Server and DevOps Fundamentals for SEO & Marketing Teams
Operating Systems & Server Technologies basics for SEO and Marketers As digital marketers or SEO professionals, we often work closely with internal or external developers, software engineers, and DevOps teams to manage websites, systems, or applications. Understanding basic server and DevOps terminology could help marketing personnel communicate more effectively with technical teams and collaborate more efficiently on SEO, website performance, and technical issues. Part I: Operating System (OS) Operating System (OS): An Operating System (OS) is the core software that manages a computer, server, or mobile device. It acts as the bridge between hardware and applications, allowing software and systems to run properly. For websites and servers, the operating system is extremely important because it affects website performance, stability, security, compatibility, and scalability. Common operating systems include Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS. What is an operating system? – According to Microsoft. 1. Microsoft Windows Windows is a popular operating system developed by Microsoft. It is widely used on personal computers and also on some web servers. In server environments, Windows is commonly used for: • ASP.NET websites, • Microsoft SQL Server, • enterprise applications, • Microsoft-based infrastructures. SEO & Marketing Relevance Easier for beginners to manage. Common in corporate environments. Usually, it is more resource-heavy than Linux. Hosting costs are often higher than those for Linux servers. 2. Linux Linux is an open-source operating system widely used in web hosting and cloud infrastructure. Most modern websites, cloud servers, and DevOps environments run on Linux because of its: stability, performance, security, and flexibility. Linux is the foundation for many server operating systems, such as Ubuntu and CentOS. SEO & Marketing Relevance Many SEO-related performance optimizations, such as caching, server tuning, core web vitals improvements, CDN integrations, and high-performance hosting, are commonly implemented on Linux servers. 3. Ubuntu Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distributions (distros). It is beginner-friendly and widely used for: 1. Cloud Hosting 2. VPS Servers 3. DevOps environment 4. Web applications. Many developers and DevOps engineers prefer Ubuntu because of its large community support and compatibility with modern technologies. Ubuntu Relationship to Linux Ubuntu is built on Linux. Think of Linux as the “engine” and Ubuntu as a “version” of that engine designed for easier use. 4. CentOS CentOS is another Linux distribution traditionally popular in enterprise server environments. It was known for: 1) long-term stability 2) Reliability 3) Enterprise-grade performance CentOS was widely used with hosting panels like: 1) cPanel 2) WHM (Web Host Manager) 3) Enterprise hosting infrastructures. CentOS Relationship to Linux Like Ubuntu, CentOS is also based on Linux. 5. iOS iOS is the mobile operating system developed by Apple for iPhones and iPads. SEO & Marketing Relevance Website behavior may differ on Safari browsers, Core Web Vitals can vary across devices, Mobile UX testing is important for SEO. 6. Android Android is the world’s most widely used mobile operating system, developed by Google. SEO & Marketing Relevance Since most users browse websites on mobile devices, marketers should understand: Android user behavior, mobile responsiveness, page speed, and mobile-first indexing. 7. HarmonyOS (HMOS) HarmonyOS (HMOS) is an operating system developed by Huawei as an alternative ecosystem for smartphones and connected devices. Less common globally, HarmonyOS is relevant in certain markets such as China. Part II: Server & Infrastructure Technologies Why SEO Professionals need basic Server knowledge? SEO professionals should have a basic understanding of servers because many technical SEO issues are usually related to server performance, security, and infrastructure. For example, websites may experience server overload, downtime, cyberattacks, or excessive bot crawling that affects website speed, crawl efficiency, and search engine visibility. Having basic server knowledge helps SEO teams communicate more effectively with developers and DevOps teams when troubleshooting issues such as high server load, website attacks, or blocking unnecessary bots and crawlers that consume server resources. Server & Infrastructure Technologies: 8 Common Types of Servers (based on functionality) Servers can be categorized based on the functions they perform or how they are deployed. In general, a server is a computer or system that provides data, resources, or services to other devices over a network. Below are some of the most common types of servers used in modern computing: 1. Web Servers Host and deliver websites to browsers using technologies such as Apache HTTP Server and Nginx. 2. Database Servers Store, manage, and retrieve structured data for websites, applications, and systems. 3. File Servers Provide centralized storage and file-sharing access for multiple users or devices. 4. Mail Servers Handle the sending, receiving, and storage of email communications. 5. Application Servers Run software applications and process business logic for websites or enterprise systems. 6. Proxy Servers Act as intermediaries between users and the internet to improve security, privacy, and performance. 7. DNS Servers Translate domain names such as “google.com” into IP addresses that computers can understand. 8. Gaming Servers Host online multiplayer games and synchronize player activities in real time. 4 Types of Server Deployment Models Servers can also be categorized based on how they are hosted or deployed: (How servers are hosted) 1. Physical Server 物理服务器 Physical Servers Dedicated hardware machines located on-premises or inside data centers. 2. Dedicated Server 专用服务器 A dedicated server is a physical server exclusively used by a single customer, company, or application. Unlike shared hosting or virtual servers, all server resources, such as CPU, RAM, and storage, are dedicated to one user, providing better performance, security, and control. 3. Virtual Servers A virtual server is a software-based server created through virtualization technology inside a physical server. Instead of using one physical machine for only one system, virtualization platforms such as VMware allow multiple independent virtual servers to run on the same hardware while sharing its resources, such as CPU, RAM, and storage. Each virtual server operates like a separate computer with its own operating system, applications, settings, and permissions. For example, one physical server can host multiple Ubuntu or Windows virtual servers for different websites, clients, or applications without affecting each other. 4. Cloud Servers 云服务器 Virtual servers
How to Identify & Prevent Bot Traffic in GA4 (2026 Guide)
What Is Bot Traffic? Bot traffic refers to visits to your website generated by automated programs (bots), not real human users. These bots are designed to perform tasks at scale; some are helpful, others are harmful. In tools like Google Analytics 4, bot traffic could distort your data if it isn’t properly filtered. Types of Bot Traffic 1. Good Bots (Legitimate) Some bots actually help your website grow—such as search engine crawlers like Googlebot, SEO tools, and uptime monitoring services—which index your pages, improve your visibility in search results, and analyze site performance. 2. Bad Bots (Malicious or Spam) However, harmful bots are the real concern: scrapers, fake traffic generators, click bots, and vulnerability scanners can distort your GA4 data with fake sessions, slow down your site, and create SEO risks such as duplicate content and excessive crawling. Why Is There Bot Traffic? Bot traffic exists because the internet runs heavily on automation, so not every visit to your website comes from a real person. Some bots are essential—for example, search engine crawlers like Googlebot scan your pages, index your content, and update rankings, which is how your site appears in search results in the first place. At the same time, bots power large-scale automation. They can scan millions of pages in seconds, monitor website uptime 24/7, and collect data across the web for various tools and platforms—tasks that would be impossible for humans to handle manually. However, not all bots are beneficial. Some are built with malicious intent, such as scraping your content, spamming WordPress forms or comments, generating fake traffic to manipulate analytics, or testing your site for vulnerabilities. Bot traffic is unavoidable. Some of it helps your website grow, but a significant portion can distort your data and impact your business decisions if not properly managed. 🚨 Common Bot Traffic Signals 1) Very low engagement time (e.g. 0–2 seconds) 2) 0% engagement rate or extremely low 3) 100% bounce-like behavior (in GA4: not engaged sessions) 4) High sessions but no conversions or engagement events 5) Unusual spikes in traffic at odd hours (aka abnormal) 6) Strange geo locations (countries you don’t target) 7) Weird screen resolution / device categories How to Identify Bot Traffic in GA4 To spot bot traffic in Google Analytics 4, analyze behavior patterns—not just traffic volume. Bots don’t behave like real users, so when you focus on engagement metrics, the differences become obvious. Five (5) GA4 Metrics to Identify Bot Traffic 1. Engagement Rate Bots rarely interact with your site. They don’t scroll, click, or trigger meaningful events, which results in an unusually low engagement rate. If a page is getting traffic but almost no engagement, that’s a strong warning sign. 2. Average Engagement Time One of the clearest indicators. Bot sessions often show 0 seconds of engagement time because they don’t actually “read” or interact with your content. A sudden spike in traffic with near-zero engagement time is highly suspicious. 3. Sessions per user/ Engaged sessions per user Bot behavior can look unnatural here. Some bots generate multiple sessions from a single user in a short period, while others repeatedly appear as one-session-per-user with no variation. Both patterns are very different from real human browsing behavior. 4. Event Count Real users trigger multiple events such as scrolls, clicks, and interactions across pages. Bots, on the other hand, often trigger only basic events like page_view. If your traffic shows minimal or no event diversity, it’s likely not human. 5. Pages per Session Bots typically visit just one page and leave, resulting in very low pages per session. In contrast, real users usually explore more than one page, especially if your content is engaging or internally linked. How to Read These Signals One metric alone doesn’t confirm bot traffic. But when you see multiple signals combined—like: 1) Low engagement rate 2) 0-second engagement time 3) 1 page per session 4) No events 👉 That’s when you can confidently suspect bot activity. GA4’s cleaner data filtering steps: Option A: Clean Direct Traffic Conditions (Session scope): Session default channel group = Direct AND Engagement rate > 0 AND Avg engagement time > 10s AND Views ≥ 2 AND Conversions ≥ 0 (optional) 👉 This gives you:“Higher-quality Direct traffic” Option B: Bot Detection (inverse logic — stronger) Instead of filtering good traffic, define bad: Bot-like session:Avg engagement time < 1sAND Views = 1AND Event count = 1AND Conversions = 0 👉 Then:Exclude this segment from the analysis How to Filter & Prevent Bot Traffic (GA4, WordPress, Server Level) If we want cleaner data and more reliable insights, we need to understand one key thing: GA4 alone cannot stop bot traffic—it can only help you detect it. Real prevention happens before the data even reaches your analytics. 1. GA4 Level (Detection & Partial Data Filtering) In Google Analytics 4, your role is to identify and analyze suspicious traffic, not block it. Start by enabling the built-in setting “Exclude all hits from known bots and spiders” under Data Settings. This uses industry bot lists to remove some known crawlers, but it only scratches the surface. Many bots today are far more sophisticated and won’t be filtered by default. From there, use Explorations or Comparisons to spot suspicious patterns. For example, sessions with zero engagement time, only one page view, and no events are often strong indicators of bot activity. This helps you estimate how much of your traffic is actually low quality. You can also create audiences such as “low-quality traffic” by grouping users with very low engagement or no meaningful interaction. However, it’s important to understand that this does not remove bots from your data; it simply allows you to isolate and analyze them more effectively. In short, GA4 helps you see the problem, not solve it. 2. WordPress / Website Level (First Real Defense) Your first layer of actual protection starts at the website level. If you’re using WordPress, this is where you begin reducing bot traffic before it gets out of control. By installing security plugins
Bing Webmaster Tools Comprehensive Guide 2026 (The Most Underrated SEO Tool)
If you’re an SEO professional, chances are most of your time and attention go toward optimizing for Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). After all, Google still dominates the global search market share. (But that doesn’t mean it’s the only search engine worth attention.) In this guide, we’ll walk you through Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools and provide a brief overview of Bing SEO best practices. Understanding Bing Webmaster Tools Bing Webmaster Tools is Microsoft’s free SEO platform that helps website owners monitor and improve their site’s performance on Bing. It provides detailed insights into how Bing crawls, indexes, and ranks your web pages. You can use it to submit sitemaps, track keyword performance, identify technical SEO issues, and understand how your site appears in Bing search results. Think of it as a kind of “Bing Search Console.” Why Bing SEO? Assuming you already understand the fundamentals of SEO, the next question is: why should you care about Bing? While Google dominates search, Bing remains the second-largest desktop search engine globally, with over 9% market share. That may seem small — but in absolute numbers, it represents millions of searches every day. If you optimize exclusively for Google, you could miss out on a significant segment of high-intent traffic, especially from desktop users, enterprise environments, and Microsoft ecosystem users. In short, Bing SEO isn’t a replacement for Google SEO — it’s an opportunity to capture additional visibility with relatively less competition. How to Use Bing Webmaster Tools? In this section, I’ll walk you through the Bing Webmaster Tools (BWT) dashboard, key features, and how to use them effectively for SEO. 1) Home The Home dashboard gives you a quick overview of your website’s performance on Bing. It highlights key metrics like clicks, impressions, indexing status, and any critical issues that need attention. Think of it as your control panel — a snapshot of your site’s SEO performance before diving deeper into specific reports. 2) Search Performance The Search Performance report shows how your website performs in Bing search results. It provides data on clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and average position for your pages and keywords. You can filter by query, page, country, and device to identify ranking opportunities, optimize underperforming content, and uncover high-potential keywords. Bing Webmaster Tool AI Performance (Beta) 3) AI Performance (Beta) The AI Performance report is one of the newest features in Bing Webmaster Tools, currently marked as Beta. It provides insights into how your website performs in Bing’s AI-powered search experiences, including AI-generated answers, summaries, and Microsoft Copilot integrations. This report helps you understand your visibility across AI-driven results and Copilot-powered responses, enabling you to identify opportunities to optimize content for conversational and AI-enhanced search—an increasingly important area of SEO in 2026. Further Reading: AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools 4) URL Inspection The URL Inspection tool allows you to check how a specific page is crawled and indexed by Bing. It shows the page’s index status, last crawl date, detected issues, and whether it’s eligible to appear in search results. You can also use it to request indexing for new or updated pages, making it a critical tool for troubleshooting and speeding up content discovery. 5) Site Explorer The Site Explorer provides a structured view of how Bing sees and organizes your website. It displays your pages by directory, URL, and indexing status, helping you understand which pages are discovered and which are excluded. This tool is useful for identifying crawl gaps, orphan pages, and indexing issues across large websites. 6) Sitemaps The Sitemaps section allows you to submit and manage your XML sitemaps directly in Bing Webmaster Tools. Submitting a sitemap helps Bing discover, crawl, and index your important pages more efficiently. You can also monitor sitemap status, see how many URLs are indexed, and identify errors that may prevent proper indexing. 7) IndexNow IndexNow allows you to instantly notify Bing whenever you publish, update, or delete a page. Instead of waiting for search engines to crawl your site, you proactively push URL changes directly to Bing. This helps accelerate indexing, reduce crawl delays, and ensure your latest content appears in search results faster — especially useful for news sites, blogs, and frequently updated websites. 8) Backlinks The Backlinks report shows which websites are linking to your site and which pages receive the most inbound links. It helps you analyze your link profile, discover new referring domains, and identify your strongest authority pages. You can use this data to evaluate link-building efforts, spot toxic or suspicious links, and uncover partnership or outreach opportunities. Backlinks To Any Site One unique feature of BWT is “Backlinks To Any Site,” which allows you to analyze the backlink profile of any domain — not just your own. This is a capability that Google Search Console does not provide, making it a valuable competitive research tool for SEO professionals. 9) Keyword Research The Keyword Research tool helps you discover new keyword ideas based on real Bing search data. You can explore search volume, trends, related keywords, and filter results by country or language. This feature is useful for content planning, topic expansion, and identifying low-competition opportunities directly within Bing’s ecosystem — without relying on external tools. How BWT differs from GSC: BWT provides built-in keyword insights directly within the platform. In contrast, Google Search Console does not provide a dedicated keyword research tool — users must rely on Google Ads Keyword Planner for that functionality. 10) Recommendations The Recommendations section provides personalized SEO suggestions based on your website’s performance and Bing’s analysis. It highlights issues such as missing meta tags, indexing problems, crawl errors, and optimization opportunities. Think of it as an automated SEO checklist — helping you prioritize quick wins and technical improvements that can positively impact your visibility on Bing. 11) Site Scan The Site Scan feature allows you to run an on-demand audit of your website directly inside Bing Webmaster Tools. It crawls your site and identifies common technical SEO issues such as broken links, missing
Google Ranking Factors: Deep Dive into What Really Matters
Hummingbird, Panda, Pigeon, Penguin Google Ranking Factors Google’s search algorithms look at many factors and signals to determine the most relevant and useful results for any query, including relevance to user intent, content quality, and usability, with the weight of each factor varying depending on context. While Google does not publish an official list of ranking signals, numerous SEO studies and expert estimates suggest there are hundreds of ranking factors, each carrying different levels of influence in the algorithm’s overall assessment. For decades, Google representatives such as John Mueller have consistently advised that SEO should focus on creating valuable, user-centric content and maintaining technically sound websites, rather than attempting to optimize for specific or presumed ranking metrics, as the exact mix and weighting of signals are not publicly disclosed. Foreword: This article is largely based on my personal experience in the field of SEO (White-Hat sect) and digital marketing, with references from various expert sources. This Google ranking factors article is divided into four main sections: Part I: 11 Direct ranking factorsPart II: 15 Indirect ranking factorsPart III: 5 SEO rumorsPart IV: 10 What hurts your SEO (what to refrain from) Part I: Direct Ranking Factors Direct Ranking Factors / Ranking Signals Here are the top 10 direct ranking factors (TL;DR): Content quality Search intent alignment Backlinks Domain strength Keyword placement and coverage Topical authority Technical SEO (indexing, crawlability, mobile-friendliness) User signals Brand signals Site security Geo-location 1. Content Quality (Aligned with E-E-A-T) The old saying “content is king” still holds, but it’s important to understand Google’s ultimate goal: to serve search users the most accurate, reliable, and trustworthy content and websites. As a result, content quality remains the most important SEO factor. Google prioritizes pages that provide high-quality, informative, and relevant content that genuinely satisfies user intent. E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is especially important for website content that falls under Google’s YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) categories, such as financial, health, legal, and drug-related topics. Google applies stricter content quality standards to Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) topics. Related reading: SEO case studies: Cointelegraph 2. Search Intent Alignment Keyword and content relevance must align with the searcher’s intent. Generally, there are four types of search intent: informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional. Whether Google displays your content in search results depends largely on how well your page satisfies the underlying intent of the query, not just on keyword usage. 3. Backlinks Backlinks remain an important ranking factor in SEO, but quality matters far more than quantity. Not all backlinks are equal — a single high-quality backlink can be more valuable than dozens of low-quality ones. Further reading: How to get backlinks, off-page SEO strategy High-quality backlinks signal credibility and act as strong votes of trust: High-quality backlinks are evaluated based on several factors, including the number of referring domains and IP diversity, link relevance, and the overall health of your backlink profile. Strong backlinks typically come from authoritative websites with real organic traffic, credible AI citations, and clear industry relevance. Diverse anchor text: Backlinks act as votes of confidence from other websites. The more high-quality, relevant backlinks you earn, the stronger your site’s ranking potential becomes. Anchor text diversity is also important — while keyword-rich anchor text can help, it must be used naturally to avoid spam signals. Relevancy: Relevance plays a critical role in link value. Links from pages ranking in the same SERP for a target keyword often pass more ranking value because they are highly contextually relevant. Additionally, link placement matters: links embedded in a page’s main content generally carry more weight than those in footers or sidebars. Finally, backlinks from topically relevant domains and authority websites pass significantly more value than links from unrelated or low-authority sites. Both domain-level relevance and page-level relevance contribute to how much ranking power a backlink provides. 4. Domain Strength Domain strength, referred to as Domain Rating (DR) by Ahrefs and Domain Authority (DA) by Semrush and Moz, is a score that typically ranges from 0 to 100. This metric reflects the overall strength of a domain’s backlink profile and is therefore closely correlated with backlinks. While a website with lower domain strength can outrank a higher-authority site—especially when content relevance and search intent are strong—in many cases, the top 20 results in the SERPs tend to have moderate to strong domain strength. Page Authority: Page authority is similar to domain authority, but instead of measuring the strength of an entire website, it evaluates the ranking potential of an individual page or post. This metric is largely influenced by the page’s backlink profile, making it closely correlated with the quantity and quality of links pointing to that specific page. Domain History: Domains with frequent ownership changes or long periods of inactivity may have their historical signals reset by Google, reducing the value of existing backlinks. In some cases, penalties associated with a domain can also carry over to new owners. 5. Keyword Placement & Coverage Strategic keyword usage across key on-page elements is an essential part of SEO. This includes placement in the URL, H1, H2, and H3 headings, meta title (page title), meta description, opening paragraph (first 100 words), image alt text, and the concluding paragraph. Using relevant keywords naturally throughout your content helps search engines understand what your page is about. While some elements — such as the meta description — have a limited direct impact on rankings, they strongly influence click-through rate (CTR), which is itself an important engagement signal that can indirectly affect search performance. Avoid: Over-Optimization: Avoid over-optimization, especially keyword stuffing. This includes practices such as repeating keywords excessively, stuffing keywords into header tags, and overusing keyword variations unnaturally. These can harm content quality and may lead to ranking suppression or algorithmic penalties. 6. Topical Authority Topical Authority: Subtopic Coverage (Comprehensiveness) Topical authority refers to how well a website or page covers a subject area in depth. By comprehensively addressing related subtopics, supporting concepts, and common user questions, a page signals strong subject-matter expertise to
What Happened to Cointelegraph’s Google SEO? An Organic Traffic Plummet Case Study
This article is an SEO case study analyzing the potential causes of a Google manual penalty (estimated at 80%) and algorithmic changes (estimated at 20%) affecting the Cointelegraph website. What Happened to Cointelegraph on Google? In August 2025, the Cointelegraph website appeared to be deindexed by Google, resulting in a significant loss of organic traffic and ranking for keywords. At the time of writing, even searches for its branded term, “Cointelegraph,” show limited or no visibility for the official website in Google’s search results. Instead of the official domain, search results primarily surface Cointelegraph’s social media channels and third-party publications such as CoinDesk, indicating a severe loss of brand-level search visibility. Based on industry observations, Cointelegraph has been alleged to have violated Google’s Site Reputation Abuse policy, which may have contributed to the deindexing and subsequent traffic decline. Impact on Cointelegraph From over 4 million monthly organic visits to approximately 75,000, one of the largest and most established crypto news sites experienced a significant decline in Google organic traffic. Using online SEO tools such as Semrush, Ahrefs, and SimilarWeb to analyze organic traffic and keyword rankings, we can clearly observe a sharp decline in both traffic and ranked keywords starting in August 2025. Cointelegraph traffic data from Ahrefs (Jan 2026) SEO & GEO Note: As shown by Ahrefs’ AI Citations data, Cointelegraph’s deindexing from Google’s search results has also significantly affected its AI citation visibility. This suggests that traditional SEO fundamentals remain the foundation for GEO or AI SEO, regardless of how these concepts are labeled. Cointelegraph traffic data from Semrush (Jan 2026) Before we dive into the potential root causes and allegations or inferences drawn from multiple sources, let’s first take a brief look at what Cointelegraph is and how its business Cointelegraph’s business and its role in the Crypto, Blockchain, and Web3 industry Cointelegraph is one of the most established digital media platforms in the cryptocurrency, blockchain, and Web3 niche. Founded in 2013, it serves as a global news source covering market developments, technological innovation, regulation, and adoption across the crypto ecosystem. Beyond news reporting, Cointelegraph plays a broader role in shaping industry narratives, educating both retail and institutional audiences, and acting as a key information bridge between Web3 builders, investors, and the general public. Potential Root Causes & Allegations June 2025: Cointelegraph launched casino, iGaming, and crypto betting directory sections. From a revenue perspective, expanding into high-commission verticals is understandable. July–August 2025: These sections were populated with low-quality content linking to little-known gambling websites, some of which appeared to have little or no domain authority. The site also published articles related to casino reviews, betting, and gambling platforms, including content such as “Best Casino Apps in 2025” and “Top US Casino Apps.” September 2025: Google rolled out a Spam Update that explicitly targeted scaled content and site reputation abuse. One of the stated principles of this update was that publishers should not leverage established authority to promote low-quality or highly commercial content that is not a genuine part of their editorial purpose. Google Manual Penalty? October 2025: Cointelegraph’s search visibility began to decline sharply, accompanied by a significant drop in organic traffic. The official domain showed limited visibility in Google search results, including for branded queries. This pattern suggests the possible impact of both a manual action and algorithmic adjustments. Post-update impact: Ahrefs and Semrush data show a sharp decline in Cointelegraph’s organic traffic following the Spam Update. Aftermath: Cointelegraph appears to have initiated a cleanup process. The /casino, /crypto-betting, and /igaming directories were removed and redirected to the homepage, based on archival records from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Conclusion: What SEO Professionals can learn from this case study This case study offers an important lesson for the crypto niche, particularly for trusted brands and high-authority websites that attempt to leverage their credibility in unrelated or high-risk sectors. The Cointelegraph case illustrates how even well-established media outlets can become vulnerable when editorial direction drifts away from core expertise. A sharp drop in search visibility does not necessarily mean a complete shutdown. Cointelegraph remains an active brand; however, its presence in Google’s organic search results, especially for broad queries, has been significantly reduced. Lesson #1: Stay omnichannel The case also highlights the importance of an omnichannel strategy. As organic search visibility declines, users increasingly engage with Cointelegraph through direct visits, social media platforms (such as X, LinkedIn, and Instagram), mobile applications, and newsletters. Brands must recognize that reliance on a single traffic channel introduces platform-specific risks. Lesson #2: YMYL Reminder For YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) niches, such as finance (including crypto), legal, health, pharmaceuticals, and medicine, content quality standards are especially strict. SEO practitioners must be cautious with wording and avoid misleading claims, exaggeration, over-promotion, low-quality content, and spam-like practices. Lesson #3: Play by its rules Ultimately, one of Google’s core principles is to provide users with the most trustworthy and helpful content. Aligning with this principle is essential. For SEO specialists and content writers whose businesses depend heavily on organic search, this case serves as a clear reminder: if your business relies on Google, it is critical to operate within its guidelines. FAQ(s): What is YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)? YMYL refers to content that can directly impact a person’s financial stability, health, safety, or well-being. Because mistakes in these areas can cause real-world harm, Google applies much stricter quality and trust standards to YMYL pages. Common YMYL categories include: 💰 Finance & investments (including crypto) ⚖️ Legal advice 🏥 Health, medical, and drug-related topics 🏦 Banking, loans, and insurance 📰 Major news and public safety information Why it matters for SEO: YMYL content must demonstrate high accuracy, expertise, and trustworthiness. Low-quality, misleading, or overly promotional content in these niches is more likely to be penalized or lose visibility in search results. What is Site Reputation Abuse? Site reputation abuse occurs when third-party content is published on a website primarily to take advantage of the host site’s established authority and ranking signals.
How to Optimize Website Speed for Better UX and Core Web Vitals
Site Speed Optimization Checklist Why site speed is important? Website speed is important because it is a confirmed SEO ranking factor, directly affecting how well your pages perform in search results. Faster websites also deliver a better user experience, appear more professional and trustworthy, and lead to higher conversion rates, especially for e-commerce sites where even small delays can impact sales. Further reading: What are Core Web Vitals? How (For SEOs) Image Optimization: One of the common reasons for a slow website is large, uncompressed image files. To improve site speed, it’s recommended to keep image file sizes under 150KB while maintaining dimensions between 1200px and 1920px, which provides a good balance between quality and performance. This range helps optimize page load speed while also improving image SEO, increasing the chances of your images ranking in Google Image Search. Method 1: Compress Compress your images using tools like Imagify, TinyPNG, or ShortPixel before uploading them to your website to reduce file size and improve loading speed. Choosing the right image format also plays a key role. Modern formats such as WebP offer faster load times and smaller file sizes without significantly compromising image quality. Other notable tools/ plugins: WP Optimize, Kraken .io, ImageOptim Method 2: Lazy Loading Lazy loading defers the loading of offscreen images, those not immediately visible on the screen, so the browser can prioritize above-the-fold content. Images are loaded only when they are about to come into view as the user scrolls. This approach significantly improves page load speed, especially on mobile devices with slower connections, while also saving server resources and user bandwidth. Notable tools/ plugins: Lazy Loader, Smush Example: <img src=”image.webp” alt=”Example image” loading=”lazy”> Lazy loading helps improve Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Speed Index by reducing the amount of content that loads during the initial render. Video Optimization: For pages or posts that include videos, enable lazy loading for the video so videos load only when users scroll to them, improving initial page load speed. Use preloading selectively for important videos to ensure smoother playback without slowing down the entire page. Avoid hosting large video files locally, as they can strain server resources and negatively impact performance. Instead, use optimized video platforms like YouTube or Vimeo, which handle compression, streaming, and delivery more efficiently for a better user experience. Method 3: Caching Caching is a technique that stores website data temporarily so it can be loaded faster on future visits instead of being fetched from scratch each time. Browser caching: Browser Caching allows files such as images, CSS, and JavaScript to be stored in a user’s browser. This means returning visitors experience faster load times because fewer resources need to be downloaded again. Server-Side caching: Server-Side Caching stores static files and pre-generated page content on the server. Instead of processing a new request for every visit or page refresh, the server delivers cached files to users, reducing server load and significantly improving page speed. Caching tools: For WordPress sites, popular caching plugins such as WP Rocket, WP Fastest Cache, LiteSpeed Cache, and W3 Total Cache can help efficiently manage and optimize website caching. Method 4: Website Backend Housekeeping Perform backend housekeeping at least once a year to maintain optimal website performance. For WordPress sites, this includes reviewing plugins, themes, the WordPress core version, and the PHP version to ensure everything is up to date. Avoid installing too many plugins or themes keep only what’s necessary, remove plugins with overlapping functions, aim for fewer than 20 plugins, and keep no more than two themes. Deactivating plugins is not enough, as unused plugins can still consume resources or trigger background processes such as admin-ajax.php. To fully optimize performance, completely uninstall and delete plugins you no longer use from the WordPress dashboard. Advertising Billboard: (How) Developer’s roles The optimization methods below involve more technical development skills. If you’re not familiar with coding or website development, you will likely need support from a developer. As an SEO, you may also need assistance from a developer or your web hosting provider to implement these methods correctly. Method 5: Web Hosting / Server Choose a reliable hosting plan or upgrade your current hosting to improve server speed and reduce latency. Avoid shared hosting, where multiple websites compete for the same server resources, as this often leads to slower load times. Instead, opt for higher-performance options such as dedicated hosting or cloud hosting, which provide better server response times and more consistent performance. Investing in quality hosting is a foundational step that improves overall site speed and user experience. Method 6: Use Content Delivery Network (CDN) Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to distribute your website’s static resources across multiple geographically distributed servers. A CDN reduces latency by serving content from the server closest to the user, significantly improving page load speed—especially for WordPress sites with global visitors. Many hosting providers offer built-in CDN support, and popular CDN services like Cloudflare and Akamai cache and deliver content efficiently to reduce server load and external HTTP requests. Method 7: Reduce CSS and JavaScript (Minify) CSS and JavaScript are essential for website design and functionality, but unoptimized files can significantly slow down your site. Minifying these files—by removing unnecessary spaces, comments, and line breaks—reduces file size and helps them load faster. You can minify code using tools like Toptal CSS Minifier, Toptal JavaScript Minifier, or Minify, and further improve performance by using lightweight, well-optimized libraries. For WordPress sites, minification is easy to implement with plugins such as WP Rocket, Hummingbird, LiteSpeed Cache, W3 Total Cache, or Fast Velocity Minify, which can minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with minimal setup. Method 8: Reduce render-blocking CSS/ JS Eliminate render-blocking resources by identifying CSS and JavaScript files that delay page rendering. Remove non-essential resources, inline critical CSS, and defer or delay non-critical CSS and JavaScript so the browser can render visible content faster. 11 site speed tips Other website speed optimization tips: 1) Avoid unnecessary redirects (redirect chain & redirect loops) Redirect Chain Image source: Backlinko’s Redirects
Understanding Core Web Vitals Using PageSpeed Insights (2026 Guide)
What are Core Web Vitals? Core Web Vitals are a set of performance metrics defined by Google to measure real-world user experience on a website. They focus on three key aspects: loading performance (Largest Contentful Paint), interactivity (Interaction to Next Paint), and visual stability (Cumulative Layout Shift). Together, these metrics help Google evaluate how fast, responsive, and stable a page feels to users. Core Web Vitals are also part of Google’s page experience signals and can influence search visibility. Further Reading: How to optimize for website speed | Site speed checklist Advertising Billboard: Why Core Web Vitals Matter in SEO Core Web Vitals matter in Search Engine Optimization because they measure real user experience, including loading speed, responsiveness, and visual stability—factors Google uses to evaluate page quality. Site speed is a confirmed SEO ranking factor, and strong Core Web Vitals scores help improve rankings, engagement, and overall search performance. What is Google PageSpeed Insights? Google PageSpeed Insights is a free tool that analyzes a webpage’s performance across mobile and desktop devices. It reports Core Web Vitals using both real-user data (field data) and lab-based performance tests. The tool also provides actionable recommendations, such as reducing render-blocking resources or improving image delivery. PageSpeed Insights is commonly used by developers and SEO teams to diagnose and improve website speed and user experience. What PageSpeed Insights Score tell you? Google PageSpeed Insights evaluates your page across the following categories: Performance: A weighted score based on metrics such as First Contentful Paint (FCP), Speed Index, Total Blocking Time (TBT), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), reflecting overall speed and loading efficiency. Accessibility: Assesses how usable your site is for all users, including navigation, image alt text, and color contrast for visual accessibility. Best Practices: Measures adherence to modern web development standards, including secure connections, optimized and up-to-date code, and effective JavaScript usage. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Evaluates how well your page is optimized for search engines, covering metadata, structured data, and mobile-friendliness. Advertising Billboard: Core Web Vitals Metrics Explained: In this section, we’ll explain the meaning of each Core Web Vitals metric in simple terms, provide easy-to-understand examples, and show how to optimize them. 1) Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – visual load speed Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures the time taken for the largest element on the page (usually an image or video) to become visible to users on a page. How to optimize LCP: Images: Resize image dimensions, reduce file size with compression, and use modern formats like WebP. Videos: Compress video files using tools like HandBrake to reduce load time without sacrificing quality. 2) Interaction to Next Paint (INP) – interactivity, responsiveness Interaction to Next Paint (INP) measures how quickly a webpage responds visually after a user interaction, such as clicking a button or tapping a link. 3) Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – visual stability Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures how much visible elements on a page unexpectedly move after the page starts loading, which can lead to a poor user experience. Common causes of CLS: Common causes of CLS include dynamically injected content such as ads, embeds, and iframes, as well as images or videos missing defined height and width attributes. Fonts can also impact CLS because web fonts must be downloaded before they are displayed, which may cause text to shift. To reduce CLS, it’s safest to use system fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, Helvetica, or Verdana, or limit web font usage by choosing a single font for headings or special sections only. 4) First Contentful Paint (FCP) First Contentful Paint (FCP) measures how long it takes for the first visible content—such as text, an image, or an icon—to appear on the screen when a page starts loading. Poor FCP is commonly caused by heavy themes, excessive or poorly optimized plugins, and page elements that block rendering, such as large scripts or unoptimized stylesheets. 5) First Input Delay (FID) First Input Delay (FID) measures the time it takes for a webpage to respond to a user’s first interaction, such as clicking a button or tapping a link, after the page begins loading. 6) Time to First Byte (TTFB) Time to First Byte (TTFB) measures how long it takes for the browser to receive the first byte of data from the server after a request is made, reflecting server response speed and backend performance. 7) Total Blocking Time (TBT) Total Blocking Time (TBT) measures the amount of time a page is blocked from responding to user interactions due to long-running JavaScript tasks during loading. To reduce blocking time, minify JavaScript files and defer or delay JavaScript execution so the browser can become interactive faster. 8) Speed Index Speed Index measures how quickly the visible, above-the-fold content of a webpage is displayed during page load. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Other Site Speed Checking tools: Google PageSpeed Insights is usually sufficient for most performance analysis. However, there are other popular alternatives you can use for additional insights, such as GTmetrix and Pingdom. Should I just optimize for homepage or all pages on ur website? Focus on optimizing the most important pages on your site, such as the homepage, product or service pages, and pages that drive the most traffic or rank for many keywords, rather than trying to optimize every page at once. What are HTTP requests? HTTP requests are calls made by the browser to load page resources such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and fonts from a server. HTTP/1 vs HTTP/2: What’s the difference? HTTP/1 loads files one at a time, while HTTP/2 can load multiple resources simultaneously, making pages faster and more efficient. Raw HTML vs Rendered HTML: What’s the difference? Raw HTML is the original code sent by the server, while rendered HTML is the final page after JavaScript runs and the browser builds what users actually see. What is JavaScript & CSS? JavaScript is a programming language that adds interactivity and dynamic behavior to websites, such as animations, forms, and user actions. CSS
Traditional SEO vs GEO: The differences and the overlapping
What is the difference between SEO and GEO? SEO focuses on ranking in traditional search engines, such as Google. In contrast, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) focuses on making your content discoverable, understandable, and citable by AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and DeepSeek. Foreword: Much of what we “know” about GEO is still based on educated guesses. It’s early days, and there’s plenty left to uncover. The good news is, if you’ve been doing traditional SEO for years, you’re already most of the way there. The fundamentals remain the same. The foundation of GEO, LLMO, or AI SEO (whatever it’s called) remains approximately 80% based on traditional SEO practices — including optimizing website content, enhancing site performance (Core Web Vitals and speed), and establishing a robust link profile, along with securing brand mentions across Google and Bing. Why GEO Getting More Attention? AI chatbots are increasingly reshaping how people search online, offering less friction and more natural, conversational interactions. As users shift from traditional search engines to AI-generated answers, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is becoming critical for publishers, brands, and marketers. Search marketing has evolved beyond traditional SERP rankings to focus on AI citations, AI mentions, and AI-driven visibility. To stay visible in this new digital landscape, businesses must create content that large language models (LLMs) can easily retrieve, trust, and cite in their responses. What Makes GEO Different from Traditional SEO? Below are key differences based on my personal perspective: 1. Objective(s) SEO focuses on ranking in traditional SERPs, driving users directly to your website through search engines. GEO focuses on ensuring your brand is represented in AI-generated responses, making it part of the conversation within AI answers. SEO emphasizes keywords, backlinks, and page optimization with the goal of ranking. GEO aims to be cited AI-generated answers 2. Ranking Signals SEO considers 100+ ranking signals, which predominantly include high-quality and relevant backlinks in your business niche. GEO relies more on content structure, authority citations, and mentions. In traditional SEO, your authority and rankings depend heavily on the quality of your backlink profile. In AI optimization, where your brand is cited across the web matters more than just the links themselves. 3. Authority In SEO, dofollow backlinks are an important ranking signal. In GEO, mentions and citations by authoritative industry sources carry more weight. Visibility depends on how trusted third parties in your niche reference you. In traditional SEO, backlinks work like votes of trust for your website. In AI search, public relations and brand mentions work in a similar way. The more people talk about your brand online, the more AI systems notice and trust you. 4. KPI Measurement SEO typically tracks organic search in GA4. GEO leans toward referral traffic in GA4 and citations as success indicators. 5. Keyword Research SEO keyword research is based on search volume, keyword difficulty, and intent. GEO keyword research involves reverse-engineering AI queries and analyzing how LLMs surface content. Backlinks vs Brand Mention In traditional SEO, backlinks (hyperlinks from other domains) are a key ranking signal. In GEO, however, unlinked brand mentions are becoming just as important. Even without a hyperlink, AI systems may treat casual mentions of your brand across the web as valuable signals, boosting your chances of being cited in AI-generated results. Keywords Ranking vs Prompt Monitoring Prompt Monitoring vs SERP Rank Tracking Instead of tracking keyword rankings on search results pages, you’re now tracking brand mentions and sentiment within conversational AI responses. Prompt Monitoring is becoming increasingly important as more users rely on LLMs, because it offers another way to understand how users discover your brand. Diverse citation source Note that the sources cited by LLMs can shift and change over time, so the results you see today may not be the same tomorrow. Further reading: The Most-Cited Domains in AI: A 3-Month Study Image Source: Semrush Refer to Semrush’s study Unlike traditional SEO, which relies heavily on relevant and local backlinks, large language models pull citations and mentions from a far more diverse set of sources. Studies show that platforms like Reddit (40%), Wikipedia (26%), YouTube (23%), and even Google (23%) play a major role, along with review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. This means visibility today depends not just on backlinks, but on being present and credible across multiple content types and platforms where AI actively gathers information. GEO Tools GEO Toolkits Starter Pack Google Analytics (GA4) Free and versatile. In traditional SEO, you track organic search traffic. In GEO, you also focus on referral traffic coming from AI-driven sources. Google Search Console (GSC) Essential for monitoring indexing, coverage, and visibility. Still important for GEO since your content needs to be crawled, indexed, and retrievable by AI systems. Bing Webmaster Tools Similar to GSC but for Bing. Valuable because Microsoft integrates AI heavily into Bing Chat and Copilot. Log File Analyzer Helps you understand whether AI crawlers (like GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot) are accessing your site. e.g., Screaming Frog, Botify Schema Markup Generators Useful for structuring content so AI can parse and cite it more easily. E.g., Schema Markup Tool, RankMath, Yoast Brand Mention Tracking Tools GEO favors brand mentions (linked or unlinked), monitoring them is important. E.g., Brand24, Google Alerts, Ahrefs Alert Otterly AI – Prompt-Specific GEO Tracking. Otterly helps track your brand’s visibility in AI search platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews. It shows which prompts surface your content, monitors the exact queries users ask, and detects when AI platforms cite your pages. Review Platforms & Aggregators (e.g., Trustpilot, G2, Capterra) Collect and showcase reviews — AI models often use these as trusted data sources. AI Citation Tracking Tools LLMRefs Semrush AI Search Visibility Checker (Free) Semrush AI SEO Toolkit (Paid) Ahrefs AI Citation (Paid) How to Choose a Generative Engine Optimization Tool? Choose a tool that fits your goals—whether that’s attracting more traffic from LLMs or strengthening brand presence. The best tools do more than just track AI visibility; they help you take action. Look for features like: Actionable insights: Sentiment analysis, share of voice, competitor benchmarking, and identifying missed opportunities. Optimization
Content Types That LLMs Actually Love | GEO Part 2
These are the types of content you should consider for GEO and LLMs. SEO Experts say LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity favor content such as problem-solving guides, listicles, comparisons, alternatives, decision-making aids, FAQs, case studies, research with statistics, testimonials, and pricing. The goal is to create content that AI systems can easily find, understand, and cite — so they recommend your business in generative search results. Problem-Solving / Solution-Provider Blog Posts Create at least 10+ blog posts that position your business as the best solution for different customer needs and scenarios. These posts act as “spoon-feeding” signals for AI, making it easy for generative engines to recognize your business, product, or service as the top choice. Examples of queries to target: Who’s the best artificial turf installer in Kuala Lumpur? Who’s the best logo designer for F&B businesses? What’s the best nanny placement service for working parents? Who’s the best pest control service provider for getting rid of ants in Singapore? Content structure tips: Use each question as the headline (H1, H2, or H3). Provide a conversational, straightforward answer—short and clear, no fluff. Highlight your features and benefits. Include real testimonials or case studies for credibility. Listicle Content E.g. Top 10, Best 5, Six reason to buy from and etc Create a “Top Reasons” listicle that highlights why customers should choose your business for the service you offer. Include: Your key features The benefits customers get Your pricing and value proposition Any unique offerings that set you apart in your category This format makes it easy for both users and AI crawlers to quickly understand why your business is the best choice. Comparison Content E.g. Entity A vs Entity B/ X vs Y vs Z AI platforms thrive on comparison content because users constantly ask them to weigh options like “Slack vs Microsoft Teams” or “HubSpot vs Salesforce.” Generic blogs or overly promotional posts won’t cut it — AI needs detailed, structured comparisons, often in tables or feature breakdowns. To capture visibility, create comprehensive comparison pages (e.g., “Asana vs Monday vs ClickUp for Creative Teams”) that directly address these high-demand queries. Comparison Table RankMath has a pricing comparison table on one of its pages with its direct competitors. Include a full comparison table between your business and 3–5 competitors. Highlight differences in features, benefits, pricing, and unique value. This structured format not only helps customers make informed decisions but also makes it easier for AI systems to cite your business in generative answers. Direct Answer Structure your content for direct answers. AI and LLMs prioritize clear, straightforward responses with minimal filler. Write standalone sections that fully answer a question without relying on other parts of the page for context. Use question-based headings such as “How to Reduce Website Loading Time?” instead of vague titles like “Performance Tips.” Then answer the question immediately. For example: “You can reduce website loading time by optimizing images, enabling compression, and choosing faster hosting.” After that, you can expand with additional details. Keep the content updated Regularly updating your content is a traditional SEO technique that may be even more important for AI search visibility. We could see this when you conduct a search that triggers an AI Overview; even evergreen topics often highlight recent content. The ideal update frequency is twice a year, or at least once a year. Authoritative Large language models (LLMs) assess credibility using more refined criteria than traditional search. When deciding which sources to cite, they often prioritize: Clear authorship: Pages written by identifiable experts or individuals with a relevant background Original Content: Original research, personal insights, or authoritative explanations. Clean Structure: Well-structured HTML, logical headings, and easy-to-navigate content. Reputable referring domains: Strong backlink profile and recognition across trusted, niche-specific websites. Top ways to ensure your content performs well in Google’s AI experiences on Search Content that is related and helpful to decision making Content that supports decision-making includes pieces like “Brand X Alternatives,” “Top X Lists,” Popular roundup articles, and Guides on “common mistakes to avoid”. These formats help users quickly compare options, discover trusted recommendations, and make more confident choices, all of which also increase the chances of being cited by AI platforms. For Page(s) Consider Adding These Pages (Not Posts): FAQ Page Create a dedicated FAQ page that answers as many common questions as possible. This makes it easy for both users and AI systems to find clear, structured answers. Frame headers as questions (e.g., “What is the best AI SEO strategy?”) and provide a clear answer upfront before expanding with details. Add an FAQ schema to make your content easier for AI to parse. Case Studies Page Showcase real examples of how your customers benefited after choosing your brand. Case studies demonstrate proof of value and help potential buyers see themselves in similar success stories. Case study–style content works well for posts, too. Use real examples and data to demonstrate EEAT. Testimonials Page Build trust by collecting authentic feedback from real users. Pull testimonials from Google Reviews, social media, Yelp, Trustpilot, and other review platforms, then display them in a centralized page. Showcase Industry Certifications and Awards Create a dedicated page, or highlight them on your homepage or About page, to showcase any relevant certifications or awards your brand has received. Pricing Page Provide transparent pricing information. Not only does this improve user trust, but it also helps AI crawlers surface your brand in budget-based queries (e.g., “Suggest 10 solar panel installers under $2,000”). RankMath Pricing Page Tips for writing content that AI and LLMs love: Be direct and concise when answering question-based queries — provide the immediate answer upfront. Use a conversational tone to make content more natural and engaging. Structure your headings properly (H1, H2, H3) with clean HTML for better readability and indexing. Include a TL;DR or key takeaways section to give readers (and AI) a quick summary. Audit your brand’s presence on AI-driven platforms. For example, you may ask ChatGPT: “What can you tell me about [Brand/Website]?” “What does [Brand/Website] do?” Build credibility
What Is GEO? Generative Engine Optimization | SEO in AI & LLMs
Define Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice and process of optimizing your content, brand, and digital presence to be retrieved, cited, and recommended by generative AI systems, such as Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, Perplexity AI, Claude, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and other LLM-powered search engines. Foreword: You might have come across terms like LLMO, AI Search Optimization (AIO), AEO, or ChatGPT SEO. With the emergence of numerous new buzzwords in the AI era, it can become confusing. In this article, I’ll stick with GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), since it’s the term most industry experts use, and it helps keep things simple and consistent. Side Note: GEO is “generative engine optimization”, LLMO is “large language model optimization”, and AEO is “answer engine optimization”. Three names for the same idea. Traditional SEO Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving a website’s content, structure, and authority to increase its visibility and ranking on traditional search engine results pages (SERPs), such as Google or Bing. Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs), GEO ensures your information is structured, trustworthy, and AI-friendly so that large language models can easily find, interpret, and surface it in their answers. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content — using schema markup, FAQs, and conversational formats, so AI systems can easily crawl, understand, and extract precise answers. The focus is on clarity, accuracy, and instant response delivery, often optimized for featured snippets and similar answer boxes. Meanwhile, an Answer Engine is an AI-powered technology that delivers direct answers to user queries, rather than just a list of clickable blue links. Its goal is to understand the intent behind a question and provide the exact information in a clear, accessible format. SEO is dead? Many people think traditional SEO is becoming obsolete due to AI search, especially with the rise of zero-click searches. To address this concern, I’ve compiled 20 GEO strategies and best practices from leading industry experts such as Semrush, Ahrefs, Neil Patel, Nathan Gotch, Search Engine Journal, and RankMath. 20 GEO strategies, tactics and best practices How to Optimize Search for LLMs 1. Get listed on trusted sources/ sites To improve your brand’s visibility in generative search results (Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity, ChatGPT answers), make sure your business is consistently listed and verified across trusted data sources: Google Business Profile Google Map Bing Places Apple Maps Yelp/ Yellow Pages LinkedIn Company Page Crunchbase PudMed (for scientific/ medical content) Wikipedia/ Wikidata Tripadvisor Mapbox/ OpenStreetMap These platforms serve as authoritative reference points. LLMs frequently pull data and entity information from them when generating answers. Having accurate and consistent listings not only boosts Local SEO but also increases your chances of being cited as a trusted source in AI-driven responses. 2. Participate in Social Discussions and Industry Forums RankMath SEO suggests that Reddit (≈80%) and Quora (≈12%) have some influence on the content Google selects for its AI Overview results. These platforms provide user-generated discussions that generative engines often treat as authentic, community-driven insights. SEO expert Nathan Gotch advises prioritizing the optimization of all Google-owned properties, such as Google Business Profile (GBP), YouTube, and other Google platforms, as Google naturally favors its own ecosystem. Afterward, expand into social forums like Reddit, which Google AI Overview may also pull from. In short: own as much Google real estate as possible, then diversify into influential social platforms where conversations are shaping generative search outputs. 3. AI Keyword Research Traditional SEO relies on marketing intelligence tools (e.g., SEMrush, Ahrefs, Similarweb) that reveal search volume, keyword difficulty, and user intent. These insights help marketers understand what people are typing into search engines. However, generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity do not disclose query data or keyword volumes. This creates a gap for SEO professionals. To adapt, marketers can use reverse-engineering methods — for example: Analyzing AI-generated answers to see which topics and entities are consistently referenced. Tracking citations and sources in tools like Perplexity. Monitoring Google AI Overviews for recurring queries and phrasing. Click here for a complete guide to keyword research, covering both traditional SEO and AI-driven methods. 4. Create an llms.txt file A simple, human- and machine-readable text file placed at the root of your domain (e.g., https://example.com/llms.txt). It declares your preferences for how LLMs and answer engines may use, cite, and discover your content (e.g., preferred citation name/URL, licensing, important pages). It’s not an official standard and is not enforceable by itself. For actual allow/deny control, you still use robots.txt 5. Be everywhere (omnichannel marketing) Maintain a presence on GBP, Bing Places, LinkedIn Company Page, all relevant social profiles (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Discord, etc), and owned YouTube channel. 6. Third-party validation Participate in interviews, podcasts, videos, research papers, and collaborations with influencers or KOLs. Look at both “what others say about you” and “what you say about yourself”. 7. Get listed in relevant directories Add your business to Yelp, BBB, the Chamber of Commerce, or whatever makes sense for your industry. 8. Be authoritative sources Build authority through partnerships and mentions: Contribute to trusted websites in your niche, collaborate with high-Domain Rating sites on listicles and comparison content, and secure guest features or mentions in authoritative articles. Engage in strategic Public Relations by earning high-quality mentions in reputable publications to build topical authority, and consistently monitor web mentions to track your brand’s presence in online discussions. 9. Listicle Inclusion You may also target ‘Top Lists’ or ‘Best X in Y location’ articles in your niche and work to get your brand included; this is essentially a link-building approach. Identify the ‘Top X’ or ‘Best of’ listicles that AI search results frequently cite for your target keywords, then reach out to authors or earn placements so your brand is featured. For example, an SEO agency in Bangkok should aim to appear in ‘Best SEO Agencies in Thailand’ articles that AI might reference. Being included in these curated lists increases the
AISEO | GEO | LLMO Audit Framework: My Checklist & Workflow
Before we get started, let’s clarify the terminology to avoid confusion. AISEO, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization), and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) all refer to essentially the same concept (or are at least 80% identical). They describe the process of optimizing your content for AI-generated answers and responses, similar to how traditional SEO focuses on optimizing for search engines. AI SEO | GEO | LLMO Audit When users begin searching across AI platforms such as OpenAI ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic Claude, xAI’s Grok, DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen, or even glance at answers from Google AI Overview or Google AI Mode, one crucial question emerges: “How do I make my brand visible in AI search?” Step by step checklist: Step 1: Identify the AI / LLM Platforms You Want to Monitor Start by listing the AI search and LLM platforms where you want your brand to appear: ChatGPT Google Gemini Google AI Mode Google AI Overview Perplexity Microsoft Copilot DeepSeek Qwen Anthropic Claude Grok You can prioritize them based on your target market, traffic potential, or where your audience is most active. AI SEO Report Step 2: Identify the Queries Your Prospects or Target Audience May Ask LLMs Unlike traditional SEO, AI search doesn’t provide search volume. The goal in Step 2 is to understand what questions your audience is likely to ask on LLMs and generative search engines. To make a guess on these prompts and question patterns, we may use: Answer Socrates AlsoAsked Google SERP features such as People Also Ask and People Also Search For Google Search Console long-tail queries Reddit communities in your industry niche This helps us map out the natural-language questions, prompts, and conversational queries that LLM users may ask—so we can create content that answers them. Step 3: Measure Your Brand Presence Check whether your brand is mentioned or referenced when these queries are asked on AI platforms. Key questions: Is your brand appearing in the answers to these queries? If yes, how is your brand being mentioned — positively, neutrally, or negatively? If your brand does not appear at all, this indicates a need to strengthen your content, entity signals, and topical authority so LLMs can recognize your brand and include it in relevant responses. Step 4: Uncover the Sources LLMs Use (And How to Become One) Identify which sources LLMs are citing when answering the queries you’re monitoring.This helps you understand what content formats, domains, and authority signals AI systems prefer. Key question: What sources are LLMs citing or referencing in their answers? Once you know this, you can model your content, structure, and expertise signals to increase your chance of becoming a cited source. Step 5: Analyze Competitor Brands (Response Analysis) Identify which competitor brands appear in the AI-generated answers for the queries you’re monitoring. By comparing the gap between your brand and your competitors, you can determine: Which content do you need to create Which existing content should you optimize Which backlinks or mentions you may want to pursue This gives you a clear roadmap to strengthen your brand’s visibility in LLM-generated responses. Some Example of Prompt Monitoring/ Tracking for different niche Best website builders for SME businesses Best cordless lawn mowers for small yards Best protein powders for women Best noise-cancelling headphones Best productivity apps for remote work Actionable Strategy for AI SEO 1. Confront the LLM’s answer to understand its citation logic If your target brand does not appear in the AI-generated answer, you can use a diagnostic prompt to reveal how the LLM selected and weighted its sources. Example prompt to ask ChatGPT or any LLM: ” I’m trying to understand how you selected the items in your list. I reviewed all the sources you cited. Please list all app names mentioned in those sources and count how many times each one appears. Why did you include WalletHub when it appears only once across all citations?SAP Concur is mentioned four times — why wasn’t it included?QuickBooks and Zoho Expense appear as frequently as Rocket Money and Monarch Money — why were they excluded? It seems some apps that were mentioned many times weren’t included, yet others mentioned only once were selected.What was your decision-making process?“ 2. Do not block AI crawlers Allow AI crawlers to access your site so LLMs can read, understand, and reference your content. 3. Outreach to high-authority sources that LLMs cite Identify the websites LLMs frequently reference and build relationships through outreach, interviews, contributions, or citations. Being mentioned on these sources increases your chance of being included in AI-generated answers. According to Ahrefs data: Google AI Overviews relies heavily on YouTube, Reddit, and to a lesser extent Quora. ChatGPT tends to cite publishers, authoritative blogs, and news outlets. Perplexity often references niche, regional, and domain-specific websites. 4. Build topical authority with relevant, high-quality content Create content that deeply covers your niche, answers real user questions, and demonstrates expertise. LLMs favor brands that show consistent authority across related topics. 5. Update content regularly (at least once a year) Fresh, up-to-date content signals reliability to both Google and LLMs. Updated pages are more likely to be crawled, cited, and included in generative answers. 6. Publish research, data, or studies — ChatGPT heavily cites them LLMs prioritize factual, data-backed sources. Original research, surveys, and statistics significantly increase your chance of becoming a cited reference. AISEO | GEO | LLMO Audit Conclusion: In summary, you’ll need to: Identify what queries users are asking on LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini. Audit your brand’s presence across major generative engines. Improve your visibility and ranking within AI-generated answers. Understand which sources LLMs cite — and position yourself to be one of them. Monitor traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other LLMs using GA4’s referral traffic reports. Further Reading: AI Search Optimization FAQs & Terms Explained Google AI Overview How Google AI Overview shown in SERP Google AI Overview is Google’s generative search feature that provides AI-generated summaries at the top of search results.
8 Advanced Search Techniques to Find Anything Online Faster
How to Search: 16 types of advanced search techniques In today’s information-heavy world, knowing how to search is just as important as what you search for. While most people rely on basic keyword searches, advanced search techniques can enhance the accuracy, relevance, and reliability of your results, which are crucial for research students who require trustworthy data for papers, projects, and reports. Whether you’re looking for information, knowledge, resources, or tools, these methods help you learn, know, create, or do something more efficiently. Mastering these eight techniques means less time scrolling, more time discovering what truly matters. Understanding search operator A search operator is a special symbol or command you add to your query to refine or filter search results. Instead of broad searches, operators help you find exactly what you need — such as a specific phrase, file type, or website. For example, typing site:edu limits results to educational sites, while using quotes ” ” searches for an exact match. Search technique 1: Quotes “Your Query” 关键词限定 ” “ When you place quotation marks around your search terms, Google will only show results containing that exact phrase in the same order. This helps filter out unrelated pages. Example: Searching “climate change effects” will show pages with that exact phrase, not results like “effects of changing climate.” Search technique 2: intitle: Your Query 网页标题限定 intitle: The intitle: operator lets you find pages with your keyword appearing in the title, which usually means the page focuses on that topic. Example: Searching intitle:RWA Tokenization shows results where “RWA Tokenization” appears in the page title. Pro Tip: Combine intitle: + “Your Query” This combo narrows results to pages with your exact phrase in the title, giving highly targeted outcomes. Perfect for finding focused articles or research papers. Example: intitle:”machine learning applications” shows only pages with that exact phrase in the title. Search technique 3: allintitle: Query 1 Query 2 限定标题多个关键词 allintitle: The allintitle: operator finds pages with all your keywords in the title, not just one. It’s great for targeting pages that clearly focus on your full topic. Example: allintitle:AI ethics policy shows pages with “AI,” “ethics,” and “policy” all in the title. Search technique 4: intext: Your Query 搜索网页正文中的关键词 intext: The intext: operator looks for pages where your keyword appears in the body text rather than just the title or URL. It’s useful for finding detailed discussions or explanations within articles. Example: intext:”data privacy regulations” finds pages that mention this exact phrase in the content. Pro Tip: Mix & Match various search operator You can mix and match multiple search operators to make your search highly specific. This helps you pinpoint exactly where and how terms appear on a page. Example: intitle:”Donald Trump” intext:”Genius Act” shows pages with “Donald Trump” in the title and “Genius Act” mentioned in the content. Search technique 5: Using inurl: Your Query inurl: The inurl: operator finds pages with your keyword in the URL, often revealing site sections or topics directly related to your search. Example: Liverpool inurl:stadiumastro intext:youtube shows pages about Liverpool on the Stadium Astro site that also mention YouTube in the content. Search technique 6: site: Your website 限定搜索特定网站或域名 site: The site: operator limits your search results to a specific website or domain, perfect for finding content within one source. Example: asset tokenization site:chainup.com shows only pages from chainup.com that mention “asset tokenization.” Another good use case for the site: operator is finding royalty-free images from websites like Pexels, Pixabay, or Freepik. For example, if you’re looking for a cute little puppy, you can search: cute puppy site:pexels.com. Search technique 7: Your Query imagesize: imagesize: The imagesize: operator lets you find images with exact dimensions, perfect for designers or anyone looking for high-quality photos (materials/ resources). Example: Mark Zuckerberg imagesize:2560×1440 Sam Altman imagesize:3840×2160 Elon Musk imagesize:5760×3840 2560×1440, 5760×3840, and 3840×2160 are commonly used sizes for graphic design or HD visuals. Search technique 8: Your Query filetype: filetype: The filetype: operator helps you find results in a specific file format, such as PDF, PPT, JPG, PNG, SVG, GIF, or XLS — ideal for locating reports, presentations, or images. Example: Maybank Annual Report filetype:pdf shows only PDF files of Maybank’s annual reports. Search technique 9: Using related: — 搜索相似网站或相关内容 related: The related: operator helps you find websites similar to a specific domain — useful for competitor research or content discovery. Example: related:chainup.com shows other sites similar to chainup.com. Search technique 10: Using – (Minus Sign) — 排除特定关键词或主题 – (Minus Sign) The minus sign excludes specific words or sites from your search results, allowing you to focus on what matters. Example: related:chainup.com -site:chainup.com shows sites related to Chainup but excludes results from chainup.com itself. Search technique 11: Using OR / | : 搜索包含任一关键词的结果 OR / | The OR (or |) operator lets you find pages that include either one keyword or the other, widening your search scope. Example: AI ethics OR AI policy shows results containing either “AI ethics” or “AI policy.” Search technique 12: Using AND — 搜索同时包含多个关键词的结果 AND The AND operator ensures that results include all specified terms, making your search more precise. Example: “roti canai” AND “keto friendly” shows pages that mention both phrases together. Search technique 13: Using Asterik * — 通配符，填补缺失的词或短语 * The asterisk acts as a wildcard to fill in missing words or phrases. It’s great for discovering variations of a search idea. Example: best * in ParisGoogle will replace the * with words like places, museums, hotels, restaurants, or tourist spots. Search technique 14: Using stocks: — 查看公司股票与财务信息 stocks: The stocks: operator lets you quickly check a company’s stock price and financial data. Example: stocks:tesla Google will display Tesla’s current stock price, market cap, price chart, and other relevant financial details. Search technique 15: Using source: — 搜索来自特定新闻来源的文章 source: The source: operator helps you find news articles from a specific publisher in Google News. Example: tesla source:nytimes.comYou’ll see news articles about Tesla from The New York Times. Search technique 16: Search by Image Instead of Text Use Google Lens (Search by image) Google Lens lets you search the web using
How to do Keyword Research | 5 simple steps
Why keyword research? Keyword research in search marketing is the process of identifying and analyzing the specific terms and phrases your target audience uses when searching online, so you can create content or ads that match what they’re looking for. We do it because it shows: What your audience wants (their problems, questions, buying signals) How competitive each topic is (Keyword Difficulty) Estimated search volume and revenue opportunities lie In short, keyword research ensures you’re building content for demand that already exists instead of guessing. How to do keyword research (step by step) Step 1: Set Objective(s) Start by setting clear objectives: decide whether you’re after traffic, leads, sales, or thought leadership — then define your target region, language, audience’s pain points, marketing channels, desired outcomes, and any practical limits, such as content types you can produce. Step 2: Brainstorm topics and seeding keywords What is seed keyword? A seed keyword is a broad, core term that defines your main topic, industry, or niche, serving as the starting point for generating more specific and targeted keyword variations. For instance, “dog food” is a seed keyword that can be used to generate more specific ideas later. At this step, you can think about 5–10 main categories relevant to your business or website. For example, a dog food retailer might list topics like “puppy care,” “pet food,” and “dog health”. Step 3: Expand your seed keyword lists with keyword research tools Once you have your seed keywords, use research tools to find related keywords, including long-tail phrases. As usual, I’ll list an arsenal of keyword research tools (both subscription-based and free) later in my article. What’s a long-tail keyword A long-tail keyword is a more specific, usually longer search phrase that targets a narrower audience but often has lower competition and higher conversion potential. Long-tail keywords are usually three words or more, though the real indicator is specificity, not just word count. Example short keyword (broad): “crypto card”. It’s typically used as your seed keyword. Example long-tail keyword (specific): “white label crypto card solution pricing” Step 4: Analyze keywords based on keyword research metrics In step 4, you may need to understand the following terms: Search Volume: Estimated times a keyword is searched per month. High volume means more potential traffic but also more competition. Keyword Difficulty (or SEO Difficulty in Ubersuggest): An estimate of how hard it will be to rank for a given keyword, based on competitor authority and backlinks. Search Intent: the purpose behind a search query. 4 main types of search intent: Most major SEO tools (like Semrush, Ahrefs, and Ubersuggest) categorize keywords into these four search intents Informational The user wants to learn something or gain general knowledge on a topic. e.g., “What is a stablecoin?”/ “What is web3?” Page titles for this intent often include words like ‘how,’ ‘what,’ ‘who,’ ‘where,’ ‘why,’ ‘guide,’ ‘tutorial,’ ‘resource,’ ‘help,’ ‘ideas,’ ‘tips,’ ‘learn,’ ‘examples,’ and ‘understanding’. Navigational The user is looking for some specific websites or has an end destination in mind e.g., “circle.com login”/ “circle.com’s USDC”. This usually includes brand names, a product’s name, or the name of the service. Commercial The user is researching before buying or searching for information on a future purchase e.g., “USDT vs USDC”/ “best stablecoins in crypto market 2025”. Page titles for this intent often include words like ‘Best’, ‘Top 5’, ‘pricing’, ‘Review’, ‘Attribute of a product’, and ‘Comparison’. Transactional The user is ready to buy or is showing purchase intention e.g., “buy stablecoins/ buy USDT”. Search queries like ‘buy,’ ‘coupon,’ ‘order,’ ‘pet-friendly cafe in Mount Austin,’ ‘purchase,’ ‘cheap,’ and ‘pricing’ usually signal buying intent. Pro: Search Intent Matching Align your content closely with user intent for each query. AI-driven search results prioritize the best answers, not just the highest-ranking pages. Research shows that only about 52% of sources cited in Google’s AI Overviews come from the top 10 results, nearly half are from beyond page one. This means that if your content provides a clear, intent-focused answer or unique insight, it can still be cited by AI even without a top organic ranking. Step 5: Start your content writing This final step organizes your research into an actionable content plan. First, group related keywords into clusters to guide your topics. For example, a cluster for “organic dog food” might include “best organic dog food,” “what is organic dog food,” and “benefits of organic food for dogs”. Next, assign each cluster to a specific page or article. Lastly, schedule content creation in a calendar; you may start with low-difficulty, high-value keywords for optimal results. SEO actionable tips: Use your competitor’s keyword Benchmark a few top players in your industry or niche, and start keyword research based on their website. Most top SEO tools include a Keyword Gap or Content Gap feature that shows which keywords your competitors rank for — and you don’t. Filter out branded terms to avoid irrelevant results, then export the remaining keywords into a spreadsheet. Benchmark their content quality and coverage, and apply the skyscraper technique: create a resource that’s deeper, fresher, and more valuable than theirs to capture that search traffic. Keyword modifiers A keyword modifier is a word or phrase you add to a seed keyword to make it more specific, such as adding “near me,” “Location or Region,” “best,” or “2025” to refine the search intent. Most keywords can be transformed into local search queries by using keyword modifiers. For example: ‘French restaurant near me’ or ‘dental clinic in Orchard Road. You can also add the ‘5W1H’ to turn the seed keyword into a question-based query. Example of keyword modifiers Informational keyword modifiers: how, what, why, who, where, guide, tutorial, resource, ideas, tips, learn, examples Transactional keyword modifiers: buy coupon, order, purchase, cheap, affordable, price, pricing Commercial keyword modifiers: top, best, vs, comparison, review, popular Location keyword modifiers: near me, near Johor Bahru, at Petaling Jaya, in Bangkok Now let’s move on to keyword research tools, both paid and free. Keyword Research Tools (Paid) 1. Semrush
SEO Encyclopedia: Must-Know Terms & Concepts Explained
SEO “SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of improving a website’s visibility on search engines like Google. It helps your site rank higher in search results to attract more organic (non-paid) traffic.” My Explanation While the above is an academic or scholarly kind of definition, in my own words (with at least 4 years of experience in SEO and digital marketing), I would explain it as: How easy is it for your business, website, or social profile to be found by your online audience. It’s not just about search engines — it applies to social media platforms too. In this article, I’ll walk you through all the SEO terms, concepts, and strategies I’ve learned throughout my career. The practical, function-based category 1. On Page SEO On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual web pages to improve their rankings and attract relevant traffic from search engines. It includes optimizing content, meta tags, internal linking, and proper keyword placement. SEO personnel must master on-page SEO and have a basic understanding of HTML structure, especially how to craft SEO-friendly web pages, blog posts, and articles. Other skills involve keyword and topic research, and content structuring. Essential tools: Google Analytics (GA), Google Search Console (GSC), Google Trends, and Keyword Planner. Popular paid tools: Semrush, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, Similarweb, Sitechecker, Moz, or Backlinko. If your website is built with WordPress, SEO personnel should also know how to use SEO plugins such as Rank Math, Yoast SEO, or AIOSEO. These tools typically provide an SEO score based on your target keywords for each page. 2. Off Page SEO Off-page SEO refers to all SEO efforts done outside of your website to improve its search rankings and authority. This includes link building, digital press releases, guest blogging, content collaborations, and promoting your pages through social media or email. In simple terms, it’s everything you do beyond your website to boost its credibility. (How to make search engines trust you’re the expert in your niche) Key skills: identifying relevant websites with good domain authority and executing effective email outreach. Suggest reading: How to get backlinks & Link Building Strategy 3. Technical SEO Technical SEO is the process of optimizing a website’s infrastructure to help search engines crawl, index, and render it more efficiently. It typically involves tasks like monitoring Core Web Vitals, improving site speed, setting up 301 redirects, fixing broken links, and conducting full site audits to identify technical issues. In layman’s terms, technical SEO works like a website doctor — it diagnoses what’s wrong with a site and helps fix those issues to keep it healthy and running smoothly. Since many SEO professionals come from marketing backgrounds, they often need to collaborate closely with developers or the dev team to implement these technical changes. Site Audit tools: Screaming Frog, Google Search Console, Semrush, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, or other SEO platforms with their site crawlers. Site speed monitoring tools: Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, Pingdom Website Speed Test, and more. 4. Local SEO Local SEO is the process of optimizing your business to appear in local search results, especially for location-based queries like “French restaurant near me” or “dentist in Bangsar South.” It’s essential for brick-and-mortar businesses or any company with a physical location. By optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP), you can appear on Google Maps, Waze, and even in the Google Knowledge Panel. Bonus tip: Get listed on local citation sites like Yelp, Yellow Pages, or local directories to boost visibility. Tools: Google Business Profile (GBP), local directories/ citation sites Further Reading: Local SEO Guide for brick-and-mortar businesses 5. Image SEO Image SEO is the practice of optimizing images to load faster, increase searchability, and enhance overall page performance and visibility on Google Image Search. A SEO-friendly image should be under 200KB, compressed, and converted from traditional formats like JPEG or PNG to modern types like WebP or AVIF. Always rename the file and add descriptive, diverse alt text before uploading — this helps with search visibility and future library management while avoiding keyword stuffing. In short, Image Search Engine Optimization (Image SEO) is primarily concerned with image file size, file type, and image alt text. Tools: image compressors and file type converters 6. International SEO International SEO is the process of optimizing your website to rank in different countries and languages. It involves correctly implementing hreflang tags using standardized country and language codes (e.g., /en-us for U.S. visitors, /en-gb for U.K. visitors, /jp for Japanese users) to ensure the right content reaches the right audience. Sometimes, it may also include optimizing for country-specific search engines like Baidu or Sogou (China), Yandex (Russia), and Naver (Korea). Know-how: hreflang implementation. Further Reading: Baidu SEO Tips How to hire a decent seo specialist: tips for hiring manager When hiring an SEO specialist, on-page SEO is a must. A skilled SEO professional should have at least 3 out of the 6 practical SEO skills mentioned above. The theoretical, factions, concept-based category 7. White Hat SEO White Hat SEO refers to ethical, search-engine-approved practices that focus on long-term results and user experience. It follows official guidelines from sources like Google Webmaster Guidelines, Bing Webmaster Guidelines, and is advocated by top industry names such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, Neil Patel, Matt Diggity, Search Engine Journal, Rank Math, Yoast, and so on. If you’re applying the six core SEO skills mentioned earlier, you’re already practicing White Hat SEO. 8. Black Hat SEO Black Hat SEO refers to unethical or manipulative tactics used to trick search engines for quick rankings, often violating official guidelines. Common practices include keyword stuffing, cloaking, and tactics like hiding keywords by matching font color to the background—an old-school trick used in the early 2000s to fool crawlers while staying invisible to human visitors. Common Black Hat tactics: Keyword Stuffing Cloaking Hidden Text or Links Doorway Pages Private blog networks (PBNs) Duplicate Content Comment Spam Clickbait Meta Tags Overloading a page with target keywords unnaturally to manipulate rankings. Showing one version of a webpage to search engines and a different one
How to get Backlinks | Link Building & Off-Page SEO Strategy
What Are Backlinks? Backlinks are like votes of trust from one website to another. When a site links to your content, it’s telling search engines like Google, Bing, or Baidu, “Hey, this page is valuable.” The more quality backlinks you earn, the more credible and popular your site appears in the eyes of search engines—just like winning a trust-based popularity contest. Note that “not all backlinks are made equal.“ High-authority and relevant links carry more weight. For example, a backlink from a site with Domain Authority (DA) 50 is more valuable than one from a site with DA 15. High-quality backlinks have the following criteria: 1. Relevancy – This includes: Industry relevance (same or related niche), Locality relevance (same region or market), and Topical/keyword relevance (aligned with your content theme). 2. Traffic – A website with a certain amount of organic traffic or paid traffic. 3. Authority – Website with your ideal DA or page with your ideal page authority to pass link equity. 4. Content Quality – websites that maintain high editorial standards and publish valuable, original content (like my website’s posts😁); this increases the trustworthiness of your backlink. 4 types of Links attribute There are 4 main types of link attributes defined by the rel value in HTML. These help search engines understand the purpose of a link: 1. Follow – Passes SEO value (link equity) to the linked page. By default, if no rel attribute is set. Example: <a href=”https://example.com”>Visit</a> 2. NoFollow – Tells search engines not to pass link equity. Still good to have for traffic and brand exposure. Example: <a href=”https://example.com” rel=”nofollow”>Visit</a> 3. UGC (User Generated Content) – Used for links in user-generated content like blog comments or forum posts. Example: <a href=”https://example.com” rel=”ugc”>Visit</a> 4. Sponsored – Used for paid or affiliate links to indicate the link was part of an advertisement or sponsorship. Example: <a href=”https://example.com” rel=”sponsored”>Visit</a> ⛓️While nofollow links pass less SEO value, they still contribute to a natural and diverse backlink profile. What is Off-Page SEO? Off-page SEO refers to all the actions taken outside your own website to improve its rankings on search engines. This includes building backlinks, increasing brand mentions, social media signals, and improving your site’s overall authority and trustworthiness in the eyes of search engines. In short, it’s about boosting your site’s reputation beyond just what’s on the page. What is Link Building Link building is the process of building relationships with relevant site owners who are willing to link to your content because it enriches their website, ultimately helping you generate backlinks. How To How to get backlinks? There are generally 4 methods of getting links to your site: Create, Earn, Buy, and Ask. 1. Create (Directly adding links) You can create backlinks by placing them on directories, social media profiles and posts, forums, or in email marketing campaigns. While this method is easy to execute and offers lower SEO value compared to earned backlinks, it’s still a must-do as part of your overall branding strategy. 2. Earn (Highest SEO value) Earned backlinks come naturally when you create high-quality, useful content that others want to reference. This includes content that demonstrates E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness), supported by infographics, original data, or valuable insights. These links are the most valuable and relevant, as they’re based on merit and content value. Tips: Create linkable content that people naturally want to reference and share. Examples include how-to articles, in-depth guides, helpful resources, unique or weird insights, profound thoughts, and content backed by data or research. 3. Ask (Email Outreach) Usually, this is done by emailing other website owners or editors and asking them to link to your content. This approach—directly asking for links—is known as email outreach, which I’ll discuss in more detail in the following paragraph. Also, respond to someone who emailed you about a link exchange. 4. Buy (Use with caution) Buying backlinks involves paying webmasters, authors, or backlink vendors to link to your site. Some call this a Blackhat SEO tactic. While it may seem like a shortcut, it is considered a manipulative link-building practice and violates Google’s Search Essentials (formerly Google Webmaster Guidelines). It’s high-risk, often expensive, and may lead to manual penalties or long-term ranking issues. Generally, I did not recommend this as this goes against Google’s policy. Screenshot from Google Search Essentials FAQ: What is Private Blog Network (PBN)? Image Source: Seobility A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a group of websites created specifically to build backlinks to a main website, with the goal of improving its search engine ranking. These sites often look like normal blogs, but they’re controlled by one person or company and used mainly for SEO purposes. 👉 While PBNs can pass link value, they go against Google’s guidelines and carry a high risk of penalties if discovered. Strategy Link Building Strategy Strategy 1: Guest Posting/ Guest Blogging Guest posting is where you create high-quality content for industry-relevant or location-specific websites in exchange for a backlink to your own site. This not only helps you build authority and improve SEO but also expands your brand’s reach by tapping into an established audience. Partnering with reputable websites through guest posts could drive targeted traffic and foster long-term industry relationships. Guest Posting Steps Step 1: Finding sites you want to reach out to Step 2: Finding People you will message (usually via Email/ LinkedIn) Step 3: Sending an email message to your target contact Step 4: Pitch a topic; ensure the topic does not exist on their blog yet, it has to be interesting to their audience, and it has to be optimized. Note: 1-3 guest posts per week, diverse your anchor text. How to find guest post opportunity/ resource pages How to identify guest post opportunity in your industry: pitch and agree on a relevant topic, and write a post for them. You may use advanced search techniques, such as: “Keyword” + inurl: resources “Keyword” + Write For Us “Keyword” + Guestpost “Keyword” + Useful Resources “Keyword” + intitle: links “Keyword” +”Helpful links” inurl: Keyword + resources or resource page “Keyword” + Contribute a post, submit a most,