Branding wasn’t something SEOs traditionally thought much about. The real wins were in non-branded keywords, where the traffic and conversions lived. However, that changed when Google and OpenAI turned most of these queries into zero-click searches. For the remaining queries, search platforms directly reward authoritative and popular brands, so branding can no longer be ignored…
We’ve seen this before. A new technology rises. Visibility becomes a new currency. And people—ahem, SEOs—rush to game the system. That’s where we are with optimizing for visibility in LLMs (LLMO), and we need more experts to call out this behavior in our industry, like Lily Ray has done in this post: If you’re tricking, sculpting,…
AI is reshaping search optimization—it’s no longer just about ranking in search results, but about earning visibility in AI-generated answers. We’re moving from chasing traffic, to competing for brand visibility. We’re thinking about how AI crawlers view our site–not just search engine bots. We’re trying to follow the breadcrumb trail through an entirely new kind…
Semantic SEO sounds complicated, but it simply boils down to doing SEO without cutting corners. If you do SEO properly, you’re automatically doing semantic SEO. It’s just that most people aren’t doing it properly… It’s not a different type of SEO. You don’t need to do wildly different things. Rather, it’s a mental model that…
Google says AI Overviews increase clicks. Cold, hard logic disagrees, and so does our research. We analyzed 300,000 keywords and found that the presence of an AI Overview in the search results correlated with a 34.5% lower average clickthrough rate (CTR) for the top-ranking page, compared to similar informational keywords without an AI Overview. Thanks…
Originality is idealized, especially in tech and marketing. We’re told to “think different,” to coin new terms, to pioneer ideas no one’s heard before and share our thought leadership. But in the age of AI-driven search, originality is not the boon we think it is. It might even be a liability… or, at best, a…
This guide is designed to help financial institutions of all sizes navigate the unique challenges of increasing visibility in Google Search — from local credit unions and solo advisors to national investment firms and fintech platforms. We’ll walk through practical strategies to help you earn trust, demonstrate expertise, attract qualified leads, and stay compliant. The…
Python can feel intimidating if you’re not a developer. You see scripts flying around Twitter, hear people talking about automation and APIs, and wonder if it’s worth learning—or even possible—without a computer science degree. But here’s the truth: SEO is filled with repetitive, time-consuming tasks that Python can automate in minutes. Things like checking for…
If you’re doing SEO for higher education institutions, schools, or EdTech startups, this is hands down the only education SEO guide you’ll ever need. Before I started SEO, I was an educator for about 10 years. To say education is close to my heart would be an understatement. But, the real value of this post comes…
Aristotle once said, ‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” But it’s the parts of a domain name we care about. Learn about them in our guide. Even if technology isn’t your jam, you probably know how to find a particular website: you type the company name into your browser, plus a…
