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Mar 18 2025

[SEO & PPC] How To Unlock Hidden Conversion Sources In Your Sales & Marketing Funnel via @sejournal, @calltrac

This post was sponsored by CallTrackingMetrics. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Did you know 92% of all customer interactions are from phone calls?

And very few know how to track conversions from phone calls.

Brands meticulously track clicks, impressions, and online interactions through SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, and data-driven strategies.

Yet, one critical piece is often missing: offline conversions.

Many high-intent customer interactions, especially in industries like healthcare, legal, home services, and B2B, happen over the phone.

If you’re in an industry that receives any number of calls, you may be struggling to connect these calls to your digital marketing efforts, leading to:

Inefficient marketing strategies.
Wasted ad spend.
Difficulty proving ROI.

How do you fix this? Call tracking.

By leveraging AI-powered tools and advanced attribution technology, marketers can bridge the online-offline gap, ensuring no lead goes unnoticed.

How To Attribute Sales To Phone Calls

TL;DR: Historically, you could not attribute conversions to phone calls; now, you can.

Yes, offline conversions can be tracked.

And despite the high percentage of customer interactions happening over the phone, many brands fail to track which ad or campaign led to those calls.

This could stem from knowledge gaps, tight budgets, or reluctance to integrate more technology into their stack.

Without call attribution, businesses are left guessing about what’s driving revenue.

What Is Offline Conversion Attribution?

Offline conversion attribution is the process of linking your online marketing efforts to offline sales or actions.

It helps you understand which digital marketing channels and campaigns contribute to offline conversions, such as in-store purchases, phone call inquiries, or signed contracts.

How Offline Conversion & Phone Call Attribution Works

By paying attention to phone call conversion data, you can:

1. Connect Online Interactions To A Phone Call: A user clicks on a digital ad, visits a website, fills out a form, or calls a business after seeing an online campaign.
2. Store User Data In One Place: Data from these interactions (such as email, phone number, or a unique tracking ID) is captured and stored.
3. Match Callers With Offline Events: When a purchase or conversion happens in-store, over the phone, or through a sales team, businesses match it back to the initial online touchpoint.
4. Analyze & Optimize Webpages With Content That Converts: You can analyze which digital campaigns, keywords, or ads drive the most offline conversions, optimizing their marketing strategy accordingly.

What You Can Do With Phone Call Conversion Data

When you introduce a tool that acts as Google Analytics for phones, you’ll be able to:

Improve ROI Measurement: Helps businesses understand the real impact of digital marketing on offline sales.
Enhance Ad Targeting: Enables better retargeting of high-intent users.
Optimize Budget Allocation: Allows marketers to invest more in channels that drive actual sales, not just clicks or website visits.
Bridge the Online-Offline Gap: Particularly important for industries like retail, automotive, healthcare, and B2B, where many transactions happen offline.

Examples of Offline Conversion Attribution

A customer finds your business through organic search.
They see a retargeting ad on Facebook.
Finally, they click a PPC ad and call to book an appointment.

Without call tracking, the PPC ad might receive full credit, even though SEO and social played key roles. Choosing the right attribution model ensures data-driven marketing decisions.

Best Tools for Offline Conversion Tracking

Google Ads Offline Conversion Tracking
Facebook Offline Conversions API
CRMs like HubSpot or Salesforce
Call tracking software like CallTrackingMetrics

SEO & Call Tracking: Connecting Organic Efforts To Real-World Conversions

Gain Keyword Attribution Beyond Clicks

Rankings, traffic, and forms typically measure SEO success fills. But what about phone calls? Call tracking technology with dynamic number insertion (DNI) allows businesses to:

Identify which organic search queries lead to phone calls
Optimize content around real customers’ questions and concerns
Understand which landing pages drive the most offline conversions

For example, if multiple callers reference a specific product-related question, that insight can inform new blog topics or FAQ pages to improve SEO efforts, driving even more right-fit traffic into your sales funnel and conversion metrics.

Optimize For True Local SEO

Local search is a major driver of inbound calls. When combined with call tracking, businesses can finally understand:

Which local listings (Google Business Profile, Yelp, etc.) generate the most calls?
What information do customers search for before calling?
How to refine location-based content for higher engagement

How Call Insights Can Strengthen Your SEO Strategy

Phone calls aren’t just conversions—they’re valuable sources of customer insights that your teams can use to refine ad strategies, train teams on sales pitches, and identify areas for growth in your content strategy. Each conversation has the potential to reveal the common questions, pain points, and content gaps that businesses can address to improve their marketing performance.

1. Identify FAQs for Stronger Content

Often, customers call a company’s support phone number when they can’t find information online, either about a product or service they’re considering buying or one they’ve already purchased. By analyzing call transcripts, businesses can spot recurring questions and proactively address them in blog posts, FAQs, or product pages.

For example, if a home services company frequently gets calls asking, “Do you offer emergency repairs on weekends?”, this signals a need to make that information more visible on their website. A dedicated service page or blog post could reduce unnecessary calls while improving customer experience.

2. Refine Your Website Messaging

If callers repeatedly ask about pricing, product differences, or service details, your website messaging probably isn’t clear enough.

For instance, an e-commerce brand selling fitness equipment might notice that callers often ask, “What’s the difference between your basic and premium treadmill?” Adding a simple comparison chart or explainer video can help lessen confusion and improve conversions.

3. Fill Content Gaps To Reduce Sales Friction

Repeated calls about the same topic are a good indicator of missing or unclear content. A B2B SaaS company, for example, might receive frequent inquiries about integrating with a particular CRM or social platform. Instead of solely relying on customer support, the marketing team could identify this pain point and create a step-by-step guide or video tutorial to address it, which would reduce friction and improve self-service for prospects.

PPC & Call Attribution: Maximizing ROI With Better Insights

Tracking clicks alone doesn’t reveal the full ROI of PPC campaigns. Many conversions, especially phone calls, happen offline and go untracked. Without attribution, businesses may waste ad spend and overlook high-intent leads. This section explores how call tracking connects PPC efforts to real conversions, improving marketing efficiency.

Paid Search: Wasted Spend Without the Full Picture

A high cost-per-click (CPC) doesn’t guarantee strong ROI if businesses aren’t tracking offline conversions. Without call tracking, marketers risk:

Over-investing in underperforming keywords
Missing opportunities to optimize campaigns for call-driven leads
Failing to attribute revenue-generating phone calls to PPC efforts

When a business fails to account for ROI in the form of phone calls, they’re losing an opportunity to accurately account for their real CPC and allocate resources accordingly.

Call Tracking + Google Ads = Smarter Bidding

PPC campaigns are only as effective as the data behind them. Without tracking phone calls, businesses risk misallocating budgets to keywords that drive clicks but not conversions. Integrating call tracking with Google Ads provides a clearer picture by linking calls to the specific campaigns, ad groups, and keywords that drive valuable conversions.

With AI-powered call scoring, marketers can identify high-intent leads and adjust bidding strategies based on actual conversion data—not just clicks. This ensures ad spend is focused on quality leads rather than wasted traffic.

Retargeting with First-Party Data

Not every caller converts immediately. Call tracking allows businesses to retarget high-intent leads with personalized follow-ups. By analyzing call topics, marketers can tailor ads or email sequences to address specific customer concerns, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Additionally, integrating call data with CRM platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce ensures sales teams can nurture prospects effectively, preventing lost opportunities. By combining PPC insights with offline conversions, businesses gain a clearer understanding of customer behavior, leading to smarter ad spend and more targeted outreach.

Back To Basics: Omnichannel Attribution & The Power Of Call Data

As marketing shifts to a mix of online and offline tactics, attribution models must evolve. By integrating call tracking with Google Analytics, CRM systems, and automation tools, businesses can gain a complete view of the customer journey.

A company that integrates CallTrackingMetrics with Google Analytics and its CRM can:

See exactly which campaigns drive calls.
Automate follow-ups based on conversation insights.
Optimize for higher-value interactions.

AI & Conversation Intelligence

Call tracking is no longer just about recordings or basic attribution. AI-driven call analysis provides deep insights, such as:

Customer intent and sentiment analysis.
Common objections that impact sales.
Automated lead qualification based on real conversations.

By leveraging AI, businesses can better understand customer needs, improve sales strategies, and ensure marketing efforts are driving meaningful engagement. Implementing AI-driven call tracking empowers teams to make data-backed decisions that enhance both customer experience and conversion rates.

Proving Marketing’s True Impact

Marketers are often challenged to prove ROI beyond what we might call “vanity metrics”, like impressions and clicks. Though these have a place in any strategy, these metrics don’t necessarily move the needle toward sales goals.

Call tracking, on the other hand, delivers revenue-focused attribution, showing exactly how digital marketing contributes to bottom-line growth. This kind of revenue-focused attribution can help an entire company analyze past efforts and accurately forecast revenue based on real campaigns, real calls, and real results

Case Study: This study from CallTrackingMetrics demonstrated how AI-driven call tracking optimized PPC ROAS and improved lead quality.

Want to see how conversation intelligence can improve your marketing performance? Check out our guide to building an effective omnichannel communications strategy.

Ready to get to work? Book a demo with our team and see how CallTrackingMetrics’ products can help you.

BOOK A DEMO NOW

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by CallTrackingMetrics. Used with permission.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Mar 12 2025

Google AIO: 4 Ways To Find Out If Your Brand Is Visible In Generative AI [With Prompts] via @sejournal, @bright_data

This post was sponsored by Bright Data. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Imagine this in the time of Google AIO: A potential customer asks Google Gemini, ChatGPT, or Perplexity AI for the best SEO tools, top e-commerce platforms, or leading digital agencies.

Your brand has dominated traditional search rankings for years. But your company isn’t mentioned when AI generates an answer.

No ranking. No link. No Google AIO visibility.

This is the new reality of AI-driven search, and most SEOs aren’t tracking it.

Your brand might be invisible in AI search. Find out if it is now →

For years, you may have relied on keyword rankings, organic traffic, and SERP features to measure success.

But as AI-powered search engines reshape how information is delivered, these traditional SEO tracking methods are no longer enough.

How can brands ensure they are visible, accurately represented, and competitive if AI-generated answers influence user decisions without linking to websites?

With new challenges come new solutions. As AI answer engines continue to evolve, SEO professionals and rank tracking platforms must adapt by finding ways to monitor AI-generated search results in real time.

The ability to track brand mentions, analyze AI-driven recommendations, and compare competitor visibility is becoming just as critical as traditional keyword tracking.

In this article, we’ll explore:

Why traditional SEO tracking is becoming obsolete in the AI era.
The key queries brands should monitor in AI-generated search results.
How Bright Data’s Web Scraper API provides a unique solution for AI search tracking.
Why SEO pros must demand AI-ready tracking tools, and why rank tracking platforms must evolve to meet this need.

Why Traditional SEO Tracking Doesn’t Work For AIO

For years, SEO tracking has revolved around keyword rankings, organic traffic, and SERP features like featured snippets and People Also Ask (PAA).

However, AI-generated search results don’t follow these traditional ranking structures.

How AIO Affects SERPs

In a standard Google search, ranking in the top three positions means high visibility and traffic. But in AI-generated search, there are no numbered rankings, just a synthesized response that may or may not include your brand.

For example, if a user asks “What are the best SEO tools?”, Google Gemini or ChatGPT might generate a list of tools based on their training data and real-time web sources.

If your brand isn’t included in that response, you’re invisible to the user, regardless of how well you rank in traditional search.

How AI Affects Search Engine Optimization Tools

Without a way to track how AI search engines mention brands, you may be flying blind, and rank tracking tools are missing a critical data layer.

How To Track Your Brand In Generative AI Search & Artificial Intelligence Overviews (AIOs)

Tracking AI-generated search results isn’t as simple as checking keyword rankings.

Since AI models don’t rank pages but generate answers, you have to rethink what they measure.

Here are the four key query types that can reveal how AI search engines perceive and present your brand:

1. How To Find Out If AIO Knows Your Brand Exists:

If AI answer engines don’t mention your brand when users ask about your industry, you’re invisible in AI search.

Even worse, if they misrepresent your brand, you could be losing trust without realizing it.

For example, if a user asks “What is [Your Brand] known for?”, the AI’s response could shape public perception. If it pulls outdated or incorrect information, you need to intervene.

Screenshot from Google, March 11, 2025

Try This Search Now

Screenshot from ChatGPT, March 11, 2025

2. Listicles & Perception Terms: Are You a Top Recommendation?

AI-generated search results frequently generate list-based recommendations like:

“Best SEO platforms for enterprise businesses.”
“Top marketing automation tools in 2025.”

If your brand doesn’t appear in these AI-generated lists, you’re missing out on potential customers who rely on AI search for recommendations.

3. Competitor Comparisons: How Do You Stack Up?

AI search engines dynamically compare brands, often answering queries like:

“Is [Your Brand] better than [Competitor]?”
“Best alternative to [Competitor]?”

If AI consistently recommends a competitor over your brand, you need to adjust your positioning and content strategy to improve your AI search presence.

Try it!

Pick a prompt from above and visit:

How Bright Data’s Web Scraper API Enables AIO Tracking & Answer Engine Tracking

Bright Data provides the data collection infrastructure that can extract AI-generated search data for:

SEO platforms.
Rank tracking tools.
Enterprises.

Key Capabilities Of Bright Data’s Web Scraper API:

Access AI Answer Engines – Extracts real-time data from Google Gemini, OpenAI’s GPT, Claude, and Perplexity AI.
Customizable Data Extraction – Enables platforms to collect AI-generated responses for specific queries, industries, or competitors.
Seamless Integration – Allows rank tracking platforms and SEO tools to integrate AI search data into their existing dashboards.
Scalable & Real-Time – Provides continuous monitoring of AI-generated search results to track brand mentions, sentiment, and competitor positioning.

By leveraging Bright Data’s Web Scraper API, you can gain visibility into AI search, ensuring you stay ahead in an evolving search landscape.

The Future of Rank Tracking In An AI-Integrated SERP

As AI-generated search results become more dominant, SEO’s are already demanding AI search tracking capabilities from their tools, and rank tracking platforms must evolve to meet this need.

Traditional keyword rankings will decline in importance as AI-generated answers take up more space in search results.
SEO tools must adapt to track brand presence, AI-generated citations, and dynamic competitor comparisons.
SEOs should begin integrating AI search tracking now to stay ahead of the curve.

AI search tracking is no longer optional, it’s essential.

Bright Data’s Web Scraper API provides the data collection infrastructure that enables brands and SEO platforms to monitor their presence in AI-generated search results across multiple platforms.

🔗 Explore Bright Data’s Web Scraper API
🔗 Read more on optimizing for generative AI search

Start Free Trial

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Bright Data. Used with permission.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Mar 7 2025

10 Top Converting Landing Pages That Boost Your ROI [With Examples] via @sejournal, @unbounce

This post was sponsored by Unbounce. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Want to increase sign-ups, sales, or demo requests from your landing page?

How can you ensure your landing page is optimized for conversions?

Landing pages can make or break your conversions.

A well-designed landing page doesn’t just look good; it also seamlessly guides visitors toward action, such as signing up, purchasing, or booking a demo.

A high-performing landing page should align with your goals:

Capturing leads.
Driving sales.
Promoting an event.

The best landing page templates are designed with conversion in mind, featuring strategic layouts, persuasive copy, and clear calls to action.

So, let’s look at a few top-performing landing page examples to learn about why they work and how you should implement them.

1 & 2. FreshGoods & Radiant Yoga Studio: Great For A Clear & Compelling Unique Selling Point

The secret to beating the competition is positioning your brand so you’re the only one in your specific space.

How? By honing in on your Unique Value Proposition (UVP):

What is the one reason to choose you, your products, or services?
Where does your competition fall short?
How do you make your UVP stand out?

FreshGoods Landing Page

Image by Unbounce, 2025

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Radiant Yoga Landing Page

Image by Unbounce, 2025

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Why They Work

These conversion-optimized landing page templates effectively highlight a USP throughout the design.

A clear and bold headline that immediately communicates the core benefit.
The supporting subheadline allows brands to reinforce the core USP message by expanding on the offer in a way that adds clarity without overwhelming visitors.
The strategic use of whitespace and strong typography ensures that the USP remains the focal point, making it easy for visitors to grasp the value of the offer at a glance.

How To Recreate These Landing Pages

Step 1: Define Your Unique Selling Proposition

A strong USP makes visitors feel like they’ve found exactly what they need. Instead of blending in with competitors, it positions your brand as the only choice.

Ask yourself: What is the one reason customers should choose you over others?
Example: FreshGoods & Radiant Yoga Studio’s landing pages showcase a crystal-clear UVP in their messaging and design.

Step 2: Craft a Compelling Headline & Supporting Headline

Your headline is your first impression, so you have to make it count. The supporting headline expands on that core message.

Best Practices:
- Be specific: Instead of “The Best Marketing Tool,” try “Turn Clicks into Customers with AI-Powered Marketing in Minutes.”
- Reinforce value: “No coding, no guesswork. Just smarter campaigns that drive real revenue.”

Step 3: Address Concerns with Reinforcing & Closing Statements

A reinforcing statement builds trust (“Trusted by over 10,000 businesses…”).
A closing statement eliminates hesitation (“Every second you wait is a sale you’re losing. Start your free trial now.”)

3 & 4. Vita Health & Orbit SaaS: Great For Hero Images & Visual Storytelling

Before visitors read a single word, visuals will capture their attention and convey meaning.

A strong hero image isn’t just decoration, it sets the tone, builds trust, and instantly reinforces your message. The right imagery makes your offer feel more tangible, relatable, and desirable.

Vita Health Landing Page

Image by Unbounce, 2025

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Orbit Flow Landing Page

SaaS landing page example and inspiration

Image by Unbounce, 2025

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Why They Work

A landing page’s imagery is a strategic tool that helps communicate your offer, build trust, and nudge visitors toward conversion. Choose visuals that don’t just look good but work hard to sell.

A well-chosen visual:

Supports the UVP.
Evokes an emotion that drives action
Showcases the product, service, or outcome in action
Makes the page feel polished, professional, and credible

In addition to the visual, the full landing page benefits from:

Strong hero image placement
An opportunity to reinforce the messaging conveyed with the hero image throughout the page
White space highlights supporting visuals
Visual hierarchy guides site visitors down the page to the parts that matter.

How To Recreate These Landing Pages

Step 1: Choose the Right Hero Image

Before visitors read a word, visuals capture attention. A great hero image should:

Support the USP
Evoke emotion & drive action
Showcase the product, service, or outcome

Step 2: Guide the Visitor’s Eye

Strategic use of visuals can nudge visitors toward your CTA:

Eye gaze: People follow where others are looking in an image.
Angles & positioning: Lines or arrows subtly direct attention to the CTA.
Contrast & color: Key elements should stand out.

Step 3: Reinforce Messaging with Supporting Imagery

Don’t rely on just one image. Use:

Icons & illustrations
Graphs & charts
Customer photos & testimonials
Short videos or GIFs

Bonus Tip:

Use A/B testing to find the ingredients for maximum impact.

The right image can make or break conversions, so test different options. Some images resonate better with your audience, drive more engagement, or feel more aligned with your brand.

Some elements to test include:

People vs. product-focused visuals.
Static images vs. motion (GIFs or videos).
Close-ups vs. wider perspective shots.
Different background colors or lighting.

5 & 6. Serene Vista & Digital Foundry: Great For Clearly Conveying Benefits

Visitors specifically care about what it does for them.

That’s why benefits should take center stage on a conversion-optimized landing page, not just a list of features.

Serene Vista

Image by Unbounce, 2025

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The Digital Foundry Landing Page

Marketing agency landing page inspiration

Image by Unbounce, 2025

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Why They Work

The benefits are concise and audience-focused
Each feature section is well-spaced to garner attention
Benefits are integrated well into the page structure with the subheadings and images to help visitors scan

How To Recreate These Landing Pages

Step 1: Translate Features into Benefits

Feature: “AI-powered keyword research tool”
Benefit: “Find high-converting keywords in seconds—no guesswork needed.”

Step 2: Address Pressing Concerns

What pain points does your audience face?
How does your product solve them better than competitors?

Step 3: Qualify Your Audience

Use benefit-driven copy that attracts the right people:
Example: “Perfect for fast-growing teams who need to scale without the chaos.”

7 & 8. Revive Aesthetics & Smile Dental: Great For Social Proof That Builds Trust

Not all social proof is created equal.

The best reinforces your UVP, addresses concerns, and speaks directly to your audience.

See what we mean here.

Revive Landing Page

Image by Unbounce, 2025

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Smile Kids Landing Page

Image by Unbounce, 2025

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Why These Landing Page Templates Work

The headshots paired with the social proof enhance trustworthiness and make a connection with site visitors because they can see themselves in the experiences being described.
The rounded shape and contrasting colors make the social proof stand out.
Located near the point of conversion.

How To Create This Landing Page

Step 1: Choose the Right Type of Social Proof

Customer testimonials & reviews
Case studies & success stories
Logos of recognizable brands
Ratings & review scores
Media mentions & awards

Step 2: Strategically Place Social Proof

Near the CTA: Reinforces trust before action.
Midway down the page: Nudges hesitant visitors.
In the hero section: Puts endorsements front and center.

9 & 10. Livewell Lifestyle & Inner Handyman: Great For Turning Interest Into Conversions With Calls To Action

A landing page without a strong CTA is like a roadmap without a destination.

Your CTA is the single most important element that tells visitors what to do next.

And if it’s unclear, compelling, and easy to find, you’ll lose conversions.

A compelling CTA is a combination of copy, design, and placement that removes hesitation and drives action.

Livewell Landing Page

Image by Unbounce, 2025

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Inner Handyman Landing Page

Local business landing page and website inspiration

Image by Unbounce, 2025

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Why They Work

CTAs can be customized to stand out and get attention
CTA sizing and positioning make them clear focal points despite having multiple elements on the page. It ensures you get the most conversion power in every pixel
The CTA buttons are placed where it matters throughout the page, making sure the page attempts the conversion when and where it matters most

How To Recreate These Landing Pages

Step 1: Craft a Clear, Compelling CTA

A high-converting CTA should be:

Action-oriented: “Start Growing Today” vs. “Submit”
Benefit-driven: “Unlock Exclusive Access” vs. “Sign Up”
Urgent (if appropriate): “Claim Your Spot Today”

Step 2: CTA Placement for Maximum Impact

Above the fold: First CTA visible immediately.
After key information: CTA follows value explanation.
Near social proof or benefits: Reinforces trust.
At the end of the page: Captures hesitant visitors.

Step 3: CTA Design That Stands Out

Color contrast: The CTA should pop from the background.
Size & positioning: Large enough to be noticeable but not overwhelming.
Whitespace & directional cues: Ensures the CTA is the focal point.

Bonus Tip:

A/B test your CTAs for better conversions.

CTAs aren’t one-size-fits-all. Even small tweaks can make a huge impact on conversions, so A/B testing different variations is essential:

Wording – Try “Get Started” vs. “Try It Free”
Color – A bold button color vs. a softer, branded one
Placement – Above the fold vs. midway down the page
Size and shape – Larger buttons vs. compact ones
Personalization – “Start My Free Trial” vs. “Start Your Free Trial”

Build High-Converting Landing Pages Faster

A great landing page isn’t just about design.

It’s about strategy.

Every element, from your USP and hero images to your social proof and CTAs, is critical in guiding visitors toward conversion. When these elements work together, your landing page drives action.

But building a high-converting landing page from scratch can be time-consuming and complex. That’s why using proven, conversion-optimized templates can give you a head start.

With Unbounce, you get access to 100+ professionally designed landing page templates built for maximum conversions. Whether capturing leads, promoting a product, or running a campaign, these templates help you launch faster, test smarter, and convert better—without needing a developer.

Ready to build an optimized landing page that converts?

Explore Unbounce’s best-performing templates and start optimizing today!

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Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Shutterstock. Used with permission.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Feb 28 2025

9 Trends You Should Watch To Keep Your Website Afloat in 2025

This post was sponsored by Bluehost. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Is my website ready for 2025’s tech and SEO changes?

How can I keep my site fast, secure, and user-friendly?

What makes a hosting provider future-proof?

In 2025, the extent to which you adapt to emerging technologies, changing user expectations, and evolving search engine algorithms will determine if you’ll thrive or struggle to stay relevant.

Staying ahead of emerging trends is essential for maintaining a fast, secure, and user-friendly website.

Optimizing performance, strengthening security measures, and enhancing user experience will be key factors in staying competitive.

The first step to ensuring your website remains resilient and future-ready is choosing a reliable hosting provider with scalable infrastructure and built-in optimization tools.

1. AI-Powered User Experience

Artificial intelligence has transformed how websites interact with visitors, making online experiences more personalized, engaging, and efficient.

Use AI For Higher Conversion Rates

AI-driven personalization allows websites to deliver tailored content and product recommendations based on user behavior, preferences, and past interactions to create an intuitive experience.

The result? Visitors remain engaged, increasing conversions.

Chatbots and AI-powered customer support are also becoming essential for websites looking to provide instant, 24/7 assistance.

These tools answer common questions, guide users through a website, and even process transactions, reducing the need for human intervention while improving response times.

And they’re gaining in popularity.

71% of businesses in a recent survey either already have a chatbot integrated into their sites and customer service processes or plan to get one in the near future.

And they’re reaping the benefits of this technology; 24% of businesses with a chatbot already installed report excellent ROI.

Use AI For Speeding Up Website Implementation

AI is also revolutionizing content creation and website design.

Based on user data, automated tools can generate blog posts, optimize layouts, and suggest design improvements.

This streamlines website management, making it easier for you to maintain a professional and visually appealing online presence.

For example, many hosting providers now include AI-powered website builders, offering tools that assist with design and customization. These features, such as responsive templates and automated suggestions, can make building and optimizing a website more efficient.

2. Voice Search & Conversational Interfaces

Voice search is becoming a major factor in how users interact with the web, with more people relying on smart speakers, mobile assistants, and voice-activated search to find information.

To put this into perspective, ChatGPT from OpenAI reportedly holds 60% of the generative AI market, performing more than one billion searches daily. If just 1% of those are via its voice search, that equates to 10 million voice searches every day on ChatGPT alone.

Reports estimate 20.5% of people globally use voice search daily. And these numbers are increasing.

You need to adapt by optimizing for conversational SEO and natural language queries, which tend to be longer and more specific, making long-tail keywords and question-based content more important than ever.

To stay ahead, websites should structure content in a way that mimics natural conversation:

FAQ-style pages.
Featured snippet optimization.
Ensuring fast-loading, mobile-friendly experiences.

If this is an upgrade that makes sense for your industry, be sure that your host supports SEO-friendly themes and plugins that help websites rank for voice queries.

3. Core Web Vitals & SEO Best Practices

Google continues to refine its ranking algorithms, with Core Web Vitals playing a critical role in determining search visibility.

Implement Core Web Vital Data & Monitor Website Speed

These performance metrics, Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), measure how quickly a page loads, how responsive it is, and how stable its layout appears to users.

Websites that meet these benchmarks not only rank higher in search results but also provide a better overall user experience.

One study found that pages ranking in the top spots in the SERPs were 10% more likely to pass CWV scores than URLs in position 9.

Ensure Your Website Is Faster Than Your Competitors To Rank Higher

As part of the prioritization of performance, mobile-first approach remains essential; Google prioritizes sites that are fast and responsive on smartphones and tablets.

Ensuring faster load times through optimized images, efficient coding, and proper caching techniques can make a significant impact on search rankings.

Leverage Structured Data To Tell Google What Your Website Is About

Structured data, on the other hand, helps search engines better understand a website’s content, improving the chances of appearing in rich snippets and voice search results.

4. Mobile-First & Adaptive Design

With mobile devices accounting for the majority of web traffic, mobile optimization remains a top priority in 2025.

Google’s mobile-first indexing means that search engines primarily evaluate the mobile version of a site when determining rankings.

A website that isn’t optimized for mobile results in overall poor performance, lower search rankings, and a frustrating user experience.

To keep up, many websites are adopting:

Adaptive design – Ensures that websites adjust dynamically to different screen sizes, providing an optimal layout on any device.
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) – Combine the best features of websites and mobile apps, offering faster load times, offline capabilities, and app-like functionality without requiring a download.

Best practices for a seamless mobile experience include responsive design, fast-loading pages, and touch-friendly navigation.

Optimizing images, minimizing pop-ups, and using mobile-friendly fonts and buttons can also greatly enhance usability.

5. Enhanced Website Security & Data Privacy

Cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated.

You must take proactive measures to protect your websites from attacks, data breaches, and unauthorized access.

Implementing strong security protocols not only safeguards sensitive information but also builds trust with visitors.

Key security measures include:

SSL certificates – Encrypt data transmitted between users and a website, ensuring secure connections—something that search engines and users now expect as a standard feature.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) – Adds an extra layer of security by requiring multiple verification steps before granting access, reducing the risk of compromised credentials.
Zero-trust security models – Ensures that all access requests, even from within a network, are continuously verified, minimizing potential security gaps.

Beyond technical defenses, compliance with evolving privacy laws such as GDPR and CCPA is essential.

You must be transparent about how they collect, store, and process user data, providing clear consent options and maintaining privacy policies that align with current regulations.

6. Sustainability & Green Web Hosting

Every website, server, and data center requires energy to function, contributing to global carbon emissions.

Optimizing websites through lighter code, efficient caching, and reduced server load also plays a role in minimizing environmental impact.

Choosing a hosting provider that values sustainability is an important step toward a greener web.

For example, Bluehost has taken steps to improve energy efficiency, ensuring that website owners can maintain high-performance sites while supporting environmentally friendly initiatives.

7. AI-Generated & Interactive Content

AI tools can assist in creating blog posts, product descriptions, and videos with minimal manual input, helping businesses maintain a steady content flow efficiently.

Beyond static content, interactive features like quizzes, calculators, and AR are becoming key for user engagement.

These elements encourage participation, increasing time on site and improving conversions.

To integrate interactive features smoothly, a hosting provider that supports interactive plugins and flexible tools can help keep websites engaging and competitive.

8. The Role of Blockchain in Web Security

Blockchain is emerging as a tool for web hosting and cybersecurity, enhancing data security, decentralization, and content authenticity.

Unlike traditional hosting, decentralized networks distribute website data across multiple nodes, reducing risks like downtime, censorship, and cyberattacks. Blockchain-powered domains also add security by making ownership harder to manipulate.

Beyond hosting, blockchain improves data verification by storing information in a tamper-proof ledger, benefiting ecommerce, digital identity verification, and intellectual property protection.

9. The Importance of Reliable Web Hosting

No matter how advanced a website is, it’s only as strong as the hosting infrastructure behind it. In 2025, website performance and uptime will remain critical factors for success, impacting everything from user experience to search engine rankings and business revenue.

Scalable hosting solutions play a crucial role in handling traffic spikes, ensuring that websites remain accessible during high-demand periods.

Whether it’s an ecommerce store experiencing a surge in holiday traffic or a viral blog post drawing in thousands of visitors, having a hosting plan that adapts to these changes is essential.

Reliable hosting providers help mitigate these challenges by offering scalable infrastructure, 100% SLA uptime guarantees, and built-in performance optimizations to keep websites running smoothly.

Features like VPS and dedicated hosting provide additional resources for growing businesses, ensuring that increased traffic doesn’t compromise speed or stability. Investing in a hosting solution that prioritizes reliability and scalability helps safeguard a website’s long-term success.

Future-Proof Your Website Today

The digital landscape is changing fast, and staying ahead is essential to staying competitive.

From AI-driven personalization to enhanced security and sustainable hosting, adapting to new trends ensures your site remains fast, secure, and engaging. Investing in performance and user experience isn’t optional, it’s the key to long-term success.

Whether launching a new site or optimizing an existing one, the right hosting provider makes all the difference.

Bluehost offers reliable, high-performance hosting with built-in security, scalability, and guaranteed uptime, so your website is ready for the future.

Get started today and build a website designed to thrive.

GET STARTED WITH BLUEHOST TODAY

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Bluehost. Used with permission.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Feb 19 2025

How To Create a Certified Fast Website To Compete In 2025

This post was sponsored by Bluehost. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Imagine clicking on a website only to wait several seconds for it to load.

Frustrating, right?

Your prospective customers think so, too.

In a world where attention spans are shrinking, even a one-second delay can lead to lost visitors, lower rankings, and missed revenue opportunities.

Research finds that B2C websites that load in one second or less have conversion rates three times higher than those that load in five seconds or more.

Conversion rates are 2.5 times higher for B2C websites that load in one second or less.

In other words, speed is no longer a luxury.

Speed is a necessity.

A fast-loading website enhances user experience, boosts SEO rankings, and drives higher conversions.

And with search engines and consumer expectations continuing to evolve, businesses must prioritize performance to stay ahead of the competition.

Implementing the right strategies ensures that websites remain fast, competitive, and ready for the demands of 2025.

A trusted partner like Bluehost provides the robust infrastructure, advanced caching mechanisms, and built-in performance enhancements needed to help websites reach peak efficiency.

GET STARTED

1. How To Select The Right Hosting Plan

A website’s performance starts with selecting the right hosting plan. The plan should align with the site’s current and future needs to effectively accommodate growth and traffic fluctuations.

Assess Your Website’s Needs

Before settling on a hosting plan, it’s crucial to evaluate key factors like traffic expectations, content types, and scalability.

For example, websites with heavy multimedia content require more resources than text-based sites, and anticipated visitor numbers influence server capacity needs.

Additionally, selecting a plan that supports future growth ensures smooth scaling without performance bottlenecks.

Match Your Website’s Needs To What The Host Provides

Different hosting solutions cater to different website requirements, ranging from budget-friendly shared hosting to more robust, performance-driven plans. Bluehost offers multiple hosting options tailored to various business needs.

Shared Hosting can work well for smaller websites with moderate traffic, offering a cost-effective way to get started.

Bluehost’s VPS hosting offers more power and flexibility by providing dedicated resources, making it an excellent choice for growing websites that need additional performance.

For large-scale websites demanding maximum speed and control, our dedicated hosting plans deliver exclusive server access with top-tier performance for optimal speed and scalability.

2. Implement Caching Mechanisms

Caching is an essential tool for optimizing website speed by reducing the need to load the same data repeatedly. By storing frequently accessed files, caching decreases server load, enhances response times, and ensures visitors experience faster page loads.

Websites that effectively utilize caching experience better performance, lower bounce rates, and improved search rankings.

Use Built-In Caching Features

For instance, Bluehost provides multiple caching mechanisms to enhance website performance, such as PHP APC (Alternative PHP Cache). A powerful opcode caching system, PHP APC improves database query speed and optimizes PHP script execution, ensuring that frequently accessed data is retrieved faster.

On the other hand, edge caching minimizes latency by delivering content from servers closest to the user, reducing server response times and improving load speeds.

Bluehost makes it easy to use caching to enhance website speed. Caching can be enabled directly through the Bluehost control panel, ensuring seamless implementation.

Additionally, Bluehost is powered by Dell rack-mount servers, which use AMD EPYC chips, DDR5 RAM, and ultrafast NVMe storage. With caching plugins like W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket, your web pages will load faster, improving the user experience, SEO, traffic, and conversion rates.

3. Absolutely Leverage Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)

Another way to speed up websites is to examine how content is delivered to users. A Content Delivery Network (CDN) enhances website performance by distributing content across multiple servers worldwide. This reduces latency and ensures visitors load pages faster, regardless of location.

CDNs minimize the physical distance between the server and the user by caching static assets like images, stylesheets, and scripts at various data centers worldwide. This results in load times and reduced bandwidth usage.

Beyond speed improvements, CDNs also enhance website security by protecting against DDoS attacks, traffic spikes, and malicious bots. Some CDNs offer additional features, such as image optimization, automated compression, and firewall rules, that further improve performance and security.

CDNs & Bluehost

Bluehost offers built-in CDN solutions, including Cloudflare integration, to help websites achieve optimal performance and security.

Activating a CDN through Bluehost’s dashboard is straightforward, and configuring settings that best suit a website’s needs significantly improves speed and reliability.

4. Optimize Images & Media

Impact of Media Files on Load Times

Large images and unoptimized videos can significantly slow down a website. Why? High-resolution media files require more bandwidth and processing power, leading to slower page loads and a poorer user experience.

This is particularly problematic for mobile users and those with slower internet connections since heavy media files can take significantly longer to load, frustrating visitors and increasing bounce rates.

Additionally, media files that are not optimized can consume excessive server resources, potentially affecting overall website performance. If too many large files are loaded simultaneously, the hosting environment can strain, causing slowdowns for all users.

Image- and media-based slowdowns are widespread on websites that rely heavily on visual content, such as e-commerce platforms, portfolios, and media-heavy blogs.

Reducing file sizes, choosing appropriate formats, and leveraging compression techniques can greatly enhance website speed while maintaining visual quality.

How To Size Images The Right Way

First, while it may be common and easy to do, avoid using the width and height attributes in HTML to resize images since this forces the browser to scale the image, increasing load times and decreasing performance.

Instead, resize images before uploading them using graphic editing tools such as Photoshop, GIMP, or online compression services. Scaling images improperly can lead to pixelation and a stretched appearance, negatively impacting user experience.

By resizing images to their intended display size before uploading, websites can significantly reduce the amount of data a browser needs to process, resulting in faster page loads and a more visually appealing layout.

Appropriately resized images will also have a higher visual quality because they are sized for the right display dimensions.

How To Compress Images For Better Website Performance

Compressing images using tools like Squoosh, TinyPNG, or plugins like Smush helps reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality.

Implementing lazy loading ensures that off-screen images and videos only load when needed, reducing initial load times and enhancing overall site performance.

5. Minimize Plugins & External Scripts

How To Discover Your Plugins’ Usage

Overloading a website with excessive plugins and external scripts can severely impact performance. Therefore, it’s essential to regularly assess installed plugins and remove outdated, redundant, or unnecessary ones.

Limiting the number of external scripts running on a page can also help reduce loading times and improve efficiency.

How To Choose Efficient Plugins

Selecting the right plugins is crucial for maintaining website performance. First, look for lightweight, well-coded plugins that prioritize speed and efficiency.

Then, regularly auditing your plugins and removing outdated or redundant ones can prevent conflicts and minimize resource usage.

Bluehost provides hosting environments tailored for WordPress users, ensuring compatibility with essential caching, security, and SEO plugins.

By hosting your website on a reliable platform like Bluehost, you can benefit from a stable infrastructure that complements the best WordPress plugins. This will help you enhance functionality without compromising speed.

6. Tips For Compression, Minification & Technical Tweaks

Additional technical optimizations, in addition to caching and CDNs, can further improve site speed and performance. Compression and minification techniques help reduce file sizes, while other backend optimizations ensure web pages load efficiently.

Implementing these strategies can significantly improve desktop and mobile user experiences.

Benefits Of Compression

Reducing the size of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files significantly improves page speed. Compressed files require less bandwidth and load faster, creating a smoother user experience.

Effortless Compression & Technical Optimization With Bluehost

Bluehost makes compression easy. GZIP compression can be enabled via Bluehost’s control panel or by modifying the .htaccess file.

Plugins like Autoptimize help minify code by removing unnecessary characters, ensuring that files remain lightweight and optimized for performance.

Utilizing ETags & Expires Headers

Another important aspect of page speed optimization involves using ETags and expired headers, which help streamline browser requests and improve overall efficiency.

These settings instruct a visitor’s browser on how to handle cached content, preventing unnecessary reloads and reducing the number of requests made to the server.

ETags (Entity Tags) are used by browsers to determine whether cached resources have been modified since the last visit. If the content remains unchanged, the browser loads the local copy instead of downloading it again, minimizing bandwidth usage and speeding up load times.

On the other hand, expired headers specify a timeframe for when specific resources should be refreshed.

By setting an appropriate expiration date for static files like images, CSS, and JavaScript, web developers can ensure that repeat visitors are not unnecessarily reloading content that has not changed.

For example, a website logo that remains consistent across pages can be cached efficiently so that users do not have to download it every time they navigate the site.

Properly configuring these settings enhances website performance, particularly for sites with recurring visitors. It prevents redundant data transfers and reduces the workload on the browser and server.

Many hosting providers, including Bluehost, offer tools and support to help website owners implement these optimizations effectively. This ensures a faster and more seamless user experience.

7. Regularly Monitor & Execute Maintenance

Practice Continuous Performance Assessment

Technology changes and slows down. Websites are no exception.

Therefore, websites should undergo regular performance assessments to ensure they’re continually optimized for the best user experience.

Routine speed testing helps identify areas where performance can be improved, whether by addressing slow-loading elements, optimizing server response times, or refining backend processes.

Various tools can assist in performance evaluation. Google PageSpeed Insights, for example, provides detailed reports on website speed and offers specific recommendations for improvements.

Lighthouse, a Google open-source tool, analyzes performance, accessibility, and SEO, helping site owners fine-tune their pages.

Beyond automated tools, ongoing monitoring through website analytics platforms, such as Google Analytics, can offer valuable insights into user behavior.

High bounce rates and low engagement metrics may indicate slow performance, guiding further refinements.

Businesses running ecommerce platforms or large applications should consider integrating application performance monitoring (APM) tools to track performance bottlenecks in real time.

Maintenance Tips

Regular updates to website software, regardless of the platform used, are essential for security and performance.

Content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal require frequent updates to core files, themes, and plugins to prevent compatibility issues and vulnerabilities. Similarly, frameworks and libraries for custom-built sites must be kept up to date to ensure efficiency and security.

Database optimization is another crucial maintenance task. Over time, databases accumulate redundant data, slowing down query execution.

Periodic optimizations, such as removing unused tables, cleaning up post revisions, and properly indexing databases, can enhance efficiency.

Server maintenance is equally important. Websites hosted on dedicated or VPS servers should have automated backups, uptime monitoring, and log analysis configured.

Cloud-based hosting solutions like Bluehost Cloud provide performance-tracking tools that can help identify and mitigate slowdowns at the infrastructure level, a 100% uptime SLA, and more to ensure websites run smoothly.

Lastly, implementing a proactive security strategy ensures ongoing performance stability. Regular malware scans, security patches, and SSL certificate renewals help prevent vulnerabilities that could slow down or compromise a website.

Security plugins and firewalls, such as Cloudflare, add an extra layer of protection while minimizing unwanted traffic that could strain server resources.

That’s what makes Bluehost the superior choice. We offer automated backups, performance monitoring tools, and dedicated 24/7 support professionals who can help keep your website running at peak efficiency.

And with a range of hosting plans tailored to different needs, Bluehost ensures that your website will remain fast, secure, and scalable as it grows.

Building a certified fast website in 2025 requires strategic hosting, caching, content delivery, and ongoing maintenance.

Leveraging Bluehost’s robust hosting plans, integrated CDN, and performance optimization tools ensures your website remains fast, competitive, and ready for the evolving digital landscape.

Bluehost’s hosting solutions provide an easy and reliable way to optimize performance.

GET STARTED WITH BLUEHOST TODAY

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Bluehost. Used with permission.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Feb 5 2025

Up-To-Date Trends, AI-Driven Workflows, and Smarter Data Strategies for Q2 via @sejournal, @CallRail

In the fast-paced world of PPC advertising, marketers are constantly seeking ways to streamline their workflows and improve performance.

Managing PPC campaigns efficiently requires a delicate balancing act of multiple tasks:

Analyzing data.
Optimizing bid strategies.
Testing creatives.
Reporting performance.
And so much more.

While AI and machine learning have been around in PPC for years, a new wave of AI tools for streamlining productivity and workflows has made its way into the PPC scene.

Whether it’s automating repetitive tasks, enhancing audience targeting, or analyzing vast datasets, AI tools are reshaping how PPC professionals work.

Who doesn’t want to save time doing repetitive, busy work tasks?

In this article, we’ll explore several unconventional ways AI tools can help PPC marketers save time, increase efficiency, and make smarter decisions.

Using AI To Automate Data Interpretation And Trend Insights

PPC campaigns can generate enormous amounts of data that need to be consistently analyzed and interpreted.

AI tools outside of the standard Google and Microsoft Ads platforms can help streamline this process by helping with tasks like:

Quickly summarizing key trends.
Look for patterns in performance data.
Identify any data anomalies for further analysis.

These insights can enable marketers to move from data to action faster.

Using AI Tools For Trend Identification And Insights

If you’d rather not manually sift through reports identifying changes in performance metrics changes, you can actually feed campaign data into ChatGPT (or similar AI tools) to receive summaries that highlight performance trends.

For example, they can help identify seasonal changes in performance or pinpoint potential issues, such as a sudden dip in conversion rate.

Say you run 20 different campaigns in Google Ads and start to see a significant drop in conversion rates from the platform. It can be daunting to immediately pinpoint the cause of the issue.

By processing raw performance data from your campaigns, these AI tools can quickly analyze the data and provide insight into not only where the problem(s) can lie, but also glean insights as to why performance has shifted, like:

Ad fatigue.
Increased competition.
A shift in consumer behavior.

Using AI tools in this capacity helps marketers cut down on analysis time while helping to identify core issues faster, allowing for quicker optimization.

This automation saves hours of manual work, enabling you to focus on more strategic decision-making instead of spending time analyzing large datasets.

Enhancing Competitor Analysis And Strategy Development

Keeping up with competitors is crucial in the PPC landscape, but the task at hand can be time-consuming and complex.

AI tools simplify this process by providing insights into competitors’ strategies, allowing you to stay one step ahead.

There are plenty of tools to help drive competitor insights, whether in the Google Ads platform, third-party tools, or AI tools.

If you’re looking to take the analysis a step further, you can input reports from other competitive analysis tools into ChatGPT (or a similar tool) to receive a quick summary that highlights a competitor’s recent actions.

For example, this could include information like:

Shifts in bidding strategies.
Introduction of new ad copies.
Keywords being targeted.

Based on this data, the AI tools can suggest ways to adjust your own campaigns or suggest counter-strategies to stay competitive.

By automating competitor analysis tasks, you can gain valuable insights faster, which allows for quicker, more informed decision-making and strategic actions.

Simplifying Multi-Account And Cross-Platform Reporting

Managing campaigns across multiple platforms – whether it’s Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta, or others – means compiling huge data sets from different sources.

Trying to put together a compelling, holistic story about your marketing campaigns can take up a lot of time as you navigate from platform to platform.

This is where the power of AI tools can come in to help aggregate reports and create cohesive summaries.

Streamlining Cross-Platform Reporting

Multi-channel reporting is often a daunting task, especially when managing accounts across Google, Microsoft, and social platforms.

By inputting performance data from these platforms into ChatGPT, marketers can receive a single, unified report that summarizes key performance indicators (KPIs) across channels.

For example, say you manage several campaigns across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Meta Ads.

Instead of switching between dashboards and manually pulling data, you can input the performance metrics from each platform into your AI tool of choice.

The tool can summarize the top-performing platforms, highlight underperforming campaigns, and suggest where to reallocate budgets to maximize ROI.

AI’s ability to consolidate multi-channel data helps reduce reporting time, enabling marketers to spend more time optimizing campaigns and less time on administrative tasks.

Keyword Research And Expansion With AI

Keyword research is at the core of every PPC strategy, and expanding keyword lists can be labor-intensive.

AI tools can make the process more efficient by identifying relevant keywords, negative keywords, and keyword variations that are often missed in traditional tools.

While tools like the Google Keyword Planner are great at providing keyword recommendations, AI tools can take it a step further.

They can generate items like long-tail keyword variations and help identify opportunities for new targeting strategies.

Additionally, they can analyze an existing keyword list and suggest related keywords that reflect user intent or emerging trends.

For example, say you manage PPC campaigns for an ecommerce retailer. You input a list of current top-performing keywords with your latest KPI performance data into your AI tool of choice.

From there, the tool can generate suggestions for new long-tail keywords that may have lower volume, but higher intent to purchase.

Additionally, you can ask the tool to suggest negative keywords to eliminate irrelevant traffic, which improves both relevance and cost efficiency.

To really kick this into high gear, you can then ask the tool to format these new keywords and negative keywords into a format that allows you to upload them into Google Ads Editor, saving you hours of manual work adding each one individually.

Using AI tools beyond the ad platforms can help marketers discover new opportunities faster, ensuring more comprehensive targeting with minimal manual effort.

AI-Assisted Testing And Creative Optimization

There’s no debate that A/B testing is critical to campaign optimization, but interpreting results and making decisions about the next steps is where most people fall flat.

Using AI tools to streamline this process can aid you in analyzing test data and suggest optimizations based on performance.

Say you want to test two different versions of a headline in a PPC campaign. You can upload your test performance data into an AI tool for analysis.

Not only will it summarize which headline performed better, but it goes a step further to help answer why one headline outperformed the other.

By providing insights into which elements contributed to success, it can save you time in the long run and help keep those driving factors top of mind for the next test.

AI For PPC Budget Allocation And Forecasting

Effective budget management is essential for optimizing PPC performance.

The ad platforms are great at automating tasks like changing daily budgets based on scripts, but what about strategic budget allocation decisions?

Using AI tools to assist budget allocation across campaigns or platforms by forecasting potential outcomes based on past performance data can streamline the process of deciding where to invest – and when.

For example, a retail client has an upcoming holiday sale and they want to know if they can expect a higher return than last year’s sale.

Inputting last year’s campaign performance into AI tools like ChatGPT can help analyze performance, while also taking into consideration current market trends.

The output could be to suggest how much of the budget should be allocated to high-performing keywords or certain product categories.

It can also provide a forecast of expected returns based on historical data, current CPC trends, and consumer behavior trends to help you make informed budget decisions ahead of time.

AI-driven budget forecasting helps ensure that resources are allocated to the right areas, reducing wasted spend and improving overall campaign performance.

Automating Market Trend Exploration And Forecasting

Market trends can shift quickly, and staying ahead of these changes is key to successful PPC campaigns.

AI tools can analyze search trends, consumer behavior, and historical campaign data to predict future shifts in demand and help marketers prepare.

For instance, AI tools can identify trends in consumer searches in real time, helping you adjust your campaign strategies proactively.

For example, you manage Google Ads campaigns for a fitness brand, and you’re noticing a seasonal uptick in searches for [home workout equipment].

By using AI tools to analyze Google Trends data, you can forecast how that demand will continue to rise or fall in the coming months, and even if certain geographical areas are driving the high demand.

This allows you to adjust bids based on location, increase overall budgets if necessary to help capture demand, and create relevant ad copy that speaks directly to the emerging trend.

Conclusion

AI is revolutionizing PPC workflows, allowing marketers to work smarter, not harder.

Whether you’re leveraging Google Ads’ AI capabilities, like Gemini’s conversational ad creation or integrating third-party tools for deeper insights, AI is becoming indispensable in managing and optimizing PPC campaigns.

From automating bid management and audience targeting to optimizing ad creatives and providing actionable insights, AI offers opportunities to boost efficiency without sacrificing effectiveness.

As AI tools continue to evolve, those who embrace these technologies will find themselves better equipped to deliver superior results, whether managing in-house campaigns or serving clients.

By integrating both Google’s AI features and powerful third-party tools, you can unlock new levels of performance, save time on manual tasks, and focus on strategy and innovation.

More resources:

Featured Image: 3rdtimeluckystudio/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

On-page SEO SEO SEO Strategy Sponsored Posts

Feb 4 2025

5 New SEO Ranking Challenges You’re Facing Right Now [& A Fix] via @sejournal, @bright_data

This post was sponsored by Bright Data. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Struggling to adapt your SEO strategy to ever-changing AI-driven SERPs?

Have the most recent Google updates left your rank-tracking methods outdated?

What happens when you can no longer deliver key information on traffic sources?

Generative AI (GenAI) technologies like Google Gemini and Bard are reshaping search results.

This is creating unprecedented challenges, especially when it comes to the elephant in the room: “The New Position 0.”

In this article, we’ll help tackle the key ways to:

The Latest Google Updates & What They Mean For You

Just this week, Google rolled out unexpected changes to SERP structures, causing widespread disruptions for many SEO strategies that rely on SERP rankings.

These updates led to outages and inaccurate data across the industry, forcing many businesses to quickly adapt to avoid prolonged disruptions.

“The disruptions caused by Google’s latest SERP changes left many platforms unable to deliver accurate data to their users. Our clients, however, were unaffected thanks to our immediate response and robust infrastructure. If not for the media and search community, they wouldn’t have known there were any changes.” – Ariel Shulman, VP Product at Bright Data

Generative AI has fundamentally altered how search engines deliver results.

Classic SERP features have become central to understanding user intent and the user journey.

Until now.

The SERP layout we know and love has changed.

These overall changes present challenges for rank-tracking platforms tasked with capturing and analyzing SERPs:

Dynamic Content: AI-generated answers often feature multimedia, conversational snippets, or interactive elements, making parsing and analyzing data increasingly complex.

Personalization: Search results now adjust based on user history, geography, and device type, requiring platforms to capture nuanced, context-specific data.

Position-Zero Dominance: The growing prominence of position zero highlights the need for precise tracking and optimization insights tailored to this feature.

The challenge for rank-tracking platforms is clear: adapt to these AI-driven shifts or risk leaving users without the insights they need to thrive.

What Is Position 0 On Google?

Position 0 on Google refers to any of the featured snippets that appear at the very top of the search engine results page (SERP), above all organic search results.

It’s a special box that highlights concise information in response to a query, often in the form of a paragraph, list, or table.

For example, if you search for “How to tie a tie,” the featured snippet might display step-by-step instructions directly at the top. Being in Position 0 can boost your SEO strategy significantly since it’s considered premium real estate in search rankings.

The featured snippet is designed to provide users with quick answers to their questions without requiring them to click on a website. It’s highly coveted by website owners because it significantly increases visibility and click-through rates.

However, it’s becoming more difficult to track what is ranking in position 0 due to 5 different issues that baffle the current MarTech stack.

So, let’s dive deeper: What did Google change that you’ll need to change?

1. New Changes To SERP Layout Makes Ranking & Organic Clicks More Difficult

As we’re seeing in real-time, AI technologies like Google Gemini (previously Bard) and Microsoft’s Bing AI are reshaping SERP layouts.

So far, SERP structures are evolving rapidly with AI updates.

Elements like conversational answers or rich media snippets appear inconsistently, requiring you to constantly adapt your SEO strategy and data collection methods.

The New Order Of Search Results

Instead of seeing Google Ads placements, featured snippets, positions 1-3, and People Also Ask, we’ll now be seeing:

Google Ads take up more space, with up to 4 results that could also contain additional expanded site links.
Google AI Overviews (AIO) now dominate the SERP above the fold, pushing positions 1-10 below interactive snippets.
Featured Snippets take the space where positions 1-3 used to live, pushing position 1 down further.
People Also Ask also comes before position 1.
Position 1 starts here.

However, this is not its final state. The new layout of SERPs is dynamic; it will continue to change, and you have to be ready.

Position 1 No Longer Dominates

With position 1 pushed down at least 3 scroll lengths, this is no longer the top clicked result.

Additionally, the layout of a searcher’s query will also vary based on new advances in SERP personalization.

Now, clicks are possible in many new locations on the SERP, such as in a cited link for Google’s AI Overview (AIO).

These are not as easily trackable nor attributable.

SEO analysts and SEO strategists will see a massive impact on their traffic data and how they optimize their content to display above the fold.

Google’s AI Overview (AIO) Steals Top Clicks

Finally, position 1 on Google SERPs has seen its decline from providing at least 33% of organic search clicks to just 11% as of January 2025 depending on the search term.

Organic CTR declined ~70% when an AIO was present on the SERP.

AIO not only makes it difficult to obtain clicks, but one final change has made it nearly impossible to attribute clicks to positions.

In short:

You will lose traffic.
You will lose visibility into where your traffic is coming from.
You will lose the ability to strategize your content for visibility on SERPs.

What does this mean?

Google AIO and other dynamic SERP features are the new Position Zero.

2. Dynamic & Lazy-Loading SERP Content Hides Key SEO Data

Many SERP elements, especially those influenced by AI, load dynamically based on user interaction.

As we know from past SEO knowledge, dynamic and lazy-loading content cannot be seen by bots and scrapers until something triggers the content to load.

Therefore, to retrieve all the necessary data, you’ll need to simulate interactions like clicks and scrolls, which adds complexity and latency.

3. Google’s Anti-Bot Measures Removes Your Visibility To Rankings

As you can see so far, dynamic and personalized search results are more prominent.

Your favorite SEO keyword research and rank-tracking tools rely on bots to crawl the web for key data to help you build your SEO strategy.

However, Google has removed a large piece that makes that data scraping possible: bots.

Google’s evolving anti-bot measures further complicate real-time data collection, pushing platforms to the brink of what their systems can handle.

Sophisticated anti-bot defenses, such as CAPTCHA challenges, IP-based blocking, and JavaScript obfuscation, make real-time data collection a significant hurdle. Many traditional scraping tools cannot meet these challenges.

4. Personalized & Regionalized SERPs Removes Control Data

Control data is something that remains the same from one experiment to another. It enables you to have direct comparisons to build conclusions from when you’re building your SEO strategy.

The old SERP’s control data was the standardized layout. SERP layouts and results were similar enough for the same search query, meaning you could compare multiple searches for the same query to create conclusions that drove your strategy.

Now, user-specific factors like location, language, and device type create unique SERP views with vastly different orders of results.

It’s no longer simple to look at SERP data for [What is a 5-star hotel?] and know which link was clicked from which position:

User 1 could have been served your link in an AIO, which would not show up in classic SEO tools.
User 2 could have clicked on your link in position 1, which would show up in classic SEO tools.

Capturing this variability at scale while maintaining accuracy is critical yet immensely difficult.

5. Evolving Answer Content & Embracing Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

AI-generated responses are constantly updated, with position-zero content shifting based on new data and context.

These AI-generated responses are part of an evolution of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).

You’ll need tools that have been updated to extract data from Answer Engines in real-time.

How To Gain Traffic From Position 0 & Regain Organic Traffic from SERPs

To regain your lost traffic, you’ll need to refer to more sophisticated tools to gain access to new SERP data streams to inform your organic traffic strategy.

Tools that previously helped you understand your position on SERPs are now outdated.

Rank-tracking platforms that have upgraded should be ready and able to collect data using more modern sources that align with the roadblocks above.

These tools don’t just need to collect data, they need to deliver actionable insights to help their users optimize for “The New Position 0” based on the data and AIO’s best practices. By extracting the right data and presenting it clearly, platforms empower users to improve their strategies effectively.

Here’s how platforms are leveraging Data from GenAI results:

1. Emphasizing Content Designed for AEO

Platforms will need insights into which content types (e.g., FAQs, schema markup, and structured data) are prioritized by AI-driven search engines. This will help their users create concise, authoritative content that aligns with SERP preferences, improving visibility and relevance in position zero.

2. Focusing on Position Zero Metrics

They will need metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), impressions, and engagement specific to position zero. These metrics will help their users monitor performance and refine their strategies to maintain or improve their rankings.

3. Supporting Regional and Device-Specific Insights

Platforms will need geo-targeted and device-specific data to provide segmented insights. This will help their users tailor their optimization efforts to specific regions, languages, or devices, ensuring their strategies are more precise and effective.

4. Adjusting to Conversational Queries

They will need data on conversational and intent-driven search queries. This will help their users align their content with how large language models prioritize conversational patterns, resulting in higher engagement and relevance.

SEO tools using Bright Data’s toolkit have access to all this data in real-time and at scale. That’s why the leading SEO tools choose Bright Data as their go-to data provider. Platforms leveraging these insights position themselves as indispensable tools for helping their users dominate “The New Position 0.”

Conclusion

As “The New Position 0” continues to redefine search, rank-tracking platforms face mounting challenges in delivering accurate, actionable data. Choosing the right data collection partner is no longer optional, it’s the key to staying ahead. Platforms leveraging Bright Data’s SERP API are equipped to meet these challenges, empowering their users to succeed in an AI-driven search landscape.

Bright Data’s proactive approach meant their clients experienced uninterrupted services during the disruptions that affected many in the industry. SEO tools leveraging Bright Data’s SERP API maintained seamless operations, continuing to deliver accurate, real-time insights to their users without issue.

Integrating your platform with Bright Data’s SERP API is quick and straightforward. Want to see what it’s all about? Check out the documentation here or test it out in the SERP API playground to see if it’s the perfect match for your SEO tool. When data matters, companies choose Bright Data.

This article has been sponsored by Bright Data, and the views presented herein represent the sponsor’s perspective.

Start Free Trial

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Bright Data. Used with permission.

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Dec 19 2024

18 Essential Accessibility Changes To Drive Increased Website Growth via @sejournal, @skynet_lv

This post was sponsored by “Skynet Technologies USA LLC”.

Did you know that 1 billion people have not reached you or your customers’ websites yet.

1 billion potential customers are waiting for businesses to step up and do what’s right.

Find out if your website is accessible to 1 billion people >>>

Accessibility isn’t just a compliance checkbox anymore – it’s a growth strategy.

The demand for scalable, innovative accessibility solutions has skyrocketed.

And your competition is already making these improvements.

For agencies, this means an unprecedented opportunity to meet clients’ needs while driving revenue.

Learn how you can generate additional revenue and boost your clients’ SERP ranking by gaining access to:

Ready to get started?

How Accessibility Improvements Can Increase Growth

The digital economy thrives on inclusion.

There is a large market of individuals who are not included in modern website usability.

With over a billion people globally living with disabilities, accessible digital experiences open doors to untapped markets.

Do Websites Need To Be Accessible?

The short answer is yes.

How Does An Accessible Website Drive Traffic?

Traffic comes from people who have needs. Of course, everyone has needs, including people with disabilities.

Accessible websites and tools cater to all users, expanding reach to a diverse and often overlooked customer base.

Global Potential & Unlocking New Audiences

From a global perspective, the global community of people with disabilities is a market estimated to hold a staggering $13 trillion in spending power.

By removing barriers and ensuring inclusive digital experiences, you can tap into this 1 billion-person market and drive substantial economic growth.

Digital accessibility helps to increase employment opportunities, education options, and simple access to various banking and financial services for everybody.

Boosts User Experience & Engagement

Accessibility improvements run parallel with SEO improvements.

In fact, they often enhance overall website performance, which leads to:

Better user experience.
Higher rankings.
Increased traffic.
Higher conversion rates.

Ensures Your Websites Are Compliant

Increasing lawsuits against businesses that fail to comply with accessibility regulations have imposed pressure on them to implement accessibility in their digital assets.

Compliance with ADA, WCAG 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, Section 508, Australian DDA, European EAA EN 301 549, UK Equality Act (EA), Indian RPD Act, Israeli Standard 5568, California Unruh, Ontario AODA, Canada ACA, German BITV, Brazilian Inclusion Law (LBI 13.146/2015), Spain UNE 139803:2012, France RGAA standards, JIS X 8341 (Japan), Italian Stanca Act, Switzerland DDA, Austrian Web Accessibility Act (WZG) guidelines aren’t optional. Accessibility solution partnerships ensure to stay ahead of potential lawsuits while fostering goodwill.

6 Steps To Boost Your Growth With Accessibility

To drive growth, your agency should prioritize digital accessibility by following WCAG standards, regularly testing with tools like AXE, WAVE, or Skynet Technologies Website Accessibility Checker, and addressing accessibility gaps. Build accessible design frameworks with high-contrast colors, scalable text, and clear navigation.
Integrate assistive technologies such as keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and video accessibility. Focus on responsive design, accessible forms, and inclusive content strategies like descriptive link text, simplified language, and alternative formats.
Providing accessibility training and creating inclusive marketing materials will further support compliance and growth.
To ensure the website thrives, prioritize mobile-first design for responsiveness across all devices, adhere to WCAG accessibility standards, and incorporate keyboard-friendly navigation and alt text for media.
Optimize page speed and core web vitals while using an intuitive interface with clear navigation and effective call-to-action buttons, and use SEO-friendly content with proper keyword optimization and schema markups to boost visibility.
Ensure security with SSL certificates, clear cookie consent banners, and compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Finally, implement analytics and conversion tracking tools to gather insights and drive long-term growth.

We know this is a lot.

If this sounds good to you, let us help you get set up.

How Can Digital Accessibility Partnerships Supercharge Your Clients’ SEO?

Partnering for digital accessibility isn’t just about inclusivity — it’s a game-changer for SEO, too!

Accessible websites are built with cleaner code, smarter structures, and user-friendly features like alt text and clear headings that search engines love.

Plus, faster load times, mobile-friendly designs, and seamless navigation keep users engaged, reducing bounce rates and boosting rankings. When you focus on making a site accessible to everyone, you’re not just widening your audience—you’re signaling to search engines that the website is high-quality and relevant. It’s a win-win for accessibility and SEO!

12 Essential Factors To Consider For Successful Accessibility Partnerships

Expertise: Look for a provider with a proven track record in digital accessibility, including knowledge of relevant global website accessibility standards and best practices.
Experience: Consider their experience working with similar industries or organizations.
Tools and technologies: Evaluate their use of automated and manual testing tools to identify and remediate accessibility issues.
Price Flexibility: Explore pricing models that align with both the budget and project requirements. Whether for a single site or multiple sites, the service should be compatible and scalable to meet the needs.
Platform Compatibility: Ensure seamless accessibility integration across various platforms, providing a consistent and accessible experience for all users, regardless of the website environment.
Multi-language support: Enhance user experience with global language support, making websites more inclusive and accessible to a global audience.
Regular check-ins: Schedule regular meetings to discuss project progress, address any issues, and make necessary adjustments.
Clear communication channels: Establish clear communication channels (for example: email, and project management tools) to facilitate efficient collaboration.
Transparent reporting: Request detailed reports on the progress of accessibility testing, remediation efforts, and overall project status.
KPIs to measure success: Review the partner’s historical data, especially those similar projects in terms of scale, complexity, and industry.
Evaluate technical expertise: Assess their proficiency in using various accessibility testing tools and ability to integrate different APIs.
Long-term partnership strategy: Compare previous data with the current one for improvement and optimization process. It is crucial for a long-term partnership that there is a specific interval of review and improvements.

Scaling Accessibility With Smart Partnerships

All in One Accessibility®: Simplicity meets efficiency!

The All in One Accessibility® is an AI-powered accessibility tool that helps organizations to enhance their website accessibility level for ADA, WCAG 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, Section 508, Australian DDA, European EAA EN 301 549, UK Equality Act (EA), Indian RPD Act, Israeli Standard 5568, California Unruh, Ontario AODA, Canada ACA, German BITV, Brazilian Inclusion Law (LBI 13.146/2015), Spain UNE 139803:2012, France RGAA standards, JIS X 8341 (Japan), Italian Stanca Act, Switzerland DDA, Austrian Web Accessibility Act (WZG), and more.

It is available with features like sign language LIBRAS (Brazilian Portuguese Only) integration, 140+ multilingual support, screen reader, voice navigation, smart language auto-detection and voice customization, talk & type, Google and Adobe Analytics tracking, along with premium add-ons including white label and custom branding, VPAT/ACR reports, manual accessibility audit and remediation, PDF remediation, and many more.

Quick Setup: Install the widget to any site with ease—no advanced coding required.
Feature-Rich Design: From text resizing and color contrast adjustments to screen reader support, it’s packed with tools that elevate the user experience.
Revenue Opportunities: Agencies can resell the solution to clients, adding a high-value service to their offerings while earning attractive commissions through the affiliate program.
Reduced development costs: Minimizes the financial impact of accessibility remediation by implementing best practices and quick tools.

Agency Partnership: Scaling accessibility with ease!

Extended Service Offerings: The All in One Accessibility® Agency Partnership allows agencies to offer a powerful accessibility widget – quick accessibility solution into their services, enabling them that are in high demand.
White Label: As an agency partner, you can offer All in One Accessibility® under their own brand name.
Centralized Management: It simplifies oversight by consolidating accessibility data and reporting, allowing enterprises to manage multiple websites seamlessly.
Attractive Revenue Streams: Agencies can resell the widget to clients, earning significant revenue through competitive pricing structures and repeat business opportunities.
Boost Client Retention: By addressing accessibility needs proactively, agencies build stronger relationships with clients, fostering long-term loyalty and recurring contracts.
Increase Market Reach: Partnering with All in One Accessibility® positions agencies as leaders in inclusivity, attracting businesses looking for reliable accessibility solutions.
NO Investment, High Return: With no setup costs, scalable features, and up to 30% commission, the partnership enables agencies to maximize profitability with their clients.

Affiliate Partnership: A revenue opportunity for everyone!

The All in One Accessibility® Affiliate Partnership program is for content creators, marketers, accessibility advocates, web professionals, 501 (c) organizations (non-profit), and law firms.

Revenue Growth through Referrals: The All in One Accessibility® affiliate partnership allows affiliates to earn competitive commissions by promoting a high-demand accessibility solution, turning referrals into consistent revenue.
Expanding Market Reach: Affiliates can tap into a diverse audience of businesses seeking ADA and WCAG compliance, scaling both revenue and the adoption of accessibility solutions.
Fostering Accessibility Awareness: By promoting the All in One Accessibility® widget, affiliates play a pivotal role in driving inclusivity, helping more websites become accessible to users with disabilities.
Leveraging Trusted Branding: Affiliates benefit from partnering with a reliable and recognized quick accessibility improvement tool, boosting their credibility and marketing impact.
Scaling with Zero Investment: With user-friendly promotional resources and a seamless onboarding process, affiliates can maximize returns without any costs.

Use Accessibility As A Growth Engine

Endeavoring for strategic partnerships with accessibility solution providers is a win-win for agencies aiming to meet the diverse needs of their clients. These partnerships not only enhance the accessibility of digital assets but also create opportunities for growth, and loyalty, top search engine rankings, boost revenue, improve compliance with legal standards, and make you to contribute into digital accessibility world.

With Skynet Technologies USA LLC, Transform accessibility from a challenge into a revenue-driving partnership. Let inclusivity power the success.

Ready to get started? Embarking on a digital accessibility journey is simpler than you think! Take the first step by evaluating the website’s current WCAG compliance with a manual accessibility audit.

For more information, Reach out hello@skynettechnologies.com.

Learn More

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Skynet Technologies. Used with permission.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Dec 18 2024

10 Hosting Trends Agencies Should Watch In 2025

This post was sponsored by Bluehost. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Which hosting service is best for agencies?

How do I uncover what will be best for my clients in 2025?

What features should my hosting service have in 2025?

Hosting has evolved well beyond keeping websites online.

Hosting providers must align their services to meet clients’ technological needs and keep up with constantly changing technological advances.

Today, quality hosting companies must focus on speed, security, and scalability. Staying ahead of hosting trends is critical to maintaining competitive offerings, optimizing workflows, and meeting client demands.

So, what should you watch for in 2025?

The next 12 months promise significant shifts in hosting technologies, with advancements in AI, automation, security, and sustainability leading the way.

Understanding and leveraging these trends enables agencies and professionals to provide better client experiences, streamline operations, and reduce the negative effects of future industry changes.

Trend 1: Enhanced AI & Automation Implemented In Hosting

AI and automation are already transforming hosting, making it smarter and more efficient for service providers, agencies, brands, and end-point customers alike.

Hosting providers now leverage AI to optimize server performance, predict maintenance needs, and even supplement customer support with AI-driven features like chatbots.

As a result, automating routine tasks such as backups, updates, and resource scaling reduces downtime and the need for manual intervention. These innovations are game-changing for those managing multiple client sites and will become increasingly important in 2025.

It only makes sense.

Automated systems free up valuable time, allowing you more time to focus on strategic growth instead of tedious maintenance tasks. AI-powered insights can also identify performance bottlenecks, enabling you to address issues before they impact your website or those of your clients.

Agencies that adopt these technologies this year will not only deliver exceptional service but also be able to position themselves as forward-thinking.

Bluehost embraces automation with features like automated backups, one-click updates, and a centralized dashboard for easy site management. These tools streamline workflows, enabling agencies and professionals to manage multiple sites with minimal effort while ensuring optimal performance.

Trend 2: Multi-Cloud & Hybrid Cloud Solutions Are Now Essential

In 2025, as businesses demand more flexibility and reliability from their online infrastructure, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud solutions will become essential in the hosting world.

These approaches offer the best of both worlds:

The ability to leverage multiple cloud providers for redundancy and performance.
The option to combine public and private cloud environments for greater control and customization.

For agencies managing diverse client needs, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies provide the scalability and adaptability required to meet modern demands. Multi-cloud solutions allow agencies to distribute their clients’ workloads across multiple cloud providers, ensuring that no single point of failure disrupts their operations.

This feature is particularly valuable for agencies with high-traffic websites, where downtime or slow performance can have a significant impact on revenue and user experience. Hybrid cloud solutions, on the other hand, let agencies blend the scalability of public clouds with the security and control of private cloud environments.

This service is ideal for clients with sensitive data or compliance requirements, such as ecommerce or healthcare businesses.

Bluehost Cloud provides scalable infrastructure and tools that enable agencies to customize hosting solutions to fit their clients’ unique requirements. Our cloud hosting solution’s elastic architecture ensures that websites can handle sudden traffic spikes without compromising speed or reliability.

Additionally, our intuitive management dashboard allows agencies to easily monitor and allocate resources across their client portfolio, making it simple to implement tailored solutions for varying workloads.

By adopting multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies, agencies can offer their clients enhanced performance, improved redundancy, and greater control over their hosting environments.

With our scalable solutions and robust toolset, agencies can confidently deliver hosting that grows with their clients’ businesses while maintaining consistent quality and reliability. This flexibility not only meets today’s hosting demands but also helps position your agency for long-term success in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Trend 3: Edge Computing & CDNs Replace AMP For Improving Website Speed

As online audiences grow, the demand for faster, more responsive websites has never been higher. Edge computing and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are at the forefront of this evolution, enabling websites to reduce latency significantly. For agencies managing clients with diverse and international audiences, these technologies are crucial for improving user experience and ensuring website performance remains competitive.

Edge computing brings data processing closer to the end user by leveraging servers located at the “edge” of a network, reducing the time it takes for information to travel.

Combined with CDNs that cache website content on servers worldwide, these technologies ensure faster load times, smoother navigation, and better performance metrics.

These features are especially beneficial for media-heavy or high-traffic websites, where even a slight delay can impact engagement and conversions.

Bluehost integrates with leading CDN solutions to deliver content quickly and efficiently to users across the globe. By leveraging a CDN, Bluehost ensures that websites load faster regardless of a visitor’s location, enhancing user experience and SEO performance.

This integration simplifies the optimization of site speed for agencies with multiple clients. By adopting edge computing and CDN technology, you can help your clients achieve faster load times, improved site stability, and higher customer satisfaction.

Bluehost’s seamless CDN integration enables you to deliver a hosting solution that meets the expectations of a modern, global audience while building trust and loyalty with your clients.

Trend 4: Core Web Vitals & SEO Hosting Features Make Or Break Websites

Core Web Vitals play an important role in today’s SEO, as Google is increasingly emphasizing website performance and user experience in its ranking algorithms. Today, loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability impact a site’s ability to rank well in search results and keep visitors engaged.

That means optimizing Core Web Vitals isn’t just an SEO task for agencies managing client websites. Fast load times and responsive design are critical parts of delivering a high-quality digital experience. For example, metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which measures how quickly a page’s main content loads, depend heavily on hosting infrastructure.

Agencies need hosting solutions optimized for these metrics to ensure their clients’ sites stay competitive in the SERPs.

Bluehost offers a WordPress-optimized hosting environment with features specifically designed to improve load times and server response speeds. From advanced caching technology to robust server architecture, Bluehost ensures that sites meet Core Web Vitals standards with ease.

Additionally, our hosting solutions include tools for monitoring site performance, allowing agencies to proactively address any issues that could impact rankings or user experience.

By prioritizing Core Web Vitals and leveraging SEO-focused hosting features, agencies can enhance their clients’ visibility, engagement, and overall online success. With Bluehost’s optimized hosting solutions, you’ll have the tools and infrastructure needed to deliver fast, stable, and high-performing websites that delight users and search engines.

Trend 5: Sustainable Hosting Practices Help Reduce Energy Consumption

Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword. It’s a key consideration for businesses and agencies alike. As 2025 progresses, more clients will prioritize environmentally conscious practices, and hosting providers will step up to offer greener solutions, such as energy-efficient data centers and carbon offset programs.

Migrating to a sustainable hosting provider not only supports client values but also demonstrates a commitment to responsible business practices, which will resonate more with consumers in 2025 than ever before.

Efficient hosting practices reduce energy consumption and create a more sustainable digital ecosystem. It will also allow you to help clients meet their environmental goals without compromising on performance.

These benefits are especially valuable for clients with higher energy and performance demands, such as those in ecommerce, media-heavy, or high-traffic industries.

Bluehost has long been recognized as a trusted hosting provider that operates with efficiency in mind.

Our robust, energy-efficient infrastructure already aligns with the sustainability goals of environmentally conscious clients.

In addition, our long-standing reputation, proven history with WordPress, and demonstrable reliability enhance your clients’ sustainability objectives, ensuring they can operate responsibly and confidently.

By choosing sustainable hosting practices and partners like Bluehost, you can contribute to a greener digital future while reinforcing your clients’ environmental commitments and strengthening client relationships by aligning with their values.

Trend 6: Security Must Be A Core Offering

Security is a non-negotiable priority for any website. Cyber threats like data breaches, malware, and DDoS attacks are on the rise, and the consequences of a breach, including lost revenue, damaged reputations, and potential legal issues, can devastate clients. As a result, offering secure hosting solutions with proactive security measures is essential to safeguarding clients’ businesses and building trust.

These key features include SSL certificates, which protect sensitive data while boosting SEO rankings and user trust, and regular malware scans to prevent vulnerabilities.

They should also include automated backups that enable quick restoration in the event of a crash or attack and provide comprehensive protection and peace of mind. Essential security features are standard in Bluehost hosting plans, including SSL certificates, daily automated backups, and proactive malware scanning.

These built-in tools eliminate the need for additional solutions, added complexity, or costs. For agencies, our security features reduce risks for your clients and provide peace of mind.

By choosing a hosting provider like Bluehost, you can prioritize client security, reinforce client trust, and minimize emergencies, allowing you to avoid spending time and resources addressing threats or repairing damage.

In short, by partnering with Bluehost, security becomes a core part of your agency’s value proposition.

Trend 7: Hosting Optimized For AI & Machine Learning Is Key To High Visibility On SERPs

As artificial intelligence and machine learning become increasingly integrated with websites and applications in 2025, hosting providers must keep pace with the increasing demands these technologies place on infrastructure.

AI-driven tools like chatbots, recommendation engines, and predictive analytics require significant computational power and seamless data processing.

AI and machine learning applications often involve handling large datasets, running resource-intensive algorithms, and maintaining real-time responsiveness. Hosting optimized for these needs ensures that websites can perform reliably under heavy workloads, reducing latency and downtime and delivering consistent performance.

If you plan to be successful, you’ll also require scalable scalable hosting solutions. These solutions allow resources to expand dynamically with demand, accommodate growth, and handle traffic surges.

Bluehost’s scalable hosting is built to support advanced tools and applications, making it an ideal choice for agencies working on AI-driven projects. Our robust infrastructure delivers consistent performance, and flexibility allows you to scale easily as your client’s needs evolve. By leveraging Bluehost, agencies can confidently deliver AI-integrated websites that meet modern performance demands.

Trend 8: Managed Hosting Helps You Focus More On Profits

In 2025, websites will become increasingly complex. Businesses will require higher performance and reliability, and everyone will be looking to operate as lean and efficiently as possible. These trends mean managed hosting will become the go-to solution for agencies and their clients.

Managed hosting shifts time-intensive technical maintenance away from agencies and business owners by including features such as automatic updates, performance monitoring, and enhanced security. In short, managed hosting enables you to simplify workflows, save time, and deliver consistent quality to your clients.

These hosting services are particularly valuable for WordPress websites, where regular updates, plugin compatibility checks, and security enhancements occur frequently but are essential to maintaining optimal performance.

Managed hosting also typically includes tools like staging environments, which allow agencies to test changes and updates without risking disruptions to live sites and ensure you can deliver a seamless experience to clients.

Bluehost offers managed WordPress hosting that includes automatic updates, staging environments, and 24/7 expert support. These features allow you to handle technical details efficiently while focusing on delivering results for your clients without added stress or time.

Trend 9: The Shift Toward Decentralized Hosting Boosts Your Brand’s Longevity

In 2025, expect to see decentralized hosting gain attention as a futuristic approach to web hosting. Like Bitcoin and similar advancements, the technology leverages blockchain technology and peer-to-peer networks to create hosting environments that prioritize privacy, resilience, and independence from centralized control.

While this model appears to provide exciting new opportunities, it’s still in the early stages. It faces challenges in scalability, user-friendliness, and widespread adoption, which agencies can’t typically rely on for client sites.

Decentralized hosting may become a viable option for specific use cases, such as privacy-focused projects or highly distributed systems. However, centralized hosting providers still offer the best balance of reliability, scalability, and accessibility for most businesses and agencies today.

For these reasons, agencies managing client websites will continue to focus on proven, reliable hosting solutions that deliver consistent performance and robust support.

So, while decentralized hosting may gain traction this year, Bluehost will continue to provide a trustworthy hosting environment designed to meet the needs of modern websites. With a strong emphasis on reliability, scalability, and user-friendly management tools, we offer a proven solution agencies can depend on to deliver exceptional client results.

Trend 10: Scalable Hosting For High-Growth Websites Is Key For Growth

As businesses grow, their websites will experience increasing traffic and resource demands. High-growth websites, such as e-commerce platforms, content-heavy blogs, or viral marketing campaigns, require hosting solutions that can scale instantly. And scalable hosting is critical to delivering consistent user experiences and avoiding downtime during peak periods.

Scalable hosting like Bluehost ensures your clients’ websites can easily adjust resources like bandwidth, storage, and processing power to meet fluctuating demands. Our scalable hosting solutions are designed for high-growth websites. Our unmetered bandwidth and infrastructure were built to handle traffic surges, ensuring websites remain fast and accessible.

These features make us the ideal choice for agencies looking to future-proof their clients’ hosting needs.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve in 2025, keeping up with the latest trends in hosting is essential for agencies to provide top-tier service, drive client satisfaction, and maintain a competitive edge. From AI and automation to scalability and security, the future of hosting demands flexible, efficient solutions tailored to modern needs.

By understanding and leveraging these trends, you can position your agency as a trusted partner and deliver exceptional results to your clients, whether by adopting managed hosting or integrating CDNs.

Bluehost hosting will meet today’s demands while helping to prepare agencies like yours for tomorrow. With features like 100% uptime guaranteed through our Service Level Agreement (SLA), 24/7 priority support, and built-in tools like SSL certificates, automated backups, and advanced caching, Bluehost offers a robust and reliable hosting environment.

Additionally, Bluehost Cloud makes switching easy and cost-effective with $0 migration costs and credit for remaining contracts, giving you the flexibility to transition seamlessly without the high cost.

Take your agency’s hosting strategy to the next level with Bluehost. Discover how our comprehensive hosting solutions can support your growth, enhance client satisfaction, and keep your business ahead of the curve.

GET STARTED TODAY

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Bluehost. Used with permission.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Dec 3 2024

Maximize SEO Efforts: How To Fix Website Issues That Drain Time, Money & Performance

This post was sponsored by Bluehost. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Your website’s hosting is more than a technical decision.

It’s a cornerstone of your business’s online success that impacts everything from site speed and uptime to customer trust and overall branding.

Yet, many businesses stick with subpar hosting providers, often unaware of how much it’s costing them in time, money, and lost opportunities.

The reality is that bad hosting doesn’t just frustrate you. It frustrates your customers, hurts conversions, and can even damage your brand reputation.

The good news?

Choosing the right host can turn hosting into an investment that works for you, not against you.

Let’s explore how hosting affects your bottom line, identify common problems, and discuss what features you should look for to maximize your return on investment.

1. Start By Auditing Your Website’s Hosting Provider

The wrong hosting provider can quickly eat away at your time & efficiency.

In fact, time is the biggest cost of an insufficient hosting provider.

To start out, ask yourself:

Is Your Bounce Rate High?
Are Customers Not Converting?
Is Revenue Down?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, and no amount of on-page optimization seems to make a difference, it may be time to audit your website host.

Why Audit Your Web Host?

Frequent downtime, poor support, and slow server response times can disrupt workflows and create frustration for both your team and your visitors.

From an SEO & marketing perspective, a sluggish website often leads to:

Increased bounce rates.
Missed customer opportunities.
Wasted time troubleshooting technical issues.

Could you find workarounds for some of these problems? Sure. But they take time and money, too.

The more dashboards and tools you use, the more time you spend managing it all, and the more opportunities you’ll miss out on.

For example, hosts offering integrated domain and hosting management make overseeing your website easier and reduce administrative hassles.

Bluehost’s integrated domain services simplify website management by bringing all your hosting and domain tools into one intuitive platform.

2. Check If Your Hosting Provider Is Causing Slow Site Load Speeds

Your website is often the first interaction a customer has with your brand.

A fast, reliable website reflects professionalism and trustworthiness.

Customers associate smooth experiences with strong brands, while frequent glitches or outages send a message that you’re not dependable.

Your hosting provider should enhance your brand’s reputation, not detract from it.

How To Identify & Measure Slow Page Load Speeds

Identifying and measuring slow site and page loading speeds starts with using tools designed to analyze performance, such as Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Lighthouse.

These tools provide metrics like First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which help you see how quickly key elements of your page load.

Pay attention to your site’s Time to First Byte (TTFB), a critical indicator of how fast your server responds to requests.

Regularly test your site’s performance across different devices, browsers, and internet connections to identify bottlenecks. High bounce rates or short average session durations in analytics reports can also hint at speed issues.

Bandwidth limitations can create bottlenecks for growing websites, especially during traffic spikes.

How To Find A Fast Hosting Provider

Opt for hosting providers that offer unmetered or scalable bandwidth to ensure seamless performance even during periods of high demand.

Cloud hosting is designed to deliver exceptional site and page load speeds, ensuring a seamless experience for your visitors and boosting your site’s SEO.

With advanced caching technology and optimized server configurations, Bluehost Cloud accelerates content delivery to provide fast, reliable performance even during high-traffic periods.

Its scalable infrastructure ensures your website maintains consistent speeds as your business grows, while a global Content Delivery Network (CDN) helps reduce latency for users around the world.

With Bluehost Cloud, you can trust that your site will load quickly and keep your audience engaged.

3. Check If Your Site Has Frequent Or Prolonged Downtime

Measuring and identifying downtime starts with having the right tools and a clear understanding of your site’s performance.

Tools like uptime monitoring services can track when your site is accessible and alert you to outages in real time.

You should also look at patterns.

Frequent interruptions or prolonged periods of unavailability are red flags. Check your server logs for error codes and timestamps that indicate when the site was down.

Tracking how quickly your hosting provider responds and resolves issues is also helpful, as slow resolutions can compound the problem.

Remember, even a few minutes of downtime during peak traffic hours can lead to lost revenue and customer trust, so understanding and monitoring downtime is critical for keeping your site reliable.

No matter how feature-packed your hosting provider is, unreliable uptime or poor support can undermine its value. These two factors are critical for ensuring a high-performing, efficient website.

What Your Hosting Server Should Have For Guaranteed Uptime

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantees uptime, response time, and resolution time, ensuring that your site remains online and functional. Look for hosting providers that back their promises with a 100% uptime SLA.

Bluehost Cloud offers a 100% uptime SLA and 24/7 priority support, giving you peace of mind that your website will remain operational and any issues will be addressed promptly.

Our team of WordPress experts ensures quick resolutions to technical challenges, reducing downtime and optimizing your hosting ROI.

4. Check Your Host For Security Efficacy

Strong security measures protect your customers and show them you value their privacy and trust.

A single security breach can ruin your brand’s image, especially if customer data is compromised.

Hosts that lack built-in security features like SSL certificates, malware scanning, and regular backups leave your site vulnerable.

How Hosting Impacts Security

Security breaches don’t just affect your website. They affect your customers.

Whether it’s stolen data, phishing attacks, or malware, these breaches can erode trust and cause long-term damage to your business.

Recovering from a security breach is expensive and time-consuming. It often involves hiring specialists, paying fines, and repairing the damage to your reputation.

Is Your Hosting Provider Lacking Proactive Security Measures?

Assessing and measuring security vulnerabilities or a lack of proactive protection measures begins with a thorough evaluation of your hosting provider’s features and practices.

Review Included Security Tools

Start by reviewing whether your provider includes essential security tools such as SSL certificates, malware scanning, firewalls, and automated backups in their standard offerings.

If these are missing or come as costly add-ons, your site may already be at risk.

Leverage Brute Force Tools To Check For Vulnerabilities

Next, use website vulnerability scanning tools like Sucuri, Qualys SSL Labs, or SiteLock to identify potential weaknesses, such as outdated software, unpatched plugins, or misconfigured settings.

These tools can flag issues like weak encryption, exposed directories, or malware infections.

Monitor your site for unusual activity, such as unexpected traffic spikes or changes to critical files, which could signal a breach.

Make Sure The Host Also Routinely Scans For & Eliminates Threats

It’s also crucial to evaluate how your hosting provider handles updates and threat prevention.

Do they offer automatic updates to patch vulnerabilities?
Do they monitor for emerging threats and take steps to block them proactively?

A good hosting provider takes a proactive approach to security, offering built-in protections that reduce your risks.

Look for hosting providers that include automatic SSL encryption, regular malware scans, and daily backups. These features not only protect your site but also give you peace of mind.

Bluehost offers robust security tools as part of its standard WordPress hosting package, ensuring your site stays protected without extra costs. With built-in SSL certificates and daily backups, Bluehost Cloud keeps your site secure and your customers’ trust intact.

5. Audit Your WordPress Hosting Provider’s Customer Support

Is your host delivering limited or inconsistent customer support?

Limited or inconsistent customer support can turn minor issues into major roadblocks. When hosting providers fail to offer timely, knowledgeable assistance, you’re left scrambling to resolve problems that could have been easily fixed.

Delayed responses or unhelpful support can lead to prolonged downtime, slower page speeds, and unresolved security concerns, all of which impact your business and reputation.

Reliable hosting providers should offer 24/7 priority support through multiple channels, such as chat and phone, so you can get expert help whenever you need it.

Consistent, high-quality support is essential for keeping your website running smoothly and minimizing disruptions.

Bluehost takes customer service to the next level with 24/7 priority support available via phone, chat, and email. Our team of knowledgeable experts specializes in WordPress, providing quick and effective solutions to keep your site running smoothly.

Whether you’re troubleshooting an issue, setting up your site, or optimizing performance, Bluehost’s dedicated support ensures you’re never left navigating challenges alone.

Bonus: Check Your Host For Hidden Costs For Essential Hosting Features

Hidden costs for essential hosting features like:

Backups.
SSL certificates.
Additional bandwidth can quickly erode the value of a seemingly affordable hosting plan.

What Does This Look Like?

For example, daily backups, which are vital for recovery after data loss or cyberattacks, may come with an unexpected monthly fee.

Similarly, SSL certificates, which are essential for encrypting data and maintaining trust with visitors, are often sold as expensive add-ons.

If your site experiences traffic spikes, additional bandwidth charges can catch you off guard, adding to your monthly costs.

Many providers, as you likely have seen, lure customers in with low entry prices, only to charge extra for services that are critical to your website’s functionality and security.

These hidden expenses not only strain your budget but also create unnecessary complexity in managing your site.

A reliable hosting provider includes these features as part of their standard offering, ensuring you have the tools you need without the surprise bills.

Which Hosting Provider Does Not Charge For Essential Features?

Bluehost is a great option, as their pricing is upfront.

Bluehost includes crucial tools like daily automated backups, SSL certificates, and unmetered bandwidth in their standard plans.

This means you won’t face surprise fees for the basic functionalities your website needs to operate securely and effectively.

Whether you’re safeguarding your site from potential data loss or ensuring encrypted, trustworthy connections for your visitors, or need unmetered bandwidth to ensure your site can handle traffic surges without penalty, you’ll gain the flexibility to scale without worrying about extra charges.

We even give WordPress users the option to bundle premium plugins together to help you save even more.

By including these features upfront, Bluehost simplifies your WordPress hosting experience and helps you maintain a predictable budget, freeing you to focus on growing your business instead of worrying about unexpected hosting costs.

Transitioning To A Better Hosting Solution: What To Consider

Switching hosting providers might seem daunting, but the right provider can make the process simple and cost-effective. Here are key considerations for transitioning to a better hosting solution:

Migration Challenges

Migrating your site to a new host can involve technical hurdles, including transferring content, preserving configurations, and minimizing downtime. A hosting provider with dedicated migration support can make this process seamless.

Cost of Switching Providers

Many businesses hesitate to switch hosts due to the cost of ending a contract early. To offset these expenses, search for hosting providers that offer migration incentives, such as contract buyouts or credit for remaining fees.

Why Bluehost Cloud Stands Out

Bluehost Cloud provides comprehensive migration support, handling every detail of the transfer to ensure a smooth transition.

Plus, our migration promotion includes $0 switching costs and credit for remaining contracts, making the move to Bluehost not only hassle-free but also financially advantageous.

Your hosting provider plays a pivotal role in the success of your WordPress site. By addressing performance issues, integrating essential features, and offering reliable support, you can maximize your hosting ROI and create a foundation for long-term success.

If your current hosting provider is falling short, it’s time to evaluate your options. Bluehost Cloud delivers performance-focused features, 100% uptime, premium support, and cost-effective migration services, ensuring your WordPress site runs smoothly and efficiently.

In addition, Bluehost has been a trusted partner of WordPress since 2005, working closely to create a hosting platform tailored to the unique needs of WordPress websites.

Beyond hosting, Bluehost empowers users through education, offering webinars, masterclasses, and resources like the WordPress Academy to help you maximize your WordPress experience and build successful websites.

Take control of your website’s performance and ROI. Visit the Bluehost Migration Page to learn how Bluehost Cloud can elevate your hosting experience.

This article has been sponsored by Bluehost, and the views presented herein represent the sponsor’s perspective.

Learn more about Bluehost’s latest migration promotion

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Bluehost. Used with permission.

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