Navigating the Future of SEO: 5 Tips From HubSpot's Senior Director of Global Growth The SEO landscape has been a rollercoaster lately, and many marketers and SEO specialists are doing their best to hold on. However, HubSpot's Senior Director of Global Growth, Aja Frost, remains optimistic about the future of SEO as new competitors enter the arena. “In fact, I think the arrival of new competitors is one of the most exciting developments in the last two years,” she says. “For so long, we have all just been oriented toward Google and reverse-engineering the Google algorithm in many ways that have stifled innovation in content marketing and SEO.” If you‘re unsure how to change your approach to keep up with the ride of SEO marketing, I’ve got you covered with five tips from Aja Frost on navigating the future of SEO. AI is your tool, not your replacement. I‘ve repeated this so many times in previous blog posts, and you might be sick of hearing it, but I promise it’s true— marketers must see AI as a tool or a marketer's best friend and not as a replacement. And Aja agrees. “AI tools excel in research, organizing ideas, outlining, and providing the scaffolding for a great piece of content,” she says. And she's not just talking about written content like blog posts or emails; AI can also lay the groundwork for top-notch videos and images. But here‘s why they can’t replace you, according to Aja. “AI tools are...

The Future of Google: Web Strategists Predict How AI Overviews & Other Search Changes Will Impact Traffic More than 300 marketing pros told us whether their worst fears or wildest dreams have come to fruition since the launch of Google’s AI Overviews (formerly SGE) in May 2024. The much-hyped and much-criticized event, which Google immediately scaled back after AI Overviews (AIO) served users with incorrect and potentially harmful info, marked the wide launch of AI-generated search on the world’s biggest search engine. Now that Google has patched up its early missteps and SEOs have had time to observe traffic changes, we conducted a survey to determine whether the white-knuckled AI anxiety is backed by any evidence. We’ve got the numbers on AIO’s effects on traffic, what SEO changes to look for in the coming year, and pro tips from SEO experts on how to adapt and optimize your web and content strategies. Table of Contents What is AI Overviews? What other changes are coming to Google Search? How does AI Overviews affect web traffic? What is AI Overviews? During its beta phase, Google’s AI-powered search was called SGE, or Search Generative Experience. It’s now more commonly known as AI Overviews, and it’s Google’s response to AI-powered search engines like Perplexity, Brave, and Microsoft’s Copilot. It runs on Google’s AI model called Gemini, formerly Google Bard. Regular ol’ Google Search still uses a three-stage process, though Google notes that not every page...

SEO Step-by-Step Tutorial: 8 Easy Basics for Beginners to Master You want to learn about search engine optimization (SEO), but where do you start? You’ve probably heard of a few basic terms, like keyword research, but what else do you need to know? I this post, I'll walk you through the basic vocabulary you need to know and tips for learning SEO on your own. Then, we'll review a step-by-step SEO tutorial to help you get your SEO strategy off the ground. Table of Contents SEO Basics How to Learn SEO SEO Step-by-Step Tutorial SEO Basics Having an understanding of foundational SEO vocabulary is important. Let’s dive into a few key words to know: Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The tactics you use to optimize your website to ensure you provide the high-quality information searchers look for and rank higher in search results for specific keywords so people can find your content. On-page SEO: Any optimizations you’d make within your website to improve search rankings, like the keywords used in your content or back-end elements like site structure. Off-page SEO: Any actions you take to improve your search engine rankings outside your website, like backlinks from other websites or guest blogging. Link building: Getting links to your website from other high-quality websites to build authority and credibility. SERPs: SERPs stands for Search Engine Result Pages, and it’s the results page after someone conducts a search. White-hat...

Programmatic SEO — Getting It Right Programmatic SEO: Is it one heck of a challenge or something you can master in three hours? Do you need a specific toolkit, or will a basic understanding of Google Sheets suffice? And most importantly, how do you tackle programmatic SEO if you’ve never done it before? These are all valid questions — and I’m here to walk you through the answers and more. Plus, I’ll even share a step-by-step process of how to begin with programmatic SEO. (Psst: If you want to learn more about programmatic marketing, check out Programmatic Ads 101: The Plain-English Guide to Programmatic Advertising.) Table of Contents What is programmatic SEO? How to Do Programmatic SEO Programmatic SEO Examples 5 Tips for Building Your SEO Strategy with Programmatic SEO What is programmatic SEO? With programmatic SEO (or pSEO), you are making pages that target keywords nearly automatically. Thanks to programmatic SEO, you can generate hundreds to thousands of landing pages designed to target hundreds to thousands of keywords — but you don’t need to spend time creating those pages manually, which saves a lot of time. To do this, you’ll fetch data from and use pre-programmed rules. So, where do humans come into the picture? Only to fact-check the data and fill in the databases. But here’s a caveat. “Many people confuse product-led SEO with programmatic SEO,” says Kevin Indig, author of Growth Memo. Indig is also a growth advisor...

20 Types of Backlinks in SEO — The Complete Guide Backlinks continue to be an important ranking factor in 2023 — and it seems it never changes. But what kind of backlinks matter most in SEO? Editorial links, pillar links, sitewide links? What’s the difference between them? Which are worth the effort? In this guide, I’ll share 20 different types of backlinks in SEO with examples. Additionally, you’ll read some expert tips and tricks to acquire high-quality links and gain better search visibility. Table of Contents What is an SEO backlink? 3 Undeniable Benefits of SEO Backlinks 20 Types of SEO Backlinks Tips for SEO Backlinks What is an SEO backlink? An SEO backlink is a hyperlink from one website to another. They’re also known as inbound, incoming, or external links. Backlinks are an integral part of search engine ranking algorithms, as Google uses them to determine the credibility, authority, and relevance of the website. The more backlinks from authoritative sources, the better the chances of higher rankings. Here’s how a backlink looks on a web page. Image Source 3 Undeniable Benefits of SEO Backlinks Over 46% of SEO pros spend $5,000-$10,000 monthly on link building, a recent study found. However, according to Ahrefs, a whopping 66.31% of pages have no backlinks. And 90.63% of pages receive no organic search traffic from Google. See the trend? But let’s dive deep and see why backlinks matter. 1. Better Search Rankings...

How to Create an SEO Report — The Complete Guide Let’s say I moved to a new city, and I want to find a great, independently-owned coffee shop. My first stop is likely Google or another search engine. I’ll see several suggestions based on my location, but why do some java joints rank higher than others? Well, that’s all a part of SEO. The coffee shops higher on the list may have better site structure, making it easier for search engine bots to crawl and categorize their pages. Or perhaps they’re targeting the right keywords, like “specialty lattes” or “locally owned.” If you want to understand why your site ranks (or doesn’t) in search, you’ll need to run an SEO report. In this post, you’ll learn the ins and outs of making your own. Table of Contents What is an SEO report? SEO Report Template How to Create an SEO Report SEO Report Best Practices What is an SEO report? An SEO report shows how well your content and your web pages are performing in search engines and how prospective customers might be engaging with your content. Search engine optimization (SEO) aims to expand a company’s visibility in organic search results. As a result, these efforts drive more visitors to the company’s website, increasing their chances for more conversions and leading to more revenue. Now you know what SEO is, but how can you tell you’re doing it right? This is...

A Conversation with Hotjar: How They Scaled Organic Traffic Into Millions User empathy is at the heart of everything we do at Hotjar, and that extends into our content strategy. It is how we grew non-branded organic search traffic by 734% in just 3 years (2022 versus 2019). More importantly, it is also how we were able to turn this traffic into 1,398% growth in new paying customers during the same time period. Our annual non-branded new visitor numbers are now in the multi-millions, and the heights we've hit in the last two years in particular are a testament to the user-centric approach we've applied. So how did we do it? We've been able to achieve the growth we have by painstakingly balancing the needs of existing and potential Hotjar users with the demands of search engines. We're relentless in our commitment to satisfying our readers, but we're not naive to playing the search engine game. To succeed at a high level there is a great deal of nuance that goes into getting this right. For us, that breaks down across a number of areas but there are a handful of core fundamentals that stand out: Embracing product-led content Clustering content around the user journey Powering keyword research with customer insights Leveraging qualitative and quantitative data Nurturing your historical library Before we go deeper though, I would be remiss not to cover the very fabric that holds all this together: without deep...

68% of Web Analysts Don't Think SGE Will Negatively Impact Traffic: Are They Wrong? SGE is Google's move to transform the search experience by integrating generative AI. With this massive change to SERPs, many marketers wonder if— or how — it will impact traffic. According to our Web Traffic and Analytics report, 75% of web analysts believe generative AI-integrated searches will positively impact their blogs, and 68% predict their blogs will get more traffic than before. But are they correct, or is this just wishful thinking? Here, let‘s dive into how SGE could impact your site’s ranking for the long haul. The Pros of AI-integration into Search Engines As mentioned above, most web analysts expect AI integration to affect the SERPs positively. For instance, SGE will positively impact user experience. It will provide more accurate and relevant information and allow users to find what they're looking for more quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, an AI-integrated search engine will create more personalized results based on user preferences and past behaviors. Users will enjoy a more customized experience with content tailored to their needs. Accessibility is another excellent perk of AI-integrated search thanks to automatic language translation capabilities, which can facilitate communication across different languages. AI-generated translations would break down language barriers and make information (and content) accessible to a broader audience. Moreover, generative AI can help create unique content, such as summaries, suggestions, and recommendations that intrigue users and provide fresh ideas. ...

How to Conduct a Competitor Analysis — The Complete Guide Are you wondering why competitor analysis is important? Like sports teams study their opponents to find weaknesses, businesses can examine their competition to improve their SEO strategy. By closely looking into your competitors, you learn what works and what doesn’t. Let’s get into it. Table of Contents What is a competitor analysis? Competitor Analysis Template How to Conduct Competitor Analysis Competitor Analysis Report Best Practices Competitor Analysis Example What is a competitor analysis? Imagine a competitor analysis as if you were going snorkeling in your competitor's SEO ocean. You get to explore how they've set up their SEO strategies and the keywords they're aiming for. Pretty neat. It's like having your secret map to find the treasure before your competition. Simply put, it's like stealing a glance at the playbook of the top dogs in your industry. You get to see what they're doing with their SEO and use that intel to plan your strategies. It's quite an adventure if you ask me. The Benefits of a Competitor Analysis Now, let's look at why competitor analysis is your secret weapon. 1. Uncover new keyword opportunities. Doing a competitor analysis opens up a treasure trove of keyword opportunities. Think of all the keywords your competitors are ranking for that you might have overlooked. It's like finding a hidden treasure map. 2. Gain a deeper understanding of the SEO landscape. A...

Using the New “E” in E-E-A-T To Generate Interest in Your Brand Google loves its acronyms. In late 2022, the search giant added an extra wrinkle to their Search Quality Rater Guidelines and introduced “Experience” to their existing Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust (E-A-T) framework. This addition was part of Google’s ongoing effort to help websites provide users with more helpful, relevant information. E-E-A-T, or “Double-E-A-T,” now emphasizes the importance of including relevant first-hand experience with any subject matter. What does it mean for publishers? We’ll cover that and more below. Understanding E-E-A-T Guidelines Each part of E-E-A-T is essential for great content: Experience: Real-world or first-hand experience with the topic. Expertise: Extensive formal training or real-world experience. Authoritativeness: Certification or the ability to be seen as an authority on a given topic. Trust: The overarching element that all the above seek to satisfy. How does E-E-A-T impact SEO and content rankings? Well, it’s not technically a ranking factor but it can affect how your content ranks in search. The simplest way to answer this question is that content that ranks well – that satisfies the E-E-A-T part of Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines – meets the following parameters: It’s helpful content. Experts created it. It’s posted on an authoritative site. It’s trustworthy. It sees regular updates. Google’s embrace of experience dovetails nicely with its existing guidelines and approach to providing users with extra details to...