October 26, 2021

Best SEO Blogs & Resources to Learn SEO

Andrew McDermott

Are you reading the right mix of SEO blogs? Learning Search Engine Optimization can feel overwhelming with the excessive amount of content available.

There are hundreds of blogs in the industry; let’s say you’re looking for a comprehensive view on search engine optimization. Where should you focus your attention first? With the right mix of education, you’ll develop a balanced view of search — a set of resources you can use to weather any storm, whether that’s algorithmic updates, penalties, or major changes.

SEO blogs can cover a range of topics, from the fundamental basics to advanced technical solutions. Some SEO blogs extend to content marketing and PR, while others stay incredibly focused.

Where should you start? A lot depends on where you are in your SEO journey.

Our list of blogs are broken down as follows:

The Official Google blog
SEO News and Content Publishers
SEO Tools blogs
SEO Agencies
freelance and independent SEOs

Here’s our rationale behind these categories. You start with Google because their word is law (unfortunately). Google’s blog gives you a complete overview of their expectations. Next, SEO publishers provide you with expert opinions from professionals throughout the industry. SEO providers, agencies, and freelancers provide you with actionable strategies and tactics you can use ASAP — it doesn’t work, they won’t use it.

Make sense? Let’s dive in.

The Office Google Product Blog

TITLE: Keyword

DESCRIPTION: The4 Google product blog is your official source for Google Search algorithm updates, and deep dives into how search works. What makes The Keyword so important is the fact that it’s official. Google chooses to engage with SEOs and marketers on various search issues, which means they’re willing to work with us.

FREQUENCY: 1 – 5 posts per mo.

SEO FOCUS: Search updates, algorithm changes, feature announcements

POST TYPES: Educational, how to, thought leadership, search as a product updates.

GREAT EXAMPLE POSTS:

The Official Google Developers Blog

TITLE: Google Search Central

Google Search Central (formerly Webmasters) | Web SEO Resources

DESCRIPTION: Google Search Central is your official source for Google Search algorithm updates, feature announcements, comprehensive information on search best practices, and core web vitals and page speed data. What makes Search Central so important is the fact that it’s official. Google chooses to engage with SEOs and marketers on various search issues, which means they’re willing to work with us.

FREQUENCY: 1 – 5 posts per mo.

SEO FOCUS: Search updates, page speed data, algorithm changes, feature announcements

POST TYPES: Technical updates, best practices, explanations about search features

GREAT EXAMPLE POSTS:

SEO News and Content Publishers

Search Engine Journal

TITLE: Search Engine Journal

DESCRIPTION: Search Engine Journal as a platform that produces “the latest search news, the best guides, and how-tos for the SEO and marketer community.”

FREQUENCY: Daily

SEO FOCUS: Technical, local, general, paid, organic, industry news,

POST TYPES: How to, strategy, tactics, news recap, algorithm updates, tips, what we’re reading,

GREAT EXAMPLE POSTS:

Search Engine Land

TITLE: Search Engine Land

DESCRIPTION: Founded by Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman, Search Engine Land (and its sister publication MarTech) is an industry-leading, trustworthy source for daily, must-read news and in-depth analysis about search engine technology.

Their content includes editorial news coverage from their in-house team and contributed content from subject matter experts across various digital market disciplines. Search Engine Land has been a consistent go-to for SEOs and marketers looking for industry-specific, must-read news and in-depth analysis of search engine technology. Search Engine Land is also a fantastic source for the latest product features and trends in search advertising at Google, Bing, and other niche platforms.

FREQUENCY: Daily

SEO FOCUS: Technical, local, general, paid, organic, industry news,

POST TYPES: How to, strategy, tactics, news recap, algorithm updates, tips, what we’re reading,

GREAT EXAMPLE POSTS:

Search Engine Round Table

TITLE: Search Engine Roundtable

DESCRIPTION: Search Engine Roundtable was founded by Barry Schwartz, who’s also the current editor. As the name suggests, it is really a roundtable; the site offers readers a well-rounded view of search engines and search engine marketing from five segments of the web population represented by senior members of the major SEO/SEM forums.

Barry is the defacto source in the SEO industry on ‘new’ SERP features. If Google is testing anything, Barry is covering it.

Search Engine Roundtable reports on the most popular threads being discussed in search engine marketing forums. They provide readers with a brief synopsis and a detailed breakdown of each thread discussed. They also will take a topic and expand on it or discuss details that weren’t found on a forum.

They curate content, gathering data and discussion points to provide readers with a one-stop-shop for all things SEM.

FREQUENCY: Daily

SEO FOCUS: General SEO/SEM

POST TYPES: news recap, algorithm updates, updates to SERP layouts

SEO Tools Blogs

Semrush

TITLE: Semrush

DESCRIPTION: SEMRush is a SaaS platform offering SEO, content marketing, competitor research, PPC, and social media marketing from a single platform. Their site is often used for keyword, competitive, and market research.

What’s incredible about Semrush is their proprietary data; they can share unique insights from their tools and resources, providing customers and their audience with actionable strategies, tactics, and tips. SEMRush breaks its content down into several subcategories:

SEO: This section includes keyword research, technical SEO, link building, local SEO, SEO 101, and advanced SEO.
Content marketing: This is a general hub for all things related to content development, optimization, and promotion.
Marketing: This topic area covers market research, brand management, YouTube, Amazon, Ecommerce, and Agency Central.
Paid Media: This section covers PPC, display advertising, and paid social.
Social Media
News

FREQUENCY: Several times a week

SEO FOCUS: SEO, PPC, content marketing, market research, advertising, social media

POST TYPES: How-to, analysis.

GREAT EXAMPLE POSTS:

Ahrefs

TITLE: Ahrefs

DESCRIPTION: Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO toolset that provides users with A-Z SEO support. With Ahrefs, customers can audit their site, do competitive and keyword research, explore content, and track rankings. Their toolset is relevant to SEO and PPC.

They offer 14 different tools to analyze on-site performance, run offsite keyword research (e.g., YouTube, Amazon, Bing, etc.), and explore rankings. This is important because these tools integrate closely with their blog content. Ahrefs specializes in detailed and comprehensive tutorials and case studies covering SEO and SEM-specific marketing.

FREQUENCY: 5 – 10 posts per mo.

SEO FOCUS: SEO, PPC, CRO, on-page, off-page optimization, general marketing,

POST TYPES: Tutorials, how-to, tutorials, case studies.

GREAT EXAMPLE POSTS:

Moz

TITLE: Moz

DESCRIPTION: Moz (originally SEOMoz) has the largest community of SEOs on the planet. They originally got their start as an agency before transitioning to SaaS. Today, they’ve developed a suite of tools that are designed to make SEO, link building, and inbound marketing easier. They’ve matured into an all-in-one platform covering all aspects of SEO.

Moz creates content via their in-house team, but they also rely on a network of knowledgeable contributors in their own right. There’s always a lively discussion in the comments and on their forums, and engagement is very high.

If you have a question for other SEOs and digital marketers, Moz is a great place to find the answer.

FREQUENCY: Daily/several times per week

SEO FOCUS: Organic/local SEO, research, link building, ROI, industry news, algorithm updates.

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials, education, informational, technical, thought leadership.

BEST EXAMPLE POSTS:

Yoast

TITLE: Yoast

DESCRIPTION: The Yoast blog is focused on SEO (they have two separate blogs that are oriented towards developers). Their SEO blogs are focused on beginner to intermediate skillsets. Their blog includes a list of courses, events, content, and media designed to help up-and-coming SEOs get up to speed.

FREQUENCY: Several times per week

SEO FOCUS: SEO, PPC, general marketing

POST TYPES: Informational, general, how-to.

BEST EXAMPLE POSTS:

ContentKing

TITLE: ContentKing

DESCRIPTION: ContentKing is a real-time SEO auditing and monitoring platform that monitors sites 24/7, enabling marketers to catch unexpected changes and issues before search engines and visitors do. Their content is primarily focused on industry-specific and tutorial content. These are macro-level posts discussing details like “The Future of SEO, Creating Hubs and Spokes, or Content Marketing in 2020 and Beyond. They do have an academy that’s chock full of great SEO content.

FREQUENCY: 3 – 4 posts per month.

SEO FOCUS: technical, industry news, analytics

POST TYPES: Industry news, tutorials, how-to.

GREAT EXAMPLE POSTS:

Searchmetrics

TITLE: Searchmetrics

DESCRIPTION: Searchmetrics is a SaaS company providing digital marketing analytics for SEOs and content professionals. They offer both software and services, enabling marketers to reach their SEO and Content Marketing goals.

Their content is focused on SEO, whether that’s on-page, off-page, or industry-specific updates. They provide SEOs with practical how-to content that’s designed to address a specific SEO or SEM problem. Their range isn’t comprehensive and is written with beginner to advanced SEOs in mind.

FREQUENCY:

SEO FOCUS: Analytics, SEO, on-page, off-page

POST TYPES: Industry news, tutorials, how-to, technical.

GREAT EXAMPLE POSTS:

SEO Agency Blogs

iPullRank

TITLE: iPullRank

DESCRIPTION: iPullRank is the content strategy and technical SEO solution behind the world’s biggest enterprise brands. They’re a content strategy, and enterprise SEO agency focused on technical and audience-focused SEO.

We use tried and true enterprise SEO strategies to achieve results, but we also use techniques that aren’t mainstream or common practice. We were the very first to highlight that Google could crawl JavaScript, with our groundwork forming the basis of JavaScript SEO.

This is helpful because it empowers readers, enabling them to solve never-before-seen problems.

FREQUENCY: Weekly

SEO FOCUS: Technical SEO, content engineering, content strategy and marketing, audience/market research,

POST TYPES: Industry recap, how-to, thought leadership.

GREAT EXAMPLE POSTS:

BuiltVisible

TITLE: BuiltVisible

DESCRIPTION: Builtvisible is a specialist SEO, content, PR, and data agency. Builtvisible is focused primarily on organic digital marketing, so it makes sense that their content is too. They create content that provides actionable tactics and inspiration. Their content ranges from macro topics like sustainability and diversity to micro topics like strategic link building and retroactive content analysis in Google Analytics.

FREQUENCY: 2 – 5 posts per month

SEO FOCUS: Technical SEO, Analytics, CRO, PR, general marketing

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials, industry news.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

GA4: your questions answered

SearchPilot

TITLE: Search Pilot

DESCRIPTION: SearchPilot is an A/B testing platform that’s specifically designed for SEO. Their platform enables companies to make any change they need to, to test and prove the SEO impact of their changes with SEO A/B testing, and to measure the impact on users and conversion rate at the same time with full-funnel testing.

Their content is test-heavy and based on the learning received from their own experiments. In fact, when you go to their blog, you’ll read this:

“A lot of our writing is based on lessons learned running SEO tests. If you’re new here, you might want to read more about how SEO A/B testing works before you get started.”

This is a phenomenal source for actionable, battle-tested tips that work and are based on hard data. The authors have a proven track record (it’s the team behind Distilled), and their focus is oriented towards A/B testing.

FREQUENCY: 1 post every 1-3 months

SEO FOCUS: Technical SEO, CRO, analytics, split testing, industry news

POST TYPES: Tutorials, how-to, informational, thought leadership.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

Edge SEO and SEO testing on the edge

Backlinko

TITLE: Backlinko

DESCRIPTION: Backlinko helps marketers achieve higher organic search rankings, more visibility, and more traffic. Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko, provides readers with incredibly actionable SEO, link building, and content marketing strategies that you can use to grow your business.

Dean’s content is meso and micro-content that’s designed for beginners, professional marketers, and entrepreneurs. Dean doesn’t post often, but his content is clear, comprehensive, and actionable when he does. Each of his content pieces is designed to solve a specific, micro, or meso-level SEO problem.

FREQUENCY: 1 post every 1 – 3 months

SEO FOCUS: Organic SEO, technical SEO, video SEO, off-page SEO, on-page SEO

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials, case studies.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

The Definitive Guide To SEO In 2021

Seer Interactive

TITLE: Seer Interactive

DESCRIPTION: Founded by Wil Reynolds, Seer Interactive is a digital marketing agency that uses data-informed decision making to drive tangible business outcomes; They use the same big data approach to address difficult-to-answer questions focusing on PPC, SEO, analytics, creative, and CRO services. Their content pieces are extremely difficult to replicate, dive deep into specific problems, and are loaded with data. For example, their post We analyzed 201k youtube channels and found 3,802 kids channels to negate, showing advertisers where they may be receiving irrelevant impressions across various kids channels.

FREQUENCY: Weekly

SEO FOCUS: PPC, SEO, analytics, creative, and CRO

POST TYPES: How-to, informational, tutorials.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

What is Google Discover & How Do You Optimize For It?

Amsive Digital

TITLE: Amsive Digital

DESCRIPTION: Amsive Digital is an omnichannel digital marketing agency. They offer macro to micro-level content that’s oriented around high-level issues like Facebook ad targeting updates or what it takes to rank in Google Discover.

FREQUENCY: ~ 1 post per week

SEO FOCUS: SEO, paid media, social, analytics

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials, informational, industry-specific.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

Core Algorithm Recovery Tactics: Content Consolidation

Onely

TITLE: Onely

DESCRIPTION: Onely is a technical SEO agency; they claim their agency is the most advanced technical SEO agency in the world. They focus on difficult-to-solve problems like JavaScript SEO, website migration and redesigns, link audits, core web vitals, and more.

Their content is highly specialized and very technical. Their micro-level content is a deep dive into specific technical SEO, advanced SEO, and more issues.

FREQUENCY: 1 – 2 posts per week

SEO FOCUS: Technical SEO, JavaScript SEO, website migration, indexation, site architecture, schema markup, and more.

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials, informational, analysis.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

The Ultimate Guide to Indexing SEO

Rise at Seven

TITLE: Rise at Seven

DESCRIPTION: Rise at Seven is an award-winning agency that focuses on search, creative and PR. They describe themselves as ” a global search-first creative agency that brought creative and SEO together for the first time.” They offer macro-level content that tackles specific international SEO issues, specifically focusing on SEO for foreign languages, country-specific optimization, and more.

FREQUENCY: 1 – 3 posts per week

SEO FOCUS: Technical SEO, content, PR, social media

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials, informational.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

How to do keyword research in a language you don’t speak

Siege Media

TITLE: Siege Media

DESCRIPTION: An SEO-focused, data-driven content marketing agency that’s focused on creating customer-focused content. Their content marketing blog is oriented around SEO and focused on actionable details their clients can use quickly. They focus on micro-level topics that focus on a single topic or idea, and they dive deep. Their content is comprehensive, precise, but reader-friendly.

FREQUENCY: 1 – 5 posts per month

SEO FOCUS: Content marketing, SEO, social media, link building, CRO

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

On-Page SEO: The Complete Guide for 2021 [Interactive]

Freelance and Independent SEOs

SEO by the Sea

TITLE: SEO by the Sea

DESCRIPTION:

Bill Slawski is a certified nerd when it comes to combing through technical documentation and patents put out by Google. Practicing SEO since 1996, he has arguably been there since the beginning and has a ton of historical evidence to back up his hypotheses about how the Google algorithm really works.

While statements from Google representatives can sound like concrete rejections of theories about the algorithm, documents describing what they have patents on can hint at the possibility of that not being the case. Many SEOs still struggle believing that click-through data doesn’t affect search results and posts like this are the reason why.

Though the technical level of the writing may not be suitable for absolute beginners, the concepts are extremely relevant to anyone wishing to better understand how Google Search works. Moreover, many publications simply cover Bill’s writing a few days after he publishes so you can skip the middleman by going straight to the source. Bill works at agency Go Fish Digital but publishes independently.

FREQUENCY: 1 – 2 per month.

SEO FOCUS: SEO patents, whitepapers, and research materials

POST TYPES: Informational, how-to, industry news.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

Term Frequency and Inverse Document Frequency at Google

Kevin Indig

TITLE: Kevin Indig

DESCRIPTION: Kevin Indig is the Director of SEO at Shopify. He leads SEO @ Shopify, writes the Growth Memo, and records the Tech Bound podcast. “I tell data stories.” Indig curates evergreen content, guides, and swipe files throughout his site. They’re hidden in the footer and on hub pages.

Indig’s content is actionable, utilitarian, micro-level stuff; the content on his site is designed to lead to a specific outcome or KPI.

FREQUENCY: 1 – 2 posts per week

SEO FOCUS: SEO growth, SEO trends, technical SEO

POST TYPES: Informational, industry trends.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

Search On 2021 – The rise of visual indexing

G-Squared Interactive

TITLE: GSQI

DESCRIPTION: G-Squared Interactive (GSQi) is the unique consultancy of Glenn Gabe; he offers advanced SEO services with a heavy focus on disaster recovery; he helps companies recover from large drops in organic search traffic. These penalties are often due to major algorithm updates, website redesigns, missing site migrations, manual actions, or other disruptions.

As you probably expect, his content is oriented around these search changes and disruptions. His content is deep, comprehensive, and focused on specific issues that affect rankings and performance. If you’re looking for content that addresses traffic or visibility drops due to a major Google update, this is a great resource to reference.

FREQUENCY: Weekly

SEO FOCUS: Technical SEO, recovery, algorithm updates, industry changes, news, organic SEO,

POST TYPES: How-to, informational, tutorials.

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

How To Use GSC’s Crawl Stats Reporting To Analyze and Troubleshoot Site Moves (Domain Name Changes and URL Migrations)

Brodie Clark

TITLE: Brodie Clark

DESCRIPTION: Brodie Clark is an SEO consultant in Australia. He’s been working in the SEO industry since 2013, and he has managed ongoing SEO campaigns for 100+ clients both locally and internationally. He only takes on clients that are a good fit for his consulting and services.

He’s an award-winning SEO, and he’s been consistently ranked as one of the top experts in his field.

His content is 100% focused on organic traffic, including structured data, Google tests, local SEO, and more. His blog offers meso and micro-content that’s concise yet actionable and helpful.

FREQUENCY: Once per quarter

SEO FOCUS: Organic SEO, technical SEO, industry news, search engine features

POST TYPES: Industry news, how-to, tutorials

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

What Google’s FAQ Schema Update Means For Your SEO Strategy

Aleyda Solis

TITLE: Aleyda Solis

DESCRIPTION: Aleyda Solis describes herself as “an SEO consultant, author, and speaker who helps brands worldwide to increase their organic search visibility, traffic, and conversions.” Solis’ content focuses on international SEO and all of the finer details that go with that. Her content is for intermediate to advanced SEOs; it’s data-rich and helpful, but it’s a bit much for beginners.

FREQUENCY: ~ 1 post per month

SEO FOCUS: Industry news, international SEO

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials, giveaways, analysis

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

Free SEO Recommendations Prioritization & Presentation Templates in Google Sheets & Slides

Robbie Richards

TITLE: Robbie Richards

DESCRIPTION: Robbie is the founder of robbierichards.com, creator of The SEO Playbook training program, and co-Founder of Virayo, a B2B search marketing agency. He creates conversion-oriented posts for SEOs that are focused on a specific outcome or result.

FREQUENCY: 2 posts per month

SEO FOCUS: PPC, SEO, technical SEO

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials, content upgrades

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

19 Ways to Increase Organic SEO Traffic (With Examples and Templates)

SEOsly

TITLE: SEOsly

DESCRIPTION: Olga Zarzeczna, founder of SEOSLY; She’s been in the SEO industry for 8+ years. She’s worked as an in-house SEO, at the SEO agency, as a freelancer, and as an SEO consultant. Here’s how she describes her site “The goal of SEOSLY is to provide you with tons of free in-depth guides, materials, and articles about every aspect of (technical) SEO. This website is called SEOSLY because I want you to become as sly as a fox when it comes to SEO.”

FREQUENCY: 2 – 3 posts per month

SEO FOCUS: Technical SEO, on-page/off-page SEO, analytics

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials, analysis, downloads

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

Example Technical SEO Issues & How To Fix Them

Coywolf

TITLE: Coywolf

DESCRIPTION: Jon Henshaw is the founder of Coywolf and the EIC and the primary author reporting for Coywolf News. He has 25 years of digital marketing experience. Here’s how he describes his site: “Coywolf News covers web technologies, digital marketing, productivity, and remote work. Core topics include SEO, Google, Apple, Neeva, IPFS, Social, Paid, Email, Webmaster, and WordPress.”

FREQUENCY: 1 – 2 posts per week

SEO FOCUS: Productivity, social, SEO, webmaster, email, content, paid marketing

POST TYPES: How-to, tutorials, industry news

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

Apple’s search engine is Spotlight and it’s looking more like Google

Holistic SEO

TITLE: Holistic SEO

DESCRIPTION: Koray Tuğberk GÜBÜR is the founder of Holistic SEO and digital. He’s a search analyst and coding enthusiast based out of Istanbul, Turkey. His website focuses on technical SEO — specifically focusing on Python SEO, theoretical SEO, UX, page speed, and marketing.

FREQUENCY: 3 – 5 posts per quarter

SEO FOCUS: Technical SEO, Python SEO, UI/UX research, programmatic SEO

POST TYPES: Informational, tutorials, how-to

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

Google’s Knowledge Panel: How to Get, Manage and Optimize?

ohgm

TITLE: ohgm

DESCRIPTION: ohgm is a somewhat reductive blog format focusing primarily on technical SEO. Though it may be simplistic in its appearance, Oliver H.G. Mason, who runs the blog, offers great insight on topics most SEO blogs don’t bother addressing.

Because of this, it’s worth adding ohgm to your reading list if you are keen on improving your technical SEO prowess and staying ahead of the average search marketer, this is a great resource for you.

FREQUENCY: Inconsisntely whenever Oliver damn well pleases.

SEO FOCUS: Technical SEO

POST TYPES: Informational, tutorials, how-to

GREAT EXAMPLE POST:

How To Increase Time to First Byte

A good education begins with the right mix of content

There are hundreds of blogs in the SEO space; start with the right mix of education, you’ll develop a balanced view of search — a set of resources you can use to weather any storm, whether that’s algorithmic updates, penalties, or major changes.

Want to make this list better?

Add your sources to the list; be sure to identify the trustworthy sources that will give you a different perspective on SEO as a whole. Use your list to empower your team; with the right approach, you’ll be prepared to tackle any problem that comes along.