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LLM Optimization (LLMO): How to Rank in AI-Driven Search

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You’re not alone if you’ve noticed your organic traffic dipping while your content continues to rank. And you’re not imagining it. Nowadays, people skip clicking to websites and get answers to their questions straight from AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overviews.

Welcome to the new reality, where AI reshapes how users search and brands that fail to adapt risk fading from the conversation. 

How do we deal with this? LLM optimization (LLMO). 

LLMO isn’t a furry red puppet from a kid’s TV show. Nor is it just another SEO tactic. It’s the next evolution in search visibility, one designed to help your brand show up when large language models (LLMs) generate answers instead of serving up traditional search results.

The good news is that most companies aren’t currently doing it, and that’s an edge you can use to your advantage.

Below, we’ll explore how LLMO works, why it matters, and concrete strategies you can use to get your brand into AI-generated answers before your competitors.

Key Takeaways

  • LLM optimization (LLMO) is the evolution of SEO. It focuses on getting your brand cited and recommended inside AI answers, not just ranked on traditional search results pages.
  • Ignoring LLMO means lost visibility. Even if your rankings stay strong, AI-generated answers can push you out of the conversation.
  • Three pillars drive LLMO success: authoritative content (E-E-A-T), structured data (schema, FAQs, HowTos), and consistent tracking of AI citations.
  • Winning early matters. Most brands have yet to optimize for AI, so moving now gives you a competitive edge.
  • Think beyond Google. AI models pull from multiple platforms, including digital public relations (DPR), backlinks, and multi-format content across trusted spaces, boosting your chances of being included in answers.

What is LLM Optimization?

LLMO is increasing your brand’s visibility in AI-generated answers from large language models like Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and ChatGPT. You can think of it as the next evolution of SEO.

Traditional SEO helps you rank in search engine results. LLMO helps you get cited, mentioned, and recommended inside AI responses. Instead of blue links on a SERP, these are full-text answers where being included often means you’re the answer.

So, what makes this different from LLM SEO?

LLM SEO typically focuses on targeting AI Overviews or how LLMs pull from search engine results. LLMO goes broader. It focuses on structuring content, strengthening brand authority, and ensuring visibility across any LLM platform, not just Google’s.

More so than ranking highly, LLMO focuses on showing up when users don’t even click.

AI output for the query "what are the best backpacks for work?"

Perplexity’s results when asked for the best backpacks for work.

ChatGPT output for "What are the best backpacks for work?"

ChatGPT’s recommendations for the same question.

How LLMs Work

LLMs don’t search the web in real time (unless they use retrieval methods). Instead, they generate responses based on patterns in their training data, which comprises billions of words from sources such as websites, books, Wikipedia, Reddit, and more.

Here’s how it works: When you type a prompt, the LLM predicts the most likely next word based on everything it’s seen before. That prediction continues word-by-word until it builds a full response.

What makes this a big deal for marketers?

LLMs favor content that’s:

  • Clear and easy to understand
  • Well-structured and logically organized
  • Fact-based
  • Published or associated with trusted sources 

If your content meets these standards (and exists in places LLMs train on), it has a higher chance of showing up in those responses. The goal is no longer to rank in search alone, but to be seen as a reliable part of the internet’s knowledge base.

Bottom line: if your content isn’t clear, structured, and published in trusted places, LLMs won’t see you as credible.

The Impact of LLMs On How We Gather Information

LLMs have changed how people search.

Instead of relying on ten blue links or blog posts for information, users ask questions and get complete answers without leaving the AI experience or SERP. That shift creates even more “zero-click” moments, where users don’t visit your site because the AI already gave them the needed answer.

That’s a big deal if your brand relies on traffic. You could be the best at what you do, but users may never know (or forget) you exist if you’re not part of the AI-generated answer.

That means the rules have changed. Visibility now depends on whether LLMs see and trust your content; failing to actively optimize for that means you’re already falling behind.

Why LLM Optimization is Important

If you’ve relied on traditional SEO alone, you’ve seen the warning signs: traffic dropping even though rankings haven’t moved. Users aren’t clicking. They’re getting their answers straight from AI. How many? The number can vary, but according to some estimates, ChatGPT boasts more than 700 million weekly active worldwide users. Perplexity had 22 million active users in May 2025.

Marketers who ignore LLMO risk losing visibility. Your brand may have great rankings, backlinks, and content, but if LLMs don’t include you in their answers, you’re no longer in the conversation. And that means fewer impressions, clicks, or opportunities to win customers.

There’s a flipside, though. Marketers who adapt today get an advantage over their competitors. LLMs reward trustworthy, structured content that speaks with authority. When you optimize for AI-driven search, you position your brand to appear where people make decisions: inside the answers they read, not just on the links they skip.

The TL;DR? LLMO is the new baseline for staying visible in an AI-first search reality.

How to Optimize for LLMs

LLMO comes down to three pillars:

  • Creating authoritative content
  • Structure content  so AI can understand it
  • Track brand presence AI responses

Nail these three, and you’re on your way to AI-driven visibility. But how do you do that? 

Create Content LLMs Trust

LLMs look for reliable content. That means well-cited, comprehensive content written by people (or brands) who clearly know their stuff. This concept should feel familiar. In SEO terms, we describe it as E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authority, and trust.

For example, a medical publisher cites peer-reviewed studies and has licensed doctors writing the content. Google and AI models treat this as more trustworthy than a generic health or wellness blog.

AI results for "Which is better for a headache, Tylenol or ibuprofen?

Perplexity sources information from reputable organizations like the Cleveland Clinic and Nature to answer this question.

Your goal is the same. Back up your claims with relevant, recent stats. Link to reputable sources. Build depth into your content. The more proof points you provide, the more likely LLMs will pull your information into their responses.

Use Structured Data and Schema

LLMs thrive on structure. Schema markup helps you present content in a way that AI systems can easily recognize and cite. We’ve been talking about the benefits of schema for years, but focus on practical formats that are easy to implement:

Implementing schema isn’t complicated, either. Tools like Rank Math or Yoast often make it as easy as filling out a form. The payoff is that your content becomes easier for AI to parse, increasing your odds of being referenced in the outputs.

Schema gives LLMs a cheat sheet to your content by telling them exactly what’s on the page and why it matters.

Optimize for Conversational and Long-Tail Queries

Unlike search engines, which primarily reward keywords, LLMs excel at answering natural, human-style questions. That’s why your content should target long-tail and conversational phrases.

Here’s how to adopt:

  • Pull inspiration from the “People Also Ask” results, Reddit threads, and Quora discussions. Read the titles of posts and questions on enthusiast or product-specific forums and subreddits, and create content to answer them.
  • Frame subheadings as real questions. Instead of “LLMO Strategy,” try “How do you optimize for LLMs?”
  • Expand your FAQs with the same language your audience uses.
People also ask responses in Google.

The People Also Ask box on Google’s SERP provides excellent questions to think about answering, if you haven’t already.

Let’s say someone wants to know more about this topic. The keyword AI brand optimization (boring, dry) could become “How do I make my brand visible in AI search?” That’s the kind of phrasing LLMs are built to surface.

When you align your content to how people naturally ask questions, you increase your odds of citation inside answers instead of being skipped over.

Build Topical Authority Across Clusters

One-off articles won’t cut it to establish authority. Both LLMs and search engines are better at recognizing brands that demonstrate expertise across a subject, not just a single page. Topic clusters are the way to meet this demand.

Topic clusters connect one in-depth “pillar” page to multiple related posts. For example, a pillar page might target LLM optimization, while cluster posts examine topics like schema, E-E-A-T, AI metrics, and long-tail queries (all of which we’ve mentioned—or will mention—in this post). 

Each post links back to the pillar and the others, creating a web of authority. That signals to LLMs (and Google) that your brand owns the topic, not just a slice of it. The more complete your coverage, the more likely it is your content will surface in AI-generated answers.

Earn High-Authority Backlinks and Mentions

LLMs trust what the internet trusts. That means your brand needs backlinks and mentions from credible sources. Three major ways to earn backlinks include:

  • Digital PR: Pitch stories or data insights to journalists.
  • Original research: Publish statistics or case studies that others naturally cite.
  • Guest contributions: Share expertise from and on authoritative sites in your industry.

Don’t stop there, though. Regularly audit your backlink profile to clean out low-quality or spammy links. The more respected websites reference your brand, the more likely it becomes part of those AI-driven conversations due to credibility.

Implement Multi-Format Content

LLMs love clarity; the easier your content is to scan and summarize, the higher the chance it gets used. Even better, many of the same tactics that make it simpler for readers to parse are good for LLMs, too. Some practical tips for your content include:

  • Use bullet points and numbered steps for key processes.
  • Add tables to organize comparisons or data.
  • Include visuals such as screenshots, annotated images, or infographics (complete with alt text).

Why do these things work? Structured, multi-format content gives AI models more “hooks” to grab onto. Instead of parsing dense paragraphs, they can quickly identify and cite your answers. Don’t think of it as writing for AI. Think of it as making it friendlier: clear, structured, and easy to reuse.

Monitor AI-Specific Citations

You can’t improve what you don’t track. AI visibility is now a critical KPI. You can monitor it both manually and with reporting tools. Start by asking the LLM platforms questions about your search terms and content, and see where you (or your competitors) appear. With that knowledge, you can adjust content and regularly recheck it.

Of course, manual work can take a lot of time. Tools like Semrush’s AI Tracking, Ubersuggest LLM Beta, and Ahrefs Brand Radar let you see how often AI platforms cite your answers. Look for the following elements as part of your regular reporting:

  • Branded mentions inside chat responses
  • Citations for specific queries
  • Share of voice compared to competitors

These insights reveal content gaps and help guide your next moves. For example, if competitors are being cited for a topic you cover but you’re not cited, that’s your cue to strengthen authority or update your content.

Tracking AI citations is the feedback loop to keep your LLMO strategy moving forward.

Ahrefs' Brand Radar.

Ahrefs’ Brand Radar shows mentions and impressions for the most popular AI dashboards.

Search Everywhere Optimization and LLMO

Search is no longer confined to Google. Users today find their answers on social media, Reddit, YouTube, and AI platforms. Search Everywhere Optimization ties directly into LLMO.

When you optimize for visibility across all platforms, you create more entry points for LLMs to pull from. When your brand is active in multiple trusted spaces, you’re far more likely to be included in AI answers.

How To Track LLM Visibility

You can’t treat LLMO like traditional SEO unless you know where you’re showing up. Tracking AI visibility allows you to measure progress, spot gaps, and benchmark against your competitors. So, what should you measure?

  1. Branded Mentions in AI Responses: Check how often your brand name or content appears in outputs from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude, among others. Seek out both direct mentions and co-citations with your competitors.
  2. Topic-Level Inclusion: Search AI models for industry-specific queries. If competitors are cited but you aren’t, that’s a red flag.
  3. Traffic from LLMs: Tools like GA4 can help you track referral traffic. Sometimes using Looker Studio templates can help you separate the AI referrals from organic traffic.
  4. Share of Voice in AI: The platforms we mentioned above—Semrush, Ubersuggest, and Ahrefs Brand Radar—can provide dashboards that show your brand mentions across queries.

There are upcoming tools that combine several of these different functionalities as well, such as Profound. LLM visibility won’t replace your existing analytics; it’s another tool in your ranking report. Instead of asking “Where do I rank in Google?”, you’ll ask, “Where do I appear in AI answers?”

The data you collect here is really important. It shows you which strategies are working and allows you to double down on the ones that matter most.

FAQs

What is LLMO?

LLMO stands for large language model optimization. It’s the practice of making your brand, content, and data more visible in AI-generated answers likeChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity.

How is LLMO different from SEO?

SEO helps you rank in traditional search engines. LLMO ensures you’re included in AI responses. Both are important, but LLMO addresses the “zero-click” future of search.

How do I get my brand into LLM responses?

Focus on three pillars: authoritative content (E-E-A-T), structured data (schema, FAQs, HowTos, Product), and monitoring AI citations. Add digital PR, backlinks, and multi-format content to increase the chances your expertise is recognized and surfaced.

How long does LLM optimization take?

Like SEO, results don’t happen overnight. But unlike SEO, you can sometimes see brand mentions in LLMs faster, especially if your content is well-cited and already trusted.

What tools track AI visibility?

Early options include Semrush AI Tracking, Ubersuggest LLM Beta, and Ahrefs Brand Radar. You can also use GA4 to measure referral traffic from LLM-powered search engines like ChatGPT.

Do backlinks still matter for LLMO?

Yes. LLMs lean on credible, widely cited sources. High-authority backlinks increase your chances of being trusted and surfaced in AI answers.

Can small businesses benefit from LLMO?

Absolutely. In fact, moving early is an advantage. If competitors aren’t optimizing yet, you can claim visibility before they catch up.

Conclusion

AI-driven search is not the future because it’s already here.

If you want your brand to stay visible, think outside the blue link box and start optimizing for where people get their answers. That’s the promise of LLM optimization.

The playbook? Simple: Create trustworthy content and structure it so AI can understand it. Once it’s in place, track how often you show up in responses like AI Overviews and ChatGPT. As you layer in topic clusters, a strong digital PR push, and multi-format assets, you’ll give your brand every chance to surface where it counts.

Companies that adapt today will own tomorrow’s conversation. The ones who won’t risk losing visibility and becoming yesterday’s news, even if their SEO fundamentals look good on paper.

If you’re ready to learn how to turn your content into AI-worthy assets, we can help. Contact us today for your consultation.

Read more at Read More

Historic recurrence in search: Why AI feels familiar and what’s next

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Historic recurrence in search- Why AI feels familiar and what’s next

Historic recurrence is the idea that patterns repeat over time, even if the details differ.

In digital marketing, change is the only constant.

Over the last 30 years, we’ve seen nonstop shifts and transformations in platforms and tactics.

Search, social, and mobile have each gone through their own waves of evolution. 

But AI represents something bigger – not just another tactic, but a fundamental shift in how people research, evaluate, and buy products and services.

Estimates vary, but Gartner projects that AI-driven search could account for 25% of search volume by the end of 2026.

I suspect the true share will be much higher as Google weaves AI deeper into its results.

For digital marketers, it can feel like we need a crystal ball to predict what’s next. 

While we don’t have magical foresight, we do have the next best thing: lessons from the past.

This article looks back at the early days of search, how user behavior evolved alongside technology, and what those patterns can teach us as we navigate the AI era.

The early days: Wild and wonderful queries

If you remember the early web – AltaVista, Lycos, Yahoo, Hotbot – search was a free-for-all. 

People typed in long, rambling queries, sometimes entire sentences, other times just a few random words that “felt” right.

There were no search suggestions, no “people also ask,” and no autocorrect. 

It was a simpler time, often summed up as “10 blue links.”

Google Search - 10 blue links

Searchers had to experiment, refine, and iterate on their own, and the variance in query wording was huge.

For marketers, that meant opportunity. 

You could capture traffic in all sorts of unexpected ways simply by having relevant pages indexed.

Back then, SEO was, in large part, about one thing: existing in the index.

Dig deeper: A guide to Google: Origins, history and key moments in search

Google’s rise: From exploration to efficiency

Anyone working in digital marketing in the early 2000s will remember. 

From Day 1, Google felt different. The quality of its results was markedly better.

Then came Google Suggest in 2008, quietly changing the game. 

Suddenly, you didn’t have to finish typing your thought. Google would complete it for you, based on the most common searches.

Research from Moz and others at the time showed that autocomplete reduced query length and variance. 

People defaulted to Google’s suggestions because it was faster and easier.

This marked a significant shift in our behavior as searchers. We moved from sprawling, exploratory queries to shorter, more standardized ones.

It’s not surprising. When something can be achieved with less effort, human nature drives us toward the path of least resistance.

Once again, technology had changed how we search and find information.

Mobile, voice, and the second compression

The shift to mobile accelerated this compression.

Tiny keyboards and on-the-go contexts meant people typed as little as possible.

Autocomplete, voice input, and “search as you type” all encouraged brevity.

At the same time, Google kept rolling out features that answered questions directly, creating a blended, multi-contextual SERP.

The cumulative effect? Search behavior became more predictable and uniform.

For marketers running Google Ads or tracking performance in Google Analytics and Search Console, this shift came with another challenge: less data. 

Long-tail keywords shrank, while most traffic and budget concentrated on a smaller set of high-volume terms.

Once again, our search behavior – and the insights we could glean from it – had evolved.

Zero-click search and the walled garden

By the late 2010s, zero-click searches were on the rise. 

Google – and even social platforms – wanted to keep users inside their ecosystems.

More and more questions were answered directly in the search results. 

Search got smarter, and shorter queries could deliver more refined results thanks to personalization and past interactions.

Google started doing everything for us.

Search for a flight? You’d see Google Flights.

A restaurant? Google Maps. 

A product? Google Shopping. 

Information? YouTube. 

You get the picture.

For businesses built on organic traffic, this shift was disruptive. 

But for users, it felt seamless – arguably a better experience, even if it created new challenges for optimizers.

Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.

See terms.

Quality vs. brevity

This shift worked – until it didn’t. 

One common complaint today is that search results feel worse. 

It’s a complicated issue to unpack. 

  • Have search results actually gotten worse? 
  • Or are the results as good as ever, but the underlying sites have declined in quality?

It’s tricky to call. 

What is certain is that as traffic declined, many sites got more aggressive – adding more ads, more pop-ups, and sneakier lead gen CTAs to squeeze more value from fewer clicks.

The search results themselves have also become a bewildering mix of ads, organic listings, and SERP features. 

To deliver better results from shorter queries, search engines have had to guess at intent while still sending enough clicks to advertisers and publishers to keep the ecosystem running.

And as traffic-starved publishers got more desperate, user experience took a nosedive. 

Anyone who has had to scroll through a food blogger’s life story – while dodging pop-ups and auto-playing ads – just to get to a recipe knows how painful this can be.

It’s this chaotic landscape that, in part, has driven the move to answer engines like ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs). 

People are simply tired of panning for gold in the search results.

The AI era: From compression back to conversation

Up to this point, the pattern has been clear: the average query length kept getting shorter.

But AI is changing the game again, and the query-length pendulum is now swinging sharply in the opposite direction.

Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google’s own AI Mode are making it normal to type or speak longer, more detailed questions again.

We can now:

  • Ask questions instead of searching for keywords. 
  • Refine queries conversationally. 
  • Ask follow-ups without starting over. 

And as users, we can finally skip the over-optimized lead gen traps that have made the web a worse place overall.

Here’s the key point: we’ve gone from mid-length, varied queries in the early days, to short, refined queries over the last 12 years or so, and now to full, detailed questions in the AI era.

The way we seek information has changed once more.

We’re no longer just searching for sources of information. We’re asking detailed questions to get clear, direct answers.

And as AI becomes more tightly integrated into Google over the coming months and years, this shift will continue to reshape how we search – or, more accurately, how we question – Google.

Dig deeper: SEO in an AI-powered world: What changed in just a year

AI and search: Google playing catch-up

Google was a little behind the AI curve.

ChatGPT launched in late 2022 to massive buzz and unprecedented adoption.

Google’s AI Overviews – frankly underwhelming by comparison – didn’t roll out until mid-2024. 

After launching in the U.S. in mid-June and the U.K. in late July 2025, Google’s full AI Mode is now available in 180 countries and territories around the world.

Now, we can ask more detailed, multi-part questions and get thorough answers – without battling through the lead gen traps that clutter so many websites.

The reality is simple: this is a better system.

This is progress.

Want to know the best way to boil an egg – and whether the process changes for eggs stored in the fridge versus at room temperature? Just ask.

Google will often decide if an AI Overview is helpful and generate it on the fly, considering both parts of your question.

  • What is the best way to boil an egg?
  • Does it differ if they are from the fridge?

The AI Overview answers the question directly. 

And if you want to keep going, you can click the bold “Dive deeper in AI Mode” button to continue the conversation.

Dive deeper in AI Mode

Inside AI Mode, you get streamlined, conversational answers to questions that traditional search could answer – just without the manual trawling or the painfully over-optimized, pop-up-heavy recipe sites.

From shorter queries to shorter journeys

Stepping back, we can see how behavior is shifting – and how it ties to human nature’s tendency to seek the path of least resistance.

The “easy” option used to be entering short queries and wading through an increasingly complex mix of results to find what you needed.

Now, the path of least resistance is to put in a bit more effort upfront – asking a longer, more refined question – and let the AI do the heavy lifting.

A search for the best steak restaurant nearby once meant seven separate queries and reviewing over 100 sites. That’s a lot of donkey work you can now skip.

It’s a subtle shift: slightly more work up front, but a far smoother journey in return.

This change also aligns with a classic computing principle: GIGO – garbage in, garbage out. 

A more refined, context-rich question gives the system better input, which produces a more useful, accurate output.

Historic recurrence: The pattern revealed

Looking back, it’s clear there’s a repeating cycle in how technology shapes search behavior.

The early web (1990s)

  • Behavior: Long, experimental, often clumsy queries.
  • Why: No guidance, poor relevance, and lots of trial-and-error.
  • Marketing lesson: Simply having relevant content was often enough to capture traffic.

Google + Autocomplete (2000s)

  • Behavior: Queries got shorter and more standardized.
  • Why: Google Suggest and smarter algorithms nudged users toward the most common phrases.
  • Marketing lesson: Keyword targeting became more focused, with heavier competition around fewer, high-volume terms.

Mobile and voice era (2010s–early 2020s)

  • Behavior: Even shorter, highly predictable queries.
  • Why: Tiny keyboards, voice assistants, and SERP features that answered questions directly.
  • Marketing lesson: The long tail collapsed into clusters. Zero-click searches rose. Winning visibility meant optimizing for snippets and structured data.

AI conversation era (2023–present)

  • Behavior: Longer, natural-language queries return – now in back-and-forth conversations.
  • Why: Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity encourage refinement, context, and multi-step questions.
  • Marketing lesson: It’s no longer about just showing up. It’s about being the best answer – authoritative, helpful, and easy for AI to surface.

Technology drives change

The key takeaway is that technology drives changes in how people ask questions.

And tactically, we’ve come full circle – closer to the early days of search than we’ve been in years.

Despite all the doom and gloom around SEO, there’s real opportunity in the AI era for those who adapt.

What this means for SEO, AEO, LLMO, GEO – and beyond

The environment is changing.

Technology is reshaping how we seek information – and how we expect answers to be delivered.

Traditional search engine results are still important. Don’t abandon conventional SEO.

But now, we also need to optimize for answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Mode.

That means developing deeper insight into your customer segments and fully understanding the journey from awareness to interest to conversion. 

  • Talk to your customers. 
  • Run surveys. 
  • Reach out to those who didn’t convert and ask why. 

Then weave those insights into genuinely helpful content that can be found, indexed, and surfaced by the large language models powering these new platforms.

It’s a brave new world – but an incredibly exciting one to be part of.

Read more at Read More

How to tell if Google Ads automation helps or hurts your campaigns

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How to tell if Google Ads automation helps or hurts your campaigns

Smart Bidding, Performance Max, and responsive search ads (RSAs) can all deliver efficiency, but only if they’re optimizing for the right signals.

The issue isn’t that automation makes mistakes. It’s that those mistakes compound over time.

Left unchecked, that drift can quietly inflate your CPAs, waste spend, or flood your pipeline with junk leads.

Automation isn’t the enemy, though. The real challenge is knowing when it’s helping and when it’s hurting your campaigns.

Here’s how to tell.

When automation is actually failing

These are cases where automation isn’t just constrained by your inputs. It’s actively pushing performance in the wrong direction.

Performance Max cannibalization

The issue

PMax often prioritizes cheap, easy traffic – especially branded queries or high-intent searches you intended to capture with Search campaigns. 

Even with brand exclusions, Google still serves impressions against brand queries, inflating reported performance and giving the illusion of efficiency. 

On top of that, when PMax and Search campaigns overlap, Google’s auction rules give PMax priority, meaning carefully built Search campaigns can lose impressions they should own.

A clear sign this is happening: if you see Search Lost IS (rank) rising in your Search campaigns while PMax spend increases, it’s likely PMax is siphoning traffic.

Recommendation

Use brand exclusions and negatives in PMax to block queries you want Search to own. 

Segment brand and non-brand campaigns so you can track each cleanly. And to monitor branded traffic specifically, tools like the PMax Brand Traffic Analyzer (by Smarter Ecommerce) can help.

Dig deeper: Performance Max vs. Search campaigns: New data reveals substantial search term overlap

Auto-applied recommendations (AAR) rewriting structure

The issue

AARs can quietly restructure your campaigns without you even noticing. This includes:

  • Adding broad match keywords. 
  • “Upgrading” existing keywords to broader match types.
  • Adding new keywords that are sometimes irrelevant to your targeting.

Google has framed these “optimizations” as efficiency improvements, but the issue is that they can destabilize performance. 

Broad keywords open the door to irrelevant queries, which then can spike CPA and waste budget.

Recommendation

First, opt out of AARs and manually review all recommendations moving forward. 

Second, audit the changes that have already been made by going to Campaigns > Recommendations > Auto Apply > History. 

From there, you can see what change happened on what date, which allows you to go back to your campaign data and see if there are any performance correlations. 

Dig deeper: Top Google Ads recommendations you should always ignore, use, or evaluate

Modeled conversions inflating numbers

The issue

Modeled conversions can climb while real sales or MQLs stay flat. 

For example, you may see a surge in reported leads or purchases in your ads account, but when you look at your CRM, the numbers don’t match up. 

This happens because Google uses modeling to estimate conversions where direct measurement isn’t possible. 

If Google doesn’t have full tracking, it fills gaps by estimating conversions it can’t directly track, based on patterns in observable data. 

When left unchecked, the automation will double down on these patterns (because it assumes they’re correct), wasting budget on traffic that looks good but won’t convert.

Recommendation

Tell the automation what matters most to your business. 

Import offline or qualified conversions (via Enhanced Conversions, manual uploads, or CRM integration). 

This will ensure that Google optimizes for real revenue and not modeled noise.

When automation is boxed in: Reading the signals

Not every warning in Google means automation is failing. 

Sometimes the system is limited by the goals, budget, or inputs you’ve set – and it’s simply flagging that.

These diagnostic signals help you understand when to adjust your setup instead of blaming the algorithm.

Limited statuses (red vs. yellow)

The issue

A Limited status doesn’t always mean your campaign is broken. 

  • If you see a red Limited label, this means your settings are too strict. That could mean that your CPA or ROAS targets are unrealistic, your budget is too low, etc. 
  • Seeing a yellow Limited label is more of a caution sign. It’s usually tied to low volume, limited data, or the campaign is still learning.

Recommendation

If the status is red, loosen constraints gradually: raise your budget and ease up CPA/ROAS targets by 10–15%. 

If the status is yellow, don’t panic. This is Google’s version of telling you that they could use more money, if possible, but it’s not vital to your campaign’s success.

Responsive search ads (RSAs) inputs

The issue

RSAs are built in real-time from the headlines and descriptions you have already provided Google. 

At a minimum, advertisers are required to write 3 headlines with a maximum of 15 (and up to 4 descriptions). The fewer the assets you give the system, the less flexibility it will have. 

On the other hand, if you’re running a small budget and give the RSAs all 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, there is no way Google will be able to collect enough data to figure out which combinations actually work.

The automation isn’t failing with either. You’ve either given it too little information or too much with too little spending. 

Recommendation

Match asset volume to the budget allocated to the campaign. 

  • If you’re unsure, aim to write between 8-10 headlines and 2-4 descriptions.
  • If each headline/description isn’t distinct, don’t use it. 

Conversion reporting lag and attribution issues

The issue

Sometimes, Google Ads reports fewer conversions than your business actually sees. 

This isn’t necessarily an automation failure. It’s often just a matter of when the conversion is counted. 

By default, Google reports conversions on the day of the click, not the day the actual conversion happened. 

That means if you check performance mid-week, you might see fewer conversions than your campaign has actually generated because Google attributes them back to the click date. 

The data usually “catches up” as lagging conversions are processed.

Recommendation

Use the Conversions (by conversion time) column alongside the standard conversion column.

Conversions (by conversion time) column

This helps you separate true performance drops from simple reporting delays. 

If discrepancies persist beyond a few days, investigate the tracking setup or import accuracy. Just don’t assume automation is broken just because of timing gaps.

Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.

See terms.

Where to look in the Google Ads UI

Automation leaves a clear trail within Google Ads if you know where to look. 

Here are some reports and columns to help spot when automation is drifting.

Bid Strategy report: Top signals 

The issue

The bid strategy report shows some of the signals Smart Bidding relies on when there is enough data. 

The “top signals” can sometimes make sense, and at other times, they can be a bit misleading. 

If the algorithm relies on weak signals (e.g., broad search themes and a lack of first-party data), its optimizations will be weak, too.

Bid Strategy report: Top signals 

Recommendation

Make checking your Top Signals a regular activity. 

If they don’t align with your business, fix the inputs. 

  • Improve conversion tracking.
  • Import offline conversions.
  • Reevaluate search themes.
  • Add customer/remarketing lists.
  • Expand your negative keyword list(s). 

Impression share metrics

The issue

When a campaign underdelivers, it’s tempting to assume automation is failing, but looking at Impression Share (IS) metrics tends to reveal the real bottleneck. 

By looking at Search Lost IS (budget), Search Lost IS (rank), and Absolute Top IS together, you can separate automation problems from structural or competitive ones.

How to use IS metrics as a diagnostic tool.

  • Budget problem
    • High Lost IS (budget) + low Lost IS (rank): Your campaign isn’t struggling. It just doesn’t have enough budget to run properly.
    • Recommendation: Raise the budget or accept capped volume.
  • Targets too aggressive
    • High Lost IS (rank) + low Absolute Top IS: If your Lost IS (rank) is high and your budget is adequate, your CPA/ROAS targets are likely too aggressive, causing Smart Bidding to underbid in auctions.
    • Recommendation: Loosen targets gradually (10-15%).

Scripts to keep automation honest

Scripts give you early warnings so you can step in before wasted spend piles up.

Anomaly detection

  • The issue: Automation can suddenly overspend or underspend when conditions in the marketplace change, but you often won’t notice until reporting lags.
  • Recommendation: Use an anomaly detection script to flag unusual swings in spend, clicks, or conversions so you can investigate quickly.

Query quality (N-gram analysis)

  • The issue: Broad match and PMax can drift into irrelevant themes (“free,” “jobs,” “definition”), wasting budget on low-quality queries.
  • Recommendation: Run an N-gram script to surface recurring poor-quality terms and add them as negatives before automation optimizes toward them.

Budget pacing

  • The issue: Google won’t exceed your monthly cap, but daily spend will be uneven. Pacing scripts help you spot front-loading.
  • Recommendation: A pacing script shows you how spend is distributed so you can adjust daily budgets mid-month or hold back funds when performance is weak.

Turning automation into an asset

Automation rarely fails in dramatic ways – it drifts. 

Your job isn’t to fight it, but to supervise it: 

  • Supply the right signals.
  • Track when it goes off course.
  • Step in before wasted spend compounds.

The diagnostics we covered – impression share, attribution checks, PMax insights, and scripts – help you separate real failures from cases where automation is simply following your inputs.

The key takeaway: automation is powerful, but not self-policing. 

With the right guardrails and oversight, it becomes an asset instead of a liability.

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SEO vs. GEO, AEO, LLMO: What Marketers Need to Know

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If you do any kind of marketing, you’ve probably come across at least one of these acronyms recently:

  • GEO: Generative Engine Optimization
  • AEO: Answer Engine Optimization
  • LLMO: Large Language Model Optimization
  • AIO: Artificial Intelligence Optimization

Here’s the truth:

They all mean essentially the same thing.

But they are subtly different from SEO (search engine optimization). This article will tell you where they’re similar, where they’re different, and what you need to know as a marketer.

SEO vs. Everything Else Explained

There might be shades of nuance between these acronyms, but the goal with all of them is the same. They all aim to optimize your (or your client’s) online presence to appear in more AI responses in tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Mode.

Okay, so if they’re so similar: why the need for all these acronyms in the first place?

Why All the Acronyms?

The main reason we have so many acronyms like GEO, AIO, LLMO, and AEO is that AI optimization in general is still very new. This means people from all corners of marketing have been coming across new concepts, ideas, and techniques at the same time.

Naturally, people call things different names as they try to differentiate themselves from traditional SEO — and all the other new acronyms appearing on the scene.

Why do they do that?

Various reasons:

  • They want to appear to be at the forefront of digital marketing
  • Their bosses have told them they need to do it
  • They’re trying to offer new services in a volatile marketplace

There’s nothing wrong with any of these reasons. But it does make it confusing for the rest of us.

And it’s clear that a lot of people are searching for these new terms:

Semrush – Bulk Keyword Analysis – Acronyms

And the trends over time are clear too, as search demand for these new terms has skyrocketed in the past year:

Google Trends – Interest over time – GEO, AEO, LLM

One term in particular, “AI Optimization,” has really exploded:

Google Trends – Interest over time – GEO, AEO, LLM, AI

Are They Replacing SEO?

Short answer: no.

Can you guess which keyword I blurred out in the first screenshot above?

That’s right: search engine optimization.

Semrush – Bulk Keyword Analysis – Acronyms – Unblurred

More than 40K searches each month. And the acronym “SEO”?

Almost a quarter of a million searches each month in the US alone:

Keyword Overview – SEO – Volume

(The other acronyms aren’t “mainstream” enough to use as a data point here. For example, AEO is American Eagle Outfitters, and GEO can mean a hundred different things.)

Clearly, search volumes don’t tell the whole story, but SEO is definitely still the more popular term right now.

And the Google Trend graph is the final nail in the “Is SEO Dead?” coffin:

Google Trends – Interest over time – GEO, AEO, LLM, AI & SEO

That’s right, search demand for SEO has actually grown over the past year. But you’ll see here that “AI Optimization” is arguably “trendier” right now than SEO.

And that makes sense, because people and businesses are concerned about how to optimize for AI systems. There is a shift in the industry from pure SEO to some form of optimization for the likes of ChatGPT and AI Mode.

Businesses are even hiring for “GEO Experts”:

Google SERP – GEO Jobs

And agencies are pivoting to offer AI search services:

Google SERP – AI optimization services

So what these acronyms are all about is a very real thing. But it’s not a complete revolution when you compare it to search engine optimization.

Quick Summary of SEO vs. GEO/AEO/LLMO/AIO

Here’s what’s actually happening. There are really only two distinct approaches, SEO vs. the rest:

Aspect Classic SEO AI Optimization (GEO/AEO/LLMO/AIO) Insight
Goal Rank high in search results Get cited in AI-generated responses Both matter. Create content that ranks AND gets cited.
How Users Search Keywords and short phrases, like: “email marketing tools” Complete questions and context: “Which email marketing tool is best for a small nonprofit?” Research actual questions your audience asks. Don’t just rely on keywords with high search volume.
Success Metric Click-through traffic to your site Being quoted/referenced by AI Go beyond website visits and start tracking brand mentions across AI tools.
User Journey User clicks > visits your page > converts User gets answer > may never visit your site, may click through for details, or may visit directly later Make your brand memorable through a compelling product, service, or content — even in brief AI mentions.
Content Focus Optimize full pages (titles, headers, meta tags) Create clear, quotable passages that answer specific questions Write self-contained sections. Each paragraph should make sense on its own.
Main Platforms Google, Bing search results ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews You need visibility across all platforms where your audience seeks information.
Key Factors Links and overall authority Citations and brand sentiment Build authority through quality backlinks AND consistent messaging everywhere.
Where Content Lives Primarily on your website Websites, plus YouTube, forums, and social platforms One thoughtful Reddit comment might drive more AI citations than five blog posts.
Measurement Tools Google Analytics, Search Console Brand monitoring tools, AI citation tracking Set up tracking for both classic SEO and AI visibility.

Where They’re Actually the Same (Spoiler: Almost Everything)

Despite the different names, these approaches share most of the same features and tactics:

  • The goal is the same: While visibility is perhaps the word you’ll see associated with success in the AI era, the goal for businesses is still to get more customers and drive revenue. Whether that’s from search engines or ChatGPT, it’s still the bottom-line number that business owners care about.
  • Content quality is paramount: All of these optimization methods prioritize high-quality, authoritative content. Whether you’re targeting Google’s search results or ChatGPT’s responses, you need genuine expertise and accurate information.
  • Structure matters everywhere: Clear headings, logical flow, and well-organized information help both search engines and AI systems understand your content. A messy blog post won’t rank well anywhere.
  • Authority signals are universal: Backlinks, domain authority, and expertise signals matter across all platforms. AI systems often rely on the same trust signals that traditional search engines use (although citations, not just links, matter more for AI optimization).
  • User intent drives everything: Whether someone types a query into Google or asks ChatGPT a question, they want a useful answer. Content that genuinely helps people will generally perform well regardless of the platform.

Where They Actually Differ (The Few Real Distinctions)

The differences between these approaches are smaller than the marketing suggests:

  • Links vs. citations: In traditional SEO, a big driver of your authority and whether you’ll rank is the quality of your backlink profile. In AI optimization, where you’re cited across the web matters more than just the links you have.
  • Traffic vs. citations: The broader business goals are still the same (to get customers and make money). But SEO is clearly more focused on driving traffic while AI optimization is, at least on the surface, about getting cited in AI responses.
  • Response format: Keyword-optimized, long-form content was often the winning strategy for SEO. AI-optimized content focuses on direct, quotable answers to specific questions.
  • Measurement challenges: You can easily track your SEO performance with tools like Google Analytics. Measuring AI visibility requires newer tools and different metrics, and it’s not always possible to accurately map out the customer journey.

But here’s what’s important: you don’t choose between these approaches. A well-optimized piece of content will perform across all these platforms simultaneously.

What This Means for Your Business

Now you know where there is and isn’t overlap between SEO, GEO, AIO, and all the other acronyms.

But what do you actually do with this information?

Content Research Gets More Complex

You can’t just look at keyword search volume anymore. You need to understand what questions people are asking AI systems and what answers those systems are currently providing.

This means your content team needs to research across multiple platforms:

  • Google search results
  • ChatGPT responses
  • Perplexity citations
  • AI Mode and AI Overviews

You need to understand where you’re being cited and where you’re not. But you also need to understand why other sites are being mentioned. This way, you can create content that’s also more likely to get cited.

Writing Becomes Answer-First

Writers need to structure content so AI systems can easily extract quotable segments for their answers.

ChatGPT – Prompt – Backlinko as source

That means:

  • Descriptive subheadings
  • Clear transitions between sections
  • Direct answers early in each section
  • Simple language where possible
  • Short sentences and paragraphs

Editor’s Note: This is one that we feel quite strongly about at Backlinko. This is NOT new: it’s just good writing practice. But it is more important than ever, and if you weren’t already doing these things, you need to start now.

Content Investment Increases

Creating content that performs well across multiple search platforms requires more time and expertise. And you might even need to start creating content on different platforms too.

Why?

Because appearing in AI responses isn’t just about writing great blog posts. These tools love to reference user-generated content, forums like Reddit, and YouTube videos.

ChatGPT – Prompt – UGC from forums

This means you’ll need to consider creating content beyond your website.

New KPIs to Track

Website traffic is still important, but it’s not the only success metric. You need to start measuring:

  • Brand mention frequency in AI responses
  • Citation accuracy across AI platforms (i.e., are the tools saying the right things about your brand?)
  • Share of voice in AI-generated answers
  • Brand sentiment in AI outputs

A tool that does all four of these is Semrush’s AI SEO Toolkit.

It’ll show your brand’s overall visibility and share of voice in AI tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity:

Semrush AI SEO – Visibility – Backlinko

You can also see how these tools perceive your brand versus your rivals:

Semrush AI SEO – Perception – Backlinko

The tool also shows you how often you’re cited compared to your competitors:

Semrush AI SEO – Citations – Backlinko

Finally, you can also find out the questions real users are asking about your industry:

Semrush AI SEO – Questions – Backlinko

You can use the AI SEO Toolkit’s insights to create and optimize your content for the questions users are asking. And you can optimize your overall visibility to ensure AI tools are saying the right things about your brand.

How to Explain It All to Your Boss/Stakeholders

Your boss and stakeholders in your business are going to hear about the likes of GEO and AIO and have questions for you. There’s no avoiding that.

This means you need to be able to explain the shift in plain business language — without the jargon and without triggering panic.

Here’s how to do it.

Lead with the Reality, Not the Acronym

Your CMO doesn’t care if it’s SEO, GEO, or AEO.

They care if your brand is visible when it matters.

Don’t start with “We need to do GEO now.” Start with “Our customers are getting answers from AI systems, and we need to make sure we’re part of those answers.”

This immediately connects to business outcomes instead of marketing tactics.

Be Honest About the Uncertainty

Don’t pretend you have a perfect read on how AI engines source answers. (Nobody does.)

Say:

“Some factors are proven — authority, relevance, clarity, and trust. Others are emerging, and we’re still testing things. Here’s what we know, and here’s what we’re learning.”

That honesty builds more trust than overconfidence.

Leadership teams have seen too many “revolutionary” marketing tactics fizzle out. Make it clear you’re being strategic, not just chasing trends.

Anchor to Business Impact

Shift the conversation from traffic to results that leadership cares about:

  • Revenue from organic sources
  • Pipeline influenced by organic visibility
  • Brand lift and share of voice
  • Cost per acquisition trends
  • Customer lifetime value from organic channels

Instead of saying “We need to optimize for ChatGPT,” say:

“We expect fewer casual visits but higher conversion rates from people who find us through these new channels.”

This frames the expected change as quality improvement, not traffic loss.

Highlight the Win-Win Investments

Lay out the actions that are worth investing in, no matter what:

  • Deeper audience research: Understanding exactly what questions your prospects ask (across all platforms) improves everything from product development to sales conversations
  • Answer-ready content: Content that directly addresses customer questions performs better everywhere: traditional search, social media, sales enablement, and AI systems
  • Brand and topic mentions in trusted sources: Getting coverage and citations from authoritative websites helps with traditional SEO, brand awareness, and AI visibility
  • Strong UX and review presence: Better website experience and more customer reviews can improve conversion rates, regardless of where the traffic comes from
  • Measuring what matters: Tracking brand mentions, share of voice, and conversion quality gives you better business intelligence for any marketing channel

These efforts are likely to work in SEO, GEO, or any other flavor of optimization. They’re just good marketing practices.

Highlighting these gives leadership confidence that you’re not betting everything on one unproven tactic. And it tells them that no matter what, these are things you should be doing anyway.

Position the Expansion as an Advantage

Make it clear this isn’t about more work for the same payoff.

It’s about capturing market share while competitors are still figuring things out:

“Most of our competitors are still focused only on traditional search. We have a 6-12 month window to establish authority in AI systems before they catch up.”

This positions your team as forward-thinking, not reactive.

Address the Obvious Concerns

You’re going to get questions, no doubt about it. Here’s how to answer the most common ones:

Question: “How much will this cost?”

Answer: “Most of the work builds on our existing content strategy. We’re expanding our definition of search optimization, not replacing it.”

Break down the investment:

  • Content creation (already budgeted)
  • New monitoring tools (modest monthly cost)
  • Team training (one-time investment)
  • Testing and optimization (part of ongoing marketing)

Question: “How do we measure success?”

Answer: “We’ll track traditional metrics plus brand visibility across AI platforms. Success means maintaining our current organic performance while building presence in emerging channels.”

Set up a dashboard that shows both traditional SEO metrics and AI citation tracking side by side. (Or use a tool like Semrush to do this for you.)

Question: “What if this is just a fad?”

Answer: “The underlying strategy — creating authoritative, helpful content and offering a great user experience — is the foundation of good marketing. We’re just making sure that our content performs well across more search platforms.”

Frame it as good marketing practices and risk mitigation, not trend-following.

Provide a Clear Timeline

Month 1-2 (Foundation):

  • Audit existing content to understand its AI optimization potential
  • Set up monitoring tools for AI citations
  • Train team on new optimization principles

Month 3-4 (Testing):

  • Optimize select pieces of content for AI systems
  • Measure performance across traditional and AI search platforms
  • Refine approach based on results

Month 5-6 (Scaling):

  • Apply learnings to broader content strategy
  • Expand monitoring and optimization efforts
  • Report on impact to organic performance overall

Scripts for Explaining What You Do

When your job involves optimizing for AI systems, explaining what you actually do can be tricky. Here are a few ready-to-use scripts for different situations.

For Your Boss/Senior Stakeholders

“I’m expanding our search optimization strategy to include AI-powered platforms. We’re making sure our brand shows up when people ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Mode about our industry. The same content quality that drives our current organic success will now work across multiple new discovery channels.”

For Family and Friends

“You know how people used to only Google things? Now they ask ChatGPT or voice assistants as well, or even instead. I make sure our company shows up in those AI answers when people ask about our industry. It’s like SEO but for AI. Instead of trying to rank #1 on Google, I’m trying to get our company mentioned when AI gives people recommendations.”

For Professional Profiles (LinkedIn, Resume, etc.)

“I help companies maintain and expand their organic visibility as search evolves beyond traditional engines to include AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s AI Mode.”

For Prospective Clients/Customers

“We help companies get found by customers regardless of how they search — whether that’s Google, ChatGPT, or any other AI tool. Our approach combines traditional SEO with optimization for AI systems that are increasingly answering customer questions.”

For Industry Peers/Conferences

“The fundamentals of search optimization haven’t changed — authority, relevance, and user value still matter. But we’re now optimizing for systems that synthesize information rather than just ranking it. A lot of the tactics are familiar, but the platforms we’re optimizing for are expanding.”

How to Thrive in the AI Era of Search

Whether you call it SEO, GEO, AIO, or LLMO, the fundamentals of optimization and creating great content don’t change.

The goals shift a little, and how you measure success will differ compared to pure SEO.

But how you win in the AI era of search just requires an evolution of how you were doing things before.

To stay ahead of the game, check out these resources for more information:

The post SEO vs. GEO, AEO, LLMO: What Marketers Need to Know appeared first on Backlinko.

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What Is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?

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If you’ve noticed your organic traffic shrinking even though you’re ranking well, you’re not imagining it. AI-driven engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews are answering questions before people click any links.

Generative engine optimization is how you fix this. It’s the practice of shaping your content so these AI systems pull it into their responses. Instead of someone getting a generic AI answer, your brand becomes part of that answer.

I’ve watched too many marketers ignore this shift because their SEO dashboards still look decent. The real problem? Clicks are happening inside the answer box now. If you want to stay visible where decisions actually start, you need GEO working alongside your traditional SEO.

Key Takeaways

  • Generative engine optimization puts your brand in AI answers, making your content easier for AI platforms to find, understand, and cite.
  • Search is no longer just about website links. People are getting answers from AI summaries without ever clicking to a website.
  • Traditional SEO still matters, but it’s not enough. GEO works alongside SEO to keep you visible in both search results and AI-generated responses.
  • Early adopters win the visibility battle. The sooner you adapt, the better your chances of being a source AI engines trust.
  • GEO is a new skillset for marketers. GEO requires smart keyword usage, creating strong E-E-A-T signals, and producing content formats AI can process.

Generative Engine Optimization Definition

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is how you shape your content so AI-driven platforms can easily pull it into their answers. These platforms don’t work like Google’s ranking algorithm. They combine semantic search with large language models to generate responses, pulling from sources they trust. Instead of giving you a list of website links, they often just give you the answer.

A ChatGPT response for generative engine optimization.

That changes everything. You’re not just trying to rank high anymore. You need to be a source the AI engine chooses to include. GEO builds on SEO basics like clean site structure, strong topical authority, and keyword alignment, but adds a layer focused on how AI systems interpret and present your expertise.

Why Generative Engine Optimization Is Important

AI-driven results are now part of search. Google’s AI Overviews, Bing’s Copilot, and platforms like Perplexity deliver full answers right in the results. Users often don’t click anything.

Nearly 60% of U.S. and EU searches end without an external click, according to SparkToro’s 2024 zero-click study. For marketers, that means less traffic from rankings alone.

GEO gives you another path. Structure your content so AI platforms can cite it, and you still get visibility even if users never leave the results page. In a zero-click world, being part of the answer matters as much as being part of the rankings.

A chart on GEO Traffic and Conversion Data.

How To Implement Generative Engine Optimization

GEO isn’t a single tactic. You’re better served treating it as a set of evolving practices that make your content easier for AI engines to find, interpret, and use in their answers. Like SEO, it combines strategic content creation, technical optimization, and authority building.

The next sections break down the core areas to focus on, starting with brand authority and moving through technical and content-based strategies.

Build Brand Authority

AI engines pull answers from sources they trust. If they don’t know you or can’t verify your expertise, you’re less likely to get cited.

Start by making your author profiles work harder. Put a name and face to your content, and back it up with credentials or proof you’ve done the work. Use examples from your own experience, share data you’ve collected, and show insights that are hard to fake.

Neil Patel's author box.

Don’t stay in your own bubble. Get your name and brand into respected publications in your industry. Offer quotes, share original stats, or write guest content for sites your audience already trusts. Our VP of SEO, Nikki Lam, for example, is a regular contributor to Search Engine Land.

A Search Engine Land article by Nikki Lam.

The more these connections appear online, the stronger your authority signal becomes, and the better your odds of showing up in AI-driven answers.

E-E-A-T Signals

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) are part of Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines, and AI engines pick up on many of the same signals. The stronger these are, the more likely your content will be seen as credible.

Show experience by sharing real examples, case studies, and first-hand insights. Make your expertise visible with clear author attribution, relevant credentials, and links to other respected work you have done. Build authority through backlinks from reputable sites in your field. Strengthen trust by being transparent with tactics like using HTTPS, list contact information, and publish accurate, well-sourced data.

Treat E-E-A-T as a checklist for every piece of content you publish. While not a direct ranking factor, it consistently improves your chances of performing well and increases your chances of showing up in tomorrow’s AI-generated results.

Reinforcing Your Site’s Technical SEO

If search engines cannot crawl, index, and understand your site, AI engines will not either. Technical SEO is the backbone that supports both.

Keep your site fast. Optimize images, reduce unused code, and use a content delivery network (CDN) if you have a global audience. Make sure your site works well on mobile and passes Core Web Vitals benchmarks. Use a logical URL structure and internal linking, so important pages are easy to find.

Regularly run site audits to catch broken links, duplicate content, or indexing issues before they hurt your visibility. Tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and Ubersuggest can make this part easier. The cleaner your technical setup, the better your chances of being surfaced in both search results and AI-generated answers.

Write Like People Talk

AI search engines handle queries differently from traditional search engines. People type full questions, not just keywords, into AI searches. To match that, your content needs to read like a direct answer.

Use long-tail, conversational phrases that mirror how someone would ask the question out loud. Include common “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” and “how” formats in your headings and subheadings. Break down complex answers into short, scannable sections so AI can easily extract them.

Skip the keyword stuffing. Focus on clarity and context instead. Your content should sound like something a real person would say. That makes it more likely to align with how AI models interpret and deliver answers.

Moving Beyond Text

AI engines do not just pull from written articles. They can reference videos, podcasts, and visual content when it adds value to the answer. That means your expertise should show up in multiple formats. Certain types of videos are more likely to get citations, as you can see from the example below.

A graphic showing how YouTube is cited in AI overviews.

Add original images, charts, and infographics to explain complex points visually. Short videos or audio clips that summarize key takeaways from your content are valuable as well, but there’s some added nuance here. Right now, AI isn’t listening to podcasts or watching videos. It extracts info through optimizations like meta data, alt text, structured data, and captions. When all that’s done, host them on platforms like YouTube or as embedded media on your site so they are easy for AI search engines to find, like the example below..

An example of a YouTube video embedded into a blog.

Diversifying your formats helps you reach audiences who prefer to watch or listen, and it gives AI more ways to surface your content. If you are only publishing text, you are leaving potential visibility on the table.

Use Digital PR to Build Expertise

Digital PR is one of the fastest ways to build the kind of authority AI engines look for. When trusted publications, influencers, or industry sites talk about your brand, those mentions strengthen your credibility.

Pitch guest articles or expert quotes to sites your audience already reads. Share original research or unique data that journalists can cite. Monitor platforms like HARO or Qwoted for opportunities to contribute insights on relevant topics.

The goal is consistent, high-quality mentions across the web. Over time, this builds a visible footprint of credibility that tells AI models your expertise is recognized beyond your own website, making you a stronger candidate for citation in generated answers.

Vary Content Distribution

AI tools do not only pull from traditional websites. They scan public content on forums, Q&A platforms, and social channels. If your brand shows up in those spaces, you give the engines more opportunities to connect your name to your expertise.

Join relevant discussions on platforms like Reddit, Quora, and niche industry forums. Share insights, answer questions, and link to deeper resources when it adds value. Repurpose your blog posts into short LinkedIn updates or Twitter threads so your ideas travel beyond your own site.

A graphic showing the ROI of leveraging multiole marketing plaforms.

The more your expertise appears across different platforms, the more signals AI engines have to work with, and the more likely they are to surface your content in their answers.

GEO and Search Everywhere Optimization

Search is no longer confined to Google. People look for answers on social media, YouTube, forums via AI searches and more. Search Everywhere Optimization is about showing up in all of those places.

A graphic showing what LLMs are citing often.

Map out the platforms your audience uses most, then adapt your content for each one. That could mean shorter video explainers for social, structured Q&A formats for forums, and well-formatted long-form articles for web search. The more channels you optimize for, the more resilient your visibility becomes. GEO extends this strategy by making your content easy for AI systems to cite.

The Future of GEO

Search is changing fast, and GEO is going to change with it. Here are three shifts you cannot ignore if you want to stay in front of your audience.

Search trends being shaped by generative AI.

AI Mode in Google
Google is testing AI Mode that gives people a complete AI-written answer before they ever see a list of website links. If this approach becomes permanent, those AI boxes will be the first thing people read — and if your brand is not in them, your visibility will shrink dramatically. To compete, you need content that is structured, well-sourced, and easy for Google’s systems to pull into those summaries.

Google's AI mode.

Predictive and Multimodal Search
Search is evolving to work ahead of the query. Predictive tools deliver answers based on a user’s behavior, location, and history. Multimodal search lets people combine text, images, and video into one request. To show up here, your content has to work in every format: clear copy, keyword-rich image descriptions, transcripts for videos, and structured data that connects it all together.

Voice and Visual Search
More people are asking questions out loud to their phones or smart speakers. Others are pointing their camera at an object and letting a tool like Google Lens do the searching. To win here, you need natural, conversational answers for voice search and highly detailed, optimized, context-rich visuals for image search.

A graphic showing the most common tasks for voice search.

GEO is not standing still, and neither should you. Keep an eye on where people are searching, watch how AI answers are built, and adapt. The brands that move with the trend will keep showing up, no matter how search results evolve.

FAQs

What is generative engine optimization?

Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the process of creating and structuring content so AI-driven platforms, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews, can easily find, interpret, and cite it in their answers.

How is GEO different from SEO?

SEO focuses on improving rankings and visibility in traditional search results extends beyond that by targeting AI engines, ensuring your content appears in AI-generated answers. 

Do I need to change my existing SEO strategy for GEO?

Not entirely. GEO builds on a strong SEO foundation. If your technical SEO, site structure, and content quality are already solid, the next step is formatting and distributing content in ways that AI systems can process and trust.

What types of content work best for GEO?

Clear, well-structured, and factually accurate content that answers specific questions tends to work best. Adding supporting data, original research, and multimedia formats can increase your chances of being cited.

How can I track GEO performance?

Tools in this area are still emerging. Some companies, like Profound, have technology specifically to help brands measure performance in LLMs and AI search. Additionally, there are traditional SEO tools that are expanding their capabilities. For example, Semrush now reports on AI Overview rankings in addition to standard SERP results. 

Conclusion

GEO isn’t a “later” project. It’s already reshaping how people find information, and every month more searches are ending inside AI-generated answers. If your brand isn’t showing up there, you’re losing visibility you might not get back.

The shift is in how you present and distribute that expertise so AI engines can understand and trust it. That means stronger E-E-A-T signals, content in multiple formats, and a presence in the places your audience is asking questions.

You don’t have to overhaul everything at once. Start with your highest-value content, make it more AI-friendly, and track where it appears. 

Read more at Read More

Clicks rose, ROAS fell when Amazon left Google Shopping

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Amazon icon is seen on a mobile phone screen

After Amazon pulled its ads from Google Shopping on July 23, clicks became cheaper, and volumes rose, but the value of that traffic dropped. That’s according to a new study from Optmyzr, which analyzed 6,137 advertiser accounts.

By the numbers (all categories combined):

  • 📈 Clicks: +7.8%
  • 📉 CPC: -8.3%
  • 📉 Conversion Value: -5.5%
  • 📉 ROAS: -4.4%

Why we care. Less competition doesn’t automatically help advertisers, and more traffic doesn’t always mean better business. Amazon-trained shoppers still expected rock-bottom prices, fast shipping, and seamless buying. When competitors couldn’t deliver, conversion value fell.

Category winners and losers. Electronics was the clear winner. Retailers like Best Buy and Apple matched Amazon’s offer, driving +81% conversions and +7% ROAS. In other categories:

  • Home & Garden, Sporting Goods, Tools, Apparel: Fell into the volume trap – more clicks, but lower value and weaker ROAS.
  • Health & Beauty: Traffic converted, but at a lower per-sale value.
  • Apparel & Accessories: The largest category by volume, but saw a -9.5% drop in conversion value.

Between the lines. Amazon wasn’t just another bidder – it was shaping shopper expectations across categories. When Amazon left, those expectations didn’t reset, the study suggests.

What to watch. Optmyzr plans a follow-up analysis to see if delayed ecommerce conversions change the results.

Bottom line. For PPC advertisers, cheaper clicks aren’t a win if they don’t turn into profitable customers. Without Amazon-level pricing and convenience, many brands risk falling into the volume trap.

Read more at Read More

5 B2B content types AI search engines love

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5 B2B content types AI search engines love

AI search is evolving fast, but early patterns are emerging. 

In our B2B client work, we’ve seen specific types of content consistently surface in LLM-driven results. 

These formats – when structured the right way – tend to get picked up, cited, and amplified by models like ChatGPT and Gemini.

This article breaks down five content types gaining notable AI search visibility, what makes them effective, and how to optimize them for LLM discovery:

  • Comparison pages.
  • Integration docs/open APIs.
  • Use case hubs.
  • Thought leadership on external platforms.
  • Product docs with schema.

1. Comparison pages

Our analysis shows that Gemini frequently surfaces “X vs. Y” content in AI Overviews and AI Mode – even when the query doesn’t ask explicitly for the comparison.

does carbon steel rust - AI Overview

What to include

  • Publish /vs/ pages with pros, cons, pricing, use case match, and schema. 
  • Do this for any competitors that bring in a decent volume of comparison queries, along with any comparisons that are easily related to your product or service.

2. Integration docs/open APIs

Our analysis has provided numerous instances of GPTs and Copilot citing SaaS APIs and dev docs in answers.

Example

  • A ChatGPT prompt for “setting up span metrics for backend services” cited a docs page from performance monitoring company Sentry in a list of best practices.
SaaS APIs and dev docs in AI answers

What to include

  • Maintain clear documentation + changelogs with versioning and schema.

Dig deeper: The future of B2B authority building in the AI search era

3. Use case hubs

We’ve seen clear indicators that AI Search prefers content that ties features to real business problems.

Example 

  • Vanta’s SOC 2 compliance resource appears prominently in a ChatGPT answer to “SOC 2 compliance automation for startups.”
SOC 2 compliance automation for startups - ChatGPT

What to include

  • Build intent-driven use case pages with testimonials and product mapping.

Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.

See terms.

4. Thought leadership on external platforms

LLMs pick up posts from company experts, including founders, SMEs, and established thought leaders, on outlets like Medium and Dev.to for strategy-based questions.

Example

How to find the best OpenSearch provider for cerntalized logging?

What to include 

  • Syndicate posts from a company founder, SME, or brand ambassador with a unique POV, then include a canonical link back to the business website.

5. Product docs with schema

Gemini AI Mode lifts from product docs if they’re structured with FAQs, How-to sections, and/or breadcrumb structured data.

Example

Metal 3d printer - AI Mode
recommended cash flow analysis tools for doc processing - AI Mode

What to include 

  • Add FAQPage, HowTo, breadcrumb structured data, and SoftwareApplication schema types to product docs.

3 overarching recommendations

You should never veer from the E-E-A-T principles that have long underpinned traditional SEO. Those same tenets will serve you well for LLM discovery, too. 

Beyond them, however, there are a few LLM-specific steps to consider if your goal is to increase AI search visibility.

I’ll break down three key recommendations.

Optimize for multi-modal support

AI search systems are increasingly retrieving and synthesizing multimodal content (think: images, charts, tables, videos) to better answer user queries. 

Flex your content across multiple media types to provide more useful, scannable, and engaging answers for users. 

Specific recommendations:

  • Ensure images and videos remain crawlable for search and AI bots. 
  • Serve images via clean HTML and avoid lazy-loading with JavaScript-only rendering, since LLM-based scrapers may not render JavaScript-heavy elements. 
  • Images should use descriptive alt text that includes topic context. 
  • Add captions to images and videos with an explanation right below or beside the visual. 
  • Use <figure>, <table>, etc., with contextually correct markup to help parse tables, figures, and lists.
  • Avoid images of tables. Use HTML tables instead for a machine-readable format supporting tokenization and summarization.

Optimize for chunk-level retrieval

AI search engines don’t index or retrieve whole pages.

They break content into passages or “chunks” and retrieve the most relevant segments for synthesis. 

Optimize each section like a standalone snippet. 

Specific recommendations:

  • Don’t rely on needing the whole page for context. Each chunk should be independently understandable. 
  • Keep passages semantically tight and self-contained. 
  • Focus on one idea per section: keep each passage tightly focused on a single concept. 
  • Use structured, accessible, and well-formatted HTML with clear subheadings (H2/H3) for every subtopic.

Dig deeper: Chunk, cite, clarify, build: A content framework for AI search

Optimize for answer synthesis

AI search engines synthesize multiple chunks from different sources into a coherent response. 

Aim to make your content easy to extract and logically structured to fit into a multi-source answer.

Specific recommendations:

  • Summarize complex ideas clearly, then expand (A clearly structured “Summary” or “Key takeaways”).
  • Start answers with a direct, concise sentence.
  • Favor a factual, non-promotional tone. 
  • Use structured data to help AI models better classify and extract structured answers.
  • Use natural language Q&A format.

Create B2B content that wins in AI search

An added benefit of these five content types is that they span multiple intent stages – helping you attract prospects and guide them through the funnel. 

Just as important: make sure your AI search measurement systems are in place (we use Profound, GA, and qualitative research) so you can track impact over time. 

And stay tuned to reports and industry updates to keep pace with new developments. 

Read more at Read More

5 Best SEO Plugins for WordPress (Tried & Tested)

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You don’t need an SEO plugin to help your website rank in Google.

In fact, you can do more harm than good if you don’t know what you’re doing with them.

But:

They can make optimizing your website a whole lot easier if you do use them correctly.

We’re talking:

  • Faster page speeds
  • Better optimized content
  • Fewer technical SEO issues

All without touching any code.

So how do you choose which plugin to use? Can you use more than one?

And the big one — should you use Yoast or Rank Math?

You’ll get the answers to these burning questions below.

But first, here’s the tl;dr on the best SEO plugins for WordPress:

Best for Pricing
Rank Math Beginners looking for an all-in-one solution Free version available; Pro plans start at $7.99/month, billed annually
Yoast SEO Anyone in need of guided SEO setup and writing support Free version available; Premium starts at $99/year
WP Rocket Improving site speed and Core Web Vitals $59/year for one site
The SEO Framework Handling essentials with minimalist features Free; paid versions for more sites from $7/month billed annually
Semrush SEO Writing Assistant Writing better SEO content Free; increased usage with a Semrush subscription

Note: We’ve stuck with plugins that can directly improve your SEO. You won’t see analytics plugins like Monster Insights or external keyword generators on this list. These are useful tools in their own right — but they’re not true SEO plugins.

1. Rank Math

Best all-in-one SEO plugin for new WordPress sites

Pricing: Free version available; Pro plans start at $7.99/month billed annually

Rank Math SEO – Dashboard

Rank Math has pretty much everything you need in an SEO plugin. If you’re new to SEO, it’ll handle all the important stuff for you, including:

  • Content optimization
  • Image SEO
  • Internal and external linking
  • Local SEO
  • Schema markup
  • Sitemaps
  • Redirects

And way more.

It’s actually the go-to recommendation from our own Head of SEO, Leigh McKenzie:

“Rank Math is my no. 1 choice across the board. For any site starting from scratch, I’d always recommend Rank Math first.”

Let’s go through some of the features behind his recommendation:

Manage Metadata and Social Previews

Starting with the basics, Rank Math lets you manage your page’s SEO title, meta description, and how it appears on social media — right within the post editor:

Rank Math SEO – TTT – Preview Snippet Editor

It also lets you preview what the post will look like when you share it on Facebook and X/Twitter:

Rank Math SEO – TTT – Preview Snippet Editor – Social

This gives you more control over how your content looks in SERPs and social feeds.

It’s a pretty rudimentary feature, and hardly one that separates it from the likes of Yoast below when taken in isolation.

But how your social content looks can have a big impact on the engagement your posts get — and how many people click through to read your content. So it’s a useful feature for those looking to share their content beyond their blog.

Get SEO Suggestions as You Write

Rank Math also gives you SEO guidance as you’re creating your content in the WordPress editor. Like having your own SEO assistant you can call on as you write.

Rank Math SEO – SEO Assistant

It’ll highlight things like missing focus keywords in your meta description, intro, and throughout your content.

But honestly? I never use this feature.

So why am I calling it out here?

Because when you’re just starting out creating SEO content, it’s actually super helpful for keeping you on track.

Sure, once you’re familiar with the basics of content optimization, you’ll do all of this naturally. But as a beginner, this gentle guidance can help you learn faster (and create better optimized content in the process).

Plus, you can click “Fix with AI” to generate a suggestion and save time on the small changes.

Rank Math SEO – Content AI – Snippet Editor

It’s not going to be perfect. But for a one-click, two-second job?

I’ll happily use this, because it speeds up optimization.

Plus, you can tweak or regenerate the output anyway, so it’s useful as a starting point.

Broken Links and Redirects

Rank Math flags broken links on your site using its built-in 404 Monitor.

Rank Math SEO – 404 Monitor

You can then set up a redirect right from the dashboard:

Rank Math SEO – Redirect from dashboard

This feature keeps your internal links working. It ensures you’re passing authority between your pages and that you’re offering a good user experience.

It also reduces plugin bloat as you don’t need a separate plugin to handle broken links.

The fact the free version of the plugin comes with built-in redirection capabilities is a massive win in my book.

I’ve personally leaned on this particular part of the plugin heavily multiple times.

Firstly, it’s great for just quickly setting up redirects when you change the URL of a post (it even does this automatically).

Rank Math SEO – SEO Notice

But you can also set it up to move entire categories of posts or pages through the filters.

Just choose “contains” and you’ll be able to move all your content from /old-path/page to /new-path/page without your users even noticing — and without any hassle on your end.

Rank Math SEO – Redirect contains

I don’t see enough people praising Rank Math for the redirect functionality. But honestly it’s a lifesaver.

Downsides But Not Dealbreakers

Rank Math clearly has a lot of features, which is great. But it can also feel overwhelming at first. That’s just the nature of any “all-in-one” style plugin.

However, once you know where things are and what you need, it’s fairly easy to navigate.

Also, on the content improvement side of things, readability feedback is pretty limited. It checks basic things like paragraph length and image use. But it won’t help you improve sentence structure or tone.

Rank Math SEO – Title & Content readabillity

(If you need more focus on that, check out the fifth plugin on this list.)

But overall, these drawbacks are pretty minor. Rank Math is still our number one recommendation if you need an SEO plugin.

2. Yoast SEO

Best for beginners who want step-by-step SEO guidance inside WordPress

Pricing: Free version available; Premium starts at $99/year

Yoast SEO – Dashboard

Yoast SEO is probably the first plugin you came across when you started looking into WordPress SEO. And for good reason — it’s installed on 10+ million sites and has around 26K five-star reviews.

It’s been around for so long and has such a clear purpose that its WordPress plugin directory URL path is literally just “/wordpress-seo/”:

Wordpress Plugin Directory URL

It’s the second of the “big two” WordPress SEO plugins alongside RankMath, and it’s worth addressing why we put it second before we get into the details of the plugin itself.

In summary: We usually recommend Rank Math for a first-time WordPress site owner. It’s packed with features, and its free version has the edge over Yoast in a few areas. These include redirects, multiple focus keywords per post, and more extensive schema markup options.

But Yoast is pretty evenly matched in a lot of ways. Especially if you opt for the paid version.

In fact, this is the specific SEO plugin we use for Backlinko.

Yoast SEO – Ste features

My personal recommendation is to try them both (separately) and see which one works best for you.

Note: Don’t use them both at the same time, as running multiple all-in-one SEO plugins on the same site can lead to compatibility issues.

Okay, now let’s go through what I like most about the Yoast SEO plugin:

Optimize Search and Social Previews

Like Rank Math, Yoast helps you optimize how your content appears both in search results and on social media.

You can easily update your SEO title, meta description, and URL slug for every page or post:

Yoast SEO – Optimize your content

You also get a live preview of how your content will appear in Google search results and on socials.

It’s very similar to Rank Math in this respect. But I wanted to call it out here anyway as it’s some fairly fundamental functionality for a WordPress SEO plugin.

Get Real-Time SEO and Readability Feedback

Yoast analyzes your SEO as you write, using a simple green/orange/red traffic light system.

Green means you’re following best practices, while orange suggests there’s room for improvement. Red highlights critical issues you should prioritize.

Yoast SEO – SEO Analysis section

Each suggestion is actionable, helping you easily optimize your pages, even if you’re new to SEO.

Yoast also gives you a detailed breakdown of your content’s readability.

You’ll see checks for things like passive voice, sentence length, and consecutive sentence starters. In this respect, it does offer a bit more than Rank Math.

Yoast SEO – Readability Analysis section

My advice: Don’t chase all the green lights thinking it’ll help you rank. Content quality and value for the reader matter far more than hitting a certain percentage or score.

However, Yoast’s feedback does help you spot common issues and make your writing clearer for both users and search engines.

Like I said in the Rank Math section, I don’t personally use these features. But beginner me found himself looking to them quite a lot for basic guidance.

Manage XML Sitemaps

Yoast creates a dynamic XML sitemap for your site and updates it as you publish new content.

Here’s what it looks like for Backlinko:

Yoast – Sitemap

This is a basic but very useful feature (Rank Math does this too).

Just make sure to submit your sitemap URL to Google Search Console. This helps Google discover and index your content.

Further reading: Top 8 Sitemap Generator Tools in 2025 (Free & Premium)

Downsides But Not Dealbreakers

Yoast’s SEO scoring system can feel rigid. For example, you might get flagged for not using your main keyword in the first sentence even if it doesn’t fit there naturally.

And I’ll often see site owners that are new to SEO sticking too closely to these guidelines and creating pretty mediocre content as a result.

But if you treat the feedback as guidance, not strict rules, Yoast can still be a helpful way to catch easy-to-miss issues.

Further reading: Learn more about the plugin with our full Yoast SEO guide.

A word on a few alternatives before I move on:

The all-in-one SEO plugin market is dominated by Yoast and Rank Math. But another big player we can’t forget to mention is aptly named All in One SEO (AISEO).

AISEO – Homepage

It does a lot of the same stuff as the other two, but they just do it better. It’s missing key free features like redirects, and it can get pricey if you want to use it on several sites.

Like I said earlier though, you should try these plugins out for yourself if you’re struggling to choose. The free options are more than enough in most cases, and they’ll give you a taste of what to expect should you want to commit to a paid option.

FYI: I don’t personally pay for any SEO plugins besides WP Rocket (more on that next). But we do use Yoast Premium on Backlinko and Rank Math Pro on Traffic Think Tank.

3. WP Rocket

Best for improving your website speed without needing a developer

Pricing: $59/year for one website, $119/year for three websites

WP Rocket – Dashboard

WP Rocket is probably my favorite of all the plugins on this list, even if it’s not technically the best overall. It’s a performance plugin designed to speed up WordPress websites. That’s all it aims to do, and boy does it succeed.

I run a somewhat well optimized site, and here’s how it looks in PageSpeed Insights without WP Rocket installed:

PageSpeed Insights – Web with no WP Rocket installed

After installing the plugin and turning on the most important features, here’s how it looks:

PageSpeed Insights – Web with installed WP Rocket

Let’s just pause on those numbers for a second:

  • 20 point increase in overall performance score
  • 2.1 second improvement in first contentful paint
  • 30 ms to 0 ms total blocking time
  • 2.8 second improvement in largest contentful paint

Again, it’s a decent baseline to begin with. But WP Rocket improves my site performance in ways I otherwise can’t manage on a site that’s quite heavy on the Elementor elements.

That’s an important point in itself: you 100% can make your site run fast without SEO plugins like WP Rocket.

But you will need to make sacrifices unless you’re an experienced developer (which I am not).

So if you also want to improve your site speed without digging into the code or harming your UX, here’s why you should consider WP Rocket:

Caching Made Simple

WP Rocket makes performance optimization easy. For example, I didn’t have to touch a single setting for the caching features to kick in, and you can clear your cache at the touch of a button:

WP Rocket – Cache option

This is a feature some WordPress hosts and other plugins offer (my own web host does, for example). But I like WP Rocket’s because it’s easy to do within a dashboard that also does so much more.

For a non-developer like me, this kind of out-of-the-box performance boost is extremely useful.

File Optimization

You can also dig into advanced settings to minify your CSS and JavaScript, optimize images and fonts, and connect to a CDN.

WP Rocket – File Optimization

These tweaks can cut load time, reduce file sizes, and can even improve Core Web Vitals. In other words, they can have a major impact on your site speed.

(And as someone with no coding experience, there’s no way I could do any of this without a plugin.)

Now for the second and only other feature on this list that I’ll describe with the phrase “life saver”:

It comes with one-click exclusions for popular tools like Google Analytics, AdSense, and Stripe, along with other WordPress plugins, like Elementor:

WP Rocket – Delay JavaScript execution

That means you’re less likely to break your tracking, ads, payment processing, or UX while optimizing. Which, believe me, is easy (and frustrating) to do.

And you don’t need to dig through documentation to figure out what to exclude.

You can also create custom exclusions, and these are handy if you do know what’s causing issues.

Downsides But Not Dealbreakers

Some layout elements may break if you enable file optimization without adding exclusions. In my case, my Elementor post cards got distorted. But excluding the right files fixed it.

WP Rocket – Verify CSS files

(Finding the right files to exclude took me a lot of trial and error, but your mileage may vary.)

The settings can also feel pretty technical if you’re not a web developer. I had to Google a lot before knowing what to toggle.

However, WP Rocket’s help center docs were solid. And once everything was dialed in, my site’s performance improved significantly. (Again, see the screenshots at the start of this section.)

Free alternative: When I first started playing around with WordPress websites, I used Autoptimize for a lot of the things WP Rocket does.

WP Rocket – Autoptimize Settings

It’s not as extensive when you use the free version, but it’ll get you a meaningful chunk of the way there if site speed is a big concern for you.

Plus, I still run this on a few of my lower priority sites when I just want to tick the main performance boxes.

4. The SEO Framework

Best lightweight, minimalist SEO plugin

Pricing: Free; paid plans start at $7/month (paid yearly)

The SEO Framework – Settings

The SEO Framework is a free and lightweight plugin for WordPress that quietly handles the SEO essentials.

It’s no Rank Math or Yoast, but it will still do a lot of the most important things for you.

This plugin is popular among developers for a reason. It runs fast, doesn’t clutter your dashboard, and avoids the “all-in-one” bloat you get with other SEO plugins.

Here’s what you get with the SEO Framework plugin:

Get Instant SEO Feedback

One of the SEO Framework’s most helpful features is the plugin’s color-coded SEO bar. This gives you a quick visual of how well optimized your pages are.

The SEO Framework – Most helpful features

At first, the labels can look a bit cryptic.

But once you hover over them, they explain what’s working and what needs improvement.

For example, the plugin flagged my meta title as “far too short” and noted that it was automatically generated from the page title. (At least I assume that’s what the “TG” means.)

It explained that the title lacked information, which helped me understand I’d need to customize it to improve its SEO performance.

The SEO Framework – Title lack information

Honestly, I’d maybe like a little more specific detail here. It’s not clear what “more information” it means. But it does make it easy to do a high-level audit of your content optimization without opening each page.

If it flags your title or description, you can open the page editor and tweak the meta fields directly to optimize them:

The SEO Framework – SEO Description

The SEO Framework also shows each page’s indexing status. If a page is indexed, it appears in green. If there’s an indexing issue, it tells you exactly what’s wrong.

In my case, it showed that all my published pages were indexed correctly. And a few unpublished ones were flagged, as expected:

The SEO Framework – Invisible Page

Obviously it’s not going to be as in-depth as Google Search Console. But it’s a useful at-a-glance overview of your overall indexing status.

Automate SEO Title and Meta Description Generation

Once you find titles and meta descriptions to optimize, the SEO Framework automatically generates meta them based on your content.

The SEO Framework – Generated Title

But you can still tweak auto-generated meta elements to add more value as needed.

The SEO Framework – Tweak auto-generated meta elements

That’s it, that’s the feature.

It’s nothing fancy, and it’s not always perfect. But for a lightweight SEO plugin, this is a great timesaver.

You can also control how your page appears on social media. You can even add a custom image for Facebook or X:

The SEO Framework – Social

If you like this functionality of the likes of Yoast and Rank Math but don’t need all the extra features, the SEO Framework plugin could be all you need.

Simple Base Plugin with Room to Expand

The SEO Framework is intentionally minimal to be fast, lightweight, and free of unnecessary extras. That makes it a great choice if you’re looking for something that won’t slow your site down or overwhelm you with options.

And if you ever need additional features, like schema markup, third-party connections, or local SEO support, you can always install them as separate extensions.

The SEO Framework – Extensions

Downsides But Not Dealbreakers

The SEO Framework is lightweight, which means it’s also feature-light. It has the basics, but it won’t cover everything for you.

To get a bit pickier, I noticed that when I try to edit an automatically generated SEO title or meta description, the entire field clears as soon as I click it.

That means I can’t just tweak a few words. I have to retype the whole thing from scratch. It would be a smoother experience if I could simply edit the existing text in place.

But the fact this is such a small and specific issue is testament to just how good the plugin is.

5. Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

Best for optimizing your content for search right inside the WordPress editor

Pricing: Free, but you can optimize more content with an active Semrush subscription

Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant helps you optimize content as you write it inside the WordPress editor. It’s not an all-in-one solution, and is purely content-focused.

It works by pulling recommendations from your target keyword and analyzing your draft in real time for SEO, readability, tone of voice, and originality.

Let’s take a look at my favorite features of the plugin:

Optimize Your Readability

Semrush calls out exactly what you need to fix to improve your content’s readability, including:

  • Sentences that are hard to read
  • Suggestions to use active voice
  • Specific words to swap for simpler alternatives

Semrush SEO Writing Assistant – Optimize readability

This is super useful if you want to make your content easier to understand and more engaging.

Improve Your On-Page SEO

The plugin also provides clear on-page SEO recommendations based on your target keywords.

At the top of the panel, it shows whether you’ve used your main keywords effectively.

When I created the blog post in the example below, I entered two main keywords: “content marketing” and “content marketing for small businesses.”

Since I used both naturally throughout the article, Semrush marked them green:

Semrush SEO Writing Assistant – Marked main keywords

But below that, it suggests semantically related keywords based on content that’s already ranking well for these terms. As you include those terms, they turn green too:

Semrush SEO Writing Assistant – Recommended keywords

This is where the Semrush plugin goes a step further than the likes of Yoast. It leverages Semrush’s data to give you a helpful way to improve your topical depth based on what’s already ranking — which is a key part of building topical authority.

Why does this matter?

Because search engines like Google are good at recognizing when a piece of content truly covers the topic in depth — rather than just using the target keyword a bunch of times.

When you include related terms, you’re showing Google that your content is contextually relevant and comprehensive.

Analyze Your Tone of Voice

Wondering what your content actually sounds like from a reader’s perspective?

The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant shows whether your writing comes across as casual, formal, or somewhere in between. And whether your tone stays consistent throughout the post.

For example, it labeled my draft as “Neutral” with 95% tone consistency:

Semrush SEO Writing Assistant – Readers perspective

That’s a helpful signal that the post flows well without jumping between writing styles.

That said, don’t let the score alone inform your edits. Instead, use it as a signal to evaluate your writing with fresh eyes and ask:

“Does this sound like me/my brand?”

It also pointed out a few phrases that sounded slightly off-brand. It then suggested alternatives to smooth them out:

Semrush SEO Writing Assistant – Suggested alternatives

They’re not always perfect suggestions, but it’s useful if you’re writing for a specific brand voice and want to keep it consistent across all your articles.

Downsides But Not Dealbreakers

The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant is not a comprehensive SEO plugin. It focuses on optimizing content for search engines and doesn’t replace Yoast or Rank Math.

So, it’s best to use it in combination with other SEO plugins.

Note: Try this plugin along with more tools to improve your SEO with a 14-day trial on a Semrush Pro subscription.

Ready to Choose the Right SEO Plugin for Your Website?

The right SEO plugin can massively improve your WordPress website’s performance.

But it’s also important to set clear expectations.

These tools help you optimize. They don’t rank content for you.

To actually improve your visibility in search, you need to publish great content, improve your site’s performance, and cover the basics of SEO.

So, what should you do next?

Start with our complete SEO checklist to make sure your site is fully optimized for search.

The post 5 Best SEO Plugins for WordPress (Tried & Tested) appeared first on Backlinko.

Read more at Read More

2025 Organic Search Engine Trends: How Search is Evolving for AI and LLMs

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If you’re not paying attention to search trends, you’re already falling behind. And in 2025, falling behind means losing visibility, traffic, and revenue, often to the tune of thousands (or millions) of dollars.

Some marketing pros and SEOs still haven’t learned this lesson. Maybe they don’t have the budget to invest in video, or a specific algorithm update doesn’t move the needle enough to get their attention. 

And there are still CMOs who think AI doesn’t pose a big risk to their strategies, and other C-suite members continue to ignore the sunk cost fallacy.

Trends matter, though. Staying ahead of the curve matters. And right now, that curve is moving fast. Miss one core update or shift in user behavior, and you’re already behind. A single minute’s hesitation could set you back months. 

The SEOs who are proactive, not responsive, are the ones winning big.

Take AI Overviews and Search Everywhere Optimization, for example. These trends have taken off and will continue to define the future of search. Let’s look at these and other big trends dominating search.

Key Takeaways

  • AI search has spread beyond Google. ChatGPT, TikTok, and YouTube are now regular search platforms for users.
  • 44 percent of sites have seen flat or declining traffic since AIOs launched.
  • Zero-click will make featured snippets, AI Overviews, brand mentions, and conversational content key.
  • Brand mentions have serious SEO value. As much as 78 percent of marketers consider them a key visibility factor in 2025.
  • Winning in search now means adopting a Search Everywhere Optimization strategy that spans AI tools, video, social, and traditional search engines.
  • See the full report on the NP Digital website.

Our Methodology

We talked to two groups to better understand how AI and other trends impacted how people used search; in one survey, we spoke to 1,000 American adults with general questions. In addition, we reached out to 600 American full-time professionals who worked in marketing, market research, sales, and advertising.

AI Overviews Take Center Stage After Some Growing Pains

Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs) had a rocky start, but they’re not going anywhere.

After rolling out globally in May 2024, AIOs quickly took a spot in all kinds of search results, but not without hiccups; in our survey of general adults, users got answers faster, but they weren’t always better. Almost 25 percent of users reported major errors. Over 50 percent said their biggest issue was just flat-out inaccuracy, to the point of danger.

A screenshot of a social media post of an AI overview claiming that John Adams graduated from UW-Madison 21 times.

(Image Source) 

That said, most users (almost 75 percent) haven’t noticed major problems. And despite some early skepticism, AIOs are already shaping how people consume content in search, with some fears that web traffic will fall off as the search giant continues its efforts to keep users on the SERP instead of clicking through.

From a traffic perspective, our survey showed 44 percent of marketers reported decreased web traffic since AIOs launched. With that said, 48 percent saw a revenue boost from ads and affiliate links. It’s a strong signal that AIOs are about more than visibility changes; they are changing the rules of the game.

So, how do you get your content to show up in AIOs? The structure matters. No matter what you (or your content team) are writing, start by focusing on:

  • Clear, concise answers high on the page
  • Use of headings to mirror search queries
  • Schema markup that clarifies context
  • High E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) signals
  • A conversational tone (yes, even in technical content)

And don’t forget freshness. AIOs pull recent, relevant content first.

Showing up in AI Overviews is more than just bragging rights. It’s taking up a valuable position in the new top-of-SERP real estate. Ignoring AI SEO and failing to optimize for it just gives visibility away.

How Marketers Can Work Around Zero-Click Search

AI Overviews are part of the growing wave of zero-click searches. In a zero-click world, users get their answers directly on the SERP; no further reading necessary. Featured snippets, local packs, people-also-ask boxes, and AIOs have all made organic traffic harder to win.

But that doesn’t mean you’re out of options.

Marketers are adaptable, and this development is no exception. Forty-three percent of marketers have changed their content strategies to respond to this shift. 

A graph showing how marketers are adapting to AI overviews.

Their focus now? Clear, scannable content that answers questions upfront. Structured data, brand mentions, and conversational formats are more important than ever.

The goal isn’t just to rank. It’s to show up in the spots users see first. 

Google’s New AI Mode Is Here

Google’s AI Mode officially rolled out to all U.S. users in May 2025, and it’s already changing how people interact with search.

AI Mode flips the switch on how Google displays search results. Instead of the classic link list, users now see AI-generated summaries by default, especially for complex or open-ended queries. 

According to Google, the goal is to “make search smarter and more helpful with generative AI.” Their idea is to offer a faster path to answers, context, and decision-making.

The reaction? Cautiously optimistic.

Our survey shows over 57 percent of marketers already knew about AI Mode’s debut. Of those, 74 percent believed it could improve the overall search experience, with nearly a third expecting “notable” usability improvements.

But user experience isn’t the only concern. It’s a signal to marketers, too. AI Mode will likely increase zero-click results and shift keyword targeting strategies. That will push creators to optimize for summaries, not just snippets.

According to Nikki Brandemarte, Sr. SEO Strategist at NP Digital, one of the best ways to optimize for AI Mode is to focus on tactics we’ve known work for a while, but even more.

Lock in on featured schema, prioritize context-rich introductions, and use conversational formatting. Freshness and clarity win the day, too, so regularly revisit your content and adjust it. Or write something new and authoritative. That’s especially important, since AI Mode can now source information published within the last 24 hours.

A screenshot of a Google AI mode result for the query "summarize the latest seo and ai news from the last 7 days.".

Brandemarte explains: “[AI Mode] is designed for users to ask more complex, multi-part questions that go beyond basic information provided by traditional AI overviews. These more comprehensive, better-structured answers expand on AIOs and overlap.”

The bar is higher. But if your content is clear, helpful, and well-structured, AI Mode can amplify your visibility (not erase it).

AI Search Is Spreading as a Concept

AI-powered search didn’t stop with Google, and it’s not going to, either. We’re now in a landscape where search is becoming a feature as opposed to a destination.

AI search is everywhere: ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and even AI-driven tools built into apps you open every day, like Reddit, TikTok, or YouTube. Thirty percent of our surveyed general online users now turn to ChatGPT or SearchGPT at least 10 times a week. 

On the marketer side, 74 percent actively watch ChatGPT, and 41 percent track Microsoft Copilot.

A graphic showing AI-powered search platforms marketers are focusing on.

That shift is actively reshaping user behavior. AI summaries are now the first impression. Thirty-one percent of users trust AI summaries more than traditional search results. 

Regardless of your thoughts on AI search’s efficacy and accuracy, it’s a trend you can’t ignore.

How to Minimize Risk and Stay Visible

If your brand isn’t visible across multiple ecosystems, you’ll be left behind. That’s the ethos behind Search Everywhere Marketing, and we take it very seriously. 

Right now, only 51 percent of our surveyed marketers are actively tracking their brand visibility in AI search platforms. This is despite the fact that out of our surveyed marketers, brand visibility tracking was seen as the most popular way it would impact search strategy in the next year (45 percent). That means that there’s a shift many marketers know is coming, but aren’t prepared for.

A graphic showing methods on how users want to track AI search visibility.

What can you do if you’re in that group? Well, here’s how to catch up:

  • Monitor traffic shifts with Google Analytics and Search Console (GSC). They’re still your first red flags.
  • Set up trend logging to detect drops or spikes in branded queries.
  • Use social listening tools to track brand mentions in places like AI Overviews and conversational search results.
  • Build brand mentions through PR and content syndication. More than three-fourths of our surveyed marketers say brand mentions are vital for SEO, so this is no longer optional.
  • Lean into conversational content. Google and AI platforms favor content that answers naturally phrased questions.
  • Finally, invest in structured data and featured schema to improve your odds of being cited directly in AI results.

The bottom line is that visibility isn’t about blue links alone anymore. Your content has to be everywhere that people ask questions, even if they never click.

A screenshot of an AI mode summary for the query "are the blue links no longer relevant?"

Marketers Need to Find Ways to Start AI Visibility Tracking

If AI-driven search is the future, visibility tracking is how you future-proof your content.

Right now, most AI platforms don’t offer direct analytics. You won’t find a neat report in Google Search Console labeled “AIO Clicks.” Even though people have asked (repeatedly). 

That’s a problem. As AI summaries and chat-based search tools like ChatGPT take up more screen space, marketers are beholden to something like a vibes-based approach.

As we noted above, only 51 percent of marketers track brand visibility in AI search. The rest are either exploring tools (38 percent) or not tracking at all. That’s a big visibility gap, but it’s also where you can find a competitive advantage:

Until native tools catch up, marketers have a blend of tactics. You can try to monitor traffic shifts in GA and GSC for early signals and use social listening platforms to track branded mentions and snippets. 

Savvy users of platforms like Semrush can use it to help track AIO appearances, too. For priority keywords, log trends manually if necessary (even via screenshots). 

AI visibility isn’t going away. Don’t neglect it.

Screen shot detailing Semrush organic research data on the URL neilpatel.com/blog

Along with existing SEO tools and program suites, there are other products that are designed to meet the specific needs of the AI space. Profound is an AI search optimization tool designed to track important AI-related performance metrics like AI search such as sentiment, citation frequency, and AI share of voice.  

Source: (Image Source)

Finally, monitor referral traffic from LLMs like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Currently, 24 percent of marketers have seen consistent traffic from those sources. 

Google is still important (as our own VP of SEO Nikki Lam attests), but we’re entering a whole new world of attribution.

Google vs. LLM Referral Traffic: What’s Coming Out on Top?

For the first time in decades, Google isn’t the only game in town for search-driven traffic.

LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude have started to chip away at Google’s dominance. Given that nearly a third of users say they use ChatGPT or SearchGPT per week, and how many marketers see consistent referral traffic, the shift is subtle, but it’s happening: It’s not just curiosity. It’s a behavior change.

Ready for something even more telling? As much as 34 percent of marketers believe AI tools will account for 25 to 50 percent of search activity within the next year. Some think the number could go even higher.

Keeping your brand discoverable as LLMs grow is absolutely vital, but it’s not as complex as you’d think. 

We’ve touched on many of the tactics already: Focus on meeting conversational queries with clear, fact-rich content. Monitor your referral traffic from known LLM browsers and tools. 

Most importantly, diversify your strategy. Think beyond “ranking” and more about being referenced.

Short-Form and Conversational Content Are at a Premium

In a world of AI summaries and zero-click search results, brevity is everything.

Short-form, conversational content is easier for AI models to parse, summarize, and cite. If your post or article buries the answer in paragraph five, you probably won’t be featured in AI Overviews (or any other generative snippets).

Tactics like including FAQs, key takeaways, and “too long, didn’t read (TL;DR)” sections are almost mandatory. AI tools seek out and prioritize structured, scannable, and intent-matching text blocks. 

Nearly 42 percent of marketers already optimize new content for conversational queries, and 58 percent are refreshing their existing content to meet these new standards.

But keep one thing in mind: This isn’t about “dumbing things down.” Instead, it focuses on getting to the point—fast—and in a way that mimics how users ask questions out loud.

What can you do to help? Use headers that sound like real questions. Keep your answers clear and focused. When possible, use schema markup to reinforce the content’s structure.

Our TL;DR? Keep it short, smart, and skimmable if you want to be quoted.

Key Takeaways from a recent Neil Patel blog demonstrate a TL;DR approach to sharing information
Our Key Takeaways from a recent blog demonstrate a TL;DR approach to sharing information.

Tailoring Your Content to Fit Preferred Platforms

Ranking alone isn’t enough. Your content also needs to fit where your audience is searching.

Depending on your brand and audience, that might look like long-form blog posts to show up in Google, or it could mean creating vertical videos for TikTok. Other solutions could include product explainers on YouTube or visuals to engage Instagram users.

Younger audiences have already begun to shift search behavior. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram are their go-to sources for product discovery, how-tos, and health information. Sixty-seven percent of Gen Z users prioritize Instagram for search, while 62 percent focus on TikTok. As a result, over 63 percent of marketers have already started to optimize or test content for these channels.

How can you keep up?

Start by adapting your message to the format. Use generative engine optimization (GEO) for AI search, vertical video for TikTok and Reels, and snackable visuals for platforms like Pinterest and Instagram.

An overarching strategy that uses different platforms to meet the same goal: Meet your users where they are and speak their language.

Backlinks vs. Brand Mentions: Where Should Marketers Focus?

Backlinks have long been a pillar of SEO and still matter a lot. But the AI-driven, zero-click environment emphasizes and incentivizes brand mentions, too. What’s the difference between them?

  • Backlinks are clickable URLs that pass SEO equity.
  • Brand mentions are unlinked references to your company or product. Think name-drops in articles, podcasts, and social posts.

Google has hinted for years that brand mentions influence trust and authority. With AI platforms pulling in content and citations differently, those mentions are more valuable than ever.

Seventy-eight percent of marketers in our survey say brand mentions are at least “moderately important” for visibility. Thirty-two percent call them “extremely important” signals. 

They’re so important that over 65 percent of marketers are already prioritizing mention-building with PR, guest posts, social campaigns, and influencer outreach.

So, which one should you focus on more? Mentions or links?

Both still matter, but the emphasis or split depends on your niche. E-commerce brands, for example, often see big returns from unlinked mentions in product roundups or reviews. B2B brands may still rely more heavily on authoritative backlinks. 

The balance lies in knowing which one to prioritize and when.

Search Engine Optimization Evolves to Search Everywhere Optimization

Let’s be real. Google isn’t the only place your audience is searching anymore. That means traditional SEO—a Google-focused effort—isn’t enough. As we’ve touched on above, what you need now is Search Everywhere Optimization.

The concept is simple, and it’s something many marketers have done for years, if not as a focus: Instead of optimizing for Google’s algorithm alone, make sure your content is discoverable wherever your audience hangs out online.

According to our survey, more than 60 percent of users regularly search on at least one non-Google platform (ChatGPT, Reddit, TikTok). 

Meanwhile, 55 percent of marketers say they’re investing in alternative traffic channels like paid social, email, or native ads to counterbalance any potential losses thanks to AI search.

What does this look like in practice?

  • Publishing educational content on YouTube and optimizing Shorts
  • Creating bite-sized, searchable videos for TikTok and Instagram Reels
  • Building credibility with appearances on podcasts and community platforms like Reddit
  • Getting cited in AI tools like ChatGPT
  • Using email and push notifications to bring users back to you
A screen shot detailing NP Digital's approach to Search Everywhere Optimization

Remember, we’re not abandoning SEO. We’re expanding our strategy.

Conclusion

AI has turned the world of search completely upside down, and there are still a lot of variables to account for. But that doesn’t mean you can’t proactively start taking steps to position your brand for success. 

Last year, we mentioned that content volume isn’t as important as content quality. That’s still true. Keep a regular cadence but focus on shorter, quality content that AI Overviews can pull from.

As more brands rely on AI to help produce content at scale, you can prioritize building your brand with consistent messaging across all channels; that’s Search Everywhere in motion.
If you’re not confident about leveraging these strategies or trends, why not partner with someone who can? Contact the NP Digital team today for a consultation.

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How to drive traffic to my website

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Table of contents

Excited to launch your website, but how to drive traffic to your website? A beautifully designed site without visitors is like a shop with no customers — that’s why traffic matters. Wondering how to get visitors to your site? You’re in the right place. In this post, we’ll walk you through simple yet practical tips on how to drive traffic to a website and attract your first visitors, and even better, keep them coming back.

By the end of this guide, you’ll have a clear roadmap for improving your website’s visibility.

Why is driving traffic to your website important?

Well, you want people to discover your website and not just keep it to yourself within the design drafts; therefore, driving traffic is important.

Website traffic is the number of website visitors over a set time. It’s not just a vanity metric—it represents potential customers, greater visibility, and stronger brand awareness. If you’re just getting started, boosting your search visibility can feel overwhelming. However, by following these simple and practical tips, you’ll start to see your traffic grow exponentially.

Top 5 practical tips to boost website traffic

Here are the top 5 tips that will help you drive traffic to your website:

Understand your target audience

Before you dive into posting content on your website’s landing pages, it’s crucial to take a step back and ask yourself: Who am I trying to reach? Defining your target audience is the very first step if you’re serious about learning how to drive traffic to your website.

Creating content that resonates and drives engagement becomes much easier when you know your audience — their interests, challenges, and goals. Without audience clarity, even your best-written content might be a mismatch, targeting everyone but reaching no one.

Google Analytics is one of the best ways to perform audience research. It provides powerful insights into key metrics like:

  • What time of day does your audience visit your website
  • Which age groups are engaging with your content
  • Where your visitors are located

And much more!

Feeling lost when looking at analytics data? Don’t worry — you can check out this guide on Google Segments to help bring clarity to your dashboard.

Focus on SEO basics

Getting the SEO basics right is the easiest way to boost organic traffic to your website. It also makes it easier for search engines to understand the content on your website and index pages to make them accessible to searchers.

Here are some beginner-friendly SEO techniques for website traffic:

Add keywords naturally

Keywords play an essential role in boosting the searchability of your website. Think of keywords as phrases used by search engines like Google to match your content with what people are searching for. Do keyword research so your content matches what people are searching for. Once you’ve identified the relevant search phrases, sprinkle them contextually in important spots like headings, content, and alt texts.

Here’s a video for you:

Write clear and structured headings

It’s not just about writing content to incorporate keywords; presentation matters too if you want the readers to stay on your website. Therefore, it’s important to write content that is pleasant to the eyes and readable.

Organize your content with H1, H2, and H3 tags. Clear headings make your blog posts and landing pages easy to scan, improve readability, and help improve visibility on Google.

Add meta descriptions

Meta descriptions appear under your page title in search results. Although they don’t directly boost rankings, they encourage clicks, helping increase website visitors. Make them short, relevant, and inviting.

Use descriptive alt text for images

Alt text helps search engines “read” your images and makes your website more accessible. In fact, according to EU stats, a large portion of users with disabilities depend on well-structured web content to browse effectively.

Invest in seo tools to make it easier

Managing all these tasks can feel overwhelming at first. That’s why using beginner-friendly SEO tools can make a big difference. For example, the Yoast SEO plugin offers real-time suggestions for keyword usage, readability improvements, meta descriptions, and technical SEO essentials like XML sitemaps—all inside your WordPress dashboard. Some features, such as advanced keyword optimization and certain integrations, are available in Yoast SEO Premium.

A screenshot of the SEMrush related keyphrase overlay window with a highlight on the Volume and Trend columns

Plus, with Yoast’s built-in integration with Semrush, you can access high-performing keywords with just a few clicks, and that too without even leaving your editor.

Also, with Yoast’s newly launched Site Kit by Google insights integration, you can take your SEO management to the next level. Instead of switching between different tools to check your site’s analytics and search data, you’ll see key insights—like organic traffic, impressions, clicks, and bounce rates—directly in your Yoast Dashboard.

A smarter analysis in Yoast SEO Premium

Yoast SEO Premium has a smart content analysis that helps you take your content to the next level!

Get Yoast SEO Premium Only $118.80 / year (ex VAT)

Optimize for AI and LLMs

AI-driven search is transforming how people discover information. Search results are no longer just a list of blue links—they’re increasingly delivered as direct, conversational answers through platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. If your brand isn’t showing up in the answers your customers see, you’re missing a significant visibility opportunity.

Studies show consumers rely on AI-generated responses for nearly 40% of their searches.

To improve your chances of being featured in AI-generated answers, start with the basics: use relevant keywords, write clear and concise copy for your webpages, maintain a well-structured hierarchy with proper headings, and craft descriptive meta titles and descriptions.

Here’s the good news—Yoast has the tools to help you optimize your content for AI and LLM comprehension. The newly launched llms.txt feature guides AI models like ChatGPT to better understand your business.

With just one click, Yoast SEO generates an llms.txt file that enables AI bots to scan specific parts of your website in real-time, ensuring they accurately present your brand when answering user queries.

Create quality content that provides value

Content is king — but only if it’s high quality. Once you have identified your target audience and completed your keyword research, it’s time to start publishing content on your website. Remember, you’re not just publishing keywords — we share that you’re creating content that solves problems and answers real questions. Valuable content builds trust, boosts engagement, and naturally increases website visitors.

Need help checking your content’s quality? Try Yoast’s Real-time Content Analysis editor to assess readability and SEO performance as you type, on the go!

Leverage social media to share and increase the reach

63.9% of the world’s population uses social media, which is a huge number waiting to be tapped. Social media platforms are powerful and free tools that help you drive traffic to your website. Posting regularly on your social media helps boost brand exposure and serves as a traffic channel for your website.

But here’s the key — don’t just drop links and disappear. Add a personal touch: explain why your post is valuable, start a conversation, or ask a question. You can even repurpose your blog posts into bite-sized social media content to reach more people and channel your followers back to your website.

With its social previews feature, the Yoast SEO plugin takes your social sharing game up a notch. Instead of guessing how your post will look when shared, you can see an exact visual preview for Facebook and Twitter right inside your editor.

This means you can fine-tune your title, description, and image before hitting publish, ensuring your post looks click-worthy and on-brand wherever it’s shared.

Keep your site fast & mobile-friendly

Website speed and mobile-friendliness are crucial factors in attracting traffic and retaining it. If your website is slow or hard to use on mobile, visitors will leave before reading a word..

Do you know there are over 6.8 billion people who own a smartphone?

Page speed impacts user experience and SEO, and search engines like Google prioritize fast-loading websites. If your website is slow, it may experience higher bounce rates, because users want instant access to information.

To improve your website’s performance, check your site speed with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights. Then, consider practices like optimizing your images, using lazy loading, and reducing JavaScript to improve site speed.

Mobile optimization takeaways:

Bonus tips for boosting traffic

The five core strategies above will set you on the right path—but why stop there? If you’re ready to go the extra mile in learning how to drive traffic to your website, try these bonus tactics:

Build an email list

Offering a valuable freebie (ebook, checklist, or discount) in exchange for emails remains one of the best strategies to drive traffic to a website. Once subscribers opt in, send them helpful newsletters that solve real problems rather than just promotions. Over time, this nurtures trust and encourages repeat visits.

Off-page SEO for link building

Off-page SEO—earning links from other reputable sites—signals authority to Google and helps you grow your search visibility. Guest posting on industry blogs, forming partnerships for co-authored articles, and outreach for natural backlinks are proven ways to drive quality traffic to your website.

Also Read: SEO Basics: What is link building?

Join online communities and forums

Active participation in Facebook groups, LinkedIn communities, Reddit threads, and Quora spaces related to your niche gives you direct access to potential visitors. First, add genuine value—answer questions, share insights—then naturally reference your blog posts when relevant. This free method to grow website traffic fosters credibility while driving organic clicks.

Local SEO

If you own a business with a physical address, local SEO is your savior.

Local SEO refers to the practice of optimizing your website to attract people searching the “nearby…” keyphrases. It is a technique that helps you get searchable both online and offline.

Here are some basic local SEO practices that you can follow:

Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile:

  • Include location-specific keywords, such as “family dentist Chicago,” in your page titles, headings, and meta descriptions.
  • Earn citations in local directories such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc.
  • Encourage customer reviews.

If you want to rank your website locally and on Google Maps, do check out Yoast Local SEO plugin for WordPress.

Ready to drive traffic to your website?

Driving traffic to your website is not about quick wins—it’s a marathon. With consistent efforts and offering value to your audience, you will see long-term benefits, and your website will top the SERPs.

Keep refining your on-page SEO and publishing content that truly resonates with your audience. By applying the tips mentioned in this guide, your website’s visibility will gradually boost.

For continued learning and more in-depth insights on SEO, Yoast Academy is your go-to resource for mastering the art of improving your online presence. From SEO training for beginners to performing robust keyword research, Yoast Academy offers all-around SEO training.

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