Blog
Practitioner notes on competitive SEO and AI search.
Frameworks, playbooks, and honest tool comparisons from the team building Rivalist.
SEO tools · Comparison · Strategy
Ahrefs vs Semrush vs AI SEO Tools: Which SEO Stack in 2026?
Honest comparison of the three modern SEO stacks: data tools (Ahrefs, Semrush), AI strategy tools (Rivalist, Cogny), and content optimizers (Surfer, Clearscope). Pick the right stack for your team.
SEO audit · Pricing · How-to
Free Mini-Audit vs Paid SEO Audit: What You Actually Get
What is in a free SEO mini-audit vs a paid agency audit vs a full Rivalist report. Honest comparison of scope, depth, and what each one is actually worth.
Programmatic SEO · SaaS · Scale
Programmatic SEO for SaaS: A 2026 Playbook (With Real Examples)
How to ship hundreds of indexable pages with a template, target the long tail, and avoid Google's thin-content penalties. The complete programmatic SEO playbook for SaaS.
AI SEO · AEO · GEO · LLM optimization
AI Search Optimization (AEO and GEO): Get Cited by ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity
Practical AEO and GEO guide. How to structure content so ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews cite you. Covers E-E-A-T, citation format, schema, and content patterns.
SEO audit · Competitive analysis · Strategy
How to Run a Competitive SEO Audit in 2026 (15-Dimension Framework)
A 15-dimension competitive SEO audit framework with scoring rubric, the data sources you need, and the seven analysis passes that turn raw crawl data into a 4-week action plan.
Schema · Structured data · AI SEO
Schema Markup in 2026: The Complete JSON-LD Implementation Guide
Practical schema markup guide for 2026: which Schema.org types to ship, FAQPage and Article JSON-LD examples, and how schema drives AI Overview citations.
Core Web Vitals · Performance · CWV
Core Web Vitals 2026: The INP Deep Dive (LCP, CLS, TTFB Too)
Core Web Vitals in 2026: INP replaced FID as the responsiveness metric. Full guide to LCP, INP, CLS, TTFB with fix priorities and real-world numbers.
Internal linking · On-page SEO · Information architecture
Internal Linking Strategy: The Underrated SEO Multiplier (2026)
Internal linking is the SEO lever most sites underuse. Topic clusters, hub-and-spoke models, and anchor text strategy for 2026.
E-E-A-T · AI SEO · Trust signals
E-E-A-T Signals: The 2026 Checklist for AI Search Citations
E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) signals matter more than ever for AI search. Complete checklist with implementation guidance.