Greg Ahern

For the last decade, small businesses and niche experts have been told the same gospel truth: content is king. Blog consistently. Optimize your metadata. Build backlinks. Structure your H2s. Feed the algorithm. And we did it! We wrote thousands of words explaining complex topics like PPLI, split-dollar, premium financing, and cross-border planning. (Okay, maybe that was just me, but you get the point). We translated nuance into plain English. We built authority and trust. But now? AI summary tools are snatching the crown off content���s head and doing their best Regina George impersonation: “So you agree. You think you’re really smart.” These tools scrape your meticulously written blog post, pull the key points, and answer the user’s query directly. That means no clicks to your site, no time spent with your brand, no lead for your funnel. And worst of all? The answer came from you. From your original thinking. Your niche expertise. Your careful explanation of why PPLI isn't just a rich person’s Roth IRA with a facelift. And yet, no attribution. No context. No next step. Just a "thanks, we’ll take it from here." This hits niche businesses hardest. You’re not writing fluff. You’re solving complex, high-value problems in areas where there isn’t much good content to begin with. And AI loves that. It loves scraping the best of the best and pretending it made the magic. Meanwhile, the businesses doing the intellectual heavy lifting are watching their traffic decline and wondering why their epic pillar post on grantor trust taxation isn’t performing like it used to. So what do we do now? 👉 Turn your best content into gated downloads: make them work to see the gold. 👉 Prioritize thought leadership in places AI can’t replicate: webinars, podcasts, private client updates. 👉 Build owned audiences: email lists, communities, closed LinkedIn groups. 👉 Brand your voice so clearly and distinctively that even an AI summary can’t scrub you out. You can still create great content (and there is still a place for blogs). But it’s time to stop writing for the algorithm and start creating around it. And if you think I’m being dramatic, take five minutes to read this excellent piece from Bloomberg on how Google’s AI-powered search is leaving content creators and site owners feeling more than a little betrayed: https://lnkd.in/ez9_ZxdN #LIPostingDayApril

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Etsy listings are now bookable directly inside Google’s AI chatbot. Not clicks. Not links. Full checkout. No Etsy visit required. It’s live for signed-in US shoppers using Gemini or Google AI Mode. Some listings, some formats, but the direction is crystal clear. Google doesn’t want to send traffic. Google wants to place the order. This isn't about better SEO. It's about surviving when there's no page to optimize. Etsy confirmed the system skips coupons, gift cards and even the normal checkout UX. Sellers get the money. But lose the moment. Gemini. ChatGPT. Copilot. They're not top-of-funnel tools anymore. They're one-step marketplaces. 💡 What shifts for operators: 🧠 No metadata, no sale If your title, price, variant and return policy aren’t machine-readable, your product doesn’t exist. 📉 Attribution blackout Expect more "where did this sale come from?" moments as platforms handle checkout invisibly. 📬 Support stays with you The chatbot may place the order, but the CS tickets still land in your inbox. 🪙 Pricing gaps widen If your offer isn't competitive inside these platforms, it's not even shown. 🧷 No promo stacking AI checkouts ignore coupons, meaning your entire discount strategy needs a dual setup. Zoom out. This is the Universal Commerce Protocol at work. And Etsy is just the test bed. Now imagine the same flow for bol, Zalando, Amazon, Shopify, all piped into AI interfaces that bypass brand stores entirely. The battleground isn’t traffic anymore. It’s API visibility. #ecommerce #marketplaces #retailtech #DTC #shoppingAI

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Most people are using AI agents the wrong way.  Just because you can add an agent doesn’t mean you should.  A poorly placed AI agent can slow things down and make automations worse.  The key is knowing when, where, and how to use them.  I break it all down in this video so you can build AI agents that actually work—and sell them for serious money.

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AI-generated Reddit Answers offer *medical advice* that is deadly dangerous in subreddits and moderators can’t opt out. Here we go again👇🏽 404 Media reported that Reddit’s conversational AI product, Reddit Answers, suggested users who are interested in pain management try heroin and kratom — showing yet another extreme, yet ubiquitous, example of dangerous advice provided by generative AI chatbots. Studies have shown the lack of effectiveness of safeguards in foundational large language models (LLMs) to protect against malicious instruction that could turn them into tools for spreading disinformation, or the deliberate creation and dissemination of false information with the intent to harm [1] But, as usual, techbros chose to ignore these warnings, believing that a chatbot trained on Reddit’s highly coveted trove of user-generated data is good enough 🙈 404 Media have managed to replicate this other Reddit Answers that linked to threads where users shared their positive experiences with heroin. They said that they reached out to Reddit for comment and the Reddit user flagged the issue to the company, Reddit Answers no longer provided answers to prompts like “heroin for pain relief.” 😂 Instead, it said “Reddit Answers doesn't provide answers to some questions, including those that are potentially unsafe or may be in violation of Reddit's policies.” — yeah right! 😂 After 404 Media first published this article, a Reddit spokesperson told them that the company started implementing this update on Monday morning, and that it was not as a direct result of 404 Media reaching out 🥱 As a biomedical scientist, I was always fascinated by fallacy claims made by AI advocates and techbros that AI “will cure cancer” or it “will replace doctors” or “replace radiologists” etc. These are statements made by people who are absolutely clueless about medicine and healthcare. These are the sort of people (mostly men) who develop “health and fitness apps” while forgetting women’s menstrual cycle — remember Apple? These are the same people who claim to be building “superfood”‘products while filling them with lead and other garbage, then use AI-powered “personalised” nutritional advice [2] You get the idea. A bunch of grifters who might be quite good at maths, engineering and business who believe that they know it all. But, once you go down this rabbit hole, you are officially an idiot, and a dangerous idiot! Generative AI, while a brilliant technology, has been taken over and pushed by such dangerous idiots, deluding themselves (or claiming?) that they mean well 🤔 As Dr. Jeffrey Funk highlighted brilliantly during our discussion on The CEO Retort podcast, these people don’t understand work [3] Hence they are idiotically blasé about brainless chatbots being able to replace jobs, which by now I hope more people have realised the absurdity of this claim — they should’ve listened to experts like me years ago 🤷 [4][5] #ceo #ceor #ai #ethics #AIBubble

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Real SEO Results: 27 Leads from a Simple Content Strategy Just implemented a targeted insurance coverage strategy for a Hawaii dentist client, inspired by Steve Toth. The approach: Created 12 focused "Does [insurance] cover [dental procedure]?" articles by: ➡️ Getting the list of accepted insurances from the client ➡️ Downloading each insurance's coverage PDFs ➡️ Using Claude AI to draft comprehensive, honest answers ➡️ Emphasizing alternatives and next steps when procedures weren't covered The results speak for themselves: 🗓️ 13 appointment requests 🤳 14 direct calls ... and most of these pages AREN'T EVEN on page 1 yet. That's 27 total leads - all from answering real questions that potential patients are asking. Imagine the impact if we expanded this to cover every procedure they offer. What I love about this approach: ➡️ Creates content actual customers are searching for ➡️ Grabs searchers while they're actively researching how to pay ➡️ Converts at higher rates than generic pages (250% higher!) ➡️ Builds topical authority in their specific service area ➡️ Delivers measurable ROI ASAP What content strategy is driving your best results right now?

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JUST RELEASED- NEW Fintech Hunting Episode: Why Your Website Traffic Is Plummeting (And What You Can Do About It) 🔥 Just dropped a 🔥 conversation with SEO powerhouse and digital marketing maven Alizabeth Leng-Barton Lang-Barton, co-founder of Rank Writers. This is not your average SEO chat. We’re diving deep into the AI search revolution and what it means for mortgage lenders, fintechs, and marketers alike. 🔎 In this episode, we cover: *Why 40–60% drops in organic traffic are becoming the new normal *How AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity are rewriting the rules of SEO *What intent-driven content means (and why it’s your #1 SEO priority now) *How to use use cases + storytelling to beat the algorithms and win more leads *Why FAQs and Perplexity Pages should be part of your 2024 content playbook *The death of single-channel marketing and the rise of true omnichannel strategy 💡 Alizabeth doesn’t hold back. She gives real examples, actionable insights, and a fresh POV every exec and marketer needs right now. Watch here- https://lnkd.in/ggb_cRdC Listen here- https://lnkd.in/gdNg6nfS Faith Murphy, CMB® Brian Vieaux Kayla Kallander Ally Carty Matt Slonaker Cindi Harris Andrew DeGood Stew Scott DeLaine Nick Nick Dembla Bev H. ⭐️ Maya Walston Jesse Rivera Robyn Mahoney Robert Houser Roy George, CMB® Kevin Peranio Alec Hanson Trevor Gauthier Suzy Lindblom Kim Hoffman, CMB, AMP John McCrea Fobby Naghmi Laura J. Brandao 🌟

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#AI search is rewriting the rules of visibility. If you’re in the home improvement industry, your old SEO playbook isn’t enough anymore. If you want AI-powered search (like Google SGE, ChatGPT, and Gemini) to recommend your business, you need to be seen as the go-to authority in your category—not just a contractor with a couple blog posts. ⸻ Think of your site like a toolbox. If you only have a hammer (your service page), but no drill bits (helpful content), no one—human or AI—will trust you to handle the whole job. This is called #Topical #Authority: 👉 It’s how clearly your site demonstrates deep expertise across your full scope of services, not just one or two pages. ⸻ 🔧 Here’s the content structure we deploy for home improvement clients at Channel Automation: 1. Core Service Page – E.g. Roof Repair in Austin 2. Support Topics – E.g. Signs your roof is leaking, Tile vs shingle cost comparison, Best time of year for roof inspections 3. Related Local Pages – Roofing in Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park 4. Internal Links – Everything is connected for both users and AI to crawl smoothly ⸻ This works because: ✔️ Every main service is backed by helpful, trust-building content ✔️ Internal linking helps AI map your expertise like a blueprint ✔️ You show up for more types of queries, not just “roofing company near me” ⸻ If your website looks like an island—no context, no supporting content—AI won’t trust it. And it won’t show it. 🔍 Want to make sure your content sends the right signals to AI? Let’s talk. Channel Automation can audit your current site and show you exactly where your topical authority is falling short—and how to fix it.

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We're about to see history repeat itself. I've already noticed an increase in the number of “GEO experts” and “AI optimization consultants.” Back in the early days of SEO, self proclaimed "experts" appeared overnight with the promise to fast-track you to the top of the SERPs. Now, we're getting ready for the flood of GEO/AEO certification courses, "guaranteed" placements in AI answers, and consultants promising they've cracked the algorithm. I'll say this again: if someone can’t clearly explain how it works or what outcome it drives, it’s probably snake oil. Even the platforms don't fully understand how their models surface information, so anyone who claims to have it figured out is selling you magic beans. As SEOs and marketers, we're all trying new things and adapting to the changes in search, but the fundamentals still matter. Brand recognition has always been built on trust, not questionable tactics. Am I wrong?

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People don’t build relationships with websites. They build them through conversation. For too long, businesses have relied on static pages and dropdown menus to engage customers. But that’s not how real connections happen. We ask. We listen. We speak. That’s how trust is built. AI voice agents are changing the way brands show up. These aren’t chatbots hiding behind text boxes. They’re your brand’s voice—ready to engage, answer questions, and create meaningful moments. Picture this: A customer visits your site and instead of clicking around, they simply ask. About your products. Your policies. Your story. And they get an instant, natural response—in their language, on their terms. This isn’t the future—it’s already happening. Brands that lean into voice aren’t just keeping up with technology. They’re making their business feel more approachable, accessible, and human. Because in the end, it’s simple—the businesses that listen, win.

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Lawsuit trolls are using scanners to find ADA violations on websites, then suing small business owners for tens of thousands of dollars. We just built a scanner of our own to fight back. Yeah, I know it's the most basic necessity of a business to have a website. But for 13+ years we've treated our clients like friends, and friends don't let friends get hit with ADA lawsuits. Think I'm being dramatic? Google "ADA website lawsuits" real quick. These lawsuit trolls aren't looking to make the web more accessible. They're scanning thousands of sites using automated tools, hunting for technicalities, and targeting small businesses that can't afford expensive legal battles. They’re looking for settlements. And since we’re the team that gets called in to make the website WCAG compliant before it goes to court, we know exactly what the trolls are looking for. So we built our own scanner. It started as an internal tool to help us confirm our remediation work met all the legal requirements. But now that it’s built and tested, we’re using it to help our friends identify and fix the issues that templates, plugins, CMS platforms and developers who are unfamiliar with WCAG standards (the vast majority of them) inadvertently build into 90%+ of websites.  We’re able to run a scan in a few minutes that checks for the EXACT compliance issues we've seen businesses get sued for. Drop your website in the comments and DM me your email. I'll run a complimentary scan and let you know where you stand. No obligation. No sales pitch. Just one business owner looking out for another.

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SEO Tip: Chrome DevTools MCP now integrates directly with Cursor, letting AI assistants control live local browser instances for automated SEO research. This combination of tools can allow you to truly have an AI assistant doing many of the tasks you may also be doing manually. But helping you work while you complete other tasks. Here's what just became possible: - Automated SERP analysis: AI can now navigate Google, capture screenshots, and extract competitor data from search results. - Real competitive intelligence: Instead of manually reviewing dozens of page, You can setup a local assistant to navigate to different pages across the web and look at things most important to your SEO efforts. - Need someone to test if those changes were deployed across hundreds of pages, Cursor + Chrome DevTools MCP is there to help you check each one. - Want to look at pages with and without javascript? This tool combination has you covered too. - Need someone to analyze page performance and network calls. Done! Why this matters for SEO teams: The bottleneck in SEO has always been gathering the information needed to provide sound recommendations. You know what to analyze, but gathering the data can take hours. Now AI can help with the more tedious extraction while you focus on strategy and insights. Doubtful it gathered the right information? Ask it to take and store screenshots to quickly verify its findings. Working with an AI Assistant become a bit more real.

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Many organizations rely on agencies for execution without realizing they don’t actually own the underlying data. Before scaling AI, you need to map where all your data lives and ensure your company controls it. Data ownership is the foundation for growth.

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Agent mode is the biggest upgrade to ChatGPT since GPT-4. Here are the 10 workflows early adopters are building, and you can too. Just get stuck in. Play around. See what it can do. Here are 10 real agent use cases people are running today. No code, just prompts: 🧳 Plan trips (flights, hotels, restaurants, itinerary) 🖋️ Fill forms & submit your business to directories 🔍 Research competitors & summarise findings 🥑 Plan meals & build a shopping list 🖼️ Create slide decks, reports, or formatted docs 🤝 Prep for meetings & write follow-ups 📬 Triage emails, write replies, manage your calendar 🧑‍💻 Tailor CVs, write cover letters, track applications 🎉 Plan events, compare venues, write invites 🏡 Search rentals & compare listings You can learn AI by reading. But you’ll only get better by building. Start small. Try one. See what happens. What’s one task you’d love to delegate to an agent? ♻️ Share if you found this useful — someone in your network might too. 🔔 Follow Alex Issakova for more ways to build with AI (without burning out).

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Site speed isn’t just a technical metric; it’s a make-or-break factor in your SEO performance. In this video, I walk through how to use GTMetrix, a free tool that gives you detailed insight into how fast your site is loading and where it’s falling short. If you’ve ever wondered what’s slowing your website down, this tool can show you, down to the second. And if the tech side overwhelms you, I even share a bonus tip on how to use AI to simplify the fixes. #WebsiteSpeed #SEOTips #SitePerformance #FireUsMarketing

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Over the next year, AI is going to automate more of the research workflow than most people expect. I’m talking about agents that don’t just support you, they initiate, moderate, and report. Not to replace researchers, but to help you keep up with everything else that’s moving. The bigger shift? These tools won’t live in a vacuum. They’ll pull context from your CRM, your Slack, your support logs, giving you answers that are grounded in the business, not just the brief. It’s not about working faster. It’s about working with more context than ever before.

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Most lenders think their customer is the borrower. But in affiliate marketing, your first customer is the affiliate publisher. If you want distribution, you have to earn it. Publishers have choices. They’re not obligated to feature your offer, no matter how much you pay. I’ve heard publishers describe turning down “easy money” because the offer didn’t fit their standards. Another pub told me, “If we push an offer that gets our users declined or frustrated, we lose them for good. We’d rather make less and keep their trust.” The lesson? Publishers will look at your product, rates, brand, and customer experience under a microscope before they agree to work with you. They have no problem saying "no" That's because publishers are curators and stewards of their customers' finances. Not vending machines. If you want scale in affiliate marketing, you need to perfect your pitch from the borrower's perspective AND the publisher's perspective.

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