There’s certainly no shortage of things to study when it comes to SEO.
The best in the business will learn new things by trying different SEO strategies to see what works and what doesn’t. Unless you have time to run experiments all day, though, you’ll have to get some of your information by reading about what others have already discovered. Fortunately, the community of search engine experts loves to share what they learn, and you can get a ton of insights just by checking their blogs.
There are countless SEO blogs on the internet, and more are popping up every day. As such, this list will grow and change over time. Please start a dialogue if you have suggestions for what should be added. In the meantime, here are some of the best digital marketing and search engine optimization blogs you can go back to over and over again (besides the Buddy Gardner Blog, of course):
Ahrefs is known for using a lot of data to provide empirically accurate information. Their case studies and other informative pieces are combined with actionable advice, which makes this resource incredibly valuable. Marketers can go here to find proven examples of what works and step by step instructions to recreate those positive results.
Brian Dean is an SEO master, and he's always willing to share what he learns. This is another one of those sites that gives a lot of actionable advice with the data to prove it works. He doesn't seem interested in publishing new content frequently, which helps him focus on creating the best articles possible. You'll appreciate the emphasis on quality over quantity if you're sick of reading the same general search engine advice over and over. Subscribe to his newsletter to get the most from this resource.
It seems like this one should get a lot more attention than it does. Maybe it's just because the author, Shaun, is UK-based, so he’s not as popular here in the United States. He shares information that will help you master the craft wherever you are, so it’s not like these SEO tips only work in Scotland. This blog is a good place to find long, thorough reads that leverage decades of digital marketing experience.
This one feels like a hidden gem. The website doesn't look especially modern, but their blog posts are beautifully written. They're well organized and do a good job using images to help get the point across clearly and concisely. Topics include content strategy, data-driven looks at how page speed affects SEO, and general best practices for search engines.
There are so many other, more popular SEO blogs out there that most people aren’t very interested in Search Engine Roundtable. If you really want to get plugged into the search community, though, this is an awesome place to start. What makes this site special is that it uses submissions from forums to maintain a consistent stream of timely news. If you already know a decent amount about SEO but want to stay completely up to date with the latest and greatest, this is for you.
Any discussion of the best SEO blogs (and the best SEO tools) should include Moz. Their "Beginners Guide to SEO" requires very little background knowledge and serves as an excellent crash course for anyone who wants to learn about search engine optimization. The team at Moz has been working on this blog for years, continuously adding to what's become a massive library of actionable information about online marketing. It's not uncommon to see a new article published every single day.
SEMRush and Moz are big competitors, so it makes sense to put them right next to each other on this list. Go figure, the two blogs actually have a lot in common, too. SEMRush has also been known to churn out almost one article per day, and there are thousands of total posts in their SEO blog. The creators of this powerful tool have said that their blog is written by marketers for marketers. This helps keep their articles especially practical compared to some other search engine optimization blogs that occasionally read like academic abstractions. Some of the most successful SEO experts in the world have contributed to the SEMRush blog.
Neil Patel is an absolute giant in the search engine optimization world. His writing goes into a lot of depth, and he takes the time to explain simple practices and strategies some experts might just gloss over. His blog is a great place to start if you want to learn about some of the easiest ways to increase website traffic. For example, this blog can help you learn how to use free SEO tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console more effectively. His writing style is clear, casual, and generally easy to read. These articles draw on Neil's abundant knowledge of general marketing principals, which is nice for traditional marketers who want to know how to get started with SEO.
Matt Diggity's blog is where he shares the results of his case studies and other testing. His monthly round up posts are great resources for anyone who wants to learn about the latest SEO news. If you read about something on this blog, it's probably because Matt already tested it on several of his own sites. This focus on following the data leads to a wealth of actionable search engine optimization strategies that work. The theories you'll find within this blog have all been proven, so you can put them into practice to increase traffic for your site.
A lot of what Yoast does is focused on WordPress users. Even though a lot of web designers are starting to move from WordPress to Webflow, you can still find a lot of valuable information on this SEO blog. Yoast touches on things like keyword research, user experience for eCommerce stores, and mobile SEO. There are a lot of beginner web designers in their audience, which means most of the information is accessible and easy to understand for just about anyone. Go here to pick up some basic SEO tips, but get a superior website created in Webflow instead of using the WordPress plugin.
You may be thinking, “that’s it? Where’s the rest of the list? It’s missing some of the best SEO blogs.” If so, this is your invitation to speak up. Reach out to say what this list is missing and why your suggestion deserves to be here. You might even get quoted with the new addition.