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Answer engine optimization: 6 AI models you should optimize for

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How to evolve your organic approach for the rise of the answer engine

AI-powered search is drastically changing the way people find information. For years, ranking well in Google and Microsoft Bing has been the foundation of search visibility.

But as AI-driven search gains traction, is that ranking priority shifting or staying the same? 

We’re in an era of uncertainty we haven’t seen since the early days of SEO – when search engines rose and fell in a battle for relevance.

Time will tell which AI answer engine wins the game. SEO is still relevant, but AI is rewriting the rules.

This article will break down: 

  • Six AI search players to watch and how they source content.
  • Market share and usage trends that show where search behavior is shifting.
  • How AI answer engines still depend on traditional search engines.
  • What businesses should do now to optimize for AI-driven search.

 Here’s what you need to know.

AI models and real-time search 

Before we move forward, a quick note on how these AI platforms generally work. AI models are trained on data available up to specific cutoff dates. 

For instance, Google’s Gemini 2.0 Pro had a knowledge cutoff in August 2024, while OpenAI’s GPT-4o extended its training data up to June 2024. Yes, it can change daily.

This means that for recent events or emerging trends, among other things, these models rely on real-time data retrieval rather than their internal knowledge base. 

In other words, their ability to provide accurate and up-to-date results is directly tied to their ability to access and process new information from the web. That is key.

Another thing to note is that AI search engines can build their own web indexes. 

For instance, Perplexity AI’s PerplexityBot crawls the web directly, creating its own content database rather than relying on Google’s or Bing’s indexes. But even so, AI search engines can and do still rely on search engine results, too.

Website owners who want to control how AI search engines access their content can manage these crawlers in their robots.txt settings.

Now let’s discuss the different ways AI search engines are relevant to SEO today.

Google: AI Overviews

AI Overviews represented a huge shift in Google Search.  

Google’s AI-generated responses – powered by Google’s Gemini AI model – are designed to provide quick but comprehensive answers by pulling information from multiple sources.

For SEO professionals, this introduced both opportunities and challenges. 

AI Overviews rely on Google’s search index to determine what information to present, but they also change how users interact with search results.

Google AI Overview result for [how will AI overviews impact SEO]

How AI Overviews work

  • Google’s Gemini 2.0 AI model powers AI Overviews, generating instant summaries for certain queries.
  • AI-generated responses appear at the top of Google’s search results, often before traditional organic listings.

Market share and adoption

  • Google still dominates the search market, holding about 87.28% of the U.S. search market.
  • With billions of searches per day, AI Overviews have the potential to reshape organic search traffic and user behavior.

What this means for SEO

  • Ranking in Google still matters – AI Overviews primarily pull from the search results.
  • A study by Rich Sanger and Authoritas found that 46% of AI Overview citations come from the top 10 organic search results.
  • Anecdotal data from my SEO agency suggests you need to be in the top 20 for a better chance of inclusion in AI Overviews. There are outliers, and some resources cited in AI Overviews will rank outside of what we would traditionally call “being ranked at all.” 
  • Inclusion in AI Overviews can boost clicks to the cited sources and, according to some research, harm performance for those that don’t show up. For instance, for transactional queries, webpages included in AI Overviews had 3.2 times as many clicks as pages that were excluded. For informational queries, webpages with a presence in AI Overviews had 1.5 times as many clicks compared to webpages excluded by AI Overviews.
  • If your content doesn’t rank well in Google, it’s unlikely to appear in AI Overviews, reinforcing the need for strong SEO. There are many opinions on which tactics you need to succeed. I advocate continuing to stay the course with a strong SEO program with a balanced mix of technical SEO, on-page optimization and excellent content.
  • Website owners can control whether their content is included in AI-generated answers. Google-Extended is an opt-out setting that allows websites to block Google from using their content for AI models like Gemini, while still allowing Googlebot to crawl their site for search rankings. Blocking Google-Extended won’t affect your rankings in Google Search, but it will stop Gemini from using your content in AI-generated responses. 
  • Take note: Research shows that inclusion in AI Overviews can be more volatile than the organic search results. 

Takeaway: AI Overviews aren’t replacing traditional search, but they are changing how search results are consumed. For now, the strategy remains the same: Optimize for Google Search, and AI Overviews will follow.

Google: AI Mode

In March 2025, Google announced AI Mode, an optional feature designed to offer a more AI-driven search experience. 

Unlike standard Google Search, where AI Overviews appear alongside organic results, AI Mode allows users to toggle into a search environment where AI-generated answers take center stage.

Image credit: The Keyword blog, Google

How AI Mode works

  • A separate search option where AI-generated responses are more detailed, conversational, and visually enhanced. Reminiscent of Bing’s Copilot toggle.
  • AI Mode “brings together advanced model capabilities with Google’s best-in-class information systems, and it’s built right into Search. You can not only access high-quality web content, but also tap into fresh, real-time sources like the Knowledge Graph, info about the real world, and shopping data for billions of products. It uses a ‘query fan-out’ technique, issuing multiple related searches concurrently across subtopics and multiple data sources and then brings those results together to provide an easy-to-understand response,” according to Google (announcement link above). 
  • Google told Search Engine Land that, like AI Overviews, AI Mode surfaces relevant links to help people find webpages and content, and that Google teaches the model to decide when to include hyperlinks in the response. For example, if it’s likely that users want to take action on a website (like booking tickets), then links would be useful. AI mode will also decide when to prioritize visual information, such as images or videos, for queries like how-to searches.

What this means for SEO 

  • Google says that AI Mode “is rooted in our core quality and ranking systems, and we’re also using novel approaches with the model’s reasoning capabilities to improve factuality. We aim to show an AI-powered response as much as possible, but in cases where we don’t have high confidence in helpfulness and quality, the response will be a set of web search results.”
  • AI Mode is now in testing. Whether it will impact click-through rates in the same way as AI Overviews remains to be seen. 

Takeaway: AI Mode signals an ongoing shift towards AI-dominated search results. For now, we can assume that the importance of ranking well in traditional search remains the same.

Dig deeper. Google’s AI Mode: Here’s what matters for SEOs and marketers

Google: Gemini

Gemini is Google’s competitor to ChatGPT and other generative AI tools. Gemini functions as both an independent chatbot and the power behind AI Overviews in Google Search.

Over the coming months, Google plans to upgrade virtually all Assistant-enabled devices – from phones to smart home gadgets – to use Gemini as the default assistant.

This shift shows Google’s long-term commitment to AI as a core part of search and user interactions.

How Gemini works

  • Gemini pulls from Google search results and third-party content partners (for example, AP) to generate responses, integrating search rankings into its answers. 
  • Gemini can also personalize results based on a user’s Google search history, YouTube activity, and app usage, making responses adaptive rather than purely search-driven.

Market share and adoption

  • According to Statista, Gemini ranks No. 3 on the most downloaded gen AI apps globally as of January 2025, with approximately 9 million downloads.
  • Similarweb data shows that the majority of users are aged 25 to 34 (approximately 30%), with the second highest usage among 18- to 24-year-olds at about 21%.
Image credit: gemini.google.com analysis, Similarweb

What this means for SEO

  • Ranking in Google Search is still crucial, but there’s more. Gemini pulls from Google’s search index, but it also sources data from content partnerships.
  • Consider content that’s optimized for natural language queries, structured data to help enhance context and education-focused content (where teaching something is front and center).
  • When Gemini personalizes responses based on user history, visibility in Gemini answers may vary between users. For example, if a user frequently engages with a particular brand’s YouTube channel, Gemini might be more inclined to mention or draw from that brand’s content when that user asks a related question. 
  • Click-through rates from Gemini remain uncertain, as Gemini doesn’t always provide direct links. Gemini comes in third for referral traffic as compared to ChatGPT and Perplexity, according to one study. 

Takeaway: Visibility in Gemini means business as usual in terms of having an excellent site that can rank in Google Search, but it also adds complexity with Gemini’s AI-driven personalization and conversational search trends. 

Microsoft: Bing Copilot

Bing was the first major search engine to integrate AI directly into its results, launching Bing Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) in February 2023. It’s no surprise Bing beat Google here, as Microsoft has been a big investor in OpenAI since 2019.

How Bing Copilot works

  • Powered by Microsoft’s Prometheus model, which builds on OpenAI’s GPT-4.
  • Generates AI summaries based on real-time Bing search results and external data sources.
  • AI-generated responses appear at the top of search results, sometimes before traditional web listings.
  • You can also click on “Deep Search” for more in-depth AI-powered answers. These answers are also linked to sources found on the web. 
  • In addition, there’s a Copilot toggle in Bing for a more interactive, fully powered AI search mode.

Market share and adoption

  • Bing accounts for about 7.48% of the U.S. search market.
  • While small compared to Google, it’s possible that Bing’s market share may grow more in the future due to its early adoption of AI-powered search and the reliance of other AI platforms on Bing results.

What this means for SEO

  • Unlike Google’s AI Overviews, Bing Copilot is more likely to cite sources outside the top-ranked pages, but ranking higher still increases the likelihood of inclusion.
  • A study by Rich Sanger found that over 70% of URLs included in Bing Copilot summaries rank in the top 20 Bing search results.
  • Bing may present a growing opportunity as AI search adoption increases. 

Takeaway: Bing may no longer be just an afterthought in many companies’ SEO strategies. You’ll want to continue to have a robust SEO program that takes into account ranking signals for Bing.

OpenAI: ChatGPT Search

ChatGPT search is OpenAI’s initiative to enhance traditional search by integrating AI-powered real-time web search into ChatGPT. 

It was initially launched as the SearchGPT prototype in mid-2024 and later integrated into ChatGPT, allowing users to access live search capabilities rather than relying solely on pre-trained knowledge.

By October, OpenAI fully integrated SearchGPT into ChatGPT, enabling it to perform real-time web searches and provide more current, sourced information for user queries.

This positioned ChatGPT search as a direct competitor to traditional search engines, offering users an AI-powered alternative to platforms like Google and Bing. 

But here’s the kicker: It still relies on search engine results.

How ChatGPT search works

  • Powered by a fine-tuned version of GPT-4o, post-trained using synthetic data-generation techniques. This includes distilling outputs from OpenAI’s o1-preview model, meaning some responses are AI-synthesized rather than directly retrieved from the web.
  • SearchGPT pulls data from multiple sources, including third-party search providers like Bing and direct content partnerships that supply proprietary information.

Market share and adoption

  • ChatGPT is the most widely used text generation AI tool, holding nearly 20% of the global generative AI user share in 2023, according to Statista.
  • ChatGPT’s weekly active user base doubled in six months, with 400 million weekly active users now relying on its search capabilities, according to TechCrunch.
Image credit: “Leading generative artificial intelligence (AI) text tools market share of users globally in 2023,” Statista.com

What this means for SEO

  • Since SearchGPT relies on Bing’s indexing system, ensuring your content ranks in Bing is essential. Content not indexed by Bing is unlikely to appear in SearchGPT’s responses. 
  • Chatter in the SEO industry suggests that SearchGPT might favor trusted, high-ranking sources in Bing but that it also relies on sources outside the top rankings in Bing.
  • SearchGPT’s responses can include clickable sources, potentially driving traffic back to a site. A study analyzing traffic data from 391 SMB websites found that ChatGPT’s referral traffic increased by 123% between September 2024 and February 2025, making it the largest referrer among AI-driven search engines during that period. Additionally, ChatGPT has been sending more traffic to education and technology sites, with more than 30,000 unique domains receiving referrals by November 2024.
  • The conversational nature of ChatGPT is changing how users search and consume information. Continuing to emphasize helpful content can only make a website more competitive. 
  • In the early days of SEO, search engines were highly susceptible to simple manipulation tactics. Similarly, ChatGPT’s AI-powered search may be vulnerable to manipulation, with tests showing that it could be influenced to return misleading or biased results.

Takeaway: ChatGPT could be the biggest threat to search engine usage. However, SearchGPT’s reliance on Bing means SEO strategies must prioritize Bing to improve the chances of being surfaced in AI-generated results as well.

Perplexity AI 

Perplexity AI is an independent, AI-powered search engine that blends large language models with real-time web data to provide concise AI-powered responses with direct citations. 

The citations piece is probably one of the more compelling things about Perplexity. 

In an interview with Lex Fridman, Perplexity’s founder Aravind Srinivas said:

  • “When I wrote my first paper, the senior people who were working with me on the paper told me this one profound thing, which is that every sentence you write in a paper should be backed with a citation, with a citation from another peer-reviewed paper, or an experimental result in your own paper. Anything else that you say in the paper is more like an opinion.
  • “It’s a simple statement, but pretty profound in how much it forces you to say things that are only right.
  • “We took this principle and asked ourselves, what is the best way to make chatbots accurate, is force it to only say things that it can find on the internet, and find from multiple sources.” 

Launched in late 2022, it has positioned itself as an alternative and direct competitor to traditional search engines like Google. 

How Perplexity works

  • Perplexity AI operates as an independent search engine, actively crawling and indexing the web to provide real-time, AI-generated responses to user queries. 
  • Instead of building a massive index like Google’s, Perplexity prioritizes indexing high-quality, frequently searched topics based on user behavior. By focusing on trusted and helpful sources, it optimizes for accuracy and truthfulness while maintaining efficiency.
  • Each response includes direct source links, differentiating Perplexity from AI chatbots that provide answers without attribution.

Market share and adoption

What this means for SEO

  • Perplexity relies on trusted sources from the web. This means you must have an authoritative presence on the web.
  • One study showed that 60% of Perplexity citations overlap with the top 10 Google organic results.
  • Other research indicates that Perplexity has a group of favored, authoritative sources on the web to pull from.
  • Because Perplexity is an independent search engine, ranking factors will be different from Google or Bing. 
  • Content formatted in a certain way may have a leg up, including clear headings, well-organized sections and succinct answers like FAQs embedded in your content—all of which can be quickly understood and extracted by Perplexity’s model.​
  • While Perplexity links to sources, data suggests referral traffic is still quite low. 

Takeaway: Perplexity AI is another contender that could continue to gain traction in AI search and take users away from major search engines. It’s important to remember that it still relies on sources across the web, making an authoritative site with the right content optimized for AI an important step in visibility. 

The future of AI search and SEO

While some predict that the rise of AI will reduce search engine volume significantly (Gartner predicts a 25% drop by 2026), the importance of having a reputable website with trustworthy, optimized content remains critical for the foreseeable future. 

Time will tell which AI wins the game. With many AI platforms facing legal challenges (like Google’s AI Overviews and Perplexity’s lawsuits), legal decisions will also likely shape the winners and how AI search ultimately operates.

So, which AI search engine should you optimize for right now? 

I suggest gathering research on the potential for referral traffic and the audience demographics using the AI search engine. Does it align with your industry and business? 

For those AI search engines that require “extra SEO effort” on top of what you’re already doing, make sure it’s worth it. Track your referral traffic to see if any patterns emerge.

We know that Google is the dominant search engine, so continuing to optimize for Google is key. 

The situation is not perfect, however. While some websites report clicks are up from things like AI Overviews, others are losing big time.

For example, research shows that for queries where AI Overviews appeared in Google, organic CTR fell sharply from 1.41% to 0.64% year over year. 

Image credit: Seer Interactive

On the other hand, a different study looking specifically at AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others found that they send 96% less referral traffic to news sites and blogs than traditional Google Search.

Emarketer data echoes this:

Image credit: emarketer

Some data already suggest a basic hierarchy of referral traffic coming from certain AI search engines. 

For example, one study found ChatGTP to be a clear winner in referral traffic overall, but things fluctuate based on industry.

Image credit: “SMB websites see rising traffic from ChatGPT and other AI engines,” William Kammer, Search Engine Land

Image credit: “SMB websites see rising traffic from ChatGPT and other AI engines,” William Kammer, Search Engine Land

As we continue to see all this play out, we can relax knowing that the fundamentals of SEO are not going away. 

Yes, the approach may change, but the foundation is the same: Put the user first, make a great website that’s optimized for the platforms your target audience uses, and continue to adapt to the different ways you can remain visible in search.

Read more at Read More

Google Merchant Center to align click reporting with Google Ads

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google merchant center

Google Merchant Center click reporting is changing on April 21, 2025, where clicks will be reported in the same manner Google Ads reports clicks. Google said this will align click reporting with Google Ads and thus may impact some current and historical data reported in Merchant Center.

What is changing. Google wrote in this email, “As of April 21, 2025, we’re updating Google Merchant Center to align click reporting with Google Ads.”

The email goes on to say:

“This change reflects new advertising formats that have different types of interactions. While Google Ads reports clicks separately from other interactions, Merchant Center currently reports all interactions as product clicks. With this update, the definition of product clicks will be the same across both platforms.
As a result, you’ll notice some changes to your current and historical data reported in Merchant Center. There will be no change to your reporting experience in Google Ads, where you’ll continue to see clicks and interactions for your ad campaigns.”

More details. Arpan Banerjee who notified me of this, said the email has a hyperlink to the Google Ads definition of interactions, which reads:

“The main user action associated with an ad format—clicks and swipes for text and Shopping ads, views for video ads, calls for call assets, and so on.”

Why we care. If you run Google Merchant Center and notice a change in click reporting around April 21st (in about a month), then this is why. This is just a reporting change and the changes you see in the clicks in your reports are not related to any changes in performance of those listings within Google Search.

Read more at Read More

Ecommerce SEO: how to rank higher & sell more online

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People are making more purchases online, whether from home on a laptop or on their mobile phone while on the go. In 2025, retail e-commerce sales are estimated to exceed 4.3 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide, and this number is expected to go up in the following years. Naturally, this rise in online shopping has come with a surge in online stores worldwide. How can you make sure your online store stands out and reaches the right people? Ecommerce SEO can help drive up those sales numbers. In this guide, we’ll explain every aspect and help you get started!

Table of contents

What is ecommerce SEO?

Ecommerce SEO concerns all the tactics you can use to gain more visibility and organic traffic for your online store in search engines, like Google. These tactics focus on the technical and content sides of SEO. By optimizing your store you can get a dependable stream of targeted traffic to your site. This, in turn, should lead to more sales.

Branding is key

You are one of the millions of companies trying to sell something online. Of course, you might think you’re unique, but, in most cases, that’s not true. In most niches, you compete with dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands of others. What you need to do is stand out. But how?

First of all, you need to write down your mission. Your mission will clarify what you – and your customers – want your business to be. This will help you identify your USPs (unique selling points) and create a strong brand that resonates with your audience.

Example of branding on the website, youtube channel and instagram account of Tony Chocolonely
Example of strong branding across platforms by Tony Chocolonely.

Building a recognizable brand is not just about visuals like a logo or the colors you use, but also your tone of voice or your handling of customer requests. Being present on the right platforms and showing your audience that you are trustworthy and there to help them. How you present yourself to the outside world makes all the difference. Branding helps you get inside people’s minds and stay there. But stay genuine and fit your branding to your audience.

SEO helps online stores get found by the right customers at the right time. Unlike ads, which stop when you stop paying, strong SEO keeps bringing in shoppers over time. A well-optimized store makes products easier to discover, builds trust, and reduces reliance on paid traffic.

Carolyn Shelby – Principal SEO at Yoast

Technical ecommerce SEO

To get properly started we need to look at the technical aspects first. Here, we’ll go over some important considerations for your online store.

The importance of good hosting

One of the simplest but most impactful things you can do is choose the right hosting for your site and upgrade your hosting plan when needed. Starting out, it might not make sense to drop hundreds of dollars for an extensive hosting plan. But once you reach a certain level, it makes all the sense in the world. Good hosting makes your site faster, pages load properly, and you’ll be able to handle more traffic than ever before. It can also better handle the crawling efforts of Google and other search engines, making it easier for them to index your URLs.

Most hosting providers offer several packages with uptime guarantees, scalability options, dedicated support, et cetera. Find a hosting provider specialized in ecommerce, and don’t try to take the cheap route.

SSL is essential for ecommerce SEO

Long gone are the days when having an SSL certificate for your site was optional. When you are selling something and/or collecting customer data in any way, you need to do so in a secure environment. No one will leave their credit card details on a website that is not adequately secured.

There are other benefits to having a properly secured website. Google, for instance, has said many times that having an SSL connection can give your site a ranking boost. In addition, many of the newer internet technologies like HTTP/2 only work on websites that use HTTPS connections.

Make your site visible through crawling and indexing

You probably want to have all your pages shown in Google, but not being mindful of this can backfire. For example, indexable results from your internal search engine, URLs with parameters from your faceted navigation or product filters, outdated content, temporary pages, and test content can be considered useless URLs. If you have a ton of them, Google will spend a valuable part of your crawl budget indexing those instead of crawling and indexing the pages that you do want to show up in the search results.

Use your robots.txt file to control what search engines can and can’t do on your website and adequately use meta robots tags to block stuff that doesn’t make sense to show in the search results. Also, to get Google to crawl your store correctly, you need optimized XML sitemaps that list your most essential pages. 

Improve the URLs of your online store

Getting your URLs right is a crucial aspect of ecommerce SEO. Unreadable URLs make it harder for search engines and site visitors to understand your products. And online stores tend to have a ton of URLs. Usually, every single product has its own URL and every product variation also comes with its own URL. On top of that, things like faceted navigation can generate an endless stream of URL variants. If Google finds the same products on multiple URLs, how will it know which one to show in the search results?

Help search engines by minimizing the number of URLs on your online store to prevent confusion and unnecessary crawling. Check your paginated search results and see if all of these have a unique URL. Give your URLs descriptive names to help search engines identify the contents, so change URLs like /sweaters/323551 to /sweaters/ugly-christmas-sweater. Follow Google’s advice on how to design a URL structure for ecommerce websites.

Be aware of duplicate content

This endless number of URLs showing the same content can cause another SEO issue you want to prevent. If they find duplicate content on multiple pages, search engines won’t know which URL to show which can lead to lower rankings for all pages involved. So make sure to check how your ecommerce CMS handles product variations and faceted navigation. You can use a canonical URL to signal to Google what the original version of a page or product is.

Duplicate content is also a risk when you use product descriptions provided by manufacturers, which are used on other websites. Although you’ll be competing with content on other websites, it will make your product page stand out less. Leading to search engines favoring other websites that do write their own product descriptions. 

Add structured data to your products

Structured data lets you describe your products and business information to Google. This makes it easier for the search engine to understand your business and products. In return, you can get rich results like highlighted product information. You can use structured data to provide details like titles and descriptions, stock and shipping details, SKUs, prices, reviews, ratings, and product images for products. Using these details, Google can highlight your products in diverse ways and various locations, like Google Images and Shopping.

With product structured data your products can be highlighted in Google Images (for example).

You can also use structured data to provide business information. Google uses this data to verify whether you say who you say you are. It cross-references the information it finds on your site with what it finds on Google Business Profile. So make sure to keep this information (f.e. location, phone number, opening hours) up to date and consistent. If you want to add structured data to your products (or other pages), the structured data feature in our WordPress plugin and Shopify app might be worth checking out.

Improve your mobile shopping experience

Many people do their online shopping on a mobile phone, and that number is only growing. That’s why your mobile site has to offer a great shopping experience, similar to your website shown on a computer. We call this mobile parity. Your mobile pages should load quickly, work properly, and have no unnecessary distractions. People should not have to wait for your page to load, only to be confronted with things jumping around and buttons that aren’t clickable.

The desktop and mobile version of Etsy's website
Example of desktop and mobile version of a website: Etsy

Keep the design of your mobile site simple while still offering the branding experience that people are familiar with. Especially on your product pages, you should offer a minimal amount of distraction to get people to convert as quickly as possible. Make sure that your theme is responsive and scales appropriately to all screen sizes without having multiple designs. Give extra attention to the readability of your pages, especially those with more than a bit of text, like product pages or blog posts.

Optimize the page speed of your online store

Site speed is an ongoing challenge for most websites, especially since Google has declared it a ranking factor. For ecommerce sites, that’s even more important because a slow store can cost you customers. It is proven repeatedly that people will more likely buy from an online store with proper page speed. It’s also a vital part of another ranking factor, page experience.

How you improve the loading times of your store depends on the type of store you’re running. Hosted platforms like Shopify and Wix have built-in performance enhancements, like a CDN and image optimization options. For these SaaS platforms, you’re somewhat limited to the choices they make. If you run a WooCommerce store on WordPress, you have more control over your performance. You can choose your hosting plans, your CDN, your cache management, et cetera. Of course, there is no wrong solution. Pick whatever fits your goals and budget.

Improve your code

Many of the performance improvements you can make are found in your code. Make sure that the code of your theme is lean and mean. Fix scripts that block the rendering of your content in the DOM. Minify your code and try to add lazy loading to images where it makes sense. Don’t rely on JavaScript for loading critical functionality and content.

All the evergreen site speed tactics should also be applied to your online store. Think optimizing your images, uninstalling unnecessary apps and plugins, updating your CMS and plugins, optimizing your caching, minimizing the number of HTTP requests, asynchronously loading scripts, et cetera. To get an idea of where you should start, make sure to look at the Core Web Vitals.

User experience improves conversion rates

Related to technical SEO and branding, it’s important to be aware of the overall experience your online store offers its users. You need to help customers feel safe and welcome before they are ready to buy from your store. A well-optimized online store is a joy to use, offers a safe and secure buying experience, and loads in no time — both on mobile and desktop. Photography, typography, and content also contribute to user experience.

User experience is also about taking away frustrations and barriers for users to reach their goals quickly. It’s about optimizing product pages, CTAs, and payment flows to get people moving through the process without issue. Focusing on user experience can help you improve your store’s conversion rates. In addition, it builds a relationship with the customer and helps them come back for more. Build brand loyalty through a pleasant user experience. So add an option for guest checkout, make your site search work, improve the text on your CTAs, and offer proper faceted navigation. To give a few examples.

Don’t underestimate the importance of content

Content is, and will remain, still a very important part of SEO. Ecommerce SEO is no exception to this rule. Having great content on your website, and a proper content SEO strategy can help Google and your customers choose your shop above your competitors.

Keyword research for your online store

An important aspect is figuring out which keywords you can target — and which keywords your potential customers are searching for. It gives you a better sense of the competition and the landscape you are operating in. While doing keyword research for your online store, you’ll also uncover different search intents. Often enough, the customer doesn’t follow a straight line in their buying journey.

However, you can guide potential customers during their buyer journey with helpful content in the right place at the right time. For this, you can use proven marketing strategies like the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) to guide a customer from discovering their need to guiding them to a purchase. At any touchpoint during their journey, you need to be there to stay part of their buyer journey. Keyword research will help you uncover the terms searchers use during the different sections — helping you write content that is valuable and on point.

Improve category pages for ecommerce SEO

Often, category pages can be easier to rank than individual product pages. You can set them up to target a broader set of terms instead of one specific product. Your keyword research can help you use keywords that your audience searches for. Give your category pages a good title and meta description featuring the keywords you want the page to rank for. In addition, pick a proper URL structure for your category pages. Keep them short and focused.

Add a piece of text to the category page to give Google and customers more insight into what this page holds. Don’t overdo it, though; it doesn’t have to be a wall of text. Just ensure that it is written for humans and isn’t stuffed with your keywords. Add great product images to your category pages and link to them from other relevant pages on your website.

Again, consider search intent here; category pages should target and offer solutions for ‘browsing’ behavior. This differs from what you do with individual product pages. For category pages, you want to rank for “Black Dresses” while your product page might want to rank for “Black Dress”.

Add a blog to your online store

One of the most important ways of promoting your online store is via content marketing. Adding a blog to your site gives you a range of options to rank in the search engines and attract a new wave of customers.

While your product descriptions and landing pages allow you to talk about specific products, a blog can be much more flexible. Here, you can dive deeper into your product, your business, and topics related to what you sell. Just make sure it’s relevant to the people you’re trying to target.

an example of a good blog on an ecommerce site, this one is from Zappos
Zappos has a great blog with excellent content on various relevant topics.

With high-quality content, you show that you are passionate about your product and that you are an expert on the topic. Trust and expertise are crucial factors for Google and visitors to find the business they want to buy their products from.

Relevant content has a great chance of ranking if you target the right keywords. You can write all-encompassing, authoritative cornerstone content that you can use as a base for your content strategy. Supporting those articles, you can go into more detail about specific aspects. For instance, the guide you are reading now is supported by numerous articles on ecommerce SEO topics which are all interlinked.

Improve your product pages for SEO and conversion

Your product page is where the magic happens. Here, you want your customers to hit that buy button without hesitation. But what are the aspects of an excellent product page? What can you do to improve your product page SEO? 

Write great titles and meta descriptions

The words you use to describe your articles are essential. Of course, this also goes for the words you provide for your product to be used in the SERPs — the titles and the meta descriptions. In 2021, Google was actively rewriting more page titles than ever. According to them, too many sites were using non-descript or spammy titles. Therefore, it is even more important to improve your titles and keep an eye on what Google is showing for your products.

Using WordPress/WooCommerce SEO plugins and Shopify SEO apps like Yoast SEO for Shopify, you can set up templates for both titles and meta descriptions, so they follow a similar pattern. This saves you time, and you won’t have to do everything by hand. Of course, you should write everything by hand for your most important articles and pages. Make them stand out!

Write your own product descriptions

We already touched on this topic briefly while discussing the risk of duplicate content. To prevent your product descriptions from being the same as 100+ online stores out there, you need to write them yourself.  If you have a ton of products, start with the ones most important or most valuable.

Example of unique product description on Armed Angels website
Example of an elaborate and informative description on Armed Angels webshop.

Be sure to write in the language your audience uses to find and describe these products. Don’t use jargon or made-up words that only a few people will understand. Good product descriptions are easy to grasp and easy to read. Also, stay away from walls of text — use a good header hierarchy and break up the text with paragraphs and lists for readability.

Add unique, high-quality product photos

Excellent product images are another great way to set yourself apart from your competitors. Your customer wants to see your products in detail. Even if you have an offline store as well, photos show what your products look like and give you that edge over competitors who just use the images provided by the manufacturer. Try to take authentic photos and do it yourself. Make sure they are high-quality and show your product in use to show what it looks like in real-life situations.

product photography helps ecommerce seo
Everlane combines great product photography with animated GIFs to show their backpack in use.

If you’ve shot good photos of your products, optimize them for the right size, compress them and give them a proper SEO-proof name. Use the product name in the image file name and the alt text when you upload it to your store.

Add reviews of your product or service

Reviews are incredibly important for your business. Collect them, display them and add review and ratings structured data. It can nudge customers to buy your product or service. It also helps Google turn those reviews into highlighted listings in the search results — with stars and all.

Reviews shown on product page Fable England
Fable England shows a reviews tab next to their products that allows you to scroll through reviews.

Most shoppers look up reviews before buying a product or deciding on a service. While the availability of reviews on your product pages helps build trust, they need to be genuine. Don’t publish fake reviews or only publish the ones that paint your product or service in a positive light. Even negative reviews have a place! What’s more, how you respond to negative reviews says a lot about you and your business.

Add related products for cross-selling and internal linking

To increase the conversion rate and the total amount spent per cart, you can use a variety of tactics. One of those tactics is adding related products on your product pages and even on your checkout screen, although you need to test that second option so that it doesn’t harm the checkout process.

The same goes for a list of alternative products for the one a customer is looking for. An ‘Other customers also look at’ feature helps uncover more products for your customers, plus it helps them reach their goal more quickly. In addition, this helps your internal linking as well. By doing this, you make it easier for customers and search engines to reach different parts of your site.

Improve the shopping experience with filters

For online stores, faceted navigation is a must-have on category pages. Faceted navigation — also known as product filters —, lets users filter their search to a more manageable level. We all know filters like size, price, color, brand, et cetera. Offering ample filter options genuinely improves a shopper’s experience on your site. Filters give them the possibility of finding a product with much less friction.

Filtering on website Ten Thousand Villages
Filtering (subcategories, availability, price, country) on a category page of Ten Thousand Villages.

When set up correctly, they should work without issue. The problems with faceted navigation start whenever this system spits out a massive amount of indexable URLs, thanks to the filtered parameters. This could lead to duplicate content, index bloat, and crawling issues. These URLs mustn’t get indexed by Google.

Handle out-of-stock products

Every online store will eventually reach a point where products run out of stock. How you deal with that is more important. Manage expectations by showing when this product will be back in stock. Or offer ways to keep them in the loop by offering to send an email when it’s available again. There’s more you can do to handle products that are out of stock, but it is important to act upon it to show potential customers and Google that you’re active and trustworthy.

Site structure, navigation, and internal linking

Site structure is essential for every site — and the larger your site is, the more important it gets to keep it under control. Setting everything up transparently helps customers and search engines find their way on your ecommerce site easily. As Google uses the structure to understand your site, you need to think about how you link everything together. With proper internal linking, you can signal to Google which pages are the most important ones. It will prioritize these over other, less-linked pages.

Think about your navigation

The same goes for your navigation. Well-thought-out navigation doesn’t just please Google, but users as well. Search engines like Google use the navigation of your online store to uncover your content. They also use your navigation and your site structure to connect the various parts of your site.

Google, for instance, advises shop owners to add links from menus to category pages, from category pages to sub-category pages, and finally from sub-category pages to all product pages. It’s vital to link to all the products you want to have indexed. Don’t forget to add your most important pages and categories to the footer, as that is important real estate!

Don’t forget about internal linking

Other than having a proper navigation and site structure in place, you also need to link related content to each other. This shows search engines what pages and topics are related to each other and which pages are most important. It also helps site visitors find other related content or pages to the page their currently on, keeping them on your site and helping them find what they are looking for. When you have a blog, internal links also give you a great opportunity to link directly to specific products or categories that are related to that topic. Use internal linking to show the importance of pages and help users navigate through your site.

Link building for online stores

You shouldn’t underestimate the power of link building. These are links from other websites leading to your products and/or content. This is, to this day, an important ranking factor for search engines. Not just having as many links to your website as possible, they need to come from relevant websites and make sense. 

You need to publish content that people will link to for this to happen. That doesn’t strictly have to be a blog post, but that could also be a buying guide, an infographic, a tool that helps people make decisions, original research, et cetera. Excellent, unique content has a bigger chance of getting links from relevant sites and people.

Another link building strategy is to reach out to your local community to get them to talk about you. Or you could invest in influencer marketing and digital PR to boost your online store.

Marketing and ecommerce SEO

You can sit and wait for people to show up in your online store, or you can act. While not technically SEO, marketing is still at your disposal — and there’s a lot you can do. We’ve already talked about content marketing, but we’ll also discuss social media, ads, and video marketing.

Social media

Everybody knows social media can do a lot of good when used right. So, use it to your advantage. It won’t help your store rank better, but it can help you get and build an audience. It can function as an extension of ecommerce SEO, and it is a wonderful way of contacting your customers. Social media marketing is essential for your branding — it’s where people can see you and what you do. Make the most of it!

Video marketing

Video is huge, and its growth is nowhere near stopping. Invest in video SEO if you have the budget. Just make sure it looks good and represents your business. With video, it’s important to know what you want to achieve. Do you want to get recognized on YouTube and have your videos rank well there? Then that’s where you should focus your attention as simply adding a few videos to your store won’t help in this situation.

Do you want to produce the best videos on your ecommerce site? Then you need to think about where you want to host these and how to make them click with your audience. Want videos to do well in the organic search results? That’s something else entirely. Figure out if you want to focus on videos for YouTube or your own site.

Running paid ads

Running ads in the search results is another way to stand out from the crowd. It gives you the option to bid for specific keywords and — depending on your niche — can get you a relatively cheap way to the top of the search results.

Fledgling stores often rely on paid ads to get noticed in the search results. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course. But, with paid ads, you must keep paying, or else your stream of customers will dry up. It’s not a sensible strategy to just focus on running paid ads. Combine it with SEO, social media, and content marketing.

Google Shopping feed/Merchant Center

While it is good to focus on getting your products found in Google’s organic search results, most online stores also put effort into Google Shopping. Google helps customers find the best products for the best prices in the Shopping section. In 2020, Google made it free for merchants to add their products to the Shopping section. Simply sign up for Google Merchant Center, correctly fill in all the required data about your business and follow the guidelines.

Local SEO for ecommerce

If you combine your online store with a brick-and-mortar one, you must also focus on local SEO. Discover how your online and offline stores can support each other to strengthen each other. Write content optimized for your locale and build good landing pages that help you get noticed for searches in your area. We also offer a local SEO plugin that can help you optimize your website for a local audience. For instance, it adds proper business location schema structured data for your shop and helps you get your details in Google Maps.

Is your online store on Shopify or WordPress? 

Shopify is one of the biggest ecommerce platforms out there. And WordPress powers around 43% of all websites worldwide. Both WooCommerce and Shopify are excellent choices for your online store. 

For WordPress sites, many of the ecommerce stores are powered by WooCommerce. It’s a solid platform that does a lot out of the box. Put the ecommerce tips from this guide into practice, and you are well on your way to an optimized store.

If your online store is on Shopify, you’ve chosen a platform focused on ecommerce. It comes with pretty much everything you need straight out of the box. If there is something you’re missing, there are tons of apps that can help you out. Although most SEO advice is platform agnostic and this guide will already give you lots of input, we also have a guide on Shopify SEO to help you get your Shopify store ranking high.

WooCommerce SEO plugin by Yoast SEO

To help you quickly set up WooCommerce for optimal SEO, we built the WooCommerce SEO add-on for Yoast SEO. Our WooCommerce SEO plugin adds several extra features while also improving the code WooCommerce puts out to make it more understandable for search engines. It’s an essential tool if you want to get the most out of our WooCommerce store. You can use this add-on with both the free and Premium version of Yoast SEO.

Yoast SEO for Shopify app

One of the most remarkable aspects of Shopify is that you can improve your store by running apps. There are apps for everything, from review management to email marketing and image optimization to cross-selling products. One of the most popular categories is ecommerce SEO, and we’re proud to offer a Yoast SEO for Shopify app as well.

Our app improves the technical SEO of your Shopify store while also offering features that help you produce the best possible product-related content. It comes with SEO and readability analyses, various controls for handling how Google crawls your site, and an impressive Schema structured data implementation that instantly helps search engines understand your products.

The Yoast SEO interface in Shopify
The Yoast SEO for Shopify app when you’re working on your product page.

All about ecommerce SEO

That’s it! You’ve just learned a lot. But although this is billed as a thorough guide, a complex topic like ecommerce SEO cannot be contained in one single guide. Where possible, we’ve linked to related articles that go deeper into a specific detail — read these to expand your knowledge!

The post Ecommerce SEO: how to rank higher & sell more online appeared first on Yoast.

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Social search is Gen Z’s Google: Are you visible where it matters?

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Social search is Gen Z’s Google: Are you visible where it matters?

The way people search for information is changing, and Gen Z is leading the shift. 

Instead of turning to Google, they’re searching on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, and Discord for everything from product recommendations to restaurant reviews and how-to guides.

This isn’t just a trend – it’s a fundamental shift in digital discovery. 

  • Google usage among Gen Z has dropped by 25% compared to Gen X, a 2024 Forbes study shows.
  • eMarketer reports that 46% of Gen Z and 35% of millennials prefer social media over traditional search engines. 

Why? 

They crave fast, visual, and community-driven content rather than sifting through traditional search results and ads.

For search marketers, this means SEO is no longer just about Google – it’s about being visible wherever audiences search. 

This article breaks down Gen Z’s evolving search habits, why social platforms are winning, and how brands can adapt to stay discoverable in this new search landscape.

The democratization of search

For years, Google dominated search. 

For Gen X and early millennials, “googling” was synonymous with searching. 

But Gen Z searches differently – they don’t use “google” as a verb in the same way, and it’s reshaping how brands approach discoverability.

Gen Z “googles” 25% less than Gen X, turning instead to social platforms where search is more visual, trend-driven, and real-time. 

Even Google has acknowledged this shift – Prabhakar Raghavan noted that “nearly 40% of young people prefer TikTok or Instagram over Google Search or Maps” for local recommendations.

This isn’t just about preference. It’s a shift in search behavior. 

Instead of scrolling through links and ads, Gen Z engages with short-form videos, peer recommendations, and user-generated content. 

They trust social platforms for their authenticity, immediacy, and personalized experience – something traditional search engines struggle to match.

Opinions on this shift vary. Some claim “Google is doomed,” while others argue it will continue to dominate. 

  • SparkToro reports that Google Search grew by 20% in 2024. 
  • Ofcom found that 1.8 million U.K. adults stopped using it for searches that same year. 

The reality likely lies in between.

The takeaway is clear: search is no longer just about Google. 

If your content isn’t optimized for TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, or YouTube – where Gen Z actively searches – you’re missing a massive audience. 

The future of search isn’t tied to one platform; it’s about showing up wherever your audience is looking. 

Sometimes, Google will win. 

Other times, a TikTok post will. 

If you want to succeed, you must create an effective content loop across multiple channels.

A look into social search

Social search has transformed social media from engagement-driven spaces into full-fledged search destinations.

TikTok, Instagram, and Reddit now shape how users find information, products, and experiences.

Up to 41% of users use TikTok for search, while 76% have discovered brands and products through social media. 

This shift means users aren’t just consuming content – they’re actively searching for answers, recommendations, and solutions.

A changing search funnel: Social trigger, social discovery, conversion

Social search is compressing and reshaping the traditional search funnel. 

Instead of bouncing between multiple touchpoints, users can explore, evaluate, and decide all within a single platform – turning Google’s “messy middle” into a fluid discovery flywheel. 

A TikTok review might lead to an Instagram deep dive, followed by a Reddit thread for credibility – all before a Google search even happens (if at all).

Success in search is no longer about a single platform but about understanding user intent across multiple channels. 

Winning in this evolving search landscape requires a presence where searches actually happen – by optimizing content for a multichannel, search-everywhere experience.

Why Gen Z prefer social to search 

Unlike previous generations who relied on Google to type queries and sift through blue links, Gen Z expects faster, more engaging, and more authentic results. 

Social search delivers exactly that.

Here’s how their approach differs – and what brands need to consider.

1. Faster, more visual results

Raised in a digital world of instant gratification, Gen Z doesn’t want to read lengthy blog posts or scroll through endless search results. 

They prefer quick, digestible answers in visual formats like short-form videos, carousels, and captions.

TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube are their go-to search tools.

  • A TikTok search for “best foundation” instantly serves up video tutorials, reviews, and comparisons – far more engaging than a traditional article.
  • A YouTube Short on “quick meal-prep ideas” delivers step-by-step cooking guidance in seconds, skipping the recipe pages cluttered with ads, bios, and affiliate links.

Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.


See terms.

2. Authenticity and trust

Gen Z doesn’t trust traditional brand marketing. 

Instead, they rely on peer recommendations, real experiences, and unfiltered opinions from communities. 

Unlike Google, which prioritizes search-optimized content and paid ads, social platforms surface real conversations from actual users.

  • Instead of reading a blog on the “best budget travel destinations,” Gen Z watches TikTok vlogs of real people documenting their trips.
  • Rather than trusting company-written product descriptions, they seek out TikTok creator reviews, Instagram UGC testimonials, or Reddit discussions.

This peer-driven content feels more honest, transparent, and credible – making social search more trustworthy than traditional search engines.

3. Algorithm-driven discovery

Unlike traditional search engines, where users actively search for answers, social platforms push relevant content before users even realize they need it – re-engaging them in their search journey.

  • TikTok’s For You page surfaces content based on past engagement, introducing users to products and trends before they search.
  • Instagram’s Explore tab curates recommendations based on browsing behavior, making discovery seamless.
  • Reddit threads and Discord servers expose users to niche discussions, organically driving awareness of brands and products.

This shifts discovery earlier in the customer journey. 

Users aren’t just searching when they’re ready to buy.

They’re being passively introduced to brands, leading to high-intent searches later. 

This blurs the lines between search and social, inspiration and intent – reshaping the role of search marketing.

The role of community

For Gen Z, an aspect of search is about finding answers from people they trust. 

That’s why Reddit, Discord, and private forums are becoming go-to search engines, offering unfiltered insights, recommendations, and real experiences.

Unlike traditional search engines, which prioritize algorithm-ranked web pages, community-driven search thrives on peer-to-peer discussions that feel authentic, specific, and reliable. 

These platforms provide what Google and mainstream social media often can’t: deep, real-time conversations shaped by lived experience.

  • Reddit functions as a crowdsourced knowledge hub, where users explore niche topics, ask for advice, and share product reviews. Many even add “Reddit” to the end of Google searches to bypass promotional content and go straight to authentic discussions.
  • Discord servers act as private search engines, with dedicated communities – spanning gaming, crypto, fashion, and professional industries – offering real-time advice and recommendations. These closed-loop spaces create powerful, organic brand discovery opportunities that brands have yet to fully tap into.

Community-driven search is shifting the landscape. 

Gen Z trusts real people over polished marketing.

Failing to engage with these communities might mean missing out on an audience that prioritizes authenticity over ads.

Why community search matters

Simply put, traditional SEO doesn’t work in these spaces – and you need to accept that. 

While TikTok and YouTube offer optimization opportunities, forums and communities operate differently. 

You can’t rank No. 1 in a Discord conversation or a Reddit thread. 

Instead, you must embed yourself naturally within these communities to stay relevant.

Be present where conversations happen

  • Actively engage in discussions – whether through creators, users, or employees.
  • This builds credibility and trust in a way traditional search marketing often struggles to achieve.

Influence through community members

  • Gen Z doesn’t trust ads – they trust real people. 
  • The most effective way to influence brand perception is through engaged community members, influencers, and subject-matter experts who are already part of the conversation.

Create valuable, non-promotional content

  • The key to success isn’t pushing products – it’s offering real insight. 
  • Providing helpful answers, sharing expertise, and engaging meaningfully are more likely to be remembered and recommended organically.

Not sure where to start? Try this

A simple first step is to use Google Trends and the Glimpse Chrome extension to uncover where your audience is actually searching:

  • Install Glimpse for Google Trends to unlock additional insights.
  • Search for a key term related to your brand.
  • Check the Channel Breakdown chart to see which social platforms your term is most popular on.
  • Explore top-ranking content on those platforms using tools like TikTok Creator Search Insights, Reddit Pro Trends, and Pinterest Trends.
  • Build a content strategy that aligns with the platform’s format, trends, and user intent.

This approach ensures your brand shows up where your audience searches – not just where you assume they are.

The future of search is everywhere

Gen Z is redefining what it means to search. 

Social, visual, and community-driven discovery is shifting the landscape, and traditional SEO alone is no longer enough. 

Search marketers must move beyond Google rankings and embrace multi-platform search strategies. 

If your audience searches on TikTok, YouTube, or Reddit more than on Google, do you really have visibility?

Brands that recognize search as an omnipresent, multi-platform experience will gain a competitive edge. 

Those that don’t? They’ll struggle to stay seen.

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What is Shopify and why choose it as your ecommerce platform?

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Shopify is one of the most impressive internet success stories. According to BuiltWith, the Canadian ecommerce giant now powers almost five million stores worldwide. Merchants choose it for its ease of use, robust features, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. Let’s go over the main reasons for choosing Shopify.

Table of contents

What is Shopify and what does it do?

Shopify is an ecommerce platform that has everything under one roof. It’s a cloud-based solution that lets merchants create, customize, and manage online stores without issues. Shopify focuses heavily on ease of use and functionality, and with the thought of having businesses run an online business without technical expertise. 

The CMS has quickly become one of the most popular ecommerce platforms. For instance, it dominates the US market, with a market share of around 30%. It helps by easily serving businesses of all shapes and sizes, from small startups to large enterprises. 

Choosing the right ecommerce platform is critical to your online success. There are many good reasons to choose Shopify, as it’s versatile, user-friendly, and scalable. It’s a good solution for most businesses and even has an app store with tools like Yoast SEO for Shopify that help you with your content marketing and SEO efforts.

Primary features and services of Shopify

One of Shopify’s main features is hosting and scalability. As a managed hosting solution, the platform offers fast and reliable performance for your pages. Its infrastructure can handle traffic spikes and high-demand sales peaks like those during Black Friday sales. 

Next, it is well-known for its template and customization options. The theme store has over 240 themes, all of which are mobile-friendly. You even get a selection of industry-specific themes to help businesses get online quickly. 

Another strong aspect of the platform is its tools section and how it integrates with nearly everything. The app store has almost any app you need, from Shopify SEO tools like Yoast SEO to inventory management options. This breadth of options is very impressive. 

Lastly, the CMS makes it easy to manage payments and financial transactions. It runs its own payment gateway, Shopify Payments, but it also supports various third-party payment processors. 

These options together form a fully formed product that helps merchants with everything from server management to brand building and marketing. No wonder so many merchants choose Shopify as their ecommerce platform. 

How does Shopify work?

Shopify’s intuitive platform makes starting and running an ecommerce store very easy. It doesn’t matter if you sell just one product or thousands — the software makes it accessible for every type of merchant. 

Simple setup process

One of Shopify’s most impressive aspects is the setup. Entrepreneurs can literally launch an online store within a few hours — without prior technical know-how. The platform offers easy-to-use tools that work by simply dragging and dropping elements. In addition, it offers user-friendly walkthroughs to guide merchants through the process. There are pre-built themes to get started with quickly, and buying premium themes from the Theme Store is also possible.

Effortless management

Shopify has a clearly organized admin dashboard. Store owners can track orders, manage inventory, and check customer data in a single place. Merchants also enjoy the automation features. For instance, it automatically calculates taxes, handles shipping integrations, and manages checkout processes — a huge time saver!

Of course, as we live in the mobile age, the platform offers mobile app access. Merchants can manage their stores on the go, so they don’t have to miss anything when they are out and about. We’ve already mentioned that the store themes all scale with and perform properly on mobile devices. 

All of these possibilities make Shopify a very good solution for most stores. Even a solo entrepreneur can build and manage a professional store without issues. This makes it a far more accessible option than platforms like WooCommerce or Adobe Commerce.

7 Key benefits of choosing Shopify

The ecommerce platforms’ impressive features, scalability, and customer-centric design stand out. Here are some key reasons merchants choose Shopify as their preferred ecommerce platform. 

1. The user-friendly interface

Time and time again, merchants mention that the clean, intuitive interface is the most important reason for choosing this ecommerce platform. It’s one of the most user-friendly e-commerce builders out there, and it’s intuitive for beginners and powerful for experienced users. 

Shopify has an innovative drag-and-drop builder that lets merchants customize the store layout and product pages without coding. The admin interface is clearly organized and simple, even for non-developers. Thanks to the guided setup and well-designed templates, business owners can quickly move from concept to live store. In addition, the admin panel gives an easy-to-understand overview of the store’s performance so merchants can manage orders and inventory without issues.

image showing the theme editor interface of shopify, one of the main reasons to choose it
Shopify’s easy-to-use interface makes it a joy to work with

2. Shopify AI Magic

One of the newest benefits is Shopify Magic, an AI-powered solution that makes work easier and more fun. For instance, it has an image editor that automatically cleans up and optimizes product images, and a content generation tool that uses generative AI to write FAQs, product descriptions, and blogs. Email improvements also help dynamically tailor email campaigns for higher engagement rates.

It also has Sidekick, an AI assistant that can help you get more done in your store. This chatbot answers all your questions and advises you on your specific situation, as it knows everything about your store. As a result, you have more time to focus on important things like strategy.

3. Flexible and scalable

Another big benefit of choosing Shopify as an ecommerce platform is its flexibility and scalability. The CMS can grow with a merchant and offers options for large and small businesses. 

It has an affordable pricing structure. The $29/month plan helps small businesses get online quickly without investing too much. For large businesses, there’s Shopify Plus, which supports global enterprise brands like Heinz and Gymshark. This plan offers advanced features like a multi-store setup, custom checkout-out options, and very high API limits. The platform is also very proud of its 99.98% uptime guarantee, which keeps stores online even in the busiest seasons. 

4. Integrated payment solutions

Another big advantage is the streamlined payment process for clients worldwide. Shopify Payments, a built-in payment system, eliminates the need for third-party gateways at no extra cost and no set-up fees. Additionally, it supports over a hundred payment integrations, including Stripe and PayPal.

5. Robust app ecosystem

Shopify is a very extendable ecommerce platform. It has an excellent app store, where developers offer a wide range of good apps that improve and expand what the CMS can do. Currently, over 10,000 apps are available in the app store, and new ones are arriving daily. 

Many of these apps integrate deeply with the CMS, allowing marketing automation and personalization that can increase sales. Merchants can install apps to recover abandoned carts, upsell related products, or integrate with CRM and advertising platforms.

Merchants can find apps for nearly everything. Some of the most popular ones are Oberlo for dropshipping, Klaviya and Mailchimp for email marketing, Judge.me and Loox for product and store reviews, and PageFly for building custom landing pages.

This extendability helps merchants scale their work whenever they need it most. 

an example of a search result for shopify apps related to email marketing
Shopify has over 10.000 apps in its app store

6. Comprehensive support

Running an online store is difficult enough without having to worry about technical issues. Luckily, the platform helps remove that worry with 24/7 technical and customer support. Merchants can access professional assistance via live chat, email, or phone. In addition, it offers loads of learning material in the form of Shopify Academy, community forums, and tutorials. Business owners can quickly learn to make the most of their online stores. 

7. Yoast SEO for Shopify

The ecommerce CMS comes with all merchants need to run their stores, including tools to improve search engine visibility. While SEO is always in its mind, it is good to think beyond the basics that the e-commerce platform offers. Getting traffic is too important to leave it to chance. 

Yoast SEO for Shopify is the perfect tool for merchants looking to get that traffic. This app is built by a team of SEO experts with decades of experience. Yoast SEO has innovative features like real-time SEO suggestions, helping you optimize your pages and products with actionable insights. Or enhanced structured data for your products to make these stand out in Google. 

Yoast SEO also helps you write better product content. Enter your focus keyword and use the feedback to make your product descriptions stand out. A readability analysis also helps you make the content as readable for your customers as possible. There’s a Semrush integration to get keyword data from the editor and AI-powered features to automate some parts of the optimization process. 

Combining Shopify’s framework with Yoast SEO makes your store accessible to search engines and customers.

Optimize your products with Yoast SEO to make them stand out

Unique selling points

Shopify has a lot going for it as an ecommerce platform, and there are more things it does to stay ahead of the competition. 

Multi-channel selling

One reason Shopify could be chosen over the competition is its ability to sell across multiple channels. Multi-channel options allow merchants to sell their products on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, with all the management and insights happening on the main dashboard. It also has point-of-sale options that help merchants offer in-store sales and integrate online and offline. 

The CMS can sync listings to third-party platforms like Amazon, eBay, or Google Shopping, increasing merchants’ visibility. The platform also has many more options for going omnichannel with your store, which makes it a great fit for managing everything all at once. 

Strong security and reliability

Trust is an important aspect of ecommerce. Merchants need to trust ecommerce platforms with their data and trust that they keep it safe and sound. Luckily, Shopify is working hard to provide store owners with a secure shopping environment. It is certified Level 1 PCI-DSS compliant, the highest level of payment security standard, which helps protect customer data. It also has built-in fraud detection features that minimize the risk of chargeback. 

Compared to hosted platforms like WooCommerce, Shopify automatically handles almost every security aspect. This gives merchants peace of mind that their customer’s data is safe.

Considerations before choosing

Shopify is an all-around great ecommerce platform, but there are some things to remember when merchants choose between the many other options. Its pricing is decent, with basic monthly plans starting at $29. Still, the cost can add up when you want to add apps, third-party integrations or want to have a custom theme developed. However, the CMS is often easier to set up and cheaper to run than platforms like Adobe Commerce.

Another consideration is the platform’s limitations. Shopify is closed software, so store owners have limited code access. WordPress solutions like WooCommerce might be better if openness is an issue.

These are the main reasons to choose Shopify

Shopify provides a great combination of ease of use, scalability, and features that help merchants thrive. Whether you run a simple store with a small budget or juggle millions of dollars, the commerce platform has the necessary solutions. It grows with your needs and offers you many options and possibilities to make the most of your business. Moreover, if you add Yoast SEO for Shopify to your store, you can boost visibility on Google, hopefully translating to more traffic and business growth.

So, why wait? Sign up for a free trial, add Yoast SEO to your store, and get your business on the road!

The post What is Shopify and why choose it as your ecommerce platform? appeared first on Yoast.

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Bing pushes ad-heavy search results with 7+ sponsored listings

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Microsoft Bing appears to be testing an aggressive new ad display format that dramatically reduces organic search visibility in favor of sponsored content.

The details:

  • Users are reporting search result pages with at least seven paid advertisements.
  • One or two organic results are visible on the first page.
  • The format has been independently verified by multiple users.

What they’re saying. The original poster, Red Leaf Web Design, expressed shock at the format, stating “BING Ads Gone Wild!” on X. Several of the Search Engine Land staff were also able to replicate the ad-heavy results, seeing as many as nine ads:

Why we care. Bing’s ad-heavy testing fundamentally changes the competitive landscape for paid search visibility. With so many ads and barely any organic results on the first page, this format creates a more crowded advertising environment where standing out becomes increasingly difficult and expensive.

If rolled out more widely to more commercial queries, competition for the limited ad slots will likely intensify, potentially driving up cost-per-click rates as advertisers vie for visibility.

Between the lines. This extreme ad-to-content ratio suggests Microsoft may be testing the limits of user tolerance for sponsored results as search engines face increasing pressure to generate revenue in a rapidly-changing search landscape.

The big picture. Major search engines have gradually increased ad visibility over the years, but Bing’s apparent test pushes well beyond Google’s typical ad density, which usually caps at around four sponsored listings on the first screen.

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Generative AI use surging among consumers for online shopping: Report

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AI retail traffic

Traffic from generative AI surged to U.S. retail sites over the holiday season and that trend has continued into 2025, according to new Adobe data.

Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, traffic from generative AI sources increased by 1,300% compared to the year prior (up 1,950% YoY on Cyber Monday). 

This trend continued beyond the holiday season, Adobe found. In February, traffic from generative AI sources increased by 1,200% compared to July 2024. 

The percentages are high because generative AI tools are so new. ChatGPT debuted its research preview on Nov. 30. 2022. Generative AI traffic remains modest compared to other channels, such as paid search or email, but the growth is notable. It’s doubled every two months since September 2024.

By the numbers. Findings from Adobe’s survey of 5,000 U.S. consumers found AI generates more engaged traffic:

  • 39% used generative AI for online shopping, with 53% planning to do so in 2025. 
  • 55% of respondents) use generative AI for conducting research.
  • 47% use it for product recommendations.
  • 43% use generative AI for seeking deals.
  • 35% for getting gift ideas.
  • 35% for finding unique products. 
  • 33% for creating shopping lists.

One of the most interesting findings from Adobe covers what happens once generative AI users land on a retail website. Compared to non-AI traffic sources (including paid search, affiliates and partners, email, organic search, social media), generative AI traffic shows:

  • More engagement: Adobe found 8% higher engagement as individuals linger on the site for longer. 
  • More pages: Generative AI visitors browse 12% more pages per visit
  • Fewer bounces: They have a 23% lower bounce rate. 

Yes, but. While engaged traffic is good, conversions are better.

  • Adobe found that traffic from generative AI sources is 9% less likely to convert than traffic from other sources.
  • However, the data shows that this has improved significantly since July 2024, which indicates growing comfort.

Generative AI for travel planning. In February 2025, traffic to U.S. travel, leisure and hospitality sites (including hotels) from generative AI sources increased by 1,700% compared to July 2024. In Adobe’s survey, 29% have used generative AI for travel-related tasks, with 84% saying it improved their experience. 

The top use cases amongst AI users include:

  • General research, 54% of respondents.
  • Travel inspiration, 43%.
  • Local food recommendations, 43%.
  • Transportation planning, 41%.
  • Itinerary creation, 37%.
  • Budget management, 31%.
  • Packing assistance, 20%. 

Once users land on a travel site, Adobe Analytics data shows a 45% lower bounce rate.

Gen AI for financial services research. In February 2025, traffic to U.S. banking sites from generative AI sources increased by 1,200% compared to July 2024. 

Adobe’s survey of U.S. consumers found 27% have used generative AI for banking and financial needs. The top use cases include:

  • Recommendations for checking and savings accounts, 42%.
  • Asking for explainers on investment strategies and terminology, 40%.
  • Creating a personalized budget, 39%.
  • Understanding the tax implications of financial decisions, 35%. 

Once generative AI traffic lands on a banking site, visitors spend 45% more time browsing (versus non-AI sources).  

About the data. Adobe’s data comes from the company’s Adobe Analytics platform and is based on more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites. Adobe also launched a companion survey of more than 5,000 U.S. respondents to understand how they use AI daily.

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How to prevent Meta Ads restrictions on health and wellness campaigns

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How to prevent Meta Ads restrictions on health and wellness campaigns

In the last few months, I’ve seen a lot of confusion around Meta Ads’ health restrictions – frightened health marketers and scare tactics from some uncool people. 

This article aims to set the record straight.

Meta Ads 2025 health restrictions: Context and regulations

Meta is doing its best to comply with regulations (think HIPAA in the U.S., etc.) to avoid fines.

Make sure you’re not sharing protected health information (PHI) directly or indirectly with Meta.

First, let’s remember that ad networks have always scrutinized health-related advertisers—not just Meta Ads.

Granted, they are not a Special Ad Category, but they’re close to it. 

The upside? Meta provides all the information you need but it’s scattered. So, I’ve done my best to summarize it below:

“You must not share […]  with Meta […] data that is based on or includes, directly or otherwise, health […] information about people, including information defined as sensitive under applicable laws, regulations and industry guidelines […] Examples of data that are not approved for sharing include […] information about an individual’s physical or mental health, such as: Diseases, medical conditions and injuries, sexual and reproductive health, mental health and psychological states […]”

– “About prohibited information,” Meta Business Help Center

This is basically Meta saying they don’t want to collect data that could imply a user has a specific medical condition, as that user did not provide consent.

Specifically, tracking the purchase of a hair loss product and sending it back to Meta Ads is not OK because it strongly suggests private health information about Meta’s users. 

By blocking tracking on sensitive health-related websites, Meta is reducing the risk of storing and using health data without user consent.

Meta goes on:

“While Meta’s systems are designed to filter out potentially prohibited information they detect, you are ultimately responsible for the data you share with Meta. You are in the best position to ensure your integration does not send prohibited information to Meta. Meta’s systems are not a substitute for your own compliance mechanisms.”

– “About prohibited information,” Meta Business Help Center

In other words, Meta Ads will restrict your account if it detects it’s putting them at risk.

How Meta Ads’ restrictions system work

Tracking, optimization, and reporting limitations will apply if an account is restricted. 

Meta Ads has started rolling out a three-tier restrictions system for health and wellness advertisers to enforce these rules. 

Core setup

Impacted items include:

  • Ad delivery: Cannot share custom parameters and URL parts with Meta. As a result, custom audiences may decrease and stop working altogether if they rely on those.
  • Ad content: Adding items to a catalog via Meta Pixel may no longer work.
  • Reporting: Information may be unavailable in Meta Events Manager and other surfaces (e.g., sampled activities and the test events tool).
  • Tracking: Automatic advanced matching may not be available.

Restriction on certain standard events

This level prevents the account from optimizing toward mid- and lower-funnel events (add to cart, purchase, etc.). 

However, upper-funnel events (landing page view, view content, etc.) and custom events are still available.

Full restrictions

“We [Meta] may fully restrict all events in specific regions or all regions. In these circumstances, Meta Business Tools cannot be used for campaign optimization where restrictions are in place.”

– “Understand data sharing restrictions based on data source categories,” Meta Business Help Center

In other words, an account hit with full restrictions will no longer be able to use bidding algorithms. 

It would be forced to rely on:

  • Old-school targeting.
  • Trimmed reports.
  • ToFu optimization events.
  • Other limited capabilities. 

You don’t want this.

Note that the above may vary across different countries or regions – or could be applied globally. It depends on local regulations. 

If one of your accounts is hit with restrictions, segment your impression and conversion data to pinpoint where you’re most affected. Then, refer to the relevant regulations.

Who’s impacted by Meta Ads restrictions?

If you’ve been following closely, you’ll understand that the impact varies dramatically depending on whether you sell supplements, run a telemedicine platform, develop a fitness app, work as a wellness coach, or operate a personal injury law firm.

The good news is that:

  • In-app lead generation advertisers will not be impacted (beyond Core Setup).
  • ToFu/brand campaigns are not affected.

Even if you sell health and wellness products directly on your website, there are a couple of obvious solutions (which we’ll dive into below):

  • Ensure you don’t send PHI-like data to Meta Ads. For example, remove your Meta Ads pixel from your patient portal.
  • Turn Standard Events into Custom Events with coded names so Meta Ads cannot differentiate between a purchase and a page view.

However, there’s bad news:

  • If your account is even remotely related to health and wellness, expect some restrictions – or the joy of appeals. (We all know Meta is super easy to deal with, right?! 😉)
  • Some restrictions will apply no matter what. But look on the bright side – it’s not (yet? 😨) a Special Ad Category.

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Meta Ads restrictions: Solutions and workarounds

(Disclaimer: I co-founded Quantads, an agency that partners with many health clients. However, I don’t claim to be an absolute expert on this topic – because, honestly, who can? These changes are still recent, and there’s plenty of room for interpretation and experimentation. The solutions below are based on our experience and our interpretation of Meta’s documentation.)

Step 1: Act fast

Being stuck in Core Setup isn’t ideal, but Full Restrictions? That’s a nightmare. You don’t want to get there.

  • If you’ve received multiple notifications that the data you’re sharing may violate the Meta Business Tools Terms, don’t wait. Act now! Delays are not documented, so this should be your top priority.
  • Check the Settings tab in Meta Events Manager to assess the damage. In the example screenshot below, only Core Setup (so far!) has been activated.
Meta Ads - Data sources

Step 2: Audit your data sources and pipelines

In-platform notifications

  • In Meta Events Manager, check the Diagnostics tab for notifications stating that prohibited information has been removed from your data.
  • If flagged, investigate which data caused the issue and fix it immediately. Remember: “Meta’s systems are not a substitute for your own compliance mechanisms.”

Pixels

  • Review the specific pages where your Meta Pixel is placed.
  • Assess whether those pages – or their URLs – contain data that might be considered prohibited. If necessary, remove the Meta Pixel from those pages.

Events

  • Name your custom events/conversions so they do not reflect, imply, or reference any prohibited health-related information.
  • Review custom and offline events. You can block specific events in Meta Events Manager if adjusting them takes too long.
Meta Ads - Event statuses

First-party data

  • One of the worst implementations I’ve seen was a Meta Ads pixel placed on a patient portal. That’s a huge mistake because a patient portal contains first-party data.
  • Instead, those advertisers should have used their CRM to send offline conversions (with coded event names). Don’t make that mistake – integrate with your CRM.

Additional considerations for Meta Ads compliance

Once you’ve handled the above, you should be in a solid position. However, a few “evergreen” best practices are worth mentioning.

Review ad copy and landing pages

Restrictions can be triggered indirectly by ad copy and landing page content.

While I understand that website content can be tough to change, advertisers need to ensure they do not name specific health conditions (as this indirectly provides Meta with PHI). 

Generally, you also don’t want to “make people feel negatively…” 

For example:

  • OK: “Better mental health awaits.”
  • Not OK: “Do you suffer from bipolar disorder?”

Diversify channels

This might seem obvious, but I’ve seen far too many health advertisers who think Meta Ads is the only viable channel. 

Because they’ve focused so much on Meta in the past, they’ve created a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Meta Ads is a fantastic platform. But putting all your eggs in one basket is a terrible idea, especially now. 

Expanding to paid search, display, video, Pinterest, TikTok, X, etc. is crucial for long-term stability.

Staying compliant with Meta Ads guidelines

Meta Ads’ 2025 health restrictions make compliance more critical than ever.

Meta is tightening policies to avoid handling protected health information. 

Failure to adapt could result in tracking, optimization, and reporting restrictions – or even full account limitations.

Make sure to:

  • Act fast if you receive compliance warnings.
  • Audit your Meta Pixel implementation.
  • Avoid sending health-related data (directly or indirectly).
  • Use coded event names where necessary.
  • Review ad copy and landing pages to prevent unnecessary flags.
  • Diversify your channels to reduce reliance on Meta Ads.

Staying ahead of these changes will help protect your campaigns, maintain performance, and continue effectively reaching your audience.

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7 tips for SEO newbies

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7 tips for SEO newbies

SEO is a fast-moving, marketing-centric industry that will always keep you on your toes. 

If you’re just getting started, it can be overwhelming without a guide. 

There are many facets and specializations in SEO that come later in a career – local, technical, content, digital PR, UX, ecommerce, media – the list goes on.

However, that level of specialization isn’t something a junior professional needs to focus on right away. 

Much like a liberal arts degree or an apprenticeship, a newcomer to SEO should first develop a broad understanding of the entire discipline before choosing a specialty.

This article covers several ways to build that foundational knowledge of search engine optimization.

1. Start with the business

Whether you’re in-house or at an agency, resist the urge to jump straight into “solution mode” when beginning an SEO project. 

Instead of immediately focusing on meta tags, keywords, backlinks, or URL structure, start by understanding the business itself.

Here are some key questions to consider as you browse the website:

  • What product or service is being sold?
  • Who is the target audience? (If you’re in-house, who is your company trying to sell to?)
  • Why does the company believe customers should choose them over competitors? (Common differentiators include price, unique features, or benefits.)

If you have the time or opportunity, dig deeper by asking your boss or client these business-focused questions:

  • What are the company’s goals and targets?
  • What is the three- to five-year plan for the business? (Are there plans to launch new products or expand into new markets?)
  • Who are the main competitors, and what are they doing?
A sample of onboarding business questions from Building a Business Brain by FLOQ Academy
A sample of onboarding business questions from Building a Business Brain by FLOQ Academy

Even without that level of detail, the first three questions provide a useful frame of reference for determining the best SEO approach.

2. Be curious, ask questions

SEO now touches nearly every aspect of digital marketing. 

Because of that, SEOs often become social butterflies, regularly collaborating with other departments and specialties.

I’ve been in SEO for 15 years now (which makes me feel old), but I continue to ask my clients questions every day. 

This field encourages curiosity, so rather than feeling frustrated by what you don’t fully understand, embrace being the one to ask the “dumb questions.” 

There’s no such thing as a dumb question, by the way.

Dig deeper: How to become exceptional at SEO

3. Build from the foundations of SEO

As mentioned earlier, SEO has many specializations. Some, like video or local SEO, are referred to as “search verticals.”

If you’re new to the field, start with the basics: the website and how Google presents search results.

Once you understand the business, try a simple exercise to analyze your site’s optimization. 

Open a key product, category, or service page in one window. In another, search for a term you think users would enter to find that page. 

Compare what appears in the search results with your own page and the pages that rank for that term.

Nike website vs. Google search - running shoes

For example, in a search for “running shoes,” a few things stand out:

  • The intent is somewhat mismatched. Nike’s category page targets users who are researching with intent to buy or are already planning a purchase. However, the search results display articles comparing different running shoes.
  • Scrolling down, you might see an image carousel, a “Nearby Stores” section, and “People Also Ask” results.

If I were a new SEO at Nike and assumed the “running shoes” category page could rank for the “running shoes” query, I would rethink that after reviewing the search results. 

If ranking for that broad term were a priority, I would create a running shoe comparison article featuring high-quality images of real people using the shoes – maybe even a video, if budget allowed.

If your page aligns more closely with the search results, analyze the top-ranking pages and adapt successful elements to your own site. 

  • Do most of them have an on-page FAQ while yours doesn’t? 
  • A product video? Detailed specs? User reviews? 

Be critical and specific about what you can improve. (Never copy content directly.)

At its core, SEO is about identifying what Google deems important for a given product or service, then doing it better than the competition. 

Many SEOs get caught up in tools and tactics and forget to examine the search results themselves. 

Break that habit early and make reviewing Google’s search results a key part of your research process.

4. Dabble in the technical side and build relationships with your developers

Technical SEO is one of the more complex specializations in the field and can seem intimidating. 

If you’re using a major CMS, your technical foundations are likely solid, so today, much of technical SEO focuses on refinements and enhancements.

While it’s important to develop technical knowledge, a great way to start is by building relationships with your development team and staying curious. 

Asking questions makes learning more interactive and immediately relevant to your work. 

Exploring coding courses or creating your own website can also help you develop technical skills gradually instead of all at once.

Some argue that you can be a good SEO without technical expertise – and I don’t disagree. 

However, understanding a website’s inner workings, how Google operates, and even how large language models (LLMs) function can help you prioritize your SEO efforts. 

Code is Google’s native language, and knowing how to interpret it can be invaluable when migrating a site, launching a new one, or diagnosing traffic drops.

Dig deeper: SEO prioritization: How to focus on what moves the needle

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5. Learn the different types of information Google shows in search results

The way search results are presented today vastly differs from 10 or 15 years ago. 

Those who have been in the industry for a while have had the advantage of adapting gradually as Google has evolved. 

Newcomers, on the other hand, are thrown into the deep end, facing a wide range of search features all at once – some personalized, some not, and some appearing inconsistently. 

This can be challenging to grasp, even for experienced SEOs.

Google has invested heavily in understanding user intent and presenting search results in a way that best addresses it. 

As a result, search results may include:

  • Videos.
  • Images.
  • People Also Ask.
  • Related Searches.
  • AI Overviews.
  • AI-organized search.
  • Map results.
  • Nearby shopping options.
  • Product listings.
  • People Also Buy From.
  • News

Building visibility for each of these features often requires a unique approach and specific considerations. 

These search result types are now industry jargon, so a glossary can help you learn SEO terminology.

6. Learn the different types of query intent classifications

Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” 

As part of this, Google works to understand why people search for something and provides the most relevant results to match that intent. 

To do this, they classify queries based on intent.

Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines - Understanding user intent

The Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, a handbook Google provides to evaluators who manually assess website and search result quality, also touches on understanding user intent: 

“It can be helpful to think of queries as having one or more of the following intents. 

  • Know query, some of which are Know Simple queries.
  • Do query, when the user is trying to accomplish a goal or engage in an activity.
  • Website query, when the user is looking for a specific website or webpage.
  • Visit-in-person query, some of which are looking for a specific business or organization, some of which are looking for a category of businesses.”

When conducting keyword research, it’s helpful to analyze both your site and the queries you’re targeting through this lens.

Many SEO professionals also use these broader, traditional intent categories, though they don’t always align perfectly with Google’s classifications:

  • Informational: Who, what, when, where, how, why.
  • Commercial: Comparison, review, best, specific product.
  • Transactional: Buy, cheap, sale, register.
  • Navigational: Searching for a specific brand.

Rather than focusing solely on keywords, take a step back and consider the intent behind the search. Understanding intent is essential for SEO success.

Dig deeper: Why traditional keyword research is failing and how to fix it with search intent

7. Do the research yourself before finding ways to use LLMs

Your company may already have guidelines for using LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude for tasks such as keyword research, content creation, or competitor analysis. 

However, if you’re new to SEO, I strongly recommend completing at least one full project using tools like Google Search Console, Semrush, or Ahrefs without LLM support. 

While AI can speed up the process, relying on it too early has drawbacks:

  • Slower learning curve: If an LLM does the heavy lifting, you miss the experience of making strategic trade-offs, such as choosing a low-volume, mid-competition keyword over a high-volume, high-competition one.
  • Lack of instinct for accuracy: Without firsthand research experience, it’s harder to recognize when an LLM generates inaccurate information or pulls from an unreliable source.
  • Reduced impact: Google is increasingly sophisticated in detecting “repetitive content.” Relying too much on LLMs for mass content creation could hurt performance, whereas a more focused, strategic approach might yield better results.

While it may be tempting to jump straight into strategy rather than hands-on execution, senior SEOs develop their strategic mindset through years of practical work across different clients and industries. 

Skipping this foundational experience could make it harder to recognize large-scale patterns and trends.

Dig deeper: Why you need humans, not just AI, to run great SEO campaigns

Laying the groundwork for SEO success

SEO offers endless opportunities once you master the fundamentals. If you’re just starting out, focus on these core areas:

  • The business.
  • The search results.
  • User intent.

Keep it simple. Stay focused. Be business-led. 

Build your SEO expertise on a strong foundation, and your career will grow from there.

 

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Google offers QR codes to get reviews from customers

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Google Business Profiles has added a new QR code you can use to make it easier to get reviews on your Google local listing within Google Maps and Google Search. The QR code, when accessed, jumps the user directly to the add review form, so there is little distraction to read other reviews or difficulty finding the form.

How to access it. You can access the new QR code on desktop by searching for your business, then clicking on “Ask for reviews” or by going to your reviews and clicking on “Get more reviews.” This can be found in your Google Business Profile within Google Search on desktop.

What it looks like. Here is an example of my QR code for my business that I shared:

What does it do. When you scan the code, you are taken directly to the add review form for that business. You can post this QR code in your store, add it to your website, email signature or other areas so your customers can quickly scan it and leave you a review. You can also just link to the page using the review link listed above the QR code.

Why we care. Reviews on your Google Business Profile can help you stand out from your competitors. So you should aim to get more positive reviews from happy customers, whenever possible. Just make sure those reviews and how you obtain them comply with Google’s policies.

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