# FreshJuice — Full Content Index
> FreshJuice is a developer studio building HubSpot CMS themes, SEO tools, and web utilities. Free tools, docs, and resources for developers and agencies.
Source: https://freshjuice.dev
Generated: 2026-08-19T14:42:20.034Z
Posts included: 77
---
## AI is overtaking Google: news that you should care about
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/ai-is-overtaking-google/
Published: 2026-08-17
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: AI, AI Search, Google, SEO, Digital Marketing, Search Engine
> Google is rolling out AI Overviews, AI Mode, and AI features in Discover. Here's what it means for your rankings, your ads, and how you track performance.
It seems like the world has been swept by AI. You go online and see posters made with ChatGPT that look exactly the same, people using it to write their last college assignments or social media captions, and now Google is increasingly putting AI results at the front. But that's not the only thing Google is doing with AI. These new features are reshaping the search engine, and as marketers, we have to navigate this new way of working. We need to understand how AI is changing the world's most popular search engine and what it means for how your site appears in it.

## AI features: the new priority for Google Search

We recently talked about the [removal of FAQ Rich Results](/blog/faq-rich-results-gone-keep-faq-schema/) in Google due to the prioritization of AI features, and we think that this is not going to be the only change in the search engine, as we have been seeing different changes since the appearance of AI features within the tool.

Right now, Google is rolling out three AI features in its search platform that the big company [started to implement](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/ai-features-web-content/) last year: AI Overviews, AI Mode, and AI features in Discover.

- **AI Overviews:** This is the AI-generated summary that appears at the top of some search results, providing users with an overview of the information related to their query. These AI summaries are based on information from different sources across the web and can include links to relevant websites, allowing users to explore the topic further.
- **AI Mode:** This is the AI-powered search experience used by Google, which can be found within the search engine next to other types of search, such as Images, Videos, or Shopping. The integration of this tool within the search engine allows users to ask more complex questions and have a more conversational interaction with Search (you can even use [voice search](/blog/voice-search-how-it-works-and-why-marketers-should-care/)), with AI Mode generating responses and providing links to relevant sources that can go on forever.
- **AI features in Discover:** Google is also introducing generative AI features within Discover, giving users new ways to explore and interact with content. These features are designed to help users discover (as its name suggests) information based on their interests, making AI another part of the way content is presented and consumed within Google.

All three of these features are being prioritized throughout the search experience. As mentioned earlier, you only have to search for something right now to see that one of the first things that can appear is the AI Overview summary of what you've been looking for. If you keep using the AI Overview, as Google provides follow-up questions within the feature, you can be redirected to AI Mode.

For us, taking this into account can be crucial when checking your analytics, as you might see that click rates are going down, but that doesn't necessarily mean that your site is not being ranked, as you might be getting more visibility than ever. And, if being able to track performance is what matters to you...

## Generative AI performance reports: the new way to measure AI visibility

As we have seen, AI Overview visibility is quite important due to Google's prioritization, and the company knows that marketers have been asking for metrics, so they have delivered: you can now check in Search Console how your site is performing in these AI features, but this goes beyond that.

This report started appearing for UK-based sites in June of this year (2026), and it has been expanded to other countries throughout the year (so, if you aren't able to access it yet, don't worry, you will). The report is quite new and, therefore, it's normal that it's still quite limited. However, it can give you great insights into how your site is performing with this AI takeover.

This report shows you how your content appears within generative AI features, covering different dimensions: impressions, pages, countries, devices, and dates, filling a gap regarding how your site has been performing in relation to the AI features Google has started to implement over the past couple of years. However, it must be said that a clicks report isn't available yet. This makes a big difference, as we are used to checking performance through interaction, and you might feel that a key point is missing from it. Nevertheless, we have to take into consideration that AI is highly based on visibility and less on clicks, as users might find the summary information through AI Overviews without the need to click and read the full article, for example. It would be nice to see the click rate, of course, but we kind of understand why it hasn't been provided yet. We hope it will be soon, anyways.

Finally, we should add that through the platform (Search Console), Google is offering website owners the option to opt out of AI visibility, but we don't think this is a wise decision to make. Removing your content from being featured in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover AI features entirely, at a time when Google is heavily prioritizing AI, will have a negative overall effect, as you're preventing your content from appearing in the primary visibility features Google is prioritizing right now.

However, if you're still interested in opting out, it's quite easy to do so by using the generative AI control setting inside Google Search Console. You can find all the information on how to do it in [Google Search Help](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/14901683?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid#zippy=%2Chow-to-control-your-data), but remember how Google is tracing their strategy regarding the use of AI in their platform before making any decisions.

## AI in Google Ads: the tool and the new placement

The last change towards AI made by Google doesn't affect everyone, but it's interesting to learn about it, as it will affect the search results.

If you are working with Google Ads, you have probably heard about this and you might even be working with it, but for those who don't know: besides using AI to improve the organic results and rankings, Google has been implementing AI in its ads platform.

In May 2026, [Google announced that they were testing new ad formats](http://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/google-marketing-live-search-ads/) in other placements, and one of those placements was AI features like AI Mode. This news might be a bummer for users who won't find as many ad-free places on the internet, but it has amazing potential for marketers who are seeing an increase in the use of AI tools like Gemini instead of the search engine itself and, therefore, finding a great opportunity to advertise their products.

### AI as a tool for Google Ads

First, the company introduced AI as a tool, just like an algorithm, that helps users make their ads more precise and optimizable, with suggestions and automated adjustments that can improve campaign performance. The company called this type of optimization [AI Max](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/15910187?hl=en), and it works as an AI-powered layer within Search campaigns, helping advertisers optimize targeting and creatives in real time.

But, if we think about "the recent use of AI in Google Ads", this isn't truly new, as Google Ads has been using AI for a long time. For example, Smart Bidding was introduced in 2016, and it's basically a system that uses AI to help you decide how much you should bid for each search, taking into consideration different signals and the likelihood of getting a conversion. Same thing with Performance Max campaigns, which use AI to manage and distribute creative assets across different channels (Search, YouTube, Display, and Gmail) from a single campaign based on different signals, including real-time user intent.

So, even though this might seem like a new feature, it has been around for a long time but not [marketed as it is now](https://business.google.com/uk/resources/articles/5-tips-for-more-effective-advertising-with-google-ai/).

### Ads within Google's AI features

Besides AI Max, Google has recently launched (this for real) another AI-related feature, as this year the company introduced ads within its AI features. What does this mean? Well, it means that you now have the opportunity to appear as a sponsored result within Google's AI features.

This new opportunity comes after seeing that users are increasingly turning to AI tools like Gemini instead of using the search engine in the traditional way. At the same time, Google is prioritizing AI across its own products, including AI Mode and other generative AI features. So, it makes sense that the company is also looking for ways to bring advertising into these new search experiences.

In May 2026, Google announced that it was testing new ad formats and placements, including ads within AI-powered experiences like AI Mode. This means that, instead of only appearing in the traditional search results, advertisers can now have the opportunity to reach users while they are interacting with Google's AI features.

For marketers, this opens up a completely new placement to consider. Users might be asking more complex questions, exploring products, or looking for recommendations directly through AI features, and ads can become part of that experience. At the same time, it is another sign that the way users search for information is changing and that advertising is starting to follow that change.

So, while the introduction of AI into Google Ads might sound like something completely new, AI has actually been part of the platform for years. What is new is the way Google is positioning AI, and now, the possibility of using these AI-driven search experiences as another place for advertisers to reach potential customers.

## What does this mean in terms of how we rank on Google?

This AI takeover in Google can sound like a sh\*tty thing, especially for those who have worked their asses off for organic rankings and now feel like they are getting behind because of AI. Yes, AI Overviews are taking a prominent position in the search results and Google is clearly prioritizing AI features, but we also have to consider that users don't look for information in the same way they did before. Those who are looking for a quick answer are going to benefit from AI Overviews and can keep asking questions in AI Mode, but users who want to read long articles or are looking for specific brand websites are still going to click on your site.

And we should keep in mind that AI visibility and traditional organic visibility are still two different things. Right now, you shouldn't neglect one for the other, as both are useful in their own ways and, if we look at how Google's AI features work with content, many of the same SEO fundamentals still apply. You have to create good content, have a healthy and structured site that is understandable for both search engines and AI systems, and keep doing the things you have been doing to appear both in organic search and AI features. This is the same principle behind [AI answer engine optimization](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/): the fundamentals that worked for traditional SEO still matter, but you now need to think about how AI systems interpret and surface your content.

The difference is that you now also have to think about how your content can be understood and surfaced by AI. This means making your content clear, well-structured, and easy to understand, rather than relying on tricks or trying to create content specifically for AI. There is currently no need to add an [llms.txt](/tools/llmstxt-generator/) file to appear in Google's AI features, but you should pay attention to the ways Google is using your content and avoid opting out of AI visibility if your goal is to have your content surfaced in these experiences.

Anyway, what do we recommend regarding all this AI prioritization? As mentioned before, keep taking care of your site as you were: writing high-quality content and fixing any technical issues you find and, maybe, keep yourself posted about how AI features and algorithms work, just as you have been doing with Google's algorithm since you started with digital marketing.

If right now you must write content that answers users' questions quickly to have a chance of being featured in AI Overviews and organic search, review your site's content and adapt it to keep your rankings up. That's our tip, a no-brainer, nothing different from what you have been doing, but it actually works.

If we have learned something from SEO after all these years, it's that "doing the right thing" is what makes you succeed.

## Related

- [FAQ rich results are gone but you should keep your FAQ schema](/blog/faq-rich-results-gone-keep-faq-schema/)
- [AI answer engine optimization: the future of SEO](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/)
- [How to do SEO for Gemini](/blog/how-to-do-seo-for-gemini/)
---
## FAQ rich results are gone but you should keep your FAQ schema
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/faq-rich-results-gone-keep-faq-schema/
Published: 2026-08-08
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: FAQ, SEO, Schema Markup, Structured Data, AI Search, Google
> Google removed FAQ rich results, but your FAQ sections still help SEO, AI search, and user experience. Here's why you should keep them.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import imgFAQEnds from "./assets/faq-ends.jpg";

Marketers have been focusing on adding FAQ sections to their blog posts and pages to get better positions in Google since Google introduced FAQ Rich Results in May 2019. Now, Google has decided to remove FAQ Rich Results from its search results and, even though it might seem like a random decision, it isn't. As a result, you may feel like all the work you've done is now useless. However, it isn't, and you shouldn't remove those FAQ sections from your site.

<Image
  src={imgFAQEnds}
  alt="FAQ Rich Results are gone but you should keep your FAQ schema"
  width={500}
/>

Here, we'll explain why Google made this decision and why you should keep your FAQ sections, as all the work you've done is still highly beneficial for your site.

## Why did Google remove FAQ rich results?

The news came directly from Google, as the company announced the removal of FAQ Rich Results in its [FAQ Structured Data documentation](https://developers.google.com/search/updates#removing-faq-rich-result) earlier this year. In that notice (which you had to go looking for, as they didn't exactly make a big announcement) they said that, starting on May 7:

Deprecating the FAQ rich result feature

What: Added a deprecation notice to the FAQ rich result documentation.
Why: This feature will no longer appear in Google Search starting May 7, 2026.

The truth is that Google actually removed this feature a long time ago (in 2023!), leaving FAQ Rich Results only for relevant and authoritative sites such as government and health websites, as mentioned in a [Reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/bigseo/comments/1tcrp0n/google_has_removed_faq_rich_results_from_google/).

However, the company hasn't shared anything else about the complete removal of the feature this year. They haven't explained why they made this decision or added any further comments about it. As we like to speculate, this is probably because Google wants to boost other features and tools, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, while also reducing clutter in search results.

How does this help? Well, it's true that the search interface already has a lot of features: Google Shopping, Maps, AI Overviews, Ads, and more. FAQ Rich Results added yet another element that took up space, especially on mobile devices. Besides, this feature had already started appearing less prominently as Google prioritized AI-powered features in Search.

Moreover, as always happens with anything SEO-related, marketers started using it in a spammy way once everyone figured out how to appear in those results. And, you know, Google doesn't like that at all.

Does this mean it's our fault? Well, a little bit.

## Why you shouldn't remove FAQ sections regardless of the rich results removal

It might seem like those FAQ sections you spent so much time working on are now useless, but far from it. They are actually still [useful from an SEO perspective](/blog/faq-section-for-seo/). First of all, the removal of this feature doesn't mean you're going to lose ranking positions. You'll simply experience some changes in how your pages are displayed in search results. No penalties will be applied, and your rankings won't be affected just because you keep or remove your FAQ schema.

Besides, FAQ sections are still valuable for users. They help answer common questions, improve the overall user experience, and can keep visitors on your page for longer by providing the information they're looking for. They also give you a great opportunity to cover a topic more comprehensively and can even help improve conversions.

If you actually think about it, the questions included in an FAQ section are usually real questions that users ask themselves and actively search for. So, it's still valuable content that, even though it doesn't generate rich results anymore, is worth having on your site.

Another interesting reason why you should keep the FAQ section on your site is that structured data still plays a role in AI search. As we've explained in other articles published here, [schema markup helps search engines better understand your site](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/) by providing context about your content and its structure, even if it no longer generates rich results.

That's why AI-powered search experiences can also benefit from schema markup, which is increasingly important for [AI answer engine optimization](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/). Large language models and AI search engines rely on structured information to better interpret content, identify entities, and understand the relationships between different pieces of information. While FAQ Rich Results are gone, the FAQ schema itself can still help search engines and AI systems understand your content more effectively.

And last but not least, we have to remind you that Google isn't the only search engine out there. Plenty of people use other search engines that still support FAQ Rich Results, so your FAQ schema can continue to provide value beyond Google. Keeping it in place means your content can still benefit from enhanced visibility on those search engines while remaining well-structured for users and AI-powered search experiences alike.

In summary, removing the FAQ section will involve unnecessary work that you shouldn't invest in, as the content is still good and can provide plenty of benefits from a UX and SEO perspective. And, let's be honest, as marketers, we know that Google is constantly changing the way the search engine works, removing and reintroducing features (or expanding them to different types of sites). So, removing all your FAQ markup now might mean you'd have to add it back if Google changes course in the future.

### What are the key benefits of still having a well-organized FAQ section?

Besides the usefulness of having FAQ sections on your website, there are still other benefits that we haven't covered and that we think will make you keep those sections and not feel as stupid as you did when you first read that Google was removing that feature.

Among the most important benefits of having an FAQ, you will find that:

- **They can target long-tail searches:** The questions included in FAQs are often very similar to the queries users type into search engines as well as AI tools, allowing you to cover more specific search intents, whether they are long-tail keywords or AI prompts. This can help you get ahead of your competitors as you are specifically targeting long-tail searches that are difficult to cover when, for example, writing an article or product descriptions.
- **They can help generate rich snippets:** Even though Google has removed the FAQ Rich Results feature, this doesn't mean that all enhanced search results have disappeared. Well-structured content and the appropriate schema markup can still help your pages qualify for other types of rich results and enhanced search appearances, depending on the content and Google's eligibility requirements.
- **They can reduce friction and support the customer journey:** Instead of making users look elsewhere for information about pricing, delivery, compatibility, requirements, returns, etc., you can address those concerns directly on the relevant page, reducing emails and calls from clients asking for information. This is a step that can sometimes even discourage potential clients from purchasing a product.
- **They are relatively low-maintenance once created:** If the questions and answers are genuinely useful and accurate, there's little reason to remove them simply because one Google search feature disappeared. These questions usually address topics that don't change over time, so if you write them correctly in the first place, you won't have to edit them afterwards.

Besides this, we can also remind you of some of the benefits mentioned in other sections of this article, like:

- **They answer users' questions directly:** A well-organized FAQ can give visitors the information they're looking for without forcing them to navigate through your entire page or leave your site and search other websites that might even provide inaccurate information about your brand if you're a company.
- **They improve the user experience:** FAQs make information easier to find, especially when users have specific questions or concerns before taking an action. This is particularly useful on product pages when users and potential purchasers want to know everything before making a decision.
- **They help cover a topic more comprehensively:** FAQs allow you to address related questions and details that don't naturally fit into the main body of the content.
- **They can remain useful across search engines:** As we have already mentioned in the previous section, Google isn't the only search engine, so the value of your structured FAQ content isn't necessarily limited to Google's treatment of it. With this type of content, you can still get FAQ-related rich results in other search engines.
- **They can support AI and search-engine understanding:** Well-structured content, including appropriate structured data, can make it easier for search engines and AI systems to understand what your page covers. Schema markup can provide additional context and structure that helps these systems interpret your content.
- **They can help with conversions:** As already hinted at before, FAQs can remove doubts and objections before a purchase, signup, contact request, or other conversion. This is particularly useful for product and service pages.

As you can see, the benefits quite clearly outweigh the fact that they no longer help you appear in FAQ Rich Results, making the time you could spend removing these sections from your site not worth the effort.

### Best practices for writing clear and concise FAQ answers

Even though the FAQ sections are still valuable, we recommend reviewing them, as when you added them you were thinking about how Google liked them and built the content based on that. As now Google doesn't consider these sections as important, it can be interesting to check them and edit them from a more user-focused point of view. What would we do with them then? Well, we would follow the following steps for not only writing new FAQ answers, but editing the existing ones:

- **Review your previous FAQ sections:** As we have already mentioned, the best practice starts with reviewing what you have already been doing. Check whether the questions are still relevant, whether the answers are accurate, and whether they actually provide valuable information to users.
- **Answer the question directly:** Don't make users read a long introduction before getting the answer they're looking for. Start with the answer and then provide additional context or details if necessary. A higher word count doesn't mean better anymore, especially from an SEO perspective.
- **Make them clear and concise:** Similar to the previous tip, keep your answers as short as possible while still providing all the necessary information. Avoid unnecessary explanations, complicated language, and filler that could make it harder for users to find the answer.
- **Don't add unrelated questions:** Every question should be directly connected to the page and its topic. Don't add questions simply because they contain keywords you want to target or because you think they might bring additional traffic. Focus on answering the questions that are actually useful and relevant to your users.
- **Write for humans, not search engines:** This is key, and we see a lot of people doing this. The FAQ should sound like something a real person would ask and answer, rather than a collection of keywords created specifically for SEO. Try to find a balance between the keywords and prompts you find and the real questions users are searching for.
- **Use natural language:** Write questions and answers in the way your customers actually speak and search. "Robotic-like" content can make your users feel weird about it, as it doesn't feel real or natural. Besides, when it comes to keyword targeting, you don't need to force exact-match keywords into every question or answer to get AI or search engines to rank your content like we used to do before. Prioritize content that feels natural and human-made.
- **Avoid repeating information already on the page:** If the answer is already clearly explained elsewhere, don't simply copy and paste the same paragraph into the FAQ, as unnecessary repetition can make your content less useful and potentially create SEO issues. Instead, use the FAQ to clarify something that might otherwise be difficult to find or understand.
- **Focus on real user concerns:** Look at customer questions, sales calls, support emails, search queries, reviews, and other sources to identify the questions people genuinely have. This will make the FAQ much more useful than simply creating questions based on keywords or AI prompts.
- **Keep answers accurate and up to date:** This is especially important for things like pricing, shipping, returns, product specifications, policies, or anything else that can change. The same goes for blog posts: just as users expect updated information, search engines and AI systems also need accurate and current content to provide useful answers. An outdated FAQ can be worse than having no FAQ at all.
- **Don't force an FAQ onto every page:** If there aren't genuinely useful questions to answer, you don't need to create an FAQ just because other websites have one. Quality matters more than having a certain number of questions.

## Conclusion

As we have explained throughout the article, regardless of whether this information came as a surprise or not, you don't have to worry about this decision made by Google. Even though, as marketers, we saw that feature as an opportunity to get our sites ranked in Google, its removal won't have any negative consequences for our sites, and that's the most important part of it. However, as explained here, all the work done for FAQ Rich Results won't be worthless, as we can still benefit from having a structured section that will provide not only useful information for users, but also help us get visibility in both search engines and AI tools if done correctly.

In summary, start by reviewing all the FAQ sections on your site to see if they can be improved, and don't waste your time removing anything. It won't be worth it, and it could even negatively impact your site.

## Related

- [Why schema markup is important](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/)
- [FAQ section for SEO](/blog/faq-section-for-seo/)
- [AI answer engine optimization: the future of SEO](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/)
---
## WordPress updates: why you shouldn't install them right away
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/wordpress-updates-why-you-shouldnt-install-them-right-away/
Published: 2026-07-29
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: WordPress, CMS, Website Maintenance, Web Development
> WordPress updates can break your site. Here's why you should wait before installing them, what goes wrong, and how to fix it when it does.
WordPress has recently launched another update, and several users have experienced a lot of issues after installing it. This isn't new. WordPress has always had a lot of issues, especially when an update is first launched. This is normal — updates for any software or platform are usually released with some bugs. But why launch them if they cause so much trouble?

That's why many developers recommend waiting a couple of months before installing the latest updates to prevent your website from going bonkers. Here's why you should do the same, why these issues happen, and how to avoid or fix them.

## Why do WordPress updates break your site?

WordPress updates are (allegedly) designed to improve security, performance, and functionality, but they can also create unexpected issues. In most cases, the update itself isn't the problem — it's how it interacts with the rest of your website. Here are the most common reasons WordPress updates can break your site.

- **Plugin conflicts.** Probably the most common reason an update goes wrong, and another justification for us hating plugins. When WordPress is updated, certain technical requirements and changes can affect how plugins work. If a plugin hasn't been updated to support the latest version of WordPress, it can create compatibility issues that may break features or even your entire site.
- **Incomplete updates.** Sometimes things go wrong during the update process — a server timeout, not enough memory, or a lost connection. If any of these happen, the update may fail and break your site. To reduce the risk, make sure you have a stable connection and that your hosting environment has enough resources before starting. Otherwise, you could leave your website in an unstable state or stuck in maintenance mode, with some files updated while others are not.
- **PHP mismatches.** As well as checking your memory and connection, another key element is your site's PHP version. Every WordPress release comes with minimum PHP requirements. If your hosting provider is running an outdated PHP version or your site isn't configured correctly, the update may fail or certain features may stop working. To check your PHP version, go to your hosting provider's dashboard and compare it with the minimum requirements listed [in the WordPress release notes](https://wordpress.org/news/category/releases/) before installing the update.
- **Database issues.** A WordPress website stores most of its content and settings in a database. Sometimes updates include changes to the database structure, and if the update isn't completed correctly — due to a server timeout or low memory — your website may experience errors, missing content, or broken functionality.
- **Custom code incompatibility.** If you have any custom code in your theme, plugins, or snippets, a WordPress update may no longer support it. Features can stop working or generate unexpected errors until the code is updated.
- **API errors.** If your site relies on third-party apps like a CRM, analytics software, a booking system, or a payment gateway, a WordPress update may affect how those integrations work. Some features may stop working until the integration, plugin, or API connection is updated to support the new version. Just as you check your plugins and PHP version, verify that your third-party APIs and integrations are compatible before updating.

All the issues listed above are the most common ones you should check whenever an update goes wrong, but other issues can also appear depending on your website's configuration. If none of these seem to be the problem, don't panic. Review your error logs, test your plugins and theme, or ask your hosting provider for help before making further changes.

## Reasons to not update WordPress immediately

While updating WordPress is important to keep your website secure and up to date, installing a new version the moment it's released isn't always the best idea. Waiting a little longer can save you from compatibility issues, unexpected bugs, and hours of troubleshooting. Here's why.

1. **Prevent your site from crashing.** Not every update is synonymous with failure, but there's a higher chance of something going wrong if you install it immediately after release. Waiting a couple of months gives developers time to identify and fix issues, so you can install a more stable version instead of dealing with the first wave of bugs. Avoid being the "beta tester" of the update — wait until bug fixes and compatibility patches have been released.
2. **Avoid spending hours fixing issues.** If you install an update and something goes wrong, you'll likely spend hours trying to fix it. Even if it only takes a couple of hours, that's still valuable time you could have spent on something else. In some cases, you may even need to hire a developer, which means additional costs. And you definitely don't want that to happen on a weekend.
3. **Prevent downtime and lost sales.** Besides the time spent fixing the issue, it can also have a direct financial impact. If your website is down, even for a couple of hours, you could lose potential customers and sales until everything is back online. If it happens during the weekend, it's even worse — technical support may be limited or more expensive. By waiting a couple of months, you let other users test the release first and benefit from the bug fixes and compatibility patches that follow.
4. **Protect your website's performance.** As marketers, we know that any technical issue can affect your website's overall performance, and WordPress update issues are no exception. Every time a site goes down or experiences errors, it can negatively impact the user experience, increase bounce rates, and even affect your SEO if the problem lasts long enough. We've covered [how ranking drops happen and how to diagnose them](/blog/common-causes-search-engine-ranking-drop/). Waiting a little before installing the latest update reduces the chances of running into these issues and helps keep your website performing at its best.
5. **Reduce the risk of compatibility issues, critical bugs, and other unexpected errors.** Your site going down is sometimes the least worrying consequence of installing a WordPress update too soon. Even if your website stays online, you may still experience plugin or theme incompatibilities, critical bugs, or other unexpected issues that affect your site's functionality over time. By waiting for the update to be tested and patched, you reduce the chances of running into these problems and can install a much more stable version.
6. **Save yourself time and stress.** Last but not least, save yourself from freaking out and having to work overtime just to get your site up and running again. This may seem like the least important reason on the list, but unexpected stress is never a good thing, especially when it comes from an issue that could have been prevented. Waiting a little before updating can save you a lot of headaches and let you focus on what actually matters instead of fixing a broken website.

## How to fix it

If you already rolled the update and you're regretting every decision you made, don't worry — it's fixable. But before trying to fix the problem, first you have to identify what went wrong. Start by checking your site in an incognito or private browsing window to rule out browser caching or user-specific issues. If the problem persists, enable WordPress debug logging — preferably on a staging site, or by logging errors instead of displaying them on a live site — to identify any PHP errors or warnings that may be causing the issue. Once you've identified it, you can decide what to do.

- **Remove the .maintenance file:** The .maintenance file can be left behind if the update process is interrupted before it finishes. When this happens, your website may get stuck in maintenance mode even though the update failed. Connect to your site through your hosting file manager or FTP and delete the .maintenance file. In many cases, this is enough to bring your website back online.
- **Fix the issues or incompatibilities:** We've already covered the most common issues a WordPress update can cause — third-party integrations, APIs, plugins, themes, PHP versions. Before updating, read the update notes and check that none of these will cause a problem. If you already updated, review each of these elements until you identify the issue, then update the incompatible component or revert the WordPress update if necessary.
- **Update plugins and themes:** Check that your plugins and themes are compatible with the latest version of WordPress and, if possible, update them before installing the WordPress update. If you didn't do it beforehand, update them afterwards — many developers release compatibility updates shortly after a new WordPress version launches.
- **Revert the update and restore a backup:** If nothing seems to work and you have a recent backup, restoring it is usually the fastest way to get your website back online. You can then wait until a more stable version of WordPress is available or until the incompatible plugin or theme has been updated before trying again.
- **Check your PHP version:** As mentioned before, always check your PHP version before running a WordPress update. Go to your hosting provider's dashboard, check which PHP version your website is using, and compare it with the minimum requirements listed in the WordPress release notes. If necessary, update your PHP version before trying the WordPress update again.
- **Contact your hosting provider:** This should be your last option. If you've tried everything above and your website is still experiencing issues, contact your hosting provider. They can review your server logs, identify problems related to your hosting environment, and help you get your website back up and running.

What do we actually recommend? Get rid of WordPress. We've been using the platform for a very long time, and we know there are much better options out there — one of them being HubSpot. We [compared WordPress and HubSpot side by side](/blog/hubspot-vs-wordpress-which-one-is-better/), and the difference in maintenance alone is worth looking at. Nowadays, WordPress may seem like an easy, free, and straightforward option for creating a website, and there's no denying it's one of the most popular CMSs available. However, in our experience, it can bring more headaches than benefits in the long run, especially if you rely heavily on plugins and frequent maintenance. If you're starting fresh, [choosing the right platform](/blog/how-to-choose-right-website-platform/) matters more than most people think.

## How can I safely perform WordPress updates without breaking my site?

Don't get us wrong. When we talk about WordPress updates causing problems, that doesn't mean it always happens. In fact, there are several easy ways to reduce the risk and safely perform a WordPress update without breaking your site. These are our tricks:

- **Read the update notes to ensure compatibility.** Every time a WordPress update is released, there's an official guide with all the technical details — new features, changes, known issues, and anything that may affect compatibility. Check it first and make sure everything is compatible with your site, or make any necessary changes before updating.

  However, this doesn't include every possible incompatibility, especially those related to third-party plugins and themes. That's why you should also perform additional checks and follow other preventive measures before updating your site.

- **Do the update on a staging site first.** You want to be in control of any possible outcome, and updating a staging site lets you identify issues before they affect your live website. This gives you time to prepare, fix potential problems, and prevent complications before rolling out the update.

- **Check for plugin incompatibilities.** Plugin incompatibilities are one of the main problems with WordPress updates, so it's key to check if the plugins you have installed are compatible with the latest update. Read both the WordPress update guide and the plugin documentation to verify compatibility. If they aren't compatible, wait until they are or replace the ones that aren't. If all plugins are compatible, update them in small batches to make it easier to identify any issues and keep your site running smoothly.

- **Use an MCP integration.** We're using AI for everything, and this shouldn't be an exception. An AI assistant connected to your WordPress site through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) can help you determine if your site is ready for the latest WordPress update. It can review your site's setup, identify potential compatibility issues with plugins or themes, and let you know what to take care of before rolling out the update. You only have to set up the integration and ask the AI assistant if your site is ready for the update and why.
- **Make a backup before updating.** Another wise and crucial step is to make a full backup in case anything goes wrong. You should be doing this anyway — backups are essential regardless of any update. That way, if something breaks after installing the new version, you can quickly restore your site and minimize downtime.

And remember, avoid enabling automatic updates. While they can be convenient, they don't give you the chance to verify compatibility or test changes before they go live. Updating manually gives you much more control over the process and helps you prevent unexpected issues.

## Conclusion

Even though WordPress is one of the most widely used CMSs, that doesn't mean it doesn't come with its fair share of issues. Its updates are one of them, and they can make your website crash if you're not familiar with the technical side of website management.

Besides, the platform requires constant updates and maintenance, which can become frustrating — especially when many of the changes aren't immediately noticeable from a user's perspective. That's one of the reasons why we prefer other platforms like HubSpot, which generally require less maintenance and offer a more streamlined experience.

However, if you don't want to change your CMS and prefer to stick with WordPress despite its quirks, don't panic if your site crashes after an update. In most cases, the issue is fixable. Better yet, you can avoid many of these problems by following the preventive steps we covered in this article: check for plugin and theme incompatibilities, verify your PHP version, make a backup, and ensure your hosting environment has enough resources before updating.
---
## Google penalties: what they are and how to recover
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/google-penalties/
Published: 2026-07-16
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, Google, Search Engine Optimization, SEO Strategies
> Google can tank your rankings or remove your site entirely if you break its rules. Here's how to tell whether you've been penalized, what kind of penalty it is, and what to do about it.
As when you exceed the speed limit, you'll get a fine, Google operates in a similar manner. Not everything is allowed when indexing your site in search engines, and Google, with the goal of preventing tricks from marketers that result in low-quality results for users, is quite strict about this.

Google knows that marketers are smart enough to try to trick its algorithm, so it has a set of guidelines that websites are expected to follow. When these guidelines are violated, Google may apply a penalty that negatively affects a site's visibility in search results, which are called Google penalties.

In this article, we'll explain what Google penalties are, the different types of penalties you may encounter, how to identify whether your website has been affected, and the steps you can take to recover and avoid future penalties.

## What are Google penalties?

Google penalties are negative actions or punishments applied by Google due to violations of the [Google Search Essentials](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials). What does this mean? Well, Google has a guidebook in which it states what you can and cannot do regarding how you index your website, like a code of conduct in which it specifies how you should behave regarding SEO. If you violate one or multiple of these rules, you will likely receive something similar to a "digital fine" that will have negative effects, such as preventing your site from being indexed, which can (and will) negatively affect not only the affected page but also your overall performance.

Among the most well-known penalties are [keyword stuffing](/blog/why-is-having-duplicate-content-an-issue/) resulting in low-quality content, [unnatural link building](/blog/how-important-are-backlinks/), or the use of hidden text and cloaking to manipulate search rankings. These practices violate Google's guidelines and can lead to a significant drop in visibility or even the complete removal of a website from search results.

There are two types of Google penalties: manual actions and algorithm penalties.

- **Manual actions:** These are quite rare, but they are penalties identified by a human reviewer (normally a member of Google's Search Quality team). Manual actions are usually related to spam-related issues, such as AI-generated content, user-generated spam, structured data spam, or sneaky redirects, among other things. As will be explained later, these actions are communicated by Google so that you can fix them and are usually quite easy to recover from, making them the best-case scenario when it comes to Google penalties.
- **Algorithm penalties or ranking adjustments:** These are the most common type, as Google continually updates its algorithms and, unfortunately, they are also the most difficult ones to identify and fix. As the name suggests, they are applied automatically when Google's systems detect that a website does not comply with its quality guidelines. Unlike manual actions, they are not communicated directly, making them more difficult to identify, especially because Google doesn't disclose the details of its algorithm updates either. Some of the most important algorithms are Panda, which identifies duplicate, plagiarized, or low-quality content, and Penguin, which identifies unnatural and low-quality links. However, there are multiple algorithms dedicated to enforcing different Google policies.

All marketers consider Google penalties a serious matter, as they are a warning sign that something on your site needs to be improved. As mentioned before, they can negatively affect your website, [causing significant traffic drops](/blog/common-causes-search-engine-ranking-drop/). In severe cases, Google can even remove your site from its search results altogether, making years of work disappear in an instant. The final penalty will depend on what you have done wrong. There are different levels of penalties, ranging from keyword- or page-level penalties to domain-wide penalties and even complete delisting (in other words, removing your site from the search results).

However, it must be said that it's not an unsolvable issue. In fact, once you've identified the cause, it's often quite easy to fix and recover from. The problem comes when you don't know how to identify what is happening and, therefore, can't do anything about it. But don't worry, we've got you covered.

## How to check if your website has been hit

There are multiple ways to check if your website has been hit by Google penalties, but the process of identifying whether you've been affected by a manual action or an algorithm penalty is slightly different. Here are the most straightforward ways to check whether your website has been affected by a Google penalty and even identify the cause depending on the type of penalty.

### Check for manual penalties

The most common way to check for manual penalties is by using Google Search Console, as the tool will tell you the issue directly. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Enter Google Search Console.
2. Go to Security & Manual Actions on the left side of your dashboard.
3. There, you will find two reports: one for Manual Actions and another for Security Issues.
4. Click on [the Manual Actions report](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9044175?hl=en). If your website has received a manual action, Google will explain the reason for the penalty, the affected pages (if applicable), and the steps you should take to fix the issue. If there are no problems, you'll simply see a message confirming that no issues have been detected.

Once you've fixed the issue, you only need to request a reconsideration through Google Search Console. Google will evaluate your request and, if everything complies with its guidelines, the manual action will be removed and your website will be able to recover its rankings over time.

Unlike algorithm penalties, manual actions are relatively straightforward to deal with because Google tells you exactly what the problem is. The key is to resolve every issue thoroughly before submitting your reconsideration request, as incomplete fixes are likely to result in your request being rejected.

### Check for algorithm penalties

On the other hand, and as mentioned earlier, these types of penalties are not specified by Google or any other tool, but there will be warning signs that indicate something is wrong. If you suspect your website has been affected by an algorithm penalty, you should check the following aspects:

- **Sudden significant traffic drop.** This is probably one of the clearest signs that something is happening with your website. While not every traffic drop is caused by a Google penalty, a sudden and sustained decline in organic traffic should always be scrutinized.
- **Sudden loss of keywords and/or rankings across multiple pages.** If several pages lose rankings or disappear from the search results at the same time, it may indicate that your website has been negatively affected by an algorithm update. [Keyword loss](/blog/why-you-shouldnt-panic-if-you-are-losing-keywords/) has become more common now that AI-generated overviews and AI-powered search features are playing a bigger role in rankings; however, it's still worth investigating, as it could be a sign of a much bigger issue affecting your website.
- **Sudden technical SEO issues.** If the problem is caused by a technical issue, review your Core Web Vitals, crawlability, indexing status, and any errors reported in Google Search Console to make sure Google can properly access and understand your website. You can check these issues through the different reports available in Google Search Console, such as Page Indexing, Core Web Vitals, and Crawl Stats, depending on the issue you're investigating.
- **Sudden changes to your backlink profile.** A large number of lost backlinks, a sudden increase in spammy links, or an unnatural link profile can negatively affect your rankings and may be the reason behind the Google penalty. Check both the quantity and quality of your backlinks.
- **Any of the previous signs occurring after a known algorithm update.** For example, imagine you see a 40% traffic drop on a specific day and, a couple of days later, Google confirms that it rolled out a Core Update. While this doesn't necessarily mean your website has been penalized, it is a strong indicator that the update may have affected your rankings.

Besides checking all the listed signs, we have to remind you of one more thing before moving on to the next section. This might sound obvious, but it's important to remember that not every negative change your website experiences is related to Google penalties. That's why marketers should always stay informed about Google's algorithm updates. Google won't give you a heads-up before rolling them out, so it's up to you to keep track of them. Following SEO blogs that report on algorithm updates or using SEO tools that highlight the dates when Core Updates are released is crucial for identifying whether a drop in performance is related to a Google update or another issue affecting your website.

### Which tools can help identify penalties?

As mentioned above, Google Search Console will be the primary tool to identify Google penalties; however, that's not the only tool available to do so. There are plenty of tools that can give you valuable insights regarding Google penalties that Google Search Console alone cannot provide. This is because Google Search Console only shows you the data Google decides to provide, and while it's extremely useful, it doesn't always give you the full picture. Combining it with third-party SEO tools can help you identify ranking fluctuations, backlink issues, keyword losses, and other signals that may indicate your website has been affected by a penalty or an algorithm update.

With Google Search Console, you will be able to explicitly identify any manual actions Google has applied to your website. Although it doesn't directly notify you about algorithm penalties, it provides several reports that can give you valuable clues about what is happening. Among those insights, you will find:

- **Technical issues:** You can check whether your website has technical problems, indexing issues, or structured data errors through Google Search Console.
- **Traffic drops and spikes:** You can monitor your website's organic clicks, impressions, average position, and CTR over time to identify unusual traffic drops or spikes that may coincide with a penalty or an algorithm update.
- **Indexing status:** The Page Indexing report allows you to see whether pages have been excluded from Google's index and the reasons why.
- **Core Web Vitals:** Although poor Core Web Vitals don't directly cause penalties, they can highlight technical or user experience issues that may be affecting your website's performance.

By checking all these aspects, you can get a fuller picture of your site's status and health and be able to act accordingly. Even if you're not 100% sure there's a Google penalty, all these aspects should be properly maintained to build a stronger SEO strategy.

And, as mentioned earlier, combining Google Search Console with other SEO tools that provide insights beyond what Google's own tool offers can be one of the best ways to identify Google penalties.

For example, SEO tools like Ahrefs show you exactly when a Google algorithm update took place, allowing you to compare those dates with changes in your website's traffic and rankings, as shown in the following screenshot:

![Ahrefs showing a known Google algorithm update](assets/organic-keywords.png "Google algorithm update indicator in Ahrefs")

This information isn't provided directly by Google Search Console, and it can be crucial when determining whether a drop in performance is related to a Google algorithm update rather than another issue affecting your website.

Besides algorithm updates, SEO tools provide other pieces of information that Google tools don't, and they are just as important to look into:

- **Backlink audits:** These provide a complete backlink profile analysis, allowing you to monitor new, lost, and potentially toxic backlinks that may be affecting your website's authority.
- **SEO audits:** These detect technical SEO issues, broken links, [duplicate content](/blog/why-is-having-duplicate-content-an-issue/), missing metadata, missing alt text, and other problems that could be impacting your rankings. You can run one yourself with our [free SEO audit tool](/blog/seo-audit-guide/).
- **Competitor performance:** This information can provide valuable insights into how to improve your content, as you can compare your website with your competitors' and understand what Google is currently prioritizing in your niche.
- **Keyword ranking history:** This provides a clear overview of your keyword performance over time, helping you identify keyword losses, ranking fluctuations, and the keywords you should focus on to recover or improve your visibility.

By combining all this information with the reports available in Google Search Console, you'll have a much clearer understanding of what is happening with your website. Even if no tool can tell you with complete certainty that you've been affected by an algorithm penalty, together they provide enough evidence to identify the most likely cause and take the appropriate actions.

## What are the best services to recover from penalties?

One thing is the tools that help you identify Google penalties, and another is the services that help you recover from them. As you've probably noticed, Google penalties are a broader issue and not something you can fix by simply clicking a button. Unfortunately, there isn't a specific tool or service that can automatically remove a Google penalty for you.

The only direct recovery process is for manual actions, where Google Search Console allows you to submit a reconsideration request once you've fixed the issues identified by Google. Apart from that, there aren't any specific services that can recover your website from a penalty on your behalf.

As mentioned before, the best approach is to use Google tools such as Search Console alongside third-party SEO tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to identify the root cause of the problem and take the appropriate actions on your website. Whether the issue is low-quality content, toxic backlinks, technical SEO problems, or another violation of Google's guidelines, the recovery process always starts by identifying and fixing the underlying cause.

In other words, no tool can "remove" a Google penalty for you. They simply provide the information you need to understand what is happening, allowing you to make the necessary improvements and gradually recover your rankings. Once the issues have been resolved, your website will have a much better chance of regaining its visibility in Google's search results. If you want a deeper dive into the recovery process, we also wrote a [4-step guide to recover from SEO penalties](/blog/guide-to-recover-from-seo-penalty/).

## Best practices for avoiding penalties

The best thing you can do to avoid Google penalties is to have a good strategy that doesn't rely on tricks and manipulations that may be beneficial at the beginning but aren't worth it in the long run. Even though the algorithm changes, Google always focuses on providing high-quality results. If you are doing so and keeping your site in good health, you won't have to worry as much about Google penalties.

However, if you asked us what the best practices for avoiding search engine penalties are, we would focus on creating an SEO strategy that follows these practices:

- **Strong link building strategy** \
  Don't try to take shortcuts by getting low-quality, spammy links. Instead, build a strong backlink strategy with valuable and relevant websites that point to your site. We know it takes time and even money, but taking the free and easy route can lead to Google penalties and end up negatively affecting your website.

- **High-quality content** \
  Content is king, and you have to take good care of what you publish on your site. Don't focus on creating long, keyword-stuffed content that doesn't provide any valuable information. Instead, create reliable, direct, and informative content that answers users' questions and provides real value. If you're not sure where to start, here are [5 tips from an experienced content manager](/blog/how-to-optimize-content-for-seo-5-tips-from-an-experience-content-manager/) on how to optimize content for SEO.

- **Not implementing black hat SEO tricks** \
  As mentioned throughout this article, being sketchy is never a good idea when it comes to SEO. Doing things the right way is not as difficult or as time-consuming as people think, and it will provide long-term benefits that a black hat SEO strategy simply can't. On the contrary, black hat techniques can end up getting your site removed from search engines altogether. This is crucial.

- **Perform regular audits regarding link building, technical issues and content sitewide** \
  And last but not least, audits. Implementing a good SEO strategy makes no sense if you don't perform regular audits to ensure everything is working properly. Check your performance, use your SEO tools, monitor your backlink profile, review your technical SEO, and regularly evaluate your content to make sure it still provides value and complies with Google's guidelines. Identifying issues early will not only help you avoid Google penalties but also keep your website healthy and competitive in the long run.
---
## What are the common causes of a search engine ranking drop?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/common-causes-search-engine-ranking-drop/
Published: 2026-07-06
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Technical SEO, SEO Strategies, Search Engine
> Your rankings disappeared overnight. Here are the 7 most common causes of a search engine ranking drop, and how to identify which one hit you.
One day your site ranks first, the next it's gone. This happens to basically every site at some point, usually more than once. So before anything else: don't panic. Before you can fix it, you need to figure out what actually happened.

That takes some experience, but you can shortcut it. If you know the usual suspects, you can narrow things down fast and start fixing the right problem instead of guessing.

Here are the 7 causes we see most often.

## 7 most common causes of a search engine ranking drop

There are plenty of reasons a site can drop, but a handful show up again and again. Keep this list open while you investigate. It's probably one of these, maybe two.

### Algorithm updates

You were doing everything right. Pages ranking well. Then, almost overnight, you're on page two, where nobody scrolls.

Search engines update their algorithms all the time. The algorithms are the systems they use to evaluate and rank pages for a given query, and the point of the updates is to keep results useful so people keep coming back.

How exactly the algorithms work is mostly a mystery, because search engines don't fully disclose it. But we know they look at hundreds of signals: content quality, relevance, user experience, [accessibility](/blog/web-accessibility-what-you-need-to-know-about-wcag/), page performance, and whether the content shows real expertise backed by trustworthy sources.

Search engines also know that over time, marketers figure out how to game rankings, sometimes with best practices and sometimes with [black hat SEO](https://www.semrush.com/blog/black-hat-seo/). So the algorithms keep evolving. The goal is to reward the best content, not the site that best figured out the system.

All of which is to say: updates happen constantly, and some matter a lot more than others. Search engines occasionally announce the big ones, and SEO blogs tear them apart once they start rolling out. So if your pages dropped, the first thing to check is whether there was a recent update. If there was, read what changed, read the guidance, and improve where it makes sense.

One more thing. It's normal for rankings to bounce around right after a major update, so don't assume the drop is permanent. Once the update finishes rolling out and you've made your fixes, pages often recover some of what they lost.

We wrote about [losing keywords in the age of AI](/blog/why-you-shouldnt-panic-if-you-are-losing-keywords/) a couple of months back if you want to go deeper.

### Google penalties

Related to how search engines work, but with much harsher consequences: Google penalties.

Like every search engine, Google crawls your content, tries to understand it, and ranks it based on a bunch of factors to give users the best results it can.

Since anyone can try to rank, Google has policies to protect users from misleading information, low-value content, and manipulative tactics. Break them and Google can apply a manual action, what most people call a Google penalty, which can tank your rankings or remove pages from results entirely.

If Google penalized you, it's because it thinks you violated its [Google Search Essentials or spam policies](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies). Two documents you should know like the back of your hand by now. If you don't, start studying.

How to tell whether Google penalized you, we'll get to that. The short version is it's easy to find out, because Google notifies you in Search Console whenever it applies a manual action.

### Low quality or duplicated content

Now we're repeating ourselves, because content quality matters that much. Algorithms hate low-quality and duplicated content. Back when SEO was new, you could trick the algorithm with garbage. Not anymore. Search engines got sharp at spotting content that isn't useful, isn't original, or was copied from other sites, or even from other pages on your own site.

Your content should be up to date, backed by reliable sources, and original. It should answer the search intent, give real value, and link out to trustworthy sources where it makes sense. Plenty of other things go into quality, but those are the big ones.

The test is simple: would you, as a user, actually want to read it? Don't chase a word count. Don't repeat a keyword some number of times. Write something useful, accurate, and genuinely helpful. And don't spread misinformation just to rank.

### Technical errors

This could be a huge section on its own, because a lot of technical issues can hurt your rankings. The ones we see most often:

- **Robots.txt:** one wrong line and you've blocked search engines from crawling important pages.
- **4XX pages:** if pages start returning 404 or other 4XX codes for no good reason, users and search engines can't reach them anymore.
- **Redirects:** broken, wrong, or pointless redirects make crawling harder and can send users to the wrong page.
- **Canonical tags:** a bad canonical tells search engines to index a different page than the one you want to rank.

Think back to whether you changed any of these recently. Sometimes one small technical tweak is all it takes for rankings to drop. If you work with developers, ask whether anything shipped right before the drop. And if you're not sure, Google Search Console or a [technical SEO audit](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/) will surface these fast.

### Competitive outranking

You're not the only one fighting for those top spots. Plenty of competitors want the same positions, and the fight is real. This is a common cause of drops, and, sorry, one of the hardest to recover from. Once a competitor overtakes you, getting the position back isn't always easy.

You're working your ass off for those spots. So are they. The first page is a battlefield, especially on competitive keywords. Rankings move constantly, for you and for them. So it's not enough to make great content and optimize it. You have to watch your competitors too. Check their performance alongside yours. If they passed you, figure out what they did. Maybe they updated their content, improved UX, picked up new backlinks, or just built a better page that deserves to rank higher.

Don't ignore your competitors. Watching them tells you what to fix to get your spot back.

### Search intent shift

Less common, but it happens: a keyword changes its search intent over time. Search behavior evolves, trends shift, and what people expect from a term changes with them.

Take "prompt." These days it's mostly people looking for AI content. A few years ago the results were all over the place. Now they're dominated by AI prompts and prompt engineering.

To check whether this hit you, search your target keyword and look at what's ranking. Then compare it to your own page. If the top results now serve a completely different purpose or answer a different question than yours, intent probably shifted.

You have two options: update your content to match the new intent, or target a different keyword that actually fits your page.

### Backlinks

We've said this before and we'll keep saying it: backlinks are one of the most important things your site has, and when you start losing good ones, you feel it. Backlinks are among the strongest signals search engines use to judge whether your site is trustworthy and authoritative. But they're not forever, and not all backlinks are equal.

Over time, backlinks disappear. Sites remove them, pages get deleted, domains expire, sites just stop existing. So keep an eye on yours. Losing a few is usually nothing. Lose several high-quality ones and it can absolutely affect your rankings.

Then there are low-quality backlinks. Some marketers still build piles of cheap, spammy links because earning real ones is harder than it used to be. We don't recommend it. Google ignores a lot of low-quality links these days, but link schemes and spammy backlink campaigns can still hurt you, and in some cases even trigger a manual action. Don't do it. Earn links naturally instead: guest posting, relationships with other sites in your industry. It takes longer, but it's safer and actually sustainable.

## How to fix it

By now it's obvious: the fix depends entirely on the cause. We've given hints for each one throughout, and each could easily be its own full article.

But as we said at the top, step one is always the same: identify the real cause. Once you know what's behind the drop, you can do something about it instead of making random changes that make things worse. SEO is a long game. Rankings won't bounce back overnight. Be patient, keep improving the site, and focus on the best experience you can give your users. That's usually how you get them back.

## What tools can detect the causes affecting your rankings

You'll usually see the first signs of a ranking drop in your SEO tools before you notice it in your traffic. The point is to monitor regularly and actually read the data instead of just collecting it. A few tools will get you there.

### SEO tools like Semrush or Ahrefs

Semrush and Ahrefs can surface a lot of the possible causes behind a drop. They won't hand you the answer, but they give you enough data to narrow it down.

You can track keyword position changes, see which pages lost visibility, check whether you've lost backlinks, compare against competitors, and catch technical SEO issues that might be hurting you. They also make it easy to see whether the drop happened gradually or overnight, which is a useful clue when you're trying to pin down the cause.

### Google Search Console

If you're not paying for those tools (we get it, they're expensive af), there's still a free way to find a lot of this. In fact, Google Search Console will notify you whenever your site receives a manual action, what most people call a Google penalty.

Check the Manual Actions report to see whether Google has flagged any violations of its Search Essentials or spam policies. Then review the Pages report for indexing issues, the Performance report for queries and pages that lost visibility, and the Core Web Vitals report for page experience problems.

Even if you pay for SEO tools, Search Console should be one of the first places you look when rankings drop.

## Summary

Plenty of things can cause a ranking drop. Some are easy to find and fix. Others take real analysis and a lot more patience. The main thing is not to panic, and not to make random changes before you understand what's wrong.

Most drops happen after you change something on your site, after an algorithm update, or because a competitor simply did a better job than you did. So track every meaningful change you make to your site, and keep up with major algorithm updates, because they can move your visibility fast.

SEO is a long-term strategy. Focus on good content, a technically healthy site, and a better experience for your users, and you'll put yourself in the best position to recover your rankings and keep growing over time.
---
## Can blogging earn you money?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/can-blogging-earn-you-money/
Published: 2026-06-30
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Blogging, Content Strategy, Digital Marketing, SEO, Writing, Marketing Strategies
> Blogging still makes money in 2026. Here are the methods that work: affiliate marketing, display ads, digital products, sponsorships, and how to make them pay off.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import imgBlogging from "./assets/blogging-earn-you-money.png";

People think blogging is dead because "no one reads these days." That's not true. Blogging is still a thing people enjoy and a great way to make money in 2026. From affiliate links to display ads, there are plenty of ways to earn income from writing. But the way people use the internet has changed over the last few years, so there are things to keep in mind when starting a blog.

**Disclaimer:** This article focuses on written blog posts, not video blogging.

<Image
  src={imgBlogging}
  alt="Illustration representing blogging as a way to earn money in 2026."
  width={500}
/>

## Can blogging still make money?

Years ago, many marketers had blogs generating thousands of dollars. Blogging was one of the most effective digital marketing channels and video content hadn't taken over the internet yet. As internet usage evolved, blogs started to fall behind. People read fewer long articles and began looking for audiovisual content or quick, direct answers in written form, a trend reflected in how search engine algorithms evolved.

Recently, long YouTube videos, personal newsletters, and blog posts on platforms like Substack have started getting the attention they had in the early digital era. People now look for creative content and recommendations that feel reliable and truthful. This makes personal, long-form articles not written by AI interesting and attractive to users, but also powerful for marketers who can use them to generate side income. Blog posts can still rank highly in search engines, and if you build a community that trusts you, you can start monetizing your content.

Short answer: **yes, blogging can still make you money.**

### How much do bloggers actually earn?

This is tricky. The final amount depends on multiple factors: how long you've been writing, your site's SEO, the monetization method, your niche, and more. Some beginner bloggers earn around $500 per month, while others take longer to generate their first income. It can be an attractive side hustle that grows over time. Done right, you could even earn $10,000 from a single article.

## How to make money blogging

Each method varies in effort required, income potential, and time to see results. Depending on your niche and goals, some may fit better than others.

### Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing means adding links to products or services and earning a commission when someone purchases through your link. These links include a unique tracking ID, so every click and purchase can be tracked through platforms like [Impact](https://impact.com/request-a-demo-for-brands/), [Awin](https://ui.awin.com/), or [Amazon Associates](https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/).

Some companies run their own affiliate programs, while others use platforms like the ones above. Once you sign up, you can browse offers from multiple companies, pick the ones that fit your blog, and start earning commissions.

### Display advertising

Almost every news outlet uses this. When you visit an online newspaper, it's full of banner ads promoting different products and services. That's display advertising. You can add it to your blog using Google AdSense. It's straightforward to implement.

With Google AdSense, ads appear automatically based on your content and visitors. If you write about toothbrushes, the ads may promote electric toothbrushes or dental clinics. This topic-focused strategy makes ads more relevant to your audience, which improves performance.

[AdSense](https://adsense.google.com/start/resources/how-to-make-money-from-blogging/) pays you when users view or interact with the ads. It's an easy way to generate passive income from your blog.

### Digital products

Another way to make money is creating digital products like courses or e-books to sell through your blog. This works especially well for blogs that specialize in a specific topic and focus on teaching their audience. It works best for niche subjects where quality learning resources are hard to find or where the industry changes constantly and requires ongoing training. Digital marketing blogs often offer these products because platforms and algorithms change frequently and marketers need to stay current. But it can work with almost any topic, as long as what you offer is valuable to your audience.

Since they're digital, the cost of creating and distributing them is usually low, so you have more flexibility on pricing and they're easier to sell. Your knowledge becomes another income stream while providing content your audience is willing to pay for.

### Brand sponsorships

This usually happens after a couple of years, once you've built a larger audience. But some brands offer sponsorships to smaller content creators if they see good exposure potential and a trustworthy community. Companies can reach out to you, or you can create a portfolio showcasing your blog's performance and previous collaborations, as mentioned [in this Reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Blogging/comments/1ksgbd5/how_can_i_get_sponsorships_for_my_blog/). Your portfolio needs to look attractive to companies, and all information must be truthful. They will almost certainly verify it before deciding to work with you.

Payment depends on the deal you make, the amount of branded content, your audience, and your overall performance. Always clearly disclose sponsored content to your readers. Being transparent builds trust and is often a legal requirement.

### Services

You can also sell services. This isn't a direct way of earning money from your blog, but it's another example of how a great blog can generate income. Almost every company's website has a blog. Why? Because blog posts help your website appear in search results for relevant topics, which increases visibility and helps potential clients find you.

If you're a graphic designer, write articles about branding, logo design, or typography. If readers find your content useful and see that you know what you're talking about, they're much more likely to hire you. Your blog becomes another way to showcase expertise and attract clients without relying only on paid advertising.

## Tips to make money with your blog

You know the methods. Here's how to make them actually work.

### vBlogging might seem wiser for visibility, but...

YouTube is trending and vlogs are resurfacing after years of users preferring shorter formats like TikTok and Reels. Content creators are getting millions of views and earning money through YouTube. Vloggers can monetize through sponsorships, affiliate links, or YouTube ads.

But vlogging is far more time-consuming and requires preparation and editing skills. Yes, the performance can be great, especially for visibility, but the time and money involved, equipment, sometimes professional help, can be a major drawback. If you're deciding between a written blog and a vlog, weigh this carefully.

### Choose a topic and specialize

Before starting a blog, decide what you'll write about. Personal blogs can be profitable, but they're harder to grow because you need to build a community that cares about what you do. Choosing a niche you know makes it easier to find your place in that industry. Companies may see an opportunity to advertise on your site, either through affiliate links or display ads via Google AdSense.

For example, a cybersecurity blog can review security solutions with affiliate links, or display ads related to computers and cybersecurity in its banners.

### Don't write with AI

Standing out in a world where everyone is online and trying to be an "influencer" might seem difficult, but what's actually revolutionary is using your own voice. It takes more time and imposter syndrome doesn't help, but people are looking for creative, human-made content. That's one of the main reasons blogs are trending again. Users want real information written by real people.

Avoiding AI will help you build a stronger community interested in hearing what you have to say. Original and authentic content is more likely to stand out and perform better in search engines over time.

### Be patient

As with everything in digital marketing, it takes time. On average, it takes at least a year to build enough traffic and authority to start earning a fair income. The effort is worth the wait. Track your results every month to see what works and what doesn't. Most importantly, be consistent. Publishing regularly helps your blog grow.

### Newsletters can help (yes, we said it)

If you've read other FreshJuice articles, you know we're not fans of newsletters. [In our opinion](/blog/asking-your-visitors-email-subscription/), they can sometimes hurt your digital marketing strategy. But in this case, they can actually help. Asking your audience to subscribe keeps them updated whenever you publish. This maintains engagement, strengthens your relationship with readers, and encourages them to come back.

### Don't depend only on SEO. Build a multichannel strategy.

SEO today is different from what it used to be. It takes longer to reach top positions, AI is here to stay, and relying only on search engine rankings can hurt your strategy long-term.

Blogging success depends on multiple factors. Use all the tools available. A multichannel strategy that includes newsletters, social media, and strong SEO makes it easier for users to find you and stay connected. That way, you won't depend on a single traffic source and your blog will be more resilient to algorithm changes. Our [free SEO tools](/tools/) can help you audit and optimize every piece you publish.

## Summary

Yes, you can earn money by blogging. There are multiple ways to do it depending on your goals, expertise, and the type of website you have. Despite the popular belief that people don't read anymore, blogging is still a valuable part of a digital marketing strategy. It increases visibility, engages your audience, supports your other marketing channels, and generates income.

Whether you monetize through affiliate marketing, display advertising, digital products, sponsorships, or promoting your own services, success won't happen overnight. Be patient. Focus on creating original, valuable content. Don't rely only on SEO. Build a strong multichannel strategy and stay consistent. Your blog can become both a marketing tool and a source of income.
---
## Are you using LinkedIn right?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/are-you-using-linkedin-right/
Published: 2026-06-15
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Social Media, Digital Marketing, Content Strategy, LinkedIn
> Learn why most LinkedIn strategies fail, the common mistakes to avoid, and how to build a community-led approach that actually drives visibility and marketing results.
We see lots of posts trying to get attention that fail to deliver anything valuable. Lots of plagiarized content. Lots of AI-generated posts (and it shows). Lots of inspirational fluff that nobody cares about. LinkedIn is full of leaders, coaches, and people trying everything to get attention. But is it really working? More importantly, is it worth it?

Having a LinkedIn account and page is worth it if you want to promote yourself or your site. But the approach most people take is not as effective as it seems. We will explain why you should invest time in building a LinkedIn community from your personal account or professional page, and exactly how to do it so it has a real impact on your marketing strategy.

## Are you using LinkedIn properly?

Most working-age adults have a LinkedIn account. There are [1.3 billion registered members worldwide](https://meet-lea.com/en/blog/linkedin-user-demographics) (December 2025), with 134 million daily active users. It is the richest professional digital footprint on the internet. LinkedIn is a valuable tool for job seekers, freelancers, and companies building their brand. Yet we still see too many profiles and pages wasting this potential with poor content.

Some of the most common mistakes people make on LinkedIn include:

- **Using AI to write and create content**. \
  Do not do this. It makes life easier to put an idea into an AI tool and have it write a post, but it shows. LinkedIn is a highly personal platform where people want to assess who is competent, knowledgeable, and creative. By showing that you use AI to write your content, you may end up conveying the opposite: that you are lazy and lack originality. In a platform where billions of users compete for attention, you need to stand out. AI-generated content is unlikely to help you do that.
- **Being too spammy**. \
  Only talking about your own professional wins or pushing your services constantly will not work. The key is balance. Talk about yourself, but also engage with industry news. Share insights and comment on other people's content.
- **Copying other people's content**. \
  Publishing AI content is bad, but copying human content is worse. It is easy to catch and makes you look unprofessional. If you are out of ideas, cite a post you read and add your own take. Do not copy and paste. People will notice, and it will damage your credibility.
- **Not having a publication calendar**. \
  LinkedIn rewards consistency. Scattered posting harms your profile. Build a routine and stick to it. You do not need to publish every day, but a consistent presence builds trust and improves engagement. Consistency beats volume.
- **Only using LinkedIn to look for jobs or hire people**. \
  Posting only when you have an immediate need destroys your visibility. LinkedIn is a place to share ideas and experiences. Create content regularly. The more active you are, the more people will notice you.
- **Only posting when you start a new job**. \
  Sharing professional milestones is fine, but limiting your activity to those moments makes your profile look inactive and self-centered.
- **Not interacting with other people's posts**. \
  If you want people to engage with your content, engage with theirs. Commenting on other posts builds relationships and gives you visibility. LinkedIn is a social network. Take part in the conversation.

If you identify with any of these mistakes, stop doing them. You are not using LinkedIn the right way.

This applies to companies too. It is surprising how uncommon it still is for companies to have an active LinkedIn page, considering the platform is focused on professional opportunities. After 24 years on the internet, LinkedIn has evolved into much more than that. Today, it has many uses that can help grow your brand.

If you have a company page but only use it to publish job offers, you are not getting all the juice out of it. LinkedIn can help you build brand awareness, establish authority, connect with potential clients, and create a [community-led growth strategy](/blog/how-adopting-a-community-led-strategy-can-help-your-visibility/) around your business. If you are going to be there, take advantage of everything the platform has to offer.

## Why use LinkedIn?

Even though LinkedIn seems like a specific platform for a specific audience, it has more benefits than it seems. It was created to connect companies with workers and help those workers build a rich professional network. However, companies can also build a marketing strategy there, as users who are also consumers occupy that space.

[LinkedIn is the 17th most visited website in the world](https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/). This gives it massive reach and marketing potential. The platform has more than 1 billion members worldwide, making it the largest professional network on the internet. LinkedIn receives billions of visits every month and continues to grow as professionals and companies use it to share content and generate business opportunities.

What makes LinkedIn particularly interesting from a marketing perspective is not only its size but also the quality of its audience. Unlike many other social media platforms, users are often in a professional mindset when browsing LinkedIn. This makes them more receptive to industry insights, educational content, business-related discussions, and brand messaging.

[According to Metricool](https://metricool.com/linkedin-statistics/), this social giant offers great growth opportunities, especially for small accounts. Their 2026 LinkedIn Study found that small accounts with between 2,000 and 10,000 followers are currently the fastest-growing segment on the platform. Companies do not need massive audiences to achieve strong growth and visibility. This makes LinkedIn particularly attractive for SMEs, startups, and brands building their online presence. Nearly 8% of company pages in that follower range experienced growth during the analyzed period, outperforming larger accounts. LinkedIn still rewards consistency and valuable content over audience size.

Posting on LinkedIn can also benefit other parts of your overall digital marketing strategy, like Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). LinkedIn is the best platform to get your content cited by AI and achieve position zero in search engines. Search engines and AI consider content posted on LinkedIn highly relevant because it is created by experts with real, detailed profiles. This makes it high-authority for answering professional or industry-related questions.

All this data is especially interesting if you are based in the US, as [the United States is home to about 35% of all LinkedIn users](https://www.businessofapps.com/data/linkedin-statistics/). Still, it is worth using wherever you are based. It is a great platform to enhance your marketing strategy, as we have discussed and will continue to explore.

## Actions that could get you better results

A good marketing strategy depends on your brand, industry, and resources. Analyze your specific situation before implementing these tactics.

Here is how to make your LinkedIn account work better.

### Employee generated content

User-generated content usually gets more views than content posted by brands. The algorithm prioritizes it because it gets a higher engagement rate compared to company pages. [According to Joe Apfelbaum](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-stats-2026-updated-joe-apfelbaum-sfxte), it can generate up to 561% more reach than company pages. If you have a company, take advantage of this. It benefits your employees by helping them become more visible, and it gives your company page much greater exposure. Having your employees talk about your company increases your brand’s visibility.

Design a social media content strategy for your brand in which your employees actively collaborate to build your presence. This creates a mutually beneficial situation. Your workers gain organic content and achievements to talk about while helping promote the company. For example, at FreshJuice, our writers usually share the articles they write.

### Prioritize using video, carousels, and surveys

Regarding the best type of content to create, it is a no-brainer. Visual and interactive posts are everywhere on social media and get more traction. When creating content, prioritize videos, carousels, or surveys. Users find them more attractive to interact with.

Carousels can achieve a 6.6% engagement rate, the highest of them all. This type of content is easy to develop, familiar to any social media manager, and highly versatile for storytelling and repurposing content across different posts and campaigns.

### Make it accessible

We have been very outspoken about accessibility for websites and social media accounts. This is not random. Creating accessible content should be a requirement, and doing so allows you to reach a wider audience while enhancing your visibility. Take this into account when publishing content. It is very easy to make it accessible, taking only a couple of minutes. With this simple step, you can achieve better performance.

If you want to learn how to do it, we have published an article on [how to make content accessible on social media](/blog/how-to-make-social-media-more-accessible-to-strengthen-your-marketing-strategy/). Give it a read.

### Show up consistently

While LinkedIn has lots of users, they usually consume content passively and do not create much content themselves. This is great from a content creator’s standpoint. You can stand out easily if you consistently post content, whether on your personal account or your company’s page. As the vast majority of users remain silent, those who keep publishing high-quality, attractive content can capture attention and build a loyal audience. Take advantage of the algorithm and the silence. This can help you achieve the performance you are looking for while building credibility.

Publication frequency depends on different factors, such as the topic, account type, or the complexity of the posts. However, it is generally recommended to publish between 3 and 5 times per week. This is not an absolute truth. You can get great results posting less frequently if the content is valuable and high-quality. Still, having a plan is always better than posting randomly.

## Summary

This article highlights the true potential of LinkedIn within your brand strategy. It is much more than a job-related social media platform. It is a place to build a community, establish authority, and create real relationships with potential clients and partners.

Simply having a LinkedIn profile or company page is not enough. If you want results, you need to use the platform properly. Avoid the common mistakes we discussed. Focus on creating valuable content as you do on your website, engage with other users, and keep your posting consistent. LinkedIn rewards those who actively participate in conversations and contribute something useful to their audience.

Beyond visibility on the platform itself, LinkedIn can support other areas of your digital marketing strategy. Publishing valuable, expert-driven content increases your chances of appearing in AI-generated answers and featured search results. This helps you improve your [AEO strategy](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) and gain visibility beyond the LinkedIn ecosystem.

LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for your marketing strategy. The opportunity is there. The question is whether you are willing to use it properly.
---
## How adopting a community-led strategy can help your visibility
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-adopting-a-community-led-strategy-can-help-your-visibility/
Published: 2026-05-25
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Marketing Strategies, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Content Strategy, AI Optimization, Search Optimization
> Learn what a community-led strategy is, why it's trending, the benefits and drawbacks, and the four main actions you can use to start building one for your brand.
Now that users are more familiar with identifying scams and [AI tools are prioritizing not only reviews but also forums](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) and other platforms where real users talk about products and services, community-led strategies are becoming a staple of modern digital marketing strategies.

Recent research even backs this up, as [studies](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/399620183_Empowering_Engagement_Digital_Community_Marketing_Strategies_In_The_Era_Of_Interactive_Platforms) have shown that this type of strategy brings several benefits, such as higher brand loyalty, increased customer lifetime value, and more cost-effective growth. Its impact can even be seen in companies' revenue, with industry research showing that brands applying this approach can [grow up to 2.1x faster](https://www.omnifunnelmarketing.com/blog/how-to-build-community-led-growth-strategy-b2b-saas-brands) than those that do not.

If a community-led approach is not yet part of your overall strategy, we'll show you why it should be. Let's start with the basics.

## What is a community-led strategy?

A community-led strategy is a marketing and growth approach focused on building meaningful relationships with users and encouraging them to actively engage with and advocate for your brand. By fostering trust and participation, brands empower community members to share authentic experiences, create organic content, provide feedback, and spark conversations across channels such as social media, forums, and online communities. This turns engaged users into active participants who help drive awareness, credibility, and long-term growth.

Even though it sounds similar to what influencers do, this practice is genuine and is neither paid nor transactional. Instead, it is driven by authentic user experiences and trust, encouraging community members to voluntarily share their opinions, create organic content, and advocate for the brand because they genuinely believe in its value.

This practice is [not new at all](https://openurl.ebsco.com/EPDB%3Agcd%3A13%3A5520253/detailv2?sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Ascholar&id=ebsco%3Agcd%3A119105637&crl=c&link_origin=scholar.google.es), as it has been used since the 50s, when the OG community-led strategy appeared: [Tupperware parties](https://growthrocks.com/blog/community-marketing/), held in women's houses, in which they built a community around the brand. However, it seems that nowadays it is getting more attention again, as users are becoming more aware every day of how little reliability they can find online. We, as marketers, have been creating fake or adorned content (however you want to define it) around our products to make them look spectacular and drive sales and people are now more familiar with these tricks. Now, they know that the real information is on other platforms, where real customers talk about their experiences, and this is exactly what a community-led strategy is focused on.

## Why are these strategies trending now?

Even though this type of marketing strategy is not new, it has recently become one of the pillars of digital marketing strategies, and there are several reasons why this is happening. Different factors are making this type of strategy trend, but all of them have one thing in common: the way users are now interacting with brands.

As mentioned above, brand reputation is now one of the most important factors in showing that a brand is trustworthy and, therefore, achieving the purchases it is seeking. Users are now more aware of scams and tend to be more careful than before in order to avoid them. And how can someone know whether a brand is reliable? By reading other people's opinions about it.

Community-led strategies are a set of actions that place brands at the centre of the conversation, requiring them to address users' concerns and be transparent about what they do. This makes communication feel more like a real conversation rather than a unidirectional dialogue, as it often happens with other marketing strategies such as paid media.

Besides that, as AI systems know that marketers are only going to talk about the positive things about their brands on their own sites, they are [increasingly prioritizing community-created content in their algorithms](/blog/prompt-research-for-ai-visibility/). Platforms like Reddit are often surfaced as valuable resources for users who want to better understand a product or brand through real experiences and discussions.

This shift is forcing brands to rethink the way they communicate with their audiences. It is no longer enough to simply create polished campaigns and expect users to trust what is being said. Today's consumers want proof, interaction, and authenticity. They expect brands to be present in the spaces where conversations are already happening and to participate in them naturally instead of trying to control them.

This is why community-led strategies focus on creating spaces where users can share their experiences, ask questions, and interact not only with the brand but also with each other. Whether through forums, social media communities, user-generated content campaigns, or direct participation in platforms like Reddit, the goal is to create genuine conversations that feel valuable for users instead of promotional for the brand.

When this is done correctly, the impact goes beyond visibility or engagement metrics. It creates loyalty. Users who feel heard and represented are more likely to trust the brand, recommend it to others, and become active advocates within their own communities. This creates a cycle where trust generates conversation, conversation generates credibility, and credibility ultimately drives conversion.

The challenge, however, is that this strategy requires consistency and transparency. Communities can quickly identify when a brand is trying to force a message or participate only for visibility. For this reason, successful community-led marketing depends on listening first, understanding what users actually need, and contributing to the conversation in a way that feels relevant and honest.

## Benefits of a community-led strategy

Besides being an amazing way to enhance your brand reputation or get referenced more often in AI tools, community-led strategies have plenty of other benefits that will, at the very least, make you consider this type of strategy. Some of the most attractive ones are:

- **Organic strategy:** as mentioned above, this is mainly an organic strategy, as the content is created naturally by the community itself rather than being directly paid for by the brand. This means growth tends to feel more authentic and trustworthy, as people are sharing real experiences and opinions instead of reacting to traditional advertising. While this can make the results more valuable in the long run, it also means you have less control over the speed of growth and will need patience to let the strategy develop naturally over time.
- **Drive organic growth (traffic and visibility):** one of the biggest perks of a community-led strategy is its ability to naturally drive organic growth. When people are actively talking about your brand, sharing their experiences, and [recommending your product or service](/blog/how-important-are-backlinks/), this can bring more traffic to your website and increase your visibility across different platforms. Over time, these real conversations can help build authority around your brand and create a steady source of growth that feels much more natural and sustainable than relying only on paid campaigns.
- **Higher revenue growth:** as you gain more traffic and visibility, more people become aware of your brand and what you offer. This can translate into more opportunities for people to discover and get your products or services. When combined with a strong product and a positive customer experience, this increased exposure can lead to higher revenue growth over time and create a more sustainable way to scale your business.
- **Cost-effective growth:** this type of strategy is less expensive in terms of direct media spend, but it is not free, as it still requires a significant investment of time, tools, and community management resources. You won't typically pay for content in the same way as with traditional advertising or large-scale influencer campaigns; instead, you focus on creating spaces where users can talk freely about your brand while you engage with and moderate those conversations. It's true that ambassador or advocacy programs may involve incentives, discounts, or occasional freebies, but these are usually used to encourage participation rather than directly purchasing content.
- **High efficiency and effectiveness:** although community-led strategies require a significant investment of time and consistency, they tend to be highly efficient in the long run. This is because the growth they generate is based on real engagement and genuine trust rather than short-term paid exposure. When people actively talk about your brand and recommend it to others, the impact is often stronger and more sustainable than traditional marketing efforts. This makes community-led strategies highly effective at creating long-term results while making better use of your resources over time.
- **Enhance brand awareness and loyalty:** as mentioned above, people now don't want to read what you want to say about your brand; they want real users to tell them about it, as they don't really trust marketers in that sense. As your community grows and more people share their real experiences, your brand becomes more visible and trustworthy. This not only helps attract new users, but also builds loyalty among existing customers, as they feel they are part of something bigger than just buying a product or service.
- **Identifying your weaknesses:** you have to acknowledge that the feedback won't always be positive, but that's not such a bad thing if you think about it. People telling you what you're doing wrong can actually be regarded as a chance to identify your weaknesses more clearly and improve your product based on what users or customers actually think. Sometimes it's quite difficult to identify how to improve a service or product, and with this, you're basically getting free consultancy from the people you care about the most: the ones who are actually going to buy or use your service or product.
- **Help getting more visibility in AI tools:** last but not least, one of the biggest benefits. We've already mentioned it, but getting real users to talk about your brand can increase your visibility in AI tools, as many of them tend to surface real opinions and discussions from forums, review sites, and other third-party platforms that are often key to community-led strategies. As the use of AI tools keeps growing, this can drive more traffic to your brand, strengthen your reputation, and help position your business as a trustworthy option in your industry. The more authentic conversations there are around your brand, the easier it becomes for these tools to recognize your relevance and include you in recommendations or answers.

However, despite its attractive benefits, community-led strategies also come with challenges. First of all, this type of strategy is not very easy to implement, especially if your product or service is not very good. Since community advocacy depends on genuine trust and satisfaction, brands cannot force people to engage or promote them. Among the most notable disadvantages are:

- **Difficult to implement:** these strategies are not as easy as just building a place where customers will talk wonders about your brand. You have to create a concept, work on your image and policies, and specially earn it. People will only talk positively about your brand if they truly believe in what you offer and feel identified with what you represent. Building that trust takes time, consistency, and real effort, which is why many brands fail when trying to force this type of strategy.
- **Requires a high-quality product or service:** if you are not selling a high-quality product or service, you can do whatever you want and you still won't get positive results; in fact, in that case, it is better to avoid this type of strategy. Only actually good products can make users and customers talk positively about them. Imagine a restaurant with shitty service or bland dishes, would it get positive reviews? Obviously not. Even if they have the best marketing, they will fail to get users to talk well about it.
- **Results take time:** as with any strategy based on organic growth, it takes time, a lot of time, to see real results. This has to be approached as a long-term commitment in which you'll spend a lot of time and energy building relationships, listening to your audience, answering them, and adapting based on what you learn. It's not something that delivers immediate wins as other strategies like [paid media](/blog/is-it-worth-making-paid-media-part-of-your-digital-marketing-strategy/), but if done right, the results tend to be much more sustainable and valuable over time.
- **Limited control over what is being said:** as actual users are the ones creating the content, you don't have much control over what is being said. This can be quite tricky and will require a certain level of knowledge regarding how to engage with what people are saying. You have to be aware that you'll receive negative feedback even if your product is amazing, and you'll need to be very careful with your decisions from a brand perspective. One bad decision can cause people to start posting negative comments or even overreacting, and while you can't completely avoid that, the way you respond can make a huge difference in how the situation develops.
- **Requires constant engagement:** creating a community is not enough; you have to take care of it, and that requires constant engagement. What makes people keep talking about your brand is creating conversations you actually take part in, and that requires a lot of effort in checking in, creating valuable discussions, and replying consistently. If people feel ignored or notice a lack of presence from your side, interest can quickly fade.

## Types of community-led actions you can implement

Now that you know what a community-led strategy is and why you should consider implementing it, let's get into how to put it into action.

There are multiple ways to implement a community-led strategy beyond using social media platforms and having a defined branding strategy, but the main four ways to do it are the following:

### 1. Creating digital community hubs

This is the most well-known action regarding community-led strategies. It's the first thing marketers think of when they hear about them, and probably the first step to implement. Building online spaces for your customers to ask questions, share their experiences, and, especially, engage with what is being said is crucial if you are starting this type of digital marketing strategy. You can build these communities wherever you want, but the key is making sure they are easy to access and actively managed to encourage users keep talking.

They can be built in Slack, Discord, as Facebook Groups… You can even build your own platform! There are multiple options out there where your audience can start talking about your brand, and the choice usually depends on where your users already spend their time and how much control you want over the experience.

In these spaces, you can post new products, start conversations about relevant topics in your industry, gather feedback directly from users, and encourage members to share their own experiences and opinions.

### 2. Encouraging user-generated content (UGC)

You are probably already implementing this, as most of us ask our customers to leave a review, and even though you didn't know it, that's already a UGC activity. UGC campaigns are actions that encourage customers to share their experiences with your brand. It can be [a review on your Google Business profile](/blog/should-i-use-testimonials-on-my-website/), a photo contest, a hashtag, or even social media posts featuring your product. Whatever fits your audience and brand. This is a "natural" way of getting real customer content that is valuable, authentic, and organic.

### 3. Creating advocacy and referral programs

To make content creation more appealing for customers, there's an action that works wonders: advocacy and referral programs. Similar to affiliate programs or what influencers do when promoting a product in their social media, advocacy and referral programs are actions in which you give customers benefits like freebies, discounts, or exclusive perks in exchange for them creating content about your brand.

They are usually managed through specific platforms (Influitive, for example) where you can track the actions done by your customers, and it is an amazing way to build long-term relationships in which customers feel valued, engaged, and part of the brand. This not only increases word-of-mouth promotion but also strengthens loyalty, as users are more likely to keep interacting with a brand that rewards their participation. It's not the same creating content with nothing in exchange than doing it while receiving benefits.

### 4. Holding online and offline events

Think about what Apple does every year to launch their products. People all over the world look forward to that hybrid (online and offline) event and, even though you probably don't have a brand like Apple, you can also benefit from this type of action. Online and offline events are an amazing way to create spaces to share with your community that feel important and exclusive.

This type of action creates hype and anticipation around your brand, helping you generate attention both before and during the event. Besides, if it is successful, it can also create ongoing conversations afterward, as people start to share their experiences, opinions, and key moments from the event.

It can be a webinar, workshop, live chat, or Q&A depending on your products or services. The main goal is to create a space where customers can interact directly with your team, ask questions, and feel more connected to your brand.

## Why you should start one

We have already mentioned the multiple benefits of implementing a community-led strategy, but if you are still doubtful about it, let's look at the main takeaways of integrating this strategy into your digital marketing mix.

For starters, there is the positive reputation you build, as your brand becomes more trustworthy when real people are talking about it. We have repeated this in a lot of our articles and we are going to keep saying it even though it might sound like an unpopular opinion: people are not stupid, and they now know that everything brands say on the internet is not as truthful as it is often presented. Every day, more users check reviews and compare what real users have to say about a brand, and [search engines and AI systems are increasingly taking this into account](/blog/aeo-tips-b2b-marketers/). This makes real user-generated conversations a crucial part of any modern strategy. By taking it a step further and actively engaging with these conversations, you create a space where your brand becomes more transparent and credible, which will reflect in both visibility and traffic.

Besides, this type of strategy is not free, as you will either invest your time or resources into people, platforms, and tools to manage the community, as well as potential benefits for ambassadors or active users. However, compared to other highly efficient strategies like paid media (Meta Ads, Google Ads, etc.), it is relatively cost-effective, and the long-term value often justifies the investment.

With a community-led strategy you are getting:

1. More online presence across diverse platforms that is durable in the long term
2. A stronger and more positive brand reputation
3. Valuable insights into what users like about your product and how it can be improved
4. Driving more traffic as well as increasing sales

And, even though there are disadvantages (we have not hidden them), the benefits clearly outweigh the drawbacks. If you have the time and resources to do it, building a community-led strategy can become one of the most sustainable growth engines for your brand in the long run.
---
## Audit your cookie banner with AI: ConsentTheater + Claude + Zest
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/audit-your-cookie-banner-with-ai/
Published: 2026-05-19
Author: reatlat
Tags: GDPR, Privacy, Data Privacy, AI Tools, Browser Extensions, Developer Tools, FreshJuice
> Most cookie banners leak before consent. Here is the 10-minute, $0 workflow to scan your site with ConsentTheater, hand the trace to Claude, and ship a compliant config with Zest.
Most cookie banners are theater. A bit of CSS, a fat "Accept All" button, and underneath, Google Analytics is already on its third pageview. We covered the legal side of this in [Your cookie banner is probably illegal](/blog/your-cookie-banner-is-probably-illegal/) and the full playbook in [the 101 guide](/blog/how-to-deal-with-cookie-consent-in-your-site-a-101-guide/).

This post is the missing piece. The actual workflow.

Here is the workflow. It takes 10 minutes. It costs nothing. It runs on three things you can install right now:

1. **[ConsentTheater](https://consenttheater.org/extension/)** to scan your site and tell you exactly what is leaking.
2. **Claude (or ChatGPT)** to read that scan and write you a config.
3. **[Zest](https://cookiezest.com/)**, our free open-source consent toolkit, to enforce that config in one `<script>` tag.

No subscription. No vendor lock-in. No "schedule a call". Zip. Zero. Nada!

## Why this workflow exists

Cookie consent has a tooling problem.

The big CMPs charge $600 to $5,000 a year to do something a 16KB script can do for free. They sell "auto-scanning" as a feature, then misclassify Google Analytics as "essential" because misclassifying it makes their dashboard look greener. We literally saw [CookieScan do this on their own marketing site](/blog/how-to-deal-with-cookie-consent-in-your-site-a-101-guide/).

The free open-source CMPs are great, but they expect you to already know your stack. Which cookies fire. Which third parties phone home. Which goes in the "analytics" bucket and which goes in "marketing". Most site owners have no idea, because they did not put those trackers there. WordPress did. HubSpot did. Some plugin from 2019 did.

That gap is where AI is actually useful. Not for writing the code. For reading the receipts and producing the config.

## The 10-minute workflow

### Step 1: Scan your site with ConsentTheater (2 minutes)

[ConsentTheater](https://consenttheater.org/extension/) is an open-source browser extension built by the privacy research community. No company behind it. No subscription. No incentive to call your trackers "essential" so a dashboard looks greener. Just researchers shipping the audit tool the consent industry refused to build. Nothing gets installed on your site. It runs entirely in your browser, loads your page in a fresh session, watches every network request and every cookie set, and flags anything that fires before consent is given.

Add it to Chrome, Firefox, or Edge from the extension store. Open your site. Click the ConsentTheater icon in your browser toolbar to open the sidebar, then click **Start test**. The extension wipes cookies and storage before the scan, so a regular window is fine. Wait for the audit to finish.

You get three export options:

- **A human-readable PDF report** for your own records (or to send to a stakeholder who needs receipts).
- **Copy report for AI** to clipboard, a compact text version pre-formatted for an LLM.
- **A raw HAR file** of every network request, downloadable as `.har`.

For the AI step, the second option is what you want most of the time. It is already structured for a model, so you paste it straight into the prompt and go. Use the HAR when the site is messy (CMS + 6 marketing tools + a chatbot) and you want the model to see every request, header, and response. The PDF is for humans, not for Claude.

> **Sanity check before you go further:** \
> if ConsentTheater shows zero non-essential cookies and zero pre-consent requests, your banner already works. Close the tab. Have a coffee. You are done.
>
> If it shows even one tracker firing before consent, keep reading.

### Step 2: Hand the trace to Claude (3 minutes)

Open [Claude](https://claude.ai), ChatGPT, or whatever AI you trust. Paste the prompt below. Then paste your ConsentTheater report or attach the HAR file.

The prompt is the work. The model is just the executor.

```text
You are a privacy engineer auditing a website for GDPR + ePrivacy + CCPA compliance.

Below is a ConsentTheater report (or HAR network trace) from my site: [YOUR DOMAIN]
Stack: [WordPress / HubSpot / Astro / custom / unknown]

References (if you can fetch URLs, load these first for context):
- https://consenttheater.org/methodology.md for ConsentTheater's audit methodology
  and classification taxonomy (what counts as pre-consent leak, exempt vs
  non-exempt, "umbrella" matches for regional CDNs, data_leak category).
- https://consenttheater.org/law.md for plain-language renderings of every GDPR
  and ePrivacy article ConsentTheater cites, with the verbatim official text
  alongside (Recital 30, Article 5(3), Schrems II implications, CCPA opt-out).
- https://consenttheater.org/llms.txt for the full handbook index (topic
  articles on strict-necessary cookies, tracking pixels, GPC, DNS sinkholes,
  privacy-friendly browsers) if you need deeper context for an edge case.
- https://cookiezest.com/docs/configuration.md for the Zest configuration schema.

Your job:

1. List every non-essential cookie, localStorage key, sessionStorage key,
   and third-party HTTP request that fired BEFORE consent was given.

2. For each, classify it as:
   - essential   (strictly necessary AND user-actively-chosen UI preferences:
                  session, CSRF, load balancing, the consent cookie itself,
                  theme / language / contrast / font-size that the user clicked
                  a control to set. If the user explicitly toggled it, storing
                  it is "necessary for the service the user requested" and
                  exempt from consent under GDPR + ePrivacy.)
   - functional  (auto-detected preferences they did NOT actively choose,
                  A/B-test variant assignment, non-tracking site behavior)
   - analytics   (page metrics, behavior, heatmaps)
   - marketing   (ads, retargeting, conversion pixels, social embeds)

   If a vendor is ambiguous, err on the stricter category. GA4 is analytics.
   Meta Pixel is marketing. Hotjar is analytics. Intercom is functional.

3. Produce a complete `window.ZestConfig` object for Zest. Use the LLM-friendly
   markdown reference: https://cookiezest.com/docs/configuration.md
   Config object must:

   - Sets `mode: "strict"` if marketing trackers are present, otherwise `"safe"`.
   - Adds every offending third-party hostname to `blockedDomains`,
     each as `{ domain, category }`.
   - Adds regex patterns to `patterns.analytics` / `patterns.marketing`
     for cookies or storage keys not covered by Zest's defaults.
   - Keeps `respectDNT: true` and `dntBehavior: "reject"`.
   - Sets `policyUrl` to "/privacy" (I will update it).

4. Consent Mode integrations: Zest has BUILT-IN support for Google Consent
   Mode v2 and Microsoft UET Consent Mode. Do NOT write a gtag stub or an
   onChange callback manually. Zest handles the default-denied state and
   the update signals automatically. Just set the right flags:

   - If the trace shows ANY Google product (googletagmanager.com,
     google-analytics.com, doubleclick.net, googleadservices.com,
     googlesyndication.com), set `consentModeGoogle: true`.
   - If the trace shows Microsoft (bat.bing.com, clarity.ms,
     clarity.microsoft.com, scripts.clarity.ms), set `consentModeMicrosoft: true`.
   - If neither is present, omit both flags (defaults are false).

5. Return ONLY the final HTML, in this exact order:
   - First, a `<script>` block defining `window.ZestConfig = { ... }`.
   - Second, a `<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@freshjuice/zest"></script>` loader tag.

   The config block MUST come BEFORE the loader. Zest auto-inits on load
   and reads window.ZestConfig once. Wrong order = config ignored.

   No commentary. No "here is your config". Just the two script tags.

Paste below.
```

Replace `[YOUR DOMAIN]` and `[STACK]`, then paste the report or attach the HAR. Hit enter.

> **Tip for your own prompts:** Zest ships its documentation in three LLM-friendly granularities, pick the smallest one that covers your question:
>
> - **Per-page** like [`/docs/configuration.md`](https://cookiezest.com/docs/configuration.md), [`/docs/events.md`](https://cookiezest.com/docs/events.md), [`/docs/script-blocking.md`](https://cookiezest.com/docs/script-blocking.md), [`/docs/api.md`](https://cookiezest.com/docs/api.md), [`/docs/getting-started.md`](https://cookiezest.com/docs/getting-started.md), [`/docs/examples.md`](https://cookiezest.com/docs/examples.md), [`/docs/styling.md`](https://cookiezest.com/docs/styling.md). About 250 lines each. Use for one-shot questions about a single API. This is what the prompt above uses.
> - **[`/docs-full.md`](https://cookiezest.com/docs-full.md)**: every doc page concatenated into a single 2,100-line markdown file. Use for cross-cutting work (custom events + headless mode + script-blocking tuning in one prompt).
> - **[`/llms.txt`](https://cookiezest.com/llms.txt)** and **[`/llms-full.txt`](https://cookiezest.com/llms-full.txt)**: the standard llms.txt index, and the full dump including changelog, homepage, and policy pages. Use for "give the AI everything about this project" prompts.
>
> Same content as the human-facing docs in every case, no HTML chrome, no wasted tokens.

You will get something like this back. (This is a real output for a HubSpot site I audited last week, lightly edited.)

```html
<script>
  window.ZestConfig = {
    mode: "strict",
    respectDNT: true,
    dntBehavior: "reject",

    // Built-in Consent Mode integrations. Zest handles the default-denied
    // state and pushes update signals to gtag/uetq automatically.
    consentModeGoogle: true,
    consentModeMicrosoft: true,

    position: "bottom-left",
    theme: "auto",
    accentColor: "#ff6a00", // Any hex. Zero forced branding. The banner looks like your site, not like Zest.
    policyUrl: "/privacy",

    blockedDomains: [
      { domain: "googletagmanager.com", category: "analytics" },
      { domain: "google-analytics.com", category: "analytics" },
      { domain: "stats.g.doubleclick.net", category: "marketing" },
      { domain: "connect.facebook.net", category: "marketing" },
      { domain: "static.hotjar.com", category: "analytics" },
      { domain: "script.hotjar.com", category: "analytics" },
      { domain: "snap.licdn.com", category: "marketing" },
      { domain: "js.hs-scripts.com", category: "analytics" },
      { domain: "js.hs-banner.com", category: "essential" },
      { domain: "track.hubspot.com", category: "analytics" },
    ],

    patterns: {
      analytics: ["^_ga", "^_gid", "^_hjSession", "^hubspotutk$", "^__hstc$"],
      marketing: ["^_fbp$", "^_gcl_", "^li_sugr$", "^lidc$", "^bcookie$"],
    },
  };
</script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@freshjuice/zest"></script>
```

**Order matters.** The `window.ZestConfig` block has to come BEFORE the loader script. Zest auto-initializes the moment it loads, reads `window.ZestConfig` once, and runs with whatever it finds. If the config block is below the loader, Zest boots with defaults and your blocklist never applies.

That is a working, compliant Zest config for a real site. The AI did not invent it. It read the trace, applied Zest's schema, and produced something you can ship.

### Step 3: Drop it in your `<head>` (1 minute)

Paste both `<script>` tags (the Zest one and your generated config) into the very top of your `<head>`, before any analytics, before any chat widget, before anything.

> **Three deployment options, ranked by privacy footprint:**
>
> 1. **jsDelivr CDN** (what the example above uses). One third-party fetch, but jsDelivr has a published GDPR Data Processing Agreement and runs on Cloudflare. Easiest setup, easy to bump versions. Good default.
> 2. **Self-host as a file** on your origin. Build Zest locally (`npm run build`), drop `zest.en.min.js` somewhere on your server, point `<script src>` at it. Zero third-party origins. You own the asset, you own the cache headers, you own the audit trail.
> 3. **Inline directly in `<head>`** (zero network requests, zero third-party origins, zero anything). Paste the contents of `zest.en.min.js` between `<script>` tags right above the `ZestConfig` block. Adds about 12KB gzipped to your HTML response, but eliminates one round-trip AND any third-party origin from the pre-consent picture. This is what we run on our own demo site, and what ConsentTheater's strictest audits expect for sites where every pre-consent request matters.

Order matters. Zest needs to load first so it can intercept `document.cookie`, `localStorage`, and any `<script>` that tries to phone home. If GA loads before Zest, GA wins, and you are back where you started.

For the script-blocking modes (`manual`, `safe`, `strict`, `doomsday`), the [Zest docs](https://cookiezest.com/docs/script-blocking/) explain what each one does. Short version: `safe` blocks the obvious analytics and marketing trackers from a built-in list. `strict` blocks more aggressively. `doomsday` blocks anything Zest does not recognise, which will break things, so use it only after you have explicitly whitelisted what you need.

### Step 4: Re-scan and verify (2 minutes)

Open your site, click the ConsentTheater icon, and hit **Start test** again. The extension wipes cookies and storage before each run, so you do not need incognito mode or a fresh window.

You are looking for one thing: **zero non-essential cookies and zero non-essential third-party requests before consent is given**.

> **One funny gotcha:** ConsentTheater will probably flag `cdn.jsdelivr.net` as a low-risk third-party connection. Yes, the CDN we just used to load the blocker shows up in the blocker's own audit. It is essential (Zest itself cannot load without it) and it sets no cookies. If it bothers you, self-host the script and the entry disappears. We told you self-hosting was the cleaner option.

If something still slips through, copy the new report back into Claude with a follow-up prompt:

> The audit still shows `[cookie name or domain]` firing before consent.
> Update the config so it gets blocked. Return the full updated script blocks in the same order (config first, loader second).

Iterate until the audit is clean. Usually one or two rounds.

### Step 5: Test the "Reject All" path in the same scan (2 minutes)

This is the step everyone forgets. A compliant banner has to actually respect "reject". The good news: you do not need a separate audit run. ConsentTheater scans live. It clears cookies and storage when the test starts, then watches every script, cookie, and storage write in real time until you stop the scan.

So in a single test session: let the page load (this captures pre-consent leaks), then click **Reject All** in your Zest banner. Anything that fires after that click gets added to the same list. If the post-reject list grows, your banner is leaking on the reject path.

The post-reject list should be empty. Cookies, storage, third-party requests, all of it. If something does show up, copy that name or domain into the AI prompt:

> ConsentTheater shows `[cookie or domain]` firing after the user clicked
> "Reject All". Update the config so it is blocked even when consent is
> denied. Return the full updated script blocks in the same order (config
> first, loader second).

Re-deploy. Re-run the same scan. Done.

That is the whole loop.

## Why this beats "buy a CMP"

Four reasons, in order of importance:

**1. You can read the code.**

Zest is on [GitHub](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/zest). The blocklist is in the repo. The categorization logic is in the repo. The UI is in the repo. If something behaves weirdly, you can step through it. With OneTrust or Cookiebot, when something behaves weirdly, you open a support ticket and wait three days.

**2. Your CMP is not itself a GDPR violation.**

This is the joke nobody in the consent industry wants to tell out loud. Most of the big CMP scripts are loaded from US-hosted CDNs. The moment that script executes on an EU visitor's page, the visitor's IP address is in the hands of a US data processor. Before they have consented to anything. That visitor never got the chance to say no, because the thing that was supposed to ask them is the thing that just leaked their data.

Under [Schrems II](https://www.edpb.europa.eu/our-work-tools/our-documents/recommendations/recommendations-012020-measures-supplement-transfer_en), a third-country transfer to a US processor is only lawful with Standard Contractual Clauses, a Transfer Impact Assessment, and supplementary measures, because US surveillance law (FISA 702, EO 12333) lets US intelligence compel that processor to hand over data regardless of any contract. Most sites buying these CMPs have done none of that paperwork and would lose an audit immediately.

The compliance tool is the first compliance breach on every page. Zest is open source and, if you self-host the script (we recommended this in [Step 3](#step-3-drop-it-in-your-head-1-minute)), it involves zero third-country transfers. Even when loaded from jsDelivr (a public open-source CDN that hosts every npm package on earth, not our infrastructure), the only data flowing is the HTTP request for the static script file. No cookies. No identifiers. No analytics callback. And jsDelivr runs on Cloudflare with a published DPA, so even that single request has the paperwork in place.

**3. The AI is auditing your site, not the vendor's site.**

The big CMPs scan your site with their own scanner, then categorize cookies according to their own rules, which conveniently tend to favor "let it through" over "block it". An independent scanner (ConsentTheater) plus an independent reasoner (Claude) plus an independent enforcer (Zest) has no incentive to lie to you.

**4. It costs zero.**

ConsentTheater: **free and open source.** Claude: free tier covers a single site (the only proprietary piece, and they give the model away). Zest: **free and open source**, MIT-licensed, 16KB, every line on [GitHub](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/zest). Two of the three tools you can fork, audit, self-host, or fix yourself. Total annual cost: zero. And the compliance outcome beats most $2,000/year CMPs, because nobody in this stack gets paid to misclassify trackers. The paid CMPs do. We already showed you one selling cookie compliance while dropping non-exempt Google Analytics cookies on its own homepage.

## When AI gets it wrong (and what to do)

The model will occasionally misclassify something. Patterns we have seen:

- **HubSpot's `__hs_opt_out` cookie** is genuinely essential (it stores your consent decision). AI sometimes flags it as marketing. Move it to `essential`.
- **Cloudflare's `__cf_bm` and `_cfuvid`** are security cookies. Essential. AI sometimes flags them as functional or analytics. They are not.
- **Theme / locale / contrast / font-size preference set by user action**: AI tends to be over-cautious here and tags these as `functional` (which means Zest blocks them pre-consent and the toggle the user just clicked silently fails to persist). They should be `essential`. If the user clicked a toggle or made a dropdown choice, you are storing what they explicitly asked for, which is exempt from consent under "necessary for the service the user requested". Only auto-detected / auto-assigned preferences belong in `functional`. And do not let anyone convince you the cookie vs localStorage distinction matters here. ePrivacy Article 5(3) covers both. What matters is whether the user actively chose it. In your Zest config, the cleanest fix is to list the storage keys via `essentialKeys`: `essentialKeys: ['app_theme', 'app_locale', 'a11y_contrast']`.

The fix is always the same: tell the AI which calls were wrong, paste the schema link again, and ask for an updated config. Two or three iterations and you have something solid.

## What `consentModeGoogle` and `consentModeMicrosoft` actually do

Two booleans, two whole CMP integrations. Worth knowing what is happening behind them so you can debug if something looks off in GA4 or Microsoft Advertising.

When `consentModeGoogle: true` is set, Zest:

1. Initialises `window.dataLayer` and a `gtag()` function if they do not exist yet.
2. Pushes `gtag('consent', 'default', { ... 'denied' ... wait_for_update: 500 })` before any Google tag has a chance to fire. This is the bit Google has been requiring for EU traffic since March 2024.
3. On every consent change, pushes `gtag('consent', 'update', { ... })` with the standard category mapping: Zest's `analytics` → Google's `analytics_storage`, Zest's `marketing` → Google's `ad_storage` + `ad_user_data` + `ad_personalization`.

When `consentModeMicrosoft: true` is set, Zest does the same thing for Microsoft UET via `window.uetq.push('consent', 'default'|'update', { ad_storage: 'granted'|'denied' })`. This matters if you run Bing Ads or Microsoft Clarity, both of which now require their own consent signal.

Two flags, full coverage of the two ad platforms that account for ~98% of paid search globally. No gtag stub to write, no `onChange` callback to maintain, no Tag Manager template to deploy, no $1,200/year CMP "add-on" to license. The [Zest events docs](https://cookiezest.com/docs/events/) cover the underlying callback signature if you ever do need to wire up Meta CAPI, LinkedIn Conversion API, or a custom server-side endpoint by hand.

To verify Google Consent Mode is working: open GA4 → Admin → Property Settings → Data Streams → your stream → consent settings tab. Google will show you whether Consent Mode signals are arriving and what state they were last in. For Microsoft: UET Tag Helper extension in Edge or Chrome shows live consent signals as they fire.

## The bigger point

You do not need a six-figure compliance stack to ship a legal cookie banner. You need:

- An honest scanner.
- A reasoning engine that has read the law.
- An enforcer that actually blocks things before consent.

ConsentTheater, Claude, Zest. Three free tools. Ten minutes. One `<script>` tag in your head.

The companies selling you complexity are doing it because complexity is profitable for them. It is not profitable for you, and the regulators do not give you extra credit for spending more. They check the cookies. The cookies either fire before consent or they do not.

Make sure yours do not. Then move on to the actual work.
---
## How to deal with cookie consent on your site: a 101 guide
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-deal-with-cookie-consent-in-your-site-a-101-guide/
Published: 2026-05-15
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: GDPR, Data Privacy, Privacy, Marketing, Website Optimization
> Cookie consent done right: how GDPR, ePrivacy, and CCPA actually work, plus three ways to implement a compliant banner on your site.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import imgExempt from "./assets/cookiescan-exempt-classification.png";
import pdfReport from "./assets/consenttheater-cookiescan.com-2026-05-15T14-23-52.pdf?url";
import harTrace from "./assets/consenttheater-cookiescan.com-2026-05-15T14-23-52.har?url";

That banner, that annoying banner all of us marketers must implement on our websites to inform users about how their data is being used, is something that very few website owners do right and something that we should care about a lot more than we do.

Cookie consent is one of the most important legal implementations you must be compliant with, as the fines can be as high as 10 million or 2% of the annual global turnover for mild breaches, [as stated by CookieScan](https://www.cookiescan.com/gdpr-cookie-fines-explained/). The funny part is that, while reading that very article about GDPR fines, we decided to audit CookieScan's own site (on May 15, 2026) using [ConsentTheater](https://consenttheater.org/extension/), a browser extension that checks which cookies and trackers fire before a user gives consent. The result was a bit surprising. A banner did show up and blocked the page with three buttons (Adjust, Reject all, Accept all), but before we touched any of them, with no consent given and no rejection, two Google Analytics cookies (`_ga` and `_ga_G2VHD35HF2`) were already sitting in our browser, quietly feeding behavioral data straight into Google's advertising ecosystem.

To make it more curious, the banner's own preferences panel marks `_ga` as "exempt" and "always on", which is a bit of a stretch since under GDPR analytics cookies are not exempt and do require explicit consent. So a company that sells cookie compliance, on a banner literally "powered by CookieScan", is dropping non-exempt trackers before the visitor has made a single decision. You really can't make this up.

<Image
  src={imgExempt}
  alt="CookieScan's own preferences panel classifies the Google Analytics _ga cookie as 'Exempt' and 'Always On' under the Statistics category, meaning it is dropped without user consent."
  width={900}
/>

For anyone curious about [the methodology](https://consenttheater.org/methodology/), the full audit captured on May 15, 2026 is available as a <a href={pdfReport} download="consenttheater-cookiescan-2026-05-15.pdf">PDF report</a> and a <a href={harTrace} download="consenttheater-cookiescan-2026-05-15.har">raw HAR network trace</a>.

The implementation is quite simple, and being compliant even more so, but people seem to go with the easy choice and forget to research what to actually do. Here is everything you need to know to truly understand cookie consent and the ways to implement it on your site while staying compliant with the most common laws.

## What is cookie consent?

Cookies, also known as Internet cookies, are text files containing small pieces of information that are used to identify your device when you visit a site or network. These small text files can include login details such as usernames and passwords associated with your device, as well as other data like browsing preferences, session information, and tracking identifiers used for analytics and advertising.

This information is quite important for website owners to understand users (i.e., it's used by analytics tools to provide aggregated insights into visitor behavior, traffic sources, and site usage patterns), but also for users, as they have the ability to manage their privacy, control what data is collected, and decide how their browsing information is used. That ability is what we refer to as cookie consent. But why do we have to ask for their consent? Well, there are laws about it, but we will talk about that later.

### What are cookie consent banners?

Every time you visit a site for the first time, a pop-up or banner appears on your screen asking for your consent regarding cookies. It informs you about how cookies are used and typically gives you options such as accepting all cookies, rejecting non-essential cookies, or managing your preferences in more detail. These are what we call cookie consent banners.

This is what you need to implement to give users clear information and control over how their data is collected and processed. The banner must appear on entry to the site before non-essential cookies are set, and it should be accessible again so users can change or withdraw their consent at any time. That's why pop-ups and sticky banners are the most common solutions among marketers, although, as [we have covered in detail before](/blog/your-cookie-banner-is-probably-illegal/), most of them still don't actually meet compliance requirements.

### What countries require cookie consent?

Cookie consent is required in many regions, but not worldwide, as requirements vary significantly depending on where your users are located. The big ones are the EU's GDPR (paired with the ePrivacy Directive specifically for cookies), the UK's UK-GDPR and PECR after Brexit, and in the US a patchwork of state laws led by California's CCPA. If you want to read what these laws actually say without wading through legalese, [ConsentTheater has a law reference section](https://consenttheater.org/law/) that puts each relevant article in plain language next to the official text. That's why we always recommend being aware of the different laws out there (always prioritizing the ones your audience is from), as each region has its own rules regarding data privacy and cookie usage.

In practice, many websites stick to the strictest and most well-known laws as a safety approach, as in that way you'll have most scenarios covered regardless of the user's location.

## How does cookie consent work?

As we have already mentioned, cookie consent works by letting users know how their information is being collected by a site and giving them the option to accept or withdraw consent or choose how that collection is going to be handled. It's something required by some laws across the globe, but there's no real consensus regarding how to implement it.

However, as mentioned above, marketers usually go with the most internationally recognized laws as, in that way, they can ensure a higher level of compliance. One of the most important of these laws is the GDPR.

### What is GDPR cookie consent?

The [GDPR](https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/dealing-with-customers/data-protection/data-protection-gdpr/index_en.htm) stands for General Data Protection Regulation. This regulation is a data privacy law from the European Union that imposes strict rules on the collection, storage, and processing of personal data for individuals in the EU/EEA.

Regarding cookie consent, this law doesn't say much about it, as within the 88 pages of requirements it only directly mentions cookies in this recital:

> [Recital 30](https://gdpr.eu/recital-30-online-identifiers-for-profiling-and-identification/)
>
> Online identifiers for profiling and identification
>
> Natural persons may be associated with online identifiers provided by their devices, applications, tools and protocols, such as internet protocol addresses, cookie identifiers, or other identifiers such as radio frequency identification tags. This may leave traces which, in particular when combined with unique identifiers and other information received by the servers, may be used to create profiles of natural persons and identify them.

However, this minimal appearance doesn't mean that the GDPR doesn't apply to cookies, as this recital basically states that, since cookies are a way to identify and qualify personal data, they are subject to the GDPR. However, the real European "cookie law" is the ePrivacy Directive, which explicitly addresses what to care about and what to do with cookie consent, supplementing in a way what the GDPR says.

Among the main requirements that can affect the use of cookies regarding both the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, you can find:

- Users must give you their explicit consent before collecting ANY cookies except strictly necessary cookies like shopping carts, login authentication, security, or load balancing.
- That user consent must be documented, collected, and stored to demonstrate compliance with data protection regulations and to provide proof in case of audits or disputes. This is very important to avoid fines and legal actions.
- You must give all the information regarding cookie recollection in plain language to make it accessible for everyone to understand. That information should be about the data tracked by each cookie and its purpose.
- Regardless of the level of consent given by users, you must provide access to your site.
- Consent withdrawal must be easy to find and accessible, and it should be as simple to withdraw consent as it is to give it.
- All of this must be accessible for everyone by being not only easy to understand but also work with keyboard navigation and screen readers to make it compliant with the WCAG 2.2.

And none of these requirements are theoretical. [NOYB](https://noyb.eu/en/news), a privacy NGO that files GDPR complaints for a living, publishes regular write-ups on companies that get cookie consent wrong, from giant tech platforms to small publishers, and the list keeps growing. It is genuinely good reading if you want to see what the regulators actually care about, beyond what the legal text says.

As we have already mentioned, this law and the directive are from the EU and are usually the most looked at as they are the most complete, but another one that is a must-check, especially if you only work for the US, is the CCPA, which is specific to California but often treated as a key US privacy law by most marketers.

Like the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, the [California Consumer Privacy Act](https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa) also focuses on transparency and giving users the agency to choose what is done with their data. However, this law follows an opt-out model for cookies instead of the explicit opt-in required by GDPR. This means that users are generally allowed to have their data collected by default, but must be given a clear way to opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal information.

We know it can be difficult to manage data protection rules across different jurisdictions, and since we believe a more global approach is the best way to handle legal compliance despite this diversity, the GDPR is often the preferred baseline. This is because it sets a stricter standard, whereas the CCPA does not treat default data collection as non-compliant in the same way the GDPR does.

## How do I implement a cookie consent banner on my website?

Now that you know what cookie consent banners are and the requirements most commonly followed by marketers for legal compliance, you can start thinking about how to implement one on your site. To do so, there are three main ways:

### Plugins

The most common way to implement cookie consent banners is by installing plugins, which are prebuilt software extensions that you add to your website (usually through a CMS like WordPress) to handle cookie consent automatically for you.

This is usually the easiest way to do it, but it also comes with several inconveniences. We have already talked about it before, but we are not big fans of plugins as they often add unnecessary code, can affect performance, and usually give you less control over customization and compliance details.

Among the most popular cookie consent plugins are the [GDPR Cookie Compliance Plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/gdpr-cookie-compliance/) and Klaro, all of which offer straightforward implementation for most websites and CMS platforms, but if we take a closer look at the pros and cons, we can see the following:

| PROS                                                    | CONS                                                      |
| :------------------------------------------------------ | :-------------------------------------------------------- |
| Easy implementation                                     | Can affect page speed and overall performance             |
| Free options available                                  | Some advanced compliance features require paid plans      |
| Applicable with almost every CMS and ecommerce platform | Often includes unnecessary code and features              |
| Requires little to no technical knowledge               | Limited customization options                             |
| Usually includes prebuilt compliance templates          | Can create dependency on plugin updates and support       |
|                                                         | Some plugins may conflict with other site tools or themes |

This is probably the easiest option for most beginners, and it is best suited for websites that prioritize speed of implementation over full control of compliance logic and design, but in the long run it can have many drawbacks, as you have read.

### Cookie consent management platforms

Another easy way of implementing cookie consent is by signing up for a cookie consent management platform. This is quite similar to plugins and, in most of the cases, it even requires a plugin installation, but these platforms usually offer a more complete solution with automated compliance updates, cookie scanning, and consent record management.

This option is usually preferred by businesses that want a ready-to-use solution without having to deal with manual coding or ongoing maintenance. Most of these platforms are designed to keep up with legal changes and simplify compliance management, making them a practical option for teams with limited technical expertise.

Based on what marketers say, the cookie consent management platforms most often recommended for websites are [OneTrust](https://www.onetrust.com/), [Cookiebot](https://www.cookiebot.com/), [iubenda](https://www.iubenda.com/), [CookieYes](https://www.cookieyes.com/), and [CookieScan](https://www.cookiescan.com/) (yes, the same CookieScan from the example at the start of this article), based on several [Reddit comments](https://www.reddit.com/r/divi/comments/1otgvvr/whats_the_best_consent_management_platform_cmp_in/) and similar discussions. These are frequently chosen due to their strong compliance features, broad CMS compatibility, and coverage for regulations like GDPR and CCPA. However, let's take a closer look at their pros and cons.

| PROS                                                                           | CONS                                                                                                                                                                       |
| :----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Easy to implement with little to no coding knowledge                           | Usually comes with monthly or yearly subscription costs                                                                                                                    |
| Some of them are automatically updated to reflect legal and compliance changes | Not all platforms are compliant with the legal requirements, as they are usually adapted to the country they are based in                                                  |
| Applicable with almost every CMS and ecommerce platform                        | Limited customization compared to manual implementation                                                                                                                    |
| Includes automated cookie scanning and consent tracking                        | You depend on a third-party provider                                                                                                                                       |
| Offers built-in consent record storage                                         | Some platforms may affect page speed and performance                                                                                                                       |
| Usually includes multilingual support                                          | Migration can be difficult if switching providers later                                                                                                                    |
|                                                                                | They usually aren't available in many languages, often requiring you to pay for translations or rely on automatic translation, which can be tricky with legal requirements |

Even though this is one of the easiest and safest options for most businesses, it is best suited for teams that prefer convenience and automation over having full control of design and consent logic.

### Manual implementation

Manual implementation sounds intimidating, but in practice the install is no harder than any other cookie consent solution. Every CMP gives you a script tag to paste in your `<head>`. Manual solutions do the same. The difference is in what happens after the script loads.

Take [Zest](https://cookiezest.com/), our own lightweight toolkit, as an example. It is free and fully open source. The entire codebase is on GitHub, no hidden services, no black-box bundle. Read it, fork it, make your own. It installs in a single line:

```html
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@freshjuice/zest"></script>
```

That is it. [Drop that into your site's head](https://cookiezest.com/docs/getting-started/#installation) and, for the vast majority of websites, you are done. Zest will detect cookies and third-party trackers, block non-essential ones until the user gives consent, and surface a properly granular banner. If you want to see this work end to end on a real site, our [companion guide](/blog/audit-your-cookie-banner-with-ai/) walks through auditing your own page with the [ConsentTheater](https://consenttheater.org/extension/) extension, handing the trace to Claude or ChatGPT, and dropping the AI-generated Zest config straight into `<head>` in about ten minutes.

The catch, which honestly applies to every other CMP equally, is that some sites need extra tuning. If you run a niche tracker or a custom analytics endpoint that Zest does not recognise out of the box, you can [add your own domains to the blocklist](https://cookiezest.com/docs/script-blocking/#custom-blocked-domains) through a small `window.ZestConfig` object. This is not a downside, it is granular control. Every serious CMP requires the same level of configuration if you want the banner to actually do what the law expects. The platforms that let you "set and forget" are usually the ones that quietly let trackers through, which is exactly what we saw at the start of this article.

Beyond Zest, there are other lightweight open toolkits with similar philosophies ([Klaro](https://github.com/kiprotect/klaro) is one of them, even though it is also distributed as a WordPress plugin). Pick whichever you like. What matters is that the solution actually blocks non-essential cookies before consent, which is the part most banners skip.

One last note. If your website already runs on HubSpot, they ship a [built-in cookie consent banner](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/privacy-and-consent/customize-your-cookie-tracking-settings-and-privacy-policy-alert) that follows a correct GDPR implementation flow. It does not technically block scripts and cookies the way a dedicated script-blocker does, but the consent capture, persistence, and integration with HubSpot's own tracking are solid. For HubSpot-native sites, it is a sensible default before reaching for a third-party tool.

| PROS                                                           | CONS                                                                   |
| :------------------------------------------------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| One-line script install, no plugin or vendor lock-in           | Edge cases or custom trackers may need a small JavaScript config tweak |
| Actively blocks non-essential cookies and trackers pre-consent |                                                                        |
| Designed to support GDPR and CCPA compliance                   |                                                                        |
| Fully customizable cookie consent UI                           |                                                                        |
| Works with most CMS and e-commerce platforms                   |                                                                        |
| Free and open source: read it, fork it, modify it              |                                                                        |
| Available in 12 languages                                      |                                                                        |
| Lightweight, no impact on page speed                           |                                                                        |
| No third-party dependency or recurring cost                    |                                                                        |
| Full control over data storage and consent logic               |                                                                        |

This option is best suited for teams that want full control over both compliance and design, without relying on a black-box third-party tool. But it works just as well for anyone who simply wants a script tag in their head that does the right thing by default.

## What are the key components of a legally compliant cookie banner?

After all this information, you might feel overwhelmed, but let's break down in a simple way how to implement cookie consent while staying compliant:

1. **How it should appear**

   It should always appear on entry pages and remain visible until the user accepts or withdraws consent, without being intrusive. In this way, you avoid loading cookies before the user has given consent, ensuring that consent is properly obtained first. A quick way to verify this is actually working on your own site is to audit it with [ConsentTheater](https://consenttheater.org/extension/), which will tell you exactly which cookies and trackers fire before any consent is given.

2. **What options should be available**

   Even though there are essential cookies that can't be rejected, you have to make available the option to accept recommended cookies, accept personalized cookies, and, especially, reject cookies. Always provide an equal choice of "reject" and "accept" that are both clearly visible.

   Besides these options, the personalized version should allow users to choose between marketing, functional, or analytics cookies, creating a granular consent that fully informs users about the cookies being used.

3. **What if they want to change their consent?**

   There's the possibility that users change their mind and want to change their consent afterwards. This is quite common and you should always provide a persistent withdrawal option for users to revoke consent whenever they want to. Keep this in mind when implementing the banner.

4. **What about accessibility?**

   Last but not least, you must make it accessible for everyone. We have already talked about accessibility in [other articles](/blog/how-to-make-social-media-more-accessible-to-strengthen-your-marketing-strategy/), but we are going to repeat it until we die: accessibility is non-negotiable. Ensure that the cookie consent banner works with keyboard navigation and screen readers to provide access for those who need it, in line with WCAG 2.2 guidelines.

5. **Then, what's the best way to do it following the previous recommendations?**

   The best way to do it is through manual implementation, and the install is as simple as pasting a single `<script>` tag in your site's head. We have shown you our own toolkit, [Zest](https://cookiezest.com/), which is free, compliant, lightweight, customizable, and available in 12 languages. There are also other open toolkits with similar features that work well, so pick whichever you trust. What matters is that the solution actually blocks non-essential cookies before consent, which is the part most pre-built plugins quietly skip.
---
## May the 4th be with you. Meet the new freshjuice.dev
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/may-the-4th-be-with-you/
Published: 2026-05-04
Author: reatlat
Tags: FreshJuice, Stay Fresh, Product Update, Privacy, Technical SEO, Website Optimization
> We rewrote freshjuice.dev on Astro + Preact. Faster builds, zero third-party requests, full theme and accessibility support. Happy Star Wars Day.
May the 4th. The day Star Wars fans pretend they're not refreshing the merch drops every five minutes. Happy Star Wars Day to everyone quietly mouthing "May the Force be with you" at strangers today.

We didn't ship merch. We shipped something better: **the entire freshjuice.dev, rebuilt from scratch.**

If the site feels snappier today, that's why. Under the hood we ripped out Eleventy and Alpine.js, threw away ~6 minutes of build time, and rebuilt the whole thing on Astro 6 + Preact. URL didn't change. Bookmarks still work. RSS still updates. Tools still work. Everything else under the surface is new.

## Why bother

Honest answer: the old stack was fine. Eleventy 3.x + Tailwind v4 + Alpine was solid and we knew it well. So why rewrite?

Two reasons.

First, **build pipeline pain**. OG image generation alone took ~5 minutes via Puppeteer-driven `node-html-to-image`. We hand-maintained a JSON ledger of pre-compressed images. Pre-commit hooks chained serial JS bundling, then Tailwind, then Eleventy, then Pagefind. It worked. It didn't have to.

Second, **interactive components were getting hairy**. Our newer SEO tools needed real component-tree state. Alpine was hitting the wall for the complex tools and we didn't want a hybrid stack. React-flavoured islands hanging off Alpine markup felt like the wrong end of every trade-off. Preact gave us actual components without bringing in React's weight.

Astro 6 had everything: stable image pipeline, Preact integration, native MDX, islands architecture, build-time everything. The migration was a focused stretch of work and it's done.

## What changed for you

The boring answer: nothing. Same URLs, same content, same brand. Andrea still writing about marketing, Lorea still writing about AI search, Aleksandr still writing about HubSpot internals.

The interesting answer: **almost every privacy and performance pain point we were quietly carrying is now gone.**

- **Dark mode, light mode, high contrast: all three persist properly.** Even if you reject every cookie in our consent banner. They live in a single namespaced `localStorage` key (`fj.preferences`) explicitly whitelisted as essential UI state. Your accessibility choices aren't tracking. They're you, talking to your browser. Our consent layer used to silently block writes to those keys when you said "reject all." That bug is fixed.
- **Zero third-party image requests.** Author photos used to fetch from `gravatar.com` on every page load, leaking your IP to Automattic for every avatar. Now they're cached locally as WebP at build time. We talk to Gravatar exactly once: when a new author joins. After that, every avatar loads from `freshjuice.dev` only.
- **OG images are generated, not committed.** Every social card that pops up when you share a FreshJuice link to LinkedIn, X, or Slack is rendered fresh from satori at deploy time. No more 250 hand-maintained webp files cluttering git history. Open the [`/tools/metadata-checker/`](/tools/metadata-checker/) on any of our pages. Every share preview is one of these.
- **Responsive images by default.** Every blog photo now ships a srcset of breakpoint variants, so a 360px phone fetches a 360px image, not the original 2000px hero.
- **The print stylesheet actually prints.** Hit ⌘P on any blog post. Comes out as ink on paper, clean typography, no wasted toner on dark-mode backgrounds. We even slipped a tiny FreshJuice attribution mark into the printed header.
- **Accessibility held the line.** WCAG 2.1 AA contrast ratios untouched. Mobile drawer respects dark mode (a regression we introduced and fixed within hours). All keyboard nav still works.
- **Every tool got reworked.** All 22 [Fresh Tools](/tools/) (SEO Analyzer, link checker, metadata inspector, llms.txt generator, contrast checker, Am I Responsive, the lot) got rebuilt as proper Preact components instead of the half-Alpine hybrids they used to be. Faster, snappier, less weirdness on edge inputs. [Am I Responsive](/tools/am-i-responsive/) now has a one-click "picture mode" + Save-to-PDF that actually works. The HTML↔Markdown pair render previews in shadow DOM so author CSS can't bleed into the tool chrome. Worth a click around if you haven't visited the tools page in a while.
- **Component loading got smarter.** The old setup shipped one ~200 KB `main.js` bundle to every page: Alpine.data for all 22 tools, mobile drawer, theme toggles, search palette, all of it, even on a static blog post that needed approximately none of it. Astro's islands architecture inverted that. Each interactive component ships as its own tiny JS chunk, loaded only when actually needed. A blog post now blocks first paint on ~2 KB of gzipped JS (page bundle + the BaseLayout entry script). The consent banner (~13 KB gz) loads during browser idle time, after the page is already painted and interactive. The search palette (~24 KB gz) doesn't fetch until you press Cmd+K or click the search trigger. The 21 tools you're not using on this blog post? Their JS never loads at all.

## Side of the Force

Bringing it back to today, the operating principle for the rewrite was simple: **everything bakes on our side until you opt in.**

No third-party fonts. No tracking pixels by default. No marketing cookies. No share-button widgets phoning home to LinkedIn. YouTube embeds are click-to-load on the nocookie domain, so they don't fire until you press play.

We're not perfect about it. We do run HubSpot analytics, but only **after** you accept cookies in the consent banner. Hit "Reject all" and HubSpot never loads. Hit nothing and HubSpot never loads either (default state is reject; we don't pre-tick analytics).

You can audit the default state yourself. Open DevTools → Network, hit any FreshJuice page, scroll, click around. Without a consent decision, the only domain that talks back is `freshjuice.dev`. That's the floor we hold.

Other studios call this an architecture. We call it the bare minimum.

## Side quest: we open-sourced our search palette

While rebuilding, we tripped over a real gap in the Astro ecosystem: **there's no good Cmd+K search palette for Astro sites.** Most "search for Astro" search results land you on either client-only Lunr hacks, paid SaaS embeds (Algolia, Mintlify), or "here's a 200-line component, copy-paste it into your project" blog posts.

So we built [`@freshjuice/astro-search-plugin`](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/astro-search-plugin). Apache 2.0. Type-safe. Build-time index via [Orama](https://orama.com), client-side query, drop-in `<astro-search-palette>` web component. Works with vanilla JS, Vue, Svelte, Solid, React. Zero runtime CDN, zero telemetry. It's what powers the Cmd+K on this site you're reading right now.

If you've been hand-rolling search for an Astro site, save yourself the afternoon.

## The numbers, for the curious

End-to-end deploy time on Cloudflare Pages, from `git push` to "live on freshjuice.dev":

| Run                        | Eleventy       | Astro           |
| -------------------------- | -------------- | --------------- |
| Cold (no cache)            | **5 min 11 s** | **~1 min 30 s** |
| Hot (cached deps + images) | 1 min 56 s     | ~1 min 30 s     |
| Output `dist/` size        | 117 MB         | 43 MB           |

The **really** interesting number isn't the cold-start speedup (3.3×). It's that Astro deploys at the **same speed regardless of cache state**. Eleventy was a coin flip: 2 minutes if you got lucky with the cache layer, 5 if you didn't. Predictability matters more than peak when you're shipping multiple PRs an hour.

Output also dropped 2.7×: partly Astro's smarter image variant generation (we no longer ship every blog photo at five resolutions), partly killing 250 hand-committed OG webp files in favour of build-time generation.

## Where to find us (not on X)

Quick housekeeping: **we left X.** The timeline turned into a swarm of bots and bored humans screaming "Grok, explain what 2 + 2 means" at each other. AI slop and zombieland in one bottle. We logged off, we're not coming back, the account is dead.

Where we actually are:

- [@freshjuice-dev on GitHub](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/): code, issues, fork-and-yell-at-us
- [FreshJuice on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/freshjuice): release notes + blog announcements for the corporate-aware
- [@FreshJuiceDev on Mastodon](https://mastodon.social/@FreshJuiceDev): the casual stuff that used to live on X, minus the algorithm and the bots

And the canonical thing: [RSS](/feed.xml) / [JSON Feed](/feed.json). Subscribe once, get notified forever, no platform in between.

## What's next

Same things we were already doing. More [tools](/tools/). More [posts](/blog/). Whatever Andrea and Lorea decide to write next. The migration was infrastructure work. The actual product is still the same FreshJuice you know.

If you find anything broken, ping us via [contact](/contact/) or open an issue on the [GitHub repo](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/freshjuice-website). Everything's open source. Read the build script. Fork it. Yell at us.
---
## How to make social media more accessible to strengthen your marketing strategy
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-make-social-media-more-accessible-to-strengthen-your-marketing-strategy/
Published: 2026-05-03
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Marketing, Marketing Strategies, Digital Marketing, Content Strategy, SEO, AEO, AI Search, User Experience
> Make social media content accessible: practical tips for X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Boost reach, SEO, AI visibility, and brand reputation.
import YouTube from "@/components/mdx/YouTube.astro";

Fortunately, accessibility is becoming more important every day, and businesses are increasingly recognizing the need to create digital experiences that everyone can use, regardless of ability or context. This shift is not only driven by legal requirements and industry standards, but also by a broader understanding that inclusive design improves usability for all users. Furthermore, the application of accessibility across all aspects of marketing strategy (website, social media, etc.) has been proven to support overall SEO performance, and that's where marketers are heading.

If you are present on social media platforms and are not following accessibility recommendations, here we are going to explain why you should start, the benefits of doing so, and how to apply it across every major social media platform.

## What does accessibility mean in social media?

When we talk about accessibility in social media, we are referring to the practice of making all content posted on social media accessible to everyone. This entails making text, images, and videos understandable and usable for all users, regardless of their abilities or conditions. For example, a video should be captioned so that deaf and hard of hearing people can access it.

Each type of content requires different actions to ensure accessibility, and each platform has its own way of implementing these accessibility features.

## Why is accessibility important in your social media marketing strategy?

It might seem that accessibility in social media is only about inclusivity, but that assumption overlooks how digital content is actually consumed and interpreted today.

Even though the sole goal of making your content accessible should be reason enough to do it, we should understand that social media content is no longer experienced only visually or linearly. It is processed simultaneously by users, algorithms, [search engines](https://iihnordic.com/news/instagram-is-now-indexed-by-google-and-seo-has-never-been-more-important/), and AI systems, all of which rely on clarity, structure, and context to interpret what is being shared. Accessibility plays a key role in providing that context.

When you implement accessibility features, you are not just adapting content for specific users, but you are making it more explicit and understandable overall. Elements such as captions, transcripts, and alt text translate visual or audio information into structured text, similar to [how schema markup works](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/). This does not simply "add accessibility"; it changes how content can be interpreted, analyzed, and distributed across digital environments.

In this sense, accessibility aligns closely with how modern discovery systems work. Search engines and AI tools depend heavily on textual and structured signals to process content, while social media platforms prioritize formats that are easy to consume and interact with. Without accessible elements, a significant portion of your content remains visible only to some users and, furthermore, less interpretable to systems that influence reach and visibility.

This is why accessibility should not be seen as an afterthought, a separate or an optional layer, but as part of how content is created in the first place. It directly affects how clearly your message is communicated, how consistently it can be interpreted across different contexts, and how effectively it can circulate within increasingly complex digital ecosystems.

### Can ChatGPT access social media?

Yes, but not in the way search engines do. Tools like ChatGPT don't directly crawl or browse social media platforms like Google does with websites. Instead, they work with a mix of trained data, publicly available information, and in some cases integrations or connected tools.

This is important because it means social media content isn't automatically "visible" to AI systems in the same way it is to search engines. However, when content is public and well-structured, accessibility features like captions, transcripts, and alt text still make it easier for AI systems to understand what the content is about and potentially reuse or interpret it.

That said, not all platforms are equally open. For example, even though it hasn't been officially announced, LinkedIn doesn't allow ChatGPT to access users' information, [as stated by Alex Galinos in his LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexgalinos_for-people-with-a-personal-brand-llms-cannot-activity-7366476022826840067-ZGWa). Other platforms have different rules and levels of restriction, so it really depends on the specific platform.

Because of this, it's important not to assume that everything you post on social media is automatically accessible or usable by AI tools. Before building anything around AI visibility, it's worth checking each platform's policy so you actually know how your content can be accessed and used.

## Benefits of making your social media content accessible

We have already talked about the main benefit of implementing accessibility in your social media from a marketer's perspective, which is allowing both AI tools and search engines to better understand and process your content. However, it has other benefits that can not only improve your content performance and expand your audience reach, but also help create a more inclusive brand experience for all users.

**Making your content accessible for a wider audience.** No one should be prevented from accessing content, and that is the main goal of accessibility. As mentioned before, by implementing these features, you can make your content accessible to a wider audience, regardless of their ability or condition.

**Higher engagement and visibility in social media platforms.** As more people can consume your content, it will naturally receive more likes, shares, and comments, improving its overall performance. When more users interact with it, algorithms are more likely to identify it as valuable content, which can increase its visibility.

**Helping both search engines and AI to understand your content better.** As stated before, when you make content accessible, you are also helping crawlers better understand it, as you are providing structured data that is easily understood by both search engines and AI systems. Implementing clear captions, transcripts, descriptive text, and semantic structure helps these tools accurately interpret your content, increasing the likelihood of it being ranked or surfaced.

**Making your content crawlable for search engines and AI.** As you are helping search engines and AI understand your content, your content will be crawlable, making the likelihood of being cited or surfaced in different formats by both these tools higher. Accessible content can also be repurposed into summaries, snippets, or voice responses.

**Improving user engagement time.** Adding accessibility features like captions on videos can keep users engaged for longer, which can indirectly boost rankings. According to recent statistics published by Facebook, [adding accessibility features such as captions can increase video view time by up to 12%](https://www.3playmedia.com/blog/studies-find-captions-improve-engagement/). By providing these features, you are not only making users more engaged with your content, but also reducing bounce rates, as clear, readable, and inclusive content helps prevent users from dropping off.

**Compliance with accessibility standards.** Even though accessibility standards don't currently require social media content to be accessible, as they mainly focus on websites for now, this doesn't mean they won't include it in the future. By getting ahead of potential regulations, you can save a significant amount of time later on.

Furthermore, even if laws don't require it, most social media platforms have their own accessibility guidelines. While these are often recommendations rather than strict requirements, they exist for a reason. Aligning with these platform guidelines will not harm your social media strategy, and even though it is not officially stated, it could help improve the performance and reach of your content.

**Improving brand reputation.** By being more accessible, you show that your brand considers a wider range of users and their different needs when creating content. This reflects positively on your brand values, positioning it as more thoughtful, inclusive, and user-focused. Over time, this can strengthen trust and improve how your audience perceives your brand across social media platforms.

## How to create accessible social media content?

Now that you know all the benefits, let's see how to make that content accessible.

There are plenty of social media platforms, and each has its own way of making content accessible. Some are highly focused on photos, others on text, and some are a mix of both. In this section, we will explain how to create accessible content for each major social media platform so you can easily implement it.

### X, Bluesky and Threads

We have decided to group these three together as these social media platforms are quite similar: they are highly text-based, but also allow users to share images and videos. There are some recommendations regarding the three types of content you can share on them:

#### Text-based posts

For this type of post, you need to consider the use of emojis and hashtags:

1. Emojis can be used, but they shouldn't be inserted in every word, as this makes reading more difficult. They should be used in moderation, preferably at the end of sentences. For example:

   Instead of: I love coffee ☕, music 🎵, and traveling ✈️ on weekends 🌍.
   Write: I love coffee, music, and traveling on weekends ☕🎵✈️.

2. Regarding hashtags, they can also be used, but again in moderation, as they can make content harder to read. Whenever you use them, capitalize the words for easier readability — that way you allow users and screen readers to identify the sentence properly.

#### Image-based posts

When posting an image on these platforms, what you should focus on is the alt text. This concept, which we will revisit throughout the article, is defined as "[a] descriptive text that conveys the meaning of an image in digital content. It's designed to make visual content accessible to people with vision disabilities," [as stated by the GSA](https://www.section508.gov/training/alt-text/what-is-alternative-text/).

When posting this type of content, you should always add alt text, a feature that is easy to implement, as you will find the option simply by clicking on the image editing tool, where you'll see an ALT icon. Write the alt text there, save it, and publish the post.

Remember that alt text should be a description of the image; it should never be a place to add keywords or unrelated or incomplete information. Try to describe the image by highlighting its most important aspects, and always transcribe any text included in it to make it as accessible as possible. If you don't know how to do it, we recommend checking [these Harvard recommendations](https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/describe-content-images).

#### Video-based posts

Regarding the upload of a video on these platforms, captions are crucial. We recommend captioning the video yourself, as auto-captions are not very accurate (to say the least). If possible, add the `.srt` file separately instead of burning the captions into the video. That way, you ensure that search engines and AI systems can access the captions. This option is not always available, but when it is, it's the better choice.

And if you want to go further with video accessibility, you can also add audio descriptions (AD) to your video or, at the very least, add a reply post describing the video visually.

### Instagram

As we all know, Instagram is a social media platform where images and videos are the main focus. It combines different types of content and posts, and each has its own intricacies. Let's see what you should do to make the content on this platform accessible.

#### The caption of the post

The text below your post can also be inaccessible. There are some things you should take into account when writing it.

1. As in X, Bluesky, and Threads, if you use hashtags, they must be capitalized for easier readability. On Instagram specifically, hashtags are often better placed in a comment instead of in the actual caption.
2. You can use emojis, but as we mentioned before, with moderation and preferably at the end of sentences. Don't use emojis to visually structure your content, as this does not have a positive impact on accessibility. For example:

   Instead of:
   👉 Coffee ☕ boosts focus 🚀
   👉 Music 🎵 improves mood 💡
   👉 Travel ✈️ inspires creativity 🌍

   Write:
   Coffee boosts focus 🚀
   Music improves mood 💡
   Travel inspires creativity ✈️

#### The photo or image of the post

Regarding images, it's very similar to what you do on X. You will find an "Alternative Text" option every time you want to post a photo or a carousel in your feed.

1. Select your images, add the caption (always following our accessibility recommendations), add music… do whatever you want with your post.
2. As soon as you have everything ready, in the last step before finally publishing it, you will see a "More options" section at the end. Click there.
3. In that section, you will find (again at the end) an accessibility section for alt text. Click there and write the description of all the images.

To learn how to do it in a more visual way, check the following video:

<YouTube id="n05JxNjrMPA" />

#### Reels

Reels are the way videos are posted on Instagram. They follow a specific format, as they are vertical instead of horizontal, but the approach to making them accessible is the same as for other videos: captioning them. In fact, you will notice that almost every video is captioned, as more and more users prefer to watch videos muted. However, that does not mean those captions are always well-made or correctly set up.

As recommended for X, Bluesky, and Threads videos, caption your videos yourself following [the guidelines shared by 3Play Media](https://go.3playmedia.com/social-guide-checklist) or, if you have the budget, hire a professional captioner who can create customized captions that follow accessibility standards and make your content truly accessible.

Instagram does not allow you to upload an `.srt` file directly, but there is a workaround. Instead of using burned-in subtitles, you can rely on autogenerated captions and then edit them for accuracy.

#### Stories

This original Instagram feature can be tricky, as it mixes text, images, and video, but it can be made accessible quite easily. The accessibility approach will depend on the type of content you upload.

1. Don't upload an image with the text burned into it. Instead, use the app's text tools so the content is accessible to screen readers. When writing the text, make sure the colors used have enough contrast and always choose fonts that are easy to read (sans-serif fonts are the best option), in a size that is also easy to read.
2. When sharing a video, always add automatic captions, which are easy to enable ([follow these steps and recommendations by Accessibility Made Easy](https://www.accessibilityeasy.com/blog/how-to-add-captions-to-instagram-stories)), and edit them afterwards to ensure accuracy.
3. When adding a link, always use descriptive text instead of generic phrases like "click here" or "read more." Make sure the link text clearly explains what the user will find when they tap it.
4. Regarding uploading an image that has no text in it, there is no direct option to add alt text. However, you can still make it accessible even if the option is not available. How? By writing text that can be read by screen readers but is not visible to sighted users. To do so, use the text tool in Stories, make the text as small as possible, and place it off-screen or in a hidden area of the story. In this way, there is text that will be read by screen readers without distracting sighted users.

### Facebook

Facebook is quite similar to Instagram regarding access, as it has the same formats as the other social platform: images, videos, captions and stories. However, it has some differences regarding the way you make the content accessible. Let's break it down:

1. For the text, follow the same recommendations given before regarding the use of emojis and hashtags.
2. For images, add alt text by clicking on "Edit" or the three-dot menu on an image while creating a post (or afterward), select "Alt Text," and write the description.
3. For videos, you have three options: burn the captions, edit the automatic ones provided by Facebook to make them good, or add the `.srt` file (check [this Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/help/www/261764017354370) to do it, as it is a bit complicated). You can also do a combination of burning the captions and adding the `.srt` file; whatever is best for you.
4. Regarding stories, you can add auto-generated captions, add the description of the image as we explained for Instagram, and, of course, make sure there is high contrast for low-vision folks.

As you can see, it's quite similar to Instagram (well, Meta is the same company), except for the `.srt` file thing.

### YouTube

As mentioned in the Instagram videos section, what's crucial regarding videos is for them to have captions. In YouTube's case, you have the possibility of burning them in, but also of adding the `.srt` file, which is quite nice as in that way you ensure the transcription is crawled. To do that, you should follow these steps:

1. After your video has been uploaded, go to YouTube Studio and select "Content".
2. Choose the video you want to add captions to.
3. Click the pencil icon and then "Subtitles" in the left menu.
4. Click "Add Language" and choose the language of the subtitles. In this case, they are captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, so it's the same language as the video.
5. Then click "Add" under subtitles to select "Upload file".
6. Choose "With timing", select your `.srt` file, and click "Publish".

Remember that this is not just a transcription. Captions are well-done, timed subtitles made with professional subtitling tools like Subtitle Edit, Subtitle Workshop, or even others like Premiere or CapCut. It's important that they include timecodes in order to be accessible.

> **Disclaimer:** Yes, we know we have skipped some social media platforms like LinkedIn or TikTok, but those are quite similar to the others listed here in the way you can add accessibility and their possibilities. After learning how to make your Instagram posts accessible, you will probably know how to do it on TikTok and LinkedIn — promise.

## Why you should care about accessibility

The main reason you should care about accessibility is because you have to provide access to everyone; that's the main reason. But we know not everybody is going to engage with that, as accessibility can sound time-consuming. That's when other accessibility benefits come in and you start to make it part of your strategy.

As mentioned in the article, in addition to doing the right thing, accessibility can actually help you with your overall digital marketing strategy by helping both search engines and AI tools better understand your content and therefore being able to gain visibility in those mediums, as well as enhancing your social media strategy.

By adding accessibility features, you won't only be inclusive — you will have another trick to enhance your overall marketing strategy, attracting more users, gaining visibility, and improving your brand's reputation. Don't miss out on access — do what you gotta do!
---
## Is it worth making paid media part of your digital marketing strategy?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/is-it-worth-making-paid-media-part-of-your-digital-marketing-strategy/
Published: 2026-04-26
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Digital Marketing, Marketing, Marketing Strategies, SEO, SEO Strategies, Google, Content Strategy
> Wondering if paid media is worth the investment? Explore how it works, the main platforms, the pros and cons, and when paid media is worth adding to your strategy.
Every time you search for something on a search engine, the first results are often sponsored. When you scroll through social media for a couple of minutes, an ad will appear, whether you are using TikTok or Facebook. Even when reading a news article, ads are everywhere you look. These ads have been around for decades (Google Ads launched in 2000), but as SEO becomes more competitive and less predictable, marketers increasingly see an opportunity to allocate part of their budget to paid media. This decision is not made lightly, as data supports its effectiveness.

Based on recent reports, the average ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) [across industries in 2026 sits at approximately 5.3x for paid search](https://hawky.ai/blog/roas-benchmarks-by-industry), meaning that for every euro invested in ads, businesses generate more than five euros in revenue on average. Although these results vary significantly depending on factors like industry, campaign quality, and targeting precision, as we will explain later, these numbers help explain why paid media has become such a key part of modern digital marketing strategies.

If you are considering making paid media part of your strategy, you won't find here how to build your paid media strategy or optimise your campaigns, but rather all the information you need to decide whether it will be worth the investment or not, especially if you have never dedicated any budget to this type of marketing before.

## What is paid media?

When we talk about paid media, we are talking about "any form of digital advertising where you pay to promote your message, product, or service," as described by Artlabs Creative in [their LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-you-should-invest-paid-media-campaigns-2025-how-tufrc), but this doesn't mean that any ad you pay for automatically fits the idea. In digital marketing, paid media usually refers to ads you pay to place on platforms you don't own, so you can reach new people beyond your own audience. This includes all the ads shown to users by platforms like Google, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube.

An example of paid media is a post shown to a user while they are doomscrolling their feed. That ad has been paid for by a brand to appear on the platform (in this case, Meta), often targeted based on the user's interests, behaviour, or demographics, even if the user doesn't follow that brand.

### How does paid media work?

It depends on the platform, as there are differences between them, but paid media generally works through auction-based or paid distribution systems. In other words, advertising placements are purchased on third-party platforms to reach audiences beyond a brand's own channels, by competing in real-time auctions with other advertisers within a set budget and targeting criteria.

These platforms decide which ads to show based on a combination of factors, such as how much the advertiser is willing to pay, how relevant the ad is to the user, and how likely the ad is to generate engagement or results.

For example, in auction-based systems like Google Ads, advertisers bid on keywords or audiences. When a user searches or scrolls, the platform runs a quick auction in the background and shows the most relevant and competitive ads. On social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook, ads are also selected through an auction, but with a stronger focus on user interests, behaviour, and predicted engagement.

Once an ad wins the auction, it is displayed to the user in different formats depending on the platform (e.g. search results, feed posts, banners, or video placements). The advertiser then pays based on a specific pricing model, most commonly cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-impression (CPM), or cost-per-action (CPA), depending on the campaign goal.

The more information you provide to the platform (such as your target audience, customer lists, or location), the more precise the targeting becomes, making the ads more relevant and effective.

### Types of paid media

There are different types of paid media depending on the platform you use to get your ads as well as where and the way those ads are displayed. Among the most used platforms are:

- **Google Ads:** probably the most popular platform and the one that has been around the longest (it has been in the market for more than 20 years). As its name suggests, you pay Google to show ads, but it is not limited to sponsored results in the search engine. Google Ads works in different ways, as it offers different types of ads: search ads, which appear at the top of search results when users look for specific keywords, and display ads, which appear across websites that are part of Google's Display Network, often in the form of banners or visual placements while users browse other pages; and video ads, which are shown on platforms like YouTube before, during, or after video content. These ads are great to target users based on intent, especially in the case of search ads, where people are already actively looking for a product, service, or information.
- **Meta Ads:** since 2007, you could already pay to run ads on Facebook, and today, as the tech giant also owns other social media platforms like Instagram, it offers a much wider ecosystem to display your ads. Meta Ads allows advertisers to promote content across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network, reaching users in different contexts and formats. These ads can appear in users' feeds, stories, reels, or even in between content, blending naturally with organic posts. This makes Meta Ads particularly powerful for targeting specific audiences based on interests, behaviour, and demographics, while also supporting both brand awareness and conversion-focused campaigns.
- **TikTok Ads:** even though it is the newest platform of all, this fast-growing social media app offers a strong opportunity to engage especially with younger audiences. TikTok Ads allow brands to promote content directly within the "For You" feed, where ads appear as native videos that blend seamlessly with organic content. These ads can take different formats, such as in-feed ads, branded effects, or top-view ads that appear when users first open the app.

It must be said that these are not the only platforms you can pay to get ads on, as you can also work with LinkedIn, X, Microsoft or Pinterest Ads, but the ones listed above are the most widely used and versatile platforms.

Regarding where and how these ads are displayed, they can be divided into three types:

- **Social media ads:** Meta, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, X… Almost all social media platforms offer paid advertising options to promote products or content. Each platform offers different ad formats and placements, as they are designed around different types of content and user behaviour. They also serve different purposes, as the audience on each platform can vary significantly (it is not the same to target a Pinterest user as an X user). This means that the same message may need to be adapted depending on the platform in order to be effective. That's why, before starting with any of these platforms, it is crucial to know your audience very well and understand each platform in order to decide where to invest and whether it is worth it.
- **Search engine marketing:** as its name suggests, these ads are the ones displayed every time someone makes a search in a search engine. They are usually considered some of the most effective paid ads, as they are excellent for targeting users based on intent. As mentioned before, you are showing your product to someone who is actively searching for it, and therefore conversions are often strong. However, this type of advertising does not always perform equally well and can be quite expensive and difficult to manage when competition is high.
- **Display banners:** these are the trickiest ones, as they can appear on sites like news pages, blogs, or any website that is part of a display network. They usually take the form of visual ads, such as banners, images, or interactive placements, and are shown while users are browsing content rather than actively searching for something. This type of ad is usually cheaper and works really well if you have data from previous users or buyers; however, as they are highly visual, you need to focus on the design to capture the attention of potential users, as well as optimise the ad accordingly.

Each of these types of paid ads, whether they come from a specific platform or are displayed differently, works in different ways, and choosing one or another will depend on various factors such as your audience, country, industry, budget, and campaign goals. Acknowledging this is key before investing in any paid media strategy, as it helps ensure that your budget is allocated effectively and aligned with your objectives.

### How to make a paid media strategy

As hinted before, we aren't going to tell you exactly how to build your paid media strategy, as we actually can't. Your strategy will depend on many factors such as the industry you are in, your budget, your target audience, the platforms you choose, and the specific goals of your campaign, so giving any advice will be futile. For example, a film company will structure its ads very differently from a dental clinic, which will be focused on lead generation, and even though both are perfectly optimised, they will achieve very different results.

However, what we can recommend strategy-wise is that you should not approach paid media as the only focus of your marketing strategy. [As far back as 2021](https://www.forbes.com/sites/zengernews/2021/04/22/digital-visibility-demands-savvy-combo-of-earned-paid-media/), digital marketing specialists were already discussing how a mixed strategy that combines organic ranking and paid media was the most effective approach, and that remains true today. You should also never overlook the importance of earned and organic media by putting all your efforts into paid ads, as the organic side is what helps build long-term authority, improves your overall digital presence, and strengthens your domain credibility over time.

## Benefits of making it part of your strategy

Every day, more marketers decide to include paid media in their budgets, as it can be a way of gaining greater exposure; however, that is not the only reason why you should consider this type of strategy.

- **Great visibility:** you can reach very specific audiences based on interests, behaviour, location, or intent, showing your ads to people who are more likely to be interested in your product or service.
- **It's specific and targeted:** paid media platforms allow you to define detailed audience segments, from demographics to online behaviour, making it possible to tailor your message to the right users at the right time.
- **Quick results:** unlike organic strategies, you can start generating traffic, leads, or sales almost immediately after launching a campaign. Paid media works as soon as your campaign goes live. This makes it especially useful for new businesses, product launches, or time-sensitive promotions where immediate visibility and performance are important.
- **It's measurable:** you can track performance in detail through clicks, impressions, conversions, and ROI. This is a strong benefit because it removes guesswork from marketing decisions. Every action can be monitored and analysed in real time, allowing you to understand what is working and what is not, and to make data-driven adjustments to improve results.
- **Scalability:** once a campaign works, you can increase budget to reach more people and scale results. This is particularly valuable because successful campaigns are not limited in reach as you can simply invest more to expand performance. Paid media platforms are designed to handle scaling efficiently, meaning that once you find a winning strategy, you can grow it quickly without needing to rebuild your approach.

### Advantages and disadvantages of paid media

Even though the benefits mentioned above sound amazing, not everything is as good as it looks. Dedicating part of your budget to paid media has some drawbacks that need to be considered before investing any money in these types of campaigns.

To better understand both sides, it is useful to break down the main advantages and disadvantages of paid media.

| Advantages                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | Disadvantages                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Gets a lot of visibility: paid media can quickly place your brand in front of large audiences, as you will get top positions in search engines and visibility on social media that you wouldn't get in other ways.                                                                         | Temporary results: as soon as you stop paying, you stop getting those results. It is a highly demanding strategy that requires constant investment to maintain performance over time.                                                             |
| You can measure its effectiveness: all major platforms provide detailed data such as clicks, impressions and conversions, making performance easy to track.                                                                                                                                | Requires a level of expertise: paid media campaigns require a level of expertise as poorly managed campaigns can waste budget and reduce effectiveness.                                                                                           |
| Highly controllable and targeted: you can define exactly who sees your ads based on interests, behaviour, location, or intent.                                                                                                                                                             | Results vary a lot across industries: performance depends heavily on the sector, competition, and campaign quality.                                                                                                                               |
| Allows a lot of flexibility: campaigns can be adjusted in real time, allowing you to test and optimise audiences, creatives, and budgets quickly. You can A/B test your content and images to see what works best with your customers and apply those insights to your organic strategies. | Ad fatigue: especially in social media ads, users can be impacted by the same ad multiple times, which can cause them to become less responsive after being exposed to the same ads repeatedly.                                                   |
|                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | High competition: you are not the only marketer who has thought about investing in paid media, and many advertisers bidding for the same audiences can increase costs.                                                                            |
|                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | Budget and rising costs: you will have to raise your budget as paid media is usually expensive (on average small businesses invest between €500 - €3,000 monthly), and besides that costs can rise quickly, especially in competitive industries. |
|                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | Works better combined with organic traffic: paid media works best when combined with SEO, content marketing, and organic strategies.                                                                                                              |

## So, when is paid media worth adding to your strategy?

Even though paid media looks like a great way to get the visibility and results you are looking for, it must be said that it is not worth it in every case.

Mixed strategies are always the best idea, as you are covering all the channels and platforms and therefore all possible ways of gaining visibility. However, sometimes factors such as budget, time, or even the industry you are in make it difficult to invest in paid media.

First of all, not every industry gets the same results, as we have mentioned throughout the article. According to the [Google Ads Benchmarks 2025 report](https://www.wordstream.com/blog/2025-google-ads-benchmarks), average click-through rates vary significantly by industry, ranging from 13.10% in sectors like Arts and Entertainment to 5.44% in dentistry and dental services. This shows that performance can differ greatly depending on the market and level of competition.

Second, even though click-through rates and conversion rates are improving, the average cost per lead is also increasing every year based on industry data. In general, investment in paid media campaigns is relatively high, especially for small businesses that cannot expand their budgets as needed. You can expect to pay around €1,000 monthly for small businesses and up to €15,000 monthly for medium businesses. This does not include campaign management costs, which, if outsourced, can increase the budget by around 15%. These costs are not always affordable for everyone, especially in early-stage businesses.

And last but not least, investing in paid media does not mean you can forget about organic growth. Organic visibility remains essential for long-term success, as it builds trust, authority, and sustainable traffic over time, while paid media mainly supports short- and mid-term results.

The most effective strategies usually combine both approaches to ensure both immediate visibility and long-term stability. However, before doing so, you need to carefully analyse your industry and, above all, understand your budget, as paid media will directly translate into ongoing costs that come out of your pocket.
---
## Why you shouldn't panic if you are losing keywords
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/why-you-shouldnt-panic-if-you-are-losing-keywords/
Published: 2026-04-18
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, Keywords, SEO Strategies, Search Engine Optimization, Google, AI Search, Content Strategy, Technical SEO
> Losing keywords after a Google Core Update? Learn why it happens, how to analyze the real impact on your site, and when it's worth fixing versus leaving it alone.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_why_you_shouldnt_panic_if_you_are_losing_keywords from "./assets/why-you-shouldnt-panic-if-you-are-losing-keywords.jpeg";

Lots of marketers have been encountering an issue lately that, if it were 2018, would make them lose their sh\*t. However, if you understand how SEO works nowadays, you are probably experiencing it and staying quite calm. This issue is losing a huge number of keywords every time Google implements a Core Update.

<Image
  src={img_assets_why_you_shouldnt_panic_if_you_are_losing_keywords}
  alt="Retro illustration of a calm marketer under an umbrella while keyword cards fall around them like leaves"
  width={400}
/>

However, even though gaining visibility and reaching that "[position zero](/blog/what-is-a-featured-snippet/)" in search engines is no longer directly related to keywords (at least not in the same way as it was before), you should still check that keyword loss and analyze why it's happening. Otherwise, you might miss other issues that could actually affect your overall marketing strategy…

In this article, we will show you how to identify what is happening and help you decide whether it's worth taking action to recover your keywords or not. But first, let's understand how keywords work nowadays.

## Understanding the state of SEO in 2026

Understanding the context and especially how users are interacting with keywords is key before jumping to any conclusions about your keyword loss. Nowadays, we have to accept that digital marketing is rapidly evolving, and the rise of AI tools has significantly impacted not only how search engines work, but also how users look for information. This shift has directly affected how important keywords really are today and therefore, how we should approach our marketing strategy.

Keywords used to serve as a clear way to match user intent with content. Users use keywords (yes, present tense as they still use them) to look for things on search engines, and these tools would show results that target those specific terms and were optimized based on what search engines wanted. However, search engines have become much more sophisticated, and they now focus more on context, semantics, and intent rather than exact keyword matches; but at the same time, a lot of users now prefer to use AI-powered tools, [voice search](/blog/voice-search-how-it-works-and-why-marketers-should-care/), and more conversational queries to search for and get answers to their questions.

These two things have moved keywords from the equation and have resulted in keyword-focused marketing approaches not being as useful as they were. Therefore, losing keywords doesn't necessarily mean losing visibility; it's just a shift in how search engines interpret and display your content due to these new trends in user searches that we have mentioned.

That being said, you should keep in mind these three things.

### Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms

You know this already, but it must be said and repeated until we internalize it. All search engines change constantly to (allegedly) "give the best results to users," and we as marketers are, in fact, a bit spammy sometimes… Search engines right now focus a lot on providing direct answers and easy-to-read content that doesn't fall into what keywords made us do: fill up texts with a lot of keywords instead of answering directly what users actually want.

It's important to stay informed about the latest updates and algorithm changes of the search engines you want to rank on to keep up, because what works today might not work tomorrow.

### People don't search like they used to

You have to acknowledge that right now users don't search like they used to, and even though keywords still work, they aren't used as they were. People are searching using more conversational queries that are becoming longer, more specific, and less predictable. Before, we used to write content with a general keyword in mind and then pepper in some questions in our headings, but that's not working right now. People want direct answers, shorter articles, and easy-to-find solutions. Keep this trend in mind when planning and developing your strategy and content.

### AI tools are getting all the attention

And last but not least, AI is taking over searches. Don't get us wrong, SEO is not dying and we have talked a lot about it here in FreshJuice; but AI being the preferred medium to look for information is provoking a big shift in the way we used to rank our sites. This is probably one of the main reasons search engine algorithms are changing and why users now use more conversational queries, putting keywords in a less relevant position when it comes to rankings, as instead of ranking for fixed keywords, your content now appears for a much wider and constantly changing range of queries.

Because of this, search engines aren't the only marketing strategy you should care about. Now it's crucial to have a mixed strategy that covers (at least) search engines, AI, voice search, and local SEO to get the results you were getting before with just a keyword-focused strategy.

However, taking into account what we have said, even though keywords aren't as important as they were, this doesn't mean you shouldn't check what is happening with them, as they might be a signal that something is not working and is worth looking into.

## Identify why this is happening

Is it because your content is outdated or just a technical issue? Were those keywords worth it? Will they really impact your site's performance? Identifying the cause and the true impact of this loss is key to deciding whether it is worth acting accordingly or not. To do so, follow these three simple steps:

### 1. Try to identify the cause

A huge keyword loss can be related to diverse factors that can be easily identified by using SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or even the free Google Suite tools. Among the most common issues that can cause a huge keyword loss nowadays are:

#### Outdated or irrelevant content

Search engines consider high-quality content to be content that is updated, relevant, backed up with resources, and well-structured. If your content hasn't been updated in ages, that can be a key factor in search engines considering it irrelevant and therefore losing ranking positions and keywords.

As well as outdated or irrelevant content, duplicate or cannibalization issues can have a great impact on keyword loss.

#### Search engine algorithm update

Every time a search engine makes an algorithm update, you will see an immediate impact on your site. Your website health report will indicate that you are losing keywords, having lots of errors, you will see a decline in overall rankings and traffic, and some technical issues that need your attention. However, if you are an experienced marketer, you will know that this can be reverted in a couple of days or a week and won't panic as much; but this doesn't mean you shouldn't check what the algorithm update was and compare it with what you've been doing on your site.

This is pretty important, as sometimes we think we are doing things right, but the updated algorithm adds something that is now considered spammy that was working pretty well before.

#### Removal of content or bad redirections

Both the removal of content and bad redirections can negatively affect your website. Whenever you remove content, those keywords will disappear from your site accordingly, resulting in keyword loss. The wise thing to do, if those keywords were valuable, is to add them to other related content and redirect the page or blog post you want to remove to the new updated one. If you don't do that properly, you can end up without that content and, therefore, without those keywords, along with a poorly implemented redirection that will affect your site's performance.

#### Technical SEO issues

Like bad redirections, other technical issues can be the reason you are losing keywords so quickly and in bulk. Among the most common technical SEO issues that can cause this, you can find:

- Crawling and indexing issues (pages blocked by robots.txt, noindex tags, or crawl errors)
- Broken pages (404 errors) that aren't properly redirected
- Redirect chains or loops that confuse search engines and dilute authority
- Slow page speed and poor Core Web Vitals performance
- Mobile usability issues (poor responsiveness or layout problems on mobile devices)
- Poor URL structure
- Missing canonical tags
- Incorrect canonical tags that point search engines to the wrong version of a page
- Site structure issues that make it hard for search engines to understand hierarchy and relevance
- JavaScript rendering problems that prevent content from being properly indexed
- Sitemap errors or outdated XML sitemaps that don't reflect the current site structure

#### Backlinks loss

Especially when losing high-quality backlinks like the ones provided by reliable, relevant sites, your website's domain rating can be reduced, and search engines (but AI tools too) can consider that your website is not relevant to appear, and therefore you start losing keywords. It's key to maintain your backlinks, as well as have a continuous backlink strategy.

### 2. Check which keywords you've lost

Also by using SEO tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs, you can identify what keywords you are losing and their real value regarding your content or goal. Check by comparing the keywords you had before and after you started losing keywords, check which are those keywords and analyze if they were actually useful from an SEO perspective.

Were they getting traffic? Was that traffic getting you the interaction you wanted (reading an article, filling a form, buying a product, etc.)? Or, on the contrary, were they keywords not related to your topic or product that had a high bounce rate and weren't providing the marketing goals you set? If that's the case, you can consider those keywords as low quality and you shouldn't care that much about their loss as they didn't actually impact positively your site.

When should you worry then? When you start losing main keywords that get you traffic and actual impact. For example, if you have a pool enclosure company and you are losing keywords like "pool cover" or "pool enclosure", you are f\*cked.

### 3. Analyze the impact of losing those keywords

Related to the previous point, it is important to analyze the real impact of the keywords you've lost. This is crucial to really understand the impact of losing a large amount of keywords in the short and long term. Check Analytics and other tools like Google Search Console to see the real impact of those lost keywords. Take a look at the data and pay attention to parameters like:

- Organic traffic changes (overall increase or drop after the keyword loss)
- Impressions in Google Search Console (whether visibility has decreased)
- Average position changes (loss of rankings for key pages or queries)
- Click-through rate (CTR) (if visibility is stable but clicks are dropping)
- Pages most affected (identify which URLs lost the most keywords)
- Branded vs non-branded traffic impact (to see if core visibility is affected)
- Conversion rate changes (whether the traffic loss is actually impacting business goals)
- Keyword clusters performance (if entire topic groups are losing visibility)
- Engagement rate / bounce rate changes (to detect if users are interacting less with your content)

These last two steps are crucial to know whether you should worry about this loss or not, and to decide what you should do next.

## What should you do?

After following all the steps listed before, you can now decide what to do with the issue: do nothing or try to fix it.

### Leave it

As hinted before, if you are losing keywords but it isn't actually affecting your overall strategy because you are getting a great deal of traffic and are working with other approaches like social media, local SEO, or AEO, then leave it as it is.

However, if you decide to leave it, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't take a look at it at all. We recommend keeping an eye on it and seeing how things evolve, as losing keywords can be a bad symptom of other issues related to your site.

### Fix it

If this is actually affecting your site negatively, there are lots of things you can do in the short and long term to recover the keywords and, thus, your site traffic. It's important to identify what the problem was to know what actions to prioritize, but we are going to show you the basic short and long-term fixes you can do to try to revert the keyword loss.

#### Short-term fixes

##### Meta tags update

By updating meta tags like meta title and meta description, you can make a quick content update that helps refresh your pages without needing to rewrite the full content. This can improve relevance for current search intent, better align your page with the keywords you want to rank for, and increase click-through rate from search results.

##### Check for technical issues

Technical issues like crawling errors, slow load times, sitemap issues or noindex pages can be the reason why you are losing keywords. These errors are usually quick to fix when identified and only require:

- Fixing crawl errors identified in Google Search Console can be fixed by restoring the page, redirecting it, or removing internal links pointing to it.
- Improve page speed and Core Web Vitals performance by optimizing images and reducing unnecessary scripts.
- Check your XML sitemap to make sure it only includes valid, indexable URLs, then resubmit it in Google Search Console so search engines can re-crawl the correct pages.
- Check for accidental noindex tags or robots.txt blocks and remove them from important pages. Then request indexing in Google Search Console.
- Update broken internal links and set proper 301 redirects for deleted or moved pages to preserve authority and avoid dead ends.
- Use SEO tools to find duplicates and either canonicalize or merge them. For orphan pages, add internal links so search engines can discover them.

Once these issues are resolved, search engines will usually re-crawl your site and recover visibility over time.

After applying the previous fixes, you should think about a more long-term strategy that will involve more complex fixes, but necessary to get your keywords back.

#### Long-term fixes

##### In-depth content update

Only updating meta titles and meta descriptions won't be enough in the long term, as you might see some improvement from the update but not enough. To reinforce that update, create a content update strategy in which you update all the content that has suffered keyword loss. Check that it is well-structured, up to date, and add references to reliable pages to make it as well-backed as possible. You might have to update some content entirely, and some will only need a few tweaks, but the effort will be worth it for recovering the keywords.

##### Backlinks strategy

[Backlinks are still important;](/blog/how-important-are-backlinks/) in fact, we doubt they will ever be unimportant regarding search engines. Backlinks not only send traffic to your content but also help build reliability as well as importance through search engines' eyes. Having a strong backlink strategy that targets relevant sites with high DR that cover topics related to your site will definitely help you recover those lost keywords and even help improve other pages that are already ranking, as well as the overall health of your site.

##### Internal linking strategy

Last but not least, having a good internal linking strategy is key to giving your whole site a proper distribution of authority and relevance, especially to pages that are not getting enough attention to rank keywords. A well-planned internal linking structure helps search engines understand your site hierarchy better, improves crawlability, and strengthens weaker pages by passing authority from stronger ones.

## Summary

Things are changing very rapidly in the digital marketing world, and as we adapt to this new shift in the way we used to work, we have to adjust our strategy to follow what search engines want and, therefore, what really works. Even though keywords are not as important as they used to be, they are still relevant, and their loss can imply a great deal, even if we think otherwise. If you identify that you are losing a lot of keywords, don't panic. It might not be as bad as it seems, but we recommend checking and analyzing its real impact to avoid future surprises.
---
## Voice search 101: how it works and why marketers should care about it
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/voice-search-how-it-works-and-why-marketers-should-care/
Published: 2026-04-03
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, SEO Strategies, Search Optimization, Content Strategy, AI, Technical SEO
> Learn what voice search is, how it works, and how to optimize your content for voice search. From structured data to local SEO, featured snippets, and long-tail keywords.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_voice_search_how_it_works_and_why_marketers_should_care from "./assets/voice-search-how-it-works-and-why-marketers-should-care.png";

In a fast-paced society like the one we are living in right now, in which time is more important than ever, we sometimes need answers to our questions as fast as we can, and it seems like assistive technology has come to fix that. Lots of people nowadays rely on voice recognition technologies like Alexa, Siri, or even Google Assistant to solve their random, sudden questions while driving, having a beer with friends, or even taking a shower. However, how do these tools work?

<Image
  src={img_assets_voice_search_how_it_works_and_why_marketers_should_care}
  alt="Retro-style illustration of a person whispering to a friendly robot, representing voice search interaction"
  width={400}
/>

Well, these voice assistive technologies work in a way that allows them to decide what information from the Internet is valuable and should be delivered to users when, for example, they are asking a question or looking for restaurants nearby. And being mentioned in that answer could be just the boost your visibility has been waiting for…

The truth is that this way of searching has been a little overlooked by marketers, even though it's quite an interesting strategy to implement, as voice search is used more and more every day. According to [GlobalWebIndex statistics](https://www.yadavbikash.com/blogs/voice-search-statistics/), around 30–40% of internet users have used voice search or voice commands in the past month on any device.

As we think this might be a great thing to explore, we have written this article teaching you the basics: what voice search is, how it works, and how you could implement it in your overall marketing strategy.

## What is voice search?

As we've already mentioned at the beginning of this article, voice search is a way for users to search for things by using their voice instead of typing. This is powered by a voice recognition technology called ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition), which is included in devices like smartphones, computers, and smart speakers. Even though it might seem new, this technology has actually been around for a long time, especially as [an accessibility feature](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/web-accessibility-what-you-need-to-know-about-wcag/).

There are different types of voice search, but the most common are assistive voice tools like Alexa, Siri, and Android Assistant. These tools allow users to ask questions, set reminders, search for nearby restaurants, play music, or even control smart home devices without touching a keyboard or screen.

Another type of voice search comes directly from search engines, where users speak queries into apps like Google Search or Bing instead of typing. These searches are often more conversational, using natural language, and the results are optimized to provide direct, concise answers, which are perfect for mobile users or people on the go.

But how do these tools find the information you're looking for, whether they're an assistant or the speaker option in search engines? Well, that's the interesting part from a marketer's perspective, and that's exactly what we're going to explain next.

## How does voice search work?

It depends on the tool used, but all of them rely on a combination of AI, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). This combination of technologies allows them to understand natural language (most languages can be recognized and used), filter out background noise, convert voice into text, and understand what users are actually asking.

They can usually be activated by pressing a button, with a wake phrase like "Hey, Google" or a command like "Alexa, play some country music." For them to be functional when searching or executing a command, they can either work as a native app (like Siri, for example) or require an internet connection.

When it comes specifically to search mode, which is what we are interested in, they are almost always powered by the internet, as they need access to find what you are looking for. But what part of the internet do they access? Well, they usually rely on search engines, just like you would when typing a question. And what information do they provide? Again, similar to typed search, they tend to pull answers from top results, especially featured snippets or highly relevant pages.

## And what about voice search optimization?

Regarding how this technology interacts with SEO, as we have already mentioned, all these assistive technologies work with an internet connection to look for answers to users' questions and tend to prioritize the first results in search engines. This means that ranking your content high can be a way to increase your chances of being featured in voice search.

However, some things must be said: traditional SEO alone is not going to ensure you get featured, and you need to better understand how users, search engines, and voice search interact with each other before jumping into a voice search strategy.

At least in our opinion, you must understand two things:

- **Understanding what type of company you have**

  Before trying to get your site featured, you need to define what type of website you have. Do you run a blog? A local business? A media outlet?

  Depending on that, your strategy and approach will differ. For example, if you have a location-based business, you should probably focus first on [local SEO](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/local-search-engine-optimization/) (Google Business profile, reviews, location keywords, etc.). On the other hand, if you run a blog, it can be more difficult to get featured, as high-authority sources like Wikipedia often dominate direct answers (although it's still possible).

- **Understanding how people use voice search**

  You have to understand what type of questions are being asked through voice search to know if it's even worth implementing in your strategy. Most queries tend to be more conversational and question-based, like "what's the weather today?" or random curiosity-driven questions like "who was [insert random person]" or "in which year did [insert war name] start."

  But one of the most important and highly used types of queries is related to local searches, like "restaurants near me" or "best coffee shop nearby." Because of this, local businesses are often the ones that can benefit the most from voice search.

  This doesn't mean that you won't benefit from voice search if you don't have a local business, as you will get other types of benefits, but you should be aware of it, as you won't see the same results.

Understanding these two things will help you create a better strategy, as well as become more aware of how you can benefit and what type of benefits you can get from it. By doing so, you will better understand users' intent when using voice search, and therefore the best way to start with voice search optimization (which is what we are going to talk about now).

## How to optimize for voice search?

Now that you understand how voice search interacts with SEO and what you should consider before implementing a voice search strategy, let's get muddy.

In this section, we are going to explain the most important steps to create a functional Voice Search Optimization (also called VSO) strategy, so you can get your content featured in voice search.

### Implement structured data in your content

We have already discussed [structured data](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/) several times, and that's because it's crucial for SEO, as it helps search engines understand your content better. By tagging key information such as products, events, articles, and [FAQs](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/faq-section-for-seo/), you increase the chances that your content will be selected as a direct answer for voice queries, making it easier for search engines to read and interpret.

Adding structured data also enhances your content's visibility in rich results, which can include carousels, knowledge panels, or featured snippets (key for voice search ranking, as we'll explain later). For voice search specifically, the clearer and more organized your information, the more likely a voice assistant will pick it as a concise, accurate response.

To implement structured data effectively, focus on marking up your content with schema.org types relevant to your niche, and ensure your tags are accurate and kept up to date. This simple step can significantly increase your chances of being chosen for voice responses.

### Apply a local SEO strategy

We have already touched on this earlier in the article, but most users rely on voice search specifically to find businesses near them. The key to appearing as one of those businesses is having a strong local SEO strategy. Voice search depends heavily on Google business listings to recommend options, and if you don't appear there… well, you won't get mentioned by the voice assistant, and you could miss out on a lot of clients.

By following a local SEO strategy that includes an updated Google Business Profile, excellent reviews, accurate contact information, and optimized business descriptions, you increase your chances of being recommended in voice search results. Adding local keywords to your website content and using structured data further strengthens your visibility for users searching in your area.

### Focus on mobile and page speed

Just like with Local SEO, responsiveness is non-negotiable. Most voice searches happen on mobile devices, so having a [fast-loading](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-improve-website-speed/), [mobile-friendly](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/mobile-seo-and-5-ways-to-get-it-right/) website is key. If your page is slow or hard to use, it's less likely to be prioritized in voice search results.

### Optimize your content for voice search

Besides having [well-structured content](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-optimize-content-for-seo/) that directly answers users' questions, optimizing your content with [long-tail keywords](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/), question-based queries, and structured data can increase your chances of appearing in voice search results.

For example, if you run a cafeteria, instead of trying to rank for "best coffee," you might target queries like "best small-batch coffee shop open after 8 pm in [city]." These long-tail, question-based queries reflect how users actually search, giving you a better chance to capture voice search traffic.

### Target very specific or niche questions

Targeting niche topics or very particular questions increases your chances of being featured over broader, more competitive pages. As we mentioned before, for informational queries, voice search often prefers Wikipedia (we get it), but if you focus on queries that are more specific or pieces of information that can be answered clearly, you'll have a higher chance of getting selected.

For example, instead of focusing on a broad query like "what's voice recognition," you could target a more specific long-tail keyword like "how does voice recognition software work" or "how to use voice recognition in google docs."

These queries might have lower search volume, but they're a smart way to increase your chances of being featured in voice search.

### Featured snippets

Voice assistants often pull answers from pages that feature clear, structured snippets, so optimizing your content to be "snippet-ready" is crucial. In fact, according to statistics, more than [40% of the results provided by voice search come from featured snippets](https://www.demandsage.com/voice-search-statistics/). If you're not familiar with them, check out our guide on [what featured snippets are and how to achieve position zero](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/what-is-a-featured-snippet/). Optimize your site to be Gemini-friendly (we recommend checking our article on [how to rank on Gemini](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-do-seo-for-gemini/)), and incorporate elements such as images, bullet points, or tables to better structure your content and boost your chances of reaching position 0. Remember to make your content, as mentioned earlier, conversational, easy to understand, question-led, and based on up-to-date, reliable information.

## Summary

More than [20% of users worldwide are using voice search](https://www.demandsage.com/voice-search-statistics/), and you don't want to miss out on that opportunity.

Optimizing for voice search allows your content to be featured in another way users look for information. Even if your content isn't immediately chosen as a voice answer, the optimization still pays off, as it improves your overall SEO performance and increases your visibility across search results.

As you've read, you're probably already implementing many of the tips listed, and it's worth noting that all of them are interconnected and also benefit other strategies, such as [AIEO](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) or Local SEO. However, if you want to start specifically with Voice Search Optimization (VSO), the key elements to focus on are:

1. Having a strong Local SEO strategy
2. Structuring your content
3. Creating content that is question-led
4. Standing out by targeting long-tail, niche questions

By combining these elements, your content will be easier to find, actually helpful for users, and more likely to get picked up by voice search, a channel that's growing fast and one you definitely don't want to ignore.
---
## Local search engine optimization: how to get found by nearby customers
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/local-search-engine-optimization/
Published: 2026-03-28
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, SEO Strategies, Search Engine Optimization, Content Strategy, Google, Structured Data, Schema Markup
> Learn what local SEO is, why it matters, and how to optimize your business for local search. From Google Business Profile to reviews, schema markup, and local content strategies.
Every time you search for something on Google, the first results you see are either an AI overview or paid ads and, after those, you'll typically find a list of Google Business Profiles. As marketers compete for visibility in these top features, one of the most powerful visibility opportunities is often overlooked.

[Based on Google's data](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/_qs/documents/620/mobile-search-trends-consumers-to-stores.pdf), 76% of people who search for something nearby visit a related business within 24 hours, and 28% make a purchase. This highlights the importance of having a strong local search strategy, as users searching locally are much more likely to take action. They are not just browsing, their intent is to act. That's why incorporating local search engine optimization into your overall marketing strategy is essential.

In this article, we'll explain what a local search strategy is and outline the steps to get started or optimize your local visibility, along with our favorite tips to help your business achieve the results you're aiming for.

## What is local search engine optimization?

Local search engine optimization is, as its name suggests, a search engine optimization strategy focused on attracting customers from relevant, location-based searches, such as "near me" or city-specific queries. This type of strategy has been gaining attention over the years as search engines like [Google started to prioritize locations in search results](https://www.loop-digital.co.uk/marketing-insights-news/does-google-automatically-localise-search-results/) with their "local-first" approach. This approach makes it essential for businesses to optimize their online presence so they can appear in front of users at the exact moment they are searching for nearby products or services.

As we have already hinted, by adopting this type of strategy, you can attract high-intent customers while also improving your business's visibility in search results, driving higher conversion rates, and strengthening your brand as more information about your business becomes available. Among the main benefits of adopting this approach, you will find:

- **Higher visibility:** As mentioned above and throughout this article, strong local SEO helps your business appear more prominently in search results, including in local listings, maps, and other highly used tools such as voice assistants and AI-powered platforms. By optimizing your presence, you increase the chances of being shown when users search for products or services near them.
- **Higher website traffic:** The traffic you receive will be highly targeted, as users who find you through local search typically have a clear and specific intent. You'll see this reflected in your analytics, with not only higher traffic but also lower bounce rates and increased engagement, since visitors are more likely to find exactly what they're looking for.
- **Higher conversion rate:** Since the traffic is highly targeted, the conversion rate is higher. Users arrive at a business or website that matches exactly what they are looking for, which translates into better results. Google confirms this, and [BrightLocal](https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey-2022/) supports it as well, noting that users searching for local and nearby businesses are more likely to end up purchasing from them.
- **Budget-friendly marketing:** Yes, it's not entirely free as you can invest in local SEO, but many of the core steps don't require a large budget. This approach to search engine visibility is built on keeping your business information up to date, encouraging and managing customer reviews, and strengthening your brand reputation. All of this can be done in a budget-friendly way, focusing more on consistency and effort than on spending large amounts of money.
- **Better branding:** As you work on generating reviews and getting mentions across different platforms, you strengthen your overall brand reputation and trustworthiness, making your company more credible in the eyes of potential customers.

### Does local SEO still work?

Yes, it does (if it didn't, we wouldn't be talking about it...). In fact, it helps not only with SEO, but also with AIEO, as it increases your chances of appearing in AI tools, voice assistants, and other features beyond traditional search engines. This is because elements like real customer reviews, local photos, and clear business details are pieces of information that search engines and AI systems crawl and prioritize, especially when they value reliability and structured data. And what's more reliable than having plenty of positive reviews and all your business information clearly structured and visible?

But you are probably wondering: how does it work? Well, search engine localization works by using data like IP address, GPS signals, Wi-Fi signals, and browser location settings to show users a more personalized selection of results, including Google Business Profiles, local listings, and pages optimized for local keywords. As these types of signals are the ones used by search engines, having a clear business location is essential. That location becomes the key factor, meaning that even if you have a business that can sell or work worldwide, your company will mainly appear to people near that location.

This doesn't mean that your Italian site won't appear for Italians, but that falls under a multilingual SEO strategy, not a local SEO strategy. Still, there are some tips and tricks to appear in different locations even if your headquarters are in a specific place. But we don't want to get ahead; we will explain that later.

### Who needs local SEO?

If you have a website or e-commerce business offering products or services across one or multiple locations, working on local search engine optimization is crucial. Why? Because, as mentioned earlier, it helps you appear to users as a nearby business they can trust and buy from.

In an era where online scams are increasingly common, many users prefer local options not only to avoid risks but also to support local businesses. And if you've already invested in building your brand and reviews, your conversion rates can be even higher than, for example, spending lots of money on paid media (Meta Ads, Google Ads, etc.)

## How can you improve your local search engine optimization strategy?

Getting local SEO visibility is quite straightforward, especially since you are probably already doing most of the recommended steps for your SEO and [AIEO](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) strategy. However, we've listed them here so you can review your approach and make sure you're doing everything possible to get the best results.

### Google Business Profile

One of the first steps to get your business listed on local search engines is creating a Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly known as Google My Business. It's a free tool designed to help business owners manage and optimize their presence on Google Search and Maps. When you create one, your profile can appear when someone searches for your business (e.g., your brand name), but it can also be listed alongside similar businesses when users search for related keywords (e.g., if someone searches for a dental clinic, they will see nearby options based on their location).

This profile includes all the basic information anyone needs to know about a business (address, phone number, website, opening hours, customer reviews, etc.), but it also allows you to share additional content like products, updates, or promotions, which can be managed by you or your marketing team. These features are useful because they present your business in a clear and visible way to potential customers.

It's essential to keep your profile updated, optimizing it with relevant, accurate, and current information so Google can show it properly and users can easily access everything they need to know before choosing your business.

### Use consistent NAP data

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number; it's the most important piece of information you can provide, and it has to be correct, consistent, and real, as fake locations will end up affecting you negatively. Ensure that your NAP data is consistent across all citations, from your website and Google Business Profile to your review platform profiles (Yelp, Trustpilot, etc.). This is essential, as it's the key information that will be crawled and used by search engines, AI tools, and other platforms.

### Local keyword research

As we mentioned before, you can have pages optimized for local keywords to appear when a user searches for a specific product or service in a specific location (i.e.: if you have a dental clinic "dental clinics near me" or "dental clinics in Ohio"). When creating this type of page, you need to target location-specific keywords by naturally including them in your content.

Carry out keyword research focused on the locations where you operate (whether because you have a physical location there or can provide your services in that area) and prioritize the ones with the most potential in terms of search demand and relevance. You can even create a "Locations" page and add it to your footer.

### Original, local content

When creating local content, it must be original and focused on the location. Duplicated content or content that doesn't provide meaningful details about the location won't be useful and, on top of that, it may be flagged as [duplicate content](/blog/why-is-having-duplicate-content-an-issue-for-seo/).

So, how should you approach it? For example, you could:

- Share information about the local team
- Tailor the content around the most popular products or services in that location
- Highlight what makes your product, service, or location unique compared to competitors or even your own locations.

Trying to save time by duplicating content or ignoring the local focus can actually harm your strategy. If that's the approach you're considering, it's not worth the effort.

### Build local landing pages only for real locations

Another thing to consider when creating location-focused landing pages is that they should represent real locations. Search engines know more than you might think, and creating landing pages for locations that don't exist will be flagged as misleading or spammy. This can hurt your SEO, reduce trust with potential customers (62% of consumers would avoid using a business if they found incorrect information online, [based on Map Labs](https://maplabs.com/top-local-search-statistics-2025/)), and even lead to penalties.

Always focus on actual locations where your business operates. Doing so not only helps search engines understand your business better but also provides users with accurate, valuable information, building both trust and credibility.

### Schema markup and metadata

We've mentioned several times how [schema markup is crucial](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/) for both SEO and AIEO visibility, and the same applies to local SEO. Structuring your information in a way that's easy for search engines to understand is essential, and that's exactly what schema markup and metadata do.

There are different schema markup types related to locations, such as the [Location schema](https://schema.org/location), but also others like the [Image Carousel](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business) to showcase photos of your business or the Business Hours schema to clearly display opening and closing times. Using these helps search engines and AI tools to crawl and show your business information.

### Mobile optimization

Responsiveness is a non-negotiable when it comes to local SEO. As marketers, we know that most of the traffic comes from mobile devices ([data shows](https://www.sistrix.com/blog/the-proportion-of-mobile-searches-is-more-than-you-think-what-you-need-to-know/) more than 60% of users browse through their phones), but when looking for businesses it's even higher, as 84% of users use their phones to make local searches. To do so, always:

- Update your Google Business Profile;
- Make your website [mobile friendly](/blog/mobile-seo-and-5-ways-to-get-it-right/);
- Make technical mobile optimization by optimizing data or implementing lazy loading.

### Local link building

Looking for relevant directories and local websites to get backlinks can be a smart move. Backlinks are a powerful way to boost both SEO and AIEO results, but they also strengthen other strategies like local SEO. Getting references from other sites signals to search engines that your business is trustworthy and worth mentioning, which can potentially improve your online ranking.

To do this, focus on local websites such as directories, add links on review platforms like Yelp or Trustpilot, and reach out to local media pages where you might get an article featuring your business. This not only helps your SEO but also enhances your brand visibility in your community.

### Ask for reviews

This is probably the most important step of all the ones listed in this section. Why? Because having strong, positive reviews can change everything. It can help you appear higher in local search results, improve your visibility in AI tools, and make potential clients more likely to choose you over competitors, as reviews are real, first-hand information about your business and the experiences of your customers.

As trust becomes a key factor in online decision-making due to [online scams](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/07/31/online-scams-and-attacks-in-america-today/), users rely heavily on reviews before choosing which business to buy from. According to BrightLocal, this trend continues to grow as 77% of consumers read reviews in 2021, an increase of 17% compared to two years earlier.

Focus on encouraging your clients to talk about you and leave reviews, and don't forget to respond to them whether they are positive or negative! [According to statistics](https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey-2022/), 89% of consumers are highly or fairly likely to use a business that responds to all of its online reviews.

## What are the best tools for managing and optimizing local SEO campaigns?

Besides having a Google Business Profile, there are some other tools you can use to manage and optimize your local SEO efforts.

### Google Business Profile

If we haven't made it clear yet: this tool is essential. Without a Google Business Profile (GBP), you aren't truly doing local SEO... At least not on Google. This profile allows your business to appear on Google Maps, surface in search results, and even secure a preferential position, helping you stand out to local customers.

### Other Google tools

Besides GBP, you can use other Google tools like Search Console and Google Analytics to optimize your local search engine. Let's break down what to do with them:

- **Google Search Console** helps you understand how users end up on your site or visiting your in-person location. With this tool, you can check the exact keywords people used in Google to find your website. Also, it allows you to filter this data by country and region, helping you see if you are attracting traffic from the specific cities or neighborhoods you work in. This tool gives you great insights on how to approach your content strategy.
- **Google Analytics** can help you to understand how users interact with your website, as it tracks what happens after a user lands on your site. You can see the geographic breakdown of your audience down to the city level, identify which pages are most popular with local visitors, and track 'conversions' (for example, someone clicking your phone number or filling out a contact form). This can help you identify how to structure your site, what information is interesting, what areas are the ones with the most visitors, etc.

We also know that the paid geo reporting in Google Ads can be a good trick to get juicy data from, as with it you can learn exactly where the most profitable actions happen with pinpoint precision. But, you will have to do some extra steps regarding creating new landing pages with events to click on and setting your reports to give you that data. Here we are only going through the basics, but we might eventually write a specific article for that...

### Specific local SEO tools

We are not fans of using A LOT of tools, as we like to keep things as straightforward as possible, but we acknowledge that there are specific tools for local SEO with which you can centralize all the actions needed to optimize your strategy (handling reviews, location heatmaps, citation creation, etc.). As we haven't used any, we are listening to other marketers and users (here's a [Reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/localseo/comments/1nxrlol/for_those_managing_local_clients_which_local_seo/) with some tools and opinions) and they highly recommend the following three:

- [BrightLocal](https://www.brightlocal.com/citation-builder/)
- [Semrush](https://semrush.com/)
- [GMB Audit](https://www.gmbeverywhere.com/)

\*The three listed are paid tools, and all the features and actions included can be done for free; but if you want to save some time, maybe they are worth trying.

## Summary

As search engines take a more local approach and online scams continue to grow, implementing a local SEO strategy is a smart way to gain visibility not just in search engines, but also in trending tools like voice assistants and AI platforms. Getting started and optimizing your strategy is quite straightforward, and it can deliver great results, especially if you have a shop or a location-based business.
---
## The free backlink strategy tech publishers keep ignoring
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/the-free-backlink-strategy-tech-publishers-keep-ignoring/
Published: 2026-03-23
Author: reatlat
Tags: SEO, SEO Strategies, GitHub, HubSpot, Backlinks, Content Strategy, Code Snippets
> Most technical blogs sit on a goldmine of SEO potential they never tap. If you publish code snippets, you already have everything you need to earn high-authority backlinks for free.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_code_sample_pre from "./assets/code-sample-pre.jpeg";
import img_assets_code_as_image from "./assets/code-as-image.jpeg";
import img_assets_inconsistent_code_block_styling from "./assets/inconsistent-code-block-styling.jpeg";
import img_assets_inconsistent_code_block_styling_2 from "./assets/inconsistent-code-block-styling-2.jpeg";
import img_assets_auto_linked_malicious_urls from "./assets/auto-linked-malicious-urls.jpeg";
import img_assets_ahref_dr_github_gist from "./assets/ahref-dr-github-gist.png";

import Cta from "@/components/mdx/Cta.astro";

Every technical blog you read is sitting on a free DR 96 backlink and throwing it away.

The thing they're throwing away is their own code. Snippets, configs, sample functions. The exact stuff developers Google for, bookmark, and share. Locked inside an article where nobody can link to it directly.

Fix takes 5 minutes per snippet and costs nothing. The tool is GitHub Gists.

## It gets worse than inline code blocks

A clean `<pre>` block with syntax highlighting is the best case. Plenty of well-known technical blogs ship worse.

<Image
  src={img_assets_code_sample_pre}
  alt="A blog post with a properly formatted code block using syntax highlighting"
  width={400}
/>

The worst version: **screenshots of code, pasted as JPEGs.** Google can't read it. Developers can't copy it. Accessibility tools skip past it entirely. It's a tombstone with a picture of code on it.

<Image
  src={img_assets_code_as_image}
  alt="A blog post with a screenshot of code instead of an actual code block"
  width={400}
/>

Then the formatting drift. One code block is 14px monospace, the next is somehow 16px, the third is in a completely different style. Somewhere the CMS "helpfully" auto-links URLs in config files, domain names in example output, and email addresses in sample data.

<Image
  src={img_assets_inconsistent_code_block_styling}
  alt="Inconsistent code block styling across a blog post with different font sizes and formatting"
  width={400}
/>

<Image
  src={img_assets_inconsistent_code_block_styling_2}
  alt="Another example of inconsistent code formatting with auto-linked text inside code blocks"
  width={400}
/>

Nobody notices. The post ships.

And then it crosses from sloppy to actually dangerous. Auto-link a string in a security research post and you've published a working hyperlink to malware infrastructure. C2 addresses, phishing URLs, IOCs (indicators of compromise) — all suddenly hot. Visitors click. Crawlers index. The security team analyzing the threat just helped distribute it.

<Image
  src={img_assets_auto_linked_malicious_urls}
  alt="Code block in a security blog where malicious URLs were auto-converted into clickable links"
  width={400}
/>

I have seen this on blogs from companies that issue CVE advisories. Their own publishing engine is a link farm for the threat actors they're writing about.

Root cause for all of it: nobody treats code snippets as content. They're filler between the paragraphs that "really matter."

Treat them differently and they start paying you back.

## What every SEO post forgets to mention

The standard backlink advice is guest posts, outreach campaigns, editor relationships, "linkable assets" like infographics and research reports.

It works. It also costs you weeks.

Technical publishers ship linkable assets every day and throw them away. Code snippets, configs, utility functions, starter templates. The exact things developers actively search for, bookmark, and share. The problem is that when the snippet is locked inside an article, it has no independent life. It can't be discovered on its own. It can't be linked to separately. It does no work outside the page it lives on.

## GitHub Gists, the backlinking tool hiding in plain sight

Every Gist you publish becomes a standalone page on `gist.github.com`. Fully crawled by Google. Fully searchable. Each one has a description field where you can drop a link back to the article it came from.

`gist.github.com` is [DR 96](https://ahrefs.com/website-authority-checker/?input=gist.github.com). Same league as Wikipedia, government sites, and major news outlets.

<Image
  src={img_assets_ahref_dr_github_gist}
  alt="Ahrefs showing GitHub Gist domain rating of 95+"
  width={600}
/>

The workflow:

1. Write the post.
2. Publish each meaningful code example as a Gist with a description that links back to the article.
3. Embed the Gist in the post instead of using a plain code block ([example](https://demo.freshjuice.dev/modules/code-snippet-github-gist)).

What you get back:

A backlink from one of the highest-authority domains on the web. Fair caveat upfront: GitHub marks links in Gist descriptions as `nofollow`, which technically tells search engines not to pass link equity. But Google has [treated `nofollow` as a hint since 2019](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2019/09/evolving-nofollow-new-ways-to-identify), your URL still appears as indexable text on a DR 96 domain, and the referral traffic is fully real.

A second discovery channel. Developers search GitHub directly for snippets. Your Gist can rank in those results independent of your blog.

Surface area. Gists get starred, forked, commented on. Each interaction puts you in more developers' activity feeds.

Evergreen distribution. A LinkedIn post is dead in two days. A Gist sits on `gist.github.com` indefinitely, quietly sending traffic.

A social network nobody admits is a social network. GitHub has followers, feeds, stars, trending pages, the whole stack. Your Gists show up in your followers' timelines. Stars and forks grow your account. The bigger the account, the more eyes on the next thing you ship.

No outreach. No editor relationships. No waiting on someone's guest post queue. You're recycling content you already shipped.

## The compound effect

One Gist from one article is a footnote. Publish 2-4 posts a month with 2-3 code examples each and you've got 4-12 new Gists a month. In a year, 50-150 indexed pages on a DR 96 domain, all pointing at your site.

That is a pipeline, not a trickle.

Each Gist can rank for long-tail developer queries. Each one parks your domain on a page that Google crawls aggressively. GitHub indexes new content fast, and your linked articles often get pulled into the crawl queue right behind them.

If you have developers on your team building their personal brand on GitHub: even better. They publish Gists from their own profiles, mention the company blog and the org GitHub in the description. Their network sees it. Some click. Some follow the org. The developer grows their personal reach, the company picks up the spillover. Win-win nobody's running because they still think GitHub is a code host.

It is not. It is a social network with 100M+ developers on it.

## Why most publishers don't do this

Friction.

Copy the code, open GitHub, create a Gist, write a description, grab the embed, paste it back into the CMS. None of it is hard. All of it is just enough extra steps to skip when the deadline is today and the inline block "works fine."

The other reason is platform. WordPress has Gist plugins. Static site generators handle embeds fine. HubSpot, where the editor is built for marketers, traditionally means dropping raw `<script>` tags into a custom HTML module and hoping the publish button does not break.

That is why we built the [Code Snippet Embed module](https://demo.freshjuice.dev/modules/code-snippet-github-gist) for HubSpot. Paste an embed URL. Get caching, styling, line highlighting, light/dark themes, and multi-file Gist support out of the box. No `<script>` wrangling, no custom code.

<Cta
  title="On HubSpot? Make Gist embedding drag-and-drop easy."
  description="Our Code Snippet Embed module handles caching, styling, line highlighting, light/dark themes, and multi-file Gists out of the box. No custom code, no script tags. Just paste and publish."
  link="https://demo.freshjuice.dev/modules/code-snippet-github-gist"
  linkText="See it in action"
/>

The strategy itself is platform-agnostic. HubSpot, WordPress, Astro, Next.js, whatever you're on. If the post has code, the snippets should be Gists, and the descriptions should link back.

## Making it work

**Write a real description on every Gist.** "Utility function for debouncing API calls in React. Full tutorial: [link]." That sentence is what Google indexes and what a developer reads when they land on the Gist cold.

**Bundle multi-file work into one Gist.** A tutorial with a component, a config, and a test belongs in one Gist with three files, not three separate Gists. Looks more substantial, more likely to get starred. Our HubSpot [Code Snippet Embed module](https://demo.freshjuice.dev/modules/code-snippet-github-gist) lets you embed a single file from a multi-file Gist, so one source of truth can power multiple embeds across different articles.

**Name the files.** `gistfile1.txt` tells nobody anything. `useDebounce.ts` and `nginx.conf` do. Name them the way you would in the actual repo.

**Keep the Gists current.** Update the code in the article, update the Gist. The embed is live, so the post stays in sync automatically. Stale code in tutorials kills credibility fast.

**Don't Gist everything.** A one-line `curl` command is not a Gist. Save it for snippets that have value standalone: functions, configs, templates, anything worth bookmarking.

## The bottom line

Every code snippet you publish is a potential reference on a DR 96 domain. Right now most of them are sitting inline doing nothing. Move them to Gists and they start working.
---
## Gemini, ChatGPT or Claude: What's the best AI tool?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/gemini-chatgpt-or-claude-whats-the-best-ai-tool/
Published: 2026-03-15
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: AI, AI Tool, AI Tools, Google Gemini, ChatGPT SEO, AI Search
> Compare Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude from a user perspective. Learn how each AI tool works, their pros and cons, and which one is the best for your needs.
import vid_luchadores from "./assets/video/luchadores.mp4?url";

import VideoGIF from "@/components/mdx/VideoGIF.astro";

Right now everyone is using AI tools as if they were search engines. Marketers are changing their strategies from SEO to [AIEO or GEO](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) and putting all their efforts into getting visibility on these tools. Some people prefer Gemini, others ChatGPT, and a few look everything up on Claude, but which one is the best?

In this article, we will tell you what the best AI tool is from a user perspective, but also explain everything about them so you can get a better understanding of how they work and get the visibility boost you are looking for for your site. Let's dive in!

<VideoGIF src={vid_luchadores} width={280} height={280} />

## Their background/story

Understanding the background of an AI tool might seem useless, but it actually isn't. You can better understand how it works and how to work with it if you know how long it has been in use, what its main goal is, or with what intent it was created.

### ChatGPT

Launched in 2022 and created by OpenAI, ChatGPT is probably the most well-known and widely used AI tool nowadays. It's a generative artificial intelligence chatbot and it was the first AI tool widely accessible to any user, which is probably the reason why it went viral after its launch.

This tool uses a predictive model that relies on [large language models (LLMs)](/blog/is-chatgpt-good-for-seo/). These models are trained on massive amounts of text data to learn patterns in language, allowing the system to predict the most likely sequence of words in response to a user's prompt.

Regarding the data provided by ChatGPT, this tool does not rely on a single traditional database but uses different types of databases and technologies like vector databases (like Pinecone or Weaviate), NoSQL/SQL databases (i.e. SingleStoreDB) and probably web search engines (like Bing as it's not clear whether it uses Google or not), but it's not confirmed and that's a problem. ChatGPT team hasn't disclosed what resources it uses, we know that it checks websites like Wikipedia, Reddit or Reuters like other AI tools, but it's not clear what information is retrieved as sometimes the answers are not very good. But we will talk about this later in the article…

### Google Gemini

We already talked a little about Gemini in our post on [how to rank in it](/blog/how-to-do-seo-for-gemini/), but if we go through its launch, we can get a better understanding of this tool. Gemini is an AI tool created by Google, whose previous name was Bard, and it is both a generative artificial intelligence chatbot and a virtual assistant. Released in 2023, it is powered by the large language model (LLM) of the same name. It works like a multimodal LLM, meaning it can process and generate not only text but also computer code, images, audio, and video.

The tool was created because Google saw potential in having one after the launch of ChatGPT, which was, as mentioned earlier, a sensation. Even though its beginnings weren't as strong as ChatGPT's, Google now uses a "thinking model," capable of reasoning through steps before responding using chain-of-thought techniques, and, as Google claims, it's "its most intelligent model to date."

The information given by this AI tool is retrieved from different data sources and database technologies, particularly within the Google Cloud ecosystem, to provide answers. This makes the tool quite interesting to use, as the information comes from updated, recognizable sources, ensuring it is truthful and current.

Another key characteristic, from a marketing perspective, is that in order to appear on Gemini, you have to follow almost the same guidelines as with Google search visibility. This makes it possible to "kill two birds with one stone" by having a Gemini visibility strategy.

### Claude

Claude was created by Anthropic and launched in 2023, same as Gemini. This AI tool is not as well-known as the previous two but it's quite interesting as it has some key differences that make it stand out from the rest. The app was developed by former members of OpenAI with a focus on AI safety.

However, what makes Claude interesting is the way it works, as it combines the two models: like ChatGPT it predicts the answers based on the information used, but it also has the capacity of reasoning the answers to give better results. Besides, the tool has three models depending on what the user needs: Opus is the most intelligent model, great for complex queries if you are looking for nuanced reasoning; Sonnet is great for coding and content creation and Haiku is the fastest model, perfect for high-volume tasks.

The answers provided by Claude are retrieved from a combination of a vast training dataset including: training data (in other words, internal knowledge), real-time information from web search, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) which are external databases like PostgreSQL, Snowflake, and BigQuery. Claude works very intelligently as it always searches from different sources, summarizes the information, and provides citations to all the info provided which makes it a reliable tool.

## How they work

Even though they are the same type of tool, each one works differently, and it shows in the answers given.

All the models seem fine at first because they are fast, and the information they provide often looks like it has been written by a human. However, if you ask them a question about something you already know well, you will start to notice some issues. For example, ChatGPT looks for information through its connected resources (databases, websites, social media, etc.) and generates answers based on that by predicting human-like responses. For simple Q&As it's great, but when asking about something more complex… You will start to find inaccuracies and outdated information.

In the table below, we compare some key differences between the three AI tools to better understand how they work and, therefore, what type of answers you might get when you ask them a question or look for information about something.

|             | How it works?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | Where is the info retrieved from?                                                                                                                                                                                                      | Ethical and legal compliance                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | How to properly use it?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| :---------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Gemini**  | Gemini's model natively understands images, audio, video, and text simultaneously and it's recently using a "thinking model" that can reason your question/prompt.                                                                                                                                                     | Gemini retrieves most of the information from its own system, so to speak, Google, but it uses different data sources. Google Search Google Ecosystem ("Connected Apps") User-Uploaded Content Device Data                             | Gemini is quite controversial regarding ethical and legal compliance as it uses users data from other Google products as well as device data like screen content, contacts, and app usage information. Besides it potentially can inherit and amplify societal biases and it usually generate content that infringes on existing copyrighted work. | The model [needs context and good prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleGeminiAI/comments/1pqpurn/hot_take_gemini_isnt_dumb_you_just_dont_know_how/) to generate high-quality answers. It must be noted to that, regarding image generation, it's quite difficult to do it. |
| **ChatGPT** | The ChatGPT model looks for similarities in its resources (databases, webs, etc.) as it provides answers predicting the next most likely word in a sequence. There's no "thinking model" involved and the learning is unsupervised.                                                                                    | It's quite secretive about the resources used and, it shows as sometimes the information given is outdated and even wrong. What we know for sure is that it uses users interactions and the feedback provided to refine the algorithm. | ChatGPT has been on the eye of everyone for its ethical and legal compliance as it uses: Users data not being compliant with the GDPR and even leaking data and having security problems It doesn't respect copyright nor authorship It has been proved it perpetuate and amplify biases                                                           | Same as Gemini, you must provide detailed context and know how to ask questions as the prompt can make the answers vary a lot and refinements are always needed.                                                                                                              |
| **Claude**  | Claude works similarly to ChatGPT as it also functions by analyzing vast amounts of text data to predict and generate human-like answers. However, as Gemini's, this tool also understands the information analyzed having a mixed model. It works with three models (Opus, Sonnet and Haiku) depending on your needs. | Claude connects with different sources to retrieve the given information. Those sources are: Training data. Real-time information from web search. Model Context Protocol                                                              | Claude uses constitutional AI, a training technique that was developed by Anthropic to improve ethical and legal compliance. It works with two models at the same time to reduce bias and dangerous content. However, you should be careful with the free version as input/output data can be used for training.                                   | Identify what you want to do with it and use the best model based on that. Regarding the way you have to formulate your questions or prompts, you don't have to worry about it as its conversational nature make it easy to prompt.                                           |

## Their pros and cons

Now that you know the basics, we can go through the juicy info: what they do right and wrong.

### Gemini

We all use Gemini every day, as this tool is integrated into Google's search engine. Even though it usually works well and provides reliable, sourced information, there are some downsides that every user should acknowledge and take into account.

| PROS                                                                                                                            | CONS                                                                                                                                                                                |
| :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| It can act as an agent, directly using tools like Google Apps                                                                   | As all your Google features are connected when using Gemini, the app collects personal information from your email, etc.                                                            |
| The information provided by the app is usually way more reliable and up-to-date than the one given by other tools like ChatGPT. | Sometimes hallucinations can't be avoided, since the information provided comes from sources that may be incorrect.                                                                 |
| It has a free version                                                                                                           | It's sold as a free app, but it actually has a paid subscription, which makes the free version limited.                                                                             |
| A versatile tool as it can generate text, code, images and even video.                                                          | Image and video generation is quite difficult.                                                                                                                                      |
| It's fast                                                                                                                       | When poor prompts are used or little context given, the tool takes longer to answer as it generates a "a hidden chain of thought".                                                  |
|                                                                                                                                 | It's not great with ethical and legal compliance. First, because it uses users data from the Google workspace as well as device data. Second, because it doesn't respect copyright. |

### ChatGPT

ChatGPT is the most used tool from this comparison, but it has lots of issues that, even though are sometimes imperceptible, it affect directly on the results given by the tool and how it interacts with users.

| PROS                                                                                                            | CONS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| It has a free version                                                                                           | The free version of the tool may have a limited knowledge base.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| It's apparently easy to use, even though at least some prompt expertise is recommended due to it's variability. | It generates responses based on patterns and context which makes the data retrieval very variable depending on the interaction or prompt used.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| It's a versatile tool as it can generate text, code, images and even video.                                     | It's prone to give you plausible but incorrect information (sometimes called information "hallucinations") as it's main goal is always to answer even though it doesn't know the answer.                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| The tool retains in the same conversation all the instructions and context given.                               | The way it references the information is quite bad as sometimes it gives you the link and sometimes it doesn't. This is because it doesn't 'maintain or enforce a structured schema or referential integrity like traditional databases do', as stated by [Paul Hankin in a LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-chatgpt-worlds-worst-database-paul-hankin-awfxe). |
| It's quick providing answers.                                                                                   | As a lot of users have experienced, it's highly biased when providing information as it's highly based on massive amounts of internet text.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|                                                                                                                 | It's not great with ethical and legal compliance. First, because it doesn't always reference the information, which can favor plagiarism. Second, it uses user data, as conversations are collected to help train future models, and this can raise privacy concerns for some users.                                                                                            |

### Claude

Although it is the least known tool of this comparison, Claude has some interesting pros that any of the tools listed have; but not everything is as perfect as it seems.

| PROS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | CONS                                                                                                                |
| :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| It has a free version.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | It's free version is quite limited as it has a day limit and users won't be able to access to Opus.                 |
| Its legal and ethical compliance is excellent. In fact, the best one.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | As it has an amazing legal and ethical compliance, sometimes it might not answer to sensitive questions or prompts. |
| The texts generated by the tool are very natural human-like.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | It doesn't generate images nor videos as Gemini and ChatGPT do.                                                     |
| It's fast                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | During busy hours, free users get lower priority, so answering questions will take it more time.                    |
| The results provided are usually way more reliable and up-to-date than the one given by other tools like ChatGPT.                                                                                                                                                                                                               |                                                                                                                     |
| You don't need prompt expertise due to its thinking model and conversational nature.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |                                                                                                                     |
| The Artifacts feature is amazing and no other AI tool listed has something like it. This feature allows users to have a dedicated, side-panel workspace to generate, preview, and interact with content and even turn ideas into functioning tools. For example, you can code and be able to interact with what you are coding. |                                                                                                                     |

\*Yes, we have avoided in the cons section the environmental issue as we are comparing how these tools work, but we think it's worth mentioning it. You can learn more about it in [this MIT News article](https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117).

## What's the best AI tool: Gemini, ChatGPT or Claude?

The easy answer is "it depends on the use," as none of the three tools listed here are perfect and we don't really love AI that much. However, if we have to choose, Claude is the best one. For us, the fact that it uses a mixed model (predictive-thinking models) is what makes it better than the other two; that, plus its ease of use and genuine respect for privacy, makes it stand out.

It obviously has some disadvantages, as we have mentioned before, like the fact that it censors some information when it identifies it as problematic, but the way it processes information and the possibility of choosing the model based on your needs and tasks is great.

However, even though we have a preference, each tool can be used for different purposes:

- We recommend Gemini… if you are looking for a tool that knows you perfectly, cites resources properly, and can be integrated with all of Google Workspace.
- We recommend ChatGPT… if you want to pay for an app that won't always give you truthful answers. Well, let's be fair, ChatGPT is good when you want to rewrite a text or automate certain tasks.
- We recommend Claude… if you want to use AI easily while protecting yourself and your copyrights.

What do we REALLY recommend? Not using any AI tool. As you can see, all of them have a lot of cons that can't be overlooked. If you want information about something you already know, traditional search engines work amazingly well. You don't need a chatbot to confirm everything you say while giving unreliable information and wasting resources like water at the same time.
---
## Web accessibility: What you need to know about WCAG
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/web-accessibility-what-you-need-to-know-about-wcag/
Published: 2026-03-01
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: User Experience, UX, Website Optimization, Technical SEO, SEO
> Learn everything about web accessibility and WCAG compliance. Understand the POUR principles, accessibility levels, and how to implement key features like alt text, keyboard navigation, and color contrast.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_wcag_intro from "./assets/wcag-intro.png";

Luckily, every day web accessibility is becoming increasingly important, and laws and regulations are helping people with disabilities navigate the internet more comfortably. However, many marketers are still unsure how to approach it; some are trying, but not always in the right way as they consciously disregard its true purpose.

In this article, we'll cover everything you need to know about web accessibility and the WCAG to guide you through the first steps to make your website accessible for everyone.

<Image
  src={img_assets_wcag_intro}
  alt="An open door framed by code brackets reveals a WCAG-labeled website, with accessibility icons like an eye, ear, and brain arranged as stepping stones, symbolizing an inclusive and accessible web"
  width={400}
/>

## What we meant when we talk about web accessibility?

Web accessibility is the practice of designing and coding websites so people with disabilities can access, navigate, understand, and interact with them effectively. This practice requires both technical expertise and a strong understanding of user needs, as accessibility is not just about meeting standards.

When we talk about web accessibility, we mean ensuring that people with visual, auditory, motor, neurological, speech, and cognitive disabilities can use a website without barriers. For example, users who rely on screen readers should be able to interpret content through properly structured HTML and alternative text. Individuals who cannot use a mouse should be able to navigate entirely via keyboard. Videos should include captions for users who are D/deaf or hard of hearing.

Before, there weren't any laws, regulations, or standards regarding web accessibility, so it was very rare to find accessible websites. However, over time, institutions and governments began recognizing the importance of digital inclusion, and accessibility is now required in many countries through national legislation. In the United States, for example, compliance with the ADA and Section 508 is mandatory for certain organizations and public entities.

Other countries have their own legal frameworks and regulations that define accessibility requirements, so to understand what applies to your website, you should review the legislation in your specific country or consult with a legal expert familiar with digital accessibility laws.

That said, we always recommend following the guidance provided by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) through its WCAG even though access is not mandatory in your territory. By aligning your website with WCAG, you not only move toward legal compliance in many regions, but you also create a more usable and inclusive experience for all users that often benefit from improved SEO, better performance, clearer structure, and an overall higher quality user experience.

### What's the WCAG?

The [WCAG](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/) stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and it's, as its name suggests, a guideline made by the [World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)](https://www.w3.org/WAI/) that 'defines how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.'

This internationally recognized framework address web content accessibility and it has three levels of compliance: Level A, AA, and AAA, being the last the maximum and better accessibility a website can achieve.

The guideline is divided into four main principles called POUR, which are the initials of: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. This division helps organize accessibility requirements depending on how users perceive, interact with, process, and rely on web content through different senses and abilities.

- Perceivable means that users must be able to perceive the information being presented. For example, images should include alternative text for blind and low vision individuals to perceive/access it.
- Operable means that users must be able to interact with your site. This includes making all functionality available via keyboard and giving users enough time to read and use content.
- Understandable means that both the information and the operation of the user interface must be clear and predictable. For example, the way information is displayed should be put in a logical and consistent structure.
- Robust means that content must be compatible with different browsers (Chrome, Safari, etc.), devices (desktop, mobile, etc.), and assistive technologies (screenreaders, for example), ensuring it remains accessible as technologies evolve.

## Why should you implement web accessibility?

[Around 16% of the global population has a disability](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health) and many of them rely on access features to navigate websites. Deaf, blind, or people with intellectual disabilities, among others, can benefit from web accessibility. As a website owner, you should consider them as potential users, because everyone has the right to access information, just like anybody else.

Moreover, as governments and search engines increasingly focus on accessibility, implementing it can bring more benefits than you might expect. Among the most important are:

- **Improved UX:** Having an accessible website isn't just beneficial for people with disabilities. Most (if not all) of the features required for accessibility are inherently user-friendly and can make interacting with your content easier and more comfortably. For example, reading a transcript instead of watching a video allows users to quickly search for specific information. By implementing web accessibility, you enhance the overall user experience, which can lead to better analytics results, including higher engagement and increased conversion rates.
- **Increase on users:** By making your website accessible, you reach a portion of society that often struggles to use other websites. This means more potential visitors, customers, or readers can engage with your content, expanding your audience and increasing your overall reach.
- **Better SEO:** Search engines like Google are increasingly focusing on accessibility. To encourage website owners to make their sites accessible, they prioritize websites that include access features such as [alt text](https://developers.google.com/tech-writing/accessibility/self-study/write-alt-text) and even offering [web accessibility courses](https://developers.google.com/profile/badges/playlists/webdev/learn-accessibility). Additionally, just like with UX, implementing accessibility features makes it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your website's content. This can improve indexing, increase your visibility in search results, and ultimately drive more organic traffic to your site.
- **Compliance with laws and regulations:** As mentioned above, there are currently laws and regulations that require website owners to provide a minimum level of access for people with disabilities. Being compliant helps you avoid potential legal issues or fines.
- **Improved brand reputation:** Last but not least, having an accessible website demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility. This not only builds trust with your audience but also improves your brand's reputation.

## How to be compliant with the WCAG?

Being fully compliant with the WCAG requires a lot, as it is a general guideline covering almost all aspects of web accessibility; but you can choose between the three levels:

- Level **A** being the minimum and easiest to meet; it covers only the most basic accessibility features to remove critical barriers.
- Level **AA** being the recommended standard, which requires more commitment as well as expertise than the first one. It must be noted that, even though laws and regulations make this the mandatory basic level, rarely any website is fully compliant with it.
- Level **AAA** being the maximum level and the hardest one to meet, as it's quite strict and technically challenging, covering advanced accessibility features that go beyond basic needs.

For example, if you want to be compliant with Title II of the ADA, Section 508, you can do it by following WCAG version 2.1 or 2.2 at Level AA. That's why, even though WCAG itself is not a law, we always recommend following it as a starting point to make your website accessible.

But, where to start? Well, these are the basics:

### Alt text

Alt text is a text attribute that describes the content or function of an image so that users who cannot see it can still understand what it represents. This feature is crucial for blind and low-vision users, as it allows them to access the visual elements of a site through screen readers or other assistive technologies. Understanding this is key, because some marketers have been using alt text solely for SEO purposes packing this feature with keywords and neglecting its main goal. Please, don't do that …

If we look at what the basic level says about this, the main guidelines are: all meaningful images must have descriptive alt text, decorative images should have empty alt attributes (alt="") so they are ignored by screen readers, and images that convey important information through text or visuals must include that information in alt text or nearby text.

We recommend writing alt text in a clear, concise, and accurate way: describe the purpose of the image, its appearance when the visual detail is important, and avoid stuffing keywords as that's not a description but a wrong way of using alt text and, it won't work for SEO anyway. And, of course, test your site with a screen reader to make sure the alt text communicates the right information.

### Keyboard navigation

As we mentioned before, some people can't use a mouse to navigate a website and need them to be fully navigated with keyboards. This is why it's crucial that as WCAG states:

'all functionality of the content is operable through a keyboard interface without requiring specific timings for individual keystrokes, except where the underlying function requires input that depends on the path of the user's movement and not just the endpoints.'

If we look at what the basic level says about this, the main guidelines are: users need to be able to move into something like a button, form field, or menu item, and move out again using the keyboard alone and, if you have keyboard shortcuts to navigate your site, users must be able to turn them off, change them, or only use them in the right context. To do so, we recommend structuring your site in a logical, sequentially, and simple way to make this easier: don't overload pages with too many interactive elements, keep navigation consistent, and, of course, test it yourself using only a keyboard to ensure it's easy to access everything.

To check it, try navigating your site with Tab, Shift + Tab, arrow keys, and Enter only. If you get stuck or can't reach something, you need to adjust the structure or keyboard interactions.

### Color contrast, font size and readability

For users with sensory or visual issues, the way your website presents information can make a huge difference in accessibility. This includes elements like shape, color, size, visual location, orientation, or sound, all of which help users perceive and understand content.

Regarding the use of color, for example, it should never be the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element as it is recommend to support it with other types of info. For example, don't rely solely on red text to indicate an error; pair it with an icon or a text label so everyone can understand it.

Reading can sometimes be challenging when elements on a page lack sufficient contrast or when font sizes are too small. To make your content more accessible:

- Ensure high contrast between text and background, with a white background and dark text color being the standard.
- Use readable fonts (sans serif fonts are easier to read) with a proper size (more than 12px) and sufficient line spacing to make text clear, legible, and easy to follow for all users.
- Combine color with other visual cues like shapes, patterns, or text labels to convey meaning.

We recommend structuring your visual content in a clear and predictable way: avoid overcrowding pages, maintain consistent styles, and test your site with different contrast settings or by viewing it in grayscale to make sure all information is still distinguishable.

### Understandable content

If this is not our first article you read, you will know that we talk A LOT about structured content. AI and search engines value it, but it also makes access easier for people with a variety of disabilities, like visual or cognitive impairments.

The content you provide on your site must be displayed in a structured way, easy to understand, and presented so that it can be programmatically determined or available as text. This includes headings, labels, instructions, and any other information users need to interact with your site.

If we look at what the basic level says about this, the main guidelines are: web pages should have titles that describe the topic or purpose, headings should be used to organize content logically, instructions and labels should be clear, and the language should be simple and consistent.

We recommend structuring your content in a logical, sequential, and simple way: don't overload pages with too much information at once, break content into sections with headings, and use lists or tables where appropriate. And, of course, test it yourself! Try reading your page aloud or using a screen reader to make sure everything is understandable. Additionally, use our [Heading Extractor](/tools/heading-extractor/) to see how the information is presented and if it follows that hierarchical structure.

### Other basic practices to comply with level A (WCAG)

Besides the features mentioned above, if you review the complete WCAG guideline, other practices to comply with Level A (the most basic level, which alone does not ensure ADA compliance) include the following:

- Regarding **media content**, whether it is audio only, video only, or a mix of both, Level A states that access features must ensure any missing information is provided, or at least a media alternative is available. In other words, you must provide captions and audio descriptions for video, as well as transcripts for audio-only content. The only exception to skip this is when the media serves as a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such, for example, by indicating it in text or heading ('Video contains the same content as the article text' or 'Text Alternative: Audio Version').

- Continuing with audio, **audio controls** are something that can be annoying for everyone, but even more so for people with disabilities. If any audio on your website plays automatically for more than 3 seconds, you should provide a way to pause or stop it, or at least control the volume independently from the overall system volume. This is important because automatic audio can conflict with assistive technologies, such as screen readers, and may also be uncomfortable for neurodivergent users. We recommend avoiding this type of media altogether, whether it's audio or video.

- Users must be able to pause, stop, or hide any **moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating content** that starts automatically, lasts more than five seconds, and is presented alongside other content.

- Regarding people who suffer from seizures, web pages **mustn't contain anything that flashes** more than three times in any one-second period, unless the flash is below the general flash and red flash thresholds. Exceeding these limits can trigger seizures or other adverse reactions in sensitive users.

- **Repeated blocks on websites**, like headers, footers, or sidebar links, which appear on many pages, should be skippable. Going through the same menu or links every time a user visits a new page can be frustrating and time-consuming. Imagine being blind and using a screen reader to access a website, each time you open a new page, it reads the same content again and again. A mechanism should be available to skip or bypass those repeated blocks of content, allowing users to access only the main content on each page.

- When **adding internal and external links**, the text of the link should clearly tell the user where it goes or what it does. A "Read more" link doesn't say anything about where the user is heading, but if the link is an article about how cats interact with humans, you could write "guide about cats behavior with humans" or "Read more about how cats interact with humans" instead. This way, the link is descriptive on its own, and users (especially those using screen readers) can understand its purpose without needing extra context.

- This is more related to website access with touchscreens, but it also applies to any functionality that uses **multipoint gestures (like pinching with two fingers) or path-based gestures (like drawing a shape or swiping a pattern)** the rule is: anything that can be done with these complex gestures should also be possible with a single pointer like one finger, a mouse click, or a stylus unless the gesture is absolutely essential for the function.

- If you have a multilingual site, each page should clearly **specify its default language in the code**. This helps assistive technologies, like screen readers, know how to read the text correctly. To do so, it's essential to use the `lang` attribute on your `<html>` tag, which will specify the language.

- If a user interacts with an element of your site like a button, dropdown, checkbox, or link it **should not unexpectedly take them** to a new page, pop up a new window, or jump to a completely different part of the site without warning the user first. In other words, if there's a button that will redirect to another page, the user should know what will happen before they click it by explaining it in the text (as we mentioned before with links) or by providing clear instructions nearby, such as a tooltip, label, or descriptive hint.

- Regarding forms or any situation where users fill out information on your website like buying a product or subscribing to a newsletter your site must **automatically detect errors and clearly tell the user what the problem** is, so that users with disabilities can identify and fix it. For example, imagine you are filling out a form to subscribe to a newsletter and you enter your email incorrectly. After clicking "Send," the error must appear explicitly so the user knows what went wrong and can correct it. We recommend using clear, descriptive error messages and associate them directly with the input field, so screen readers and keyboard users can easily detect and fix mistakes.

- When building your website, all the code behind it needs to be clean and correct so that browsers and assistive technologies can understand it. This means every element should have complete start and end tags (i.e. `<p>` and `</p>`), be nested correctly, not have duplicate attributes, and all IDs should be unique unless the specifications allow otherwise. **If your markup is messy or broken, screen readers or other tools may misread your content**, making it harder for users to access your site.

- Regarding for all interactive elements (buttons, form fields, links, etc.) **the name, role, and value must be programmatically available**. In simple terms: name (what the element is called, like "Submit" or "Search."), role (what the element does, like a button, checkbox, or link) and value or state (any setting the user can change, like a checked box or a slider's current position). Any changes to these elements must also be communicated automatically to assistive technologies. For example, if a checkbox is checked or unchecked, a screen reader should announce that change so the user knows what's happening.

## Tools to help you test accessibility

Implementing accessibility is one thing, but verifying it is just as important. Here are some tools that can help you audit your website:

- **[WAVE](https://wave.webaim.org/):** A free web accessibility evaluation tool that visually highlights errors, alerts, and structural elements directly on your page, making it easy to spot issues at a glance.
- **[Google Lighthouse](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse):** Built into Chrome DevTools, Lighthouse includes an accessibility audit that scores your page and provides actionable suggestions for improvement.
- **[Heading Extractor](/tools/heading-extractor/):** Use it to check if your page follows a proper heading hierarchy, which is essential for screen readers and content structure.
- **[Contrast Checker](/tools/contrast-checker/):** Verify that your text and background color combinations meet WCAG contrast requirements.
- **[Readability Score Checker](/tools/readability-score-checker/):** Evaluate how easy your content is to read and understand, which directly impacts accessibility for users with cognitive disabilities.
- **[Link Checker](/tools/link-checker/):** Analyze your internal and external links to ensure they are functional and properly structured for assistive technologies.

## Summary

As we have explained here, web accessibility is very important, because by not considering it, you are effectively excluding a whole group of people. It shouldn't be taken for granted or used for purposes other than its main goal: making websites accessible to everyone.

We know that having an accessible website is not easy. Here we have only explained how to implement the most basic level (Level A), and it requires lots of changes, some of which are even technically challenging; but it's crucial to do so to ensure access for all individuals. We acknowledge that after reading all this you are probably overwhelmed, and we get it. But by implementing these changes, you will also enjoy other benefits that will positively impact your marketing strategy.

As you have probably noticed, web accessibility is often complicated by animations, video, and audio, types of content that are not usually included in simple, well-structured websites. This leads us to what we believe is the best approach when building a website from scratch: **simple websites are the best ones**. They aren't overloaded with visual elements, they are easier to navigate for users, easier for AI and search engines to crawl, and they load more quickly. The most visually flashy site isn't always the most effective one.

However, we want to highlight again that the main takeaway is this: accessibility should never be implemented just for ranking purposes. It is a necessity for millions of people around the world who are often ignored.

And remember, to truly know if all these features work, you must conduct testing with assistive technologies, such as screen readers, keyboard navigation, and voice control. Only real testing can confirm that your website is genuinely accessible to everyone.
---
## How to do SEO for Gemini?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-do-seo-for-gemini/
Published: 2026-02-25
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Google Gemini, AI, SEO, SEO Strategies, AI Tools, AI Search, Search Engine Optimization, Content Strategy, AEO
> Learn how to do SEO for Google Gemini. Discover how Gemini affects search results, how to optimize content for AI Overviews, and how to use Gemini to enhance your SEO strategy.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_helpful_sous_chef from "./assets/helpful-sous-chef.png";

We have already talked about [SEO and ChatGPT](/blog/is-chatgpt-good-for-seo/), but what if you want to appear on Gemini? Well, it must be said that it's quite similar to what you did with SEO strategy as Gemini is a Google tool and Google knows that their algorithm kind of rocks; but, there are some differences that should be taken into account as users don't want the same answers when searching with Gemini vs. Google.

<Image
  src={img_assets_helpful_sous_chef}
  alt="A human chef plates an SEO Strategy dish while a friendly Gemini robot sous-chef hands over a bowl of ingredients, illustrating Gemini as a helpful SEO assistant"
  width={350}
/>

In this article we will talk everything about gaining visibility in Gemini as well as how Gemini can be used to enhance your SEO strategy, one thing that can't be done with ChatGPT…

## How will Gemini affect SEO?

As AI tools rise as main search tools, all search engines update their area of expertise and amplify it by incorporating AI and even creating their own AI tools. Google is not an exception, and it created and [launched Gemini in 2023. Formerly known as Bard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Gemini) and rebranded to Gemini in 2024, this AI tool main difference from ChatGPT is that it benefits from native Google search, offering real-time information. ChatGPT often relies on its training data, requiring active browsing for live updates.

From then on, Google has maximized their AI by incorporating it as AI overviews and suggesting users to use Gemini as an AI helper. This has entirely changed how Google works and what they are focusing on regarding search results and user experience. Instead of only providing links to external websites, Google now prioritizes delivering summarized answers directly on the top of the results page, a way to reply more aligned to what users want nowadays: quick answers to their questions.

This transformation shifts the focus from traditional ranking systems to AI-generated responses, where visibility depends not only on SEO but also on how content is interpreted and selected by AI models. As a result, businesses and content creators must adapt their strategies to remain relevant in an AI-driven search environment. Therefore, the launch as well as following implementation of Gemini on Google has changed and affected completely how marketers work as well as the strategies they develop. If you want to appear at the top of Google search results, you can no longer focus only on traditional SEO techniques and keyword rankings: AIEO must be part of the strategy, and therefore Gemini must be included in the conversation.

## How to use Google Gemini for better SEO?

Gemini, as an AI tool, can be used in multiple ways—not only as a search engine—and we, as marketers, can benefit from that. Even though it must be noted that it can't replace SEO and analytics tools, it can be used to enhance your SEO strategy.

[As stated by Francisco Castro in a Google Support forum](https://support.google.com/gemini/thread/330278030/how-to-use-gemini-for-seo-and-technical-and-keyword-research?hl=en), there are multiple ways to use Gemini for SEO, technical analysis, and keyword research. Some of them include:

- **Generating keyword and content ideas:** Don't mistake this for doing a keyword research. You can use Gemini to get content ideas that can afterward be verified by doing a keyword research. For example, if your website is about pools, you can ask Gemini to give you a list of content ideas that can be searched on keyword research tools. Here, you will be able to identify keywords to build your content from.
- **Understanding keyword context:** Gemini can help you understand user intent and the nuances of search queries for you to develop content based on a specific keyword, as sometimes keywords alone can be misleading.
- **Get SEO optimization suggestions:** You probably won't need this if you are a good marketer, as you can identify what's wrong with your content, but sometimes it can be a good assistive tool. Maybe you are not seeing something that can improve the performance of your website, and Gemini can identify it, for example, by suggesting relevant internal and external links.
- **Updating meta titles and meta descriptions:** Updating meta data is something marketers do regularly and sometimes is quite difficult as well as exhausting to think of another way to say the same thing. You can use Gemini to rephrase your meta titles and meta descriptions and be free from work like that.
- **Internal and external linking suggestions:** Another way in which Gemini can be useful is to get internal and external linking suggestions. Even though you have to create your own internal and external linking strategy to ensure balanced link juice across all your content, Gemini can help identify relevant pages to link to, suggest authoritative external sources, and highlight opportunities you might have missed.

## How to optimize your content for Gemini (AIEO)?

As mentioned above, one of the ways Google is using Gemini is by implementing it in its search engine through AI Overviews. These AI Overviews are now the first thing users see when they ask a question or look for something on Google. There is no need to search directly in the Gemini tool, as it is already being used and prioritized within the search engine itself. Therefore, a strategy with Gemini in mind should be considered not only for SEO, but also to get stronger AIEO results. Marketers must optimize their content not just to rank in traditional listings, but to increase the likelihood of being featured, summarized, or referenced within AI-generated answers.

We have already made [an in-depth article with LOTS of tips to make your content rank on AI tools](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/), but there are key differences to consider when your purpose is to appear on Gemini specifically:

1. **Ongoing SEO:** As we have already mentioned, since Gemini is a Google tool, the way it works is similar to how you rank on Google, and therefore an SEO strategy will help you get more visibility in this tool. Even though Gemini and Google search results differ, as they [use different criteria to retrieve information](https://support.google.com/gemini/thread/327493055?hl=en&sjid=10908562687536918-EU), one strategy can feed the other.
2. **Update content based on what AI likes:** Structured, easy-to-read, and original content is what AI tools like, and therefore what Gemini favors. Make sure your content follows a hierarchical structure, use bullet points, tag your content with the correct HTML tags, answer directly to the questions asked, and make it easy to read and understand. This will boost your visibility both in Gemini and Google. Additionally, adding a [FAQ section](/blog/faq-section-for-seo/) will boost it even more.
3. **References are key:** Getting cited by other websites is crucial, as AI (just like SEO) values seeing your content referenced on multiple sites. It considers this a way to verify that the information provided is truthful and that your website is reliable and important.
4. **Encourage customer reviews and ratings:** AI tools love testimonials, as they are a truthful piece of information that can help them identify if a brand or business is reliable. By getting a good number of positive reviews, you can boost your visibility both in Gemini and Google search results. Don't feel bad and encourage your customers to add reviews!

Besides these tips, Fred SR in [a Google Support forum thread](https://support.google.com/gemini/thread/366810411?hl=en&sjid=10908562687536918-EU), also mentioned that keeping your Google Merchant Center data updated can be a smart move for Gemini visibility in e-commerce. This is because Google Merchant uses simple metadata that both Google and Gemini can easily crawl. By keeping your product data accurate and complete, your products can not only become more visible in AI Overviews and Gemini, but they can also be featured in Google's Sponsored Products section, which appears at the top of the search results page.

Additionally to all the tips listed above, we recommend checking our articles about AIEO/AEO (like [this one](/blog/aeo-tips-b2b-marketers/)), where you will find more in-depth information on how to implement a strategy that works with AI tools like Gemini.

## How to use Gemini for SEO content?

As we listed at the beginning of this article, Gemini can be used in multiple ways to get better SEO, but regarding content creation it is not as recommended. Yes, we already suggest to use it to write meta descriptions, but it's not actually the same. One thing is giving AI an already written text for it to rewrite it and then edit it yourself and another thing is asking AI to write a complete article.

However, there are some ways to use AI to improve your content that don't affect negatively and that can help you save time.

- **Update meta data:** As mentioned earlier, you can ask Gemini to update your content's meta data by providing an existing text and asking AI to rephrase it. You can even prompt it to give multiple options, which allows you to do A/B testing and track what works best.
- **Rephrase content:** Content must be updated regularly as things change over time. Sometimes the information is outdated; other times the way it's presented doesn't match user preferences. By giving Gemini your self-made content to rephrase, and then post-editing it, you can save a lot of time.
- **Content expansion suggestions:** Sometimes your content needs to be updated because something is missing, but you're not sure what. Gemini can help identify the missing pieces of information so you can expand your content effectively.

## Summary

Although all AI tools may seem similar, Gemini has something special regarding digital marketing: its connection to Google. Taking advantage of that and building a strategy that increases your visibility both in search engine results and AI Overviews can help you significantly boost your performance.
---
## Is ChatGPT good for SEO?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/is-chatgpt-good-for-seo/
Published: 2026-02-21
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: ChatGPT SEO, AI, SEO, SEO Strategies, AI Tools, Search Engine Optimization, Content Strategy
> Is ChatGPT good for SEO? We break down how it interacts with search rankings, whether AI-generated text hurts your site, and how to use it as a support tool without replacing real SEO strategy.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_chatgpt_sucks from "./assets/chatgpt-sucks.png";

import YouTube from "@/components/mdx/YouTube.astro";

The short answer is no, ChatGPT is not good for SEO; however, it is more complicated than that. Are we talking about how ChatGPT interacts with it? Or if is it good to use ChatGPT for your SEO strategy?

<Image
  src={img_assets_chatgpt_sucks}
  alt="ChatGPT logo with a thumbs up, illustrating limitations of AI for SEO"
  width={350}
/>

In this article, we will explain everything you need to know regarding ChatGPT and SEO for you to have a clear understanding of where ChatGPT fits in the world of SEO (or not).

## Is ChatGPT good for SEO?

As we mentioned in the intro, technically, no, ChatGPT is not good for SEO. However, it must be said that it doesn't affect it negatively either. Following a content strategy to appear on ChatGPT differs a little bit from what we do in an [SEO strategy](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/), but some tactics overlap with traditional SEO (i.e., using structured content). In that sense, ChatGPT can be helpful.

However, it's not exactly the same as an SEO strategy, and following it won't automatically give you better rankings. You might see indirect benefits, like starting to appear on [AI overviews in Google](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) or improving UX, as nowadays users like this type of content better. However, there's no direct boost in search results just from following a ChatGPT visibility strategy.

## Then, is ChatGPT bad for SEO?

As we just mentioned, ChatGPT is not bad for SEO when it comes to how a strategy aimed at visibility on that tool affects search rankings. But what about other approaches or uses?

### Does ChatGPT generated text hurt your SEO?

If we take a look at how text generated by ChatGPT interacts with SEO, we can absolutely confirm that it impacts SEO negatively. Search engines value high-quality content that is original, and what ChatGPT generates is everything but that. It's quite easy to identify, even for humans, when a text was AI-generated, so algorithms also know the deal.

The way ChatGPT punctuates, constructs phrases, and presents information is quite specific, and Google is aware of these patterns. Avoiding this footprint is not always easy, and if content is published without proper editing, it can be flagged as low-value or unoriginal. This can lead to worse rankings instead of [improving your SEO performance](/blog/how-to-optimize-content-for-seo/).

That's why relying entirely on ChatGPT for content creation is not a good idea. It should be used as a support tool (i.e., helping you rephrase something), not as a replacement for human input.

## Can ChatGPT do SEO?

Not exactly, as you are the one doing the SEO. ChatGPT can be used as a tool, as we mentioned before (for example, as a text rephraser), but not as a substitute for proper SEO tools, as many people tend to do.

### How to use ChatGPT for SEO?

You can use ChatGPT as an assistive tool for different tasks that are more mechanical or inspirational, like:

- **Content rephraser:** as mentioned above, ChatGPT shouldn't be used as a text generator, but it can rephrase your content if you feel like it's a bit off.
- **Content inspiration generator:** when you want to write about something but don't know how to approach it, you can ask AI tools like ChatGPT to give you a list of angles and then do [keyword research](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/) based on that.
- **Meta descriptions and titles drafts:** it can help you come up with different variations for your [meta titles and descriptions](/blog/write-good-meta-titles-and-descriptions/) that you can then adjust to fit your SEO strategy.
- **FAQ ideas:** you can generate common questions around a topic and then optimize them for search intent. However, it must be noted that it's better to use actual SEO tools to get [FAQ questions](/blog/faq-section-for-seo/).
- **Content editing support:** you can use it to improve readability, fix grammar, or make your tone more consistent like you would do with LanguageTool or Grammarly.

However, if you are planning to use it as an SEO tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush, we don't recommend using it at any chance. Based on experience and understanding how ChatGPT works, this AI tool cannot be a substitute for an actual SEO tool, as [it doesn't provide real insights into keywords](#youtube-iHpAXD321XE), performance, or competition.

<YouTube id="iHpAXD321XE" />

### How does ChatGPT search compare to traditional SEO tools?

ChatGPT doesn't have access to accurate search volume data, ranking difficulty, or real-time analytics, which are essential for building an effective SEO strategy. Because of that, relying on ChatGPT alone can lead to poor decisions and missed opportunities in your SEO efforts.

### Can ChatGPT be used in local SEO?

In a way, yes, it can be used. ChatGPT can help you generate content tailored to local audiences, such as service pages for specific areas or [FAQs](#youtube-RMigaLnnSZk) addressing local customer needs like the ones you add to your Google Business Profile. It can also help rephrase or optimize content to make it clearer and more engaging for your target area. However, just like with general SEO, it cannot replace actual local SEO tools that track rankings, citations, reviews, and competition in your specific region.

<YouTube id="RMigaLnnSZk" />

### Can ChatGPT do SEO optimization?

As mentioned before, it can help you with SEO optimization as it can be used as a tool for example to rephrase content (blog posts, landing pages, etc.) as well as metadata like meta descriptions and meta titles and create an A/B strategy. But it won't {/* TODO: atenlotrad - this sentence is incomplete, please finish it */}

## Summary

Even though lots of people use ChatGPT as their go-to search engine or even as an SEO tool, the truth is... it kind of sucks. We've said it multiple times in this article, and we'll say it again: ChatGPT is not a good tool for working on your SEO strategy, nor is it a reliable search tool. Its main goal is to answer questions no matter what, without guaranteeing accurate or trustworthy information. Its algorithm is still new, and while we don't fully understand how it works, what we do know doesn't look great... It can be biased and based on incomplete or outdated data.

On the other hand, we have to admit that for tasks like rephrasing content, brainstorming ideas, or generating keyword suggestions, it's not terrible. But if you ask us which AI tool is truly the best for SEO, ChatGPT isn't even close to the top of the list.

If you're curious about how Google's own AI tool compares, check out our guide on [how to do SEO for Gemini](/blog/how-to-do-seo-for-gemini/).
---
## Written vs. video content: Which is the best strategy?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/written-vs-video-content-best-strategy/
Published: 2026-02-12
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Content Strategy, Video Marketing, SEO Strategies, Marketing Strategies, Blogging
> Compare written and video content strategies for your website. Explore the pros, cons, and key differences to find which approach fits your marketing goals best.
import Cta from "@/components/mdx/Cta.astro";

This is not new. A couple of years ago, several publications were already discussing how video would become the most effective format for driving user engagement and increasing visibility. We see this every day on social media platforms, where reels and even long vlogs capture most of the attention. This shift is not limited to social media. Search engines and AI platforms also reflect this trend, as these tools recognize how much users prefer and engage with video content.

In this article, we'll explore this evolving approach to content creation. We'll break down the differences between written content and video strategies, examine the pros and cons of each format, and help you decide which strategy, written or video-focused, makes the most sense for your marketing goals.

> **Disclaimer:** \
>
> <small>
>   Although social media platforms are mentioned throughout this article, the
>   focus of this post is to help website/e-commerce owners, as that is our main
>   area of specialization. So no, we won't cover YouTube or Instagram content
>   strategies. Instead, we'll focus on how creating written content or video
>   content can help you gain more visibility in both search engines and AI
>   tools.
> </small>

## Written content strategy

A written content strategy is one focused on the creation of written content formats like blog posts usually based on keyword or prompt research to be ranked on search engines. This type of strategy has been the most popular among marketers to get visibility and it's still the main way to get ranked both in search engines and AI tools.

Some of the most common text formats are:

- [Landing pages](/blog/key-components-persuasive-landing-page/)
- Product pages
- [Blog posts](/blog/tips-for-writing-blog-posts/)
- Guest posting
- [FAQs](/blog/faq-section-for-seo/)

<Cta
  id="write-for-us"
  title="Speaking of guest posting… Got something to share?"
/>

The format ([length](/blog/optimal-length-for-a-blog-post/), structure, etc.) and the approach to creating this content ([keyword](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/) or [prompt research](/blog/prompt-research-for-ai-visibility/)) will depend on several factors, such as your audience, niche, and goals. However, regardless of these variables, written content remains highly usable and continues to be a key element of any effective content strategy.

### Pros and cons of written content strategy

Now the trend is to create videos, but written content is still useful and relevant as your project can benefit from it. Let's take a look at the most important pros and cons:

| Pros                                                                | Cons                                                            |
| :------------------------------------------------------------------ | :-------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Great for audiences looking for direct answers                      | Can be less engaging than video for certain audiences           |
| Easy to create                                                      | May take longer to capture attention compared to visual content |
| Affordable                                                          | Harder to convey emotions or demonstrate processes              |
| Editable over time                                                  | Lower shareability on social media compared to video            |
| Highly searchable for SEO and [AIEO](/blog/aeo-tips-b2b-marketers/) |                                                                 |
| Establishes authority                                               |                                                                 |
| It is recyclable                                                    |                                                                 |

## Video-based content strategy

A video-based content strategy is, as its name suggests, focused on creating video content. These videos can vary in length and format depending on the platform where they will be uploaded, such as YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, or other social media platforms. While you can upload videos directly to your website, both [SEO and AI-driven search tools rely heavily on platforms like YouTube](https://www.reddit.com/r/b2bmarketing/comments/1qnp2os/is_youtube_quietly_becoming_part_of_seo_now_that/), making them essential for maximizing visibility and reach.

Although you won't be able to avoid having written content entirely, since your website already exists and you will have to script your videos, you can decide whether it's worth following a written content strategy or if it makes more sense to focus your efforts entirely on video. After all, video is currently the trend and often the preferred format for audiences, but data also demonstrates that. According to research by [Headway Capital](https://tubularlabs.com/blog/consumers-purchase-video/), 73% of people are more likely to purchase a product after watching a demonstration or review video, and [statistics](https://zupo.co/video-seo-statistics/) show that having video content can help you rank on Google's first page 53 times more often than traditional text content.

### Pros and cons of video content strategy

Despite being widely praised, this type of content strategy does come with several drawbacks that you should consider before diving in. Among the most notable pros and cons, you'll find:

| Pros                                                                          | Cons                                                               |
| :---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Great for creating in-depth visual explanations                               | Requires a significant time investment                             |
| Boosts SEO and AIEO                                                           | It can be expensive to produce, especially if hiring professionals |
| Increases audience engagement and connection                                  | Not as easily editable over time                                   |
| Can help boost brand awareness as viewers get to know you through your videos | Dependent on platform algorithms for reach                         |
| Highly shareable on social media                                              | Production and editing can be technically challenging              |

## Written vs. video content strategy

From their definitions and the pros and cons listed above, you can already see what makes these types of content different from each other, but there are even more differences that set them apart in terms of purpose, effort, reach, and long-term value. In the table below, we have highlighted these key differences:

|                                 | Written content strategy                                                                                                                                                                          | Video strategy                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| :------------------------------ | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Purpose and audience intent** | Usually focused on providing information in a clear and structured way. Most of the time, the audience intent is educational or informational (searching for answers, comparisons, guides, etc.). | Mostly made for entertainment purposes, but the audience intent can vary a lot as videos are also watched for educational purposes (learning how to do something, understanding a concept, etc.). |
| **Budget**                      | It's fairly affordable, as you can write it yourself and, if you decide to hire a writer, it won't be as expensive as a videographer.                                                             | Requires a lot more money as you need recording equipment, editing tools, and the time spent is much greater than writing a text.                                                                 |
| **Commitment**                  | Even though you have to research the topics you are going to talk about, the time investment is a lot less than video creation. You can write several articles per week depending on the topic.   | It requires a lot of commitment as it takes a significant amount of time to prepare, record, and edit the videos.                                                                                 |
| **Platforms**                   | You don't have to rely on many platforms to post your content as you can simply have your own website.                                                                                            | You depend on other platforms, mainly social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.                                                                                                 |
| **Accessibility**               | It's easier to make it accessible if your site is already well structured, mainly by taking care of formatting, readability, and alternative text for images.                                     | Accessibility can be more complex, as you need to add subtitles, captions, audio description, and ensure good audio quality so the content is understandable for everyone.                        |
| **Posting frequency**           | You can post more frequently since the production process is faster and less resource-intensive.                                                                                                  | Posting frequency is usually lower because each video requires more time and effort to produce.                                                                                                   |
| **Reusability**                 | Can be edited and updated easily whenever necessary. It can also be repurposed into newsletters or social media posts.                                                                            | Can't be edited easily once published (in most cases) and usually has a more limited lifespan unless repurposed into shorter clips or other formats.                                              |
| **Engagement**                  | It generates moderate engagement through comments, shares, and discussions, but it's more informational than emotional.                                                                           | Video tends to have higher engagement and creates a stronger emotional connection with the audience.                                                                                              |

As you might have noticed in this comparison table, the "easy way" is to choose a written content strategy as it's cheaper, easier, less time-consuming, and more timeless since it can be edited easily, unlike videos. But sometimes, the easy way doesn't mean the best way. In the following section, we will explain what the best strategy is based on the nature of your project.

## What is best: a written or video content strategy?

As we have already hinted before, the best strategy will depend on the type of online content you create and the platforms you use, as an e-commerce brand and a content creator have completely different needs. That being said, even if your blog posts are performing extremely well, incorporating video content is highly beneficial regarding how both [social media](https://storykit.io/blog/mythbusting-the-algorithm-why-text-driven-video-still-wins-in-2025) and [search engine algorithms like Google's](https://skeepers.io/blog/seo-reasons-google-video/) are working right now.

Below, we break down which strategy works best depending on your project:

### Written content strategy

A written content strategy is essential at the beginning of any website project, as you won't be able to avoid creating the basics such as a homepage, product or service pages, FAQs, and even guest posts to enhance your authority. However, beyond that initial stage, it's recommended to focus primarily on a text-based strategy in the following cases:

- If your audience is actively searching for direct answers or detailed explanations. This can be verified by running prompt research to understand what users are asking AI tools and search engines.
- If your niche relies heavily on SEO and informational queries. As mentioned before, conducting keyword and prompt research will help you assess the viability and search demand within your sector.
- If you have a limited budget. Written content is generally more affordable to produce and maintain.
- If you want to build long-term, evergreen content. Text-based content can remain relevant for years with occasional updates.
- If your goal is to establish strong topical authority. One of the main ways to build authority is by earning mentions in reputable media through branding strategies and guest posting.

In these scenarios, as we have explained, written content remains the backbone of your visibility strategy.

### Video content strategy

A video-based strategy works best if you are a content creator, your content is more subjective and personal, or your brand heavily relies on visual demonstrations. It is especially effective when showing how a product works, sharing reviews, building personal branding, or creating emotional connections with your audience.

As mentioned before, you won't completely escape written content, as you'll still need scripts, titles, descriptions, and captions. However, if your audience prefers dynamic and visual formats, investing more effort in video can significantly increase engagement and brand recognition.

This strategy is particularly suitable if:

- Your content requires visual explanation. For example, tutorials, step-by-step instructions, product demonstrations, or any process that is easier to understand when shown rather than described.
- Your personal presence is part of your brand. Some brands establish a strategy that requires being visible and building a closer relationship with their audience through personality and authenticity. This is especially important nowadays, as the rise of online scams has made [people more cautious](https://www.edelman.com/trust/2025/trust-barometer/special-report-brands). Consumers usually prefer to buy from brands they feel aligned with, brands that are local, share their values, or feel more transparent and approachable.
- You aim to leverage platforms like YouTube. As we have already mentioned, YouTube is a powerful platform to take advantage of, especially since Google and AI tools tend to prioritize its content.
- Engagement and emotional connection are key priorities. Closely related to the previous point, video allows you to connect on a more personal level, convey tone and emotion, and build stronger trust with your audience.

### Mixed strategy

We can't forget that a mixed text-and-video strategy is also an option and, in fact, it might be the best one regardless of your project. Unless you are a content creator who bases all their content exclusively on short-form social media videos, most website owners benefit from combining both formats.

For example, if you have a website and want to strengthen your strategy, you can create [testimonial](/blog/should-i-use-testimonials-on-my-website/) or product demonstration videos and embed them on your site. This helps reinforce trust and showcase the reliability and quality of your products or services.

Both search engines and AI tools can benefit from this combination: written content helps with indexing and [structured information](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/), while video enhances engagement, time on page, and overall user experience.

Often, the best strategy is not choosing between text or video, but knowing how to make them work together instead.

## Summary

Even though we recommend a mixed strategy, it's crucial to check the comparison table and take into consideration all the factors when deciding what strategy to use. It's not an easy decision, as there are many variables involved.

**But** if you ask us what's the best strategy when you have a wide budget, a great team that can work with both written content and video, we would always recommend having a mixed strategy. Even if you already have a blog that works wonders, adding video won't negatively affect your strategy in any way.

Let's say you have a blog post about beauty products in which you talk about ingredients, make product comparisons, etc. Even though you already have a wide audience, you may reach an even greater one if you transform your content into a YouTube video or even social media formats like Reels as they are essential for virality. The same goes for a blog about marketing: you can create videos showing in detail how to use a tool, walking your audience step by step through each feature and explaining real use cases. You could also share quick tips, common mistakes to avoid, or practical examples of campaigns built with that tool.

By doing this, you're not only reinforcing the information from your blog post, but also making it more accessible to people who prefer visual or more dynamic content.
---
## Tape Over Half Your Website. Seriously.
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/tape-over-your-website-navigation-ux/
Published: 2026-01-31
Author: reatlat
Tags: UX, Website Optimization, SEO Strategies, Content Strategy
> Why your mega-menu is killing conversions and how radical simplicity in navigation leads to better UX. A practical guide to decluttering your website navigation.
import vid_megamenu_wiz from "./assets/video/megamenu-wiz.mp4?url";
import vid_megamenu_deel from "./assets/video/megamenu-deel.mp4?url";
import vid_megamenu_rippling from "./assets/video/megamenu-rippling.mp4?url";
import vid_megamenu_wiz_mobile from "./assets/video/megamenu-wiz-mobile.mp4?url";
import vid_megamenu_deel_mobile from "./assets/video/megamenu-deel-mobile.mp4?url";
import vid_megamenu_rippling_mobile from "./assets/video/megamenu-rippling-mobile.mp4?url";

import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_under_the_tape from "./assets/under-the-tape.jpg";

import VideoGIF from "@/components/mdx/VideoGIF.astro";

> "Simplicity in navigation isn't laziness - it's mastery." \
> — Chief Pulp Remover, Bureau of Unnecessary Clicks

Recently, a picture went viral on LinkedIn: a TV remote with almost all buttons taped over. Only power, volume, and channels remained.

Looks absurd? Maybe.

Works perfectly? Absolutely.

<Image
  src={img_assets_under_the_tape}
  alt="TV remote with most buttons covered by tape"
  width={320}
/>

This image stuck in my head because every day I see websites that need the same tape treatment. A lot of tape.

## Two books everyone who builds websites should read

Before diving into details, I want to mention two things that shape my approach to web development:

**"Don't Make Me Think"** by Steve Krug - the usability bible. The main idea is simple: every decision you force users to make is cognitive load. People don't want to think. They want results. Yesterday.

**The KISS Principle** (Keep It Simple, Stupid) - the simpler the system, the more reliable and understandable it is. This applies to code, design, and especially navigation.

And if you want practical design chops to back up these principles, check out **[Refactoring UI](https://www.refactoringui.com/)** by the Tailwind CSS creators. It's packed with actionable tips that turn "I know something's off" into "I know exactly how to fix it."

Keep these ideas in mind. It'll make sense why soon.

## Mega-menus: when "show everything" means "hide what matters"

I understand where mega-menus come from. I really do.

A company has 47 products, 12 industry solutions, a blog, knowledge base, careers page, and an investor relations section. Marketing wants everything accessible "in one click." Logical? At first glance - yes.

And so navigation transforms into an encyclopedia with dropdown panels, tabs within tabs, and icons meant to "help users navigate."

Yes, there are beautiful mega-menus. With images, clear hierarchy, where it's intuitive where to click. I've built some myself and I'm proud of a few.

But let's be honest: in most cases, mega-menus are link dumps with complex names that even company employees don't always understand. "Integrated Solutions Platform" - what even is that? "Enterprise Resource Hub" - and that?

A user opens the menu, sees 40 items, and one of two things happens in their head:

1. Panic and closing the menu
2. Frantic search for something familiar

Neither leads to conversion.

Don't believe me? Take a look at the navigation on [Wiz](https://www.wiz.io/), [Deel](https://www.deel.com/), or [Rippling](https://www.rippling.com/). These are billion-dollar companies with world-class design teams. And yet their menus feel like choose-your-own-adventure books where every path leads to more choices.

<VideoGIF src={vid_megamenu_wiz} width={640} height={275} />

<VideoGIF src={vid_megamenu_deel} width={640} height={275} />

<VideoGIF src={vid_megamenu_rippling} width={640} height={275} />

To be clear: I genuinely admire the visual design of these sites. The menus are beautifully crafted, the typography is on point, the animations are smooth. But beautiful doesn't mean usable. It reminds me of King's Quest - a game I love dearly, but one where you need to solve puzzles just to move forward. Great for adventure games. Not great for finding your pricing page. Navigation should be point-and-click, not point-and-puzzle.

Here's the irony: click on any of their paid ads, and you'll land on a [beautifully clean landing page](/blog/key-components-persuasive-landing-page/). Just a logo, a headline, and a CTA. No navigation maze. No 47 dropdown options. Marketing teams know that when they're paying per click, every distraction costs money. So they strip everything away.

But the main website? Apparently, organic traffic is free to get lost.

## Mobile navigation: a special circle of hell

Know what's worse than a bloated mega-menu on desktop?

When that same "full" navigation gets crammed into the mobile version.

A 6-inch screen. User holding the phone with one hand on the subway. And they're expected to open the burger menu, then expand a nested list, then another one, and somewhere on the third level of nesting find the pricing page.

Research (and common sense) shows: users almost never use mobile menus. Especially sticky headers that cling to the top of the screen and eat up precious space.

People scroll. People use search. People google "[company name] pricing" instead of looking for it in your menu.

But they DON'T open your burger to complete a quest through three levels of navigation.

Here's what that quest looks like in practice:

<div class="flex flex-wrap gap-x-4 justify-center">
  <VideoGIF src={vid_megamenu_wiz_mobile} width={180} height={390} />
  <VideoGIF src={vid_megamenu_deel_mobile} width={180} height={390} />
  <VideoGIF src={vid_megamenu_rippling_mobile} width={180} height={390} />
</div>

## Accordions, sliders, and carousels: modern fine print

Remember how shady salespeople used to hide important terms in fine print in contracts? Hoping the buyer wouldn't notice and would sign.

Now we have more elegant tools: carousels, accordions, tabs, sliders. Looks modern and beautiful.

Works exactly the same - users don't see what they need.

Carousel statistics are brutal: the first slide gets most clicks, the second - significantly fewer, third and beyond - almost zero. Years of intrusive ads have trained users to develop banner blindness - and carousels trigger exactly the same response. Anything that auto-rotates or looks like a promotion gets mentally filtered out. But we still stuff 7 slides in there "because we have a lot of important content." The folks at WebAIM even created a dedicated page to answer the eternal question: [Should I Use A Carousel?](https://shouldiuseacarousel.com/) Spoiler: the answer is no. Repeatedly. With increasing frustration.

Accordions on mobile? Users have to tap to see information. Every tap is a barrier. Every barrier is lost users.

And here's what especially surprises me: companies hide their best features, their main advantages in these "beautiful" elements. As if they're ashamed of them. A kind of corporate impostor syndrome: "Well, we have this cool thing... but we'll hide it in the third tab, maybe someone will accidentally find it."

Seriously? You spent months developing a feature and now you're hiding it from users?

## My position: radical simplicity

After 10+ years in web development, I've come to a simple conclusion:

**Menus should be simple and concise. Literally 5 links. The most important ones.**

Ask yourself: what do people most often look for when evaluating a product or company?

- Product / What you do
- Pricing
- Support / Documentation
- About
- Contact

That's it. Five items. Everything else - in the footer or on separate pages where users land through search or internal links.

"But we have 50 products!" - I hear the objection.

Great. Make ONE "Products" page with clear structure where it's easy to find what you need. Don't put all 50 in the navigation.

"But users won't find it!" - the second objection.

A user confused by your menu won't untangle your Charlotte's web. They'll go back to Google and rephrase their query. Or worse, go to a competitor where everything is clear at first glance.

You don't lose users because of a simple menu. You lose them because of a complex one.

## What to do right now

If you've read this far, here are concrete steps:

**1. Check your analytics**

Which menu items actually get clicked? I bet 80% of clicks go to 3-4 items. The rest is ballast.

**2. Run the "Mom Test"**

Show your site to your mom (or anyone outside your industry). Ask them to find pricing. Time it. If it takes more than 10 seconds - you have a problem.

**3. Mobile is a separate project**

Don't copy desktop navigation to mobile. Think about what users actually need in a mobile context. If you need a deeper dive, check out our [mobile SEO guide](/blog/mobile-seo-and-5-ways-to-get-it-right/).

**4. Unfold the accordions**

If information is important - it should be visible without extra clicks. Especially on mobile devices.

**5. Kill the carousel**

Or at least keep 2-3 slides max. And make the first slide the most important, because few will see the rest.

**6. Put yourself in the user's shoes**

UX isn't rocket science. Before launching any design, ask yourself: would I want to spend my time clicking through all this? If the answer is "hell no" - your users feel the same way. Empathy is free.

**7. Find the cold spots**

Use behavior tracking tools like [Hotjar](https://www.hotjar.com/) to see where users actually click - and where they don't. Those ignored menu items? Those untouched carousel slides? That's your data telling you what to cut. And if you want to experiment with navigation changes before committing, tools like [Mida](https://mida.so/) let you A/B test elements and measure real engagement. Stop guessing, start measuring.

Pro tip: exclude your own IPs and all employee devices from tracking. Otherwise, your "engagement data" is just your colleagues clicking through every menu trying to find the vacation policy. Clean data = real insights.

## The AI era demands simplicity

We live in a world where people skip Google and go straight to ChatGPT for answers. [AI is reshaping how users find information](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/), and nobody wants to dig through your sitemap - they want instant results.

So give them exactly that: 5 clear menu items and a blazing-fast search. Think command palette style - like Spotlight on Mac, or [Algolia](https://www.algolia.com/)'s instant search. The user types, results appear immediately. No page reloads, no waiting.

Better yet - add an AI-powered assistant. Modern tools like [Intercom](https://www.intercom.com/), [Crisp](https://crisp.chat/), or even custom ChatGPT integrations can start a conversation the moment someone lands on your site. The user asks a question in natural language, gets an instant answer.

And here's the bonus you didn't expect: every question they ask is data. You're not just helping them - you're learning what they need, what confuses them, what they can't find. This isn't creepy surveillance; it's [first-party personalization done right](/blog/first-party-personalization-privacy-safe-signals/). You can adapt in real-time, personalize the experience, and guide them exactly where they need to go.

The future of navigation isn't a menu. It's a conversation.

## Simplicity is hard

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - said Leonardo da Vinci.

He was right. Making things complex is easy. Adding another link to the menu, another slide to the carousel, another tab - requires no effort.

What's hard is removing the excess. What's hard is choosing what matters. What's hard is saying "no" to yet another "important" link in navigation.

But that's exactly what separates websites that work from websites that just exist.

**How much of your website is currently hidden under tape?**

Maybe it's time to grab the tape?
---
## Prompt research: find real AI prompts to boost your visibility
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/prompt-research-for-ai-visibility/
Published: 2026-01-28
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: AEO, AI Optimization, AI Search, AI Tools, Content Strategy, SEO Strategies
> Learn how to do prompt research for AI visibility. Discover free tools like Answer the Public and SEMrush to find real prompts users ask ChatGPT and other AI tools.
[AIEO](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) is taking the marketing world and everyone is trying to appear on AI tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity but, how to do it? That's the main question everyone is asking themselves as this new trend emerged and no practical-verified guide is available. Right now, we only know that people ask questions that AI answers. Those questions called prompts are the key.

In this article, we will enclose everything about prompts since what are they to the best free (yes, free) tools available to find real AI prompts.

## What is prompt research?

Don't mix this up with researching using AI prompts. When we talk about "prompt research" in digital marketing, we mean identifying prompts to create website content that appears in AI tools, similar to how keywords were used for SEO. This involves, [as Fabian Jaeckert explains in his blog](https://www.jaeckert-odaniel.com/en/how-does-prompt-research-work-an-introduction/), "the systematic research and analysis of the questions and formulations that users enter into AI systems."

Nowadays, instead of searching for answers on Google using long-tail keywords, people ask AI tools like ChatGPT using what are called prompts. As SEO is gradually [being replaced by AIEO](/blog/aeo-tips-b2b-marketers/), marketers are rethinking their visibility strategies to adapt to these new information-seeking behaviors. This shift implies optimizing content to directly answer AI-driven queries (the prompts) and align with how users formulate prompts. By optimizing content to directly answer the questions/prompts users ask AI tools, you can increase your chances of being featured and referenced as sources in AI-generated responses. That's why implementing prompt research in your overall marketing strategy will open a wide opportunity to increase your visibility as well as traffic to your site.

## How to do prompt research?

Prompt research is quite similar to what you already did with [keyword research](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/) as it has the same goal with the only difference being that you want to appear on AI tools instead of search engines and that prompts are more like long tail keywords (as we have already mentioned). Nonetheless, it's crucial to follow a define strategy when doing it as a thoughtful approach ensures your content consistently aligns with the questions users are actually asking AI systems.

To do prompt research, we recommend you to follow these steps:

### 1. Define your goal regarding prompt research

Define your main goal for creating and optimizing content with a prompt research strategy. Just like with keyword research, it's important to set a clear goal so you can measure results effectively. Decide what you want to achieve through prompt research—whether it's more visibility in AI models, being featured as a source, or something else. This will help you build a logical strategy that can be tracked and evaluated to see if it's worth the effort.

For example, if your main goal is to appear in AI models, you would focus on updating existing content with prompts that are actively searched and preferred by AI, as well as creating new content optimized for those prompts.

### 2. Define the topic

Now that you know why you want to do this, the next step is to define the topic or topics you want to cover to improve your visibility on AI tools. This is key when having a blog with various topics or an ecommerce with different products. After the first step, you should also decide which specific topic to focus on first, as this will help you create a more targeted and effective prompt research strategy. You can also create a list of potential topics you'd like to target, and then, after reviewing the prompts and their search volume, determine which one is the most promising.

### 3. Do a prompt research with specific tools

Now that you know the topics you want to focus on, you can start using specific tools to do the actual prompt research. We won't go into much detail in this step, as we will cover the best prompt research tools in the following section, but you should look for prompts the same way you do with keyword research: by entering words related to the topic and seeing what prompts appear. As you progress with your research, you can use more detailed and longer keywords to discover more specific prompts.

### 4. Look for prompts in other mediums

In addition to using dedicated prompt research tools, we recommend exploring prompts through other channels, such as forums like Reddit or even search engines. At first, this might seem unrelated since our focus is AI models, but as we'll explain later, it actually makes a lot of sense. Keep this approach in mind throughout the process as it can provide valuable insights and help you uncover prompts you might otherwise miss.

### 5. Make a keyword research anyways

Yes, you read that correctly. If, after searching for prompts, you aren't able to find relevant ones for your topic, you can discover prompts through [keyword research](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/). How? Simple: use a keyword research tool to look for question-based keywords. These types of keywords often correspond to prompts that people use in AI models as well.

### 6. Write or optimize the content with the prompts

Whenever you have a solid list of prompts to work with, start writing or editing your content to include the researched prompts. We recommend doing this gradually so you can properly track what works and what doesn't. Changing all your content at once isn't helpful, as it makes it impossible to measure results. Start, for example, by gradually adding [FAQ sections](/blog/faq-section-for-seo/) with prompts at the end of landing pages or blog posts, or by creating a few articles structured around prompts in a way AI prefers. If you want more guidance on creating content that AI favors, we recommend checking out our [AI Visibility Playbook](/blog/aeo-tips-b2b-marketers/).

### 7. Test prompts

For this step you will have to wait a little as AI tools don't use your content immediately after you have updated it, they need some time to crawl it. However, after a couple of weeks, you can start checking whether the prompts you used to create or update your content are working by actually using them on the AI tools you want to appear in. If you show up when using that prompt, you're doing great; if not, don't worry. Run a few more tests over the next couple of weeks, and if you still don't appear, start editing your content or look for other issues that may be causing the problem, such as a missing [llms.txt file](/blog/llms-txt-implementation-guide/).

### 8. Analyze and track your visibility

This is probably the most important step as by not tracking nor analyzing your visibility you will never know if the strategy was the correct one. It must be said that this step is quite similar to the previous one and builds directly on it but while testing your prompts helps you understand whether your content can appear in AI tools, analyzing and tracking your visibility over time allows you to confirm whether the overall strategy is actually working.

To do this, first establish a baseline by checking where and how often your content appears in the AI tools you're targeting. Use the same prompts you defined earlier and document whether your brand, website, or content is mentioned, how it is referenced, and in which position it appears in the response.

To track your visibility over time, you can use a combination of manual checks and specialized tools:

**Manual tracking:**

We know that doing this manually may sound like a waste of time, but in some cases it's the best approach, especially with AIEO, since it's still very new. There aren't many reliable tools available yet, and it's often unclear whether the data they provide is truly accurate. That said, it's not too time-consuming and is actually quite simple. To do this, follow these three steps:

1. Test your target prompts regularly directly in the AI tools you want to target, whether that's ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or others.
2. Always use the same wording, language, and context to ensure consistent results, as AI tools can produce different outputs depending on how a prompt is phrased.
3. Record the outcomes in a spreadsheet or preferred file, noting the date, prompt, tool used, and whether you appeared (and how), along with any other data you find useful to track.

**Track using AI visibility and monitoring tools:**

As mentioned before, some monitoring tools are available, but those specifically designed for AI visibility are still quite new, and it's unclear how reliable they are. That's why we recommend using a mix of approaches for analyzing and monitoring your AI visibility. To track your presence using monitoring tools, you can consider the following:

- Brand monitoring tools like Mention or Talkwalker to detect when your brand or domain is referenced across AI-generated content.
- Traditional SEO and search monitoring tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or Semrush to track branded queries, impressions, and traffic changes that may correlate with AI visibility.
- AI search and answer monitoring platforms (tools focused on tracking LLM answers and AI search results) to see how often, and in what context, your brand appears in AI-generated responses.

After the tracking, you'll have to analyze the results to actually check if the strategy is working. To do so, follow the next steps:

- Compare your current visibility against your initial baseline to identify trends.
- Look for patterns in the prompts where you appear versus those where you don't.
- Analyze whether changes in your content, structure, or technical setup (such as [metadata](/tools/metadata-checker/) or files like [llms.txt](/tools/llmstxt-generator/)) correlate with visibility improvements or drops.

By consistently both tracking and analyzing these data points, you'll be able to validate what's working, identify gaps, and iteratively refine your strategy for better AI visibility.

We recommend following these steps in an organized way and always saving prompts to build a library or resource you can refer to whenever you need inspo. This will help you plan content optimization and develop a strategy based on content value, supported by a detailed resource you can consistently check.

## What are the best prompt research tools?

The shift from SEO to [AIEO](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) is still quite new, and there are not yet many tools specifically designed for prompt research. However, some have appeared recently, and there are also ways to do prompt research without using any tools at all. For us, these are the best prompt research tools and tricks.

**Disclaimer:** As we know, marketing tools can be quite expensive, so we've focused mostly on prompt research tools and tips that are free or offer a free version. Don't worry about your budget, we've been there.

### Answer the Public

Answer the Public has recently added a new feature for prompt inspiration called "AI Prompts." When you search for keyword ideas, the tool now suggests a list of AI prompts that users are actively using. These prompts are mostly question-based and can be great inspiration for article headings.

In the free version, the list is limited to 10 prompts, but even that can spark solid content ideas. With a paid monthly subscription, you can access up to 10,000 prompts per month. Although this feature is still in beta, it works really well.

![Answer the Public AI Prompts feature](./assets/answerthepublic.png)

**Pros:** Great for AI prompts inspo, free.

**Cons:** Very limited as it only provides 30 prompt suggestions on free plans.

### AI prompt research with SEMrush

Another well-known SEO tool that has added a free prompt research feature is SEMrush. Although this tool has no free plan, this AI prompt research tool works in a similar way to AnswerThePublic's AI Prompts feature, providing prompt ideas and commonly asked AI-related questions that users can use as inspiration for article headings and content ideas.

This feature, available only on paid plans, provides marketers with a comprehensive list of prompts that users are searching for in AI models. Unlike AnswerThePublic, it goes beyond just listing prompts as you can see detailed information about the questions people ask AI, as well as analyze the demand and difficulty of each topic, similar to traditional keyword research.

![SEMrush AI Prompt Research tool](./assets/semrush-prompt.png)

**Pros:** Provides great insights about the prompts like monthly volume or topic difficulty.

**Cons:** It's expensive.

### Google's People Also Ask section

One of the tips that can help you get inspiration for real prompts users ask is to check the questions included in the "People Also Ask" section of Google. Even though it seems more focused on SEO, as they can be found in a search engine, these questions can potentially be prompts used by users in AI tools. We know that AI model teams have stated that search engines like Google are not used in any way, but users tend to make similar searches in Google and AI models, as both are actually question-answer tools.

To do so, you just need to search for anything related to the topic you want to cover on Google and look for the "People Also Ask" section. There, you will find a list of potential prompts that can be used to write or update your content.

![Google People Also Ask section](./assets/people-also-ask.png)

**Pros:** Free, great for getting inspo regarding headings and FAQ sections.

**Cons:** We don't actually know if they are real prompts people ask in AI tools.

### Forums (Quora, Reddit, etc.)

Other great sources for prompt inspo are online forums. AI tools often base their results on content from platforms like Reddit or Quora, because these sources contain real user questions and answers which AI to consider more interesting and reliable than blog posts (and we all know why).

By exploring what people ask on these platforms, you can gain a better understanding of your audience and what they're looking for when searching for information about the topics you cover or the products you sell. On these forums, you'll find not only real questions that can directly serve as AI prompts, but also answers that can be referenced in your content to make it more credible and authoritative.

**Pros:** Real, user-generated questions, free.

**Cons:** Time-consuming.

## Summary

Prompt research is becoming essential for marketers who want to appear in AI-generated responses. By following a structured approach—defining your goals, researching prompts with dedicated tools, and consistently tracking your visibility—you can optimize your content for the AI-driven search landscape. Start with free tools like Answer the Public or Google's People Also Ask, and gradually refine your strategy based on what works for your specific audience and topics.
---
## How to use metatags for SEO?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-use-metatags-for-seo/
Published: 2026-01-21
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Meta Tags, SEO, Technical SEO
> Learn everything about metatags for SEO, why they still matter in 2026, and how to implement them effectively for better search engine visibility and rankings.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_meta_tags from "./assets/meta-tags.png";

From the beginning of website creation and especially in SEO expertise, metatags have been highly important when it comes to building a site as well as shaping an SEO strategy. However, things change quickly in the digital marketing world, and what was once helpful may not be as effective today.

<Image src={img_assets_meta_tags} alt="Meta tags for SEO" width={400} />

In this article, we will cover everything about metatags for SEO and explain why you should still use them, even if some marketers suggest otherwise.

## What are meta tags?

Metatags are snippets of HTML placed in a webpage's \<head\> section that provide descriptive information about the page's content to search engines and browsers, helping determine how it appears in search results without being directly visible to users. These snippets are typically used to specify character set, page description, keywords, author of the document, and viewport settings; they are like a translation of the visual part of your content for search engines and browsers to understand how a page or post is structured and how it should be indexed, displayed, and interpreted across different devices and platforms.

There are multiple types of meta tags that can be used to specify the structure of the content (titles, body of text, images, etc.), the information that should be displayed on search engines (metadescription, metatitle, etc.), or to control how browsers and crawlers interact with the page (such as robots tags, canonical links, and viewport settings), ultimately helping improve SEO, user experience, and content accessibility across devices.

### How do metatags for SEO work?

As mentioned above, metatags are used for SEO purposes as they give information to search engines and browser about the content structure and how to interact with it. With metatags, **we are able to translate the content to a language search engines understand** so they can decide whether a page or blog post deserve to be ranked or not. These snippets of HTML are essential as they help with:

- **Visibility in search results and influence on click-through rates:** Metadata shapes how pages appear in search engine results, determining what users see before they ever visit a website. Clear, relevant information helps search engines display pages accurately and encourages users to click when the result aligns with their intent.
- **Content structure and presentation:** Metadata helps define the hierarchy and organization of a page, making it easier for search engines to understand the relationship between different pieces of content. A well-structured page is also easier for users to scan, navigate, and consume.
- **Guidance for search engine crawlers:** Metadata provides instructions on how search engines should interact with a page, such as whether it should be indexed or how its links should be treated. This allows website owners to control how content is discovered and processed.
- **Support for accessibility:** Metadata plays a key role in making content accessible by providing text-based alternatives for visual elements. This ensures that users relying on assistive technologies can fully understand and interact with the content.
- **Management of duplicate content:** Metadata helps clarify which version of a page should be considered the primary one when similar content exists across multiple URLs. This prevents confusion for search engines and ensures ranking signals are consolidated correctly.

In brief, metatags for SEO work as translators: they make website content understandable to search engines by providing context, structure, and guidance on how pages should be interpreted, indexed, and presented in search results.

## Are metatags still useful?

Yes, they are, but if we are completely honest, some metatags are not as useful as they were. Nowadays, metatags like metakeywords, for example, [are completely obsolete](https://www.postaffiliatepro.com/faq/are-meta-keywords-still-relevant/#:~:text=The%20evidence%20is%20overwhelming%20and,keywords%20as%20a%20ranking%20factor.) as stated by [Google](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag) or Bing long time ago. However, there are still a lot of them that can be useful in 2026.

These days, search engines like [Google](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/special-tags) that the metatags that they support regarding indexing are the following:

- **description:** this metatag is used to provide a short description of the page and it can be sometimes used in the snippet shown in search results.
- **robots and google bot:** as explained by Google, this metatags "control the behavior of search engine crawling and indexing." They are used to guide search engines on which pages should be discovered, indexed, or followed, giving site owners control over how their content appears in search results. When publishing a site, the default setting typically allows search engines to crawl and index all pages (\<index\> and \<follow\>), but using these tags strategically helps prevent sensitive, duplicate, or low-value pages from being included in search results. This metatags should be used in a more strategically way than others listed here. To ensure your robots directives are working properly, try our [Robots.txt Analyzer](/tools/robotstxt-analyzer/).
- **notranslate:** some search engines, like Google, can identify a user's native language and automatically translate a site if its language differs from the user's. Using this meta tag prevents Google from providing automatic translation, which can be helpful for multilingual sites.
- **nopagereadatloud:** blind and low vision users use screen readers to access websites that have enabled Google's [Google-Read-Aloud user agent](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/read-aloud-user-agent), with this metatag you avoid this service from from reading aloud web pages using text-to-speech (TTS).
- **google-site-verification:** this metatag is used to verify ownership for Search Console. Placed on the most important page of your site (normally the homepage), this metatag will allow you to implement, access and use Search Console. If you are marketer you already know this, as Search Console is a crucial tool, but we can't overlook this metatag, which remains essential for managing how search engines interact with your site.
- **content type and charset:** this metatagas define the page's content type (if it's a page, a section, a blog post, etc.) and character set respectively (in other words, the character format, for example, UTF-8). This information helps search engines correctly interpret and display your content, ensuring that text renders properly across different browsers and devices.
- **refresh:** based on some article, this tag is [not useful nowadays for being bad for SEO and accessibility](https://dev.to/electrondome/are-meta-tags-still-relevant-in-2025-3l70), but Google still list it as useful in GoogleSearchCentral. The refresh metatags is used like a redirection as it redirects users to a new URL after a certain amount of time. As mentioned by other marketers, this is not the best metatag in any way because it is actually bad UX and accessibility-wise. If this happens to any of your URLs, we recommend making a 301 redirect.
- **viewport:** this metatag tells browsers how to control a page's dimensions and scaling on different devices. It helps Google determine whether a site is mobile-friendly, which is crucial since the majority of users now access the web via smartphones. Ensuring proper responsiveness not only improves user experience but also impacts search rankings, as mobile-friendliness is a key factor in Google's algorithm.
- **rating:** this metatag is more like a label to rate the SafeSearch pages. It's like the "Parental Advisory" label but for websites instead of music; with this label you can help Google identify if your content is sexually-explicit adult content easily.

However, even though Google only mentions the metatags listed above as the useful ones, they are not the only ones worth using. In addition to the tags recommended, we also emphasize incorporating the following:

- **Content structure:** as mentioned above and throughout the article, the metatags used for structuring the content like heading, body, bullet points tags, etc. are also essential.
- **Schema markup:** probably the most important one as we have already told you in [our article about schema markup](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/). Even though it's not actually considered a metatag, it actually is as it's as it is an HTML snippet that provides search engines with additional context about your content.By adding schema, you can explicitly define elements such as products, reviews, events, articles, FAQs, recipes, etcetera. This way of clarifying what is your content increases the chances of your pages appearing as rich results ([rich snippets](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/what-is-a-featured-snippet/)), such as star ratings, prices, event dates, breadcrumbs, or FAQ dropdowns directly in the search results.
- **Alt text:** Alt text is becoming increasingly important as website accessibility regulations expand [across the U.S.](https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-guidance/) and [Europe](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/web-accessibility) (we will talk about this, promise). It plays a critical role in accessibility by helping blind and low-vision users understand images through screen readers. Alt text also benefits SEO, as search engines cannot "see" images and rely on text-based HTML descriptions to interpret their content. That's because adding this metatag is quite crucial as you are helping search engines but also people to access your content in an understandable way.

As you can see, this metatags are related to SEO but also to technical stuff as well as accessibility features. For example, the \<nopagereadatloud\>, as mentioned before, is meant to prevent screen readers to read an excerpt or an entire page out loud. This can be quite helpful when implementing accessibility to your site if you find elements being redundant or unnecessary to be read for a user. For example, imagine that an article with multiple images which only serve as visual purpose but don't give any key information. To avoid the screen reader to 'interrupt' the reading, you can tag the images with this metatag. This will improve user experience and won't affect the images from being crawled.

### Are meta keywords important for SEO?

Yes, they are, in fact, important for both SEO and AIEO. We have already discussed the multiple uses and different metatags supported by Google, but what's particularly interesting is that AI also finds metatags useful. Among **the metatags you should implement for your AIEO strategy are:**

There's no need to explain why this first batch of metatags is important, as they serve the same purposes as for SEO, but we've listed them here to ensure you don't forget to implement them:

- Content structure related metatags
- Metadescription and metatitle
- Schema Markup
- Robots metatag
- Canonical metatags
- Viewport metatag

Besides the mentioned, there's one that haven't been mentioned yet in the article that serves a great purpose on your AIEO strategy: **open graph and twitter cards**. These tags control how your content appears on social media platforms, ensuring posts display correctly with images, titles, and descriptions. Since AI retrieves information from social networks to be used as results, these metatags can quite helpful to enhance your AIEO strategy as they provide structured, machine-readable data that helps AI crawlers discover your content. You can verify your Open Graph and Twitter Card implementation with our [Metadata Checker](/tools/metadata-checker/).

## How to write SEO metatags?

If you want to implement the mentioned metatags in your site, there are a couple of way to do it depending on which metatag is to be implemented. The three main ways to edit the metatags mentioned in this article are:

- **Manual Coding (HTML)**: the hardest way is doing manually. By creating a plain text doc and creating the coding of your site you can implement there all the metatags you want. There are some cases that this is the only way of doing it, for example, when you need full control over advanced or custom meta tags that are not supported by CMS interfaces or SEO plugins. This approach is common for custom-built websites, web applications, or highly technical SEO implementations, where developers directly edit the \<head\> section of the HTML. However, while manual coding offers maximum flexibility, it also carries a higher risk of errors and usually requires solid knowledge of HTML and SEO best practices; that's why we ONLY recommend doing this if you know how to do it. Avoid rookie mistakes.
- **Using a CMS:** this is the most common way as nowadays everyone edits their site with a CMS in which you can implement metatags easily. Most content management systems (such as WordPress, Shopify, Wix, or HubSpot) provide native options to edit essential meta tags like the title tag, meta description, and sometimes robots meta tags. This method is more user-friendly and suitable for website owners who want to manage SEO without touching code. However, built-in CMS options may be limited and not always allow advanced customization. But, remember, don't touch the code manually if you don't know how to do it even though you need it…
- **Using an SEO tool:** other tools that offer an easy way to implement meta tags are SEO tools. In this case, these tools only allow you to implement certain meta tags, as their name suggests, only those that are SEO-related, such as title tags, meta descriptions, canonical tags, robots directives, and sometimes structured data. Some of the most used SEO tools for this goal are Yoast SEO, Rank Math or All in One SEO, but there are a lot available.

As you can see, the method you choose depends on your website's structure, technical expertise, and SEO requirements. Manual coding is best for full control and custom setups, CMS settings work well for basic needs, and SEO plugins or SEO tools are ideal for simplifying and scaling meta tag optimization. But remember, you have to be careful when implementing meta tags, as those that cannot be added using assisted tools and must be implemented manually can be quite tricky. We recommend that even if you need to add them manually, if you don't know how to do it, don't do it, or you may end up with a site full of errors that won't benefit SEO in any way. As you've read here, technical aspects are key. Once you've implemented your metatags, use our [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/) to verify everything is configured correctly.
---
## What is a featured snippet? A complete guide to achieving 'position zero'
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/what-is-a-featured-snippet/
Published: 2026-01-12
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, SEO Strategies, Google, Search Engine, Content Strategy
> Learn everything about featured snippets: what they are, their benefits, types, and how to optimize your content to achieve Google's coveted 'position zero' for better visibility and traffic.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_featured_snippet from "./assets/featured-snippet.png";

import YouTube from "@/components/mdx/YouTube.astro";

Every time we look for something in Google, you've probably noticed that the tool often shows a small box at the top of the results with a direct answer to your query. These sections are what marketers nowadays aspire to be featured in and, honestly, it's quite achievable with the right approach.

In this article, we will cover everything you need to know about featured snippets: what they are, their benefits, and how to get them to help you gain more visibility, drive qualified traffic, and strengthen your overall SEO (and even [AIEO](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/)) strategy.

<Image
  src={img_assets_featured_snippet}
  alt="What is a featured snippet?"
  width={350}
/>

## What are featured snippets?

Featured snippets are, as we have hinted before, those results shared by Google to help users get an answer to their questions quickly. This is a Google-specific feature meant to help users find the most relevant information without having to click through multiple pages.

Also called "position zero", they are the first thing that appears when searching for something, before the actual results. They can also appear as questions in the "People also ask" or on the right side of the results page, a section called the "Knowledge Graph" as [stated by Google](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9351707?hl=en).

### Benefits of getting featured snippets

Getting featured snippets is key because it makes you get the best position you could possibly get in Google. This position can give your site lots of benefits that will directly influence in its performance and overall health. Among the benefits of getting featured snippets your website will enjoy, you can find:

- **Getting more visibility:** with featured snippets you will get the maximum visibility a Google result can get as it is the first thing users see when looking for anything.
- **Increase traffic:** even though Google just takes your content, a link to your site will be available as the main resource and, based on data, websites that get featured snippets will increase their traffic.
- **Improve overall website health (authority, DR, etc.):** Just like appearing as the first organic result, if your content appears as a featured snippet, it can improve your website's overall health. Being featured signals to users and search engines that your site provides authoritative, relevant content, which can positively impact metrics like domain authority, trust, and visibility.
- **Improved UX:** Nowadays, users dislike reading long articles just to get a simple answer. Featured snippets cut that, providing users with exactly what they want: a quick, direct answers (which is why [half of users now prefer AI search over Google](https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO_for_AI/comments/1oueuwl/almost_half_of_users_now_prefer_ai_search_over/)).
- **Voice search dominance:** When you ask a question to Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri, these tools often pull their answers from featured snippets. Even though your website may not be directly credited as the source, having your content appear in featured snippets can still help improve your overall website health, as mentioned earlier, by signaling authority and relevance to search engines.

### Are AI overviews featured snippets?

No, they are not. Even though AI is taking over many aspects of search, they are not the same thing. As you probably know, Google has AI Overviews, which are a synthesis of multiple sources generated by Google's AI to answer a question; however, featured snippets are verbatim quotes from a single webpage. Snippets are static and concise, while AI Overviews are longer and generated in real time by AI.

## Types of featured snippets

There are different types of featured snippets based on the format of the content that Google chooses to display. Each type highlights information in a way that makes it easy for users to quickly find the answer they're looking for. These are the most common types of featured snippets:

- **Paragraph snippets:** Paragraph snippets are short blocks of text that directly answer a user's query. These types of featured snippets are the most common ones.
- **List snippets:** List snippets appear as ordered or unordered lists that break information into steps or items. To increase your chances of getting a list snippet, format your content using numbered or bulleted lists, and make sure each item is clear and actionable. These are ideal for "how-to" queries, top tips, or any content that benefits from step-by-step instructions.
- **Table snippets:** Table snippets display information in a structured table format, which is especially useful for comparisons, statistics, or data-heavy queries. To optimize for table snippets, present your data clearly in HTML tables with labeled rows and columns. Ensure the table is easy to read, relevant to the query, and provides the key information Google can directly extract for the snippet.
- **Video snippets:** Featured snippets can also be YouTube videos, as they are a type of content that is easy to understand and highly engaging for users. However, it should be noted that getting video snippets requires specific tactics, such as optimizing video titles and descriptions with relevant keywords, as well as structuring your video with accurate timestamps for key moments. This helps Google better identify the topic of the video and provide more precise and relevant snippets.
- **Mixed snippets:** Sometimes different types of snippets can be mixed, for example, a paragraph that leads to a list or a paragraph that leads to a table, etc.

## How to get a featured snippet?

To get a featured snippet, your website and, therefore, your pages and blog posts must be optimized both content-wise and technically.

Regarding content, these are the most important things to take into account when writing:

- **The content MUST answer the question directly.** This is KEY to getting featured, as featured snippets are meant to be short and direct answers to a question. If you don't write your content this way, it will rarely end up in a featured snippet.
- **You should use an easy-to-read format.** As mentioned, featured snippets are meant to be short and direct, and users nowadays prefer formats that provide clarity and convenience when solving their doubts. By [writing short paragraphs and using bullet points](/blog/tips-for-writing-blog-posts/), your content is more likely to be picked up by Google.
- **Follow the "pyramid content structure" when writing.** This is not new, as we've followed this approach since the early days of SEO, but it's still important. When writing an answer, the first information should be the direct answer with basic and general information about the topic, followed by more specific details that require a higher level of expertise. This structure aligns with what users need and what Google (and AI) love, so keep it in mind when writing.
- **FAQ sections.** A great content format that already follows the key requirements of featured snippets is the FAQ section, as it provides question-and-answer content in an easy-to-read format. Using this type of section on your website can be a great way to get your content featured.

As you can see, this is very similar to what AI expects from content, so you can take advantage of that and kill two birds with one stone.

Regarding technical stuff:

- **Structure data for readability.** Both your content and metadata must be structured in a way is easy to understand for Google. Use a format that Google likes making sure your HTML is clean, headings are properly nested, and key sections are marked with the appropriate tags so Google can easily extract the relevant information.
- **Implement schema markup.** We have talked about this so many times that you are probably tired of it, but it is what it is: [schema markup is ESSENTIAL](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/), and it also influences getting featured snippets, as it helps search engines better understand your content, its structure, and the relationships between different elements on your page. We recommend you to check our [FREE schema markup tools](/tools/) if you are trying to optimize it.
- **Be careful with metadata.** Check if your site has HTML attributes like "data-nosnippet" or "nosnippet" as these will avoid your content from being featured. Also, make sure your [meta titles and descriptions](/blog/write-good-meta-titles-and-descriptions/) are optimized, as they influence how Google understands and displays your content.

Besides this, you should acknowledge that by using HTML attributes, you can even decide what content is shown as a snippet and what isn't. Even though this may seem contradictory at first, it can actually be a powerful way to control which content is really important on your site. For example, imagine you have a couple of articles covering the same topic, but you want to prioritize and funnel visibility to one specific page. In this case, using the "nosnippet" (or "data-nosnippet") attribute on the less important pages can be a wise decision. Another common use case is when there's content cannibalization or partial content duplication, where multiple URLs compete for the same queries, limiting snippets on secondary pages can help Google better understand which page should be prioritized.

## How to optimize for featured snippets?

Optimizing for featured snippets is as easy as following the previous tips to create your content and checking whether your pages comply with them. To check them, you only have to analyze your target queries in the SERPs, review whether a featured snippet already exists, and compare your content structure with the page currently ranking in position zero.

1. **Analyze your target queries in the SERPs.** Start by searching your target keywords directly in Google. Look at the type of results that appear (informational, transactional, etc.) and identify whether Google considers the query suitable for a featured snippet. Pay attention to the wording of the query, the intent behind it, and the format Google is favoring (paragraph, list, table), as this will guide how your content should be optimized.
2. **Review whether a featured snippet already exists.** Not all queries trigger featured snippets. If a snippet is already present, analyze its format, length, and the type of information it provides. This helps you understand what Google expects for that specific query. If there is no featured snippet, it may indicate that the query is not suitable for one, or that there is an opportunity to structure your content in a way that encourages Google to generate one.
3. **Compare your content structure with the page currently ranking in position zero.** If a featured snippet exists, study the page that owns it. Compare its content structure to yours: look at how it answers the question, how quickly it provides the answer, the use of headings, lists, or tables, and its overall clarity. The goal is not to copy the content, but to identify structural and formatting improvements you can apply so your page better matches what Google is rewarding for that query.

It must be said that, even if your content appears as a featured snippet at one point, it can disappear due to competitors' optimization efforts or even be removed by Google if the company determines it doesn't follow its policies or if it was reported by a user. That's why optimization is crucial, as appearing as a featured snippet doesn't guarantee permanence.

## How to track featured snippets?

Tracking featured snippets is crucial to see if they are optimized or not. To do so, there are plenty of ways and platforms to use. Among the most easy and popular ways you will find:

### Automated way: Using SEO tools

By using SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush, you can automatically track featured snippets for your target keywords. These tools provide reports showing which of your pages are appearing in snippets, the type of snippet, and any changes over time. This allows you to quickly identify opportunities and monitor competitors.

The way of doing it will depend on the tool you use, but it's quite simple. You can check the following videos for Ahrefs or SEMrush as they are the most popular:

**Ahrefs: How to find featured snippet opportunities**

<YouTube id="TuTMLbbnlg0" />

**SEMrush: How to track featured snippets**

<YouTube id="QZutPrHi_QE" />

### Manual way: Using Google tools

If your budget is tight, there's another way to track featured snippets using free Google tools. For example, [Google Search Console Search Analytics allows you to see which queries bring impressions for your pages](https://www.woorank.com/en/blog/find-your-featured-snippets-using-google-search-console), while manually searching your target keywords in incognito mode helps you verify if your content appears in featured snippets.

However, choosing this way might end up being a bit harder than doing it with a SEO tool as you will have to check each keyword individually and monitor changes over time manually. It also requires more attention to detail to track different snippet types, variations in search results, and competitor activity. Despite being more time-consuming, this approach can still provide valuable insights without any additional cost, making it a viable option for smaller websites or those just getting started with featured snippet optimization.

Even though we understand that paying for SEO tools can be annoying due to their cost, they significantly reduce the time needed to track your featured snippets and make your work much easier. That's why we always recommend investing in these tools, as they save a lot of time and effort while providing more accurate and actionable insights.

## Final thoughts

Featured snippets represent one of the most valuable opportunities in search today. By providing direct answers, using clear formatting, and implementing proper schema markup, you can position your content for that coveted "position zero" spot.

What makes this even more compelling is the overlap with AIEO strategy. The same principles that help you win featured snippets - concise answers, well-structured content, and semantic markup - are exactly what AI-powered search tools look for when sourcing information. Optimizing for one means you're automatically strengthening the other.

Ready to get started? Begin by auditing your existing content for featured snippet opportunities, add [FAQ sections](/blog/faq-section-for-seo/) to your key pages, and make sure your [schema markup is properly implemented](/tools/). These small changes can lead to significant visibility gains in both traditional and AI-driven search results.
---
## FreshJuice Tools: A practical SEO toolkit built for real work
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/freshjuice-tools-a-practical-seo-toolkit-built-for-real-work/
Published: 2026-01-01
Author: loraider259
Tags: FreshJuice, SEO Tools, Technical SEO, SEO, Website Optimization, AI Search
> A free, browser-based SEO toolkit we built to help anyone solve common website issues quickly, without logins or subscriptions.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_broken_link_checker from "./assets/broken-link-checker.jpg";
import img_assets_seo_analyzer from "./assets/seo-analyzer.jpg";
import img_assets_seo_analyzer_2 from "./assets/seo-analyzer-2.jpg";
import img_assets_metadata_checker from "./assets/metadata-checker.jpg";
import img_assets_headings_extractor from "./assets/headings-extractor.jpg";
import img_assets_keyword_density from "./assets/keyword-density.jpg";
import img_assets_readability_score from "./assets/readability-score.jpg";
import img_assets_robots_txt from "./assets/robots-txt.jpg";
import img_assets_link_checker from "./assets/link-checker.jpg";
import img_assets_llms_generator from "./assets/llms-generator.jpg";

We built a set of free SEO tools because we believe everyone should have access to the essentials. Most SEO platforms are heavy, complex, and expensive. But checking a broken link or reviewing your headings shouldn't require a subscription.

So we made these tools available to anyone. They run in your browser, require no login, and you can close them the moment you're done.

Managing a website sounds simple until you actually get to it. Whether it's a personal blog, a business site, or an online store, reality is mostly the same: dozens of small tasks piling up in the background. Broken links, messy headings, missing metadata, unreadable content. None of them feel urgent until they start hurting your rankings.

## Why we built these tools

SEO has become much more than keywords and backlinks. A website now has to deal with:

- Technical SEO
- Accessibility
- Content structure
- Readability
- AI-driven search engines
- Constant content upgrades

Most SEO problems are small, frequent, and time-sensitive. You don't need a complex platform to check links or review headings. You just need something that works.

Here's what we've put together.

## Broken link checker

Our broken link checker identifies internal and external links on a page that no longer work. Broken links frustrate users, reduce crawl efficiency, and signal poor site maintenance to search engines.

<Image
  src={img_assets_broken_link_checker}
  alt="Broken Link Checker tool interface"
  width={600}
/>

**How to use it:**

- Enter the page URL
- Run the scan
- Replace, remove, or update broken links

**When to use it:**

- Before publishing content
- After website migrations
- During routine SEO maintenance

## SEO analyzer

The SEO analyzer gives you a fast overview of a page's technical SEO health. Many ranking issues stem from basic mistakes: missing meta tags, poor heading structure, accessibility gaps, or incomplete schema signals.

<Image
  src={img_assets_seo_analyzer}
  alt="SEO Analyzer tool interface"
  width={600}
/>

<Image
  src={img_assets_seo_analyzer_2}
  alt="SEO Analyzer detailed results"
  width={600}
/>

**How to use it:**

- Paste the URL
- Review detected issues
- Fix high-impact problems first

**When to use it:**

- After publishing new pages
- When rankings drop unexpectedly
- During quick audits

## Metadata checker

The metadata checker displays all page metadata in one place: titles, descriptions, Open Graph, Twitter cards. Metadata influences how your pages appear in search results, social shares, and AI-generated summaries.

<Image
  src={img_assets_metadata_checker}
  alt="Metadata Checker tool interface"
  width={600}
/>

**How to use it:**

- Enter a URL
- Review titles, descriptions, Open Graph, and Twitter data
- Adjust for clarity and consistency

**When to use it:**

- When optimizing SERP appearance
- Before sharing content on social platforms
- When updating old pages

## Heading extractor

The heading extractor shows the full heading hierarchy of a page. Proper heading structure helps users scan content, search engines understand structure, and AI systems extract answers. Poor hierarchy creates confusion.

<Image
  src={img_assets_headings_extractor}
  alt="Heading Extractor tool interface"
  width={600}
/>

**How to use it:**

- Input a URL
- View all headings in order
- Fix missing or misused heading levels

**When to use it:**

- Before publishing long-form content
- When optimizing for featured snippets
- During content refreshes

## Keyword density tool

The keyword density tool analyzes how often words and phrases appear in your content. Overuse can trigger spam signals, underuse can weaken relevance.

<Image
  src={img_assets_keyword_density}
  alt="Keyword Density tool interface"
  width={600}
/>

**How to use it:**

- Paste your content
- Review keyword frequency
- Adjust language naturally

**When to use it:**

- After writing SEO-focused content
- When updating older articles
- When improving topical balance

## Readability score checker

The readability score checker measures how easy your content is to read. Readability matters for engagement, bounce rates, and how well AI systems can summarize your content.

<Image
  src={img_assets_readability_score}
  alt="Readability Score Checker tool interface"
  width={600}
/>

**How to use it:**

- Paste your text
- Review readability scores
- Simplify sentences where needed

**When to use it:**

- For blog posts
- Landing pages
- Informational content

## Robots.txt analyzer

The robots.txt analyzer checks whether your robots.txt file blocks important content. A single incorrect directive can prevent indexing, remove pages from search results, or block AI crawlers unintentionally.

<Image
  src={img_assets_robots_txt}
  alt="Robots.txt Analyzer tool interface"
  width={600}
/>

**How to use it:**

- Analyze your robots.txt file
- Identify risky or incorrect rules
- Correct them immediately

**When to use it:**

- After site updates
- During indexing issues
- When launching new sections

## Link checker

The link checker categorizes all links on a page: internal, external, nofollow, and mailto. Understanding your link structure helps with crawl paths, SEO audits, and UX optimization.

<Image
  src={img_assets_link_checker}
  alt="Link Checker tool interface"
  width={600}
/>

**How to use it:**

- Scan a page
- Review link types
- Optimize linking where needed

**When to use it:**

- During audits
- When improving navigation
- Before publishing cornerstone content

## LLMs.txt generator

The LLMs.txt generator creates a file that helps AI systems understand your website. AI crawlers rely on explicit signals to understand content intent, determine usage permissions, and generate accurate answers.

<Image
  src={img_assets_llms_generator}
  alt="LLMs.txt Generator tool interface"
  width={600}
/>

**How to use it:**

- Generate the file
- Add it to your site
- Keep it updated as content evolves

**When to use it:**

- When preparing for AI search visibility
- When managing authoritative content
- When aligning with future search trends

## Free to use

No login required. No email. No paywalls. Just open the tool, get your answer, and move on.

We have a zero marketing emails policy. You will never see a form asking you to subscribe to our newsletter. If you want updates, you'll find them through your favorite AI or you can follow us on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/freshjuice) or [X](https://x.com/FreshJuiceDev).

We think good websites make the web better. These tools are our small way of helping that happen.
---
## Your cookie banner is probably illegal (and how to actually fix it)
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/your-cookie-banner-is-probably-illegal/
Published: 2025-12-27
Author: reatlat
Tags: Privacy, GDPR, Data Privacy, Website Optimization, Technical SEO
> Most cookie banners don't comply with GDPR, UK PECR, or CCPA. Learn about functional cookies, localStorage laws, hidden trackers like Google Fonts, and how to build truly compliant websites.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_accept_cookies_fool from "./assets/accept-cookies-fool.png";
import img_assets_cookie_example_mint from "./assets/cookie-example-mint.png";

You've seen them everywhere:

<blockquote class="not-prose flex items-center justify-between gap-4">
  <p class="m-0 text-base">This website uses cookies.</p>
  <p class="m-0 px-4 py-2 bg-terminal text-cursor rounded font-bold whitespace-nowrap text-sm">
    {"Accept All"}
  </p>
</blockquote>

Or even worse:

<blockquote class="not-prose flex items-center justify-between gap-4">
  <p class="m-0 text-base">We use cookies to improve your experience.</p>
  <p class="m-0 text-2xl leading-none font-bold">✕</p>
</blockquote>

A simple banner, a quick click (or just closing it), and you're done. Compliant, right?

<Image
  src={img_assets_accept_cookies_fool}
  alt="Accept cookies popup illustration"
  width={450}
/>

**Wrong!** That cookie banner you slapped on your website? It's probably illegal. And you're not alone. The majority of websites get this fundamentally wrong.

## The cookie banner illusion

Here's the uncomfortable truth: displaying a cookie banner doesn't make you compliant. In fact, most implementations actively violate GDPR, UK PECR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations. The banner itself has become a fig leaf: something that looks like compliance while doing nothing to actually protect user privacy.

Let's break down what's actually going wrong.

## Common cookie banner mistakes (that are actually illegal)

### 1. Cookies are set before consent

This is the most common violation. Visit most websites and open your browser's developer tools. You'll see cookies being set the moment the page loads, before you've clicked anything.

Under GDPR, **non-essential cookies require prior consent**. That means zero tracking cookies, zero analytics cookies, zero advertising cookies until the user explicitly agrees. If your Google Analytics is firing on page load, you're already breaking the law.

### 2. Pre-checked consent boxes

Those cookie preference panels with checkboxes already ticked? Illegal under GDPR. Consent must be **freely given**, which means users must take an affirmative action to opt in. Pre-checked boxes don't count.

### 3. Dark patterns in consent UI

"Accept All" in a big, colorful button. "Manage Preferences" in tiny gray text. "Reject All" buried three clicks deep or missing entirely.

This isn't compliance. It's manipulation. Regulators are increasingly cracking down on these dark patterns. The reject option must be as easy to access as the accept option. Period.

### 4. No granular control

"Accept" or "Leave the website" isn't a real choice. Users must be able to accept some cookies while rejecting others. Analytics? Maybe. Advertising? No thanks. This granular control isn't optional. It's required.

### 5. Assuming legitimate interest covers everything

"Legitimate interest" has become a catch-all excuse for tracking without consent. But it doesn't work that way. Marketing cookies and behavioral advertising almost never qualify for legitimate interest. If you're using this as your legal basis for tracking, you're likely wrong.

## What about functional cookies?

Here's where it gets nuanced. Not all cookies require consent. **Strictly necessary cookies** (those essential for the website to function) are exempt from consent requirements.

Examples of truly essential cookies:

- Session cookies for logged-in users
- Shopping cart cookies on e-commerce sites
- Load balancing cookies
- Cookie consent preference storage (yes, the irony)
- Anti-bot and security cookies (like Cloudflare's `__cf_bm` and `_cfuvid`)

Examples that are **NOT** essential (despite what some claim):

- Analytics cookies (your site works fine without them)
- A/B testing cookies
- Personalization cookies
- "Functional" cookies that remember preferences like language (debatable, many regulators say these need consent)

The key test: **Would the website break without this cookie?** If the answer is no, you need consent.

Be honest with yourself here. Many companies abuse the "functional" category to avoid consent requirements. Regulators aren't fooled, and neither are privacy-conscious users.

## LocalStorage and SessionStorage: the forgotten trackers

Here's something most developers miss entirely: **GDPR and ePrivacy regulations don't just cover cookies**. They cover all client-side storage mechanisms.

That includes:

- `localStorage`
- `sessionStorage`
- IndexedDB
- Web SQL (deprecated but still exists)
- Cache API

If you're storing user identifiers, tracking data, or any information that could be used to identify or profile users in localStorage, you need consent. Just like cookies.

### Common localStorage violations

```javascript
// This needs consent just like a tracking cookie!
localStorage.setItem("user_id", "abc123");
localStorage.setItem("visited_pages", JSON.stringify(["/home", "/products"]));
localStorage.setItem("ab_test_variant", "B");
```

### What's allowed without consent

Similar to cookies, truly functional storage is permitted:

- Storing user preferences after they've explicitly set them
- Draft content in a text editor
- Items in a shopping cart
- Authentication tokens (for logged-in functionality)

### The gray areas

Some uses are genuinely ambiguous:

- Theme preference (dark/light mode): probably okay, but document it
- Language preference: debatable, safer to ask
- "Don't show this popup again": very gray area

When in doubt, either ask for consent or simply don't store the data.

## It's not just cookies: the hidden trackers on your site

Cookie banners focus on, well, cookies. But GDPR and similar laws protect against **all** unauthorized data processing. Here are the hidden trackers most developers miss:

### Google Fonts: the invisible tracker

Using Google Fonts via their CDN (`fonts.googleapis.com`)? Every time a user loads your page, their IP address is sent to Google. This constitutes personal data transfer to a US company, which is a GDPR violation since the Schrems II ruling.

**The fix:**

- **Self-host your fonts**: download and serve them from your own server
- **Use privacy-friendly alternatives** like [Bunny Fonts](https://fonts.bunny.net/). Same fonts, GDPR compliant, drop-in replacement

```html
{/* Instead of Google Fonts */}
<link
  href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inter&display=swap"
  rel="stylesheet"
/>

{/* Use Bunny Fonts */}
<link href="https://fonts.bunny.net/css?family=Inter" rel="stylesheet" />
```

### YouTube embeds: cookies before play

Standard YouTube embeds set cookies the moment they load, not when the user clicks play. This means you're tracking users without consent just by having a video on your page.

**The fix:**

- Use YouTube's no-cookie domain: `youtube-nocookie.com`
- Better yet, use a facade/wrapper like [lite-youtube-embed](https://github.com/paulirish/lite-youtube-embed) that only loads YouTube after user interaction
- Even better: show a thumbnail with a "Play" button that loads the actual embed only after click (with a consent notice if needed)

```html
{/* Instead of standard embed */}
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID"></iframe>

{/* Use no-cookie variant */}
<iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/VIDEO_ID"></iframe>
```

### Vimeo embeds: use the dnt parameter

Vimeo offers a Do-Not-Track parameter that reduces (but doesn't eliminate) tracking:

```html
{/* Standard Vimeo embed */}
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/VIDEO_ID"></iframe>

{/* With Do-Not-Track enabled */}
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/VIDEO_ID?dnt=1"></iframe>
```

**Important caveat:** The `dnt=1` parameter reduces tracking but doesn't make the embed fully GDPR-compliant. Some cookies (like Cloudflare's security cookies) may still be set. For full compliance, you still need a two-click solution or consent wrapper.

### Google Maps, social widgets, and other embeds

The same principle applies to:

- Google Maps embeds
- Facebook Like buttons
- Twitter/X embeds
- Instagram embeds
- Any third-party widget

Each of these can set cookies and track users without consent. The solution is consistent: either don't embed them, or use a consent wrapper that loads them only after explicit user approval.

## Even government sites get it wrong

You might think government websites would be compliant. After all, they're often the ones enforcing these regulations. You'd be wrong.

A quick audit of various European government websites reveals a concerning pattern: many set tracking cookies before asking for consent, display banners with only an "Accept" button (no way to decline), or skip the consent mechanism entirely while still running Google Analytics.

These aren't obscure websites. These are official institutions in EU member states, the very entities that should be leading by example. If government sites responsible for enforcing privacy regulations can't get this right, it highlights just how widespread the problem really is.

### Why is this so hard to get right?

Cookie compliance isn't just a legal checkbox. It's a technical challenge that requires deep understanding of how browsers, scripts, and consent mechanisms interact.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: **not every developer or web agency understands this**. Many treat cookie banners as a "drop in some code and forget about it" solution. But proper implementation requires:

- Understanding the order of script execution (consent scripts must load **before** any trackers)
- Knowing how to conditionally load third-party scripts based on consent status
- Configuring auto-blocking correctly (many CMPs offer this, but it must be the very first script on your page)
- Testing that cookies are actually blocked, not just that a banner appears

Some consent platforms offer "auto-blocking" features that automatically detect and block tracking scripts until consent is given. This sounds great, but there's a catch: the auto-blocking script must be loaded **before everything else** on your page. If your Google Analytics or Meta Pixel loads before the consent script, auto-blocking won't help.

If you're not confident in your technical understanding of this area, **hire experts who specialize in privacy compliance**. The cost of getting it wrong (fines, legal issues, reputation damage) far exceeds the cost of doing it right from the start.

## A real-world audit (with permission)

We recently audited a friend's website to check their cookie compliance. Here's what we found:

<Image
  src={img_assets_cookie_example_mint}
  alt="Cookie audit showing tracking cookies set before consent"
  width={800}
/>

This is a common pattern: the site has a cookie banner, but tracking cookies are already set before any user interaction. The banner becomes purely decorative, a legal fig leaf that doesn't actually protect user privacy or comply with regulations.

## The regulations you're probably violating

### GDPR (European Union)

- Requires **prior consent** for non-essential cookies
- Consent must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous
- Users must be able to withdraw consent as easily as they gave it
- Fines: up to €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover

### UK PECR (United Kingdom)

- Similar to GDPR but with its own enforcement
- The ICO has been increasingly active in enforcement
- Same consent requirements for cookies

### CCPA/CPRA (California)

- Different approach: opt-out rather than opt-in
- But still requires clear disclosure and easy opt-out
- "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link required
- Expanding to cover more businesses each year

### Other jurisdictions

Brazil (LGPD), Canada (PIPEDA), and many others have similar requirements. If your website is accessible globally, you need to consider all of them.

## How to actually do this right

### Step 1: Audit your current tracking

Before fixing anything, understand what you're currently doing:

1. Clear your cookies and visit your site
2. Open DevTools → Application → Cookies
3. Note every cookie set before any interaction
4. Check Network tab for third-party requests

You'll probably be surprised (and concerned) by what you find.

### Step 2: Implement proper consent management

A proper consent solution must:

- **Block all non-essential cookies by default**
- **Wait for explicit consent** before setting any tracking cookies
- **Provide equal prominence** to accept and reject options
- **Allow granular control** over cookie categories
- **Remember the choice** (ironically, using a cookie)
- **Make it easy to change preferences** later

#### Cookie consent solutions worth considering

There are many consent management platforms (CMPs) available. Here are some popular options:

**[Zest](https://cookiezest.com/)** - Our own free, open-source toolkit (MIT, ~16KB gzipped with all 12 languages, ~10KB single-language). Blocks tracker cookies, localStorage, third-party scripts, runtime `fetch` / `XHR` / `sendBeacon` calls, AND DOM injection (`script.src`, `link.href`, `img.src`, `iframe.src` setters) before they leak. That last layer is the one most CMPs skip and the one that actually catches CMS first-party proxies like HubSpot's `/hs/scriptloader/`, Cloudflare Zaraz, and server-side GTM. Google Consent Mode v2 and Microsoft UET integration are two boolean flags. No subscription, no vendor lock-in, every line on [GitHub](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/zest). For a 10-minute audit workflow that wires Zest up using an AI-generated config from a ConsentTheater scan, see ["Audit your cookie banner with AI"](/blog/audit-your-cookie-banner-with-ai/).

**[CookieYes](https://www.cookieyes.com/)** - User-friendly, reasonable pricing, good for small to medium sites. Offers auto-scanning and categorization of cookies.

**[Osano](https://www.osano.com/)** - Enterprise-focused with strong compliance features. Transparent pricing model.

**[OneTrust](https://www.onetrust.com/)** - The 800-pound gorilla of consent management. Comprehensive features, used by Fortune 500 companies, but priced accordingly (think thousands per year). Overkill for most small to medium businesses.

**[Termly](https://termly.io/)** - Free tier available, good documentation. Includes policy generators.

**[Iubenda](https://www.iubenda.com/)** - European company, strong GDPR focus. Also generates privacy policies.

**[HubSpot Cookie Banner](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/privacy-and-consent/set-up-a-consent-banner-with-the-new-editor)** - If you're already on HubSpot, their built-in cookie banner is free and works well. It automatically handles HubSpot's own tracking code and supports [Google Consent Mode v2](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/privacy-and-consent/support-google-consent-mode-v2) natively. However, if you have third-party scripts, you'll need to wrap them using the [Cookie Banner API](https://developers.hubspot.com/docs/api/events/cookie-banner).

**HubSpot implementation example:**

```javascript
// Wait for HubSpot cookie banner to be ready
var _hsp = (window._hsp = window._hsp || []);

// Check consent before loading third-party scripts
_hsp.push([
  "addPrivacyConsentListener",
  function (consent) {
    // consent.categories contains: analytics, advertisement, functionality

    if (consent.categories.analytics) {
      // User consented to analytics - load your scripts
      loadGoogleAnalytics();
      loadHotjar();
    }

    if (consent.categories.advertisement) {
      // User consented to ads - load marketing pixels
      loadMetaPixel();
      loadLinkedInInsight();
    }
  },
]);

// Helper function example
function loadGoogleAnalytics() {
  var script = document.createElement("script");
  script.src = "https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXX";
  document.head.appendChild(script);
}
```

HubSpot's banner categorizes cookies into three groups: **Analytics** (for tracking and statistics), **Advertisement** (for marketing and retargeting), and **Functionality** (for enhanced features). Your consent banner lets users accept or reject each category independently.

**[Cookiebot](https://www.cookiebot.com/)** - Popular and technically solid solution with automatic cookie scanning and categorization. Good compliance features and wide CMS integrations.

**Self-hosted options:** For developers who want full control, consider open-source solutions like [Klaro](https://github.com/klaro-org/klaro-js) or [Tarteaucitron](https://github.com/AmauriC/tarteaucitron.js). More work to set up, but no ongoing costs and complete customization.

#### Google Consent Mode: the new standard for Google tools

If you're using Google Analytics 4, Google Ads, or Google Tag Manager, you need to know about **[Google Consent Mode](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9976101)**. Starting March 2024, Google requires Consent Mode for any site collecting data from EU users.

**What is Consent Mode?** It's a way to communicate user consent choices to Google's tags. Instead of blocking Google scripts entirely, Consent Mode adjusts their behavior based on consent status:

- **Consent granted:** Full tracking as usual
- **Consent denied:** Google tags still load but operate in a privacy-preserving mode, using cookieless pings and modeled conversions

**The two versions:**

- **Basic Consent Mode:** Google tags don't load until consent is given. Simple but you lose all data from users who decline.
- **Advanced Consent Mode:** Google tags load immediately but in restricted mode. When consent is denied, Google uses modeling to fill data gaps. More data, but some privacy advocates question whether this truly respects a "no" from users.

**How to implement:**

```javascript
// Default state before user choice (deny all)
gtag("consent", "default", {
  ad_storage: "denied",
  ad_user_data: "denied",
  ad_personalization: "denied",
  analytics_storage: "denied",
});

// Update when user gives consent
gtag("consent", "update", {
  ad_storage: "granted",
  analytics_storage: "granted",
});
```

Most CMPs listed above support Consent Mode integration out of the box. If you're building a custom solution, make sure to implement it correctly, Google now shows compliance status in your GA4 and Google Ads dashboards.

### Step 3: Self-host what you can

- Fonts: Download and serve locally, or use Bunny Fonts
- Icons: Host your own instead of using CDN-hosted icon fonts
- Analytics: Switch to privacy-friendly alternatives (see below)

### Step 3.5: Consider cookie-free analytics

Here's a radical idea: what if your analytics didn't need cookies at all?

**[Plausible Analytics](https://plausible.io/)** and **[Fathom Analytics](https://usefathom.com/)** are privacy-first analytics tools that:

- Don't use cookies at all
- Don't track individual users
- Are fully GDPR, CCPA, and PECR compliant out of the box
- Provide meaningful insights without invasive tracking
- Can be self-hosted (Plausible) for complete data ownership

**[Matomo](https://matomo.org/)** (formerly Piwik) offers a self-hosted option where you own all the data. With proper configuration, it can run without cookies too.

The trade-off? You won't get individual user journeys or cross-session tracking. But honestly, do you really need that? Most businesses can make better decisions with aggregate data anyway, without the legal headaches and privacy concerns.

### Step 4: Use consent wrappers for necessary embeds

For content you must embed (videos, maps), implement a two-click solution:

1. Show a placeholder with a thumbnail/preview
2. Display a clear message: "Click to load YouTube video. This will set cookies from YouTube."
3. Only load the actual embed after user clicks

### Step 5: Document everything

Maintain a clear cookie policy that lists:

- Every cookie your site uses
- Its purpose
- Its duration
- Whether it's first-party or third-party

This isn't just good practice. It's legally required.

## The business case for real compliance

"But tracking is essential for our business!"

Is it, though? Consider switching to [first-party data and privacy-safe signals](/blog/first-party-personalization-privacy-safe-signals/). This approach not only keeps you compliant but often provides better insights than invasive tracking.

- **Privacy-respecting analytics** can give you the insights you need without tracking individuals
- **First-party data** (email signups, purchases) is more valuable than third-party cookies anyway
- **Trust matters**: users increasingly choose privacy-respecting businesses
- **Future-proofing**: third-party cookies are dying regardless (Chrome's deprecation, Safari's ITP, Firefox's ETP)

Companies that figure out privacy-first marketing now will have a significant advantage as regulations tighten and browsers block more tracking.

## Conclusion: compliance isn't a banner

A cookie banner is not a magic compliance wand. Real privacy compliance requires:

1. **Technical implementation** that blocks tracking until consent
2. **Honest UI** that makes rejecting as easy as accepting
3. **Self-hosting** resources that would otherwise leak data
4. **Consent wrappers** for necessary third-party content
5. **Documentation** of what you collect and why

The era of "just add a cookie banner" is over. Regulators are issuing fines, browsers are blocking trackers, and users are paying attention.

The good news? Building a privacy-respecting website isn't that hard. It just requires actually respecting privacy, not just pretending to.

And while you're rethinking your approach to user privacy, consider your email strategy too. We took it to the extreme with [ZeroMail](/zeromail/), our policy of sending zero marketing emails. Not for everyone, but worth thinking about.

---

## Need help with cookie compliance?

Not sure if your website is compliant? We can help. Our team offers cookie compliance audits where we analyze your site, identify issues, and provide actionable solutions to make your website GDPR, CCPA, and PECR compliant.

**What we offer:**

- Full cookie and tracking audit
- Identification of compliance gaps
- Implementation recommendations
- HubSpot cookie banner setup and configuration
- Third-party script management

[Get in touch](/contact/) to discuss your website's privacy compliance.
---
## How important are backlinks?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-important-are-backlinks/
Published: 2025-12-22
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, SEO Strategies, Content Strategy, AI Optimization, AEO
> Learn everything about backlinks: what they are, why they matter for SEO and AIEO, how to check them, and strategies to build high-quality backlinks for your website.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_cat_drinking from "./assets/cat-drinking.png";

Backlinks have always been essential for a website's success because they help search engines identify your site as trustworthy and authoritative. And now, as AI begins to take the place of traditional SEO, backlinks hold the same if not greater importance for achieving the visibility your website needs to stand out.

<Image
  src={img_assets_cat_drinking}
  alt="Cute cat drinking orange juice"
  width={320}
/>

In this article, we'll explain everything about backlinks: what they are, why they matter for both SEO and AIEO, and how they can strengthen your overall marketing strategy to help your website outshine your competitors.

## What are backlinks?

Backlinks, also called inbound links or incoming links, are links from one website to another. If website B adds a link to website A, website A has gotten a backlink.

These links are extremely important because, when they point to your website, they pass what is called "link juice" that brings many benefits, helping your site gain greater visibility both for search engines and AI tools, now that AIEO is what marketers focus on.

There are different types of backlinks depending on how the link is created, its purpose, technical attributes as well as placement on the page (in-content, footer, image). There are six main types of backlinks:

- **Editorial backlinks:** These backlinks are earned naturally. As a marketer, you don't take direct action to acquire them, and they are usually high-quality links because they are typically featured on reputable websites that consider your content a valuable source. Although they are not obtained through an outreach strategy, having a strong content strategy is essential to earn them.
- **Digital PR:** On the other hand, you can also earn links on reputable websites such as news outlets (which can be especially valuable for AIEO, [as Rebecca Gonzalez explained in her webinar](https://freshjuice.dev/blog/aeo-tips-b2b-marketers/)) or through campaigns featuring newsworthy content or brand stories by paying them. Even thought this type of content is usually paid, it is often well worth the investment. It's similar to paying an influencer to promote your product, with the added benefit of a permanent link to your site and long-lasting visibility for the content.
- **Guest post backlinks:** Guest posting involves writing an article for another website, either under your name or as a ghostwriter, in which you can include backlinks if agreed upon. This is an effective strategy because search engines and AI tools treat these links as natural when the content is relevant and closely related to the page the link points to.
- **Directory or citation links**: Also known as business listing backlinks, these are links obtained from online directories or platforms that list business information such as name, address, website, and phone number. In those listings, links pointing to the company are added and can be a great way of getting backlinks.
- **UGC:** This can be one of the easiest ways to earn backlinks, but it can also be the most spammy if not done correctly. UGC stands for User-Generated Content and refers to backlinks obtained through user contributions such as comments, forum posts, or social media. When you are the user doing it, be careful to make it sound as natural as possible.

Besides these types, the way search engines treat backlinks depends on their technical attributes, specifically, whether they are 'follow' or 'nofollow' links. This is key because follow links are more valuable because they pass more authority to your website, helping improve visibility and credibility. Therefore, your main goal should be to earn as many follow backlinks as possible, as they signal to both search engines and AI tools that your website is trustworthy and worth appearing in results.

### Why are backlinks important?

We may sound a bit repetitive here, but having backlinks pointing to your website is crucial. Backlinks matter because they provide authority signals to search engines and AI tools, indicating that **your content is trustworthy, relevant, and worth recommending**. Beyond authority, backlinks also play a key role in improving visibility, driving referral traffic, and helping your website stand out in increasingly competitive digital spaces. Among the main benefits of having a backlink strategy you might found:

- Backlinks increase brand awareness and online presence by mentioning your brand positively.
- They build credibility and a positive reputation when included in trustworthy sites.
- They drive website traffic and potential leads, expanding your audience reach.
- They enhance domain authority, as search engines find them a way of confirming your site's value.
- They improve search engine and AI visibility (SEO/[AEO](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/)),
- They encourage faster indexing as search engines discover new pages through backlinks.
- And finally, [as mentioned by David Pawlan](https://www.tinylevermarketing.com/blog/11-benefits-of-link-building-you-cant-ignore), they support long-term marketing growth, creating a network of authoritative references that continue to benefit your site over time.

## How to check backlinks of a website?

Checking how many backlinks are pointing to your page and evaluating their quality is essential for building a strong SEO/AEO strategy. By identifying and understanding your backlinks, you can identify what to improve or avoid and take the necessary steps to enhance your site's authority.

To check the backlinks of your website, you can use a variety of marketing tools that can be both free and paid such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, or even [Google Search Console](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9049606?hl=en). These tools allow you to see:

- Which websites are linking to your pages
- The authority and relevance of those backlinks
- Anchor text used in the links
- Potential spammy or low-quality backlinks that could harm your SEO

For us, the best way to check backlinks is by using a free tool like Google Search Console (we have to pay lots of tools, so a lower budget is preferred if possible). However, it may not provide complete insights, such as a site's Domain Rating (DR). For a more in-depth analysis, paid SEO tools like Ahrefs can be better suited as they offer more a more detailed look of your backlinks profile\*.

\*We know that both [Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/backlink-checker) and [SEMRush](https://www.semrush.com/analytics/backlinks/) have free backlink checker tools, but for what they offer, we prefer Google Search Console…

### How to check backlinks of competitors?

Regarding competitors' backlinks, if you want to check how your competitors are doing, it's as easy as checking yours. Obviously, you can't do it with Search Console, but tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush offer an overview of your competitors' backlinks in their paid plans.

As you can see in the following screenshot from Ahrefs, you can see how many backlinks this website has and check the list of those backlinks.

![Ahrefs backlink checker screenshot](./assets/ahrefs-backlink-checker.png)

Check your tool's guide to see how to check competitors' backlinks, as every tool works differently.

## How to get backlinks?

This will depend on multiple factors as the strategies and methodologies changes from country, language, and type of site. For example, in the US there has always been a tradition of free guest posting not found in Spain where all high quality backlinks are more difficult to get and come with a cost. However, we are going to explain here the most common ways to get backlinks for you to choose from or combine, focusing on the US but applicable to other countries and sectors.

Among the most popular as well as efficient ways to get backlinks we recommend:

1. **Reach out strategy for guest posts:** As mentioned earlier, guest posts are an excellent opportunity to earn backlinks in a natural and effective way and sometimes even for free (well, if you consider writing as unpaid work).

   Start by making a list of websites with high DR and strong credibility that offer guest posting opportunities and are relevant to your site content or the product you are promoting. Be sure to write a high-quality post in which the backlink fits naturally and follows the guidelines provided by the website you're publishing on. The hardest part is finding sites that accept guest posts, but once you do, the process becomes much easier.

2. **Paid strategies for backlinks:** Finding websites that offer backlink opportunities is often easier when the backlink placement is paid. Many websites provide sponsored spaces where you can promote your site. Some news outlets and specialized blogs offer services to publish sponsored content that looks natural and includes a link to your site in exchange for a fee.

   You can reach out directly to these websites or work with a company that specializes in this type of marketing, as there are many options available. The cost of sponsored backlinks varies depending on factors such as the country, the type of website, or the domain authority of the site; however, you can expect to pay from $100 to several thousand dollars per link, depending on the site's reach and reputation.

3. **Apply a broken link building strategy:** This strategy can sometimes be time-consuming and requires strong outreach skills, but it is usually free and highly effective. The concept is simple: research articles and websites that contain broken backlinks, then reach out to offer a link to your site as a replacement.

   Using tools like [CheckMyLinks](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/check-my-links/aajoalonednamcpodaeocebfgldhcpbe?pli=1) or our own [Broken Link Checker](/tools/broken-link-checker/), you can quickly identify broken links on pages that discuss topics or products similar to yours. Make a list of these articles and websites, verify the broken links, and contact the site owners to suggest your content as a replacement. While this strategy can be time-consuming as we've mentioned, it often results in high-quality backlinks acquired naturally from sites that genuinely need a solution for their broken links. A win-win situation for both site owners!

4. **Use forums, wikis and social media:** Another way to earn free backlinks in a "natural" way is by contributing to forums, wikis, and social media platforms. For this strategy, creativity is key, as you don't want to sound spammy. By adding valuable content to forums like Quora (which AI tools love), wiki sites like Wikipedia (yes, [you can add a link in relevant entries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_create_a_page)), or social media posts pointing to your site, you can gain backlinks easily and for free.

   One downside is that many of these sites only offer 'nofollow' links, but that's not a problem. These links appear as natural user recommendations, and AI tools often treat them positively (something that Rebecca Gonzalez also highlighted in her webinar on AI visibility).

5. **Use backlink generators:** this is going to be more about quantity instead of quality and, honestly, we don't recommend this option but it can be an easy way to get backlinks when you are starting with a website. Tools like [PrepostSEO](https://www.prepostseo.com/backlinks-maker) or [Ovdss](https://ovdss.com/apps/backlink-generator) backlink generators can quickly create multiple backlinks that may help with initial indexing and early visibility, but they are low-quality; so, you should always use these tools caution and ALWAYS combined with higher-quality backlink strategies.

### How to get high quality backlinks?

As you read in the previous section, getting backlinks is quite easy if you focus on quantity rather than quality, as there are many online tools that can add free backlinks to your website in just a couple of clicks. However, quality matters more than quantity. That's why it's crucial to have high-quality backlinks pointing to your website.

Before jumping into the ways to get high-quality backlinks, you first need to take the following things into consideration to ensure the links you acquire are truly valuable:

- The website must be reliable and authoritative to share the link juice to your site. Check the DR and the overall reputation of the domain, making sure it publishes accurate, high-quality content and is trusted within its industry. A backlink from a weak or spammy website won't bring real value and can even harm your site's credibility.
- The content should be high-quality and accurate, especially if the topic is sensitive, such as health-related subjects. Even if the website where the backlink is published meets the previous requirement, the content itself must be well written, informative, and aligned with best practices, as low-quality or misleading content can reduce the value of the backlink or even damage trust.
- The content should be related to the article or site it's linking to. Even if you have a link in an amazingly written article, if the page it points to isn't relevant to the topic, both search engines and AI tools will notice. Make sure to add backlinks only where they make sense contextually and genuinely add value to the content and the reader.
- The anchor text must be relevant to the linked page. For example, if you're writing about keyboard shortcuts and the anchor text points to an article about how to choose an ergonomic mouse, the link may be somewhat related to tech but still misleading. This lack of alignment signals to search engines and AI tools that the link isn't truly relevant. The anchor text should accurately reflect the content of the page it links to and feel natural within the context.
- The link should be 'follow', if possible. This doesn't mean that a nofollow link can't be high-quality; however, a follow link passes link juice, giving extra SEO value to your site. Try to prioritize follow links when building your backlink strategy, but don't completely disregard nofollow links, as they can still drive referral traffic, improve brand visibility, and signal relevance to AI tools.

With these points in mind, you can now start building your strategy. Regarding high-quality backlinks, as mentioned in the previous section, **you can earn them through all the strategies listed except for backlink generators**. While generators can provide quantity, high-quality backlinks require effort, relevance, and authority whether through guest posts, broken link building, or valuable user contributions.
---
## Nobody clicks your share buttons. Here's proof
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/social-share-buttons-are-dead/
Published: 2025-12-14
Author: reatlat
Tags: SEO, Website Optimization, User Experience, Content Strategy
> AddThis shut down in 2023. Meta is killing Like buttons in 2026. Yet websites still clutter their pages with sharing icons no one clicks. Here's why it's time to let go.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_share_buttons_dead from "./assets/share-buttons-dead.png";

That row of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn icons at the bottom of your blog posts? Nobody clicks them. I'm not being dramatic - the data backs this up, and now even the companies who invented these buttons are killing them off.

<Image
  src={img_assets_share_buttons_dead}
  alt="Social share buttons are dead"
  width={500}
/>

## The writing was on the wall

In May 2023, Oracle quietly shut down [AddThis](https://www.addthis.com/) - the service that powered share buttons on millions of websites. No fanfare, no big announcement. Just... gone.

AddThis saw the writing on the wall years before most of us. They knew share button usage had collapsed, and maintaining the infrastructure wasn't worth it anymore.

The open-source community got the message too. Popular libraries like [share-buttons](https://github.com/yauhenipakala/share-buttons) haven't been updated in 4+ years. React alternatives? Most are 10-12 months stale at best. Development in this space has essentially stopped because developers stopped integrating these buttons.

## Meta is pulling the plug

Here's the nail in the coffin: In November 2025, [Meta announced](https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2025/11/10/platform-evolution-facebook-social-plugins-to-be-discontinued-february-2026/) they're discontinuing the Facebook Like, Share, and Comment buttons for third-party websites. The deadline? **February 10, 2026**.

Meta's own words: _"The plugins that will be discontinued reflect an earlier era of web development, and their usage has naturally declined as the digital landscape has evolved."_

When the company that _invented_ the Like button admits it's from "an earlier era" - that's your sign.

## The numbers don't lie

Research has consistently shown abysmal click rates:

- [Studies from Moovweb](https://web.archive.org/web/20201116124032/https://www.moovweb.com/post/anyone-use-social-sharing-buttons-mobile) found **less than 0.5%** of mobile users ever click share buttons
- Some analyses put it even lower - around **0.2%**
- [Traditional click-to-share buttons fall short](https://www.prnewswire.com/resources/articles/three-reasons-traditional-click-to-share-social-post-buttons-fall-short/) because they interrupt the user's flow and feel outdated
- The vast majority of people who want to share content simply copy the URL or use their browser's native share functionality

Think about your own behavior. When was the last time you clicked a share button on a website instead of just copying the link or using your phone's share menu?

This isn't a new revelation either. Marketers have been [calling share buttons useless](https://www.tuliptreemarketing.com/2023/02/social-sharing-buttons-are-useless/) for years. And if you browse [developer communities like Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/16iima0/does_anyone_use_social_media_share_buttons_anymore/), the consensus is clear: nobody uses them anymore.

## Why websites still use them

So why do websites keep adding these buttons? A few reasons:

1. **Inertia** - "Everyone else has them, so we should too"
2. **FOMO** - Fear of missing out on that one share that might go viral
3. **Visual habit** - A row of colorful icons feels "complete" or "professional"

None of these are good reasons.

## The hidden costs

Those innocent-looking buttons come with baggage:

- **Performance hit** - Each social button loads external scripts, adding weight to your page
- **Privacy concerns** - Third-party tracking scripts follow your users across the web (if you care about [first-party data and privacy-safe signals](/blog/first-party-personalization-privacy-safe-signals/), these buttons are the opposite of that)
- **Visual clutter** - They distract from your actual content
- **Brand dilution** - Why put Facebook's logo on _your_ site?

## What actually works

The good news? There are better alternatives:

### Web Share API

Modern browsers support the [Web Share API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Share_API) - one button that triggers your device's native share menu. It shows WhatsApp, Telegram, Messages, email, whatever apps your user actually uses.

```html
<script>
  async function shareContent() {
    if (navigator.share) {
      // All modern browsers: Chrome, Safari, Edge, mobile browsers
      await navigator.share({
        title: document.title,
        url: window.location.href,
      });
    } else {
      // Fallback for Firefox desktop and older browsers
      await navigator.clipboard.writeText(window.location.href);
      alert("Link copied to clipboard!");
    }
  }
</script>

<a href="#" onclick="shareContent(); return false;">Share this page</a>
```

The API has been around since 2017 (Chrome Android), with Safari joining in 2019 and desktop Chrome/Edge in 2021. Today you're looking at [85-90% browser coverage](https://caniuse.com/?search=navigator.share). The main holdout is Firefox desktop - they only support it on Android. A simple "Copy Link" fallback handles the rest.

![Web Share API native dialog](./assets/navigator-share.png)

For full implementation details, check the [MDN documentation for navigator.share()](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Navigator/share).

Clean. Native. No external scripts.

Look at how major platforms handle this now. Medium and Dev.to don't splash a row of social icons across their pages. They hide sharing behind a single, recognizable share icon. Click it, and you get options - but it's tucked away, not competing for attention. Under the hood, it's often just opening a new tab with pre-filled text. The Web Share API does this natively and cleaner.

### Copy link button

Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. A "Copy Link" button using the Clipboard API gives users exactly what they need without the bloat.

### Great content

Here's the real secret: if your content is worth sharing, people will find a way to share it. They'll copy the URL, screenshot it, or send it directly to friends. No share button required.

## What I did on FreshJuice

Honestly, FreshJuice never really had traditional share buttons. Well, technically I added them when we launched three years ago, but they didn't last long.

After analyzing click data across my client websites, I realized how useless they were. Picture this: a blog with ~50,000 unique visitors per day was getting literally 10-20 clicks on share buttons _per month_. That's roughly 1.5 million visitors and maybe 15 clicks. And I'm pretty sure most of those were our own team members being too lazy to write posts manually - they just hit the button for a quick share to social media.

So I removed them from our main build pretty quickly. The result? More useful space on the page, no third-party logos cluttering our design, and faster load times.

What I _did_ recently add is a native share button. You can see it floating on the left side of the content as you scroll. One small button that opens your device's native share menu or copies the link to clipboard. On mobile, it's pinned to the bottom-left corner - out of the way while you read, but there when you need quick access to sharing.

I've set up event tracking to see how much interaction this button gets. Honestly? I doubt it'll see massive usage. But that's not really the point. It looks clean, doesn't interfere with reading, takes up almost no space, and simplifies the user experience for those who _do_ want to share. That's all it needs to do.

### A note for HubSpot users

If your blog runs on HubSpot, I strongly recommend disabling Social sharing buttons in your blog settings.

![HubSpot Social sharing buttons settings](./assets/social-sharing-buttons.png)

Here's the thing: even if your template doesn't visually display these buttons, having the checkboxes enabled means HubSpot loads a bunch of third-party scripts on every page. These scripts track your visitors and create cookies without their explicit consent - not great in a world of GDPR and CCPA compliance.

Disable them. You get zero benefit from keeping them on, but turning them off makes your site noticeably faster. These "little helpers" seriously hurt page load times and clutter your visitors' cookie storage with tracking data they never asked for.

## Conclusion

Check your analytics. Look at how many people actually click your share buttons. I'm willing to bet it's close to zero.

The era of social share buttons is over. Meta said it themselves. AddThis saw it coming. It's time to let go and embrace cleaner, faster, more privacy-respecting alternatives.

Your users will thank you. They just won't click a button to tell you.
---
## Your 404 page sucks (and how to fix it)
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/404-pages-hidden-seo-opportunity/
Published: 2025-12-06
Author: reatlat
Tags: SEO, Website Optimization, User Experience, CRO
> 80% of users bounce from 404 pages. Here's how brands like Marvel, Pixar, and LEGO turn dead ends into engagement — and how you can too.
import vid_smiles_like_this_agent_k from "./assets/video/smiles-like-this-agent-k.mp4?url";
import vid_404_marvel from "./assets/video/404-marvel.mp4?url";
import vid_404_blizzard from "./assets/video/404-blizzard.mp4?url";
import vid_404_9gag from "./assets/video/404-9gag.mp4?url";
import vid_404_freshjuice from "./assets/video/404-freshjuice.mp4?url";

import VideoGIF from "@/components/mdx/VideoGIF.astro";

Most 404 pages are incredibly boring. They smile like Agent K from Men in Black, which is to say, they don't smile at all.

<VideoGIF src={vid_smiles_like_this_agent_k} width={450} height={208} />

Not only that, but bounce rates on 404 pages typically exceed 80%, significantly impacting overall website performance and damaging your site's reputation in general. For any SEO expert, a 404 page represents shame, but this shame can be transformed into an advantage and convert users into positive vibes.

All 404 pages look alike and appear so ordinary these days that users don't even bother looking for alternative paths or links to valuable resources. They just bounce. Even adding a search bar to the 404 page doesn't help because by that point, you've already lost their attention and trust.

## Why common SEO advice fails

Most SEO **"experts"** recommend adding a prominent link or button to the homepage on 404 pages. In my opinion, this is pointless. When a user lands on a 404 page, they're already disappointed. Their interest has dimmed so much that they'll simply leave in search of alternatives rather than click through to hunt for content on your homepage.

But there's an even worse approach: automatically redirecting all 404 pages to the homepage with a 301 redirect. This makes the user feel caught in a **clickbait trap**. Instead of the content they were looking for, they're suddenly presented with irrelevant material without any explanation. This **bait-and-switch** experience creates a negative impression, damaging trust and brand perception.

If you've read similar articles from **so-called** experts, you'll notice they're all written like **carbon copies**, offering the same standard advice. However, from my years of experience in SEO and CRO, I can confirm that these seemingly logical suggestions don't work in practice.

Here's the advice you'll find everywhere that simply doesn't deliver results:

### Common approaches that don't deliver results

You'll often think that providing users with clear paths forward by including:

- Search bar to find what they were looking for. This is useless because most users have had poor experiences with site searches and don't attempt to use them.
- Links to popular content or sections. Sometimes this works, but more often it doesn't.
- Site map or navigation menu. This is interesting and potentially useful, but not always effective.
- Contact information for help. This is completely useless on 404 pages.

### Avoid being boring: brand personality and creativity

Newsletter signup forms are the **biggest mistake** that all companies make: [no one these days subscribes to newsletters](/blog/asking-your-visitors-email-subscription/) to receive spam in their email. Even if someone did want to subscribe to updates, there's no chance they would do so after landing on a 404 page. It's the worst possible moment to ask for an email address.

Other conversion opportunities that have limited effectiveness:

- Links to special offers or promotions. Rarely effective when someone just hit a dead end.
- Call-to-actions for relevant products or services. The timing couldn't be worse for a sales pitch.
- Suggestion of similar content they might be interested in. Hard to guess what they wanted when you don't know why they came.

## What I recommend from my years of experience in SEO and CRO

Stop looking at other industry leaders! You won't hear any creativity from them! You won't believe how often in brainstorming sessions I hear: "What are our competitors doing? How are market leaders doing this?" It's okay whether it's good or bad, but we'll copy them, simply because it's an easy way to copy someone.

Looking at competitors for inspiration and ideas isn't shameful, it's necessary. You should study what others are doing to understand the landscape and find inspiration. But simply copying without adding your own creative touch is meaningless.

> "Good artists copy, great artists steal." — Pablo Picasso

The key difference is that "stealing" in the creative sense means transforming what you see into something uniquely yours, not just duplicating it.

We all know the Apple effect and how all phone manufacturers try to imitate the famous iPhone. How many such phones can you recall right now? This is indeed a paradox, but I ask you: Why, when a new iPhone comes out, do all Android fans start discussing it and saying how bad it is, claiming they've had that feature for thousands of years? But when a new Android phone comes out, iPhone fans don't even hear about it and don't know about it.

This is all about brand recognizability and uniqueness. People want to see something new and fresh, not another copy of what already exists in the market.

I ask you to **STOP PLAYING SAFE AND START BEING CREATIVE**! Remember that on the other side of the screen are real people with souls and emotions; that's what gives Apple and other successful brands their magic. You should strive for that. I know I'm being preachy and you might not have read to this point, but believe me, if you want to stand out from the crowd and be noticed, you need to be **creative and fun**.

## Best practices for 404 page design

Let's define what you need to consider to create a good 404 page:

1. **Keep users on the site**: You must retain users on the page at any cost, but definitely not with boring content. You've already messed up and made an error, so you need to smooth things over.

2. **Provide clear explanations**: Let users know what happened without technical jargon; remember that people are different and not everyone understands technical language, so you need to be as close to people as possible and explain everything in simple terms.

3. **Offer alternative content**: Suggest similar pages or popular content, but be smart about it. On large websites with diverse topics, generic "popular posts" rarely match what the user was looking for.

4. **Use visual elements**: Include images, graphics, or animations to maintain engagement.

5. **Play on this awkward situation with jokes and humor**: People love when they're treated with humor and lightness, not as robots. Yes, in the end, simply admit your big mistake that it's shameful to have lost content. People like to see that someone else messed up and even more so acknowledged their fault.

## What other authors say about 404 pages

While researching this topic, I came across several good articles that inspired some of my thinking. You might notice some overlap in the examples I feature, and that's no coincidence: great 404 pages tend to get noticed.

Here are some worth reading:

- [Pagecloud: Best 404 Pages](https://www.pagecloud.com/blog/best-404-pages)
- [Tillison: 404 Pages That Help Reduce Bounce Rate](https://tillison.co.uk/blog/404-pages-that-help-to-reduce-bounce-rate/)
- [HostAdvice: Creative 404 Pages](https://hostadvice.com/blog/creating-a-website/creative-404-pages/)

One thing I noticed though: not all of these authors apply their own advice. Take a look at their 404 pages ([Pagecloud](https://www.pagecloud.com/404), [Tillison](https://tillison.co.uk/404), [HostAdvice](https://hostadvice.com/404)) and judge for yourself. HostAdvice actually did a nice job with theirs.

## Brands who actually get it right

Enough theory. Let me show you some 404 pages that nail it.

### Marvel

[Marvel's 404](https://marvel.com/404) puts their superheroes front and center. They tied the error message to a specific character, added subtle animations, and here's the genius part: refresh the page and you get a different hero. Simple idea, perfect execution.

<VideoGIF src={vid_404_marvel} width={768} height={346} />

### Pixar

Anxiety from "Inside Out 2" explains the error using concepts straight from the movie. Tons of white space, beautiful design, completely on-brand. This is what happens when a creative company actually gets creative with their [404](https://www.pixar.com/404).

![Pixar 404 page](./assets/404-pixar.png)

### Blizzard

Lost in a blizzard? A friendly murloc greets you and helps you find your way home. It's animated, it's cute, and it fits their gaming brand perfectly. [Check it out](https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/404).

<VideoGIF src={vid_404_blizzard} width={768} height={482} />

### LEGO

Proof that you don't need to overcomplicate things. A picture of a confused LEGO figure, one line of text, and a button to go home. That's it. And [it still makes you smile](https://www.lego.com/404) every time.

![LEGO 404 page](./assets/404-lego.png)

### Airbnb

An animated girl drops her ice cream. You feel bad for her. You don't want to leave right away because that wouldn't be nice, right? [Emotional manipulation](https://www.airbnb.com/404) at its finest, and it works.

![Airbnb 404 page](./assets/404-airbnb.png)

### Dan Woodger

This freelance illustrator (whose work you've seen at McDonald's) uses one of his friendly burger characters holding a "sorry" flag. Subtle CTA sends you to check out his other work. He turned [a dead end into a portfolio showcase](https://danwoodger.com/404).

![Dan Woodger 404 page](./assets/404-woodger.png)

### Chili Piper

"Ahhhhhhh! This page does not exist." And then they offer you to sit and listen to some music. Red Hot Chili Peppers, of course. The name pun is obvious, but [it works](https://www.chilipiper.com/404). Sometimes the simplest jokes are the best ones.

![Chili Piper 404 page](./assets/404-chilipiper.png)

### HubSpot

"We're heartbroken we missed you." Classic HubSpot: they turn every touchpoint into a lead nurturing opportunity. Links to their platform, blog, and Academy. Not the most creative, but they [stay on-brand](https://www.hubspot.com/404) and keep you engaged with their content ecosystem.

![HubSpot 404 page](./assets/404-hubspot.png)

### 9GAG

Movement catches attention. [9GAG's 404](https://9gag.com/404) uses a simple animated GIF that feels native to their platform. They also sneak in a CTA to download the app. Animated GIFs are relatable, shareable, and make your error page feel less like a dead end.

<VideoGIF src={vid_404_9gag} width={768} height={579} />

### Lands' end

Here's a different approach: exit intent. When you're about to leave their [404 page](https://www.landsend.co.uk/404), a popup offers 40% off full-price items. Aggressive? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely. If you're losing the visitor anyway, why not try to convert them with a discount?

![Lands' End 404 page](./assets/404-landsend.png)

### FreshJuice (yes, that's us)

I saved the best for last. [Our 404 page](https://freshjuice.dev/404) picks a random iconic song and rewrites the lyrics to fit the 404 situation. "Never gonna find this page, never gonna load it up..." with an embedded YouTube video right there. Refresh and you get a different band. Green Day today, Rolling Stones tomorrow.

<VideoGIF src={vid_404_freshjuice} width={768} height={582} />

The idea for creative 404 pages came to me about three years ago when I was working closely with Chili Piper, integrating their systems into HubSpot. I accidentally stumbled upon their 404 page and it hooked me instantly. I spent about 10 minutes just sitting there, listening to "Californication" by Red Hot Chili Peppers on repeat.

Inspired by their example, I created my own version at [alex.zappa.dev/404](https://alex.zappa.dev/404), where I played with the lyrics of "Angry" by Rolling Stones and embedded the music video.

Why? Because 404s don't have to be boring. I practice what I preach. Remember: there are real people on the other side of the screen. Make them smile, not bounce.

## Technical considerations

Beyond the design elements, consider these technical aspects:

- Ensure 404 pages return the correct HTTP status code
- Don't block 404 pages from search crawlers in robots.txt
- Monitor 404 errors regularly and fix important broken links (only important ones, not everything)
- Use Google Search Console to identify important 404 issues

## Measuring success

You absolutely must set up a tracking system on 404 pages (usually I see that people try to exclude any tracking from these pages, which in my opinion is grammatical ignorance). You should measure 404s like all other pages and possibly pay it even the same attention as valuable pages since 404 is a very good opportunity to convert people into customers.

Track these metrics to measure the effectiveness of your improved 404 page:

- Bounce rate on 404 pages (should be significantly below 80%)
- Exit rate from 404 pages
- Pages that users engage with after landing on 404
- Search queries that led to 404 errors

## Conclusion

A 404 page doesn't have to be an SEO expert's shame. Instead of accepting boring, high-bounce 404 pages, transform them into opportunities that actually convert.

Remember, every visitor who lands on a 404 page was once interested in your content. Don't let that interest die. Connect with them through humor, own your mistake, and guide them somewhere valuable. That's what separates forgettable websites from memorable brands.
---
## The AI visibility playbook: AEO briefing for B2B marketers
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/aeo-tips-b2b-marketers/
Published: 2025-12-01
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: AEO, AI, AI Optimization, Answer Engine Optimization, B2B Marketing, AI-driven content, SEO Strategies, Content Strategy
> Discover 10 actionable AEO tips from Orange Marketing's webinar with Rebecca Gonzalez. Learn proven strategies for AI visibility including content formatting, third-party citations, llms.txt implementation, and tracking tools.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_aeo_tips_b2b_marketers from "./assets/aeo-tips-b2b-marketers.png";

import YouTube from "@/components/mdx/YouTube.astro";

Our friends at [Orange Marketing](https://www.orangemarketing.com/) hosted a webinar a couple of weeks ago about AEO to share tips and insights on this emerging SEO trend. During the session, our dear friend and brilliant marketer [Rebecca Gonzalez](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccagonzalez/) shared 10 actionable tips and the exact strategies that have been working for her to gain AI visibility after months of applying them. In the webinar, which you can find below, you won't find an explanation of what AEO is, but tips to help you navigate this new trend.

<YouTube
  id="Y82YZiK8FTo"
  caption="Orange Marketing's AI Visibility Playbook AEO Briefing for B2B Marketers webinar with Rebecca Gonzalez"
/>

Because we loved this webinar, we've prepared a summary, along with a few comments from our own perspective, of the key lessons Rebecca shared to help you enhance your AEO strategy. Let's dive in!

## Why AI visibility is important right now?

We have already talked about [AEO in FreshJuice](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) and the importance of appearing in AI tools, as it's becoming a new trend for users to rely on AI instead of traditional search engines. However, as Rebecca mentioned at the beginning of the webinar, everyone's traffic started to plummet in 2024 due to AI. While SEO is still worth working on, AI visibility is now crucial, and the data supports this. For example, even Google's AI implementation has negatively impacted ranked pages, with a 47% reduction in clicks when AI overview results appear. Some marketers have dubbed this the "traffic apocalypse."

<Image
  src={img_assets_aeo_tips_b2b_marketers}
  alt="AEO tips for B2B marketers from Orange Marketing webinar"
  width={500}
/>

On the other hand, while Google traffic is slowing down, AI-driven traffic is increasing. Conversion rates from AI traffic are six times higher than those from Google, as buyers using AI have usually already done their research and are ready to convert, resulting in a 24% conversion rate.

It's worth noting that we will discuss AI tools in general here, but ChatGPT is currently dominating the market. However, since the industry is still new, we believe it's better not to focus on a single tool, and instead create a strategy that works across all AI platforms.

## The 10 tips for AEO tactics to apply on 2026 based on Orange Marketing

As AEO is a new trend, marketers are facing a situation similar to what happened with Google's algorithm in its early days. Back then, there wasn't either any official documentation explaining exactly how the algorithm worked, so SEO specialists had to rely on assumptions, experimentation, and A/B testing to figure out what strategies actually helped websites rank. The same is true for AEO: because it's so new, there is a LOT of misinformation circulating. Many marketing blogs are eager to grab attention, and some marketers even spread misinformation in order to appear as if they are the first to "know the truth" about how AI works.

But you don't need to worry about that here. The strategies recommended by [Orange Marketing](https://www.orangemarketing.com/) are backed by real results. After months of research and A/B testing with actual customers, these 10 tips have been proven to work effectively, helping brands improve their AI visibility without relying on guesswork.

### 1. Put the answer first

The main difference between SEO and AEO is that AI doesn't rank based on keywords but on questions, specifically, the ones users are actually asking. That's why the first tip to make AI love you (and include your site in its answers) is to create content in the way AI wants to find it. To do this, your content should be question-based and follow a structure where the question is:

- answered directly and immediately,
- expanded afterwards, and
- supported by a [FAQ section](/blog/faq-section-for-seo/) at the bottom to give AI even more direct answers to work with.

If you're familiar with SEO, you might be thinking this sounds similar to what you already do like turning headings into questions. And you're right! The main difference is that instead of writing long, SEO-driven articles first and answering later, with AEO you put the clear, direct answer right at the top.

Other similarities with SEO still apply: follow a clear [hierarchical structure](/tools/heading-extractor/), use clean headings, and format your content with bullet points and Q&A sections. These were great for UX before and they're still AI visibility.

According to Orange Marketing professionals, simply applying this tip can lead to an 8% traffic increase in just 3 weeks.

### 2. Format all content for AI

As mentioned before, AI loves structure, which is why formatting your content matters just as much as the questions you use or how you answer them. In the webinar, Rebecca shared a list of essential formatting elements you should include:

- Tables and comparison charts
- Bullet points and numbered lists (as you can see, we're already using them in this article!)
- Question-based headings
- Logical content hierarchy

Using these elements not only helps AI understand your content better but also makes it easier for users to read and navigate.

### 3. Create brand or product summary blocks

This was a tip we didn't know ourselves and one we haven't seen mentioned in any AEO or AI visibility blog posts: the importance of brand and product summary blocks. This means adding short text sections at the beginning of pages that help AI understand who you are or what your product is, so it can accurately describe your company when recommending you. To do this, simply add 2-3 sentences under a heading like "About [your brand]" or "About [your product]", giving a short (and obviously positive!) description.

Why should you do this? Well, if `llms.txt` pages are pulling your content, you want AI to clearly identify that it's coming from you. And to make that happen, you need to explicitly tell AI who you are and what you offer, otherwise, it can't recommend you properly. Plus, since AI is basically a "lazy robot in a hurry," you need to make things as easy as possible. If you don't, it will just… ignore you.

We know this might feel silly or repetitive for users when reading, but hey… IT WORKS! Use your creativity to weave it into your content naturally, because the results are definitely worth it.

### 4. Build third-party citations

AI loves social media (except LinkedIn, which can't be crawled). In fact, it heavily cites platforms like Reddit, YouTube, podcasts, and media outlets, since they usually include real people's opinions about products, brands, and specific topics. Having a presence on these channels beyond your website can make you much more visible in AI results.

Try to appear on guest podcasts, publish press releases for product launches, write guest posts for industry sites, and contribute meaningfully on Reddit.

### 5. Publish on AI-crawled platforms

Building citations on social media and other third-party channels is just the first step. To maximize your AI visibility, you also need to be present on AI-crawled platforms. As Rebecca wonderfully explains, AI training data comes from specific platforms, so being present on those platforms can make you far more visible to AI. The main sources used include Wikipedia, Reddit, YouTube, Quora, Gartner, and Reuters.

Q&A and forum-type sites are being referenced more and more, and many people are trying to leverage them to get AI mentions. But remember: your mentions on these platforms must be genuine and truthful. It's not worth playing games by posting a question yourself and then replying with another account. If you try to add sketchy or spammy content, it will destroy your strategy.

Beyond these platforms and as mentioned before, other credible media outlets also help, so aim to get featured wherever your brand can be recognized as a trustworthy source.

### 6. Add alt text and transcripts

Regarding this tip, before diving in, we'd like to clarify one thing. Rebecca's definition of alt text isn't exactly the standard definition. It's more aligned with how SEO often uses it. According to the [Digital Accessibility Services of Harvard University](https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/describe-content-images):

> "Alternative (Alt) Text is a brief text description of images and graphics, and is an essential part of making content accessible. When adding images, icons, or other graphic elements to digital content, be sure to add alt text so that your content will be accessible to all users."

In other words, alt text is an accessibility feature designed for blind and low-vision users. It's not inherently an SEO or AEO tool, it exists to provide a description for people who can't access visual content.

That being said, if you want to use alt text to enhance AI visibility, it's important to choose images related to your content and make sure the alt text accurately describes the image. Imagine being a blind person trying to understand an image, and all you get is a keyword or a prompt that doesn't actually describe what's shown. It wouldn't be helpful or fair.

The best practice is to think about accessibility first. If you want AI to benefit from alt text, make it accessible too. AI and search engine crawlers "read" alt text to understand images [as screen readers do](https://afb.org/blindness-and-low-vision/using-technology/assistive-technology-products/screen-readers) since they cannot see the visuals. That's why we recommend:

- Only include images that add real value to your content.
- Make sure the images are relevant to the topic.

For example, adding a picture of a cat in a blog post about the [Dunning-Kruger effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect) wouldn't make sense. On the other hand, including a slide from the webinar with a transcription of the text as alt text in this article would make it accessible both for AI and for blind and low-vision users.

Besides images, there are videos and other audiovisual contents. To make them accessible for both AI and disabled people add:

- Full video transcripts on your page
- Converts PDFs to open web pages
- Descriptive alt text on all images
- HubSpot-style pillar pages with comprehensive content.

Accessibility is a feature designed primarily for disabled users, and it just so happens that it can also be beneficial for marketing purposes. The key is to put people first and use accessibility features in a way that works for both users and AI. A good way to do this is to navigate your site as if you were blind by using a screen reader and see if the content is understandable. If it is, you're doing it right!

### 7. Get reviews and testimonials

We've already mentioned that AI relies on different platforms to gather content. Besides those previously mentioned, AI loves review sites. According to the Orange Marketing team, AI uses these sites to double-check the veracity of the information on your website. AI likes to compare data and prioritize what seems real and, what's more trustworthy than a customer review?

That's why, even though your website's own [reviews and testimonials](/blog/should-i-use-testimonials-on-my-website/) can help, AI also checks third-party review platforms like G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, or Google. Rebecca says that Google reviews work amazingly, but in our experience with the brands we work with, results have been mixed. So, it's safer not to rely solely on Google reviews and to collect testimonials on other publicly available third-party sites as well.

We'd also like to point out that, as marketers working with European-based brands, we've noticed that AI seems heavily focused on the US, since it draws most of its data from US-based review platforms like the ones mentioned or Trustpilot, which isn't as widely used elsewhere. If your brand is based outside the US, it may sometimes be more challenging to get your reviews to appear prominently in AI results.

### 8. Use schema markup

Even though it was focused on SEO, we've already written a complete guide that you can read [here](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/), which provides all the information you need to implement it for AEO as well.

### 9. Implement llms.txt

The same goes for `llms.txt`. We published an exhaustive guide on implementing this file a couple of weeks ago, which you can read [here](/blog/how-to-use-and-install-llms-txt-file-in-hubspot/).

### 10. Track your AI visibility

First and foremost, it is essential to be aware that 57% of brands that disappeared in one query resurfaced later, while only 30% remained consistently visible. As stated in the webinar, AI rankings are probabilistic, not fixed, and this piece of information is vital. Fluctuations are completely normal, and if it happens to you, it doesn't mean you're not doing a good job. Keep this in mind while tracking your AI visibility.

Knowing this, Rebecca recommends going "lo-fi." You can track AI prompt visibility manually or use tools to do it (she recommends tools later). She also suggests thinking like a customer to figure out the prompts and start working from there. For example, if you want to know which AEO tool is better, how would you ask ChatGPT for it? That's how you would find a prompt that users use.

If you use HubSpot, you can enable the "AI Referrers" tool to track ChatGPT and Perplexity as original sources.

## What to do with all these information and tips?

Even though everything is changing very quickly, some information becomes outdated fast, and we don't really know exactly how AI works. Rebecca emphasizes that the suggested tips are basics and 100% worth implementing. That's why she recommends revisiting the following playbook every six months:

- [Check your content](/blog/seo-audit-guide/) and update all the outdated info you find.
- Prune irrelevant content without worrying about SEO as irrelevant content won't help you and you can always redirect.
- Review best practices again to find any issues and update accordingly.
- Test your AI visibility to see if the AEO strategy is working or not.

## What tools does Orange Marketing recommend?

Regarding tools to both track and implement AI visibility actions, the Orange Marketing team has been using the following for different projects. Most of these are paid tools (and quite overpriced), as the market is still quite new and brands are taking advantage of that, but they work great.

- **[HubSpot AEO Grader](https://www.hubspot.com/aeo-grader).** The first recommended tool, and probably one of the best ones, is HubSpot's own AEO tool. Besides being easy to use and providing valuable insights, it's FREE! The tool includes features such as analyzing your content for AI optimization, tracking performance, and suggesting actionable improvements, allowing you to boost your AI visibility without any extra cost.
- **[AI Trust Signals.](https://app.aitrustsignals.com/)** This audit tool is not free, but you can get a first look at it at no cost. It's designed to help you analyze your website's AI trust, assessing how well your content and site structure align with best practices for AI visibility. By using this tool, you can identify areas for improvement and make data-driven adjustments to build credibility and increase your AI performance thanks to its suggestions. The monthly subscription goes from $10 to $25 monthly, which is not too much but can be if you already pay more AEO and SEO tools.
- **[Helpful Hero SuperSchema.](https://superschema.ai/)** We've talked a LOT about schema and how important it is for both SEO and AEO, so working on it with a tool (especially one that's partially free) is crucial. Helpful Hero SuperSchema can help you create, manage, and optimize your schema markup more efficiently. Its price varies from how many credits you need and can go from $19.99 to $499.99 for 1000 credits.
- **Traditional SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, etc.** Well-known all-in-one SEO tools such as SEMrush or Ahrefs now include AEO features that let you track performance, find prompts, and analyze your existing content. These tools can be a good investment if you're already using them as by increasing your monthly subscription, you can gain access to AEO tools (TBH, a bit sketchy of them to charge extra for it). While they are somewhat generic, they work well.

Rebecca also mentions the FreshJuice tools (thanks, dear friend!) and especially shouts out our [llms.txt generator](/tools/llmstxt-generator/), which we launched a couple of weeks ago, and that can help you easily create an `llms.txt` file for AI tools to crawl your site. We also offer a free [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/) and [Metadata Checker](/tools/metadata-checker/) to help you audit your pages. If you are interested in learning more about `llms.txt`, you can check [our latest in-depth article about this topic](/blog/llms-txt-implementation-guide/), in which we will also teach you how to implement it.

Another mentioned and highly recommended tool by Orange Marketing team is [ScrunchAI](https://scrunch.com/pricing/), which is quite expensive ($250/month), but according to their experience, it's definitely worth it.

**Ours and Orange Marketing POV?** Investing in these tools will depend on your budget. Since they can be pricey and somewhat generic, a smarter approach is to try to find affordable alternatives. However, if you have a larger budget, these tools are worth the investment because they provide a centralized platform where you can manage everything in one place, rather than juggling multiple tools for different tasks.

## 3 ways to ensure the success of your AI visibility strategy

Applying the tips above is not enough. As we mentioned earlier, AEO is still very new, and things change constantly and what works today may not work a few months from now. That's why it's crucial to regularly monitor your site's performance. To do that effectively and ensure the success of your AI visibility strategy, you should keep a close eye on three key metrics: visibility, conversions, and content performance.

1. **Visibility metrics.** This consists of checking your [brand's mention rate](https://ahrefs.com/blog/brand-mentions/), which can be tracked both with one of the tools recommended before or manually.
2. **Conversion metrics.** These metrics relate to visits and conversions, which you can track using your preferred analytics tool (such as GA4 or [HubSpot's built-in analytics](/blog/track-seo-success-with-hubspot-analytics/)). However, Rebecca highlights an interesting point: sometimes these tools don't attribute conversions accurately. She recommends that if you use a form to collect leads, for example, you add a question asking users where they came from. Her team has seen cases where traffic is labeled as "direct," but when they ask users directly, they say they actually found them through ChatGPT. These insights are KEY!
3. **Content performance metrics.** Also in your preferred analytics tool, track factors like engagement (time on page, scroll depth) and click-through rates to see which content is driving visibility, attracting visitors, and supporting conversions. Over time, this insight helps you optimize your content strategy for AEO and ensures that the content you create continues to perform effectively.

## What to work on every week?

Rebecca recommends a "Monday plan" to help you implement AEO gradually. You shouldn't try to do "everything, everywhere, all at once" as that approach will only overwhelm you, make tracking quite challenging, and ultimately prevent you from understanding what truly works.

To get started with AEO, you should:

1. **Turn on AI Referrers tracking in HubSpot.** The first thing to actually start working with AI visibility is having a way to track the improvements or deficiencies of your AEO strategy, so, first up, turn on AI referrers tracking in HubSpot by following the steps in the following tutorial:

   <YouTube
     id="7e9fsiknByU"
     caption="How to enable AI Referrers tracking in HubSpot"
   />

2. **Add FAQ sections to your most-visited pages.** One of the easiest and most effective ways to start implementing your AEO strategy is by incorporating topic-based prompts in a format that AI tools, like Contentwise, can easily recognize. The simplest way to do this is by adding an FAQ section to your top-performing pages and monitoring how they perform. We also recommend using specific FAQ Schema markup to make it even easier for AI to crawl the content and not format it as an accordion (Rebecca mentions that, in her opinion, it won't work as well). Make sure the questions you include are structured like actual AI prompts and that they directly answer the questions. And if you're unsure about which questions to include, you can always start with questions your customers have asked about a specific product to your customer success department. This is a great starting point, as these are prompts that customers are likely searching for and can be answered in a clear and direct way.

3. **Add brand summary blocks to your top 10 pages.** As mentioned in the third tip of the Orange Marketing Playbook, another type of content that is easy to implement and highly effective for AI visibility is adding brand or product summaries to your pages. Rebecca recommends starting with the top 10 performing pages on your site to test it out. Track their performance weekly to decide whether it makes sense to expand this approach to more pages.

As you can see, the key is to start improving AI visibility step by step with these ten basic tips, and you will start to see results in as little as 3 weeks, as Rebecca mentioned at the end of the webinar. This approach makes it easy to implement, track, and organize an effective strategy to enhance the AEO of your site. By taking gradual, consistent actions, you not only make your content more understandable for AI but also create a stronger, more structured foundation for long-term growth and improved user experience.

**Disclaimer:** At the end of the webinar, questions were asked to Rebecca about AI visibility. We haven't included a specific section for this in our summary, as we preferred to integrate her answers throughout the article. We hope you enjoyed it, and we encourage you to [watch the full webinar on YouTube](#youtube-Y82YZiK8FTo) as it's 100% worth it!
---
## First-party personalization and privacy-safe signals
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/first-party-personalization-privacy-safe-signals/
Published: 2025-11-25
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Privacy, Data Privacy, First-Party Data, Personalization, GDPR, Marketing
> Learn how to use first-party data and privacy-safe signals to personalize user experiences while staying compliant with GDPR and building trust with your audience.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_first_privacy_data from "./assets/first-privacy-data.png";

Do you collect data from your users? You probably do. We’re asking because while you may be managing users’ data as you always have, things have changed a lot. As regulations improve to protect data privacy and users grow increasingly frustrated with how companies use their information (for example, flooding their inboxes with newsletters), there is a growing need to both safeguard and personalize how marketers use collected data.

<Image
  src={img_assets_first_privacy_data}
  alt="First-party personalization and privacy-safe signals"
  width={500}
/>

The previous trend was to gather as much user data as possible and use it to run numerous marketing campaigns - often quite spammy - like pop-ups, newsletters, and SMS messages. Nowadays, users want to avoid all this clutter. They dislike websites that bombard them with [annoying pop-ups](/blog/are-pop-ups-bad-for-seo/) and prefer a more personalized experience when they do receive marketing messages.

This article will focus on your sites' privacy settings and how we should manage users information to help you not only adapt your privacy settings to the new trends and data protection rules, but also enhancing your marketing strategy by improving the user experience as well as building trust with your users.

But, first of all, let’s understand what we mean with first-party personalization and privacy-safe signals.

## What we mean when talking about first-party personalization?

First-party data is the information a company collects directly from its audience through its own channels, such as websites, email campaigns, and mobile apps, among others. This data often includes behavioral information, such as browsing history, purchase behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns, and may also include personal information provided by users. First-party data is highly valuable because it is collected directly from your audience, making it more accurate, reliable, and privacy-compliant compared to third-party data, which is collected by companies that have no direct relationship with the individual. Companies can use first-party data to personalize marketing campaigns, improve customer experiences, and make informed business decisions - which is exactly what interests us.

When we talk about the personalization aspect of this data, we mean the ability to use the information provided by users to tailor what they receive from us. For example, it could determine what products users see on our website or the type of content suggested at the end of an article to keep them engaged on your site. Collecting this first-party information gives us insights into users’ preferences - such as which products they like on an e-commerce site, which topics they enjoy most on our blog, and how they interact with our content. With this knowledge, we can deliver a more relevant and engaging experience.

This is quite interesting because, by using it properly, we can customize how and what users receive from you. In this way, you provide users with a personalized experience, giving them exactly what they want. For example, in the case of an e-commerce business, this personalization can increase the likelihood of purchases.

In fact, this is not new. Streaming platforms have been using first-party data for years to keep users paying their monthly subscriptions and generating billions of dollars in revenue. And although [Netflix’s case](https://www.aidataanalytics.network/data-science-ai/articles/data-science-at-netflix-how-advanced-data-analytics-helped-netflix-generate-billions) may seem extreme - since they have invested billions in developing big data tools to analyze and act on this information - it remains a strong success story of how first-party data can be used effectively.

Furthermore, under recent privacy laws, first-party data receives more favorable treatment compared to data not collected directly from users. This is because first-party data is gathered directly from users and is consented to through a transparent disclaimer. This aligns with [regulations like the GDPR](https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/redirection/document/51025), which prioritize user consent and data transparency.

### What is the difference between first-party and zero-party data?

The main difference between first-party and zero-party data lies in how the data is collected. First-party data is gathered passively from users, as it primarily consists of behavioral information, as mentioned earlier. In contrast, zero-party data is collected actively, meaning the user intentionally shares this information with you. For example, first-party data can include website browsing history and clicks, purchase history, or in-app behavior, while zero-party data includes preferences selected in a customer account or answers provided in surveys and quizzes.

Zero-party data is more difficult to obtain because, after years of receiving endless promotions and [useless newsletters](/blog/asking-your-visitors-email-subscription/), users no longer trust websites that ask for their email or phone number. That’s why you need to build trust and offer not only something in return but also a personalized experience that makes them feel it’s worth sharing their data. By showing them what you can do with their first-party data, they may be more willing to share zero-party data.

## And what are privacy-safe signals?

On the other hand, privacy-safe signals are pieces of information that do not explicitly collect or expose personally identifiable data. For example, first-party data can sometimes be considered a privacy-safe signal when it consists of behavioral information such as session duration, scroll depth, or on-site actions. However, it only qualifies as a privacy-safe signal when the data is anonymized, aggregated, or used without tracking users across different sites.

As people become more aware of how websites use their data, they make more cautious decisions - not ideal for marketers, but better for themselves - to prevent their information from being used. They do this by declining data-collection banners, browsing in incognito mode, or [using VPNs](https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/vpn-survey-2025/). Privacy-safe signals help address these concerns because they are anonymized and reduce the exposure of personal data. This is important from a user perspective, as privacy-safe signals ensure that third-party cookies are blocked, the website is more compliant with stricter privacy regulations, and users receive greater privacy.

Platforms such as Google Analytics 4, Meta’s Aggregated Event Measurement, and Google’s Privacy Sandbox APIs rely on these types of privacy-preserving signals.

### But when we personalize the data, is that considered privacy-safe signals?

Yes, it can be, but only if the personalization is done using privacy-compliant, first-party methods. To ensure this, users must give consent or have a clear expectation through one of the following: account login, cookie consent, or opt-in to marketing. The data can only be used within your platform, must not be shared externally, and no cross-site tracking is allowed.

These methods are technically easy to implement and can boost your brand’s trust, as they honor users’ preferences - something we will explain in more detail later.

## Why is this important using first-party data with privacy-safe signals

First of all, it’s important to follow the rules when collecting and using data - no one wants to run into GDPR or CCPA issues! But even more than that, using data responsibly builds trust. Once users see that you respect their information, they’re more likely to engage with your brand - and that makes your marketing work better.

In fact, personalization isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore. [A 2019 survey by Harris for Redpoint Global](https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/responsible-marketing-with-first-party-data) found that 63% of consumers expect personalization as a standard of service. People notice when their experience feels personal but not intrusive, and they reward that with loyalty and engagement.

[GDPR](https://secureprivacy.ai/blog/first-party-data-collection-compliance-gdpr-ccpa-2025) and other privacy laws make it clear: **you need to be transparent, get consent, and respect users’ control over their data**. Privacy-safe signals - like anonymized behavior data - let you personalize experiences without ever exposing personal info. That means you can still recommend the right products, suggest the right content, or send the right emails, all while keeping things safe for your users.

Big platforms are taking this seriously too. [Google](https://business.google.com/uk/privacy/strategy/), for example, is rolling out tools like Privacy Sandbox to help marketers use first-party data without invasive tracking. That means you can still deliver relevant experiences while keeping user privacy intact.

In short: **using first-party data with privacy-safe signals is a win-win**. You stay compliant, your users feel safe, and your marketing actually works better. And since most consumers now expect personalization, doing it the right way is just smart business.

### Who should use first-party personalization and privacy-safe signals?

Everyone that collects first-party information through their channels. What we are explaining here is the recommended strategy based not only on marketing performance but also on what regulations prefer regarding data collection and use. Using first-party personalization combined with privacy-safe signals has lots of potential as you are compliant to the regulations and therefore you can use that information without worrying as much as you’d do with third-party data and the marketing strategy will be a lot more effective as being capable of reading that information will give you lots of hints on how to convince your audience.

## How can you implement first-party personalization on your website?

Implementing first-party personalization on your platform (whether it is your website or a tool within it) will depend on the app used as CRM as well as the analysis tools you use for your data, but the steps are the following:

### 1. Collect first-party data with consent

Be direct and transparent about the collecting and use of data by using account sign-ups/logins, cookie banners with clear opt-in and marketing opt-ins like newsletters or notifications in which users can personalize how their data is going to be used and collected as well as show them in a clear way why you are collecting the data and how it will be used.

To collect data, use a CRM or analytics platform that supports first-party data tracking. CRMs like [HubSpot](/blog/hubspot-and-seo-for-startups/), analytical tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or marketing automation platforms like MailChimp or Klaviyo support first-party data tracking and are great reliable options.

### 2. Store and manage data securely

We've said this repeatedly, but it’s worth emphasizing: keep the data within your platform and systems, and don’t share it with third parties nor ANYONE! The data must be access-controlled and encrypted to prevent unauthorized access and protect user privacy. This is crucial.

If you have chosen a CRM, analytics platform, or marketing automation tool to collect your first-party data, make sure **it supports secure storage, role-based access, and encryption both while stored and being transmitted**. Regularly audit who has access to the data and remove permissions for inactive users or employees who no longer need it (don’t let them stick around like those friends who somehow stay even after your social battery has hit 0%). In other words: pick a tool that keeps data secure and encrypts it, and limit access to the right people so it can’t be read by anyone else.

Finally, ensure that users can easily access, update, or delete their data. To do so it’s smart to use a CRM or data management tool that includes user self-service options, such as account settings or preference centers. This way, users can control their own information, update their preferences, or remove data if they choose, giving them confidence that their privacy is respected and letting them personalized it whenever they want to. Providing this level of transparency and control not only keeps you compliant with privacy regulations but also builds trust and strengthens your relationship with your audience.

### 3. Use the data for personalization

Avoid cross-site tracking and implement on-platform personalization ONLY. For example, you can provide product or content recommendations, customized emails or newsletters, and in-app or on-site suggestions - but without relying on third-party trackers like Meta Pixel (Zuckerberg always taking care of our data) that follow users around the internet in that annoyingly persistent way.

To do so, make sure your personalization tools rely only on first-party data collected directly on your platform. Set up your CRM, analytics, or marketing automation tools to track user behavior and preferences within your own website or app, and use that information to tailor recommendations, emails, or content. This way, you can deliver personalize relevant experiences without exposing personal information to third-party trackers, keeping your users happy - and maybe even a little impressed that you respect their privacy (take that, Zuckerberg!).

### 4. Monitor and maintain compliance

As we've already mentioned, regulations are constantly changing - this whole data collection and management thing is still pretty new, and authorities are figuring out ways to make sure companies don’t take advantage of it and harm users. That’s why we recommend not only following all the steps we’ve outlined but also staying updated on what the latest laws and regulations say to maintain compliance.

This isn’t a one-day job that you do once and forget about. It’s something you need to check and improve constantly. Review your data collection practices, consent mechanisms, and privacy policies regularly to make sure everything is still in line with current rules.

And, of course, don’t forget to test and optimize accordingly. Keep an eye on what’s working, tweak what isn’t, and make sure your personalization strategies stay effective - all while respecting users’ privacy. Doing this keeps your users happy, your marketing sharp, and your brand out of trouble.

## What are the best first-party personalization tools for websites?

When it comes to which apps to use, there are plenty out there, but not every tool plays nice with privacy-safe signals.

We've already mentioned some solid options like [HubSpot for analytics](/blog/track-seo-success-with-hubspot-analytics/) or MailChimp to manage contacts and create newsletter campaigns. These are great tools as they allow personalization and are privacy-safe.

But here’s the thing: instead of just giving you a list, we’d rather encourage you to dig deep into what each tool actually offers in terms of data protection. There might be a tool out there that’s even better than the ones we've used - and it might not end up on any list. That’s why we prefer to give you the freedom to choose the app you want, but make sure you read how they manage the data, how they store it, and what kind of consent mechanisms they provide. And if they don’t give clear info? Skip them. Don’t rely on ChatGPT for this - READ THE HELL out of their manuals! Your users’ privacy depends on it.

It must be said that, even though you use the best app, you have to know how to analyze that data and have a good understanding in creating a good strategy. If you have high-quality data, but don’t understand it, even the best strategy will be a flop.

In other words, choose tools that:

- Respect privacy and support anonymized or first-party data only
- Give you full control over the data
- Don’t share the data to third parties
- Integrate well with your existing website or CRM
- Provide clear documentation about compliance

Use these tools as your foundation, but remember: the secret juice is knowing your data and applying it smartly. That’s what makes personalization actually work.

## Benefits of combining first-party data with privacy-safe signals

After all these definitions and instructions, you probably already have an idea that combining first-party data with privacy-safe signals can bring a lot of benefits - but what exactly? Here are the main ones:

- **You can build trust with your clients.** As we’ve already mentioned, respecting users’ privacy and handling their data responsibly shows that you care about them, not just your marketing goals. Studies show that users tend to trust more when privacy-first personalization is available, winning customer trust and loyalty. Look at what [CMSWire](https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/privacy-first-personalization-in-marketing-wins-customer-trust/) said about this:

  > "Eighty-one percent of customers prefer companies that offer personalized experiences, and 63% of consumers are annoyed with generic ads. Businesses that offer personalized experiences see a 10-15% increase in revenue compared to brands that don't."

- **You can customize your campaigns to get better results.** By using accurate first-party data and privacy-safe signals, you can tailor your messages, recommendations, and offers to each user. The more relevant your campaigns, the higher the engagement and conversion rates. It’s pure logic: if you are looking for a coat and the website suggests you a similar but cheaper one, you will end up buying something.
- **Website’s user experience is improved.** When personalization is done correctly, users see content and recommendations that actually matter to them, instead of [irrelevant pop-ups](/blog/are-pop-ups-bad-for-seo/) or spammy suggestions. This keeps users happy, engaged, and coming back for more as you don’t have an annoying website that everyone hates to visit.
- **You can have created accurate customer profiles.** Combining behavioral data and explicit preferences lets you build detailed, accurate profiles of your users. These profiles help you understand your audience better, make smarter business decisions, and plan future campaigns with confidence. For example, if you have hundreds of users interested in AI, you can send them a newsletter if a new AI-related article is published in your website - but REMEMBER, you can only send that if they've already accepted and personalized their preferences ;).

---

_Speaking of privacy compliance, make sure your cookie banner is actually legal. Most aren't. Check out our guide on [cookie banner compliance](/blog/your-cookie-banner-is-probably-illegal/) to learn what you're probably doing wrong and how to fix it._
---
## How to use and install llms.txt file in HubSpot for AI optimization
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-use-and-install-llms-txt-file-in-hubspot/
Published: 2025-11-18
Author: reatlat
Tags: llms.txt, HubSpot, SEO, AI Optimization, Content Strategy
> Learn how to implement llms.txt files in HubSpot to optimize your website for AI crawlers and improve content discoverability.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_llmstxt_hubspot from "./assets/llmstxt-hubspot.jpg";
import img_assets_llmstxt_redirect from "./assets/llmstxt-redirect.png";

Hey there, marketers and SEO lovers! 🍊 Time to juice up your digital strategy with some fresh insights!

In [this article](/blog/llms-txt-implementation-guide/) by [Andrea](/authors/atenlotrad/), she fully explored what `llms.txt` is and why you need it. If you haven't read it yet, definitely check it out before continuing.

So I'm not going to waste your time today - let's jump straight into business!

<Image
  src={img_assets_llmstxt_hubspot}
  alt="How to install llms.txt file in HubSpot"
  width={320}
/>

First things first, you need to create the `llms.txt` file and place it in the root directory of your website on the HubSpot platform. But here's the thing - HubSpot doesn't support direct file creation in the root directory through the interface, so you'll have to use a workaround. But I'll get back to this shortly.

## How to create this llms.txt file?

There are many ways to create this file yourself, and in principle, creating it isn't complicated if you understand Markdown syntax.

Example `llms.txt` file structure:

```markdown
# Acme Inc. - We're Bananas About Fruit!

> The only company legally allowed to drop anvils and deliver fresh produce.
> Since 1986, we've been proving that you can't spell "fruit" without "ruit" (we're still working on that).
> Our apples are so crisp, they come with their own sound effects. Warning: our melons may cause spontaneous joy.
> Side effects include increased vitamin intake and dad jokes about "peeling" good.
>
> Acme Inc: Because life's too short for mediocre mangoes.

## Latest blog posts

- [The Great Banana Peel Debate: To Slip or Not to Slip?](https://www.acmeinc.com/blog/banana-peel-debate): A hilarious look at the age-old question of whether cartoon banana peels are a real workplace hazard.
- [Top 10 Fruit Puns That Will Make You Laugh and Groan](https://www.acmeinc.com/blog/fruit-puns): The cheesiest collection of puns that will have you groaning in delight.
- [How to Build a Fruit Basket That's More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkeys](https://www.acmeinc.com/blog/fruit-basket-fun): Expert tips on assembling a fruit basket so entertaining, it outshines traditional animal-based amusement.

## Product catalog

- [Acme Inc. Fruit Basket Deluxe](https://www.acmeinc.com/products/fruit-basket-deluxe): Our premium selection of nature's finest, hand-picked for maximum delight and nutritional value.
- [Banana Phone - Now with 5G!](https://www.acmeinc.com/products/banana-phone): The world's first fruit-shaped communication device with cutting-edge connectivity and a potassium boost.
- [Melon Madness Smoothie Maker](https://www.acmeinc.com/products/melon-madness-smoothie-maker): The ultimate kitchen appliance for turning your melon dreams into delicious reality.

## About us

- [Our Story: From Humble Beginnings to Fruit Empire](https://www.acmeinc.com/about): The incredible journey of how we went from a single apple to a multinational fruit empire.
- [Meet the Team: The Fruit Fanatics Behind Acme Inc.](https://www.acmeinc.com/team): Get to know the passionate individuals who live and breathe all things fruity.
- [Sustainability Practices: How We Keep It Green](https://www.acmeinc.com/sustainability): Our commitment to eco-friendly farming and packaging that Mother Earth can appreciate.

---

_Last updated: November 18, 2025_
```

I think you haven't seen such a simple example yet! 😄

For lazy people (which is most of us), I created a free online tool that will help you generate your own `llms.txt` file in just a couple of clicks. Here's the link to it: [llms.txt Generator](/tools/llmstxt-generator/)

All you need to do is follow the link, choose where to start from (using sitemap or list of links you'd like to include in your `llms.txt` file), and click the Analysis button.

After this tool analyzes your site, it will suggest what to use for your `llms.txt` file. You'll be able to edit it as you see fit and download the ready file to your computer.

That's it - it's that simple! 🍊

So now the question arises: how do you place this file on your HubSpot website?

## How to install the llms.txt file in HubSpot

Since HubSpot doesn't allow direct file uploads to the root directory through the interface, you'll have to use a workaround with Proxy redirects.

**Step one:** \
Upload the file via HSFiles and get the final link to the file.

**Step two:** \
Create a Proxy redirect rule from the root directory to the link obtained in the first step.

<figure>
  <Image src={img_assets_llmstxt_redirect} alt="llms.txt Proxy Redirect in HubSpot" width={320} />
  <figcaption>/llms.txt >> https://cdn.hubspot.net/path-to-your/llms.txt</figcaption>
</figure>

Done! Now your `llms.txt` file is accessible to AI crawlers at the standard path in the root directory of your website.

**Bonus tip for HubSpot developers:** If you're working with HubSpot CMS regularly, check out our free [HubSpot DevTools browser extension](/hubspot-devtools/) for Chrome and Firefox. It gives you quick access to debug mode, cache busting, and HubL documentation right from your browser toolbar.

If you still have questions or want to share your experience using `llms.txt` files in HubSpot, don't hesitate to reach out to me via [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/reatlat/) or the [contact form](/contact/). Always happy to help and discuss new ideas!
---
## Free SEO audit in seconds — and fix everything with AI
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/seo-audit-guide/
Published: 2025-11-14
Author: reatlat
Tags: SEO, Website Optimization, Search Engine Optimization, Technical SEO, AI Tools
> Run a complete SEO audit in seconds with our free analyzer. Discover critical technical issues, export a JSON report, and fix everything instantly using AI-powered recommendations.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_seo_audit_guide from "./assets/seo-audit-guide.png";

Hey fresh juice lovers, Alex here with another serving of technical blogging! 🍊

Recently, [my friend Alex](/authors/alex-kukharenko-pixeldarts/) from [pixeldarts.com](https://www.pixeldarts.com) mentioned in conversation that SEO audits are a critical step for improving site visibility in search engines, especially now that AI and [AEO algorithms](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) are entering the competitive search game.

<Image
  src={img_assets_seo_audit_guide}
  alt="SEO Audit Guide - Free Tool for Website Analysis"
  width={320}
/>

He asked me to take a quick look at his website, just a quick glance and a professional opinion on the fly.

I agreed to help and decided to peek under the hood of his site. A quick code inspection made me realize this wouldn't be a quick analysis at all.
The site had so many issues that I decided to do a full [SEO audit](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/) and share the results with you.

It was a gorgeous sunny morning in Spain, and as I poured my morning fresh-squeezed juice from coffee beans (yes, I love coffee ☕), I dove into the world of SEO auditing.
After a couple of hours of detailed analysis and gathering evidence to understand what was wrong with the site, I realized I needed automation. Manually checking every aspect would be exhausting and counterproductive.

So instead of doing the audit manually, I sat down and started thinking about how to write an automation script to check the site in seconds and save myself from the routine.

I don't do SEO audits that often, and most clients already pay for professional solutions like [Moz](https://moz.com/), [SEMRush](https://www.semrush.com/), or [Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/).
But there are plenty of enthusiasts out there who just want to understand their site's health quickly without extra hassle.
Or maybe you're a client and an agency just delivered your new website. How do you know if they applied all the best SEO practices?
Or perhaps the website they gave you initially contains a bunch of errors that need fixing before going live?

## 🛠️ Introducing: free SEO analyzer tool

Anyway, enough small talk. Meet my absolutely **free SEO analysis tool**:
👉 [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/)

In addition to our SEO Analyzer, we offer several other tools that can help optimize your website:

- [Meta Tag Checker](/tools/metadata-checker/) - Analyze your page metadata for SEO optimization
- [Keyword Density Checker](/tools/keyword-density-checker/) - Ensure optimal keyword usage in your content
- [Broken Link Checker](/tools/broken-link-checker/) - Find and fix broken links on your site
- [Readability Score Checker](/tools/readability-score-checker/) - Improve content accessibility

Using the SEO Analyzer, I was able to quickly get results for his website, and honestly, they weren't terrible. I've seen much worse.
But despite that, there's still quite a bit of work needed.

Here are some of the main issues I discovered:

## 📊 Quick overview: pixeldarts.com (Score 60/100)

**Semantics (Poor):**

- No `<main>` tag — unclear where the main content is
- No `<header>` and `<footer>` elements
- 310 `<div>` blocks, but not a single `<article>` — poor semantic markup

**Headings (Poor):**

- 2 H1 tags on the page (should only be one!)
- Broken hierarchy: jumps from H1 straight to H5, then to H3

**Structured Data (Very Poor):**

- No JSON-LD markup at all
- Missing Schema.org (Organization, BreadcrumbList, etc.)

**Meta Tags (Average):**

- Title too long (97 characters, should be under 60)
- Description too long (278 characters, should be under 160)
- No canonical URL

**Accessibility (Poor):**

- 81 images with empty alt text
- 15 links without descriptive text

> **Verdict:**
> The site looks pretty good visually, but for search engines and screen readers, it's a disaster. Need to urgently fix semantics and headings.

## 🎨 The Webflow problem

Given that the site is built on Webflow, this isn't surprising.
Webflow sites are usually made to look beautiful, and nobody thinks ahead about proper markup or semantics. Many things simply aren't accessible in Webflow.

The Webflow blogging system uses data collections. It's a nightmare, honestly.
If you're planning to build a website and blog and want more control and better SEO, you should look toward [HubSpot CMS](/blog/how-to-choose-right-website-platform/) or custom builds.

Sure, the old-timer (or even dinosaur) [WordPress](/blog/hubspot-vs-wordpress/) can show everyone a thing or two, but I still wouldn't recommend it if you're just thinking about creating your website.

## 🚀 How the SEO analyzer works

Now, a bit about the tool I built. It allows you to quickly get a report on your site, and **most importantly**, it lets you download the report in JSON format so you can:

- Use it for your own purposes
- Pass it to your developer for fixing errors
- **Send it directly to an AI assistant** like Claude or ChatGPT

And here's the magic: **you don't even need to write prompts**.
The report file already contains instructions for the AI, so your AI assistant will immediately know what to do.

The AI will instantly understand what needs to be fixed and how, giving you step-by-step instructions on what's wrong, where to look, and how to fix it.

### 💡 Pro tip

A quick note from me: I've noticed that **Claude generates more detailed responses** and returns them in PDF format, ready to show your boss as proof of work completed. 😉

## ⚡ Try it now — no strings attached

I won't dive into the technical details of how to fix each issue.
Simply go to the tool: [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/)
Enter your site's URL and get a full **free report** on your website.

**No hidden tricks.** No email gates. No _"we'll send you the report later"_ nonsense.
_I don't collect emails. I don't spam. I never will._ The report is yours, instantly. 😉

If you want to subscribe to our news, I'd be happy to see you as followers on LinkedIn: \
👤 [Follow me](https://www.linkedin.com/in/reatlat/) \
🏢 [Follow FreshJuice](https://www.linkedin.com/company/freshjuice)

## 📬 Questions or suggestions?

If you have questions or suggestions for improving the tool, feel free to [reach out](/contact/). I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for your attention, and see you in new posts!
---
## Complete guide to llms.txt implementation for AI-optimized websites
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/llms-txt-implementation-guide/
Published: 2025-11-12
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: llms.txt, AI, AEO, Answer Engine Optimization, AI Search, Technical SEO, ChatGPT SEO, Perplexity, AI crawling, AI-driven content, Website optimization
> Learn how to implement llms.txt for AI-driven SEO. Complete guide covering setup, technical requirements, benefits, and challenges of llms.txt for better AEO performance.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_llms_txt from "./assets/llms-txt.png";
import img_assets_perplexity_llms_txt from "./assets/perplexity-llms-txt.png";

Now that every marketer is shifting their SEO strategy toward AEO, the implementation of `llms.txt` enters the game. This new trend for AI-driven strategies requires advanced technical knowledge, but it's essential for AI tools to crawl and use your content effectively.

In this article, we'll explain what it is, how it works, and how to implement it on your website to enhance your [AEO strategy](/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/) and take it to the next level. Let's dive in!

<Image
  src={img_assets_llms_txt}
  alt="llms.txt Implementation: Is It Worth It?"
  width={320}
/>

## What is llms.txt?

[llms.txt](https://llmstxt.org) is a special text file that helps artificial intelligence better understand websites. It stands for Large Language Models.txt (in other words, AI) and, even though people state that it is a standardized format, its use and format are not officially confirmed, as it’s just a proposed standard.

This file was proposed by [Jeremy Howard](https://au.linkedin.com/in/howardjeremy), creator of [Answer.AI](https://www.answer.ai), and the idea of this came from the `robots.txt` file and what it does regarding ranking; however, `llms.txt` is a more technical and thus complicated file than robot.txt. The `llms.txt` file requires some advanced technical skills, so a developer can take care of it, but most marketers might find it challenging to do it themselves especially if they work with mid or big size websites.

This file is placed in your website's root directory, just like you would with the sitemap and `robots.txt` files, and it **helps AI models to identify the most important content** of your website as AI models need structured summaries and content files that are easy to interpret. Thus, you are the one who tells the AI in the file which is the important content, as you do in `robots.txt` regarding ranking. To do so, you use [Markdown language](https://www.markdownguide.org/) highlighting what it’s important and helping the AI understand what you want by speaking its language.

Furthermore, adding it to your site can’t hurt, as it doesn’t affect your rankings or performance and won’t interfere with other files on your website. So, if you’re wondering whether it’s worth trying, the answer is yes. However, there are some “buts” in the equation that we will discuss later.

### Does llms.txt work?

It surely does! As we've already explained, `llms.txt` works as a way to tell AI, in a language it understands, what the key content of your site is, what it should add to its database, and what info to use when answering users.

However, if you're unsure about adding it, it's worth noting: even though including it won't harm your site, the file can be heavy and complicated to create. We don't recommend it for medium or large websites, especially if you're not very experienced or don't have a strong dev team. The effort required can be enormous, taking a lot of time to create and implement, and you might end up with a file that does little, while that time could have been better spent improving your AEO strategy in other ways. But if you still want to add it, keep reading.

### What's the difference between robots.txt and llms.txt?

They are completely different files, but one complements the other in a way. While [robots.txt](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/intro) tells search engine bots what to crawl from your site as it dictates search engine crawling parameters, `llms.txt` files dictates AI what to crawl and use from your site. Both serve a similar purpose, helping crawlers read and identify content, but the crawler they are created for differ. While `robots.txt` is for search engine bots, `llms.txt` is for Large Language Models, in other words, AI tools.

Both files are upload similarly, but the other difference is the way they are created. Even though both are plain text files, `robots.txt` includes directives (not URLs) that tell search engine crawlers which parts of a website can or cannot be accessed. In contrast, `llms.txt` is designed to list important URLs from your site along with additional context—such as titles, summaries, or [metadata](/blog/guide-to-meta-tags-and-their-importance/)—to help AI models identify and understand your site's most relevant content.

Here's a table summarizing the key differences between `robots.txt` and `llms.txt`:

<table-saw>
  <table>
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th></th>
        <th>robots.txt</th>
        <th>llms.txt</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>
          <strong>Goal</strong>
        </td>
        <td>Dictates search engine crawling parameters</td>
        <td>Dictates AI what to crawl and use from your site</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>
          <strong>Crawler</strong>
        </td>
        <td>Search engine bots (Google, Bing, etc.)</td>
        <td>Large Language Models (AI tools)</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>
          <strong>Upload in</strong>
        </td>
        <td>In the root directory of your site.</td>
        <td>In the root directory of your site.</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>
          <strong>Content and format</strong>
        </td>
        <td>
          Plain text file with directives like user-agent, block or disavow to
          help crawlers identified what to crawl from a website.
        </td>
        <td>
          Plain text file written in Markdown in which URLs and additional
          context is included.
        </td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>
</table-saw>

## Which AI use llms.txt?

Even though no AI tool officially confirms it, `llms.txt` is used by nearly all AI models, or at least by the most popular ones. For example, [Anthropic](https://docs.claude.com/llms.txt) and [Perplexity](https://docs.perplexity.ai/llms-full.txt) both integrate `llms.txt` files into their domains as you can see in the following screenshot:

<Image
  src={img_assets_perplexity_llms_txt}
  alt="Anthropic and Perplexity `llms.txt` integration"
  width={800}
/>

Other AI tools that seem to use `llms.txt` files are [ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/llms-full.txt) and [PineCone](https://docs.pinecone.io/llms-full.txt), as users have found the files too. Even though creators say their apps don't use `llms.txt` files, don't let that fool you.

### Does ChatGPT use llms.txt?

Regarding ChatGPT, even though the tool states that [it doesn't officially use this file](https://blog.geordy.ai/what-chatgpt-really-thinks-about-llms-txt-13cf41e53e98), when asked, it says that it can be helpful to include it because it provides structured information that could assist AI systems.

#### Does llms.txt improve how I appear in ChatGPT?

Yes, as we have already said, it does. In fact, the main goal of using `llms.txt` is to let you dictate to the AI how your content should appear and which content it should use in an understandable language for it. For example, if you have a large site with multiple pages about the same topic but want the AI to use a specific page (say, the product page), you can indicate that in the `llms.txt` file. If you don't express it in a way AI can easily understand, it might handle your site's information however it wants (or can).

This will also help avoid content cannibalization, as the AI will know exactly which page to prioritize for a given topic. As a result, your most important content gets highlighted, and users receive more accurate, relevant answers when interacting with AI tools like ChatGPT. Additionally, it gives you more control over how your brand and key messages are represented, rather than leaving it entirely up to the AI’s interpretation of your site.

## Does Google use llms.txt?

No, Google doesn't use `llms.txt` in any way. According to [a LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kenichisuzuki_searchcentrallive-scldd2025-activity-7353733251410153473-E3Te/) by Kenichi Suzuki, a Product Expert at Google and one of Japan's most respected SEO specialists, [Gary Illyes (Analyst on the Google Search team)](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/authors/gary-illyes) stated during the Google Search Central Live Deep Dive event that the search engine does not use this type of file and has no plans to implement it, despite the existence of AI overviews on the platform.

This makes total sense, as Google already has a way of crawling websites and an algorithm that works perfectly. In fact, it works so well that some AIs even use the [top Google results](https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-using-google-search-tests-460101) as their main reliable source of information to rephrase when answering users. For more on how Google interprets content semantically, see our guide on [entity-based SEO](/blog/entity-based-seo-for-semantic-search/).

## How do I implement llms.txt?

As we have already mentioned throughout this article, `llms.txt` implementation is not as easy as `robots.txt` specially regarding the creation of it. Implementing this file will have several challenges if you have a big site or are not familiar with Markdown.

If you want guided assistance with the strategic content selection and Markdown formatting, try our free [llms.txt generator tool](/tools/llmstxt-generator/) to create an optimized file for your site. This tool simplifies the complex process by guiding you through strategic content selection while handling all the Markdown formatting automatically. Otherwise, in this section, we will teach you how to create this file manually as well as how to upload it to your site.

### How to create an llms.txt file?

Creating an `llms.txt` file can be somewhat complicated, as it requires planning and some technical knowledge. In this guide, we’ll explain all the steps to create the file correctly.

1. **The content strategy.** Decide what do you want AI to add to its database. Go though all your sites content (that's why we don't recommend doing this with mid-size and big sites) and choose what articles, pages, and pieces of content are worth to highlight for AI to crawl. This follows similar principles to [optimizing content for SEO](/blog/how-to-optimize-content-for-seo/)—you need to prioritize your most valuable pages.
2. **The file.** Create a plain text file with whatever tool you want (Notepad, [Notepad++](https://notepad-plus-plus.org), [VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com/download), etc.) and name it `llms.txt`.
3. **The content.** When writing the file, use Markdown to help AI to understand what you want. The file will primarily have a similar structure to this:
   - First, an H1 with the name of the project or site, which is the only required section. All other sections are optional but, if not added, AI will have less info about your project and therefore the crawling won't be as good as intended.
   - Next, include a blockquote briefly summarizing the project. It should contain the crucial details needed for AI to understand the rest of the file.
   - Then, you can start to add markdown sections like paragraphs, lists, etc. of any type except headings using HTML. This sections will contain more detailed information about the project and how to interpret the provided files.
   - After that, you can include more Markdown sections, marked by H2 headers, containing 'file lists' of URLs for further details. In each list, every item must have a hyperlink `[name](url)`, optionally followed by a colon and additional notes.

Here's a more visual representation of how will look the file provided by the` llms.txt` site:

```markdown
# Your Website Name

> Brief description of what your website is about

## Section name

- [Link Title](https://example.com/page-url): Short description of what this page contains
- [Another Link Title](https://example.com/another-page): Explain what readers will find here
- [Third Link Title](https://example.com/third-page): Brief summary of the content

## Another section

- [Resource Name](https://example.com/resource): Description of this resource
- [Tool Name](https://example.com/tool): What this tool does
- [Guide Name](https://example.com/guide): What this guide covers

## Optional section

- [Extra Link](https://example.com/extra): Additional content description
```

And here’s an example of a complete `llms.txt` file for a fictional tech blog called JuicyTech Hub:

```markdown
# JuicyTech Hub 🍊

> Serving up fresh tech knowledge, one squeeze at a time

## Fresh content 🥤

- [React Hooks That Hit Different](https://example.com/react-hooks-guide): Extract maximum flavor from React's juiciest features
- [CSS Grid: No Pulp Edition](https://example.com/css-grid-clean): Smooth layouts without the messy bits
- [TypeScript Smoothie Recipe](https://example.com/typescript-basics): Blend JavaScript with types for a perfectly balanced code cocktail

## The juice bar 🍹

- [API Design That Pops](https://example.com/api-design-tips): Craft APIs so refreshing your users will come back for seconds
- [Database Squeezing 101](https://example.com/database-optimization): Get every drop of performance from your queries
- [Docker Containers: Freshly Pressed](https://example.com/docker-tutorial): Package your apps like orange juice concentrate

## Fresh tools 🧃

- [Code Juicer Pro](https://example.com/tools/code-analyzer): Squeeze out bugs before they spoil your batch
- [Performance Blender](https://example.com/tools/speed-test): Mix and measure your site's load time smoothie
- [Syntax Zester](https://example.com/tools/formatter): Add that perfect finishing touch to your code
```

The first step of the instructions is crucial: if you don't know which articles or pages to include, you won't be able to create the file.

4. **The implementation.** After writing and saving the file, the only thing left to do is uploading the file to your site.

As you can see, creating an `llms.txt` file may seem straightforward, but when there’s a large amount of content to include, planning becomes more challenging. Additionally, if you’re not familiar with Markdown, it will be difficult—or even impossible—for AI systems to crawl and interpret the file correctly.

### Where to put llms.txt file?

As mentioned above in the article, the `llms.txt` file must be added in the root directory of your website. To do so, you have to follow the same steps as you did with the `robots.txt` file as it’s placed in the same location.

1. First, you have to create the file by following the instructions we gave you here.
2. As soon as you have the file, access your site’s server file manager or connect via an FTP client.
3. Find the root directory. Where is this will depend on the method and platform used to upload the file, but this is often named public_html, www, or htdocs, and is the same place as your index.html or index.php file.
4. Now, upload the `llms.txt`.
5. After uploading it, it has to be accessible via `https://www.example.com/llms.txt`. If you visit that URL and you can see the file, you've done it correctly!

To ensure your implementation is complete and your site is fully optimized for AI crawlers, consider running a comprehensive [SEO audit](/blog/seo-audit-guide/) to verify all technical elements are in place.

## Are there any tools to help generate an llms.txt file?

Yes, there are tools that can help you generate `llms.txt` files for your site. We've created our own [llms.txt generator](/tools/llmstxt-generator/) that guides you through the strategic content selection process while handling the Markdown formatting for you—giving you the best of both worlds: strategic control with automated technical execution.

Other available tools include free WordPress plugins like [LLMs.txt and LLMs-Full.txt Generator](https://wordpress.org/plugins/llms-full-txt-generator/) or [LLMs.txt Generator](https://wordpress.org/plugins/llms-txt-generator/) (we're not big fans of using plugins.…), and fee-based services like [Datadog](https://www.datadoghq.com/).

However, it's important to understand that purely automatic generation without strategy doesn't make much sense for a file like this. The main goal of `llms.txt` files is for you to decide what is worth adding to AI databases, what the most important pages and pieces of content are, and for that reason it requires strategy. It won't be useful to create a file with all the info from your website and not specific instructions for AI to know how to handle all that info. That's why **we recommend using a strategic approach**, either with our guided tool or by doing it yourself manually, making good content-wise decisions, learning how to use Markdown, and uploading a file that is actually useful for Large Language Models.
---
## AI is reshaping search and AEO is the future of SEO
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo/
Published: 2025-10-31
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: AI, AEO, Answer Engine Optimization, AI Search, ChatGPT SEO, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Future of SEO, Digital Marketing, AI-driven content, Search Optimization
> Discover how AI is reshaping search and why Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the future of SEO. Learn how to optimize your content and structure your site to appear in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google Gemini results.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_ai_answer_engine_optimization_aeo_future_of_seo from "./assets/ai-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-future-of-seo.png";

import YouTube from "@/components/mdx/YouTube.astro";

People keep saying that SEO is dead because "everyone is now searching for everything in AI-powered apps like ChatGPT or Perplexity." However, that narrative is simply not true, and honestly, it doesn't make much sense when you consider the history of SEO. Let's break it down.

Sure, people used to Google everything (well, many of us still do), and now they "ChatGPT" every random question that pops into their heads. But SEO is still very much alive. If it weren't, how do you think certain websites show up while others don't, whether you're searching on Google or through AI-driven platforms? The truth is, SEO isn't dying; the way we search online is simply evolving. Again.

<Image
  src={img_assets_ai_answer_engine_optimization_aeo_future_of_seo}
  alt="AI Is Reshaping Search and AEO Is the Future of SEO"
  width={320}
/>

SEO has always been a moving target, adapting as search engines get smarter. As users become more aware about what counts as high-quality information versus clickbait, platforms like Google update their algorithms accordingly. Today, with AI-powered apps dominating attention, Google is showcasing AI-generated summaries to help people find answers faster. This shift is often referred to as AEO or AIEO.

While this user-first approach makes searching easier, it also brings new challenges for developers and marketers who were used to get high click-through rates even when ranking in the middle of the first results page.

So, if you're ready to start improving and future-proofing your AEO strategy, keep reading. We're going to walk you through everything you need to know about this emerging trend.

## What does AEO stand for?

AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization which is also sometimes referred to as AIEO (AI Engine Optimization) or even AIE (AI Optimization). These acronyms refer to this emerging discipline whose main goal is to get your content to appear in AI apps like ChatGPT, Perplexity as well as [Google Gemini snippets](https://cloud.google.com/gemini/enterprise/docs/snippets). This strategy is the new digital marketing trend that has appeared due to the new user behavior after the rise of AI-powered apps and has changed the way we make our sites and our content.

Even though this tendency is driving marketers and devs mad (as for some, all the work done for years has now lost value), this shift is user-centric and ultimately aimed at improving the search experience. It prioritizes delivering accurate, relevant, and easily digestible answers over pages that mastered old SEO tricks but fail to quickly satisfy user intent. Instead of spending 10 minutes reading a blog post that's meant to answer a simple question, you'll get a quick, well-researched response, since AEO still requires writers to create reliable content backed by sources.

It must be said that for some sites (especially e-commerce), traditional SEO strategies are still working wonders, as users aren’t always just looking for answers. However, the tendency is that eventually all content will need to be optimized for AI-driven search and answer systems.

## How to make an AI-driven strategy?

Before jumping on creating or editing your existing content based on what AI wants, you should make an AI-driven strategy to help you follow a clear path instead of just guessing what will work. An AI-driven strategy will help you identify opportunities, optimize content for both humans and AI systems, and maintain your rankings in an AI-dominated search landscape. To get started, simply follow these steps:

- **Define Your Goal(s):** Ask yourself why you want to make an AI-driven strategy. Is it to get more sales, leads, engagement, or efficiency? Clearly defining your goal will guide your AI implementation and help measure success. In order to do this, you will have to understand your audience and, therefore, analyze their behavior, preferences, and pain points. By doing so, you will be able to understand if the effort is worth it and what changes need to be done.

  For example, if you have an e-commerce site selling beauty products, it may be more difficult to generate AI content for certain pages, as some are focused on branded content and storytelling. However, you can still set other achievable goals, such as [optimizing your FAQ section](/blog/faq-section-for-seo/), adding FAQ to each product page, working on your blog, or improving customer support content. These goals can provide tangible value while aligning with your broader AI strategy.

- **Audit Your Site:** Sometimes, content that was created based on older SEO strategies is already optimized for AEO, as many white-hat SEO practices (which we will explain later) still apply to AEO. Understanding this is crucial because it means that instead of creating content entirely from scratch, you may already have pages that are ranking well and only need maintenance or minor updates. Conducting a thorough audit helps you identify which content can be repurposed, improved, or expanded, saving time and resources.

- **Make the Changes Your Site Needs to be AI-driven:** We will dive in on how to do it in the following section, but after auditing your website, you just have to make the changes the site needs to be AI-driven. These changes will be both content- and technical-related, and some will be easy to apply while others might be a bit more complex…

- **Measure and Adjust Continuously:** And finally, but not less importantly, like every good strategy, you have to measure if you did well or not. By doing this, you'll better understand whether the changes you made to your website were effective. As AI adds a UTM to the links to your site, you can easily know how many users came to your site from these apps or results. Both Google and [HubSpot analytics](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dominikadado_hubspot-hubspotcrm-hubspottipsandtricks-activity-7380902141730824192-Z8OZ) show you this so you can track the traffic and know how you're doing regarding AEO.

  So, keep measuring and adjusting continuously, just like you did with SEO, because this aspect hasn't changed at all. To rank, you have to work!

## How to appear on AI-driven results?

Having an AI-driven strategy is not enough if you don’t get to update your SEO-driven content to what AI wants. As you did with the algorithm when Google results with keyword-stuffed pages were what users wanted, you now need to adapt your content to satisfy AI-powered answer engines. It’s no longer just about ranking for a search term; it’s about being the source that AI systems consider authoritative, accurate, and ready to deliver directly to the user.

To win with AI-driven search, you need to play on two levels: create content that speaks AI’s language and get the technical setup right so it can pick your pages.

### Content-wise

The main focus is to create content that AI likes and, specially, that AI knows how to read. To do so, your content has to be concise and accurate content-wise but structured regarding format too.

1. **Your content has to be a direct answer to people’s questions.**\
   While SEO focused on making your website appear in Google rankings to get clicks by writing long articles packed with keywords, with AEO things get simpler. When searching, people want direct answers to their questions, so it’s better to have a 200-word article that explains something in an easy and direct way with backup references than a 600-word article that makes people get bored and finally use the search tool to find what they were looking for. Long articles that have more filler content than useful information are the main reason why people are using AI. Be clever and write articles that answer the questions — they can be long (like this one), but only by adding more related questions to answer, not by adding more words that have no value. As HubSpot founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah mentioned in [one of his worth-reading LinkedIn posts](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/search-agent-optimization-getting-found-age-ai-dharmesh-shah-u7hje):

> “What's ultimately helpful for the human may not be a 1200 word blog post about your industry. Maybe it's just clear, well structured information about your product or service and the answer to common questions.”
>
> — [HubSpot](https://www.hubspot.com) founder and CTO [Dharmesh Shah](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dharmesh/)

2. **AI doesn't care about keyword stuffing.**\
   Before, we would pack our pages and articles with keywords (some even using black hat strategies) to get Google to pick us and show our site, but AI doesn't care about how many times a word is repeated. For AI, user intent is key. Following an intent-based approach means understanding what people actually want to know and writing content that answers that clearly and directly. It's not about tricking the algorithm anymore; it's about being genuinely useful. Does this mean you don't have to use keywords? No, but you don't need to care as much as you did before. Try to add the keyword as a question, or look for long-tail keywords, or even direct question-based keywords, even if they have a low search volume.
3. **Q&A-style content wins in AI search.**\
   Think of it more like a Q&A structure. This makes content less narrative but more answer-focused, and therefore, AI loves it. This same approach also helps you win [featured snippets](/blog/what-is-a-featured-snippet/) in traditional search. As we've already mentioned, people want short answers to their questions instead of reading 10-minute-long articles. They want to find a direct answer quickly, and that's exactly what AI is all about. Adapt your content by putting headlines that are questions and answering them directly. Hierarchical structure is still valued by AI-driven tools, as it makes it easier for both the AI and users to find answers quickly. And if the article is long, include a table of contents at the beginning so readers can jump directly to the question they're looking for before scrolling through the page.
4. **White hat strategies still apply in AI.**\
   Mostly all [white hat SEO strategies](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/) we used to use (like using internal links or referencing other high-quality articles that back up your content) still work, as Dharmesh Shah mentions [in this interview](#youtube-0a-o9DZumjE). This is because ChatGPT as well as other AI apps use search engines to get their responses. What they do is get what the best ranked pages say and summarize and rewrite it in a more concise way and add the links to those pages. Dharmesh mentions Bing in this interview, but users found out that [ChatGPT also uses Google search results.](https://www.seroundtable.com/chatgpt-using-google-search-39825.html) That's why we mentioned in the previous section that it's crucial to audit your content before getting to work; you probably already have good AI content on your site.

{/* $30B Founder: SEO is Dead.. Do This Instead */}

<YouTube
  id="0a-o9DZumjE"
  caption="Play Episode 745 of My First Million — Sam Parr and Shaan Puri talk with Dharmesh Shah about the early days of SEO and how to appear in ChatGPT results."
/>

### Technical stuff

While great content is key to attracting attention, adapting your website’s backend and technical setup to meet AI standards is just as important for ranking.

#### 1. Enable AI crawlers

Some companies and users block apps from crawling their websites and only allow Google, Bing and other well-known search engines. You should check this first as if you didn’t enable chatbot crawlers to your site, you won’t obviously get to rank in AI apps nor Ai-driven results.

##### How to check if you enable AI crawlers?

To know if your site allows AI to crawl it, you should check your website log files. There are two ways to do this: manually or by using an analyzer.

To do it manually, you have to access your server log files by accessing your access to your website’s cpanel and search for requests from AI crawlers. These are usually identified by their user-agent names, such as OpenAI, ChatGPT, or other AI tools. By reviewing the logs, you can see if the crawlers are visiting your site or not.

If you are not very good at technical stuff, using an analyzer tool can simplify this process by automatically scanning your logs and highlighting AI crawler activity. You can use tools like Screaming Frog or even online free tools like [Robots.txt Parser](https://www.realrobotstxt.com/).

#### 2. Structure (or restructure) your content as Q&A

As we have mentioned before, instead of focusing on writing long articles, AEO prefers other formats that are shorter but as well researched and high-quality. In that way, by making Q&A structure content, you produce more scannable and digestible content that AI systems love because they can quickly extract clear questions and concise answers to deliver to users. To do so, use semantic HTML, implement FAQ schema, and don't forget to [make it responsive](/blog/mobile-seo-and-5-ways-to-get-it-right/)!

#### 3. Schema markup

We've already talked about [the importance of schema markup on the Juicy Blog](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/), but it's never enough. Schema markup is key for SEO because it helps search engines understand your content, and AI works the same way. This type of microdata, added to your website's HTML, tells AI what type of content it is. Without it, AI has a harder time (or might even struggle entirely) to identify and properly rank your content.

##### How do I implement schema markup for AEO

Implementing schema markup for AEO is easy, but it has some differences regarding SEO. While search engines like Google used JSON-LD format, AI uses inline microdata. As explained by our colleague and FreshJuice creator [Alex Zappa](https://www.linkedin.com/in/reatlat/) in [an Orange Marketing article](https://blog.orangemarketing.com/aieo-aeo-is-the-new-seo-what-hubspot-marketers-should-know) as AI search engines read content differently, depending on the AI tool, schema markup is read differently. While Gemini and ChatGPT can parse JSON-LD and the content in the page body, Perplexity (and similar AI engines) currently ignore JSON-LD but reliably parse microdata inline in your HTML content.

You’re probably wondering how to implement schema markup for AEO. Alex recommends:

- Use inline `microdata` whenever possible, as “it remains the most reliable and crawl-friendly option for AI and search engines alike.”
- Use `JSON-LD` as an additional layer where applicable — for example, when ensuring compatibility with traditional search engines or AI platforms that can parse it.

_Note: Make sure you don’t create duplicate schemas. For example, only one FAQ schema should be present — either in `JSON-LD` or `microdata` format, not both._

To do so:

- Add inline `microdata` tags directly in your HTML content around key elements like headings, product details, articles, and FAQs.
- Include `JSON-LD` in the page’s `<head>` only if needed — for instance, to support legacy search engines or specific AI crawlers that rely on it.
- Validate your markup using tools like Google’s Rich Results Test or [Schema.org validators](https://validator.schema.org/) to ensure both AI and search engines can read it correctly.

##### How to structure a page for AEO

We used to strive to find an appealing headline that created that controversial clickbait effect, enticing users to click through just to get the best ranking spot on search engines. With AEO, the focus shifts: it’s no longer just about grabbing attention — it’s about organizing content so AI and users can find answers instantly.

To create a good structure for AEO we recommend:

- **Keep Using a Hierarchical Structure:** Just like you did when creating SEO-driven content, maintaining a clear hierarchical structure helps AI better understand your content while crawling. Use titles and subheadings to organize your content logically, and make sure the structure makes sense from a reader's perspective.

- **Use questions as titles:** As we mentioned earlier, AI loves Q&A content, so try to turn your headings into questions that readers might actually ask. This makes it easier for AI to understand the intent behind each section and for users to find answers quickly.

- **Answer quickly to those questions:** AI results are always concise, so a long, narrative introduction can hurt your content. Structure your content in a question-answer format that puts the main answers first to add less important details afterward. If possible, use titles that go from general questions to more specific ones to guide both AI and readers. Don't get lost in the narrative!

- **Cite and Add Your References:** Add internal links throughout your content as well as citations following the hierarchical structure (don't put them as a heading or subheading; tag everything correctly!). If you've used enough references, include a "References" section at the end of the article. This not only makes your content more reliable for users but also helps AI understand and value your content better.

#### 4. Implement llms.txt for AI content discovery

One emerging technical approach to help AI systems better understand and prioritize your content is implementing an `llms.txt` file. Similar to how `robots.txt` guides search engine crawlers, `llms.txt` is designed specifically for Large Language Models, helping them identify which content on your site is most valuable and should be prioritized when answering user queries.

This file lives in your website's root directory and uses Markdown to tell AI systems exactly which pages, articles, and resources matter most. While it's not officially required by all AI platforms yet, implementing it gives you more control over how AI represents your content, essentially letting you curate what AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity pull from your site.

To simplify the creation of your `llms.txt` file, use our [llms.txt generator tool](/tools/llmstxt-generator/) which guides you through the strategic content selection process. If you're interested in implementing this as part of your AEO technical strategy, check out our complete [llms.txt implementation guide](/blog/llms-txt-implementation-guide/) for step-by-step instructions.
---
## How to choose the right website platform for your startup or new business
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-choose-right-website-platform/
Published: 2025-10-13
Author: reatlat
Tags: HubSpot, WordPress, CMS, SEO, Website Optimization
> Many startups make the same mistake — they start with WordPress. Here’s why that decision often limits growth and what alternatives make sense if you’re building a business with long-term ambitions.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_the_biggest_mistake_most_founders_make from "./assets/the-biggest-mistake-most-founders-make.png";

Most new companies start the same way: _**"We need a website fast and cheap."**_
At that moment, WordPress feels like the obvious choice. It's popular, familiar, and seemingly free.
But within a year, that "quick and cheap" website becomes a fragile Frankenstein: plugins break, SEO drops, and updates take the whole thing down.
Sounds familiar? 😉

This article is about **choosing your website platform consciously**, based on where you want your business to be in 6, 12, or 24 months.
We'll look at the pros and cons of popular platforms (WordPress, Webflow, custom React builds, and HubSpot) and help you understand **which one fits your goals**.

<Image
  src={img_assets_the_biggest_mistake_most_founders_make}
  alt="The Biggest Mistake Most Founders Make"
  width={320}
/>

## The biggest mistake most founders make

The most common trap is **tying your strategy to a tool** instead of a goal.
Many founders pick WordPress simply because "everyone does."
But what works for a freelancer can easily become a nightmare for a B2B company where the website connects to CRM, marketing, and analytics systems.

**Here's the truth:** your website isn't just a brochure; it's part of your business's operating system.
If you're building a product with ambition, start with a foundation that can actually scale.

## WordPress: when it works and when it breaks your business

WordPress can be powerful. It's perfect for:

- Landing pages, MVPs, and short-term campaigns;
- Content-driven sites without complex integrations;
- Simple blogs and personal projects.

But as your business grows, so do the issues:

- Endless plugin updates, incompatibilities, and code chaos;
- Vulnerabilities and security risks you must manage yourself;
- CRM, marketing, and analytics are disconnected;
- Poor performance and SEO without heavy optimization.

[WordPress often feels cheap](/blog/hubspot-vs-wordpress/) upfront, but that's an illusion.
In reality, it's **"stone soup"** development:
SEO plugins cost money, visual builders cost money, spam protection costs money,
and every "free" plugin hides premium features behind a paywall.
The result? A constant drip of small expenses that quietly turn into a financial headache.

Ironically, **premium plugins** (the ones you pay for) often become the weakest link:
they update slowly, lag behind the core platform, and are frequently written with poor code quality.

> “WordPress, the behemoth that once empowered a third of the internet, stands in 2025 as a paradox.  
> On one hand, it's still everywhere — powering blogs, newsrooms, e-commerce empires, and SaaS landing pages.  
> On the other, it's increasingly irrelevant to the forward march of the modern web. It's bloated.”  
> — [Web Designer Depot: _The Slow Implosion of WordPress 2025_](https://medium.com/@WebdesignerDepot/the-slow-implosion-of-wordpress-2025-and-the-cms-thats-losing-its-soul-e15bd375206f)

As a real-world example, a startup grows, adds lead forms, integrations, and nurture campaigns — and suddenly, WordPress turns from “flexible” into a bottleneck no one can squeeze through.

## Modern builders: Webflow, Framer, Wix, and the like

These platforms were a breath of fresh air — visual design, no-code creation, instant results.  
For small businesses and design studios, they’re a great starting point.

But here's what you need to know:

- You're locked into a closed ecosystem with no access beyond what the builder allows;
- Limited scalability and restricted integrations;
- "Sandbox-level" security;
- Minimal SEO control (titles and descriptions only).

I've seen countless Webflow sites with massive "blogs" that technically aren't blogs at all:
no semantic markup, no schema, no structured data, just content floating in the void.
Search engines can't understand it, so the content never ranks.

If your plan is to **grow, build a content strategy, and integrate CRM**, sooner or later you’ll hit a hard ceiling.

## Custom websites and React builds

React is often seen as the "holy grail" of web development.
And yes, it's incredibly powerful, especially if you're building a complex app or SaaS product.

But for marketing websites, it's usually overkill:

- Every change requires a developer, even text edits;
- Hosting and maintenance cost more;
- SEO and [AEO (AI Engine Optimization)](https://blog.orangemarketing.com/aieo-aeo-is-the-new-seo-what-hubspot-marketers-should-know) are more complex;
- The site behaves more like an app than a content platform.

> A React website is like a Ferrari.
> Impressive, fast, but unnecessary if all you need is a city commute.

If your site's main job is to _market_, not _compute_, React will only slow you down.
It adds weight to the frontend, while search engines prefer lean, fast-loading pages.
Speed and simplicity win both SEO and user trust.

If you're set on going custom, consider **modern static site generators** instead:
[**Eleventy (11ty)**](https://www.11ty.dev/) or [**Astro**](https://astro.build/).
They let you build blazing-fast, secure, and future-proof websites that scale gracefully with your business.

> React or custom sites are powerful but expensive, an **enterprise-level solution** suited for companies
> with in-house engineering teams ready to maintain and evolve the platform long-term.

## HubSpot CMS: built for businesses that plan to grow

If you're thinking long-term, **HubSpot CMS** deserves serious consideration.

**Why it stands out:**

- Everything under one roof: CRM, marketing, email, SEO, analytics;
- High performance and Core Web Vitals compliance out of the box;
- Marketers can manage content without developer help;
- Built-in integrations with sales tools and lead forms;
- No updates or security headaches (handled by HubSpot engineers);
- Integrated SEO tools at both page and content levels;
- Scales from startup to enterprise;
- Backed by **HubSpot Academy** and a strong partner network.

**Yes, the entry cost is higher**, but it pays for itself quickly.
Instead of endless plugin maintenance and migrations, you get a stable, scalable ecosystem for business growth.

> HubSpot isn't just a CMS; it's the foundation of your marketing infrastructure.

If you're unsure where to start or stuck on WordPress,
I recommend reaching out to our friends at [Orange Marketing](https://www.orangemarketing.com/),
a top-tier Diamond HubSpot Partner that helps companies migrate and modernize their websites.

## Recommendations for startups and new businesses

1. **Define your growth horizon.** Where do you want to be in 6 months, 2 years, 5 years?
2. **Don’t choose a tool for “today.”** Choose one that will still serve you “tomorrow.”
3. **Think about your team.** Who will manage content — a marketer or a developer?
4. **Avoid migrations.** It’s cheaper to build smart now than rebuild later.

## In summary

- **WordPress**: The illusion of "free." In reality, a slow, resource-hungry monster.
- **Builders** like Webflow and Framer: Visually stunning but lock you into their ecosystem.
- **React**: Powerful but over-engineered for most use cases; best for enterprise-level teams.
- **HubSpot**: An open, flexible platform with full API access and data portability.
  It doesn't lock you in by limitation. It keeps you with its **quality, convenience, and care for your success.**

## Conclusion: choosing a platform is a strategic decision

Your website isn't just design and pixels. It's the core of your marketing, sales, and customer experience.
WordPress isn't evil, but it's temporary.
Webflow is beautiful but limited.
React is powerful but expensive: a fit for enterprises, not startups.
**HubSpot** strikes the perfect balance between flexibility, performance, and scalability.

> 🍊 Stay fresh from day one. Don’t build your business on temporary solutions.
---
## Introducing Code Snippet Embed: beautiful GitHub Gists on HubSpot
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/code-snippet-embed-github-gist/
Published: 2025-10-04
Author: reatlat
Tags: HubSpot, Developer Tools, Code Snippets, GitHub
> Embed real GitHub Gists into HubSpot pages with clean styling, line highlighting, and blazing-fast performance.
import YouTube from "@/components/mdx/YouTube.astro";

**Developers love clarity.**
When you're explaining a feature, sharing a config, or writing a tutorial, clean code snippets make the difference.

But plain text blocks are clunky, and screenshots don't scale.
That's why we built **Code Snippet Embed (GitHub Gist)**, a module that brings your actual GitHub Gists _directly_ into HubSpot, with full styling, line highlighting, and performance in mind.

<YouTube id="sr7_mEmv7RI" />

## ⚡ What is Code Snippet Embed?

Code Snippet Embed is a **developer-friendly HubSpot module** that:

- Renders real **GitHub Gists** inside your HubSpot pages.
- Supports **multi-file Gists** and optional file selection.
- Lets you **highlight important lines** or show only the parts that matter.
- Delivers cached, lightweight embeds that keep Core Web Vitals healthy.

👉 [View Demo](https://demo.freshjuice.dev/modules/code-snippet-github-gist)

## 🎯 Why it matters

- **Authentic code**: No screenshots, no manual copy-paste; the snippet is live from GitHub.
- **Readable & customizable**: Line numbers, themes, captions, alignment, border radius.
- **Performance-first**: Built-in caching means it loads fast without hammering GitHub.
- **SEO & accessibility**: Captions and alt text help search engines (and users) understand your examples.
- **Backlinks boost**: By hosting your snippets on GitHub, you can include links back to your blog or landing page.
  Since GitHub carries a **high domain authority**, those backlinks help strengthen your site's SEO footprint.

## 🛠 How it works

1. Grab your GitHub Gist embed code.
2. Paste it into the **Gist Embed Code** field.
3. (Optional) Choose a file name, add a caption, or define which lines to show/highlight.
4. Adjust styling in the **Style tab** — theme, line numbers, alignment, max-width.

That’s it. You get a polished, interactive snippet ready to drop into any HubSpot page.

## 🎨 Styling options

- **Light / Dark / System themes**: adapt to your visitor's OS.
- **Line numbers toggle**: keep them on or strip them for clean look.
- **Border radius + max width**: match your site's design system.
- **Footer controls**: show or hide GitHub attribution and filename.

## 📈 Example use cases

- Product documentation pages.
- Blog tutorials with code walkthroughs.
- Marketing sites that want to showcase technical chops.
- Internal knowledge base content.

Wherever you need **real code** to shine, this module keeps it neat, fast, and consistent.

## 🚀 Try it today

👉 [Install Code Snippet Embed on the HubSpot Marketplace](https://app.hubspot.com/l/ecosystem/marketplace/modules/code-snippet-github-gist-module-by-freshjuice)

Bring your code to life on HubSpot with a snippet block that’s **clean, fast, and developer-approved** 🍊💻
---
## Why your B2B pipeline looks like a graveyard: getting sales and marketing aligned
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/why-your-b2b-pipeline-looks-like-a-graveyard/
Published: 2025-10-01
Author: monica-caraway-orange-marketing
Tags: B2B Marketing, Sales Enablement, Revenue Operations, HubSpot, Sales & Marketing Alignment
> Sales and marketing misalignment is killing B2B growth. Learn how to fix your pipeline, enforce structure, and align teams around predictable revenue.
import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import img_assets_b2b_marketing_guide_hubspot_diamond_partner from "./assets/b2b-marketing-guide_hubspot-diamond-partner.png";
import img_assets_truth_about_sales_orange_marketing_hubspot_diamond_partner from "./assets/truth-about-sales_orange-marketing_hubspot-diamond-partner.png";

For most B2B companies, growth grinds down the same way: leads pile up, conversions disappoint, and sales and marketing stop speaking the same language.

These aren’t isolated problems. They’re patterns we at [Orange Marketing](https://www.orangemarketing.com) have seen again and again working with more than 250 organizations as a HubSpot Diamond Partner. From scaling B2Bs to nonprofits and enterprises, the same breakdowns appear. But these things are fixable. And you can create processes that will let you confidently forecast for stakeholders and investors.

That’s the premise behind two of our most-downloaded resources: [The Truth About B2B Sales](https://info.orangemarketing.com/the-truth-about-b2b-sales) and [The Truth About B2B Marketing](https://info.orangemarketing.com/the-truth-about-b2b-marketing). They pull back the curtain on where sales and marketing derail, and how to build revenue operations you can actually count on.

<div class="flex flex-wrap justify-center gap-5">
  <a
    href="https://info.orangemarketing.com/the-truth-about-b2b-marketing"
    class="inline-block"
  >
    <Image
      src={img_assets_b2b_marketing_guide_hubspot_diamond_partner}
      alt="B2B Marketing Guide HubSpot Diamond Partner"
      width={150}
    />
    <span class="sr-only">B2B Marketing Guide HubSpot Diamond Partner</span>
  </a>
  <a
    href="https://info.orangemarketing.com/the-truth-about-b2b-sales"
    class="inline-block"
  >
    <Image
      src={
        img_assets_truth_about_sales_orange_marketing_hubspot_diamond_partner
      }
      alt="Truth About Sales Orange Marketing HubSpot Diamond Partner"
      width={150}
    />
    <span class="sr-only">
      Truth About Sales Orange Marketing HubSpot Diamond Partner
    </span>
  </a>
</div>

## Why sales feels like pushing a boulder uphill

Most sales teams operate on hustle and hope. Reps cherry-pick “easy” leads. Managers demand forecasts they know won’t hold up. Everyone crosses their fingers that deals close on time.

But the truth is, sales doesn’t collapse because you hired the wrong reps. It collapses because there’s no system under them. No structure for deal stages. No consistent rules for handling leads. No shared definition of what a qualified opportunity really looks like.

Orange Marketing has a name for the bad habits reps adopt when structure is missing: the **“I Hate Money Club.”** The club has a few telltale behaviours you'll probably recognize:

- Refusing to call Gmail or Yahoo addresses
- Ignoring follow-ups after one attempt
- Treating CRM notifications like background noise
- Tossing leads back into the pool if they don’t convert quickly

These habits lead to expensive outcomes.

### The solution is discipline:

- Tie deal stages to buyer actions (not wishful sales milestones).
- Require every deal to have a close date, an amount, a company, and real contacts.
- Set a follow-up cadence that doesn’t let good prospects slip through the cracks.

The sales guide recommends **nine touches**: five emails, three calls, one social.

When you enforce this rigor, forecasts stop feeling like fiction. Pipeline becomes predictable. And sales reps spend less time making excuses and more time closing business.

## Why marketing feels like shouting into the void

Marketing has its own identity crisis. Too often it’s reduced to one job: fill the funnel. Put up landing pages, buy ads, gate a whitepaper, count leads.

But if those leads don’t match what sales can actually close, they’re just noise. The Marketing guide puts it bluntly: **more leads aren’t always better.** Filtering, segmentation, and alignment with sales matter more than raw volume.

Marketing also can’t stop at the handoff. Leads that don’t close right away aren’t trash. They’re tomorrow’s pipeline. Without nurture, you’re just burning demand you worked hard to generate.

Done right, marketing isn’t a megaphone. It’s identity work. Every campaign should answer one core buyer question: **Do these people understand my problems?** Every page, email, and ad is a chance to prove expertise and credibility, not just capture an email address.

Measurement is the other non-negotiable. Forget vanity metrics like clicks and downloads. The only marketing that counts is what contributes to pipeline and revenue. Anything else is window dressing.

## Sales vs. marketing: lots of finger pointing

Put sales and marketing in the same room, and you’ll often get the corporate version of a family feud. Sales complains about lead quality. Marketing insists sales doesn’t follow up. Leadership plays referee.

Here’s the kicker: both sides are usually right. Sales is ignoring leads. Marketing is generating inconsistent ones. Without shared definitions, shared metrics, and shared accountability, the cycle repeats quarter after quarter.

That’s why the truth guides resonate: they don’t just blame one side or the other. They lay out how to unify the teams under one system. Sales follows up on everything with structure. Marketing generates leads that match sales’ definitions and nurtures the rest. And leadership finally gets forecasts they can defend in a boardroom.

## The good news: this is fixable

Do you recognize your own teams here? The good news is these patterns aren’t hardwired. They’re solvable with the right structure.

- For sales, the answer is **process**: clear deal stages, disciplined follow-up, consistent data entry.
- For marketing, the answer is **alignment**: campaigns tied to real pipeline outcomes, not just top-of-funnel activity.
- For leadership, the answer is **visibility**: a single system of record where both teams are accountable.

Once those pieces click together, sales and marketing stop fighting each other and start fighting for the same thing: growth.

## Why you should read the guides

If you’re nodding (or wincing) as you read this, the deeper playbooks are worth your time.

- [The Truth About B2B Sales](https://info.orangemarketing.com/the-truth-about-b2b-sales) shows how to build a sales machine that doesn’t rely on hero reps or lucky quarters. It’s structure over superstition.
- [The Truth About B2B Marketing](https://info.orangemarketing.com/the-truth-about-b2b-marketing) shows how to stop chasing vanity leads and start generating pipeline that converts. It’s alignment over activity.

Together, they’ll help you turn finger-pointing into measurable progress.
---
## How to move your Figma designs to Lovable: from static mockups to vibe-coded apps
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-move-figma-designs-to-lovable/
Published: 2025-09-29
Author: alex-kukharenko-pixeldarts
Tags: Figma, Prototyping, AI Tools, Builder.io, Lovable, Design to Code
> Skip painful handovers. Learn how to take your Figma designs straight into Lovable with Builder.io and AI — and turn static mockups into working code & prototypes.
You finished you perfect design in Figma, and then you have to handover it to the developer?
As a design lead, I am often in these shoes.
The endless manual handovers, the back-and-forth with developers,
the _“wait, can you move that 2 pixels to the left?”_ dance.

But what if you could skip all that and get an early jump? [Lovable](https://lovable.dev/) is a new AI tool that translates your Figma designs into code and components. Here is a quick overview on how to get it to work and integrate into your design workflow.

PS, we create prototypes at [Pixeldarts](https://pixeldarts.com) for startups. So if you're struggling with a prototype, [approach me](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexkukharenko/).

![Cover image: Figma to Lovable workflow overview](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-0.jpg)

## Figma + Lovable + Builder.io workflow

Lovable is your AI engineer out of the box. It takes your design and creates frontend code + components automatically.

And [Builder.io](https://www.builder.io/) is a Figma plugin that can transform your designs into React,
Svelte, Vue, Angular and whatever stack you make use of - respecting your components and design system.

Together they provide you with a picture-real code you could expand with logic, databases, APIs.

![Diagram showing Figma + Builder.io + Lovable workflow](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-2.png)

## 1. Prepare your Figma design

- Structure sections using **Frames**.
- Name layers clearly (use `Button / Primary` instead of `Group 15`).
- Apply **Auto Layout** where elements need to be responsive.
- Run a cleanup: remove hidden layers, drafts, and unnecessary stuff.

![Preparing and cleaning up Figma design before export](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-3.png)

## 2. Install visual copilot

In Figma, open **Plugins → Builder.io AI-powered Figma to Code**.  
Run the plugin and import your mockup.

![Running Builder.io Visual Copilot plugin inside Figma](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-4.png)

## 3. Export design to code

Open the plugin and click **Export to Code**.

AI will write structured code, components, and styles for your Figma design.
Of course, it won't be perfect code, but for the sake of speed we will ignore it.

![Exporting Figma design to structured code](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-5.png)

## 4. Open in Lovable

After the plugin finishes operating, click **Launch Project**.
The project will start building in Lovable automatically, and you receive a finished prototype with code and components.

You can preview the result, edit details, and make corrections if the AI has not recognized something properly.

![Launching project in Lovable after Figma export](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-6.png)

**Tip:** Lovable isn't perfect. Parts of your prototype may require repairing. You can edit, refine, and restructure the prototype in Lovable.

![Editing and refining generated prototype in Lovable](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-7.png)

## 5. Other export options

Not that you have to use the plugin each time. There are other ways to get your design into Lovable:

**Public Figma link copy** a shareable "Can View" Link and paste into Lovable.

![Importing Figma design into Lovable via shareable link](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-8.png)

**Screenshot + Prompt** upload a screenshot of your design and describe what you want.

![Uploading screenshot + prompt into Lovable](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-9.png)

**Ask ChatGPT to explain UI**: share the screenshot with ChatGPT, let it create an organized UI description, use that prompt in v0.dev or Lovable.

![Using ChatGPT to describe UI for Lovable import](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-10.png)

## 6. Refine in Lovable

Once your design is imported:

- Examine the generated structure.
- Adjust styles, layouts, and components.
- Add in missing elements or even fix little quirks from AI conversion.

Lovable is interactive. The more you improve here, the cleaner your code is.

![Refining and adjusting design inside Lovable](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-11.png)

## Tips for better results

Keep prompts short, easy, and actionable.
Use real text and actual pictures for your design. It lets the AI understand context.

End your prompt by telling Lovable:
_"Ask questions to understand the layout before generating."_

For more complicated components (like modals, tables, and graphs), break your UI into smaller areas and process each one at a time.

Feeling stuck? Write a much better prompt by asking ChatGPT. You can even:

- Share a screenshot.
- Explain the structure.
- Highlight unclear parts (e.g., red box = important area)

## Publish & sync with GitHub

Once you are finished, sync your project 2-way with GitHub.

Take control of versioning, collaborate with devs, and continue in your IDE like a normal project.

![Publishing Lovable project and syncing with GitHub](./assets/move-figma-designs-to-lovable-12.png)

## In short

No more painful manual design-to-code conversions! You get **semantic code + components** ready to work with.

Although you won't get pixel-to-pixel matching design and implementation, this workflow is working and guarantees that your Figma design will be present in Lovable.
---
## Introducing Video GIF: instant-play video previews without the weight
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/video-gif-previews/
Published: 2025-09-25
Author: reatlat
Tags: HubSpot, Website Optimization, Search Engine Optimization, Video Marketing
> Engage visitors with autoplaying video GIF previews that load fast, boost UX, and keep Core Web Vitals strong.
import YouTube from "@/components/mdx/YouTube.astro";

**Motion sells.** Static images catch the eye, but short looping previews _stop the scroll_.
The problem? Traditional video embeds are heavy, and GIFs are bloated.

That's why we built **Video GIF**, a new module that delivers the best of both worlds:
**lightweight, looping video previews** that feel like GIFs but load lightning-fast.

<YouTube id="2vIsuHAF5aE" />

## ⚡ What is Video GIF?

Video GIF is a **performance-friendly video preview module** that:

- Displays a short **autoplaying loop** (MP4/WebM) instead of a heavy GIF.
- Plays instantly, no click required.
- Keeps your pages lean and Core Web Vitals green.

## 🎯 Why it matters

- **Better than GIFs** → Smaller file size, faster loading, sharper quality.
- **Engagement boost** → Motion drives clicks, time on page, and conversions.
- **SEO & UX** → With a proper poster image fallback, search engines still see meaningful visuals.

## 🛠 How it works

1. Drop the Video GIF module on your HubSpot page.
2. Upload your video or select from file manager.
3. The module automatically generates a **poster thumbnail** for SEO and fallback support.

Your visitors see instant motion on modern browsers, while older devices still show the poster cleanly.

## 🎬 See it in action

👉 [Live Demo of Video GIF](https://demo.freshjuice.dev/modules/video-gif)

Compare GIF vs. Video GIF side by side and feel the difference in speed.

## 🔍 SEO & fallbacks

Google and other crawlers don't really "watch" your video; they look at images.
That's why Video GIF automatically includes:

- **Poster thumbnail**: indexable by Google Image Search.
- **Alt text + captions**: so bots (and assistive tech) understand the content.
- **Lightweight markup**: no iframe bloat, no extra requests.

This way, your preview looks great for users _and_ is discoverable for search engines.

## 📈 Our tests

- Standard GIF (5s loop, 1080p): approximately 4.5 MB load upfront.
- Video GIF (same loop in MP4): approximately 600 KB.
- Performance boost: **7x smaller file, instant play**.

## 🎞 Preparing your videos

Need to compress or convert your videos before uploading? Use [JuicePress](https://juicepress.app), our free desktop app for web video compression. Pick the **Video-GIF** preset and you'll get a silent, looping MP4 optimized for this module in seconds.

## 🚀 Try it today

Get the module here: [Install Video GIF](https://app.hubspot.com/l/ecosystem/marketplace/modules/video-gif-module-by-freshjuice)
Let your pages be **fresh, juicy, and full of motion** 🍊✨
---
## Introducing Lite Video: keep your pages fast while showcasing video
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/lite-video-fast-embeds/
Published: 2025-09-20
Author: reatlat
Tags: HubSpot, Website Optimization, Search Engine Optimization
> Boost Core Web Vitals with Lite Video — a lightweight embed module for YouTube and Vimeo. Faster load, better SEO, and seamless user experience.
import YouTube from "@/components/mdx/YouTube.astro";

**Video is powerful.** It sells, it explains, it connects.  
But embedding YouTube or Vimeo directly? That often means sluggish load times, bloated iFrames, and a sad Lighthouse score.

That’s why we built **Lite Video** — a fresh new module designed to make video embeds _lightweight and performance-friendly_.

<YouTube id="6neMZHKHmw8" />

## ⚡ What is Lite Video?

Lite Video is a smart embed solution that:

- Loads only a **preview thumbnail** until the user clicks play.
- Avoids heavy iFrames that normally load hundreds of KB upfront.
- Keeps your page blazing fast while still delivering the same video experience.

## 🎯 Why it matters

- **SEO & Core Web Vitals** → Faster load, happier Google.
- **User Experience** → Pages render instantly, videos play seamlessly on click.
- **Marketing Teams** → Add videos to landing pages without fearing conversion drops.

## 🛠 How it works

1. Drop the Lite Video module on your page.
2. Paste a YouTube or Vimeo link.
3. Publish — and done.

Your visitors see a clean thumbnail with a play button. When they click, the video player loads _just in time_.

## 🎬 See it in action

We’ve set up a simple demo page so you can see Lite Video in action:

👉 [Live Demo of Lite Video](https://demo.freshjuice.dev/modules/lite-video-embed)

It shows how the module works in a real environment — lightweight by default, fully interactive when needed.

## 🔍 Technical SEO boost

Lite Video isn't just about looks; it directly improves **Core Web Vitals**:

- **LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)**: faster, because your hero video isn't blocking render.
- **CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)**: stable, no jumping elements when the iFrame loads.
- **TBT (Total Blocking Time)**: reduced, thanks to less JavaScript execution upfront.

That means:

- Better Google PageSpeed Insights scores.
- Higher Lighthouse performance.
- A direct positive signal for SEO rankings.

## 🧩 SEO schema built in

Lite Video doesn't just make your embeds lighter; it also helps your videos get discovered.
If you're curious why structured data matters so much for SEO, check out our guide:
👉 [Why Schema Markup Is Important](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/)

Every embed automatically includes a proper [VideoObject JSON-LD schema](https://schema.org/VideoObject), so search engines can:

- Understand what your video is about.
- Display rich snippets with thumbnails in search results.
- Improve discoverability and click-through rates.

You don't need to write JSON-LD by hand; Lite Video handles it for you, on the fly.

Here’s what it looks like behind the scenes (generated automatically for your video):

```html
<script type="application/ld+json">
  {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "VideoObject",
    "name": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video) (4K Remaster)",
    "description": "“Never Gonna Give You Up” was a global smash on its release in July 1987.",
    "thumbnailUrl": ["https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg"],
    "uploadDate": "1987-07-27T00:00:00+00:00",
    "inLanguage": "en",
    "embedUrl": "https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "potentialAction": {
      "@type": "WatchAction",
      "target": "https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    }
  }
</script>
```

## 📈 Our tests

- Standard YouTube embed: approximately 700KB resources loaded instantly.
- Lite Video: approximately 6KB until user interaction.
- Performance boost: **+20 to 25 Lighthouse points**.

## 🚀 Try it today

Get the module here: [Install Lite Video](https://app.hubspot.com/l/ecosystem/marketplace/modules/lite-video-embed-module-by-freshjuice)  
Let your videos be **fresh, juicy, and lightning-fast**.
---
## FreshJuice DEV v3.0.0 – major developer edition release with TailwindCSS v4 upgrade
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/freshjuice-dev-v3-release/
Published: 2025-08-14
Author: reatlat
Tags: FreshJuice, Stay Fresh, Product Update
> Discover the biggest FreshJuice update yet – Developer Edition v3.0.0. Featuring TailwindCSS v4 upgrade, cleaner CSS, improved JavaScript, and a rebranded developer-focused theme for HubSpot.
We are excited to announce the **third major release** of FreshJuice — now rebranded as **FreshJuice DEV (Developer Edition)**! 🎉  
This update is focused on developers, with a cleaner codebase, improved tooling, and a major upgrade to our CSS framework.

![Cat drinking orange juice in a hammock with a MacBook](./assets/cat-hammock-orange-juice.jpg)

**Attention developers!** This is our biggest refactor yet. With this release, we’ve made FreshJuice faster, easier to maintain, and better suited for advanced customization.

## 🚀 Major changes

### 🎨 Rebranding & version bump

FreshJuice is now officially **FreshJuice DEV (Developer Edition)**.  
This name change reflects our focus on making the theme the perfect foundation for developers building HubSpot sites.  
We’ve updated the repository structure, build scripts, and all internal references.  
The version has been bumped to **v3.0.0** to mark these breaking changes.

### 🆙 TailwindCSS upgrade to v4.0.0

One of the most important changes: we've upgraded **TailwindCSS from v3.x to v4.0.0**.
This brings:

- **Zero-config setup**: `tailwind.config.js` is no longer required by default.
- Built-in **JIT mode** and automatic class scanning.
- More optimized CSS output out of the box.

⚠️ **Breaking change:** If you had custom Tailwind configuration, check out the
[Tailwind v4 Migration Guide](https://tailwindcss.com/docs/upgrade-guide) before updating.

### 💅 CSS & UI improvements

- Removed the `fj-` prefix from all CSS classes for a cleaner, more consistent naming convention.
- Added new CSS utilities for margins, text colors, and hover effects.
- Improved styling consistency across multiple modules.

### ⚙️ JavaScript enhancements

- Improved **MutationObserver** to better handle DOM changes and remove nodes efficiently.
- Added helper functions `isCheckbox` and `isRadio` for cleaner, reusable code.
- Refined `initTree` and `destroyTree` logic for better DOM manipulation and memory management.

### 🧹 Cleanup & dependencies

- Removed unused configuration files: `tailwind.config.js` and `postcss.config.js`.
- Updated dependencies in `package.json` and `package-lock.json`.
- Bumped **esbuild** to `0.25.9`.
- Updated Node.js prerequisite to **v22.0.0**.

## 📚 Documentation

We’ve updated the [README](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/freshjuice-dev-hubspot-theme/blob/main/README.md) with:

- New demo link for FreshJuice DEV (Developer Edition).
- Updated setup instructions to match Tailwind v4 workflow.
- Notes on breaking changes and migration tips.

## 🐞 Bugfixes

- Fixed minor inconsistencies in class usage across modules.
- Improved DOM cleanup to prevent memory leaks in certain scenarios.

[Check out the full changelog](/developer-edition/changelog/) for all details on this update.

---

This release is all about **making FreshJuice a better starting point for developers**, with faster builds, cleaner styles, and modern tooling.
We can't wait to see what you'll build with **FreshJuice DEV v3.0.0**! 🍹
---
## Entity-based SEO: optimizing for semantic search in 2025
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/entity-based-seo-for-semantic-search/
Published: 2025-06-15
Author: loraider259
Tags: SEO, Content, Search Engine Optimization
> Come and learn how entity-based SEO works in 2025 and how to optimize your content for semantic search, structured data, and Google's algorithm.
There was a time when you could rank content just by stuffing a page with keywords, but that's not how things work nowadays. While [strategic keyword research](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/) still matters, today we need to focus on entity-based SEO, as search engine optimization is an evolving creature that makes use of algorithms in order to classify and rank content, prioritizing semantic understanding. Their main goal is to leverage the concept of entities and deliver more accurate, context-rich search results.

Once you understand how search engines work and how to get algorithms' attention, it's time to work on an entity-based SEO strategy.

![What Is Entity-Based SEO?](./assets/linking-entities-blockchain-social-media-communications-network.jpg "What Is Entity-Based SEO?")

## What is entity-based SEO?

Before creating content based on entities, we should be going through this concept itself. If we take Google as an example, an entity will be anything that's unique, well-defined, and distinguishable. This can include people, places, organizations, events, and many more. For example, "Leonardo da Vinci", "Tokyo", or "machine learning" are examples of entities on which you should focus when it comes to optimizing your content.

These and many more are part of the Google Knowledge Graph, a massive database whose job is to link related facts and concepts together in order to help the search engine understand the terms people are using, but also the meaning behind them.

![How Does This Impact On SEO?](./assets/close-up-young-asian-woman-using-mobile-phone.jpg "How Does This Impact On SEO?")

## How does this impact on SEO?

The main goal of entity-based SEO is to mark a transition from matching search terms to interpreting intent and context. For example, when you search for "Apple", search engines must determine if you mean the fruit or the technology giant. Thanks to entity-based SEO, Google can make these distinctions and provide clear and contextual information.

This, taken to SEO impact, is translated into:

- **Improved Relevance.** Google highly rewards content that matches the searcher’s intent, so you’ll have your content better positioned in search results.
- **Enhanced Visibility.** When you aim for entity-based content, this will be improved with rich features such as knowledge panels, [featured snippets](/blog/what-is-a-featured-snippet/), and even voice search answers.
- **Long-Term Authority.** Last, but not least, by publishing content around connected entities, you’ll also become a topical authority in that niche.

![Identify And Use Entities](./assets/search-engine-optimization-concept-woman-pushing-a-seo-button-on-a-white-computer-keyboard.jpg "Identify And Use Entities")

## Identify and use entities

Among the first things you should always do before embarking on the content creation journey is identify your niche, that is, what are you going to talk about? Once you’ve done this, it’s time to recognize which entities matter to that main topic, something you can do by using:

- **Google’s Knowledge Panel**: you can search your topic and note the related people, places, or terms that appear and are potentially useful.
- **Wikidata and Wikipedia:** Google forms its basis of entity understanding from these two, so keep a close eye to both of them to identify entity candidates.
- **NLP Tools:** there are platforms such as [IBM Watson](https://www.ibm.com/watson), [Google’s Natural Language API](https://cloud.google.com/natural-language), or in-SEO tools like [InLinks ](https://inlinks.com/)and [Clearscope ](https://www.clearscope.io/)that can help you highlight entities present (or missing) in your content.

Once you have identified possible entities for your content, it’s time to:

1. Integrate the relevant ones naturally into your writing.
2. Build internal links between your different posts covering related entities.
3. Add structured data ([schema.org markup](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/)) to clarify relationships for search engines.

## Best practices to start implementing now

So far we’ve learned what entities are and what their significance is when it comes to SEO. Now it is time to learn the best practices for entity optimization and aim for becoming Google’s favorite. These are 3 ways you can start implementing entity-based SEO strategies into your content:

- **Topics, Not Just Keywords.** We said it before and we say it now: forget about stuffing your content with keywords. They are important, yes, but you need to cover the broader topic. Imagine you’re writing about “best cameras”, a good idea would be to discuss brands, specs, user types, photography genres, and so on in order to have related entities that improve semantic depth.
- **Topic Clusters and Internal Links.** The key to success is organization. If we’re creating content about “digital marketing”, you should organize it into clusters on SEO, content marketing, or email automation, for example. There’s nothing more satisfactory as a user than having a well-structured site that improves our navigation experience.
- **Structured Data.** Once again, let’s talk about organization. If you have your content structured, you’ll be helping search engines understand what it is about. You can use schemas with this kind of structure so that your chances of appearing in enhanced SERP features are improved: `Article`, `Person`, `Product`, `Organization`, `FAQ`.
- **Consistency Across Platforms.** This only applies if you have several content platforms, such as a website, social profiles, etc. In that case, you need to make sure your brand name, authorship, and key messages are consistent across all of them — that way you’ll be strengthening your entity’s presence in the Knowledge Graph.

![Entities In A Nutshell](./assets/a-web-developer-is-analyzing-data-from-his-ideas-to-develop-the-structure-and-components-of-a-digita.jpg "Entities In A Nutshell")

## Entities in a nutshell

Times change, and so do search engines and people needs when it comes to searching on the Internet, which is why the sooner you understand entity-based SEO isn’t a passing trend, the better. Focus on semantic relationships, structured data, and comprehensive topic coverage and see how your rankings improve and you build a strong authority online.

This approach becomes even more important if we think about how AI, voice queries, and context-aware resuls are slowly taking over how users search nowadays. If you want to stay competitive in 2025 and beyond, you know what it needs to be done.
---
## How to write successful meta titles and descriptions in 2025
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/write-good-meta-titles-and-descriptions/
Published: 2025-06-01
Author: loraider259
Tags: Meta Tags, SEO, SEO Strategies, Content
> Learn how to write meta titles and descriptions that boost SEO and drive clicks with proven tips, clear examples, and best practices that actually work.
Did you know meta titles and descriptions play a critical role in search engine optimization (SEO) and user engagement? It's no secret these elements are the first impression a user gets of your content, which appears in search engine results pages, social media shares, and browser tabs.

That said, the need to come up with a compelling meta title that attracts attention becomes more and more important nowadays. If you combine that with a well-written description, you'll be able to influence both your visibility in search rankings and your click-through rates (CTR). Today we'll be learning how to write strong meta titles and descriptions not only for SEO professionals but also for anyone publishing online content. For comprehensive strategies on [optimizing your entire content for SEO](/blog/how-to-optimize-content-for-seo/), check our detailed guide.

![Back to Basics](./assets/top-view-of-fishing-rod-and-various-fishing-bait-isolated-on-white.jpg "Back to Basics")

## Back to basics

First things first: you need to know what meta titles and descriptions are:

- **Meta Title.** Also known as the clickable headline in search results. This appears at the top of your browser tab and is usually a primary factor in SEO rankings.
- **Meta Description.** Just below the meta title, users find the summary. This may not be a direct ranking factor, but it influences quite a bit whether or not a user clicks on your content.

You can either specify them or let search engines generate them automatically, which we strongly advise content creators against doing so, mainly because they are taking the risk of losing control over how their page is presented.

## Why do meta tags drive clicks

If you know one thing or two about [search engines](/blog/top-4-best-search-engines-of-2024/), you surely know their main purpose is to provide the most relevant results for users. If you manage to have meta titles and descriptions that closely match what users may be searching for, you’re more likely to get the click. Let’s dive deeper into why these elements matter:

- **First Impressions.** Of course first impressions matter, that's why these snippets are your content's headline and teaser. They need to grab attention fast, just as when you're on the other side of the coin.
- **Relevance Signals.** What do you think users expect from your website? Obviously, they need to make sure your page answers their question, which is why keywords are so important when it comes to [meta tags](/tools/metadata-checker/).
- **Increased CTR = Better Rankings.** Last, but not least, Google rewards content that gets high click-through rates with higher rankings. This will create a positive feedback loop, which will take your page to the top of SERP.

![5 Tips For Strong Meta Titles](./assets/a-office-worker-using-a-new-white-computer-mouse.jpg "5 Tips For Strong Meta Titles")

## 5 tips for strong meta titles

Now that we know what meta titles and descriptions are and why they are a key factor when it comes to your SEO performance, it’s time to learn a few things about how to write successful meta titles. These are:

1. **Keep It Short.** Less is more, as they say, and so it should be when it comes to your meta title. Make sure you keep it under 60 characters so you ensure the full title displays in search results without being cut off.
2. **Keywords First.** Just so you know, search engines give more weight to the beginning of the title, which is why you should focus on them and place important keywords early. If a user is looking for a certain piece of information, let them find it quickly.
3. **Mind Your Language.** Meta titles should be treated just like headlines. They need to generate curiosity, urgency, and also offer value.
4. **Brand Name.** Whenever is possible and you find it relevant, your brand name should also be included. This will give your page recognition and credibility, which is essential for known brands.
5. **Avoid Keyword Stuffing.** Yes, you need to put keywords first, but that doesn’t mean jamming multiple of them. Instead, try to focus on natural phrasing that appeals to real users.

## 5 tips for strong descriptions

You now have an appealing and strong meta title, so it’s time to take care of your meta description and get the perfect duo. Let’s see how you can do this:

1. **Short, But Not That Short.** It’s obvious you need your meta descriptions to be longer than your titles, but there’s also a fair proportion for this. Try to stay between 120-160 characters, as they are long enough to explain and short enough to fit.
2. **Clear Summary.** What do you want to know when you search for something online? The benefits or results you’re getting. That’s what you need to include in your descriptions: tell users what to expect.
3. **Call To Action.** This is a matter of engagement, so you need to [draw as much attention as possible](https://www.semrush.com/blog/what-is-a-call-to-action/). You can achieve that effect by using phrases such as “Learn more”, “Discover how”, or “Start today”, for example.
4. **Target Keywords.** Once again, search engines know what they’re doing, so they highlight keywords in bold. This, inevitably, draws users’ eye, so make sure you include one or two in your meta description.
5. **User First.** Sometimes, we tend to think of the algorithm and forget about users, when it should always be the other way round. Remember to be persuasive, relevant, and focused on what the users’ intent is.

## Meta titles and descriptions for winners

Once we embrace all these strategies and we put them into practice in our meta titles and descriptions, we’ll be optimizing content and rising to the top SERP results. Let’s see some examples of how you could create successful meta titles and descriptions depending on your content.

![SEO/Marketing Blog](./assets/attention-please.jpg "SEO/Marketing Blog")

### SEO/marketing blog

“10 Proven SEO Strategies to Boost Your Google Results in 2025”

Discover SEO strategies that actually work. From on-page tactics to link building, learn how to rank higher and drive traffic in 2025.

### Health & wellness blog

> “Beginner Yoga Poses to Reduce Stress and Boost Flexibility”

Feeling stiff or stressed? These beginner-friendly yoga poses help you relax, stay flexible, and feel more energized — no experience needed.

### Online course page

“Learn Python Programming Online | Beginner to Pro Course”

Master Python from scratch with hands-on lessons, projects, and certification. Start coding today with our top-rated online course.

All these examples achieve our goal: they have a clear value proposition and strong keywords, are empathy-driven, and are action-focused. Start today with your meta titles and descriptions improvements and witness how your click rate goes up as your content stands out in search results.
---
## Why content syndication could be your secret SEO weapon?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/content-syndication-secret-seo-weapon/
Published: 2025-05-05
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Content, Content Syndication, SEO
> Content syndication is a great opportunity to repurpose your content and get more people to read it without effort. Want to know how to do it? Read to learn.
If you’re working very hard creating high-quality content but still feel like you’re shouting into the void, you’re definitely not alone. The internet is a crowded place full of sites and experts that know all the tricks, and that’s why lately, just hitting “publish” isn’t always enough to get the attention (and traffic) your work deserves.

That's where content syndication comes in. It's one of those sneaky-powerful strategies that can help you get way more people to read your content, boost your SEO efforts, and build serious brand authority, all without having to create something new from scratch every time but repurposing the content you already knew was good.

In this guide, we’ll break down what content syndication actually is, how it works, how you can start doing it (the right way), and the best platforms to make it happen.

![Why Content Syndication Could Be Your Secret SEO Weapon?](./assets/skilled-positive-female-student-creats-article-for-homework-sits-in-coworking-space.jpg "Why Content Syndication Could Be Your Secret SEO Weapon?")

## What is content syndication?

If you’ve ever seen the same article pop up on different websites and thought, “Hey, didn’t I already read this?”, congrats — you’ve already run into content syndication (even if you didn’t realize it).

Content syndication is basically when you take a piece of content you’ve created — like a blog post, an article, a video, or even an infographic — and publish it again on third-party websites. You’re not writing a brand new post each time like you would do with [guest posting](https://neilpatel.com/blog/guide-to-guest-blogging/); **you’re republishing your existing work to reach a bigger audience.**

Think of it like this: you put all this effort into creating something awesome, and instead of letting it just sit on your site hoping people find it, you give it extra chances to shine by sharing it across multiple platforms.

Some sites will republish your full article word-for-word (usually with a link back to the original source), while others might just share a snippet and link to the full thing. Either way, it’s all about expanding your reach without reinventing the wheel.

The goal? More eyeballs on your content, more authority for your brand, and (hopefully) **more traffic back to your website**.

And no, this won’t hurt your site — the content will be published first on your own site and therefore won’t be considered [duplicate content](/blog/why-is-having-duplicate-content-an-issue/). Plus, the site that republishes your article usually includes a link back to your original version, making it super clear to search engines (and readers) who the real author is. Instead of competing against yourself, you’re actually boosting your authority and giving your content a second life in front of new audiences. Win-win!

![Man Reading a content syndication Article on Smartphone](./assets/man-reading-article-on-smartphone.jpg "Man Reading a content syndication Article on Smartphone")

## How does content syndication work?

As we’ve already mentioned, content syndication is all about publishing content that you’ve already posted on your site onto other outlets with higher page authority — but always under your name and with specific tags or links that tell search engines it’s syndicated, not stolen.

But, how does it actually work? Well, it's pretty simple:

You create and publish your original content on your own site first (this is super important: you want to make sure you are seen as the original source). Then, you either reach out to other websites, platforms, or media outlets that accept syndicated content, or you use a syndication network to get your content republished.

When your content appears on these other sites, it usually includes:

- A link back to the original article on your website (gaining backlinks that will improve even more your page authority and rankings).
- Sometimes, a canonical tag that points to the original version (this tells search engines where the “main” article lives, avoiding confusions regarding duplicate content and, therefore, avoiding SEO issues).
- Your name or brand as the author, keeping you credited as the original creator.

The magic here is that you’re getting exposure to new audiences without creating new content from scratch — and you’re not hurting your SEO because search engines understand the relationship between the original and the syndicated versions thanks to those links and tags.

It’s like giving your content a second (or third!) chance to make an impression without any of the risk of getting flagged for duplicate content.

## How to do content syndication?

Obviously, all this sounds amazing, and honestly, it's just as easy as it looks. But how do you actually start? How do you know if a site even works with content syndication? Don't worry, we're going to walk you through everything right here.

First things first: you’ll want to find websites that accept syndicated content. Here’s how you can do it:

### Google it (but like a pro)

![Searching Browsing concept. Hand click search page internet data information networking.](./assets/searching-browsing-concept-hand-click-search-page-internet-data-information-networking.jpg "Searching Browsing concept. Hand click search page internet data information networking.")

Use specific search terms like site:medium.com “originally published on” or “republished with permission”. These little tricks help you find real examples of syndicated content, and you can spot the sites that are open to it.

### Check out big media outlets

Platforms like Medium, Thrive Global, Business 2 Community, and a bunch more love republishing quality articles. Just look at their “Write for Us” or “Contribute” pages — they usually explain if they’re open to syndication.

### Look around in your niche

![Magnifying glass on the orange background](./assets/magnifying-glass-on-the-orange-background.jpg "Magnifying glass on the orange background")

Not every site screams “We syndicate!” from the rooftops, but if you notice they post a lot of guest content or articles from different authors, chances are they’re open to it. A quick email asking nicely can do wonders too. A good tip is to check if the article you suspect is syndicated has a link back to the original or mentions where it was first published. If so, that’s a clear sign they accept syndication — and it could be your opportunity to pitch your content for republishing.

### Use syndication platforms

If you want to go bigger, platforms like Outbrain, Taboola, or Zemanta help you distribute your content across tons of sites. These are usually paid options, but they can give your reach a huge boost while you find free ways to do it. It’s a good start and you can get great positive results with them if you are starting with your content syndication strategy.

### Reach out (professionally) to editors and content managers

Seriously, don’t underestimate the power of LinkedIn or even X (formerly Twitter). Editors and content managers hang out there all the time, and building a genuine relationship can easily open doors for syndication opportunities. When doing so, please, don’t use a template that shows that you are sending a copy-paste email, write as good of a reach out as you do with your blogposts.

And, PLEASE, ALWAYS make sure that when your content is syndicated, the site either adds a canonical tag or a very clear link back to your original article. That way, search engines know you’re the original source or you won’t get the results you were looking for.

![Man, remote work and happy at computer with fist pump, good news and positive feedback for article made for content syndication.](./assets/man-remote-work-and-happy-at-computer-with-fist-pump-good-news-and-positive-feedback-for-article.jpg "Man, remote work and happy at computer with fist pump, good news and positive feedback for article made for content syndication.")

Content syndication is a great opportunity to repurpose your content and get more people to read it without reinventing the wheel every time. It’s a smart way to boost your traffic, expand your reach, and build your brand’s authority, all while saving you time and effort. Instead of constantly writing new posts or spending hours on keyword research, syndicating your [high-performing content ](/blog/tips-for-writing-blog-posts/)can help you achieve big results with minimal work. So, go ahead and start syndicating — it’s like getting a second chance to show off your best content to a whole new audience!
---
## Why is having duplicate content an issue for SEO?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/why-is-having-duplicate-content-an-issue/
Published: 2025-04-27
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, Content, Search Engine Optimization
> You have duplicate content on your site but don't know to what extent can it affect your SEO strategy? Click here and learn EVERYTHING about it.
Sometimes intentionally, sometimes not; but duplicate content can be a real problem when it comes to ranking your site… But, why is having duplicate content an issue for SEO? Well, first of all, search engines hate it, but that’s not the only reason.

In this article, we'll break down exactly why duplicate content messes with your SEO game and what it means for your website's performance. But first, what even is duplicate content?

![What is Duplicate Content?](./assets/journalist-woman-and-typing-on-laptop-in-home-for-online-article-blog-review-and-story-developmen.jpg "What is Duplicate Content?")

## What is duplicate content?

If you don't know what duplicate content is, don't worry. It's not as scary as it sounds (but it can be a bit annoying).

Duplicate content is **when the exact same (or really similar) text appears in more than one place on the internet**, either across different websites or even within your own site. Basically, if a search engine doesn't know which version to show because there are two or more very similar options, you've got a duplicate content problem.

There are two types of duplicate content: intentional and unintentional duplicate content.

- **Intentional:** This is when you want to write a page or an article and you end up copy-pasting content from somewhere else, or you use [AI writing tools](/blog/best-ai-writing-tools-2024/) to create something that's basically a clone of existing stuff. It might have a few twists here and there, but both [search engines](/blog/top-4-best-search-engines-of-2024/) and users can sniff it out as plagiarism. It's like wearing the same outfit as someone else at a party (awkward, right?). Plus, search engines aren't huge fans of seeing the same thing over and over (if you don't like it, why would they?), so it could hurt your site's performance.
- **Unintentional:** this one happens without you even noticing, and honestly, it's way more common than you think. Sometimes your site can accidentally create multiple versions of the same content, like a page available on both `http://` and `https://`, or with and without the trailing slash at the end (`/page` vs. `page/`). It's basically the same page living in two places, and search engines get confused about which one they should care about. And when search engines get confused, they don't rank your pages as well as they could. Not ideal.

Even though it might seem like this could never happen to you, duplicate content is way more common than you’d think — and it can sneak up on anyone. Whether it’s a little technical glitch or an innocent copy-paste moment, it can quietly hurt your site’s chances of ranking well without you even realizing it.

So now that we know what duplicate content is, let’s talk about why having it is actually a big deal for your SEO.

## Why is having duplicate content an issue for SEO?

We have already hinted at one of the reasons, but let’s list the main ones why you should watch out that you don’t have duplicate content — unless you want to throw away your whole ranking strategy (and all the hard work you’ve put in to get your site to the top).

### Search engines hate duplicate content

First off, when search engines like Google find two (or more) pages with the same or very similar content, they get confused. They don’t know which one they should show in search results — and when search engines are confused, it usually doesn’t end well for you. They might pick the wrong page to rank (not the one you wanted!), or they might not rank any version at all. Ouch.

### Your pages won’t be as strong regarding rankings as they should

Second, duplicate content confuses search engines about which page should get the credit. Instead of having one strong page gathering all the backlinks, engagement, and good SEO signals, you’re basically spreading that power across different versions. It’s like trying to win a race but splitting your best runners into different lanes — instead of one strong finish, you get a bunch of weaker ones. Not great for winning medals… or ranking high.

### Crawl budget gets wasted

And let’s not forget about your crawl budget. If search engines are busy crawling all your duplicated pages, they might ignore or delay crawling the important ones — the ones you actually want to get indexed and ranked. It’s like inviting friends over for a party and having them stuck at the front door because you forgot to unlock the right entrance. Total chaos.

This usually happens more with huge sites that have hundreds (or thousands) of pages, but honestly? Even small sites should care. Why make it harder for Google to do its job when you can make things nice and easy?

![Crawl budget gets wasted](./assets/closeup-of-a-business-woman-hands-working-at-home-writing-at-laptop.jpg "Crawl budget gets wasted")

So yeah, duplicate content can definitely cause trouble — but how bad is it really? Is it like a tiny scratch on your car, or more like crashing into a wall at full speed? Let’s break it down.

## How bad is duplicate content for SEO?

As we’ve already mentioned, having duplicate content can mess with your content strategy at different levels — but how bad is it really for SEO? Can it completely destroy your site? Well, not really or at least not always. But it can definitely hold you back more than you think. Here’s exactly how duplicate content can hurt you:

- **It confuses search engines and affects your rankings**

When search engines find duplicate content, they don't know which version to show in search results. This confusion can lead to none of your pages getting the visibility they deserve. Instead of pushing your awesome content to the top, Google might just shrug and rank someone else's. Not cool, right? It's like training for months for a race and then not even making it onto the track because nobody could figure out which race number was yours. In severe cases, duplicate content can even trigger [SEO penalties](/blog/guide-to-recover-from-seo-penalty/) that further damage your rankings.

- **Plagiarism can also hurt your credibility**

If your duplicate content looks like straight-up plagiarism (even if you didn’t mean it that way), it can seriously damage your reputation. Readers might think you’re copying others or that you don’t have anything original to say. And let’s be honest — if users don’t trust you, search engines won’t either. Trust is a big deal online, and once you lose it, it’s tough to get it back.

- **It can mess with your backlinks too**

Backlinks are one of the most powerful ranking factors out there. But when you have multiple versions of similar content, those backlinks can get split between them. Instead of all your link juice powering up one awesome page, it’s being diluted across duplicates. The result? None of your pages end up as strong as they could be. It’s like watering five tiny plants instead of one big, thriving tree.

![How Much Duplicate Content is Acceptable?](./assets/net.jpg "How Much Duplicate Content is Acceptable?")

## How much duplicate content is acceptable?

If after reading all this you’ve realized you might be in trouble — but you’re not sure how much trouble because, so far, you haven’t experienced (or at least not badly) any of the issues we talked about — you’re probably wondering: how much duplicate content does a site need to have before it actually becomes a problem?

Well, the answer is… there’s no specific quantity or magic percentage. However, here’s what we always recommend:

- For unintentional technical duplicate content (like the examples mentioned earlier), it's better to fix everything. Aim for zero duplicate content. Seriously — don't leave any behind if you can help it.
- For an article or blog post specifically, whether it's intentional or unintentional, it's true that when writing about the same topic, some overlaps can happen. Search engines get it — they know it's sometimes impossible to be completely unique when you're covering the same ground. That said, [content experts usually recommend keeping any "duplicate" text under 10%](https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/rxcw1x/how_much_text_is_classified_as_duplicate_content/?rdt=40738#:~:text=Industry%20experts%20say%20anything%20less,preferable%20page%20for%20ranking%20purposes.). Search engines haven't officially confirmed that number, but it's a good rule of thumb to stay on the safe side that has been confirmed by other SEO experts. For more strategies on creating unique, high-quality content, check our guide on [how to optimize content for SEO](/blog/how-to-optimize-content-for-seo/).

However — and we can’t stress this enough — it’s really not worth the risk. The best thing you can do is focus on creating unique, original content that both search engines and your readers will actually enjoy. Original content always wins.

## How to avoid and detect duplicate content?

Now that you know why duplicate content is a big deal, let’s get into the good stuff: how to avoid it (and spot it if it’s already hiding somewhere on your site). Here’s what we recommend:

- **Use canonical tags:** If you have pages that are super similar or necessary duplicates (like product pages with slight variations), use canonical tags to tell search engines which version is the “main” one.
- **Set up 301 redirects when needed:** If you have two pages covering basically the same topic, consider merging them into one strong page and redirecting the old URL to the new one.
- **Be consistent with your URLs:** Always choose either www or non-www, and http or https, and stick with it. Mixing them up can accidentally create duplicate versions of your entire site (yikes).
- **Check trailing slashes:** `/page` and `/page/` are technically different URLs! Make sure your site handles these consistently.
- **Create unique content:** This one’s obvious but super important — always aim to create original, valuable content that stands out. Don’t copy-paste, and avoid spinning existing articles. You’re way too creative for that anyway.
- **Regularly audit your site:** Use SEO tools like our free [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/), [Screaming Frog](https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/), [Sitebulb](https://sitebulb.com/), or even [Google Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console/about) to catch duplicate content issues early. A quick scan every now and then can save you a lot of headaches later. For a comprehensive audit process, see our complete [SEO audit guide](/blog/seo-audit-guide/).
- **Be careful with syndicated content:** If you publish your content on other websites (or repost someone else’s), make sure you either use canonical tags or noindex meta tags so it doesn’t confuse search engines.
- **Use plagiarism checkers:** Tools like Copyscape or Grammarly’s plagiarism checker can help you catch unintentional duplication before you hit publish. If only AI checkers work as well…

![Search engine on a computer](./assets/search-engine-on-a-computer-1.jpg "Search engine on a computer")

At the end of the day, duplicate content isn’t something to panic about — but it’s definitely something to stay on top of. A little extra effort to keep your content clean, original, and well-organized can make a huge difference in how your site performs. So audit your pages, stay consistent, and keep creating awesome content that both users and search engines will love. Your rankings (and your readers) will thank you!
---
## HubSpot vs WordPress: which one is better?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/hubspot-vs-wordpress/
Published: 2025-04-14
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: CMS, HubSpot, SEO, WordPress
> Want to compare HubSpot vs WordPress before deciding which is the best option for building your site? We have a clear answer on which one is better.
Over twenty years have passed since its launch in 2003, yet WordPress remains one of the most widely used CMS platforms worldwide. However, the landscape is evolving. In recent years (especially the last couple of years), many users have faced increasing challenges with WordPress, leading to a heated competition for the title of the "best" CMS: HubSpot vs. WordPress.

![HubSpot vs WordPress](assets/hubspot-vs-wordpress.png "HubSpot vs WordPress")

Many developers and marketers have already migrated to this trending new platform, but why? Is it truly as good as people claim? In this article, we’ll dive into the data, share real experiences, and uncover the reality behind this battle.

## Their history: WordPress vs. HubSpot

WordPress and HubSpot sound familiar to all, but do you know their stories? In this section, we will compare how and when both platforms were created and give you a hint of their basic technical aspects.

### WordPress

On the one hand, there's probably the most well-known CMS: WordPress. A CMS created more than 20 years ago that has always been the king among all. WordPress was launched in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little as an open-source project based on b2/cafelog, a previous blogging software. Over the years, it has evolved into the most widely used content management system, powering over 40% of websites worldwide. Its flexibility, vast plugin ecosystem, and strong community support have made it the go-to choice for businesses, bloggers, and developers alike.

![WordPress](assets/wordpress-word-written-on-white-background-wordpress-text-on-white.jpg "WordPress")

Regarding its cost, WordPress is a 100% free open-source software, one of the main reasons people love it. However, while the core software is free, users must pay for web hosting, premium themes, plugins, security features, and maintenance services, which can add up depending on the website’s complexity and needs as they are not included. Some people see this as a pro as they have more “flexibility” to use whatever tool they want to for hosting or security reasons, but others don’t.

### HubSpot

On the other hand, there’s HubSpot, a not-so-newbie in the CMS world, as it was launched in 2006. Founded by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot started as an inbound marketing platform before expanding its suite of services to include a CMS. Unlike WordPress, which is open-source and self-hosted, HubSpot CMS is a SaaS designed for marketers who seek seamless integration with CRM and automation tools. Its focus on ease of use, built-in SEO, and marketing tools makes it a strong competitor for businesses looking for an all-in-one digital growth solution.

Compared to WordPress, HubSpot has a Freemium pricing model and, therefore, has its limitations if you choose the free tire plan. The free subscription includes basic CMS features, but advanced functionalities (such as premium themes, A/B testing, custom reporting, and enhanced SEO tools) are only available in paid plans. Since HubSpot is an all-in-one hosted solution, users pay a subscription fee that covers hosting, security, and built-in marketing tools, making it a potentially higher-cost option compared to WordPress.

However, while WordPress has traditionally been the preferred option in the HubSpot vs. WordPress debate, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best choice for every user. Many people gravitate toward WordPress simply because of its widespread recognition and long-standing reputation. However, HubSpot's CMS offers unique advantages, such as built-in marketing automation, [advanced analytics](/blog/track-seo-success-with-hubspot-analytics/), and native CRM integration. These are features that WordPress [requires third-party plugins](https://wordpress.com/plugins/browse/third-party-integration/) to achieve and that can overload your site and therefore affect SEO. But before rushing into those aspects, let's explore what they have to offer in terms of technical features.

## Regarding technical features: HubSpot vs. WordPress

We have already talked about this in some of our articles, but this might be one of the main reasons why **professionals are moving to HubSpot** recently.

Even though WordPress was built as an SEO-friendly platform, there are some technical features that cause common problems that are going to drive you insane. For example, issues related with the sitemap due to URLs configuration, the incorporation of canonical tags that can sometimes be misconfigured, leading to duplicate content issues, or the challenge of [managing page speed ](/blog/how-to-improve-website-speed/)due to the heavy reliance on plugins. Additionally, WordPress users often struggle with maintaining an optimal site structure, as the flexibility of the platform can sometimes result in poorly organized URLs or conflicting SEO settings.

Another frequent headache is dealing with outdated or conflicting plugins, which can break essential SEO functions or slow down the website significantly. Security vulnerabilities are also a concern, as WordPress sites require constant updates and proper configuration to prevent attacks that could negatively impact search rankings.

While WordPress offers powerful SEO capabilities, these technical issues can become a major obstacle if not handled correctly, and HubSpot is designed to eliminate many of these common headaches by offering a more streamlined, built-in approach to SEO. Unlike WordPress, which relies heavily on third-party plugins for optimization, HubSpot’s CMS comes with integrated SEO tools that simplify on-page optimization, keyword recommendations, and site performance monitoring.

One of HubSpot’s biggest advantages is its automatic sitemap generation and structured URL configuration, reducing the risk of errors that commonly occur when using WordPress. Additionally, HubSpot handles canonical tags correctly by default, preventing duplicate content issues without requiring you to edit them manually.

Another standout feature is its fast and secure hosting environment. Since HubSpot CMS is a fully managed platform, users don’t have to worry about plugin conflicts, security vulnerabilities, or performance issues caused by bloated themes. Page speed and mobile responsiveness are optimized out of the box, which can significantly boost SEO rankings without additional technical effort.

In the following table, you can see more visually **the technical features comparison.**

| Feature                           | HubSpot                                                                                                                                     | WordPress                                                                                                                                                                    |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **SEO Optimization**              | Built-in SEO tools with on-page optimization and keyword recommendations.                                                                   | Requires third-party plugins.                                                                                                                                                |
| **Sitemap management**            | Automatic sitemap generation with structured URL configuration.                                                                             | It can have issues due to URL configuration.                                                                                                                                 |
| **Canonical tags**                | Handled correctly by default to prevent duplicate content.                                                                                  | It can be misconfigured, leading to duplicate content issues.                                                                                                                |
| **Page speed**                    | Optimized out of the box for fast loading speeds as it uses modern technologies like CDN by Cloudflare among other cloud service providers. | Affected by heavy reliance on plugins and themes.                                                                                                                            |
| **Site structure**                | A structured approach ensures better organization.                                                                                          | Flexible but can result in poorly organized URLs and conflicting settings.                                                                                                   |
| **Plugin dependency**             | No need for external plugins; everything is built-in.                                                                                       | Requires multiple plugins for SEO, security, and performance optimization.                                                                                                   |
| **Security**                      | Fully managed hosting with strong security measures.                                                                                        | Requires constant updates and proper configuration to prevent vulnerabilities.                                                                                               |
| **Hosting environment**           | Fully managed, secured, and optimized hosting.                                                                                              | Depends on external hosting providers, leading to variable performance.                                                                                                      |
| **Customization and flexibility** | Still highly customizable, but more limited than WordPress.                                                                                 | Highly customizable but relies on plugins and themes that can overload the site.                                                                                             |
| **Integration and automation**    | Seamlessly integrates with HubSpot's marketing, sales, and CRM tools.                                                                       | Requires third-party integrations for marketing and CRM.                                                                                                                     |
| **Multilanguage support**         | Offers built-in multilingual support with an SEO-optimized structure.                                                                       | Relies on third-party plugins that don't work well and make WordPress more weak regarding security and site structure among other things like Polylang or WPML (we hate it). |

For now, it seems **there’s a clear winner**, but let’s continue comparing HubSpot vs. WordPress.

## Regarding SEO: HubSpot vs WordPress

Technical aspects are closely tied to SEO, as we explained in the previous section. Now, let’s compare HubSpot and WordPress in terms of rankings and SEO optimization.

### SEO tools

As mentioned before, WordPress relies on third-party plugins to integrate tools into your interface, and the same applies to SEO tools. To optimize your site, you'll need to download plugins like RankMath or Yoast (some of which are downright ineffective). In contrast, HubSpot has its own built-in SEO tool.

![SEO Tools](assets/work-at-home-on-sofa.jpg "SEO Tools")

This AI- and machine-learning-powered SEO tool helps you optimize your entire site, from landing pages to blog posts, by providing content suggestions, SEO recommendations, and real-time insights. Additionally, it shows keyword performance, measures ROI, suggests internal linking strategies, and ensures your site follows best practices, without the need for extra plugins.

### Image optimization

Another critical factor for SEO and site performance is image optimization. WordPress does not offer built-in image compression, forcing users to install third-party plugins like Smush or ShortPixel to reduce file sizes. On the other hand, HubSpot automatically optimizes images, compressing them without losing quality and ensuring faster load times, without the need for additional tools.

### Page speed

Those long load times bring us to another major downside of WordPress: speed. Page speed is a crucial ranking factor, and WordPress sites often suffer from slow loading times due to excessive plugins, heavy themes, and unoptimized databases, among other things. If not properly maintained, these factors can drastically reduce site performance.

![Page Speed Optimization](assets/top-view-image-of-loading-bar-with-colorful-wooden-blocks-on-concrete-floor.jpg "Page Speed Optimization")

HubSpot, however, is a fully managed platform with optimized servers, built-in caching, and a lightweight structure that ensures fast loading speeds without requiring extra configurations. Furthermore, while HubSpot delivers images via a CDN (Content Delivery Network), which further reduces server load, improves scalability, and minimizes errors, WordPress users have to pay for this service.

### URL structure

A clean and logical URL structure is essential for SEO, and WordPress has never been an ally in this matter. Its default URLs are not SEO-friendly (e.g., ?p=123), and users must manually adjust permalinks to improve readability. Additionally, managing redirects requires plugins (yes, another one…), which can create unnecessary complications.

In contrast, HubSpot automatically generates clean, SEO-optimized URLs and provides built-in redirect management, making it easier to maintain a well-structured site.

### Indexing

If [search engines](/blog/top-4-best-search-engines-of-2024/) struggle to crawl your site, then HOW ARE YOU GOING TO APPEAR ON GOOGLE? WordPress sites often face indexing issues due to poorly coded themes, excessive JavaScript, or incorrect robots.txt settings, forcing site owners to manually index their pages (even though some SEO plugins offer sitemap generation, yes, another plugin).

![integration with Google Search Console](assets/search-engine-on-a-computer.jpg "integration with Google Search Console")

HubSpot, on the other hand, ensures automatic sitemap generation, proper indexing settings, and seamless[ integration with Google Search Console](https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps/google-search-console), reducing the risk of crawl errors.

### Content optimization

We say this ALL THE TIME: creating high-quality content is the most important thing for SEO. But content optimization is just as crucial, and WordPress doesn't provide native tools to help with it. Instead, users must rely on plugins for readability analysis, keyword recommendations, and structured data.

HubSpot’s built-in SEO tool, however, offers real-time content suggestions, readability scores, and topic clustering to improve rankings. Additionally, HubSpot’s content strategy tool helps you plan and structure pillar pages, enhancing overall site authority. You can also use our free [SEO Analyzer tool](/tools/seo-analyzer/) to evaluate your site's SEO performance regardless of which platform you choose.

### Responsiveness

You’re probably reading this article on your phone. And if not, you already know that people are relying more on their phones and less on their computers. Google knows that, too. That’s why the search giant now prioritizes mobile-first indexing, making a responsive website non-negotiable.

![Responsiveness](assets/young-woman-blogger-using-mobile-phone-texting-on-smartphone-app-searching-or-social-networks.jpg "Responsiveness")

While many WordPress themes claim to be mobile-friendly, some require extra CSS adjustments or additional plugins to ensure a seamless mobile experience. HubSpot’s templates and design system, however, are fully responsive by default, ensuring that your site adapts perfectly to any device without extra effort.

When it comes to SEO, WordPress can be optimized, but it requires multiple plugins, regular maintenance, and technical expertise to keep everything running smoothly.

**HubSpot,** on the other hand, provides **a hassle-free alternative** with built-in SEO tools, automatic optimizations, and an intuitive interface, helping businesses improve their rankings without the headache of plugin overload.

## Regarding UX: HubSpot vs WordPress

We have discussed their history, technical aspects, tools, and how they interact with SEO, but what about the user experience? We have little to say in favor of WordPress, as its interface is anything but intuitive. WordPress hasn't significantly updated its platform since its release (20 years ago!), and this becomes evident when users try to make changes, often forcing website owners who want to edit or improve their site to hire a developer to fix everything.

However, even developers face challenges. Despite being familiar with WordPress, **the platform's interface is not easy to navigate**, leading to additional costs due to developers' hourly rates.

HubSpot's team, recognizing this issue with WordPress, developed a more intuitive interface that is continuously improving based on user feedback. For developers working with HubSpot CMS, tools like our [HubSpot DevTools browser extension](/hubspot-devtools/) make debugging and development even smoother with quick access to debug mode, cache busting, and HubL documentation. Additionally, the HubSpot blog is full of resources to help users not only create their site through this CMS but also optimize it with SEO, design tips, and more. In contrast, WordPress users often have to rely on forums to troubleshoot issues, making HubSpot the better alternative.

## Which one is better?

After this in-depth comparison, we think you might already know our answer, but in case you still have doubts: HubSpot is better than WordPress. Why? Well, we have listed plenty of reasons why **you should opt for HubSpot** when choosing a CMS: its ease of use for website owners, greater SEO-friendliness compared to WordPress, and fewer technical issues. HubSpot is now the king of CMS, and if you're still on WordPress, WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING THERE? Stop wasting time and money. We warned you!
---
## How to optimize content for SEO? 5 tips from an experienced content manager
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-optimize-content-for-seo/
Published: 2025-04-05
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Content, Search Engine Optimization, SEO Strategies
> Learn how to optimize content for SEO with expert tips to improve rankings, boost visibility, and drive traffic to your website. Start optimizing today!
Was your website ranking high on search engines, only to lose traction overnight? You’re not alone. Search algorithms are updated constantly, and competition for top positions isn’t always fair. If your content is no longer driving the traffic it used to, it’s time to adjust your SEO strategy with well-optimized content.

Optimizing your content for SEO isn't just about adding keywords. It's about making your content valuable, relevant, and up to date. In this article, we'll cover five essential tips to help you boost your rankings, attract more visitors, and keep your website performing at its best.

![5 Tips from an Experience Content Manager](assets/seo-process-information.jpg "5 Tips from an Experience Content Manager")

## What is an SEO content optimization?

Let’s get straight to the point so we can explain how to optimize content for SEO ASAP.

SEO content optimization is **the process of improving your content to rank higher on search engines** by making it more relevant, valuable, and aligned with user intent. It involves strategically using keywords, enhancing readability, improving meta elements, optimizing images, and ensuring a seamless user experience by following search engine recommendations.

The goal? To help search engines understand your content better while keeping it engaging for readers. When done right, [SEO optimization](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/) can boost your visibility, increase organic traffic, and improve your website’s overall authority.

The problem is that these optimizations should be done frequently to keep up with search engine updates and changing user behaviors. SEO isn't a one-time task. It's an ongoing process, as search engines don't like irrelevant, outdated content or sites that don't use what they now consider best for users. For example, there was a time when you could use black hat SEO strategies and get the best out of them, but now search engines can identify these tactics and adjust rankings accordingly.

## Why you should optimize content for SEO frequently?

As we have mentioned at the beginning of this article, [Google’s algorithm changes frequently](https://developers.google.com/search/updates/core-updates), but users’ searches do too. Something that wasn’t very well known a couple of years ago can now have thousands of monthly searches, and you must adapt your published content to that.

For example, imagine that you have written a product review that didn’t have a high search volume or more than two keywords, and after a couple of months, it goes viral. If you are lucky, your review will be one of the first results when looking for that product review on search engines, but other websites will try to climb the rankings. By conducting SEO content optimization, you can maintain your position in search results while keeping your content up to date. This can have great benefits not only for that article in particular but for your site too, as you will be able to get outbound links for SEO, make users like your content, and therefore get more visitors and regular readers, etc.

**Up-to-date, high-quality content is what users seek**, and by optimizing your content for SEO frequently, you can achieve that. But you are probably wondering how to optimize content for SEO. Well, keep reading.

## The 5 most efficient tips on how to optimize content for SEO

We’ve already hinted at some of the things you need to do to optimize content for SEO, but in this section, you’ll find the 5 content optimization tips or steps I’ve always followed to optimize my content after more than 10 years as an SEO writer and Content Manager.

![Update your content](assets/young-woman-writing-down-notes-while-working-with-laptop-at-home.jpg "Update your content")

### Tip #1: update your content

Check if everything you say is true and up to date—verify dates, statistics, and facts. If it’s a blog, make sure it looks like it has been updated or freshly published. This signals to search engines that your content is current and relevant. Additionally, if you conduct exhaustive research, you’ll likely find reliable websites that cover the topic you’re writing about. Add external links to those sites, as search engines will recognize that you’ve used well-grounded sources to create your content. This is especially crucial if your site covers what some search engines, like Google, classify as “[YMYL topics](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content)” (short for “Your Money or Your Life”), which include subjects that can impact health, financial stability, or safety, such as blog posts about health tips.

### Tip #2: add more information

Add more details if you come across new keywords or user queries. By doing this, you will update your content while also adding more keywords, making it more suitable to rank better in search engines. By expanding your content, you will cover the topic more deeply and, as mentioned, improve its ranking potential while providing more value to your readers.

However, you need to structure it well. Follow the rule of starting with more general content first, then moving into specifics. This way, users can easily find and read what they're looking for, reducing bounce rates (which, if too high, can negatively impact your rankings).

More keywords, more information, but also WELL-STRUCTURED, WITH A TABLE OF CONTENTS, AND ALWAYS RELEVANT TO THE CONTENT. Remember that search engines like Google hate [thin content](https://raddinteractive.com/what-is-thin-content-understand-googles-thin-content-penalty-seo/#:~:text=Thin%20content%20is%20on%2Dpage,content%20that's%20just%20not%20useful.), so don’t add extra content without a clear strategy and purpose or you will get an [SEO penalty](/blog/guide-to-recover-from-seo-penalty/).

![Check Your Keywords](assets/keyword.jpg "Check Your Keywords")

### Tip #3: check your keywords

Check how your content is ranking and analyze which keywords users are searching for and finding your content with. By understanding which keywords you are ranking for more easily, you can create a strategy to use those keywords more and implement others that are easier for your content to rank for (rather than focusing on the difficult ones).

By winning rankings, your page rating will improve, making it easier to get external links as you appear in more searches, ultimately leading to even better rankings.

So, make sure you are targeting the right terms and that your content aligns with what users are looking for, then adjust accordingly. Use our [Keyword Density Checker](/tools/keyword-density-checker/) to ensure optimal keyword usage without over-optimization.

### Tip #4: title and meta description

If your analytics panel shows low click-through rates, it’s probably because your title and meta description aren’t as convincing as you think. Optimizing the main content for SEO isn’t the only content you need to focus on when doing SEO content optimization. In fact, one of the most important aspects of SEO is writing [persuasive meta titles](/blog/key-components-persuasive-landing-page/) and meta descriptions that convince users to click on your site and read the article.

If there’s no click, the inside content won’t matter. Make sure these elements are persuasive, informative, and contain relevant keywords to improve your visibility and click rates.

![Improve Readability and User Experience](assets/programmer-and-ux-ui-designer-working-in-a-software-development-and-coding-technologies.jpg "Improve Readability and User Experience")

### Tip #5: improve readability and user experience

A crucial factor in SEO is user engagement. Isn’t it annoying when you click on a site that seems to have the answers to all your questions, only to find that it’s barely accessible?

Responsiveness, user experience, and readability are some of the most ([if not the most](https://medium.com/@goodrebels/ux-seo-how-google-values-user-experience-aefecbbaa3da)) important factors for search engines right now. They want you to have content that is clear, engaging, and easy to navigate.

So, ensure that your content is easy to read and navigate, that users don’t encounter any issues when reading it, and that everything flows smoothly. To do so, your website must be responsive, and the content itself should be well-structured. Use subheadings, bullet points, and short paragraphs to break up the text. A positive user experience will keep visitors on your page longer and reduce bounce rates.

To help improve readability, use our [Readability Score Checker](/tools/readability-score-checker/) tool to evaluate and enhance your content's accessibility.

### Bonus tip: is there a technical problem?

As we hinted in the last section, SEO isn't just about keywords and content. It's also about how well your website works. We know this article is focused on teaching you how to optimize content for SEO, but even the best-written article won't rank well if your site has technical issues.

Check for problems using SEO content optimization tools like our free [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/), Ahrefs, Semrush, and Search Console, which can identify technical issues that could negatively impact your SEO, such as slow load times, poor mobile optimization, broken links, or unoptimized images. A malfunctioning website can frustrate users, increase bounce rates, and lower your chances of ranking higher in search results.

To [improve page speed](/blog/how-to-improve-website-speed/) and overall performance, ensure your website runs smoothly across all devices. Compress large images, properly tag them for accessibility (which is really important right now and often overlooked) and SEO, and optimize caching and scripts to reduce load times.
---
## SEO penalty: 4-step guide to recover from them
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/guide-to-recover-from-seo-penalty/
Published: 2025-03-31
Author: loraider259
Tags: SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Google
> Learn how to recover from a SEO penalty with our step-by-step guide. Fix manual actions & algorithmic drops to restore your SEO rankings effectively.
Do you feel your content is not getting the scope it used to? You could be facing something bigger than a lack of interest from your audience and, instead, be under a SEO penalty you haven’t realized yet. If you’d like to accompany throughout these lines, we'll be giving a 4-step guide on how to recover from such situation according to the type and the causes that may have led to your site being invisible online.

It’s no secret search engine penalties represent one of the most challenging obstacles a website owner or digital marketer can face, so let’s keep calm and learn how to deal with them and prevent another one in the future.

![What Exactly Is A SEO Penalty](assets/celebrating-halloween-ghost-challenge-2021-spooky-trend-season-a-man-in-a-ghost-costume-made-from.jpg "What Exactly Is A SEO Penalty")

## What exactly is a SEO penalty

Before getting down to business, you should have a clear picture on what a SEO penalty is and what are its consequences. This happens when a search engine (Google, for example) demotes your website's rankings due to violations of their guidelines. There are two types of penalties (manual or algorithmic), but we'll get to that very soon. In order to recover from this situation and get your site back to the top of the search engines results, we need to make a diagnose of the SEO penalty, fix the issues and submit a reconsideration request.

## Step 1: identify the penalty

As we’ve mentioned just now, there are two types of SEO penalty and, before anything else, we want to check which one is affecting our website.

### Manual penalty detection

If you suspect you site may be under a manual penalty, the first thing you'll want to do is go to your Google Search Console and navigate to the "Security & Manual Actions" section. This is the place where we'll find any manual actions that have taken place regarding our site, as well as specific details about the violation (if any). Google normally categorizes them into:

- **Thin content with little or no added value**
- **Unnatural links to your site (inbound)**
- **Unnatural links from your site (outbound)**
- **User-generated spam**
- **Cloaking or sneaky redirects**
- **Pure spam**

### Algorithmic penalty detection

Unlike manual penalties, which are quite easy to detect, [algorithmic ones](https://blog.emb.global/cause-of-algorithmic-penalty/) need some more investigation. There are three main steps you need to follow in order to detect an algorithmic penalty on your website:

- **Analyze your traffic patterns.** Go to Google Analytics and try to find sudden drops that could correlate with known algorithm updates, which you can do with resources such as Moz’s Algorithm Change History, for example.
- **Review ranking changes.** This can be done thanks to tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs and a thorough look to your keyword portfolio.
- **Assess content quality.** Last, but not least, you can check Google’s recent quality guidelines in search of any violation or specific quality issues, specially after a major update has taken place.

![Diagnosis of SEO Penalty Causes](assets/employee-working-on-tablet-developing-ai-machine-learning-algorithms.jpg "Diagnosis of SEO Penalty Causes")

## Step 2: diagnosis of SEO penalty causes

### Content-related issues

Once you know the type of penalty your site is suffering from, it’s time to get to its causes. If we’re talking about content-related issues, we could be facing things such as **thin content** with pages that have little to zero substantive information and doesn’t satisfy user intent, **duplicate content**, **keyword stuffing** which makes the content very unnatural or **misleading content**, also known as clickbait strategy.

In order to detect any of these issues, you can make use of tools like Screaming Frog to crawl your site and identify thin pages that may have low word count or high ad-to-content ratio, for example. Another great tool is Copyscape, which will tell you if you have any duplicated issue on your website, and of course Google Analytics, where you can check bounce rates and time-on-page metric that speak about quality signals. For a quick comprehensive check of all these factors at once, you can also use our free [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/) to identify technical SEO problems, thin content, and other penalty-causing issues in one report.

### Technical SEO violations

Another common issue is having technical issues that trigger a SEO penalty and also make recovery quite a challenge. Some of these are cloaking, which results in showing different content to users and search engines, sneaky redirects in order to send users to different pages than shown to crawlers, hacked content (there's no need to explain this), and structured data abuse, which can be caused by a lack of awareness on how [schema markup](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/) works.

Once again, you should focus on taking advantage of tools such as Google’s Rich Results for structured data issues or security scanners like Sucuri in order to detect any possible hacked content. Lastly, trust SEO crawlers to identify redirect chains or possible cloaking.

## Step 3: strategic corrective actions

### Manual penalties

1️⃣ **Address specific violation.**

- Thin content: Improve or remove those pages.
- Unnatural links: Remove if possible and disclaim the rest.
- Hacking: Clean the site and check vulnerabilities.

2️⃣ **Document the process.**

- Create a spreadsheet where you document every action you are taking.
- Include screenshots of removed/changed content.

3️⃣ **Craft a reconsideration request.**

- Own up the violation.
- Detail every correction you’ve made.
- Explain measures implemented for the future.

### Algorithmic penalties

1️⃣ **Content revitalization.**

- Audit your content against Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines.
- Combine thin pages into comprehensive resources.
- Remove any low-value content.
- Add original research and multimedia.

2️⃣ **Technical SEO overhaul.**

- Improve internal linking.
- Fix crawlability issues.
- Ensure mobile usability.
- Optimize Core Web Vitals.

## Step 4: monitoring and prevention

Now that you have diagnosed and identified the issues causing a SEO penalty on your website, the idea is to not fall into another one in the future. Specially if we talk about algorithmic penalties, this can take up to months to be fixed, as they get solved whenever they release a relevant update. Manual penalties, on the other hand, usually take from 2 to 8 weeks after reconsideration approval to be removed from your site.

Your main goal now is to focus on building a better, more sustainable website rather than temporarily fixing past mistakes, which can be done by focusing on user experience, building expertise and authority on your niche, developing natural and earned links and maintaining a technical excellence as your foundation.
---
## Why website localization matters for your multilingual site
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/why-website-localization-matters/
Published: 2025-03-20
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Localization, Multilingual Website, SEO, Website Optimization
> Make your site feel local! Website localization builds trust by using the right language, culture, and design, boosting engagement and conversions.
Have you ever wanted to shop something and end up on a website with poor website localization? If so, you probably didn’t purchase what you were looking for from that site. Bad website localization can harm your site’s performance, and that’s why avoiding automatic translation tools and investing in high-quality localization made by a qualified professional is crucial for ensuring the optimal performance of your site.

In this article, we’ll explore the key reasons why website localization is important, focusing on its impact on SEO and user experience. Let’s dive in!

## What is a website localization?

Translating websites is more than just translating words or meanings from one language to another. The term “website localization” refers to the work done by professional translators to adapt a website’s message from one language to another while ensuring it resonates with the target audience. Localization goes beyond linguistic translation; it also considers cultural differences, making sure the content doesn’t just feel translated but it feels as it was written in the target language in the first place. This includes factors such as local customs, currency, measurements, and even colors or images that might carry different connotations depending on the culture, as well as SEO considerations, like keywords.

In short, website localization is about making your content feel native and original to each audience, not just translating words. That’s why using an automatic translation tool or AI alone won’t work, as these tools don’t take into account all the cultural nuances, local preferences, and SEO considerations, often resulting in a flawed version that doesn’t connect with the target audience. Without proper human expertise, these tools can miss important context and crucial factors for website performance, making the content feel bad written and even confusing as well as affecting the site’s [search engine visibility](/blog/top-4-best-search-engines-of-2024/).

![What Is a Website Localization?](assets/man-working-on-a-laptop-with-the-word-translate-on-the-computer-screen.jpg "What Is a Website Localization?")

So, don’t even attempt to use tools like Google Translator, ChatGPT or DeepL to translate your multilingual site as your will end up not only with a word-by-word translation that doesn’t make sense, but also with a version of your site that will have negative consequences on both rankings and performance.

## 4 reasons website localization matters

We’ve already warned you about the perils of using automatic tools to translate your site, but what exactly are those dangers, and how can they negatively affect your website? In our view, there are four main reasons why website localization is essential to your site’s success, and all of these reasons can significantly impact how your site appears to users, how users interact with it, and your visibility in search engines.

### 1. Branding

Building a global brand requires consistency, but also cultural sensitivity. A poorly localized website can undermine your brand's credibility, making it appear unprofessional (or worse, disconnected from your target audience). Having a good localization involves more than just translating words. It's about adapting your message to resonate with local customs, values, and language nuances. For instance, in French, the use of "tu" versus "vous" is not just a grammatical choice. It carries cultural weight, as "vous" is formal and respectful, while "tu" is casual and familiar. A website that doesn't capture this distinction may seem disrespectful or overly casual in an inappropriate context.

Moreover, it's crucial to adapt not only the text but also the visual elements and overall look of your site to match local preferences. What works well in one culture might not in another. For example, color symbolism varies across cultures. While red might symbolize luck and prosperity in some Asian cultures, it might represent danger or warning in others. A bad translation or mismatched design can give your audience the wrong impression, damaging your brand identity and reputation. Localization helps build a strong, unified brand image across regions, making sure your narrative speaks the language of your target market, both literally and culturally.

### 2. User experience

User experience (UX) is central to converting visitors into customers, and poor localization can severely damage it. Translating content correctly is one thing, but creating a seamless, intuitive experience for users in different regions is another. Consider something as simple as a “home” button. In Spanish, automatic translation tools often translate “home” as “casa” (house), which is not only a poor localization but a translation mistake. Instead, it should be replaced with a home icon or translated to “Inicio.” But how would you know this? Similarly, poorly localized product descriptions can make it harder for users to understand the value of a product, leading to confusion and lost sales.

In addition, navigation issues can arise from incorrect or incomplete translations. For example, a website’s “checkout” process in one region might translate into a term that’s unfamiliar or awkward in another language, creating friction for users trying to complete their purchase. This can cause frustration, leading to abandoned carts and a lower conversion rate.

Furthermore, creating local translations goes beyond merely converting words. It's about understanding how local audiences interact with the web and what expectations they have from their online experience. Cultural and regional factors such as shopping behaviors, popular payment methods, and local holidays or promotions should be reflected in your localized website. Without careful localization, you risk losing potential customers who find the site difficult to navigate, untrustworthy, or out of touch with their expectations.

### 3. SEO

Localization directly impacts SEO, and automatic translation tools fail to account for the SEO nuances necessary for successful international visibility. While an automatic translation might give you a literal translation of your text, it won’t adapt your keywords to the local market. Keywords that are effective in one country may not be searched in the same way in another. For example, in the UK, people may search for “trainers,” while in the US, they may use “sneakers.” Without local keyword adaptation, your content will not appear in local search results, which can significantly reduce your website’s visibility.

Additionally, automatic translation tools may produce [low-quality content](/blog/tips-for-writing-blog-posts/) with mistakes or awkward phrasing that make the text unreadable or less engaging. This can result in high bounce rates and poor user engagement (critical factors that negatively affect SEO rankings). Search engines like [Google prioritize high-quality, relevant content](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content), and poorly translated content can signal to search engines that your site isn't providing the best user experience.

![SEO](assets/seo-inscription.jpg "SEO")

Investing in proper localization ensures that your content is both culturally relevant and optimized for local search engines. By using native translators who understand both the language and the local market, you can ensure that your website ranks higher, attracts more relevant traffic, and drives more conversions.

### 4. Conversion rates

Localization also plays a crucial role in conversion rates. A site that speaks directly to its audience (using familiar language, cultural references, and region-specific offers) usually has a higher engagement and better conversion rates as the users feel more comfortable and connected to the message. If users feel that your site was designed specifically for them, they're more likely to trust you and take the desired action, whether it's making a purchase, [subscribing to your newsletter](/blog/asking-your-visitors-email-subscription/), or following you on social media. On the contrary, poor localization can lead to confusion, mistrust, and ultimately lost conversions. If your website doesn't "speak" to the target audience, they're likely to leave and find a competitor that does.

![](assets/man-working-with-analytics-at-the-office.jpg)

Before using Google Translate to expand your site to new markets, think twice. Prioritizing high-quality website localization from the start will help you achieve the results you’re aiming for. It’s always better to prevent issues than to fix them later.
---
## Mobile SEO: 5 ways to get it right
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/mobile-seo-and-5-ways-to-get-it-right/
Published: 2025-03-02
Author: loraider259
Tags: Website Optimization, Search Engine Optimization, Page Speed
> Learn how to improve your website so that it matches Google's preferences when it comes to indexing and mobile traffic with 5 tips for mobile SEO improvement.
Did you know that over 60% of global web traffic comes from mobile devices? This may not come as a surprise as you probably belong to that percentage, but do you take mobile SEO into account when creating your website? Google does, so let’s discover how to fix this and gain traffic, leads and revenue given that your site’s mobile version is the primary factor for ranking.

![Why Mobile SEO Matters](assets/man-resting-and-surfing-smartphone.jpg)

## Why mobile SEO matters

Before diving into tips and ways to improve your website’s traffic thanks to mobile SEO implementations, you should have a clear picture of why this is so significant. There are four main reasons for this:

- **Mobile-first indexing.** As you will soon learn, Google is currently using the mobile version of websites as the top basis for ranking and indexing. In simple words, you won’t get the rankings you want unless your mobile site doesn’t include an optimization.
- **User Behavior.** We mentioned this before, but we must highlight it again: we’re talking about more than 60% of global web traffic. We use our smartphones for browsing, shopping, searching and communicating, so imagine stepping into a website of your interest and finding it’s not mobile-friendly.
- **Impact on Rankings.** Coming back to Google, the search engine par excellence, it prioritizes mobile-friendly sites when showing you results for your search. This means if your website provides a poor mobile experience, it’ll definitely get lower rankings and less visibility.
- **Conversion Rates.** Last, but not least, think about your personal experience online. Normally, 53% of users abandon a site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load on mobile. Sounds familiar? Once again, we’re talking about losing potential clients and engagement.

![Key Elements of Mobile SEO](assets/hand-holding-smartphone-with-word-loading.jpg)

## Key elements of mobile SEO

Now that Mobile SEO is clear to be one of your musts when it comes to creating a site for your business, it’s time to discover its key elements so that you start implementing them and getting familiar with each one. Prepare to focus on:

- **Responsive Design.** Have you ever visited a website from your mobile phone which was extremely small-sized or, on the contrary, giant-sized? This happens because we skip a step during the design process and we don’t ensure websites adapt to any screen size, avoiding the need to create separate versions for mobile and desktop sites.
- **Loading Speed.** Next thing you should be focusing on is [fast-loading pages](/blog/how-to-improve-website-speed/), which is something users expect from the very beginning. Slowness will translate into higher bounce rates and lower rankings, results you can avoid by compressing images or minimizing code, for example.
- **Easy Navigation.** Once again, users expect a smooth and fast experience, so why don’t give them simplified menus and buttons for touchscreens? Make it easy: use a hamburger menu from where they can select and click elements that, by the way, need to be large enough to be easily tapped.
- **Readable Content.** Lastly, it's highly recommended to use larger fonts, create short paragraphs and make clear headings so that your content is easy to read on small screens (doesn't anyone think of nearsighted people?). Moreover, consider avoiding [pop-ups](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/popups/) that block content, which will definitely hurt your rankings.

## 5 tips to optimize for mobile SEO

At this point, you may be wondering how you can include all those elements on your website and, once done, make sure it’s having the desired performance. This is when we spring into action and tell you all about the tips you need to follow to do so, so how about we disclose them already?

### 1. Check if your site is mobile-friendly

Regarding small or excessively big website size, unplayable content and viewport problems, first thing you should be checking is your website's mobile-friendliness. There are many tools that will help you on this matter as they provide detailed reports and recommendations to help you fix these issues, such as Mobile-Friendly Test or PageSpeed Insights. You can also use our free [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/) to check mobile-friendliness alongside other critical SEO factors in one comprehensive report. Additionally, test your site's mobile responsiveness with our [Am I Responsive?](/tools/am-i-responsive/) tool to see how your site appears across different device sizes. When it comes to startups, this will also save them money by being able to check their site's performance on their own and not relying on a specialized team who takes care of mobile SEO.

### 2. Go for a responsive design

You surely have heard that old saying which goes “better safe than sorry”, haven’t you? Let’s listen to generational wisdom and take action so that we don’t have to worry about our website being suitable for only one platform, something that can be done from the beginning of the design process. How? Ensuring you have a responsive design that can adapt to any screen size by making use of CSS media queries for adjusting layouts, images and fonts based on the user’s device.

![Speed Is For The Winners](assets/smiling-european-old-adult-and-teen-woman-with-smartphone-tablet-and-laptop-have-video-call.jpg)

### 3. Speed is for the winners

This is probably one of the most important things to take into account when designing a website focused on mobile SEO, as doing so can get you higher rankings and lower bounce rates, which is exactly what you need. In order to optimize your site, start by optimizing images without sacrificing quality (choose the right format, use compression tools or resize them before uploading them), using accelerated mobile pages (AMP) for faster loading times and minimizing code.

### 4. Rely on structured data (Schema Markup)

We all want search engines to understand our content, so why don’t we make it easy for them? If you use structured data, that is, include information about your website on the code, Google will understand the content better and will display that information in search results as rich snippets. Some of the things you can include are your business name, address, phone number or timetables, which will help you get higher positions and gain users’ attention. Remember that we’re focusing on mobile SEO and we normally don’t spend too much time navigating the results page.

### 5. Simplify user’s navigation

Once again, mobile users want things to be fast, easy and intuitive. As we said before, a hamburger menu will save space and also ensure clickable elements have the right size for users to tap them. Also, this will remove complex menus from the equation and will prioritize the most important pages. Straight to the point, see?

## Road to mobile-friendly awards

We’re quite sure at this stage you’ve already realized mobile SEO is no longer optional, but a must. Mobile users and its traffic dominates the Internet and Google’s mobile-first indexing policy is critical if you wish to stay competitive.

Lucky for you, now you have a guide with which you can make sure your website meets the criteria for Google and mobile users to pay attention to what you have to say.
---
## How to improve website speed? 8 tips to make your site faster
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/how-to-improve-website-speed/
Published: 2025-02-26
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, Website Optimization, Page Speed
> Learn how to improve website speed with 8 simple and effective tips that boost performance, enhance user experience, and improve SEO rankings.
Is your website’s speed slow? This can significantly impact SEO, as page speed is a crucial aspect of user experience, and Google’s algorithm takes it into account. If you’re looking for simple and effective tips on how to improve website speed, this article covers 8 strategies we always use to boost our page speed.

Additionally, we’ll explain why website speed is so important for both SEO and UX, as well as how to check your website’s speed. Let’s dive in!

![How to Check Website Speed​?](assets/side-view-of-mixed-race-young-professional-concentrated-skilled-web-expert-working-on-computer.jpg)

## How to Check Website Speed​?

If you don’t know if your website speed is good or not (though we doubt this, as we all check Search Console on a daily basis), you can check if your website speed is low through various tools.

As we have already mentioned, if you consult Google Search Console, you can see there if your site has performance issues that may be affecting speed. The “Core Web Vitals” report provides data on how your website performs on key metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). These factors are important indicators of speed and user experience.

However, if you want more detailed insights, you can also use tools like:

- [Google PageSpeed Insights](https://pagespeed.web.dev/) – Offers both desktop and mobile page speed tests with recommendations for improvement.
- [GTmetrix](https://gtmetrix.com/) – Provides a detailed analysis of page performance, including load times and recommendations for optimization.
- [Pingdom](https://tools.pingdom.com/) – Tests your website speed from multiple locations and gives you a performance grade.
- [WebPageTest](https://www.webpagetest.org/) – Offers advanced options to test speed from different browsers, devices, and connection types.

These tools provide clear metrics and actionable recommendations that can help you understand how to improve the website speed of your site. For a comprehensive check that includes speed alongside other SEO factors like meta tags, headings, and structured data, you can use our free [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/) to identify all technical issues affecting your site's performance. Additionally, our [Broken Link Checker](/tools/broken-link-checker/) can help identify slow-loading or broken resources that may be impacting your site's performance. However, if you're looking for simple and effective suggestions, keep reading.

## 8 effective tips on how to increase website speed

After years of creating and managing websites, we've encountered slow-loading sites on several occasions. If you're experiencing that right now, don't worry, it's quite easy to fix. Here are our favorite tips on how to improve website speed, whether you’re a beginner or a pro, that are both simple and effective.

![Optimize Images](assets/professional-editor-doing-retouching-work-on-image.jpg)

### 1. Optimize images

Images are crucial to make a site look nice, structured, and appealing to users, but uploading images that haven’t been previously optimized can overload your site and make it load very slowly. To avoid this, every time you upload an image, compress it and make it as light as possible without compromising its visual quality.

If you didn’t do that and already have a website full of unoptimized images, it’s time to go back and optimize them. You can use tools like [ShortPixel](https://shortpixel.com/), [TinyPNG](https://tinypng.com/) or [ImageOptim](https://imageoptim.com/es.html) to compress images without losing quality. Additionally, consider switching to more efficient formats like WebP, which offers high-quality images at a smaller file size.

### 2. Don’t use page builders

If this is not your first time reading us, you might know that we are not fans of [page builders like Divi](/blog/divi-and-seo/), Beaver, etcetera. These types of tools overcharge websites, and even though they can make your website look more visually appealing, the cons often outweigh the pros.

These tools often overload websites with unnecessary code, significantly impacting page speed. Page builders generate bloated HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, leading to longer load times. Page builders also add extra HTTP requests and inline styles, which increase rendering delays. As a result, websites built with these tools often struggle to achieve optimal performance scores on speed testing tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.

For a faster website, it’s best to use a lightweight theme and custom-built layouts with clean, optimized code. This ensures minimal overhead, faster loading times, and a better user experience.

![Optimize Code](assets/computer-code-on-screen.jpg)

### 3. Optimize code

Even if you’re not using page builders, sometimes when building a site, you may overwrite code and add unnecessary characters, spaces, and comments. This can make your website load slowly, making users wait longer than they should.

To avoid this, make the code lighter by minifying CSS, JavaScript, and HTML. Minification removes unnecessary elements without affecting functionality, helping your site load faster and improving overall performance. You can do this by yourself, or if you’re not familiar with coding or don’t have enough coding experience, use tools like UglifyJS for JavaScript, CSSNano for CSS, or HTMLMinifier for HTML to automate the process.

### 4. Remove plugins

Usually a rookie’s mistake, but we all sometimes do it. Plugins are very useful, we know that, but too many of them can directly affect how your website works. By installing too many plugins on your site, you will slow down its performance, as each plugin adds extra code, HTTP requests, and database queries, all of which increase load times.

Plugins can also load external resources like scripts and stylesheets, which can block rendering and delay the page load. The more plugins you use, the heavier the site becomes, which negatively impacts both desktop and mobile speed.

To improve website speed, it’s crucial to have as few plugins as you can and ensure that each one is essential. Regularly check which plugins you have and remove those that are non-essential and, if you can, replace them with custom code or fewer, more efficient alternatives.

### 5. Reduce redirects

Very few people know this, but making too many redirects on your website can affect the page speed. This is because each redirect requires an additional HTTP request and response cycle, which adds extra time for the browser to process. As the number of redirects increases, so does the time it takes for the page to load, resulting in slower performance.

In particular, 301 redirects (permanent redirects) can be especially impactful, as they trigger multiple round trips between the browser and server. Each of these redirects creates delays that can accumulate, making your website feel sluggish.

To avoid this, audit your redirects regularly and try to minimize them. Instead of relying on multiple redirects, update URLs directly, and ensure that internal links point to the final destination URL.

![Implement Lazy Loading](assets/loading-bar-on-a-laptop.jpg)

### 6. Implement lazy loading

If your website has lots of videos and images that you refuse to remove because they are key to your content, implementing lazy loading can help improve page speed without sacrificing user experience.

Lazy loading ensures that images and videos are only loaded when they come into the user’s view on the screen, rather than all at once when the page initially loads. This reduces the amount of data being loaded upfront and significantly improves the first contentful paint (FCP) time, making your website appear faster.

For sites with long pages or numerous media elements, lazy loading can drastically reduce initial page load times, decrease bandwidth usage, and provide a smoother browsing experience. You can easily implement lazy loading with JavaScript libraries like Lazysizes or use native HTML attributes like loading=”lazy” for images and iframes.

![Reduce HTTP Requests](assets/arrow-with-the-word-http-the-concept-of-a-website-or-web-page.jpg)

### 7. Reduce HTTP requests

As we have already mentioned throughout this post, HTTP requests are quite important when talking about page speed. HTTP requests are made every time a browser needs to retrieve an element from a server, such as images, CSS files, JavaScript files, fonts, and other resources. The more requests a page makes, the longer it takes to load.

By reducing these requests, you can significantly speed up your website. This can be achieved by combining files, using CSS sprites, eliminating unnecessary resources, and inlining critical CSS. Fewer HTTP requests mean less time spent waiting for resources to load, resulting in a faster and smoother user experience.

### 8. Upgrade your hosting plan

We’ve talked about what you’ve added to your website and how it’s built, but one thing that is at the core of your site and can also affect page speed is your hosting. Your hosting plan plays a significant role in how fast your website loads, especially when it comes to server response times and how well it can handle traffic spikes.

If you’re using shared hosting, you may experience slower speeds as resources are divided among multiple websites on the same server. Upgrading to a more robust hosting solution, such as VPS (Virtual Private Server) or dedicated hosting, can provide faster response times and improved overall performance.

Additionally, if your hosting provider offers features like SSD storage, CDN integration, and PHP optimization, these can further enhance speed. A good hosting plan ensures your website has the necessary resources to run smoothly, especially as it grows.

### Bonus: create your site with Hubspot

The vast majority of the problems listed here are related to websites created in WordPress (such as excessive plugins, bloated code, and slow loading times).

Many developers and marketing professionals are migrating to [HubSpot](/blog/track-seo-success-with-hubspot-analytics/), as this platform offers its own optimized page builder, eliminating common performance issues like poor optimization and low speed. With built-in speed enhancements, security, and seamless integrations, **HubSpot ensures a faster, more efficient website experience** without the hassle of manual fixes.

So, if you haven't built your site yet or have the opportunity to migrate it, don't hesitate: HubSpot is the new black.

## Conclusion

In conclusion, improving your website speed is essential for both SEO and user experience. By implementing the tips we've shared, such as optimizing images, reducing HTTP requests, and upgrading your hosting plan, you can significantly enhance your site's performance. Regularly checking your website speed and making necessary adjustments will keep your site running smoothly, ensuring a better experience for visitors and improved rankings on search engines. [Start optimizing today](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/), and watch your website's speed (and success) grow!
---
## Are pop-ups bad for SEO? 5 reasons you should avoid them
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/are-pop-ups-bad-for-seo/
Published: 2025-02-23
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, Website Optimization, Content
> Are pop ups bad for SEO? Learn how pop-ups can negatively impact your website's search rankings and user experience, and explore effective alternatives.
Are you wondering if pop-ups are bad for SEO because you're not getting the results you expected? Well, they definitely aren't doing you any favors, not only for SEO but also for user experience. If you’re still using pop-ups to get people to sign up for your newsletter (yeah, [we’re not fans either](/blog/asking-your-visitors-email-subscription/)…) or to remind visitors to take action, it might be time to rethink that strategy. While pop-ups might seem like a quick way to grab attention, they can actually hurt your website’s performance. So, the question remains, are pop-ups bad for SEO?

In this article, we’ll explain why pop-ups are bad for SEO and why you should probably stop using them and give you some alternatives.

![Are Pop Ups Bad for SEO?](assets/lucky-man-celebrating-money-win-bookmaker-s-website.jpg)

## Are pop-ups bad for SEO?

As we've previously mentioned, yes, pop-ups are bad for SEO. One of the main reasons for this is that [Google has explicitly stated its strong dislike for them](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/avoid-intrusive-interstitials), particularly when they are used on mobile devices (where, as we all know, the majority of web traffic comes from these days). Google views pop-ups as intrusive elements that disrupt the user experience, making it harder for both users and [search engines](/blog/top-4-best-search-engines-of-2024/) to access and understand your content. This, in turn, can severely impact your site’s search performance.

Google itself doesn’t recommend using pop-ups, as they can trigger penalties from its algorithm, potentially causing your website to lose visibility in search results. If such a penalty occurs, you can expect a significant drop in both traffic and rankings, ultimately leading to poor SEO performance. It’s clear that relying on pop-ups could not only harm your user experience but also hurt your website’s overall performance in search engines.

And let’s be honest: don’t you close pop-ups as soon as they appear on your screen? Do you really enjoy getting an intrusive ad like that as soon as you visit or scroll through a web page? Don’t lie.

## Why pop-ups are bad​?

We’ve already mentioned a major reason why pop-ups are bad for SEO, but there’s even more to it. While pop-ups might seem like a quick way to grab visitors’ attention, they can actually do more harm than good. Here are the five main reasons why you should think twice before using them:

### 1. Disrupt user experience

![Disrupt User Experience](assets/young-asia-people-5g-wifi-digital-device-user-teen-girl-watch-read-news.jpg)

Pop-ups interrupt the user’s journey on your website, forcing them to deal with an unexpected and intrusive element. They block the content the visitor came for, causing frustration and leading them to abandon the page. A smooth user experience is crucial, and pop-ups destroy that flow.

### 2. Mobile optimization issues

Mobile traffic is the majority of web visits nowadays, and pop-ups don’t play well with smaller screens. They often take up too much space and can be difficult to close on mobile devices, which frustrates users and can drive them away. Besides, as mentioned before, Google also frowns upon intrusive pop-ups on mobile, which can negatively impact your rankings.

### 3. Slow page load times

![Slow Page Load Times](assets/young-woman-meditating-slow-pace-of-life-niksen-philosophy.jpg)

Pop-ups add extra scripts and elements to your site, which can slow down page load times. This is a major issue, as Google takes site speed into account when ranking pages. A slower site leads to a worse user experience and can hurt your SEO.

### 4. Higher bounce rates

When users encounter pop-ups, many will leave immediately, leading to higher bounce rates. A high bounce rate signals to search engines that visitors aren’t engaging with your content, which can hurt your search engine rankings.

### 5. Potential for SEO penalties

![Potential for SEO Penalties](assets/web-marketing-managers-with-gadgets-working-on-paid-search-and-seo-strategies-closeup-of-hands.jpg)

As mentioned earlier, pop-ups can trigger penalties from search engines, particularly Google. If your pop-ups are too intrusive or hinder the user’s ability to access content, they may be flagged by Google’s algorithm. These penalties can cause a significant drop in your search rankings, impacting your visibility and traffic.

With these factors in mind, it’s clear that pop-ups are more harmful than helpful when it comes to SEO. Still need more reasons to steer clear of them?

## What should you do instead of using pop-ups

As we know to’s not helpful to just point out all the issues caused by pop-ups without offering you a better solution, in this final section, we’ll share what you can use instead to make your site more SEO-friendly.

- **Make Static Websites.** Instead of relying on pop-ups to grab attention, create a website that offers a clean, distraction-free experience. Static content (where the user can easily browse and engage with the material without interruptions) keeps visitors focused and boosts overall user experience.
- **Avoid Any Distraction.** Distractions take away from the value your content offers. Keep your website layout simple and intuitive, ensuring that users can navigate smoothly without being interrupted by pop-ups or other intrusive elements.
- **Add Forms at the End of Each Page and Article.** Rather than interrupting the user with a pop-up, consider adding a subscription or contact form at the end of each page or article. This subtle approach gives users the option to engage with your content further without feeling bombarded.
- **Focus on Clear Calls to Action.** Ensure your call-to-action (CTA) buttons are clear and easy to find. Instead of pop-ups, place well-positioned buttons throughout your site that encourage action, whether it’s subscribing to a newsletter or downloading a resource. A CTA that blends seamlessly into the page will feel more natural and be better received by your visitors.
- **Offer Value through Content.** Rather than relying on pop-ups to force engagement, [let your content speak for itself](/blog/tips-for-writing-blog-posts/). Offer useful, high-quality material that encourages users to stay on your site longer and take action. A well-crafted user experience will lead to more organic engagement and conversions without the need for pop-ups.

As we all know, Pop-ups are annoying, and you’ll often get the opposite effect if you use them. By implementing these alternatives, you can improve both your user experience and SEO without the risks that come with intrusive pop-ups.
---
## Divi and SEO: is Divi bad for SEO?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/divi-and-seo/
Published: 2025-02-15
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: WordPress, SEO, Theme Builders, Divi
> Do Divi and SEO work well together? After years of experience, we can confidently say they don’t. Discover better alternatives for building your site.
Are you thinking about using Divi to build your site? Have you seen some demos and you are wondering if this platform is good for SEO or not? Well, even though Divi (apparently) offers a user-friendly experience for building visually appealing websites, its technical limitations make it a poor choice for SEO. So, if ranking high on search engines is your priority, you may want to reconsider using Divi.

In this article, we will explain why Divi is not SEO-friendly and what the alternatives are to make a website that ranks as well as has a nice visual appearance.

![Is Divi Bad for SEO](./assets/top-view-of-gadgets-near-cubes-with-seo-lettering-on-light-blue-background.jpg)

## Is Divi SEO friendly?

After a couple of years of using this website-building platform, we can confirm that **Divi is not SEO-friendly**. In fact, Divi wasn’t designed for SEO at all and it shows. The platform was invented primarily to help people make more visually appealing sites without considering the technical aspects that impact search engine rankings. While Divi offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, the excessive use of shortcodes, bloated code, and reliance on heavy JavaScript significantly affect performance. So, no, Divi is not SEO-friendly.

![Website Design Wireframe. Mock up to use Divi and SEO optimization.](./assets/website-design-wireframe.jpg)

## Why is Divi bad for SEO?

There are plenty of reasons that make Divi bad for SEO and we are going to tell you the worst of all so you don’t put that builder on your site.

### Slows down your website

One of the most important things to consider when working on a [good SEO strategy](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/) is having a quick website and Divi **makes it the slowest**. Search engines, particularly Google, prioritize fast-loading websites, and Divi’s complex structure often results in slow load times. This is especially problematic for mobile users, where speed is a critical ranking factor.

To check if your website has speed issues, you can use our free [SEO Analyzer tool](/tools/seo-analyzer/) to identify performance problems and get recommendations for improvement.

### Confuses crawlers

Another issue is the way Divi structures its content. Unlike traditional page builders that rely on clean HTML and CSS, Divi generates a shortcode-based system that **makes it difficult for search engines to properly index** and understand the page content. This can negatively impact organic search visibility and make it harder to optimize for specific keywords. Furthermore, Divi’s default heading structure is not always optimized for SEO best practices. Proper use of heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) is crucial for both search engines and accessibility, but Divi’s builder sometimes overrides logical structures, leading to inconsistencies that can confuse crawlers.

### Bloats your site

Divi adds without [a significant amount of unnecessary code](https://www.reddit.com/r/divi/comments/1g4676v/divi_adding_unnecessary_classes_to_single_page/) to your website. This extra code makes pages heavier, increasing load times and making the site harder to maintain. When a page builder adds excess code, it reduces efficiency and can cause rendering issues, leading to poor user experience and lower rankings in search engines.

### All but responsive

One of the biggest drawbacks of Divi from an SEO perspective is its impact on responsiveness. While Divi does offer mobile-friendly design options, they are often **not as efficient as they should be**. The platform sometimes struggles with breakpoints, meaning your site might not display correctly on all screen sizes. This highly affects user experience, impacting your SEO rankings too.

### Lots of bugs

Divi updates frequently, but with each update, new bugs appear. These bugs can interfere with website functionality, sometimes breaking essential features, and plugins or even causing crashes. From an SEO perspective, broken pages, rendering issues, or sudden layout shifts can hurt rankings and drive users away.

## Is there a way to make Divi and SEO work?

Even though it’s difficult to make Divi and SEO work, there are some ways to, at least, prevent some of the issues created by the builder.

### Using plugins

We don’t like this option at all, but we understand that if you still want to work with Divi, using [SEO and optimization](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/) plugins is one of the best ways to **mitigate its problems**. Caching plugins, image optimization plugins, and minification tools can help reduce page load times and improve performance. However, you might end up experiencing other issues and these plugins won’t mitigate all the problems caused by the website builder.

![Food Delivery Website](./assets/food-delivery-website.jpg)

### Working on the CSS

This implies a lot of work, and when we say a lot, we mean A LOT. **It’s actually not worth the time** spent to fix the bugs and issues created by the platform, but if you are an experienced developer, you can make Divi SEO-friendly in a way by working on the code. You may need to manually optimize styles, scripts, and layouts to ensure faster load times and better responsiveness.

![Programming website design](./assets/programming-website-design.jpg)

## What we actually recommend…

As you have seen, we don’t really like Divi at all, so even though you use the alternatives listed in the previous section, you will still find lots of issues. Then, what to do? Well, we recommend you these options:

### Work with other page builders

This is **not the best**, but if you want a page builder to create your site because you are not a website designer, you can use other page builders instead of Divi. We like Elementor Pro as it is the best based on our experience. You will also experience some low speed and the Pro prize is not very nice if you are on a budget, but it’s the best alternative regarding this type of platform.

### Don’t work with any page builders

It might seem incoherent with the previous option, but **this is truly the best one**. We know that creating a site from scratch is not easy at all, but if you want it to be quick, efficient, and truly customizable, this is the way to go. People have hated Gutenberg for a long time, but if you have WordPress, it’s the best you can get. Opt for Gutenberg-based themes, as they are lightweight, efficient, and better optimized for SEO.

By making the right choice, you can ensure your website is not only visually appealing but also optimized for search engines, providing a better user experience and higher rankings in search results.
---
## HubSpot and SEO for startups: 5 tips for a strong foundation
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/hubspot-and-seo-for-startups/
Published: 2025-02-10
Author: loraider259
Tags: HubSpot, SEO, Content, Marketing, Search Engine Optimization
> Discover 5 key tips regarding HubSpot and SEO for startups to grow their online presence, attract customers, and scale efficiently.
Starting a business these days means, necessarily, having a presence online. But this goes further than having an Instagram where you show some of your products or you speak about subjects related to your startup. It's about having a strong foundation which attracts more customers.

That said, we’ve come up with this quick guide where we’ve put together 5 tips regarding HubSpot and SEO for startups so that you can set up your business up for long-term success and get the most out of a powerful tool such as HubSpot.

![HubSpot and SEO for Startups: 5 Tips for a Strong Foundation](./assets/a-team-of-young-multinational-business-people-are-working-on-a-startup-new-generation-of-startups.jpg)

## HubSpot and SEO for startups: road to success

If you've decided to build a startup, you surely know you're currently competing with others and even established brands, so you can't waste any time (nor money) on wrong or passive strategies for your business. In case you don’t know, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the most cost-effective ways for companies to drive organic traffic and build a strong presence online, which is why you should be learning about this as much as possible.

Thanks to an all-in-one marketing platform such as HubSpot, you don't have to be an expert in order to implement these [SEO strategies](https://www.hubspot.com/products/marketing/seo) efficiently, even if you see yourself limited by time and resources (specially in the beginning). Having this on the table, how about we walk you through this 5 key ways guide to use HubSpot and SEO for Startups?

## 1. Optimization

This platform has [so much to offer](/blog/6-best-hubspot-features-for-business/) and, among all functionalities, we most definitely have to highlight its SEO section. HubSpot's built-in SEO tools will help you simplify the optimization process without needing a dedicated team for this (maybe you can't afford that yet). You’ll find features such as keyword research, content optimization recommendations and site audits for you to both identify opportunities and fix issues as soon as possible.

For example, among the recommendations this SEO tools offers both startups and big companies there are steps to improve on-page SEO which you will easily understand and be able to implement on your site (meta tags, internal links or readability). Trust us when we tell you that, by making use of these tools, you’ll see how your business becomes more search-engine-friendly.

![HubSpot](./assets/seo-example.png)
_Image from https://www.hubspot.com/products/marketing/seo_

## 2. Long-tail keywords

Whether you know about SEO strategies or not, you must have heard about keywords and their significance when it comes to having a strong presence online. Nowadays, with large brands and companies dominating the internet, it can be difficult to rank for highly competitive keywords, so startups should then focus on long-tail keywords, which are niche phrases with lower competition but higher intent.

Let’s set an example: instead of using a keyword like “marketing software”, aim for something more like “affordable marketing software for small businesses”. Again, with HubSpot’s keyword research tool you’ll find it easy to get ideas and study volume, competition level or related terms.

![Graphic example of search volume and conversion rate of a long-tail keyword](./assets/long-tail-keyword.png)
_Image from https://semrush.com/kb/685-what-are-long-tailed-keywords_

## 3. Content that converts

Okay, so what if you don't know what to write about on your website? This can absolutely happen, specially if you're more of a business person (or group of people) rather than a creative one. This is what HubSpot’s content strategy was created for, a tool with which you’ll be able not only to create content, but also optimize it so that it ranks on search engines. Any website aiming for first positions should have blog posts, landing pages and pillar content that can answer its clients’ questions and doubts.

Based on your keywords research, HubSpot will help you plan topics and ensure you include meta descriptions, have optimized headings and add internal (and external) links. If you manage to keep publishing SEO-optimized content, you’ll have a startup with authority and organic traffic over time.

## 4. Technical SEO issues

Let’s say you now have a website that includes posts, landing pages and pillar content and you’ve taken care of SEO strategies, but what about those issues we tend to overlook? For example, have you ever visited an extremely slow site that has made you abandon it immediately? This is what we’re talking about here.

When creating a website for our business, we tend to overlook issues like broken links, slow page speeds and poor mobile optimization, which can hurt your rankings monumentally. HubSpot has a site audit tool that will scan your website searching for this kind of technical issues and will provide a detailed report so that you can take action and fix them. Missing alt text? Found it. Duplicated content? Found it.

For a comprehensive analysis of your site's SEO health, you can also use our free [SEO Analyzer tool](/tools/seo-analyzer/) to identify technical issues and optimization opportunities.

![chart and a magnifying glass](./assets/chart-and-a-magnifying-glass.jpg)

## 5. SEO analysis

Last, but not least, you’ll have to know if everything you’ve learned and implemented about HubSpot and SEO for startups is working, and that you can double-check it with HubSpot’s analytics tool. Here you’ll find insights into organic traffic, keyword rankings and conversion rates, as well as examples of posts that are driving the most traffic to your website or the keywords which are leading to conversions.

Depending on your business growth, HubSpot can also grow with it by choosing a more advanced plan that allows you to continuously monitor and refine your SEO efforts. Nevertheless, taking all these things into account and implementing them on your startup’s site will lead to a strong foundation, even if you’re starting with a resource-strapped team.
---
## Why your website needs an FAQ section for SEO success
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/faq-section-for-seo/
Published: 2025-02-05
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: FAQ, SEO, Content, Search Engine Optimization
> Boost your website's ranking with a well-crafted FAQ section for SEO. Discover tips and strategies to enhance user experience and drive more traffic today!
Adding a FAQ section to your blog posts is one of the most effective ways to boost your website’s visibility on Google. Have you ever searched for something and seen a box with related questions under Google’s “People Also Ask” (PAA) tool? Many websites are securing top spots in search results by simply adding well-structured FAQ sections that target key questions and keywords.

In this article, we will explore the benefits of adding these sections and how to do it both in Hubspot and WordPress so by the end of this article, you’ll have a clear strategy to create an FAQ section for SEO that not only helps visitors but also drives more traffic to your site.

![Why Your Website Needs an FAQ Section for SEO Success](./assets/faq-lettering-on-office-desk.jpg)

## What is a FAQ section?

An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section is a dedicated part of a website where common questions are answered to help users find information quickly. These sections are designed to address frequent inquiries about a product, service, or topic, and they can be found across websites, blog posts, and [landing pages](/blog/key-components-persuasive-landing-page/).

In the context of SEO, an FAQ section for SEO refers to these answer sections that are specifically optimized to improve a page’s visibility in search engines. Whether it’s on a website’s page, within a blog post, or as part of a landing page, FAQ sections for SEO are valuable because they provide targeted content that aligns with what users are searching for.

## How a FAQ section can help boost your SEO

As we have already mentioned, an FAQ section for SEO is a powerful tool that can significantly improve your website’s performance in search engine rankings, but we haven’t said why.

The first thing you should know is that Google [favors content that directly answers user queries](/blog/optimal-length-for-a-blog-post/). When you provide clear, concise answers to common questions, your content becomes more valuable in the eyes of search engines. This is especially true for an optimized FAQ section.

- **Increased Visibility in “People Also Ask” (PAA) Results.** [Google’s People Also Ask box](https://ahrefs.com/seo/glossary/people-also-ask) shows a list of common questions related to a search query. By incorporating common, well-researched questions into your FAQ section by doing in-depth [keyword research](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/) on the topic, you can increase your chances of appearing in this high-visibility section. This can drive more organic traffic to your site, as users often click on these questions for quick answers.
- **Higher Rankings for Targeted Keywords.** An FAQ section lets you focus on answering specific questions, which helps target long-tail keywords that users are frequently searching for but are usually really hard to add naturally to content. By structuring your answers with relevant keywords, your FAQ section improves the page’s chances of ranking for those queries, potentially boosting your rankings in search engine results.
- **Improved User Engagement.** Visitors love getting quick answers to their questions. When your FAQ section directly addresses what users are looking for, it keeps them engaged and on your page longer. This reduced bounce rate and improved dwell time can send positive signals to Google, helping to improve your SEO over time.
- **Better Content Structure for SEO.** A well-optimized FAQ section provides a clean, organized structure for both users and search engines. Using headings, bullet points, and especially [schema markup](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/) (structured data) helps search engines understand the content better, making it easier for them to index and rank your page. This type of organization not only enhances user experience but also makes your page more SEO-friendly.

![Contact us Information Faq section for seo Word Concept](./assets/contact-us-information-faqs-word-concept.jpg)

## How to create a FAQ section in HubSpot landing pages?

Creating an FAQ section for SEO in HubSpot Landing Pages is a straightforward process, thanks to HubSpot’s user-friendly tools and customizable features. Whether you’re building a new landing page or updating an existing one, HubSpot allows you to easily add and optimize an FAQ section to improve both user experience and SEO.

### Use the drag-and-drop editor

HubSpot’s drag-and-drop editor makes it simple to create a well-structured FAQ section on your landing page. Here’s how you can do it:

- **Step 1:** Open your HubSpot account and navigate to Marketing > Landing Pages.
- **Step 2:** Select an existing landing page or create a new one.
- **Step 3:** In the editor, choose the Text module to add questions and answers.
- **Step 4:** Use the Heading module for each question, and the Text module for the answers. You can easily format them to create a clean, user-friendly design.
- **Step 5:** If you don't like the look of the heading modules and text, try our [HubSpot accordion solution](/developer-edition/docs/modules/accordion/), a simple and more discreet way to display your FAQ section that keep the page neat and organized. Check our [demo page](https://143910617.hs-sites-eu1.com/module-accordion).

### Add FAQ schema markup

HubSpot allows you to add FAQ schema markup to your landing page. Schema markup helps Google understand that your page contains an FAQ section, which can improve your chances of appearing in Google's People Also Ask or [featured snippets](/blog/what-is-a-featured-snippet/). To add FAQ schema markup:

- **Step 1:** After creating your FAQ section, go to the Settings tab in the landing page editor.
- **Step 2:** Click on Advanced Options and paste the structured data (JSON-LD) for FAQ schema into the Header HTML section.
- **Step 3:** Save your changes and publish your landing page.

### Optimize the FAQ for SEO

HubSpot has built-in SEO tools to help you optimize your FAQ section for SEO, but here are a few tips that will boost the content:

- Include target keywords naturally in both the questions and answers.
- Be concise and to the point. [Google rewards clear, helpful answers](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content) that directly address the user’s query.
- Add internal links to related content on your website within your FAQ answers, keeping users engaged longer and improving SEO

## How to add FAQ section in WordPress?

If you are using WordPress instead of Hubspot (we get it, who doesn’t have WordPress), don’t worry, it’s as easy as adding it in the other CRM. Whether you’re updating an existing page, creating a blog post, or designing a landing page, WordPress offers several tools to make sure your FAQ section is optimized for search engines.

### Use the block editor (Gutenberg)

WordPress’ Block Editor, also known as Gutenberg, makes adding an FAQ section easy. You can simply use the Accordion block or create your own list of questions and answers using the Heading block for each question and the Paragraph block for the answer.

- **Step 1:** Open your page or post in the editor.
- **Step 2:** Add a Heading block for each question.
- **Step 3:** Add a Paragraph block to write your answer.
- **Step 4:** Use the Accordion block (available in some themes or plugins) for collapsible sections if you want to create a more interactive FAQ.

### Use an FAQ plugin

WordPress has a variety of FAQ plugins that help you create and organize FAQ sections with advanced features. Some popular ones include:

- **RankMath SEO** – While primarily an SEO tool, it can help you integrate FAQ schema markup, which tells search engines that your page contains an FAQ section.
- **Accordion FAQ** – A plugin that lets you add accordion-style FAQ sections easily.
- **Ultimate FAQ** – A powerful plugin that allows you to create FAQ sections, organize them by categories, and add schema markup for better SEO.

### Add FAQ schema markup

To optimize the FAQ section for SEO, you can manually add schema markup by editing your page’s HTML or use a plugin like Yoast SEO to help you implement it without needing to code.

We also recommend making each FAQ entry clear, concise and include relevant keywords. This helps improve your chances of ranking for long-tail search queries. Also, include common search queries that are relevant to your audience and keyword-rich answers that align with what people are likely to type into search engines.

![FAQ Word on blue Key](./assets/faq-word-on-blue-key.jpg)

## Conclusion

As you have read, an FAQ section for SEO is a win-win. By answering the right questions in the right format, you increase your chances of appearing in the PAA results, improve keyword rankings, and boost overall user engagement. All of these factors combine to give your site a better shot at ranking higher in search engine results, driving more organic traffic, and providing a better user experience.
---
## Should I use testimonials or endorsements on my website?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/should-i-use-testimonials-on-my-website/
Published: 2025-01-31
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Reviews, Testimonials, SEO, Content
> If you're wondering, "Should I use testimonials or endorsements on my website?" our answer is simple: ABSOLUTELY. Check out the reasons.
Adding testimonials can feel like a nightmare for some, but if you truly believe in your product or service, they can **exponentially boost your sales**. If you’re wondering whether using testimonials or endorsements on your website is worth it, we have one answer: absolutely!

![Should I Use Testimonials or Endorsements on my Website?](./assets/testimonial-stars-web-company-man-win-consumer-product-scoring-business-positive-satisfac.jpg)

In this article, we'll tackle all your questions about testimonials: why they're a game-changer for your website, how to use them effectively, and additional tips to help you make the most of them (trust us, you'll want to stick around). Let’s dive in!

## What are testimonials or endorsements?

Let’s start with the basics. Testimonials or endorsements are statements from customers or clients sharing their experiences with your product or service. These can range from glowing praise to constructive criticism. While positive testimonials highlight what people love about your brand, even negative ones can provide valuable insights or show how you handle feedback professionally.

Whether it’s a short quote, an in-depth review, or a video, testimonials **help build trust and demonstrate transparency**, showing potential customers that you value all feedback and use it to improve.

Many people believe that adding testimonials can be a double-edged sword since they showcase both positive and negative opinions. However, as we mentioned earlier, they can help build trust with potential clients, and trust often translates into sales.

![Definition of testimonial](./assets/definition-of-testimonial.jpg)

## Why I should use testimonials on my website

So, coming back to your question: “Should I use testimonials or endorsements on my website?” The answer is still yes, even though you risk receiving a few negative reviews. But why? Well, we have our reasons to recommend it.

- **It's sketchy not having testimonials.** Before buying any product online, we all check the reviews. That's a fact. And when we don't find testimonials, we start to suspect that the product might not be as good as the brand claims. Testimonials provide potential customers with reassurance that your product or service has been tested and approved by others. Without them, your site may feel less trustworthy, or even suspicious, as if you're hiding something.
- **They build credibility.** As we have mentioned before, testimonials act as social proof, showing that real people have had positive (or constructive) experiences with your brand. This kind of authenticity builds confidence in new customers who might still be on the fence.
- **They can boost conversions.** When people see others sharing their success stories, they’re more likely to take the leap and make a purchase. Testimonials reduce hesitation and encourage action, directly impacting your sales.

- Even if there's some constructive criticism in the mix, it's an opportunity to show how your brand handles feedback and values improvement, which only strengthens your reputation. So yes, testimonials are a must-have!

## Where and how to add testimonials to my website?

If we’ve convinced you to add testimonials to your website, the next step is learning how and where to implement them.

### How to add testimonials to my website?

There are plenty of options for adding testimonials to your website, and some are easier than others. While you can create a self-made testimonial system where clients can leave reviews directly on your website, there’s another method we think is better for SEO. We’ll explain both options so you can choose the one that works best for you.

1. **A self-made testimonial system.** A self-made testimonial system lets you gather and display reviews directly on your website. You can set up a form where clients submit their feedback, and once approved, it gets posted on your site. This approach gives you full control over the design and content, but it can be time-consuming to manage. Also, you’ll need to moderate the submissions to ensure they’re authentic and relevant.
2. **Using a reliable third-party platform and using a plugin to add the testimonials.** Alternatively, using a third-party platform for testimonials can simplify the process and improve SEO. Platforms like [Google Reviews](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?sjid=17245648693029887031-EU#zippy=%2Cmanage-respond-to-reviews), Trustpilot, or [Yelp](https://www.linkgraph.com/blog/yelp-seo/) allow customers to leave reviews on their sites, which can then be integrated into your website using a plugin. This method is great for boosting SEO because these platforms are trusted by search engines, and their reviews can contribute to your site’s authority. Plus, it’s easier to manage and scale as your business grows.

### Where to add the testimonials?

This will depend on your criteria and the structure of your site. Some people prefer to have a dedicated page for testimonials and endorsements, while others choose to add a section on their homepage or at the end of each product or service page.

If your brand is already well-known or gaining traction, we recommend **creating a dedicated testimonials page**. This can help establish a unique branded keyword for clients specifically searching for your brand’s testimonials. However, if your website is new and you don’t yet have many testimonials or widespread recognition, it’s perfectly fine to **include a testimonials section wherever it fits best** (on your homepage, product pages, etc.) And, always conduct A/B testing to determine the best placement for your site.

That said, if you’re [working with landing pages](/blog/key-components-persuasive-landing-page/) for paid campaigns like Google Ads or Facebook Ads, we strongly recommend adding a testimonials section. This will 100% help you boost your click-through rate (CTR).

### How many testimonials to include on my website?

At the beginning, this will depend more on the quantity of testimonials you have than what you want. But as soon as you gather enough, we recommend adding as many as possible. To do this without making your clients scroll for half an hour to reach the end of the page, design the testimonials section to show only 4 to 5 at a time, with a button to display the rest gradually. And if you can order them from best to worst, even better.

![Service Evaluation through Mobile Phone Application: Excellent User Experience. Image of the "Should I use testimonials or endorsements on my website?" article.](./assets/service-evaluation-through-mobile-phone-application-excellent-user-experience.jpg)

## What keyword should you use on the testimonials page on a website?

If you have listened to us and have follow every step of this article but you are now working on the [SEO strategy](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/) you are probably wondering “what keyword should I use on testimonials page on website”.

If you’ve decided to create a separate page for testimonials or endorsements, the next step is choosing the right keyword. Start by checking if your brand already has a relevant testimonial keyword. For example, try searching for “[your brand’s name] + review.” If that keyword already exists, you can use it. If not, use one following a similar structure: “[your brand’s name] + review,” “[your brand’s name] + reviews,” “[your brand’s name] + testimonials,” or even “[your brand’s name] + [product’s name] + review.”

As your brand grows, this is likely the type of search potential clients will use when looking for reviews or testimonials in [search engines](/blog/top-4-best-search-engines-of-2024/).
---
## What are the best landing page optimization tools?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/landing-page-optimization-tools/
Published: 2025-01-27
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO Tools, Content, Landing Page, Search Engine Optimization
> We all know a landing page should be optimized occasionally, but how can we do it right? Here you'll find the best landing page optimization tools.
import YouTube from "@/components/mdx/YouTube.astro";

Landing pages can always be improved. Every website is up to updates and changes as Google changes its algorithm and users preferences and behaviors. What worked a year ago may no longer yield the same results, making optimization an ongoing process. Landing page optimization tools are designed to help businesses adapt to these changes by analyzing user behavior, testing variations, and pinpointing areas for improvement. These tools not only boost conversion rates but also ensure a seamless user experience, ultimately driving better engagement and revenue.

![What Are the Best Landing Page Optimization Tools?](./assets/woman-hand-using-laptop-or-computor-searching-for-information-in-internet-online-society-web-search.jpg)

Let’s explore some of the most effective tools to refine your landing pages and keep your website ahead of the curve.

## What is a landing page optimization?

Landing page optimization (LPO) is the **process of enhancing individual web pages to increase conversions and achieve specific marketing goals**. A [landing page](/blog/key-components-persuasive-landing-page/) is typically the first touchpoint a visitor interacts with after clicking on an ad, email link, or search result. Its purpose is to encourage visitors to take a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or downloading a resource.

![A man with a tablet checking web analytics before using landing page optimization tools](./assets/website-banner-for-it-company.jpg)

Effective landing page optimization involves a combination of data-driven decisions, user experience (UX) enhancements, and continuous testing. The goal is to create a page that resonates with the target audience, reduces friction, and aligns with their intent. By addressing elements such as layout, copy, visuals, and calls to action, LPO ensures that every aspect of the page works harmoniously to guide visitors toward conversion.

### Why should you optimize your landing pages every once in a while?

As we have mentioned at the beginning of this article, time passes and things change, and not only your life but how users interact with landing pages and Google preferences. That’s why something that worked in 2012 doesn’t work anymore. For example, some years ago every website owner would add lots of emojis and signs to their metatitles to get more traffic, this practice is nowadays an old strategy that can even hurt your website’s performance. Regularly optimizing your landing pages ensures they stay relevant, engaging, and effective in achieving your goals. Here are some key reasons why you should optimize your landing pages from time to time:

1. **Adapting to Algorithm Updates:** Search engines, especially Google, [frequently update their algorithms](https://2stallions.com/blog/algorithm-change/), which can impact how your landing pages rank. Optimization helps ensure your pages comply with the latest SEO best practices.
2. **Keeping Up with User Behavior:** User preferences evolve as new technologies, design trends, and browsing habits emerge. Regular updates help cater to these changing behaviors and expectations.
3. **Improving Conversion Rates:** Even small changes, such as updating a headline, a meta description or a call-to-action button, can lead to significant improvements in conversions by better aligning with user intent.
4. **Staying Ahead of Competitors:** Continuous optimization ensures your landing pages are competitive, both in terms of functionality and visual appeal, helping you stand out in your industry.
5. **Testing New Ideas:** Regular updates give you the opportunity to experiment with new design elements, content strategies, or marketing trends that may resonate better with your audience.
6. **Addressing Technical Issues:** Periodic reviews can uncover and fix technical issues like slow loading times, broken links, or outdated scripts that could harm user experience and SEO.

## 3 best landing page optimization tools

To make effective optimization, there are plenty of landing page optimization tools out there; however, not all of them are equally helpful or worth their cost. That’s why we’ve put together a list of our top five favorite landing page optimization tools to help you get started and boost your site’s performance. In this list, you’ll find a mix of tools for quantitative and qualitative analysis, as well as monitoring tools, to take your site to the next level.

### Hotjar

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[Hotjar](https://www.hotjar.com/) is an optimization tool that can help you understand how your users interact with your landing pages. Well-known for its heatmaps, this tool includes a wide variety of comprehensive tools like session recorders, feedback widgets and real-time surveys that can help you improve conversion through qualitative analysis.

#### Key Features:

1. Five landing page optimization tools in one platform (heatmaps, recordings, surveys, feedback and user interviews).
2. Allows easy integration with other tools like Google Analytics, Asana, Google Tag Manager, etcetera.

#### Pricing:

- It has a free plan but plans start from $32/month.

### Google PageSpeed Insights

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Right now, as we live in a fast-paced world, one of the most important aspects of a landing page is how quickly it loads. With [Google PageSpeed Insights](https://pagespeed.web.dev/), you can measure the speed of your pages and get detailed insights into their performance on both desktop and mobile devices. This tool provides a comprehensive breakdown of factors affecting your page’s load time, such as image optimization, server response time, and unused CSS or JavaScript.

#### Key Features:

1. Actionable recommendations to improve page speed.
2. Intuitive and easy-to-use tool thanks to its performance score.

#### Pricing:

- IT’S FREE!

### Ahrefs

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[Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/) is a comprehensive [SEO optimization](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/) tool that offers a wide range of features, including keyword research, backlink analysis, and site auditing. This powerful tool helps you uncover technical issues on your site, analyze your competitors’ strategies, and track your rankings over time. We love to use this landing page optimization tool to identify high-performing keywords, analyze search intent, and optimize landing pages for better visibility and relevance. With its intuitive interface and in-depth data, Ahrefs is a go-to solution for enhancing your site’s SEO and driving organic traffic.

#### Key Features:

1. Its site audits help you identify technical issues, broken links, slow-loading pages, and other factors that may negatively impact your user experience and search engine rankings.
2. Its keywords explorer tool allows you to find great keywords making it easier for you to find content ideas as well as optimize previous content by adding new keywords.

#### Pricing:

- from $83 to $999 per month

## Summary

By optimizing your landing pages from time to time using these 3 landing page optimization tools, you not only maintain their effectiveness but also create a better experience for your audience and drive long-term success for your business.

> P.S.: You can find some more helpful tools on our [tools page](/tools/). Check it out!
---
## 10 tips for writing blog posts that are SEO-friendly
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/tips-for-writing-blog-posts/
Published: 2025-01-20
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, Content, Blogging, Search Engine Optimization
> If you need to boost your website through your content, here you'll find 10 pro tips for writing blog posts that are SEO-friendly and engaging!
Having a blog that ranks might seem easier said than done. Even if your posts cover interesting topics and include valuable information from reliable sources, they won't rank unless they're SEO-friendly. So, how can you make it happen?

If you're a beginner unsure where to start, here are 10 pro tips for writing blog posts that are both valuable and SEO-friendly, helping to boost your blog to the top positions. For a comprehensive guide on the optimization process itself, check out our detailed post on [how to optimize content for SEO](/blog/how-to-optimize-content-for-seo/).

![10 Tips for Writing Blog Posts that Are SEO-friendly](./assets/typing-up-my-blog-post-of-the-weekend.jpg)

## Best tips for writing blog posts from a seasoned writer

After almost a decade of writing SEO-friendly content, we’re going to share our most precious tips for writing blog posts. These tips are simple, easy to apply on a large scale, and will completely change your game.

### Think before writing

Before starting to write a blog post, you need to make a plan. Besides checking the keywords and understanding the real user intent behind your topic, we recommend that you first write down why you want to create a blog post on that subject and consider if it's a good fit for your blog. Next, think about how you're going to make your content more valuable than what's already out there. This means RESEARCH. [During your research](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/), you might discover whether the keyword is worth pursuing or if there's a more interesting alternative. Take your time to develop a strategy and weigh whether it's worth the effort to write about a topic that, for example, already has thousands of articles published.

To ensure your article is SEO-friendly after publishing, you can use our [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/) to review your content optimization and identify areas for improvement.

### What are your competitors talking about?

As soon as you know your topic, check out your competitors. This is a great way to define what you should add (or exclude) from your content. Review the first 5 results for your main keywords and read those articles. Is there anything all of them are addressing? Add it. Is there valuable information missing? Take advantage of that and include it in your content. Ensure your content meets user intent (the top 5 results are ranked because they address the user’s question) and provide additional insights that your audience may not have realized were valuable. Differentiate yourself from the competition.

### A good structure is key

When your blog post is well-organized, it becomes easier for readers to follow and absorb the information you’re presenting. Start with a clear introduction, break your content into sections with relevant headings and subheadings based on the keywords you have, ending with a strong conclusion. A logical flow not only improves user experience but also helps search engines understand and rank your content better, giving it a higher chance of success.

![Portrait of a beautiful and attractive businesswoman smiling and taking notes. Guidelines as one of the best tips for writing blog posts](./assets/portrait-of-a-beautiful-and-attractive-businesswoman-smiling-and-taking-notes-guidelines.jpg)

### An engaging title will set you up for success

An engaging title is one of the most important elements of a successful blog post. It’s one of the first things readers see, and it plays a key role in grabbing their attention. A well-crafted title should spark curiosity, highlight the value of your content, and encourage users to click and read more. When you put thought into your title, you’re setting your article up for success by attracting the right audience and increasing engagement.

### Start with general information, then move to more specific details

When writing a blog post, it's important to structure your content in a way that guides readers through the topic. Start by covering the general information. This gives context and ensures your audience understands the basics. Once the foundation is set, gradually move into more specific details, providing depth and value to your content. This approach not only keeps readers engaged but also helps them easily follow your train of thought, making your article both user-friendly and informative.

![Triangle drawn with chalk on blackboard](./assets/triangle-drawn-with-chalk-on-blackboard.jpg)

### Make your content accessible

When writing your content, avoid long sentences and paragraphs. Your content should be understandable for your audience. This is not an academic paper. Keep your writing concise and to the point, using short sentences and simple language that make it easy for readers to follow. Break up large blocks of text into smaller, manageable paragraphs to improve readability. Remember, online readers tend to skim, so clarity and brevity are essential for keeping their attention and ensuring they fully grasp your message.

To check if your content is readable and engaging, use our [Readability Score Checker](/tools/readability-score-checker/) tool to evaluate and improve the accessibility of your writing.

### Skip thin, invaluable content

Google HATES thin content. Writing a blog post isn't just about adding as many words as possible to make it seem like your post is the most complete on the internet. In fact, recent Google algorithm updates have negatively impacted long, thin content. Focus on answering your visitors' questions and creating interesting, valuable content. It doesn't matter if it's a 400-word article. If it's top-notch, [Google will reward you](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content). The most effective blog posts are those that solve the questions users are seeking answers to.

After writing your content, make sure you're using your target keywords effectively with our [Keyword Density Checker](/tools/keyword-density-checker/) to optimize keyword placement without overstuffing.

![Travel blogger writing post on laptop, arriving to new destination](./assets/travel-blogger-writing-post-on-laptop-arriving-to-new-destination.jpg)

### Add your sources to the article

Recently, Google has been promoting articles written by professionals with visible resources to prevent users from encountering false information. We trust that you're not going to spread misinformation in your article (don't do it, it's wrong and will negatively affect your blog). Since you'll be checking resources while writing, make a list of them and add it at the end of your article. This way, you’ll show both Google and your readers that the information is legit. You can even include an external link to make the content even more SEO-friendly.

### Don't forget to link to previous articles

Recently, Google has been promoting articles written by professionals with visible resources to prevent users from encountering false information. We trust that you're not going to spread misinformation in your article (don't do it, it's wrong and will negatively affect your blog). Since you'll be checking resources while writing, list them and add them at the end of your article. This way, you’ll show both Google and your readers that the information is legit. You can even include an external link to make the content even more SEO-friendly.

![Link building](./assets/link-building.jpg)

### Create an engaging meta title and meta description

While a good title will encourage users to click on your article, the meta title and description are even more important. Think of these as the first impression users will have of your content when searching for answers, and we all know that first impressions are crucial. Craft an engaging meta title and a meta description with a cliffhanger that will make users want to click on your article to learn more.

P.S.: In this article, we’ve focused on the writing aspect. However, in addition to these tips for writing blog posts, you’ll need to consider other crucial steps related to the article’s layout (such as adding visual content with alt text, videos, etc.) and technical aspects (like implementing [schema markup](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/) and making the content shareable). Start now and boost your blog by writing engaging & SEO-friendly content!
---
## What is the optimal length for a blog post regarding SEO?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/optimal-length-for-a-blog-post/
Published: 2025-01-15
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, Content, Blogging, Search Engine Optimization
> Have you just launched a blog and are wondering about the optimal length for a blog post? If you think 1,200 words is the magic number, you're mistaken.
Are you starting a blog and wondering what the optimal length for a blog post is? While many blogs claim that the ideal length is between 1,500 and 2,500 words, we're sorry to inform you that this isn't necessarily true. What Google values and prioritizes when it comes to ranking changes rapidly, and although the American company once favored lengthy articles, that word count can sometimes be the worst choice today.

In this article, we'll explain what Google values and how long your articles should really be. For broader strategies on creating high-ranking content, see our guide on [how to optimize content for SEO](/blog/how-to-optimize-content-for-seo/).

![What Is the Optimal Length for a Blog Post regarding SEO?](./assets/writing-article-for-blogging.jpg)

## Does length matter (for Google)?

Not long ago, one of the main strategies for ranking a post was to write lengthy articles packed with keywords and, somehow, this mindset about creating content has lingered in many people’s minds. However, that’s no longer how things work today.

Yes, it’s true that, in the beginning, Google favored blog posts so long you’d need a free day to read them. But things have changed for the better. Nowadays, instead of prioritizing 3,000-word blog posts, **Google values lengthy content only when it’s truly valuable**.

When we talk about valuable content, we **recommend skipping the thin, filler material** that you might have added in the past just to reach 2,000 words or cram in as many keywords as possible.

So, does length matter? Not exactly. However, it can matter if the information you share is relevant and useful to the user. You need to keep in mind that Google improves its algorithms based on search behavior. This means the most important thing is to understand search intent and create a blog post that directly answers that intent, helping users find what they're looking for, whether it's a question or detailed information on a subject.

Google. What's the optimal length for a blog post article

![Google](./assets/google.jpg)

That’s why this question is quite tricky. While Google states that the length of the content doesn’t matter anymore, your users might have different expectations. They may want in-depth information about a subject, requiring thoughtful explanations and context, or, conversely, a simple answer in just a few lines. In that way, length matters depending on the topic.

## Is there an optimal length for a blog post?

As we just mentioned, less is often more, depending on the context. So, is there an ideal length for a blog post? **The short answer is no**, there’s no one-size-fits-all optimal length. However, it’s important to note that there are limits to how short a post can be. For example, if you’re writing an article on “What’s the optimal length for a blog post?” you can’t simply write, “There’s no optimal length for a blog post,” and publish it. That wouldn’t provide valuable content.

## What is a good length for a blog post?

We know we’ve told you to be concise when writing articles, but we’ve also said you can’t write an 8-word article. The reason is simple: there’s no one-size-fits-all optimal length for a blog post, like “[1,000 to 1,500 words,](https://www.wix.com/blog/how-long-should-a-blog-post-be#:~:text=a%20blog%20post%3F-,The%20ideal%20blog%20post%20length%20is%20between%201%2C500%20%2D%202%2C500%20words,while%20also%20keeping%20their%20attention.)” because, as we’ve emphasized repeatedly, **IT DEPENDS ON THE TOPIC**. However, there are certain things you should avoid, like writing a 3,000-word article to answer a simple question or creating an 8-word article that will leave your reader with the same question.

That’s why instead of telling you the exact optimal length for a blog post, we’re going to provide some tips on how to create VALUABLE content that your visitors will love.

### Tips to write valuable content

Let’s skip the part where we tell you to research the topic before writing and get straight to the key tips. Some of them might seem obvious, but it’s good to remind you of them:

1. Don’t obsess over the ideal length for your blog post, as Google will never provide a definitive answer. Instead, **focus on your readers** and what you would want to find if you had the same inquiry.
2. After researching and determining what information is valuable, **structure the content** by placing the main question at the beginning, followed by more specific details about the topic.
3. ALWAYS [USE SCHEMA MARKUP](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/)!!!
4. If your article ends up being too long, consider using **a table of contents** with links to each section, or think about dividing the content into a couple of articles (always keeping in mind the keywords and potential keyword cannibalization).
5. Always **use relevant sources** and cite them to enhance the reliability of your content and ensure the information is accurate.

![Focused asian man working on laptop and writing](./assets/focused-asian-man-working-on-laptop-and-writing.jpg)

## Conclusion

In conclusion, **there is no one-size-fits-all optimal length for a blog post.** However, there are limits. Creating excessively short or overly long content can affect your content. The key is to create content that truly addresses the user’s needs. Think like a user: if you were searching for an answer, what would you find most helpful? Avoid thin content and focus on providing real value. Instead of obsessing over what Google wants or following the advice of AI, prioritize your audience’s experience, and deliver quality content that genuinely answers their questions.
---
## How to track your SEO success with HubSpot analytics
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/track-seo-success-with-hubspot-analytics/
Published: 2025-01-07
Author: loraider259
Tags: HubSpot, SEO, Analytics, Search Engine Optimization
> Learn how to track your SEO success with Hubspot analytics. You can monitor organic traffic, keywords rankings and conversion and optimize your strategy.
When it comes to digital marketing, there are two pillars involving SEO: building a good strategy and learning how to track its success. Regarding the last one, we’ve come up with a quick guide to learn how to track your SEO success with HubSpot analytics, a tool that will allow HubSpot clients to refine their tactics and allocate resources effectively.

If you’re looking for better results, let’s explore HubSpot’s tool and take the most out of it so that your website gets the best positioning on search engines.

![How to Track Your SEO Success with Hubspot Analytics](./assets/business-analytics-on-tablet-computer.jpg)

## Why you should care about SEO success

Apart from designing and applying a SEO strategy to your site, you should always go back to it and check its performance and how you can improve statistics so that it isn’t out of step eventually. That’s when HubSpot analytics springs into action, offering crucial knowledge about your digital marketing campaigns thanks to its detailed performance insights, its help identifying opportunities and proposals of adaptive strategies.

Nevertheless, you may’ve never used this HubSpot’s tool, so let’s take a look at its key features and how they help businesses monitor their SEO performance.

- **Traffic Analytics.** When it comes to analytics themselves, HubSpot helps to track the sources where your website traffic come from. This includes organic search. You’ll get data of the amount of visitors, bounce rates and, of course, time spent on your site. This tells much about how engaging your content is and how you can retain the audience longer.
- **Keyword Tracking.** You can forget about keyword tools you can find online and start taking advantage of HubSpot’s own ones, which include a function for keyword effectiveness tracking. This platform will show you which keywords drive traffic, which is their search volume and your resulting position on SERPs (search engine results pages).
- **Page Performance.** This is something most of the people don’t think about when designing a website, which can lead to audience leaving before even seeing what you have to offer. HubSpot Analytics will help you identify whether your site is a high-performing one or, otherwise, needs some improvement. This is evaluated from factors such as page views, CTA click-through rates and SEO recommendations for obtaining a better performance.
- **SEO Recommendations.** Running out of ideas? Don’t worry, you can get actionable tips to improve your website’s SEO and, therefore, your sales or audience goals. You’ll benefit from a scan that focuses on possible issues on meta descriptions, broken links or even slow [page speeds](/blog/page-speed-and-seo-2024/) which may be causing a bad positioning or small public.
- **Integration with CRM.** Last, but not least, HubSpot's unique feature is its integration with your CRM (which can be HubSpot itself). Thanks to this, you’ll be able to track how organic traffic turns into leads, opportunities and customers, essential for identifying your SEO’s ROI.

![Red tick marking on checklist](./assets/red-tick-marking-on-checklist.jpg)

## Key steps of SEO's success tracking

Now that you know what HubSpot’s tracking tool can offer, it’s time to focus on the key steps you should follow in order to perform a good job when it comes to analytics. We’ll keep it simple so that you can get a quick and comprehensive guide and understand the basis of SEO success tracking.

1. **SEO Dashboard.** Among the several features HubSpot offers, there’s the possibility of creating a custom dashboard tailored to your needs. In this case, you should include organic traffic trends, [top-performing keywords](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/), high-converting landing pages and backlink tracking.
2. **Organic Traffic.** How much of your traffic comes from organic search? In order to answer this question, you should pay attention to visitors by source, geographic breakdown and device usage.
3. **Keyword Rankings.** Remember what we mentioned before about keywords? Now it’s the time to track your rankings for target keywords, which you can do by focusing on position changes, search volume and click-through rates.
4. **Page Performance.** Once again, HubSpot’s page performance allows you to dive deeper into individual page metrics. This is possible thanks to analytics related to time on page, bounce rate and conversion rate.
5. **SEO Recommendations.** Ready to take on some advice? Address any flagged issues like, for example, improving metadata (optimized titles and meta descriptions), fixing broken links and enhancing page speed.
6. **Track Conversions.** Finally, and so that you can tie organic traffic directly to conversions, you can use a CRM like HubSpot for monitoring lead generation, analyzing customer journeys and calculating your [website’s ROI](https://adchitects.co/blog/website-redesign-roi).

![The word growth written on a notebook next to a calculator | How to Track your SEO Success with HubSpot Analytics](./assets/the-concept-of-business-growth-is-illustrated-with-the-use-of-a-calculator-and-a-notebook.jpg)

## Eventual results of SEO's success tracking

At this stage, you've surely realized how important it is both for your website and business (as well as for anyone aiming for an effective digital marketing strategy) tracking SEO success. Fortunately, tools such as HubSpot’s allow businesses to do this efficiently and without further complications, while they gain valuable insights into their SEO performance.

It’s up to you if you prefer monitoring organic traffic, optimizing keywords or analyzing conversions, as HubSpot will be your right hand when it comes to taking control of your SEO strategy and achieve measurable results. Start tracking today following this guide and the many other resources of information you may find online.
---
## Why asking your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter is not as great as you think
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/asking-your-visitors-email-subscription/
Published: 2024-12-24
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: Email Marketing, Newsletters, Marketing Strategies, Digital Marketing
> Tired of low email engagement? Discover why asking for email subscriptions might be outdated and explore better ways to connect with your audience.
Are you still asking your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter? Do you really spend that much time preparing those emails not to get as many opens and clicks as you should? We live in the 21st century, people only subscribe to newsletters to get promo codes and if they don’t see immediate value, they unsubscribe or ignore your emails altogether.

In this article, we’ll show you why it’s time to stop wasting energy on getting visitors to subscribe to your email subscription. Plus, we’ll share some simple and effective alternatives to connect with your audience and keep them returning to your site for more.

![Why asking your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter is not as great as you think](./assets/join-our-newsletter-concept.jpg)

## 5 reasons why you should stop asking your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter

In a world where attention spans are shrinking and inboxes are overflowing, relying on newsletter subscriptions as your main engagement strategy might not be as effective as you think. It’s time to rethink how you connect with your audience and explore more modern, efficient ways to foster engagement.

But if you’re still convinced that email subscriptions are the way to go, here are six reasons that might change your mind.

### It’s spammy

Asking people to subscribe to your email list can feel really spammy. You probably have a pop-up (let's face it, everyone hates those, we don't recommend them at all) or tons of forms all over your site that make you look desperate for subscribers. Seriously, doesn’t it seem a little shady to push so hard for people to sign up?

![Email subscription notification, woman hand on the computer laptop, one new inbox e mail message on the screen](./assets/email-notification-woman-hand-on-the-computer-laptop-one-new-inbox-e-mail-message-on-the-screen.jpg)

We get why you might feel the pressure. There are so many sites out there offering similar content, and it’s easy to worry about getting lost in the crowd. But here’s the thing: if you create awesome, engaging content, you don’t have to stress. **Your audience will come back** because they like what you’re putting out there.

Instead of annoying people with pop-ups and forms, focus on building trust and giving them value. If they love your stuff, they'll find ways to follow you, whether that's on social media or other platforms. No need to be pushy. Let your content do the work!

### None reads them

Let's be real: **most people don't actually read newsletters**. They might sign up for a discount code or because they’re curious, but after that? Your emails are either ignored, sent straight to the spam folder, or deleted without a second glance.

Think about your own inbox. How often do you actually open newsletters, let alone read them from start to finish? People are overwhelmed with emails these days, and unless yours stands out in a big way (which is rare), it’s just more noise.

### At the end, people always unsubscribe to them

No matter how hard you try, the reality is that most people will eventually unsubscribe from your email list or worse, stop reading what you send to them. They might sign up out of curiosity, but over time, they’ll **lose interest or get overwhelmed** by the constant stream of emails.

![Closeup image of wooden cube with mail icon inside trash can.](./assets/closeup-image-of-wooden-cube-with-mail-icon-inside-trash-can.jpg)

It’s frustrating, but it’s a common pattern. Even if your content is solid, subscribers will often drop off once they’ve seen it a few times or if they feel like they’re not getting enough value. Plus, when people start receiving too many emails, they’re more likely to unsubscribe, marking your messages as spam or blocking you entirely.

### They will take you lots of time with not-so-good results

Preparing newsletters, setting up your site to collect new contacts, managing unsubscribed users, and paying for the platform to send your emails: email subscriptions **require a lot of time and effort**. From crafting the content to designing templates and scheduling campaigns, the entire process can feel like a full-time job.

On top of that, the results often don’t justify the effort. **Open rates are typically low**, click-through rates even lower, and many of your emails might end up in spam folders or go completely unnoticed. While email marketing can work for some businesses, for most projects, the time, money, and energy spent on this strategy simply aren’t worth it compared to other, more effective methods of audience engagement. Consider redirecting those efforts to platforms or tools that offer better results or even working on your [keyword research](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/) or improving your [page speed instead](/blog/page-speed-and-seo-2024/).

### There are better alternatives available

There are plenty of better ways to reach your audience than email subscriptions. As we mentioned earlier, open rates continue to drop, and many users perceive email newsletters as spammy. With [social media platforms still growing](https://explodingtopics.com/blog/future-of-social-media) and new ones constantly gaining users, these channels offer a fresh, non-intrusive way to share your project.

![Social media](./assets/social-media.jpg)

Social media allows you to **engage with your audience where they already spend their time**. You can create posts, stories, or reels that showcase your content in a way that feels natural and engaging. Platforms like Instagram, Twitter (X), and TikTok even let your audience opt-in for notifications, ensuring they see your updates if they want to. These alternatives not only help you maintain a positive connection with your audience but can also reach a far wider group than traditional email ever could.

## What should you do instead?

As we have already mentioned, instead of focusing on getting email subscriptions, you should change your marketing strategy. Stop wasting time on email lists and try this:

### Ask your audience to follow you on social media platforms

Rather than asking people to sign up for newsletters, encourage them to follow you on social media. Platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or X ([best known as Twitter](https://buffer.com/social-media-terms/x-app)) allow you to reach your audience where they already spend their time. Plus, these platforms make it easy for your followers to engage with your content, comment, and share, expanding your reach. You can also use notifications, stories, and other interactive features to keep your audience updated without bombarding their inboxes.

![Follow me](./assets/follow-me.jpg)

## Conclusion

You are not the only one sending newsletters to clients or readers and it’s quite annoying to have an inbox with hundreds of newsletters you already forget about why you subscribe to them in the first place. Right now, we live in a time of social networks where people actually spend lots of time on them. Focus on creating good content on LinkedIn, Instagram, or even X, you will gain a better community and better performance and, in the end, you will be less annoying for your audience than sending a newsletter once a week.

> **Wishing You Joy and Warmth This Holiday Season**\
> Thank you for reading, and here's to a bright new year ahead!
>
> — **The FreshJuice Team**
---
## 6 key components to craft a persuasive landing page
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/key-components-persuasive-landing-page/
Published: 2024-12-15
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, CRO, Landing Page, Search Engine Optimization
> Don't know how to create a persuasive landing page? In this article, you'll find all the tips you were looking for to create THE BEST landing pages.
Landing pages are an excellent tool for achieving your marketing goals, such as driving conversions, generating leads, encouraging newsletter sign-ups, or promoting product sales. Their focused design can significantly **boost conversions and provide measurable results**. However, because landing pages have a closed-loop structure, it’s crucial to ensure their design and elements are both appealing and persuasive to effectively achieve your objectives.

In this article, we’ll guide you through crafting a persuasive landing page by incorporating six essential elements, along with practical tips to maximize its performance.

![website design wireframe](./assets/website-design-wireframe.jpg)

## How to create the best landing page for your website

Creating an engaging and persuasive landing page is easier than it seems. The key is to keep the structure simple and concise. Think of a landing page as a teaser for your product, like a hook that draws users in, with the call-to-action (CTA) being the moment where they claim their reward and you achieve your goal. To make it effective, focus on sharing just enough information to spark curiosity and compel users to take action.

Follow these simple steps to craft an effective landing page:

1. **Set Your Goal:** Clearly define the purpose of your landing page. Whether it’s generating leads, driving sales, or encouraging sign-ups, your goal will shape the structure and content. Understanding your objective will also help you identify the essential information to include.
2. **Keep It Short:** Brevity is key to an impactful landing page. Avoid overwhelming users with too much information. Instead, focus on selecting the right words and visuals that capture attention and convey your message effectively.
3. **Structure It Well:** Visual appeal plays a critical role in engaging users. Organize your content with clear headings, compelling copy, and prominent CTAs. Ensure the layout is clean and guides users seamlessly toward the desired action.

These three foundational steps are essential for creating a high-performing landing page but they are not the only thing to do or add in them…

## 6 components you need to add to create a persuasive landing page

We know the instructions we provided earlier might feel a bit general. But don’t worry! As we mentioned earlier, we’re here to share the exact components every persuasive landing page needs.

There are six key elements, and we have listed them in the order they should appear on your landing page.

![letters of the alphabet with word titles.](./assets/letters-of-the-alphabet-with-word-titles.jpg)

### A persuasive headline

First impressions count, and your headline is the very first thing visitors will notice. It should be clear, engaging, and directly address the visitor’s needs or pain points. A well-crafted headline grabs attention instantly and makes visitors want to explore further.

### A form

This is the most important element, and its placement is key. When creating a landing page, always include a form immediately after the headline. Keep the form short and straightforward: ask only for the information you truly need. The easier it is for users to complete, the more likely they are to engage.

![Type on desktop computer at home](./assets/type-on-desktop-computer-at-home.jpg)

### High-quality content

It's logical but crucial: to convince your visitors, you need high-quality content. Your messaging should be concise, persuasive, and aligned with your audience's needs. Avoid overwhelming them with too much information. Focus on delivering value while keeping it simple.

### Supporting visuals

To make your landing page more engaging, always include visuals that complement the content. Eye-catching images or videos can effectively convey your message and make the page more appealing. Use visuals and color schemes that align with your brand identity for a cohesive experience.

![testimonial, stars, web, company, man, win, consumer, product, scoring, business, positive, satisfac](./assets/testimonial-stars-web-company-man-win-consumer-product-scoring-business-positive-satisfac.jpg)

### Testimonials

Boost your conversion rate by including trust signals like testimonials from satisfied customers or clients. Reviews, case studies, or even logos of well-known brands you’ve worked with can add credibility. Security badges and guarantees can also help build trust with your audience.

### FAQ

This element is optional but highly beneficial. Adding a FAQ section with real, frequently asked questions can address any doubts or concerns visitors might have. This not only saves them time but also helps reduce hesitation, making them more likely to take action. A well-thought-out FAQ section can be the final push that turns visitors into leads or customers. Moreover, integrating the FAQ into your [schema markup](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/) can further enhance conversions and boost SEO.

## Other things to take into account when creating a persuasive landing page

In addition to incorporating the six essential components, there are a few other strategies that can further enhance the effectiveness of your landing page and help you achieve even more conversions.

- **Always Create Responsive Pages:** While many of us still use desktops, the majority of users now access the internet through mobile devices like phones or tablets. In fact, over 50% of web traffic comes from mobile users. That’s why designing responsive landing pages that adapt seamlessly to any screen size is absolutely crucial.
- **Conduct A/B Testing:** Rarely does a landing page achieve perfection on the first try. [A/B testing](https://www.mida.so/blog/ab-testing-fully-explained) allows you to compare different versions of your page to determine which design, copy, or CTA resonates best with your audience. Testing is key to [optimizing performance](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/) and maximizing conversions.

By keeping these additional tips in mind and fine-tuning your approach, you can create a landing page that not only captures attention but also drives meaningful results.
---
## Meta tags explained: why they matter for your website
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/guide-to-meta-tags-and-their-importance/
Published: 2024-12-07
Author: reatlat
Tags: SEO, Meta Tags, Website Optimization
> Discover what meta tags are, why they’re essential for SEO, and how to use them to improve your website’s search rankings and user engagement.
Meta tags are an integral part of every webpage, yet they often go unnoticed by users. These hidden pieces of code play a crucial role in defining how search engines and social platforms interpret your content. Whether you’re building a personal blog, an e-commerce website, or a corporate portal, meta tags are essential for enhancing your site’s visibility, performance, and user experience.

In this article, we’ll explore what meta tags are, their types, and why they are vital for SEO and overall web performance.

![Web developing code on dark background](./assets/screen-of-web-developing-code-on-dark-background.jpg)

## What are meta tags?

Meta tags are snippets of HTML placed in the `<head>` section of your webpage. They provide metadata (information about the data on your page) that helps search engines, browsers, and social media platforms understand and display your content appropriately.

For example:

```html
<meta
  name="description"
  content="Learn everything about meta tags and how they enhance your website's SEO and performance."
/>
```

The meta tag above tells search engines what your page is about and may appear as the description in search results.

## Types of meta tags and their functions

### 1. Title tag

Although technically not a meta tag, the title tag is often grouped with them due to its SEO importance. It defines the title of your page and is the clickable headline users see on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Example:

```html
<title>Everything You Need to Know About Meta Tags</title>
```

Why It’s Important: The title tag is a major ranking factor for SEO and influences click-through rates (CTR).

### 2. Meta description

The meta description provides a brief summary of the page content. While it doesn’t directly impact rankings, it heavily influences CTR by making your link more enticing.

Example:

```html
<meta
  name="description"
  content="A comprehensive guide to meta tags, their types, and why they are critical for SEO and web performance."
/>
```

Best Practices:

- Keep it under 160 characters.
- Include target keywords naturally.
- Write compelling, user-focused descriptions.

### 3. Viewport meta tag

This tag ensures your website is responsive and adapts to different screen sizes, making it crucial for mobile-friendly design.

Example:

```html
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
```

Why It’s Important: Google prioritizes mobile-first indexing, and a responsive website improves user experience (UX) and SEO rankings.

### 4. Robots meta tag

The robots tag instructs search engines on how to crawl or index your page.

Example:

```html
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow" />
```

Common Directives:

- index/noindex: Whether the page should be indexed.
- follow/nofollow: Whether links on the page should be followed.

### 5. Open Graph tags

These meta tags control how your content appears when shared on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

Example:

```html
<meta property="og:title" content="The Ultimate Guide to Meta Tags" />
<meta
  property="og:description"
  content="Learn the importance of meta tags for SEO and social media sharing."
/>
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/meta-tags-guide.jpg" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/meta-tags" />
```

Why It’s Important: Open Graph tags enhance social sharing by displaying rich previews, improving engagement and click-through rates.

### 6. Twitter Card tags

Similar to Open Graph, Twitter Card tags format your webpage for Twitter sharing.

Example:

```html
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" />
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Understanding Meta Tags" />
<meta
  name="twitter:description"
  content="Everything you need to know about meta tags and their impact on SEO."
/>
<meta
  name="twitter:image"
  content="https://example.com/meta-tags-twitter.jpg"
/>
```

Why It’s Important: Increases the appeal of your tweets by including images and rich descriptions.

## Why are meta tags important for SEO?

### 1. Search engine visibility

Meta tags like the title and description help search engines understand your page content and relevance to a user’s query. This can improve your rankings and make your listing more attractive.

### 2. Click-through rates

A well-crafted meta description or Open Graph tag can entice users to click on your link, boosting organic traffic.

### 3. User experience

Tags like viewport ensure your site is responsive, enhancing UX, which is a ranking factor for Google.

### 4. Control over crawling

The robots meta tag allows you to manage which pages search engines index, ensuring your critical pages receive attention.

### 5. Improved social sharing

Open Graph and Twitter tags allow you to control how your content looks when shared, increasing engagement and driving more traffic to your site.

## Best practices for using meta tags

1. Be Concise: Keep titles under 60 characters and meta descriptions under 160 characters.
2. Use Keywords Naturally: Include target keywords in your tags but avoid keyword stuffing.
3. Optimize for Mobile: Always include a viewport meta tag.
4. Test Social Sharing: Use tools like Facebook’s Sharing Debugger to preview and troubleshoot Open Graph tags.
5. Regularly Audit Meta Tags: Use tools like Google Search Console to ensure your tags are optimized.

## Check your metadata for free

To ensure your meta-tags are properly optimized, try our [Meta Tag Checker](/tools/metadata-checker/) Tool, which provides instant analysis of your webpage metadata and insights into:

- How your page will appear in search results
- How your content will look when shared on social media
- Recommendations for improving your metadata

You also may test your website with social-media tools to see how your shared pages will look like.

- [Facebook Sharing Debugger](https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/)
- [Twitter Card Validator](https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator)
- [LinkedIn Post Inspector](https://www.linkedin.com/post-inspector/)

## Final thoughts

Meta tags might not be visible on your webpage, but their impact is undeniable. They enhance your site's SEO, improve user experience, and ensure your content shines on search engines and social platforms. By understanding and implementing meta tags correctly, you can drive more traffic, boost engagement, and ultimately achieve your digital marketing goals.

For even better search engine understanding of your content, consider implementing [schema markup](/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/) alongside your meta tags. This structured data helps search engines interpret your content more accurately and can unlock rich snippets in search results.

Start optimizing your meta tags today to ensure your content stands out in the crowded online space!
---
## 6 best HubSpot features for your business
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/6-best-hubspot-features-for-business/
Published: 2024-09-27
Author: loraider259
Tags: HubSpot, CMS, CRM
> Do you need an all-in-one solution for your business? Discover what this tool can do for you and what are the 6 best HubSpot features according to experts.
Are you looking for the best solution for your business? It's not an easy task to find one that can manage marketing, sales and customer service at once, which is why we're here to guide you through the 6 best HubSpot features for your company (whether it's a small or a big one) so that you can elevate your strategies in 2024.

Although this CMS can brag about having amazing features, each better than the last one, we want to focus on the 6 best HubSpot features you don’t want to miss out. All set? Let’s go!

![HubSpot logo](./assets/hubspot-logo.png)

## What HubSpot is really about

As you may already know, HubSpot is, in a few words, an all-in-one platform that was designed for businesses as a marketing, sales, customer service and content management solution. Thanks to the wide range of tools you can get access to, you’ll be able to attract, engage and please your customers since they step a foot in your website.

However, not everyone fully understands the possibilities HubSpot has, which is why we wanted to make this brief guide for you to understand how much you can benefit from it. Without further delay, let's start exploring the 8 best HubSpot features.

## HubSpot CRM

The root HubSpot stands in is, essentially, its [powerful CRM](https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm). If you don’t know what this is about, let us make it simple: this tool will allow you to manage customer interactions, information and communication. This integration allows a seamless collaboration between sales and marketing teams (if you have them), which is essential for a better data sharing between both of them

Apart from this, HubSpot Marketing Hub (where it’s included the CRM) enables the creation of Salesforce custom objects, that is, your marketing team will be able to create and manage these objects (like leads, opportunities, accounts, etc.) from within HubSpot.

## AI content optimization

We’ve been experiencing great progress these past years when it comes to technology, so no wonder a tool like HubSpot also wanted to stay updated and offer their clients the best solutions. Thanks to its [AI-powered content optimization](https://www.hubspot.com/products/artificial-intelligence#below-header-breeze_wf_header_splash), you can get help with blog posts, landing pages, and website content so that you [achieve a good SEO](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/) prospect and engagement. For example, you'll be getting suggestions about keywords, readability, content structure and so on.

Let’s be honest: a little AI never hurt nobody. The thing is you use this kind of tool as a helper, not a builder, and take advice from it whenever you feel it’s a good one. Remember, we are the ones who know what they’re doing, so we should never entirely trust something like our business to a machine.

![a person touching a digital light bulb making reference to AI](./assets/ai-enhanced-education-the-bright-future-of-learning-and-innovation-driven-by-ai.jpg)

## Marketing automation

Did anyone say something about time-saving? This HubSpot’s tool is one of the clients’ favorites because it [automates repetitive marketing tasks](https://www.hubspot.com/products/marketing/marketing-automation-information) like newsletters, social media posting or nurturing workflows. Regarding the last one, you’ll be able to create sophisticated workflows that guide leads all along the buyer’s journey.

To sum up, this means you’ll be saving time and improving your efficiency, which is essential during the first stages of building a business from scratch.

## Personalized content

When it comes to compare personalization on CMS platforms such as HubSpot, Squarespace or WordPress, is the last one who takes the first place. Nevertheless, HubSpot Marketing Hub is really taking things seriously and getting their act together so that they can reach that position and dethrone WordPress once and for all. For a complete comparison of these platforms, see our [best CMS platform of 2024](/blog/best-cms-platform-2024/) review.

But how are they doing so? Thanks to their reporting and analytics feature, your business will be collecting data and insights on what is it that your audience wants or prefers. Then, with all this information HubSpot’s Marketing Hub will offer you [advanced personalization options](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/website-pages/personalize-your-content) so that you can create customized content tailored to each customer’s unique interests and needs.

## Video marketing capabilities

If you’re planning on having audiovisual content on your website, such as marketing videos, then you’re going to love this feature. HubSpot Marketing Hub comes with these [video marketing capabilities](https://www.hubspot.com/products/video-hosting) we’d like to share with you, such as embedding videos on your landing pages or your newsletters and helping with analytics and tracking views, engagement rates and the general success of your efforts.

Apart from this, there’s also the possibility of personalizing this kind of content depending on your viewer’s profile, that is, come up with personalized content that satisfies their specific needs or interests.

## Social media advertising

We’ve nearly covered the 6 features we wanted to present to you today, but there’s one which is becoming more important over the years and that’s [social media advertising](https://www.hubspot.com/products/marketing/social-inbox). Where does your audience spend most of their time? That’s it, in social media, so that’s where you should be focusing your marketing strategies. Thanks to HubSpot and its Marketing Hub, you’ll be able to create, launch and monitor social media ad campaigns without leaving the platform.

What does this imply? You can merge your marketing campaigns (newsletters, lead generation, CRM strategies and so on) with your presence on social media without sacrificing an efficient tracking or management of your overall campaigns.

![Social Media Influencer Holding Like, best hubspot features](./assets/social-media-influencer-holding-like.jpg)

## Why you should try HubSpot

If you've come all this way and you're still wondering why you should be choosing HubSpot for your business solutions, we won't let you be in doubt. This all-in-one solution is not only a user-friendly and comprehensive one, but it's also designed to grow with your business, which means it offers pricing for every budget, from small businesses to huge companies who want the full package. If you're just starting out, check our guide on [HubSpot and SEO for startups](/blog/hubspot-and-seo-for-startups/) to get the most value from the platform.

Additionally, all these features about marketing automation, a centralized CRM system, AI-powered tools and its strong ecosystem only make your life easier (or your employees in case you outsource this kind of tasks) as they simplify business processes and provide the tools you're going to be needing as your project starts to grow. To track your SEO success with these features, see our guide on [tracking SEO success with HubSpot analytics](/blog/track-seo-success-with-hubspot-analytics/).
---
## Autumn big release - v2.0.0
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/2024-autumn-big-release-update/
Published: 2024-09-20
Author: zapalblizh
Tags: FreshJuice, Product Update, Stay Fresh, New Modules
> We are proud to announce a big update for us this Autumn! The theme is now on its second version, using a fresh new licence. Game-changing news for devs!
We are proud to announce a big update for FreshJuice! The theme is now on its [second major release](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/freshjuice-dev-hubspot-theme/releases/tag/v2.0.0), using a fresh [MIT licence](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/freshjuice-dev-hubspot-theme/blob/main/LICENSE). Game-changing news for devs!

![Cat drinking drink using straw](./assets/cat-drinking.jpg)

**Attention to all developers!** FreshJuice so far, since its release, has been using the [GPLv3 licence](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html). However, we've wanted to give devs and users of our product more freedom when it comes to modifying and updating it for themselves. Therefore, we have switched to the [MIT licence](https://mit-license.org/).

This allows devs to do things such as:

- Use, copy and modify the software.
- Distribute modified and unmodified versions of the software.
- Including the software in commercial products or services.

You may find [more information about it here](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/freshjuice-dev-hubspot-theme/blob/main/README.md)

## Modules

We have updated many of our modules. They are now more simplified and are easier to modify. Modules updated by this were the following:

- [Social Icons](/developer-edition/docs/modules/social-icons/)
- [Pricing Cards](/developer-edition/docs/modules/pricing-cards/)
- [Card](/developer-edition/docs/modules/card/)
- [List](/developer-edition/docs/modules/list/)
- [Button](/developer-edition/docs/modules/button/)
- All Testimonials Modules
- All Statistics Modules

Additionally, we have a new module joining our FreshJuice family; The Flip Cards Module.

This module enables you to add a simple three columns layout made up of maximum three cards. When a card is hovered over, the card will rotate 180°, showing the content behind the card.

More details about this module in the [Flip Cards documentation](/developer-edition/docs/modules/flip-cards/).

## Sections

We have updated our Cards section.

## Documentation

We have updated some of the setting documentation for our modules. This includes:

- [Card](/developer-edition/docs/modules/card/)
- [Button](/developer-edition/docs/modules/button/)
- [List](/developer-edition/docs/modules/list/)

Additionally, the new module Flip Cards has been added to our documentation.

## Bugfixes

- [#9](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/freshjuice-dev-hubspot-theme/issues/9) Fixed issue with Hubspot CMS blog post editing not allowing you to update your blogpost. If using older version and having this issue, please remove all modules from your blogpost, push and re-add them.
- [#22](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/freshjuice-dev-hubspot-theme/pull/22) Fixed a bug with blogpost content generating inside a span.
- Fixed Navigation Bar for mobile devices; Dropdown menu not always having the proper height.
- Fixed Scroll to top Module incorrectly displaying percentage scrolled E.g. arrives to 100% before reaching end of post.

[Check out the changelog](/developer-edition/changelog/) for more details on this update.
---
## Best CMS platform of 2024: WordPress, Squarespace & HubSpot
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/best-cms-platform-2024/
Published: 2024-09-19
Author: loraider259
Tags: CMS, HubSpot, WordPress, Squarespace
> Discover the best CMS platforms of 2024 for building websites that are fast, flexible and SEO-friendly based on your needs and expectations.
Are you planning on setting up a website for your business or any kind of project you’re up to? You’ve probably been wondering which CMS platform would fit best taking into account the content and the goal of your future site, so we’re here to shed some light on this matter and make a review about three of the most popular CMS platforms of 2024: WordPress, HubSpot and Squarespace.

![Best CMS Platform of 2024](./assets/content-management-system.jpg)

This isn't exactly about the best CMS platform of 2024 itself, but which one is best for your business in particular. That said, take your time to think about what you expect from a website, what's your budget and, especially, your commerce goals so that you can choose wisely. For a detailed framework on making this decision, check our guide on [how to choose the right website platform](/blog/how-to-choose-right-website-platform/).

## Features to bear in mind

In order to make it even easier for you to decide which CMS platform is best for your business, we should be discussing which are the features you need to think about when making a choice between platforms such as WordPress, Squarespace or HubSpot. These are some of the most important ones:

- [Cost](#cost)
- [Maintenance](#maintenance)
- [Customization](#customization)

Now is your turn to start asking yourself questions including what does your site need, how do you want it to look like, if you need marketing features or not and many more aspects you’ll need to settle on before starting this journey. Let’s go!

### Cost

What kind of budget do you have? You should know by now there's going to be some services which are inevitable (the domain, for example), and therefore, you should be choosing a CMS platform that fits both your needs and your budget. Let’s see what are the rates for each one of them when it comes to their pricing tiers or extra payments for certain features.

#### HubSpot

We should begin with [HubSpot](https://www.hubspot.com/) as it's one of the best CMS platforms for beginners, starting with its Content Management System [Free Plan](https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/crm), which can get you a small but secure website in a week. You'll then have access to the free CRM (Customer Relationship Management), integrations with mail automation platforms, and a marketing functionality.

Nevertheless, in case you'd like to have extra features or, for example, go beyond the 25 website pages limit that offers HubSpot's free plan, you can also upgrade it to the Starter Plan. This costs from $23/month and includes, among other features, around 1,000 marketing contacts and several Hubs (commerce, sales, service, content and operations). For a deeper dive into what HubSpot offers, see our guide on the [6 best HubSpot features for business](/blog/6-best-hubspot-features-for-business/).

#### WordPress

This one can brag about powering over 40% of websites globally speaking and being the most popular open-source CMS, but what does [WordPress](https://wordpress.org/) have to offer? Although it's a free, open-source software (meaning there's no pricing tiers), you do have to pay for hosting, which can start from $2/month depending on your needs. Moreover, there are some plugins or certain features that also need to be paid before using them.

That said, there's something you also need to take into account when choosing WordPress as your CMS platform: its difficulty in terms of building a website. If you’re not willing to spend much time doing so or you don’t have that kind of skills, there’s a chance you may need to outsource that work and, therefore, end up spending more.

#### Squarespace

Regarding [Squarespace](https://www.squarespace.com/websites-start/), this is also one of the best options for someone who needs to do a small investment and doesn’t need endless features. Their cheapest subscription starts from $16/month and you’ll have access to hosting as well as basic security features. In case you need to launch your website with a tight budget and as soon as you can, Squarespace may be your best choice for that.

### Maintenance

Did you think it was all about building a website? Unfortunately, we’re currently living in an ever-changing world that will require from you to stay up to date in terms of information. This means you’ll need to make updates on your website from time to time, so you should pay attention to how any of these CMS platforms allow you to make changes and updates.

![Typing up my blog post of the weekend](./assets/typing-up-my-blog-post-of-the-weekend.jpg)

#### HubSpot

We don’t want to seem like we have a favorite, but… HubSpot really knows how to keep it simple when it comes to maintenance and content updates. It offers a drag-n-drop editor that makes it really simple to edit, add or remove content you want to modify, see the changes before uploading them to the website and save them automatically. What else can you ask for?

#### WordPress

As you can imagine, WordPress is not that simple regarding maintenance, mainly because it's a more technical platform and it'll all depend on your skill level (unless you outsource this work as we mentioned before). Without a function like the drag-n-drop HubSpot offers, editing content in WordPress has to be made with Elementor, its own plugin for design matters. For a detailed comparison of these maintenance differences, see our [HubSpot vs WordPress](/blog/hubspot-vs-wordpress/) analysis.

#### Squarespace

If we have to choose a design feature that Squarespace stands out for, that’d be its beautifully designed templates, which are user-friendly and easy to edit for beginners. This means you won’t need to hire someone for designing your website and, with just a bit of patience, you’ll be able to get a pretty good result.

### Customization

What’s the idea behind your website? What color palette fits better with it? Let’s see how much these platforms let you express your thoughts.

![Colored pencils on an open texture table. Set of colored pencils on the background of the table](./assets/colored-pencils-on-an-open-texture-table-set-of-colored-pencils-on-the-background-of-the-table.jpg)

#### HubSpot

Although HubSpot doesn’t have the variety of themes that you may find in WordPress, the truth is you still can choose from a wide range of themes which also have a built-in guide to guide you through the process. You can also include forms and other modules or UI elements to diversify your content, as well as visiting the HubSpot’s Module Marketplace if you feel like you need something else.

#### WordPress

We’ve slipped it before, but we’ll tell you again: WordPress’ theme library is nearly endless. You can find both free and paid ones that will allow you to include blocks for text, video, images and any other elements you want to share with your audience. However, if there's anything you can't find on those themes, don't forget to take a look at plugins, something this platform is really famous for (although sometimes it can get a bit annoying the fact of using a new plugin for every little detail or feature).

#### Squarespace

Last, but not least, Squarespace has its own pre-designed templates where you can change elements such as font and background colors on one page of your website or all at once. The only disadvantage you may encounter is the fact of having to embed a form on every single page you want it to be, as these templates don’t apply it site-wide.

## Time to mull over

And that’s a wrap! Although there are other features you should also take into account when choosing the best CMS platform for your business, such as security or client support, we really think these are a good starting point. Now it’s your turn to think about your goals and needs and decide between WordPress, HubSpot or Squarespace for your project.
---
## Page speed and SEO in 2024: what you need to know
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/page-speed-and-seo-2024/
Published: 2024-09-15
Author: loraider259
Tags: SEO, Page Speed, PageSpeed Insights, LightHouse, Search Engine Optimization
> Do you know how page speed and SEO are connected? Take user experience to another level and learn how to improve your website's page speed.
Owning a website also means taking care of the smallest details, such as page speed and SEO, something you may overlook if you’re not that documented about [search engine optimization](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/) and positioning. If you want to build a website and attract more traffic, you’re going to need to get familiar with concepts such as user experience, conversion rates, page speed insights and, of course, SEO.

![Speed motion on night road](./assets/speed-motion-on-night-road.jpg)

Regarding this article, we’ll be exploring how page speed can affect your website’s presence online and how you can both check and improve it in order to get better rankings and retain your audience’s interest.

## What exactly is page speed

![PageSpeed Insights results](./assets/pagespeed-insights.png)
First things first: what is page speed and why does it affect your site’s ranking? In simple words, page speed is the time it takes for a page on a website to load, but this is measured based on different elements, which are:

- **[Time To First Byte (TTFB)](https://web.dev/ttfb/).** In the first place, this concept refers to the time it takes to load the very first byte of information you’re showing on your website. When this time is short, it means the server is working fast.
- **[Time To Interactive (TTI)](https://web.dev/tti/).** Can you imagine what does the TTI measure? Yes, the time that goes by when you use an interactive element and there’s a response. When these times are high, it may be a Javascript issue.
- **[First Contentful Paint (FCP)](https://web.dev/fcp/).** You probably wouldn’t guess what this means unless someone explained it to you, so let’s do exactly that. FCP makes reference to the time it takes for the first element of content (which can be text, an image, svg and so on) to load on your website. [Learn more about the First Contentful Paint metric](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/performance/first-contentful-paint/).
- **[Total Blocking Time (TBT)](https://web.dev/tbt/).** This metric measures the total amount of time between First Contentful Paint and Time to Interactive, which is the time it takes for a page to become interactive. This is important because it measures how long a page is unresponsive to user input. [Learn more about the Total Blocking Time metric](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/performance/lighthouse-total-blocking-time/).
- **[Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)](https://web.dev/cls/).** This metric measures the visual stability of a page. In other words, it measures how much elements on a page move around while the page is loading. This is important because it measures how much a page layout shifts while the page is loading.
- **Full Load Time.** Load time is, generally speaking, the amount of time your page needs to load fully including all its elements, whether they are interactive buttons, text, images, videos, etc.
- **[Interaction to Next Paint (INP)](https://web.dev/inp/).** As a part of Google’s goal to improve user experience on websites, they’ve recently come up with a new performance metric called INP (Interaction to Next Paint). This measures how responsive a webpage is by tracking the latency of actions such as clicks, taps or keyboard inputs. In a few words, this metric studies how long does it take to a site for responding to this kind of inputs.
- **Mobile Goes First.** Last, but not least, you need to keep in mind how important it is for page speed measurement your page’s performance when it comes to using a device such as a mobile device. In a few words, the measurement tool is going to take into account this performance before the desktop one.

## Page speed and SEO: how are they connected

Now that you know what elements page speed measurement takes into account, it’s time to know how this affects your site’s SEO and presence on SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). At the beginning, we were speaking of concepts such as user experience or conversion rates, which are easy to understand once you get familiar with SEO and website output.

That said, let’s scout these concepts in order to better understand how important they are for your site’s success and possibilities of ranking on SERPs, which is essential nowadays if you wish to be noticed on the internet.

### SEO

Now that we know what page speed is and its significance for your site's presence online, let's see how SEO can be influenced by it and what does it take into account when ranking your website for Google or other search engines' results.

When it comes to positioning your website on the results page, Google takes into account your page speed to see if that's something the audience is going to like. If your website has long waiting times or doesn't load images and other content in just a matter of seconds, that's going to drive away many people who otherwise may have stayed on your site. In the end, both Google and other search engines look for websites which are relevant, appropriate and, above all, fast and well-structured.

![Page Speed and SEO, magnifying glass pointing to SEO word](./assets/business.jpg)

### Conversion rates

In a context of page speed, conversion rates refers to how many visitors of your website complete a desired action, that is, if they end up making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, for example. Page speed, as you can imagine, affects this rate directly, as no one wants to stay in a slow website where you can’t even click on a button and make it work.

In the end, the faster your website loads its content, the more likely visitors are to stay and, if applicable, make a purchase. There are many studies that show users expect loading times of 2 or 3 seconds or otherwise they tend to abandon those websites, specially if we think of mobile devices. Here these waiting times are even shorter, as mobile users are more likely to be on the go and more impatient when it comes to delays.

### User experience

You should already see that users' satisfaction is the most important thing for Google when ranking your website, which is reason enough for taking special care of user experience. If we want to beat the algorithm and be what Google (and other search engines) expects us to be, first we need to understand one or two things. For example, the fact that people normally have an attention span of a couple of seconds. If your website has a loading time higher than 3 seconds, as we mentioned before, consider it a failure.

That said, you must improve your website and make sure you include a great user experience so that search engines rank it higher on SERP above others that, although they may have lower bounce rates, aren’t as well-optimized for user experience as yours is.

## How can I check my website speed

Are you about to start a project that will need a functional website which attracts and retains traffic? Once you’ve set it and think it’s time for it to see the light, one of the first things you should check is its speed, but how can you do that? There are several tools and methods to know more about your site’s insights when it comes to load times, performance metrics and recommendations for improvement, so let’s take a look at some of them:

- **Google PageSpeed Insights.** If you're trying to rank high on Google, shouldn't you be using a tool of their own? You can try [Google's PageSpeed Insights](https://pagespeed.web.dev/), that analyzes both mobile and desktop versions of a website, and get key metrics such as LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), FID (First Input Delay) or CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift). In case you're wondering, this tool is free and also scores that impact SEO.
- **Pingdom Website Speed Test.** Another of our favorite tools when it comes to check a website's speed is [Pingdom](https://tools.pingdom.com/), which is easy to use and displays simple results so that everyone can identify the issues without being an expert. You'll be able to check load time and performance grade, apart from selecting different geographic regions for testing and simulating how users may experience your site.
- **GTmetrix Site Speed Checker.** Last, but not least, take a moment to check this quite interesting tool for checking your website's speed and metrics, [GTmetrix](https://gtmetrix.com/). It offers actionable recommendations and provides a detailed report on your site's time loads, specifying which are the factor contributing to slower speeds.

For a comprehensive analysis that checks page speed alongside other critical SEO factors like meta tags, headings, and structured data, you can use our free [SEO Analyzer tool](/tools/seo-analyzer/) to get a complete picture of your site's technical health. Additionally, our [Broken Link Checker](/tools/broken-link-checker/) can help identify slow-loading or broken resources that may be impacting your site's performance.

## To-do list for improving your page speed and SEO

All set for being the #1 result on Google? Before we leave you to it, shall we go over the key points when improving your website’s page speed? Take it as a summary so that you can come back to this article and make sure you’re following all the necessary steps. These would be:

- **Getting a good host.** It’s no use having a well-optimized and fast website if it’s being hosted by a slow server. For example, if you’re aiming for a certain audience from a certain place, you should be choosing a server which operates in the same country.
- **Static site generation.** Instead of having a website that generates dynamically on the fly, you should consider having one where all the pages are pre-built into simple and static files, such as HTML ones. This means when a user accesses your website, they’ll be using the static HTML instead of having to load the entire CMS and the code it comes with it.
- **Reduce elements’ size.** Finally, another thing that really slows down a website is, obviously, elements such as images or videos. If you want to improve your page speed, make sure you reduce the size of the files you’re willing to use on your website. For images, tools like [iLoveIMG](https://www.iloveimg.com/), [TinyPNG](https://tinypng.com/), [ShortPixel](https://shortpixel.com/online-image-compression), [Compressor.io](https://compressor.io/), or [Image Compressor by Website Planet](https://www.websiteplanet.com/webtools/imagecompressor/) can help. For videos, consider [JuicePress](https://juicepress.app), a free desktop app that compresses video files for the web with 90-95% size reduction while keeping visual quality intact.
---
## What is and why Schema Markup is important for SEO?
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/why-schema-markup-is-important/
Published: 2024-09-10
Author: atenlotrad
Tags: SEO, Schema Markup, Structured Data, Search Engine Optimization
> Do you know why schema markup is important? This type of vocabulary or microdata can help you enhance your SEO with minimal effort. How? Read to learn.
If you are a webmaster creating SEO-driven content, you’ve probably heard about schema markup and its importance. But, do you know why schema markup is important? If you have no clue, you might find its history quite explanatory.

![Man hands pointing coding html and programming develop on screen computer.](./assets/man-hands-pointing-coding-html-and-programming-develop-on-screen-computer.jpg)

In this article, we will delve into the fundamentals of schema markup, explore its evolution, and discuss why it plays a pivotal role in enhancing your [SEO strategy](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/). From its origins to the benefits it offers, this guide will help you grasp why implementing schema markup is a must for optimizing your website's performance.

## What is the schema markup in SEO?

Schema markup, also known as structured data, is a type of vocabulary or microdata that’s added to the HTML of a website to help [search engines](/blog/top-4-best-search-engines-of-2024/) understand better the content of the page or article.

It was developed by an open collaborative community called Schema.org, launched in 2011. That community was founded by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex with the main goal of creating a universal standard for structured data to simplify and unify how websites communicate with search engines. Before 2011, different formats and vocabularies existed (RDFa, Microformats, etc.), making it challenging not only for search engines to rank content but also for webmasters as each search engine had its preferred structured data format.

The creation of Schema.org by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Yandex aimed to address these issues by providing a single, comprehensive, and consistent vocabulary for structured data. This initiative allowed for better standardization, making it easier for websites to implement structured data and for search engines to interpret and utilize it effectively.

### Does schema markup help SEO?

Yes, it does. As mentioned before, schema markup was created by an initiative founded by some of the most important search engine companies like Google and Yandex, because they needed a unified vocabulary to understand better the published content and, therefore, rank the content better. In fact, when looking for the primary goals of this vocabulary, there are three:

1. Help search engines better understand the content of web pages by providing a standardized format for information.
1. Rank pages more effectively based on relevance and context.
1. Ensure consistency in how structured data is represented across different search engines, making it easier for webmasters

So, yes, every time you implement schema markup in your content, you are helping search engines understand it better and enhance your SEO efforts.

## Why schema markup is important?

As mentioned before, the reason why schema markup is important is that it is crucial to help search engines understand the content you publish on your website. When search engines can accurately interpret your content, they can deliver more relevant search results and present richer snippets to users. This clarity can significantly impact your site’s performance in search engine results pages (most commonly known as SERPs).

![SERP, Search Engine Results Page](./assets/serp-search-engine-results-page.jpg)

Besides helping you improve SERP visibility, schema markup has other benefits that can also have a positive impact on your website and, therefore, its SEO. These are some of those benefits:

- **Better Click-Through Rates:** Rich snippets and enhanced search results that use schema markup often attract more attention from users. The additional details, such as star ratings, prices, or event times, can make your content stand out, leading to higher click-through rates (CTR) and potentially more traffic to your site.
- **Enhanced User Experience:** By providing clear and structured information directly in the search results, schema markup improves the user experience. Users can find the information they need quickly without having to click through multiple search results, which can lead to increased satisfaction and engagement.
- **Increased Visibility and Discoverability:** Schema markup can help your content appear in various rich features like knowledge panels, carousels, and answer boxes (people love this and webmasters are always trying to get them!). This increased visibility can lead to a broader audience and more opportunities for user engagement.
- **Improved Search Engine Understanding:** As we have already mentioned multiple times in this article, schema markup helps search engines understand the context of your content, which can improve the accuracy of search results and rankings. It provides additional context that helps search engines better match your content with relevant search queries.
- **Enhanced Local SEO:** For businesses with physical locations, schema markup can improve local SEO by providing search engines with detailed information about your business, such as address, phone number, and operating hours. This can help improve local search visibility and attract nearby customers.

In other words, implementing schema markup is not just about making your content more accessible to search engines but also about enhancing how users interact with your search results.

What Is the Recommended Format for Implementing Schema Markup?
When deciding the format for implementing schema markup, you’ll see that there are three main formats to choose from: JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa. Each format has its own method for embedding structured data, and the choice often depends on your preferences and requirements.

However, the recommended format is usually JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data). Why? Well, because it is easy to use and maintain, has a non-intrusive nature (for example, regarding the performance of the page) and it’s less prone to user errors among other benefits.

In fact, Google usually recommends JSON-LD because ([in their own words](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/intro-structured-data?hl=es#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20Google%20recommends%20using,less%20prone%20to%20user%20errors)): “it’s the easiest solution for website owners to implement and maintain at scale.”

![Software developer working with html script](./assets/software-developer-working-with-html-script.jpg)

To the question of why schema markup is important, we can assure you that this vocabulary can be a powerful tool for enhancing your site's performance, visibility, and overall SEO strategy. By implementing schema markup effectively, you can improve how your content is understood and presented by search engines, leading to better user engagement and search rankings.

After implementing schema markup on your site, you can use our free [SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/) to verify your structured data implementation and identify any missing or incorrect schema elements alongside other technical SEO factors.
---
## How to make the perfect keywords research
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/
Published: 2024-09-06
Author: loraider259
Tags: Keywords, SEO, Ahrefs, Google
> Beat Google's algorithm and learn how to do the perfect keywords research based on search volume, difficulty and intent.
Did you know Google’s algorithm uses more than 200 variables in order to rank websites? This is just one of the reasons why you should be focusing on doing a keywords research which the search engine par excellence so that your website remains on the top of the results. This is part of what we know as SEO, [Search Engine Optimization](/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/), which is crucial if we want our site to have a strong presence online and receive the traffic we are targeting.

In this article, we’ll be exploring what’s the keywords research process and how you can make the most out of it so that it’s efficient and will help you get the audience your site deserves. Nevertheless, we should start with questioning ourselves what keywords are and why are they so important, don’t you think?

![Keyword concept composed with multi colored stones over black volcanic sand, keywords research](./assets/keyword-concept-composed-with-multi-colored-stones-over-black-volcanic-sand.jpg)

## Keywords in a nutshell

In order to make a good keywords research, you need to know what they are and what use we should make of them. Keywords are words or sentences we use to establish and develop content online while, for the clients, are the words they put in the search bar so that they can find what they’re looking for among the results.

As the individual who’s trying to sell something (a product, information or whatever the purpose of your site is), keywords must be placed carefully all along your content as they’re going to tell the search engines what’s on your website and what can users find there. Moreover, in terms of SEO, keywords are essential for your content to be successful, accessible and reachable for everyone.

## Step by step in terms of keywords research

The first concept you should be learning about when it comes to keywords is the “search volume”, which is one of the hardest parts of this research. If you find yourself with a keyword that has a high search volume, for example, it doesn’t mean you can earn a lot of traffic from it. Most of the people who look for information aren’t willing to buy (in case you’re trying to sell anything) or they get the answer before they even click on your site. To sum up, you shouldn’t be looking for keywords only with a big search volume on most of the cases. We’ll also be speaking of intent, difficulty and other terminology you need to get familiar with, so… let the show begin!

### Find keyword ideas

Once you’ve determined the intent you’re looking for when thinking of your keywords, it’s time to get down to work! Finding ideas for your keywords is rather easy, specially when we think of the tools you can make use of nowadays and we’ll be recommending in case you don’t know them.

One of them is [Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/), which has really interesting features and is one of the most used tools for keywords research in 2024. There you can check your competitors by including them on a keyword tool and take a look at what their keywords are. Ahrefs has this tool called Content Gap Analysis that will help you do that. You’ll plug the site in question, choose the “content gap” tool on the left list and then check your competitors who are on the first positions of search engine’s results for the keywords you also want to use. And that’s a wrap! Next step is saving those keywords you want to use and go into step 2: checking the difficulty and search volume.

### Check difficulty and search volume

Now we have a list of keywords we want to use, but are they worth pursuing? It’s time to check their difficulty and search volume, which you can do by using sites such as Ahrefs or SEMrush, which will give you the metrics you need. These are the search volume (average monthly searches) and their difficulty (how hard it is to rank for those keywords), so you’ll be looking for a balance that makes it possible for your website to be ranked higher on search engine’s results.

How do you know you’re doing things right? Let us set an example so that you can get in the blink of an eye. Imagine you want to rank for “best tennis racket”, but its difficulty is really high (many websites are ranking for it), so you need to find a long-tail keyword like “best tennis racket for beginners” which, despite having a lower search volume (5,000 monthly searches), has less difficulty and a more specific search intent. Speaking of intent, we’re about to enter the last phase of keywords research!

![Reflection magnifying glass on a black acrylic board with blue background](./assets/reflection-magnifying-glass-on-a-black-acrylic-board-with-blue-background.jpg)

### Evaluate the intent

The final thing you should be thinking about when doing a keywords research is: what is my target audience looking for? There are, in summary, [three different intents](https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/types-of-website-visitors/) which users or future clients can have, which we’re about to explain so that you can identify them and take advantage of them.

The first one would be what’s known as “High Buying Intent”, which basically consists of those people who are likely to buy and, for that reason, they do searches such as “pizza restaurant toronto”. This keyword or long-tail keyword tells us the clear intention of the user of eating pizza that day or very soon, so Google (or any search engine they use) will show them ads about pizza restaurants or even the map showing their location.

Secondly, we’d have the “Research Intent”, where keywords usually include words such as “best”, “opinion” or “review”. If you’ve been following until now, probably you can already figure out what these people are looking for when going online: they’re doing research on solutions or products they’re interested in. Top-articles are normally really popular when it comes to this intent.

Finally, let’s introduce you to the “Informational Intent”, one in which keywords are thought for people who seek information and nothing else. They could be checking some random piece of news they’ve heard about or learning something new without needing to purchase anything.

## Conclusions

To sum up all that we've been exploring in this article, making the perfect keywords research is not always going to be an easy task and it's one that needs practice and dedication. After researching your keywords, you can use our [Keyword Density Checker](/tools/keyword-density-checker/) tool to ensure you're using them optimally in your content.

There are plenty of tools and guides all over the internet which can help you understand what you need for your specific case; for example, you can also take a look at [this article from HubSpot](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-do-keyword-research-ht) where they offer another guide for beginners when it comes to keywords research.
---
## AI writing tools you have to try in 2024
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/best-ai-writing-tools-2024/
Published: 2024-08-31
Author: loraider259
Tags: AI, AI Tool, Copywriting, Writing
> Need a little boost to finish your story? Discover the best AI Writing Tools of 2024 that will help you with your writing, creativity or even grammar and style.
Have you found yourself struggling with creativity or lack of ideas for your story? Or maybe it’s all about that essay you can’t get yourself to finish; whatever the case, this article is your life vest! Today we’ll be exploring some of the best AI writing tools existing in 2024 so that you can make the most out of them and give your texts that little spark that may be missing or even checking grammar and style, which usually can escape the eye.

Nevertheless, we would like to make a disclaimer and stand up for creativity and genuineness as it’s the only thing that tells us, humans, apart from other beings. AI writing tools are an extremely useful resource for writers who need support from time to time or have run out of ideas at any stage of their writing, but they should never be the sole producer of artistic content.

![camping writing journal](./assets/camping-writing-journal.jpg)

## What can AI writing tools do for you

If you’ve never tried an AI writing tool you may be wondering what can they do for you or in what aspects it’s best that you use them instead of drowning in a writer’s block. In order to help you find resources which can help you during these situations, we’d like to tell you a bit more about AI writing tools and all the things they can help you with when it comes to writing and editing.

- **Content Generation.** These tools can help your with brainstorm topics, titles or ideas for your content (whatever it is the topic) when you’re having one of those days where inspiration seems to have abandoned you. They can also generate full drafts of articles, essays or marketing copy based on prompts or outlines you provide, which can be useful if you edit it afterwards and give it your touch.
- **Editing and Proofreading.** Have you finished writing and you could use a hand to edit and proofread the results? There are AI tools specially designed for catching grammatical and spelling mistakes, as well as punctuation issues, which can be extremely handy when you’re tired or you have a tight deadline. You can also benefit from AI proofreading tools by using its suggestions to improve style, tone or clarity of your writing.
- **Paraphrasing and Rewriting.** Do you need other words to express something you don’t feel convinced about? AI writing tools to the rescue! Some of the tools we’ll be talking about later can rephrase sentences or even entire paragraphs while offering alternative ways to express the same ideas, which can help you avoid repetition or possible plagiarism. If we’re talking about an essay or school work, they can also be useful for condensing information into key points.

![a magnifying glass and letters spread on a purple surface](./assets/concept-of-learning-english-searching-for-word-and-information.jpg)

## Best AI writing tools: choose your fighter

Feeling curious already about what AI writing tools you may discover today in this post? The time has come for you to get that extra help you’ve been looking for and, probably, boost your productivity? Let us explore some of the most popular tools and choose the one that best fits both your style and needs.

### Jasper

Formerly know as “Jarvis”, this is on top three when it comes to AI writing tools in 2024, specially if we’re talking about a marketing copy environment, blog posts or creative writing. [Jasper](https://www.jasper.ai/) will provide you with templates for specific writing needs, which can be ad copy, blog posts, product descriptions and so on, but it doesn’t end with that: it also offers a long-form assistant for more extensive content creation.

As you can imagine, this tool will be as good as the plan you purchase, so you will have to study your needs and decide which of Jasper’s plans fits them better. In any case, make sure you try the demo to get familiar with all its features and be able to make a good choice.

### Grammarly

If your problem doesn’t have to do with creativity, but proofreading and final touches, what about relying on [Grammarly](https://www.grammarly.com/)? This AI tool will help you with grammar checking, style improvement and clarity enhancements thanks to its amazing features: advanced checker, tone detection, style suggestions and a plagiarism checker.

Moreover, this tool integrates well with many writing platforms such as Microsoft Word and Google Docs, which means you don’t have to worry about what platforms you can or can’t use; just copypaste it and enjoy the magic!

![Idea interpreted, ai writing tools](./assets/idea-interpreted.jpg)

### Sudowrite

Do you prefer writing fantasy and fiction stories? There had to be a tool that could help those creative and imaginative minds like yours, so they invented [Sudowrite](https://www.sudowrite.com/). This AI writing tool is the best one when it comes to creative writing and assisting fiction writers as it generates ideas, plot twists, dialogues and descriptions (Tolkien doesn't like this) in those situations when you need that extra of imagination you may've consumed already.

As if that wasn’t enough, Sudowrite can also provide feedback on writing style and story elements, in case you need a questionable opinion of your story (let's remember a human one will always be more reliable).

### Copysmith

Last, but not least, we also wanted to give our marketers a tool that makes their lives a bit easier. [Copysmith](https://copysmith.ai/) is best for e-commerce product descriptions and digital ads, which is why it’s really popular in a marketing environment. As it’s made for business, this AI writing tool will generate product descriptions if you need them, as well as digital ads or any content related to e-commerce.

Regarding which one you should choose, our suggestion is for you to try each one of them and see what they can offer taking into account your writing needs, which can be different from one day to another. You should also try generating the more genuine content as possible and relying on AI writing tools only for that boost that we miss sometimes.
---
## The 4 best search engines of 2024: choose your fighter
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/top-4-best-search-engines-of-2024/
Published: 2024-08-25
Author: loraider259
Tags: DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Google, Search Engine
> Don't you want to know what's beyond Google? Discover the 4 best search engines of 2024 and choose your favorite.
![Search engine home page](./assets/search-engine-home-page.jpg)

If you've been wondering what's beyond Google Search and want to explore the best search engines of 2024, this is your place. These tools are essential for navigating the internet (as vast as it is), and we all know Google has been leading since it was created back in 1997, but what about exploring other options? Today you'll learn that other search engines care about privacy, have unique features and provide with specialized results, so maybe you end up finding the alternative to Google you didn't know you needed.

That said, this article will study in detail which are the 4 best search engines of 2024 while talking about their key features, benefits, and the differences between one and another so that you can decide whether they may be useful for you or not. Be ready, for you’re about to expand your horizons!

## 1. Google search

Before dethroning the one and only search engine, Google Search, we should talk about the reasons why it became so popular and which elements took it to the zenith it stands today. Although Google Search wasn’t the first search engine invented in internet’s history, it soon became dominant due to some innovations and factors that we’ll be explaining right away:

- **PageRank.** If Google brought something really fascinating to the table, that was its algorithm called PageRank, which evaluated the quality of web pages over the keywords used. This led to a more relevant search results and made Google really helpful for users.
- **Simplicity.** One of the best features that Google offers is its simplicity when it comes to design, which is clean, simple and fast. You may have seen other search engines where it’s crowded with ads, directories, or news, while Google Search keeps a minimalist design that just includes the search bar and the logo.
- **Results.** We mentioned this before, but Google can brag about having the best accurate and relevant searches in comparison to other search engines. This is thanks to the algorithms, which are innovative and help to build trust among its millions of users.

However, Google Search has also been criticized for a bunch of reasons, such as users' privacy concerns when it comes to data collection and tracking (can you imagine the amount of personal information that is gathered every day?). Its monopoly power is also a problem as this dominance allows Google to dictate the rules of online search and the way advertising works.

[Visit Google Search at google.com](https://www.google.com)

## 2. Ecosia

![Planting trees](./assets/planting-trees.jpg)

Do you care about the environment and nature? Say no more: Ecosia must be your choice between the best search engines of 2024. In case you don't know this search engine, let's just define it for what it is: the search engine that plants trees. Every search you make with Ecosia will be contributing to plant trees in vulnerable areas. In fact, they've already planted nearly 210 million trees and have dedicated another 85 million euros to climate action. Isn't it great to help by just being online?

Apart from being eco-friendly and supporting a great cause, Ecosia has so much more to offer:

- **Privacy-Friendly.** What could you expect from such a search engine? Unlike Google’s case, Ecosia is committed to protecting their users’ privacy. This search engine doesn’t create personal profiles of users, neither it sells user data to third-party advertisers. Moreover, Ecosia minimizes tracking thanks to the avoidance of third-party trackers.
- **Transparency.** Another element that says a good thing about this search engine is their transparency, which they achieve by publishing monthly financial reports that show how much they've made thanks to users' searches and how they spend it in reforestation.
- **Ethical Model.** Lastly, Ecosia has a social business model where they reinvest their profits into environmental and social projects (it's not all about the trees) instead of making profit for other shareholders. They hold a certificate as B Corporation, which means they meet the standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

Ecosia may offer lots of great features and, above all, an incredible sense of responsibility towards nature and environment, but it sure has one or two cons we'd like to share with you. One of them is its limited features. Unlike other search engines such as Google that include reverse image search, voice search, or specialized search filters, Ecosia is more basic in those terms. It's also slower and ads are present in your searches in order to get revenue for a good cause, which can be disturbing for some users.

[Visit Ecosia at ecosia.org](https://www.ecosia.org)

## 3. DuckDuckGo search

Contrary to what ducks usually do with their moms (follow them everywhere), DuckDuckGo Search will do anything for you but tracking your activity on the internet. This makes it the perfect search engine for those who are tired of personalized ads and having their data collected and sold to third parties, but also if you want a clean and simple design for your searches. In fact, there are more than 4.5 billion users making use of DuckDuckGo Search every month, so we had to include in our list of best search engines of 2024.

Apart from being tracking-free, these are the most popular features of DuckDuckGo search engine:

- **Anonymous Browsing.** Thanks to its encrypted connections (whenever it's possible), users get an extra layer of security when being online. Also, DuckDuckGo blocks third-party trackers on websites and prevents advertisers from following our steps across the internet.
- **Search Filtering.** Another great feature of this search engine is that it allows users to filter explicit content thanks to a feature called “Safe Search”. You can turn it on or off whenever you can and also choose a specific region in case you want more relevant or localized content.
- **!Bangs Feature.** The third and most unique feature that DuckDuckGo has is its !bangs functionality, one that allows users to search in other websites by typing a shortcut, which is ‘!w’ followed by a query, and then you’ll be taken to the search results for that query on Wikipedia, for example.

Despite DuckDuckGo’s excellence in terms of privacy and simplicity, it does have some limitations when it comes to results quality or advanced features. We must keep in mind it has a small market share and a limited language support, which can be a drawback for some users.

[Visit DuckDuckGo Search at duckduckgo.com](https://duckduckgo.com)

## 4. Microsoft Bing

![Searching Browsing concept. Hand click search page internet data information networking.](./assets/searching-browsing-concept.jpg)

While Google holds the first position whenever we speak of search engines, Microsoft Bing could easily be stepping on its toes. You’ll be able to search text, image and video in its visually appealing interface and get rewards with your searches thanks to the Microsoft Rewards program. Let’s take a close look at its more important features:

- **Integration with Microsoft.** If you’re a Windows user instead of Apple or even Linux, it’s going to be really easy for you to get used to it. Bing is integrated with Windows through the Windows Search bar and Cortana, the virtual assistant you may or may not have used yet.
- **Rewards Program.** We’ve mentioned this before, but we strongly believe this is one of the best qualities of Microsoft Bing search engine when it comes to users’ satisfaction. This program allows them to earn points for their searches which can be redeemed for gift cards, donations, and more.
- **Local and Map Search.** Finally, Bing also has map search features that include turn-by-turn directions, updates about the traffic, and lists of businesses. This provides a strong local search functionality and offers suggestions for when you want to find a new restaurant, read a review from that shop next to your house and so on.

What goes around, comes around and, in Microsoft Bing’s case, this wasn’t going to be any different. When we talk about its cons, one of the first things that comes into our minds is the presence of ads in search results, some privacy concerns users have been discussing, and the feeling of this search engine being less intuitive than Google, for example.

[Visit Microsoft Bing at bing.com](https://www.bing.com)

To sum up all that we’ve been exploring in this article, there are search engines for every kind of user, and the one you choose will always depend on what your expectations and priorities are. These are the best 4 search engines of 2024, but don’t hesitate to explore others that may meet your expectations in ways maybe none of these do.
---
## 5 SEO optimization strategies for search engines
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/seo-optimization-for-search-engines/
Published: 2024-08-18
Author: loraider259
Tags: Keywords, SEO, SEO Strategies, Search Engine Optimization
> Maximize the visibility and ranking of your blog in search engine results with these SEO optimization strategies for your website and boost its performance.
Do you wish to maximize the visibility and ranking of your blog in search engine results? Then you must start getting familiar with effective SEO optimization strategies and implement them on your website. This can be done by incorporating relevant keywords, optimizing meta tags, and creating high-quality content, so that you can improve your blog’s search engine performance.

That said, we encourage you to follow the guidelines we’ll be presenting throughout this article to ensure that your blog is well-optimized for SEO and increases its chances of reaching a wider audience.

![SEO or search engine optimization](./assets/seo-or-search-engine-optimization-concept.jpg)

## First things first: what is SEO?

If you’re somehow new to this idea, you may be struggling to understand what exactly does SEO mean. Firstly, these are the initials for “Search Engine Optimization”, which includes a long list of strategies which we mentioned before and will study in more detail afterwards. Therefore, SEO involves the optimization of a website’s content, structure and technical aspects in order to improve its visibility in search engine results like Google. When implementing these SEO optimization strategies, you’ll be trying to rank higher for relevant search queries and driving more unpaid traffic to the site.

A good example of this practice would be the use of keywords; if you have a post that focuses on “benefits of eating cranberries”, for instance, you should be identifying if that title is a popular and relevant keyword and then use it in the title, headings and within the content.

## SEO strategies for success

Now it’s the time for you to pick up notes and then implement the SEO optimization strategies on your website after we have explained some of the more important and effective ones. Although you don’t necessarily need to use all of them, the truth is that we could safely stand by “the more, the merrier” when it comes to SEO strategies. Let’s have a look at some of them!

### Keyword research

As we were explaining before, one of the main strategies every blog or site should have implemented is the keywords research. You already know what it consists of identify relevant keywords and phrases that potential customers use to search for content related to your business. Okay, but how can you do this keywords research? Some of our suggestions are Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs or SEMrush, which will help you find high-volume, low-competition keywords.

Once you're familiar with this keyword research and know how to select the best ones for your content, you'll start learning one thing or two about how search engines work. This happens because keywords research helps you understand what your target audience is searching for, so that you can start creating content which addresses their needs and having a great SEO optimization of your site. For an in-depth guide on this critical strategy, read our complete tutorial on [how to make the perfect keywords research](/blog/make-the-perfect-keywords-research/).

![Keywords](./assets/keywords.jpg)

### On-page optimization

Once we have a list of the keywords we should be using on our website for the search engines to notice it faster and on a higher position, we should be using those keywords everywhere. This is part of the On-Page Optimization SEO strategy, which encourages us to include targeted keywords in titles, headings, meta descriptions, URL slugs and within the content itself. We don’t want to be ableist, so we also will be implementing alt text on images and ensuring content is well-structured and user-friendly.

This will result in an improvement on the relevance and clarity of our pages not only for users, but also for search engines. That achieved, then our site will be ranked higher and have an increased visibility and more organic traffic.

### Link building

Have you ever noticed the presence of links in the posts you read? You may or may not pay attention to that, but we promise you search engines do. When you acquire links from other reputable websites you’re increasing your own site’s authority, but how can you achieve that? Hard work will pay off, so you should start guest posting, outreaching to industry influencers, creating shareable content or simply earning links naturally because your content is worthy.

![Business links and relationship](./assets/business-links-and-relationship.jpg)

### Technical SEO

If your goal is to be indexable by search engines, you need to take special care of the technical aspects of your website. This can be done by optimizing the site's speed, making sure it's mobile-friendly (let's not forget the chances of someone reading your post with their phone), and fixing broken links or implementing structured data.

If you manage to have all these technical aspects in your website (or hire someone who can take care of them) you’ll be one step closer to SEO optimization and having your site on the first search engines results.

### Content freshness

Last, but not least, there’s nothing timeless nowadays but tons of information spreading every day at every hour and getting out-of-style faster than ever. What can you do to prevent your site from becoming outdated? Exactly what in SEO optimization is known as “content freshness”, which consists of keeping your content relevant and up-to-date. Having a regularly updated content will more likely attract visitors (new and old ones) and earn new backlinks, which will definitely boost your overall SEO performance.

As you may have noticed, SEO optimization strategies are a continuous learning and you can never relax when it comes to your site presence on the internet. There will always be new strategies or techniques that will be potentially good for your business, so make sure you bring yourself up to date every once in a while.

## How can I know my SEO performance

Have you implemented some or all of these strategies and you want to know how is your SEO performance doing so far? Luckily for you, we offer a powerful tool that can help you analyze your site's SEO health:

**[Try our Free SEO Analyzer](/tools/seo-analyzer/) - Get an instant analysis with actionable insights and detailed reports to improve your website's performance.**

If you're looking for additional options, here are some other popular tools:

- [Ahrefs SEO checker](https://ahrefs.com/seo-checker)
- [SEOptimer](https://www.seoptimer.com/)
- [RankMath SEO Analyzer](https://rankmath.com/tools/seo-analyzer/)

![SEO](./assets/seo.jpg)

Finally, and before you run to implement the SEO optimization strategies we've been talking about (even though there's many more you can look into), always remember what your content is about, what do you want to tell your audience and what are the results you're expecting from your website. SEO optimization and strategies will only be useful if you have a clear mind about your goals.
---
## Our first big update - Summer 2024
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/2024-summer-updates/
Published: 2024-08-05
Author: zapalblizh
Tags: FreshJuice, Product Update, Stay Fresh, New Modules
> We are excited to announce our first big update to the theme. This update includes a lot of new features and improvements.
![Cats with a laptop](./assets/we-are-excited-to-announce.jpg)

We are excited to announce our first big update to the theme. This update includes a lot of new features and improvements. Here are some of the highlights:

## Modules

We have added several new modules to the theme. This includes:

- [Statistics Modules](/developer-edition/docs/modules/statistics/)
- [Pricing Card Modules](/developer-edition/docs/modules/pricing-cards/)
- [Google Maps Embed](/developer-edition/docs/modules/google-maps/)
- [Testimonials Modules](/developer-edition/docs/modules/testimonials/)
- [Divider Module](/developer-edition/docs/modules/divider/)
- [Social Icons](/developer-edition/docs/modules/social-icons/)

Additionally, we have added to [our documentation](/developer-edition/docs/) every new module along with some existing modules that were missing.

The missing modules that were added to our documentation are the following:

- [Button](/developer-edition/docs/modules/button/)
- [Card](/developer-edition/docs/modules/card/)
- [Blog Listing Modules](/developer-edition/docs/modules/blog-listing/)
- [Global Footer](/developer-edition/docs/modules/global-footer/)
- [Global Post Author](/developer-edition/docs/modules/global-post-author/)
- [Global Scroll to Top](/developer-edition/docs/modules/global-scroll-to-top/)
- [Global Share Buttons](/developer-edition/docs/modules/global-share-buttons/)
- [Navigation Bar](/developer-edition/docs/modules/navigation-bar/)
- [Related Posts](/developer-edition/docs/modules/related-posts/)
- [Search Results](/developer-edition/docs/modules/search-results/)

## Sections

All Sections were updated with the new modules and no new sections were added

On top of that, all existing sections were added in our documentation.

## Templates

Templates have been updated to include the new sections.

In addition, we have added all templates into our documentation along with their previews.

## Documentation

Apart from the additions to [our documentation](/developer-edition/docs/) mentioned prior, we have also fully updated our Get Started Section.

We recommend for new users to read our [Get Started](/developer-edition/docs/) section.

## Bugfixes

- [#10](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/freshjuice-dev-hubspot-theme/issues/10) Fixed a bug where if more than one github gist module on a page, only one would render

[Check out the changelog](/developer-edition/changelog/) for more details on this update.
---
## Introducing our first release of FreshJuice theme!
URL: https://freshjuice.dev/blog/our-first-release/
Published: 2024-04-01
Author: reatlat
Tags: FreshJuice, Theme Launch, Vibrant Online Presence, Stay Fresh
> Discover the vibrant and refreshing FreshJuice theme in our latest release! With its eye-catching design, customizable options, and seamless performance, FreshJuice brings a burst of color to your website or blog. Embrace the fruit-inspired aesthetic and stand out from the crowd. Get your hands on FreshJuice today and bring some zest to your online presence! 🍊🌈
Hey everyone! We are thrilled to announce the launch of our brand new FreshJuice theme - a vibrant and refreshing HubSpot theme for everyone. 🍹🎉💫

![FreshJuice](./assets/fresh-juice.jpeg)

FreshJuice is designed to bring zest and vitality to your [HubSpot](https://www.hubspot.com/) website or blog. Whether you're a juice bar owner, a wellness coach, or just someone who wants to add a burst of color to their online presence, FreshJuice is the perfect choice for you. 🌈🌿

**Attention all developers!** FreshJuice, specially designed theme tailored to meet your customization needs. With FreshJuice, you have the power to transform your website or blog into a unique and personalized piece of art. 🎨✨

Here are some exciting features that FreshJuice brings to the table:

1️⃣ **Stunning Design:**
FreshJuice boasts a modern and visually captivating design that is sure to leave a lasting impression on your audience. Its vibrant color palette and sleek aesthetics beautifully enhance the theme's fruity charm, ensuring your content shines with distinction.

2️⃣ **Customizable Options:**
We believe that every website should have its own unique flavor. With FreshJuice, you have the freedom to customize your site's appearance to match your brand's personality. From choosing the perfect color palette to selecting different layouts, you can make FreshJuice truly yours.

3️⃣ **Responsiveness at its Best:**
FreshJuice is built with responsiveness in mind, ensuring that your website looks great on all devices - from desktops to smartphones. Gone are the days of worrying about how your content will appear on different screens. FreshJuice takes care of it all, providing an optimal user experience for everyone.

4️⃣ **Smooth Performance:**
We understand the importance of a fast-loading website, which is why FreshJuice is optimized for speed and performance. Your visitors will be able to navigate through your content seamlessly, without any frustrating loading times.

We are incredibly excited about the launch of FreshJuice and can't wait to see how it adds some zest to your online journey. 🌟

So, what are you waiting for? Get your hands on our [first release](https://github.com/freshjuice-dev/freshjuice-dev-hubspot-theme/releases) of [FreshJuice theme](/developer-edition/docs/) today and let your website or blog shine with a burst of fruity goodness! 🍊🔥

Stay fresh, stay juicy, and always remember to embrace vibrant possibilities! 🌈💪
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