets you test images, videos in Demand Gen campaigns

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Dealing with Google Ads frustrations: Poor support, suspensions and rising costs

Google is testing a new feature that allows advertisers to run A/B tests on images and videos within Demand Gen campaigns, marking a major step toward creative performance transparency.

How it works:

  • Create an A/B test with two experiment arms.
  • Google duplicates the campaign for comparison.
  • Add or remove images and/or videos in either arm.
  • Set traffic split (commonly 50/50) and total budget.
  • Define your experiment dates.
  • Optional: Review campaign opt-ins like video enhancements.

Note: Changes made to the control arm sync to the treatment arm – but not the other way around. Avoid editing the treatment campaign after setup.

Why we care. Until now, you’ve had limited tools to test how visuals perform in Demand Gen campaigns. This new A/B testing functionality gives you a structured way to compare creatives head-to-head and make data-backed decisions. You can now test different visuals across duplicated campaign arms and clearly measure which creatives drive better engagement and conversions.

Between the lines: This gives advertisers a clearer lens into which visual elements perform best – at a time when creative is increasingly driving performance in Google’s AI-heavy ecosystem.

Bottom line: With A/B testing for images and videos now available in Demand Gen campaigns, creative testing just got real. Leveraging it early will unlock stronger insights and more optimized results.

First seen. The update was first highlighted by Thomas Eccel, head of Google Ads at JvM IMPACT, on LinkedIn.

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AI search fight: Cloudflare and Perplexity clash over crawling

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Cloudflare vs. Perplexity

Cloudflare accused AI answer engine Perplexity of “stealth crawling,” saying it uses deceptive techniques to bypass website blocks and access content it’s been explicitly told not to touch.

  • In response, Perplexity said Cloudflare has a fundamental misunderstanding of how AI assistants work and accused the company of either publicity-seeking or technical incompetence.

The big picture. Cloudflare said Perplexity uses declared bots when it can, but switches to “stealth crawling” when blocked. That includes mimicking normal browser behavior, rotating IPs, and ignoring robots.txt rules (tactics that can be associated with scrapers and bad actors).

  • Cloudflare tested this by setting up honeytrap sites and found Perplexity answering questions using content it shouldn’t have been able to access.
  • Perplexity insisted its requests are made on behalf of users, not as preemptive crawling. The company says these are real-time fetches, akin to what a browser or email client does, and claims Cloudflare mistook its behavior for something it wasn’t.

Why we care. If AI assistants can sidestep robots.txt by posing as browsers, brands, creators, and publishers lose control over how and when their content is used. That breaks the old deal between search engines and websites.

What’s next. Cloudflare said it’s already blocking the behavior in question and expects Perplexity’s tactics to change in response. It’s calling for standardization of bot behavior through IETF (the Internet Engineering Task Force) and other policy efforts.

  • Perplexity, meanwhile, is doubling down on its identity as an agentic AI platform and says it shouldn’t be governed by rules designed for traditional web crawlers.

The blog posts. You can view the full back and forth here:

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