Ask An SEO: My Content Can’t Be Seen When I Disable JavaScript – Will This Affect My SEO? via @sejournal, @HelenPollitt1

This week’s question comes from Thomas, who asks:

I disabled the JavaScript just to check the content of my webpage, but unfortunately I could not see any content except the banner H1 tag.

Will it hurt my SEO? If yes, what are the advisable solutions for this?

This is a great question – it’s something that all SEO professionals need to be aware of.

We spend so much time trying to create interesting, engaging content that it would be heartbreaking to think that it isn’t visible to search engines.

However, given the recent advancements in Google’s ability to render JavaScript content, is that something we still need to be concerned about?

The short answer is yes.

Why JavaScript Can Be A Problem

We know that to ingest information, Googlebot will discover a page, crawl it, parse and index it. For JavaScript, the crawler needs to “render” the code. The rendering stage is where JavaScript problems can occur.

JavaScript has to be downloaded and executed in order for the content to be parsed. This takes more resources than the bot parsing content in HTML.

As such, sometimes Google will defer the rendering stage and come back to a page to render it at a later date.

Most websites these days will use some JavaScript – that’s absolutely fine.

However, if your website requires JavaScript to load important content that is crucial to the page, then it might be a risk.

If, for some reason, a search bot does not render the JavaScript on a page, then it will not have any context as to what the page is about.

It is crucial to remember that not every search engine can render JavaScript. This is becoming increasingly important in the era of generative search engines – very few of which render JavaScript.

Diagnosing A Problem

You’ve done the right thing by starting to investigate the effect JavaScript rendering might be having on your site.

Turning off the JavaScript and seeing what content remains, and what is still interactive without it, is important.

I suggest going a step further and looking at what is available to the search bots to read on a page’s first load. This will help you identify content accessible without JavaScript rendering.

Check Google Search Console

First off, use Google Search Console URL Inspection tool and look at the rendered HTML. If the content is present in the rendered HTML then Google should be able to read the content.

Check Chrome Browser

You can go to “View Source” in Chrome to see what the pre-rendered HTML looks like. If the content is all there, you don’t need to worry any further.

However, if it’s not, then you can use the Developer Tools in Chrome for further diagnostics. Look in the “Elements” tab. If you can see your content, then again, you are probably OK.

Check The Robots.txt

Sometimes, developers may choose to block specific JavaScript files from being crawled by disallowing them in the robots.txt.

This isn’t necessarily an issue unless those files are needed to render important information.

It’s always worth checking your robots.txt file to see if there are any JavaScript files blocked that could prevent the bots, in particular, from accessing the content of the page.

Next Steps

JavaScript tends to worry a lot of people when it comes to SEO. It’s a significant part of the modern web, however. There’s no escaping the use of JavaScript.

We need to ensure that our websites utilize JavaScript so that both popular and emerging search engines can find and read our content.

You don’t need to worry but be diligent.

If you have developer resources at hand, you can work with them to identify the most applicable solution.

Here are some checks you may want to make:

Are We Using Client-Side Rendering Or Server-Side Rendering?

Client-side rendering essentially utilizes the browser to render the JavaScript of a page.

When a page is visited, the server responds by sending the HTML code and the JavaScript files. The browser then downloads those files and generates the content from the JavaScript.

This is counter to server-side rendering, where the content is rendered by the server and then sent to the browser with the data provided.

In general, server-side rendering is easier for bots, can be a quicker experience for users, and tends to be the default recommendation for SEO.

However, it can be more costly for the websites and, therefore, isn’t always the default choice for developers.

Is Our Main Content Able To Be Rendered Without JavaScript?

The most important content on your page, the main content, needs to be possible to parse without JavaScript rendering.

That is always the safest way to ensure that bots can access the content.

Are We Using JavaScript Links?

A further consideration is whether your links can be crawled easily by the search bots.

It’s not always an issue to have links generated through JavaScript. However, there is a risk that bots might not be able to resolve them unless they are properly contained in HTML element with an href attribute.

Google states it “can’t reliably extract URLs from elements that don’t have an href attribute or other tags that perform as links because of script events.”

Remember, though, it’s not just Google that you need to be conscious of. It’s always better to err on the side of making your links easy to follow.

In Summary

It is crucial to make sure your content is accessible to bots, now and in the future.

That means that if your website relies heavily on JavaScript to load content, you may struggle to communicate that information to some search engines.

It’s true that Google is much better at rendering JavaScript-heavy sites than it used to be, but the SEO playing field is not just Google.

To make sure your website can perform well in search platforms beyond Google, you may want to change how your website renders content, making sure your main content is in HTML.

More Resources:


Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Ask An SEO: If I Am Not An SEO Expert, Is It Better For Me To Start An Agency? via @sejournal, @HelenPollitt1

Today’s question from Kazi is such an honest and important one for our industry. Kazi asks:

“I’m new to this sector. Should I start an agency as an one-man employee? I know it sounds ridiculous, but I am very much in need of work – more specifically, in need of money.

So, I think an agency will have better pull power than me working as a solo search engine optimizer because clients won’t get attracted if they see a new SEO learner…”

I understand that the crux of this question is, “Will you appear more legitimate and competitive if you are offering services as an agency rather than a solo contractor?”

However, I really want to address the more important aspect of this: Should you be offering SEO services for a fee as someone brand new to the industry?

My answer to that is no. Not only shouldn’t you be offering SEO services as an agency, but you also shouldn’t be offering them as a solo contractor if you are brand new to SEO.

Why SEO Is A Great Career Move

I completely get the appeal of this as a career move. On the face of it, SEO has no barriers to entry, which is great!

I fully recommend this industry to anyone passionate about analysis, psychology, creativity, sustainability, and technology.

You’ll hear me encourage it for people who like to problem-solve and find solutions that don’t have obvious answers.

I recommend it not only for those who have a background in creative pursuits, but also for those whose background is more tech-focused. It is a career that captures the interests of a lot of different types of people.

Not only does it give you the opportunity to earn money through skills that are in demand, but there are also no expensive overheads.

There are no formal qualifications needed and no regulatory bodies to convince. All you need is a computer, the internet, and the passion to develop your skills.

But it’s not easy.

There is a lot to learn before you can realistically start charging for your services. It is not just about the mechanics of SEO, but also how to apply them in different situations.

Risks To Clients

If you take on SEO work for a business or organization without knowing how to apply SEO concepts in practice, you could open them up to significant risk.

Learning On The Job

SEO is not a straightforward practice. There are a lot of variables and circumstances that affect what we might deem “good practice.” Because of this, you can’t apply a blanket solution to every situation you encounter.

If you are brand new to SEO, there may be nuances with your client’s industry, website, or tech stack that you aren’t aware of, which will impact how successful your strategy is.

A lot of SEO comes down to problem-solving. This is a skill that gets honed over time. As you encounter more situations and learn from what worked and what didn’t, you will become more adept at creating successful strategies.

If you are a brand-new SEO bearing full responsibility for the success of the organic performance of a client, you will come unstuck.

SEO is a great industry for learning on the job. However, if you are learning SEO from scratch, you don’t want the pressure of being the most senior SEO in the room. You will likely make mistakes, and these could be costly to your client.

May Cause Significant Traffic Loss

In some situations, a junior SEO working on a website alone could cause significant traffic loss for a client.

For example, you could accidentally set live a solution that de-indexes their whole site. You may not know how to guard against that sort of mistake. You could see your client’s organic traffic disappear in a matter of days.

These are risks that more experienced SEO professionals face as well, but after years of working in SEO, we can foresee what issues might arise from the recommendations we make.

Could Cause Financial Harm

If your SEO recommendations cause organic performance issues, your client’s revenue could be significantly affected.

If they run a business that relies on their website – and in particular, organic traffic – then your mistakes could be very costly.

People have lost jobs over organic traffic loss. Without much experience in SEO and no one more senior to help flag risks, this is something that you could easily cause.

Risks To You

Not only would charging for your services as an SEO when you’ve never done it before put your clients at risk, but it could also be harmful to you.

Significant Pressure

You will face significant pressure. You will be expected to set reasonable goals and achieve them in a timely manner.

Without much experience in SEO, that’s going to be incredibly difficult to do. You’ll either set unattainable goals that no SEO could realistically achieve, or you simply won’t have the skills to achieve more practical objectives.

With that, you will find yourself trying to appease an increasingly disgruntled client.

Any SEO professional who has worked as a freelancer or as part of an agency has had to have difficult conversations with a client. They have expected results that you have not been able to deliver.

However, an experienced SEO will be able to identify when that is likely to be the case and adapt strategy, or inform the client of more realistic timelines or goals.

They will also have ways to help the client feel like they are getting a genuine return on their investment, even if it’s not as much or as quickly as they had anticipated.

A brand-new SEO specialist simply will not know how to do that. It’s too much to expect from someone so early on in their career. You will likely feel the pressure of that.

Your lack Of Experience Will Be Discovered Quickly

The above is really a best-case scenario – you actually make it to the point where you have convinced clients to trust you, and you are beginning to see that you can’t hold up to the promised performance standards.

Most likely, your lack of knowledge and experience will be identified more quickly. You may be working with people with more SEO knowledge than you, such as marketers or product owners.

They may not consider themselves experts in SEO, but they will assume you are if you sell it as a service. They will probably be able to identify significant gaps in your knowledge very early on in your relationship.

Not only will that likely sour the client-agency relationship, but you may also find yourself without a client pretty quickly.

Could Have Legal Ramifications

In some situations, positioning yourself as someone who can get results through offering a service – without the ability to fulfill that – could be a breach of contract.

I would be very wary of making promises to clients about your abilities unless you are upfront that you are brand new to SEO and they are among your first-ever clients.

What You Could Try Instead

So, if I’ve managed to give you pause about committing to offering SEO services as a contractor or an agency, may I suggest some other ways forward?

You can still make money through a career in SEO, even if you are beginning to learn about it.

Join A Company As An Intern

You are clearly passionate about SEO if you are already thinking about starting a business working in the industry. That passion is a great start.

Consider finding an entry-level job in the SEO field and learning on the job in a more supportive, less pressured way.

You could find an agency or in-house position that values your drive and ambition but can support you with the right resources and opportunities to learn SEO while minimizing the risk to yourself and others.

Practice On Sites That You Can Fail With And Learn

If you are struggling to find employment within SEO but want to learn it to get into a position where you can legitimately offer SEO services, you need practice.

Do not practice on sites that rely on organic traffic. Instead, consider building your own sites around subjects you are passionate about and develop your experience and confidence in SEO.

You can make mistakes, weather traffic drops, and be hit by algorithm updates – all without risking anyone’s livelihood. Through that, you will develop the skills you need to work on other people’s sites.

I would still consider graduating to other sites where the risk is low. For example, volunteering your time to work alongside other SEO professionals.

Or, you could try optimizing the site of a friend who understands you are still learning SEO and is happy for you to practice and make mistakes on their site.

Set Up Your Own Site And Monetize It

If you are determined to make money through SEO right away, then build and optimize a site that you can monetize.

This might mean an affiliate site, or perhaps you can start a business that drop-ships.

Whatever course you take, make sure that the risk is minimal, and you will not suffer if you lose traffic and revenue while perfecting your SEO skills.

Make Sure You Have The Experience Before You Go Alone

Most importantly, understand that learning SEO well takes time.

You can easily read up on SEO and have a very high theoretical knowledge of it, but you still need to put what you’ve learned into practice.

This way, you will be able to understand how to adapt strategies for different goals or how to rally when performance doesn’t go as expected.

I want to encourage you to pursue a career in SEO, but I caution you against running before you can walk.

More Resources:


Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Ask An SEO: Should I Prioritize Selling On Marketplaces Or My Own Website? via @sejournal, @kevgibbo

This week’s Ask an SEO question comes from Mike in Toronto who enquires:

“For a small business that wants to sell products online, would you advise me to set up my own ecommerce website, or should I use a marketplace like Amazon instead?

This is undoubtedly one of the most common dilemmas for small business owners when they decide to start selling online.

It is a particularly tricky one to weigh up because the choices you make now could have quite a big influence on your strategy for months or even years to come.

But to give you my answer up front, my general advice is to begin selling via marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, or Etsy. This will give you visibility, sales, and near-immediate exposure with minimal effort.

Then, in the long term, you should gradually build out your own website, letting you own your brand and audience.

Of course, there are caveats here. Some product categories don’t tend to do well via online marketplaces. This often, but not always, includes things like furniture, fine art, vehicle spare parts, and so on.

The reverse is also true. If you’re selling books, personal care products, and some kinds of handmade goods, it often makes more sense to stick with the marketplaces.

The Pros And Cons Of Selling On Marketplaces

To help you weigh up whether or not to sell on marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, or eBay, here’s my take on the pros and cons of using them.

Advantages Of Selling On Marketplaces

  • Instant exposure: Online marketplaces put you in front of millions of shoppers. In the UK, for instance, a whopping 20% of consumers buy goods on Amazon each week, and 80% buy something at least monthly. Having your products available on marketplaces helps you get exposure without having to build traffic from scratch.
  • Easy setup: Listing your products on an established site is much faster than setting up a content management system (CMS) such as Shopify. You need very little technical know-how to list products on marketplaces, and you can get up and running in just a couple of hours.
  • Marketplace SEO tends to be simpler: Optimizing your product descriptions, images, and titles for search algorithms on marketplaces is much more straightforward than trying to compete in Google search (indeed, you could even be competing against marketplaces in search engine results pages).
  • Trust: Millions of people use marketplaces every single day. They trust these websites and are more likely to buy through them, compared to a brand they’ve never heard of.
  • Logistics support: Online marketplaces offer different packages to their sellers, but there’s usually quite a bit of support available for deliveries, returns, refunds, and customer payment processing.

Disadvantages Of Selling On Marketplaces

  • Fees: Marketplaces charge sellers varying fees. These can range from about 2% of the transaction value up to 20%, or even more for some product categories/price brackets. That can really undercut your profitability.
  • No brand control: When you sell on marketplaces, you really are at the mercy of their algorithms, their policies, and their rules. There is very little you can do if the marketplace decides to push its own products over yours or suspend your account for whatever reason.
  • No customer relationship: When you sell on marketplaces, you don’t own the customer data. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to cultivate long-term loyalty. You also can’t email customers with discounts or offers outside of the marketplace.
  • The competition: Marketplaces are intensely competitive places. Not only will you be competing against many other small businesses in your niche, but you could also be up against big brands with name recognition. Somewhat disconcertingly, marketplaces like Amazon also sell their own versions of products (from jewelry to sweets to clothes hangers), which could directly compete with yours.
  • Brand visibility: People who buy on marketplaces like Amazon may not even be aware that your brand exists. Many consumers assume they are buying from the marketplace itself, rather than your company.

The Pros And Cons Of Setting Up Your Own Website

Many ecommerce business owners dream of setting up their own websites. There’s something really exciting about having your own shop front to the world.

Here’s what you need to know before going ahead with that.

Advantages Of Setting Up Your Own Ecommerce Site

  • Full brand control: If you run your own website, you own everything. It’s your site, your URL, your designs, your pricing. Rather than having to rely on a fairly generic marketplace storefront template, you can build a website that really matches your company’s ethos.
  • Potentially better profit margins: By avoiding marketplace fees and commissions, you can potentially increase your profit margins.
  • Better customer relationship: With your own website, you have direct access to customer emails and data. This allows for re-marketing and personalization (provided those customers have consented to communications).
  • SEO: If you have built a well-optimized website, this can bring in traffic from Google and other search engines without you having to pay for ads. Essentially, that’s free exposure for the right audiences.
  • Faster payments: When using marketplaces, you typically have to wait for scheduled payout dates (marketplaces typically hold onto money for longer in case of customer complaints or refund requests). With your own website, money from each sale will often land in your business bank account the next business day.

Disadvantages Of Setting Up Your Own Ecommerce Site

  • Building traffic is hard: If you don’t yet have an existing audience, you need to invest in SEO, ads, social media, and content to start attracting potential customers.
  • Technical setup: Building and running an ecommerce website is technically challenging. While a CMS like Shopify makes it a little easier, this is a lot more work than simply setting up a listing on a marketplace.
  • Tech costs: The costs of setting up an ecommerce website are equally significant. You need to buy a domain name, code the pages, maintain the data, ensure the site and customer data are protected, maintain the website, and do various other technical tasks. Unless you’re confident doing this yourself, you’ll probably need to pay a specialist to do this for you.
  • Trust takes time: Assuming your brand is fairly small, building up trust in your website takes time. The best way to do that is through social proof (for example, from customer reviews or companies like Trustpilot). But this won’t happen overnight; it can take months or even years to achieve.
  • Logistics: There are various logistical issues to be aware of when setting up your own website. These include choosing a secure point of sale, managing shipping, setting up policy pages, or getting to grips with legal issues about refunds and returns.

Multi-Channel Is The Way To Go

It is very common nowadays to find small ecommerce companies that sell through multiple channels, including major platforms like Amazon, niche local marketplaces for specific geographies or interests, as well as their own websites and even social media.

It’s a bit outdated, but a 2017 study is quite illustrative. It found that 60% of SMEs made over half of their ecommerce sales on marketplaces, and a quarter had an equal split between marketplaces and their own websites.

Only 12% made all their sales on marketplaces, and only 8% sold exclusively through their own websites. Essentially, most SMEs eventually opt for multi-channel sales.

As I mentioned above, my feeling is that for most businesses, a multi-channel route is the best option.

Starting on a marketplace will help you win customers, gain some visibility, and also allow you to gauge demand for your idea.

As sales start to pick up in the marketplace, you can then begin investing in a website that will ultimately become the primary focus of your offering.

So, there is a lot to think about, but I really encourage you to jump in. It’s important to have a long-term strategy, but there is also a lot you can pick up through trial and error – and the journey can be incredibly fun and rewarding.

Good luck!

More Resources:


Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Ask An SEO: What Should Be On Your Author Pages? via @sejournal, @MordyOberstein

This week’s question about author pages comes from Joylyn:

We are working on building author pages for our content, would you mind teaching us best practices for building author archive pages with any SEO best practices.

A great question and perfect for me to answer from a branding perspective.

Author pages serve to build trust, authority, and all of that good stuff. That much should be obvious.

However, a lot of nuance goes into leveraging author pages. More than that, I would challenge the very notion of what an author page is and why we need them.

What Should Be On Your Author Pages?

The answer to that depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

Yes, you’re to establish trust, but how you do that depends on a variety of factors.

Say, for example, your industry is constantly evolving and changing. Harping on your author’s past may not be the way to go.

Instead, trust may be better built by focusing on their recent accolades and accomplishments. It can be as simple as showing they have written extensively on the topic recently.

In other words, you need to establish what “trust” means in your scenario because it’s not universal.

Think of your author pages as “About Pages.” There’s a certain narrative to a good About Page and you can do the same with your author pages.

Don’t just say who the person is, but show how they got there.

Trust is often about contextualization. Don’t think about only presenting who the author is – rather, try to paint a picture that frames them.

Author pages don’t just offer some background about your contributors but your site. They become a pillar of “who you are” across the web. Your authors aren’t just authors – they are representatives.

Screenshot from Google, March 2025

When someone runs across your author pages (perhaps by Googling one of your authors, as I did with Loren Baker above), they and the page connected with them substantiate who you are.

The authority of a good author page goes beyond visitors to your site.

If you’re running a marketing strategy that is heavy in employee advocacy, these pages are a major part of any outreach program.

If your goal is to get your own people out there repp’ing the brand on podcasts, webinars, conference stages, etc., the author page becomes a pillar. It becomes the “home” that represents your advocates and you at the same time.

This again speaks to the author page not merely being a list of credentials and accomplishments but as a narrative around the authors themselves.

If you’re trying to build your brand and performance by leveraging your employees, contributors, etc., you need pages that offer strong contextualization.

Even if you don’t use the bio/author page as part of the outreach per se, there’s a very good chance anyone interested will run some kind of search and find these pages on their own (again, as I did above).

Which brings us to…

Who Needs Author Pages?

Let me challenge the entire question. Why are we stopping at authors? The question should be, “Who needs people pages?” The answer is everyone whose company has any people. So, the answer is everyone.

Every business needs to contextualize itself via the people associated with it. That can be the CEO, CMO, CFO, CTO, or COO – I’m out of “Cs,” but it should not stop there.

When I see a company only list its top employees, it comes off as one giant ego stroke. So, mission accomplished: You have contextualized your business. I now know you’re a bunch of narcissists.

Even if you’re a solopreneur, there should be content that in a sense parses out who you are on the site.

I think we’ve come to look at “author pages” as being this very narrowed page type. To me, it’s the wrong way to look at them. It’s not an “SEO” play.

And when you think beyond SEO per se, is there really a difference between an author page and an employee bio page?

Yet, it’s funny because we’ll spend all day talking about how to bolster your author pages and then create one never-ending page for the employees that merely lists their names.

How exactly is that helpful beyond giving your user the ability to manually look up some of these folks on LinkedIn (which means leaving your website)?

So, who needs “author pages”? Everyone. The question is, what type of “author page” do you need? Can you combine your About Page and “author page”?

I do that on my own website since I’m a one-person show, and the format allows me that opportunity. I felt that having a separate page was a bit of overkill.

There’s a bio about who I am on my homepage and then a longer section on the About Page – do I really need to create another separate page to talk about me again? Doing so felt like it would be too much focus on myself and not my audience.

Again, it’s not a question of “if” you need some sort of author or bio page, but what kind and in what format?

Author Page Best Practices

That said, here are some quick best practices I would consider adding to your author pages (and similar “bio” pages). Some of them are obvious, like:

  • Social links.
  • Standard bio.
  • Image.
  • Recent posts.
  • Formal industry recogniton (such as Search Engine Journal does with its “Certification & Awards” tab).
  • Areas of expertise.

Some less so (and again, it all depends on your goals):

  • Conference talks.
  • Podcast, webinar appearances, and other “third-party placements” (similar to Search Engine Journal’s “Published Works” tab).
  • Outlets where the author is quoted.
  • Work experience (current and previous).
  • History of how the author got into the industry and why.
  • Personal industry philosophy (can even be a video).

The last thing I’ll say is: Watch the formatting.

99% of author pages, assuming they are substantial, feel like you’re reading a long article.

If you want to get the most out of the author page, you need to lay things out so that the audience can get a holistic sense of things at a glance.

Screenshot from Search Engine Journal, March 2025

The Search Engine Journal layout is one of the best I’ve seen online (and I’m not saying that because I’m writing this on Search Engine Journal).

I don’t feel overwhelmed by information. It’s all “chunked” in a way where I clearly notice the various areas of information without having to work hard to see it all.

That’s why it works.

More Resources:


Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Ask An SEO: How Can You Distinguish Yourself In This Era Of AI Search Engines? via @sejournal, @HelenPollitt1

Today’s question comes from FC, who asks:

“As an SEO specialist for over 6 years now, what and where does one need to focus with regard to SEO in this current dispensation.

How can you distinguish yourself and standout as an SEO specialist in this era of generative AI and AI search engines?”

This is an excellent question because it goes right to the heart of concerns I hear from a lot of SEO professionals. They have managed to build a solid career and name for themselves as an SEO specialist, but it now feels like the game has changed.

They worry that the skills and experience that got them to this point will not be enough to keep them excelling.

I want to address those concerns, both from the perspective of job seekers and those looking to make an impression in their current role.

What’s Changed

Up until a couple of years ago, it felt like there were clear career choices for SEO specialists to make.

Employed or self-employed? In-house or agency? Technical SEO or content SEO? Small business or enterprise sites? People manager or hands-on practitioner?

These series of decisions, or simply circumstances we found ourselves in, shaped our career paths.

There were central components to SEO. Primarily, you would be working with Google. You would be measured on key performance indicators (KPIs) like clicks and conversions.

You could impress stakeholders by linking your work directly to revenue.

It doesn’t seem as simple as that now, though.

LLMs And Social Media

More recently, there has been a focus on looking at optimizing brands’ presence in other search platforms, not just Bing, Yandex, Baidu, and other regionally relevant search engines.

It now includes platforms not traditionally thought of as belonging to the purview of SEO: TikTok, Perplexity AI, and app stores.

KPIs And Metrics

Google’s walled garden is growing larger, and proving the worth of SEO is getting harder. It’s increasingly difficult to show growth in your share of organic clicks when the pot is getting smaller.

With more answers being given in the search results themselves, and a reduction in the need for clicks off the SERPs, tracking the impact of SEO isn’t straightforward.

With potential – and current – employers still looking at year-on-year clicks, impressions, and revenue growth as their measure of an SEO’s success, this makes standing out quite challenging.

The Skills That Remain Important

I fundamentally believe that the foundational principles of SEO remain unchanged.

However, how we apply them may change with the advent of LLMs and other search platforms.

Technical SEO

A crawl issue that is preventing Googlebot smartphone from accessing the key pages on your site will likely also affect PerplexityBot and OpenAI’s OAI-SearchBot.

As an SEO, we will need to be able to identify where these bots are struggling to crawl pages. We will need to find solutions that enable them to access the pages we want to have served in their search results.

To stand out, make sure you are not just thinking Google-first with your technical solutions.

Consider the other sources of traffic, like LLMs and social media, which might be impacted by the decisions you are making.

Ensure you are also tracking and reporting on the impact of these changes across these other platforms.

Content SEO

Understanding what content searchers are looking for, how search engines perceive it, and what they are choosing to serve as search results is a fundamental aspect of SEO. This won’t change.

However, how you discuss it and the actions you take will change.

From now on, not only are the Google algorithms important for how you create and optimize content, but so are a host of other algorithms.

You will need to consider how searchers are surfacing content through other search platforms. You will also need to know how to make sure your content is served as the result.

Make sure you are moving away from Google as the only algorithm to optimize for and towards the other drivers of traffic and visibility.

Digital PR

I would suggest that digital PR is becoming even more important.

As the search engines we are optimizing for become more numerous, the key factor that seems to unite them is a reward of “authority.”

That is, to give your content a chance of being served as a result in any search engine, it needs to be perceived as authoritative on the subject.

These newer search platforms will still need to use similar methods to Google in identifying expertise and authoritativeness. Digital PR will be key in that.

I do feel that we need to stop making backlinks the main priority of digital PR, however.

Instead, we need to start focusing on how we report on mentions, citations, and conversations about brands and products.

For example, we can look at social media engagement metrics as an indicator of authority. Brand perception may well be formed through forum discussions, reviews, and comments on social media sites.

Just because we know that Googlebot discounts links from some social media platforms in attributing authority doesn’t mean that the newer search engines will. Indeed, they will not rely on social media sites heavily to understand brands.

For now, set yourself apart by rethinking the purpose of digital PR for SEO. Look at the benefits to the brand as a whole and start factoring this into your strategies.

“Soft” Skills

I maintain that the most successful SEO professionals are those who have mastered the non-SEO-specific skills that make businesses work.

Strategic thinking, stakeholder management, and leadership skills are all critical to success not only in SEO, but also in any career.

To really stand out in the changing SEO industry, focus on how these skills will need to be applied.

For example, factor in social media and LLMs into your SEO strategies. Make sure you are not just focusing on Google, but introducing the idea that SEO is broader than that.

Make sure you are liaising with development teams to loop them into your ideas for how to make the site accessible to AI bots. Work on being a thought leader in LLMs and new search platforms for your company.

These sorts of skills are those that will really make you stand out, but you need to apply them with the future of SEO in mind. Future-proof your careers as well as your websites!

Cross-Platform Knowledge

This is probably the hardest one for some SEO specialists to do. Stop looking at Google as the source of all SEO performance and widen the net.

Get comfortable with the other AI search platforms that are beginning to send traffic to your site. Use them yourself, and get familiar with what sort of content they serve and why.

Use social media sites and forums that are where your audience discusses brands like yours. Make sure that you are aware of how they work, and how to participate in those discussions without negative backlash.

Stand out by looking outside of the narrow “Google is SEO” box.

Being An Expert In The New Era Of SEO

How, then, can you guarantee that you are still perceived as an expert in SEO while the goalposts are changing?

What will make you stand out when you are applying for new jobs right now?

How can you prove that your skillset is still relevant whilst others are proclaiming “SEO is dead” (again)?

Demonstrate Impact Through Other Channels

Look at how you can collaborate more with adjacent channels.

For example, I’ve mentioned that social media and forums will be key areas where LLMs will discern brand relevancy and trustworthiness. Work with your teams who are already on those platforms.

Start helping them in areas that you are already an expert, for example: understanding algorithms, creating optimized content and measuring brand authority.

Drive impact in those areas and report on it alongside your more traditional SEO metrics.

Demonstrate Impact Through Other Metrics That Still Line Up With Corporate Goals

Although we are used to reporting on metrics like clicks, rankings, and impressions for SEO, we may need to start looking at other metrics if we want to continue showing the worth of SEO.

For example, consider utilizing tools like Otterly and Goodie to measure visibility in AI search platforms. Or, at the very least, some of the more traditional search engine rankings tools also cover Google’s AI Overview visibility.

Use these tools to demonstrate how the work you are doing is impacting the brand’s performance in AI search platforms.

Continue to relate all work you do back to revenue, or other core conversion goals for your business. Don’t forget to show how traffic from LLMs is converting on your site.

Continue Learning

A key way to stand out in your SEO career at the moment is to show a willingness to upskill and diversify your skillset.

The SEO landscape is shifting, and as such, it’s important to stay on top of new platforms and how they work.

Make sure you are utilizing training that is available on LLM optimization. Use the platforms yourself so you can understand what search real estate is available on them.

Share your findings in interviews and discussions with colleagues so you are highlighting what you’ve learned.

Although this may seem basic, you may find there are a lot of SEO professionals out there with their heads still buried in the sand when it comes to the evolution of the discipline.

Stand Out By Being Adaptable

At the end of the day, SEO is changing. That doesn’t mean that the skills we’ve developed over the past years are obsolete.

Instead, they are even more in demand as new platforms promise new avenues to reach prospective audiences.

The best way to stand out as an SEO in the current era of SEO is by being adaptable.

Learn how to apply your SEO skills to these emerging platforms and track your success.

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Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Ask An SEO: How To Handle Duplicate Content Across Multiple Domains via @sejournal, @rollerblader

Today’s Ask an SEO question comes from Colin in London, UK.

“My question is about duplicate content. I work for a group of schools in the UK. We have 21 schools, each has its own website and domain with a link or banner linking back to our main group website. The schools are very busy, so to save time, we have created blog posts centrally to give to the schools. They change a few things but basically the pages are pretty much the same.

I have experience with SEO, so I put my Google good boy white hat on and said, ‘Google says not to do it, it’s duplicate content. We need them to be different.’

My question is will we be penalized? I understand they will compete with each other (multiples have taken page 1 at the same time), but otherwise, is this doing us harm?

Is Google smart enough to know we are a group with different emails? Should we rewrite them all? Should we just stop? It would be good to get a second opinion – maybe I need to lighten up or take take action and remove.

Please help. Thanks, Colin.”

Great question, Colin! It is something that comes up about once a year with our clients or as a question when I’m speaking at conferences.

I’m breaking the answer out into a few sections so that it can be applied to non-school situations, too.

But first, check out this post about Google’s duplicate content penalty myth, as it is something that is commonly misunderstood.

Use Canonicals When Publishing To Secondary Sites

In the situation above, it sounds like there is a main website and multiple variations.

If you’re worried about the variation websites taking from the main website, place canonical links back to the main site from the duplicate posts.

Let’s pretend these are the URLs:

  • Official site – colininlondon.com/blog-post-school.
  • Duplicate 1 – colininleeds.com/blog-post-school.
  • Duplicate 2 – colininglasgow.com/blog-post-school.

The official site will have a self-referencing canonical link because it is the main website and the post that should be ranking.

Duplicates 1 and 2 should have their canonical links point back to the (official) main website. This way, Google knows which site is the official one and which are duplicates.

You can also use schema, addresses, and other localization factors to help define that these are the same company and brand, similar to doing locations if you’re a brick-and-mortar business or using TLDs for country-specific targeting.

One thing to be careful of is having canonical links go to the wrong site.

When you publish original content on a specific school location site, make sure the canonical link is self-referencing vs. going back to the official site or main site.

And if the content gets published to the official site and secondary websites, have the canonicals point to the specific school location site.

You also want to make sure your sitemap excludes the content if it is not the official version. Not a big deal at this point, but still something you can control.

Publish To The Most Relevant Audience

When you’re stuck trying to think of which site should be the official one, or your content management system (CMS) allows you to assign a main site for the content, think about who would benefit most from the post and publish there.

If it is an event and only accessible to one or five schools vs. the 21, publish to the most relevant audience and use the same canonical plan above.

You may want the content to be accessible to all students, parents, and faculty, but if it is only relevant to a smaller grouping or a single school, only publish it to the most relevant location.

Some Content Is Not A Duplicate

In the case of snow days where some schools may be cancelled, others delayed, and some are business as usual, feel free to post these.

The main part of the content will be the same or similar, and that is ok. You can have the same opening and closing of the post; the most important content is the name of the school and the information about when school starts based on the location.

It may be beneficial to have a main post with all locations and their status on the main site, then have the “duplicate” variations with localized information on the individual.

A lot of people assume this would be duplicate content. It shouldn’t be as it is catered to a specific audience and only that audience.

Think about a pharmacy or retail chain where the only differences are hours of operation, phone number, and a couple store-specific details.

Should Content Be Rewritten For Each Site?

If you have the ability and you can make it relevant to that specific location, then yes, there would be a benefit.

For example, you may have a boys-only or girls-only school, or elementary, high, and preschool. If the content is for the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), chances are the concerns for the elementary school parent meetings will be different from those in high school.

By adding the agendas, decisions, board members, times, and other unique attributes of the meetings, you can have similar openings and closings because the body and meat of the posts will be unique.

Use Google Business Profile

Something I have not personally done, as I’ve not worked specifically on schools with multiple websites, is using Google Business Profile for your local locations.

I have done this with retailers and similar industries, such as non-profits and service providers, that have local branches, each with its own domain.

By setting the URLs up and combining them as entities, you may help to reduce the duplication of similar content. Google Business Profile will allow you to sync them together.

This will not help with your main duplicate content question, but it could help with making sure the locations are accounted for in the local search results which may be relevant in specific situations.

If your sites make it clear you’re not trying to game the system, then I wouldn’t worry about duplicate content penalties.

If you’re really concerned, use canonical links that reference the main version that lives on the group website. Then use self-referencing canonicals for any unique content published on the individual school sites.

I hope this helps, and thank you for asking!

More Resources:


Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Ask An SEO: Does Dwell Time After Google Ad Clicks Impact Organic Rankings? via @sejournal, @rollerblader

Lalindra from Ontario asks:

“Does the dwell time and user engagement after clicking on Google Ads impact search engine rankings? If yes, since when has this been in effect?”

That is a really good question! It goes along the common myth of PPC impacting SEO, where the more you spend, the better your SEO is.

In theory, no, clicking a PPC ad and dwelling probably won’t impact your SEO – positively or negatively. It will impact your budget if Google Ads assumes it was a legit click and visitor. But, if Google thinks it is a fraud click, you might not be billed for it.

Does PPC Spend And Click Help Boost SEO?

For years, some agencies and in-house SEO professionals have claimed that spending more on PPC increases SEO presence and visibility.

The Google leak, combined with the DOJ trial, fueled these rumors even further. But, the idea that higher PPC spend improves your SEO is a myth, not a fact.

This applies even more to a few users clicking and then dwelling. That is a single user or small group, not a large enough audience to cause any form of signal about the page’s user experience.

Google deals with massive data sets and volumes, so a few clicks, even a couple hundred, is likely not enough to signal page quality. For the same amount of time and money, you could likely get media coverage, which would move the needle further.

That said, there could be some potential for increased visibility if PPC clicks lead to actions that suggest a positive user experience like dwelling, scrolling, and engagement.

For example, there are theories from the Google leak and DOJ trial about “navboost” and “glue.” These concepts suggest how shopping browser extensions may influence how high your page ranks in the top 10 results.

Could PPC Campaigns With High Volume Of Traffic Impact Rankings?

If your PPC ads drive massive volumes of traffic to your website and those users reads multiple pages for publishers and spend time (dwell) on your blog post or in your shop,  this could signal that the UX is relevant for a specific query.

This would also require the browser to track both the query searched and dwell time while ignoring the factor that it was a click from PPC.

The browser would also need to feed the data back to the core SEO algorithm, say that the PPC click experience was relevant for a query, and give it a priority for SEO.

In this scenario, it can be assumed that Google Ads and Google SEO are working together – but they likely are not.

I think they play with the interface and queries, as well as recommendations to boost profits, but I don’t think the PPC team has control over SEO results – just a personal opinion.

If Google Ads sent signals for Google SEO, you wouldn’t see smaller brands and new sites rank, you would see the big brands who are spending the most money. Type “t-shirts” into Google. You likely won’t see big brands like Target, Walmart, Macy’s, etc. dominate organic search results.

If big brands spent big money, and the PPC algorithm fed this into SEO, it would be their golden opportunity to generate a large traffic volume.

By losing some money on PPC for a generic term, they get the big prize of organic SEO traffic.

If it were that easy, there would be no SEO industry because the big brands could simply buy their way to the top.

But small companies can still compete and win. We have clients in highly competitive niches who can move quickly because they are not tied up in red tape needing to negotiate layers of approval. This means they are responsive, can act on the fly and beat major brands

When Can PPC Support SEO?

So, what could be true here? If you spend money building a brand via PPC and the traffic is relevant and coming in volumes, users may start searching for your brand by name or brand + modifier, e.g., “[Your Brand] T-shirts.”

If your domain already has trust and authority and now has a significant volume of people looking for your t-shirts because of a viral social media video and your large spending on PPC ads, the SEO algorithm may pick up this demand.

This means that users are actively saying “your brand has these, so please show it to us”. If the search engine does not show it to them, they go to a different search engine or may try a large language model (LLM) to search.

I have seen this happen firsthand – that the algorithm starts sending traffic for generic phrases in these scenarios. It was especially true when I worked in the infomercial product space.

As users naturally began searching for the product type alongside a brand or domain name, websites started showing up for non-branded phrases in search results.

You may have a product such as a mop or broom, something that waters plants, or a blanket that is going viral. As your product takes off, signalling this is the product brand users want, the generic search can trigger your product and website as the best result.

This helps it climb up (along with quality backlinks, media coverage, and social media chatter) and rank for the generic phrase.

If you have the budget to build virality through PPC, it could help your SEO. But it isn’t the dwell time that is helping; it’s the actual queries being searched and the increased volume via the PPC boost.

But once the trend wears off, you have to do real SEO work to keep it.

I could also see this working for larger purchases that require multiple website visits, such as real estate, luxury vacations, mattresses and furniture, etc.

Bottom Line

In short, no, clicking your own PPC ad and dwelling won’t help your SEO.

You’d have to do it at large volumes and make it appear to be unique users, all having a good experience.

But, running large-scale PPC campaigns that generate branded searches and repeat visits could help send signals that influence Google’s algorithm to test your website for similar phrases.

I hope this answers your question. The only way to know is to test; if you do, I’d love to see the results.

More Resources:


Featured Image: Damir Khabirov/Shutterstock

Ask An SEO: Why Is Google Not Indexing My Pages? via @sejournal, @rollerblader

This week’s Ask An SEO question comes from Harjeet:

“Hi! I have a website that provides information of warehouses all over United states. The problem is that only eight to nine pages are indexed by Google. But it has many dynamic pages.

For example, if you do a search for any location on homepage search bar, it will open the location page with the listings.

But Google is not indexing the location pages and warehouse listings as well. Can you help me solve this issue?”

That’s a great question, and I think I can help.

After looking at your website, it looks like you have a crawling issue with a lack of actual pages and not an indexing one.

I can verify you only have nine pages in Google’s indexes. This is because you only have nine actual pages on your website.

I want to start with an overview of some of the site issues. Then, after the overview, I’ll share how to resolve a large chunk of this so you can begin getting pages crawled and indexed.

Identifying The Gaps In Your Website Structure

It’s very hard for both consumers and search engines to navigate your website because you are missing links and easy-to-find navigation.

There are also two sitemaps, and one of them is incorrect. The good news is your correct one is listed in robots.txt, but it only has your site’s navigation in it and not the pages that are being created dynamically.

To start, list the most important subpages in your sitemap so search engines can find them more easily.

The robots.txt file also includes a disallow directive for all user agents which is problematic because this is blocking crawling and not guiding crawlers to proper folders and pages.

Specify “allow” for the important folders and pathways you want crawled. This guides spiders to the pages and folders you feel are most important.

On top of the sitemap and robots.txt issues, there is no internal linking. Internal links are important to allow crawlers to move around your site and find new pages that need indexing.

Next is to look at the quality of your content and how it is displayed.

The content on your site is thin and there is no content that can provide the kind of information that experts in storage in the local area would know.

Add unique content and location information to each page individually (more on this below in the how to fix this issue section).

The site is also missing robots meta tags and canonical links. Meta robot tags give directions on whether the pages should be indexed or not and if links should be followed or not.

Canonical links say which version is the official version of a page and can help deduplicate similar or competing pages. Adding these will help search engines know what to do as the pages and links are discovered.

Last, you have no city or state-based pages as dedicated resources, but you do have them in a drop-down in the search box. The issue here is these pages don’t exist unless searched for.

If they don’t exist on an official URL, search engines cannot find them and index them easily.

There are other tech and content issues here, but I’m going to jump into fixing the main one, which is getting more pages indexed for you. And this is an incredibly easy one, so this is good news.

Filling The Missing SEO Elements

There are a few steps I would take if this were my site or project:

  1. Build a cities and/or regions and states folder structure.
  2. Get unique content for each.
  3. Add in breadcrumbs and internal links.
  4. Modify the robots.txt and sitemaps.
  5. Do local PR work, not spammy links and directories.

Build A Folder Structure

When you allow a site search to generate URLs for cities, states, and locations, you create a ton of competing URLs.

People can spell a city wrong or use an abbreviation: Philly, Philadelphia (and is it Missouri or PA), or neighborhoods like Fishtown or Center City if it is the Pennsylvania version of Philadelphia.

And if you live in the DMV (DC, MD, VA) like I do, you may type in Washington or Columbia Heights vs. the state or city name. Washington could also be either DC or the state.

Building a folder structure lets you guide people to the correct location and makes it easier for search engines to know where you offer services.

For example, EU companies can structure by country; individual countries like Mexico could have states like Jalisco and Oaxaca and the major cities in each.

Create Unique Content

Original location-based content is easy to use for your niche. Each region has different climates, and cities do, too. Bring these into consideration when writing the copy.

If the region has more humidity, talk about how the building protects against mold, mildew, corrosion, and other humidity issues that impact storage and warehousing.

For areas that lose power because of hurricanes, snow, or even heat, talk about backup systems and refrigeration for temperature-critical items being stored.

You could include city-based content and localize with original talking points, including directions to the location. Don’t forget to include physical addresses, hours of operation, and phone numbers.

I wrote this guide to localized title tags and descriptions a while back, it applies here, too.

Add Breadcrumbs And Internal Links

Now that you have unique content for the states and major cities in an easy-to-navigate directory structure, help users and search engines find them.

Add breadcrumbs with breadcrumb schema to the site – ideally, at the top of the page so users can click and use them.

In the unique copy for the state pages, link to the city pages. If it will benefit the user, link back to the main head state pages from the city pages.

An example for this would be if one city has people renting in other cities in that state, or if one location fills up, other locations that are close by and are easily accessible as an alternative.

The copy may mention looking for other warehousing options in that state or other city/region. Use the name of the state or city with the call to action and make them an internal link.

You’re helping the user find a solution, and search engines understand what each page is about.

This is how you build an effective and meaningful internal linking structure for SEO. The main goal is to help a customer; the benefit is you make it easier for search engines to understand your site structure.

Modify The Robots.txt And Sitemaps

At this point, you have a good site and user experience. Now is the time to make sure the states and cities are in the sitemap, and then modify your robots.txt to allow the folders.

You can request a crawl from Search Console for Google and Bing’s version of Webmaster Tools.

As the spiders access robots.txt, they will find your listed pages, then through internal links find other pages to crawl to find all your pages.

With proper meta robots and canonicals, they will see clean pathways and be able to crawl your site better.

Drive Demand Through Local PR

Anyone can list in directories and pay to play. Yes, some may help you, but the real benefit is local PR.

Getting your business featured in the media drives local demand. People in those regions begin searching for your company by name and the services as modifiers on the keywords.

This may or may not help with SEO, but it does one thing: It builds consumer trust and gets you localized, high-value backlinks. These can send trust signals and customers to you.

Local media includes local blogs that do not allow guest posting or sponsored posts, TV and print media like local newspapers, radio stations and podcasts with descriptions with links, and other platforms that people in the city or state use.

You may be able to add a PR bar with “As Seen In” featuring local media logos to build trust with that region.

Summary

The good news is that you don’t have an indexing problem. The pages that exist are indexed.

You have discovery problems because only nine pages actually exist on your website.

The solution here is to build the state and city-based pages, fill them with content and site structure, and then do the work to build trust with PR and trust-building activities.

I hope this helps. Thank you for asking your question – it’s a good one!

More Resources:


Featured Image: Sammby/Shutterstock

Ask An SEO: How Should Ecommerce Stores Deal With The Arrival Of AI Overviews?

In this edition of Ask An SEO, we’re addressing a question about the impact of AI Overviews on search engine results pages, particularly for ecommerce store owners looking to stay competitive:

“Do you think that AI Overviews or AI will disrupt SERPs with Google PLAs? And, as someone with a small ecommerce store selling clothing, what can I do to keep ahead with the introduction of gen AI apps?”

That’s a great question! It’s an issue many ecommerce site owners have been grappling with since AI Overviews started rolling out last May.

The big concern is that Google’s generative AI summaries – which appear right at the top of the SERPs – will eat into your traffic.

If people can get answers to their questions without visiting your website, this could lead to a steep decline in customers.

However, while this new trend might at first seem worrying, I don’t think the level of disruption will be as big as it first appears, particularly for ecommerce stores. AI Overviews might also present opportunities to climb up the rankings, too.

Do note that the picture is a bit less clear with the likes of ChatGPT or Microsoft’s Copilot – these apps don’t yet provide links to sources in their answers, but they also aren’t used for search anywhere near as much as Google.

Will AI Disrupt SERPs With Google PLAs?

Generative AI is clearly one of the most disruptive technologies to emerge in years, and there are almost daily breakthroughs.

So, I’ve tried to answer the questions raised, but there’s obviously a big caveat: Things are changing fast, and we can’t make any predictions with certainty.

But to respond to the first part of the question about whether AI will disrupt SERPs, my instinct would be: “Not that much (probably!).”

First things first, research from BrightEdge (as reported in Search Engine Journal in November) found that AI Overviews are becoming more stable and aligning more closely with organic search results.

The citation links that appear alongside AI Overviews increasingly show links to websites that also appear in the top 10 results.

For example, if you were searching [how long to bake a loaf of bread], AI Overviews would typically synthesize answers from baking websites that already appear on page one.

As well as listing the websites in the SERP, AI Overviews will provide links to those pages in the “citation” area, too.

Screenshot from search for [how long to bake a loaf of bread], Google, February 2025

What does this mean? Essentially, Google continues to reward sites that produce high-quality, relevant, and reliable content.

The appearance of AI Overviews at the top of the page has altered the look and feel of the search experience. But since Google still provides links to relevant pages in its answers, the underlying principles of ranking haven’t actually changed.

The effect of AI Overviews on Product Listing Ads (PLAs) was also asked. For the first few months after AI Overviews came out, this was a bit unclear. However, as of last October, we now have a better idea of how it’ll work.

Google announced it would begin injecting ads into AI Overviews (typically as a carousel below the text). At the time of writing, this doesn’t seem to have been fully rolled out.

But the example Google gave was of a searcher asking, [how do I get a grass stain out of jeans?]. Below the AI Overview, a carousel shows a number of related grass stain removal products.

Screenshot from blog.google, February 2025
Screenshot from blog.google, February 2025

If you pay for PLAs, then it’s likely that they will start to appear in these kinds of responses.

AI Overviews Aren’t ‘Competing’ With Ecommerce Stores

The inquirer also mentioned they run a small ecommerce store selling clothing. They may well be concerned about what AI Overviews mean for their existing ads and product pages.

Well, research from Ahrefs suggests the kind of content they likely have on their website probably isn’t competing with AI Overviews.

Ahrefs studied hundreds of thousands of searches that produced an AI Overview.

The vast majority of searches that returned an overview were informational searches (who, where, when, why, etc.) – less than 6% were commercial in nature, and less than 5% were transactional.

This suggests that a limited proportion of search intent that gets answered by AI Overviews is related to the kinds of things sold on the site.

Basically, AI Overviews answers longer tail questions like [how to style a bucket hat].

But if someone just searches [bucket hat], they’ll be shown PLAs and organic SERP results – not a generative AI response.

AI Overviews Could Help You Leapfrog Competitors

As I mentioned above, AI Overviews provide citation links to websites that also rank in the top 10 organic results.

However, an analysis from Surfer SEO suggests this only happens 52% of the time. For the other 48% of sources, websites further down the rankings (some of which may be quite obscure) can get a link right at the top of the SERPs if their content helps inform Google’s AI.

This means that, even if your website doesn’t currently rank on page one, you could still get page one levels of traffic if your content is referred to by Google.

What Can You Do To Stay Ahead As AI Becomes More Widespread?

With the same caveats mentioned above regarding the pace of change in this field, I think there are a handful of things you can do to keep getting traffic to an ecommerce store.

My first tip is simply to keep following the best practices. Sorry, I know it’s not very exciting! But the fact is, creating useful, original, accurate, and reliable content – in line with Google’s Helpful Content Update – is still the way to go.

Given that over half of the sources cited in AI Overviews also appear organically in the top 10 results of SERPs, this tells us that producing quality content remains the best way of ranking.

I’m guessing the inquirer has a fashion niche. If so, providing personalized styling ideas, seasonal fashion tips, guides to choosing the right hat/jacket/dress/jeans, etc., will all help increase the chances of winning traffic.

Another unexciting (but still reliable) tip is to follow good ecommerce “hygiene.”

Keep the product schema up to date and accurate, and provide detailed attribute tables that tell Google and other search engines what the site is about. I know, it’s hardly groundbreaking stuff. But it will help feed the algorithm and make the website more likely to appear in searches.

For product detail pages (PDPs), I’d also recommend focusing on unique product descriptions (like highlighting things about the design, the fabric, or how to style it). These are things that AI can’t figure out yet, and which the competitors may not have written about.

On that note, I’d also strongly recommend human curation when writing content.

As impressive as ChatGPT and others are, they can only regurgitate information that already exists.

To describe new products, features, or styles, you need a human to do it. Of course, generative AI can certainly help get the ball rolling if you’re staring at a blank page, but it needs your expert touch, too.

I hope this helped. Clearly, search is going through a period of massive change.

But ultimately, by following the best practices and focusing on quality, helpful content, you’ll continue to give yourself the best chances of attracting traffic and converting customers.

More Resources:


Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Ask An SEO: How To Repair & Recover Negative Brand Mentions In SERPs via @sejournal, @MordyOberstein

This time on Ask An SEO, we’re diving into a branding question from someone dealing with negative SERP results:

I have a client that recently had some financial issues and the SERP for their brand has many negative listings.

Do you have any ideas for a strategy that could help to remove those listings and improve their brand status?

There are two ways to approach this. There’s the practical things in your immediate control and there’s the wider brand relationship that needs mending. I’ve very much been here before.

Folks will tend to lean into the changes you can make that are in your immediate locus of control.

For example, start posting on X (Twitter), and you’ll get a carousel for your posts on the search engine results pages (SERPs). This carousel can push “negative” results off page one.

The problem with this sort of approach is that it’s not entirely effective.

For starters, it has limited reach (yes, your posts will appear in a carousel, but not on every SERP related to your brand).

Also, it doesn’t deal with the very top of the SERP, and who knows what actual result you’re pushing to page two – maybe it’s one that is favorable to your brand?

While I’m not saying you should not do whatever you can do in the immediate, I would caution you about getting too caught up in it.

What you need to be doing is thinking about how you repair your relationship with your niche.

Brands fail here all the time. I’ve seen it firsthand. So, I have a few pieces of key advice you need to follow if you want to fix your brand’s SERP for real.

1. You Have To Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone

The main reason brands fail at this is because it’s uncomfortable.

The biggest piece of advice I can offer you is to be ready and willing to get out of your comfort zone.

You’re going to have to eat crow in some way, shape, or form. You can’t wrong someone and then not apologize. You may feel you did nothing wrong or that it was out of your control or whatever.

I warn you not to get hung up on this. Your audience feels hurt – that is all that matters.

You need to somehow repair that hurt, and it’s going to mean eating some form of humble pie. And everyone loves pie, so it’s OK.

2. You Have To Diagnose The Root Cause Of The Negative Sentiment

Often, the knee-jerk reaction brands have is to “market their way” out of a problem. They launch campaigns or initiatives that aim to create new buzz and new chatter that is more positive. This doesn’t work.

You can’t do any of that until you diagnose the root cause. What you’re looking for here is (among other things):

  • What event (or series of happenings) triggered the negative response?
  • How did this trigger impact the audience? (You need to be extremely specific and explicit here. Generalizations are not helpful).
  • Why did this trigger the industry to such an extent? (Again, be explicit here).
  • How toxic is the relationship? You need to know how damaged the relationship is, and you have to be consciously aware of it.

3. You Have To Be Transparent

This speaks a bit to my earlier point about getting out of your comfort zone. You are rebuilding trust. That’s hard. It takes time, and it takes substance (so my fourth tip would be: actually change, just don’t say you did). It’s a process.

You need to reinforce to your audience that you are constantly engaging in that process and that you don’t take their trust for granted.

If this sounds like some sort of Dr. Phil episode, it’s because it is. Humans are humans. The relationships that brands have with their audience work just the way our personal relationships do.

If you violated someone’s trust on a personal level, you would need to show you’re doing the work to earn their trust back.

That means a new level of transparency and vulnerability is needed.

Same for your brand. There is zero difference.

Changing The Narrative Sets Everything Else In Motion

The end result of this process, if you do the work to create engagement and audience interest (which is a whole other conversation about how you do that), is exactly what you’re looking for.

What you really want is not to have a result change or an article rewritten. What you want is for the narrative to shift.

Once the narrative shifts, the rest falls into place. People start talking about you in a positive way (even referencing how amazing it is you turned it all around). They’ll even start writing articles about you or mentioning you, etc.

At that point, once the narrative has shifted and the industry has clearly reassociated how they think and feel about you, you can pick up the stragglers.

Then, you can reach out to those sites that still have not updated their content to reflect the “new you.”

You now have the capital and the inertia to put an unspoken pressure on sites to change their content.

If everyone else is thinking about you a certain way and talking about you a certain way, and if you’ve gained a bit of popularity, those stragglers are not going to want to be left behind (or, at a minimum, running against the grain and consensus).

Now, you have the real power to change the listings on the SERP, no matter who is ranking or what the query is.

Change narratives, not organic listings.

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Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal