Brian DeBelle

SEO Pro Tip: Make your content cite-ready. Add dates, numbers, definitions, and primary sources. Create a section that answers “what changed” and “what to do next.” That is the part that earns references.

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If you think GEO makes SEO obsolete, think again. As our SVP of marketing operations, John Fairley, told PYMNTS: “GEO doesn’t replace SEO — rather, it builds on it.” Search rankings don’t directly dictate AI citations, but SEO best practices heavily influence whether your content is pulled, read and referenced by GenAI tools. The playbook may have evolved, but the fundamentals still matter. Get the full insights at the link in our comments.

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SEO Is Over: How To Get AI To Recommend Your Small Business (An AEO Guide) Customers are no longer merely entering keywords into a search bar, they're asking ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews for recommendations. Unlike traditional SEO, which has historically focused on achieving a top spot on a list of ten blue links, AEO focuses on the answers returned by a user's search query utilizing an AI powered search tool. You don't need to have big marketing budgets to be visible in AI answers. Forbes contributor TerDawn DeBoe outlines six ways to optimize your business for AI searches.

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SEO Tip: Convert Your GSC Keyword Data Into the Topics Google's Algorithm Has Identified You as a Trusted Source. As we transition from keyword-focused to topic-focused SEO, we need to better understand the topics our site is viewed as an authority on. Sometimes it's not the topics most important to your business. Here's how I transformed 25k individual keywords into strategic topic clusters that revealed where Google actually trusts my content: The Process: 1 - Exported 25k keywords from Google Search Console (6-month period) 2 - Used Google's Vertex AI text-embedding model to convert keywords into high-dimensional vectors 3 - Applied HDBSCAN clustering with PCA dimensionality reduction to group semantically similar keywords 4 - Used GPT-4.1-nano to automatically label each cluster with descriptive topic names The Results: Instead of 25,000 individual keywords, I now have 318 strategic topic clusters. Interestingly enough, over 200 of those topics drive 0 clicks. Why this matters for SEOs: 1 - Authority Mapping - Discover which topics Google's algorithm actually views you as trusted for 2 - Business Alignment - Identify gaps between your core business topics and where you have search authority 3 - Content Strategy - Double down on topics where you already have algorithmic trust The game-changer: Connecting impressions and clicks data to each topic cluster reveals which topics drive actual traffic vs. just visibility. Want to replicate this analysis? - Export your GSC keywords with impressions/clicks data - Use vector embeddings to cluster semantically similar terms - Apply AI Powered labeling to turn keyword groups into Topics - Visualize your data to better understand what topics drive your search efforts. - Compare the results to business goals. Is the search traffic aligned with your ICP and product or service offering? Visualize topic performance with treemaps and scatter plots Stop managing keywords. Start managing topics.

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There’s a lot of talk about #AI prompts for #SEO. But prompts alone aren’t enough. If an #AIagent doesn’t have access to up-to-date SERP data (rankings, keyword metrics, competitor performance, etc.), its answers are based on assumptions, not your actual search reality. This article outlines 15 practical prompts and explains why connecting your AI agent to live SEO data is what makes them useful. https://hubs.li/Q044f8B-0

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Fresh on the blog: How to Do an Enterprise SEO Audit the Right Way 🌍 Enterprise SEO can be a daunting process, and a standard SEO checklist often won't cut it. In this guest post, Mark Howser breaks down his enterprise audit process, from deep technical diagnostics and content performance analysis, to link equity audits and 12-month planning. A must-read for anyone managing SEO at scale: https://lnkd.in/eXrtjH_p #seo #enterpriseseo #technicalseo

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You’re not losing visibility. You’re losing line of sight. 👀 Most SEO reporting still assumes categories are isolated. Own a few key sites, dominate the SERP, move on. AI doesn’t operate inside those walls. In 2026, AI responses are built from overlapping signals across broad, cross-industry sources and deep vertical platforms. The problem? Most teams can’t see where those overlaps exist, or how they influence what the model ultimately surfaces. We don’t keep secrets. Our latest blog breaks down the real visibility gap AI introduces, why traditional category ownership no longer explains outcomes, and what marketers should actually be auditing if they want to understand how AI selects its answers. If your dashboards look fine but your presence in AI responses feels inconsistent, this is likely why. Read the full breakdown: AI visibility in 2026: The secrets behind how AI picks winners. ⬇️

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73% of SEO professionals believe automated reporting will replace human analysis by 2027. The reality is far more nuanced. Automated tools excel at data collection and pattern recognition, but they miss the strategic context that drives business decisions. Most organizations are rushing toward full automation without understanding what they're losing in translation. Tom Mansell, VP of Organic Performance at Croud, challenges this assumption with over a decade of SEO experience across changing search landscapes. The fundamental gap isn't in data processing—it's in narrative construction and business contextualization. While automated systems can identify trends and flag anomalies, they struggle to weave compelling stories that resonate with stakeholders across different departments and business priorities. The most effective approach combines automated heavy lifting with human strategic interpretation, allowing teams to focus on the nuanced elements that require industry knowledge and organizational understanding. This hybrid model preserves the efficiency gains of automation while maintaining the strategic depth that drives meaningful business outcomes. What's your experience with balancing automated reporting and human analysis in your SEO strategy? If you want the full conversation with Tom about the future of SEO reporting and analysis, drop a comment and I'll share the link.

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Let’s talk about zero-click search and what it’s REALLY doing to publishers… From the latest Datos, A Semrush Company + SparkToro report, we know: Organic clicks remain the most common outcome after a Google search and, Overall, zero-click searches rose slightly, but nothing dramatic. (you can see that all in the first slide) So… why are some of us seeing massive declines in organic traffic? Well…Because not all zero-click experiences impact all sites equally. Even though the global data suggests only a modest rise in zero-click behavior, my brands, which are built on informational content, have seen MAJOR click declines since AI Overviews began rolling out. Take a look at slides 2, 3, & 4. My GSC data from BibleStudyTools.com shows over a 30% DECLINE in clicks, despite an over 23% INCREASE in impressions. 🤔🤔 As if that wasn’t painfully obvious enough… My Looker Studio blend of Semrush SERP Feature data with Google Search Console shows that for every query triggering an AI Overview, clicks are down 40-90% year over year. These aren’t low-volume keywords! This is core topical traffic getting summarized and siphoned off by Google. For content sites like ours…purely informational, built for search discovery…the impact is immediate and undeniable. So, what now?? As Rand Fishkin put it: “...organic click opportunity has been steadily eroding for years, and while that trend isn’t growing massively, the data here suggests a slow, inexorable decline. Creators of all kinds would be wise to diversify how they influence audiences before Google completes their slow boil of the organic search traffic frog.” So... **deep breath** 👉Track where your brand appears in AI Overviews. 👉Start diversifying your influence. ...Video, Reddit, email, community, syndication…anything that builds direct connection. (in fact, YouTube as a search engine continues to increase, Reddit holds strong for discovery and recommendations, and Pinterest is where people are searching intent-rich categories like lifestyle and DIY...this is that last slide.) 👉Rethink your SEO KPIs. ...Impressions and position don’t mean what they used to. ...Focus on visibility👏 and action👏. I still say that SEO isn’t dead….But the rules ARE changing. (of course, they’ve ALWAYS been changing…so, take that to mean whatever you want it to mean) Bottom line: If your content IS the answer… don’t be surprised when Google stops sending traffic. Track it. Diversify. Rethink. 🔗 to the study below. #Semrush #GSC #SemrushAmbassador #SEO

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SEO isn’t magic… it’s math. Most reports still focus on rankings. But rankings don’t pay the bills. CMOs keep asking: “Where’s the ROI?” And honestly… most dashboards can’t answer that. The solution? Focus on metrics that actually matter: ✔ Revenue per keyword ✔ Conversions per page ✔ Traffic that engages and converts Think of SEO like a formula: Aio + Geo + Aeo + Sxo = True Visibility Stop celebrating position #1. Start celebrating SEO that drives real business results. ♻️ Share this with someone still obsessed with vanity metrics. #SEO #techSEO #SEOservices #SEOconsultant #B2BSEO #LocalBusibessGrowth #LocalBusinessMarketking

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