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How to Build a Customer-Focused Content Strategy (6 Steps)

July 15, 2025/0 Comments/in Web Design News/by

Random content creation is the top reason you won’t see ROI from your content marketing.

One week, you write blog posts. The next week, you film some YouTube videos. Then, you stop publishing for three months.

With a strong content strategy, you’ll make consistent content based on real customer preferences, pain points, and historical data.

Organic Research – World Wildlife – Organic Pages

Creating a content strategy has many benefits, including:

Focuses your efforts on content your audience actually wants
Saves you time by eliminating guesswork and random content creation
Drives consistent traffic through strategic topic selection
Builds authority in your industry with purposeful, high-quality content
Increases conversions by aligning content with your audience’s needs

Ready to learn how to create a content strategy?

Let’s start with the most important element: your customers.

Step 1: Align Your Content Strategy with Customer Awareness Levels

Every content decision you make should map back to the customer awareness levels:

Unaware
Problem Aware
Solution Aware
Product Aware
Most Aware

This includes the topics you cover, formats you use, and where you publish.

Why?

Because people at different awareness stages need completely different content.

Someone who has never heard of your solution needs education, while someone comparing options needs proof that your product is best.

But forget what you’ve been taught in the past.

Start with people ready to buy (most aware) and work backward.

This sets you up for faster wins, better conversion rates, and less competition.

Here’s what this looks like in practice.

Most Aware

People in the “Most Aware” stage are VERY close to buying your product or service.

They’ve likely already inquired about your offering, requested pricing info, and used your free trial.

Now, they just need that final push.

Design your Most Aware content to remove hesitation and make the next step feel obvious.

Content that works best for this stage includes:

Customer success videos
Live demos and Q&As
Pricing guides and ROI calculators
Email campaigns with time-sensitive offers

For example, Semrush has a dedicated “Success Stories” page.

Each story highlights how companies use the platform to improve their online visibility, rankings, and content.

Even better? They all end with a free trial offer.

That’s textbook Most Aware content: high trust, low friction, and a clear next step.

Product Aware

People in the Product Aware stage know they need a solution and are shopping around.

They’re comparing features, reading reviews, and weighing pros and cons.

They may have even started free trials with your competitors.

Your job? Make your solution the obvious choice.

Product Aware content includes:

Product walkthrough videos
Comparison posts and tools
Influencer or customer reviews
Webinars with customer case studies

Pro tip: Make comparison content a priority in your content strategy. This is where prospects make their final decisions.

Solution Aware

At this stage, prospects know they have a problem — and that solutions exist.

But they’re still figuring out what kind of solution they need.

They’re asking questions like “What is SEO software?” or “How do others solve my same problem?”

Your job is to guide them through the decision.

This is where you earn trust and shape buying criteria.

Solution Aware content includes:

Case studies
How-to guides and educational content
Podcast episodes or blog interviews
Interactive tools or quizzes to assess needs or priorities
Video testimonials from customers

YouTube – Semrush – Solution Aware Content

Problem Aware

In this stage, prospects know they have a problem. They just don’t know what to do about it yet.

They’re asking questions like:

What’s causing this issue?
How serious is it?
Am I the only one dealing with this?
Is there a fix?

At this point, they’re digging into Google and large language model (LLM) results, Reddit threads, YouTube videos, and niche forums.

They’re looking for answers and insights — not product hard sells. That’s where your content comes in.

Your job here is to validate their problem and help them understand it more clearly.

Content that works best in this stage:

Blog posts that explore the root causes of common problems
Social content that highlights signs, symptoms, or overlooked issues
YouTube videos breaking down key pain points
Forum posts or comments that share useful perspectives

Use tools like Google’s Autocomplete, People Also Ask, and Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to find real questions your audience is asking.

Keyword Magic Tool – Keywords – Keywords

Then, plan content that empathizes with your audience’s problem and hints at the types of solutions that exist.

Build trust in this stage, and you’ll stay top of mind when they’re ready to buy.

Unaware

Unaware prospects don’t know they have a problem — yet.

They’re not searching for solutions. They’re not asking questions. They’re not even looking.

That makes this audience the biggest and the coldest.

Your goal here isn’t to sell. It’s to spark that light bulb moment where they realize there’s a problem worth solving.

And you’ll want to do it in a way that feels helpful, not pushy.

The best content for this stage is light, relatable, and built for discovery.

Think:

Short videos or animations on social platforms
Blog posts tied to lifestyle or work challenges
Paid ads that highlight common frustrations in a simple way

For example, Semrush uses TikTok to create short, relatable videos aimed at digital marketers.

One important note: Don’t expect immediate returns from Unaware content.

This is all about brand awareness and building trust.

But when these prospects eventually realize they have a problem, guess whose brand they’ll remember?

That’s right — yours!

Step 2: Find and Prioritize High-Impact Content Ideas

Strategic topic selection is more important than ever.

Content demands have skyrocketed. Channels are crowded. And your audience is drowning in options.

AI and LLMs have also fundamentally changed how people discover content.

Using a process called query fan-out, they break one search into multiple related questions and topics to anticipate the user’s needs.

That’s why it’s important to think in content clusters, not just individual topics.

Here’s how to find (and prioritize) topics in a smart, scalable way.

Start with Customer and Client Research

Before you open a keyword tool, review your inquiries, support tickets, and sales calls to see what questions come up again and again.

This reveals high-intent problems your audience is actively trying to solve, which makes it perfect for your content strategy.

If you have existing customers, send short surveys to them by email.

Ask questions like:

What’s your biggest challenge with [topic]?
What would you search for when looking for [solution type]?

You can also run polls on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and more.

And consider offering a small incentive to encourage responses.

As you get responses, group them by themes to plan for content clusters.

This lets you capture the full search journey around each topic. And will help increase your visibility in traditional and AI search engines.

Audit Your Existing Content for Hidden Winners

Look at your existing content to assess what’s already working. And find content gaps worth filling.

Here’s how:

First, log in to Google Analytics to see which topics and formats drive the most valuable traffic to your site.

Then, go to “Reports” → “Engagement” → “Landing Pages”:

GA4 – Reports – Engagement – Landing page

This report shows you which pages users land on first when they visit your site.

So, you know which topics and pages attract them the most.

Look at performance metrics like sessions, average engagement time, and key events to identify top performers.

Next, identify what those pages have in common in terms of:

Format: Are they how-to guides, listicles, case studies, or something else?
Topics: What themes or subject areas dominate?
Length: Are they comprehensive deep-dives or quick reads?
Content angle: Do they focus on beginner tips, advanced strategies, or industry news?

Once you spot the patterns, you can plan to create more content that fits these winning formulas.

For example:

A while back, we noticed that definitive guides brought in a ton of traffic.

So, we decided to publish more definitive guides as content pillars.

And those new guides helped increase my blog’s traffic by 87.91% compared to the year before:

Backlinko organic traffic – 2019. vs 2020.

The biggest takeaway? Your existing data already shows you what your audience wants.

You just need to give them more of it.

Run a Cross-Platform Competitive Analysis

Want a goldmine of validated topics and format inspiration?

Spy on your competitors, platform by platform.

This can be anything from social media accounts and blogs to podcasts and videos.

For example, if your competitors are on YouTube, filter their content by “Popular” to see which topics get the most views and engagement.

Over on LinkedIn, you can scan your competitors’ profiles for posts with high comment or repost counts.

Find their company page, click “Posts,” and start scrolling.

Competitor blogs are also a great source of topic inspiration.

For example, a while back, we looked at what content performed best on the Moz blog:

And we noticed that content about “site audits” tended to do REALLY well:

So, we created a blog post called: “The 18-Step SEO Audit Checklist.”

Because this post was based on a proven topic, it was a huge hit on day 1.

And quickly cracked the first page for my target keyword:

Podcasts are another amazing (and somewhat untapped) source of topic inspiration.

Check out your competitors’ episode lists on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

This can reveal some killer topics you’d be hard-pressed to find any other way.

SE Ranking – DoFollow Podcast – Killer topics

Once you’ve done a manual review, use competitive research tools for deeper analysis.

For this task, I’ll use Semrush.

Here’s how you can follow along:

First, sign up for a free 14-day Semrush trial.

Then, start with the Organic Research tool.

Enter one of your top competitors’ domains and click “Search.”

You’ll see an overview of their top-ranking keywords.

And which pages attract the most traffic.

Switch to the “Position Changes” tab on the menu for a deeper look at the keywords your competitor has won and lost.

Organic Research – Moz – Position Changes

One strategy?

Start by reviewing your rivals’ keyword losses and add any relevant topics to your strategy.

Why?

So, you can swoop in with better content and take those rankings for yourself.

Click “+ Add filter” and “Position changes.”

Organic Research – Moz – Position Changes – Add filter

Check “Declined” and “Lost.”

Click “Apply.”

(You can also check “New” and “Improved” to see their ranking keywords instead.)

Organic Research – Moz – Position Changes – Declined & Lost filter

Next, switch to “Topics” on the menu to view your competitor’s highest-performing topics.

Including estimated traffic, keywords, volume, and average keyword difficulty.

Prioritize topics with at least decent search volume but lower difficulty scores.

These give you the best chance of ranking quickly.

Another helpful tool for identifying high-value topics?

Semrush’s Keyword Gap.

Enter your domain and up to four competitors’ domains. Click “Compare.”

Keyword Gap – Backlinko & competitors – Compare

Scroll to the “All keyword details for [your site] report.”

Pay attention to the following:

Missing: Keywords that all the other domains rank for, except you
Untapped: Keywords that at least one of the other domains ranks for, except you

Keyword Gap – Backlinko – All keyword details for

This reveals content gaps where your competitors are already succeeding.

Instead of guessing what topics might work, you’re targeting proven winners with a strategy to outrank them.

Mine Online Communities

Online communities are GREAT for finding your customers’ burning questions.

For example, say you have a recipe blog and want to create content for specific diets.

Head over to the Paleo subreddit, and you’ll notice lots of questions about dessert:

Why is this important?

Most people ask questions on Reddit because they couldn’t find their answer on Google.

Or because the answers on Google don’t feel authentic enough.

This means there’s a HUGE opportunity for you to swoop in and answer that question with your content.

Pro tip: Use AI tools to analyze thousands of Reddit threads and Quora questions in minutes. Ask AI to identify patterns in customer questions to help you spot common pain points and preferences.

These community questions should become the backbone of your content strategy in two key ways:

Pain point mapping: Track which questions appear repeatedly to identify the biggest challenges your audience faces. Then, prioritize these topics in your content calendar.
Content format planning: Pay attention to HOW people ask. A “how do I” question might work best as a tutorial, while “what’s the best” questions are perfect for comparison posts or roundups.

You can even create a dedicated FAQ hub on your site that directly answers these community questions.

This approach builds trust fast because you’re solving real problems your audience is actively searching for.

You can follow this same process using Quora:

You can also use Answer the Public to scale this task.

It’s a free tool that hands you popular questions that people have around your topic:

Prioritize Your Content Ideas

By now, you likely have a lot of potential topics.

Here’s how to separate the winners from the noise:

Ask yourself if the topic ties back to your product or service. Content that can’t connect to your business goals is just busy work.

Next, check for proven demand using a keyword research tool.

Prioritize topics with solid search volume, clear search intent, and manageable difficulty.

Keyword Overview – How to qualify sales leaads

Then, consider if your team can realistically create quality content on this topic.

Do you have the expertise, resources, and time to do it justice?

Finally, think about your differentiation opportunity.

Can you add a fresh angle, better examples, or unique insights that competitors haven’t covered?

If a topic checks all four boxes, green light it.

Once you’ve validated your topics, assign each one to its corresponding awareness stage:

Most aware topics: What questions do prospects ask right before buying? What final objections need addressing? Turn these topics into pricing guides, comparison pages, and tutorials.
Product aware topics: Are competitors ranking for “best [solution category]” terms? Create your own version with honest comparisons and clear differentiators.
Solution aware topics: Are people asking “how to choose” or “what type of [X]”? Build educational content that explains the options and subtly positions your solution as the best fit.
Problem and unaware topics: What recurring pain points did you identify in your topic research? Turn those insights into content that validates the problem and builds awareness.

Pro tip: Want to reach more customers on more channels at all stages of their journey? Experiment with different content types. Try blog posts, videos, lead magnets, ebooks, infographics, success stories, interactive content, and more.

Step 3: Create Comprehensive Content Briefs

Coming up with high-impact topics is only half the battle.

The other half?

Turning those ideas into content that actually performs. That’s where a content brief comes in.

Content briefs eliminate guesswork and align your entire team on what you’re creating and why.

They prevent scope creep, reduce revisions, and ensure every piece of content serves a clear business purpose.

And they can be as short or detailed as you like.

My vote? Make them comprehensive.

The more direction you provide upfront, the less time you’ll spend on revisions.

And the more likely your content will resonate with your audience.

Every brief should include the basics. Like the topic, primary keyword, and article format.

But creating truly helpful content requires doing more than the minimum.

That’s why we include audience insights like the following in our briefs at Backlinko.

Target audience level: Beginner, intermediate, or advanced
Awareness stage: Where are they at in their journey?
Primary goal: Traffic, leads, conversions, brand awareness
Reader pain points: The challenges your audience faces

Pro tip: Ask your product, sales, and support teams to contribute to briefs. They can flag upcoming features, share common prospect questions, and identify knowledge gaps worth addressing.

This context helps writers match their tone, examples, and approach to your specific audience.

Backlinko – Content Brief Template – Audience Insights

Another essential brief component? SERP analysis.

Include the most notable competitors’ URLs in the brief for writers to use as inspiration. And leave notes on any gaps you can fill to outrank your competition.

Backlinko – Content Brief Template – SERP

Speaking of outranking your competitors…

Every brief should include your plans for information gain.

(Aka the unique value your content will provide that readers can’t find elsewhere.)

This includes:

Expert quotes or SME insights from industry leaders
Original data, research, or case studies from your own experience
Interactive tools like calculators, templates, or checklists
Fresh angles or perspectives that competitors haven’t covered

Backlinko – Content Brief Template – Information Gain

Finally, I highly recommend baking your content repurposing plans into your brief.

Getting the most from your content efforts shouldn’t be an afterthought.

Plan to turn every article or blog post into multiple formats: social content, videos, email series, podcasts, and more.

This lets you build full-funnel coverage from day one. And ensures you maximize your investment.

Backlinko – Content Brief Template – Multi-Format Strategy

Step 4: Focus on Creating Amazing Content

Here’s the reality:

It’s getting harder to make your content stand out.

The audience decides within seconds whether your content is worth their time. If you don’t grab them immediately, they’re gone.

That’s why we developed the Hook & Hold Method at Backlinko.

It helps us create content that captures (and keeps) attention.

The first part of this method is the hook.

Your hook has one job: get people to start reading.

Here’s how:

Craft a compelling headline: Use specific numbers, strong emotions, or unique angles that make people stop scrolling and click
Start with their biggest pain point: Address what’s keeping your audience up at night in the first paragraph to create an instant connection
Promise clear value upfront: Tell readers exactly what they’ll learn or achieve to signal immediate value and relevance

Then, you hold their attention with five key elements: Authority, Research, Visuals, Examples, and Statistics.

Let’s walk through each element.

Authority

You don’t have to be the only voice in your content.

In fact, bringing in expert perspectives builds authority and improves user experience.

Or as I like to say:

If you want an article about how to unclog a toilet, don’t hire a freelance writer.

Hire a plumber.

For example, Nerd Fitness quickly grew to be one of the most popular blogs in the fitness space.

How?

Steve wrote about his personal experience of trying different diets and workout routines:

And he filled in any gaps in his knowledge with research from nutrition experts:

This demonstrated experience and expertise to their target audience and search engines.

Which then inspired trust.

And helped Nerd Fitness establish authority.

That’s E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) in action.

You can also source expert insights through:

Journalist outreach platforms like HARO or Featured
Industry interviews, podcasts, or videos
Social media posts from credible people in your niche
Direct outreach to experts

Expert quotes break up visual flow while adding credibility and fresh perspectives to your content.

Pro tip: If you use AI tools to support content creation, inject original insights, quotes, and real-world examples to maintain your authority and trust.

Research

Great content is built on great sources.

While trustworthy sources vary by industry, prioritize these sources as a general rule:

Academic research and peer-reviewed studies
Government data (.gov sites)
Industry surveys from recognized research firms
Industry-leading websites and blogs
Company earnings calls and official statements

Fill in knowledge gaps with expert insights and quotes.

At Backlinko, we often feature expert input from industry veterans to add unique insights and authority to our content.

Backlinko – Ecommerce Website Optimization – Authority quote

Visuals

There’s no way around this:

If you want people to read and share your content, it needs to look GREAT.

This is why we go the extra mile to use high-res screenshots.

These crisp, annotated screenshots prove you’ve actually done what you’re teaching.

And make complex processes instantly understandable.

Charts and data visualizations transform boring numbers into compelling stories that support your key points and make them stick.

We also use custom-designed guides to differentiate my content from competitors.

And boost perceived value.

Backlinko – Custom designed guides – Collage

Examples

When it comes to content, there’s one thing I’ve found to be true almost 100% of the time:

People LOVE examples.

When you hear the words “for example,” your brain breathes a sigh of relief.

It makes learning easier and more relatable.

That’s why we include TONS of examples in every post:

Including examples makes your content easier to understand.

But it also signals E-E-A-T to readers and Google.

Even better? AI can’t replicate it.

When you share specific examples, you demonstrate real-world experience that generic content simply can’t match.

Backlinko – Best Free SEO Tools – Example

Does adding examples take more work than simply saying, “do this”?

Sure.

Is it worth it?

Definitely.

Statistics

Nothing builds credibility faster than strong statistics.

When you back up claims with data from reputable sources, it sends trust signals to both readers and Google.

But not all statistics are created equal. The key is finding data that’s both credible and compelling.

Original data works even better than citing existing studies.

Orbit Media Studios – Blogging Statistics

Whether it’s a full-scale study or a LinkedIn post, it attracts readers and backlinks.

And gives you a serious competitive edge.

Here are the best ways to source original data:

Conduct surveys of your audience or industry
Analyze your customer data for trends and insights
Compile industry benchmarks from multiple sources
Track performance metrics over time
Interview experts and quantify their insights

Pro tip: Don’t focus solely on new content in your strategy — revisit and refresh older posts, too. Add new stats, update examples, and optimize for today’s search behavior to give them a second life.

Step 5: Promote Your Content

Without strategic promotion, even your best content might never reach your target audience.

The question is: How do you promote your content the right way?

Here are a few simple strategies that actually work.

Create Email Newsletters

This is HUGE.

An email list is the #1 content promotion tool on the planet. Period.

In fact, there isn’t even a close second.

Remember:

Your subscribers are made up of people who LOVE your stuff.

In other words:

They’re people who are very likely to spread the word about your content.

That’s why we share most of our posts with our email subscribers:

As you can see, our email doesn’t look like a stuffy corporate newsletter.

In fact, the email looks like it could be from a friend.

This is EXACTLY how you want your emails to look.

So, how did it do?

That single email generated 14,067 total visitors:

Nice!

Curate Content Roundups

In case you’re not familiar with them, roundups are posts that curate (or “round up”) awesome content from the week.

The best part?

There are roundups in almost every niche, shared everywhere from social media to email marketing.

For example, this is a LinkedIn roundup from the digital marketing niche:

Here’s why promoting your content to link roundups works so well:

Your pitch actually makes their life easier (yes, really).

I’ll explain…

Roundup curators struggle to find content to include in their roundup.

And when you suggest your new post, you deliver awesome content on a silver platter.

This means there’s no arm-twisting required to get a link.

For example, here’s a LinkedIn roundup that featured one of Backlinko’s articles:

LinkedIn – Roundup featured Backlinko's article

Step 6: Track and Measure Performance

Now it’s time to see how well your content strategy is working.

The question is: How do you know if your content “worked”?

The key is organizing your metrics into two categories that actually matter: business impact and engagement.

Business Impact Metrics

These metrics directly connect to revenue and business growth.

Conversions and Revenue

ROI. Business goals. KPIs.

Whatever you want to call it.

Basically, you’re answering the question:

Is content helping us get more sales?

Measure conversions in Google Analytics.

And consider creating goals for each awareness level.

For example:

Most Aware content: Demo requests, pricing page visits, free trials
Product Aware content: Comparison page visits, feature page engagement
Solution Aware content: Guide downloads, newsletter signups
Problem/Unaware content: Blog subscriptions, social follows

If you see conversions moving up, it’s probably a sign that your content marketing is working.

So, you want to add more of that content type to your editorial calendar.

That said:

It’s sometimes hard to track content’s indirect sales impact.

For example:

Brian Dean’s (Backlinko’s founder) conversions that come directly from YouTube were super low:

And if he ONLY looked at Google Analytics, he’d probably say: “YouTube is a waste of time.”

But when he dug a little bit deeper, he could see that his YouTube channel was a HUGE driver of subscribers and sales.

Customers cite his YouTube channel as the main reason that they decide to make a purchase:

This shows that YouTube content is paying off.

Leads Generated

Not all leads are created equal.

Track qualified leads your content generates — people who fit your customer personas and have buying potential.

For example, use UTM parameters on content links to see which pieces drive the most leads.

If you have a CRM, tag leads by source, so you know which content influenced them.

And score leads based on engagement. Did they read one post or download three guides?

Connect this back to the awareness stages from Step 1:

Most Aware content should generate high-intent leads ready for sales conversations
Product Aware content should generate leads actively evaluating solutions
Solution Aware content should generate leads seeking education and guidance
Problem/Unaware content should focus on list building and brand awareness

If your content isn’t generating the right leads for its stage, reassess the intent and quality.

Traffic Quality

Raw traffic numbers mean nothing if visitors bounce immediately.

Focus on engaged traffic — people who actually consume your content and take the next steps.

Key metrics to track:

Pages per session: 2+ indicates genuine interest
Average session duration: Benchmark against your industry average
Bounce rate by content type: Identify which formats keep people engaged
Return visitor rate: Shows you’re building an audience, not just attracting one-time visitors

That said:

Content marketing and SEO can take time to kick in.

For example, look at the traffic numbers from the early days of Backlinko:

As you can see, it took about six months for things to really take off.

And if we gave up early on because content “wasn’t working,” we wouldn’t have seen the huge traffic spike that got us going:

Analytics – Backlinko – Early Traffic – Spike

Backlinko has only continued to grow since.

Persistence pays off when you combine strategic content with consistent execution.

Engagement Metrics

These metrics show how well your content resonates with your audience and predicts future business impact.

Views and Reach

Track how many people your content reaches across different platforms and channels.

What to track:

Platform-specific reach: YouTube views, LinkedIn post impressions, blog sessions
Audience quality: Use analytics to see if viewers match your ideal customer profile
Cross-platform performance: Which channels drive the most engaged traffic to your site

Search Visibility and Rankings

Search visibility is more volatile than ever.

But position tracking remains crucial for monitoring your content’s performance.

Here’s what to monitor:

Keyword clusters: Are you ranking for related terms beyond your primary keyword?
Featured snippets: Track snippet wins and losses and identify opportunities using a tool like Semrush’s Position Tracking
SERP features: Monitor video carousels, image packs, and People Also Ask boxes
Click-through rates: Use Google Search Console to see if higher rankings actually drive more clicks
LLM appearances: Are LLMs driving people to your site? Check Google Analytics’ traffic acquisition report to see referral traffic from ChatGPT and other AI platforms.

GA – Traffic Acquisition – Session source medium

Further reading: Search Everywhere Optimization Guide + Free Checklist

Time Spent and Watch Time

Monitor how long people stay engaged with your content.

High engagement time signals that your content provides real value.

For example, check your average engagement time per blog post.

GA – Average engagement time per active user

Compare your top performers to identify patterns in the topics that resonate most with your readers.

If you’re on YouTube or another video platform, monitor watch time and audience retention. This will tell you where viewers drop off to improve future videos.

Use this data to find your stickiest topics. Pay attention to the subjects that make people read multiple pages or watch entire videos.

If engagement drops at specific points, you know where to strengthen your content.

Further reading: How to Measure SEO Performance and Results

Audience Interaction

The best content gets people talking, sharing, and coming back for more.

Start by looking at the comments on your blog, videos, and social media posts.

Comments that ask follow-up questions or share personal experiences signal real engagement, not just passive scrolling.

LinkedIn –Semrush post / comment / response

Then, check the native analytics data for any social platforms you’re on.

For example, Pinterest tells you how many times your pins are saved to boards.

And Facebook tells you how many times users interacted with your content.

Along with providing details on views and follows/unfollows.

Don’t forget to monitor brand mentions across social platforms.

Tools like Semrush’s Brand Monitoring, Mention, or even Google Alerts can catch when people are talking about your content without tagging you directly.

These organic mentions often indicate the highest quality engagement.

Build Authority into Your Content Strategy

Creating a content strategy takes work, but the ROI is worth it.

When you align content with customer awareness levels, prioritize high-impact topics, and measure what matters, you stop guessing and start growing.

Your next step?

Build topical authority.

The more comprehensively you cover a topic, the more likely you are to show up everywhere that matters.

Including AI search, traditional search, social media, videos, and much more.

Read our Topic Clusters 101 guide to learn how to create clusters that boost visibility and conversions.

The post How to Build a Customer-Focused Content Strategy (6 Steps) appeared first on Backlinko.

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How Brian Dean Would Launch Backlinko in 2025

July 15, 2025/0 Comments/in Web Design News/by

In 2012, Brian Dean launched Backlinko with one goal: publish world-class SEO content that ranks.

And it worked.

He built one of the most trusted SEO brands in the world, powered almost entirely by blog posts and Google traffic.

But what if he started today?

We asked him. And here’s what he said.

1. Build a Multimedia Brand from Day One

“Relying 100% on Google traffic isn’t smart anymore.”

The SEO landscape has changed.

AI Overviews are taking clicks.

LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity are replacing Google for early research.

And algorithm updates keep getting more volatile.

That’s why Brian would focus on multichannel visibility, not just rankings.

He’d still publish SEO-optimized blog posts.

But he’d also build an audience on:

YouTube
TikTok
Instagram
Email
Podcasts

In fact, that’s exactly what he did with Exploding Topics:

A weekly newsletter sent to 100K+ subscribers
Viral threads and carousel content on X and LinkedIn
Short-form video for discovery on Instagram

The takeaway?

SEO still matters. But to grow in 2025, you need a brand that travels — not just a blog that ranks.

2. Show Up in ChatGPT

Backlinko traffic from LLMs is up 800% year-over-year.

That’s not a fluke.

People are skipping Google and going straight to ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.

Which raises the question: how do you get mentioned in AI answers?

Brian’s top recommendation:

“Publish original data, real insights, and unique strategies.”

If your content says the same thing as everything else online, it gets ignored.

But if it brings something new, you have a shot at being cited.

This is where Brian’s content strategy shines:

He shares personal frameworks and coined terms
He publishes SEO case studies no one else has
He backs advice with real data and experiments

That’s the kind of content LLMs recognize—and cite.

3. Use AI as a Lever, Not a Crutch

Here’s the paradox of 2025:

“Consumer behavior still feels like 2022… but the tools are from the future.”

LLMs can write, research, edit, and brainstorm faster than ever.

But if you use them to pump out generic content?

You’ll disappear.

Instead, Brian recommends using AI as a multiplier:

Speed up research
Analyze top competitors
Rewrite for clarity and style
Test content angles before publishing

But the final result should be yours — your voice, your perspective, your experience.

That’s how you stand out in a world of sameness.

Final Word

Brian wrapped our chat with a question for you:

“What’s your strategy for adapting to AI?”

Are you experimenting with new formats?

Changing how you publish?

Tracking brand mentions in ChatGPT?

Whatever it is — lean in.

Because in 2025 and beyond, the people who adapt fast are the ones who win.

The post How Brian Dean Would Launch Backlinko in 2025 appeared first on Backlinko.

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Mid-year SEO checkup: What’s working, what’s not?

July 11, 2025/0 Comments/in Web Design News, Yoast SEO/by

Midway through the year is a good time to see how your SEO is holding up. Search habits shift, rankings change, and AI is reshaping how people find information. A mid-year SEO checkup isn’t about starting over. It’s a check-in to spot what’s working, what’s not, and what to adjust going forward.

Traffic and rankings: What’s changed since January?

Start your mid-year SEO review by checking how your site is performing, not just on the surface level, but deeper down. Look beyond overall traffic and into individual pages and search queries. What’s still working? What’s losing visibility? The goal is to spot slow shifts early, before they turn into bigger problems.

Organic traffic trends

Start with a traffic check in GA4. Compare your organic numbers from January to now, then narrow in on which landing pages have gained or lost ground. After that, use Search Console to see how impressions and clicks line up with the shifts. Look across different devices and locations, as you might notice mobile traffic dropping while desktop stays level.

As you review, think about what’s changed. Are certain types of content sliding? Is the homepage steady while deeper articles get less visibility? Has something in the layout or search results changed how people interact with your site? These patterns will help you figure out where to adjust.

Keyword movement and SERP features

GA4 won’t show you how keywords are doing. For that, use Search Console or Semrush, if you want a more detailed view. It gives you a clearer view of how your top queries are performing and whether their positions are trending up or down. Focus on terms sitting somewhere between positions five and fifteen. These are close to the edge and can shift either way with the smallest change.

Keep an eye out for new queries your site is now appearing for. Also, check if your content is showing up in features like video carousels, People Also Ask, or AI Overviews. These placements affect clicks, even if rankings stay flat.

If CTR is dropping, it might be because the answer’s already visible in the search result. That’s common with broad questions or terms that Google can answer directly with a snippet or summary. Some of these shifts started with recent algorithm updates. If you saw a change around that time, that might explain it.

Being on page one isn’t always enough now. What matters more is how your page shows up and whether it stands out next to everything else.

Where’s the gap?

Ranking alone doesn’t mean a page is performing well. Some are still showing up in search but aren’t pulling their weight anymore. Take a look at your top pages from Q1 and compare them to what’s performing now. If something dropped, check for changes. Did the URL structure shift? Was the copy updated? Did anything break during a migration or redesign?

Segmenting traffic helps spot patterns during your mid-year SEO checkup. Blog content might be holding steady while product pages quietly slip. Or maybe a location page that once performed well is now buried. Sorting traffic this way makes it easier to see where things are improving and where they’ve gone quiet.

And don’t ignore branded versus non-branded search. If branded terms are down, it may reflect lower awareness. If non-branded terms fell off, that usually points to stronger competition or a shift in search demand. Either way, those are signs to act on, not ignore.

What to do next in your mid-year SEO review

As you review performance, note content that’s lost traffic and look at how it aligns with current keyword trends. Some pages may need updates, while others might be better merged or repurposed. If certain pages are still ranking but getting few clicks, flag those, too, as there may be issues with title tags, metadata, or how the content is framed.

Also, look for signs of new search interest or shifts in consumer behavior that are driving unexpected traffic. Those insights can help guide your Q3 and Q4 planning. A detailed mid-year SEO checkup now helps prevent bigger issues later. Small drops or mismatches in intent can add up over time, especially if you miss the early signs. Use your data to make informed decisions, not just to complete a report.

Audit and refresh your content

Not all content holds its value over time. Some pages stop performing due to outdated content, and others never performed well to begin with. A mid-year SEO audit helps you figure out what’s worth updating, combining, or removing altogether.

Focus first on content that’s lost traffic or rankings. Use Google Search Console to spot declines in impressions and clicks, then compare that with GA4 engagement metrics. If a page ranks but no longer drives real value, or doesn’t match what users are looking for, it likely needs attention.

Google wants people-first content. So if your site relies on thin tutorials, vaguely rewritten definitions, or pages written more for search engines than real users, those pages may be dragging down your overall SEO performance.

When refreshing content, lead with clarity. Remove fluff, update stats, and make sure your answer matches the search intent. Don’t just rewrite, make the page genuinely better. In some cases, the fix might be cutting it entirely. If a page hasn’t contributed value or activity recently, rethink why it’s there.

Diversify and focus on video

Search results are more visual than they used to be. Video clips now show up in carousels, featured snippets, and AI responses. If your site is still relying on just blog posts, you’re missing opportunities to be seen.

Short videos, especially how-tos, demos, and explainers, can increase visibility on Google, YouTube, and Discover. They also help with engagement, keeping visitors on your site longer.

Start by turning high-performing articles into videos. Post them to YouTube, embed them on your site, and add basic schema markup. Just a few clear, well-structured videos can increase your presence in search results and help reach users who don’t want to read through long text.

Video doesn’t need to be expensive or overly produced. What matters is that it’s useful, focused, and easy to watch. During your mid-year SEO checkup, you might need to improve your video strategy.

Adapting to AI and zero-click searches

More users are getting answers directly on Google, without clicking anything. With AI Overviews becoming more common across search results, especially for question-based queries, your content needs to work even when there’s no obvious incentive to visit your page.

That means clear structure, clean markup, and highly readable content that makes it easy for Google to understand the core answer quickly. Place key information high on the page and use a strong title, meta description, and subheadings. Organize your content with scannable sections so it’s more likely to appear in featured results.

Don’t ignore FAQ or how-to formats, as these can still help Google identify your page’s purpose. Structured data reinforces clarity for both traditional search and AI-generated summaries.

Zero-click doesn’t mean zero opportunity. Content that’s referenced in AI answers or shown in SERP features can strengthen brand visibility, build trust, and lead to familiar users returning via other channels later.

What AI Mode means for search visibility

In addition to AI Overviews, Google is adding a feature called AI Mode. This is a new search experience built for more complex, multi-part queries. It pulls information from several sources and delivers a conversational response with helpful links.

Instead of listing links, AI Mode breaks down the query, runs multiple related searches, and returns one detailed answer. There’s less space for traditional rankings, but a chance for useful, well-structured content to be included. If your impressions are rising but clicks aren’t, your content may already appear in these summaries.

While AI Mode is still rolling out, it shows where search is likely headed. And it’s not just Google, as tools like ChatGPT (Search) and Perplexity show that AI-powered discovery is already expanding. As this grows, you might have to rethink how you see content. Learn how to optimize for LLMs using Yoast SEO’s tools.

Refresh your keyword strategy

Midway through the year is a good time to check if your keyword strategy still aligns with how people are searching. Start with Search Console and any SEO tools you use, and look for shifts in rankings, drops in CTR, or signs that user intent has changed. Some keywords may still rank but deliver less value, while others may be gaining traction.

Take another look at the SERPs. Are AI Overviews, snippets, or video results pushing your links down? If your content no longer fits the query, it may need a rewrite or a new format.

Also consider what’s surfaced since Q1. Seasonal queries, comparison searches, and longer questions might now be worth targeting. Even if they bring less volume, they often convert better. Use what you find to adjust your focus for the second half of the year.

Technical SEO clean up

Great content alone isn’t enough if your site’s technical side is holding it back. A mid-year SEO checkup is a good time to inspect the foundation. See how your site loads, how it’s crawled, and whether pages are being properly indexed.

Start with speed. Use Google’s Core Web Vitals tools to review page load performance. Fix common issues like oversized images, unnecessary scripts, or layout shifts that hurt usability. These things don’t just impact rankings; they also affect how users experience your site, especially on mobile.

Look at crawlability. Search Console can show you which pages aren’t being indexed, where crawl issues are popping up, or if valid content is being skipped. If strong content still isn’t performing, this could be why.

In your mid-year SEO checkup, you should also see your internal linking. Important pages should be easy to reach. If key articles or landing pages are buried under layers of clicks or orphaned entirely, Google’s crawlers (and readers) may never find them.

Finally, check out your structured data. Schema still gives your content a better chance of being understood by search engines.

A light technical review every few months helps keep things healthy. You don’t need to fix everything at once, but leaving small issues unsolved can turn into long-term performance headaches.

Monitor competitors and trends

Search isn’t static, and neither are your competitors. Even if your strategy hasn’t changed much since Q1, theirs might have. A mid-year SEO checkup is a smart idea to see who’s gaining ground, what kind of content is outperforming yours, and what shifts are happening in your space as a whole.

Start by checking who’s around you in the search results, especially for your highest-value keywords. Are the same domains showing up? Has a competitor overtaken you with fresher content, a better format, or a new angle? Sometimes it’s less about Google’s algorithm and more about someone else simply doing it better.

Use ranking and backlink tools to identify newer content that’s climbing. What’s different? Is it shorter, clearer, or more visual? Has it earned links or been widely shared? These observations can shape not just what you publish next, but how you structure and present it.

Whether you’re in an aggressive or stable position, awareness is part of strategy. Without reviewing what others are doing, you don’t have a clear view of what winning looks like right now or how quickly that picture is changing.

Set clear goals for the rest of the year

After reviewing performance, updating content, tightening technical issues, and refreshing keywords, the next step in your mid-year SEO checkup is setting focused goals for the rest of the year.

Keep them specific. A goal like “get more traffic” is too vague to drive clear action. Use what you’ve learned, whether that’s from rankings, audit results, or crawl reports, to define outcomes that are tied to your time, resources, and business needs.

Look for low-effort wins and long-term improvements. Fix pages that rank but don’t get clicks. Update content that dropped after an algorithm change. Strengthen internal links to help strong posts on the edge of page one move up. These small changes can improve results with less time than starting from scratch.

If AI features are reducing your traffic on top queries, consider focusing more on visibility than clicks. That might mean leaning into content formats that stand out in summaries, like FAQs or short-form video.

You can also set process goals: publish more consistently (maybe using workflow improvements from Yoast SEO’s Google Docs add-on), clean up old content, reduce crawl waste, or make reporting easier. These are just as important as traffic-focused targets, and they’re often easier to maintain over time.

Your goals don’t need to be dramatic. Often, refining what already exists brings more gains than chasing something new. Revisit your targets regularly and track your progress without overthinking it. Most importantly, stay flexible heading into Q4, when search activity and competition both tend to spike.

Yoast SEO for Google Docs add-on SEO analysis feature — Workflow improvements also help, for instance, by integrating Google Docs and Yoast SEO

Do your mid-year SEO checkup

Search has changed a lot since January, and it’s not slowing down. A mid-year SEO strategy review gives you the chance to course-correct, refocus your efforts, and keep momentum going into the back half of the year.

You don’t need to overhaul everything. Just fix what’s broken, improve what matters, and make better decisions with what you know now. Stay consistent, track what shifts, and keep building.

The post Mid-year SEO checkup: What’s working, what’s not? appeared first on Yoast.

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Run An Ecommerce SEO Audit in 4 Stages [+ Free Workbook]

July 10, 2025/0 Comments/in Web Design News/by

An ecommerce SEO audit is a 360-degree review of your website’s SEO performance in terms of technical setup, on-page optimization, site structure, backlink profile, and more.

Think of it like a routine check-up for your online store.

Instead of waiting for traffic to drop or sales to slow down, you can proactively find and fix problems before they spiral into revenue leaks.

Done right, an SEO audit helps you:

Identify ways to improve rankings and user experience
Detect issues affecting your organic performance
Protect and sustain long-term growth

More importantly, this audit creates an SEO strategy grounded in data, not guesswork.

In this guide, I’ll break down a 4-stage process for conducting an ecommerce SEO audit.

I’ve also prepared a free audit workbook to help you document findings, prioritize fixes, and drive measurable results.

Download our free ecommerce SEO audit workbook to follow along with our 4-stage approach and resolve issues effortlessly. You’ll also get a troubleshooting guide with fixes for the most common SEO issues.

Core Components of an Ecommerce SEO Audit

Unlike a traditional website audit, a well-rounded SEO audit for ecommerce focuses on five key components.

Key difference: A website audit focuses on improving website performance and user experience. On the flip side, an SEO audit targets issues and opportunities to level up your site’s organic visibility and traffic.

1. Technical SEO

Technical SEO ensures search engines can find, crawl, and index your website.

It prevents critical issues like:

Slow page speed
Duplicate content
Broken internal links
Wasted crawl budget

This is important for ecommerce websites since URL structures and large inventories can create crawlability concerns.

2. On-Page SEO

On-page SEO allows search engines to understand the content and purpose of each page on your site.

A strong on-page setup includes title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and more.

It also covers internal linking patterns to ensure link equity flows to your most important pages.

3. UX and Performance

This part of the audit evaluates:

Mobile responsiveness
Core Web Vitals
Overall usability

It helps optimize your UX, so visitors can easily navigate your store, stay longer, and convert.

4. Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO looks at external signals that influence your site’s authority, such as:

E-E-A-T
Backlinks
Online reviews
Brand mentions

Put simply, off-page SEO covers everything outside your website that shows search engines you’re a trustworthy brand.

5. Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis assesses how your site stacks up against other brands.

Benchmarking your performance against competitors helps you find gaps and opportunities to outrank competitors on organic search.

Now that you know what to audit, let’s walk through how to do it — step by step.

We’ll break it down into four practical stages that map back to the core components.

Download our free audit workbook to better understand every step and implement them for your business.

Backlinko – Ecommerce SEO Audit Workbook – Stages

Stage 1: Can Google Find My Store and Products?

Goal: Make sure products appear in organic search

Tools to use: Sitebulb, Screaming Frog, Semrush Site Audit, Google Search Console

A good ecommerce SEO audit starts by checking whether search engines can actually find, crawl, and index your pages.

No matter how well you optimize pages, they won’t rank or drive traffic if they’re invisible to search engines.

In short: This stage lays the groundwork for everything else that follows.

Here’s what to look for in this stage:

Check If Your Pages Are Indexed in Google

A web page becomes visible in search results and starts ranking only after it’s added to a search engine’s index.

Start your audit by heading to Google Search Console (GSC) to review the index status for your pages.

Open your GSC dashboard and go to the “Pages” report under the index section.

The report will list all non-indexed pages with specific reasons:

Discovered – currently not indexed
Crawled – currently not indexed
Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag
Page with redirect

If pages aren’t added to Google’s index, it could be due to issues with page quality, crawl budget, or duplicate content.

Use the “URL Inspection” tool to learn why a page isn’t indexed yet.

In this example, the URL has been discovered but not indexed.

Press the “Request Indexing” button to manually submit a page for indexing.

Ensure Key Pages Are in Sitemap and Crawlable

A clean, accurate sitemap helps search engines discover your most important pages.

Your sitemap should include hierarchical URLs for all types of pages, like categories, products, product versions, and more.

Here’s what an ecommerce store’s sitemap looks like:

Check whether your sitemap is updated automatically whenever you add new pages.

Open Google Search Console and go to the “Sitemaps” section.

This report shows when your sitemap was last submitted and read by Google. It also highlights the status and number of URLs discovered.

At the same time, check your robots.txt file.

This file tells search engines which parts of your site they shouldn’t crawl.

Go to yoursite.com/robots.txt to see if you’re unintentionally blocking any pages or folders.

You can use Google’s robots.txt Tester to validate your setup.

Further reading: 19 Sitemap Examples for Any Type of Website (+ Best Practices)

Identify and Fix 4xx/5xx Errors That Hurt Visibility

Check your HTTPS status codes to discover pages with 4xx or 5xx errors.

These errors explain why search engines can’t access your pages.

Site Audit – Backlinko – HTTPS Status Codes

Use tools like Screaming Frog and Semrush Site Audit to check your HTTPS status codes.

Here’s how to do it with Semrush:

Go to the Site Audit tool, and add your domain.

Follow the steps in this guide to configure and customize your Site Audit project before running the crawl.

When you’re ready, hit “Start audit.”

Once the results are in, navigate to the “HTTPS” part of the audit overview.

Site Audit – Backlinko – Overview – HTTPS box

Here, you’ll see any issues with HTTPS status codes and how to fix them.

Site Audit – Backlinko – HTTPS status codes issues

You can also go to the “Crawled Pages” section in your report and filter data based on status codes.

For example, I applied the “Issue Status” filter to find pages with broken or blocked status codes.

Site Audit – Crawled Pages – Advanced filters

Here are the filtered results showing all the pages meeting this criteria:

Review all the pages showing errors and plan ways to fix each type of error.

For example, if a page showing the 404 error is outdated and no longer needed, you can remove it from your sitemap.

Next steps: Check out our detailed guide on fixing broken links to improve your site’s SEO health.

Use Canonical Tags to Avoid Duplicate Content

Ecommerce sites often struggle with duplicate content due to multiple product variants or filtering options.

This can confuse search engines and affect your rankings.

That’s why canonical tags are important to tell search engines your
preferred version of a page.

For example, the athleisure brand Alo Yoga uses canonical tags for color variants, such as:

Steel grey: airlift-intrigue-bra-steel-grey
Anthracite: airlift-intrigue-bra-anthracite

To prevent search engines from seeing these pages as duplicate content, each product variant includes a canonical tag pointing to a single, main product URL.

Alo Yoga – Each product variant includes a canonical tag

Use free canonical checker tools like Detailed to check whether all product variants are canonicalized to the main URL.

Stage 2: Do People Discover and Visit My Pages?

Goal: Attract more clicks from organic search

Tools to use: Semrush Site Audit, Google’s Rich Results Test, Google Search Console

Your next step is optimizing your pages to rank well and appeal to searchers.

Focus on improving how your listings appear in search engine results pages (SERPs) and matching them to the right search intent.

This optimization can boost impressions, traffic, and, ultimately, revenue.

Here’s what to check in this stage:

Optimize Titles and Meta Descriptions for Clicks

Title tags and meta descriptions are often the first thing searchers see.

Are yours compelling enough to earn the click?

For example, when I search for “healthy soda,” I find this page by Zevia Soda.

The title tag emphasizes its main value proposition: Zero Sugar Natural Flavored Soda.

And the meta description doubles down on this, highlighting zero calories and the variety of flavors.

The bottom line: Write clear, convincing copy for these tags within the ideal word count. Write 60 characters for title tags and 100-120 for meta descriptions to ensure they display well on mobile.

Use Backlinko’s free SEO checker to find any critical issues here.

Add any page and hit “Check SEO” to get started.

Backlinko – Free SEO Checker – Aloyoga – Check SEO

Here’s how the tool flags issues related to your page’s title, headings, meta description, and other elements:

Backlinko – Free SEO Checker – Aloyoga – Issues Overview

Add Structured Schema for Rich Results

Schema markup with tags like Product, Review, and FAQs can enhance your listings with rich snippets.

Visual cues like pricing, ratings, discounts, and delivery details simplify the shopping experience and can boost CTR for your pages.

Here’s how they look:

Google SERP – Cookware sets – Popular products

Google’s Rich Results Test is a helpful tool to validate your schema markup with all these elements.

For example, I ran a test for a hair oil product page to see what kind of rich snippets it has.

The report indicated that this page has four snippets, but some of them are invalid.

On further analysis, I discovered that one of the snippets is missing the review and rating fields.

This product listing won’t qualify for full rich results unless you add such required fields to your schema.

Rich Results Test – Product missing field

That’s how you can review schema markup for individual pages.

To check the schema for all your pages, revisit your Site Audit report on Semrush.

In the Overview section, you’ll see data for the “Markup” category.

Site Audit – Backlinko – Overview – Markup box

Press “View details” to get deeper insights about your site’s schema.

For example, the report shows:

Number of pages with markup
Kind of schema markup for all pages
Type of structured data available for your pages.

Map Target Keywords to the Right Pages

Another crucial task in this stage is checking whether your keywords align with the actual user behavior and intent.

Map each page to its target keywords and search intent.

Evaluate this map to find pages targeting the wrong keywords or intents. Here’s an example:

Align Keyword Research with Customer Language

You can also run a Google search for your low-ranking keywords and see the kind of pages appearing in SERPs.

Then, compare these top-ranking pages with your content to find areas of improvement.

Further reading: 6 Proven Steps to Master Ecommerce Keyword Research

Optimize Images and Add Alt Text

Your online store can drive significant traffic by optimizing images and multimedia assets.

Image optimization can:

Improve search visibility
Rank for visual search terms
Help search engines understand your content

I searched “blue ceramic dinner plates” to see this in action.

Below the usual product listings, the images section also shows product listings for people to browse more options.

Google SERP – Blue ceramic dinner plates – Images

As a part of your audit, check whether your images have relevant file names and keyword-rich alt text.

Semrush’s Site Audit report will also flag images missing alt text attributes.

Site Audit – Backlinko – Issues – Alt attributes

Further reading: 15 Image SEO Tips for Better Image Optimization

Stage 3: Are Visitors Staying and Buying?

Goal: Improve on-site user experience and increase conversions

Tools to use: Google PageSpeed Insights, Google Mobile-Friendly Test, GTmetrix, Hotjar

The next part of your audit explores how shoppers interact with your site and whether they convert or bounce.

You want to know:

Are people spending enough time in your store?
Are they dropping off after viewing one product?
Is something in the user journey causing friction?

If people constantly leave your store without buying, your site’s UX might need help.

Here’s what to check in this stage:

Improve Load Times and Mobile Usability

Slow pages = Poor experience = Higher bounce rate.

An ecommerce site audit reveals which pages are loading slowly and need your attention.

It also tests your website’s responsiveness across different screens, especially mobile devices.

Google PageSpeed Insights is a trusted tool for evaluating your store’s user experience based on Core Web Vitals:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading speed
First Input Delay (FID): Tracks time to interactivity
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Checks visual stability during load

Here’s an example report I generated:

This page failed to meet the benchmark for a good user experience for mobile devices.

Remember to check the page speed specifically for mobile since Google’s mobile-first indexing approach prioritizes mobile devices.

Further reading: Mobile SEO: The Definitive Guide

Simplify Page Design and UX

Design plays a crucial role in instilling confidence among potential customers.

When you deliver a frictionless user experience with good design elements like CTAs, trust badges, and accessible navigation, users stick around for longer.

This sends powerful signals to search engines and improves SEO metrics like dwell time, page views, bounce rate, and more.

In fact, our ranking factors study reveals that pages with a higher “time on site” tend to rank higher in Google.

Get it right: Check out our best practices for SEO-friendly web design to create an intuitive user experience for your store.

Fix Pages Targeting the Same Keyword

Ecommerce sites often have multiple pages targeting the same keyword, like category filters or similar products.

As a result, many pages compete against each other for a keyword.

Since search engines can’t decide which page to rank higher, your rankings are diluted.

Refer to your Site Audit report to find errors pointing to duplicate content and identify:

Near-identical pages competing for the same keywords
Variants (color, size) are published as separate URLs

Pro tip: Use canonical tags, merge similar pages, or differentiate your content to fix cannibalization issues. Explore these solutions in our guide on keyword cannibalization.

Add Internal Links to Boost Relevance

Strategic internal links create logical paths between pages, keep users engaged longer, and distribute authority.

So, even if searchers land on one of your blog posts, they can find their way to a relevant product page and make a purchase.

Here’s how Tonal, a fitness equipment brand, does this in its articles:

Tonal – Internal links to boost relevance

Stage 4: Where Am I Behind My Competitors?

Goal: Identify and close SEO gaps to outperform competitors

Tools to use: Semrush SEO Toolkit, Moz Link Explorer, SimilarWeb

In the final stage of your ecommerce SEO site audit, broaden the scope and look at the competition.

If a competitor ranks above you for key terms or earns better backlinks, they’re claiming traffic that could be yours.

So, understand your competitive landscape to identify missed opportunities for your SEO efforts.

Audit and Strengthen Your Backlink Profile

Backlinks are another critical ranking signal.

If you operate in a competitive category, backlinks can have a decisive impact on your organic visibility and traffic.

Start with a backlink audit to see where you currently stand.

This audit will help you discover:

High-authority domains are already linking to your site
Toxic or spammy links that may hurt your rankings
Pages earning the most backlinks (and why)
Opportunities to reclaim or build new backlinks

You can also benchmark your backlink profile against competitors and plan the next steps.

I used Semrush’s Backlink Gap tool to compare Fabletics’ backlink profile with two competitors.

You can add up to four main competitors and press “Find prospects.”

Backlink Gap – Fabletics – Find prospects

The tool will analyze every site’s backlinks and show you curated prospects for your site.

You can find the best, strong, weak, shared, and unique domains that link to your competitors but not to you.

For Fabletics, the tool suggests domains like healthline.com, usnews.com, americanexpress.com, and more.

Use this data to prioritize outreach or content partnerships for your link-building efforts.

Backlink Gap – Fabletics – Prospects for

Uncover Keyword Gaps and Ranking Opportunities

Use tools like Semrush’s Keyword Gap or SimilarWeb to see which keywords your competitors rank for but you don’t.

This can help you:

Identify new content opportunities
Strengthen underperforming pages
Reclaim rankings for keywords you’ve lost visibility on

Focus especially on high-intent, bottom-funnel terms that drive conversions, not just traffic.

For example, let’s say a competitor ranks for “buy minimalist running shoes.”

If you sell the same type of product but don’t appear in search, that’s a clear gap — and a chance to win back visibility.

How to Prioritize SEO Issues You Identify in a Site Audit

When you’re looking at a laundry list of issues from your SEO audit, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

Everything looks important. Where do you even begin?

Our SEO audit workbook automatically calculates the priority level based on every issue’s impact, effort, and scope.

Backlinko – Ecommerce SEO Audit Workbook – Stage one

Impact

Find out how fixing an issue will move the needle for your business.

Will it increase traffic, rankings, or conversions?
Or, will it go largely unnoticed by search engines and shoppers?

The easiest way to determine impact is by looking at which pages are affected.

If high-revenue category or product pages are at stake, it’s a high-impact problem.

But if the problem is restricted to low-ranking blog posts, then the stakes are lower.

Effort

Once you’ve categorized issues on a scale of low to high impact, consider the effort required to fix each one.

Realistically calculate effort in terms of time, technical complexity, and capacity required to resolve a problem.

Scope

Scope looks at scale.

Estimate how big the problem is by checking if it’s:

Isolated
Page-level
Site-wide

And if it’s a page-level concern, you want to zoom into the type of pages affected.

Prioritization Framework

Here’s how you can prioritize issues based on impact, effort, and scope:

Priority 1 (Quick wins): Resolving these concerns can lead to significant SEO gains without draining resources
Priority 2 (Can be urgent): Some of these issues need attention because they can affect your key revenue drivers
Priority 3 (Rarely urgent): Automating or handling these issues in monthly cycles is a good bet
Priority 4 (Low impact): Spending resources on these time-consuming tasks can delay more meaningful work

Here are a few examples to see this prioritization framework in action:

Backlinko – Ecommerce SEO Audit Workbook – Issues

Troubleshooting Guide

We created a quick guide listing the solutions for some of the most common SEO issues for ecommerce stores.

When you’re ready with a prioritized list, refer to this guide to find potential causes and solutions quickly.

Backlinko – Ecommerce SEO Audit Workbook – Troubleshooting Guide

Build a Store That Google (and Shoppers) Love

Your online store has untapped potential.

A structured SEO audit gives you clarity to realize this potential.

It pinpoints where you’re losing traffic, which pages are underperforming, and what fixes will move the needle.

Work through our ecommerce SEO audit checklist to identify issues and implement solutions.

And when you’re ready to level up your strategy, check out our guide on the best strategies for ecommerce SEO.

It’s packed with examples, workflows, and tools to help you turn organic traffic into your best-performing channel.

The post Run An Ecommerce SEO Audit in 4 Stages [+ Free Workbook] appeared first on Backlinko.

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Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): How to Win in AI Search

July 9, 2025/0 Comments/in Web Design News/by

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is quickly becoming one of the most important new topics in search.

As large language models (LLMs) change how users discover brands and make decisions, GEO helps ensure your content and brand show up in AI-generated answers — not just in traditional search results.

But GEO is just one part of a bigger shift.

We’re entering the era of Search Everywhere (in fact, we’re already in it).

Discovery is no longer confined to Google search results pages.

It’s happening everywhere users seek trusted information and recommendations.

And new data shows just how fast this shift is accelerating.

New research from Semrush predicts that LLM traffic will overtake traditional Google search by the end of 2027.

Google and LLM Unique Visitor Growth Projection (Moderate Case)

And our own data suggests that’s likely to be true.

In just the past three months, we’ve seen an 800% year-over-year increase in referrals from LLMs.

We’re seeing tens of millions of additional impressions in Google Search Console as AI Overviews reshape how Google displays answers.

If your brand isn’t adapting, you could soon be invisible online.

In this guide, I’ll explain:

What GEO is and how it’s different from SEO
Why you shouldn’t throw away everything you’ve already learned
The top techniques that will help you optimize your content for generative engines (and drive results for your business in the process)

What Is GEO and Why Does It Matter?

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of creating and optimizing content so that it appears in AI-generated answers on platforms like Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.

But GEO goes beyond content optimization. It’s a holistic approach that includes:

Publishing content in the right places where AI tools are most likely to discover it
Earning positive brand mentions across the web, even without direct links
Ensuring technical accessibility so AI crawlers can easily access and understand your content

Instead of focusing only on traditional rankings, you’re making sure your brand becomes part of what AI tools say when users ask questions.

These tools “generate” responses to queries in conversational language. While they can include links, the goal is to give the searcher what they need within the response.

So in GEO, your content needs to shape the conversation, not just try to win a click.

Why GEO Matters Now

Traditional Google search still dominates.

It’ll likely continue to drive most of your traffic in the near term.

But the way people discover information is changing — fast.

Success used to mean ranking at the top of the SERP.

Looking forward, there may not even be a “top spot.”

Instead, you need to become the top recommendation — the solution AI tools choose to recommend in their answers.

The data tells the story:

ChatGPT reached 100 million users faster than any app in history. And as of February 2025, it now has more than 400 million weekly users.

Google’s AI Overviews now appear on billions of searches every month — at least 13% of all SERPs.

And they appear for more than half of the keywords we track at Backlinko:

Organic Research – Backlinko – Positions & AI Overview

Generative engines are influencing YOUR audience too. So it makes sense to start optimizing for them now.

How GEO and SEO Work Together

Before we go any further, let’s get one thing straight:

You might look at this guide and think,

“Isn’t this just SEO with a different name?”

And honestly?

In many ways, it is. But there’s a reason everyone’s talking about it.

Terms like GEO, AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), and AIO (AI Optimization) have exploded in interest — because they reflect a real shift.

And with all the acronyms flying around, it can be tough to know who to listen to.

We’re not saying GEO replaces SEO.

But it does help reframe your strategy for how discovery works now — across AI tools, social platforms, and new surfaces beyond traditional search.

From Traditional SEO to Search Everywhere

Evolving From	Evolving To
SEO = Google Search	SEO = multi-surface visibility (Search, AI/LLMs, social)
Success = ranking for keywords	Success = being found across Search + Chat
SEO is a siloed function	SEO is cross-functional + connected to product, brand, PR, and social
Keyword-first content planning	Intent and entity-driven topic planning with semantic structure
Backlinks to pass PageRank	Traditional backlinks plus more focus on brand mentions and co-citations
Traffic as a core KPI	Visibility, influence, and conversions across touchpoints as core KPIs
Technical SEO as the foundation	Technical SEO as the foundation (with additional focus on JavaScript compatibility)

That means there’s good news:

If you’ve invested in good SEO, you’re already a lot of the way there.

GEO builds on the foundation of great SEO:

Creating high-quality content for your specific audience
Making it easy for search engines to access and understand
Earning credible mentions across the web

These same elements help AI engines decide which brands to reference.

But here’s the difference:

AI engines don’t work exactly like Google.

That means some of your tactics (and what you track) need to evolve.

So let’s walk through how to do that.

7-Step GEO Action Plan

We’re still in the early days of understanding exactly how AI engines pull and prioritize content.

But one thing is clear:

You need to adapt or reprioritize some traditional SEO tactics for Generative Engine Optimization.

The first three steps below cover overarching best practices for GEO.

Steps 4-7 cover optimizing content for generative engines specifically (and how to track your results).

Step 1. Nail the Basics of SEO

As I said earlier, good GEO is also generally good SEO. But not everything you do as part of your wider SEO strategy is as important for generative engine optimization.

I won’t go through all the fundamentals of SEO here. We do that in our guide to the SEO basics.

Let’s focus on what really matters for generative engines.

Make Your Site Easy to Read (for Bots)

Crawlable and indexable: If AI tools can’t access your pages, you won’t show up in answers
Fast and mobile-friendly: Slow, clunky sites hurt UX — and your chances of getting cited
Secure (HTTPS): This is now table stakes, and it builds trust with users and AI systems
Server-side rendering: Some AI crawlers still struggle with JavaScript, so use server-side rendering as opposed to client-side rendering where you can

Show You’re Worth Trusting (E-E-A-T)

AI wants trustworthy sources. That means showing E-E-A-T:

Experience: Share real results, personal use, or firsthand knowledge
Expertise: Stick to topics you truly know — and go deep
Authority: Get quoted, guest post, or contribute to well-known sites
Trust: Use real author bios, cite sources, and include reviews or testimonials

Note: We’re not suggesting these AI tools have any sort of “system” built into them that aligns with what we call E-E-A-T. But it makes sense that they’ll prefer to cite content from reputable sources with expertise. This provides a better user experience and makes the AI tools themselves more reliable. Also, download our Free Template: E-E-A-T Evaluation Guide: 46-Point Audit

Step 2. Build Mentions and Co-Citations

AI systems don’t just look at backlinks to understand your authority. They pay attention to every mention of your brand across the web, even when those mentions don’t include a clickable link.

Backlinks are still important. But this changes how you should think about building your wider online presence.

Audit Your Current Mentions

Start by auditing where you’re currently mentioned. Search for your brand name, product names, and key team members across Google, social media, and industry forums.

Take note of what people are saying and where those conversations are happening.

You’ll probably find mentions you didn’t know existed. Some will be positive, others neutral, and a few might need your attention.

Also run your brand name and related terms through the AI tools themselves.

Does Google’s AI Mode cite your brand as a source for relevant terms?
Does ChatGPT know who your team members are?
What kind of sentiment do the answers have when you just plainly ask the tools about your brand?

For a more in-depth sentiment analysis, use Semrush’s AI Toolkit.

It’ll let you track your LLM visibility (a by-product of good GEO) in top tools compared to your rivals:

Semrush AI Toolkit – Share of Voice by Platform

The tool compares your brand to your rivals in terms of AI visibility, market share, and sentiment:

Semrush AI Toolkit – Share of Voice vs. Sentiment

And it’ll show you where your brand strengths are and where you can improve:

Semrush AI Toolkit – Key Sentiment Drivers

Want to track your brand’s AI visibility? Get a free interactive demo of Semrush’s AI Toolkit to see how you can compare to competitors across ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI platforms.

Keep Building Quality Backlinks

Just because mentions are more important than before with GEO, it doesn’t mean you should abandon traditional link building. Backlinks still matter for SEO, and they often lead to the kind of authoritative mentions that AI systems value.

But expand your focus beyond just getting links.

Further reading: How to Get High Quality Backlinks

Aim to Build Co-Citations and Co-Occurences

There are a few different definitions out there of co-citation and co-occurence.

I’ll be honest: the definitions don’t matter as much as the implications. I’ve seen one source define co-citations as the exact thing another source calls co-occurence. So for this section, I’m just going to talk about what these are and why they matter, without getting bogged down in definitions.

The first important way to think of co-citations/co-occurences is simply the mention of one thing alongside another.

In the case of GEO, we’re usually talking about your brand or website being mentioned alongside a different website or topic/concept on another website.

For example, if your brand is Monday.com, you’ll pick up co-citations involving:

Your competitors (ClickUp, Asana etc.)
Key terms or categories associated with your business (like “project management software”)
Specific concepts or questions related to what you do (e.g., “kanban boards” and “how to automate workflows”)

In Monday’s case, there are hundreds of pages out there that mention it alongside ClickUp and Asana in the context of “project management tools”:

Google SERP – Monday, ClickUp, project management tools

This suggests to Google and other generative AI tools that Monday and ClickUp are both related to the term “project management tools” and are both popular providers of this kind of software.

The other common way to think about co-citations is mentions of your brand across different, often unrelated websites. For example, Monday being mentioned on Forbes and Zapier would be a co-citation involving them.

To sum it up:

If two (or more) brands/websites are often mentioned alongside each other, AI tools will assume they are related (i.e., they’re competitors)
If a brand is often mentioned in the context of a particular topic, concept, or industry, AI tools will assume the brand is related to those things (i.e., what you offer)
If lots of different websites mention a particular brand, the AI tools will assume that brand is worth talking about (i.e., probably trustworthy)

Obviously, there’s a lot more to it, but this is a fairly basic overview of what’s going on.

How to Put This into Action

To build citations, co-citations, and co-occurences:

Look for opportunities to get mentioned alongside your competitors. When publications write comparison articles or industry roundups, you want your name in that list. These co-citations help AI systems understand where you fit in your market.
Participate in industry surveys and research studies. When analysts publish reports about your sector, being included gives you credibility (and any backlinks are a bonus).
Get involved in relevant online communities. Answer questions on Reddit, contribute to LinkedIn discussions, and join industry-specific forums. These interactions create mentions in places where AI systems often look for authentic, community-driven insights.

Reddit – Answer questions & interactions

The goal is to become a recognized voice in your space. The more often your brand appears in relevant contexts across the web, the more likely AI systems are to include you in their responses.

Step 3. Go Multi-Platform

Going beyond Google is something top SEOs have been telling us to do for a long time. But AI has made this an absolute must.

Platforms like Reddit, YouTube, and other user-generated content sites appear frequently in AI outputs.

So, a strong brand presence on these platforms could help you show up more often.

The benefits here are (at least) three-fold:

Being active on multiple platforms lets you reach your audience where they are. This helps you boost engagement, brand awareness, and, of course, drive more conversions.
AI tools don’t just look at Google search results. They pull from forums, social media, YouTube, and lots of other places beyond traditional SERPs.
Being active on multiple platforms means you’re less exposed to one particular algorithm or audience. Diversification is just good practice for a business.

Brian Dean did an excellent job of this when he was running Backlinko. That’s why you’ll see his videos appear in Google SERPs for ultra-competitive keywords like “how to do SEO”:

We’re taking our own advice here. In fact, it’s a big part of why we launched the Backlinko YouTube channel:

Here’s some quick-fire guidance for putting this into practice:

People go to YouTube to learn how to do things, research products, and find solutions to their problems. This makes product reviews, tool comparisons, and in-depth tutorials great candidates for YouTube content.
Podcast content and transcripts are beginning to surface in AI results (especially in Gemini). Building a presence here is a great opportunity to grab some AI visibility.
TikTok and Instagram Reels reach younger audiences who increasingly use these apps for search. Short-form videos that answer common questions in your industry can drive discovery, and AI tools can also cite these in their responses to user questions.
AI tools LOVE to cite Reddit as a source of user-generated answers (especially Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode). To grow your presence on the platform, find subreddits where your target audience hangs out and share genuinely helpful advice when people ask questions related to your expertise. Don’t promote your business directly — focus on being useful first.
LinkedIn works similarly to Reddit for B2B topics. Publish thoughtful posts and engage in relevant discussions to help establish your voice in professional circles. These interactions can then get picked up by AI systems looking for expert perspectives.

Step 4. Find Out What AI Platforms Are Citing for Your Niche

What’s a powerful way to understand both what to create and what topics to target?

To simply learn what AI tools are likely to include in their responses to questions that are relevant to your business.

Start by directly testing whether/how your content appears in AI tools right now. Go to ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity and ask questions that your content should answer.

In the example below, Backlinko is mentioned (great), but there’s also a YouTube video front and center. And forums are appearing too. These are places we might want to consider creating content or engaging with conversations.

As you do this for your brand, pay attention to the sources they cite:

Are they commonly mentioning your competitors?
What platforms do they tend to cite? (Reddit, YouTube etc.)
What’s the sentiment of mentions of both your brand and your competitors?

As you do this, try different variations of the same question.

For example, you could ask “What’s the best email marketing software?”

Claude – What's the best email marketing software

Then try “Which email marketing tool should I use for my small business?”

Claude – Marketing tool for small business

Notice how the answers change and which sources get mentioned consistently.

In the example above, the first prompt mentioned MailerLite, which was absent in the list for small businesses. But the second prompt pushed Mailchimp to the top and mentioned three new options (Constant Contact, Brevo, and ActiveCampaign).

If you were MailerLite and trying to reach small businesses, you’d want to understand why you’re not being cited for that particular prompt.

Pro tip: Try it with different tools as well. They each have their own preferences when it comes to citing sources, so it’s a good idea to test a couple of them.

You can automate this process with tools like Profound or Peec AI. These platforms run prompts at scale, helping you understand how and where your brand appears. But they can be pricey.

That’s why I recommend you spend some time running these prompts manually at first.

By the way:

This isn’t just important for “big brands” or those selling products. You can (and should) do this if you run a blog, local business website, or even a personal portfolio.

For example, consultants and freelancers will find these tools often cite marketplaces like Upwork and Dribbble. If you don’t have a profile on there, you’ll likely struggle to get much AI visibility.

ChatGPT – Top freelance graphic designers Cleveland

And if you’re a local business owner, you’ll often find specific service and location pages appear in AI responses:

ChatGPT – Emergency plumber Santa Monica

This is useful for understanding the types of content you should be focusing on for GEO. Now it’s time to decide what topics to focus on in your content.

Step 5. Answer Your Audience’s Questions

The way people search with AI tools is fundamentally different from how we use traditional Google search. This changes how you should plan your content.

Traditional SEO taught you to target specific keywords. You’d create a page optimized for “healthy meal prep ideas” and try to rank for that phrase.

But what happens when people are instead searching for “what to cook for dinner when I’m trying to lose weight”?

The answer might involve healthy meal prep as a solution, but it’s a completely different prompt (not a search) that gets to that answer (not a SERP).

When you run these queries through Google’s AI Mode, you see two totally different sets of sources and content types.

For the “healthy meal prep ideas” query (which is a perfectly valid and searchable term), the focus is listicles, single recipes, and YouTube videos. And the format is categories (bowls, wraps, and sandwiches etc.) with specific recipes:

Google AI Mode – Healthy meal prep ideas

But for “what to cook for dinner when I’m trying to lose weight,” the sources are primarily lists, forum results, or articles specifically around weight loss.

In this case, the format of the answer is largely broad tips for cooking healthily and then some general cooking styles or meal types, rather than specific recipes:

As more users realize they can use conversational language to make their searches, longer queries will become more common. This makes this kind of intent analysis critical.

These longer, more specific queries represent huge opportunities. Most companies aren’t creating content that answers these detailed questions.

The more specific the question, the more likely you are to show up when AI systems look for authoritative answers. You want to own the long-tail queries that relate directly to your product or expertise.

But:

You obviously can’t reasonably expect to create content for every single long-tail query out there. So how do you approach this in an efficient way?

How to Choose the Questions to Answer

Start by listening to the actual questions your customers ask.

Check your customer support tickets, sales calls, and user feedback. These real questions from real people often make the best content topics — because they’re the same kinds of questions people will ask these AI tools.

Don’t have any customers? No problem.

Use community platforms to find these conversational queries. Reddit, Quora, and industry forums are goldmines for discovering how people actually talk about problems in your space.

Step 6. Structure Your Content for Generative Engines

AI systems process information differently than humans do. They break content into chunks and analyze how those pieces relate to each other.

Think of it like featured snippets but more granular, and for much more than just direct questions.

This means the way you structure your content directly impacts whether AI systems can understand and cite it effectively.

Note: A lot of what I say below is just good writing practice. So while this stuff isn’t necessarily “revolutionary,” these techniques are going to become more important as you focus on GEO.

One Idea per Paragraph

Keep your paragraphs short and focused on one main idea.

When you stuff multiple concepts into a single paragraph, you make it harder for AI systems to extract the specific information they need.

Also avoid burying important information in the middle of long sentences or paragraphs. Front-load your key points so they’re easy to find and extract.

And guess what?

It also makes it easier for your human readers to understand too. So it’s a win-win.

Use Clear Headings

Use clear headings and subheadings to organize your content logically.

Think of these as signposts that help both readers and LLMs navigate your information. And make sure your content immediately under the headings logically ties to the heading itself.

For example, look at the headings in this section. Then read the first sentence under each one.

Notice how they’re all clearly linked?

This is a common technique when trying to rank for featured snippets. You’d have an H2 with some content that immediately answers the question…

…and this would rank for the featured snippet for that query:

Google SERP – SEO strategy – Featured snippet

This is still a valid strategy for traditional search. But for GEO, you need to have this mindset throughout your content.

Don’t make every H2 be a question (this will quickly end up looking over-optimized). But do make sure the content that follows your (logical) headings is clearly linked to the heading itself.

Break Up Complex Topics into Digestible Sections

If you’re explaining a complex or multi-step process, use numbered steps and clear transitions between each part.

This makes it easier for AI systems to pull out individual steps when someone asks for specific instructions. And it’ll make it much easier for your readers to follow.

Also write clear, concise summaries for complex topics. AI systems often look for these kinds of digestible explanations when they need to quickly convey information to users.

Include Quotes and Clear Statements

Include direct quotes and clear statements that AI systems can easily extract.

Why is this worth your time?

Because pages with quotes or statistics have been shown to have 30-40% higher visibility in AI answers.

ChatGPT – Why is SEO important for a small business

So instead of saying “Email marketing could be an effective channel for your business,” write “Email marketing generates an average ROI of $42 for every dollar spent.”

Note: Don’t just flood your content with quotes and stats. Only include them when they actually add value to your content and are useful for your readers.

Use Schema Markup

Schema markup gives you another way to structure information for machines. This code helps systems understand what type of content you’re presenting.

For example, FAQ schema tells algorithms that you’re answering common questions. HowTo schema identifies step-by-step instructions.

You don’t need to be a developer to add schema markup. Many content management systems (like WordPress) have plugins that handle this automatically.

Make It Scannable

Use formatting like bold text to highlight important facts or conclusions and make it easier for readers to skim your content. This helps both human readers and AI systems identify the most important information quickly.

This has always been a big focus of content on Backlinko. We use lots of images to convey our most important points and add clarity through visualizations:

Backlinko Hub – SEO Internal Links – Segment

And we use clear headings to make our articles easy to follow:

Backlinko – SEO Site Audit – Clear headings – Collage

The goal is to make your content as accessible as possible to both humans and machines. Well-structured content performs better across all types of search and discovery.

And if your content is enjoyable to engage with, it’s probably going to do a better job of converting users into customers as well.

Step 7. Track Your Visibility in LLMs

How often are tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini mentioning your brand?

If you’re not tracking this yet — you should be.

Tracking your visibility in AI-generated responses helps you understand what’s working and where you need to focus your efforts.

But where do you start? And what should you track?

Manual Testing as a Starting Point

Start with manual testing. This is the simplest way to see how you’re performing right now.

Ask the same questions across different AI platforms, like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google (both AI Mode and AI Overviews). Take screenshots of the responses and note which sources get cited.

Do this regularly, and you’ll start to see patterns in which types of content get mentioned and how your visibility changes over time.

Honestly though: you’re going to struggle to get a lot of meaningful data doing this manually. And it’s not scalable. Plus, so much of what an AI tool outputs to a user depends on the previous context, like:

Past conversations
Previous prompts within the same conversation
Project or chat settings

This makes it challenging to get truly accurate data by yourself. This is really more of a “feel” test that, in the absence of dedicated tools, can provide a very rough idea of how generative engines perceive your brand.

Use LLM Tracking Tools

For more comprehensive tracking, dedicated tools can automate this process.

Platforms like Semrush Enterprise AIO help you track your brand’s visibility across AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s AI Overviews.

It shows you exactly where you stand against competitors and gives you actionable steps to improve.

Competitive Rankings is my favorite feature. Instead of guessing why competitors might rank better in AI responses, you get actual data showing mention frequency and context.

Another option is Ziptie.dev. It’s not the most polished tool yet, but they’re doing some really interesting work — especially around surfacing unlinked mentions across AI outputs.

If you already have Semrush, then the Organic Research report within the SEO Toolkit does provide some tracking for Google AI Overviews specifically.

You can track which keywords you (or your competitors) rank for that have an AI Overview on the SERP. If you don’t currently appear in the overview, that’s a keyword worth targeting.

Organic Research – Backlinko – AI Overview

Tracking the keywords you do rank for in these AIOs over time can help you gauge the performance of your GEO strategy.

Why Talk to Your Boss (or Clients) About GEO?

You’ve seen the steps. Now you need a story.

GEO isn’t just a tactical shift — it’s a way to explain what’s changing in search without resorting to hype.

GEO helps you frame those changes clearly:

Traditional SEO still works
Your past investments are still paying off
But the bar is higher now
Visibility means more than rankings
Your brand needs to be mentioned, cited, and trusted across every channel

GEO gives you the framework to explain what’s changing and how to stay ahead of it.

You Need to Start Now to Stay Visible

This space is evolving fast. New capabilities are rolling out monthly.

The key is to start tracking now so that you can benchmark where you are and spot new opportunities as AI search matures.

Grow your presence by adding a GEO approach on top of your SEO efforts:

Continue optimizing for strong rankings and authority (AI still leans on this)
But now, prioritize content and signals that AI engines are more likely to reference directly

Want to learn more about where the world of search is heading? Check out our video with Backlinko’s founder Brian Dean. We dive into how search habits are changing and how you can build a resilient, multi-channel brand.

The post Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): How to Win in AI Search appeared first on Backlinko.

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15 Marketing Ideas for Your Small Businesses (+ Free Checklist)

July 1, 2025/0 Comments/in Web Design News/by

Your small business doesn’t need a huge budget to get noticed.

In 2025, the most effective marketing doesn’t come from expensive ad campaigns or complicated funnels.

It comes from authentic content that connects with your audience.

Take Edeles Candles, for example.

This handmade candle brand has nearly 90K TikTok followers and 500K likes.

How did a small business get this kind of exposure?

By posting simple behind-the-scenes videos of candle-making.

No fancy production or big teams. Just engaging content that reaches thousands of potential customers every week.

@edeles.candles Demolding the Hourglass Candle. ✨ Better late than never, happy second Advent. 🫣🕯️ #candleshop #edelescandles #naturaldecor #candlemaking #candlediy #homedecor #demolding #demoldingvideo #wax #candle #handmade #smallbusinessowner #candlelover #candlelight #asmr #candleideas #christmascandle #giftideas ♬ Originalton – EdelesCandles

And TikTok is just one path.

In this article, you’ll find 15 marketing ideas for small businesses that drive real results.

Each one is broken down by effort, impact, and budget. So, you can choose the ones that fit your resources and goals.

Bonus: Many of the ideas are free or low-cost.

Helpful resource: Download our free Small Business Marketing Checklist to stay organized as you implement these strategies. It includes a notes section to help you plan next steps as you read.

Let’s start with one of the top tactics for small businesses — video.

1. Grab Attention with Short-Form Videos

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	High	Free to low

Short-form video is hands down the best marketing idea for small business owners in 2025.

Especially if you want to increase brand awareness.

Why?

Because platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are specifically designed to push your content to people who don’t follow you.

This gives you a chance to get discovered even if you don’t have an existing audience.

For example, Toasted Mallow, a gourmet marshmallow shop, got over 1 million views on TikTok.

And they did it by sharing a no-frills look at how they make their treats:

@toastedmallow Cookie dough filled marshmallows!! #elfitup #pushin🅿️ #socialshopping #foodtiktok #music #dessert ♬ Lost – Frank Ocean

You could do something similar, no matter what you sell.

Think quick tips, transformations, or behind-the-scenes peeks. The key is posting content that’s authentic and valuable.

Pro tip: Use trending audio from TikTok, Reels, or Shorts and targeted hashtags to show algorithms your content is timely and boost your reach.

Not sure which platform to start with? Go with the one your audience already uses the most.

And don’t worry about fancy equipment. Use your phone camera and film near natural lighting for the best results.

Add engaging captions, voiceovers, and sound effects with tools like CapCut.

It’s beginner-friendly and makes your videos look polished without pro editing skills.

2. Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	High	Free

If you have a local business, optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the easiest (and most important) ways to help customers find you.

This is because it can majorly boost your visibility in Google Maps and local search results.

Like when someone types “car wash in jacksonville” and sees prominent listings like this:

Google SERP – Car wash in Jacksonville – Businesses

This kind of exposure can lead to more foot traffic, phone calls, and bookings.

But only if your profile is fully optimized.

Keep your info accurate and complete. Include business hours, address, website, and service areas.

Island Time Car Wash Jacksonville Florida – Contact details

Add high-quality photos that are helpful to customers and inspire confidence.

For example, post action photos and show the outside of your location so it’s easy to find.

And don’t forget reviews.

Signals like your average rating, number of reviews, and how recent they are all affect local SEO and buyer trust.

Google Maps – Car wash Jacksonville – Ratings & Reviews

Make it a habit to ask for reviews after a positive experience, and respond to every one.

(Yes, even any negative comments you get, too.)

3. Create Helpful Website and Blog Content

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate to high	High	Free to high

Attract your ideal customer with content on your website and blog that answers users’ questions.

This improves your chances of ranking organically and capturing steady traffic.

Use tools like Google Autocomplete, Semrush, or AnswerThePublic to uncover what your audience is asking.

Google SERP – What to wear under a dress shirt – People also ask

Then, create content that answers those questions.

(While subtly introducing your product or service as the fix.)

Use AI writing tools to speed up content creation.

ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and other tools can generate briefs, outlines, and content of all kinds.

Here’s a sample prompt to get started (the more details, the better):

Write a [blog post/social media caption/email newsletter] about [your topic] for [target audience – include their biggest challenges or goals]. Keep the tone [professional/conversational/friendly] and focus on [key benefit/solution]. Include [relevant examples, statistics, or case studies]. Make it [word count/length] and end with [specific call-to-action].

Heavily edit the draft for accuracy, brand voice, and your expertise.

Done right, a single blog post can become your hardest-working salesperson.

For example, Leigh McKenzie, Backlinko’s head of Growth, uses content to promote his ecommerce brand, Underfit.

Using Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool, Leigh identifies the search terms people type into Google to find products like his.

Like “what to wear under a dress shirt” and “types of undershirts.”

Keyword Magic Tool – What to wear under a dress shirt – Keywords

Then, he creates content that directly answers those queries.

Like this blog post on what to wear under a dress shirt, which includes comparison tables and fabric tips.

It also subtly directs readers to Underfit’s products with a banner that includes trust signals.

Language like “get your money back” gives prospects the confidence to buy.

4. Use SMS to Instantly Reach Customers

Effort	Impact	Budget
Low	Moderate	Low to moderate

Want to grab your customers’ attention fast? Text them.

With open rates as high as 98%, SMS is one of the most effective ways to promote offers or send reminders.

It works especially well for service-based businesses where timing matters.

Like salons, restaurants, clinics, fitness studios, and local shops.

The key is to keep it short, clear, and genuinely useful. SMS isn’t the place for long messages or hard sells.

Smart ways to use SMS include:

Flash sales or last-minute discounts
Appointment reminders or confirmations
Shipping updates or order status
VIP-only offers or restock alerts
Event reminders or holiday hours

Test what types of messages drive the most engagement.

And always ask for SMS opt-in at checkout and include an easy way to unsubscribe.

5. Encourage Customers to Share Their Experience on Social Media

Effort	Impact	Budget
Low	Moderate to high	Free

One of the easiest ways to build trust? Ask your customers to share their experience.

Called user-generated content (UGC), this is when customers organically share photos, videos, or reviews about your brand.

This creates authentic, unpaid social proof that builds trust and boosts visibility.

Many people will be happy to post about your products online — they may just need a little nudge.

Add a short, friendly request in your post-purchase email
Offer a small incentive, like a discount on their next order
Encourage customers to tag you on social with a branded hashtag
Include a review prompt on your thank-you or packaging insert

For example, let’s say you run a ceramic shop. When someone buys a handmade mug from your brand, include a thank you card that says:

“We’d love to see how you use your mug! Tag us @CozyClay and use #MyMorningMug to be featured.”

This simple prompt can inspire unboxing videos, photos, or short video reviews — all of which are great for reshares.

Once you start receiving tags, repost customer content, and comment on the posts. This helps you connect with your customers and further your reach.

For example, Sol, a beach beanie bag company, has a dedicated “You” Highlight on Instagram:

It features tagged Stories from real customers using their products at the beach.

This works as a social proof and a visual guide for new buyers.

6. Partner with UGC Creators

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	High	Moderate

While UGC is created organically by customers, UGC creators are paid to make content for your brand.

The best part? They don’t come with the influencer price tag.

Pro tip: You’ll pay around $150 to $300 per video for UGC creator content (some creators accept free products as an incentive). In comparison, you’d pay $1,250 to $2,500 for a macro-influencer (100K to 500K followers) and $2,500+ for a mega-influencer (500K+ followers).

UGC creators produce content (like unboxings, demos, or testimonials) that you own and can use across your marketing channels.

This includes ads, social media posts, or landing pages.

The benefit? Content that feels genuine while giving you complete control over where and how it’s used.

Here’s how to get started:

Decide what kind of content you need — e.g., product demo, lifestyle use, review, testimonial
Find creators on platforms like Influee and Billo
Clarify deliverables and usage rights
Post on your socials or use in paid ads

For example, HiZoo, a massage device brand, partnered with a UGC creator who filmed herself trying their product for the first time.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by HiZoo (@hizooco)

In the video, she shares genuine reactions about how the product feels and works.

The content feels like a real customer review, not a polished ad. Which encourages likes and comments.

Instagram – Real customer review – Likes & comments

This gives the brand an opportunity to build trust and credibility (and sell more products).

Use a tool like Modash to find creators who’ve already posted about similar products to yours — they’re more likely to say yes and nail the tone you want.

7. Use AI Chatbots to Promote Your Business 24/7

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	Moderate to high	Free to low

Never miss a lead or lose a customer to long wait times.

AI chatbots help you deliver instant, personalized support 24/7.

And happier customers = more sales.

Whether on your website or social media channels, chatbots make sure you’re always available to answer questions, remove buying friction, and close sales.

Chatbots can:

Answer FAQs
Take orders
Book appointments
Recommend products
Escalate customer service issues

You can even build a bot that sounds just like you.

Upload your service descriptions, common responses, and FAQs to tools like Tidio or Manychat.

This allows you to create a chatbot that mimics your tone and expertise.

For example, Attendant, a UK coffee chain, is a great example of how businesses of all sizes can use chatbots to reduce customer service inquiries.

While improving customer service at the same time.

The chatbot offers instant answers to common customer questions.

Like “are your cafes dog friendly” and “when do you end serving breakfast.”

It’s like cloning your best customer service rep, minus the payroll.

8. Collect Prospect Info with Lead Magnets

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	High	Low

A lead magnet is a free resource you offer in exchange for someone’s email. Like a discount, template, or ebook.

When done right, it attracts high-intent leads who are more likely to buy over time.

Here’s how to make it work:

Solve a specific problem. Think budgeting template, skincare quiz, or a free sample tied to your product
Make it a natural extension of your offer. Sell time-tracking software? A “Weekly Productivity Planner” is a perfect match. Run a meal prep business? Offer a “3-Day Healthy Eating Kickstart.”
Promote it everywhere. Homepage banners, blog posts, social captions, link in bio, and pop-ups. Mention your lead magnet in any social media videos you create — and don’t forget to add a link to it in the caption or comments.

For example, Budget With Mel, a personal finance blogger, offers a free budgeting template on her blog.

Users provide a first name and email address to access the template.

Since the template was pre-filled with formulas that auto-calculate totals, the value is instantly clear to the user.

All they have to do is plug in numbers to instantly see where their money’s going.

It’s frictionless, helpful, and directly tied to her paid offers.

9. Create an Email Newsletter

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	Moderate	Free to low

A monthly or weekly email newsletter is one of the easiest ways to stay connected to your audience.

Whether you have an ecommerce business or own a boutique, your newsletter can become a go-to resource that builds loyalty over time.

Share helpful tips, seasonal offerings, behind-the-scenes updates, and promote your products or services.

So, how do you get started?

Email marketing tools like Kit and Mailchimp offer customizable newsletter templates that make it easy to send professional newsletters.

(Without the need for design skills.)

Set a recurring send date (like every Tuesday) and stick to it.

This way, subscribers know what to expect.

Maintain your brand voice when writing your newsletter. And consider adding personalization to your strategy as you get more advanced.

Pet supplement brand Adored Beast Apothecary’s newsletter is a great example of how to mix education with subtle promotion.

For example, this issue opens with fun, educational content on dog behavior.

This keeps pet owners engaged and builds trust. Even if they’re not ready to buy something right away.

They also include links to additional content about common pet health issues.

By driving traffic back to their site, they extend the customer journey and increase the chances of a future sale.

And position themselves as a reliable expert.

The newsletter ends with a short product section recommending relevant supplements.

It’s a smooth transition from education to solution. (So it feels helpful rather than pushy.)

10. Turn Reviews and Testimonials into Visual Proof

Effort	Impact	Budget
Low to moderate	Moderate	Free to low

Got happy customers?

Turn their praise into visual content that does the selling for you.

Collect reviews from emails, DMs, social media comments, or your Google Business Profile.

Or ask a happy client to record a 30-second selfie-style video.

Then, share these testimonials on your social media accounts. Like the owner of popular TikTok account Destiny Media Marketing does.

To promote her business, she collects client reviews and turns them into persuasive carousel posts.

TikTok – Destiny Media Marketing – Client reviews

She also shares short testimonial videos.

Like this one from a satisfied client who left her a glowing review about her services.

@destinymediamarketing Thank you so much Katie Grace Films 🤍 #clienttestimonial #websitedevelopment #webdesign #websitedesign #videographer ♬ original sound – Priscilla Marketing Specialist

Pro tip: Create a dedicated Instagram Story Highlight called “Happy Customers” or “Reviews” so new visitors can immediately see social proof when they visit your profile.

11. Share Visual Content on Pinterest

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	Moderate to high	Free to low

Pinterest is a hidden gem for generating sustained traffic to your small business website or online store.

A single, well-optimized Pin can continue driving clicks and conversions for months (or even years).

Take Budget With Mel as an example.

One of her top traffic sources is Pinterest.

Traffic Analytics – Budget With Mel – Top Sources

So, how is she making this platform work for her?

By sharing simple yet valuable infographics that link to her blog.

This helps funnel targeted readers directly to her content.

Funnel target readers directly to content

Most importantly, her blog has a lead magnet that turns visitors into email subscribers.

This means she’s not just getting one-time visitors — she’s building a list of potential customers she can reach again and again.

Here’s how to replicate Mel’s success:

Create valuable Pins: Turn your best tips, products, or blog posts into eye-catching visuals using a template-friendly design tool like Canva
Organize strategically: Set up boards by category (like “Budgeting Tips” or “Gift Ideas”) to make your content easy to find
Optimize for search: Include relevant keywords in your Pin titles and descriptions — people search Pinterest like Google
Drive traffic: Link every Pin to a blog post, lead magnet, or product page to convert browsers into customers

Further reading: 6 Best Social Media Management Tools (Tried & Tested)

12. Amplify Your Reach by Boosting Your Social Posts

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	High	Flexible

If your social media post already gets a decent engagement — saves, likes, comments — that’s your cue to boost it.

You can do this on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.

LinkedIn also supports boosting, but only from company pages, not personal profiles.

And even a small budget can help your top-performing posts reach more people without driving up costs.

This approach is more effective than boosting random posts.

Why? Because you already know the content resonates with your audience.

How to start:

Choose a social media post that’s performing well organically
Set a daily budget (even $5-$10 per day can work)
Target based on location, interest, and behavior
Let the ad run for a few days before making any tweaks

But don’t just boost ads.

Promote a mix of content, like blog posts, how-to videos, product highlights, and behind-the-scenes clips.

Prioritize posts that feel authentic and aligned with your brand voice.

Pro tip: Need a little help creating engaging social content? Tools like Semrush’s AI Video Marketing Automator and AI Social Content Generator turn your blog posts into short videos and social posts in seconds — no video editing or design experience required.

13. Create a Loyalty Program That Feels Personal

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	High	Low

Small, thoughtful touches can turn one-time buyers into loyal fans.

Start with a simple reward system (digital or physical) that feels fun and easy to use.

Think stamps, punch cards, or online progress trackers.

After five or 10 purchases, offer a reward that feels like a win: a free drink, a low-cost product (under $5), a bonus add-on, or early access to something new.

The key? Make it feel personal and let customers see how close they are to earning their reward.

Bonus points if you personalize it with their name, preferences, or purchase history.

For example, a toy store owner explained on Reddit how they created “instant repeat customers” with a playful loyalty program.

Kids earn pirate coins and vinyl stickers with each purchase. After five coins, they trade them in for a free toy.

It’s low-cost, but it works because it feels personal, rewarding, and fun. (And the adults like it, too!)

14. Build Trust and Authority on LinkedIn

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	High	Free

LinkedIn is one of the best places to build credibility and attract clients.

Especially if you sell services, offer consulting, or work with other businesses.

Why?

Because it puts you in front of decision-makers actively looking for business solutions.

But success on LinkedIn isn’t all about pitching your services.

It’s about consistently sharing helpful, real-world insights that show you know your stuff.

LinkedIn – Taylor Scher – Trust and Authority

Over time, this positions you as a go-to expert.

And turns your content into a client acquisition tool that works even when you’re not actively prospecting.

Here’s how to get started: Pick one to two topics you want to be known for.

And post at least once a week.

Share industry-relevant stories, lessons, business updates, or tips.

LinkedIn – Daniel Korenblum – Content as client acquisition tool

Still don’t know what to post?

Use ChatGPT or Claude to draft LinkedIn post ideas from your blog content.

Prompt it with the following:

Turn this blog post into a conversational first-person LinkedIn post with a story-driven hook.

But don’t just post your own content. Comment meaningfully on industry posts, too.

LinkedIn – Meaningfully comment on industry

This showcases your expertise and gets you noticed by potential clients.

15. Co-Host Lives, Webinars, or Giveaways

Effort	Impact	Budget
Moderate	Moderate	Free to low

Want fast reach without paying for ads? Team up with a creator or business that shares your target audience.

Co-hosting a live, webinar, or giveaway helps you both get in front of new, relevant followers.

To make it work:

Choose a partner in your niche or local community (but not a direct competitor)
Bring something valuable: a quick tutorial, product demo, Q&A, or prize
Plan your next step: What should viewers do after? Follow you? Sign up? Claim an offer?

Promote it ahead of time on both profiles. During the event, keep it lively, helpful, and interactive. Answer questions and encourage participation for the best results.

For example, if you have a B2B audience, you could team up with an expert or company in your space to host a short, high-value webinar.

Like a 30-minute how-to or industry trends Q&A.

Have a B2C small business? Co-host a giveaway with a like-minded brand (or three).

To boost reach, ask participants to follow both accounts and tag a friend to enter.

Turn These Small Business Marketing Ideas into Results

You don’t need a big team or a big budget to make progress.

The most effective marketing plans start with a few smart tactics tailored to your audience and goals.

Pick three quick wins you can knock out this week:

Post a behind-the-scenes Reel with trending audio
Ask one happy customer for a review or photo
Boost a blog post or product on Facebook

Then, keep the momentum going.

Collect emails with a simple lead magnet or share helpful tips in a monthly newsletter.

Small, consistent actions like these build trust and drive real results over time.

Ready to get started? Download our free Small Business Marketing Checklist to prioritize your top tactics and track your progress.

Next, read our small business SEO guide to learn how to build authority and improve your online visibility.

The post 15 Marketing Ideas for Your Small Businesses (+ Free Checklist) appeared first on Backlinko.

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How to Create an SEO Report That Wins Trust (and Budgets)

July 1, 2025/0 Comments/in Web Design News/by

Most SEO reports go unread.

Or, worse — they get skimmed, misunderstood, and ignored.

But knowing how to create an SEO report that demands attention can change everything.

It’s not just a performance recap.

It’s a strategic tool that helps you build trust with decision-makers. Win bigger budgets. And keep your SEO efforts on track.

In this article, you’ll learn how to:

Create SEO reports that people actually read (and act on)
Tie SEO performance to business goals
Highlight wins and uncover growth opportunities

Free resource: Download our SEO Report Template. It has ready-made sections for tracking key metrics, visualizing performance, and presenting clear next steps.

What Is an SEO Report and Why Is It Important?

An SEO report is a tool for measuring performance and shaping strategy.

It tracks key metrics like traffic, rankings, and conversions.

Then, connects them to business outcomes, opportunities, and priorities.

A strong SEO report helps answer:

What changed?
Why did it happen?
What should we do next?

For example, let’s say you run SEO for a workplace furniture ecommerce company.

You notice a spike in traffic and rankings for your category page on ergonomic office chairs.

Here’s how a useful SEO report would break that down:

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Keyword Rankings

It’s a clear, focused snapshot that distills the data into what improved, why it happened, and why it matters.

How to Create an SEO Report That Drives Results

Too many SEO reports dump data without insight.

Traffic, rankings, and top pages might look impressive — but they don’t tell the full story.

And without context, stakeholders are left guessing.

The best SEO reports connect the dots. They tie performance to business goals, spotlight what’s working, and make the next move obvious.

Here’s how to build one that actually drives results:

Step 1: Determine the Stakeholders

Before pulling data or building charts, get clear on who you’re reporting to.

Knowing your audience should shape your whole report, from the SEO stats you’re using to how you communicate them.

Ask yourself:

Who will read this?
What do they know about SEO?
Who will be making the decisions?
What decision do I want them to make?

And here’s one more that’s just as important:

Have I asked what metrics actually matter to them?

A quick conversation can surface priorities that no dashboard will show you.

From there, tailor the format, metrics, and language accordingly.

(This is where many SEO reports go sideways — too much data, not enough direction.)

Here’s a quick breakdown of how to match your audience to your data and format:

Stakeholder	What They Care About	What to Show	Format Tips
CMO / Exec	Revenue, ROI, brand authority	Conversions, organic-assisted revenue	Keep it short, visual, and business-focused
Marketing Team / Managers	Channel performance, goal tracking	Traffic trends, keyword growth, top pages	Include takeaways and next steps
Product Team	Feature discovery, UX gaps	Search query trends, on-page feedback	Highlight qualitative insights and opportunities
Small Business Client	Clear wins, reviews, local visibility	Local rankings, top queries	Use plain language and short summaries

For example, if your primary audience is a CEO or CMO, you probably wouldn’t lead with details about unindexed pages or on-page engagement time.

Likewise, a report for a small business owner with zero SEO background shouldn’t be packed with complex metrics or jargon.

They need simple wins, clear summaries, and next steps they can act on.

Pro tip: When your SEO report serves multiple audiences, prioritize what matters most to decision-makers — like ROI, growth, and performance. Then, layer in tailored insights for other teams (product, content, dev, etc.) in separate sections or an appendix.

How to Report to Non-SEO Audiences

Working with clients who don’t speak SEO?

You can help them level up their knowledge by translating industry terms into easy-to-understand language.

Add simple explanations to your reports and introduce new concepts one at a time.

Here are three ways you can do this in your SEO reports:

1. Include key takeaways to clarify complex points.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – SERP Visibility

2. Add links to educational resources on SEO concepts.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Technical SEO

3. Add short videos with explanations of the client’s data or performance.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Content

Step 2: Decide Which Metrics Matter Most

Start with the key SEO metrics every report needs, no matter the audience.

Metric	Why It Matters
Conversions	Connects SEO to real business results. Key for proving SEO ROI.
Organic traffic + engagement (including click-through rates and average position)	Shows how well your pages attract and keep search visitors — great for spotting what’s working.
Organic impressions	Highlights search visibility and signals growth or dips in core topics
Keyword trends (rankings, top non-branded keywords)	Shows what’s gaining traction and where to focus next. Helps spot cannibalization or decay.
Backlink profile health	Keeps tabs on link trust and growth. Important for authority.
Technical health	Identifies site issues that hurt SEO. Vital for maintaining crawlability and indexability.
SERP features	Tracks special placements that boost visibility (e.g., featured snippets, video results, or shopping carousels)
LLM visibility	Shows brand mentions and citations in AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — key for influence in AI-driven discovery.

You can find the majority of your must-have metrics in SEO tools like Google Search Console (GSC) or Semrush.

Add-On SEO Report Metrics

Once you’ve covered the essentials, you can layer in additional metrics depending on your team’s strategy and goals.


If you’re prioritizing:	Include metrics like:
User engagement	Scroll depth, bounce rates, dwell time, and GA4 engagement metrics
Topical authority	How well your content ranks for key themes
E-E-A-T signals	Mentions, expert authorship, branded searches, trust indicators (e.g., social shares)
Content library ranking efficiency	What % of your pages rank in the top 10 to guide pruning or reinvestment.

Further reading: Curious about some of these add-on metrics? Check out our guides on bounce rate and dwell time.

Step 3: Turn Raw Data Into Actionable Insights

Raw data doesn’t drive decisions — clear stories do.

Knowing how to create an SEO report means turning numbers into narratives.

It needs to clearly tell a story around these questions.

Is our SEO strategy working?
What changed?
Why did it change?
What should we do next?

One of the best ways to tell the story is through time-based comparisons.

Show how SEO performance has changed month-over-month (MoM), quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), or year-over-year (YoY).

Highlighting changes over time makes it easier for stakeholders to spot trends. And understand why they matter.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Conversions

For most SEO teams, the challenge isn’t collecting data. It’s translating it into context stakeholders care about.

Raw numbers might make sense if you’re inside the tools every day.

But executives and cross-functional teams need more than charts. They need meaning.

The best reports go beyond what changed. They explain why —and connect the dots to business impact.

Like this:

Metric	Increase Might Mean	Decrease Might Mean
Organic traffic + engagement (CTR, avg. position)	Higher rankings or better-optimized content	Rankings drop or poor user experience (UX)
Organic impressions	More visibility in search	Lost rankings or SERP features
Keyword trends	New or improved keyword rankings	Declining rankings or outdated content
SERP features tracking	Gaining authority in SERPs	Dropped from features or lost relevance
Conversions	SEO traffic is converting better	Traffic mismatches or UX issues
Backlink profile health	More quality links or mentions	Lost links or declining authority

Translate percentages and numbers to what actually happened:

What new pages were published?
Did your development team ship technical fixes?
How many backlinks were earned?
Are algorithm changes or seasonal searches a factor?

Most importantly, link the SEO impact to business terms.

For example, let’s say your top product page jumped from position No. 9 to No. 3.

In the same month, inbound demo requests doubled.

That’s not just a ranking improvement. It’s a signal that higher visibility on the right terms is driving qualified traffic.

In this case, the takeaway isn’t just “rankings are up” — it’s that SEO is contributing directly to revenue growth.

Step 4: Showcase the Results

A great SEO report doesn’t overwhelm your reader — it guides them.

It frames wins. Flags issues. And makes the next move crystal clear.

Executive Summary

Start with a snapshot that shows where things stand.

The Executive Summary gives a high-level view of key metrics and overall performance trends.

So, stakeholders can get the big picture fast.

Keep it sharp and clear. Spotlight what’s working, what’s driving it, and where to go from here.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Executive Summary

Performance Metrics

This section covers your core SEO performance data — like traffic, rankings, keywords, and backlinks.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Organic Traffic

Include context and key takeaways.

When showcasing trends, show the progress over time, not just one-off wins.

And use visuals as much as possible.

Charts, graphs, and annotated screenshots really can make your performance insights pop.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Backlinks

Next Steps

What needs to be tackled next?

Here’s your chance to include those thoughts for your stakeholders.

Include clear, actionable recommendations, like a fresh SEO audit or doubling down on high-performing content.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Next Steps

Appendix

This optional section includes deeper data for teams, stakeholders, and ongoing projects.

It helps keep the main report focused, while still delivering the context others may need.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Appendix

Bonus move: Once your report is done, record a short walkthrough to present it. It’s a great way to highlight key takeaways, explain the big picture, and guide stakeholders through anything they might overlook.

Mistakes to Avoid in Your SEO Report

Even with the right data, your SEO report can still fall flat if it’s hard to interpret, misaligned with business goals, or missing a clear takeaway.

Here are some common mistakes to avoid — and how to fix them.

Reporting Data Without Context

Don’t just drop data into your report. Make it meaningful.

Show how it relates to business goals and your site’s overall SEO performance.

For every metric, briefly explain what it means, why it matters, and what action it might prompt your team or your client to take.

Surfacing Issues Without Providing Solutions

Reporting on every issue isn’t helpful unless it impacts your site’s SEO performance.

For example, say you note that a group of pages are experiencing index issues.

Include a hypothesis on why this is happening and how you might recommend fixing it.

Surfacing Issues Without Providing Solutions

Listing Every Keyword Ranking

A full list of keyword shifts (especially minor ones) can bury your most important wins.

Instead, spotlight high-impact keywords — non-branded terms driving traffic or tied to revenue pages.

Including Every. Single. Page.

Reporting on every page creates noise, not insight.

Focus on the top 10 pages for organic traffic, or spotlight the top page in each key topic cluster.

Ignoring Business Outcomes

Your report might show SEO progress. But, does it show business progress?

Tie your work to signups, revenue, pipeline, brand visibility — whatever matters to your decision-makers.

Telling, Not Showing

You shared the data. But did you explain the story?

Use visuals, comparisons (e.g., MoM or QoQ), and commentary to walk the reader through what changed, why, and what’s next.

Show the Impact. Earn the Buy-In.

SEO reporting isn’t just about checking a box.

It’s your opportunity to show impact, earn trust, and steer strategy.

Surface insights that get stakeholders aligned and excited about what’s possible.

Want to make it easier on yourself?

Download Backlinko’s free SEO report template to create reports that stand out and get results.

The post How to Create an SEO Report That Wins Trust (and Budgets) appeared first on Backlinko.

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10 tips to streamline your blog content workflow

June 27, 2025/0 Comments/in Web Design News, Yoast SEO/by

Content production seems quite simple, in principle. You develop an idea, write about it, do SEO checks, and click publish. Simple, right? It never turns out that way, especially when working with a team. Miscommunications, last-minute changes, and confusion about what needs to happen when. We’ve all been there! Try these ten tips to streamline your digital content workflow and eliminate much stress.

Before we start

Before we start, remember that the ‘perfect’ content workflow probably doesn’t exist. After all, every piece of content is unique, so a one-size-fits-all process is unlikely to produce the highest quality results. If your high-quality, unique content is taking forever to finish, you might struggle to meet deadlines or keep to a schedule. If that sounds like you or your organization, take a look at our tips and see how you can improve.

1. Start the process with clear goals

Whether you’re working alone or as part of a bigger team, it’s important to have a clear idea of all the steps involved and how long each step might take. Not every digital content process is the same. For instance, social media posts don’t need to be optimized for search engines, while blog posts targeting organic traffic do. Regardless of your end goal, the first step is always to start with clear goals.

Want to cover all your bases? Try to answer as many of these questions as you can, as clearly as you can:

What topic are you focusing on? How in-depth will you go?
Who are you writing for? Who is your audience?
What are you trying to achieve? More website visits, increased sales, and more social shares?
How will people be able to find your content? Where will you share it, and when?

If you specify your ideas and plans clearly at the beginning, it can help you and your team align your plans. It also helps you to stay on track, which can save you a lot of back-and-forth later on!

2. Identify contributors and stakeholders

If you’re working in a team, our next tip is as important as the first. Why? Even if you’re clear about your goals, does everyone involved agree with your action plan? That’s why you need to identify your essential contributors and key stakeholders.

Depending on how big your organization is and how well-developed your process is already, making a list of contributors and stakeholders could be a lot of hard work, or a total no-brainer. If you sometimes find that your digital content workflow reaches a bottleneck (or descends to total chaos) because blockers arise from unexpected sources, it could be a sign that you need to do more work in this area.

Once you’ve come up with your plan, it’s a good idea to share it with any essential colleagues who need to give approval in the end before you start doing the real work. If you can get these people to agree with your initial plan, you can refer back to this later to explain creative choices and decisions you might need to make. When you let key parties know what to expect, you can avoid a lot of “What is this? What were you thinking?” kind of conversations.

3. Visualize your content workflow

It can be beneficial to visualize your content workflow, even if it seems daunting. At a minimum, you should write out the basic steps. If you add boxes and arrows to link the steps together, this can help to make the journey through the steps clearer (especially if there are moments when you need to loop back and repeat an earlier step). You can create this however feels comfortable to you — you could choose basic office software like Microsoft Word or Google Docs (Yoast SEO has a handy Google Docs add-on), you could try more advanced software like Visio or Lucidchart, or you could sketch it out on paper. It’s up to you!

For instance, your workflow could look like the first example written out in steps, or like the image below if you use a visualization tool. If, like us, you’re working in WordPress or Google Docs with the Yoast SEO plugin enabled, you can incorporate the features that you use into your workflow too.

Use Yoast SEO in Google Docs

Optimize as you draft for SEO, inclusivity, and readability. The Yoast SEO Google Docs add-on lets you export content ready for WordPress, no reformatting required.

Get Yoast for Google Docs add-onOnly $5 / month (ex VAT)

Content workflow example 1

Create a content brief with the agreement of any necessary colleagues
Carry out keyword research using Google Trends and the Semrush keyword data tool in Yoast SEO Premium
Create an article outline using a title and headings that relate to your keywords and the expected search intent
Check if your stakeholders agree with the article outline: If yes, then continue; If no, go back to steps 1-3
Write your draft in WordPress or Google Docs, taking the readability and SEO optimization suggestions from the Yoast SEO plugin into account
Add a featured image in the Post Settings tab and a social image in the Social media appearance tab
Make sure the SEO title, meta description and slug are all a suitable length and describe the content well
Use the Public Preview option in WordPress to share a preview of the post with everyone who needs to give feedback or approval
If feedback needs to be implemented, then implement it! If you’ve made any important changes, go back to get feedback and approval again!
Once everyone who needs to has approved it, your post is ready to publish.

Content workflow example 2

An example of a content workflow made with Jira software — An example of a Jira workflow for tracking blog projects

4. Assign activities and responsibilities to team members

Even if you have a solid content workflow on paper, it’s important to ensure that each time you go through it, everyone is clear about who is doing what. Not only that, but how and when will different team members communicate with each other to hand over tasks or ask questions? Clearing these kinds of things up in advance can save a lot of hassle for everyone involved.

If these tasks aren’t a regular part of your team’s working day, they’ll also need to manage their own schedule to accommodate the tasks. If so, make sure that they have time to work on your planned content. It’s also worth checking what other priorities your contributors are juggling, as these could prevent progress if they become too demanding. Maybe you have the authority to make your planned content a top priority. If that’s your intention, make sure everyone involved knows that this should be #1 on their to-do list!

5. Set sub-deadlines and contact moments

Naturally, you’ll want to set a deadline for when your content is going to be published. But if you think you can just send out an initial set of instructions, with one final deadline for all the tasks, and nothing concrete in between… Then things are quite likely to go wrong.

To achieve a much more reliable plan of action, you should include sub-deadlines and contact moments at key points in the content process. These help to keep everyone’s work aligned as the piece of content is developed, and can help you to avoid process bottlenecks by identifying issues early on. It’s also wise to schedule your own internal deadlines to have your content ready at least a week before you intend to publish it. That way, you can avoid last-minute changes (and all the mistakes that are likely to come with them). We’ll come back to this point later.

6. Agree on standards and priorities

So at this point, if you’ve followed all of our tips, you might be planning in sub-deadlines like ‘rough draft is ready’ or ‘final draft for approval’. Before you build all your hopes and dreams around these mini-deliverables, you’ll need to clarify how rough this rough draft can be! After all, you don’t want to end up disappointed because you only received a basic article outline and a few bullet point lists when you were expecting something almost finished.

If you’re using tools like Yoast SEO, you’ll also want to make it clear what results are acceptable to you: for instance, do you expect the readability analysis to always be green, but the SEO analysis doesn’t have to be when it’s not written for ranking purposes? Do you expect the internal linking suggestions to be added as a requirement, or are these just to be used as suggestions? Make sure everyone agrees about how you use your tools and what the end goal is.

7. Allow time for final checks and changes

If you have a regular content publishing schedule that you want to keep to, it’s a good idea to prepare your drafts with a decent amount of time to spare. That way, you can avoid stressing about deadlines and last-minute changes. Here are a few things that really ought to be on your pre-publication checklist, especially if they’re not already incorporated in your content development process:

Check the SEO of your post using the Yoast SEO analysis. Is it good enough?
Check the readability of your post using the readability analysis. Is it good enough?
Have you added a featured image?
Have you added an OG image and title for optimized social sharing?
Is the slug short and descriptive?
Have you added internal links to and from other relevant pages on your site?
If you use tags/categories, have you selected all the right options?
Are comments enabled/disabled according to your preferences for this post?
Is the correct date/time set for your post?

Yoast SEO for Google Docs add-on — Using Yoast SEO in Google Docs makes it much easier to work across teams

As you can see, there’s quite a lot to do even after a post is written, so don’t underestimate how long these checks will take.

Got a good basic content process, but still having issues? This is what to check:

8. Do you create unnecessary work?

Sometimes tasks become more complicated than they really need to be. Are there times when one small change causes a cascade of new issues to deal with? This can be a sign that you need to rethink the order of your steps and who is involved. Small changes should be easy, right?

Often, it’s obvious who should be doing what and how the process should continue. But it’s not always. For instance, if you have a graphic design team, do they need to make every change themselves? Can you make things easier by enabling your writing team to change text and background colors themselves, for instance?

Another type of problem can arise if you don’t have a clear decision-maker in place. Sure, there might be lots of people who should have a say about the content in the end. But who makes the final decisions? If it’s not clear who is responsible for which decisions, you might end up with all your best experts trying to reach an agreement about every little thing. That can be tricky, and it can waste loads of time! Make it easier by giving specific individuals ownership of specific aspects of the process.

9. Are things not going according to plan?

Sometimes things go wrong, in spite of your best efforts. But if things are often going wrong in your content production process, you should investigate the cause of your problems. It’s always a good idea to reach out to the people involved in the steps that are going wrong. What challenges are they facing? Does the existing process make things easier for them or more difficult? And very importantly, ask if they have any ideas to improve the process!

Don’t be afraid to try something new if what you’re doing isn’t working. Even if your new idea doesn’t work out any better, you can always learn from it and try something different next time! Or put it this way: trying anything is better than burying your head in the sand and continuing with a broken content development process.

10. Doing extra tasks that aren’t part of the plan?

Last but not least: are you making life harder by adding in ‘nice-to-have’ extras that weren’t part of the plan? It’s an easy mistake to make! After all, when you really care about the content you’re creating, your natural instinct is to keep improving and make it the best that it can be. Even though that means making a whole new infographic. Even though that infographic wasn’t a part of the original plan. Your team can make it happen, right? Or else you can just push the deadline back…

It’s great to aim high when it comes to making quality content. But if you’re ambitious, late-arriving ideas become a burden to the process, you might want to start categorizing them into “must-have” and “nice-to-have” content elements. That way, everyone knows which parts to prioritize and which parts can be left out if they’re too difficult to achieve within the original plan. And don’t forget that one of the biggest advantages of publishing digital content is that you can continue to improve it and share it again whenever you want!

Streamline your content workflow, but don’t let it rule you!

Those are our ten tips! It can be really worthwhile to streamline your content workflow, especially if you’re experiencing issues and bottlenecks in the process. Naturally, every situation is different, and each piece of content comes with its own opportunities and challenges, too. So you need to think about what works for you and what doesn’t in order to adapt your content process.

Try to keep a balance and avoid making a content process that’s too strict or inflexible. You don’t want to set up a rigid process that dictates your editorial decisions and rules your creative output. It’s a creative process, after all! So it’s always good to keep some room for flexibility, but just how much is up to you.

Remember: whatever your content workflow looks like, WordPress, Google Docs, and the Yoast SEO plugin can help you! From your main topic and focus keyphrase, through to the final touches you add just before publishing, the tools can form checkpoints to easily align your team and your goals.

The post 10 tips to streamline your blog content workflow appeared first on Yoast.

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12 AI tools that will elevate your SEO game

June 24, 2025/0 Comments/in Web Design News, Yoast SEO/by

In the last few years, we have seen loads of exciting developments in AI. New tools are popping up left and right, helping with a wide range of tasks. AI is finding its place in every market, from writing to keyword research to fact-checking. The rise of this phenomenon is undeniable. Let’s explore a few AI tools that can support your SEO efforts.

We’ve listed 12 tools that can help you with your SEO in different ways. That said, it’s important to maintain a healthy balance between AI support and human input. AI can help us greatly, especially with getting started and saving time on easy tasks. Authenticity and trustworthiness still matter, both for your audience and SEO.

Don’t let AI take over entirely or erase your unique perspective.. Don’t underestimate your importance in this process and always stay critical of the output. Check the tone of voice and the facts, and rewrite anything that feels off. In the end, this human element will get you to the top of the search results.

1. ChatGPT (Plus)

Let’s start with a tool you’ve probably heard of: ChatGPT. This is a text-based AI model that interacts with you in a conversational way to answer any question you have. Or fulfill any content request you have. This means ChatGPT can assist with a broad range of tasks.

Another great feature is the ability to tweak your request as you go. So if you ask ChatGPT to write an introduction for a blog post on a specific topic and the answer it comes up with is too long, you can then ask it to shorten it and it will do so. If you’re not happy with the tone of voice, you can ask it to change that. Or if you don’t like it at all, you can ask ChatGPT to rewrite it altogether. You can also craft more specific prompts to get better results from the start. This allows you to keep tweaking the text until you’re satisfied with it.

Screenshot of AI tool ChatGPT — Screenshot of ChatGPT and the model options showing

If you use ChatGPT plus, which is the paid version, you can also use the dropdown at the top left corner to select a model fitted to your needs. As you can see, these other models give you more options. But the free version of ChatGPT can still handle most basic content requests.

2. Yoast SEO & WooCommerce SEO

Yoast SEO comes with several AI features. The most recent one is Yoast AI Optimize, which helps you improve your content based on the feedback you get—inline, where you are working. Yoast AI Optimize highlights suggested changes for certain assessments in the Yoast SEO Analysis, allowing you to easily apply or dismiss them. This ensures that the final decision always remains in your hands.

Yoast AI Optimize gives you inline suggestions and a one-click solution to improve your content

The second AI feature generates SEO titles, meta descriptions, and social snippets for you. It looks at the content already there and gives you a few options with the click of a button. This saves you the hassle of doing it manually and provides you with relevant titles, meta descriptions, and social snippets to increase your click-through rates.

screenshot of AI tool Yoast SEO — Screenshot of the AI meta description generator in Yoast SEO Premium

The AI features are part of our paid plugin, Yoast SEO Premium. This comes with a yearly subscription plan, but an affordable one. We want to make our features available to as many people as possible.

Unlock AI features in Yoast SEO Premium

Get this feature and much more for your WordPress site with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin!

Get Yoast SEO Premium Only $99 / year (ex VAT)

We’ve also added this feature to Yoast WooCommerce SEO a short while back. This helps you make your products stand out on the search result page and get those clicks to your website. So if you have an online shop and are looking to optimize your product pages, it’s worth taking a look at that product as well.

3. Jasper

Another tool you can use to produce content is Jasper. But it is more focused on producing marketing content like blog posts, social posts, email and website copy. Where ChatGPT targets a wider audience, Jasper focuses on people working in marketing and entrepreneurs who do their marketing themselves. Utilizing the AI tool works pretty similarly, where you put in a request and Jasper provides you with content specifically created for a newsletter or post (or something else).

It also allows you to upload a style guide or examples of your content so that it can learn your preferred tone of voice. In addition, you can also give it information about your company like the products or services you provide, your audience and even a campaign brief. Jasper uses all of this to understand the goal of the content you’re requesting and to create content that is on-brand and detailed. What’s cool about this tool is that it also comes in the form of a browser extension. Allowing you to use it while you’re working on your content in WordPress, Gmail and other places.

screenshot of AI tool Jasper used in Gmail — *Screenshot of Jasper browser extension being used in Gmail*

It’s good to know that Jasper works with a monthly (or yearly) subscription plan, so this is a paid tool. They have a few options you can check out and a free trial if you want to give it a try before subscribing.

4. Keyword Insights

A vital but time-consuming part of SEO is keyword research. That’s why one of the AI tools we’ve picked is focused on that specifically. You can use Keyword Insights to find new keyword ideas and cluster them. By filling in a keyword it gives you loads of related keywords and their search volumes. Keyword Insights also helps you categorize keywords by clustering them properly and it allows you to upload other files to get those keywords in there as well. It gives you a nice overview of all your keywords per cluster and all the relevant data to figure out which ones you want to work on. The tool actually uses an algorithm to quickly show you which keyword is the best choice at the moment.

screenshot of AI tool Keyword Insights — An overview of related keywords in Keyword Insights

After you’re done with that, you can actually use the writing assistant to get started with writing. What’s cool about this writing feature is that it gives you an overview of the top headings of other websites that rank high on that keyword. Or it can even generate an outline for you. Which can be great inspiration to get started with the structure of your text. It also helps you write the text by suggesting relevant content for the article you’re working on.

Keyword Insights is a paid tool, that has several pricing options depending on your needs. A few of those options also enable team sharing, which comes in handy when you have multiple people working on your SEO. It has loads of interesting features to do keyword research in an organized way. But a very important sidenote is that it can be tempting to let the tool also do all the writing for you. Which might result in content that is far from original and authentic and will not get you that top result in Google. As it will be mainly based on what’s already out there. So make sure to check out the keyword features, but be mindful of how you use the writing assistant.

5. Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

Another writing tool powered by AI is the SEO Writing Assistant you can find in Semrush. This tool analyzes your text in terms of SEO, readability, originality and tone of voice. It gives you suggestions based on this analysis and also comes with a few features to optimize your text, such as the Rephraser, Compose and Ask AI. What’s great about the Originality section is that this helps you create content that’s not like everyone else’s, something you risk when using AI in your content creation. This can help you figure out whether you need to change your angle and it also checks your content for plagiarism.

Another reason we’re mentioning this tool is because Semrush in general is a great tool for SEO. So having this option in there is a great addition to their set of tools. The SEO Writing Assistant is part of Semrush’s Content Marketing Platform, which is included with two of their three subscription plans. You can also sign up for a free trial to give it a whirl.

6. MarketMuse

When looking at AI tools that can help you elevate your SEO, MarketMuse is another one we want to mention. In short, MarketMuse is content planning and optimization software that comes with loads of SEO and automization features. The idea is that it puts everything you need in one place and automates content audits for you. Helping suggest what to work on next instead of guessing or speculating what does or doesn’t work.

screenshot of AI tool MarketMuse — The Topic Navigator section in MarketMuse

It can help you do keyword research, plan your content and write. All based on personalized data, as they analyze your website and also look at competitors in your field. Which can save you loads of time and help you make informed decisions. Without having to switch between different tools and documents or sheets. It’s all in one place. As most AI tools discussed so far, MarketMuse works with a monthly subscription plan and gives you a few options to choose from.

7. Originality.ai

The name might already be an indicator of what this AI tool can do for you. Originality.ai helps you fact-check your text and also checks it for plagiarism. Being trustworthy is an important factor in SEO right now, and will probably remain important, so you need to get your facts straight. And make sure you’re not accidentally committing plagiarism, a growing risk in today’s AI-heavy landscapes.. Funnily enough, it also comes with an AI Content Detector which is pretty good in detecting content written by AI. Even if it has been paraphrased.

screenshot of AI tool Originality.ai — The fact checker in Originality.ai

Originality.ai comes with a monthly subscription option and a pay-as-you-go option which gives you a bunch of credits to get started. Unfortunately, there is no free trial, but if you go to their website you can find loads of information (and some examples) of how the features work. There’s also a demo of their fact checker if you want to give that a try!

8. Grammarly

Grammarly is a tool that’s quite popular with the writers here at Yoast. It shows you when you’ve made an error when it comes to spelling and grammar, and works on different platforms and in different places. Which is very helpful when you write a lot of online text. Now that Grammarly also comes with the power of AI, it can do even more for anyone who writes online content.

Grammarly now comes with a generative text feature, which allows you to give it a prompt and get a draft right away. It also includes a rewrite feature to adjust the tone of your content. You can also teach it what your personal tone of voice is, so that it can give you specific suggestions that fit your communication style. Lastly, it can help you with brainstorming and outlines by giving suggestions based on your task at hand. It’s a neat little AI tool that you can use on the go.

screenshot of AI tool Grammarly — Screenshot of Grammarly functionality, showing some of its AI features

Grammarly has a free plan, which gives you access to their basic AI assistance and 100 AI prompts per month. They have a few paid monthly subscription plans if you need more and want access to more prompts and advanced features.

9. Gemini

Gemini is Google’s generative AI chatbot. It’s designed to handle a wide range of tasks including text generation, image analysis, coding, and data processing. Integrated into tools like Google Docs and Gmail, Gemini provides users with loads of options to improve their content on the spot. It also integrates with Google’s AI Studio for prototyping and testing.

Gemini is designed to serve both casual users and developers. Through the Gemini web app (formerly Bard), users can interact conversationally with the model, ask complex questions, or get help writing code and documents. This app also offers Gems, premade or custom prompts that can be saved for future use and help you with specific needs.

Screenshot AI tool Gemini by Google — *The Gem manager in Gemini*

Gemini offers a free and paid subscription. The free version of the Gemini web app gives users access to Gemini Flash, a fast and cost-efficient model suitable for everyday tasks. For more advanced capabilities, Google offers Google AI Pro, which provides access to Gemini Pro, integrations in Google apps, and a few other more specific features.

10. Perplexity

Perplexity AI is a free AI-powered search and answer tool. It presents direct answers backed by real-time web sources, making it especially useful for research, current events, and factual information. It uses a conversational interface similar to a chatbot, allowing users to ask follow-up questions and refine their search naturally.

One of Perplexity’s standout features is its focus on citations and transparency. Each answer is accompanied by linked sources, allowing users to verify information or explore the topic further. This makes it a valuable tool for professionals, students, and writers who need trustworthy results quickly. The platform also includes features like “Research,” allowing deep research on any topic.

Screenshot of AI tool Perplexity — *Example of answer provided by Perplexity, showing the sources at the top.*

Perplexity offers a free option that provides access to fast and accurate answers using its standard models, along with web-sourced citations. For users who need more powerful tools, Perplexity offers different plans depending on your needs. Pro is aimed at individuals looking to use a more powerful and up-to-date version of the tool. Sonar API gives developers API access for any custom applications or automations they might want. Finally, Enterprise Pro is the choice recommended for organizations looking to use this tool within the team.

11. Claude

Claude is a conversational AI designed with a focus on safety and transparency. Named after Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, this model excels at tasks involving text comprehension, summarization, creative writing, and code generation. What sets Claude apart is its training method that aligns the model’s behavior with human values by using a set of ethical guidelines.

Users can interact with Claude through a chat-style interface. It also supports uploads of various file types (like PDFs or CSVs) for direct analysis, making it a powerful tool for research, document review, and data interpretation. Anthropic’s Claude includes three variants, Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus. Opus being the most advanced, particularly strong in reasoning and complex problem-solving tasks. Sonnet is also a great option for coding tasks.

AI tool Claude — *Example of Claude being used to visualize data.*

Claude comes with a free option and several paid options. The free version gives users access to Claude’s chat and allows them to generate code, create content and analyze text and images. When it comes to their paid plans, there are options for individuals looking to integrate Claude into their terminal or workspace. But also options for organizations or developers or businesses looking to get access to the API. I would recommend having a look at the options to see what would be a good fit for you.

12. NotebookLM

NotebookLM is an AI-powered note-taking and research tool developed by Google. It was designed to help users interact with their own documents using generative AI. It allows you to upload sources such as PDFs, Google Docs, YouTube-video’s or audio files, and then ask questions or generate summaries based on that content. Unlike other AI tools, NotebookLM uses the user’s uploaded material, which makes its responses more contextually accurate and personalized.

One of the standout features of NotebookLM is its ability to create structured summaries, highlight key themes, and generate helpful outlines based on the uploaded sources. You can interact with the model by asking detailed questions, getting explanations of terms, or generating content like FAQs or briefing docs. This productivity tool blends note-taking, research, and brainstorming in one interface.

Screenshot of AI tool NotebookLM — *The NotebookLM interface showing sources, the chat and other options.*

As of now, Google offers NotebookLM for free. The tool is available to users in supported regions through their Google accounts and is still positioned as an experimental product.

The post 12 AI tools that will elevate your SEO game appeared first on Yoast.

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7 Powerful AI Marketing Tools You Need (Tested)

June 23, 2025/0 Comments/in Web Design News/by

Seen your LinkedIn lately? AI marketing tools are everywhere.

And each one promises a bigger ROI than the last.

The truth? It’s not necessarily hype. AI tools actually deliver impressive returns.

In fact, you get a 3.7x return for every dollar you invest in generative AI.

But ONLY if you pick the right tools.

So, to save you the guesswork, I tested seven popular AI marketing tools for various tasks. Including writing, video creation, and customer research.

Check out my in-depth reviews below for the full picture.

Short on time? View each tool’s highlights here:

What Are the Best AI Marketing Tools?

AI Tool	Best for	Pricing
ChatGPT	All-purpose AI marketing assistant	$20+/month
Semrush	Full-stack marketing with AI integration	$139.95+/month
Flick	Social media marketing on a budget	£14+/month
Canva	Fast visual content creation	$15+/month
Synthesia	Video creation without filming	$29+/month
AdCreative.ai	Scaling high-performing ads	$39+/month
HubSpot	AI marketing automation	$20/month/seat

1. ChatGPT

Best all-purpose AI marketing assistant

Price: $20+/month; limited free plan available

I can’t write about the best AI tools for marketing without starting with ChatGPT.

The large language model (LLM) isn’t just popular.

It actually gets more searches than “AI.”

What makes it so good?

It can handle just about any marketing task, customized to your industry.

From a quick Instagram caption for your DTC skin care company to a detailed content strategy with audience segmentation, ChatGPT does it all.

But here’s the not-so-secret secret: ChatGPT is only as good as your prompts.

Bad prompts = bad answers.

But learn how to communicate with ChatGPT effectively (aka prompt engineering), and it becomes the ideal AI tool for marketing teams.

Create Relevant First Drafts

ChatGPT helps you go from blank page to first draft on any topic, fast.

(For more, check out our guide: How to Use AI for Writing Exceptional Content.)

The tool can significantly speed up the content creation process, no matter the format.

This includes SEO blog posts, product descriptions, email campaigns, and more.

For example, I often use it to organize my ideas and draft marketing content more efficiently.

I typically provide it with custom inputs like:

A content brief and project guidelines
Data from tools like Semrush
Competitive intelligence
Initial research notes

By feeding this information up front, the output becomes more relevant to the project goals.

But this isn’t copy-paste content writing right out of the gate. Every output still needs a human pass.

You’ll also likely need to refine your prompt multiple times to get the highest quality results from ChatGPT.

Pro tip: For some projects, I use the AI-first method. I start with a prompt to spark momentum. Then, it becomes a back-and-forth process. I add my expertise, and it refines my thinking. I shape the direction, and it suggests new angles. I lay out an idea, and it points out any flaws. It’s less AI writer. More collaborative partner.

Accelerate Customer Research

ChatGPT is a powerful support tool for customer research.

Use it to:

Write better survey questions
Analyze sentiment
Extract actionable insights from raw feedback

For example, voice of customer (VoC) research used to be my biggest time-sink for conversion optimization projects.

I’d spend weeks organizing data and tagging themes.

Now, I run the same process with ChatGPT in a fraction of the time.

I attach dozens of customer reviews from Google, TrustPilot, and internal surveys. Then, ask it to identify sentiments and motivations.

It takes care of the grunt work and identifies patterns fast.

(So, I can focus on finding valuable insights, not just sorting through data.)

This same process also gives me the exact language customers use to describe their challenges.

I then use that language to write copy that resonates and build experiences that address customer pain points.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Multi-purpose AI assistant that adapts to any marketing task Customizable to your brand voice, tone, and messaging style	Answers are only as good as your prompting skills Prone to hallucinations. Need subject-matter expertise to avoid generic or inaccurate content.

2. Semrush

Best for full-stack marketing with deep AI visibility

Price: $139.95+/month; AI Toolkit and Enterprise AIO require separate plans

Semrush is quickly becoming one of the most versatile AI-powered marketing platforms out there. It’s no longer just an SEO tool.

Whether you’re building an SEO strategy, planning content, launching paid campaigns, researching competitors, or tracking how your brand shows up in AI-generated answers — Semrush has a solution for it.

And unlike many startups racing into the AI space, Semrush brings something most don’t: infrastructure. It’s backed by more than a decade of data, crawling power, and product development.

Here’s how you can use Semrush to get ahead in the AI-powered marketing landscape:

Track Your Brand in AI Search

The most powerful thing Semrush offers in the AI space is visibility. Specifically: How is your brand showing up in AI-generated answers across LLMs?

That’s where Enterprise AIO comes in.

It tracks your brand across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews — measuring:

Brand, product, and concept mentions
Sentiment and quote-level context
Share of Voice compared to competitors
Citations and sources used in AI responses
Visibility trends by region, topic, or model

If you’re an enterprise or managing a well-known brand, this is the most advanced solution available.

See What AI Platforms Say About You

The Semrush AI Toolkit is built for SMBs, lean teams, and growing brands that want to understand how AI platforms talk about them — and where they can improve.

For $99/month per domain, you can:

Monitor your brand’s presence in ChatGPT, SearchGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and more
Track Share of Voice and sentiment over time
Discover high-intent queries and emerging topics
Get recommendations on where to improve content and messaging

It’s not “lite” — it’s focused. And for many teams, it’s exactly what they need to stay visible in the AI-driven search landscape.

Semrush AI Toolkit – Dashboard – AI Strategic Insights

It even provides recommendations based on AI query data and sentiment trends.

This means you can quickly jump on emerging topics in your industry.

Or address user concerns before they become a problem.

For example, when I entered the domain warbyparker.com (an eyeglass company), the AI Toolkit revealed that users repeatedly asked about unclear payment and financing options.

The tool also made a helpful recommendation to solve this problem:

Clearly communicate financing details on the website and in the checkout flow.

Semrush AI Toolkit – Backlinko – AI Strategic Opportunities

That’s the real value here: The Semrush AI Toolkit doesn’t just give you data.

It also surfaces patterns from user queries. So you can identify pain points and fix them before they can hurt conversions.

Keep Social Content on Brand

The Semrush Social Media Toolkit uses AI to help you create and organize a social strategy.

It lets you easily create weeks of on-brand content in minutes. And schedule it across major platforms so your posting stays consistent.

Here’s how it works:

The AI-powered tool finds trending topics your audience cares about. (And updates daily.)

Select any topic, and the tool will auto-draft a post that aligns with your brand voice and campaign goals.

Customize it further with AI-generated hashtags, images, or scripted videos.

Finally, schedule and publish across Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and more, with the click of a button.

Bada bing bada boom!

Social Content AI – Backlinko – Generated results

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
AI integration throughout the entire platform, including SEO, PPC, and social Tracks how your brand shows up in AI answers so you can stay ahead as search behavior evolves	Some features (like the AI Toolkit and Enterprise AIO) cost extra beyond the base plan May feel overwhelming at first for smaller teams or new users

3. Flick

Best for social media marketing on a budget

Price: $18+/month; 7-day free trial available

Want to look like you have a full content team without paying for one?

Use Flick.

This AI tool builds your social media marketing strategy, writes engaging posts, and maintains your publishing calendar.

Set your content pillars once in the Brand Hub, and Iris (Flick’s AI tool) will handle the rest.

This includes:

Auto-generating post ideas that align with your strategy
Repurposing blog posts into ready-to-publish social content
Creating a publishing calendar for Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Facebook

It’s perfect for founders and marketers juggling 17 other priorities.

(Or anyone who knows they should be posting more but never has time to sit down to plan it all out.)

Create a Social Media Calendar

Most social tools just help you schedule posts.

But Flick also helps you figure out what to post.

Its AI assistant helps you create a social media calendar without hours of brainstorming.

For example, I used Flick to create a 30-day calendar in under five minutes.

Here’s how I did it:

First, I set up the Brand Hub with my content pillars.

Conversion copywriting
AI
Funnel optimization for SaaS and ecommerce

Then, I defined my brand voice and target audience.

Next, I selected a time frame (I went with a full month).

And in under a minute, Iris generated a list of post ideas aligned with my content pillars.

Flick – Plan Content Calendar – Confirm Ideas

Its suggestions included:

Create a video showcasing five SaaS companies with standout value propositions
Share three AI prompts marketers can use to boost email subject line performance
Post before/after funnel results from a client that highlight how I increased signups

All I had to do was click “Add to scheduler,” and my content calendar was set.

I now have a month of content ideas that I can easily turn into posts.

(Yep, Flick’s AI can write, too.)

Repurpose Long-Form Content

Got a blog post or YouTube video you worked hard on?

Flick’s “Repurpose” feature turns that content into social-ready posts.

The process is simple:

Click “Iris” > “Repurpose Blog Post.”

Then, enter the URL.

This can be a blog post, YouTube video, or newsletter. And that’s all you have to do.

I tested this using my AI SEO tools article.

Within seconds, Iris analyzed it and came up with four social post ideas.

I picked one.

And the AI generated a post that captured the article’s core message.

It was perfect for social.

For each post, you can:

Adjust text length from one line to full caption
Refine hashtags for better reach
Attach media
Schedule posts

You also have the option to customize each post for different social media platforms.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Scheduler is integrated with AI features, so you can go from idea to post without switching tools Built-in brand voice training means the AI can mimic your brand voice and tone in all your posts	Limited to social content. Not ideal for broader marketing tasks No analytics or cross-platform ad management like you’d find in tools like Semrush

4. Canva

Best for fast visual content generation

Price: $15/month; free plan available

Canva – Visme – Fast visual content generation

You probably already know Canva.

This graphic design tool lets you create anything from a tweet graphic to a full marketing campaign.

But now it’s added AI into the mix with its Magic Studio.

Provide a prompt, and the tool will design a graphic, write image text, and even generate code.

From first idea to final creative, Canva’s AI speeds up marketing design without leaving the platform.

Two things impressed me the most:

The learning curve was negligible. I didn’t need a tutorial to get started.
The AI Image generation tool created exactly what I had envisioned

Turn Ideas into Visual Assets

Canva’s AI can generate full visual assets, including presentations, social posts, infographics, and more.

Inside Magic Studio, you’ll find various options:

Design for me: Creates on-brand templates for things like social posts and presentations
Create an image: Generates images from text prompts
Draft a doc: Writes blog posts, emails, social posts, and more
Code for me: Creates code for interactive elements like website pages, quizzes, and more

I put this to the test by asking it to create a slide deck based on a Backlinko article.

My prompt included copy for each slide.

Canva AI design for me presentation prompt

So, how did Magic Studio do?

It generated four slide decks for me to choose from that were pretty good.

But it didn’t follow the exact copy from my prompt.

So, I had to tweak the text and update the images. (Which was super easy.)

While the AI image generator made generating visuals simple, I wouldn’t exactly call it “fast.”

It would’ve taken me at least an hour to build Canva slide decks from scratch.

But with Magic Studio, it took me about 15 minutes. Not bad.

Check out the final output below.

What do you think?

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Designs match Canva’s modern, ready-to-use template quality Offers multiple layout options per prompt so you can easily choose the best fit for your content	AI doesn’t always follow detailed prompts closely No dedicated format for visual assets like LinkedIn carousels Needs a bit of refinement to get it just right

5. Synthesia

Best for video creation without filming

Price: $29+/month; free plan available (no downloads)

Synthesia is one of the fastest ways to turn your ideas into presenter-style videos.

Use it to create:

Product demos
Staff training content
Explainer or onboarding videos
Global communications in different languages

With over 200+ AI avatars and support for over 140 languages and voices, it’s great for teams that need professional multilingual videos fast.

Even better?

You don’t even have to step in front of a camera.

Create Videos Without Filming

Synthesia lets you create a video from a file, URL, prompt, or script.

You start by entering your inputs into the AI Video Assistant.

For this test, I used this URL: https://www.semrush.com/kb/801-advertising-toolkit.

I wanted to create a promotional video for Semrush’s PPC Advertising Toolkit.

Synthesia’s AI assistant guided me through the process.

It prompted me to enter the URL and fill out key details: video length, audience, tone, objective, and speaker.

Synthesia then generated a video outline.

From there, I could:

Add or delete chapters
Change the avatar and voice
Tweak the script for each scene
Add music, transitions, or new slides

I made a few changes that included swapping out my avatar from dozens of options.

(You can also record yourself to create a personal avatar.)

Was the result flawless? Not quite.

The script needed a little polishing, and the AI avatar was… obviously AI.

But for an AI-generated video, with no filming, editing, or voiceover work, it was impressively functional.

Localize Videos

Synthesia’s AI recreates videos in over 140 languages and dialects.

This means global brands and organizations can create localized video content without hiring voice actors or re-recording footage.

For my test, I uploaded one of my TikTok videos and asked Synthesia to generate a version in French.

The result? Uncannily good.

Hearing “myself” speak in French was impressive, surreal, and erm…hilarious.

But it worked. And it worked fast.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
More than 200 customizable AI avatars means you don’t have to appear on camera Creates videos in 140 languages so you can quickly make versions for different markets	Avatars feel a bit robotic, with limited emotional tone Video limits are tight: the Pro plan ($29/month) gives you only 10 minutes of video per month. For additional video time, you’ll have to upgrade to the next tier.

6. AdCreative.ai

Best for scaling high-performing ads

Price: $39+/month; free plan available (up to 10 downloads)

Running paid ads? You need AdCreative.ai.

It builds complete ads (visuals + copy + CTAs) for every major platform in minutes. Including Meta, Google Ads, LinkedIn, and more.

The game-changer?

It’s trained on billions of high-performing ads, so every output is based on proven conversion patterns.

This means you’re not just getting random designs.

You’re getting pre-optimized ad creatives based on what’s already working in your niche.

Create Ads at Scale

Adcreative.ai keeps you on track when you’re working on multiple campaigns and drowning in last week’s ad copy rewrites.

Start by setting up a basic brand profile with your logo, colors, and short description.

Then, choose the type of asset you want to create: static, video, or text-based ads.

AdCreative – AI-Generated Asset Selection

I tested this tool using one of my Backlinko articles.

First, I had it scan the site so it could understand the brand.

It automatically pulled in Backlinko’s brand details.

Then, I entered the article URL so it could scan for relevant content.

After that, I customized the ad including:

Choosing LinkedIn as the ad platform
Picking an ad format
Uploading a background image (optional)

I clicked “Generate” and within seconds, I had a full batch of ad variants ready for use.

AdCreative – Generate batch of ad variants

Each ad came with a layout, copy, and a “Conversion Score” — AdCreative’s prediction on how well the ad will perform.

Pretty cool.

The results weren’t perfect — a few looked a little rough out of the gate.

But every element was editable in the Creative Studio, so with a few quick tweaks, they were publish-ready.

Side note: Notice a pattern here? AI marketing tools work best with detailed information and manual refinement. (For now, at least.)

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Built-in “Conversion Score” helps you prioritize top-performing variants The tool analyzes your brand assets and automatically learns your goals, ideal customer, and brand voice	Some default designs feel generic or visually cluttered Ad downloads are capped monthly, which adds up quickly when running high-volume campaigns

7. HubSpot

Best for AI marketing automation

Price: $20+/month/seat; free tier available (basic CRM)

HubSpot integrates email, ads, content, automation, and customer tracking with your CRM.

Their AI (called Breeze) learns from your actual data, such as your:

CRM records
Campaign performance
Customer behavior

This means you get insights specific to your audience and your sales process.

Not generic AI advice based on everyone else’s data.

That makes it feel less like software and more like a teammate who gets your business.

Identify High-Intent Leads

HubSpot’s Breeze Intelligence identifies qualified leads from your website traffic.

It tracks how visitors interact with your site.

Like what they click, how long they stay, and which pages they’ve visited more than once.

Then it combines that behavior with public data sources (like reverse IP lookup) to identify which companies they likely work for.

For example, Breeze might find a visitor from a Fortune 500 company:

Checking out your pricing page (obvious buying signal)
Reading through case studies (evaluating your results)
Making repeated visits (consistent interest)

That’s someone interested in your product. In other words, the kind of leads your sales team should be talking to.

You can also personalize your outreach to what these prospects have already viewed.

That’s huge.

Say the right thing at the right time to the right person, and you don’t have to do the hard sell.

The momentum’s already there. You just help it along.

Side note: Breeze typically identifies companies rather than specific individuals (unless visitors fill out forms or self-identify), making it particularly useful for B2B businesses.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Comprehensive AI integration throughout marketing, sales, and customer service Provides deep customer behavior insights for more targeted marketing	Full AI functionality (like Agents and Breeze Intelligence) is only available in paid accounts Effectiveness is dependent on the quality of your existing data

3 AI Marketing Tool Runner-Ups

These AI tools for marketers didn’t make the top spots.

But they have standout features for specific marketing tasks that make them worth considering.

1. Hootsuite

Best for advanced social media analytics

Price: $149+ per user/per month

Hootsuite uses AI to streamline social media publishing on all your social channels.

Its OwlyWriter AI generates post ideas, repurposes top-performing content, and writes captions in your brand voice.

But what sets Hootsuite apart is its AI social listening model, Blue Silk AI.

It scans millions of conversations, on and off social, to detect brand mentions and analyze audience sentiment in real time.

Then, it:

Suggests the best times to post based on engagement patterns
Identifies organic content worth boosting with paid ads
Surface trending topics in your niche

These AI features let your social team move faster and make data-driven decisions.

But it’s more complex than beginner tools like Flick.

It also comes with a higher price tag. (It starts at $149 per user/month compared to Flick’s $18/month.)

Still, if you’re managing multiple brands on all major platforms and need AI to help you plan and optimize at scale, Hootsuite is tough to beat.

2. Claude

Best LLM for content creation

Price: $17+ per month; free plan available

Claude is an LLM, much like ChatGPT.

But it runs on a different framework called Constitutional AI, designed to make it more helpful, honest, and human in its responses.

In my experience, Claude is great at picking up on nuance, understanding intent clearly, and handling tone with consistency.

Many marketing writers I’ve talked to love it for long-form content.

Why?

Because Claude keeps voice and structure consistent across thousands of words.

That makes it ideal for things like sales pages, reports, and anything that requires flow and cohesion.

Side note: Unlike ChatGPT, Anthropic doesn’t use your chats to train its AI models. So if you’re handling sensitive data — or just don’t want your conversations used as training material — Claude’s a great option.

3. Zapier

Best AI marketing tool for plug-and-play automation

Price: $29.99/month; free plan available

Want powerful AI workflows without migrating to an all-in-one platform?

Zapier is the answer.

Unlike tools like Hubspot that require you to use their ecosystem, Zapier connects over 8,000 apps. Including Gmail, Mailchimp, Slack, and Salesforce.

This means you can create countless generative AI workflows that save you time.

Here’s an example:

A customer emails a question via Gmail
ChatGPT analyzes the message and drafts a personalized reply
This reply is sent and automatically logged in your CRM
A follow-up task is created in your project management tool
A summary is sent to Slack to keep your team in the loop

Set it up once in Zapier, and your entire workflow runs on autopilot.

Next Step: Get AI to Talk About Your Brand

AI marketing tools make creating assets faster and easier than ever before.

They also help you scale your business with less effort.

Your next step? Dominating Google’s AI Overviews.

Learn how to optimize your site for AI Overviews to improve (or regain) your organic visibility. Get ahead of the curve and turn AI search into your next growth engine.

The post 7 Powerful AI Marketing Tools You Need (Tested) appeared first on Backlinko.

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Step 1: Align Your Content Strategy with Customer Awareness Levels

Most Aware

Product Aware

Solution Aware

Problem Aware

Unaware

Step 2: Find and Prioritize High-Impact Content Ideas

Start with Customer and Client Research

Audit Your Existing Content for Hidden Winners

Run a Cross-Platform Competitive Analysis

Mine Online Communities

Prioritize Your Content Ideas

Step 3: Create Comprehensive Content Briefs

Step 4: Focus on Creating Amazing Content

Authority

Research

Visuals

Examples

Statistics

Step 5: Promote Your Content

Create Email Newsletters

Curate Content Roundups

Step 6: Track and Measure Performance

Business Impact Metrics

Conversions and Revenue

Leads Generated

Traffic Quality

Engagement Metrics

Views and Reach

Search Visibility and Rankings

Time Spent and Watch Time

Audience Interaction

Build Authority into Your Content Strategy

1. Build a Multimedia Brand from Day One

2. Show Up in ChatGPT

3. Use AI as a Lever, Not a Crutch

Final Word

Table of contents

Traffic and rankings: What’s changed since January?

Organic traffic trends

Keyword movement and SERP features

Where’s the gap?

What to do next in your mid-year SEO review

Audit and refresh your content

Diversify and focus on video

Adapting to AI and zero-click searches

What AI Mode means for search visibility

Refresh your keyword strategy

Technical SEO clean up

Monitor competitors and trends

Set clear goals for the rest of the year

Do your mid-year SEO checkup

Core Components of an Ecommerce SEO Audit

1. Technical SEO

2. On-Page SEO

3. UX and Performance

4. Off-Page SEO

5. Competitive Analysis

Stage 1: Can Google Find My Store and Products?

Check If Your Pages Are Indexed in Google

Ensure Key Pages Are in Sitemap and Crawlable

Identify and Fix 4xx/5xx Errors That Hurt Visibility

Use Canonical Tags to Avoid Duplicate Content

Stage 2: Do People Discover and Visit My Pages?

Optimize Titles and Meta Descriptions for Clicks

Add Structured Schema for Rich Results

Map Target Keywords to the Right Pages

Optimize Images and Add Alt Text

Stage 3: Are Visitors Staying and Buying?

Improve Load Times and Mobile Usability

Simplify Page Design and UX

Fix Pages Targeting the Same Keyword

Add Internal Links to Boost Relevance

Stage 4: Where Am I Behind My Competitors?

Audit and Strengthen Your Backlink Profile

Uncover Keyword Gaps and Ranking Opportunities

How to Prioritize SEO Issues You Identify in a Site Audit

Impact

Effort