Paul Gordon

Simple yet powerful AI SEO technique we've tested (successfully) with a couple of clients: 1. Take a high intent keyword 2. Google it and review the AI Overview 3. Look at the brands being recommended 4. What attributes are mentioned? 5. "Highly accurate at X"; "Easy to implement" 6. Write a blog post on your own website 7. (Alternatively, add one to your help centre) 8. Explain in detail why your product matches those attributes 9. We tested this in a simple FAQ style 10. Example: 'Is [brand] [attribute]?' ('Is iPhone 17 fast'?) 11. The content should give clear & persuasive evidence 12. Optimize the content for the high intent keyword, too 13. E.g. the text says things like "[brand] is a highly accurate [keyword]" 14. Watch it influence visibility We did this as an experiment and quickly saw the content being cited or quoted in the correct AI Overviews and AI Mode. Can't promise it'll work every time. But it's a good one to add to your AI SEO experiment roadmap. P.S. This isn't about lying. Don't make things up. It's about making a guess at why AI is recommending certain products...then proving your product is also good at that, too. Your actual, real, human readers will love this content, too.

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20-40% conversion rates on Amazon are "normal" Your DTC website? 2% if you're lucky. Why the massive gap? Because Amazon didn't just build a marketplace. They built trust at scale. Here's what most brands miss: When someone lands on your website, they're thinking about security, shipping costs, return policies and whether you'll actually deliver. On Amazon? None of that mental friction exists. ✅ One-click checkout they've used hundreds of times ✅ Delivery promises they know Amazon keeps ✅ Return process that just works ✅ Payment security they never question 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀. Your customers aren't comparison shopping between your site and Amazon's features. They're choosing between effort and ease. Between uncertainty and confidence. Between starting a new buying relationship and using one that already works perfectly. This is why treating Amazon as just another sales channel misses the point entirely. The brands winning on Amazon understand this. They're not fighting the platform's strengths, they're leveraging them. What's your website conversion rate compared to Amazon? Let me know in the comments. P.S. If your Amazon conversion rates are below 15%, that's not an Amazon problem. It's a content and positioning problem.

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Businesses spent $91,452,234,643 on SEO in 2024. Yet, most have no idea if it's working for them... Top 15 KPIs to find out if your SEO is paying off: • Sales • SEO traffic • Email sign-ups • Conversion rate • Organic visibility • Keyword rankings • Search impressions • Cost per acquisition • Return on investment • Customer lifetime value • Organic click-through rate • Number of keywords ranking • Commercial vs. content traffic • Number of pages driving traffic • Branded vs. non-branded traffic What else do you like to track?

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U-Haul is STILL crushing it with this local SEO strategy... I highlighted this brilliant department strategy last year, and all their department listings are still online and driving leads (I just checked). They used to have just one Google Business Profile per location, but they quintupled their number of Profiles (and rankings) overnight. How? With Department Profiles. Look at the first screenshot - 6 department Profiles at that location. This means 6 additional PRIMARY categories (the #1 local ranking factor). No wonder they are dominating the rankings. If you have separate lines of business located within your main business, you may be able to create department Profiles for them. Department Profiles on Google do not require legal separation, but they do require: 🔹 designated signage 🔹 a different phone number 🔹 a different primary category To create a department Profile on Google: 1️⃣ Use the usual "Add a business" flow that you would use for adding a Business Profile. 2️⃣ After verifying the new Profile, go to the Profile in Maps and "Suggest an edit" to make it "located in" the main location. So, think about any potential departments you might have in your business. You could dramatically increase your rankings for dozens of additional keywords if you create department Profiles for them. Comment PICKLES if you like pickles 🥒

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🚨 If someone tries to sell you “GEO” or “AI SEO Consultancy” as something separate from SEO — don’t buy it. None of this is new. Almost 20 years ago, Bill Slawski was already breaking down the very concepts people are now trying to rebrand. If you’ve only just heard about Google’s “AI Mode” and got hyped, chances are you’ve never heard of Steven D. Baker, Srinivasan Venkatachary, Jeffrey Dean, Krishna Bharat, Nitin Gupta, or Dr. Najork — or foundational concepts like: Corroboration of Web Answers Open Information Extraction Entity–Attribute–Value Triples Knowledge-Based Trust Agencies love to hype “new terms” to impress CMOs and CEOs for sales. Today I saw people talk about something they call “truth alignment.” Guess what? Search engines have been calling that fact corroboration for over 20 years — long before Andrew Hogue’s Browsable Fact Repository design. 👉 In Koray’s framework of Topical Authority, these aren’t just buzzwords. If your site has topical authority, Google learns what the truth is from you. You define topical distances, hierarchies, and boundaries — even limiting your competitors’ topical coverage by expanding the edges of a topic. We call this Truth Ranges. Search engines don’t use strict boolean logic — they use fuzzy logic. Example: The “best temperature” to cook chicken might be 40°C or 45°C. But if the valid range is 40–45, then 500°C will never qualify as “truth.” In a webinar with @eliasdabbas, we scraped 10,000 SERPs for “calorie” queries and analyzed which sites gave wrong calorie values (for apples, bananas, etc.), and why some could still rank while others couldn’t. That research led to our case study on Entity Identity Management: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/drrPpQQN From that, we built the concepts of Query Statistics and Document Statistics: How many queries mention you within a topic? How many documents define you the way you want? These stats shape what search engines believe about you. That’s why I keep repeating: always rely on research and reasoning, not hype. When I first explained “algorithmic authorship” and “relevance configuration,” many dismissed them. Today, the same crowd calls it “relevance engineering” and “LLM writing rules.” So stop chasing SEO influencers and corporate stage icons. Instead, follow SEOs who are in the trenches — running experiments, publishing research, and working hands-on with websites. 👉 If you want to learn from SEOs who are actually moving the needle: https://lnkd.in/dp8mGy8E #seo via Holistic SEO & Digital

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The 'classic SaaS' Google Ads setup wasn't working. We threw it out and our client just closed a $150K deal. Whilst spending only $10k/mo 👀 Most SaaS brands with small budgets run Google Ads like this: → Brand → Competitor → High-intent software keywords → Retargeting We tried it. It flopped. So we pivoted. Instead of bidding on terms like “learning and development software”, we switched to focusing on the real problems their ICP were searching for. Think: → “Mental wellness workshops” → “Corporate wellbeing programs” → “Training for new managers” Then we ran experiments across every touchpoint: → Multiple landing pages → Different conversion flows → Iterative copy based on audience feedback → Offline conversion tracking via lead scoring + CRM sync We worked closely with the client to build a better lead quality framework So we could optimize for revenue, not just form fills. And last week, they messaged us to say: “Just closed a $150K deal from Google Ads.” That’s why rigid structures don’t always work. Strategy is a living thing. It evolves. If you’re stuck running templated PPC and wondering why it’s not delivering real revenue, it might be time to rebuild around the buyer. DMs are open if you want to jam on this. And as always, great work to the Hey Digital - Leading SaaS Performance Marketing & Creative Agency team 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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The SEO playbook you've been running for years? It's becoming obsolete. Here's what the data tells us: - 60% of Google searches now end without a click - AI Overviews have resulted in clickthrough rates that are 56.1% lower on desktop and 48.2% lower on mobile - Major brands like HubSpot saw 75% traffic decline in 2024 despite growing revenue While fundamental SEO principles (like high-quality content, good user experience, and technical optimization) remain important, the search landscape is fundamentally transforming. As most agencies still sell you traditional SEO packages, we've been quietly building something different at Roswell. We saw this shift coming 18 months ago and completely restructured our approach. Enter Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)—the future that's already here. Traditional SEO optimizes for rankings. AEO optimizes for answers. The difference? When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI Mode for recommendations, your brand either shows up as THE answer—or it doesn't exist. Here's what makes AEO fundamentally different: - It's not about traffic volume anymore—it's about being the cited source - 58% of consumers now use voice search to find local businesses - AI platforms synthesize multiple sources into single answers, making authority more critical than ever At Roswell, we've already transitioned our entire practice to this new reality. While others are still figuring out what AEO means, we're: ✓ Engineering content that AI systems preferentially cite ✓ Building structured data architectures that answer engines understand ✓ Creating question-based content strategies that capture voice and AI searches ✓ Developing methodologies for tracking AI mentions and citations The results speak for themselves. Our clients aren't just surviving the SEO apocalypse—they're thriving in the age of AI search. The hard truth: Brands still focused solely on traditional SEO are fighting yesterday's war. Gartner predicts organic search traffic will decrease by 50% or more as consumers embrace generative AI-powered search. That's not a future threat—it's happening right now. But here's the opportunity: While everyone else panics about declining organic traffic, forward-thinking brands are positioning themselves as the authoritative sources that AI systems trust and cite. Ready to lead instead of react? Let's talk about how Roswell can architect your AEO strategy for 2025 and beyond. Read our latest insights on making the shift from search to answers → https://lnkd.in/eTNSZTJw #AnswerEngineOptimization #AEO #AISearch #DigitalStrategy #FutureOfSearch #SEO

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The 5 Facebook ad hooks crushing it for our DTC clients right now: ↳ (steal these for your next campaign) After testing thousands of hooks with millions in spend across our Meta accounts, these 5 frameworks consistently outperform everything else: 1. Transformation Hook     → Show the end result immediately → "This supplement eliminated my brain fog overnight" → "How I lost 15 pounds in 30 days with these gummies" 2. Social Momentum Hook     → Leverage FOMO hard → "The skincare brand that's selling out every 24 hours" → "Why TikTok users can't stop talking about this travel pillow" 3. Pain Magnifier Hook     → Hit the pain point, then twist the knife → "I tried everything for my knee pain until I found this" → "The acne solution I wasted $1000+ trying to find" 4. Challenger Hook     → Position directly against what's not working → "I tried every protein powder before this one actually worked" → "Why traditional moisturizers fail compared to this formula" 5. Structured Value Hook     → Present information they can instantly digest → "3 reasons this blender outlasts the competition" → "The only 4 features that matter in a standing desk" — While everyone else is talking about rising CACs, we're scaling accounts using the help of these battle-tested hooks. The question isn't if they will work or not. It's which one will convert best for your product.

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Most of my best results didn’t come from running ads. They came from understanding the business behind the ads. This campaign? ✅ $68.44 spent ✅ 7 direct conversions ✅ ROAS: 5,357.08% No hacks. No shortcuts. → Just clear strategy, clean targeting, and tracking what really matters. → As a marketing strategist, I don’t focus on vanity numbers. → I focus on measurable outcomes the kind that founders and decision-makers care about. And this didn’t happen overnight. → It came from months of learning, testing, optimizing, and going beyond → what most marketers do. → Marketing is not just about running ads. It’s about understanding: → Who you're talking to → What they truly need And how your solution connects to that need profitably If you're running ads without tracking results you’re not marketing. You're spending. Let’s build systems that don’t just look good they work. #PerformanceMarketing #GoogleAds #MarketingStrategy #ConversionTracking #MarketingLeadership #DigitalGrowth #FullFunnel #ROAS #BusinessImpact #WebAnalytics #ConversionTracking #ITSUMON #SumonMahmud

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$0 to $5,770,000 in 6 months. This is the exact 3-step Google Ads system I used to do it. Here’s the kicker — today’s post isn’t just a blueprint of the campaigns. It’s the thinking behind why each decision was made. Not only the structure… but the reasoning that drives predictable scale. Inside, I break down: ✅ Products per category ✅ Category segmentation ✅ Active demand per category ✅ Profit generated as a % of total And more importantly — the WHY behind it all: ✅ Why brand and non-brand segmentation ✅ Why a 4-tiered performance system ✅ Why the Shopping campaign split ✅ Why only 3 Search campaigns ✅ Why 1 DSA campaign If you’ve ever wondered what separates good accounts from scalable ones — this shows you. 👉 Read the full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/g2fGSWCw

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I turn away 70-80% of new businesses that want to do SEO. Not because I don't want their money. But because splitting their focus would be the worst thing they could do. Here's what happens in most sales calls: "We want more sales, so we're thinking about SEO”. My response is always along the lines of… "Why don't you put more money into what's already working? Facebook? Google Ads? Whatever channel is generating results”? If you've got something working well and you split your attention to chase another channel, you're being complacent. You're avoiding the hard work of scaling what's proven. Most business owners I meet want to diversify before they've maxed out the approach that’s working for them. They've got Facebook ads generating decent ROI. But instead of pushing that until they literally cannot do any more of it, they want to "try SEO too”. I'm a big believer in finding what works marketing-wise and doing it until your CPAs start to tank. We hit that stage with Facebook ads in the UK. We just pay more for the same leads and in some cases, we pay more for less. And that’s when we branched out to the US market. Not when it was "working okay" and we got bored. You need to rinse whatever is working for you until you’ve got every last drop of ROI and growth out of it. Then you can think about diversifying your approach. What's your experience with scaling one channel vs. trying to do everything at once?

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SEO is going through a bit of a reset. Much of the super top of funnel content that many have been churning out for years is being swallowed up by AI Overviews. But let’s be honest...most of that traffic didn’t convert anyway. The current SEO playbook is squarely where it should have always been, and that's creating quality content that’s genuinely useful. Not content to chase impressions. But content that helps real people make real decisions. If your content only existed to catch top-of-funnel clicks, it probably won’t survive this shift. But if you’ve always focused on helping users, I don't think you have a great deal to worry about with AI Overviews.

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$134K in 30 days. But here’s what actually made the account scale. If you're running Meta ads for your Shopify brand and struggling to scale profitably, this one’s for you. In the last 30 days, we spent just under $40K across six campaigns—and pulled in 943 purchases at a 3.56x blended ROAS. Here’s what made the difference: ✅ Broad targeting across all winners ✅ Bid cap campaigns delivering up to 9.4x ✅ Creative testing with intention (not chaos) ✅ And the system we use to separate winners from flops fast Our top ad set? $37 cost per purchase $35K in revenue All from one creative… that we knew was a winner before scaling it. If your Meta strategy is “let’s throw 10 ads at the wall and see what sticks,” you’re wasting money. In this breakdown, I go deep into: 📊 Our exact campaign structure 🧠 How we spot fatigue before ROAS tanks 🎯 Why testing with purpose is everything This is what structured scale looks like in 2025. 📺 Watch the full breakdown — link in the comments. Let me know what you’re testing right now in Meta 👇

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Big teams don’t scale. Simple systems do. A minimalist SEO agency isn’t a massive in-house team of writers and link builders. It’s a CEO and a few client operators, each managing 1-10 clients. The operators handle strategy, account management and reporting. The fulfilment is outsourced to specialist vendors. Why? - Hiring in-house slows you down. - Vendors have economies of scale, they do it faster, better, and cheaper. - Less overhead, less complexity, more profit. Instead of growing headcount, build a lean system. Strategy in-house. Execution outsourced. That’s how agencies scale predictably, without the headaches.

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