20 of the Best Search Engine Marketing Blogs to Follow

SEM is constantly evolving. Follow these industry expert blogs to keep up — and get ahead.

Here, you’ll find:

• A who’s-who list of the best SEM blogs in the business
• Access to the best tutorials, case studies, and reports in the industry
• Less frequently recommended blogs with valuable insights
• Enough content to keep you busy for the rest of your career

Search engine marketing (SEM) is complex.

And a lot of the information necessary for success is intentionally hidden deep within algorithms and behind the scenes of search engine companies.

Luckily, SEM experts are hard at work each day testing theories, watching for updates big and small, and building a body of knowledge to educate the masses on best practices in the world of search engine marketing.

Here, we’ve highlighted of the 20 best search engine marketing blogs out there to improve your SEM skills, stay up to date on top industry news, and more.

1: HawkSEM

Hey, you’re already here — and you trust us enough to consider our recommendations. Why not read our expert insights, too?

A little about us: We’re a digital marketing agency specializing in broad-scale, integrated marketing campaigns.

We pride ourselves on keeping up with the cutting edge of SEM, PPC, and other digital marketing arenas. Whether it’s news, a deep dive into a specific technique, or novel insights you can’t find anywhere else, we have you covered.

2: PPC Hero

The Hero Blog is one of the all-time greats in pay-per-click marketing. They post new content on a near-daily basis, and it’s often some of the most exciting marketing content you can find.

Their content creation generally falls into three categories:

• Deep dives into specific marketing strategies
• Case studies of particular kinds of marketing
• Coverage of the latest news in search engine marketing

If you haven’t heard of them, check them out and follow their updates.

3: Wordstream

Wordstream is one of the largest and most well-respected digital marketing agencies out there.

One of their central claims to fame are their impressive free tools, like their keyword tool — but that’s not why we’re recommending them today.

The Wordstream blog is an unending series of valuable tutorials, listicles, and actionable reports.

When they publish a guide with “the top 10 ways to optimize Google Ads,” you know they’ll tell you exactly how to implement all ten (and that those optimizations will work!).

Where else can you get that level of consistently valuable advice? Other than the other blogs on this list, that is.

4: HubSpot

As one of the biggest and best marketing companies in the business, HubSpot is practically a household name among business owners and C-suite professionals.

Whether it’s in-depth tutorials, broad industry coverage, or discussion of advanced B2B online marketing strategies, there’s something for everyone in one of their five different blogs.

You can pick a HubSpot blog to follow or follow all five through the central directory. They also co-produce an annual report, the State of Marketing report, that serves as a landmark industry survey every year.

Honestly, you can spend weeks of your life doing nothing but reading their blog.

5: Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land is a hub for authoritative content produced by dozens of the best and brightest in internet marketing.

They’re one of the best sources for marketing news with information from top names like Barry Schwartz and Bruce Clay.

This site has everything if you want the latest industry news, a deep dive into a specific SEO strategy, or just compilations of actionable PPC tips.

6: Moz

Moz is one of the best in the biz, which means two things:

First, they have a massive index of information they can use to draw unique data and compile some of the best case studies you can get online.

Second, they attract some of the biggest names in inbound marketing to write for the Moz blog. Their author roster is packed with some of the most brilliant minds in search marketing.

From global SEM to local SEO, they cover everything you could want and offer a wide range of tools to help you take advantage of their insight and advice.

7: Ahrefs

Many people think of Ahrefs as a link analysis SEO tool, but they’re so much more.

Sure, in many ways, it is primarily an SEO blog and focuses on link building and keyword research instead of PPC. But even that can be extremely helpful for small businesses and massive corporations alike.

In addition to providing one of the best research tools in the industry, they have some incredible insights throughout their blog.

They’re up there with Moz in terms of having access to a massive amount of data for case studies and deep dives, and their tutorials are top-notch. They also have a healthy number of posts on paid marketing.

8: Neil Patel

Spending more than a few weeks in marketing without seeing Neil’s smiling face somewhere is impossible.

He’s among the most prolific marketing experts, and his blog reflects his deep knowledge of a massive array of PPC and content strategies, all of which he’ll happily explain to you in great detail.

On top of that, he frequently publishes guest contributions from other experts while posting on a good proportion of the other sites on this list and elsewhere. Lastly, he has a podcast called “Marketing School” on Spotify that we highly recommend.

We guess you could say he’s “kind of a big deal” in marketing.

9: Search Engine Journal

Of all of the search engine-focused sites on this list, SEJ is probably the most popular.

They have a variety of experts on their roster, as well as a constant stream of content from guest-posting thought leaders. Their coverage includes everything from tutorials to industry news to reports and studies and even the occasional white paper.

You can also follow their webinars which generally air a few times per month.

By following their blog, you can keep a finger on the pulse of the marketing industry and always have something insightful to read.

10: Backlinko

Brian Dean is up there with Neil Patel as one of the all-time greats in marketing.

He doesn’t publish on his blog very often — and he’s frequently updating old posts — but every single article on his site is solid platinum.

Some of the best resources, cited by every other blog on this list, come from Brian’s marketing topics in the first place.

The only downside is since every post is such a high-quality and long-form article, there are comparatively few of them.

11: Copyblogger

Writing compelling blog posts is one of the essential parts of modern marketing. The Copyblogger is a site 100% focused on copywriting, landing pages, and ad optimization.

Whether you’re training a staff of writers or you’re a writer looking to become an expert, their advice will guide you on your way. Of course, there are plenty of content marketing tips and actionable insights to boot.

12: Search Engine Watch

Search Engine Watch is one of the oldest publications still active regarding digital marketing and SEM.

They’ve been active since 1997 and, throughout the years, have been identified as one of the best marketing blogs and called a “must-read” blog by authorities like Matt Cutts.

While they don’t publish new content daily, each post is authoritative and valuable.

13: Bing

Google search may have 90% of the search market share and is one of the largest ad networks in the world, but they aren’t the only player in the industry. Bing — that is, Microsoft — has plenty of skin in the game.

The Bing search engine marketing blog covers a lot of generically helpful advice, of course, but they also offer specific data-driven insights into Bing and Microsoft ads and other marketing strategies. You might be surprised at the level of value you can get out of their blog.

14: Semrush

Semrush is undoubtedly one of the most valuable B2C and B2B marketing tools for SEM research and management available today.

It stands to reason that the people responsible for making it have a deep knowledge of SEM, and you’d be right to assume as much.

Every blog post they publish is detailed instructions on completing relevant, useful tasks, from identifying and tracking KPIs to improving search rankings to beginner’s guides for starting a new venture.

There’s something for everyone somewhere in their blog, and every post is worth reading, even most of the older ones.

15: Search Engine Roundtable

Search Engine Roundtable started as an aggregator blog meant to curate and report on the best and most exciting threads on SEM forums and other communities. They still do that, but they do so much more these days.

They have daily recaps and roundups of fascinating discussions, reporting from industry SEO experts, and a wide range of possible topics to cover.

It’s worth noting that they sacrifice deep dives in favor of more fast-paced curation, which means other blogs have better insight. There’s also a lot of crossover between SERoundtable and a few others on this list.

16: Convince and Convert

The Convince and Convert Marketing Insights blog is a top-tier blog with in-depth information on all forms of modern digital marketing, from influencer marketing and word-of-mouth to large-scale customer experience, social media, conversion rate optimization, e-commerce, and search engine marketing.

Throughout the blog, you can find everything from broad, general strategizing to deep-dive tutorials into specific techniques.

Plus, they frequently post guest-written content by industry thought leaders. And they were named the world’s #1 content marketing blog by the Content Marketing Institute.

17: BG Theory

Brad Geddes is one of the original experts and has been a top-tier source of knowledge for nearly 25 years. He probably knows more about Google Ads than most experts, including those working for Google.

He doesn’t post very often on his blog — just a couple of times a year — but every post is gold.

18: Buffer

Buffer is primarily a social media marketing company, but they have several publications, including one focused on engineering and development and one focused on marketing trends and stories.

The real reason to follow Buffer, though, is their case studies.

Whether it’s a close examination of a specific online business and its strategies, or a broad, industry-wide case study, Buffer produces some of the best data and reporting in the industry. If nothing else, regularly browsing their case studies can give you a ton of actionable information.

19: Various Subreddits

You may need some sifting to find the best content, but some great communities are available on Reddit (also known as “subreddits”).

Reddit is more of a forum than a blog, but as one of the most popular communities online, they have a variety of niche-focused expert communities where some of the best discussion takes place.

Consider checking out subreddits like r/PPC, r/SEO, r/Marketing, r/BigSEO, and r/TechSEO. It’s common to see big names on there and even Google Employees like John Mueller who use Reddit daily.

20: Google

What better source of information can you ask for than the people who make the rules? Google’s official blog (blog.google) covers many topics, but we’re specifically looking at the Google Ads & Commerce Blog.

While they aren’t going to give you any growth hacks or insider tips, the blog is an excellent way to be first to know about new tools, changes, and techniques endorsed by Google.

The takeaway

Staying on top of an industry as ever-changing at SEM is no easy feat.

Luckily, there’s a wealth of knowledge readily available from the best minds in the industry. And when you learn from the best, you too can succeed in your own SEM ventures.

Meanwhile, if keeping up with these search engine marketing blogs feels like a big ask, that’s fine too!

Not everyone needs to be an expert in everything. That’s why we offer free consultations. Drop us a line to chat about what we can do for you.