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2025-07-01 23:26:58

Your small business doesn’t need a huge budget to get noticed.

In 2025, the most effective marketing doesn’t come from expensive ad campaigns or complicated funnels.

It comes from authentic content that connects with your audience.

Take Edeles Candles, for example.

This handmade candle brand has nearly 90K TikTok followers and 500K likes.

How did a small business get this kind of exposure?

By posting simple behind-the-scenes videos of candle-making.

No fancy production or big teams. Just engaging content that reaches thousands of potential customers every week.

@edeles.candles Demolding the Hourglass Candle. ✨ Better late than never, happy second Advent. 🫣🕯️ #candleshop #edelescandles #naturaldecor #candlemaking #candlediy #homedecor #demolding #demoldingvideo #wax #candle #handmade #smallbusinessowner #candlelover #candlelight #asmr #candleideas #christmascandle #giftideas ♬ Originalton – EdelesCandles

And TikTok is just one path.

In this article, you’ll find 15 marketing ideas for small businesses that drive real results.

Each one is broken down by effort, impact, and budget. So, you can choose the ones that fit your resources and goals.

Bonus: Many of the ideas are free or low-cost.

Helpful resource: Download our free Small Business Marketing Checklist to stay organized as you implement these strategies. It includes a notes section to help you plan next steps as you read.

Let’s start with one of the top tactics for small businesses — video.

1. Grab Attention with Short-Form Videos

Short-form video is hands down the best marketing idea for small business owners in 2025.

Especially if you want to increase brand awareness.

Why?

Because platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are specifically designed to push your content to people who don’t follow you.

This gives you a chance to get discovered even if you don’t have an existing audience.

For example, Toasted Mallow, a gourmet marshmallow shop, got over 1 million views on TikTok.

And they did it by sharing a no-frills look at how they make their treats:

@toastedmallow Cookie dough filled marshmallows!! #elfitup #pushin🅿️ #socialshopping #foodtiktok #music #dessert ♬ Lost – Frank Ocean

You could do something similar, no matter what you sell.

Think quick tips, transformations, or behind-the-scenes peeks. The key is posting content that’s authentic and valuable.

Pro tip: Use trending audio from TikTok, Reels, or Shorts and targeted hashtags to show algorithms your content is timely and boost your reach.

Not sure which platform to start with? Go with the one your audience already uses the most.

And don’t worry about fancy equipment. Use your phone camera and film near natural lighting for the best results.

Add engaging captions, voiceovers, and sound effects with tools like CapCut.

It’s beginner-friendly and makes your videos look polished without pro editing skills.

2. Optimize Your Google Business Profile

If you have a local business, optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the easiest (and most important) ways to help customers find you.

This is because it can majorly boost your visibility in Google Maps and local search results.

Like when someone types “car wash in jacksonville” and sees prominent listings like this:

This kind of exposure can lead to more foot traffic, phone calls, and bookings.

But only if your profile is fully optimized.

Keep your info accurate and complete. Include business hours, address, website, and service areas.

Add high-quality photos that are helpful to customers and inspire confidence.

For example, post action photos and show the outside of your location so it’s easy to find.

And don’t forget reviews.

Signals like your average rating, number of reviews, and how recent they are all affect local SEO and buyer trust.

Make it a habit to ask for reviews after a positive experience, and respond to every one.

(Yes, even any negative comments you get, too.)

3. Create Helpful Website and Blog Content

Attract your ideal customer with content on your website and blog that answers users’ questions.

This improves your chances of ranking organically and capturing steady traffic.

Use tools like Google Autocomplete, Semrush, or AnswerThePublic to uncover what your audience is asking.

Then, create content that answers those questions.

(While subtly introducing your product or service as the fix.)

Use AI writing tools to speed up content creation.

ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and other tools can generate briefs, outlines, and content of all kinds.

Here’s a sample prompt to get started (the more details, the better):

Write a [blog post/social media caption/email newsletter] about [your topic] for [target audience – include their biggest challenges or goals]. Keep the tone [professional/conversational/friendly] and focus on [key benefit/solution]. Include [relevant examples, statistics, or case studies]. Make it [word count/length] and end with [specific call-to-action].

Heavily edit the draft for accuracy, brand voice, and your expertise.

Done right, a single blog post can become your hardest-working salesperson.

For example, Leigh McKenzie, Backlinko’s head of Growth, uses content to promote his ecommerce brand, Underfit.

Using Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool, Leigh identifies the search terms people type into Google to find products like his.

Like “what to wear under a dress shirt” and “types of undershirts.”

Then, he creates content that directly answers those queries.

Like this blog post on what to wear under a dress shirt, which includes comparison tables and fabric tips.

It also subtly directs readers to Underfit’s products with a banner that includes trust signals.

Language like “get your money back” gives prospects the confidence to buy.

4. Use SMS to Instantly Reach Customers

Want to grab your customers’ attention fast? Text them.

With open rates as high as 98%, SMS is one of the most effective ways to promote offers or send reminders.

It works especially well for service-based businesses where timing matters.

Like salons, restaurants, clinics, fitness studios, and local shops.

The key is to keep it short, clear, and genuinely useful. SMS isn’t the place for long messages or hard sells.

Smart ways to use SMS include:

• Flash sales or last-minute discounts
• Appointment reminders or confirmations
• Shipping updates or order status
• VIP-only offers or restock alerts
• Event reminders or holiday hours

Test what types of messages drive the most engagement.

And always ask for SMS opt-in at checkout and include an easy way to unsubscribe.

5. Encourage Customers to Share Their Experience on Social Media

One of the easiest ways to build trust? Ask your customers to share their experience.

Called user-generated content (UGC), this is when customers organically share photos, videos, or reviews about your brand.

This creates authentic, unpaid social proof that builds trust and boosts visibility.

Many people will be happy to post about your products online — they may just need a little nudge.

• Add a short, friendly request in your post-purchase email
• Offer a small incentive, like a discount on their next order
• Encourage customers to tag you on social with a branded hashtag
• Include a review prompt on your thank-you or packaging insert

For example, let’s say you run a ceramic shop. When someone buys a handmade mug from your brand, include a thank you card that says:

This simple prompt can inspire unboxing videos, photos, or short video reviews — all of which are great for reshares.

Once you start receiving tags, repost customer content, and comment on the posts. This helps you connect with your customers and further your reach.

For example, Sol, a beach beanie bag company, has a dedicated “You” Highlight on Instagram:

It features tagged Stories from real customers using their products at the beach.

This works as a social proof and a visual guide for new buyers.

6. Partner with UGC Creators

While UGC is created organically by customers, UGC creators are paid to make content for your brand.

The best part? They don’t come with the influencer price tag.

Pro tip: You’ll pay around $150 to $300 per video for UGC creator content (some creators accept free products as an incentive). In comparison, you’d pay $1,250 to $2,500 for a macro-influencer (100K to 500K followers) and $2,500+ for a mega-influencer (500K+ followers).

UGC creators produce content (like unboxings, demos, or testimonials) that you own and can use across your marketing channels.

This includes ads, social media posts, or landing pages.

The benefit? Content that feels genuine while giving you complete control over where and how it’s used.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Decide what kind of content you need — e.g., product demo, lifestyle use, review, testimonial
2. Find creators on platforms like Influee and Billo
3. Clarify deliverables and usage rights
4. Post on your socials or use in paid ads

For example, HiZoo, a massage device brand, partnered with a UGC creator who filmed herself trying their product for the first time.

In the video, she shares genuine reactions about how the product feels and works.

The content feels like a real customer review, not a polished ad. Which encourages likes and comments.

This gives the brand an opportunity to build trust and credibility (and sell more products).

Use a tool like Modash to find creators who’ve already posted about similar products to yours — they’re more likely to say yes and nail the tone you want.

7. Use AI Chatbots to Promote Your Business 24/7

Never miss a lead or lose a customer to long wait times.

AI chatbots help you deliver instant, personalized support 24/7.

And happier customers = more sales.

Whether on your website or social media channels, chatbots make sure you’re always available to answer questions, remove buying friction, and close sales.

Chatbots can:

• Answer FAQs
• Take orders
• Book appointments
• Recommend products
• Escalate customer service issues

You can even build a bot that sounds just like you.

Upload your service descriptions, common responses, and FAQs to tools like Tidio or Manychat.

This allows you to create a chatbot that mimics your tone and expertise.

For example, Attendant, a UK coffee chain, is a great example of how businesses of all sizes can use chatbots to reduce customer service inquiries.

While improving customer service at the same time.

The chatbot offers instant answers to common customer questions.

Like “are your cafes dog friendly” and “when do you end serving breakfast.”

It’s like cloning your best customer service rep, minus the payroll.

8. Collect Prospect Info with Lead Magnets

A lead magnet is a free resource you offer in exchange for someone’s email. Like a discount, template, or ebook.

When done right, it attracts high-intent leads who are more likely to buy over time.

Here’s how to make it work:

• Solve a specific problem. Think budgeting template, skincare quiz, or a free sample tied to your product
• Make it a natural extension of your offer. Sell time-tracking software? A “Weekly Productivity Planner” is a perfect match. Run a meal prep business? Offer a “3-Day Healthy Eating Kickstart.”
• Promote it everywhere. Homepage banners, blog posts, social captions, link in bio, and pop-ups. Mention your lead magnet in any social media videos you create — and don’t forget to add a link to it in the caption or comments.

For example, Budget With Mel, a personal finance blogger, offers a free budgeting template on her blog.

Users provide a first name and email address to access the template.

Since the template was pre-filled with formulas that auto-calculate totals, the value is instantly clear to the user.

All they have to do is plug in numbers to instantly see where their money’s going.

It’s frictionless, helpful, and directly tied to her paid offers.

9. Create an Email Newsletter

A monthly or weekly email newsletter is one of the easiest ways to stay connected to your audience.

Whether you have an ecommerce business or own a boutique, your newsletter can become a go-to resource that builds loyalty over time.

Share helpful tips, seasonal offerings, behind-the-scenes updates, and promote your products or services.

So, how do you get started?

Email marketing tools like Kit and Mailchimp offer customizable newsletter templates that make it easy to send professional newsletters.

(Without the need for design skills.)

Set a recurring send date (like every Tuesday) and stick to it.

This way, subscribers know what to expect.

Maintain your brand voice when writing your newsletter. And consider adding personalization to your strategy as you get more advanced.

Pet supplement brand Adored Beast Apothecary’s newsletter is a great example of how to mix education with subtle promotion.

For example, this issue opens with fun, educational content on dog behavior.

This keeps pet owners engaged and builds trust. Even if they’re not ready to buy something right away.

They also include links to additional content about common pet health issues.

By driving traffic back to their site, they extend the customer journey and increase the chances of a future sale.

And position themselves as a reliable expert.

The newsletter ends with a short product section recommending relevant supplements.

It’s a smooth transition from education to solution. (So it feels helpful rather than pushy.)

10. Turn Reviews and Testimonials into Visual Proof

Got happy customers?

Turn their praise into visual content that does the selling for you.

Collect reviews from emails, DMs, social media comments, or your Google Business Profile.

Or ask a happy client to record a 30-second selfie-style video.

Then, share these testimonials on your social media accounts. Like the owner of popular TikTok account Destiny Media Marketing does.

To promote her business, she collects client reviews and turns them into persuasive carousel posts.

She also shares short testimonial videos.

Like this one from a satisfied client who left her a glowing review about her services.

@destinymediamarketing Thank you so much Katie Grace Films 🤍 #clienttestimonial #websitedevelopment #webdesign #websitedesign #videographer ♬ original sound – Priscilla Marketing Specialist

Pro tip: Create a dedicated Instagram Story Highlight called “Happy Customers” or “Reviews” so new visitors can immediately see social proof when they visit your profile.

11. Share Visual Content on Pinterest

Pinterest is a hidden gem for generating sustained traffic to your small business website or online store.

A single, well-optimized Pin can continue driving clicks and conversions for months (or even years).

Take Budget With Mel as an example.

One of her top traffic sources is Pinterest.

So, how is she making this platform work for her?

By sharing simple yet valuable infographics that link to her blog.

This helps funnel targeted readers directly to her content.

Most importantly, her blog has a lead magnet that turns visitors into email subscribers.

This means she’s not just getting one-time visitors — she’s building a list of potential customers she can reach again and again.

Here’s how to replicate Mel’s success:

• Create valuable Pins: Turn your best tips, products, or blog posts into eye-catching visuals using a template-friendly design tool like Canva
• Organize strategically: Set up boards by category (like “Budgeting Tips” or “Gift Ideas”) to make your content easy to find
• Optimize for search: Include relevant keywords in your Pin titles and descriptions — people search Pinterest like Google
• Drive traffic: Link every Pin to a blog post, lead magnet, or product page to convert browsers into customers

Further reading: 6 Best Social Media Management Tools (Tried & Tested)

12. Amplify Your Reach by Boosting Your Social Posts

If your social media post already gets a decent engagement — saves, likes, comments — that’s your cue to boost it.

You can do this on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.

LinkedIn also supports boosting, but only from company pages, not personal profiles.

And even a small budget can help your top-performing posts reach more people without driving up costs.

This approach is more effective than boosting random posts.

Why? Because you already know the content resonates with your audience.

How to start:

• Choose a social media post that’s performing well organically
• Set a daily budget (even $5-$10 per day can work)
• Target based on location, interest, and behavior
• Let the ad run for a few days before making any tweaks

But don’t just boost ads.

Promote a mix of content, like blog posts, how-to videos, product highlights, and behind-the-scenes clips.

Prioritize posts that feel authentic and aligned with your brand voice.

Pro tip: Need a little help creating engaging social content? Tools like Semrush’s AI Video Marketing Automator and AI Social Content Generator turn your blog posts into short videos and social posts in seconds — no video editing or design experience required.

13. Create a Loyalty Program That Feels Personal

Small, thoughtful touches can turn one-time buyers into loyal fans.

Start with a simple reward system (digital or physical) that feels fun and easy to use.

Think stamps, punch cards, or online progress trackers.

After five or 10 purchases, offer a reward that feels like a win: a free drink, a low-cost product (under $5), a bonus add-on, or early access to something new.

The key? Make it feel personal and let customers see how close they are to earning their reward.

Bonus points if you personalize it with their name, preferences, or purchase history.

For example, a toy store owner explained on Reddit how they created “instant repeat customers” with a playful loyalty program.

Kids earn pirate coins and vinyl stickers with each purchase. After five coins, they trade them in for a free toy.

It’s low-cost, but it works because it feels personal, rewarding, and fun. (And the adults like it, too!)

14. Build Trust and Authority on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the best places to build credibility and attract clients.

Especially if you sell services, offer consulting, or work with other businesses.

Why?

Because it puts you in front of decision-makers actively looking for business solutions.

But success on LinkedIn isn’t all about pitching your services.

It’s about consistently sharing helpful, real-world insights that show you know your stuff.

Over time, this positions you as a go-to expert.

And turns your content into a client acquisition tool that works even when you’re not actively prospecting.

Here’s how to get started: Pick one to two topics you want to be known for.

And post at least once a week.

Share industry-relevant stories, lessons, business updates, or tips.

Still don’t know what to post?

Use ChatGPT or Claude to draft LinkedIn post ideas from your blog content.

Prompt it with the following:

Turn this blog post into a conversational first-person LinkedIn post with a story-driven hook.

But don’t just post your own content. Comment meaningfully on industry posts, too.

This showcases your expertise and gets you noticed by potential clients.

15. Co-Host Lives, Webinars, or Giveaways

Want fast reach without paying for ads? Team up with a creator or business that shares your target audience.

Co-hosting a live, webinar, or giveaway helps you both get in front of new, relevant followers.

To make it work:

• Choose a partner in your niche or local community (but not a direct competitor)
• Bring something valuable: a quick tutorial, product demo, Q&A, or prize
• Plan your next step: What should viewers do after? Follow you? Sign up? Claim an offer?

Promote it ahead of time on both profiles. During the event, keep it lively, helpful, and interactive. Answer questions and encourage participation for the best results.

For example, if you have a B2B audience, you could team up with an expert or company in your space to host a short, high-value webinar.

Like a 30-minute how-to or industry trends Q&A.

Have a B2C small business? Co-host a giveaway with a like-minded brand (or three).

To boost reach, ask participants to follow both accounts and tag a friend to enter.

Turn These Small Business Marketing Ideas into Results

You don’t need a big team or a big budget to make progress.

The most effective marketing plans start with a few smart tactics tailored to your audience and goals.

Pick three quick wins you can knock out this week:

• Post a behind-the-scenes Reel with trending audio
• Ask one happy customer for a review or photo
• Boost a blog post or product on Facebook

Then, keep the momentum going.

Collect emails with a simple lead magnet or share helpful tips in a monthly newsletter.

Small, consistent actions like these build trust and drive real results over time.

Ready to get started? Download our free Small Business Marketing Checklist to prioritize your top tactics and track your progress.

Next, read our small business SEO guide to learn how to build authority and improve your online visibility.

The post 15 Marketing Ideas for Your Small Businesses (+ Free Checklist) appeared first on Backlinko.

2025-07-01 23:16:09

Most SEO reports go unread.

Or, worse — they get skimmed, misunderstood, and ignored.

But knowing how to create an SEO report that demands attention can change everything.

It’s not just a performance recap.

It’s a strategic tool that helps you build trust with decision-makers. Win bigger budgets. And keep your SEO efforts on track.

In this article, you’ll learn how to:

• Create SEO reports that people actually read (and act on)
• Tie SEO performance to business goals
• Highlight wins and uncover growth opportunities

Free resource: Download our SEO Report Template. It has ready-made sections for tracking key metrics, visualizing performance, and presenting clear next steps.

What Is an SEO Report and Why Is It Important?

An SEO report is a tool for measuring performance and shaping strategy.

It tracks key metrics like traffic, rankings, and conversions.

Then, connects them to business outcomes, opportunities, and priorities.

A strong SEO report helps answer:

• What changed?
• Why did it happen?
• What should we do next?

For example, let’s say you run SEO for a workplace furniture ecommerce company.

You notice a spike in traffic and rankings for your category page on ergonomic office chairs.

Here’s how a useful SEO report would break that down:

It’s a clear, focused snapshot that distills the data into what improved, why it happened, and why it matters.

How to Create an SEO Report That Drives Results

Too many SEO reports dump data without insight.

Traffic, rankings, and top pages might look impressive — but they don’t tell the full story.

And without context, stakeholders are left guessing.

The best SEO reports connect the dots. They tie performance to business goals, spotlight what’s working, and make the next move obvious.

Here’s how to build one that actually drives results:

Step 1: Determine the Stakeholders

Before pulling data or building charts, get clear on who you’re reporting to.

Knowing your audience should shape your whole report, from the SEO stats you’re using to how you communicate them.

Ask yourself:

• Who will read this?
• What do they know about SEO?
• Who will be making the decisions?
• What decision do I want them to make?

And here’s one more that’s just as important:

Have I asked what metrics actually matter to them?

A quick conversation can surface priorities that no dashboard will show you.

From there, tailor the format, metrics, and language accordingly.

(This is where many SEO reports go sideways — too much data, not enough direction.)

Here’s a quick breakdown of how to match your audience to your data and format:

For example, if your primary audience is a CEO or CMO, you probably wouldn’t lead with details about unindexed pages or on-page engagement time.

Likewise, a report for a small business owner with zero SEO background shouldn’t be packed with complex metrics or jargon.

They need simple wins, clear summaries, and next steps they can act on.

Pro tip: When your SEO report serves multiple audiences, prioritize what matters most to decision-makers — like ROI, growth, and performance. Then, layer in tailored insights for other teams (product, content, dev, etc.) in separate sections or an appendix.

How to Report to Non-SEO Audiences

Working with clients who don’t speak SEO?

You can help them level up their knowledge by translating industry terms into easy-to-understand language.

Add simple explanations to your reports and introduce new concepts one at a time.

Here are three ways you can do this in your SEO reports:

1. Include key takeaways to clarify complex points.

2. Add links to educational resources on SEO concepts.

3. Add short videos with explanations of the client’s data or performance.

Step 2: Decide Which Metrics Matter Most

Start with the key SEO metrics every report needs, no matter the audience.

You can find the majority of your must-have metrics in SEO tools like Google Search Console (GSC) or Semrush.

Add-On SEO Report Metrics

Once you’ve covered the essentials, you can layer in additional metrics depending on your team’s strategy and goals.

Further reading: Curious about some of these add-on metrics? Check out our guides on bounce rate and dwell time.

Step 3: Turn Raw Data Into Actionable Insights

Raw data doesn’t drive decisions — clear stories do.

Knowing how to create an SEO report means turning numbers into narratives.

It needs to clearly tell a story around these questions.

• Is our SEO strategy working?
• What changed?
• Why did it change?
• What should we do next?

One of the best ways to tell the story is through time-based comparisons.

Show how SEO performance has changed month-over-month (MoM), quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), or year-over-year (YoY).

Highlighting changes over time makes it easier for stakeholders to spot trends. And understand why they matter.

For most SEO teams, the challenge isn’t collecting data. It’s translating it into context stakeholders care about.

Raw numbers might make sense if you’re inside the tools every day.

But executives and cross-functional teams need more than charts. They need meaning.

The best reports go beyond what changed. They explain why —and connect the dots to business impact.

Like this:

Translate percentages and numbers to what actually happened:

• What new pages were published?
• Did your development team ship technical fixes?
• How many backlinks were earned?
• Are algorithm changes or seasonal searches a factor?

Most importantly, link the SEO impact to business terms.

For example, let’s say your top product page jumped from position No. 9 to No. 3.

In the same month, inbound demo requests doubled.

That’s not just a ranking improvement. It’s a signal that higher visibility on the right terms is driving qualified traffic.

In this case, the takeaway isn’t just “rankings are up” — it’s that SEO is contributing directly to revenue growth.

Step 4: Showcase the Results

A great SEO report doesn’t overwhelm your reader — it guides them.

It frames wins. Flags issues. And makes the next move crystal clear.

Executive Summary

Start with a snapshot that shows where things stand.

The Executive Summary gives a high-level view of key metrics and overall performance trends.

So, stakeholders can get the big picture fast.

Keep it sharp and clear. Spotlight what’s working, what’s driving it, and where to go from here.

Performance Metrics

This section covers your core SEO performance data — like traffic, rankings, keywords, and backlinks.

Include context and key takeaways.

When showcasing trends, show the progress over time, not just one-off wins.

And use visuals as much as possible.

Charts, graphs, and annotated screenshots really can make your performance insights pop.

Next Steps

What needs to be tackled next?

Here’s your chance to include those thoughts for your stakeholders.

Include clear, actionable recommendations, like a fresh SEO audit or doubling down on high-performing content.

Appendix

This optional section includes deeper data for teams, stakeholders, and ongoing projects.

It helps keep the main report focused, while still delivering the context others may need.

Bonus move: Once your report is done, record a short walkthrough to present it. It’s a great way to highlight key takeaways, explain the big picture, and guide stakeholders through anything they might overlook.

Mistakes to Avoid in Your SEO Report

Even with the right data, your SEO report can still fall flat if it’s hard to interpret, misaligned with business goals, or missing a clear takeaway.

Here are some common mistakes to avoid — and how to fix them.

Reporting Data Without Context

Don’t just drop data into your report. Make it meaningful.

Show how it relates to business goals and your site’s overall SEO performance.

For every metric, briefly explain what it means, why it matters, and what action it might prompt your team or your client to take.

Surfacing Issues Without Providing Solutions

Reporting on every issue isn’t helpful unless it impacts your site’s SEO performance.

For example, say you note that a group of pages are experiencing index issues.

Include a hypothesis on why this is happening and how you might recommend fixing it.

Listing Every Keyword Ranking

A full list of keyword shifts (especially minor ones) can bury your most important wins.

Instead, spotlight high-impact keywords — non-branded terms driving traffic or tied to revenue pages.

Including Every. Single. Page.

Reporting on every page creates noise, not insight.

Focus on the top 10 pages for organic traffic, or spotlight the top page in each key topic cluster.

Ignoring Business Outcomes

Your report might show SEO progress. But, does it show business progress?

Tie your work to signups, revenue, pipeline, brand visibility — whatever matters to your decision-makers.

Telling, Not Showing

You shared the data. But did you explain the story?

Use visuals, comparisons (e.g., MoM or QoQ), and commentary to walk the reader through what changed, why, and what’s next.

Show the Impact. Earn the Buy-In.

SEO reporting isn’t just about checking a box.

It’s your opportunity to show impact, earn trust, and steer strategy.

Surface insights that get stakeholders aligned and excited about what’s possible.

Want to make it easier on yourself?

Download Backlinko’s free SEO report template to create reports that stand out and get results.

The post How to Create an SEO Report That Wins Trust (and Budgets) appeared first on Backlinko.

2025-06-23 22:50:08

Seen your LinkedIn lately? AI marketing tools are everywhere.

And each one promises a bigger ROI than the last.

The truth? It’s not necessarily hype. AI tools actually deliver impressive returns.

In fact, you get a 3.7x return for every dollar you invest in generative AI.

But ONLY if you pick the right tools.

So, to save you the guesswork, I tested seven popular AI marketing tools for various tasks. Including writing, video creation, and customer research.

Check out my in-depth reviews below for the full picture.

Short on time? View each tool’s highlights here:

What Are the Best AI Marketing Tools?

1. ChatGPT

Best all-purpose AI marketing assistant

Price: $20+/month; limited free plan available

I can’t write about the best AI tools for marketing without starting with ChatGPT.

The large language model (LLM) isn’t just popular.

It actually gets more searches than “AI.”

What makes it so good?

It can handle just about any marketing task, customized to your industry.

From a quick Instagram caption for your DTC skin care company to a detailed content strategy with audience segmentation, ChatGPT does it all.

But here’s the not-so-secret secret: ChatGPT is only as good as your prompts.

Bad prompts = bad answers.

But learn how to communicate with ChatGPT effectively (aka prompt engineering), and it becomes the ideal AI tool for marketing teams.

Create Relevant First Drafts

ChatGPT helps you go from blank page to first draft on any topic, fast.

(For more, check out our guide: How to Use AI for Writing Exceptional Content.)

The tool can significantly speed up the content creation process, no matter the format.

This includes SEO blog posts, product descriptions, email campaigns, and more.

For example, I often use it to organize my ideas and draft marketing content more efficiently.

I typically provide it with custom inputs like:

• A content brief and project guidelines
• Data from tools like Semrush
• Competitive intelligence
• Initial research notes

By feeding this information up front, the output becomes more relevant to the project goals.

But this isn’t copy-paste content writing right out of the gate. Every output still needs a human pass.

You’ll also likely need to refine your prompt multiple times to get the highest quality results from ChatGPT.

Pro tip: For some projects, I use the AI-first method. I start with a prompt to spark momentum. Then, it becomes a back-and-forth process. I add my expertise, and it refines my thinking. I shape the direction, and it suggests new angles. I lay out an idea, and it points out any flaws. It’s less AI writer. More collaborative partner.

Accelerate Customer Research

ChatGPT is a powerful support tool for customer research.

Use it to:

• Write better survey questions
• Analyze sentiment
• Extract actionable insights from raw feedback

For example, voice of customer (VoC) research used to be my biggest time-sink for conversion optimization projects.

I’d spend weeks organizing data and tagging themes.

Now, I run the same process with ChatGPT in a fraction of the time.

I attach dozens of customer reviews from Google, TrustPilot, and internal surveys. Then, ask it to identify sentiments and motivations.

It takes care of the grunt work and identifies patterns fast.

(So, I can focus on finding valuable insights, not just sorting through data.)

This same process also gives me the exact language customers use to describe their challenges.

I then use that language to write copy that resonates and build experiences that address customer pain points.

Pros and Cons

2. Semrush

Best for full-stack marketing with deep AI visibility

Price: $139.95+/month; AI Toolkit and Enterprise AIO require separate plans

Semrush is quickly becoming one of the most versatile AI-powered marketing platforms out there. It’s no longer just an SEO tool.

Whether you’re building an SEO strategy, planning content, launching paid campaigns, researching competitors, or tracking how your brand shows up in AI-generated answers — Semrush has a solution for it.

And unlike many startups racing into the AI space, Semrush brings something most don’t: infrastructure. It’s backed by more than a decade of data, crawling power, and product development.

Here’s how you can use Semrush to get ahead in the AI-powered marketing landscape:

Track Your Brand in AI Search

The most powerful thing Semrush offers in the AI space is visibility. Specifically: How is your brand showing up in AI-generated answers across LLMs?

That’s where Enterprise AIO comes in.

It tracks your brand across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews — measuring:

• Brand, product, and concept mentions
• Sentiment and quote-level context
• Share of Voice compared to competitors
• Citations and sources used in AI responses
• Visibility trends by region, topic, or model

If you’re an enterprise or managing a well-known brand, this is the most advanced solution available.

See What AI Platforms Say About You

The Semrush AI Toolkit is built for SMBs, lean teams, and growing brands that want to understand how AI platforms talk about them — and where they can improve.

For $99/month per domain, you can:

• Monitor your brand’s presence in ChatGPT, SearchGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and more
• Track Share of Voice and sentiment over time
• Discover high-intent queries and emerging topics
• Get recommendations on where to improve content and messaging

It’s not “lite” — it’s focused. And for many teams, it’s exactly what they need to stay visible in the AI-driven search landscape.

It even provides recommendations based on AI query data and sentiment trends.

This means you can quickly jump on emerging topics in your industry.

Or address user concerns before they become a problem.

For example, when I entered the domain warbyparker.com (an eyeglass company), the AI Toolkit revealed that users repeatedly asked about unclear payment and financing options.

The tool also made a helpful recommendation to solve this problem:

Clearly communicate financing details on the website and in the checkout flow.

That’s the real value here: The Semrush AI Toolkit doesn’t just give you data.

It also surfaces patterns from user queries. So you can identify pain points and fix them before they can hurt conversions.

Keep Social Content on Brand

The Semrush Social Media Toolkit uses AI to help you create and organize a social strategy.

It lets you easily create weeks of on-brand content in minutes. And schedule it across major platforms so your posting stays consistent.

Here’s how it works:

The AI-powered tool finds trending topics your audience cares about. (And updates daily.)

Select any topic, and the tool will auto-draft a post that aligns with your brand voice and campaign goals.

Customize it further with AI-generated hashtags, images, or scripted videos.

Finally, schedule and publish across Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and more, with the click of a button.

Bada bing bada boom!

Pros and Cons

3. Flick

Best for social media marketing on a budget

Price: $18+/month; 7-day free trial available

Want to look like you have a full content team without paying for one?

Use Flick.

This AI tool builds your social media marketing strategy, writes engaging posts, and maintains your publishing calendar.

Set your content pillars once in the Brand Hub, and Iris (Flick’s AI tool) will handle the rest.

This includes:

• Auto-generating post ideas that align with your strategy
• Repurposing blog posts into ready-to-publish social content
• Creating a publishing calendar for Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Facebook

It’s perfect for founders and marketers juggling 17 other priorities.

(Or anyone who knows they should be posting more but never has time to sit down to plan it all out.)

Create a Social Media Calendar

Most social tools just help you schedule posts.

But Flick also helps you figure out what to post.

Its AI assistant helps you create a social media calendar without hours of brainstorming.

For example, I used Flick to create a 30-day calendar in under five minutes.

Here’s how I did it:

First, I set up the Brand Hub with my content pillars.

• Conversion copywriting
• AI
• Funnel optimization for SaaS and ecommerce

Then, I defined my brand voice and target audience.

Next, I selected a time frame (I went with a full month).

And in under a minute, Iris generated a list of post ideas aligned with my content pillars.

Its suggestions included:

• Create a video showcasing five SaaS companies with standout value propositions
• Share three AI prompts marketers can use to boost email subject line performance
• Post before/after funnel results from a client that highlight how I increased signups

All I had to do was click “Add to scheduler,” and my content calendar was set.

I now have a month of content ideas that I can easily turn into posts.

(Yep, Flick’s AI can write, too.)

Repurpose Long-Form Content

Got a blog post or YouTube video you worked hard on?

Flick’s “Repurpose” feature turns that content into social-ready posts.

The process is simple:

Click “Iris” > “Repurpose Blog Post.”

Then, enter the URL.

This can be a blog post, YouTube video, or newsletter. And that’s all you have to do.

I tested this using my AI SEO tools article.

Within seconds, Iris analyzed it and came up with four social post ideas.

I picked one.

And the AI generated a post that captured the article’s core message.

It was perfect for social.

For each post, you can:

• Adjust text length from one line to full caption
• Refine hashtags for better reach
• Attach media
• Schedule posts

You also have the option to customize each post for different social media platforms.

Pros and Cons

4. Canva

Best for fast visual content generation

Price: $15/month; free plan available

You probably already know Canva.

This graphic design tool lets you create anything from a tweet graphic to a full marketing campaign.

But now it’s added AI into the mix with its Magic Studio.

Provide a prompt, and the tool will design a graphic, write image text, and even generate code.

From first idea to final creative, Canva’s AI speeds up marketing design without leaving the platform.

Two things impressed me the most:

• The learning curve was negligible. I didn’t need a tutorial to get started.
• The AI Image generation tool created exactly what I had envisioned

Turn Ideas into Visual Assets

Canva’s AI can generate full visual assets, including presentations, social posts, infographics, and more.

Inside Magic Studio, you’ll find various options:

• Design for me: Creates on-brand templates for things like social posts and presentations
• Create an image: Generates images from text prompts
• Draft a doc: Writes blog posts, emails, social posts, and more
• Code for me: Creates code for interactive elements like website pages, quizzes, and more

I put this to the test by asking it to create a slide deck based on a Backlinko article.

My prompt included copy for each slide.

So, how did Magic Studio do?

It generated four slide decks for me to choose from that were pretty good.

But it didn’t follow the exact copy from my prompt.

So, I had to tweak the text and update the images. (Which was super easy.)

While the AI image generator made generating visuals simple, I wouldn’t exactly call it “fast.”

It would’ve taken me at least an hour to build Canva slide decks from scratch.

But with Magic Studio, it took me about 15 minutes. Not bad.

Check out the final output below.

What do you think?

Pros and Cons

5. Synthesia

Best for video creation without filming

Price: $29+/month; free plan available (no downloads)

Synthesia is one of the fastest ways to turn your ideas into presenter-style videos.

Use it to create:

• Product demos
• Staff training content
• Explainer or onboarding videos
• Global communications in different languages

With over 200+ AI avatars and support for over 140 languages and voices, it’s great for teams that need professional multilingual videos fast.

Even better?

You don’t even have to step in front of a camera.

Create Videos Without Filming

Synthesia lets you create a video from a file, URL, prompt, or script.

You start by entering your inputs into the AI Video Assistant.

For this test, I used this URL: https://www.semrush.com/kb/801-advertising-toolkit.

I wanted to create a promotional video for Semrush’s PPC Advertising Toolkit.

Synthesia’s AI assistant guided me through the process.

It prompted me to enter the URL and fill out key details: video length, audience, tone, objective, and speaker.

Synthesia then generated a video outline.

From there, I could:

• Add or delete chapters
• Change the avatar and voice
• Tweak the script for each scene
• Add music, transitions, or new slides

I made a few changes that included swapping out my avatar from dozens of options.

(You can also record yourself to create a personal avatar.)

Was the result flawless? Not quite.

The script needed a little polishing, and the AI avatar was… obviously AI.

But for an AI-generated video, with no filming, editing, or voiceover work, it was impressively functional.

Localize Videos

Synthesia’s AI recreates videos in over 140 languages and dialects.

This means global brands and organizations can create localized video content without hiring voice actors or re-recording footage.

For my test, I uploaded one of my TikTok videos and asked Synthesia to generate a version in French.

The result? Uncannily good.

Hearing “myself” speak in French was impressive, surreal, and erm…hilarious.

But it worked. And it worked fast.

Pros and Cons

6. AdCreative.ai

Best for scaling high-performing ads

Price: $39+/month; free plan available (up to 10 downloads)

Running paid ads? You need AdCreative.ai.

It builds complete ads (visuals + copy + CTAs) for every major platform in minutes. Including Meta, Google Ads, LinkedIn, and more.

The game-changer?

It’s trained on billions of high-performing ads, so every output is based on proven conversion patterns.

This means you’re not just getting random designs.

You’re getting pre-optimized ad creatives based on what’s already working in your niche.

Create Ads at Scale

Adcreative.ai keeps you on track when you’re working on multiple campaigns and drowning in last week’s ad copy rewrites.

Start by setting up a basic brand profile with your logo, colors, and short description.

Then, choose the type of asset you want to create: static, video, or text-based ads.

I tested this tool using one of my Backlinko articles.

First, I had it scan the site so it could understand the brand.

It automatically pulled in Backlinko’s brand details.

Then, I entered the article URL so it could scan for relevant content.

After that, I customized the ad including:

• Choosing LinkedIn as the ad platform
• Picking an ad format
• Uploading a background image (optional)

I clicked “Generate” and within seconds, I had a full batch of ad variants ready for use.

Each ad came with a layout, copy, and a “Conversion Score” — AdCreative’s prediction on how well the ad will perform.

Pretty cool.

The results weren’t perfect — a few looked a little rough out of the gate.

But every element was editable in the Creative Studio, so with a few quick tweaks, they were publish-ready.

Side note: Notice a pattern here? AI marketing tools work best with detailed information and manual refinement. (For now, at least.)

Pros and Cons

7. HubSpot

Best for AI marketing automation

Price: $20+/month/seat; free tier available (basic CRM)

HubSpot integrates email, ads, content, automation, and customer tracking with your CRM.

Their AI (called Breeze) learns from your actual data, such as your:

• CRM records
• Campaign performance
• Customer behavior

This means you get insights specific to your audience and your sales process.

Not generic AI advice based on everyone else’s data.

That makes it feel less like software and more like a teammate who gets your business.

Identify High-Intent Leads

HubSpot’s Breeze Intelligence identifies qualified leads from your website traffic.

It tracks how visitors interact with your site.

Like what they click, how long they stay, and which pages they’ve visited more than once.

Then it combines that behavior with public data sources (like reverse IP lookup) to identify which companies they likely work for.

For example, Breeze might find a visitor from a Fortune 500 company:

• Checking out your pricing page (obvious buying signal)
• Reading through case studies (evaluating your results)
• Making repeated visits (consistent interest)

That’s someone interested in your product. In other words, the kind of leads your sales team should be talking to.

You can also personalize your outreach to what these prospects have already viewed.

That’s huge.

Say the right thing at the right time to the right person, and you don’t have to do the hard sell.

The momentum’s already there. You just help it along.

Side note: Breeze typically identifies companies rather than specific individuals (unless visitors fill out forms or self-identify), making it particularly useful for B2B businesses.

Pros and Cons

3 AI Marketing Tool Runner-Ups

These AI tools for marketers didn’t make the top spots.

But they have standout features for specific marketing tasks that make them worth considering.

1. Hootsuite

Best for advanced social media analytics

Price: $149+ per user/per month

Hootsuite uses AI to streamline social media publishing on all your social channels.

Its OwlyWriter AI generates post ideas, repurposes top-performing content, and writes captions in your brand voice.

But what sets Hootsuite apart is its AI social listening model, Blue Silk AI.

It scans millions of conversations, on and off social, to detect brand mentions and analyze audience sentiment in real time.

Then, it:

• Suggests the best times to post based on engagement patterns
• Identifies organic content worth boosting with paid ads
• Surface trending topics in your niche

These AI features let your social team move faster and make data-driven decisions.

But it’s more complex than beginner tools like Flick.

It also comes with a higher price tag. (It starts at $149 per user/month compared to Flick’s $18/month.)

Still, if you’re managing multiple brands on all major platforms and need AI to help you plan and optimize at scale, Hootsuite is tough to beat.

2. Claude

Best LLM for content creation

Price: $17+ per month; free plan available

Claude is an LLM, much like ChatGPT.

But it runs on a different framework called Constitutional AI, designed to make it more helpful, honest, and human in its responses.

In my experience, Claude is great at picking up on nuance, understanding intent clearly, and handling tone with consistency.

Many marketing writers I’ve talked to love it for long-form content.

Why?

Because Claude keeps voice and structure consistent across thousands of words.

That makes it ideal for things like sales pages, reports, and anything that requires flow and cohesion.

Side note: Unlike ChatGPT, Anthropic doesn’t use your chats to train its AI models. So if you’re handling sensitive data — or just don’t want your conversations used as training material — Claude’s a great option.

3. Zapier

Best AI marketing tool for plug-and-play automation

Price: $29.99/month; free plan available

Want powerful AI workflows without migrating to an all-in-one platform?

Zapier is the answer.

Unlike tools like Hubspot that require you to use their ecosystem, Zapier connects over 8,000 apps. Including Gmail, Mailchimp, Slack, and Salesforce.

This means you can create countless generative AI workflows that save you time.

Here’s an example:

• A customer emails a question via Gmail
• ChatGPT analyzes the message and drafts a personalized reply
• This reply is sent and automatically logged in your CRM
• A follow-up task is created in your project management tool
• A summary is sent to Slack to keep your team in the loop

Set it up once in Zapier, and your entire workflow runs on autopilot.

Next Step: Get AI to Talk About Your Brand

AI marketing tools make creating assets faster and easier than ever before.

They also help you scale your business with less effort.

Your next step? Dominating Google’s AI Overviews.

Learn how to optimize your site for AI Overviews to improve (or regain) your organic visibility. Get ahead of the curve and turn AI search into your next growth engine.

The post 7 Powerful AI Marketing Tools You Need (Tested) appeared first on Backlinko.

2025-06-23 22:48:01

Continually coming up with fresh, relevant content ideas isn’t easy.

But you might be overlooking something important: related content.

Related content includes topics that connect to your primary content themes. And it’s more powerful than you might realize.

It helps you:

• Spot content gaps before competitors do
• Build topical authority
• Create smart internal linking opportunities

For example, search Google for “site:backlinko.com ‘backlinks’” and you’ll see we have this topic covered from every angle.

Including a beginner’s guide, link-building strategies, and even a free backlink checker tool.

In this guide, I’ll teach you how to do the same.

You’ll learn seven proven ways to find related content that attracts your audience and boosts your authority.

Plus, you’ll get a free content planner to organize your topics and plan your publishing schedule.

How to Use the Related Content Planner

Turn your related content research into an actionable strategy.

Download our free Related Content Planner now to follow along with the steps below.

By the end of this article, you’ll have a full list of high-impact related topics. And all the data you need to create high-quality content.

Here’s how to make the most of the planner:

• Add topics as you discover them: Jot down every promising idea so nothing gets lost
• Record keyword data: Use a keyword research tool to record search volume, difficulty, and intent to make smart prioritization decisions
• Set priority levels: Rank topics based on search potential, competition, and audience relevance
• Plan your content approach: Use the dropdown to mark each idea as “new,” “existing,” or “update,” so you know exactly what action to take
• Map linking opportunities: Note which pages should connect to build topical authority and content clusters
• Track your progress: Check off completed topics to monitor your progress

Ready to get started?

Let’s begin with one of the fastest and easiest ways to find new topics — autocomplete.

1. Autocomplete and Related Searches

The easiest way to find related content?

Use the platforms where your audience already hangs out.

Search engines and social platforms show you exactly what people want to know about your topic.

And all you have to do is start typing.

Enter a search term, and you’ll see suggested completions based on what that platform’s users search for.

These “autocomplete suggestions” are a goldmine of content ideas because they represent genuine demand.

But where you search depends on your business.

For example:

• Amazon: Product-related content
• YouTube: Video content ideas
• Reddit: Discussion topics
• TikTok: Related (and trending) content angles

The best part? It’s completely free.

I’ll show you how it works using Google and Pinterest.

Google

Google offers two ways to find related content:

Start with autocomplete. Type in your seed topic (say, “gaming”) and let Google finish the sentence.

For example, if I type “gaming,” Google suggests a variety of related queries:

• Gaming news
• Gaming monitor
• Gaming keyboard

Next, scroll until you see the “Related searches” section.

This might also be called “People also search for” or “People also Ask.”

Here, you’ll find even more related topics to turn into content for your audience.

Such as “what is the definition of gaming” and “what does it mean when someone is gaming.”

Now, let’s see how this works on a social media search engine.

Pinterest

Pinterest autocomplete works great for almost any niche.

Plus, it often surfaces different ideas than Google or other platforms.

Type a topic in the search bar, and Pinterest will show you related searches.

For example, a search for “gaming” brings up ideas like:

• Gaming setup
• Gaming wallpapers
• Gaming room ideas

Pinterest might even suggest some popular related accounts in its autocomplete feature.

File this information away for later. It can be helpful for identifying guest blogging opportunities, expert quote contributions, and influencer collaborations.

2. Keyword Research Tools

Keyword research tools can be a great source of related content.

But don’t confuse related content with related keywords.

They’re connected but different:

• Related keywords are terms that are closely related to your main keyword (like “gaming headset” and “best gaming headset”)
• Related content covers adjacent topics your audience cares about (like “ergonomic chairs” or “gaming glasses”) that expand your site’s topical and overall authority

For this example, I’ll be using Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Note: A free Semrush account gives you 10 searches in Keyword Magic Tool per day. Or you can use this link to access a 14-day trial on a Semrush Pro subscription.

Here’s how it works:

Enter your main topic (like “gaming”) into the search bar and click “Search.”

The tool will likely return thousands of keyword suggestions.

Skip the close matches (aka avoid duplicate content issues).

Look for topics you haven’t covered in the past instead.

For example, if you have a gaming site, you might expand into platform-specific topics like “amazon prime gaming.”

Or you might review “gaming earbuds” or “gaming microphones.”

View each term’s keyword metrics to help you prioritize which related topics to target first.

• Search volume: How many people search for this topic each month.
• Search intent: What people actually want when they search (information, products, comparisons, etc.)
• Keyword difficulty: How hard it will be to rank for this topic based on competition

Pick topics you can actually rank for, not just popular ones.

Aim to strike a balance between decent search volume and low-to-moderate difficulty.

Next, select “Questions” on the menu.m

This reveals your audience’s pain points, motivations, and knowledge gaps.

These topics are perfect for tutorial content, how-to guides, and comprehensive resource articles.

For gaming, you might find questions like:

• How to fix internet lag while gaming
• How to customize gaming controller
• How to build a gaming PC on a budget
• How to reduce eye strain from gaming

Notice how the questions above span different aspects of gaming? Like technical troubleshooting and health concerns?

This is one of the major benefits of related content — it lets you create content for your audience’s entire journey.

Which will bring in more website traffic and conversions. And help establish you as an authoritative voice in your industry.

3. Artificial Intelligence

Don’t have time for hours of brainstorming or research?

AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini have gotten pretty good at finding related content ideas.

They’re especially helpful for surfacing niche topics and unexpected content angles in seconds.

Here’s a simple prompt to try:

Generate 20 related topics and questions about [your primary topic] that would interest [your target audience].

Get specific for the best results.

For example:

Generate 20 related topics and questions about gaming that would interest my target audience of gamers aged 18 to 45.

When I tested this prompt with Claude, it returned some interesting related topics.

Including ones that were much more niche than what some of the other tools found.

Like “game soundtrack analysis” and “the evolution of open-world games.”

Use follow-up prompts to dig deeper.

For example:

• What are 10 controversial topics in [your niche] that generate strong opinions?
• What seasonal or trending topics should I cover in [your industry] this year?
• What beginner mistakes do people make in [your niche] that I could address?

Experiment with different prompts until you find the ones that work best for your niche.

4. Specialized Content Tools

There are many content tools designed to help you cover all aspects of a niche.

Including Answer the Public, a search listening tool.

Enter your topic and select the desired platform: Google, Amazon, TikTok, Bing, YouTube, or Instagram.

Now, you’ll see a map of related questions organized by question type.

(Why, who, where, can, are, how, etc.)

The visual format makes it easy to spot question patterns and content themes you haven’t covered.

For example, these gaming questions would be easy to turn into helpful content.

• Will gaming be in the Olympics?
• Which gaming app pays the most?
• Can gaming cause carpal tunnel?
• Are gaming chairs good for office work?

Each of these represents a potential blog post, video, or social media series that could attract your target audience.

Semrush’s Topic Research is another helpful tool for comprehensively covering any niche.

Here’s how to use it:

Enter your topic and click “Get content ideas.”

The tool will return tons of related subtopics displayed as cards.

Click any card to see questions people ask about that specific topic. Along with popular headlines for inspiration.

For example, I clicked on “gaming mouse” and found some interesting related ideas.

Including “how do you choose a gaming mouse” and “what is the best budget gaming mouse under $10?”

Next, select “Trending subtopics first” on the menu.

This will show you what’s currently popular in your niche.

You can also sort the topic cards by Volume, Difficulty, and Topic Efficiency.

This helps you prioritize which topics to tackle first.

Now, select “Mind Map” on the menu to visualize and plan content clusters.

It’s an easy way to spot internal linking opportunities, too.

Further reading: Pillar Pages: How to Create One + Examples

5. Google Search Console Data

Sometimes, the best related content ideas are already hiding in your own data.

Google Search Console reveals the queries people use to find your site.

(Including ones you’re not actively targeting with content.)

Here’s how to find these queries:

Open Google Search Console and follow this path:

“Performance” > “Search Results.”

Ensure “Queries” is selected on the menu and look through the results.

Focus on these specific types of queries:

• Terms that get impressions and clicks, but you haven’t targeted before. These reveal related audience interests.
• Searches with low monthly impressions. These often represent emerging topics or highly specific needs that can grow over time.
• Question-based queries. Look for any new questions showing up in your data that you could answer with dedicated content.

This is a smart approach for a couple of reasons.

For one, you might discover related topics your audience is already searching for.

Like “game releases” and “indie games.”

But it can also reveal valuable business opportunities.

For example, if people search “gamertag generator,” you could create a free tool to capture that traffic. (And then convert them with a lead magnet.)

This turns a simple related query into a revenue stream.

6. Competitor Analysis

Your competitors have already done the hard work of testing what related content performs in your niche.

Why not learn from their successes?

While you can look through your competitors’ sites manually, Semrush’s Organic Research tool automates the process.

Here’s how to use it.

Add the URL of one of your competitors and click “Search.”

Toggle to “Topics” on the menu. This will show you your competitors’ highest-performing topics.

Take a look at the list and see what related topics you can target on your own site.

For example, you might discover that “gaming news” and “game release calendars” are major traffic drivers for competing gaming sites.

If they’re a direct competitor, it’s likely these topics would work well for you, too.

The goal isn’t to copy what competitors are doing.

It’s to understand what topics resonate with your shared audience. And find related content gaps you can fill with your unique perspective and expertise.

7. Forums and Niche Communities

Want to know what your audience really cares about? Go right to the source.

They’re already discussing their biggest challenges, interests, and questions in online communities.

You just need to know where to look.

Start by identifying where your audience gathers online:

• Reddit: Subreddits for your niche and related topics
• Facebook groups: Industry-specific groups and interest communities
• Discord servers: Real-time conversations in niche communities
• Industry forums: Established forums in your space
• Public Slack communities: Professional groups and interest-based channels

Look for active communities where people have legit discussions about problems and interests.

Avoid forums that are overly promotional or full of link spam.

Once you’ve found the right communities, don’t just pop in once. Become a regular observer.

Spend time understanding the community dynamics and recurring themes.

As you go through posts, pay attention to:

• Topics that generate the most engagement
• Questions that appear repeatedly
• Pain points mentioned in multiple threads
• Controversies that spark discussion

For a gaming site, you might monitor communities like:

• Reddit’s r/gaming for general gaming discussions
• Reddit’s r/buildapc for hardware-related conversations
• Discord servers for real-time discussions about trending games and player preferences

For example, if you notice multiple threads about the same topic, you’ve found a perfect related content opportunity.

Further reading: SEO Content: How to Create Content That Ranks

Find Related Content That Maximizes Your Visibility

Covering a topic thoroughly is now more important than ever.

It’s always helped with SEO and topical authority. But AI search engines prioritize sources that demonstrate deep expertise across related topics.

Potentially giving you a huge bump in visibility on traditional and LLM search engines.

If you haven’t already, download our free Related Content Planner to keep track of your ideas.

Then, turn the related topics you found into comprehensive content clusters that work together to dominate your niche.

For step-by-step guidance, read our guide to creating topic clusters that improve your website’s authority and deliver a better reader experience.

The post 7 Ways to Find Related Content (+ Free Topic Planner) appeared first on Backlinko.

2025-06-23 22:46:45

You need to build out a new arm of your website. Do you use a subdomain or a subdirectory?

It’s an often painful decision that can impact your SEO performance and how people interact with your brand.

Despite many SEOs showing bias toward one approach or the other, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

But I’m about to help you make the best decision for your specific situation.

In this guide, you’ll get:

• A simple decision-making LLM prompt to get a recommendation tailored to your business
• An overview of how subdomains and subdirectories work (and why it matters) with real-world examples
• Advice from SEO experts to help you make the smartest call for your site

Let’s get into it — starting with a subdirectory vs. subdomain comparison and what each one means for your site.

Useful resource: Check out our decision-making LLM prompt that uses AI-powered insights to help you decide between subdomains vs. subdirectories for your site.

What Is a Subdomain?

A subdomain is an extension of your main domain.

Added as a prefix to your website URL, a subdomain becomes a separate property within your domain.

So, if your main domain is example.com, a subdomain for your blog would be blog.example.com.

For example, Velasca, an apparel brand, uses subdomains for different markets:

• eu.velasca.com for Europe
• row.velasca.com for the rest of the world
• uk.velasca.com for the United Kingdom

Subdomains offer a lot of flexibility, but they also come with trade-offs.

This is especially true when it comes to SEO and technical setup.

Here’s a quick look at the main pros and cons:

What Is a Subdirectory?

A subdirectory is a subfolder within your main website that categorizes different pages on your site into folders within the main domain.

A subdirectory for your blog would be example.com/blog.

For example, Backlinko uses subdirectories to organize different resources on its website:

• backlinko.com/tools/keyword to organize all tools
• backlinko.com/templates/marketing to consolidate marketing templates
• backlinko.com/hub/seo to create topic-based resource hubs

Subdirectories are a popular choice for SEO-focused sites because they consolidate authority under one domain.

But they’re not always the right fit, depending on your needs.

How Subdirectories and Subdomains Affect SEO

Subdomains and subdirectories can lead to major differences in how your site performs in search.

In this section, I’ll explain how these structures can help or harm your SEO efforts.

Link Equity and Website Authority

A big difference between these two URL structures is how they accumulate and distribute authority.

In a subdirectory, everything exists under one roof.

When a page earns a backlink, the link equity flows directly into your main domain.

In short: All the pages share the same website authority, building a stronger foundation for your website.

Subdomains work differently.

They don’t automatically pass ranking power to each other.

Why?

Because each subdomain is treated as a separate entity.

This means you have to build link equity for each subdomain individually, which can take a long time.

For example, Jakub Rudnik, managing director of SEO at GrowthX AI, saw firsthand how long it takes for Google to trust a new subdomain — even for a high-authority site.

At G2.com, we moved all of our blog content to a new learn.g2.com subdomain. It took months for Google to build trust in that subdomain despite it being on a DR 88 website that was already generating 750k+ traffic each month.

After the first 3-4 months, fresh backlinks, and a ton of new content sending Google signals, we picked up traction quickly. But the delay was significant. In my experience, that would not have been the same timeline if we had moved to a new subfolder.

Ranking Potential

For many SEOs and business owners, the decision boils down to which URL structure delivers better rankings.

Subdirectories have the advantage when it comes to search visibility.

But subdomains can still succeed with the right investment.

Leigh McKenzie, head of organic growth at Backlinko, says:

Subdirectories tend to rank faster because they inherit domain authority more directly. Subdomains can perform just as well over time. But they’re often treated by Google like a separate site, meaning they need to build authority from scratch. If speed to impact matters, subdirectories usually win.

Search Performance Analytics

Using subdomains means you have to set up separate properties in Google Search Console (GSC).

The result: Siloed data.

That said, this makes sense if you want to collect separate insights for each subdomain.

For instance, let’s say you have localized subdomains targeting different countries.

Separate analytics will help you understand market-specific performance and areas of improvement.

With subfolders, all your data lives in one property.

So, you have a 360-degree view of your website and can generate consolidated reports.

International SEO Considerations

For international SEO, the choice between subdomains and subdirectories carries more weight.

With proper hreflang implementation, subdirectories can provide strong geotargeting signals.

They also create a seamless user experience.

Subdomains are better for brands that need separate sites for different languages or markets.

This allows for more customization and flexibility.

Edward Bate, seasoned SEO consultant, offers a word of advice here:

While your website might perform really well in one market, simply creating another subdomain or subfolder for another market doesn’t guarantee ranking success. You’ll need locally relevant backlinks, brand awareness, and search demand in that market to secure better rankings.

Subdomains vs. Subdirectories: 5 Critical Factors to Consider

The choice between subdirectories and subdomains isn’t limited to SEO performance.

It impacts your entire business.

Assess these critical factors to make an informed decision.

Pro tip: As you go through these factors, fill out our decision-making LLM prompt. When you’re finished, drop the prompt in the AI assistant of your choice to get a recommendation tailored to your business.

1. Business Objectives

Your URL structure should align with your business setup and long-term growth plans.

When creating or updating your website, ask yourself:

• Is this your core offering or a separate initiative?
• Do you want this product/service to have its own identity in the future?
• How closely should this offering or service be aligned with your main brand?

The choice ultimately comes down to how you want to position your brand.

Want to build content for your core business offering? Go with a subdirectory.

On the other hand, a subdomain is the better choice for creating distinct, separate content.

(While still associating it with your parent brand.)

2. Technical Setup

Your technical resources (CMS, server configuration, and SEO tools) also play into this decision.

Choose a structure that’s the most compatible with your technical stack.

The ideal structure should also support your long-term scalability needs.

• Subdirectories work well when your CMS can efficiently handle multiple subfolders and pages within the primary domain
• Subdomains are a good choice when you want technical flexibility for different sections of your business

You can operate each property as technically separate entities with different CMSs, servers, and more.

Further reading: Technical SEO: The Ultimate Guide

3. Analytics and Tracking

Assess which URL structure best serves your data and reporting needs.

Consider questions like:

• Does a unified reporting setup serve your decision-making process?
• Do you want to analyze performance separately for different sections of your site?

Subdirectories work best when you need unified data and an easier process for tracking user journeys across the site.

But subdomains are helpful if you want separate analytics for each site.

Useful resource: SEO Analytics: The “I Can’t Believe It’s This Easy” Guide

4. Team Structure

The team responsible for building and maintaining your URL structure (internal or external) has a big role to play.

So, your setup should help them manage the website without any disruptions and errors.

Have a single team managing all the content? Subdirectories give you a better setup to centralize content management and maintain uniformity.

In contrast, subdomains are ideal if you work with many departments or external agencies, each with their own workflows.

Pro tip: When working with external vendors, subdomains make it easier to sandbox their work without affecting your main site’s performance or CMS structure.

5. Scalability

Your URL structure should accommodate future growth plans.

Including:

• Content volume
• Website traffic
• Functionality
• Evolving business needs

Forecast your expected growth over the next two to three years.

Then, make a decision.

Go for subdirectories if your plan is to expand your setup and scale content within your existing business model.

Consider subdomains if you want to launch different offerings in the future.

And need more flexibility to scale each product/service.

With these decision factors in mind, let’s look at a few reasons when you should choose one structure over the other.

Common Reasons to Use Subdomains

Learning toward subdomains?

Here are a few use cases when they make the most sense.

International Websites

Global brands need localized content customized to different languages, cultures, and more.

Consider MyProtein as an example.

The brand uses localized subdomains to deliver customized user experiences.

For example, its website copy is translated into German, Arabic, English, and other languages.

The brand also follows a targeted SEO strategy for each subdomain, focusing on buyer needs and behavior in each market.

Below you can see the variations in keywords for MyProtein’s U.S. and Australian subdomains.

Each subdomain acts like its own site.

This lets MyProtein optimize each domain for different languages and search habits without diluting its core brand.

Branded Properties

Many brands offer a suite of products, services, content, and more.

In a best-case scenario, different teams will manage each subdomain. This makes it easier to build authority and boost organic traffic for each property.

Intuit is a great example of this.

The global fintech company uses subdomains to host its two main products:

• turbotax.intuit.com: Focused on tax filing services for both individuals and businesses in the United States
• quickbooks.intuit.com: Dedicated to accounting, payroll, and team management services

Both subdomains target different topics (tax filing vs. accounting), but remain connected to the parent brand.

Separate subdomains make it easy to manage both products without diluting brand authority.

Varied Technical Setups

Do different parts of your website run on different technology stacks?

Subdomains offer a clean separation.

Let’s consider Adobe as an example.

The company uses multiple domains to differentiate and organize its business product, help center, and stock library.

Each subdomain stands on its own with its unique style, functionality, and target audience.

Considering this use case?

Pay attention to the “Resources” and “Scalability” sections in our decision-making framework.

Common Reasons to Use Subdirectories

Thinking subdirectories might be the way to go?

Here are some key scenarios when this structure makes the most sense.

Simple Website Structure

Most website owners create subfolders to organize different types of content under a root domain.

This clear structure improves navigation and delivers a flawless user experience.

For example, here’s how VEED, a video creation platform, uses subdirectories to organize content on its site:

• veed.io/ai: Landing pages for all AI-related features
• veed.io/tools: All the company’s tools
• veed.io/use-cases: Pages showing some of VEED’s popular use cases
• veed.io/alternatives: Pages comparing VEED to its competitors

Organizing your website with these folders means visitors can easily navigate your site without getting stuck.

Plus, the consolidated website authority builds better search visibility for all the pages.

Theme-Based Content Hubs

Use subdirectories to group thematically related content and put them in one place.

This will help in building topical authority for your root domain and simplify internal linking.

At Backlinko, we use this structure for our resource hubs, including SEO and YouTube.

Each hub is a subdirectory that houses multiple pages with relevant insights on a topic.

This makes it easier for our audience to get a thorough understanding of a topic without having to search.

Ecommerce Product Categories

Subdirectories create a logical structure for organizing product categories and subcategories on an ecommerce site.

Use folders to:

• Create intuitive URL structures that mirror your navigation
• Preserve domain authority across all product pages
• Simplify monitoring category-wise analytics

REI, a retail brand, uses this approach well.

You’ll find subfolders for all its primary and secondary product categories, such as:

• rei.com/c/mens-clothing
• rei.com/c/womens-clothing
• rei.com/c/camping-and-hiking

This builds a logical hierarchy for both shoppers and search engine crawlers.

Subdirectory vs. Subdomain: What’s the Best Fit for Your Needs?

Subdirectories work best for most businesses. They offer consolidated authority, easier content management, and simplified analytics.

On the flip side, subdomains make sense if you’re building international sites or want to differentiate branded assets.

Next step: Use our decision-making framework to make the right call for your business.

The post Subdomain vs Subdirectory: Which Is Better for SEO? appeared first on Backlinko.

2025-06-23 22:42:20

Proving the value of your SEO efforts can seem like an uphill battle.

What’s the cheat code to getting buy-in from stakeholders?

Tracking the right SEO KPIs. Not just the default ones in your dashboards. But the right metrics.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to choose and monitor SEO KPIs that actually mean something. I’ll show you:

• What makes an SEO metric a true KPI (and what doesn’t)
• Which SEO KPIs matter most and why
• Which emerging KPIs to track in the era of AI Overviews and LLM search
• How to select KPIs based on your goals and maturity stage

What Are SEO KPIs? (And What They’re Not)

SEO KPIs are key performance indicators that tie your optimization efforts directly to business outcomes. They measure whether or not your SEO strategy is achieving its overall purpose.

On the other hand, SEO metrics are more broad. They include all the available data you could monitor in SEO tools and analytics platforms.

But here’s the thing:

Just because you can measure a bunch of different metrics doesn’t mean you should treat them all as KPIs.

Why You Need to Measure the Right SEO KPIs

Measuring your SEO KPIs over time is how you prove your SEO work is moving the business in the right direction.

Tracking the right KPIs can help you:

• Uncover blockers early: If conversions are dipping even though your traffic is increasing, you may have a content or UX issue.
• Make better decisions: Knowing which actions moved the needle (and when) helps you repeat tactics that work and avoid the ones that don’t.
• Discover much-needed pivots: Monitoring KPI-linked performance data makes it easier to adjust content, targeting, and resource investment.

Let’s take a look at the KPIs that most effectively show how SEO is moving the business forward.

SEO KPIs That Prove You’re Doing Your Job

Which KPIs you choose to measure should reflect where your business is going and what SEO is expected to deliver along the way.

So, not all of the KPIs below are your KPIs. They depend on your specific business model, SEO maturity, and desired outcomes.

With that in mind, we created a free SEO KPI planner to help you build your own custom SEO KPI system.

This worksheet is a brainstorming tool. It will help you connect your SEO actions to the KPIs you need to monitor to hit your business goals.

It’ll also help you avoid common mistakes like:

• Overreporting vanity metrics (e.g., rankings without conversion context)
• Ignoring conversions altogether
• Treating all SEO metrics as your SEO KPIs
• Failing to communicate SEO gains in terms the business cares about

Side note: Your KPIs might shift over time depending on whether you’re building brand awareness, driving conversions, or trying to improve user experience and engagement on the page. Use this planner to keep track of things as your business goals evolve.

Conversion and Revenue KPIs

You should track conversion or revenue-related KPIs no matter what stage of SEO investment you’re in.

Why?

Because these are the metrics most clearly tied to your larger goals of lead generation and revenue impact. In other words: goals that drive business growth.

How to Track These KPIs

You’ll need to configure a tool like Google Analytics to track these types of SEO metrics based on your unique needs or goals.

For example, using the Attribution paths report to track organic-assisted conversions:

And the Key events feature to track conversions and signups:

A Note on Tying SEO KPIs to Revenue

There’s some debate in the SEO community about KPIs that tie into business revenue.

I’ve had this discussion with marketing leaders many times:

Should you consider revenue-based SEO KPIs when determining if SEO efforts are successful?

Just take a quick afternoon stroll in the r/SEO subreddit, and you’ll encounter wildly different opinions regarding the tie between revenue and SEO performance.

Some will tell you that revenue-based KPIs are the only ones that matter:

Others will tell you that all that matters is where you rank:

They’ll argue that KPIs based on revenue impact are unfair because an SEO team doesn’t control sales team outcomes, brand messaging, product improvements, or conversion rate optimization (CRO).

But:

You’re performing SEO to help the business gain online visibility and drive growth. As long as your KPIs are linked to these broad goals, they’re worth tracking.

Visibility and Awareness KPIs

SEO KPIs related to visibility and awareness are worth tracking if you’re trying to grow a brand.

But we’d argue they’re now essential for all brands to track — no matter the growth stage.

Why?

Because AI Overviews and other AI tools have changed the game. It’s no longer just about ranking at the top of Google. Being included in AI responses is going to become an increasingly important factor in your SEO success.

For example, here’s the SERP for “what’s the best crm”:

Notice how the “top” result is an AI Overview that immediately tells the user a few examples of CRMs.

Salesforce and HubSpot would never rank top for such a competitive term on their own. Appearing in an AI Overview gives them a new way to instantly appear as the right choice for a user searching for this term.

How do you increase your chances of appearing in these responses?

By boosting your brand visibility (among other things).

The specifics of how you can do that are a topic for another article. For now, here are some important SEO KPIs you can use to gauge your overall brand visibility:

How to Track These KPIs

You can use Google Search Console to monitor organic impressions:

You can also use it to track branded search visibility:

To monitor SERP feature ownership, you can use Semrush’s Position Tracking tool. It shows you which SERP features you appear in for your custom-tracked keywords.

Note: A free Semrush account lets you track up to 10 keywords. Or you can use this link to access a 14-day trial on a Semrush Pro subscription.

Who Should Use These KPIs?

Visibility and awareness KPIs usually include metrics that measure larger goals of brand visibility and authority building. While they’re worth tracking for all brands, they’re particularly important for:

• Early-stage and growth-stage orgs that prioritize brand authority investment
• A small business that just started investing in SEO and marketing
• Established sites that have seen a noticeable decline in branded search

Engagement and Behavior KPIs

You’ll want to monitor engagement and behavior KPIs once you’re past the initial investment in SEO and into stages of SEO growth or maturity. You’re getting decent traffic, and now you want to optimize the site to better engage that traffic.

How to Track These KPIs

GA4 has a lot of built-in ways to monitor KPIs related to user behavior and engagement:

But you’ll need to use a specialized tool like Hotjar to monitor more granular page engagement:

Who Should Use These KPIs?

Your team should measure engagement and behavior KPIs to monitor progress toward goals related to lead generation, revenue impact, and authority building.

Here are a few example scenarios where you’d want to measure these KPIs:

• SEO teams that focus on driving up on-page engagement
• Businesses that need to determine which content topics are resonating with their audience
• Organizations that have built a content library but are noticing underperformance
• Any team facing low conversion rates with no obvious cause

Authority and Ranking Power KPIs

If topical authority or share of voice drives your strategy, track these ranking-power KPIs:

How to Track These KPIs

You’ll generally need more specialized tools to track these KPIs. Semrush’s Backlink Analytics shows lots of metrics about your site’s authority.

These include total numbers and trends of backlinks and referring domains:

Rank tracking tools like Semrush’s Position Tracking can help you work out the percentage of your key content that ranks in target positions. And you can even get at-a-glance data about your share of voice:

Finally, use Google Search Console to track your average ranking positions at the page or query level:

Who Should Use These KPIs?

Authority and ranking power KPIs are important for teams working toward brand visibility and authority building goals. Examples include:

• Organizations that prioritize backlink and digital PR investment
• Teams that are investing in growing their topical authority or increased topic ownership
• Established sites that have organic visibility but want to outpace competitors

Emerging SEO KPIs for the AI Era

So much has changed in SEO since the introduction of AI and LLM-based chat and search functions.

And with all this change comes the need to adjust how we monitor SEO success for our stakeholders, teams, and clients.

If you want to show up at key AI-powered search moments, start tracking these new KPIs for AI mentions and visibility:

How to Track These KPIs

Tracking AI mentions is still a bit tricky at the moment. You can see some referral traffic from sites like ChatGPT in your Google Analytics account:

But monitoring your brand’s inclusion in AI Overviews might be easier than you think.

Using Semrush’s Position Tracking tool, you can filter keywords by those for which you rank in the AI Overview:

How to Choose the Right SEO KPIs for Your Business

Now that you know what SEO KPIs you could track, you need to connect the dots between your business goals and the SEO metrics that matter most.

Use these four approaches (alone or combined) to zero in on the KPIs that matter most to your team.

1. Align KPIs to Your Business Model

The way your business operates has a direct impact on which metrics signal success.

For example, a local HVAC service provider and a global SaaS company won’t measure SEO wins the same way.

Here are a few examples of how you might prioritize SEO KPIs based on different business models:

• Small ecommerce site: Focus on revenue per organic visit, product page visibility in SERPs, and even top-of-the-funnel indicators like newsletter opt-ins or coupon searches.
• Startup SaaS platform: Track branded search growth, demo or free trial signups from organic visits, and the performance of long-tail, solution-focused keywords.
• Service-based businesses: Monitor metrics tied to future conversions, like free consultation forms, quote requests, and engagement indicators like page views per session.
• Local businesses: Prioritize local visibility KPIs like Map Pack presence, Google reviews, and organic visits from users in your service regions.

Pro-tip: There is no one-size-fits-all SEO KPI list. Determine the goals that are important to your clients, stakeholders, marketing leadership, and adjoining teams, and then decide on the ones you’ll monitor over time.

2. Map Your Audience’s Search Journey

To fuel real growth, map out how your audience moves through their search-to-buy journey. Then, focus on the KPIs that matter most to monitoring the goals you want to achieve.

Think through the following questions:

• Where does your audience search at different points of the journey? Are they using Google, TikTok, Instagram, ChatGPT?
• How does your target audience search for your product or service? Are they typing in problem-based queries or searching by brand?
• Are they using Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs) to make decisions, or do they largely ignore them?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you can map out where your brand needs to be seen by your target audience.

Let’s say you have a complex product and your audience has a long sales journey, and they do a lot of research before they make their final decision via several channels.

Impressions across different search platforms, branded search increases, and on-page engagement would be better KPIs than immediate organic conversions or form opt-ins.

Alternatively, imagine your audience is high-intent, they don’t use LLMs as part of their search journey, and your site focuses on providing only bottom-of-funnel content. In this case, you’d want to focus on CTR and organic conversion metrics.

3. Define Strategic Business Outcomes

Your KPIs should reflect business outcomes you expect your strategy to influence.

I like to think of this in four major types of strategic SEO goals:

1. Brand visibility
2. Lead generation
3. Revenue impact
4. Authority building

4. Match KPIs to Your Site’s SEO Maturity

You’ll also need to consider your KPIs based on your site’s SEO maturity stage.

If you’re in the early stage of SEO investment, you’ll want to zero in on:

• Content production goals: Report on the number of new blog posts or landing pages published per month.
• Keyword rankings: Track how many of your target keywords break into the top 20 search results.
• Visibility growth: Monitor the overall increase in impressions and clicks.

But if you’re further along in your SEO strategy?

Shift your focus from visibility to impact and trust.

If you’re in the advanced stages of SEO investment, rather than just asking “What’s improving?” ask yourself things like:

1. How many pages rank in the top 10 from our entire content library?For example, if only 10% of your pages rank on page 1, you’ll want to monitor the topic clusters where you’re weakest and set a KPI to improve those over time.
2. Which pages or topics convert best and why?Let’s say you have a post that drives five demo signups per month, but another page in a different topic cluster drives zero. As you work to better optimize your pages, track demo signup growth by topic to gauge improvement.
3. Where do we see the least engagement?For example, if you’re experiencing high impressions but low average time on page in one particular topic cluster, your content may be missing the mark. Set a goal to optimize those pages and ensure you’re tracking on-page engagement as a KPI to determine which actions move the needle.

Track the Right SEO KPIs to Get Real Results

Now that you know what KPIs to track (and which metrics to ignore), you’ll want to do the following:

• Do a KPI audit: Are you tracking what really matters? Use the SEO KPIs planner to help you decide on the right ones for your business or client.
• Set a review cadence: Monitor your KPIs weekly, monthly, or quarterly based on your goals.
• Evolve as you grow: Your KPI mix should mature with your SEO strategy. You’ll measure different KPIs in year one of your SEO efforts vs. year three.

This will help you drive real SEO results. Results that grow your business and show your clients the impact of your SEO efforts.

Free resource: Remember to download our free SEO KPI planner to set yourself up for success.

The post The SEO KPIs That Actually Matter (And How to Track Them) appeared first on Backlinko.