Timothy Wier

Me: "We're going to cut these SEO keywords that have driven thousands of visitors to our website each month" This sentence that would stop most SEO agencies + company execs in their tracks...and probably question my sanity as well Lucky for me, our leadership team + our SEO agency YOYABA didn't bat an eye when I explained why I didn't want us focusing on those keywords any longer When we began our focused work into SEO, we saw that we had keywords driving thousands of monthly visits to our website. THOUSANDS. From just a few keywords. These are the kinds of keywords that make SEO reports look great. But here's the thing - they weren't driving pipeline. At all. Most teams would've doubled down here because the "metrics" said they were "working" Instead, we killed them and focused on lower-volume, longer-tail searches that *actually* aligned with how our market searches the web If I were to go back in time + do this again, here's the TL;DR I'd give to my younger self When you dive into the SEO world, begin here: 🙋‍♂️ Start with your buyers, not with keywords The highest-volume searches aren’t necessarily the most valuable for your business 💰 Measure handraiser + pipeline impact, not just traffic This requires more sophisticated tracking (or less as it’s connecting dots that technology doesn’t connect well), but it’s the only way to know if your SEO strategy + execution is actually working 🤓 Don’t skip the technical foundation The unsexy technical work often has more immediate impact than the content work everyone wants to focus on. It’s much easier to know what to do technically + build that into your workflow than to go back + edit every piece of content retroactively. 👯‍♂️ Find an agency that thinks like a business partner, not just an SEO vendor YOYABA told me “no” when I wanted to move faster in ways that wouldn’t work. They pushed back on our assumptions about what success looked like. That’s what you want in a partner. - - - - - - - - - - This reflection stemmed from the recent customer story that YOYABA wrote about us + our work together over the course of this year. More on what we did together can be found in the story on their website :) PS: If you want to elevate your SEO/AEO, AI search & organic growth into a revenue-driving function in 2026, you should talk with YOYABA. You’ll speak with real experts, not with sales. Book your call here: https://lnkd.in/eMEHhQ2S

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Content writing is dead. (And it isn’t). The answer depends on how you define the job. The "Yes": The manual writer is history. If you are manually researching for hours... If you are typing generic fluff from scratch... If you are competing on "words per hour"... You are fighting a losing battle against an infinite leverage machine. The "No": The strategic thinker is rising. AI is not the replacement. AI is the companion. The smart writers have stopped being "writers." They have become creative directors. ~ They use AI to structure thoughts. ~ They use AI to shatter writer's block. ~ They use AI to produce better content, not just more content. The market is shifting. The bar for quality has been raised. The barrier to entry has been lowered. We are at the single greatest divide in the history of digital work. You have two options: Adapt and conquer. Complain and disappear. The choice is yours.

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High-ticket buyers don't scroll for content. They scan for competence. A marketing director reached out this week. "We're stuck in a loop." Posting daily.  Grinding comments.  Showing up 5 days a week. Their ICP rarely stepped forward.  When they did, no one signed. This is what happens when experienced teams follow beginner playbooks. High-ticket buyers (In their case, $50K+ deals) aren't evaluating your posting frequency. They're scanning for credibility markers: 1. Positioning clarity Can they tell what you do and who you serve in 5 seconds? 2. Strategic depth Do your insights shift their thinking?  Or just repeat what everyone else says? 3. Proof of process Do you have frameworks and systems?  Or just opinions and tactics? 4. Relevant experience Have you solved their exact problem for someone at their level? They lurk. They read. They evaluate. When they trust you, they reach out. Not because you posted more. But because your positioning made you the obvious choice. This is what we fix in The Conversion Architecture™: Layer 1: Positioning that makes your differentiation obvious to premium buyers. Layer 2: Content that demonstrates strategic depth. Layer 3: Conversion systems that turn quiet evaluation into client conversations. Most people optimise posting frequency. Operators architect demand systems. One exhausts. The other compounds.

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Yesterday during an audit call, the marketing manager tells me: "Our blog is doing well, we post on social, we do SEO... but I don't see concrete results." "How many blog articles did you share on social this month?" "Uh... maybe none. Someone else handles that." Does this situation ring a bell? Most mid-size B2B companies have all the puzzle pieces, but nobody puts them together. In the slides below, I show you 5 concrete ways to make everything work together.

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PBNs can boost rankings. But for how long? Only until Google catches you. And Google’s SpamBrain flags 40 billion spam pages. Every. Single. Day. Think your PBN is invisible? It’s not. Here’s the problem: PBNs aren’t authority. They’re an illusion of it. They violate Google’s spam policies. They strip away trust. They invite penalties. And when a penalty hits? Your traffic doesn’t dip. It disappears. Because SEO isn’t about link quantity. It’s about link quality. Real authority comes from: → Content people want to share → Links you earn, not buy → A reputation you protect, not gamble Shortcuts feel fast. But rebuilding from zero takes years. So before you buy that next PBN link, ask yourself: “Would I still want this link if Google didn’t count it?” If the answer is no… That’s your warning. ♻️ Share this with someone who’s one shady backlink away from disaster. #SEO #techSEO #SEOservices #SEOconsultant #B2BSEO #LocalBusibessGrowth #LocalBusinessMarketking

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I got 99 problems but... PageSpeed, Accessibility, Best Practice and SEO ain’t one. (Okay, I still have a few. But Lighthouse thinks I’m crushing it.) Spent the morning elbows-deep in Webflow’s DOM to fix an LCP issue that was hanging around like a stale pop-up. Here’s what I did to crush Core Web Vitals (and what it taught me): 🧱 LCP – Largest Contentful Paint Before: 4,770 ms → After: 3,550 ms (↓ 25%) ✅ Inlined heading font ✅ Preloaded hero image ✅ Stripped render-blocking animations ✅ Wrapped the CTA in lovingly handcrafted CSS ✅ Made the header shorter on mobile to avoid a scroll-induced existential crisis 🎯 TTFB – Time to First Byte Before: 860 ms → After: Still 860 ms 😅 Turns out, you can’t optimise what you don’t control. (Hi Webflow.) 🎨 CLS – Cumulative Layout Shift 0 → 0 ✅ No jumping CTAs ✅ Fonts swapped before paint ✅ No mystery divs doing acrobatics on load 📦 JS & 3rd Party Bloat ✅ Used requestIdleCallback to delay Cloudflare & Elfsight ✅ Reduced blocking time ✅ Lighthouse stopped side-eyeing me PageSpeed score: 99 Accessibility: 100 Best Practices: 100 SEO: 100 Now if only my inbox looked the same. If you're fighting Core Web Vitals and want to ship faster sites that rank and convert, we do this kind of work for ecommerce, service and SaaS brands that care about performance. DMs open ⚡ #Technicalseo #Webflow #SEO #CoreWebVitals

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Here's 5 things your marketing agency shouldn't do: 1) Require lengthy contracts i.e. 6-12 months boooo; earn that shit 2) Own your data or accounts #nothanks; you should own your accounts, data, etc 3) Do technical SEO for months #1-2months&done 4) Take 1 month to onboard you 5) Bait & switch you from selling you the deal to handing you off with a 24 year old AE who only knows about marketing because they did it for their frat house for rush week #rushweektiktokisavibetho

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Okay, here’s my (nuanced) take on the whole SEO vs. GEO and (LLMO) debate: If you zoom way out, all of this starts with library science, right? The original discipline of organizing information so people can find authoritative sources. Then comes information retrieval (IR), which applies those same principles to digital environments. That’s the foundation of modern search engines. SEO was born from that, helping content show up in results by aligning with how engines retrieve and rank documents. Cool. (Apologies to Deborah Carver 🪩 if I butchered any of that) Now enter LLMs and generative engines. This is where it gets messy. The output has changed. Instead of returning a list of documents, LLMs synthesize the answer for you. Originally, it was based primarily on relevance. Authority signals were somewhat discounted in ChatGPT and the Search Generative Experience. And now search engines are blending LLMs into their IR systems, which means we’re no longer just optimizing for rankings. We’re optimizing for visibility inside the output. The extent to which brand mentions and citations are as valuable as pre-LLMs is debatable but likely less valuable. So is SEO still SEO? Yes. But it's evolving. Just like library science isn’t the same as IR, and IR isn’t the same as SEO, what we’re doing now with generative engines feels like its own hybrid. Call it GEO, call it LLMO, whatever. It’s still rooted in the same fundamentals, but the surface area has changed. And that’s what we, as an industry, need to get aligned on so we can talk to our teams, our clients, and our C-suites using the same language. Search is changing. LLM integration is real. The 10 blue links era is fading. Let’s not get stuck debating semantics while the interface (and user behavior) evolves under our feet. Fin.

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🎬 Greg Gifford did it again—dropping local SEO wisdom with his signature mix of brilliant insights and movie references. One part of his talk that really stood out to me? Content tests. Simple, but powerful ways to check if your local SEO content is actually valuable. Here are a few takeaways worth implementing right now: 1️⃣ The “Replace Test” 👉 If you swap your city + business name for another city + business in the same category and the content still works… it fails. Why? Because that means it’s generic, not local and not telling your business' story. 2️⃣ The “Read It Out Loud Test” 👉 Your content should sound conversational. If it feels stiff, robotic, or keyword-stuffed, your customers (and Google) won’t love it. 3️⃣ Answer the Question, Then the Next One 👉 If you want to rank for a specific phrase, you need a page about that concept. And that page should be the best local answer—one that also addresses the follow-up questions searchers will naturally ask. 🔥 But this was just a fraction of Greg’s talk. He also shared a simple local SEO audit that delivers incredible insights for prospects—and positions you as the go-to expert when you present it. If you’re looking for an actionable playbook to improve local SEO and win trust with prospects, Greg’s talk was packed with gold. I will share the link to Greg's talk in the comments! 💡 Question for you: Do you run your content through tests like these before publishing? #LocalSEO #SEO #DigitalMarketing #ContentStrategy

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Tired of self-proclaimed experts pushing "fail-proof" systems for local SEO agencies? Me. Too. I skipped the hype and costly guides, focusing on what truly worked to build Sterling Sky's success in local SEO. Want genuine insights without the recycled advice? Colan Nielsen and I share 7 crucial lessons from our journey—successes, failures, and things I wish I'd known earlier. For those committed to sustainable growth without the gimmicks, watch our latest video linked in the first comment below

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Elite agencies don't sell services. They sell expertise. I learned this the hard way. When I started writing content for a software company, I was just creating "blog posts." But my mentor showed me something different: Content isn't about describing what you do. It's about demonstrating how you think. The top 1% of software development agencies understand this. They don't publish: • "10 Reasons to Hire Us" • "Our Development Process" • "Why We're Better Than Competitors" Instead, they publish: • Industry predictions that clients can't find elsewhere • Frameworks that change how clients view their problems • Insights that make prospects think: "These people understand my world better than I do" This shift is why some agencies struggle for leads while others have waiting lists. Thought leadership isn't just writing about what you know. It's packaging your expertise in a way that makes prospects come to YOU for solutions. The agencies winning today aren't the ones with the best services. They're the ones who position themselves as the obvious choice before a sales call even happens. What's one piece of unique expertise your agency could share that prospects can't Google? If you're ready to transform your agency's content from "service descriptions" to "thought leadership that generates leads," I'm offering 5 spots for a 45-min growth blueprint session this week. Book through the link in my profile. We'll map out exactly how your agency can build authority that brings qualified leads directly to you. - Kyle #SoftwareDevelopment #AgencyGrowth #ContentMarketing #ThoughtLeadership #SEOStrategy

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Ever inherit a broken website and wonder, “What exactly am I working with here?” Whether it’s from a client handoff, acquisition, or internal shuffle, that first look can be overwhelming. I wrote up my SEO triage process — not a checklist, but a flexible system that works whether you’re auditing for due diligence, client onboarding, or a mid-flight rescue mission. I cover up on: • What I look at before rankings or crawl data • How to scan GA4 + GSC for fast, actionable signals • Filters I use to spot near-win opportunities and cannibalization • Why CrUX is underrated — and how to use it for your competitors • DOM bloat, intent mismatches, and structural blind spots It’s written for SEOs, marketers, devs, and even the non-technical folks who just want to make smart decisions without spinning wheels. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/e-_-Wi6q

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Most agencies treat audits like a sales step. But if you're using audits to prove your worth, especially with non-technical buyers, you’re doing it wrong. Here’s the thing: The best agencies hold the audit as a prize, not a giveaway. Let me show you what that looks like. 1️⃣ Audits Are Optional, Not Standard - Don’t lead with an audit unless it’s absolutely necessary to close the deal. - Use it only when there’s a sales objection you can’t overcome any other way. - If you’re selling to a warm or pre-sold lead, skip it. 2️⃣ Position the Audit as Premium - “We usually charge $10K for this... but we’ll waive it if you commit to a decision in the next 30 days.” - This turns the audit into a value-builder, not a resource drain. - It also tells the buyer you're serious and sets the tone for your partnership. 3️⃣ Keep It Tight: The Minimum Viable Audit (MVA) - Go too deep and it backfires. Clients throw it in your face months later. - Focus only on the platform or problem that matters most to the client. - You’re not building a strategy doc. You’re earning trust. 4️⃣ Use Audits as Objection Killers, Not Door Openers - Ask for the sale first. - If they resist because they “need to know what you’ll actually do,” then and only then offer a scoped audit with strings attached. - Qualify: “What specifically would you need to see to feel confident moving forward?” Here’s a simplified example: You’re talking to a DTC beauty brand spending $30K/month on Meta. They’ve been stuck at 0.7 ROAS for 2 years and want to get to 2.0. Instead of jumping into an audit, you say: “Sounds like your north star is 2x ROAS. That’s a big gap. We can help, but instead of us wasting a month pulling logins to 6 platforms, what if we just did a focused Meta audit? That’s normally $10K, but if you’re ready to move forward this month, we’ll waive the fee. Deal?” The bottom line: Don’t give the audit away until they’ve earned it. It’s not a pre-sale freebie. It’s the close. Run the play. Hold the line. You’ll save time, look more premium, and close more deals. CQ

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