Latest SEO News & Tips From Search Engine Journal Blog

This week’s SEO Pulse covers the signals that matter most as AI search moves from experimentation to core infrastructure. The post SEO Pulse: AI Mode Hits 75M Users, Gemini 3…

Search and social now operate as a single ecosystem where shared signals, audience insights, and unified workflows drive stronger visibility and trust. The post Search & Social: How To Engineer…

Core Web Vitals measurements reveal a significant difference between open source and proprietary CMS platforms. The post Core Web Vitals Champ: Open Source Versus Proprietary Platforms appeared first on Search…

Google’s Danny Sullivan says all of their ranking systems reward content that is made for humans The post Google Says Ranking Systems Reward Content Made For Humans appeared first on…

SEO still matters, but Duane Forrester explains how answer-driven systems change the work, the metrics, and the path to influence. The post Who Benefits When The Line Between SEO And…

Learn about the future of search AI and trust in information in an evolving digital landscape focused on transparency and authenticity. The post The Future Of Content In An AI…

Google’s Robby Stein explains how AI Mode judges content quality and names five quality signals useful for SEO The post Google’s Robby Stein Names 5 SEO Factors For AI Mode…

It’s time to reset how we think about links and link building for SEO and AI search. The post Let’s Be Honest About The Ranking Power Of Links appeared first…

Google’s shift to AI Mode reshapes local SEO by elevating entity authority, verified data, and structured facts as the defining drivers of visibility. The post How Will AI Mode Impact…

Google’s Danny Sullivan provided advice on how SEOs can address client expectations around AI. The post Google Says What To Tell Clients Who Want SEO For AI appeared first on…

Google offers direct guidance on what matters for ranking in AI-driven search experiences. The post Google Explains How To Rank In AI Search appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google updated its JavaScript SEO docs with new guidance on canonical URLs for JavaScript-rendered pages. Keep canonicals consistent before and after rendering. The post Google Updates JavaScript SEO Docs With…

Don’t build links without first understanding these facts about trust and authority. The post The Facts About Trust Change Everything About Link Building appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Uncover the insights from the 2026 AI Search Benchmark report and see how your brand measures up in AI search performance. The post Benchmarking The Future OOf AI Search: 2026…

Bill Hunt reveals why CEOs must manage their websites like factories for digital value creation, not expenses buried in marketing budgets. The post Questions The CEO Should Be Asking About…

How you answer skeptical questions matters more than the questions themselves when links are at stake. The post Improve Any Link Building Strategy With One Small Change appeared first on…

Five expert strategies for increasing visitors to informational sites and outperforming competitors. The post Five Ways To Boost Traffic To Informational Sites appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Apple’s updated Safari browser enables site owners to more accurately track critical Core Web Vitals metrics. The post Apple Safari Update Enables Tracking Two Core Web Vitals Metrics appeared first…

Why Google’s focus on AI products is weakening traditional spam enforcement and reshaping risk for legitimate publishers and SEOs. The post Why Google’s Spam Problem Is Getting Worse appeared first…

User-behavior insights from GA4 help prioritize the improvements that drive measurable gains instead of surface-level traffic wins. The post How To Track User Journey In GA4 To Make SEO Wins…

Google’s core updates can trigger issues that standard SEO audits fail to catch. Here are eight factors to check. The post Eight Overlooked Reasons Why Sites Lose Rankings In Core…

Google’s John Mueller explains that staggered site migrations may impact how the site is understood The post Google Explains Why Staggered Site Migrations Impact SEO Outcome appeared first on Search…

Google updated its JavaScript SEO documentation to clarify that noindex tags may prevent rendering and JavaScript execution, blocking changes. The post Google Warns Noindex Can Block JavaScript From Running appeared…

Cloudflare’s sixth annual Year in Review reveals how AI crawlers, security threats, and traffic patterns changed in 2025. The post Cloudflare Report: Googlebot Tops AI Crawler Traffic appeared first on…

These expert insights show SEO marketers and decision-makers exactly where to focus in 2026 to protect organic visibility and turn discovery into real business impact. The post 20 SEO Experts…

Most “AI hallucinations” trace back to broken data hygiene. This guide shows how to clean, test, and own your data before it derails ROI. The post Why Your AI Agent…

Google continues evolution beyond text-first interactions with upgrades to Search Live Gemini model, possibly complicating SEO. The post Google Updates Search Live With Gemini Model Upgrade appeared first on Search…

Google’s December 2025 core update leads this week’s SEO Pulse, alongside Preferred Sources expansion and social insights in Search Console. The post SEO Pulse: December Core Update, Preferred Sources &…

Google has released the December 2025 core update, its third of the year. The rollout began December 11 and may take up to three weeks. The post Google Releases December…

The next phase of search belongs to companies that treat AI systems as decision engines and redesign their content for retrieval, reliability, and trust. The post 14 Things Executives And…

This IMHO interview explores Marie Haynes’ view of an agent-led future, and why the SEOs who master agentic systems early will hold a critical advantage. The post Well-Known SEO Explains…

Find out how WordPress & vibe coding can come together for rapid client website creation, under your agency’s brand. The post WordPress Meets Vibe Coding: White-Labeled Platform & API For…

Google expands Preferred Sources to English users worldwide and launches pilot AI partnerships with publishers. The post Google Expands Preferred Sources & Publisher AI Partnerships appeared first on Search Engine…

Kevin Indig reflects on his 2025 predictions, scoring the wins, misses, and lessons from AI’s first year of true deployment. The post Scoring My 2025 Predictions appeared first on Search…

Navigate the complex world of link building with our guide to finding reputable link building services in 2026 for long-term success. The post AI Overviews Changed Everything: How To Choose…

Google updated its core updates documentation to say smaller core updates happen on an ongoing basis, so sites can improve without waiting for named updates. The post Google Confirms Smaller…

An evidence-driven look at how paywalls can stabilize revenue, strengthen owned audiences, and reduce long-term dependence on volatile platform traffic. The post So You Want To Paywall? appeared first on…

A strategic framework for diagnosing organic traffic drops by separating tracking, brand, and SEO issues through smart data segmentation. The post Why Is Organic Traffic Down? Here’s How To Segment…

In this Ask an SEO, Adam Riemer examines why digital PR delivers a stronger business case than link-driven tactics built for ranking manipulation. The post Ask An SEO: Digital PR…

New evidence shows how LLM interfaces convert publisher authority into in-answer influence rather than measurable traffic. The post Inside ChatGPT’s Confidential Report Visibility Metrics [Part 1] appeared first on Search…

Google CEO Sundar Pichai explained why understanding AI starts with seeing the bigger picture around it. The post Google CEO Sundar Pichai Says Information Ecosystem Is Richer Than AI appeared…

Control AI visibility and server strain with a log-validated index of bots, complete with user-agent strings, official IP ranges, crawl rates, and allowlist/block best practices. The post Complete Crawler List…

This week’s SEO Pulse examines new data what drives AI citations, plus ChatGPT launches shopping research. Your quick catch-up on what practitioners need to know. The post SEO Pulse: Google…

Breaking news: Cloudflare is experiencing another major service disruption, causing widespread 5xx errors and connectivity issues for websites and services globally. The post Cloudflare Outage Returns, Triggering Fresh Wave Of…

Google Maps now lets users leave business reviews under a custom nickname instead of their real name. The setting is rolling out globally. The post Google Maps Lets Users Post…

When GenAI engines rank chunks instead of pages, your long-term visibility depends on how well you balance foundational SEO with new retrieval and trust signals. The post The New Structure…

CMOs must design 2026 SEO budgets that balance defensive stability with offensive growth across AI and GEO channels. The post How CMOs Should Prioritize SEO Budgets In 2026 Q1 And…

The Internet Archive’s new WordPress plugin provides an easy way to bring the Archive into the SEO workflow The post 5 Reasons To Use The Internet Archive’s New WordPress Plugin…

Google’s Year in Search shows AI tools led trending queries globally. Gemini ranked first worldwide, with DeepSeek appearing in both US and global lists. The post Google Year In Search…

Learn how to track visibility with Google AIO using easy-to-follow steps for improved online presence and site performance. The post Google AI Overviews: How To Measure Impressions & Track Visibility…

Kevin Indig’s 2026 predictions reveal the end of AI dashboards, the rise of agentic SEO, and a web divided between bots and verified humans. The post 7 SEO, Marketing, And…

Bill Hunt outlines how leading brands close the search equity gap by linking discoverability, governance, and measurable financial impact. The post The Search Equity Gap: Quantifying Lost Organic Market Share…

Learn the differences between XML and HTML sitemaps, their impact on crawlability, and when each makes sense for your site’s structure. The post Ask an SEO: Is An XML Or…

New research exposes how just a few hundred malicious documents can plant backdoors in AI models and distort product comparisons. The post AI Poisoning: Black Hat SEO Is Back appeared…

AI now handles the entire research stage, so now the real fight in SEO is about earning a place inside those answers The post Bing Shows What Signals Matter For…

Google’s John Mueller says sites with low-quality AI content should rethink their purpose rather than manually rewrite pages. Starting fresh may be faster than recovering. The post Google’s Mueller Says…

This week’s SEO Pulse examines new data what drives AI citations, plus ChatGPT launches shopping research. Your quick catch-up on what practitioners need to know. The post SEO Pulse: ChatGPT…

Harry Clarkson-Bennett dismantles AI hype, revealing how real marketing power still lies in creators, communities, and cross-platform customer journeys. The post The Impact AI Is Having On The Marketing Ecosystem…

Fresh data reveals where AI search value is actually accumulating, and which companies may face painful down rounds. The post The Alpha Is Not LLM Monitoring appeared first on Search…

Google’s John Mueller says he doesn’t expect a noticeable SEO impact from a 100MB video that loads in the background after page content and images. The post Mueller: Background Video…

AI search is overriding geographic signals, pushing global pages into local markets unless brands reinforce market-specific authority in ways LLMs can interpret. The post How AI’s Geo-Identification Failures Are Rewriting…

AI assistants generate shifting realities for your brand, making consistency a probabilistic challenge across every new conversation timeline. The post The AI Consistency Paradox appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Ahrefs’ Patrick Stox joins Shelley Walsh to talk about the shifting search journey, the limits of LLM attribution, and the importance of brand consistency. The post Google Isn’t Going Anywhere:…

The EU’s Digital Omnibus proposal would relax parts of GDPR and the AI Act. Here’s what to watch. The post EU Plan To Simplify GDPR Targets AI Training And Cookie…

Treat hosting as strategic SEO infrastructure, not a cost line, because no optimization can outrun a slow or unstable server. The post Why Web Hosting Is A Critical Factor To…

Advanced Web Ranking’s Q3 2025 CTR report shows branded desktop clicks spreading across more results, while commercial and local SERPs keep tightening. The post Google CTR Trends In Q3: Branded…

This week’s SEO Pulse examines the updates influencing how brands monitor demand, attribute growth, and navigate evolving AI-driven SERP experiences. The post SEO Pulse: Gemini 3 Arrives & Adobe Buys…

Trust and proven expertise are quickly becoming the signals AI systems rely on when choosing which brands to surface. The post The Role Of Brand Authority And E-E-A-T In The…

Learn how to measure visibility in AI search and move beyond outdated ranking metrics with expert insights in this webinar. The post How Do You Track What Doesn’t Rank? Measuring…

Learn how to build SEO campaigns that win links, brand mentions, and authority with proven digital PR strategies. The post Backlinks vs. Brand Mentions: How to Engineer Campaigns That Earn…

Adobe’s purchase of Semrush signals the growing importance of SEO platforms as digital marketing struggles with AI-driven uncertainty. The post SEO Community Reacts To Adobe’s Semrush Acquisition appeared first on…

This year’s SEO Trends ebook translates SEO expertise into the practical, high-impact strategic guidance marketers need for 2026. The post Google’s Old Search Era Is Over – Here’s What 2026…

Bill Hunt outlines how proactive digital integration prevents post-acquisition visibility loss and turns M&A into a driver of growth. The post Digital Equity Is Brand Equity: Don’t Lose Search Visibility…

AI search buy-in comes when it’s framed as a cost-effective way to prevent losing ground in the next discovery shift. The post Selling AI Search Strategies To Leadership Is About…

A Cloudflare outage is causing 5xx errors for many sites. Here’s how Google handles short server spikes and what to watch in SEO reports. The post Cloudflare Outage Triggers 5xx…

Schema markup transforms uncertainty in AI search into a competitive edge built on clarity, context, and trust. The post The Knowns And Unknowns Of Structured Data Attribution appeared first on…

Google’s John Mueller answers question about the SEO value of a keyword-based generic Top Level Domain The post Google On Generic Top Level Domains For SEO appeared first on Search…

Unlock the power of local search to attract more customers. Elevate your marketing strategy with effective local search techniques. The post From Listings to Loyalty: The New Role of Local…

Real-world cases reveal how failures in LLM systems spread harm and misattribute sources. Here are concrete actions SEOs can take now. The post LLMs Are Changing Search & Breaking It:…

The shift to AI search is testing every brand’s technical foundation, and only those tackling SEO debt head-on will survive. The post The Technical SEO Debt That Will Destroy Your…

Up to 56 million websites could be affected by unpatched versions of Imunify360 AV that allow full server takeover. The post Server Security Scanner Vulnerability Affects Up To 56M Sites…

Learn how translated sites can boost SEO effectiveness. Discover the benefits of multilingual visibility in AI Overviews. The post Data: Translated Sites See 327% More Visibility in AI Overviews appeared…

Discover proven AI + review tactics that boost Google visibility, rankings & ROI. Join our free webinar to turn reviews into measurable SEO success. The post Beyond Just the Stars:…

The Pulse covers the latest from Google and Open AI and the EU investigation into Google’s site reputation abuse enforcement The post SEO Pulse: AI Shopping, GPT-5.1 & EU Pressure…

Harry Clarkson-Bennett reveals how to turn Google Search Console’s constraints into enterprise-level SEO advantages through smarter property segmentation. The post How To Make Search Console Work Harder For You appeared…

Google’s upcoming shift to default AI Mode marks a turning point for SEO, forcing brands to optimize for AI citations, brand authority, and multi-platform presence. The post Is Google About…

Google updated its review snippet documentation to clarify that each review or rating in structured data should point to one clear target, reducing ambiguity. The post Google Reminds Websites To…

When a publisher demands money for a link, Quid Pro No helps you turn the solicitation into a safer, higher-value outcome. The post The Quid Pro No Method Of Link…

The llms.txt proposal aims to guide AI systems through web content, but without governance or verification, it risks repeating old SEO trust failures. The post llms.txt: The Web’s Next Great…

Google responds to EU investigation into its site reputation abuse policy, defending enforcement against parasite SEO as essential for protecting search quality. The post Google Defends Parasite SEO Crackdown As…

Google is rolling out AI shopping updates across Search and Gemini, including conversational queries, agentic checkout, and AI-powered local business calling. The post Google Adds AI Shopping Tools Across Search,…

How to build high quality links with very little effort. You might as well try them. The post Lazy Link Building Building Strategies That Work appeared first on Search Engine…

BrightEdge predicts that AI Overviews will play an important role for shopping in November through December. The post Data Shows How AI Overviews Is Ranking Shopping Keywords appeared first on…

The creator of a wildly successful website shares their secrets to how it all happened. The post Secrets Of A Wildly Successful Website appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Two ways to significantly boost the success of brand mention and link building campaigns The post Overcoming Skepticism In Brand Mention And Link Building Campaigns appeared first on Search Engine…

Treat hosting as strategic SEO infrastructure, not a cost line, because no optimization can outrun a slow or unstable server. The post Why Web Hosting Is A Critical Factor To…

Google Search supports sitewide shipping policy markup, letting you surface delivery costs and transit times in results without relying on Merchant Center. The post Google Launches Structured Data For Merchant…

Ahrefs podcast explores how efforts to get ahead in AI SEO may come at the expense of higher-value opportunities elsewhere. The post Is AI Search SEO Leaving Bigger Opportunities Behind?…

Marketing leaders need to stop funding SEO for clicks and start designing budgets around brand authority in AI-first search. The post Budget SEO For Capacity, Not Output appeared first on…

Expert Mordy Oberstein shares insights on whether you need to rethink your content strategy for LLMs and enhance your SEO efforts and what to consider. The post Ask An SEO:…