SEO Guide (2026): How SEO Works After AI Answers

The text below is the earlier version of this page. Its figures refer to earlier periods and some were corrected above; the current, sourced figures are in the sections above.

Google has changed a lot in the last decade. It is now way more a semantic engine than it was back than. What has changed? 

What is RankBrain why it matters?

Google RankBrain is a machine-learning system integrated within a Google algorithm update called Hummingbird. This Google system is able to better serve search results to users based on their intent, rather than just keyword matching.

It’s hard to realize how complex and sophisticated is the Google search algorithm just because it works so marvelously well that it seems natural it does so. Yet before we got there, it took almost two decades. And that revolution was evident in 2015.

In fact, that year futurist Ray Kurzweil arrived at Google, with one mission: make search engines understand human language. That is how he put it:

My mission at Google is to develop natural language understanding with a team and in collaboration with other researchers at Google. Search has moved beyond just finding keywords, but it still doesn’t read all these billions of web pages and book pages for semantic content. If you write a blog post, you’ve got something to say, you’re not just creating words and synonyms. We’d like the compute — as explored in the economics of AI compute infrastructure — rs to actually pick up on that semantic meaning. If that happens, and I believe that it’s feasible, people could ask more complex questions.
Source: Wired.com

From that quest, Google updated its algorithm in 2013, with Hummingbird and later on in 2015, AI (in the form of Natural Language Processing) became a major factor for search with RankBrain.

In other words, a few years back it didn’t make any sense to ask questions to Google because it didn’t know what to do with them. Today the scenario has changed substantially. We can test that right now:

When I type in Google’s search box “moon distance,” that is what I get:

You may think this is pure keyword matching, but it is not.

In fact, if I ask “How far is the moon?”

I get the same answer:

Google’s ability to understand language goes further. If I search “moon distance in meters” that is what I get:

In short, Google knows I’m referring to the same thing and gives me the proper answer.

Related: What is SEO Hacking? How to Steal Featured Snippets with These SEO Hacks

What does that mean for SEO? Is traditional SEO dead?

The old SEO says that if you want to be successful at ranking your site you got to have backlinks, keywords and optimize for those. Those basic tactics still work. Indeed, the backbone of the web got built upon backlinks.

In fact, in a Q&A with Andrey Lipattsev, a Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google, when asked what factors, together with RankBrain affected Google’s rankings, he replied:

I can tell you what they are. It is content. And it’s links pointing to your site. (source: searchengineland.com)

Therefore, it was confirmed that the three major factors in Google’s rankings are:

1 & 2: Links, Content (hard to say what comes first among the two)

3: RankBrain

How do you make your SEO strategy effective in an era where NLP-powered search algorithms can read human language independently from keywords?

First, this process is more like a transition. Therefore, even though keywords still matter they are becoming obsolete. When is this happening? Hard to say!

That will probably also depend on how fast voice search will take over, which will speed up the process as people will start interacting in natural language rather than keywords with those digital assistants.

What can you do then?

As made clear by Google itself there are a few things that still help it understand web pages. One of them is structured data. In fact, not by chance Google has inserted structured data in its Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide by making clear that:

Proper structured data in your news, blog, and sports article page can enhance your appearance in Google Search results. Enhanced features include entry in a top stories carousel and rich result features such as headline text and larger-than-thumbnail images.

Source: Google Developers

This is crucial because this structured data also trigger voice commands ad Google specifies here:

By structuring your content according to this guide, your content may be automatically turned into an action on the Google Assistant.

Source: Google Developers

There are tremendous implications for that.

First, you can’t think any more of SEO as single and isolated “tricks” or tactics. That is something that great SEO experts already knew. But now this needs to be clear to everyone looking to implement advanced SEO strategies today.

Second, with structured data; SEO, PASO and editorial strategy become the same thing. If you start building your content

Third, you need an entity-based content model based built upon a sort of barbel strategy. On the one hand, short, conversational and voice-ready content. On the other hand, long, detailed content. The short content will be used to address specific questions, to make it ready for voice search.

In short, that is how you make your SEO strategy holistic. You also need a rigorous process of SEO Hacking if you want your site to gain traction, quickly.

How does SEO change in this context?

We saw how Google changed in the last years. What was relevant just in 2015, it isn’t so anymore. Of course, old strategies might still work in the short term, but they’re slowly losing relevance. This means that a winning SEO strategy has to be more holistic and it has to take into account an entity-based content model built upon three pillars:

• long-form content for the top of the funnel
• short-form, conversational content for the bottom of the funnel
• structured data to make that content better understood by search engines and voice-search ready

Those things together can help you reach the top of Google‘s search but most importantly get ready for voice search.

This kind of approach – the entity-based content model – has been developed together with the WordLift team for whom I’ve been involved as a Business Developer. WordLift is a software that uses AI in the form of NLP to enhance on-page SEO and assist SEO experts to transition toward a future where RankBrain became a primary factor for Google’s search algorithm.

As of 2018 structured data and open linked data are two crucial factors that Google is taking into account to rank web pages. Not only that. In fact, nowadays things are changing, and Google‘s search algorithm is getting smarter and smarter. For that matter, there are three crucial aspects of search to take into account:

• Google‘s featured snippet
• Google‘s Knowledge panel
• Voice search

From a superficial look, those might seem like three separated aspects of SEO. However, that is not the case. In fact, with a proper Semantic SEO strategy, you can target them all.

Before we get to more advanced strategies, let’s cover some basics.

SEO copywriting basics

Many who write online believe that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is something too complicated to handle. That is why they give up before even figuring out what is SEO and how it works. However, I want to show you a practical way to use a few free and simple tools to use right now to master the basics of SEO copywriting.

Enter Google Autocomplete and Google related searches

Unknowingly we’re all search engine experts. By that, I don’t mean to say that we all need to be going around telling others what to do. Instead, that Google is a website we use on a daily basis. Therefore, we know how to deal with it. For instance, you might have noticed that when you type something in the search bar, you get suggestions:

Those suggestions you get is called Google autocomplete. That feature is quite useful for a few reasons. First, it helps you complete the search by suggesting you valuable things. Second, it saves you time. Third, it also gives you new ideas about things you might not have thought about.

That is from the user standpoint. What about who writes content? Well for those who write content Google autocomplete feature is even more useful. In fact, those suggestions are queries or questions that users frequently ask Google. That is why they are getting featured as autocompleted results.

Also, Google also shows related searches at the bottom of the page:

Those two tools are all you need to pick a topic, title and the right keywords for your next copy. In fact, that is Big Data Google is giving you about your target audience. That is also all you need to understand the basics of SEO copywriting.

Related: What is SEO Hacking? How to Steal Featured Snippets with These SEO Hacks

Pick the right topic by using free Big Data

It is critical to writing about something you’re passionate about. Yet if you’re writing for business, you need to find an audience first. How do you see that? Simple, look at Google’s autocomplete. In fact, those are frequently asked questions, which means there is an audience for that specific topic.

In fact, we all use Google mostly to solve practical issues. Therefore, with the autocomplete, you can figure out whether there is an audience for the article you’re about to write.

For instance, let’s say you’re writing a piece about SEO for Google. Of course, Google is the most used search engine; we’re so used to it that many users still believe that is the only search engine out there. Also, “why” is a powerful question to be used as a hook for your next piece. Thus, you type into Google search box something like “Why Google” and see what the autocomplete will suggest:

The first suggestion “Why is Google the best search engine” seems excellent as the topic of your next piece.

Let your readers pick the right title

Journalists know the title is a crucial component of the whole piece. Therefore, you might want to spend time understanding what title to use for an article. One kind of claim that works pretty well for business content is that title that addresses a specific pain point of the users. Where do people show their pain? On social media, for sure they don’t. Once again, Google is the place, and the autocomplete is the answer.

In the previous paragraph, we used the autocomplete to see whether the topic we want to write about has an audience. Now we want to figure out whether the title is good enough. Google told us through the autocomplete that people often ask “Why is Google the best search engine.” All you have to do now is to check if this title has potential. For instance, you could use the Headline Analyzer to check this out:

The Headline Analyzer gave a score of 72 out of 100. That is pretty good considering I’ve never had a score higher than 76. I wouldn’t focus too much on the number, but I believe from 70 up the headline shows great potential.

We have the title; now we need the right keywords. How do you do that?

Target the right keywords with Google related searches

Most people that write online fear SEO, because they believe that is too hard, or that they need to know sophisticated search engine optimization techniques. That doesn’t make sense at all. First, if you think of SEO is about gaming Google‘s algorithm, you got it wrong. SEO is a set of insights that you have about what people look for through Google. In short, you can uncover data about your potential readers, and customers with the utmost simplicity.

In fact, SEO doesn’t have to be complex at all. For instance, now that we picked a topic and a title, we can find some keywords users are typing into Google related to the topic we’re about to write. How? Simply by using Google‘s suggestions.

For instance, I start by typing the autosuggestion that helped me pick the topic:

An SEO case study

A little caveat: the purpose of this article is to show you the findings of my experiments. I try to test things, not in the sense of gathering data but rather to do simple experiments with a low probability of succeeding. When one of those does succeed; for me the signal is clear. There is something in the experiment that Google liked. I can’t say exactly why and what. But that doesn’t matter. As long as you follow the steps I’ve taken chances are you’ll also get similar results.

Related: What is SEO Hacking? How to Steal Featured Snippets with These SEO Hacks

Start with the end in mind

On this blog I published an article about Google‘s business model:

Google Business Model Analysis – Updated 2022

I intended to target a long-tail keyword with low search volume and competition and see if I could trigger a featured snippet. Once and if the featured snippet would have been triggered. I’d wait a few days and then test whether that also triggered a voice search from my Google assistant. That is what I did, and it worked!

In short, the question I targeted was: 

“what’s a hidden revenue business model?” 

After 24 hours from publishing the article associated with that query, the featured snippet appeared:

After a few days that featured snippet has become a trigger for the voice search answer you get from Google‘s assistants:

How did that happen?

Dissecting Google’s featured snippet

Going from the featured snippet to voice search is not automatic. Backlinko recently analyzed over 10,000 Google Home search results, and it found that 40.7% of all voice search answers came from a Featured Snippet. 

Of course, thinking about a fixed percentage might be deceiving as Google continuously updates its search algorithm. Also, voice search is so new that it’s hard to say how it will evolve in the next months. 

Yet as of now a featured snippet is a powerful way to get into voice search, that is also why I like a strategy based on targeting for the Google‘s featured snippet.

In a recent post I explained how I triggered the featured snippet and what steps I did take to make that happen:

Above you can see a summary and breakdown of five critical aspects.

Google’s search algorithm is smart enough to split text and images: how to optimize for both image and text in the featured snippet

In my editorial strategy, you’ll see that in some cases I divide up the title of an article in two parts. The first part is usually a question. In fact, the purpose of that question is to target a featured snippet.

Recently I had written an article on DuckDuckGo business model:

How Does DuckDuckGo Make Money? DuckDuckGo Business Model Explained

I was targeting the question: “How does DuckDuckGo make money?”

However, this one was way more competitive as the featured snippet was already taken by Quora (as you might imagine Google trusts Quora way more than a small blog like mine). However, not all is lost.

Thus, I had already an answer to that question on Quora. So I used the infographic I had produced for my article, and I added it to the same question on Quora.

My reasoning was simple. First, the question that was ranking first on Quora and that Google was using as featured snippet didn’t have any image inside. So why not try to see whether I could trigger a featured snippet by signaling Google that my answer was more comprehensive as it comprised the infographic.

Second, by positioning my content on Quora, I was also trying to signal to Google that the same content coming from my blog could be trusted. In short, I was trying to use Quora as a vehicle to bring credibility toward my blog.  Something interesting happened.

The day after I had repurposed my content over Quora. When I typed on Google the question “how does DuckDuckGo make money?” it triggered the old featured snippet.

This time though, while the text was coming from the old answer; the image was coming from my answer (which includes a graphics I had inserted inside).  Even though I didn’t manage to steal the featured snippet; I still managed to position my image inside the featured snippet. 

In short, I believe since the text answer from Quora didn’t provide any graphics. The search algorithms pulled it out from mine. 

In other words, Google‘s search algorithm is smart enough to split the featured snippet in half: text and image. 

Remember the purpose of the featured snippet is to give a direct, short answer to users for questions. Further, the goal is to provide relevant content that can quickly answer, be it text or an image. 

That is also why at times the search algorithm might get the text from a site and the image from another site. Therefore, when you’re planning to trigger a snippet, you have to make sure to do a consistent strategy for both text and image. Both have to be prone to be “snipped!”

Do you want to skip the line? Target the featured snippet!

In 2017 ahrefs.com analyzed 2 million featured snippets. From the analysis it turned out that a featured snippet didn’t always come from the first position on Google‘s SERP:

Source: ahrefs.com

From the data above you can see that also search results that are at the 4th or 5th position have chances of getting the featured snippet. This is important because if you do get it, then you’ll steal traffic from the first position.

Source: ahrefs.com

As pointed out by the same study, when a search result is ranked first, and there is no featured snippet, it gets 26% of the traffic for the overall query. When instead, there is a featured snippet on that page the first result only reaches 19.6% of traffic. In other words, the featured snippet steals traffic from the first positions.

At times a featured snippet might be triggered by the last results on the first page, just like it happened to me with this query:

Even though my result was in the 7th position in the SERP (therefore according to ahrefs.com study it only had 0.7% of chances of getting snipped) it still triggered a featured snippet.

Featured snippet vs. knowledge panel: Who’s the winner?

Another SEO experiment I had done was based on personal branding. In short, I was trying to assess whether I could trigger a featured snippet on the query “who’s Gennaro Cuofano?”

Thus, control my brand through Google. Therefore, I set up a page for the scope and used a strategy that I explained in this article. This SEO experiment is important because usually a featured snippet of a person is triggered either when there is a Wikipedia page that supports it. Or the site from where it’s coming from has high authority. Yet I wanted to see whether I could do that with my small blog based on the quality of data I provided to Google.

It did trigger it:

Thus, the featured snippet showed up. Also, something interesting happened! A knowledge panel that before wasn’t there was triggered:

In this particular case that is pulling up information about me taken from an author page, I have on Amazon.

What is a Google Knowledge Panel? 

 As specified by Google:

When people search for a business on Google, they may see information about that business in a box that appears to the right of their search results. The information in the box, called the Knowledge Panel, can help customers discover and contact your business. 

How do you get one? 

Like search results, whether or not a business’s information will appear in the Knowledge Panel is determined by a variety of factors. Relevance, distance, and the prominence of the business all contribute to its standing in local search results. Verifying a business does not guarantee that it will appear in the Knowledge Panel.

In short, it seemed like the work I’ve done for the featured snippet (Schema and Open Linked Data might have been the most significant contributors) had also triggered the knowledge panel.

However, as of the time of this writing, the knowledge panel has eaten the featured snippet:

Like in a poker game where there are winning hands. If I had to compare featured snippet to knowledge panel; I’d say the featured snippet is like having a four of a kind. Instead, the knowledge panel is like having a straight flush!

In fact, today if you look for “Gennaro Cuofano” you’ll only see that box on the right side of the search box (that is the knowledge panel).

As we’ve seen the knowledge panel has a different purpose than the featured snippet; while the featured snippet aim is to answer a specific question. The knowledge panel gives relevant information about a business.

The featured snippet is way more fluid and based on rankings; the knowledge is based on the ability of the information you’ve provided to enter Google’s knowledge vault.  While there is no sure way to trigger a knowledge panel; getting a featured snippet might facilitate it. When the knowledge panel cannibalizes the featured snippet that is a good sign – I argue – as this implies that Google might be trusting more your data.

As pointed out by Dr. Peter J. Meyers on Moz, over time featured snippets get cannibalized by knowledge panels:

Source: moz.com

Therefore, over time Google‘s knowledge panels might consolidate around websites like Wikipedia, Amazon and so on.

What’s going on with Google?

A debate is going on about what’s happening with Google. In fact, Google introduced a featured snippet with no SERP:

In other words, for some queries, Google prefers to give a result in the form of a featured snippet. If users want to see the other search results they have to voluntarily click on “show all results.” This seems to be an important change as for the first time Google is hiding its results page.

On the one hand, this isn’t surprising as those queries (like knowing what’s the time) have a clear intent. In short, users just want to get a straight answer. In this case, Google is acting just like Wolfram Alpha. In addition, as pointed out by Bill Slawski this isn’t new as it was since 2005 that Google started to work on “Just the Facts, Fast”:

Google started providing answers to questions in 2005, as they described back then in “Just the Facts, Fast”: https://t.co/rZ1aee690V https://t.co/C6K4jy8053

— Bill Slawski ⚓ (@bill_slawski) March 15, 2018

Yet now the question comes naturally: Will Google cannibalize content from the SERP? Is going getting into the content business?

Well, I thought what a better way to solve the impasse than to ask Google itself.  If you think about it – I argue – it’s all about its business model. If the business model fails, then the company doesn’t exist anymore.

So I asked Google itself, what is its business model: 

The answer is clear:  “Googe is a one-stop shop for helping you find things.” 

Now, “one-stop shop” means that users can get all they need right there, on that blank page. Thinking about how Google has evolved in the last years. There is no doubt that Google needed third-party websites – it still needs them – to offer relevant content to its users, besides paid ads.

Imagine a web filtered through Google where all you got was a bunch of paid ads. Who would have found that interesting at all? Instead, when Google introduced its paid network for publishers (AdSense), this allowed any site to monetize their content quickly.

As anyone – that deals with Google – knows, the search engine from Mountain View loves content. This spurred the birth of a content industry on the web, which main aim was to feed as much web pages to Google. The deal – although implicit – seemed to work quite well. Google got “quality content” from third websites. It allowed them to monetize it; while those websites remained the intermediaries between Google’s users and Google itself.

This deal made sense for anyone. In fact, Google didn’t have enough power to produce content itself. However, starting 2012 Google has introduced a set of initiatives (Knowledge Graphs, Hummingbird, and RankBrain just to mention a few) that made it way smarter than it was. Those initiatives allowed Google to gather content around the web, converts it into data, which can be easily manipulated to create new data. That data, in turn, can become content, served to its users.

Thus, if Google can produce that content itself? Would it still make sense to show search results coming from third-party websites? 

The question remains open. It’s too early and too hard to say what will the future hold. There are a few considerations to make though. First, if we look at AdSense compared to AdWords. There is no doubt that the former help fuel the latter. However, it is true that Google shares most of its revenues with AdSense partners. That is also why AdSense has such lower margins compared to AdWords.

Thinking business, if I were Google, I’d try to focus on the part of the business that has high margins. Second, Google has no control over third-party websites part of AdSense. As a company that wants to be a one-stop shop, it also makes sense to have as much control over its content. Thirds, today for Google might be cheaper to index the visible web and give back search results. But what if it becomes cheaper to create its own content? Imagine how much resources would Google save in terms of crawling budgets, and spamming controls.

Another little caveat: featured snippets are volatile as they depend on ranking and other aspects that Google might take into account from time to time. Thus, some snippets that appeared at the time of this writing might have disappeared. However, the overall strategy proved to be successful, at least in the short run. In fact, the objective isn’t just the featured snippet but the knowledge panel, which is usually way more stable over time. Yet, one and the other might often be connected if in you use a Semantic SEO strategy based on structured data and open linked data. 

Numbers and Results

Let’s talk numbers now!

As you can see even though the number of total impressions deteriorated by 18% (from 31,170 impressions down to 25,525). On the other hand, if we look at total clicks, they went up by 6% (from 521 to 554) in the last 28 days. In addition, the average CTR (click through rate) has increased from 1.52% to 2.17% (this is a staggering 42% increase). Also, the average position of my keywords on the SERP increased from 47.8 up to 45.9.

If we look at the numbers in absolute terms, they might seem small. Yet, if we take into account the % increase that is not bad at all! Imagine this kind of metrics improvement for a large site.

If you look at the users for this month (in blue) from organic traffic alone, compared to the previous month (in orange) that is clear that the slope is upward. I also noticed that some of that traffic was coming from specific questions:

On those keywords the volume is low. Yet as of now they seem to have a good click-through rate. Of course, numbers are still too small to draw any conclusion. However, It will be fun to see how traffic coming from those keywords will evolve over time.

Personal branding and SEO

Just a few months back I was curious to understand how Google algorithm was changing in light of the transition toward voice search. That is why together with WordLift Co-founder Andrea Volpini we undertook an SEO experiment to see how I could use SEO for personal branding. In short, I wanted to know whether I could trigger a featured snippet based on the question “who is Gennaro Cuofano?”

For me, it was an SEO experiment, but of course, now that it worked it is also a good business card to have. Why? First,  I was able to have it based on a web page of my site. That rarely happens. In fact, most times when it comes to people, Google only offers a featured snippet if you have a Wikipedia page or an authority website.

In short, Wikipedia has such an authority in Google‘s algorithm eyes that it will take it for good and offer it as a snippet. Even so, if you’re a person, unless you’re a public person there is no way Google is going to use that information in a featured snippet. At least that is what I thought before of this experiment!

For the sake of this discussion I’m also going to mention how I used WordLift (the company I currently work for) to hack my personal branding.

The Featured Snippet Framework

You need a few steps to improve your chances of having the snippet:

• set up a dedicated page
• target a long tail keyword
• transform that page into an entity
• bring link juice to that page
• bring authority to your featured page

Related: What is SEO Hacking? How to Steal Featured Snippets with These SEO Hacks

Set up a short dedicated page

If you want to set up your page to make it to the featured snippet you want to make sure to have it set up as a biographical age. Ideally about 58-60 words and avoid storytelling. To have an idea on how to set it up you might want to look at Wikipedia pages for other people. For instance that is how I set that up:

Gennaro is a digital entrepreneur specialized in growing online businesses. He launched and created FourWeekMBA.com. He holds a Law Master’s Degree and an International MBA from LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego. In San Diego, he worked as a financial analyst for a real estate investment firm. Now Gennaro is a Business Developer for WordLift.

You might notice how I avoided story-telling, kept it short and biographical. That leads to the second point.

Target a specific long tail keyword

To make the page optimized for the featured snippet make sure to target a particular question. For instance, on my short page, I targeted the question: “who is Gennaro Cuofano?”

That will make it easier for Google to understand that you’re targeting that specific question, thus improving your chances to get the snippet.

Use structured data

Google Search works hard to understand the content of a page. You can help us by providing explicit clues about the meaning of a page to Google by including structured data on the page. Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying the page content; for example, on a recipe page, what are the ingredients, the cooking time and temperature, the calories, and so on.

Source: developers.google.com

Although Google makes a case for using structured data for recipes, we now know that structured data is crucial also to rank any other kind of page. In other words, with structured data, you do Google‘s little crawlers job easier to index and rank the page easier.

How can you implement structured data? With a vocabulary called Schema.org.

What is Schema.org? As explained on their website:

Schema.org is a collaborative, community activity with a mission to create, maintain, and promote schemas for structured data on the Internet, on web pages, in email messages, and beyond.

and it continues:

Founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex, Schema.org vocabularies are developed by an open community process, using the public-schemaorg@w3.org mailing list and through GitHub.

In short, Schema is the most efficient way to translate the content on that page as data that Google can quickly process. That is why I used WordLift to create a page and set that up as a schema type “person.” In fact, that is a particular property of Schema.org that allows Google to understand what the web page is about.

I then used an additional field to link my page to all the other pages about me on the web.

With this setting, you will create an entity, or a defined object now existing on the web. It is almost like Google finally knew I existed.

Bring link juice to that page

To make that page more relevant connect it to other key pages of your site. For instance, if you have a few articles that are ranking pretty well use them to create internal linking toward your page.

Bring authority to that page

To make sure that page becomes authoritative for Google you need a bit of backlink. How do you get them? One effective way is to use that page as a bio to link when writing guest posts for other sites.

Key takeaway

Getting a featured snippet isn’t only about getting leads but also building your brand through Google. For how unconventional that might seem Google is the ultimate source of authority. Therefore, that is the best business card you could ever present to anyone.

Free SEO tools

I’ve been dealing on a daily basis with advanced SEO strategies as part of the WordLift team, in the last year and a half. In addition, I use SEO Hacking as a process to gain traction over larger publishing outlets.

A few months back I was looking for some quick and free Google Chrome extensions I could use to have a quick glance and an overview of any website.

As I talk to dozens of people on a weekly basis to consult on SEO related issues I’ve developed my swiss knife for SEO. This comprises mainly five Google Chrome extensions that I’ve been using on a daily basis for the last years.

Over the dozens of extensions I’ve been trying out, those have stuck with me, and I believe that if you are an SEO professional or on the road to be one, those extensions might help you out. Of course, those extensions are meant to give you a quick glance; an overview of any website you’re looking at.

Those are not meant as a substitute for a proper analysis. In fact, for a more in-depth analysis, you’ll need to check your data and cross-reference it. However, for a quick glance, those tools are quite useful.

Related: What is SEO Hacking? How to Steal Featured Snippets with These SEO Hacks

OpenLink Structured Data Sniffer Chrome Extension

If you’ve been following how Google has been evolving in the last years. You’re aware that since 2012 it has been building up a so-called knowledge graph. In other words, Google is organizing the information on the web to have it become knowledge. This knowledge graph is built on top of triples, which are simple phrases (that comprise a subject-verb-object). Those triples are organized in data, which is called structured data. Just as humans use language; nowadays search engine use structured data to talk to each other.

With the OpenLink Structured Data Sniffer Chrome Extension, you can see the structured data present on any web page.

For instance, in the case above, you can see how with WordLift I automated the process by adding critical information about my website and the web page in the form of JSON-LD, a format that Google likes to understand web pages. Why? Because this format isn’t affecting the performance of the page and it is allowing Google bots (the crawlers that go on a web page to extract critical information to index a web page) to have rich data about the web page.

Wappalyzer Chrome Extension

If you’re like me, the first question that comes to mind when on a website is, what CMS is this website using? The fastest way to understand that if to use Wappalyzer:

The app shows you right away with a small icon on your Chrome Browser what CMS the website is using. Also, if you click on it, you’ll also have a more in-depth analysis of plugins and tools used by that website. This is by far the fastest way to assess what CMS any site is using once you land on them.

Keywords Everywhere Chrome Extension

This Chrome Extension is a goldmine. It allows me to have constant access to keywords data from the Google page. This is why I like it so much. That is why I suggest you download keywords everywhere:

You will see the data related to a keyword you type in the Google search box. You’ll also get a box on the right side that says “people also search for” which shows you all the related keywords with volume, CPC, and competition. The data seems to be pretty reliable, and I’ve been using it in the last months with great pleasure.

SimilarWeb Chrome Extension

When checking out a website, it is critical to understand its marketing mix. SimilarWeb Google Chrome Extension helps me with that! I always remind people to whom I suggest to use SimilarWeb that the data is an estimate and in no way to take it as a 100% reliable data:

In fact, the quality of data from SimilarWeb depends really on several factors. In general, it is a great tool to have a quick glance at any website. In my opinion, the app is getting better and getter.

Alexa Traffic Rank Chrome Extension

To counterbalance the data from SimilarWeb, Alexa Traffic Rank Chrome Extension is a good alternative:

Here the same caveat I did for the SimilarWeb app. It is an estimate which is not supposed to substitute a rigorous analysis but to have a quick glance of any website, in a matter of instants!

Visual Marketing Glossary

Account-Based Marketing

Ad-Ops

AARRR Funnel

Affinity Marketing

Ambush Marketing

Affiliate Marketing

Bullseye Framework

Brand Building

Brand Dilution

Brand Essence Wheel

Brand Equity

Brand Positioning

Business Storytelling

Content Marketing

Customer Lifetime Value

Customer Segmentation

Developer Marketing

Digital Marketing Channels

Field Marketing

Funnel Marketing

Go-To-Market Strategy

Greenwashing

Grassroots Marketing

Growth Marketing

Guerrilla Marketing

Hunger Marketing

Integrated Communication

Inbound Marketing

Integrated Marketing

Marketing Mix

Marketing Myopia

Marketing Personas

Meme Marketing

Microtargeting

Multi-Channel Marketing

Multi-Level Marketing

Net Promoter Score

Neuromarketing

Newsjacking

Niche Marketing

Push vs. Pull Marketing

Real-Time Marketing

Relationship Marketing

Reverse Marketing

Remarketing

Sensory Marketing

Services Marketing

Sustainable Marketing

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

360 Marketing

Read more:

• Brand Building
• Customer Segmentation
• Market Segmentation
• Brand Equity
• Brand Awareness

Read also:

• Types of Business Models You Need to Know
• Business Strategy: Definition, Examples, And Case Studies
• Marketing Strategy: Definition, Types, And Examples
• Platform Business Models In A Nutshell
• Network Effects In A Nutshell
• Gross Margin In A Nutshell

Merged on 12 Oct 2026: the earlier text of our separate page on e-commerce SEO follows.

SEO stands for search engine optimization. That is the process of aligning the website content to the signals used by search engines to understand whether the underlying content is of good quality. From there, it’s possible through e-commerce SEO to build a digital funnel that leads from the store’s editorial content toward navigational pages (search page, category pages) and transactional pages (products) to build a solid online business.

Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Out of the entire digital marketing channels and strategies, search engine optimization is one of the most effective (even though among the least appreciated). Indeed, Search Engine Optimization is one of the biggest channels in digital marketing because people do trillions of searches yearly, often with the intent to find information about products and services they want to purchase. Search is often the primary source of digital traffic, and almost all other marketing channels are one way or the other dependent on it. Higher ranking in search results than competitors in your niche will make you more visible. It will definitely have a direct impact on your generated traffic, and SEO is tailored to do just that.

Search engine has been proven by many surveys and studies to be the biggest traffic driver to websites, even more than social media. It is also cheaper than social media because after you make the first set of payment for tools (some tools can even be gotten for free), you do not pay recurring fees; you just need to put in the effort to ensure that you remain high at the ranks. That’s the summary, cheap digital marketing with high conversion rates.

Optimizing your website means that you want to create the best possible result for your major keyword. Google and other search engines’ goal is to rank search results in a hierarchy of results that answer all of the searcher’s questions so well that they don’t need to do another search for further answers.

How to effectively utilize search engine optimization for the growth of your online business

There are a few but important steps to take, which you need to pay utmost attention to in effective utilization of SEO for boosting an e-commerce business. They are:

• Keyword research
• Optimizing your website architecture
• On-Page Search Engine Optimization 

Keyword Research

Keyword research is one of the most vital parts of SEO to ensure you target keywords that are quite easy to rank for, have a reasonable search volume, and likely have a high conversion rate.

However, choosing keywords is more than just considering how easy it is to rank or how well it is being searched. But to choose the best keywords possible, buyer intent should be factored in.

Buyer intent in simple terms is how decided an internet user is in their decision to buy. For example, internet users who search for “beautiful kicks” are probably most likely in a debate within themselves or with others; they most likely aren’t ready to buy. They could be comparing products, checking reviews, etc. Well, I’ll say you should leave those for the critic pages. But if a user searches for “Nike air vapor max plus,” they are most likely shopping around for that particular pair of shoes looking for the best prices they can get, which indicates an intention of purchase.

There are three ways to go about E-commerce keyword research to identify search volume and buyer intent. They are;

• Using Amazon for keyword research
• Using Competitors for keyword research
• Using paid SEO tools for Keyword research

Using Amazon for keyword research

Amazon is probably the largest E-commerce business in the world, visited by hundreds of millions of people daily, and also makes hundreds of billions in dollars yearly. Which shows that it is a website having high buyer intent. People do not just go there for sightseeing, they visit to buy. 

Amazon Keyword Tool helps you to generate useful keywords using the Amazon search suggest function. When you input a “seed keyword” (any product you can think of in your selected niche) in the Amazon search box, you will start seeing search suggestions predicting the best matches for the entered words. Then, Keyword Tool pulls all the keyword suggestions generated by Amazon and presents it to you in a concise manner, mark all the keywords and add them to your list, then save that list of keywords for your personal use or even download into .CSV or .txt files. One drawback of this method is that Amazon doesn’t provide search volume for keywords, which is very important in our keyword selection. However, you can use other paid SEO tools to get finer details, which we will examine shortly.

Using Competitors for keyword research

Looking at high ranking competitors in search results can be a good idea as you can use them to get keyword ideas. It goes in two directions, however. You could;

1. Steal your competitor’s keywords to compete for rankings in the same search results.
2. Find and begin targeting keywords that have not yet been targeted by competitors.

Although a competitor outranking you doesn’t necessarily mean that they have better keywords. They may have a higher domain authority than you, giving them priority in searches. 

Before looking for competitor keywords, you should know what keywords you are already ranking for. A free SEO tool, e.g., Google AdWords, will help you to see what kind of pages are generating the most attention for your website. Then you can proceed to analyze competitors. Your competitors aren’t every business that sells a similar product or renders similar service to you. Instead, you’re going to be focusing on the businesses that already have a good rank in the keywords and phrases that you want to rank for. 

Your research will hopefully give you a list of five to ten competitors in your industry that is ranking for the kind of terms that you want people to use when they’re searching for you. Now that you have that list, the next step is to look for keywords that those competitors are ranking for that you’re not. SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush can help you discover important areas that your content does not cover. This will enable you to develop proper contents to fill up this gap with your next digital content. There’s usually a lot of keywords related to you, so there is a good chance that you won’t be able to rank very high in all, so develop a list of keywords in order of importance to create preference.

Using paid SEO tools for Keyword research

Using Pro SEO tools can help you speed up and even automate your keyword researching, making it easy for you to target keywords for your e-commerce SEO. Although you can use free SEO tools like Google keyword planner, Ubersuggest, Google search console to aid your keyword research, there are additional features you will get from pro tools. And the great deal is that majority offer free trials, so if you feel they aren’t advanced enough, you can easily opt-out.

A few examples are Keyword tool pro, SEMrush, Ahrefs, KWFinder, Jaaxy, and many more.

SEO

Some of the special functions you can get from pro SEO tools is the Quoted Search Result (QSR) tool, a function that highlights how many websites are trying to rank for a particular keyword you searched. If competition were too high, it would be advisable to use other keywords, as extremely high competition will favor the best sellers. Jaaxy offers this special function.

Keyword difficulty (KD) is another function most pro SEO tools offer. KWFinder and Ahrefs keyword research tool are some of the pro tools that offer this function. KWFinder, by default, shows a Keyword Difficulty score next to every keyword, so it absolves you of the need to click on each keyword to see the difficulty score. Although this style can be vague and not specific enough. Ahrefs, on the other hand, tells you the exact amount of backlinks you will need to rank among searches on Google’s first page.

Search Volume helps to know how many people are searching for a particular keyword; too low searches probably mean there is no market, while extremely high searches mean that the market is already oversaturated. Pro SEO tools like Jaaxy, Keyword tool pro gives data on search volume to ensure that you pick a keyword with an optimal amount of searches for good click rates.

Competitor Analysis is a very special function that can be gotten from pro SEO tools; Keyword Tool Pro especially offers you this. You basically just need to input a competitor’s website, the tool will generate a list of keywords based on the website content, and you can see what makes your competitor rank higher than you. 

SEMrush also shows you keywords that top businesses related to your search already rank for, not just showing you keyword ideas; this will give you a path to focus and help you streamline the keywords to work with. You only need to enter your competitor’s domain name, and you’ll get the top 5 keywords that your competitors are ranking for; you have the option to see more, and you’ll get a list of all of the keywords that the site or URL ranks for in their order of ranking.

Some pro tools are relatively cheaper than others, and SEO at this point may seem to not be your thing, but you can always hire SEO experts to tailor your needs according to what you want. Surely, this book has opened your mind.

Optimizing your website architecture (Why modern SEO is about UX)

Site architecture represents how your website is sorted into categories and sub-pages. An optimized website is very important for search engines. A good site structure makes it easy for search engine bots and crawling spiders to navigate each page on your website.

If pages aren’t properly linked together, these bots may not index them, or if they are hidden, they may not find them, which is contrary to the ideal nature of making every single page on your website readable by search engines. If your structure is very good, in fact, your site links will regularly appear in search results.

Apart from search engines, visitors to your website will also likely stay on your page if your website has a good structure because of the ease of navigation it offers them. All pages are interlinked such that users can reach each page with the least possible amount of without having to keep going back over and over again; better user experience — as explored in the interface layer wars reshaping consumer tech — (UX) translates to more sales.

Website architecture is vital for e-commerce businesses due to the high number of pages on your website, ranging from hundreds to thousands, especially upon expansion – adding new products and categories; your site structure gets even complicated.

Restructuring a website can be very messy even for professionals if it doesn’t have a standard architecture from the start.

When working on your site architecture, it is important to note that:

• Your structure is kept simple and scalable
• No page takes more than 3 clicks away from the homepage
• Have short URLs that humans can easily understand.
• Use high quality and attractive images; your product photos can appear in Google image search, essentially doubling your exposure.

Website Speed

Your website speed plays a huge role in SEO because it contributes greatly to the user experience on your website. Nearly half of internet users expect a page to load in 2 seconds at most, and if it takes longer, they tend to close the page or just open a new browser tab. One of Google’s ranking metric is User experience (UX), which is your website speed is a major part of your SEO.

To optimize website speed, you need to know your current site speed. Google’s PageSpeed Insights is a good tool to see how fast your site is.

Several reasons could cause a slow website ranging from slow hosts and poor server response time to very large images, crawlers, redirect issues, and many others. You should watch out for these and ensure they aren’t affecting your website.

Mobile-Friendly Websites

Google also uses mobile-first indexing, meaning your site rankings will depend on mobile performance because more than half of all internet traffic goes through mobile devices as more sophisticated mobile devices are being manufactured. So it is important to see that users enjoy the best mobile experience to maintain a high ranking in Google searches.

On-Page Search Engine Optimization

On-page SEO refers to all the measures you can take within your website to ensure that it ranks high enough and generates higher traffic in search engines. Some of the things to watch out for on-page SEO are;

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs are small text-arrow paths, usually at the top of a page; they serve as secondary navigation. It allows users to know the exact location where they are while navigating your website. Knowing where you are on a website, plus the added ability to go to a previous page or category enables a better User experience (UX). Google also loves breadcrumbs because it helps to figure out how your website is structured. Breadcrumbs can also appear in the search result.

Secure Connection

Having a secure (HTTPS) connection is very important for ranking your e-commerce site. Your site security is important to Google before directing users to ensure encrypted browsing and safe navigation, preventing hackers from stealing personal information like passwords and credit card details.

Run a full SEO audit

E-commerce websites usually suffer from technical SEO issues due to many pages on a website. These issues can hamper performance and, in the process, give a poor user experience.

Things you should check out for when running an SEO Audit

• Avoid duplicate content as Google might not index such pages.
• Make sure you implement redirects properly to avoid slow performance
• Poor redirects can also cause indexing issues as they lead to orphaned pages (pages with no links pointing to them), making it difficult for bots and crawlers to access them for indexing. 
• Avoid broken links, as Google will lower your rank if you usually have “error 404” because of your unreliability for searchers and the poor user experience it brings about.

Last but not least: Work on Link building

One of the strongest pointers to how well your website is optimized is the number of external links that point to it (backlinks). Without backlinks, it’s really hard to rank in a competitive niche. Backlinks are the most difficult part of your whole strategy as they drive traffic to your website. Although many business owners just buy backlinks from sellers to rank well in search results, it is important to try and make them organically, to save cost, and because it usually lasts longer than when you buy from sellers. Also, bought links can be bad, which will harm your website instead of ranking them higher.

Key Highlights

• Understanding SEO’s Significance:
  • SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a process that aligns website content with search engine signals to improve its visibility and ranking.
  • SEO is a highly effective digital marketing channel, driving a significant portion of online traffic, often surpassing social media.
  • Higher search result rankings lead to increased visibility and traffic, making SEO crucial for online businesses.
• Keyword Research:
  • Keyword research is a fundamental aspect of SEO, helping identify relevant keywords that have reasonable search volume and buyer intent.
  • Buyer intent refers to the readiness of a user to make a purchase, making keyword choices based on user intent critical for conversion.
• Keyword Research Methods:
  • Amazon Keyword Tool: Utilize Amazon’s search suggestions to find keywords with high buyer intent.
  • Competitor Analysis: Analyze keywords used by top-ranking competitors to identify keyword gaps.
  • Paid SEO Tools: Professional SEO tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs provide advanced keyword research capabilities, including search volume, keyword difficulty, and competitor analysis.
• Website Architecture and UX:
  • Optimizing website architecture improves user experience (UX) and search engine indexing.
  • A well-structured site with clear navigation enhances both user engagement and search engine crawling.
  • A simple and scalable structure, short URLs, and high-quality images contribute to better user experience and improved rankings.
• Website Speed and Mobile-Friendliness:
  • Website speed is crucial for both user experience and SEO rankings.
  • Google’s ranking algorithms consider user experience, including page loading speed.
  • Mobile-friendliness is essential, given the increasing use of mobile devices; Google’s mobile-first indexing prioritizes mobile performance.
• On-Page SEO:
  • On-page SEO involves optimizing elements within your website to improve its search engine rankings.
  • Elements such as breadcrumbs, secure connections (HTTPS), and running a full SEO audit contribute to better rankings and user experience.
• Running an SEO Audit:
  • An SEO audit identifies and addresses technical issues on an e-commerce website.
  • Avoid duplicate content, implement proper redirects, and fix broken links to improve website performance and user experience.
• Link Building:
  • Link building is a critical aspect of SEO, involving the acquisition of external backlinks to your website.
  • Organic backlinks are preferred over purchased ones for long-term SEO success.
  • Backlinks from reputable sources improve a website’s authority and search engine rankings.
• Continuous Efforts:
  • SEO is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring, optimization, and adaptation.
  • Regularly updating content, keeping up with algorithm changes, and refining strategies are essential for sustained success.

Read Also: Amazon Business Model, Etsy Business Model, eBay Business Model, E-commerce Business Models, Platform Business Model, How to Start an E-commerce Business, E-commerce Marketing, Amazon SEO.

Read More:

• Business Models
• Competitor Analysis
• Digital Business Models
• Distribution Channels
• Business Strategy
• Value Proposition
• Marketing Strategy
• Brand Building
• SWOT Analysis

Key Takeaways

• SEO stands for search engine optimization.
• Out of the entire digital marketing channels and strategies, search engine optimization is one of the most effective (even though among the least…
• There are a few but important steps to take, which you need to pay utmost attention to in effective utilization of SEO for boosting an e-commerce…
• Site architecture represents how your website is sorted into categories and sub-pages.
• On-page SEO refers to all the measures you can take within your website to ensure that it ranks high enough and generates higher traffic in search…
• One of the strongest pointers to how well your website is optimized is the number of external links that point to it (backlinks).

Visual Marketing Glossary

Account-Based Marketing

Ad-Ops

AARRR Funnel

Affinity Marketing

Ambush Marketing

Affiliate Marketing

Bullseye Framework

Brand Building

Brand Dilution

Brand Essence Wheel

Brand Equity

Brand Positioning

Business Storytelling

Content Marketing

Customer Lifetime Value

Customer Segmentation

Developer Marketing

Digital Marketing Channels

Field Marketing

Funnel Marketing

Go-To-Market Strategy

Greenwashing

Grassroots Marketing

Growth Marketing

Guerrilla Marketing

Hunger Marketing

Integrated Communication

Inbound Marketing

Integrated Marketing

Marketing Mix

Marketing Myopia

Marketing Personas

Meme Marketing

Microtargeting

Multi-Channel Marketing

Multi-Level Marketing

Net Promoter Score

Neuromarketing

Newsjacking

Niche Marketing

Push vs. Pull Marketing

Real-Time Marketing

Relationship Marketing

Reverse Marketing

Remarketing

Sensory Marketing

Services Marketing

Sustainable Marketing

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

360 Marketing

Read more:

• Brand Building
• Customer Segmentation
• Market Segmentation
• Brand Equity
• Brand Awareness

Read also:

• Types of Business Models You Need to Know
• Business Strategy: Definition, Examples, And Case Studies
• Marketing Strategy: Definition, Types, And Examples
• Platform Business Models In A Nutshell
• Network Effects In A Nutshell
• Gross Margin In A Nutshell