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LLM Seeding: A New Strategy to Get Mentioned and Cited by LLMs

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I asked ChatGPT: “What are the best resources to learn SEO in 2025?”

The response mentioned Backlinko twice.

ChatGPT – Best resources to learn SEO

Here’s the thing: We don’t rank #1 in Google for “best SEO resources.” (Ads, Reddit, and AI Overviews take up that real estate).

We haven’t even optimized for “best SEO resources,” but we got mentioned anyway.

That’s LLM seeding in action.

Organic traffic is dropping across the board. Large language models (LLMs) are now answering your audience’s questions directly, quietly hijacking the clicks you used to count on.

Maybe you’ve already seen the dip. Maybe you see the writing on the wall.

Either way, it’s time to fight back — with a new kind of visibility strategy.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

  • What to publish so LLMs actually cite you
  • Where to seed your content for maximum pickup
  • And how to track whether your brand is showing up

Get your brand into the conversation now — so you don’t get left behind.

What the Heck Is LLM Seeding?

LLM seeding is the practice of publishing content in the formats and places LLMs are most likely to scrape, summarize, and cite.

Here’s an example of a Backlinko article that encourages scraping with an LLM-friendly format:

Backlinko – LLM friendly format

In other words: You’re not just optimizing for Google.

You’re optimizing for ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and any other LLMs or AI search engines your audience uses.

Here’s how it works:

You create AI-friendly content, such as comparison posts with tables and FAQ sections.

And publish it in places LLMs look for information. (More on this later.)

When people ask LLMs for information related to your industry, they mention your brand in the answer.

Often, they don’t include a link to your site.

Still, that mention sticks.

Users notice it, remember it, and later search for your brand directly.

Over time, these citations drive more branded searches, direct traffic, and trust in your name.

How does LLM Seeding Work

While LLM seeding is a new strategy, you’re not starting from scratch.

It builds on everything you already know about SEO, content marketing, and PR.

The difference? It requires a fundamental mindset shift.

You’re no longer optimizing for clicks. You’re optimizing for citations.

You’re building brand awareness, not backlinks.

And instead of trying to rank #1, you’re influencing what AI tools say about your brand.

LLM Seeding vs. Traditional SEO

Adopting this new approach means rethinking how you show up online.

But it’s how you’ll stay visible and influential as search continues to evolve.

3 Big Benefits of LLM Seeding

Still chasing backlinks and rankings?

According to a Semrush study, AI search traffic will surpass traditional search by the end of 2027.

Projected Annual Visitors by Source

Shift your focus to LLM seeding now to stay competitive.

And prepare for a zero-click, LLM-driven world.

1. Brand Exposure Without Traffic Dependence

Here’s the problem:

Searchers no longer have to click search results to get the information they need.

Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode provide detailed answers to questions and step-by-step instructions.

Google Search – AI Mode – How do I start a niche blog

LLMs allow searchers to bypass Google and other search engines entirely.

They provide product recommendations, summaries, answers … you name it.

Perplexity – Recommendations, Summaries, Answers

For many site owners, this is resulting in a noticeable decline in traffic.

So, what’s the answer?

Becoming the answer.

When LLMs cite your brand, you become part of the conversation.

Which helps your brand stay top of mind, even without the click.

2. Authority by Association

One of the biggest wins of LLM seeding? Instant credibility.

When large language models mention your brand alongside industry leaders, it boosts your authority.

Case in point: I asked ChatGPT to recommend products for dogs with leaky gut.

It suggested Purina and Zesty Paws, two huge brands.

ChatGPT – Recommends products for dogs

But it also recommended Adored Beast, a much lesser-known pet brand.

ChatGPT – Lesser known recommended product

That’s the beauty of LLM seeding.

You don’t need a massive budget or a #1 ranking.

You just need to publish content that LLMs want to cite.

3. Leveled Playing Field

In traditional search, the highest-ranking content wins.

But LLMs work differently.

They prioritize the best answers, no matter what page they’re on.

In fact, almost 90% of ChatGPT citations come from positions 21+, according to Semrush’s study.

Ranking Positions of LLM-Cited Search Results

So, your comparison post on page 4 could get cited more than a competitor ranking in Google’s top 5 — if your content provides better answers.

Sounds good? Now, I’ll cover how to create LLM-friendly content.

What to Publish (So You Get Cited by LLMs)

LLMs are citation machines. But they need content from credible sources.

Here are the formats that consistently get picked up:

Structured “Best Of” Lists

Both readers and LLMs appreciate a “best of” list — especially ones with clear structure and useful comparisons.

For example, I asked Perplexity what the best mattresses are for back pain.

And review site Sleep Advisor was one of its sources.

Perplexity – Sleep Advisor as Source

This site publishes “best of” articles often and has a rigorous testing process, two important components of LLM citations.

But to get cited, your list needs to go beyond the basics.

Start by explaining how you selected the items on your list.

LLMs prioritize content that shows transparent, well-reasoned decision-making. (Just like your readers do.)

This added context also helps LLMs match your content to the questions people are asking.

Sleep Advisor includes details about its testing process upfront in articles so readers (and LLMs) can’t miss it.

Sleep Advisor – Testing process

Another AI-friendly component of a “best of” list?

Giving each item a “best” rating that matches search behavior:

  • Best for freelancers on a budget
  • Best for advanced analytics
  • Best all-in-one solution for remote teams

If you’ve used LLMs, you know they quote these phrases in responses.

But it also helps users self-identify, which can increase leads and conversions.

For instance, Sleep Advisor awards mattresses with targeted “best” ratings.

Like “best mattress for upper back pain” and “best mattress for stomach sleepers with back pain.”

Sleep Advisor – Targeted best ratings

Now, consider your content’s structure.

This is where semantic chunking comes in.

Semantic chunking means organizing your content into short, clearly labeled sections that focus on a single idea or answer.

Why does it matter?

Chunked content with natural language headers makes it easier for AI to parse, understand, and pull relevant snippets into responses.

Use the same layout for every entry. A repeatable structure signals credibility and makes your content easier to extract and cite.

For example:

  • Item name + best rating
  • Quick summary
  • Key features or standout capabilities
  • Pros and cons
  • Pricing

Sleep Advisor – Natural language headers

Take it even further by adding scoring systems or ratings.

Sleep Advisor awards a 1-to-5-star rating based on hands-on testing across categories like pressure relief, motion isolation, cooling, and responsiveness.

That kind of structured, criteria-based scoring makes your content more credible … and easier for LLMs to cite.

Sleep Advisor – Rating system

Overall, anything that makes your content easier to skim and read will also help make it LLM-friendly.

This includes bullet lists, tables, and summary boxes.

Sleep Advisor – Pros & Cons

First-Person Product Reviews

Authentic, hands-on reviews are another format LLMs tend to favor.

Why?

Because real testing equals real credibility.

LLMs surface these types of reviews because they:

  • Include measurable outcomes
  • Follow repeatable testing processes
  • Use specific, quotable phrasing

Let’s look at Wirecutter’s electric standing desk review, for example.

They have a “Why you should trust us section” that states they’ve tested 40+ adjustable desks since 2013.

This is a clear, measurable signal of expertise.

NY Times – Wirecutter – Desk review

So, get granular and provide all your testing details:

  • Explain how many items you tested
  • Describe who did the testing, what their credentials are, and when it was conducted
  • Outline your methodology or criteria

This shows LLMs and your audience that your review is authentic.

Short, declarative lines are also important to include because they’re extract-friendly.

Here’s an example from the Wirecutter article:

The Branch Duo Standing Desk is a good option if you have limited space or are over 5-foot-8. But it doesn’t offer nearly as many customizable features as the Uplift, and there’s no option to upgrade to an advanced keypad.

Did you notice it includes both positives and negatives?

Balanced statements show you’re giving a fair, experience-based evaluation, not a sales pitch.

That kind of transparency helps establish trust with users and LLMs.

Comparison Tables (Especially Brand vs. Brand)

Mid-funnel users use AI platforms to help make purchasing decisions.

This is why it’s crucial to create content that compares your product to alternatives.

The key?

Present it in a clean, structured format, such as a table or chart.

Like this Backlinko article that includes a table to help readers choose the best PPC tool for their needs.

Backlinko – Best PPC Tools – Table

To make your comparison tables citation-worthy, focus on three things:

  • Use-case verdicts: Don’t just compare features. Tell readers which option is better for freelancers, agencies, enterprise teams, and more.
  • Highlight tradeoffs: Include both strengths and weaknesses for each option to add credibility
  • Citation-ready phrasing: Make each recommendation easy to cite. Instead of “Tool A is more feature-packed,” write “Tool A is the best choice for teams on a budget that need features like multi-user logins and grammar checking.”

This kind of clarity makes it easy for LLMs to quote your content when users ask: “Which one is better for [my specific use case]?”

FAQ-Style Content

LLMs are trained on Q&A content from platforms like Quora, Reddit, and other public forums.

So, it’s no surprise that FAQ formats perform well. They match the structure LLMs were built to understand.

For this reason, you’ll want to add FAQ-style posts to your content rotation.

You can identify customer questions in the following ways:

AnswerThePublic – SEO – Wheels – Questions

Once you’ve chosen your questions, structure them as subheadings in your article.

And write concise responses that start with a direct answer.

Semrush’s SEO FAQ article is a good example of this LLM-friendly format.

It includes questions as clear subheadings, including:

  • What Is SEO?
  • How Long Does It Take to Rank on Google?
  • Why Has My Organic Traffic Dropped?

This is the type of post that probably wouldn’t rank super well in Google.

But is EXACTLY what LLMs use to train on.

Importantly, the content provides clear, direct answers to the questions.

Semrush – Example of LLM friendly format

Adding structured data is another smart way to help AI search engines and LLMs better parse and interpret your content.

WordPress plugins like RankMath and Yoast can automatically add FAQPage structured data to help increase your citations.

Opinion‑Led Pieces with Clear Takeaways

Want to increase LLM citations? Come up with a unique take on something in your industry.

This could be a contrarian industry opinion or a surprising prediction — anything works when it’s done well.

The caveat?

You’ll need industry authority, experience, and evidence to support your stance.

But remember — structure matters more than ever before.

Ensure it’s well-structured and easy to summarize.

Otherwise, it’s unlikely to stand out (or get cited).

For example, in a YouTube video (yes, LLMs can pull from video transcripts and descriptions), digital growth marketer Grace Leung challenges outdated content strategies.

She explains why they’re holding brands back and what to do instead.

YouTube – Video – Content Marketing

Her format is viewer- and AI-friendly with defined sections and actionable takeaways.

And she shares a strong opinion throughout the piece that is backed up by her expertise.

Want to do the same?

Include details that help LLMs understand and trust your content:

  • Author credentials: Briefly explain who you are and why you’re qualified to cover the topic. This adds credibility for both readers and LLMs.
  • Content overview: State what the piece covers early on (in your blog post intro or video description) so it’s easy to parse and summarize
  • Internal links: Link to related posts or supporting content to signal depth and strengthen your topical coverage

In Grace’s case, her video’s description includes all of the above (and more): a video summary, quick author bio, newsletter link, and related content.

YouTube – Grace's video description

Visuals with Clear Captions and Context

Visual content keeps readers engaged.

But it’s also another way to give LLMs more context about your content.

Make your visuals LLM-friendly with these tips:

  • Write full-sentence captions that explain what’s pictured and why it matters. Think: “Peach cobbler cookie from Good Cakes and Bakes, one of Detroit’s most beloved bakeries,” not just “Cookies on a plate.”
  • Reference visuals directly in your copy. Instead of skipping over an image, say, “As you can see in the photo, this bakery’s seasonal peach cobbler cookies are a local favorite.”
  • Add alt text that reflects both the subject and its importance. Try: “Peach cobbler cookie at Good Cakes and Bakes, a popular Detroit bakery known for seasonal desserts.”
  • Use descriptive file names, like detroit-good-cakes-peach-cookie.jpg, to reinforce meaning for AI crawlers.

Cup of Jo – Descriptive file names

Tools, Templates, and Frameworks

Offer valuable resources that solve real problems to get referenced in LLM conversations.

For instance, I asked Perplexity how I can check keyword rankings for free.

And it recommended Backlinko’s free Google Keyword Rank Checker.

Perplexity – Check keyword positions for free

Depending on your industry, you might create free templates, frameworks, calculators, or interactive tools.

To make your resource citation-worthy, give it a clear, descriptive title that matches how users search.

Like “Budget Calculator for Freelancers” and “Free Grammar Checker.”

Include an intro that explains who it’s for, what it does, and how to use it.

Then, add supporting content (like examples, FAQs, or use cases) so LLMs understand its context and value.

The more useful and well-structured your resource is, the more likely it is to earn mentions from your target audience and AI platforms.

For example, our free rank checker lets users check rankings in seconds.

Backlinko – Rank Checker

The tool’s design is clean and user-friendly.

And the description sums up the tool’s benefits well, which is important for scraping:

Discover who’s linking to you and your competitors to find the latest opportunities and enhance your backlink profile.

Since the tool is both easy to use and genuinely helpful, it’s recommended by third parties in blogs and forums.

These mentions are vital because LLMs pick up on them when deciding what to cite.

ThimPress – Best free keyword rank checker tools

Where to Seed Your Content for Maximum LLM Pickup

Publishing great content is only half the battle.

The other half? Getting it in front of the right crawlers.

Publish in places that LLMs trust, crawl frequently, and find easy to parse.

Here’s where to focus your efforts:

Third-Party Platforms

Certain third-party platforms are LLM magnets.

Why?

Their clean layout, clear headings, and consistent quality make them easy for AI to read and cite.

Medium – Third party platforms as LLM magnets

This includes:

  • Medium: Repurpose your long-form blog content here. Medium’s minimalist layout and semantic structure make it ideal for LLMs. Include section headers, summaries, and internal links for added context.
  • Substack: A great home for newsletter-style content and thought leadership commentary. Its emphasis on editorial voice and topical depth adds authority and makes your content easier for AI to recognize as expert-driven.
  • LinkedIn articles: These articles are indexed well and often tied to real profiles (which gives your content a credibility bonus in LLMs)

Trusted Industry Publications

LLMs are more likely to trust and cite content that comes from respected industry sources.

So, create a strategy to share content and quotes in high-impact publications to boost your LLM visibility.

Here’s how:

Create Guest Posts

No, guest posting isn’t dead — it’s just not all about the links anymore.

It’s about visibility.

HubSpot – Blog Request Form

Choose topics that align with popular LLM prompts (like product comparisons, trends, or how-tos).

And format your content clearly with subheads, summaries, and data points.

Offer Expert Quotes

Reach out to journalists, editors, and bloggers in your niche.

Provide non-promotional, insight-driven quotes to increase your chances of being featured in articles that LLMs frequently reference.

Tools like HARO or Featured.com can help you find opportunities to share your expertise.

Help a Reporter – Homepage

Get Featured in Roundups

As you’ve learned, LLMs love “best of,” “top tools,” and “expert tips” formats.

Pitch to writers creating these lists — whether newsletters, LinkedIn posts, videos, or blog posts.

And make it easy to include your brand by providing a concise, structured blurb with supporting context or proof points.

WIRED – Best viral TikTok gadgets

User-Generated Content Hubs

Why do LLMs and AI search engines love user-generated content hubs?

Because they’re full of real people asking real (often long-tail) questions. And subject matter experts providing highly specific, detailed answers.

Ones you often won’t find elsewhere.

That makes these platforms powerful spots to seed your expertise.

Reddit – Powerful spot to seed your expertise

Here’s where to focus:

Reddit

LLMs cite Reddit more than any other source, according to Semrush.

So, if Reddit wasn’t on your radar before, it should be now.

Participate in relevant subreddits where you can highlight your expertise and add genuine value.

Answer questions and respond to comments.

And then do it all over again.

Make Reddit a part of your regular rotation to boost your chances of LLM citations.

Reddit – Boost your chances of LLM citations

Quora

Reddit may be the darling of LLMs, but Quora isn’t far behind.

For this reason, you’ll want to add this platform into the mix as well.

Side note: Quora is the most commonly cited website in Google’s AI Overviews, according to Semrush’s AI search study.

Provide comprehensive answers to industry questions.

Include specific examples, comparisons, or step-by-step explanations to increase your chances of LLM citations.

But don’t let formatting slide just because you’re on an informal platform.

Add clear headlines, subheads, and bullet points to increase your chances of LLM scraping.

Quora – Clear headlines, subheads & bullet points

GitHub Discussions

Have a technical brand?

Get involved in community discussions beyond your product.

Share helpful bug fixes, answer questions, and offer support.

GitHub Community – Discussions

Building credibility makes it easier to reference your tool or solution when it’s genuinely relevant.

Niche Forums and Public Facebook Groups

Don’t overlook specialized communities.

LLMs scan niche forums and public Facebook groups for in-depth, experience-based insights.

Look for active, topic-specific forums like:

  • ContractorTalk: Home improvement and construction professionals
  • Chronicle Forums: Equestrian and horse care advice
  • GardenWeb forum: Gardening and plant tips and advice
  • AVS Forum: Home theater and tech product discussions

AVS Forum – Home theater & tech product discussions

Contribute regularly with meaningful, non-promotional input.

Answer niche questions, clarify common misconceptions, or share first-hand experience.

These authentic contributions increase your chances of getting cited in AI-generated responses where nuance and expertise matter most.

Editorial-Style Microsites

Want to boost your chances of getting cited by LLMs? Build an editorial-style microsite.

These standalone sites tend to carry more credibility than heavily branded company pages.

Why?

Because you can structure them like independent publications.

Like this microsite IKEA built to highlight original research:

Life at Home – IKEA – Microsite

The goal is to create a trusted, well-organized resource that covers your entire industry, not just your own product.

For example, IKEA’s microsite includes statistics on happiness and enjoyment at home, which ties into its core offering: home products.

Life at Home – IKEA – Statistics

To earn trust (from both readers and LLMs), focus on E-E-A-T signals.

Include author bios with credentials, cite reputable sources, and make your editorial policies easy to find.

Clearly state who’s behind the site and why it exists.

Comparison and Review Sites

Content from review platforms is often cited in LLMs, and for good reason.

Sites like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius follow a formula that attracts LLMs:

Feature breakdowns + pros & cons + user reviews = LLM-friendly content

You can’t always control how your product is described on these platforms, but you can influence how well it performs there.

Start by actively encouraging customers to leave honest, detailed reviews.

Encourage them to explain why they chose your product and what results they’ve seen.

Follow up with power users, beta testers, and long-term customers.

Prompt them with questions like:

“What specific feature helped you solve a key problem?” and “How does this tool compare to others you’ve used?”

G2 – Reviews platform

The more detailed and context-rich the reviews, the more useful your listing becomes to buyers and LLMs.

Social Platforms

Just like us, LLMs have clear preferences when it comes to social media platforms.

Particularly the ones that attract valuable content that’s easy to parse and cite.

To increase your chances of LLM citations, always use clear, searchable language on the following platforms:

  • X: Educational threads tend to perform better than quick takes. Focus on multi-post insights that break down processes, strategies, or frameworks
  • YouTube: Boost your chances of being referenced by including descriptive titles, detailed titles, video descriptions, and accurate captions
  • Pinterest: Ideal for visual brands — but only if your pins include rich descriptions and link to structured content
  • Instagram: As of July 2025, Instagram posts (if opted in) can be indexed by search engines and LLMs. Add captions, alt text, and hashtags to help shape how your brand appears in AI platforms.

X status – Aleyda Solis – Valuable content

How to Track LLM Seeding Success

Here’s where things get tricky.

Understanding LLM impact isn’t as straightforward as tracking clicks or traffic.

So, how do you measure this influence?

Here are a few smart ways to assess your brand’s visibility across LLMs.

Branded and Direct Traffic Growth

Noticed something weird going on in Google Search Console lately?

Your impressions are increasing … but clicks are decreasing.

LLMs might be to blame.

For example, at Backlinko, our impressions increased by 54% over the past three months, while our clicks decreased by 15%.

GSC – Backlinko – Performance compare report

Here’s what’s happening:

Users see your brand mentioned in AI responses, make a mental note, then research you directly days or weeks later.

They’re not clicking through immediately. They’re bookmarking your name in their minds.

ChatGPT – Brands mentioned in AI response

This creates declining organic clicks paired with stable or growing branded searches. And it’s the signature pattern of LLM influence.

Here’s how to spot it in your data.

Open Google Analytics (GA) and go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition.

Compare your direct traffic trends over the past three to six months.

If your direct traffic increased, this is a positive sign that LLMs are mentioning your brand.

GA – Traffic Acquisition – Direct traffic increase

Next, compare these patterns to your organic traffic changes in Google Search Console (GSC).

Go to Performance > Search results.

Declining clicks + growing direct traffic = LLM visibility.

If your data is pointing to LLM influence, this is a good thing.

But it’s important to verify your findings with manual prompt analysis.

Pro tip: Getting branded traffic? Great. Now, ensure your branded SERP is optimized so users searching for your name land on high-converting pages. Like product quizzes, comparison guides, or testimonials.

Brand Mentions in AI Tools

The clearest way to gauge your LLM visibility is to see if (and how) your brand shows up in AI-generated answers.

Run manual prompts across different tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini.

Use a private or incognito browser to avoid skewed results from past queries or personalization.

Then, search the way your audience would … naturally and with clear search intent.

Try prompts like:

  • Best project management tools for remote teams
  • What is the best project management software for startups
  • Top budget-friendly productivity tools for small businesses

Perplexity – What is the best project management software for startups

Document the sentiment and context of each mention.

Are you positioned as a budget option? A premium choice? The innovative newcomer?

Do certain LLMs recommend your product more or less?

Perplexity – Summary table

Document these results monthly in a spreadsheet or tracking doc.

Include the tool used, the prompt, the exact language cited, and your position in the response.

This lets you identify shifts in brand positioning, message clarity, and which prompts consistently trigger mentions.

Not showing up yet?

You’ll still learn what LLMs are citing so you can reverse-engineer how to get included.

Pro tip: Make your LLM citations work harder. Add email capture opportunities to your top pages. (Especially ones on topics LLMs are likely to mention.) Use content upgrades, templates, and discounts to turn visitors into subscribers.

Unlinked Brand Mentions

Not every brand mention includes a link to your site, making this influence harder to track.

But since LLMs weigh authentic, third-party references heavily when determining what content (and brands) to trust and cite, these mentions are vital.

Use tools like Semrush Brand Monitoring, SparkToro, or Google Alerts to track brand mentions.

Set up alerts for your brand name, product names, and key team members.

Google – Alerts

As you get mentions, dig into the context.

  • Are you being cited as an expert?
  • Recommended as a tool?
  • Compared to a competitor?

If you’re not getting many mentions, look for opportunities to contribute.

Pitch newsletter authors or podcast hosts with useful, non-promotional content that fits their audience.

Join relevant discussions, offer expert insights, and speak at industry events.

LinkedIn – Michael Ofei – Post

Continue tracking mentions over time to measure whether your efforts result in increased LLM visibility.

LLM Visibility Across Platforms

We’re all used to tracking rankings and referral traffic.

But those signals no longer tell the full story.

Tracking your performance across AI platforms is now a core part of measuring your success.

But you’ll need specialized tools for this.

Semrush’s Enterprise AIO lets you track how your brand is perceived and cited in popular AI platforms.

Once you set it up with the AI models and prompts that you want to track, it’ll tell you how your LLM visibility compares to competitors.

Semrush AIO – Backlinko – Brand Changes & Rankings

That’s just scratching the surface. You can also track your brand’s overall market share, sentiment, and consumer engagement across AI platforms.

Semrush Enterprise – AIO Overview

Semrush’s AI Toolkit also lets you track how your domain and overall brand are perceived by individual models. It’s not super customizable yet, but you can still gain a lot of insights.

Semrush AI Toolkit – Dashboard – AI Strategic Insights

From there, individual reports break those metrics down by platform.

This gives you a clear view of where you’re gaining traction. And where you may be falling behind.

For example, pet company Petlibro currently holds a much smaller market share in ChatGPT than its competitors.

Semrush AI Toolkit – Petlibro – Brand Performance – Platform – ChatGPT

But in Google’s AI Mode, Petlibro significantly outperforms those same brands.

This is important data because it shows that performance can vary widely by platform.

And tells you where to focus your efforts.

Semrush AI Toolkit – Petlibro – Brand Performance – Platform – Google AI Mode

The toolkit also provides sentiment analysis reports so you know how AI platforms describe your brand.

Whether positively, neutrally, or negatively.

This gives you a clearer picture of how LLMs frame your brand in their responses.

Petlibro, for instance, has a 64% favorable overall sentiment score, indicating generally positive positioning.

But also room to strengthen how it’s perceived.

Semrush AI Toolkit – Petlibro – Brand Performance – Overall Sentiment

You can drill down further to see what’s behind your sentiment score.

Both the positives and the pain points.

For Petlibro, strengths like convenience, automation, and food freshness drive favorable mentions.

On the flip side, app connectivity issues and limited advanced features are flagged as recurring concerns.

This insight tells you what to highlight in content.

And identifies potential fixes to maintain or improve sentiment.

Semrush AI Toolkit – Key Sentiment Drivers

You’ll also learn the types of queries users ask about your brand. And the intent behind them.

For Petlibro, the majority are educational, followed by research-based queries.

Semrush AI Toolkit – Petlibro – Brand Performance – Query Intent Distribution

This tells you exactly what types of content to prioritize in your LLM seeding strategy.

For Petlibro, the toolkit suggests creating comparison charts, highlighting smart features, and showcasing testimonials that reinforce brand strengths.

Audience & Content – Al time-Critical Shifts

As you gather data, refine your seeding strategy.

Double down on what’s working, whether it’s a specific content format, platform, or message.

And use gaps in visibility or sentiment as signals for where to publish, what to say, and how to position your brand for maximum LLM impact.

Make LLMs Work for You, Not Against You

Moral of the story? Don’t fight the machine — work with it.

AI isn’t coming. It’s here.

And it’s already changing how your audience discovers, evaluates, and chooses brands.

The brands that get cited in AI answers will win mindshare — even if they never rank #1 or get a single click.

That’s what LLM seeding is about.

You’re not optimizing for traffic. You’re engineering trust.

You’re not chasing backlinks. You’re earning brand mentions.

So, if you want to stay relevant?

Get your brand into the conversation now so you don’t get left behind.

Then, use our Search Everywhere Optimization guide to expand that visibility across every surface your customers trust — from AI to Amazon and beyond.

The post LLM Seeding: A New Strategy to Get Mentioned and Cited by LLMs appeared first on Backlinko.

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

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

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

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

Organic Research – World Wildlife – Organic Pages

Creating a content strategy has many benefits, including:

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

Ready to learn how to create a content strategy?

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

Step 1: Align Your Content Strategy with Customer Awareness Levels

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

  • Unaware
  • Problem Aware
  • Solution Aware
  • Product Aware
  • Most Aware

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

Why?

Because people at different awareness stages need completely different content.

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

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

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

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

Customer Awareness Levels

Here’s what this looks like in practice.

Most Aware

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

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

Now, they just need that final push.

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

Semrush Features

Content that works best for this stage includes:

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

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

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

Semrush – Success Stories Page

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

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

Semrush – Free trial offer at the end

Product Aware

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

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

They may have even started free trials with your competitors.

Your job? Make your solution the obvious choice.

Semrush – Request demo

Product Aware content includes:

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

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

Solution Aware

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

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

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

Semrush Blog – What is SEO software

Your job is to guide them through the decision.

This is where you earn trust and shape buying criteria.

Solution Aware content includes:

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

YouTube – Semrush – Solution Aware Content

Problem Aware

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

They’re asking questions like:

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

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

Reddit – Thread – Problem Aware

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

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

Content that works best in this stage:

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

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

Keyword Magic Tool – Keywords – Keywords

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

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

Unaware

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

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

That makes this audience the biggest and the coldest.

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

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

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

X – Semrush status – Evergreen Content

Think:

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

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

TikTok – Semrush short videos

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

This is all about brand awareness and building trust.

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

That’s right — yours!

Step 2: Find and Prioritize High-Impact Content Ideas

Strategic topic selection is more important than ever.

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

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

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

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

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

Start with Customer and Client Research

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

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

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

Ask questions like:

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

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

And consider offering a small incentive to encourage responses.

Instagram – Customer research

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

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

Audit Your Existing Content for Hidden Winners

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

Here’s how:

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

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

GA4 – Reports – Engagement – Landing page

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

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

GA – Landing Pages – Backlinko

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

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

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

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

For example:

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

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

Backlinko – Guides – Collage

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

Backlinko organic traffic – 2019. vs 2020.

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

You just need to give them more of it.

Run a Cross-Platform Competitive Analysis

Want a goldmine of validated topics and format inspiration?

Spy on your competitors, platform by platform.

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

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

YouTube – Channel – Moz – Videos

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

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

LinkedIn – Moz – Posts

Competitor blogs are also a great source of topic inspiration.

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

The Moz Blog

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

Moz Blog – Goodbye Generic SEO Audit

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

Backlinko – SEO Site Audit

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

And quickly cracked the first page for my target keyword:

Google SERP – SEO Audit Checklist

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

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

SE Ranking – DoFollow Podcast

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

SE Ranking – DoFollow Podcast – Killer topics

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

For this task, I’ll use Semrush.

Here’s how you can follow along:

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

Then, start with the Organic Research tool.

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

Organic Research – Moz – Search

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

And which pages attract the most traffic.

Organic Research – Moz – Overview

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

Organic Research – Moz – Position Changes

One strategy?

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

Why?

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

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

Organic Research – Moz – Position Changes – Add filter

Check “Declined” and “Lost.”

Click “Apply.”

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

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

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

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

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

These give you the best chance of ranking quickly.

Organic Research – Moz – Topics

Another helpful tool for identifying high-value topics?

Semrush’s Keyword Gap.

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

Keyword Gap – Backlinko & competitors – Compare

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

Pay attention to the following:

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

Keyword Gap – Backlinko – All keyword details for

This reveals content gaps where your competitors are already succeeding.

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

Mine Online Communities

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

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

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

Reddit – Questions about topic

Why is this important?

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

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

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

Healy Eats Real – Answering content

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

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

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

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

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

You can follow this same process using Quora:

Quora – Paleo

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

AnswerThePublic – Homepage

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

AnswerThePublic – Paleo – Questions

Prioritize Your Content Ideas

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

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

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

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

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

Keyword Overview – How to qualify sales leaads

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

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

Finally, think about your differentiation opportunity.

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

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

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

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

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

Step 3: Create Comprehensive Content Briefs

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

The other half?

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

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

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

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

My vote? Make them comprehensive.

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

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

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

Backlinko – Content Brief Template

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

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

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

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

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

Backlinko – Content Brief Template – Audience Insights

Another essential brief component? SERP analysis.

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

Backlinko – Content Brief Template – SERP

Speaking of outranking your competitors…

Every brief should include your plans for information gain.

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

This includes:

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

Backlinko – Content Brief Template – Information Gain

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

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

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

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

Backlinko – Content Brief Template – Multi-Format Strategy

Step 4: Focus on Creating Amazing Content

Here’s the reality:

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

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

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

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

The Hook & Hold Method

The first part of this method is the hook.

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

Here’s how:

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

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

Let’s walk through each element.

Authority

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

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

Or as I like to say:

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

Hire a plumber.

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

NerdFitness – Homepage

How?

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

NerdFitness – Beginners Guide

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

NerdFitness – Beginners Guide – Experts

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

Which then inspired trust.

And helped Nerd Fitness establish authority.

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

What is E-E-A-T

You can also source expert insights through:

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

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

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

Research

Great content is built on great sources.

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

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

Fill in knowledge gaps with expert insights and quotes.

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

Backlinko – Ecommerce Website Optimization – Authority quote

Visuals

There’s no way around this:

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

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

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

And make complex processes instantly understandable.

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

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

And boost perceived value.

Backlinko – Custom designed guides – Collage

Examples

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

People LOVE examples.

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

It makes learning easier and more relatable.

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

Collage examples

Including examples makes your content easier to understand.

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

Even better? AI can’t replicate it.

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

Backlinko – Best Free SEO Tools – Example

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

Sure.

Is it worth it?

Definitely.

Statistics

Nothing builds credibility faster than strong statistics.

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

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

Original data works even better than citing existing studies.

Orbit Media Studios – Blogging Statistics

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

And gives you a serious competitive edge.

Here are the best ways to source original data:

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

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

Step 5: Promote Your Content

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

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

Here are a few simple strategies that actually work.

Create Email Newsletters

This is HUGE.

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

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

Remember:

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

In other words:

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

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

Brian email

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

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

This is EXACTLY how you want your emails to look.

So, how did it do?

That single email generated 14,067 total visitors:

Aweber Email Visitors

Nice!

Curate Content Roundups

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

The best part?

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

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

LinkedIn – Roundup from the digital marketing niche

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

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

I’ll explain…

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

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

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

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

LinkedIn – Roundup featured Backlinko's article

Step 6: Track and Measure Performance

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

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

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

Business Impact Metrics

These metrics directly connect to revenue and business growth.

Conversions and Revenue

ROI. Business goals. KPIs.

Whatever you want to call it.

Basically, you’re answering the question:

Is content helping us get more sales?

Measure conversions in Google Analytics.

And consider creating goals for each awareness level.

Conversion events by channel

For example:

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

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

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

That said:

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

For example:

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

Analytics – Conversions – YouTube

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

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

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

STW Survey Monkey responses

This shows that YouTube content is paying off.

Leads Generated

Not all leads are created equal.

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

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

Campaign URL Builder

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

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

Connect this back to the awareness stages from Step 1:

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

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

Traffic Quality

Raw traffic numbers mean nothing if visitors bounce immediately.

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

Key metrics to track:

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

GA4 – Retention – Overview

That said:

Content marketing and SEO can take time to kick in.

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

Analytics – Backlinko – Early Traffic

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

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

Analytics – Backlinko – Early Traffic – Spike

Backlinko has only continued to grow since.

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

Engagement Metrics

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

Views and Reach

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

What to track:

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

Search Visibility and Rankings

Search visibility is more volatile than ever.

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

Here’s what to monitor:

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

GA – Traffic Acquisition – Session source medium

Further reading: Search Everywhere Optimization Guide + Free Checklist

Time Spent and Watch Time

Monitor how long people stay engaged with your content.

High engagement time signals that your content provides real value.

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

GA – Average engagement time per active user

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

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

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

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

Further reading: How to Measure SEO Performance and Results

Audience Interaction

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

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

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

LinkedIn –Semrush post / comment / response

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

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

Pinterest Analytics – Saves

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

Along with providing details on views and follows/unfollows.

Facebook Page Report

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

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

These organic mentions often indicate the highest quality engagement.

Build Authority into Your Content Strategy

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

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

Your next step?

Build topical authority.

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

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

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

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

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How Brian Dean Would Launch Backlinko in 2025

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

And it worked.

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

But what if he started today?

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

1. Build a Multimedia Brand from Day One

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

The SEO landscape has changed.

AI Overviews are taking clicks.

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

ChatGPT – Site audit template

And algorithm updates keep getting more volatile.

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

He’d still publish SEO-optimized blog posts.

But he’d also build an audience on:

  • YouTube
  • TikTok
  • Instagram
  • Email
  • Podcasts

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

Discover Exploding Topics

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

The takeaway?

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

2. Show Up in ChatGPT

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

LLM Unique Visitor Growth

That’s not a fluke.

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

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

Brian’s top recommendation:

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

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

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

This is where Brian’s content strategy shines:

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

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

3. Use AI as a Lever, Not a Crutch

Here’s the paradox of 2025:

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

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

But if you use them to pump out generic content?

You’ll disappear.

Instead, Brian recommends using AI as a multiplier:

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

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

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

Final Word

Brian wrapped our chat with a question for you:

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

 

Are you experimenting with new formats?

Changing how you publish?

Tracking brand mentions in ChatGPT?

Whatever it is — lean in.

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

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

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

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

Table of contents

Traffic and rankings: What’s changed since January? 

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

Organic traffic trends 

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

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

Keyword movement and SERP features 

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

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

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

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

Where’s the gap? 

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

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

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

What to do next in your mid-year SEO review 

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

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

Audit and refresh your content 

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

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

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

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

Diversify and focus on video 

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

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

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

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

Adapting to AI and zero-click searches 

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

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

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

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

What AI Mode means for search visibility 

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

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

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

Refresh your keyword strategy 

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

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

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

Technical SEO clean up

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monitor competitors and trends 

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

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

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

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

Set clear goals for the rest of the year 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do your mid-year SEO checkup

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Done right, an SEO audit helps you:

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

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

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

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

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

Backlinko – Ecommerce SEO Audit Workbook

Core Components of an Ecommerce SEO Audit

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

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

Core Components of Ecommerce SEO Audit

1. Technical SEO

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

It prevents critical issues like:

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

2. On-Page SEO

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

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

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

3. UX and Performance

This part of the audit evaluates:

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

4. Off-Page SEO

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

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

5. Competitive Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

Backlinko – Ecommerce SEO Audit Workbook – Stages

Stage 1: Can Google Find My Store and Products?

Goal: Make sure products appear in organic search

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

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

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

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

Here’s what to look for in this stage:

Check If Your Pages Are Indexed in Google

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

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

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

GSC – Indexing Pages – Overview

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

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

GSC – Why pages aren't indexed

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

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

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

GSC – URL is not on Google

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

Ensure Key Pages Are in Sitemap and Crawlable

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

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

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

Aurabora – Ecommerce store's sitemap

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

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

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

GSC – Click on sitemap

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

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

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

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

GSC – Settings – Robots.txt tester

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

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

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

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

Site Audit – Backlinko – HTTPS Status Codes

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

Here’s how to do it with Semrush:

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

Semrush – Site Audit – Start

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

When you’re ready, hit “Start audit.”

Ste Audit Settings – Backlinko

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

Site Audit – Backlinko – Overview – HTTPS box

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

Site Audit – Backlinko – HTTPS status codes issues

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

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

Site Audit – Crawled Pages – Advanced filters

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

Site Audit – Filtered Crawled Pages

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

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

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

Use Canonical Tags to Avoid Duplicate Content

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

This can confuse search engines and affect your rankings.

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

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

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

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

Alo Yoga – Each product variant includes a canonical tag

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

Stage 2: Do People Discover and Visit My Pages?

Goal: Attract more clicks from organic search

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

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

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

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

Here’s what to check in this stage:

Optimize Titles and Meta Descriptions for Clicks

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

Are yours compelling enough to earn the click?

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

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

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

Google SERP – Healthy soda

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

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

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

Backlinko – Free SEO Checker – Aloyoga – Check SEO

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

Backlinko – Free SEO Checker – Aloyoga – Issues Overview

Add Structured Schema for Rich Results

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

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

Here’s how they look:

Google SERP – Cookware sets – Popular products

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

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

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

Rich Results Test – Product snippets

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

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

Rich Results Test – Product missing field

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

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

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

Site Audit – Backlinko – Overview – Markup box

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

For example, the report shows:

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

Site Audit – Backlinko – Markup report

Map Target Keywords to the Right Pages

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

Map each page to its target keywords and search intent.

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

Align Keyword Research with Customer Language

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

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

Further reading: 6 Proven Steps to Master Ecommerce Keyword Research

Optimize Images and Add Alt Text

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

Image optimization can:

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

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

Google SERP – Blue ceramic dinner plates – Images

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

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

Site Audit – Backlinko – Issues – Alt attributes

Further reading: 15 Image SEO Tips for Better Image Optimization

Stage 3: Are Visitors Staying and Buying?

Goal: Improve on-site user experience and increase conversions

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

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

You want to know:

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

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

Here’s what to check in this stage:

Improve Load Times and Mobile Usability

Slow pages = Poor experience = Higher bounce rate.

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

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

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

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

Here’s an example report I generated:

PageSpeed Insights – Backlinko – Mobile

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

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

Further reading: Mobile SEO: The Definitive Guide

Simplify Page Design and UX

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

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

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

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

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

Fix Pages Targeting the Same Keyword

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

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

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

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

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

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

Add Internal Links to Boost Relevance

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

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

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

Tonal – Internal links to boost relevance

Stage 4: Where Am I Behind My Competitors?

Goal: Identify and close SEO gaps to outperform competitors

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

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

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

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

Audit and Strengthen Your Backlink Profile

Backlinks are another critical ranking signal.

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

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

This audit will help you discover:

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

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

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

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

Backlink Gap – Fabletics – Find prospects

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

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

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

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

Backlink Gap – Fabletics – Prospects for

Uncover Keyword Gaps and Ranking Opportunities

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

This can help you:

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

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

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

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

How to Prioritize SEO Issues You Identify in a Site Audit

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

Everything looks important. Where do you even begin?

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

Backlinko – Ecommerce SEO Audit Workbook – Stage one

Impact

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

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

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

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

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

Effort

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

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

Scope

Scope looks at scale.

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

  • Isolated
  • Page-level
  • Site-wide

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

Prioritization Framework

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

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

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

Backlinko – Ecommerce SEO Audit Workbook – Issues

Troubleshooting Guide

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

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

Backlinko – Ecommerce SEO Audit Workbook – Troubleshooting Guide

Build a Store That Google (and Shoppers) Love

Your online store has untapped potential.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Redesigning onboarding for impact: A service design approach 

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First impressions stick, especially in UX. When we saw that new users of our Yoast SEO for Shopify app were skipping key steps or dropping off early, we knew our onboarding wasn’t working. Using journey mapping and service blueprints, we redesigned the experience to be faster, clearer, and more supportive from the start. Here’s how small, well-timed changes made a big difference. 

Table of contents

Launching an improved onboarding experience 

We recently launched a redesigned onboarding experience to help Shopify merchants set up for success. Behind that update is a bigger story: how thoughtful UX decisions, team-wide alignment, and service design methods reshaped the user experience. And we mean that in the broadest sense, from discovery to giving users the feeling that the app is working for them and helping them succeed. 

In this interview, we spoke with our UX designer, Tom Ottjes, who led the project to unpack that process. His answers will offer a closer look at the problems we needed to solve, the tools he used to communicate across teams, and the omnichannel changes that made the biggest difference. 

Before you start reading, here’s a quick animation showing the various parts of the service blueprint we worked on. Of course, there’s much more, but we cannot show you everything.

From patterns to priorities 

Before redesigning a single screen, the team needed a way to understand and communicate what wasn’t working. They needed to uncover what had to change to fix the experience for people in a way that also helped us achieve our company goals. That’s where service design tools, particularly customer journey maps and service blueprints, came in. 

Customer journey mapping helped visualize what users were experiencing from discovery through installation and first use. It highlights not only the steps customers take but also where they become confused, hesitant, or drop off. Based on support conversations, surveys, and analytics, the journey map revealed several issues. One of those issues was a lack of early guidance, which led to missed configuration steps, among other things. 

Before we moved on to action, we wanted to define success by determining KPIs. This is an essential step. It will help shape the direction of the service and experience you will be designing. Instead of viewing onboarding as just a UI problem, the service blueprint mapped every user action alongside the systems, processes, and people behind them. This included content, customer support, notifications, and working within Shopify’s own platform constraints. 

Because it connects what’s visible to the user with what happens behind the scenes, a service blueprint became central to the project. It gave every team, from UX to development, support, and marketing, a shared reference point. By mapping each phase as its own blueprint, the team could prioritize quick wins while keeping an eye on a longer-term onboarding vision. 

It turned a complex, cross-functional issue into something everyone could contribute to. The blueprint helped make improvements easier to design, build, and test in smaller, clearer parts. 

A real example: Turning uncertainty into reassurance for larger stores 

One of the more surprising and important insights from our service blueprinting process was about scale. We discovered that while the app felt fast and responsive for smaller Shopify stores, larger ones had a very different experience. For shops with tens of thousands of products and pages, the initial processing and indexing step could take anywhere from several minutes to a few hours. 

The problem? We weren’t telling users that. Small stores would see their data reflected almost instantly. Large stores would land on a blank dashboard, with no indication that the system was still working in the background. From the user’s perspective, it looked like nothing was happening. 

We addressed this with a series of small but intentional changes. First, we introduced a proper loading state with messaging acknowledging what was happening. Then, we added an email field to that screen, giving users the option to be notified when setup was complete. When they enter their email, they receive a confirmation message once everything is ready. 

It’s a small detail, but one that shifts how the experience feels. Instead of confusion or doubt, users now get feedback, a sense of transparency, and a way to re-engage later. And for us, it’s a concrete example of why aligning the front-end and back-end through service design actually matters. 

Meet the designer

Meet the UX designer: Tom Ottjes

This interview is with Tom Ottjes, one of Yoast’s UX designers. He led the onboarding redesign for our Shopify app and was co-responsible for designing the Yoast AI features. With several years of experience working across product and marketing, his approach centers on translating user behavior into actionable design. Much of his work focuses on simplifying complex flows, improving user guidance, and helping teams understand the customer journey. 

Tom, what problem were you seeing that made this project a priority? 

With our Yoast SEO for Shopify app, we strive to deliver real, tangible value to our users. That starts with understanding their experience from the moment they install the app. Through a combination of user surveys, interviews, support request analysis, and product analytics, we began to see clear patterns emerge. 

There were three main friction points we kept hearing and seeing: 

  1. A lack of guidance: Many users simply didn’t know how to use the app effectively. They installed it but weren’t sure what to do next to optimize their store. 
  2. Unclear value delivery: We noticed that crucial steps, like completing the ‘Site representation’ settings, which unlock immediate SEO benefits, were often skipped. That told us users weren’t seeing the connection between setup actions and real results.  
  3. Hesitation to engage with the free trial: Users were wary of testing the app, unsure of what the trial included or whether it was truly risk-free. 

All of these insights pointed to one thing: the onboarding experience wasn’t doing its job. It wasn’t guiding, reassuring, or demonstrating value early enough. We visualized all these issues in a detailed customer journey map, helping us to zoom out and see broader patterns. We found different user types, where they dropped off, and what confused them. That map became a key alignment tool and helped us frame the onboarding redesign as a top-priority project. 

What would success look like for you from the user’s perspective? 

From the user’s point of view, success meant feeling confident and supported from the very first interaction with our app. We wanted users to land in the onboarding flow and immediately understand two things: how the app can help them improve their Shopify store’s SEO, and what steps to take first to see results. 

That meant offering a smoother, more intuitive experience. An experience that clearly communicated value upfront, provided improved guidance around initial setup steps, and highlighted key features. It should also assure users that trying the app was safe and worthwhile. 

First, we wanted to help users quickly understand the full value of the app. In addition, we wanted users to complete key onboarding actions such as filling out their ‘Site representation’ settings and exploring core features relevant to their store. Emotionally, we aimed for a sense of clarity, trust, and motivation to continue. 

Ultimately, if a user could say, ‘I know exactly what this app does, what I need to do, and I can already see it working for me,’ then we knew we were on the right track. 

The new onboarding helps introduce the app and guides the user through the set up

Can you explain your service design process and how it helped the teams? 

After mapping the current onboarding journey and identifying the key pain points, we knew we didn’t just need a better UI. We needed a more holistic service experience. That’s where service blueprinting came in. 

We started by defining clear KPIs to measure the impact of our changes, such as completion rates for critical onboarding steps, time to value, and feature discovery. These metrics gave us a shared definition of success and helped shape the direction of the user experience. 

Then we used the service blueprinting method to reimagine onboarding as a complete service. A service blueprint maps the relationships between people, processes, and touchpoints tied to a customer journey. It helped us visualize both what the user sees and everything happening behind the scenes to support that experience, from content strategy to customer support workflows to engineering requirements. 

This systems-level view was essential in aligning multiple teams, like UX, development, marketing, and support. Everyone could see how their work connected to the user’s experience and where coordination was needed. It also helped us identify internal gaps, inefficiencies, or dependencies early, so we could design around them. 

To move quickly and deliver value incrementally, we broke the optimized onboarding journey into phases, prioritizing what would have the most immediate impact for users. That approach lets us ship improvements faster while staying grounded in a long-term vision for the onboarding experience. 

We approached the whole effort using a service design mindset. We zoomed out to understand the system users interact with, not just the screens they see. Service blueprinting helped us take what users were experiencing (empathy and insight), identify internal blockers, and structure releases around clear hypotheses. It wasn’t just about delivering onboarding, but about improving the service behind it. 

How are you tracking whether it’s helping users get started faster? 

From the start, we knew that redesigning onboarding wasn’t just about launching something new. We wanted to prove it made a difference. So, we defined clear KPIs to measure the impact of our changes. To make this measurable, we built the tracking infrastructure needed to monitor user behavior at each step. 

But we didn’t stop at numbers. We also incorporated qualitative customer listening tools, things like in-app feedback, support conversations, and interviews. As we wanted to understand how users feel as they move through onboarding. 

Are there still improvements to make? 

Absolutely, because onboarding is never truly ‘finished.’ It’s an evolving experience, and we see it as a continuous opportunity to better support our users. 

The next phase of our optimized onboarding journey will focus on deepening the guidance we provide, helping users go beyond setup and start making more meaningful improvements to their store. We’re looking at how we can better surface insights, suggest next steps based on context, and empower users to unlock even more value with confidence. 

While I can’t share all the details just yet, I can say this: we’re not stopping at getting users through the door. We’re focused on helping them thrive once they’re inside. 

Good things are coming. As always, we’re listening closely to our users to make sure what we build truly meets their needs. 

Pro tips for getting started with service blueprinting 

Thinking of using service blueprinting in your own work? Here are a few things that helped us: 

  • Start with a real journey: Mapping is most useful when it’s grounded in actual user behavior. Use support data, interviews, and analytics to anchor the blueprint in real problems. 
  • Define what “success” means upfront: Before mapping, align your team on what outcomes you’re working toward (e.g., faster time to value, fewer drop-offs). 
  • Map front-end + back-end: Don’t just track what users see. Include internal systems, support workflows, engineering dependencies, and anything that influences the experience. 
  • Keep roles visible: Show which team is responsible for which process. It keeps conversations focused and collaboration smoother. 
  • Don’t overcomplicate: A blueprint doesn’t need to be a polished artifact. Start simple. The value is in getting teams aligned, not in how it looks. 

Blueprinting doesn’t replace good UX research or design, but it’s a powerful way to connect them to the broader experience. If you’re working on anything cross-functional, it’s absolutely worth trying. 

A shared understanding drives real change 

This project wasn’t just about shipping a new flow. We wanted to design with a clear, shared understanding of our users and the processes that support them. 

Our service blueprint turned out to be a great tool to align teams around a single goal: helping users quickly see the value of the Yoast SEO for Shopify app. Along the way, we uncovered friction, mapped dependencies, and built toward something more consistent, supportive, and effective. 

Thoughtful onboarding is the start of everything that follows. By making those early minutes feel clear, calm, and grounded in real outcomes, we’ve not only improved setup times and reached our KPIs but also changed how we work, design, and listen together. 

The work continues, focusing on feature onboarding, improved guidance, and even future WordPress experiences. Together, we’ll apply these lessons from now on. We’ll design by putting users first, build teamwork on transparency, and create experiences that guide, not just onboard. 

The post Redesigning onboarding for impact: A service design approach  appeared first on Yoast.

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

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

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

But GEO is just one part of a bigger shift.

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

Search Everywhere

Discovery is no longer confined to Google search results pages.

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

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

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

Google and LLM Unique Visitor Growth Projection (Moderate Case)

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

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

LLM Unique Visitor Growth

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

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

In this guide, I’ll explain:

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

What Is GEO and Why Does It Matter?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why GEO Matters Now

Traditional Google search still dominates.

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

But the way people discover information is changing — fast.

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

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

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

The data tells the story:

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

Exploding Topics – Blog – ChatGPT Users

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

Google AI Overviews Graph

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

Organic Research – Backlinko – Positions & AI Overview

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

How GEO and SEO Work Together

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

You might look at this guide and think,

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

And honestly?

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

Exploding Topics – GEO Topics

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

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

We’re not saying GEO replaces SEO.

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

From Traditional SEO to Search Everywhere

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

That means there’s good news:

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

GEO builds on the foundation of great SEO:

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

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

But here’s the difference:

AI engines don’t work exactly like Google.

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

So let’s walk through how to do that.

7-Step GEO Action Plan

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

But one thing is clear:

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

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

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

Step 1. Nail the Basics of SEO

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

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

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

Make Your Site Easy to Read (for Bots)

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

Show You’re Worth Trusting (E-E-A-T)

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

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

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

Step 2. Build Mentions and Co-Citations

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

Build Mentions & Co-Citations

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

Audit Your Current Mentions

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

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

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

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

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

ChatGPT – What is Backlinko

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

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

Semrush AI Toolkit – Share of Voice by Platform

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

Semrush AI Toolkit – Share of Voice vs. Sentiment

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

Semrush AI Toolkit – Key Sentiment Drivers

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

Keep Building Quality Backlinks

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

But expand your focus beyond just getting links.

Further reading: How to Get High Quality Backlinks

Aim to Build Co-Citations and Co-Occurences

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Google SERP – Monday, ClickUp, project management tools

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

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

Co-Citation / Co-Occurrence

To sum it up:

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

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

How to Put This into Action

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

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

Reddit – Answer questions & interactions

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

Step 3. Go Multi-Platform

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

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

Perplexity – Compare OLED and QLED TVs

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

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

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

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

Google SERP – How to do SEO – Videos

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

YouTube – Backlinko channel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ChatGPT – How do I build backlinks

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

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

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

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

Claude – What's the best email marketing software

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

Claude – Marketing tool for small business

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

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

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

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

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

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

By the way:

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

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

ChatGPT – Top freelance graphic designers Cleveland

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

ChatGPT – Emergency plumber Santa Monica

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

Step 5. Answer Your Audience’s Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

Google AI Mode – Healthy meal prep ideas

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

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

Google AI Mode – Cooking recipe

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

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

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

But:

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

How to Choose the Questions to Answer

Start by listening to the actual questions your customers ask.

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

Don’t have any customers? No problem.

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

Reddit – Question based threads

Step 6. Structure Your Content for Generative Engines

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

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

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

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

One Idea per Paragraph

Keep your paragraphs short and focused on one main idea.

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

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

And guess what?

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

Use Clear Headings

Use clear headings and subheadings to organize your content logically.

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

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

Notice how they’re all clearly linked?

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

Backlinko – SEO strategy – Paragraph

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

Google SERP – SEO strategy – Featured snippet

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

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

Break Up Complex Topics into Digestible Sections

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

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

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

Perplexity – Crawl budget

Include Quotes and Clear Statements

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

Why is this worth your time?

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

ChatGPT – Why is SEO important for a small business

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

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

Use Schema Markup

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

Schema Markup Code

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

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

Make It Scannable

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

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

Backlinko Hub – SEO Internal Links – Segment

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

Backlinko – SEO Site Audit – Clear headings – Collage

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

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

Step 7. Track Your Visibility in LLMs

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

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

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

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

Manual Testing as a Starting Point

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

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

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

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

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

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

Use LLM Tracking Tools

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

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

Semrush AIO – Backlinko – Overview

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

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

Semrush AIO – Backlinko – Brand Changes & Rankings

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

Ziptie AI Search – LLM Overview

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

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

Organic Research – Backlinko – AI Overview

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

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

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

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

GEO helps you frame those changes clearly:

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

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

You Need to Start Now to Stay Visible

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It comes from authentic content that connects with your audience.

Take Edeles Candles, for example.

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

TikTok – EdelesCandles videos

How did a small business get this kind of exposure?

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

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

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

And TikTok is just one path.

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

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

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

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

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

1. Grab Attention with Short-Form Videos

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate High Free to low

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

Especially if you want to increase brand awareness.

Why?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube – Apple Cheeks grab attention

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

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

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

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

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

2. Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate High Free

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

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

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

Google SERP – Car wash in Jacksonville – Businesses

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

But only if your profile is fully optimized.

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

Island Time Car Wash Jacksonville Florida – Contact details

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

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

Example of post action photos

And don’t forget reviews.

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

Google Maps – Car wash Jacksonville – Ratings & Reviews

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

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

3. Create Helpful Website and Blog Content

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate to high High Free to high

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

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

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

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

Then, create content that answers those questions.

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

Use AI writing tools to speed up content creation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then, he creates content that directly answers those queries.

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

Underfit – Blog post

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

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

Underfit – Get your money back

4. Use SMS to Instantly Reach Customers

Effort Impact Budget
Low Moderate Low to moderate

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

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

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

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

Salon survey text

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

Smart ways to use SMS include:

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

Smart ways to use sms – Event reminder

Test what types of messages drive the most engagement.

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

5. Encourage Customers to Share Their Experience on Social Media

Effort Impact Budget
Low Moderate to high Free

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Instagram – Sol Summer Club – You

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

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

Sol – Instagram stories from customers

6. Partner with UGC Creators

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate High Moderate

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s how to get started:

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

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

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by HiZoo (@hizooco)

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

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

Instagram – Real customer review – Likes & comments

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

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

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

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate Moderate to high Free to low

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

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

And happier customers = more sales.

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

Chatbots can:

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

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

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

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

Manychat – Chatbot

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

While improving customer service at the same time.

Attendant – Chatbot

The chatbot offers instant answers to common customer questions.

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

Attendant – Chatbot question

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

8. Collect Prospect Info with Lead Magnets

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate High Low

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

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

Here’s how to make it work:

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

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

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

Email signup form

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

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

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

Monthly – Paycheck budget

9. Create an Email Newsletter

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate Moderate Free to low

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

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

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

So, how do you get started?

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

(Without the need for design skills.)

Mailchimp – Newsletter templates

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

This way, subscribers know what to expect.

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

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

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

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

Adored Beast – Newsletter

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

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

And position themselves as a reliable expert.

Newsletter – Pet care

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

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

Newsletter – Your Adored Beast Will Love

10. Turn Reviews and Testimonials into Visual Proof

Effort Impact Budget
Low to moderate Moderate Free to low

Got happy customers?

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

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

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

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

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

TikTok – Destiny Media Marketing – Client reviews

She also shares short testimonial videos.

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

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

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

11. Share Visual Content on Pinterest

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate Moderate to high Free to low

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

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

Take Budget With Mel as an example.

One of her top traffic sources is Pinterest.

Traffic Analytics – Budget With Mel – Top Sources

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

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

This helps funnel targeted readers directly to her content.

Funnel target readers directly to content

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

This means she’s not just getting one-time visitors — she’s building a list of potential customers she can reach again and again.

Email signup form

Here’s how to replicate Mel’s success:

  • Create valuable Pins: Turn your best tips, products, or blog posts into eye-catching visuals using a template-friendly design tool like Canva
  • Organize strategically: Set up boards by category (like “Budgeting Tips” or “Gift Ideas”) to make your content easy to find
  • Optimize for search: Include relevant keywords in your Pin titles and descriptions — people search Pinterest like Google
  • Drive traffic: Link every Pin to a blog post, lead magnet, or product page to convert browsers into customers

Further reading: 6 Best Social Media Management Tools (Tried & Tested)

12. Amplify Your Reach by Boosting Your Social Posts

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate High Flexible

If your social media post already gets a decent engagement — saves, likes, comments — that’s your cue to boost it.

You can do this on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.

LinkedIn also supports boosting, but only from company pages, not personal profiles.

And even a small budget can help your top-performing posts reach more people without driving up costs.

Scrappy Gardeners – Boost button

This approach is more effective than boosting random posts.

Why? Because you already know the content resonates with your audience.

How to start:

  • Choose a social media post that’s performing well organically
  • Set a daily budget (even $5-$10 per day can work)
  • Target based on location, interest, and behavior
  • Let the ad run for a few days before making any tweaks

But don’t just boost ads.

Promote a mix of content, like blog posts, how-to videos, product highlights, and behind-the-scenes clips.

Prioritize posts that feel authentic and aligned with your brand voice.

Pro tip: Need a little help creating engaging social content? Tools like Semrush’s AI Video Marketing Automator and AI Social Content Generator turn your blog posts into short videos and social posts in seconds — no video editing or design experience required.

13. Create a Loyalty Program That Feels Personal

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate High Low

Small, thoughtful touches can turn one-time buyers into loyal fans.

Start with a simple reward system (digital or physical) that feels fun and easy to use.

Think stamps, punch cards, or online progress trackers.

After five or 10 purchases, offer a reward that feels like a win: a free drink, a low-cost product (under $5), a bonus add-on, or early access to something new.

The key? Make it feel personal and let customers see how close they are to earning their reward.

Bonus points if you personalize it with their name, preferences, or purchase history.

Loyalty program

For example, a toy store owner explained on Reddit how they created “instant repeat customers” with a playful loyalty program.

Reddit – Toy store owner's explanation

Kids earn pirate coins and vinyl stickers with each purchase. After five coins, they trade them in for a free toy.

It’s low-cost, but it works because it feels personal, rewarding, and fun. (And the adults like it, too!)

Reddit – Toy store owner comment

14. Build Trust and Authority on LinkedIn

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate High Free

LinkedIn is one of the best places to build credibility and attract clients.

Especially if you sell services, offer consulting, or work with other businesses.

Why?

Because it puts you in front of decision-makers actively looking for business solutions.

But success on LinkedIn isn’t all about pitching your services.

It’s about consistently sharing helpful, real-world insights that show you know your stuff.

LinkedIn – Taylor Scher – Trust and Authority

Over time, this positions you as a go-to expert.

And turns your content into a client acquisition tool that works even when you’re not actively prospecting.

Here’s how to get started: Pick one to two topics you want to be known for.

And post at least once a week.

Share industry-relevant stories, lessons, business updates, or tips.

LinkedIn – Daniel Korenblum – Content as client acquisition tool

Still don’t know what to post?

Use ChatGPT or Claude to draft LinkedIn post ideas from your blog content.

Prompt it with the following:

Turn this blog post into a conversational first-person LinkedIn post with a story-driven hook.

But don’t just post your own content. Comment meaningfully on industry posts, too.

LinkedIn – Meaningfully comment on industry

This showcases your expertise and gets you noticed by potential clients.

15. Co-Host Lives, Webinars, or Giveaways

Effort Impact Budget
Moderate Moderate Free to low

Want fast reach without paying for ads? Team up with a creator or business that shares your target audience.

Co-hosting a live, webinar, or giveaway helps you both get in front of new, relevant followers.

To make it work:

  • Choose a partner in your niche or local community (but not a direct competitor)
  • Bring something valuable: a quick tutorial, product demo, Q&A, or prize
  • Plan your next step: What should viewers do after? Follow you? Sign up? Claim an offer?

Promote it ahead of time on both profiles. During the event, keep it lively, helpful, and interactive. Answer questions and encourage participation for the best results.

For example, if you have a B2B audience, you could team up with an expert or company in your space to host a short, high-value webinar.

Like a 30-minute how-to or industry trends Q&A.

LinkedIn – Profile SEO Sherpa

Have a B2C small business? Co-host a giveaway with a like-minded brand (or three).

To boost reach, ask participants to follow both accounts and tag a friend to enter.

Instagram – Co-host a giveaway with a like minded brand

Turn These Small Business Marketing Ideas into Results

You don’t need a big team or a big budget to make progress.

The most effective marketing plans start with a few smart tactics tailored to your audience and goals.

Pick three quick wins you can knock out this week:

  • Post a behind-the-scenes Reel with trending audio
  • Ask one happy customer for a review or photo
  • Boost a blog post or product on Facebook

Then, keep the momentum going.

Collect emails with a simple lead magnet or share helpful tips in a monthly newsletter.

Small, consistent actions like these build trust and drive real results over time.

Ready to get started? Download our free Small Business Marketing Checklist to prioritize your top tactics and track your progress.

Next, read our small business SEO guide to learn how to build authority and improve your online visibility.

The post 15 Marketing Ideas for Your Small Businesses (+ Free Checklist) appeared first on Backlinko.

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How to Create an SEO Report That Wins Trust (and Budgets)

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Most SEO reports go unread.

Or, worse — they get skimmed, misunderstood, and ignored.

But knowing how to create an SEO report that demands attention can change everything.

It’s not just a performance recap.

It’s a strategic tool that helps you build trust with decision-makers. Win bigger budgets. And keep your SEO efforts on track.

In this article, you’ll learn how to:

  • Create SEO reports that people actually read (and act on)
  • Tie SEO performance to business goals
  • Highlight wins and uncover growth opportunities

Free resource: Download our SEO Report Template. It has ready-made sections for tracking key metrics, visualizing performance, and presenting clear next steps.

What Is an SEO Report and Why Is It Important?

An SEO report is a tool for measuring performance and shaping strategy.

It tracks key metrics like traffic, rankings, and conversions.

Then, connects them to business outcomes, opportunities, and priorities.

A strong SEO report helps answer:

  • What changed?
  • Why did it happen?
  • What should we do next?

Why SEO Reporting Is Important

For example, let’s say you run SEO for a workplace furniture ecommerce company.

You notice a spike in traffic and rankings for your category page on ergonomic office chairs.

Here’s how a useful SEO report would break that down:

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Keyword Rankings

It’s a clear, focused snapshot that distills the data into what improved, why it happened, and why it matters.

How to Create an SEO Report That Drives Results

Too many SEO reports dump data without insight.

Traffic, rankings, and top pages might look impressive — but they don’t tell the full story.

And without context, stakeholders are left guessing.

The best SEO reports connect the dots. They tie performance to business goals, spotlight what’s working, and make the next move obvious.

Here’s how to build one that actually drives results:

How to Create an SEO Report in 4 Steps

Step 1: Determine the Stakeholders

Before pulling data or building charts, get clear on who you’re reporting to.

Knowing your audience should shape your whole report, from the SEO stats you’re using to how you communicate them.

Ask yourself:

  • Who will read this?
  • What do they know about SEO?
  • Who will be making the decisions?
  • What decision do I want them to make?

And here’s one more that’s just as important:

Have I asked what metrics actually matter to them?

A quick conversation can surface priorities that no dashboard will show you.

From there, tailor the format, metrics, and language accordingly.

(This is where many SEO reports go sideways — too much data, not enough direction.)

Here’s a quick breakdown of how to match your audience to your data and format:

Stakeholder What They Care About What to Show Format Tips
CMO / Exec Revenue, ROI, brand authority Conversions, organic-assisted revenue Keep it short, visual, and business-focused
Marketing Team / Managers Channel performance, goal tracking Traffic trends, keyword growth, top pages Include takeaways and next steps
Product Team Feature discovery, UX gaps Search query trends, on-page feedback Highlight qualitative insights and opportunities
Small Business Client Clear wins, reviews, local visibility Local rankings, top queries Use plain language and short summaries

For example, if your primary audience is a CEO or CMO, you probably wouldn’t lead with details about unindexed pages or on-page engagement time.

Likewise, a report for a small business owner with zero SEO background shouldn’t be packed with complex metrics or jargon.

They need simple wins, clear summaries, and next steps they can act on.

Pro tip: When your SEO report serves multiple audiences, prioritize what matters most to decision-makers — like ROI, growth, and performance. Then, layer in tailored insights for other teams (product, content, dev, etc.) in separate sections or an appendix.

How to Report to Non-SEO Audiences

Working with clients who don’t speak SEO?

You can help them level up their knowledge by translating industry terms into easy-to-understand language.

Add simple explanations to your reports and introduce new concepts one at a time.

Refine Your SEO Report

Here are three ways you can do this in your SEO reports:

1. Include key takeaways to clarify complex points.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – SERP Visibility

2. Add links to educational resources on SEO concepts.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Technical SEO

3. Add short videos with explanations of the client’s data or performance.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Content

Step 2: Decide Which Metrics Matter Most

Start with the key SEO metrics every report needs, no matter the audience.

Metric Why It Matters
Conversions Connects SEO to real business results. Key for proving SEO ROI.
Organic traffic + engagement (including click-through rates and average position) Shows how well your pages attract and keep search visitors — great for spotting what’s working.
Organic impressions Highlights search visibility and signals growth or dips in core topics
Keyword trends (rankings, top non-branded keywords) Shows what’s gaining traction and where to focus next. Helps spot cannibalization or decay.
Backlink profile health Keeps tabs on link trust and growth. Important for authority.
Technical health Identifies site issues that hurt SEO. Vital for maintaining crawlability and indexability.
SERP features Tracks special placements that boost visibility (e.g., featured snippets, video results, or shopping carousels)
LLM visibility Shows brand mentions and citations in AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — key for influence in AI-driven discovery.

You can find the majority of your must-have metrics in SEO tools like Google Search Console (GSC) or Semrush.

Add-On SEO Report Metrics

Once you’ve covered the essentials, you can layer in additional metrics depending on your team’s strategy and goals.

 
If you’re prioritizing: Include metrics like:
User engagement Scroll depth, bounce rates, dwell time, and GA4 engagement metrics
Topical authority How well your content ranks for key themes
E-E-A-T signals Mentions, expert authorship, branded searches, trust indicators (e.g., social shares)
Content library ranking efficiency What % of your pages rank in the top 10 to guide pruning or reinvestment.

Further reading: Curious about some of these add-on metrics? Check out our guides on bounce rate and dwell time.

Step 3: Turn Raw Data Into Actionable Insights

Raw data doesn’t drive decisions — clear stories do.

Knowing how to create an SEO report means turning numbers into narratives.

It needs to clearly tell a story around these questions.

  • Is our SEO strategy working?
  • What changed?
  • Why did it change?
  • What should we do next?

One of the best ways to tell the story is through time-based comparisons.

Show how SEO performance has changed month-over-month (MoM), quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), or year-over-year (YoY).

Highlighting changes over time makes it easier for stakeholders to spot trends. And understand why they matter.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Conversions

For most SEO teams, the challenge isn’t collecting data. It’s translating it into context stakeholders care about.

Raw numbers might make sense if you’re inside the tools every day.

Organic Research – Backlinko – Overview

But executives and cross-functional teams need more than charts. They need meaning.

The best reports go beyond what changed. They explain why —and connect the dots to business impact.

Like this:

Metric Increase Might Mean Decrease Might Mean
Organic traffic + engagement (CTR, avg. position) Higher rankings or better-optimized content Rankings drop or poor user experience (UX)
Organic impressions More visibility in search Lost rankings or SERP features
Keyword trends New or improved keyword rankings Declining rankings or outdated content
SERP features tracking Gaining authority in SERPs Dropped from features or lost relevance
Conversions SEO traffic is converting better Traffic mismatches or UX issues
Backlink profile health More quality links or mentions Lost links or declining authority

Translate percentages and numbers to what actually happened:

  • What new pages were published?
  • Did your development team ship technical fixes?
  • How many backlinks were earned?
  • Are algorithm changes or seasonal searches a factor?

Most importantly, link the SEO impact to business terms.

For example, let’s say your top product page jumped from position No. 9 to No. 3.

In the same month, inbound demo requests doubled.

That’s not just a ranking improvement. It’s a signal that higher visibility on the right terms is driving qualified traffic.

In this case, the takeaway isn’t just “rankings are up” — it’s that SEO is contributing directly to revenue growth.

Step 4: Showcase the Results

A great SEO report doesn’t overwhelm your reader — it guides them.

It frames wins. Flags issues. And makes the next move crystal clear.

Executive Summary

Start with a snapshot that shows where things stand.

The Executive Summary gives a high-level view of key metrics and overall performance trends.

So, stakeholders can get the big picture fast.

Keep it sharp and clear. Spotlight what’s working, what’s driving it, and where to go from here.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Executive Summary

Performance Metrics

This section covers your core SEO performance data — like traffic, rankings, keywords, and backlinks.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Organic Traffic

Include context and key takeaways.

When showcasing trends, show the progress over time, not just one-off wins.

And use visuals as much as possible.

Charts, graphs, and annotated screenshots really can make your performance insights pop.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Backlinks

Next Steps

What needs to be tackled next?

Here’s your chance to include those thoughts for your stakeholders.

Include clear, actionable recommendations, like a fresh SEO audit or doubling down on high-performing content.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Next Steps

Appendix

This optional section includes deeper data for teams, stakeholders, and ongoing projects.

It helps keep the main report focused, while still delivering the context others may need.

Backlinko – SEO Report Template – Appendix

Bonus move: Once your report is done, record a short walkthrough to present it. It’s a great way to highlight key takeaways, explain the big picture, and guide stakeholders through anything they might overlook.

Mistakes to Avoid in Your SEO Report

Even with the right data, your SEO report can still fall flat if it’s hard to interpret, misaligned with business goals, or missing a clear takeaway.

Here are some common mistakes to avoid — and how to fix them.

Reporting Data Without Context

Don’t just drop data into your report. Make it meaningful.

Show how it relates to business goals and your site’s overall SEO performance.

For every metric, briefly explain what it means, why it matters, and what action it might prompt your team or your client to take.

Reporting Data Without Context

Surfacing Issues Without Providing Solutions

Reporting on every issue isn’t helpful unless it impacts your site’s SEO performance.

For example, say you note that a group of pages are experiencing index issues.

Include a hypothesis on why this is happening and how you might recommend fixing it.

Surfacing Issues Without Providing Solutions

Listing Every Keyword Ranking

A full list of keyword shifts (especially minor ones) can bury your most important wins.

Instead, spotlight high-impact keywords — non-branded terms driving traffic or tied to revenue pages.

Listing Every Keyword Ranking

Including Every. Single. Page.

Reporting on every page creates noise, not insight.

Focus on the top 10 pages for organic traffic, or spotlight the top page in each key topic cluster.

Including Every Single Page

Ignoring Business Outcomes

Your report might show SEO progress. But, does it show business progress?

Tie your work to signups, revenue, pipeline, brand visibility — whatever matters to your decision-makers.

Ignoring Business Outcomes

Telling, Not Showing

You shared the data. But did you explain the story?

Use visuals, comparisons (e.g., MoM or QoQ), and commentary to walk the reader through what changed, why, and what’s next.

Telling, Not Showing

Show the Impact. Earn the Buy-In.

SEO reporting isn’t just about checking a box.

It’s your opportunity to show impact, earn trust, and steer strategy.

Surface insights that get stakeholders aligned and excited about what’s possible.

Want to make it easier on yourself?

Download Backlinko’s free SEO report template to create reports that stand out and get results.

The post How to Create an SEO Report That Wins Trust (and Budgets) appeared first on Backlinko.

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Web Design and Development San Diego

The new Search Console Insights report is here

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We’re excited to announce the launch of the new Search Console Insights report. The new report offers
even more insights and a deeper integration with Search Console’s Performance report.
With this change, we aim to streamline your workflow, make it easier to find opportunities to improve your
site’s performance, and provide more ways to explore specific areas of interest.

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