Search engine optimization
SEO Insights
Everything we write about how Google works, what changes in an algorithm update and what that does to sites is collected here. Most of these articles come out of data we measured on projects we run; they are not theoretical round-ups.
124 articlesLatest article: October 7, 2026Page 1 of 11
- Google core updates and reading their results through data
- Technical SEO: crawling, indexing, Core Web Vitals and page speed
- Content, authority, E-E-A-T and entity work
Start with the basics. These articles go topic by topic. To read what SEO is and how the new methodology works on a single page, see our What Is SEO guide.
What Is SEO?
Google Retired FAQ Rich Results: What to Do With FAQ Schema
Google stopped showing FAQ rich results on May 7, 2026. Should you remove FAQ schema, does AI search need it, and what did we fix in our own tools?

Why Google Needed AI Overviews, and What It Owes the Web
A search veteran's take: Google never wanted AI Overviews. Why it built them, what the click data shows, and the four things Google now owes the open web.

GEO Agency: What It Does, What It Costs, How to Judge One
A GEO agency gets your brand cited in ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI Overviews. What the work is, what it costs, how to read a pitch, and Google's own line on it.

Zero-Click Search: What It Costs and What Earns a Click
Zero-click search means Google answers and nobody visits. In early 2026, 68% of US searches ended without a click. What it cost publishers, and what still works.

Google AI Overviews: The Lawsuits, the Data, the Fix
Two antitrust suits, a judge calling it unfair, and 38% less publisher traffic. What the US data shows about AI Overviews and how to get cited in them.

GEO vs. AEO vs. AIO: Which Term Is Winning, and Why?
Three names for the same work: GEO, AEO and AIO. We compared a practitioner survey, search volume, arXiv and Google Trends to see which term wins, and why.

Localhost SEO Check: Auditing a Site Nobody Can Reach Yet
Audit tools have to reach your page from the outside, which leaves localhost, staging and login-gated pages unchecked. We moved the analysis into the browser.

What Is Backrub? Google's Original Name
Backrub was Google's first name. Where it came from, how it worked at Stanford in 1996, and how that early project grew into Google.

The Best Hosting Providers in Germany: 20 Measured
I measured 20 German hosting providers with our own tool. Five of them do not keep their own website in Germany, and three still serve over HTTP/1.1.

What Is the Average Mobile User's Phone?
Testing a Next.js site on the newest iPhone tells you nothing. How we picked an average device, and how to throttle the CPU so you see what your visitors see.

Are Next.js Projects Better for SEO?
Speed, crawl budget and community pull all favor Next.js, but the platform you actually have command of beats the modern one you cannot step into.

SEO’s Smallest Building Block: the Millisecond
SEO used to be built on links. Today the unit is the millisecond a user spends usefully on your site. Why 0.1 means something to us.
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