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Keyword and content cannibalization: how to identify and fix it

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If you optimize your articles for similar terms, your rankings might suffer from keyword or content cannibalization: you’ll be ‘devouring’ your chances to rank in Google! Especially when your site is growing, your content could start competing with itself. Here, we’ll explain why keyword and content cannibalism can harm SEO, how to recognize it, and what to do about it.

Table of contents

What is keyword cannibalization?

Keyword cannibalization happens when multiple pages on your website target the same or very similar keywords. This often occurs unintentionally, especially as your site grows and more content accumulates. Pages that are too similar in focus might confuse search engines, which may struggle to decide which to rank higher. As a result, your pages compete with one another, and all of them can rank lower.

For example, if you publish two posts — one optimized for “does readability rank” and another for “readability ranking factor” — Google may see them competing for the same query. Instead of one strong result, both might hover around lower positions, weakening your site’s overall performance.

What is content cannibalization?

Content cannibalization is closely related but centers on the issue of multiple articles covering the same topic, regardless of whether they’re optimized for the same keyword. It’s a broader issue that affects thematic overlap more than exact keyword matching.

Where keyword cannibalization focuses on duplicating keywords, content cannibalization involves too many pages delivering overlapping value. This undermines user experience, spreads authority thin, and can make your content performance uneven.

Is cannibalization harmful?

Both keyword and content cannibalization can hurt SEO.

  • Lower rankings: Google often limits the number of results from a domain per query. When several of your pages try to rank for the same keyword, they could all underperform. This is especially true when neither page is clearly better in content depth, backlinks, or relevance.
  • Diluted backlinks: Instead of one strong page getting all the backlinks, multiple weaker ones split the attention. If many pages discuss a similar topic, other sites may link to each inconsistently. As a result, no one page accumulates strong authority. This fragmentation makes it harder for your content to rank competitively.
  • Confused crawlers: Search engines can’t always easily figure out which page they should prioritize. As a result, this could lead to inconsistent rankings. These days, Google is better at understanding topical relationships and can often see their differences. If content overlap is too high and intent is unclear, prioritization issues can still arise, especially on sites with thin or low-quality pages.
  • Reduced Click-Through Rate (CTR): Spreading clicks across several similar listings may lower the collective performance. If multiple similar titles from your domain show in results, users may split clicks between them. Worse, one strong CTA title might appear further down the page than a weaker or outdated one. This can impact user engagement and CTR for both pages, especially if they fall further down the SERPs.

In short, cannibalization limits your content’s potential by weakening each page’s authority and clarity.

How to identify cannibalization issues

As your site grows, you’ll have more and more content. Some of these articles are going to be about a similar topic. Even when you’ve always categorized it well, your content might compete with itself. You’re suffering from keyword or content cannibalization. Finding and fixing keyword cannibalization issues should be part of your content maintenance work to prevent all this.

Identifying keyword cannibalization

Start with a site search. Use site:yourdomain.com “keyword” in Google to surface all pages relevant to a particular term. If you see two or more of your URLs targeting the same term, they may be in conflict.

Next, use tools like Google Search Console. Look under the Performance tab. Filter by query to view keywords that bring in impressions and clicks, then see which pages receive traffic from those terms. Then, use SEO tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush to track keyword rankings and expose overlapping URLs targeting the same terms.

Look especially for pages that rank beyond the top five positions for the same term. When two of your URLs rank closely together outside the top spots, it’s often a sign that neither is performing optimally.

A Google site search with a domain and keyword showing post keyword cannibalization results
A simple site search with your domain and keyword will show all the pages ranking for that term

Identifying content cannibalization

Content cannibalization is subtler. You might not see overlapping keywords, but you may notice thematic overlap.

Review URL structures and tags to catch duplicates

Start by scanning your site’s URLs and content categories to catch pages covering the same topic in different formats. Look for similar slugs, repeated folder structures, or articles under the same tag or category. This quick check often reveals duplicate coverage, especially on larger sites or those with multiple writers.

Use keyword/topic mapping tools

Trace what each page is targeting. Create a list of your key pages and their target keywords or main topics. This helps you spot when multiple pages aim for the same term or cover the same subject. It doesn’t matter whether you use a tool or a spreadsheet, but keyword mapping helps explain the purpose of content. It also helps avoid overlap and ensures that all pages on your site have a place in your strategy.

Use the page filter

In Google Search Console, use the Page filter to see how each URL performs. The data gives insights into impressions, clicks, and average position. Look for pages that are getting traffic from similar queries. Multiple pages appearing for the same or closely related terms could signal content cannibalization. You can also use the Query filter to search by keyword and review which pages compete for it.

How to fix cannibalization issues

You should know your content, its performance, and where overlaps exist. Fixing keyword or content cannibalization means auditing, evaluating, and restructuring your pages. It doesn’t mean you should delete content blindly. Every page on your site should have a purpose and support your site’s overall SEO strategy. Below are practical ways to resolve both types of cannibalization.

Fixing keyword cannibalization

In many cases, solving keyword cannibalization means deleting and merging content. We will run you through some of that maintenance work as we did it at Yoast to show you how to do this. In particular, we’ll show you some thinking around a cluster of keywords related to keyword research.

Step 1: Audit your content

The first step is finding all the content on the keyword research topic. Most of that was simple: we have a keyword research tag, and most of the content was nicely tagged. This was also confronting, as we had many posts about the topic.

We searched for site:yoast.com "keyword research" and Google showed all the posts and pages on the site that mentioned the topic. We had dozens of articles devoted to keyword research or large sections mentioning it. Dozens or so mentioned it in passing and linked to other articles.

We started auditing the content for this particular group of keywords to improve our rankings around the cluster of keywords related to keyword research. So we needed to analyze which pages were ranking and which weren’t. This content maintenance turned out to be badly needed. It was surely time to find and fix possible cannibalization issues!

Step 2: Analyze the content performance

Go to Google Search Console and find the Performance section. In that section, click the filter bar. Click Query and type “keyword research” into the box like this:

A Google Search Console keyword query filter helping you find which articles rank for terms
Google Search Console helps you find which articles rank for certain terms

This makes Google Search Console match all queries containing keyword and research. This gives you two very important pieces of data. A list of the keywords your site has been shown in the search results for, and the clicks and click-through rate (CTR) for those keywords. A list of the pages that were receiving all that traffic, and how much traffic each of those pages received.

Start with the total number of clicks the content received for all those queries, then look at the individual pages. Something was clear: just a few posts were getting most of the traffic. But we knew we had loads of articles covering this topic. It was time to clean up. Of course, we didn’t want to throw away any posts that were getting traffic not included in this bucket of traffic, so we had to check each post individually. 

We removed the Query filter and used another option: the Page filter. This allows you to filter by a group of URLs or a specific URL. On larger sites, you might be able to filter by groups of URLs. In this case, we looked at the data for each post individually, which is best if you truly want to find and fix keyword cannibalization on your website.

Step 3: Decide on the next steps

After reviewing each post in this content maintenance process, we decided whether to keep it or delete it. If we deleted a post (which we did for most of them), we decided which post we should redirect it to.

For each of those posts, we evaluated whether they had sections to merge into another article. Some posts had paragraphs or sections that could be merged into another post. When merging posts entails more work (and time) than adding one paragraph or a few sentences, we recommend working in a new draft by cloning one of the original posts with Yoast Duplicate Post plugin. This way, you can work on your merged post without making live changes to one of your original posts.

Step 4: Take action

We had a list of action items: content to add to specific articles, after which each piece of content could be deleted from the articles it came from. Using Yoast SEO Premium, it’s easy to 301 redirect a post or page when you delete it, so that process was fairly painless.

With that, we’d removed the excess articles about the topic and retained only the most important ones. We still had a list of articles that mentioned the topic and linked to one of the other. We reviewed them and ensured each was linked to one or more of the remaining articles in the appropriate section.

Another example of fixing cannibalization by merging

Another example: We once had three separate articles covering how to do an SEO audit, split into parts 1, 2, and 3. Each post focused on a different section of the audit process, but none of them ranked well or brought in meaningful traffic. On their own, the articles felt incomplete, and splitting the topic likely made it harder for users (and search engines) to find everything they needed in one place. We decided to take a step back.

After reviewing performance data and gathering insights on what users were actually searching for, we merged the three posts into a single, more useful SEO audit guide. We rewrote outdated sections, expanded key points, added a practical checklist, included tool recommendations, and tightened up the structure. Since updating and combining the content, that article now ranks for more keywords than the separate posts ever did, draws more consistent traffic, and performs better overall. It’s a good example of how merging overlapping content, when done thoughtfully, can give users more value and improve SEO at the same time.

This shows three old seo audit articles that were merged in a much better, more comprehensive guide
Merging three simple posts into one big, much-improved SEO audit guide helped boost performance

Yoast Duplicate Post is a great free plugin

Ever wanted to quickly make a copy of a post in WordPress to work on some changes without the risk of ruining the published post?

You need Yoast Duplicate Post!

Fixing content cannibalization

Even if keywords differ slightly, topics may still overlap, and there are things you can do to improve that.

Create a cornerstone/pillar or landing page

Create a main page — a cornerstone article — that covers the broad topic in depth, then link to more specific articles that explore subtopics. This helps define a content hierarchy, improves internal linking, and signals which page should rank for the core topic to search engines. Supporting content can still rank independently, but will pass relevance and authority back to the pillar.

Consolidate underperforming content

If you have several pages covering similar ideas, but none are ranking well, combine them into one stronger, more complete resource. Prioritize the page with the most traffic or links, and bring valuable sections from the others. This helps reduce redundancy, improve content quality, and give search engines a clear page to index for that topic.

Use 301 redirects

Redirects are an important tool for your cannibalization actions. After deleting content, remember to use 301 redirects to send visitors from the old URLs to the updated one. Of course, you can also send them to the most relevant page as an alternative. This keeps existing rankings, backlinks, and traffic from the original pages intact. Plus, it also helps to avoid broken links or indexing issues. 

Preventive measures

Another way to avoid future keyword or content cannibalization issues is to prevent them, of course. 

Audit your content regularly

Analyze the content for your most important topics regularly. Look for overlapping pages, outdated posts, or content that doesn’t fit your keyword strategy. Regular audits will help you find issues early, which can help keep your site focused and maintain search visibility.

Assign a unique target keyword to each page

Before creating new content, please ensure no existing page targets the same keyword. Giving each page a clear, unique focus prevents internal competition and helps search engines understand which page to rank for a given query.

Write with a clear content brief

Start every piece with a brief that outlines the target keyword, search intent, key points to cover, and how it supports your existing content. Such a strategy helps your articles stay focused and avoids topic overlap. In addition, it ensures that the new content you add is truly unique to your site.

Keep a keyword and topic map

Maintain a simple record of which topics and keywords are already covered on your site. This makes it easier to spot gaps, avoid duplication, and plan new content that fits your overall strategy. A keyword map also helps when updating or pruning existing pages.

Also, if you’re running an e-commerce site with many similar product pages, make sure category pages are well-optimized and that your products clearly support them through internal linking.

Common mistakes in addressing cannibalization

Cannibalization happens, and many site owners have tried to address it in one way or another. Of course, there are right and wrong ways to do this.

Deleting pages without checking their value

Don’t delete content because you think it no longer serves a goal. Before you do that, look at traffic data, backlinks, and search performance before taking drastic measures. For instance, a page may look outdated, while in reality, it still drives traffic or has solid external links. Simply deleting it could lead to unwanted ranking losses.

Relying on canonical tags without checking content

Adding a canonical tag isn’t always the right fix. If two pages are too similar, merging or redirecting them may be better. Canonicals help when content overlap is minimal and both pages still serve a purpose, not as a quick workaround for duplication without analysis.

Merging pages that target different search intent

Just because two pages cover a similar topic doesn’t mean they should be combined. If each one is aimed at a very specific audience or answers a different question, merging them could hurt relevance and rankings. Always consider the intent behind each page before deciding to consolidate.

Overlooking internal linking opportunities

Internal links help search engines understand which pages are most important. If you skip this step, you may weaken page authority and miss chances to guide crawlers — and users — to your key content. Linking related pages strategically can reduce confusion and support stronger rankings.

Final thoughts on keyword and content cannibalization

A growing website means a growing risk of content overlapping. This could be a risk to the visibility of all that content. To prevent this, perform regular content audits and carefully plan and structure your content. 

Whether you’re fixing overlapping blog posts or aligning product pages under a clear hierarchy, regularly addressing cannibalization helps search engines — and users — find the most relevant, valuable pages on your site.

The post Keyword and content cannibalization: how to identify and fix it appeared first on Yoast.

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Video Previews come to Google Business Profile verification

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Google has rolled out a new feature for Google Business Profile verifications. When you verify using video verification, you can now preview that video before you submit the video for review.

Google is calling this “Video Previews.”

Video Previews. Video Previews give you the option to review the video you are about to submit to the Google Business Profile team. This will allow you to ensure that video includes all the necessary elements before you submit it to Google.

Here is what it looks like:

What Google said. Google’s Lisa Landsman wrote on LinkedIn, “Now, you can review your recordings before submitting, ensuring clarity and accuracy – saving you valuable time and reducing the need for resubmissions.”

Why we care. All too often, a business will submit a verification requirement but leave out some important detail. With video previews, you can now preview the video before you submit it, to give you one more chance to ensure that the video you are submitting meets all the requirments you need to verify your business in Google Business Profiles.

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New data: Google AI Overviews are hurting click-through rates

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Two new studies agree: Google’s AI Overviews steal clicks from organic search results.

While Google told us that AI Overviews citations result in higher-quality clicks, the introduction of AI Overviews correlates with a measurable decline in organic visibility and clicks, particularly for top-ranking, non-branded keywords. That’s according to two new data studies from SEO tool provider Ahrefs and performance agency Amsive.

By the numbers. Here’s how AI Overviews have decreased click-through rate (CTR) for traditional organic listings, according to the two studies:

  • Ahrefs: A 34.5% drop in position 1 CTR when AI Overviews were present, based on an analysis of 300,000 keywords.
  • Amsive: An average 15.49% CTR drop, with much larger losses in specific cases (e.g., -37.04% when combined with featured snippets), based on an analysis of 700,000 keywords.

Non-branded keywords. AI Overviews are much more likely to trigger on non-branded queries, and these terms showed the largest CTR drops:

  • Amsive: -19.98% CTR decline on non-branded keywords.
  • Ahrefs: Focused exclusively on informational intent (99.2% overlap with AI Overviews).

Lower rankings = bigger CTR hits. Google’s AI Overviews push organic results further down, minimizing visibility even for solidly ranking pages.

  • There was a -27.04% CTR drop for keywords not in the Top 3 positions, according to Amsive:

AI Overviews benefit branded queries. Branded keywords are less likely to trigger AI Overviews (only 4.79%) – but when they do, they get a +18.68% CTR boost. This is possibly due to greater user intent and brand familiarity, according to Amsive.

Why we care. These two studies (as well as data from Seer Interactive, which we covered in Google organic and paid CTRs hit new lows: Report) call into question Google’s claim that AI Overviews get more clicks than traditional listings. Google’s claim may or may not be true, but these studies show that overall clicks have gone down – and many websites ranking well in Classic Search aren’t included in AI Overviews.

About the data:

  • Ahrefs: Used Ahrefs + Google Search Console (GSC) data to analyze CTR changes before (March 2024) and after (March 2025) the U.S. rollout of AI Overviews.
  • Amsive: Pulled data from 700,000 keywords across 10 websites and 5 industries to isolate patterns by keyword type, industry, and SERP feature overlap.

The studies. You can read them here:

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Google Search to redirect its country level TLDs to Google.com

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Google will begin redirecting its country code top-level domain names (ccTLD) versions of its Google domain to Google.com. That means if you frequent google.fr (in France), google.ng (in Nigeria) and so on, you will be redirected to Google.com.

Why the change. Google said, “Over the years, our ability to provide a local experience has improved. In 2017, we began providing the same experience with local results for everyone using Search, whether they were using google.com or their country’s ccTLD.” “Because of this improvement, country-level domains are no longer necessary,” Google added.

Google said, “we’ll begin redirecting traffic from these ccTLDs to google.com to streamline people’s experience on Search.”

The impact. For the most part, most searchers should not notice any difference. When you are redirected, there is a chance you may have to login to Google again and also reconfigure some of your search settings.

But overall, there won’t be any significant changes. Google wrote, “It’s important to note that while this update will change what people see in their browser address bar, it won’t affect the way Search works, nor will it change how we handle obligations under national laws.”

Timing. This change will begin today but “will be rolled out gradually over the coming months,” the company said.

Why we care. You may notice slightly different referral traffic from Google Search, related to this change.

This may also impact your signed in experience with Google.com in the short term.

But outside of that, there should be no other large changes with these ccTLD changes for Google Search.

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AI agents in SEO: What you need to know

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AI agents in SEO: What you need to know

You’ve probably been hearing a lot about AI agents lately – whether in your workplace conversations or scrolling through your social feeds (hopefully both). 

While there’s no shortage of articles discussing their general benefits, there’s surprisingly little coverage on what they mean specifically for SEO – where their impact is not just significant, but amplified.

Before we dive into the two key reasons AI agents are so important for SEOs to understand (and yes, you’re probably already using them – even if you don’t realize it), let’s first get clear on what AI agents actually are.

What are AI agents?

At their core, AI agents are autonomous systems equipped with access to external tools, data, functions, and more. 

They operate with a clear understanding of an end goal and are provided with the resources needed to achieve it.

In some cases, they’re also given instructions on how to use those tools. In others, they’re left to figure it out on their own.

Rather than diving into a chart or technical diagram of a sample agenting system, I think a simpler – and surprisingly accurate – illustration can be found in one of nature’s most complex yet overlooked lifeforms: the humble ant.

Ant colony and AI agents

Imagine an ant colony: the queen, much like a master AI algorithm, sets the overarching goal. The worker ants – each equipped with their own specialized tools – are the individual agents tasked with specific functions.

Consider the parallels:

  • Queen = Agent operator: Directs and adjusts the overall strategy.
  • Worker ants = Sub-agents: Each has a specialized tool or function, whether it’s gathering data, analyzing content, or communicating findings.
  • Colony efficiency = System optimization: As ants work together, the system optimizes resources and information flow, mirroring how AI agents coordinate to achieve complex tasks.

The queen communicates the goal to each “tool,” which each ant then tries to accomplish. 

They return with their requested resource, communicate and assess their status, share information to accomplish their macro goal faster and report back. 

An overall status is reported to the queen, who communicates adjusted commands to her tools.

This is not all that different from an AI agent, other than being generally more sophisticated (though not as impressive to us, as it only sustains a species and doesn’t automatically make a stock trade 56 nanoseconds faster after catching a new trend and applying the sentiment as positive).

I’ll poorly parallel this to AI agents below.

But before I do that, let me answer why one of my assertions above is true. 

Why the impact of AI agents in SEO is multiplied many times over most other professions

I can’t think of an industry that won’t be touched by agents, at least indirectly. 

  • Lawyers will use agents to look up and summarize judgments and analyze loopholes used for their clients.
  • Software engineers will use them to assist in developing code and systems, referencing their internal docs, repos, and external knowledge.
  • Bakers will receive their ingredients through shippers coordinated using agents.
  • SEOs will use them as tools to do their jobs faster and better – as I’ll illustrate below.
A cartoon ant holding a microphone

On top of that, we also need to learn and adapt to marketing into agentic systems.

Generative engine optimization (GEO) entered the scene not that long ago. 

But what it is evolving into is something different — something far more powerful. 

Something that takes us past optimizing for an algorithm, even one driven by an LLM like AI Overviews or ChatGPT, and into optimizing for agents, their functions, and their tools.

We’re seeing this evolution in its toddler years right now, and if you’re on the ground floor, that’s a great place to be. 

While there are exceptions, for the most part, generative engines are performing a lot like search engines in their presentation of solutions.

  • The user enters a query.
  • The user receives a reply.
  • That reply might have a few links in it.

Sure, the system might check on the web for additional references outside of its current knowledge base, but nothing revolutionary. 

Again, it functions a lot like traditional search with a better user experience. 

I expect the next steps in this evolution will be gradual, as tools like Google and ChatGPT add new capabilities – such as the recently announced feature where an AI-driven system can call a store to gather additional information for you.

However, new pieces will gradually fall into place until we reach a point where providing your agent with insights into your goals or needs will trigger actions in ways we likely can’t fully understand yet.

Here’s a simple example.

You give the Google agent (for example) your goal, want, or need. 

Let’s say you need new shoes for a wedding. The agent can then:

  • Check your calendar for the wedding date.
  • Check the weather in that city on that date, or likely weather based on the time of year if specifics are unavailable.
  • Ask what you’ll be wearing.
  • Knowing your size, general style, and preferred brands and stores – source options that will arrive in time for the wedding.
  • Source and store a local backup, in case something goes wrong with the delivery or fit, to have that information ready in case it detects a problem.
  • Ask if you would like to see the options:
    • If yes, send them to a display of your choosing.
    • If not, move on to the next step.
  • Once the shoe is selected, complete the order.
  • Check what other common items might be needed for weddings, based on your status at it (guest, best person, bride or groom, etc.), and optionally send an email list of these to you if it doesn’t have evidence these are completed.

Imagining this world, I have a couple of questions for you:

  • How do you attribute that to Google?
  • Was it their crawler that surfaced the information to them? What kind of optimization does that take with LLMs?
  • Was it a product feed through Google Merchant Center?
  • Did they use an operator to navigate your site to get to it? Is there optimization you need to apply to filters to simplify that?
  • If you sell umbrellas, how do you ensure you’re part of those emailed suggestions from earlier in the event that it’s going to rain.
  • Oh, and how do you even get attribution for that?

This simple example highlights the immense complexity of what lies ahead. 

New technologies will emerge that companies and teams will need to adopt and optimize. 

Additionally, with the development of new protocols like Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), adding your store’s feed to a marketplace – or even creating your own tools for other agents to use – will become much easier. 

This opens the door to greater distribution, though it may come with challenges like difficult attribution and untested effectiveness. 

The question is: 

  • Do you really want to wait and see if your competitors dive in first, or will you seize the opportunity now?

While I can’t predict the exact shape of the marketing world in the next two weeks, let alone a year from now, I can confidently say that we’ve already entered the agentic era. 

The rate of adoption and development in this space is unlike anything I’ve seen in over two decades of online marketing.

It’s even more disruptive than the changes brought on Google’s Panda and Penguin updates.

A red ant plus small pandas and penguins

Dig deeper: From search to AI agents – The future of digital experiences

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SEOs and GEOs use agentic AI, too

And on the other side of the coin, we also have SEOs using their own agentic systems.

As an example, I’ll share an agenting system I created to help generate article outlines for authors at Weights & Biases. 

What started as a simple replacement for a script I had previously written for the same task has since evolved. 

I’ll also highlight a few upcoming expansions to better illustrate the potential of AI agents.

This agentic system begins by asking the user for five things:

  • The primary phrase they are hoping to rank for with an article.
  • Any secondary terms.
  • The type of article they were writing.
  • The title (if they have one in mind).
  • The author.

It uses this information to inform the other agents within the system what to do and what data to access.

I’ve created several agents and data sources for the agent to access. 

The main ones (including a few still being finished after some testing) are:

A search agent

This agent has access to Google search and removes social platforms, which tend to block our web scrapers.

An analysis agent

This agent does a few things:

  • Extracts the entities from the pages using Google’s Natural Language API.
  • Summarizes content.
  • Extracts questions from the content.

I’ll likely separate these into their own agents as I expand the capabilities, but combining them works well in the current iteration.

A data store of examples

For each author, I created a folder with 10 markdown files that include:

  • The inputs they provided (primary phrase, secondary terms, title, etc.).
  • The outlines generated by the system.
  • The final outlines I handed off after manual editing.
  • The first paragraphs from the published articles, based on my criteria for how section intros should read.

This collection trains the agentic system to understand each author’s preferred structure and tone. It also helps suggest first paragraphs that align with their writing style.

I log all of this – inputs, extracted entities, questions, and outlines – to W&B Weave to monitor performance and guide improvements.

An outline agent

This agent takes in the information from the user, the search results, entities, questions, and summaries and generates an article outline.

Coming soon

Some agents I’m adding in presently are:

  • A keyword agent that will have access to the Google Ads API to get additional keyword ideas and search volumes.
  • A social listening agent that will monitor social channels for trending topics and auto-generate and outline when one crosses a threshold of likely importance.
  • A Slack/email agent: When an article outline is generated automatically, the agentic system will inform me – including a list of notable people talking about the topic and a summary.
  • A competitor agent that will check to see if known competitors are ranking for the content and send them to me with the outline.

I’m sure there’s more to come. (I considered waiting until everything was finished before writing this, but new ideas keep popping up, and this article would never get written.)

You should (and can) build agents too

I’m not alone in developing agents, and while some SEO tools claim to be agentic, I haven’t found any worth paying for yet. 

The real benefit of building agents is that they help me understand the environment I’m marketing in. 

If you want to try developing one, I’ve used obot.ai, which is simple and great for creating basic, useful agents for various tasks.

Big thanks to Marc Sirkin, CEO of Third Door Media, for introducing me to it. 

At the very least, it’ll give you a feel for how agents work, which is a big advantage over competitors who don’t understand what’s happening behind the scenes.

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4 Best SEO Reporting Tools (Free & Paid Options)

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SEO reporting transforms raw data into actionable decisions. It shows clients and teams exactly what’s working — and what isn’t.

But here’s the painful truth:

You can waste hours each month collecting data from various platforms. Like copying numbers from Google Analytics, Search Console, and rank trackers into spreadsheets.

Then struggling to make it look presentable.

Oh, and this is for one website. If you’re managing many projects, reporting can get VERY tedious (and costly).

That’s why I’ve handpicked a list of four dedicated SEO reporting tools that:

  • Save time by automatically collating data from your favorite SEO and analytics platforms
  • Help you build client-ready reports without starting from scratch every time
  • Let you track and visualize SEO performance in a way that actually makes sense for you

Here’s a quick rundown of our favorite SEO reporting tools:

Best for Pricing
Google Looker Studio Creating reports from 1,000+ sources like Google Sheets, Search Console, and other APIs Free; Pro plan costs $9/month with a 30-day free trial
Semrush SEO professionals who want an all-in-one solution to track, analyze, and report performance Starts at $139.95/month; Backlinko-exclusive 14-day free trial available
AgencyAnalytics Freelancers and SEO agencies who want to share real-time dashboards with clients Starts at $79/month; 14-day free trial available
DashThis Creating customizable SEO dashboards and helping clients understand what the data means with in-line notes Starts at $49/month; 15-day free trial available

1. Google Looker Studio

Best for creating reports from various sources like Google Sheets, Search Console, and APIs

Pricing: Free; Pro plan costs $9 per month with a 30-day free trial.

Google Looker Studio is a free tool that helps you create SEO dashboards that are visually appealing and customizable.

Looker Studio – Homepage

Here’s what I love about Looker Studio:

Connect All Your Data Sources in One Dashboard

One of the biggest advantages of Google Looker Studio is how seamlessly it connects with 1,000+ data sources.

This lets you pull all your SEO, PPC, and marketing data into one clean, interactive dashboard.

Here’s how it works:

Connect your Looker Studio account to Google’s native platforms, including:

  • Google Search Console to pull in keyword rankings, impressions, clicks, and click-through rate (CTR)
  • YouTube Analytics if you’re reporting on YouTube SEO
  • BigQuery, Google Sheets, Google Cloud Storage if you’re managing large datasets
  • Google Ads if you want to compare paid and organic performance metrics in one place

Looker Studio – Connect datasources

These connectors are free to use and only need a few clicks to set up.

Beyond Google’s platforms, Looker Studio also integrates with 1,100+ third-party data sources via partner connectors.

For example, you can connect your Looker Studio to:

  • Semrush: Import keyword rankings, domain analytics, and backlink data
  • Shopify: Combine ecommerce sales data with SEO performance insights to see how organic traffic impacts your revenue
  • Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok Ads: Combine all your social media ad metrics with SEO results in one report

Looker Studio – Partner connectors

Note: You can connect Semrush to Looker Studio for free. Many other third-party connectors need a separate paid subscription.

Report Fast with Templates or Build Custom SEO Dashboards

Looker Studio gives you the flexibility to choose how you want to set up your SEO reports. Whether that’s in a streamlined or more hands-on way.

Here’s how:

If you want a quick start, you can use pre-built templates from the gallery.

Looker Studio – Templates

For example, you could choose a Google Search Console performance template.

It visualizes impressions, clicks, CTR, and average position:

Looker Studio – Template – Google Search Console

With this template, you simply need to connect your Search Console account, and you’re good to go.

But if you need something more tailored, you can easily build custom dashboards from scratch in three simple steps:

  1. Choose exactly which metrics to show
  2. Pull in multiple data sources (Google Analytics, Semrush, Shopify, etc.)
  3. Design the layout to fit your team’s or client’s needs

Looker Studio – Report from scratch

Tip: If you’re showing these reports to clients, you can also fully customize your SEO dashboards to reflect your (or their) brand. Do this by adding logos, brand colors, and any visual elements specific to your projects.

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
Visualizes data with interactive charts, scorecards, and tables It’s primarily a visualization tool that relies entirely on other data sources for its reports
Refreshes data in real-time — you can set up the report and forget about it
Option to embed interactive reports on your website

2. Semrush

Best for SEO professionals who want an all-in-one solution to track, analyze, and report SEO performance in one place

Pricing: Starts at $139.95 per month; Backlinko-exclusive 14-day free trial available

Semrush’s My Reports lets you build customizable SEO reports. It’s designed to help you merge data from across Semrush’s various tools and present it in an easy-to-understand format.

Semrush – My Reports – Overview

Here’s what I love about My Reports:

Combine Multiple Semrush Tools in One Report

Semrush’s My Reports tool lets you pull data from across the platform’s entire SEO toolkit and present it in a single, cohesive report.

You can include insights from tools like:

  • Position Tracking to highlight keyword performance
  • Site Audit to showcase technical SEO health
  • Backlink Audit for link profiles

Semrush – My Reports – Widgets

This feature is perfect if you want to avoid bouncing between separate dashboards. Or manually merging data sources.

With everything in one place, it’s also easier to spot patterns and draw connections. Like how ranking improvements might correlate with new backlinks. Or how technical issues could be holding your keyword performance back.

Create SEO Reports from 20+ Marketing Data Sources

You can go beyond just Semrush data by connecting 20+ other marketing data sources to further enhance your reports.

These include Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Business Profile, and more.

Semrush – My Reports – Integrations

For example, you can pull keyword rankings and backlink data from Semrush. Then combine it with Google Search Console data to highlight clicks and impressions.

All in one report:

Semrush – My Reports – Backlinko – Semrush & GSC

This makes it easier to present a holistic view of your SEO performance. And show not only where you rank but also how those rankings translate into actual search traffic.

Save Time with Ready-Made Templates

If you’re short on time and don’t want to build your SEO reports from scratch, Semrush has you covered with ready-made templates:

Semrush – My Reports – Ready-to-use-templates

These templates help you quickly generate reports for common SEO tasks.

For example, you can select:

  • Monthly SEO Reports: Use these to update clients about your SEO performance
  • Site Audit: This gives you a quick overview of your domain’s technical health
  • Backlink Audit: This lets you analyze your website’s backlink profile and spot new link opportunities

You can use your selected template as is:

Semrush – My Reports – PDF

Or you can customize it further with the drag-and-drop tools.

Quickly Build SEO Reports with Drag-and-Drop Widgets

Semrush’s drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to build your own custom reports or build on templates.

Just drag the data widgets you need from the left panel and drop them wherever you need them.

Let AI Summarize Your Report

One of the standout features of My Reports is the built-in AI Summary tool.

Once you’ve built your SEO report, you can click “Add AI Summary,” and Semrush will automatically generate a clear, concise overview of the key takeaways:

Semrush – My Reports – Backlinko – AI Summary

You can also choose whether you want the AI to generate a brief or detailed summary, depending on your audience:

Semrush – My Reports – AI Summary in details

Note: A free Semrush lets you create one report for free. Or you can use this link to access a 14-day trial on a Semrush Pro subscription.

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
Easily schedule recurring reports and receive them via email You can’t edit the AI-generated summary
White label reports with your logo and branding
Share reports as a PDF or via dashboard link

3. AgencyAnalytics

Best for freelancers and SEO agencies to share real-time reporting dashboards with clients

Pricing: Starts at $79 per month; 14-day free trial available

AgencyAnalytics is a reporting platform built specifically for agencies managing SEO and digital marketing clients.

AgencyAnalytics – Demo project

It lets you create customizable SEO reports by pulling data from 80+ tools, including:

  • Google Search Console
  • Google Analytics
  • Semrush
  • Moz
  • Bing Webmaster Tools

Here’s what I like most about Agency Analytics:

Choose From Four Report Starting Points

AgencyAnalytics gives you four ways to start building a report:

  • Blank report: Start fresh and create a fully customized SEO report
  • Smart report: Auto-generate a report with your connected integrations (like Semrush, Shopify, Google Search Console, and Salesforce)
  • Template: Use a pre-made reporting template
  • Clone existing report: Copy any report you’ve already created

AgencyAnalytics – Four Report Starting Point

If you manage multiple clients or create recurring SEO reports, cloning an existing report is a HUGE time-saver.

You can duplicate the layout, data sources, and widgets from any previous report. This way, you don’t have to start from scratch every time.

And if speed is your priority, the Smart Report option gives you a great baseline. It pulls in data from your connected tools automatically.

But if you’re building something new or one-off, starting with a blank report or a premade template still gives you all the flexibility you need.

Track Your Client’s SEO Goals

AgencyAnalytics lets you set and track specific SEO goals for each client. You can then keep track of the progress in your reports.

Whether it’s hitting a target number of organic sessions, ranking for priority keywords, or increasing revenue, you can define it as a goal.

Simply choose the metric you want to track and set your conditions.

Let’s say your goal is exceeding 100k sessions per month:

AgencyAnalytics – Create a goal

You just drag and drop that goal into your report to track it alongside your SEO performance:

And just like that, you can track your goal right next to your current performance.

Have Full Control of How Your Reports Look

AgencyAnalytics also lets you adjust the size and placement of each widget to fit your reporting style.

You can resize and rearrange your charts, tables, and graphs to fit your preferred style and showcase what’s most important to your audience.

This level of granularity lets you fully customize your SEO reports to make them visually appealing and easy to understand.

Give Clients Real-Time Access to SEO Dashboards

AgencyAnalytics also lets you create custom logins for your clients. This gives them real-time access to their SEO dashboards any time they need.

You can also adjust permissions for each user individually to control exactly what each client sees:

AgencyAnalytics – New user – Customized access

This gives clients a transparent view of their performance. And it cuts down on back-and-forth reporting requests.

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
Set and track specific SEO goals for clients A bit of a learning curve
Schedule reports and track delivery history
Give clients real-time dashboard access with custom permissions

4. DashThis

Best for creating customizable SEO dashboards and helping clients understand what the data means

Pricing: Starts at $49 per month; 15-day free trial available

DashThis lets you create SEO reports fast, or fully customize them when you need more control.

DashThis – Creating Dashboard

In other words: it’s suitable for those that want a streamlined solution OR a highly tunable one.

You can also pull data from 30+ tools. These include the usuals like Google Analytics, Search Console, and Semrush. But also the likes of Google Ads, CallRail, and YouTube.

Here’s what I love about DashThis:

Build an SEO Report Your Way

DashThis gives you multiple widget types to build exactly the kind of SEO report you want.

Whether you’d like to craft a report quickly or need full control, DashThis gives you this flexibility:

DashThis – SEO Report – Custom Widgets

For example:

You can drop in preset widgets that auto-populate common SEO key performance indicators (KPIs):

DashThis – SEO Report – Preset Widgets

But if you need something specific, you can use custom widgets to pick your graph type, tweak the settings, and fully control how your data looks:

DashThis – SEO Report – Tweak the settings

You can also use static widgets to add context or structure to your report.

For example, you can:

  • Add a custom header
  • Write comments
  • Upload a CSV to add more data to your report
  • Manually enter numbers

DashThis – SEO Report – Static Widgets

You can also use widget bundles to quickly add a group of related widgets at once.

For example, you can add a bundle of five related widgets that give you an overview of your image or organic search performance:

DashThis – SEO Report – Widget Bundle

This makes it easy to quickly set up important reports.

Leave Notes in Your SEO Dashboards

DashThis lets you add notes right inside your dashboards. This way, you can explain what’s happening without sending a separate email to your client:

DashThis – Notes in SEO dashboards

You can use notes to:

  • Call out key wins
  • Clarify sudden traffic drops
  • Guide your client through the data

Comments live right next to your charts. So clients can see your notes in context as they review their performance:

DashThis – Comments next to your charts

Add Formatted Insights

At the end of your report, you can drop in a rich text comment block.

Here, you can write your own notes, style the text, add images, and even structure sections with bullet points:

DashThis Report – Formatting options

It’s perfect for:

  • Summarizing key takeaways
  • Highlighting recommendations
  • Making your report easier for clients to act on

Group Dashboards to Stay Organized

If you manage lots of SEO dashboards, you can organize them into groups. These work like folders for easier navigation.

For example, you could create a group for each client (e.g., “Client A — Monthly Reports”).

Or you could create them for different report types. Like “Local SEO” and “Ecommerce SEO.”

DashThis – Group Dashboards

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons
In-line notes and comment blocks to add insights and context for clients Somewhat outdated overall design
White-label your reports
Plenty of flexibility

Ready to Choose Your SEO Reporting Tool?

The best SEO reporting tool for you really comes down to how much flexibility you need, and how quickly you want to get things done.

If you’re comfortable with a bit of setup, Looker Studio gives you endless customization.

But if you prioritize speed and being able to work with just one tool for many key SEO tasks, Semrush’s My Reports is the better option.

Note: A free Semrush lets you create one report for free. Or you can use this link to access a 14-day trial on a Semrush Pro subscription.

The post 4 Best SEO Reporting Tools <br> (Free & Paid Options) appeared first on Backlinko.

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Google vision match vs. traditional search: Early insights on AI shopping tool

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Vision match vs. traditional search: Early insights on Google’s AI shopping tool

With Google’s introduction of its vision match feature, users can now describe a product they’re looking for, and AI will generate suggestions similar to that item. 

The real kicker is that the product generated likely doesn’t exist. 

The AI will create something that you want, show you the product, and then try to match the AI product with items from the real world.

Google Shopping - Vision match

It sounds like a streamlined, user-friendly shopping experience that could revolutionize online shopping yet again. 

  • But does it actually enhance our shopping journey? 
  • Are these AI-generated results truly more effective than the product results we get from traditional Google search? 
  • What does this mean for advertisers? 

To find out, I tested the feature myself, comparing vision match results with standard search results for a few product categories. 

What I found may give you a new perspective on the role AI plays in online shopping.

Test 1: Vision match ‘suggested query’

To start, I choose one of vision match’s “suggested queries.”

  • Search query: “holographic platform boots with metallic highlights”

Vision match results

Vision match - holographic platform boots with metallic highlights

Sponsored shopping results

Sponsored shopping results - holographic platform boots with metallic highlights

Free listing results

Free listing results - holographic platform boots with metallic highlights

Interestingly, my AI-generated image results are more accurate than the “shop similar-looking product” results. 

While the product recommendations included some metallic holographic platform boots, they also included a mix of non-metallic boots and even a prom dress. 

So, what’s the point of the AI-generated images if they’re not actually helping me find the product I want but instead creating a fake version of it? 

Wouldn’t it be more sensible to expand the “Shop Similar” section beyond six products and give us more real options? 

What also stands out to me is the selection of retailers. 

I’ve never heard of most of these retailers. Some results come from resale platforms like eBay and Poshmark. 

And then there’s the cost difference. The average price of the AI-generated product recommendations? 

A whopping $230, with some listings going as high as $954. 

Meanwhile, the average price from a regular search? Just $75.

Looking at my shopping results, every product in the first carousel (and beyond) is a pair of holographic platform boots with metallic highlights and nothing else. 

Now, I’m not planning on attending a disco party anytime soon, but if I were, I’d know where to go: Google Search.

Contender  Grade
Vision match D+
Traditional search A

Next, I tried a broader query, hoping for more accurate results. 

Test 2: Non-specified search (statement piece)

  • Search query: “mens red button down shirt”

Vision match results

Vision match - mens red button down shirt

Sponsored shopping results

Sponsored shopping - mens red button down shirt

Free listing results

Free listing - mens red button down shirt

The first AI-generated image and product suggestions did show a red button-down shirt (though some may argue it’s an orange-red.) 

From there, I got a mix of red button-downs, some with patterns and textures. 

Overall, it wasn’t bad, but the price range was still all over the place.

I still find myself drawn to the traditional search results. 

When I search for “men’s red button-down shirt,” I get exactly what I asked for. 

No guesswork, no unnecessary variations. 

Plus, I’m given valuable details upfront, like:

  • Discount percentages.
  • Customer ratings.
  • Product attribute callouts (“comfortable,” “easy to clean”). 

These elements make the listings far more compelling and trustworthy, which incentives my click – unlike the AI-generated results, which feel more like a best guess than a true recommendation.

Contender  Grade
Vision match C
Traditional search A

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Test 3: Brand search

You’d expect that searching for a specific brand name would surface products primarily from that brand’s official website, right?

Not quite.

I ran this search multiple times just to be sure I wasn’t imagining things – and still, less than 3% of the results actually came from Nike’s own site.

  • Search query: “Nike sneakers”

Vision match results

Vision match - Nike sneakers

Sponsored shopping results

Sponsored shopping - Nike sneakers

Free listing results

Free listing - Nike sneakers

Even worse, I was given additional irrelevant results – New Balance sneakers, socks, leggings, and blue polka dot blankets – definitely not Nike sneakers.

Sponsored shopping is a different story.

Since other major retailers carry Nike products, it makes sense to see them appear alongside Nike. 

However, when looking at the free listings, all my results come from nike.com. 

So, what does this mean for brands? 

If Nike, one of the world’s largest retailers, is hardly featured in the vision match results, what does this mean for smaller brands? 

Will they struggle even more to get visibility in vision match and possibly other future AI-generated product recommendations?

Contender  Grade
Vision match D-
Traditional search A+

Test 4: A trending search

For my final test, I wanted to see how AI would handle a fashion trend rather than a standard clothing item. 

Trends come and go quickly, creating a high demand for a short period of time, unlike staple pieces like a “men’s red button-down shirt,” which remain relevant year after year. 

This felt like an important test, given how fast fashion moves and how crucial it is for shopping tools to keep up with ever-changing styles.

  • Search query: “barrel jeans”

Vision match results

Vision match - barrel jeans

Sponsored shopping results

Sponsored shopping - barrel jeans

Free listing results

Free listing - barrel jeans

If you haven’t heard of the “barrel jean” trend, don’t worry; you’re not missing much in the vision match results because they’re completely wrong. 

I only included three screenshots, but after scrolling through everything, I didn’t spot a single pair of actual barrel jeans. 

Instead, I got jeans in every color and pattern imaginable, along with some random dress slacks.

Meanwhile, a simple Google Search gave me exactly what I was looking for: a variety of barrel jeans from well-known retailers available in different price ranges and washes. 

It’s pretty clear that when it comes to keeping up with fashion trends, AI might be trending, but vision match still isn’t fashion-forward.

Contender  Grade
Vision match F
Traditional search A+

The final verdict

In my experience, while vision match offers an interesting new way to search for products, it still has a long way to go in terms of accuracy and relevance. 

In each test, it struggled to provide precise matches for the products I was looking for, often offering unrelated items or a confusing mix of options. 

On the other hand, traditional search results from Google gave me exactly what I wanted: clear product options, price ranges, and relevant details that helped me make an informed decision. 

Let’s take a look at the final results of our test:

Contender  Grade
Vision match D
Traditional search A

I understand that these results are subjective, but anyone with search intent would agree that a D average is generous in this case. 

So, what does this mean for advertisers? 

As AI-generated results grow, advertisers must continue to adapt their strategies to ensure their products are accurately represented. 

However, with limited control over what’s featured in vision match, this will be very difficult. 

Given that the current vision match results seem subpar, users will likely still prefer the traditional search results, which continue to provide more accurate and relevant options. 

While vision match has potential, its current limitations likely won’t sway many users away from the search results for now.

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Google Search Console updates its Merchant opportunities report

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Google announced it has refreshed and renamed the Search Console report now known as the Merchant opportunities report. Previously, this report was named the Search Console Shopping tab listings report, when it was introduced in November 2022.

The Merchant opportunities report within Google Search Console can show you recommendations for improving how your online shop appears on Google.

What Google said. Google posted on LinkedIn about this report saying:

“Today we’re refreshing the Search Console Shopping tab listings report to also include details about payments methods and store ratings. To bring the report name in line with its functionality, we’re renaming it to be the “Merchant opportunities report”.

Check it out and make sure to add important info about your store, so customers can see it when shopping on Google.”

The report. Here is a screenshot of this report:

As you can see, this report will tell you what you are missing when it comes to Google Merchant Center and your fields in that area. The help document goes on to explain:

Adding store information can improve the display of your products and help people when they’re shopping on Google. If you’ve created and associated your Merchant Center account under Merchant opportunities in Search Console, you’ll see suggested opportunities, including: 

You can return to the report to see if your information is pending, approved, or flagged for issues that need fixing.

Why we care. If you sell product on your site, this is a report you want to make sure to review and see what opportunities you are missing with your e-commerce site setup. You can then plug those items and hopefully get more exposure within Google Search, Shopping and even local results.

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Google credits Gemini for better detection of fake business reviews and maps spam

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Google is crediting its AI advancement, such as Gemini, to help detect and remove fake reviews and listings within Google Maps. “AI has been a pivotal tool in helping us stop scammers in their tracks, and we’re now using it to scale our protections even more,” Google wrote.

The metrics. Google shared these metrics for its battle over Google Maps spam:

  • Google blocked or removed more than 240 million policy-violating from 2024. Google added that “the vast majority of which were removed before they were seen.”
  • Google blocked or removed more than 70 million policy-violating edits to places on Google Maps.
  • Google removed or blocked more than 12 million fake Business Profiles.
  • Google placed posting restrictions on more than 900,000 accounts that repeatedly violated our policies.

When you compare the metrics to last year’s report, Google removed about 40% more policy-violating reviews.

Disabling reviews. Google also spoke about its newish feature to disable the ability to post reviews on some business profiles. The notice says “Posting reviews is turned off for this place” and was actually launched in December 2023, from what I can tell. But Google seems to be mentioning it now.

Google said it “rolled out alerts in the U.S., U.K. and India to let you know if we’ve recently removed suspicious five-star reviews in certain circumstances. These warnings — which will expand globally starting next month — help you understand quickly if a place may be engaging in unfair review practices.”

Here is what it looks like:

Crediting Gemini. Google said:

“AI has been a pivotal tool in helping us stop scammers in their tracks, and we’re now using it to scale our protections even more. Last year, we removed over 10,000 listings managed by a group of bad actors who impersonated real locksmiths to take over unclaimed Business Profiles and overcharge unsuspecting customers. Beyond removing the fraudulent content, we filed a lawsuit against the bad actors and are actively applying what we learned to enhance our detection systems.”

“This new model has already helped us block thousands of suspicious Business Profile edits this year,” Google added.

Why we care. If you are in the local SEO space, none of this is probably new to you. You’ve all seen the swarm of complaints about business edits placing a business in a suspension, reviews not being able to be added to a business profile, listings confusion and so much more.

Much of this is likely associated with Google’s new methods to detect and fight spam on Google Maps. Some of these changes may be a bit overzealous but Google has a tough job with fighting spam on Google Maps.

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Integrating SEO into omnichannel marketing for seamless engagement

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Integrating SEO into omnichannel marketing for seamless engagement

With customers now discovering content across traditional search engines, LLMs, social media, and beyond, the need for an integrated, omnichannel strategy is more important than ever.

Relying on isolated channel strategies no longer works. 

Customers engage with brands across multiple touchpoints before making decisions, and they expect seamless, personalized experiences. 

An effective omnichannel approach aligns all marketing efforts – ensuring consistency, maximizing visibility, and driving meaningful interactions.

As omnichannel marketing continues to evolve, integrating SEO across all channels is essential for sustained growth.

This article explores why a unified strategy is critical and how SEO can work across channels to enhance the customer journey and drive results.

Why an omnichannel approach to SEO is critical in 2025

Here are seven trends that make an omnichannel approach vital to business success and growth.

Why an omnichannel approach to SEO is critical in 2025

1. The shift away from third-party cookies

The decline of third-party cookies has made it harder for brands to track users across the buyer journey. 

An omnichannel approach to data collection and centralization helps mitigate these challenges and lays the foundation for an effective strategy.

2. Growth of LLMs and AI-powered search

The growth of alternate avenues for audiences to find information adds to the complexity of the buyer’s journey. 

This presents additional attribution challenges. 

3. Zero-click searches and decreasing top-funnel traffic

Due to the rise in zero-click searches, traffic to websites from top-of-the-funnel information-seeking terms is declining. 

4. Importance of SEO

Despite the growth in zero-click searches, SEO remains the primary source of traffic for most businesses and the channel with the highest long-term ROI. 

AI Overviews and AI-generated results mainly pull information from the top organic results.  

5. Search is multi-modal

This means written content is not the only content you need to optimize. 

To effectively saturate SERPs, you must optimize all your digital assets, including images, videos, and PDFs. 

6. Personalized experiences

Personalization is key to customer engagement. Up to 71% of consumers expect it, while 76% find generic content frustrating, per a McKinsey study. 

Businesses that prioritize personalized marketing can see up to a 40% increase in revenue. 

An omnichannel approach ensures marketers focus on customer intent rather than marketing channels.  

7. Unified customer experience with agent economy

The growth of artificial intelligence has resulted in the emergence of an agent economy, where AI agents are beginning to revolutionize marketing and digital experiences. 

They can easily connect dots across multiple channels to deliver a unified customer experience.

Tackling the visibility dilemma in customer journeys

With all the changes in the industry, consumer behavior, and technological advancements, we need to answer important questions that marketers are confused about. 

  • How can you learn about audience intent even when they do not visit the site after a search?
  • How do you gather data on your audience’s behavior after they leave your site if they do not convert during their first visit?
  • How can you develop effective SEO, paid, zero-click, and content strategies with limited visibility into the customer journey and insights into customer intent and personas?
  • How can you provide personalized experiences without third-party data, limited traffic, and visibility into your customers’ journeys?

This is where an omnichannel approach can help businesses enhance visibility, drive meaningful interactions, and create a seamless path to conversion.

Building blocks of an omnichannel strategy

A true omnichannel strategy is no longer limited to traditional marketing channels like SEO, paid, email, social media, etc. 

Today, it is about delivering a unified experience at every stage in the customer journey at every touchpoint. 

It includes effectively using channel-agnostic strategies and tactics, such as personalization, AI agents, conversion optimization, A-B testing, and co-optimization. 

Here are five building blocks for creating an omnichannel strategy that truly engages your audiences consistently across touchpoints in an AI-powered world.

omnichannel-strategy-building-blocks

Reliable data

Ensure you have the necessary infrastructure to gather and segment customer data accurately. 

AI can then be layered to:

  • Build audience cohorts.
  • Predict user journeys.
  • Deliver real-time personalized experiences. 

Dig deeper: How to boost your marketing revenue with personalization, connectivity and data

Artificial intelligence

Having an organizational AI strategy is key to ensuring the effective use of AI, not just for content generation but also for improving:

  • Efficiency.
  • Process automation.
  • Customer data segmentation.
  • Forecasting.
  • Real-time personalization at scale.
  • And more.

Dig deeper: 4 pillars of an effective enterprise AI strategy

Digital assets

Having a digital asset manager that lets you centralize, optimize, and distribute all your digital assets across marketing channels is key to ensuring consistency and reducing duplication. 

Dig deeper: Visual optimization must-haves for AI-powered search

Infrastructure

Search-friendly infrastructure and content management system are crucial for effectively crawling and indexing your content, and delivering an engaging, personalized experience to your visitors. 

Dig deeper: How to select a CMS that powers SEO, personalization and growth

Structured data and entity optimization

All search engines, including LLMs, detect entities within your content to understand what your content is all about.

Structured data – or schema markup – helps search engines detect entities and all your digital assets. 

This helps maximize your content visibility and SERP saturation. 

Dig deeper: Future-proof your SERP presence: 6 areas to focus on

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9 steps to integrating SEO into an omnichannel customer journey

9 steps to integrating SEO into an omnichannel customer journey

You can start developing your omnichannel strategy while closing any gaps you have identified in the building blocks.

Step 1: Audience and intent mapping

Start with your audience and intent. Identifying target audience personas and their intent is the first step in audience mapping. It is important to review:

  • Content performance: Evaluate performance of page types or templates to understand gaps in content strategy (e.g., category pages vs. product details pages vs. location pages vs. blog content).
  • Search engagement insights: Search console data can help identify high-intent terms with low click-through rates. This information can inform zero-click and CTR optimization strategies. 
  • Channel overlaps: Identifying how visitors overlap across channels is key to crafting an integrated and unified experience. For example, paid and organic channels must work together to saturate the full funnel and maximize ROI from both channels.  
  • Conversion optimization: Content with high engagement can provide insights into visitor intent. This can help define A-B tests, UI/UX enhancements, and personalization strategies.

Step 2: Define clear strategic goals

The next step is to have clear and smart goals that you want your omnichannel strategy to achieve:

  • Set specific, measurable business objectives (revenue growth, customer retention, growing market share, etc.)
  • Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for channel-specific and overall performance. For example, if the goal is to improve visibility, the primary KPIs should be around impressions, clicks and rich results visibility. Traffic or conversions can be secondary KPIs but should not be the primary success criteria.
  • Create baseline metrics to measure improvement against current performance.
  • Develop a measurement framework that accounts for cross-channel attribution challenges.

Step 3: Map the customer journey across all touchpoints

Traditional funnel is changing rapidly. 

Brands should be ready to respond to customers across all touchpoints fast and with quality.  

customer journey across all touchpoints

Develop a comprehensive understanding of how customers interact with your brand:

  • Create detailed personas representing your target audience segments.
  • Identify patterns in cross-channel journeys using path analysis in analytics and create common use cases.  
  • Aggregate and centralize data across customer touchpoints (website analytics, CRM, sales data, app usage, etc.)
  • Segment customers based on behavioral patterns rather than just demographics.
  • Quantify the value/attribution as a combination of different journey paths and touchpoints.
  • Measure channel preference and effectiveness across different customer segments.

Step 4: Omnichannel audit

Based on your goals and journey maps, evaluate your current channel gaps and capabilities:

  • SEO audit: Analyze search visibility metrics, technical health scores, and overall SEO performance.  
  • Content audit: Measure content performance data, topical and entity coverage, competitive gaps, engagement rates, conversion impact, and cross-channel content effectiveness.
  • Local presence assessment: Evaluate local search visibility metrics and location-specific engagement.
  • Experience audit: Analyze drop-off points and measure cross-channel friction.
  • Data and technology assessment: Evaluate data collection and measurement framework to optimize your data infrastructure.
  • Full-funnel audit: Learn from your visitors. Past visitor data can provide meaningful insights into audience segments, what visitors engage with, and where they drop off in the conversion funnel. This can help identify opportunities for co-optimization, A-B tests and delivering personalized experiences across channels.

Step 5: Develop your integrated channel strategy

Here, focus on aligning your channels to ensure they work together seamlessly and support your overall business goals.

  • Prioritize channels according to attribution data and customer value metrics.
  • Leverage machine learning and predictive analytics to forecast the impact of each channel.
  • Use predictive analytics to determine the optimal channel mix.
  • Set channel-specific targets that ladder up to overall business objectives.
  • Create frameworks for continuously testing and validating channel effectiveness.
  • Define how channels will complement and support each other across the customer journey. 

Step 6: Content orchestration strategy

While a content strategy focuses on what content is needed, a content orchestration strategy also encompasses distribution frameworks that enhance audience interaction with your content.

Friction analysis

Analyze how your audience engages with your content to identify friction points. This process helps you identify, rectify, and optimize:

  • Inconsistencies.
  • Intent misalignments.
  • Delivery mechanisms (text, images, video, etc.).

Content intelligence

Assess the performance of your existing content across various channels and identify competitive gaps and opportunities based on audience personas and business goals. 

Here are a few steps to evaluate content gaps and refine your strategy:

  • Identify underperforming content for optimization.
  • Spot gaps in content that need to be addressed across channels and stages of the customer journey.
  • Recognize cross-linking opportunities to create content hubs.
  • Prioritize new content to close competitive gaps and achieve business goals.

Cross-channel content strategy

After identifying friction points and content gaps, develop a tailored content strategy for each channel, prioritizing based on business goals:

  • Broader informational content to enhance awareness during the discovery stage of the customer journey (e.g., social media, blog content).
  • Comparison content for the consideration stage (e.g., product pages).
  • Landing pages focused on specific buying-intent terms during the conversion stage.

Content optimization

Optimizing content extends beyond targeting the right keywords. Your content optimization strategy should include:

  • Closing topical gaps in content that create friction.
  • Developing an entity optimization strategy to maximize content discoverability.
  • Implementing a click-through rate (CTR) strategy to enhance traffic from discovered content.
  • Optimizing visual content.
  • Establishing an engagement and conversion optimization strategy that includes personalization, calls to action optimization, A/B testing, messaging strategies, UI/UX optimization, and conversion rate optimization (CRO).

Dig deeper: The complete guide to optimizing content for SEO (with checklist)

Step 7: Infrastructure and technical SEO

To give your content the best chance of being crawled, indexed, understood, and featured in search results for the right terms, focus on the following:

  • Fix technical SEO issues related to crawling, indexing, and user experience.
  • Ensure mobile optimization across all digital properties.
  • Deploy nested schema markup to enhance search visibility.
  • Improve page speed for all web properties and optimize Core Web Vitals.
  • Test cross-device compatibility.
  • Implement proper canonicalization for multi-regional brands.
  • Prioritize web accessibility by following ADA and WCAG guidelines to enhance user experience and search visibility.

Step 8: Engagement and conversion optimization

Utilize unified customer data to enhance user engagement and drive conversions:

  • Deliver personalized content at scale for each audience segment in real time. Personalization strategies can be based on various factors such as marketing channel or campaign, visitor location, search intent, and past behavior. 
  • Identify and deploy AI agents that assist audiences in quickly finding information, engaging in meaningful interactions, and making real-time decisions.
  • Develop remarketing strategies informed by visitor behavior.
  • Implement A/B testing across channels, ensuring consistent test and control groups.
  • Measure performance across channels and optimize based on business goals and success KPIs. 

Step 9: Continuously test, measure, learn, and optimize

Refine your strategy through ongoing testing and data-driven adjustments to improve performance across all channels.

  • Monitor performance metrics across all channels. Establish BI dashboards that connect and integrate data across channels.  
  • Implement attribution models that effectively account for complex customer journeys.
  • Regularly test new channel integrations and enhancements to the customer journey.
  • Gather feedback from customers regarding their cross-channel experiences.
  • Refine your strategy based on evolving search engine algorithms and changing customer behavior.

SEO’s role in delivering a unified, cross-channel experience

Integrating SEO into the omnichannel customer journey isn’t simply for improving search presence. 

Ultimately, it’s about creating discoverable, unified, and personalized experiences that guide customers naturally toward conversion. 

By implementing this nine-step framework, you can:

  • Break down departmental silos.
  • Align cross-functional teams around customer needs.
  • Build truly seamless engagement models that drive sustainable growth.

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