How to use Google entities and GPT-4 to create article outlines
Learn how to produce an article outline based on the top entities of your chosen page with this guide to automated prompt engineering.
Dave Davies is the Lead SEO for the Machine Learning Operations company Weights & Biases. He got his start in SEO in the early 2000s and in 2004 co-founded Beanstalk Internet Marketing with his wife Mary, who still runs its day-to-day operations. He hosts a weekly podcast, speaks regularly at the industry's leading conferences, and is proud to be a regular contributor right here on Search Engine Land.
Is Google using a ChatGPT-like system for spam and AI content detection and ranking websites?
Key SEO takeaways from Google's 2020 paper on how text-generation models can be successfully used to detect low-quality content.
How to build a winning SEO tool stack for 2023
Tools make every SEO practitioner's life more manageable. Here are some recommendations to consider as you build your SEO toolkit.
What the new wave of machine learning libraries means for SEO, marketing
There's more to algorithms than Google. Learn about advances in machine learning, how they're used today, and what's in it for you.
Forecasting web traffic using Google Analytics and Facebook Prophet
Learn how you can predict traffic changes and forecast when periods of stagnation or negative growth are to be expected.
A guide to machine learning in search: Key terms, concepts and algorithms
Want to understand how machine learning impacts search? Learn how Google uses machine learning models and algorithms in search.
SEO for holiday shoppers
Here are a few tips to add to your SEO strategy to generate short-term wins during this holiday season.
Case study: The tale of two internal link tweaks
Contributor Dave Davies shares a case study that shows how smart internal link building and targeted SEO can have a significant impact on rankings and traffic.
How to increase your PageSpeed in WordPress
With over 59% of websites using WordPress as a CMS, optimizing them to load quickly is a good idea. Contributor Dave Davies walks through key steps and shows how to optimize a WordPress site for Google PageSpeed.
Predicting the value of a search engine ranking signal
Contributor Dave Davies deconstructs a new Google patent that covers how machine learning can predict a ranking signal value when the value is unknown.
What do Google and a toddler have in common? Both need to learn good listening skills.
Contributor and patent explorer Dave Davies reviews a recently-presented paper that suggests Google is grouping entities and using their relationships to listen for better answers to multipart questions.
Searcher intent: The secret ingredient behind successful content development
Contributor Dave Davies takes the guesswork out of determining what type of content will resonate with an audience by creating Excel formulas to help determine what a searcher may be looking for.
Google patent on related entities and what it means for SEO
Contributor Dave Davies pulls key points from a newly awarded Google patent on related entities and points out the ranking benefits of strengthening entity associations in your SEO and link-building efforts.
Optimize for voice search by keeping it short and to the point
Contributor Dave Davies explains the many layers and aspects of Google Voice Search and how to optimize your content for it.
Looking back at 2018 in search: A time traveler’s year in review
What does 2018 have in store for search marketers? Columnist (and time-traveler) Dave Davies pays a visit from the future to share what this year's major search developments will be.
Visualizing your site structure in advance of a major change
Making big changes to your website structure? Columnist Dave Davies shares a data visualization method that can help you predict what effect your proposed site structure changes will have on SEO performance.
Visually understanding your site structure and external link weight impact
Looking for insights not easily gleaned through spreadsheets and raw data? Columnist Dave Davies explains how to use Gephi, a data visualization tool, to create a visual representation of your site structure with regard to inbound link strength.
4 local SEO tips for restaurants
While general SEO wisdom is applicable if you're running a restaurant website, contributor Dave Davies digs into the details of the options available especially for this business category.
Surviving and thriving at an SEO conference
Hitting the search conference circuit this year? Columnist Dave Davies has tips and advice for making the most of the experience.
The battleground of entities & reviews
How might Google utilize reviews to improve their understanding of entities -- and produce more personalized search results? Columnist Dave Davies explores current trends and makes predictions about where the future is headed.
3 logical myths about rankings that can destroy a business
Even the most intelligent people can make decisions based on incorrect assumptions. Columnist Dave Davies breaks down three SEO myths that even rational people believe.
Patent 2 of 2: How Google learns to guide purchasing decisions
In a follow-up to his last article, columnist Dave Davies explores a Google patent on guided purchasing, which describes how smartphone behaviors and user data could be used to predict and direct purchase behavior.
Patent 1 of 2: How Google learns to influence and control users
Columnist Dave Davies does a deep dive into a recently granted Google patent that describes how your data and context could be used to influence your future actions.
A technical argument for quality content
What defines quality content, and how can its value be quantified? Columnist Dave Davies reviews studies done on this topic and presents his conclusions.
It’s time to get ready for the holidays (Yes, really!)
It's February, and you know what that means -- the holidays are just around the corner! Okay, maybe not, but columnist Dave Davies explains why now is actually the ideal time for SEOs to start preparing for holiday season 2017.
Newly-granted Google patent sheds light on how the search engine sees entities
Columnist Dave Davies explains a recent Google patent which hints at how the search engine processes entity information to answer questions. This can provide hints into how SEOs can structure their content to be deemed relevant.
What the heck is machine learning, and why should I care?
Understanding the impact of machine learning will be crucial to adjusting our search marketing strategies -- but probably not in the way you think. Columnist Dave Davies explains.
Last-minute SEO for the holidays
Put off your 2016 holiday SEO strategy until now? While it may be too late to capture those big-budget keywords, columnist Dave Davies shows that there are still some tactics you can use to gain some SEO traction this holiday season.
A Penguin’s Tale: Responding to the latest update
What should SEOs do to make the best of the new Penguin update? Perhaps not much. Columnist Dave Davies notes that while Penguin 4.0 was indeed significant, things ultimately haven't changed that much.
Exploring a newly granted Google patent around social signals
Columnist Dave Davies takes a deep dive into a recently published Google patent for clues on how the search giant is thinking about social signals and search results.
Optimizing your internal link structure
SEOs often focus heavily on accumulating inbound links, but don't overlook links within your site. Columnist Dave Davies shares his guide for how to structure your site's internal links.
The definitive SEO audit part 3 of 3: Off-site
In the final installment of his three-part series on how to conduct a thorough SEO audit, columnist Dave Davies talks about assessing off-site factors and addressing the issues found therein.
The definitive SEO audit part 2 of 3: Content and on-site
In part two of his three-part series on conducting a thorough SEO audit, columnist Dave Davies explains how to ensure that you have the right content optimized the right way.
The definitive SEO audit part 1 of 3: Technical
In the first of his three-part series on SEO audits, columnist Dave Davies explores the technical aspects he reviews when conducting an audit.
Performing a manual backlink audit, step by step
Need to get rid of problematic or unnatural backlinks and not sure where to begin? In this helpful how-to, columnist Dave Davies outlines his process for performing a manual backlink audit.