Category: SEO

New research reveals why AI cites brands across many topics but recommends them only where they’ve built repeat topical authority.

SEO might feel like it’s under threat with the rise of AI. But the data tells a different story — SEO tools are still a must-have for marketers. In a HubSpot survey, 27% of marketers agreed that the biggest ROI channel of this year was the website, blog, and SEO.

AI SEO tools have matured quickly. What started as a novelty layer atop existing keyword tools has become a full-fledged category, helping improve everything from research to AI search visibility.

There are an abundance of SEO tools for small businesses. But, with limited resources and budget, small businesses can face an added challenge: finding the right tech stack that does everything they need to maintain a competitive edge in search, without breaking the bank.

AI SEO tools for small businesses are essential to keep up with marketing trends and stay competitive. Yet most small businesses are trying to figure out which AI tools are actually worth their time and which ones are necessary, especially when there is an abundance of tools promising to solve every problem imaginable. The good news is that AI is available in just about every tool.

B2B SaaS businesses achieve an average ROI of 702% from SEO, yet most teams are still using a SaaS SEO tool stack built for a different era of search.

The best enterprise rank-tracking software goes far beyond checking positions for a handful of keywords. At scale, it means monitoring millions of data points across devices, locations, and search features, including AI Overviews, featured snippets, and local packs. Then that intelligence is fed into dashboards, CRM workflows, and executive reports that drive action across large organizations.

Every content marketer seems to be asking the same question: Do semantic keywords still matter in SEO in 2026, especially now that AI engines influence traffic and buying decisions?

If you’re worried about what AI Overviews mean for SEO, let me remind you of the panic over featured snippets circa 2017. Remember how that turned out? At first, bloggers and SEOs bristled over these quick-glance summaries at the top of the Google SERPs, fearing they’d steal all our traffic. Eventually, however, we adapted and started optimizing content to get mentioned in them. I believe the same will be true of AI Overviews. I mean, it’s already happening: The internet is now filled with the latest advice on how to get cited in AI Overviews (including this article).

The first systematic analysis of Google’s invitation-only enhanced publisher profiles on Discover, based on monitoring 46,926 publishers.