“Good SEO is good GEO.” That’s according to Google’s Danny Sullivan, a director within Google Search, and former search liaison
Generative engine optimization (or whatever the new acronym is for optimizing for AI search experiences) is the same core work SEOs have always done: creating unique, valuable content for people and providing a great page experience, he said.
Why we care. You can believe Google if you want. But we’ve tried to consistently say that we believe GEO is an emerging practice. That doesn’t mean it replaces SEO today or tomorrow – because SEO fundamentals matter and SEO is still not dead. But I also agree with Michael King’s assessment that SEO is deprecated. The future of Google and conversational AI search will be answers, not ranking, regardless of what Googlers say publicly today.
What he’s saying. Here’s some of what Sullivan said about SEO/GEO during his keynote at WordCamp US on Aug. 28:
“…If you don’t know what GEO is, it’s like the latest acronym, but like I can’t keep track each day. There’s a different one. But SEO, search engine optimization; GEO, generative engine optimization.
By the way, if you could dig it out when I was like in 2010, back when people were panicking then, I was like, you know, SEO doesn’t mean you get into the blue links on Google. SEO means you understand how people search for content and then you understand how to have your content there. And it could be everything from people asking a question to a voice device to people just opening up something on their phone or whatever.
So, the basic things have not changed. Good SEO is good GEO, or AEO, AIO, LLM SEO, or LMNOPO. So, they’re all fine. What I’m trying to say is don’t panic. What you’ve been doing for search engines generally, and you may have thought of as SEO, is still perfectly fine and is still the things that you should be doing. … Good SEO is really having good content for people.
… Are you saying write things in a clear way that people can understand? Cool. Like that’s just for people. All right.
Are you saying write about things that are unique or interesting? Cool. That’s good for people. And all we [Google] try to do is understand how our signals can align with things that are good for people.”
CTR question. During the audience Q&A, blogger Angie Drake said her organic search click-through rate has plummeted since AI Overviews launched, even though impressions are up (known as the great decouoling of search). She asked Sullivan what Google will do to compensate publishers who are losing clicks. Sullivan’s response:
Google has been unapologetic about zero-click factual answers (e.g., “What time is the Super Bowl?”) because users expect direct facts.
Google is committed to rewarding unique, valuable content and supporting the open web.
He said there will be “bumps along the way,” that feedback is heard within Google, and “it’s still part of what we’re going to be figuring out.”
Other takeaways. Some other data Sullivan shared:
Google AI Overviews have led to a 10% increase in searches in the U.S. and India.
Google does “up to 5,000 launches” (a.k.a., updates) per year. The last figure we had was 4,725, so not much has changed since 2022.
The keynote. Here is the full video. I’ve linked to the takeaways portion of Sullivan’s presentation, where he discusses GEO. Drake asks her CTR question starting at 45:06.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/zf_sxldftby-KkLY6x.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=17201280http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-02 14:59:012025-09-02 14:59:01Google’s Danny Sullivan: ‘Good SEO is good GEO’
Google Ads now lets you select your business(es) by searching Google Maps for location assets / extensions. This addition should make it easier to manage existing and new location assets for your Google Ads campaigns.
More details. This change was spotted by Greg Kohler who posted a screenshot of the change on X and wrote:
“New (easier) way to add location assets (extensions) to your Google Ads campaigns – now you can search and select your business using Google Map.”
Joe Youngblood praised this change on X, saying:
“One of the single most agonizing parts of building out a new campaign or taking over an old account. This looks like it will fix it!”
Screenshot. Here is that screenshot:
More details. Google Ads has a help document that explains how to use it. It says:
If neither Google Business Profile nor Chain stores work for you, you can select up to 10 locations from Google Maps to link with your Ads account. These Google Maps locations must be yours, or they may be disapproved.
Go to Location manager within the Tool menu, under the Shared library.
Select the plus button, and choose “Our locations”.
Select Continue.
You can enter the physical address or a key phrase to search your locations and your wish to link with your Ads account. You may repeat the process to add up to 10 locations.
Select Continue.
No matter which location source you use when creating location assets, you can customize your locations further at the campaign or ad group level. You can choose to add all account-level locations, use just a subset of account-level locations using Location groups, or choose “No location asset” to keep the asset from showing for specific campaigns or ad groups.
Why we care. This can help you manage location assets for both existing and new campaigns. This seems like a big time saver for many advertisers who use Google Ads.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google-ads-location-assets-google-maps-1756746961-ldQjFA.jpg?fit=1129%2C582&ssl=15821129http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-02 14:05:452025-09-02 14:05:45Google Ads select location assets using Google Maps
Google has a new subtle but powerful feature in the Google Ads advertiser console to help you manage your campaigns. New checkboxes are available to let you select the campaigns you want and filter the view to only show those campaigns.
Previously, you were only able to select one campaign at a time, but now you can select multiple campaigns.
What it looks like. Here is the full screenshot from Thomas Eccel who posted the screenshot on LinkedIn:
Why we care. This new checkbox allows you to manually filter by more than one campaign at a time, allowing you to apply and manage your campaigns more efficiently. You can compare multiple campaign performance at the same time and save a huge amount of time when reporting, comparing, or managing these campaigns.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google-ads-checkboxes-selector-1756644140-nAiyUV.jpg?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1800800http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-02 13:52:382025-09-02 13:52:38Google Ads enhances campaign filters with new checkboxes
Google AI Mode got an upgrade to its large language models that enhances its ability to answer complex STEM questions. Plus, the responses should be “tighter, easier to scan and get to the point up front before elaborating,” Robby Stein, Google’s VP of Product at Google Search wrote.
This comes in time for the upcoming school year, with many kids starting school this week and some already starting a few weeks ago.
Very excited about this week’s AI Mode model update. We’re seeing big improvements for complex STEM questions– great for students heading back to school. Overall responses should also be tighter, easier to scan and get to the point up front before elaborating.
Srini Venkatachary, VP of Engineering at Google DeepMind, responded:
Really excited with this strong update in time for school year. Please send us your feedback.
Nick Fox, SVP, Knowledge & Information at Google, wrote on X:
AI Mode continues to ship & ship fast! This past week, we released a big under-the-hood upgrade to the model capabilities leading to much improved responses. Excited for you to see and feel the difference
Why we care. Google recently expanded AI Mode to 180 countries and territories and now more and more searchers have access to it. Google will continue to improve its models, with the aim of making AI Mode and its AI responses better.
Here is the latest improvement for AI Mode that Google has announced.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google-robot-teacher-classroom-1920-800x458-MtvxDZ.jpg?fit=800%2C458&ssl=1458800http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-02 13:17:352025-09-02 13:17:35Google AI Mode model improved for complex STEM questions, says Google
In the world of large language models (LLMs) in 2025, that’s a complicated question.
This article breaks down why by covering:
How LLMs like OpenAI and Gemini currently use search engines.
What search marketers should assume about where AI is heading.
The types of executional work that align with GEO.
What all of this means for prioritization and investment.
How LLMs stay current: Grounding and RAG
One of the fundamental challenges for the creators of LLMs (LLMs) like OpenAI or Claude is timeliness.
Their training data is static, locked to a specific cutoff date.
For example, the GPT-5 model’s knowledge cutoff is Sept. 30, 2024.
It’s more recent than GPT-4o’s cutoff of Oct. 1, 2023, but still not up to the present day.
Updating that training data is extremely costly, and it’s increasingly under public scrutiny – both for the resource-intensive nature of the process and the potential copyright issues it raises.
In my view, these large-scale training updates are becoming less and less likely over time.
So how do OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini keep their answers current?
They use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), where the model enriches its responses by effectively “browsing” the web. ChatGPT relies on Bing, while Gemini draws from Google.
(There are signs Gemini doesn’t always use live results, but rather cached ones – that’s a whole other article, and one Dan Petrovic has already written smartly about.)
Grounding is a similar concept here, so for this article, we’ll treat it as the same “timely” method, even though there are important nuances in implementation.
What does this mean for SEOs and digital marketers deciding how much to invest in GEO?
Quite simply: we still need to prioritize traditional SEO first. RAG is a limited resource, and research shows:
Nearly 90% of ChatGPT search citations matched Bing’s Top 20 results.
It’s also important to note: when ChatGPT cites your brand, it doesn’t just pull from your website. It pulls from sources across the web.
The bottom line: you still need to master traditional SEO fundamentals to rank in LLM-driven search.
If you don’t have the authority to break into the Top 20 results, plus a diversified outreach strategy for press mentions and brand visibility, it will be much harder to surface in generative search.
As a low-risk, forward-looking, brand-focused SEO, you must plan for a future where generative search dominates, driving most traffic and revenue.
At that point, we must assume our websites and digital properties function primarily as enriched data feeds for LLMs.
It’s also critical to clearly define our brand for both Google and Bing, as strong, unambiguous entity signals will only grow in importance.
Optimizing your data infrastructure and strengthening brand signals – through consistent press mentions, directory listings, and owned media – are essential but resource-intensive tasks.
They demand coordination across departments that rarely collaborate and often require dismantling entrenched processes.
Because many businesses hesitate to make these foundational changes, you’ll need to account for the time required to execute the work and the time required to gain stakeholder alignment.
The work required to make your website as LLM-friendly as possible falls into two main buckets: technical and brand.
Technical tasks
Implementing thorough schema markup
This is a contentious topic.
LLMs don’t directly use schema markup in their training data (it’s stripped), and in their RAG process, everything is tokenized and likely broken into n-grams.
I’m not suggesting schema markup is a direct way to influence visibility in LLMs.
It’s a vehicle for helping Google and Bing understand:
Your website.
Its relationships.
Its products.
This builds your brand and search engines’ recognition of it, which should improve your visibility in results.
Technical copywriting
On navigational pages – like product collection pages or company listing pages if you’re a marketplace – create technical copy (done via AI with smart prompting if you’re working at scale) that summarizes the available resources.
For example:
“Our stationery includes 5 A5 dotted journals, 2 N1 blank journals, 25 stickers featuring animals, 4 stickers with curse words (all vinyl for weatherproofing and waterproofing), and 1 lapel pin.”
Notice how direct and technical this is. The clear formatting ties back to dependency hops in natural language processing.
I’m calling it out specifically because it’s one of the most direct ways for search engines and other bots to see and navigate the full scope of your website.
JavaScript fallbacks
This has always been important but has fallen by the wayside in recent years.
Training data for LLMs is static HTML. For the most part, they don’t render JavaScript.
Make sure to have functional JavaScript fallbacks.
Address technical debt
This will depend on your organization. It could mean:
Having a clear product sunsetting process.
Updating the codebase.
Removing the ghost codebase still sitting on your site from eight years ago that everyone built on top of rather than deleting.
Migrating from an SPA to a more search-friendly framework.
Removing deprecated scripts.
Auditing third-party tags to ensure they’re up to date and still in use.
All of these impact performance.
The technical strength and response time of your website will only grow more important.
Every piece of tech debt is an opportunity to improve.
If there’s only one takeaway, it’s this: keep investing the majority of your time and budget in traditional SEO, while dedicating a smaller portion to technical and brand tasks like those outlined above.
Look closely at the 1-5% improvements you’ve been putting off – things like:
Correcting the HTML heading hierarchy to match the site’s visual hierarchy.
Fixing internal links so they point directly to final URLs instead of redirect chains.
Cleaning up your XML sitemap.
Removing deprecated libraries and unused WOFF files.
This “spring cleaning” and tech debt cleanup should be a priority.
Add in the brand work as well, since it strengthens traditional search today and also lays the groundwork for an LLM-led search future.
If you don’t already have regular reporting in place for stakeholders and leadership, create it now.
There’s a perception that large language models are evolving rapidly and changing everything at once.
That isn’t entirely true – but we do need to plan.
Establishing a cadence of reporting and education means that when real shifts do happen, your stakeholders will already be aligned and ready to support the work.
Finally, treat GEO/AI optimization as roughly 20% work.
This means building systemic schema layers across your organization and creating structured connections in the machine’s native language – code.
Start with:
Conversations.
Proofs of concept.
Pilot implementations.
Done properly, this work should have no negative impact on your business metrics, and it builds support for more holistic optimization over time.
Going all in on LLM-specific tactics isn’t the best use of your resources today.
Instead, treat it as complementary work – something that strengthens your technical and brand foundation while preparing you for a future where generative search plays a central role.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Source-Barry-Adams-on-LinkedIn-XYOUg7.webp?fit=549%2C538&ssl=1538549http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-02 13:00:002025-09-02 13:00:00GEO and SEO: How to invest your time and efforts wisely
Take a few minutes to think about your website. Have you noticed your traffic dropping even though rankings haven’t really changed?
You’re not alone.
The rise of zero-click searches on Google and other search engines is upending what we consider SEO success and changing the game. AI Overviews, featured snippets, answer boxes…these give users what they need without clicking through to your website. And for the most part, users have been somewhat satisfied. Almost 44 percent of marketers have seen decreased web traffic since AIOs launched, while 48 percent have seen revenue boosts from ads and affiliate links.
So, how do you stay relevant when Google keeps more traffic for itself? That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out for a while now, and it’s what we’ll share with you here. We’ll break down the zero-click future and give you real, actionable ways to grow your visibility and prove your value to build a thriving brand, even when clicks are scarce.
Key Takeaways
Zero-click searches are reshaping SEO success metrics. Traditional traffic-focused strategies need updating as Google and AI tools answer queries directly in search results, reducing site visits even when rankings remain stable.
Multi-platform visibility beats single-channel dependence. Success requires optimizing for AI citations, featured snippets, and expanding presence across TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, and other search destinations where your audience seeks answers.
Authority and original content drive AI citations. Brands that invest in proprietary research, expert commentary, and structured data are more likely to be quoted by AI tools and featured in zero-click results.
First-party data becomes your competitive advantage. Building direct relationships through email lists, CDPs, and owned media channels protects against algorithm changes and platform dependency.
New success metrics matter more than clicks. Track impressions, brand mentions, AI visibility, and social engagement rather than relying solely on last-click attribution to measure zero-click performance.
What Are Zero-Click Searches?
A zero-click search gives users the answer directly in the search results. Featured snippets, AI Overviews, local packs, and “People Also Ask” boxes are all examples of zero-click search results.
These features are (mostly) great for users because they meet their needs immediately. That improves user satisfaction. Marketers can benefit, too; a zero-click result has the upside of brand visibility in prime real estate. The downside is fewer site visits and opportunities to convert visitors.
If you’re a marketer, understanding this shift is critical. Knowing how zero-click search features work can help you shape your content for inclusion and maintain your relevance, even if traffic declines.
Why Zero-Click Is Taking Over
Platforms like Google, Bing, and AI-driven tools want to keep users within their ecosystem. By providing instant answers, they reduce the need for users to click through. Social media platforms have also become search destinations; TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube answer queries in-app.
Why are these companies doing this? To serve ads, mainly. Meta and Google can continuously serve you ads based on your search history and behavior by keeping you on their platforms. The longer you’re there, the better the chance that you’ll click an ad and give them revenue.
The downside of the trend is that it pushes brands to compete for attention across multiple discovery channels. You can no longer rely on just paid search or earned media alone. Adapting to this new reality isn’t optional, either. You have to understand where your audience searches and tailor content for those environments.
The Cost of Ignoring Zero-Click
Ignoring zero-click can quietly erode your digital presence until the impacts become impossible to reverse. The most obvious loss is website traffic, but there are other consequences:
Reduced brand visibility: When your content fails to appear in AI overviews, knowledge panels, or other SERP features, someone has to fill that space: your competitors. That can shift user perception and recognition, leaving you wondering where everyone went.
Lower engagement throughout the funnel: Without TOFU (top of funnel) visibility, your middle- and bottom-of-funnel efforts can struggle. Fewer people enter your ecosystem, which makes it harder to build relationships or drive conversions.
Weakened authority signals: AI models and search algorithms favor content that’s already been featured or cited. You risk being left out of future citations if you’re not part of that pool. That can start a spiral that reduces your credibility in the eyes of both machines and users.
Missed data and audience insights: When users find answers elsewhere, you lose the behavioral data from on-site engagement. That limits your ability to refine messaging, test offers, and personalize experiences.
Potential revenue decline: Reduced visibility and engagement inevitably lead to fewer leads, sales, or ad impressions. The financial impact compounds over time.
Failure to adapt to zero-click realities means you give up control over how and where your brand appears in the search experience.
How to Actually Win in a Zero-Click World
We know you should ignore zero-click searches at your own peril. But how do you actually win in this environment? You can succeed by shifting focus from chasing clicks to ownership of the answers that matter to your audience.
Optimize For AI & Snippets
Marketers benefit from higher visibility, and users benefit from faster, clearer answers. Structured content makes it easier for AI and search engines to feature you.
For example, a travel website creates a “Top 10 Things to Do in Milwaukee, WI” guide with schema markup for attractions, ensuring Google can pull quick answers for users who ask for “things to do in Milwaukee.” That gives the user an instant list while showing your brand as a trusted source. In practice, that looks like:
Applying schema markup for FAQs, how-tos, and reviews.
Creating content hubs with strong internal linking.
Adding concise summaries to the start of articles.
Using descriptive headers for each section.
Be Worth Quoting
AI summaries and featured snippets favor credible, unique content that adds value. Marketers gain authority while users get richer information they can trust.
Let’s say a leading SaaS company publishes a report with proprietary industry data. AI pulls statistics from the report to answer users’ questions, associating your brand with expertise. To get started, consider:
Conducting original research and sharing the results.
Adding expert commentary from internal or external subject matter experts.
Including case studies with measurable results.
Using side-by-side comparisons to simplify decision-making.
Double Down On Brand Authority
Being a recognized authority helps you get cited by AI tools and SERPs. Marketers benefit from constant exposure, and users gain confidence in your answers. Pitch newsworthy stories to journalists at reputable top-tier or hyper-relevant industry publications to reap the best benefits. If your brand strategy isn’t taking advantage of considerable outreach, you’re leaving money (and recognition) on the table.
For example, a health clinic might contribute expert articles to high-profile medical sites. As AI tools look for health-related information, your clinic’s name is seen as a trusted source. But how do you act on this? Take steps to:
Build digital PR efforts to secure mentions on authoritative websites.
Get Wikipedia references where appropriate.
Encourage positive user reviews.
Earn high-quality backlinks.
Maintain consistent branding across all content.
Create Click-Worthy Content
Even in a zero-click environment, some users want more detail. Marketers benefit by attracting those motivated visitors, while users gain access to in-depth resources. The trick? Thinking outside the traditional “blog” mindset. Imagine a marketing blog that offers an interactive ROI calculator in an article about ad spend. The snippet could show basic tips, but the tool requires visiting the site. That encourages deeper engagement. To help build said engagement, start by:
Offering exclusive tools, downloads, or templates.
Add visuals, charts, and examples that don’t appear in SERPs.
Think Beyond Google To New Search Frontiers
Search is everywhere. Your audience is looking for answers in places like TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and AI assistants. Expanding your reach to touch those places involves being proactive. Repurpose existing blog content into short videos. Answer niche questions in online communities or forums. Optimize for video search on YouTube. Format all content for AI readability.
Diversifying your search presence ensures you don’t depend on a single platform’s algorithm. Users benefit from getting answers in the format and channel they prefer. Think of cooking brands that post recipe videos on TikTok for quick inspiration but provide detailed video instructions on YouTube and long-form written directions on their blog for those who want step-by-step guidance.
Need platform-specific tips? Try implementing the following:
TikTok: 3-second hook + trending hashtag + text overlays with key terms
Reddit: Target 10K+ member subreddits, provide 150+ word helpful responses
YouTube: Add timestamps, chapter markers, and upload transcript files
How To Track And Measure Zero-Click Success
Measuring success in a zero-click world requires a shift from last-click attribution to metrics reflecting visibility and influence.
Start with impressions in Google Search Console to see how often your content appears in SERPs. Monitor AI visibility with tools like RankScale or BrightEdge to identify when your content is cited in AI Overviews or snippets. You can also use social listening tools to track brand mentions across the web and social platforms. Pay attention to referral traffic from AI tools as a sign of indirect engagement.
Adding social engagement to reporting helps measure how often others share or discuss your answers. For NP Digital clients, we often combine these data points into a custom dashboard to track both traditional and emerging search performance. This helps identify which tactics keep your brand visible, even when others aren’t clicking through.
Looking for a place to start? Set up the following:
GSC alerts for 20 percent impression drops on top keywords
Monthly scorecard: 1 point per featured snippet, 2 points per AI citation
Baseline metrics: Track impressions, average position, brand mentions
First-Party Data: Your Secret Lifeline
First-party data is one of the most valuable assets you can own, especially in the zero-click era. When platforms control visibility, having a direct line to your audience lets you reach them without depending on changing algorithms or SERP features.
Building this database often starts with gated content like whitepapers, templates, or exclusive tools to encourage email and SMS opt-ins. Every sign-up gives you an owned channel to nurture.
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) can unify insights across those touchpoints (email, purchase history, webinar attendance) into one profile. This makes it easier to segment audiences and send targeted, relevant content.
Microsoft’s Customer Data Platform allows companies to deliver a personalized B2B experience.
Interactive content like quizzes and surveys can help boost sign-ups while providing valuable insights into user preferences and intent. Pair this with regular, high-value email communication that delivers tips or updates to hit what your audience actually cares about. Of course, none of that matters if you’re not tracking what works. As you implement, consider the following implementation checklist:
Exit-intent popups on your top 10 pages with topic-specific lead magnets
A/B test opt-in placement: sidebar vs. mid-content vs. bottom
Progressive profiling: Collect 2-3 data points per interaction
Target: 2-3 percent email signup rate from organic traffic
Why does all this matter?
Marketers reduce vulnerability to external platform changes while users get more personalized, useful content based on their real interests and behaviors. Over time, this will strengthen loyalty, improve conversions, and create a direct relationship that no search update can ever take away.
FAQs
What are zero-click searches?
They are searches where users get their answers directly in the results without visiting a website. They can include structured snippets, AI Overviews, FAQs, and more.
Is zero-click traffic increasing?
Yes. Search engines and AI features are designed to give answers faster, reducing the need for clicks. In addition, companies are prioritizing search results that keep users on their platforms instead of going off-site for answers.
How do I get value from zero-click searches?
Prioritize visibility, authority, and multi-channel presence. Structured data and unique, authoritative content can help provide this kind of value to your audience.
Conclusion
Thriving in a zero-click future means focusing on being seen and trusted wherever the answers are delivered. Publish content that earns citations and create experiences worth engaging with. Developing a content strategy that meets your customers everywhere they search is only half the battle. To create lasting impacts, you’ll need to track the metrics that reflect real visibility and do everything you can to capitalize on those numbers.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-01 19:00:002025-09-01 19:00:00The Zero-Click Future: Winning In A World Where Google Doesn’t Send Traffic
If you’re investing time and budget into SEO, you’ll want to know if it’s actually delivering results. That’s where SEO reporting tools come in. They take the guesswork out of your strategy by showing you what’s working, what isn’t, and where you should focus your efforts next. Without them, you’re left with assumptions, anecdotes, and gut feeling. That might work for a while, but it’s no way to grow a business.
Whether you need a free SEO report, a quick SEO report generator, or a professional-level dashboard for clients, the right tool will help you measure progress and make smarter business decisions. A solo blogger might just want to know which posts are attracting clicks, while a global agency might need to present polished reports to dozens of clients each month. The scale is different, but the principle is the same: reporting keeps you honest about what’s happening.
An SEO reporting tool collects data about your site’s search engine visibility and turns it into insights. Think of it as your SEO dashboard. At its simplest, it might show which keywords your pages are ranking for. At its most advanced, it can track backlinks, crawl your entire site for errors, and pull together complex competitor benchmarks.
These tools save time by pulling in data automatically, but they don’t replace critical thinking. You still need to interpret what the numbers mean and decide what action to take. A sudden dip in traffic, for instance, could be caused by a technical error, a Google algorithm update, or even seasonality in your industry. The tool will show you the dip; it’s your job to work out why.
Some tools focus on one particular task, like crawling your website, while others are built as all-in-one suites. Below, we’ll look at 10 of the best SEO reporting tools available today, covering free and paid options for every kind of user.
Summary: best SEO reporting tools at a glance
Tool
Best for
Pricing
Google Search Console
Beginners & site owners
Free
Yoast SEO Dashboard
WordPress users
Free
Google Analytics
Behavior & conversion tracking
Free
AgencyAnalytics
Agencies managing multiple clients
From $12/month per client
Semrush
All-in-one professional SEO
From $139.95/month
Ahrefs
Link building & competitive research
From $27/month
Moz Pro
Beginners & SMBs
From $49/month (30-day free trial)
Screaming Frog
Technical SEO & crawling
Free (500 URLs) or unlimited for £199/year
Mangools
Solo marketers & freelancers
From €19.90/month when billed annually
BrightLocal
Local SEO & GBP management
From $29/month
10 SEO reporting tools to choose from
1: Google Search Console (free)
Best for: Website owners who want a free, reliable way to track search performance and identify technical issues directly from Google.
Google Search Console is one of the most essential SEO reporting tools available, and it has the distinct advantage of being completely free. It tells you how your website performs in Google Search, showing impressions, clicks, and rankings for the queries that bring visitors to your site. It also alerts you to crawl errors, indexing problems, and mobile usability issues, so you can catch technical problems before they affect your rankings.
The data here is particularly valuable because it comes straight from Google. You’ll see which search terms trigger impressions, how often users click your site, and which pages are performing well. This makes it an excellent starting point for beginners, but it’s also a must-have for seasoned professionals. The drawback is that historical data is limited, and it doesn’t show you how competitors are performing. But for pure insight into your own search presence, it’s unmatched.
Key features: Direct performance data, coverage and indexing reports, Core Web Vitals.
Best for: WordPress users who want in-editor SEO guidance and ongoing optimization tracking.
Of course, we need to mention our own tool. And, yes, it’s right up at the top of the list but hey, we’re very proud of it. The Yoast SEO Dashboard sits right inside WordPress and gives you feedback as you write. It tracks readability, internal linking, and keyword optimization, helping you improve your content before you hit publish.
With the new Site Kit by Google integration, the dashboard becomes even more powerful. You can pull in data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics, meaning you don’t need to keep switching tabs to see how your content is performing. Instead, you get real-time feedback in the editor and clear reporting inside your WordPress dashboard.
This makes it especially useful for content teams who want SEO baked into their publishing process from the start. Rather than writing first and optimizing later, the Yoast SEO Dashboard guides you as you go, making it easier to publish content that performs.
Here’s why you’ll love this:
One view of GSC and GA metrics alongside Yoast SEO Dashboard and readability results.
Quickly spot content that needs work and act in context.
Lightweight workflow for both editors and SEO professionals alike.
Key features: Real-time SEO analysis, Google Site Kit integration, internal linking tools.
Pros: Easy to use, directly in WordPress, improves content before publishing.
Best for: Marketers and site owners who want to understand on-site user behavior and measure the impact of SEO on conversion.
Where Google Search Console shows how users arrive at your site, Google Analytics shows what they do once they’re there. It’s a natural partner to GSC and together they provide a complete picture of SEO performance. Analytics lets you track user behaviour, see how long visitors spend on your site, and measure conversions.
One of its biggest strengths is the ability to segment traffic. You can look specifically at organic users and see how they behave differently from paid or social visitors. You can also set up goals to track the actions that matter most, such as filling out a contact form or completing a purchase. This makes Google Analytics invaluable if you want to connect SEO efforts to business results.
The learning curve is steeper than with some other tools, particularly since the rollout of GA4, but once you master it, the insights are worth it. And of course, the price is unbeatable: it’s completely free.
Pros: Free, deep insights, connects SEO with results.
Cons: Steep learning curve.
Price: Free.
4: AgencyAnalytics (paid)
Best for: Agencies looking for automated, white-label reporting solutions for multiple clients.
AgencyAnalytics is designed with agencies in mind. If you manage SEO for multiple clients, you’ll know how much time is spent building and delivering reports. AgencyAnalytics takes away much of that pain by automating the process. You can integrate it with platforms like Google Search Console, Analytics, and even social media channels, then deliver white-label reports directly to clients.
The main appeal is the ability to customize dashboards and reports with your own branding. For agencies, that’s a big deal because it saves hours of manual work while still giving clients a polished experience. Reports can be scheduled to go out automatically, meaning your team can focus on strategy instead of spreadsheet wrangling.
This isn’t a tool for solo bloggers or small business owners, it would be overkill, but for agencies with a portfolio of clients, it can be transformative. The pricing is based on the number of clients, starting from around $12 per client per month, which makes it scalable as you grow.
Pros: Saves agencies time, professional client-ready reports, scalable.
Cons: Overkill for solo bloggers or small businesses.
Price: From $12 per client/month.
5: Semrush (free & paid)
Best for: Agencies and SEO professionals who need a comprehensive suite of tools for competitive analysis and reporting.
Semrush is one of the most widely used SEO platforms in the industry. It’s not just a reporting tool, it’s a full suite covering keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink audits, and site crawls. The reporting features are particularly strong, allowing you to track visibility trends, rankings, and content performance over time.
For agencies and professional SEOs, Semrush is a powerhouse. It provides granular detail about competitors, making it easier to benchmark your performance and identify gaps. Content audits help you spot underperforming pages, while backlink reports show you where your link-building strategy needs work. Semrush even integrates with Yoast SEO, offering a seamless workflow for WordPress users.
The free version is limited, so most businesses will need a paid plan to get full value. At $129.95 per month, it’s not cheap, but the breadth of functionality makes it a worthwhile investment for those serious about SEO.
Key features: Competitor benchmarking, keyword and backlink reports, site audits.
Pros: Huge dataset, strong competitor analysis, integrates with Yoast.
Best for: Businesses focused on link-building strategies and competitive research.
Ahrefs has built its reputation on having one of the largest and most accurate backlink indexes available. If link-building is part of your strategy, this is often the tool of choice. But Ahrefs does more than just backlinks. It also provides keyword research, site audits, and rank tracking, making it a comprehensive SEO platform.
The reports are particularly well-designed, making complex data easy to understand. This is useful when you need to share results with stakeholders who might not be familiar with SEO jargon. It’s also popular for competitor analysis, giving you a clear view of how others in your space are performing and where you might gain an advantage.
The main downside is cost. With plans starting at $99 per month and no free tier, it’s not the most accessible option for beginners. But for businesses that prioritize link-building and want robust competitive insights, it’s one of the best.
Pros: Accurate, user-friendly reports, powerful for link-building.
Cons: Costly, free tier is limited.
Price: Limited free tools, Starter plan $27/month.
7: Moz Pro (free trial & paid)
Best for: Beginners and small businesses who want straightforward reporting and keyword tracking.
Moz Pro offers a balance between beginner-friendly usability and professional-level features. It provides keyword tracking, site audits, and link analysis in an interface that’s easier to navigate than some of the heavier platforms. For small businesses and those new to SEO, this can be a big advantage.
One feature that stands out is the Keyword Explorer, which helps you understand not just search volume but also difficulty and potential click-through rates. This makes it easier to prioritize which keywords are worth targeting. Moz Pro also provides link metrics, though its index is smaller than Ahrefs or Semrush.
The company offers a 30-day free trial, which is generous compared to most competitors. After that, pricing starts at $99 per month. For many small to medium businesses, it hits the sweet spot of offering enough depth without overwhelming complexity.
Key features: Keyword Explorer, site audits, link metrics.
Best for: SEOs and developers who need to quickly identify technical issues and improve site structure.
Screaming Frog is a different kind of SEO reporting tool. Instead of dashboards and trend lines, it’s a desktop crawler that scans your site much like a search engine does. The result is a detailed breakdown of every URL, title tag, meta description, heading, and link.
For technical SEO audits, this tool is hard to beat. The free version lets you crawl up to 500 URLs, which is enough for many small sites. The paid version adds advanced features like JavaScript rendering, scheduled crawls, and integrations with Google Analytics and Search Console.
It’s not the most user-friendly option for beginners, but for SEO specialists and developers, it provides unparalleled insight into the technical health of a site. At £259 per year, it’s also one of the more affordable professional tools.
Key features: 500 free URL crawl, GA & GSC integration, advanced features in paid version.
Pros: Extremely detailed, industry standard for technical SEO.
Best for:Freelancers and small teams who want a low-learning-curve SEO toolset.
Mangools is aimed at marketers and freelancers who want powerful SEO tools without the steep learning curve. The suite includes keyword research, SERP analysis, rank tracking, and backlink monitoring, all presented in a clean, simple interface.
Reporting is straightforward, focusing on clarity rather than overwhelming detail. For solo marketers or small teams, this simplicity is a feature rather than a limitation. You don’t need to spend weeks learning the tool, you can start getting useful insights almost immediately.
While it doesn’t have the breadth of Semrush or Ahrefs, Mangools is much more affordable, starting at just under €30 per month. That makes it an attractive option for those who need solid SEO data without enterprise-level complexity.
Best for: Local businesses and agencies managing multiple Google Business Profiles.
BrightLocal is built specifically for local SEO. If your business relies on being found in a particular town, city, or neighborhood, this tool is tailor-made for you. It tracks local rankings, monitors reviews, checks citations, and even audits Google Business Profiles.
The reports are practical and easy to share, making them ideal for agencies managing multiple local clients. BrightLocal also provides tools for managing online reputation, which can be just as important as rankings in driving local business.
For businesses competing on a local level, it’s hard to find a better option. Prices start from $29 per month, making it relatively affordable compared to the big all-in-one suites.
Key features: Local rank tracking, citation checks, review monitoring.
Pros: Affordable, perfect for local businesses, practical reporting.
Before deciding on a tool, it’s worth asking yourself what you really need. If you’re a solo blogger, Google Search Console and Yoast SEO might be all you need to keep track of performance. If you’re running an agency, automation and client reporting might make AgencyAnalytics or Semrush a better fit.
Think about your budget too. Free tools go a long way, but paid tools offer depth and convenience that free tools often can’t match. Also consider how comfortable you are with data. Some platforms are designed to be beginner-friendly, while others assume a level of expertise.
The good news is that most paid platforms offer free trials. That gives you a chance to experiment and see which tool feels right before committing long-term.
Turn insights into action
SEO reporting tools do more than track performance, they shape your strategy. They tell you what’s working and highlight the areas that need attention. But tools don’t make the decisions, the real value comes from how you interpret the data and act on it. So whether you’re just getting started with Google Search Console, refining your content with Yoast SEO, or managing enterprise-scale campaigns in Semrush, the goal is the same: turn insights into action.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-08-29 15:18:062025-08-29 15:18:0610 free and paid SEO reporting tools for 2025
Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode and OpenAI’s ChatGPT often give consumers different brand recommendations – a potential warning sign for marketers chasing AI visibility – according to a new BrightEdge analysis.
The big picture. ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode and AI Overviews disagreed on brand recommendations nearly two-thirds of the time (61.9%), according to BrightEdge’s analysis of tens of thousands of identical prompts.
By the numbers. Just 33.5% of queries included brands across all three platforms, and only 4.6% had no brands mentioned anywhere. Other key findings:
Google AI Overviews dominate: Google’s AI Overviews surfaced brands in 36.8% of queries, while ChatGPT led in just 3.9%.
Brand density: Google AI Overviews averaged 6.02 brands per query, more than 2.5x higher than ChatGPT’s 2.37 and far ahead of AI Mode’s 1.59.
Silence rates: ChatGPT offered no brand mentions in 43.4% of queries. Google AI Mode stayed silent 46.8% of the time, compared to just 9.1% for AIO.
The citation paradox. The study also uncovered stark differences in citation behavior:
ChatGPT mentions more than it cites, with 3.2x more brand mentions (2.37) than citations (0.73).
Google AI Overviews cites far more than it mentions (14.30 citations vs. 6.02 mentions).
Google AI Mode shows an even bigger gap — 6x more citations than mentions (9.49 vs. 1.59).
This data may suggest that ChatGPT’s responses lean heavily on its training patterns, while Google emphasizes visible source attribution.
Where platforms align. The rare moments of brand alignment depended on query intent:
Compare queries: 80% same-brand agreement.
Buy queries: 62%.
Where queries: 38%.
Best queries: 23%.
Industry breakdown. Disagreement rates also varied by sector:
Healthcare: 68.5%
Education: 62.1%
B2B Tech: 61.7%
Finance: 57.9%
Ecommerce: 57.1% (lowest)
Why we care. For brands, these findings highlight a volatile AI landscape where visibility is far from guaranteed – and often inconsistent. As BrightEdge notes, the fragmentation creates “massive untapped visibility opportunities” for companies optimizing for generative search.
Do you want to take your site’s SEO to the next level? Yoast SEO Premium can help you out! But there is also a free version of Yoast SEO. So, what exactly is the difference between the free version of Yoast SEO and Yoast SEO Premium? How do these two compare? And is Yoast SEO Premium worth it? Let’s uncover the ten reasonswhy you should buy Yoast SEO Premium today!
Yoast SEO free vs premium: what is the difference?
Do you want to compare the main differences between Yoast SEO Free and Premium? This table will give you quick insights:
Yoast SEO Premium
Includes Local SEO, Video SEO, and News SEO plugins
Yoast SEO Premium provides everything you need to improve your website’s visibility, whether you’re a business owner, publisher, agency, or content creator.
(Beta) Get AI-powered suggestions to optimize your content
Get optimization suggestions and apply changes instantly with Yoast’s AI features, saving you time and ensuring your content is search engine-friendly. This feature is currently in beta.
(Beta) Get high-quality titles and meta descriptions with Yoast AI
Yoast’s AI helps you craft optimized SEO titles and meta descriptions for search and social, boosting your CTR while saving you time.
Optimize for up to five keyword synonyms by adding variants
Include up to four keyword synonyms for a broader reach, and receive a complete SEO analysis for each one.
Automatic redirects: so no more dead links or 404 errors
Effortlessly redirect old or renamed pages to maintain satisfaction for both your visitors and Google.
Get real-time suggestions for internal links
As you write, you’ll receive suggestions for internal links to other pages, which Google favors and can boost your ranking.
Preview your page on Facebook and Twitter/X
You have complete control over your page’s social media appearance, ensuring it entices users to click.
24/7 support
Our helpful and expert support team is ready to assist you with any questions via email or live chat.
Safeguard your content from being used to train AI bots
Easily protect your intellectual property and data privacy by blocking AI bots from scraping your content with a simple toggle.
Includes 1 free seat to the Yoast SEO Google Docs add-on
Create and optimize your SEO content in Google Docs with Yoast’s guidance, ideal for teamwork with internal and external partners. Enjoy 1 free seat, valued at $5/month.
Yoast SEO Free
Find other ways to optimize your website for SEO
No comprehensive SEO solution. You’d need to find other ways to optimize your website, especially if you have a local business, a news website, or if you have a lot of videos.
No AI
You have to manually optimize all your content yourself.
No AI
You have to manually write and optimize all your SEO titles and meta descriptions yourself.
Only 1 keyword per page
Optimize for one keyword per post or page.
No redirect manager
Forgetting to set up a redirect results in visitors hitting a 404 page, which displeases both them and Google.
You need to guess which links would work best
Identify which pages to link to for improved rankings, for both new and existing pages on your site.
No preview of your page on social media
Without a preview of social snippets, you’re left guessing and hoping for the best.
No support
No support
You can help yourself with our extensive knowledge database.
Manually edit robots.txt file
Manually edit your robots.txt file to block AI bots, at the risk of making mistakes.
No free access to the Yoast SEO Google Docs add-on
Transferring draft content from Google Docs to your website for SEO optimization slows your workflow and makes collaboration with internal and external teams more time-consuming.
Yoast SEO Premium vs Yoast SEO Free
Includes Local SEO, Video SEO, and News SEO plugins
Yoast SEO Premium provides everything you need to improve your website’s visibility, whether you’re a business owner, publisher, agency, or content creator.
Find other ways to optimize your website for SEO
No comprehensive SEO solution. You’d need to find other ways to optimize your website, especially if you have a local business, a news website, or if you have a lot of videos.
(Beta) Get AI-powered suggestions to optimize your content
Get optimization suggestions and apply changes instantly with Yoast’s AI features, saving you time and ensuring your content is search engine-friendly. This feature is currently in beta.
No AI
You have to manually optimize all your content yourself.
(Beta) Get high-quality titles and meta descriptions with Yoast AI
Yoast’s AI helps you craft optimized SEO titles and meta descriptions for search and social, boosting your CTR while saving you time.
No AI
You have to manually write and optimize all your SEO titles and meta descriptions yourself.
Optimize for up to five keyword synonyms by adding variants
Include up to four keyword synonyms for a broader reach, and receive a complete SEO analysis for each one.
Only 1 keyword per page
Optimize for one keyword per post or page.
Automatic redirects: so no more dead links or 404 errors
Effortlessly redirect old or renamed pages to maintain satisfaction for both your visitors and Google.
No redirect manager
Forgetting to set up a redirect results in visitors hitting a 404 page, which displeases both them and Google.
Get real-time suggestions for internal links
As you write, you’ll receive suggestions for internal links to other pages, which Google favors and can boost your ranking.
You need to guess which links would work best
Identify which pages to link to for improved rankings, for both new and existing pages on your site.
Preview your page on Facebook and Twitter/X
You have complete control over your page’s social media appearance, ensuring it entices users to click.
No preview of your page on social media
Without a preview of social snippets, you’re left guessing and hoping for the best.
24/7 support
Our helpful and expert support team is ready to assist you with any questions via email or live chat.
No support
No support
You can help yourself with our extensive knowledge database.
Safeguard your content from being used to train AI bots
Easily protect your intellectual property and data privacy by blocking AI bots from scraping your content with a simple toggle.
Manually edit robots.txt file
Manually edit your robots.txt file to block AI bots, at the risk of making mistakes.
Includes 1 free seat to the Yoast SEO Google Docs add-on
Create and optimize your SEO content in Google Docs with Yoast’s guidance, ideal for teamwork with internal and external partners. Enjoy 1 free seat, valued at $5/month.
No free access to the Yoast SEO Google Docs add-on
Transferring draft content from Google Docs to your website for SEO optimization slows your workflow and makes collaboration with internal and external teams more time-consuming.
What are the benefits of Yoast SEO Premium?
For over fifteen years, Yoast SEO has provided small businesses, bloggers, marketers, and online and offline stores with almost everything they need to compete in the search results. Over the years, we made the plugin better and better — following feedback from users, through thorough research and insights from insiders at the search engines. Today, Yoast SEO is run by a team of passionate SEO experts and built by very talented developers.
While the free version of Yoast SEO gives you a lot of tools to help you do well in the search results, Yoast SEO Premium makes many tasks much easier. It saves precious time that you can invest in other ways. Yoast SEO Premium also gives you additional tools, like, for instance, Local SEO, AI features, internal linking suggestions, and the redirect manager. You can use all of these tools to build an impressive site structure. All of this helps make your site a great fit for users and search engines alike. As such, Yoast SEO Premium is a wise investment.
Buy Yoast SEO Premium now!
Unlock powerful features and much more for your WordPress site with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin!
1: Yoast SEO Premium comes with amazing AI features
Yoast SEO Premium now offers AI-powered features that streamline your SEO tasks. With Yoast AI Generate, you can create engaging titles and meta descriptions effortlessly. Choose from multiple options or generate more until you find the perfect fit. Meanwhile, Yoast AI Optimize provides smart suggestions to enhance your existing content, ensuring SEO best practices are met with just a click. These tools integrate smoothly into your workflow, saving you time and effort while keeping your content search-engine friendly. Available for WordPress and Shopify, these features help you maintain control over your content’s final look and feel.
2: Yoast SEO Premium comes with all add-ons
Yoast SEO Premium now includes various separate add-ons, such as News, Video, and Local SEO, in one convenient package. This comprehensive suite enhances your optimization capabilities without needing additional purchases. However, the WooCommerce SEO add-on is not included and is available separately. Enjoy a streamlined experience to boost your site’s performance across different content types and media.
3: Yoast SEO Premium is a time-saver
One of the most important things you need to remember about SEO is that it is never done. There’s always more to do, better content to write, or fixes to make. Luckily, there’s a WordPress SEO plugin that’s glad to be of assistance. As you might know, Yoast SEO is not a set-it-and-forget-it kind of tool. You need to work with it, whether it’s improving your content or building your site structure. In the free version, you still need to do much of the work yourself. Yoast SEO Premium comes with a number of AI tools that can save you lots of time.
4: Use Yoast SEO in Google Docs
The Yoast SEO Google Docs add-on allows you to draft and optimize your SEO content directly within Google Docs. This tool is ideal for seamless collaboration with both internal teams and external partners. You can work on content, refine it, and ensure it aligns with SEO best practices, all without leaving your document. This efficiency streamlines your workflow and enhances team cooperation. Plus, Yoast SEO Premium includes one user seat for this add-on, typically valued at $5 per seat.
You can enjoy the same Yoast SEO analyses in Google Docs
5: Makes doing site maintenance easier
If working on your site is turning into a day job, you might need some help! Premium makes site maintenance easier. For one, Premium comes with a stale cornerstone content finder that reminds you to update your most important content.
Another tool that helps you work on your pages is the redirect manager. Whenever you make changes to pages or URLs, this tool makes sure to add a redirect for you. All you have to do is say where the new URL needs to lead. With the redirect manager, you can also fix your 404 errors in no time. No developer necessary. It’s so helpful that 58% of Premium users praise the redirect manager as the best feature in Yoast SEO Premium!
6: Helpful tools to build a great site structure
Building a solid site structure is one of the quickest routes to success. Making your content easily accessible to users and search engines helps them both make sense of your site. Yoast SEO Premium comes with a number of tools that help you build relevant links that can build a solid foundation for your site structure. Our plugin comes with internal linking blocks, an orphaned content finder and a targeted internal linking suggestion tool.
With the internal linking suggestions, relevant content will automatically be suggested while you’re writing your new content. There’s no need to remember that all those posts are pages!
“While the free Yoast SEO plugin offers many great features, the Premium version takes things to the next level. The internal linking suggestions feature ensures our blog is organized in a cohesive manner. It also ensures that link equity passes to other posts. This feature alone saves a tremendous amount of time as the plugin suggests links as we write. As the site grows, this feature only becomes more valuable! If you’ve ever tried to develop an interlinking strategy for an established blog, you’ll know exactly what I mean…“
Andrew Evans
7: An advanced language analysis that makes writing more natural
Yoast SEO is famous for its SEO and readability analyses — a.k.a. the colored traffic lights. The feedback these analyses give you helps you produce a great piece of content that adheres to a range of SEO best practices. This works splendidly, but Premium makes this process a lot more natural and flexible.
Premium has a very smart feature called word forms support. This innovative language analysis looks not only at the exact match of the focus keyphrase you enter but also at all the grammatical forms of that word. If you use, for instance, “decoration”, we will find word forms like “decorated” and “decorates” in your text as well, just like Google does. The words don’t even have to be in the same order when your focus keyphrase consists of more than one word.
8: Use synonyms and related keyphrases in your text to make it richer
Search engines get smarter every day, and context is key in SEO. They use the context in which a keyword appears to determine what a text is about. Synonyms and related terms, therefore, are more important than ever. In the free version of Yoast SEO, you can only add a single focus keyphrase. The plugin uses this to help you optimize your post. Yoast SEO Premium has more tricks up its sleeve, making it a much smarter solution. What is that?
Well, you can add a number of synonyms and related keyphrases to your post. By using these, you can make your content come alive. The Premium analysis makes sure that you use these synonyms and related keyphrases correctly in your post. Awesome, right? You can even use the Semrush integration to gather data and trends about your related keyphrases. Premium users can add the related keyphrases Semrush uncovers for you to their post with a single mouse click.
9: Boost AI visibility while maintaining control
Yoast SEO introduces AI-focused features such as llms.txt and AI bot blockers to protect your site’s content and maintain data privacy. The llms.txt file helps AI tools understand your site’s structure and important content. Meanwhile, the AI bot blocker feature lets you safeguard your intellectual property with a simple toggle, preventing AI bots from scraping your content for training purposes. This ensures that your valuable information remains secure and under your control.
10: 24/7 access to our world-class support team
What if you run into issues with the plugin? It would be good if you could contact a real person to help you figure out what the problem is. Luckily, if you sign up for Yoast SEO Premium, you get just that: Premium support. Our helpful support staff is available around the clock to get you up and running in no time.
An incredible bonus: free access to Yoast SEO Academy
Every Yoast SEO Premium subscription comes with complimentary access to Yoast SEO Academy. This is a big deal. We don’t just provide you with the number one WordPress SEO plugin to help you do well in search engines — we also supply many hours of instructional material. We offer several of our courses free of charge to get you started with the basics. But when you sign up for Yoast SEO Premium, you get access to all our SEO courses! Learn about Yoast SEO, SEO copywriting, keyword research, structured data, ecommerce SEO, and many other topics related to SEO!
Invest in Yoast SEO Premium: it pays off!
You see, there are many good reasons to get a Yoast SEO Premium subscription today. A Premium subscription can save you lots of time and gives you access to incredible tools that make working on your site easier and more fun. Plus, you’ll get unrestricted access to Yoast SEO Academy for hundreds of hours of SEO training. And, of course, you get to contact our support team if you should ever run into a problem.
How much does Yoast SEO Premium cost?
You can buy Yoast SEO Premium for $118.80 excluding VAT per year, or €118.80/£118.80 per year, depending on where you are in the world. For this, you not only get Yoast SEO Premium, all the additional plugins like Local SEO and Video SEO, and its awesome tools, but you also get a year of support, updates, and access to all our Yoast SEO Academy courses. Check out all of our products here.
Get Yoast SEO Premium now!
Convinced? Make sure to grab your copy!
Buy Yoast SEO Premium now!
Unlock powerful features and much more for your WordPress site with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin!
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-08-28 16:14:482025-08-28 16:14:48Yoast SEO free vs Premium: why upgrading is worth it
What does ChatGPT say about your brand? Or Perplexity, Gemini, or Claude? As AI agents emerge alongside traditional search engines as the starting point of discovery, the way they perceive and present your brand can directly shape customer trust and buying decisions. These models don’t know your brand the way people do. They learn it from the web, from structured data, citations, reviews, and the context you’ve built across digital touchpoints. The result: AI isn’t just reflecting your brand; it’s actively influencing how audiences experience it!
This article explores how AI is reshaping brand perception and, more importantly, what you can do about it.
How AI perceives your brand
AI doesn’t just read your brand; it interprets it. Instead of scanning isolated keywords, AI systems build a contextual map of who you are, what you offer, and how the world perceives you. This understanding comes from a combination of techniques like knowledge graphs, entity linking, relationship mapping, and sentiment analysis.
Here is a brief overview of different technologies that AI agents use for understanding brands:
Knowledge graphs are structured databases that represent entities (like brands, products, or people) and the relationships between them. For AI, they serve as a kind of brand blueprint, linking Apple not only to ‘smartphones’ and ‘laptops’ but also to competitors like Samsung, product lines like iPhone, and audiences like ‘tech-savvy young adults.’ By connecting these dots, AI understands a brand’s position within a larger ecosystem.
Entity linking ensures that when AI encounters a brand reference – whether in a news article, review, or social post – it knows exactly which brand is being discussed. A mention of ‘Apple’s new iPhone’ doesn’t just get read as text; AI links ‘Apple’ and ‘iPhone’ to their knowledge graph entries, capturing the context that this is about Apple’s smartphone launch, not fruit.
Relationship mapping
Beyond direct links, AI maps relationships between entities to uncover patterns. This could mean identifying which product features resonate with certain customer segments or surfacing how a brand is associated with trends like sustainability or innovation. Relationship mapping highlights not only who is connected to a brand, but how.
Sentiment and perception analysis
AI also analyzes tone and sentiment across reviews, forums, social platforms, and media. These signals reveal whether people talk about a brand positively, negatively, or neutrally, and in what context. Over time, these insights shape how AI interprets a brand’s reputation and credibility.
Personalization and content alignment
Finally, AI uses this brand understanding to personalize consumer interactions and even generate content aligned with a brand’s tone and values. The more consistent the data and signals a brand sends out, the clearer its identity becomes in AI systems.
Taken together, these technologies mean AI doesn’t just see a brand as a logo or a tagline. It sees a web of relationships, perceptions, and behaviors, continuously updated in real time. AI understands brands through both what they say about themselves and how the world engages with them, but it often weighs the latter more heavily.
Overall, if we set aside the technical layers, the bigger picture is this: AI doesn’t see a brand as just a logo, tagline, or marketing claim. Instead, it constructs meaning from the countless interactions, mentions, and connections that exist around the brand. Every review, conversation, and association adds another layer to how AI perceives brand equity.
Your brand’s story was never yours alone; customers, communities, and competitors have always shaped it. What’s changing is that AI amplifies those influences in real time.
The new gatekeepers: LLMs & generative search
For decades, search has been the front door of the internet, the place where customers first discovered, compared, and connected with brands. Ranking high on Google meant visibility, trust, and traffic, and much of the brand strategy was built around that dynamic. But that front door is changing.
Today, large language models (LLMs) and generative AI are reshaping discovery itself. Search is no longer just a list of blue links you can optimize against. Instead, AI compresses, summarizes, and reinterprets content on behalf of the user. It’s faster, more convenient, and increasingly becoming the default way people search.
This shift marks a turning point: discovery is moving from traditional search engines toward AI-driven experiences. And nowhere is this transformation clearer than in the evolution of search engines themselves.
Let’s understand this shift and its different aspects in detail.
From traditional search to AI-driven discovery
In the pre-AI era, search meant competing for blue links. Your content carries not just keywords but also your voice, tone, and brand identity. That visibility gave businesses some control over how they were discovered.
Now, discovery is expanding beyond links into AI-generated answers, instant summaries, and conversational results. These systems don’t just point to your site; they synthesize information from multiple sources and deliver it directly to the user.
This shift means people are no longer ‘clicking through’ in the same way; they’re expecting instant, conversational results. It’s faster, more convenient, and quickly becoming the default search experience.
Search engines’ evolution into generative platforms
Search engines themselves are fuelling this transition. Google is the clearest example. It remains the dominant force in search, with usage rising more than 20% in 2024 and still delivering ~373X more searches than ChatGPT. But the nature of that search is changing.
AI Overviews, launched in May 2024, now appear in more than half of searches. Instead of users scrolling down to organic results, they see synthesized AI summaries right at the top.
AI Mode, rolling out widely in 2025, makes the entire experience conversational, with generative responses as the default surface, not the list of links below.
Behind all of this is Gemini, the model family that deepens Google’s ability to parse context, language, and intent, reshaping what it means for content to be ‘visible.’
An example of a search in Google AI Mode
For brands, this creates a paradox. Your content may be seen more often through impressions, but clicks decline because users often don’t need to leave the search results page. Instead of optimizing just for rankings, success depends on whether your content can deliver highly specific, immediately useful insights that AI wants to pull into its answers.
Recognizing this shift early opens up space to differentiate, while many competitors are still optimizing for the old playbook.
While generative search improves user experience, it strips away brand nuance. AI blends multiple sources, compresses messaging, and removes design and visual branding, leading to tone flattening. A playful coffee brand known for witty puns and bold design may simply appear as ‘a coffee retailer offering various blends’. Stripped of its energy and personality.
There’s also the problem of sentiment drift. Because models rely on historical data, they may surface outdated or dominant narratives that don’t reflect your current positioning. A hotel that has rebranded into a luxury wellness retreat may still show up as ‘a budget accommodation option,’ simply because older reviews carry more weight in training data.
The risk here is bigger than being misrepresented; it’s being misunderstood at scale. In the AI-driven discovery era, your brand isn’t just competing for attention; it’s competing for interpretation.
AI agents build brand profiles not just from your owned content but from the network of signals surrounding it, some of which you can influence directly, others that linger long after you’ve moved on.
Everything mentioned till now clearly shows that AI agents’ answers for your brand depend on several factors, like:
Structured data and schema usage provide machines with a clear blueprint of who you are, what you offer, and why it matters. Without this scaffolding, your content risks being flattened into something indistinguishable.
Citations in authoritative sources act like trust anchors. When established publications, industry bodies, or credible researchers reference your brand, AI models absorb those signals and treat them as validation.
Consistency of context, making sure your brand name, description, and expertise align across platforms, ensures that fragmented or contradictory mentions don’t dilute your identity in AI summaries.
Depth and authority of content matter more than sheer volume. AI is tuned to favor content that demonstrates expertise and perspective, not just keyword density.
Geographical and personalization cues influence how your brand is profiled in specific markets or for specific user types. For instance, a brand may appear as a local leader in one geography and an emerging player in another.
Reputation signals like reviews, press coverage, and forum discussions shape how AI remembers your brand. Unlike a campaign you can sunset, these signals persist in training data.A software tool that fixed its early bugs, for example, might still be labelled unreliable in AI-generated summaries because forum complaints from years ago remain part of the record.
Together, these factors reveal an uncomfortable truth: your brand’s AI profile is not solely in your control. It is co-authored by every structured markup, citation, review, and discussion thread tied to your name.
And that’s exactly why the next step isn’t just about visibility, it’s about equity. If machines are going to carry your reputation forward, then the real question becomes: how do you actively shape and protect that equity in the AI era?
What you can do about it: building brand equity in the AI era
If AI is going to summarize your brand for users, the challenge is no longer just getting to page one; it’s making sure those summaries capture the right story. That means shifting your strategy from chasing rankings to actively shaping the signals AI pulls from.
Here’s how to start:
Audit how AI describes your brand
Don’t assume your website is the only source AI is pulling from. Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini to ‘Describe [Your Brand]’ every quarter. Track how those descriptions change, whether they reflect your current positioning, and if old baggage is still showing up. This gives you a baseline for what’s working and what needs fixing.
For deeper insights, tools like Yoast AI Brand Insights go a step further, tracking mentions, sentiment, and visibility across AI assistants so you can see exactly how your brand is represented and take control of the narrative.
Keep ‘anchor’ content fresh
Pages like your About, product introductions, and service overviews are disproportionately influential. Refresh them regularly with clear, keyword-rich descriptors that reinforce your current narrative. These are often the first things AI models latch onto, so make sure they reflect today’s positioning, not yesterday’s.
Infuse brand storytelling into content
Generic descriptions fade in summaries; unique stories stick. Instead of ‘We sell camping gear,’ write ‘We help families turn weekends into campfire stories.’ Language that’s memorable, metaphorical, or emotionally charged has a better chance of surviving AI compression and carrying your brand identity with it.
Experiment beyond traditional blog posts
AI models ingest more than just written blogs. Case studies, explainer videos, podcasts, interviews, or even forum contributions can influence how your expertise gets profiled. A varied content mix increases the likelihood that your brand is represented in different contexts and query types.
Work on visibility across multiple touchpoints
Don’t let your footprint be limited to your own site. Citations in industry publications, guest appearances, reviews, and even thoughtful participation in online discussions expand the sources AI relies on. The broader your presence, the harder it is for AI to miss you.
Always think about intent and context
AI-powered discovery isn’t keyword stuffing; instead, it’s intent recognition. Structure your content around the problems your audience is trying to solve, not just the queries you want to rank for. When your answers consistently match user intent, AI is more likely to position you as relevant and authoritative.
Invest in tools that guide AI to your brand
Unlike search engines, AI tools don’t crawl your full site; they only scan small pieces of content in real time. This means important details can be missed or outdated. That’s where Yoast SEO’s llms.txt feature helps.
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!
This feature automatically creates a file that acts as a map for AI assistants, pointing them to your most important, cleanly structured content. No setup required. By doing this, you give LLMs a better chance of representing your business accurately in their answers.
The future of brand perception
We’ve entered a new era of discovery. Customers aren’t just scanning pages; they’re trusting AI-generated answers to shape their perception of your brand. That shift comes with both risk and opportunity.
On one hand, AI assistants can strip away the nuance, tone, and ownership brands that brands once held over how they’re presented. On the other hand, they offer a chance to reach audiences in more natural, context-rich ways than ever before, if you prepare for it.
The path forward isn’t about chasing rankings alone. It’s about ensuring your brand is understood, accurately represented, and consistently visible across this new AI-powered landscape. That means building content that survives summarization, experimenting beyond traditional formats, and guiding AI to the information that matters most about you.
But awareness is only the first step; you also need visibility into how AI tools are currently describing and interpreting your brand.
That’s where Yoast AI Brand Insights comes in. With AI visibility scores, sentiment tracking, and real-time monitoring of mentions across tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, you’ll finally have a clear picture of how your brand lives inside AI answers, and how to shape it.
The future of brand perception isn’t written by you alone. It’s written by the AI that your customers trust. The question is: will you leave that story to chance, or take control of it?
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-08-28 10:21:282025-08-28 10:21:28How AI is shaping brand perception, and what you can do about it
[