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What Matters In SEO As AI Accelerates Rapid Change

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What Matters In SEO As AI Accelerates Rapid Change

SEO is, by default, a longer-term digital marketing channel, and this can challenge the patience of SEO professionals – and that of important stakeholders.

Discipline and a high level of knowledge are often needed to see it through to success for companies and their clients.

I can’t understate the importance of being patient, disciplined, and focused right now.

With news emerging weekly about new ways search engines are integrating AI technology and how it will reshape search, SEO pros have a lot to think about.

And we should think about them, and start incorporating AI into our SEO strategies and processes!

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But until AI fully takes over the algorithms and search results, we also need to stay focused on what works today – and that’s not a basic or simple checklist of things to do.

Getting our strategies right, aligning with our own goals, knowing our audiences and competitors, and focusing on the top priorities of what matters most right now for our SEO plans is still very much important.

Whether you’re concerned about being able to keep up, what the future of SEO might look like, whether it’s still worth investing in, or just want some perspective on what to do right now, I hope this article helps provide some reassurance.

I will unpack eight things right now to focus on and prioritize as we balance the AI boom with our current environment and reality.

1. Know Your Goals & Objectives

SEO can be a big waste of time and resources if it isn’t guided toward specific goals.

There are so many tactics and things to “do,” but it can all be done in vain if you don’t know what you’re targeting and why you’re doing it.

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You can spend less time doing things manually and turn your processes over to AI, but if they are misguided or misaligned with your goal outcomes, then you run the risk of not achieving the results you want.

Whether it is a set of goals tied to conversions, traffic, exposure, or aligned with thought leadership and a customer journey – you want to set goals so you can work toward them in an organized fashion.

2. Have A Set Process & Standard Operating Procedures

If you’re integrating AI deeper into your methodology, you’re now introducing new technology and processes.

Innovation is great, and I support it 100%.

However, you can get loose with processes and practices if you don’t have a set process from which you’re starting.

My team is working on enhancing our standard processes and operating procedures, not just in how we do SEO, but across our entire agency.

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We’re utilizing Systemology for this, but there are a number of different ways and approaches.

Regardless of how much you’re adjusting and adapting, if you have a team of more than one, or want to be able to hand off or delegate in the future, you should have things documented and standardized as much as possible.

Plus, you’ll want to have a handle on what’s working and what isn’t.

3. Be Adaptable & Embrace Change

If you’ve been doing SEO for a long time, you know that change is a constant.

From big algorithm or ranking factor updates to ongoing core updates to machine learning being built into the algorithm, changes will occur, and you will inevitably need to pivot – even when you’re firmly established where you want to be in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Even if you’re skeptical or want to take a “wait and see” approach to how AI will truly impact the SERPs and change SEO in the bigger picture and longer term, I encourage you to use AI today to automate processes and leverage those increased abilities to increase efficiencies.

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4. Leverage What Works Today

It can be all-consuming to test new things, adapt processes, and engage AI within them.

While my point above encourages such exploration, don’t take your focus too much off of what works today and what the current ranking factors are.

Keep a human, user-first approach when it comes to using AI to generate content.

Yes, you can use multiple AI tools to get a good score, regardless of whether the content was generated by AI or a human.

However, even if you get rankings and traffic to your site, if your goal is conversions or something deeper than that, you may not be hitting the right level of resonance with your audience.

Focus on your user, even if you’re using AI, to ensure that you stand apart from any level of commoditized AI-generated content or low-quality content (even if human-generated) in your industry.

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Focus on solid technical, on-page, and off-page ranking factors that are tied to strong SEO strategies and tactics right now.

5. Implement Today With An Eye On The Future

Am I contradicting myself at this point? I don’t think so.

While you focus on what works today, my message and recommendations are all about balance. While you’re implementing your current strategy, you can’t fall behind.

Know how ChatGPT, Bard, and other aspects of AI are being used by search engines and integrated into search results. Develop an understanding of how SERP feature changes are going to influence how we do SEO.

Be ready and willing to adapt and adjust as you go.

We’re definitely in a balancing act right now; Those that don’t adapt will be left behind.

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Those that get distracted by the new shiny object today and stop doing what works today will lose ground and momentum.

6. Stay Active & Keep Momentum

A constant since the beginning with SEO is the need to take a long-term and ongoing approach to it.

Sure, you might see a bump from doing a round of optimization tactics.

Yes, you can stop actively working on SEO and might not see an immediate or drastic drop in traffic.

However, my recommendation hasn’t changed: You need to have a plan – phased out, ongoing optimization built into it – and stay the course.

Even if the SERPs change and the things that work today are totally different in SEO next year, you want to keep going and not get lax. Momentum is important in SEO strategies and in getting where you want to be with your goals.

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The search engines aren’t the only things changing.

Your marketplace and competitors are extra variables to contend with.

7. Don’t Write Off SEO Easily

SEO has gotten harder in some ways over the past few years.

As the ongoing squeeze of real estate continues at the top of the organic results, we can see high rankings but lower traffic from those.

Looking at my historical Google Search Console data, I can attest to that.

SEO can be hurt by not having the resources – internal or external, soft or hard costs – beyond people with SEO titles to see success. Content is fuel for SEO; Dev, UX, and IT teams all have a part to play.

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Your overall marketing strategy and ensuring things work together across multiple marketing channels can provide insights and lifts in SEO.

There are a lot of reasons why SEO doesn’t work.

Don’t silo it and have unfair expectations.

Don’t write it off without fully trying it.

A three-month investment isn’t enough. It takes time and additional resources, but if the return on investment (ROI) math works, it is worth sticking with so you really know whether it can be successful or not for your brand.

8. Keep SEO Integrated With Other Channels & Efforts

Naturally, SEO and paid search have a lot in common, seeking the same audiences and trying to land traffic coming to a SERP.

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Other digital and traditional marketing channels that involve content, websites, and customer journey mapping can provide insights and work “with” SEO, versus separately from it.

Don’t set SEO apart from the overall marketing plan and strategy. It can benefit greatly from being plugged in.

And as you work on leveraging new technologies, it can be a testing ground to find areas where previously time-consuming and inefficient processes can be improved.

Conclusion

I’m excited about how technology will improve SEO.

My team is fully testing and already leveraging AI for internal processes and content outputs.  We will continue to do this.

However, we’re still in the day-to-day process of optimizing client sites and implementing strategies within what works today to reach goals.

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The key to any big change in SEO has always been to balance the here and now versus what is to come.

This might be one of the biggest waves of distraction and disruption we’ve seen, but the need for balance remains – and might also be more important than ever as we rapidly advance tech and AI.

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Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It

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Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It

Content pruning sounds pretty appealing: delete a ton of content and see your organic traffic improve. But pruning has risks (like deleting useful pages and useful backlinks), and benefits are not guaranteed: So how does pruning actually work? And when

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8 Free SEO Reporting Tools

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8 Free SEO Reporting Tools

There’s no shortage of SEO reporting tools to choose from—but what are the core tools you need to put together an SEO report?

In this article, I’ll share eight of my favorite SEO reporting tools to help you create a comprehensive SEO report for free.

Price: Free

Google Search Console, often called GSC, is one of the most widely used tools to track important SEO metrics from Google Search.

Most common reporting use case

GSC has a ton of data to dive into, but the main performance indicator SEOs look at first in GSC is Clicks on the main Overview dashboard.

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As the data is from Google, SEOs consider it to be a good barometer for tracking organic search performance. As well as clicks data, you can also track the following from the Performance report:

  • Total Impressions
  • Average CTR
  • Average Position
gsc-performance-overviewgsc-performance-overview

Tip

If you’ve signed up for AWT using Google Search Console, you can view your GSC performance data in Ahrefs by clicking “GSC Performance” from the main dashboard.

But for most SEO reporting, GSC clicks data is exported into a spreadsheet and turned into a chart to visualize year-over-year performance.

organic-traffic-graph-showing-clicks-year-over-yearorganic-traffic-graph-showing-clicks-year-over-year

Favorite feature

One of my favorite reports in GSC is the Indexing report. It’s useful for SEO reporting because you can share the indexed to non-indexed pages ratio in your SEO report.

google-search-console-indexed-pages-reportgoogle-search-console-indexed-pages-report

If the website has a lot of non-indexed pages, then it’s worth reviewing the pages to understand why they haven’t been indexed.

Price: Free

Google Looker Studio (GLS), previously known as Google Data Studio (GDS), is a free tool that helps visualize data in shareable dashboards.

Most common reporting use case

Dashboards are an important part of SEO reporting, and GLS allows you to get a total view of search performance from multiple sources through its integrations.

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Out of the box, GLS allows you to connect to many different data sources.

Such as:

  • Marketing products – Google Ads, Google Analytics, Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360
  • Consumer products – Google Sheets, YouTube, and Google Search Console
  • Databases – BigQuery, MySQL, and PostgreSQL
  • Social media platformsFacebook, Reddit, and Twitter
  • Files – CSV file upload and Google Cloud Storage

Sidenote.

If you don’t have the time to create your own report manually, Ahrefs has three Google Looker Studio connectors that can help you create automated SEO reporting for any website in a few clicks

google-looker-studio-partner-connectorsgoogle-looker-studio-partner-connectors

Here’s what a dashboard in GLS looks like:

ahrefs-seo-audit-dashboardahrefs-seo-audit-dashboard
Ahrefs Google Looker Studio integration

With this type of dashboard, you share reports that are easy to understand with clients or other stakeholders.

Favorite feature

The ability to blend and filter data from different sources, like GA and GSC, means you can get a customized overview of your total search performance, tailored to your website.

Price: Free for 500 URLs

Screaming Frog is a website crawler that helps you audit your website.

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Screaming Frog’s free version of its crawler is perfect if you want to run a quick audit on a bunch of URLs. The free version is limited to 500 URLs—making it ideal for crawling smaller websites.

screaming-frog-user-interface-screenshotscreaming-frog-user-interface-screenshot

Most common reporting use case

When it comes to reporting, the Reports menu in Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a wealth of information you can look over that covers all the technical aspects of your website, such as analyzing, redirects, canonicals, pagination, hreflang, structured data, and more.

Once you’ve crawled your site, it’s just a matter of downloading the reports you need and working out the main issues to summarize in your SEO report.

Favorite feature

Screaming Frog can pull in data from other tools, including Ahrefs, using APIs. 

If you already had access to a few SEO tools’ APIs, you could pull data from all of them directly into Screaming Frog. This is useful if you want to combine crawl data with performance data or other 3rd party tools.

screaming-frog-api-accessscreaming-frog-api-access

Even if you’ve never configured an API, connecting other tools to Screaming Frog is straightforward.

Price: Free

Ahrefs has a large selection of free SEO tools to help you at every stage of your SEO campaign, and many of these can be used to provide insights for your SEO reporting.

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when-to-use-ahrefs-free-tools-across-the-seo-process-illustrationwhen-to-use-ahrefs-free-tools-across-the-seo-process-illustration

For example, you could use our:

Most common reporting use case

One of our most popular free SEO tools is Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT), which you can use for your SEO reporting.

With AWT, you can:

  • Monitor your SEO health over time by setting up scheduled SEO audits
  • See the performance of your website
  • Check all known backlinks for your website
ahrefs-overviewahrefs-overview

Favorite feature

Of all the Ahrefs free tools, my favorite is AWT. Within it, site auditing is my favorite feature—once you’ve set it up, it’s a completely hands-free way to keep track of your website’s technical performance and monitor its health.

If you already have access to Google Search Console, it’s a no-brainer to set up a free AWT account and schedule a technical crawl of your website(s).

Price: Free

Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar is a free Chrome and Firefox extension useful for diagnosing on-page technical issues and performing quick spot checks on your website’s pages.

Most common reporting use case

For SEO reporting, it’s useful to run an on-page check on your website’s top pages to ensure there aren’t any serious on-page issues.

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ahrefs-seo-toolbar-overviewahrefs-seo-toolbar-overview

With the free version, you get the following features:

  • On-page SEO report
  • Redirect tracer with HTTP Headers
  • Outgoing links report with link highlighter and broken link checker
  • SERP positions
  • Country changer for SERP

The SEO toolbar is excellent for spot-checking issues with pages on your website. If you are not confident with inspecting the code, it can also give you valuable pointers on what elements you need to include on your pages to make them search-friendly.

If anything is wrong with the page, the toolbar highlights it, with red indicating a critical issue.

severity-highlight-ahrefs-seo-toolbarseverity-highlight-ahrefs-seo-toolbar

Favorite feature

The section I use the most frequently in the SEO toolbar is the Indexability tab. In this section, you can see whether the page can be crawled and indexed by Google.

indexability-tab-ahrefs-seo-toolbarindexability-tab-ahrefs-seo-toolbar

Although you can do this by inspecting the code manually, using the toolbar is much faster.

Price: Free

Like GSC, Google Analytics is another tool you can use to track the performance of your website, tracking sessions and conversions and much more on your website.

google-analytics-screenshotgoogle-analytics-screenshot

Most common reporting use case

GA gives you a total view of website traffic from several different sources, such as direct, social, organic, paid traffic, and more.

Favorite feature

You can create and track up to 300 events and 30 conversions with GA4. Previously, with universal analytics, you could only track 20 conversions. This makes conversion and event tracking easier within GA4.

Price: Free

Google Slides is Google’s version of Microsoft PowerPoint. If you don’t have a dashboard set up to report on your SEO performance, the next best thing is to assemble a slide deck.

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Many SEO agencies present their report through dashboard insights and PowerPoint presentations. However, if you don’t have access to PowerPoint, then Google Slides is an excellent (free) alternative.

google-slides-screenshotgoogle-slides-screenshot

Most common reporting use cases

The most common use of Google Slides is to create a monthly SEO report. If you don’t know what to include in a monthly report, use our SEO report template.

Favorite feature

One of my favorite features is the ability to share your presentation on a video chat directly from Google Slides. You can do this by clicking the camera icon in the top right.

share-video-chat-google-slidesshare-video-chat-google-slides

This is useful if you are working with remote clients and makes sharing your reports easy.

Price: Free

Google Trends allows you to view a keyword’s popularity over time in any country. The data shown is the relative popularity ratio scaled from 0-100, not the direct volume of search queries.

Most common reporting use cases

Google Trends is useful for showing how the popularity of certain searches can increase or decrease over time. If you work with a website that often has trending products, services, or news, it can be useful to illustrate this visually in your SEO report.

Google Trends makes it easy to spot seasonal trends for product categories. For example, people want to buy BBQs when the weather is sunny.

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Using Google Trends, we can see that peak demand for BBQs usually happens in June-July every year.

bbq-google-trends-graphbbq-google-trends-graph

Using this data across the last five years, we could be fairly sure when the BBQ season would start and end.

Favorite feature

Comparing two or more search terms against each other over time is one of my favorite uses of Google Trends, as it can be used to tell its own story.

google-trends-comparison-examplegoogle-trends-comparison-example

Embellishing your report with trends data allows you to gain further insights into market trends.

You can even dig into trends at a regional level if you need to.

regional-trends-via-google-trendsregional-trends-via-google-trends

Final thoughts

These free tools will help you put together the foundations for a well-rounded SEO report.

The tools you use for SEO reporting don’t always have to be expensive—even large companies use many of the free tools mentioned to create insights for their client’s SEO reports.

Got more questions? Ping me on X 🙂

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Study Reveals Potential Disruption For Brands & SEO

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Study Reveals Potential Disruption For Brands & SEO

A new study by Authoritas suggests that Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE), currently being tested with a limited group of users, could adversely impact brand visibility and organic search traffic.

These findings include:

  • When an SGE box is expanded, the top organic result drops by over 1,200 pixels on average, significantly reducing visibility.
  • 62% of SGE links come from domains outside the top 10 organic results.
  • Ecommerce, electronics, and fashion-related searches saw the greatest disruption, though all verticals were somewhat impacted.

Adapting to generative search may require a shift in SEO strategies, focusing more on long-form content, expert insights, and multimedia formats.

As Google continues to invest in AI-powered search, the Authoritas study provides an early look at the potential challenges and opportunities ahead.

High Penetration Rate & Industry-Wide Effects

The study analyzed 2,900 brand and product-related keywords across 15 industry verticals and found that Google displays SGE results for 91.4% of all search queries.

The prevalence of SGE results indicates they impact a majority of websites across various industries.

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The research analyzed the typical composition of SGE results. On average, each SGE element contained between 10-11 links sourced from an average of four different domains.

This indicates brands may need to earn multiple links and listings within these AI-curated results to maintain visibility and traffic.

The research also suggests that larger, well-established websites like Quora and Reddit will likely perform better in SGE results than smaller websites and lesser-known brands.

Shifting Dynamics In Organic Search Results

With SGE results occupying the entire first page, websites that currently hold the top positions may experience a significant decrease in traffic and click-through rates.

When a user clicks to expand the SGE element, the study found that, on average, the #1 ranked organic result drops a sizeable 1,255 pixels down the page.

Even if a website ranks number one in organic search, it may effectively be pushed down to the second page due to the prominence of SGE results.

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New Competition From Unexpected Sources

The study revealed that SGE frequently surfaces links and content from websites that didn’t appear in the top organic rankings.

On average, only 20.1% of SGE links exactly matched a URL from the first page of Google search results.

An additional 17.9% of SGE links were from the same domains as page one results but linked to different pages. The remaining 62% of SGE links came from sources outside the top organic results.

Challenges For Brand Term Optimization & Local Search

The study reveals that SGE results for branded terms may include competitors’ websites alongside the brand’s own site, potentially leading to increased competition for brand visibility.

Laurence O’Toole, CEO and founder of Authoritas, states:

“Brands are not immune. These new types of generative results introduce more opportunities for third-party sites and even competitors to rank for your brand terms and related brand and product terms that you care about.”

Additionally, local businesses may face similar challenges, as SGE results could feature competing local brands even when users search for a specific brand in a regional context.

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Methodology & Limitations

To arrive at these insights, Authoritas analyzed a robust dataset of 2,900 search keywords across a spectrum of query types, including specific brand names, brand + generic terms, brand + product names, generic terms, and specific product names. The keywords were distributed across 15 industry verticals.

The study utilized a consistent desktop browser viewport to quantify pixel-based changes in the search results. Authoritas also developed proprietary “alignment scores” to measure the degree of overlap between traditional organic search results and the new SGE links.

While acknowledging some limitations, such as the keyword set needing to be fully representative of each vertical and the still-evolving nature of SGE, Authoritas maintains that the insights hold value in preparing brands for the new realities of an AI-powered search ecosystem.

Why We Care

The findings of the Authoritas study have implications for businesses, marketers, and SEO professionals. As Google’s SGE becomes more prevalent, it could disrupt traditional organic search rankings and traffic patterns.

Brands that have invested heavily in SEO and have achieved top rankings for key terms may find their visibility and click-through rates diminished by the prominence of SGE results.

SGE introduces new competition from unexpected sources, as most SGE links come from domains outside the top 10 organic results. This means businesses may need to compete not only with their traditional rivals but also with a broader range of websites that gain visibility through SGE.

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As Google is a primary source of traffic and leads for many businesses, any changes to its search results can impact visibility, brand awareness, and revenue.

How This Could Help You

While the rise of SGE presents challenges, it also offers opportunities.

Taking into account what we’ve learned from the Authoritas study, here are some actionable takeaways:

  • As SGE favors in-depth, informative content, businesses may benefit from investing in comprehensive, well-researched articles and guides that provide value to users.
  • Incorporating expert quotes, interviews, and authoritative sources within your content could increase the likelihood of being featured in SGE results.
  • Enriching your content with images, videos, and other multimedia elements may help capture the attention of both users and the SGE algorithm.
  • Building a strong brand presence across multiple channels, including social media, industry forums, and relevant websites, can increase your chances of appearing in SGE.
  • Creating a trustworthy brand and managing your online reputation will be crucial, as SGE may feature competitors alongside your website.

Looking Ahead

While the long-term impact of SGE will depend on user adoption and the perceived usefulness of results, this study’s findings serve as a valuable starting point for businesses and SEO professionals.

By proactively addressing the challenges and opportunities SGE presents, you can increase your chances of success in the new search environment.


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