Technology News and Industry Knowledge

Many articles detail the top-level costs of SEO .  The fee paid to an SEO consultant or agency is part of the cost of SEO. However, getting results also requires a business or brand to contribute time and effort. This article will look beyond the surface at the full spectrum of costs associated with doing SEO well, enabling you to approach 2025 well-prepared for SEO success. SEO costs: The basics Looking for a straightforward overview of SEO costs? Several studies have answered the question.  Exact costs vary depending on factors like business size, goals, industry, geographical location, and the overall complexity of the project. But, on average in 2025, we have: Hourly rates between $75 and $100. Project-based fees from $2,501 to $5,000. Monthly retainers ranging from $500 to $1,500. Local SEO ranges from $250 upwards, depending on competition and total locations. While some of these figures may seem high, most businesses are small, and their SEO costs are muc...

Marketers love a good line graph that goes up and to the right, but with overwhelming data, graphs alone can’t communicate complex data effectively. A good data display should do more than convey information – it should reveal insights, guide decisions, and prioritize actions.  In 2025, marketing data must evolve from reporting to storytelling, because effective charts don’t just show data; they help us understand what it means and what to do next. Why traditional reporting is no longer good enough One of the most common formats for SEO and PPC reporting is the classic, tried-and-true line graph. Even Google – in Search Console and Google Ads – defaults to using this format because it’s easy to understand at a glance.  But as any digital marketer knows, a drop in traffic simply isn’t useful unless we know: Which keyword or campaign dropped off. Why it happened. How we can fix it.  This kind of helpful information can’t be conveyed through a line.  Si...

WordPress offers two primary content types: Pages and Posts.  Choosing the right format for your content can improve your website’s organization, user experience, and even SEO .  But how do they differ – and when should you use one over the other? Let’s break it down. WordPress Pages Pages are best suited for static, “evergreen” content – information that doesn’t change frequently and forms the foundation of your website.  Typical examples include: Home page. About us . Services or products. Contact page. Key features: Not time-sensitive. Not included in RSS feeds. Do not use categories or tags by default (can be implemented with plugins). Can be organized into parent/child hierarchies for structured navigation. Ideal for top-level and permanent site architecture. Best use case: A business site or portfolio that emphasizes stable content and custom navigation. Dig deeper: 12 WordPress site settings that are critical to your SEO success WordPress ...

Link building is often 40% of an SEO budget – sometimes more in competitive industries. But here’s the problem: most companies aren’t calculating ROI before building links. That’s a fast way to burn through your budget without knowing what you’re getting in return. If you spend $5,000, $10,000, or even $50,000 a month on link building, you should know what kind of return to expect. This guide will show you how to calculate link building ROI before sending a single outreach email. We’ll cover how to assess a page’s revenue potential, estimate the cost of link building, and determine whether the investment pays off. You’ll know exactly how to forecast ROI, avoid overspending, and prioritize the pages worth investing in. But first, a little about me. I’m Travis Bliffen, CEO of Stellar SEO – an Inc. 5000-ranked link building agency . Since 2012, we’ve built 25,000+ backlinks in over 100 industries and helped clients drive millions in revenue through search traffic.  Afte...

Google Analytics just made it easier to get quick insights and more accurate attribution. The Reports snapshot section now includes pre-built templates focused on user behavior, sales and revenue, and marketing performance. That means less time building custom reports and more time actually using the data. Alongside the templates, the card library has been updated, making it easier to browse and add the visualizations that matter most to your business. These templates help users quickly surface relevant insights without needing to manually create or configure reports. On the attribution front . Google Analytics will now use aggregate identifiers to attribute traffic from paid Google Ads more accurately – even in scenarios where individual-level data is limited. Why we care. These updates streamline reporting and improve data accuracy, making it easier for marketers and analysts to measure what matters. Via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/532MNzw

Alphabet spent much of its Q1 2025 earnings call last night talking up the growth of AI Overviews, but dodged a question seeking clarity on how Google’s AI-generated answers impact click-through rates and conversion. Why we care. Did Google decide that last night wasn’t “the moment to go into details of click-through rate and conversion and so on” because they don’t want to state what is becoming clear to most of us? That click-through rates from AI Overviews are, simply, lower? Because, on the organic side, data shows that is certainly the case (see our Dig Deeper section, below). Many websites have seen traffic decline since AI Overviews launched last May. The exchange. An analyst from JPMorgan asked (in part): “Can you just tell us how we should think about the 1.5 billion AI Overviews users just in terms of breadth of rollout? And I know you’re saying monetization at approximately the same rate. But what does that mean in terms of click-through rates and conversion?” Here’...

By now, you’re almost certainly feeling the effects of the tariff teeter-totter by the U.S. that started earlier this month.  Economic instability seems to be a fact of life nowadays.  Large shifts in supply chains, along with stock market volatility, can be scary for advertisers.  It’s hard to contemplate spending money on advertising when uncertainty rules the day . Here’s how to optimize B2B PPC campaigns in an uncertain economy. How a tough economy impacts B2B businesses B2B advertisers, who are selling products and services to other businesses, can be especially impacted by market swings.  When it seems like every business is experiencing difficulties, it feels like your whole pipeline has dried up overnight. B2B advertisers might find that lead volume has dropped, or that velocity has slowed – leads take longer to close.  You might find that prospects are moving away from enterprise solutions and choosing smaller or mid-market solutions instead...

In the world of digital advertising, data is king. Yet, many PPC advertisers underutilize one of their most valuable sources of insights: their CRM data.  Whether you’re a B2B or B2C marketer, your CRM is a gold mine of customer information that can significantly enhance your paid media strategy.  To boost efficiency and scale, focus on the most impactful CRM data, such as: Job titles, industry, company size, and revenue for B2B. Age, gender, location, product preferences, and customer lifetime value (CLV) for B2C. This article tackles how to use CRM data to refine your targeting, craft compelling ad messaging, and create more relevant website content. Evaluate CRM data through clustering analysis First, you need to know how to organize your data to get the insights you’ll deploy in your paid campaigns. One powerful technique for organizing data is clustering analysis, which helps group similar customers based on shared characteristics.  For this, I prefer ...