Gord Collins

SEO News: if you missed my post over the weekend, there’s been some massive fluctuations to data in GSC. Interestingly, this change may actually point to a broader underlying issue in our data that was originally thought to be related to the AI overviews rollout. Impressions going up but clicks not following. This has been the shared understanding of the SEO community based on recent studies, but we may be now discovering how flawed this methodology was in the first place. Google has been pushing back on these studies recently and the disabling of &num=100 may have motives outside of preventing competition from scraping their search results. The outcome? Well, it seems like desktop impressions in particular in GSC for many sites (due to desktop being the primary rank tracking surface) may have been heavily influenced from an influx in bots (due to new AI analytics entrants) scraping their search results. We can see this in the graph shown, where desktop impressions have dropped a whopping 200K impressions overnight for this site, forcing average position to move in a direction that is more close to mobile. So you’re telling me 200K daily impressions on desktop were from scraper tools!? That seems a bit ridiculous, but potentially not fully outlandish. There is likely more to this story. The reason for this is that by default, most users would have the top 10 search results shown in Search. An impression is only recorded in GSC if the result is loaded on that page and the link is within visible, but it doesn’t need to be scrolled into view. When the top 100 results are loaded, this will completely throw this dataset out of whack, causing the average position to increase dramatically. Many think that Google has made this change to prevent external services abusing their systems. While this may be true, I do wonder whether there are ulterior motives in putting “the great decoupling” theories to rest.

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SEO agency we're working with has an interesting theory: ultra-granular collections based on search intent. Example: Instead of just one collection called 'Mens Shirts' with filters, they want 'Mens Blue Shirts Size L' as its own collection. Following this approach, they're adding 150+ collections total. The logic: Collections rank better than product pages in Shopify, and exact-match URLs capture specific buyer intent. Potential wins: - Capturing high-intent searches (size + color + product type) - Collection authority vs individual products - More indexed pages targeting long-tail keywords The alternative would be one strong collection with robust filtering, but that assumes shoppers use filters (many don't). Anyone tried this granular approach? Genuinely curious about real-world results.

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The new SEO dream team: You, AI & Agents In 2026 the best SEOs won't be working harder. They’ll be deploying agents. We’re entering the era of SEO automation powered by AI agents not just tools that analyze, but agents that act. Instead of spending hours on:  → Keyword clustering  → Competitor gap analysis  → Internal link optimization  → Local SEO audits …you’ll have agents running it on autopilot. And it’s already happening. In my current setup, I’ve trained SEO agents to: → Find Reddit threads with search intent → Build keyword-based content outlines → Scrape Google Business Profiles for local optimizations and much more ... That’s 20+ hours/week saved! I’ve started mapping out the new SEO roles in this agent-powered world: SEO Agent Trainer ➡️ builds prompts and trains workflows SEO Automation Strategist ➡️ identifies repeatable tasks Local SEO Agent Developer ➡️ deploys geo-specific scrapers Content Agent Architect ➡️ automates outlines, briefs, and briefs 🙋 So, here’s my question: If you could automate one SEO task today — what would it be?

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After 15 years in corporate as an SEO, I’ve seen more SEOs fail from corporate politics than from Google updates. Agency folks especially struggle moving in-house because the game is different. My advice after all these years in enterprise SEO: - Take your PTO – I used to believe rankings would collapse if I stepped away. They do not. Burnout ruins judgment far faster than a week offline. - Document everything – Ideas, tests, dips/rises in traffic, even hallway conversations. A minor decision today can resurface months later as a major escalation. - Trust carefully – Collaboration is essential, but I learned not everyone who smiles in meetings is on my side. - Do not overstay – My biggest career growth came when I changed companies every 1-3 years. Staying too long rarely results in a promotion. - Respect cross-team partners – IT, analysts, engineers, and admins have saved me and my projects more times than I can count. They are allies, not support staff. - Detach emotionally – Leadership skepticism about SEO is rarely personal. It is a negotiation about resources and priorities, not a reflection of worth. - Listen first, talk later – In my early years I thought I had to prove I was the expert. Results earned credibility more than my words ever could. - Avoid gossip and SEO fights – I learned many many years ago that my time spent debating was wasting too much energy instead of influencing. Now I document my position and move on. - Guide through questions – Some of my biggest wins came when stakeholders work through to the solution themselves. Questions open doors. - Keep perspective – We are not saving lives. Most urgency is manufactured. SEO is a long game, and patience wins.

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Google can only rank pages it can index. (Here’s how to fix website indexing issues.) You publish a blog. It looks great. But it never gets traffic. Why? Because indexing issues often hide in plain sight: → Pages crawled but never indexed → Content blocked by robots.txt → Errors buried deep in Google Search Console All in One SEO (AIOSEO)’s Index Status Report brings all your indexing data into WordPress ↳ so you can stop guessing and start fixing. Here’s how it helps your content show up in search: 1. Get index visibility in one dashboard • Instantly see which pages are indexed or blocked • Filter by status and find issues in seconds 2. Understand what’s blocking your content • Noindex tags, robots.txt, crawl errors • Know the why behind every issue 3. Take action without switching tools • See crawl status, canonical tags, sitemap data • Inspect pages in Search Console right from WordPress 4. Track rich results eligibility • Check schema and snippet status • Optimize for higher CTR with structured data 5. Prioritize what matters most • Filter by post type, category, crawl behavior • Focus on high-impact content first You don’t need 3 different tools or hours of manual checks. Just update to AIOSEO Pro → Version 4.6.0+ And get all your indexing insights in one place. 📌 Try AIOSEO: https://aioseo.com/ 🔄 Repost to help others with SEO #AIOSEO #WordPressSEO #SEO #GoogleIndexing #SEOTools #DigitalMarketing #ContentMarketing #NewFeature #AIOSEOPartnership #SponsoredByAIOSEO

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Multiple H1 tags might be killing your site’s topical authority. We audited a data platform site recently. Nearly every page had 3-4 H1s. Google couldn't figure out the main topic. Neither could ChatGPT when parsing content for answers. The heading cleanup process: - Use one descriptive H1 per page that defines the main topic - Structure subtopics with consistent H2, H3 hierarchy - Write headings that mirror real search queries - Make each heading scannable and specific Result: 63% increase in engaged sessions because both users and AI could better understand the content structure. Clear hierarchy helps everyone - Google, ChatGPT, and your visitors. How many H1 tags does your homepage have right now?

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In the early days, I didn’t do the SEO. I sold it. Marketed it. Managed it. And then outsourced the execution to a trusted partner. Here’s why the middleman model works: → You focus on growth, not grunt work → Your partner brings systems, scale, and redundancy → One point of contact = less chaos → You scale faster without burning out Eventually, I became my supplier’s #1 client… Then I acquired them. And onboarded 20 people overnight. Don’t build everything from scratch. Leverage before you hire.

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Here's something you don't hear a lot about: 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. A big win for lots of B2B companies is breaking functional siloes (or what a client once called "random acts of marketing"): - Content pushing X SEO articles, white papers and case studies - Field marketing running events and webinars on unrelated topics, without integrated promotion and follow up - Product marketing creating product collateral and sales enablement tools that are not used or referenced by the content or demand gen teams. - Demand gen team focusing on capturing the demand that was NOT generated by the assets and activities produced by other teams ... If breaking the siloes seams like biting off more than you can chew, try this instead: 1. Create a simple shared spreadsheet "calendar" for the next quarter 2. Add all the initiatives by different teams planned for the next quarter 3. Bring the team together and look for small wins, activities that can be integrated, e.g. - Synchronize social content leading to an upcoming webinar with the webinar topic - Use relevant collateral and case studies in the webinar follow up - Repurpose clips from the webinar as social posts ... 4. Pick a single strategic topic or messaging that has a high priority 5. Plan a small-scoped integrated pilot (where each team contributes, and they leverage each other's activities) 6. Document and share all the small (and big) wins and lessons learned 7. Plan the next quarter together to do more of what worked, and fix what didn't 8. This time, synch with sales around their priorities and lessons learned from recent won and lost deals, and plan to pilot small-scoped customer research 9. Keep doubling down on what works and gradually piloting better integrated programs What you will soon realize is that: - With rare exceptions, most people want the same thing: to make an impact on the business and help the company grow - Most of them are struggling to get those results - The more you’re working together, and driving your decisions based on insights from sales and customer research, the more wins you’re creating

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If your SEO strategy still starts with “monthly blog posts,” it’s already behind. This used to be the go-to plan: write a few 600-word posts, sprinkle in some keywords, and call it a content strategy. But it’s 2025. Search engines and users aren’t rewarding check-the-box content anymore. Instead: • Google’s AI Overviews prioritize content that answers specific questions clearly and concisely. • ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others pull from sources that show authority, structure, and originality. • Pages that get cited often look nothing like traditional blog posts. Think: • Interactive tools • Product education hubs • Longform guides with data or expertise • Clustered content tied to search intent not just publishing calendars The format and function of content matter more than the frequency.

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Your best content ideas aren’t in Semrush or Ahrefs.  Those tools help you find keywords. They don’t tell you what your buyers actually care about. If you rely on them alone, you end up creating content in a vacuum. Your most useful ideas are much closer: In sales calls, support tickets, and internal docs. Every time a prospect asks: “Does this integrate with our CRM?” “Why is your pricing higher?” “How long until we see results?” That’s not just an objection. It’s a signal. A clue about what people are searching for, before they ever book a demo. This is where your best topics for: ✅ Bottom-of-the-funnel guides ✅ Comparison pages ✅ Thought leadership content …actually come from. Instead of guessing, start here: 👉 Review call transcripts 👉 Collect common questions 👉 Turn them into content that answers real problems That’s how you create content that ranks and moves buyers closer to a decision.

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Love seeing the SEO community debunking the "chunk optimisation" craze When the whole "write for LLM-friendly chunks" craze popped into, close to 4-5 months ago, I sent this message to our team. We already had our document of "SEO writing guidelines", 2 years already and our writers knew how to approach content that can be easily parsed and understood by machines. These guidelines are based on Semantic SEO, as taught by Koray Tugberk GUBUR (thank you for everything) and the Google Patents I've been reading. Please, stop stressing out over "chunk optimization". You don't know how each LLM or system chunks content. A few key things to focus on: - Fluff-free content that sticks to the topic. - Writing in active voice and in the style of semantic triples. - Answering each subtopic/heading with adequate information. Thanks to everyone in the SEO community that debunks such things. Such false info either spawns from people who just repeat what they ready without understanding or people trying to sell the next big thing. #seo

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I found a super useful GA4 template for monitoring AI traffic (thought you might like it). I recently spoke with the Sitechecker team, and they shared a GA4 template they built to track traffic from AI chat platforms. It’s a very useful tool for making sense of a traffic source that most setups currently treat as a black box. As AI-driven referrals are starting to grow: Platforms like ChatGPT and @Bing Chat drove over 1.13 billion website visits in June 2025, a 357% increase year-over-year (source from Similarweb). Google’s AI Overviews already appear on roughly 25% of U.S. searches. When they do, studies show organic click-through rates can fall by about 34%, with only ~8% of users clicking through. While this traffic is still small compared to search and social, it’s becoming noticeable. That’s where this template comes in. It provides three clear views: ➖ AI traffic compared to traditional channels like search and social. ➖ Performance broken down by individual AI platforms. ➖ A pivot table of landing pages that attract AI-driven visits. For marketers juggling multiple sites or client reports, this is a serious time-saver, and it surfaces patterns you’d probably miss otherwise. If you’d like to try the template, comment on “AI analytics” and Simon Bezhenov from the Sitechecker team will share it with you for free. Btw, if you love it, the Sitechecker team will add it as a separate report inside their platform.

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