Search Engine Journal

Here’s a process any of us can use to hit Google’s top results in 2026 – with proven SERP analysis, Ai insights, and real-world strategy.

Users will only click through if they sense there’s more value waiting — a perspective, analysis, or example they can’t get from the summary.

The ‘hreflang’ tag tells Google and others which audience each page is meant for. Here’s a good look at how to use this tag.

Can giving up control in PPC actually improve results? See why even skeptics are embracing Google and Bing’s Performance Max campaigns.

Do we want the search engines to start crawling all the different configurations of what is basically the same product? We do not.

Google drifted over to continuously scrolling results in the last couple of years, but has announced a U-turn back to clicking ‘Next…’

Keep monitoring how far browsers are going but there is no expectation that things will get out of hand, say the experts.

Anyone really looking to get stuck into SEO should consider reading The Technical SEO Audit Workbook by Search Engine Journal.

The key to a successful machine-managed campaign seems to be to ensure the goals are specific, measurable actions.

While there are a few professional tools out there, there are also some which don’t cost anything, ideal for casual SEO exercises.

I promise that not only will there be some here you haven’t heard about, there’ll probably be some you can take advantage of too.

Google PageSpeed Insights Reports: A Technical Guide on Search Engine Journal is a comprehensive explanation of the tool.

How to set up a useful customised report in GA4, and the principle by which any report can be created and saved for future access.

“A Complete Google Search Console Guide For SEO Pros” is an up-to-date overview which all website managers should make a note of.

Take a look at the ads showing for your top searches, and see if your competitors are going beyond just a simple title and description.

Website analytics may suggest that the majority of our visitors are on desktop computers, but we need to pay attention to the mobile version

Google Business Profiles is the place where most people will come across reviews, and we need to ensure they make us look good.

If you’re responsible for your company’s online marketing, there are an increasing number of fields in which you need to be competent.

It makes sense to think hard about what those words expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness mean.

It seems that Google now reckons that it can also work out a more helpful title for a page than the one specified by the site owner.

You should assume that the relationship between web page layout and search engine performance will not have come into a designer’s thinking.

If Google wants to prove its credentials, then it needs to provide us with more open and transparent data, not less, as is happening.

Some of these good ideas on landing page design show how to combine simple benefit messaging with a strong call to action.

If you’re really keen, keep a spreadsheet of test results so you can check over time that things aren’t getting worse.

Millions of web pages have meta descriptions which are unusable, so the meta description we provide may not be what’s used in search results.

Google uses the word ‘estimate’ regarding how highly a new site could be ranked, so it’s likely that a new site wouldn’t start from zero.

If a web page listing is elevated into the featured snippet position, Google no longer repeats the listing in the search results.

If you have an FAQs or how-to page (and you should), then getting it marked up in this way is probably a good idea.

Fail on one factor and it could make everything else irrelevant.

Your page may be ‘about’ blue widgets, but what’s the purpose of the page?

To me, the obvious time to do it is when visitors are at a research stage

One or more of these browser features and add-ons may prove fascinating

Our clients needn’t worry – we wouldn’t touch this with a barge pole.

Stop creating content around keywords and think about broad topics to cover in-depth

If you’re in that situation, it would make the ideal basis for an internal presentation

Keyword domains do not naturally rank faster than branded domains, or more highly

Google in 2017 made over 2,400 changes to its search algorithms

If Google is not indexing your content, it’s your fault

At 249 pages it’s not a coffee-break read