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Grammarly’s SEO Strategy: 11 Interesting Insights

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Grammarly's SEO Strategy: 11 Interesting Insights

Grammarly is a writing assistant. According to our data, its website gets an estimated 22.2M monthly search visits across 2,468 published pages.

If Grammarly bought this same traffic via Google Ads, it would cost an estimated $5.1M per month.

Grammarly's estimated organic traffic value if it were bought, via Google Ads

In this post, I’ll share 11 takeaways from my deep dive into the company’s SEO strategy. 

1. 38.6% of its organic search traffic is branded

Grammarly gets an estimated 7.8M monthly search visits from search queries containing the phrase “grammarly.” That’s 38.6% of its total organic traffic.

Grammarly's estimated branded organic traffic

Ironically, however, it gets at least a further 590K monthly searches for keywords containing brand misspellings.

Grammarly's estimated branded organic traffic including misspellings

Given that it has 30M daily users (by its own estimates), this is hardly surprising. In fact, there are over 37K queries in our U.S. keyword database containing “grammarly” with a total estimated monthly search volume of 3.1M. 

There are over 37K keywords containing "grammarly" in Ahrefs' U.S. keyword database

2. 29.7% of traffic goes to the homepage

Grammarly’s homepage gets an estimated 6.6M monthly search visits—almost a third of its total traffic.

Estimated organic search traffic to Grammarly's homepage

Despite the company seemingly making some effort to target the keyword “writing assistant” on its homepage (it’s in the page’s title tag), almost all of its traffic is branded. 

Estimated branded organic search traffic to Grammarly's homepage

In fact, its homepage is responsible for 84.6% of all its branded traffic.

3. 90.7% of its traffic comes from 11.2% of its pages

Just 277 of Grammarly’s 2,468 pages attract the bulk of its organic search traffic—20.1M monthly visits.

Most of Grammarly's organic traffic goes to a small percentage of its pages

This traffic goes to a mix of free tools, blog posts, and its homepage.

Grammarly is far from the odd one out here. You’ll see a similar distribution for most websites, thanks to the Pareto principle (80/20 rule). 

4. 22% of its content gets no organic traffic

543 of Grammarly’s 2,468 pages get no organic traffic.

22% of Grammarly's pages get no organic traffic

Here’s a quick breakdown of these pages:

  • 360 blog posts
  • 76 jobs pages
  • 77 support articles
  • 12 developer/API pages
  • 12 PDFs
  • 6 other

Blog posts aside, none of the other pages appear to have been created with attracting search traffic in mind. So it’s hardly surprising that they get none.

In fact, this is the case for some of the blog posts too.

For example, there are 48 posts with no traffic under the /business/ subfolder.

None of Grammarly's blog posts in the /business/ subfolder get any organic traffic

Most of these seem to be more thought leadership–type content than search-focused pieces. 

Example of thought-leadership content from Grammarly

5. 13.5% of its traffic goes to free tools

Grammarly has seven free tools that cumulatively get over 3M estimated monthly search visits.

Estimated monthly organic search traffic to seven of Grammarly's free tools

However, almost all traffic goes to just two of these tools: its grammar checker and plagiarism checker.

Interestingly, 77.4% of this traffic is non-branded. It comes from keywords like “grammar checker,” “plagiarism checker,” “spell checker,” and “punctuation checker”—all of which get tens of thousands of estimated monthly searches. 

Estimated monthly U.S. search volumes for keywords Grammarly is targeting with free tools

Do you want to use this SEO tactic for your website?

  1. Go to Keywords Explorer
  2. Enter a few “seed” terms related to your industry
  3. Go to the Matching terms report
  4. Add words and phrases like tool, tools, calculator, checker, and generator to the “Include” filter
  5. Select “Any word” on the “Include” filter
  6. Click “Apply”

For example, if you sell accounting software, you might enter seeds like “tax” and “salary.”

Finding keywords to target with tools in Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer

6. 50.3% of traffic goes to the blog

Grammarly is committed to blogging. 1,699 of its 2,468 (69%) pages are blog posts, which attract more than half (~11.2M) of its estimated search traffic.

Grammarly's blog is responsible for over half of its organic search traffic

Most of these pages (81.6%) get at least some search traffic, so it’s clear that Grammarly takes a search-focused approach to blogging

In terms of what the posts cover, they’re mainly about grammatical terms like verbs, nouns, etc.

Example of a Grammarly blog post

Most of these terms get tons of monthly searches, and Grammarly ranks #1 for many of them—hence why its blog gets so much search traffic. 

Grammarly's blog ranks #1 for over 21K keywords, according to Ahrefs' Site Explorer

7. 15.1% of blog posts get 83.6% of blog traffic

Just 256 of Grammarly’s 1,699 blog posts get ~9.4M monthly organic search visits—almost all of its blog’s total traffic.

Most of Grammarly's blog traffic comes from a small percentage of its blog posts

Once again, this distribution isn’t abnormal. It’s actually even more extreme on our blog, with 6.7% of our posts attracting 77.9% of our blog traffic. 

However, we get nowhere near the amount of organic search traffic Grammarly gets. 

Grammarly's blog gets significantly more organic search traffic than Ahrefs' blog

This is partly because the terms Grammarly targets (and ranks for) are super popular. 

For example, there are an estimated 151K monthly searches for “em dash” in the U.S. Grammarly currently ranks #6. 

Estimated monthly search volume in the U.S. for "em dash," via Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer

8. 75.8% of its top-performing posts were published long ago

Grammarly has been blogging for a while. It published its first blog post on June 22, 2012. 

Grammarly published its first blog post more than 10 years ago

If we plug that post’s URL into Ahrefs’ Content Explorer, we see that it probably didn’t take much effort to write, as it’s only 304 words long. Yet it still attracts hundreds of monthly organic visits to this day. 

Grammarly's first blog post was just 304 words long, according to Ahrefs' Content Explorer

However, this is far from one of Grammarly’s top-performing posts.

If we look at posts getting 10K monthly search visits or more, only 24.2% of them were published in the last two years (since November 2020). Most of them were published in 2016 or 2017. 

Most of Grammarly's most popular blog posts were published a few years ago, according to Ahrefs' Content Explorer

This just goes to show that SEO is not an overnight strategy. It can take years to experience the full benefit of a solid SEO strategy

9. Updating blog posts is a core part of its strategy

Most of Grammarly’s top-performing posts have been updated in the last few months.

For example, its post about contractions in writing was initially published in June 2016. But it updated and republished the post in August 2022. 

Example of a blog post that Grammarly republished six years after it first wrote said post

If we search for Grammarly’s blog in Content Explorer, the “Pages over time” graph shows how its publishing and republishing strategy has changed over time. 

Content Explorer shows that Grammarly has been republishing more content recently

Between June 2016 and June 2017, it published 529 new posts but didn’t republish a single post. Compare that with the period from June 2021 to June 2022 when it published 185 posts and republished 29 (13.5% of all posts during the period).

Many of these updates have had an incredible impact on search traffic too.

For example, it republished its post about participles in July 2022. Shortly after, organic search traffic shot up from ~1.5K to ~16K per month.

Estimated organic traffic to Grammarly's blog post about contractions shot up after the post was updated and republished

10. 0.7% of its traffic goes to its support section

Grammarly’s support subdomain only gets around 0.7% of the company’s total organic search traffic. But this is quite impressive when you consider how little content there is.

Right now, according to the Site structure report in Site Explorer, it has 399 pages.

Grammarly's support section has 399 pages, according to Ahrefs' Site Explorer

But the impressive part is that it took minimal effort to get this traffic, as much of this content is super short. 

For example, according to Content Explorer, the top-performing support page gets an estimated 26.8K monthly visits despite being just 77 words long. 

Most of Grammarly's support pages are quite short, according to Ahrefs' Content Explorer

In fact, 76.5% of the support section’s organic search traffic comes from just 20 articles comprising 4,023 words in total. 

Pretty much all this traffic comes from branded search (e.g., “add grammarly to word”). But that’s to be expected, as content on this subdomain answers questions about the tool. 

11. 23.9K of traffic goes to “hub” pages

Grammarly has recently started creating short introductory guides to topics that link to related blog posts, otherwise known as content hubs

Here are the four “hub” pages it currently has:

It seems to be working well so far. Most of these pages are already attracting a few thousand organic search visits per month. 

Grammarly's "hub" pages seem to be attracting a good amount of search traffic, according to Ahrefs' Site Explorer

Final thoughts

Grammarly’s search performance has been on an upward trajectory for years, and there’s a lot to learn from it. It will be interesting to see where its SEO team goes from here.

Got questions? Ping me on Twitter.



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Google Updating Cryptocurrency Advertising Policy For 2024

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Google Updating Cryptocurrency Advertising Policy For 2024

Google published an announcement of upcoming changes to their cryptocurrency advertising policies and advises advertisers to make themselves aware of the changes and prepare to be in compliance with the new requirements.

The upcoming updates are to Google’s Cryptocurrencies and related products policy for the advertisement of Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts. The changes are set to take effect on January 29th, 2024.

Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts are financial products that enable investors to trade shares in trusts holding substantial amounts of digital currency. These trusts provide investors with equity in cryptocurrencies without having direct ownership. They are also an option for creating a more diversified portfolio.

The policy updates by Google that are coming in 2024 aim to describe the scope and requirements for the advertisement of Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts. Advertisers targeting the United States will be able to promote these products and services as long as they abide by specific policies outlined in the updated requirements and that they also obtain certification from Google.

The updated policy changes are not limited to the United States. They will apply globally to all accounts advertising Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts.

Google’s announcement also reminded advertisers of their obligation for compliance to local laws in the areas where the ads are targeted.

Google’s approach for violations of the new policy will be to first give a warning before imposing an account suspension.

Advertisers that fail to comply with the updated policy will receive a warning at least seven days before a potential account suspension. This time period provides advertisers with an opportunity to fix non-compliance issues and to get back into compliance with the revised guidelines.

Advertisers are encouraged to refer to Google’s documentation on “About restricted financial products certification.”

The deadline for the change in policy is January 29th, 2024. Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts advertisers will need to pay close attention to the updated policies in order to ensure compliance.

Read Google’s announcement:

Updates to Cryptocurrencies and related products policy (December 2023)

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SEO Trends You Can’t Ignore In 2024

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SEO Trends You Can’t Ignore In 2024

Most SEO trends fade quickly. But some of them stick and deserve your attention.

Let’s explore what those are and how to take advantage of them.

If you give ChatGPT a title and ask it to write a blog post, it will—in seconds.

This is super impressive, but there are a couple of issues:

  • Everyone else using ChatGPT is creating the same content. It’s the same for users of other GPT-powered AI writing tools, too—which is basically all of them.
  • The content is extremely dull. Sure, you can ask ChatGPT to “make it more entertaining,” but it usually overcompensates and hands back a cringe version of the same boring content.

In the words of Gael Breton:

How to take advantage of this SEO trend

Don’t use AI to write entire articles. They’ll be boring as heck. Instead, use it as a creative sparring partner to help you write better content and automate monotonous tasks.

For example, you can ask ChatGPT To write an outline from a working title and a list of keywords (which you can pull from Ahrefs)—and it does a pretty decent job.

Prompt:

Create an outline for a post entitled “[working title]” based on these keywords: [list]

Result:

ChatGPT's outline for a blog post. Pretty good!ChatGPT's outline for a blog post. Pretty good!

When you’ve written your draft, you can ask to polish it in seconds by asking ChatGPT to proofread it.

ChatGPT proofreading my content and making it betterChatGPT proofreading my content and making it better

Then you can automate the boring stuff, like creating more enticing title tags…

ChatGPT writing enticing title tagsChatGPT writing enticing title tags

… and writing a meta description:

ChatGPT writing a meta descriptionChatGPT writing a meta description

If you notice a few months down the line that your content ranks well but hasn’t won the featured snippet, ChatGPT can help with that, too.

For example, Ahrefs tells us we rank in position 3 for “affiliate marketing” but don’t own the snippet.

Ahrefs showing featured snippets that we don't own, despite ranking in the top 3Ahrefs showing featured snippets that we don't own, despite ranking in the top 3

If we check Google, the snippet is a definition. Asking ChatGPT to simplify our definition may solve this problem.

ChatGPT rewriting a definition and making it betterChatGPT rewriting a definition and making it better

In short, there are a near-infinite number of ways to use ChatGPT (and other AI writing tools) to create better content. And all of them buck the trend of asking it to write boring, boilerplate articles from scratch.

Programmatic SEO refers to the creation of keyword-targeted pages in an automatic (or near automatic) way.

Nomadlist’s location pages are a perfect example:

Example of a page from NomadListExample of a page from NomadList

Each page focuses on a specific city and shares the same core information—internet speeds, cost, temperature, etc. All of this information is pulled programmatically from a database and the site gets an estimated 46k monthly search visits in total.

Estimated monthly search traffic to NomadListEstimated monthly search traffic to NomadList

Programmatic SEO is nothing new. It’s been around forever. It’s just the hot thing right now because AI tools like ChatGPT make it easier and more accessible than ever before.

The problem? As John Mueller pointed out on Twitter X, much of it is spam:

How to take advantage of this SEO trend

Don’t use programmatic SEO to publish insane amounts of spam that’ll probably get hit in the next Google update. Use it to scale valuable content that will stand the test of time.

For example, Wise’s currency conversion pages currently get an estimated 31.7M monthly search visits:

Estimated monthly search traffic to Wise's currently conversion pages (insane!)Estimated monthly search traffic to Wise's currently conversion pages (insane!)

This is because the content is actually useful. Each page features an interactive tool showing the live exchange rate for any amount…

The interactive currently conversion tool on Wise's pagesThe interactive currently conversion tool on Wise's pages

… the exchange rate over time…

The exchange rate over time graph on Wise's pagesThe exchange rate over time graph on Wise's pages

… a handy email notification option when the exchange rates exceed a certain amount…

The email notification option on Wise's pagesThe email notification option on Wise's pages

… handy conversion charts for popular amounts…

The handy conversion charts on Wise's pagesThe handy conversion charts on Wise's pages

… and a comparison of the cheapest ways to send money abroad in your chosen currency:

The useful comparison table on Wise's pagesThe useful comparison table on Wise's pages

It doesn’t matter that all of these pages use the same template. The data is exactly what you want to see when you search [currency 1] to [currency 2].

That’s probably why Wise ranks in the top 10 for over 66,000 of these keywords:

Wise's keyword rankings for currency conversion pagesWise's keyword rankings for currency conversion pages

Looking to take advantage of programmatic content in 2024 like Wise? Check out the guide below.

People love ChatGPT because it answers questions fast and succinctly, so it’s no surprise that generative AI is already making its way into search.

For example, if you ask Bing for a definition or how to do something basic, AI will generate an answer on the fly right there in the search results.

Bing's search results for "definition of mental health"Bing's search results for "definition of mental health"
Bing's search results for "how to add drop down list in google sheets"Bing's search results for "how to add drop down list in google sheets"

In other words, thanks to AI, users no longer have to click on a search result for answers to simple questions. It’s like featured snippets on steroids.

This might not be a huge deal right now, but when Google’s version of this (Search Generative Experience) comes out of beta, many websites will see clicks fall off a cliff.

How to take advantage of this SEO trend

Don’t invest too much in topics that generative AI can easily answer. You’ll only lose clicks like crazy to AI in the long run. Instead, start prioritizing topics that AI will struggle to answer.

How do you know which topics it will struggle to answer? Try asking ChatGPT. If it gives a good and concise answer, it’s clearly an easy question.

For example, there are hundreds of searches for how to calculate a percentage in Google Sheets every month in the US:

Estimated monthly search volume for "google sheets percentage formula" via Ahrefs' Keywords ExplorerEstimated monthly search volume for "google sheets percentage formula" via Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer

If you ask ChatGPT for the solution, it gives you a perfect answer in about fifty words.

ChatGPT's answer to the Google Sheets percentage calculation formulaChatGPT's answer to the Google Sheets percentage calculation formula

This is the perfect example of a topic where generative AI will remove the need to click on a search result for many.

That’s probably not going to be the case for a topic like this:

Example of a topic that AI shouldn't impact too muchExample of a topic that AI shouldn't impact too much

Sure. Generative AI might be able to tell you how to create a template—but it can’t make one for you. And even if it can in the future, it will never be a personal finance expert with experience. You’ll always have to click on a search result for a template created by that person.

These are the kinds of topics to prioritize in 2024 and beyond.

Sidenote.

None of this means you should stop targeting “simple” topics altogether. You’ll always be able to get some traffic from them. My point is not to be obsessed with ranking for keywords whose days are numbered. Prioritize topics with long-term value instead.

Bonus: 3 SEO trends to ignore in 2024

Not all SEO trends move the needle. Here are just a few of those trends and why you should ignore them.

People are using voice search more than ever

In 2014, Google revealed that 41% of Americans use voice search daily. According to research by UpCity, that number was up to 50% as of 2022. I haven’t seen any data for 2023 yet, but I’d imagine it’s above 50%.

Why you should ignore this SEO trend

75% of voice search results come from a page ranking in the top 3, and 40.7% come from a featured snippet. If you’re already optimizing for those things, there’s not much more you can do.

People are using visual search for shopping more than ever

In 2022, Insider Intelligence reported that 22% of US adults have shopped with visual search (Google Lens, Bing Visual Search, etc.). That number is up from just 15% in 2021.

Why you should ignore this SEO trend

Much like voice search, there’s no real way to optimize for visual search. Sure, it helps to have good quality product images, optimized filenames and alt text, and product schema markup on your pages—but you should be doing this stuff anyway as it’s been a best practice since forever.

People are using Bing more than ever before

Bing’s Yusuf Mehdi announced in March 2023 that the search engine had surpassed 100M daily active users for the first time ever. This came just one month after the launch of AI-powered Bing.

Why you should ignore this SEO trend

Bing might be more popular than ever, but its market share still only stands at around ~3% according to estimates by Statcounter. Google’s market share stands at roughly 92%, so that’s the one you should be optimizing for.

Plus, it’s often the case that if you rank in Google, you also rank in Bing—so it really doesn’t deserve any focus.

Final thoughts

Keeping your finger on the pulse and taking advantage of trends makes sense, but don’t let them distract you from the boring stuff that’s always worked: find what people are searching for > create content about it > build backlinks > repeat.

Got questions? Ping me on Twitter X.



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Mozilla VPN Security Risks Discovered

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Mozilla VPN Security Risks Discovered

Mozilla published the results of a recent third-party security audit of its VPN services as part of it’s commitment to user privacy and security. The survey revealed security issues which were presented to Mozilla to be addressed with fixes to ensure user privacy and security.

Many search marketers use VPNs during the course of their business especially when using a Wi-Fi connection in order to protect sensitive data, so the  trustworthiness of a VNP is essential.

Mozilla VPN

A Virtual Private Network (VPN), is a service that hides (encrypts) a user’s Internet traffic so that no third party (like an ISP) can snoop and see what sites a user is visiting.

VPNs also add a layer of security from malicious activities such as session hijacking which can give an attacker full access to the websites a user is visiting.

There is a high expectation from users that the VPN will protect their privacy when they are browsing on the Internet.

Mozilla thus employs the services of a third party to conduct a security audit to make sure their VPN is thoroughly locked down.

Security Risks Discovered

The audit revealed vulnerabilities of medium or higher severity, ranging from Denial of Service (DoS). risks to keychain access leaks (related to encryption) and the lack of access controls.

Cure53, the third party security firm, discovered and addressed several risks. Among the issues were potential VPN leaks to the vulnerability of a rogue extension that disabled the VPN.

The scope of the audit encompassed the following products:

  • Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for macOS
  • Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for Linux
  • Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for Windows
  • Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for iOS
  • Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for Androi

These are the risks identified by the security audit:

  • FVP-03-003: DoS via serialized intent
  • FVP-03-008: Keychain access level leaks WG private key to iCloud
  • VP-03-010: VPN leak via captive portal detection
  • FVP-03-011: Lack of local TCP server access controls
  • FVP-03-012: Rogue extension can disable VPN using mozillavpnnp (High)

The rogue extension issue was rated as high severity. Each risk was subsequently addressed by Mozilla.

Mozilla presented the results of the security audit as part of their commitment to transparency and to maintain the trust and security of their users. Conducting a third party security audit is a best practice for a VPN provider that helps assure that the VPN is trustworthy and reliable.

Read Mozilla’s announcement:
Mozilla VPN Security Audit 2023

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Meilun

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