Top SEO Techniques for Improved Visibility

Everyone's freaking out about GEO, LLMO, and AEO. After 7 months of running tests across tons of sites… I can tell you this: It's all built on SEO fundamentals. The same principles that rank you on Google also get you cited in ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. So before you buy into shiny new tactics that promise “AI visibility”…here's what actually moves the needle: 1. Trust Signals AI tools pull from review platforms to assess business credibility and expertise. Build trust signals in the right places: - Local businesses: prioritize Google Business Profile reviews and responses - SaaS companies: maintain strong G2 and Capterra profiles  - Ecommerce: focus on Trustpilot or industry-specific review platforms - Respond to reviews professionally and keep profiles updated 2. Document Structure LLMs love well-structured documents. Instead of optimizing just for human readers, structure content for AI platforms too: - Add company context throughout documents. Instead of "our latest update," write "Acme Corp's Q4 2024 update" - Use clear headings and comprehensive sections that can stand alone - Include key facts in multiple formats (inline text, bulleted lists, data tables) 3. Link Building for Relevance Quality and topical relevance matter more than quantity for AI visibility. Focus your link building efforts: - Target industry-relevant sites where your brand mention makes logical sense - Pursue guest posts and collaborations within your industry - Don't ignore nofollow links from high-authority sites in your niche - Seek brand mentions even without direct links. (the mention itself carries weight) Avoid completely unrelated sites. 4. Topical Authority Still Rules LLMs are trained on the same web content that Google indexes. The more deep, high-quality content you publish around your niche, the more AI systems recognize you as the go-to source, the more you get mentioned. Take out the trash. Delete random blog posts about topics unrelated to your business. They're actually hurting your AI visibility. 5. Be everywhere LLMs crawl Repurpose your content across Reddit, Medium, LinkedIn, and YouTube. These platforms get crawled heavily by AI, and showing up on them regularly builds brand visibility. LLMs love patterns. The more places they see you, the more they assume you’re an authority. 6. Technical setup - Use HTML-driven pages - Add schema markup - Clean site architecture (no page more than 3 clicks from homepage) - Ensure your critical content loads server-side (most AI crawlers don't render JavaScript) 7. Traditional Search Feeds AI Most AI tools use Bing or Google's index for real-time data. Better search rankings directly improve AI visibility.

If you’re leading SEO in 2026, here’s a practical playbook I’m seeing work: simple, repeatable, and measurable. 1. Measure total search visibility (not just rankings) Track where your brand appears across classic SERPs and AI answers. If you’re not measuring mentions, citations, and referenced pages, you’re flying blind. 2. Establish an AI visibility baseline Before optimizing, benchmark how often AI tools mention you vs competitors. You need a starting point to prove progress. 3. Study who AI already trusts Look at competitors that get cited consistently. Reverse-engineer: – Topics they own – How their answers are structured – Why AI prefers them 4. Research prompts, not just keywords People don’t “search” in AI, they ask. Map real questions users ask AI and identify: – Intent – Difficulty – Brands mentioned This replaces classic keyword research for many use cases. 5. Monitor brand sentiment inside AI answers AI doesn’t just mention brands, it frames them. Track how your brand is described: – Strengths highlighted – Weaknesses repeated – Narratives forming over time 6. Create content designed to be cited This is where most content fails. Winning formats: – Direct answers first – Clear definitions – Tables, FAQs, structured sections – Claims backed by data or examples If AI can’t extract the answer easily, it won’t reference you. 7. Track high-value prompts continuously Treat prompts like keywords with intent. Monitor when you gain or lose visibility so you can react early. 8. Audit your site for AI accessibility Check for: – Blocked AI crawlers – Weak internal linking – Missing or broken structured data – Pages AI can’t parse properly Technical SEO now directly impacts AI visibility. 9. Report SEO + AI together One dashboard. One story. Include: – AI mentions growth – Traditional rankings – Traffic impact – Competitive share – ROI If leadership only sees SEO or AI separately, you’ll underinvest in both: AI search isn’t replacing SEO. It’s raising the bar. The teams that win won’t chase tricks. They’ll build systems that make their expertise easy to understand, easy to trust, and easy to reuse. And this is where tooling matters. Platforms like Semrush make this transition practical: combining classic visibility metrics, competitive research, content structure insights, and technical audits into one workflow. Not to “game” AI, but to understand where you’re trusted, where you’re invisible, and what to fix first.

I’ve been doing SEO since 1997. My approach today has evolved radically (and continues to adapt with each new Google or AI update). Here are 14 things you should focus on in 2025: 👇 1. 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆-𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗘𝗢 Make sure your brand has a clear, consistent entity description across the web. LLMs and Google both build their understanding from semantic consistency. 2. 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 Backlinks still matter—but citations in ChatGPT and AI Overviews are the new trust signals. If you’re not being mentioned, you’re invisible. 3. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 LLMs weigh what’s said about you just as much as what you publish. Secure positive mentions across press, partners, and affiliates. 4. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 Mine support logs, reviews, and interviews. Real customer language is fuel for FAQs, FUQs, and product positioning. 5. 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 Think subject → object → predicate. Write so both humans and machines clearly understand relationships between entities. 6. 𝗙𝗨𝗤𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗔𝗤𝘀 Frequently Unasked Questions are the goldmine. Fill content gaps others ignore and LLMs will reward you with visibility. 7. 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗟𝗠 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 Track where your brand is showing up in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews. It’s the new rank tracking. 8. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Mention competitors on your own pages. Counterintuitive, but it lets you frame the narrative when AI scrapes comparisons. 9. 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: 𝗧𝗢𝗙𝗨, 𝗠𝗢𝗙𝗨, 𝗕𝗢𝗙𝗨 Don’t just optimize for conversions. Make sure your brand shows up across the whole buyer journey—from awareness to decision. Add value at each step. 10. 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, podcasts. AI pulls from all of it. If you’re not present, you don’t exist in the results. 11. 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 Stop chasing clicks. Focus on impressions, citations, and sentiment. They’re leading indicators of future growth. 12. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 From Wikidata to affiliates, make sure partners, profiles, and press use the same language to describe your brand. 13. 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 Don’t just chase head terms. Optimize for the 10–15 word “prompt-like” queries; these drive AI citations and conversions. 14. 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝗵, 𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗲, 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁 Audit, identify gaps, optimize, and measure every 90 days. The fundamentals haven’t changed, only the platforms. SEO is evolving. So should your strategy. __ #LLMOptimization #SEO #growthmarketing

Dear CEOs and Founders, Seeing Google Search Console impressions up but clicks down? It's a common SEO puzzle! This often means your content is visible, but not compelling enough to click, or Search Engine Results Page (SERP) changes are at play. Key Reasons for this trend: 1. SERP Feature Changes: Google frequently updates the SERP layout with features like video carousels, image packs, featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, and ads. These can push your organic listing down, reducing visibility and clicks. 2. Featured Snippets and AI Overviews: A featured snippet (position zero) or AI Overview can answer a user's query directly on the SERP, eliminating the need to click through to your site. This leads to higher impressions but fewer clicks. 3. Google Ads: More paid ads above organic results decrease visibility and lower your Click-Through Rate (CTR). 4. Irrelevant Keywords and Content Mismatch: Ranking for irrelevant keywords or having a search snippet that doesn't accurately reflect user intent can deter clicks. 5. Low Ranking Position: While impressions may increase from ranking for more keywords, appearing in lower positions (e.g., on the second page) significantly reduces clicks. 6. Unappealing Titles and Meta Descriptions: Poorly crafted or truncated titles and meta descriptions fail to attract users. 7. Competition: Stronger or more compelling search results from competitors can draw clicks away. 8. Structured Data Issues: Errors can remove rich snippets, reducing visual appeal and CTR. What you can do to improve clicks on your website? 1. Analyze your data: Use Google Search Console's Performance report to identify specific queries and pages with high impressions but low clicks. 2. Optimize titles and descriptions: Craft engaging, keyword-rich meta titles and descriptions that accurately reflect your content and encourage clicks. Consider using numbers or emotional triggers. 3. Improve ranking position: Focus on SEO strategies to achieve higher rankings for relevant keywords, as higher positions generally yield higher CTRs. 4. Use schema markup: Implement schema markup to enable rich snippets, making your search results more visually appealing and informative. 5. Match search intent: Ensure your content aligns with the intent behind your target keywords. Provide comprehensive answers for informational queries or strong product pages for commercial ones. 6. Monitor and adapt: Continuously observe your CTR and other key metrics in Search Console. A/B test different titles, descriptions, and content formats to see what resonates best with your audience. By carefully analyzing your data and implementing strategic changes, you can improve your CTR and drive more qualified traffic to your website! Drop a comment below if you're doing something different to improve clicks on your website from search engines. Thank you!

Programmatic SEO isn’t a shortcut; it’s a smarter way to scale visibility and make better use of your archives—without reinventing the publishing wheel. While breaking news is the heartbeat of a newsroom, it often fades fast in search. Evergreen visibility comes from patterns—recurring topics, places, and people. Programmatic SEO helps you structure those patterns. It enables publishers to create hundreds or thousands of search-optimised pages using templates, internal data, and automation. Think: → Tag pages for evolving topics like “Net Zero” → Location-based pages like “Sydney Crime News” → Profile hubs for public figures that appear regularly When built with strong internal linking, unique metadata, and structured data like NewsArticle, BreadcrumbList, or ProfilePage schema, these pages can rank consistently and support editorial SEO. What kind of programmatic templates work for news publishers? Programmatic SEO isn’t one-size-fits-all. Here are some effective template types newsrooms can deploy at scale: 1. Topic or Tag Hubs 2. Consolidate reporting around recurring themes like /topic/net-zero/ or /tag/sydney-crime/. 3. Location-Based Pages 4. Structure geo-specific news into URLs like /nsw/sydney/crime/ or /vic/melbourne/transport/. 5. Public Figure or Entity Profiles 6. Automatically surface all content linked to key figures at URLs like /profile/elon-musk/ or /profile/penny-wong/. 7. Event or Match Hubs 8. Reuse evergreen URLs for high-interest live updates (e.g. /aus-vs-eng-cricket-2025/ or /us-election-2024/), updating only the content and metadata as needed. 9. Numeric Utility Pages (Calculator-style) 10. Like the CollegeSimply “11 out of 13” calculator, news publishers can create calculators for: → Election swing or margin calculations → Budget impact estimates 11. Sports ladder/points progression   → These templates answer long-tail queries with low content effort but high traffic potential. The key? Align editorial planning with scalable SEO opportunities. Recurring topics, locations, and public figures are low-effort, high-return content opportunities when supported by structured templates, search-optimised metadata, and strong internal linking. 🔑 Key Takeaways: ✅ Focus on topic hubs, location pages or archive summaries for long-term ranking. ✅ Use scalable templates with titles, meta descriptions and H1s optimised for search intent. ✅ Link related articles to hub pages to build authority and relevance. ✅ Add structured data and prioritise Core Web Vitals for better indexing. ✅ Monitor crawl stats; deindex or merge thin pages to maintain site health. Done well, programmatic SEO boosts traffic, improves navigation, and strengthens authority. It’s not about publishing more, it’s about structuring what already exists in your CMS so it can be found. Leading a content team & want to explore this further, I’m happy to share frameworks to get started. #SEO #NewsPublishing #ProgrammaticSEO #DigitalPublishing

AI search is rapidly changing how content gets discovered. To stay visible, the foundation still matters. Before chasing complex strategies, strengthen the basics that help your content show up in LLM-powered results. Start here: ✔️ Right Topic: Focus on high-value queries your audience actively searches for. ✔️ Right Format: Comparative, structured content performs best for AI and readers. ✔️ Clean Metadata: Keep authors, publication dates, H1s, and meta descriptions current. ✔️ Strong Opening: Speak to your persona’s pain point and define your product category early. ✔️ Readable Structure: Use lists and tables that LLMs and humans can both interpret easily. ✔️ FAQ Section: Close with specific answers to likely follow-up questions. ✔️ Competitor Mentions: Add them neutrally to improve credibility. ✔️ Trusted Links: Reference G2, Gartner, or Capterra to back your claims. ✔️ Real Stories: Include customer outcomes and ROI data to strengthen authority. AI search rewards clarity, structure, and authenticity; not volume. Curious how visible your brand is in AI search today? Reach out for an AI SEO Visibility Report and see where you stand.

ChatGPT is breaking the monopoly of position 1. New research from Profound (via Josh Blyskal) shows something we need to start accounting for - ChatGPT doesn’t treat top-ranking URLs like humans do. While the 1st result on Google gets 27.6% of all clicks, ChatGPT cites it in only 10.1% of AI answers. That’s a 3x drop in attention. Why? Because LLMs like ChatGPT treat the full first page, positions 1 through 10, as a near-equal set of candidates. The weight it gives to rank 7 is not that different from rank 2. Humans don’t behave this way. But AI does. ‼️ If you're a brand investing in SEO, this changes the game. 𝗜𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝟭 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗜 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. Your position 8 URL can easily be cited in AI answers, even when users never scroll that far in classic search. So if you’ve already nailed your technical SEO, content publishing, and backlink campaigns, here’s what to do next: 1. Audit your page 1 URLs. Where are you ranking 4–10 for important topics? That’s now viable real estate in AI search. Don’t ignore it, optimize it. 2. Refresh content with LLM summarization in mind. Pages in 4–10 positions should present clear, structured answers. Use formatting, schema, and updated language. Make your message LLM-digestible. 3. Map questions to those URLs. Use tools like AlsoAsked or your own AI query mapping to understand what types of prompts could surface your URL, then reinforce those answers. 4. Track AI citations. Start benchmarking when, how, and why your pages appear in ChatGPT and Perplexity answers. This is your new visibility layer. 5. Shift your mindset from keyword-first to entity cluster visibility. Start thinking in terms of clusters, not terms. Get broader coverage in the knowledge layer, the LLM, not just the SERP. SEO has always been about visibility. But the mechanics of attention are shifting. Image credit: Profound

Stop thinking SEO is just rankings. It isn’t. The rules changed before most people noticed. In 2026, visibility doesn’t come from keywords alone. It comes from how machines understand you. This is the real search stack now: SEO Search Engine Optimization Foundations still matter. ↳ Keywords create relevance ↳ Backlinks build trust ↳ Technical health removes friction AIO AI Optimization You’re no longer writing just for people. ↳ Create machine-readable content ↳ Show up in trusted data sources ↳ Train models through consistent signals GEO Generative Engine Optimization AI decides who gets recommended. ↳ Use structured, summarizable formats ↳ Add schema and entity clarity ↳ Make your content quotable AEO Answer Engine Optimization Zero-click is the new front page. ↳ Write direct answers ↳ Optimize for snippets ↳ Own the highlight SXO Search Experience Optimization Traffic means nothing without action. ↳ Improve speed and clarity ↳ Align content with intent ↳ Build conversion paths Old SEO chased traffic. New SEO chases understanding.

Last night my client asked: “Why does SEO even matter if people don’t click anymore?” And I couldn’t shake that question. Because he’s right. People don’t always visit your site now, they see your answer before they ever leave Google. Welcome to the new reality of Zero-Click Search, where visibility matters more than traffic, and credibility outperforms click-throughs. Google isn’t just ranking pages anymore, it’s selecting voices. So if your content isn’t showing up in featured snippets, knowledge panels, or AI summaries… It’s not invisible to users, it’s invisible to the algorithm that shapes their decisions. Here’s how to stay visible when no one’s clicking: ✅ Own the snippet space. ↳ Write clear, concise answers to common questions right at the top of your content. ✅ Use structured data. ↳ Help Google understand and feature your information accurately. ✅ Target intent, not vanity keywords. ↳ Focus on what users want to know, not just what they type. ✅ Design for scannability. ↳ Use short paragraphs, lists, and visuals that make information easy to extract. ✅ Build topical authority. ↳ Link your pages together so Google sees you as the expert on your subject. Because the game has changed, it’s not about who gets the click, it’s about who gets the spotlight. The brands that adapt to Zero-Click SEO will dominate visibility. The rest will keep wondering where their traffic went.

👇 Major development just dropped: 📊 Microsoft has launched AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools - a brand-new way to measure visibility not by clicks or rankings, but by how often your content is cited in AI-generated responses across Bing and Copilot. That changes the game. If AI doesn’t reference you in its answer, you’re effectively invisible - even if your SEO dashboards look healthy. What drives those citations isn’t traditional authority anymore. It’s: • Freshness & updates • Original insights • Clear structure & semantically rich content • Independent reviews, expert roundups & comparisons • Third-party discussions and social proof These signals tell AI systems “this is trustworthy, current, and worth citing.” Over time, repeated citations compound into preference - a real moat. This is the shift from SEO → GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) - optimizing for being selected in generative answers, not just ranking. Old visibility model: Rank high → Get clicks → Convert New visibility model: Get cited → Become the answer → Capture demand before a click If your content & distribution strategy hasn’t adapted to AI-native search yet, it’s time. Ask yourself: 🔹 Are we showing up in independent comparisons? 🔹 Are third parties citing us? 🔹 Are we publishing content AI systems want to reference? 🔹 Are we tracking citation visibility, not just rank? In 2026, visibility isn’t about position. It’s about presence inside the answer. How are you adapting your visibility strategy for generative search?