Guides
In-depth guides on how search works and how to grow a site in it: fundamentals, AI answers, internal linking with Search Console data, tools, and links. Every guide is dated and cites its sources.
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AI search
1%
of visits to a Google page with an AI summary led to a click on a source cited in it.
Source: Pew Research Center, 2025
Angle editorial9 mins
How to get cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity
AI search
1.13B
referral visits from AI platforms to the top 1,000 sites in June 2025, against about 191B from Google Search.
Source: Similarweb, 2025
Angle editorial9 mins
How to track AI search traffic and citations
Internal linking
161 to 454
pages ranking, out of 559, after an ecommerce site reworked its internal links.
Source: Oncrawl case study, work done in 2018
Angle editorial10 mins
How to find and fix orphan pages
SEO fundamentals
How Google weighs pages and sites: topical authority, E-E-A-T, link equity, follow and nofollow.
- How topical authority works, why it compounds, and how content clusters plus links build it.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- What link equity is, how it passes through links and redirects, and how to stop leaking it.8 minsUpdated June 2026
- What dofollow, nofollow, sponsored and ugc really do, and the natural mix to aim for.8 minsUpdated October 2026
- What experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust mean for rankings, and the role of links.8 minsUpdated October 2026
- From PageRank to SpamBrain: how Google weighs, trusts and devalues links today.9 minsUpdated June 2026
AI search and GEO
AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity: what gets cited, what it does to clicks, how to measure it.
- What generative engine optimization is, how it differs from SEO, and how to get your brand into AI answers.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- The content, link and mention signals that get a brand quoted by AI answer engines.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- What the data says about links, authority and citations in Google AI Overviews and LLM answers.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- What llms.txt is, who supports it, and whether it is worth adding in 2026.8 minsUpdated October 2026
- Why brand mentions and co-citations increasingly behave like links for both Google and AI engines.8 minsUpdated October 2026
- How answer engine optimization changes content, links and measurement compared with classic SEO.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to measure referral traffic and citations from ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews.9 minsUpdated October 2026
Internal linking
Route the authority you already have to the pages that can rank, using Search Console data.
- A step-by-step system for routing authority to the pages that can rank, using your own site map and Search Console data.11 minsUpdated June 2026
- What orphan and under-linked pages cost you, how to detect them, and how to wire them back into your site authority.10 minsUpdated June 2026
- Find the page-2 keywords (positions 8 to 20) you can push to page 1 fastest, and the exact internal links to do it.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to route authority across categories, products and content on a large store without making a mess.11 minsUpdated October 2026
- The common internal linking errors that waste authority, and how to fix each one.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to structure content into pillars and clusters so internal links and rankings compound.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- What the evidence says about internal link counts, crawl, and diminishing returns.9 minsUpdated October 2026
Tools and comparisons
Hands-on comparisons of SEO tools and services, and how to choose an agency.
- An honest comparison of guest posting services and marketplaces, what they cost and who they suit.11 minsUpdated October 2026
- What good agencies do differently, what to ask, and the warning signs of a bad one.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- What separates a real digital PR agency from a guest-post shop in a suit, and what to ask.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- The real trade-offs in cost, speed, value and risk between niche edits and guest posts.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- A hands-on comparison of the two leading SEO suites for link building and beyond.8 minsUpdated October 2026
- Cheaper and specialized tools that cover backlinks, keywords and audits without the price tag.8 minsUpdated October 2026
- Where to start: the free and cheap tools that cover 80% of what a beginner needs.9 minsUpdated October 2026
Links
Earning links, outreach, digital PR, anchor text, and the risks and prices of the link market.
Link building
Link building: the complete guide- The link-building tactics that compound for SaaS companies, from product-led assets to digital PR, ranked by realistic effort and payoff.11 minsUpdated June 2026
- An honest, hands-on comparison of the SEO tools worth paying for in 2026, what each is actually best at, and how to combine them cheaply.11 minsUpdated June 2026
- HARO relaunched under Featured in 2025. Here is the current landscape of journalist-request platforms and how to earn editorial links from them.11 minsUpdated October 2026
- What SEO teams really spend on link building (2026 surveys), what links cost, and two ways to set a budget from your ranking gap.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- The highest-ROI link tactics for an early-stage company with more time than money.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to find broken links worth replacing, build the asset, and pitch the swap.10 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to find resource pages, qualify them, and earn a spot without sounding like spam.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- What the data says about the lag between earning a link and seeing ranking movement.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- The link tactics that actually move product and category pages, without wasting budget on junk.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- Citations, local sponsorships and relationships that lift a business in the map pack and local results.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to earn the first 50 links to a site with no authority, in the right order.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- Reverse-engineer a competitor's best links and find the ones you can replicate.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- Audit your link profile, spot toxic patterns, and decide what to keep, disavow or earn.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- Which link metrics predict rankings and which are vanity, with what to report to clients.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- What .edu and .gov links are really worth and the legitimate ways to earn them.9 minsUpdated June 2026
- Why statistics pages are link magnets and how to build and promote one that ranks.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to find linkable content, make something better, and earn the links, with realistic success rates.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- Find active roundups, pitch the right way, and earn recurring links from curators.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- The honest state of scholarship links, the risks, and when they are worth it.9 minsUpdated June 2026
- Turn the products and services you already use into clean, relevant backlinks.8 minsUpdated June 2026
- Whether infographics still earn links, and how to make and promote one that does.8 minsUpdated October 2026
- The tactics that earn links and local authority for agents, brokers and property sites.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- Compliant, effective link building for legal websites in a competitive, YMYL niche.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to earn trustworthy links in a niche where E-E-A-T and accuracy are non-negotiable.8 minsUpdated October 2026
- When link exchanges are natural, when they are a scheme, and how to stay on the safe side.8 minsUpdated October 2026
- How expired-domain redirects work, why most fail, and the honest risk math in 2026.9 minsUpdated June 2026
Guest posting
Guest posting: the complete guide- How to run guest posting that passes real value, from prospecting to published link.11 minsUpdated October 2026
- Search operators, competitor backlinks and communities for finding sites that accept guest posts.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- Proven outreach email structures, with why they work and how to personalize at scale.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- The exact checks that separate a worthwhile guest post site from a link farm.8 minsUpdated June 2026
- Why outreach emails land in spam and the setup that keeps you in the inbox.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- Real pitch structures with the angles, subject lines and follow-ups that earn replies.8 minsUpdated October 2026
Digital PR
Digital PR: the complete guide- How digital PR works, what makes a story linkable, and how to land coverage that ranks.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- A realistic playbook for earning press and links without a PR agency budget.11 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to land podcast appearances that earn links, mentions and brand signals.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to ride breaking news and trends to earn press links, with the guardrails.9 minsUpdated October 2026
Anchor text
Anchor text: the complete guide- A practical anchor-text framework: the mix that looks natural, the patterns that trigger devaluation, and how to plan anchors per page.11 minsUpdated June 2026
- Concrete anchor examples for each type, with when to use them and when to avoid them.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to write internal anchors that help rankings without tripping over-optimization.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- Why branded anchors dominate natural profiles, and the ratios that keep you out of trouble.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- How to anchor links to your most commercial pages without triggering over-optimization.9 minsUpdated October 2026
Buying links safely
Buying links safely: the complete guide- What Google actually penalizes, the editorial patterns that stay clean, and a practical checklist for buying links without torching your site.10 minsUpdated June 2026
- 2026 backlink prices from BuzzStream's study of 257,267 sites: guest posts, link insertions and digital PR by authority and traffic, and what drives them.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- Real 2026 guest post prices broken down by industry and DR band, with the data on where the money actually goes.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- The case for and against buying links, with real cost and effectiveness data, and when it makes sense for your site.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- A checklist for separating real editorial sites from PBNs and overpriced junk before you spend a dollar.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- What you actually get for $5 to $50 links, why they do nothing or hurt, and where the real value line sits.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- A clear framework for deciding when to pay for links and when to invest in earning them.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- When toxic links actually matter, how to remove them, and how to use the disavow tool safely.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- What private blog networks cost, how Google detects them, and whether the risk ever pays off.9 minsUpdated October 2026
- The signals that separate a valuable link from a worthless one, in priority order.8 minsUpdated October 2026