Embarque

Providing high-quality SEO strategy for many successful 8-figure tech businesses across 5 continents, including Flick, Buy Me a Coffee, VEED.IO, Levels.Fyi, ScrumGenius and MentorCruise.

Director

jic94.com

Worked with:
- United Nations 
- Netflix
- Atlassian
- Truss
- POCIT
- AB Tasty
- Mention
- Royal Collection 
- State of Digital 
- EVS

Freelance Digital Strategist

Grow w/ revenue-driven SEO | Clients: Riverside, VEED, MentorCruise, Buy Me a Coffee | Read our case studies

Hey, I’m Jules, the founder of Embarque. Want to implement your SEO content strategy successfully? Hire us!

We’re powering the growth of 8-figure businesses using the power of ROI-driven SEO.

You’ve probably heard of some of our clients: Riverside, VEED, Flick, EmailOctopus, Buy Me a Coffee, VEED.IO, Levels.Fyi, ScrumGenius and MentorCruise & many more.

We provide high-quality end-to-end SEO services at unrivaled rates and have the case studies to back it up.

If you’re interested in working with us, check out our case studies or drop me a DM.

If not, drop me a follow for more content on:

* Growing a productized business
* Community-centric content strategy
* SEO for founders, startups, marketplaces, bootstrappers, and communities

See you around!

Jules Ignacio Canlas

There’s plenty of talk about LLM SEO right now, but very little agreement on

→ what actually influences LLM citations
→ how it fits into a broader SEO strategy
→ what the overall end goal should be

That lack of clarity is exactly where budgets and effort start going sideways.

Swipe through this carousel to break down the biggest misconceptions and get a clearer picture of what LLM SEO really is. 👇

Grow revenue w/ leadgen-driven AI LLM SEO | +25 SEO case studies on Embarque.io

9 Things LLM SEO Isn’t!

This week in SEO was messy but productive.

We had a giant acquisition, a massive outage, and Google quietly gave us a feature we have begged for for years.

Here is the quick tea:

➔ Adobe is buying Semrush

➔ LLMs.txt did not show any clear link to more AI citations in a big study

➔ A Cloudflare outage caused 5xx spikes, but only short-term SEO impact

➔ Search Console added custom annotations

Swipe through for the recap and a few easy wins. 👇
____

Found this useful? Please like, share, and save ♻️

THIS WEEK IN SEO

This week in SEO was low-key but actually pretty interesting.

Google cleared up a UX worry, took a playful jab at GEO, and slapped a warning label on AI Overviews.

Here is the quick tea:

➔ Background videos won’t hurt SEO if they load after your main content

➔ John Mueller joked about agencies selling future “GEO-Detox” services

➔ AI Overviews now come with a big 'double-check important information' warning

Swipe through for the details and what (if anything) you should change 👇

Your SEO 'problems' almost always have an explanation.

And sometimes, they don’t mean your 'SEO is dead' or 'your strategy is broken'.

There are usually perfectly reasonable explanations hiding underneath the panic.

Where do I start?

↳ 'Our traffic is down'
↳ 'Our SEO audit score is low'
↳ 'We’re getting fewer clicks from Google'

Let’s break these down.

1. 'Our traffic is down. SEO is failing.'

Traffic can drop for a lot of normal, even healthy, reasons:

↳ You cleaned up low quality or duplicate pages.
↳ Google stopped sending junk traffic from irrelevant queries.
↳ Seasonality kicked in.
↳ Branded search moved elsewhere, but sign ups stayed stable.

If demo requests, trials or sign ups are flat or up, a traffic drop is not always a crisis.

Sometimes it means you trimmed the noise and what’s left is more qualified.

2. 'Our SEO audit score is low.'

A low 'SEO score' from a tool is not the same as 'your SEO is bad'.

Those scores are rough indicators, not gospel. 

Even Google has said they do not use a single site 'score' to rank pages.

Use audits to spot technical blockers and obvious issues.

Do not treat 78/100 vs 92/100 as the difference between failure and success. Your revenue and qualified traffic tell the real story.

3. 'We’re getting fewer clicks from Google.'

Yes, AI overviews, Reddit results and other rich features can reduce some clicks.

That does not mean SEO is pointless. It means you need to:

↳ Prioritise keywords and pages where people still click.
 ↳ Double down on content that answers intent better than a one-line AI summary.
 ↳ Track leads and revenue that start with search, even if the path is messier.

So…

Before declaring SEO broken, ask:

What actually changed?
What do the conversions say?
Is this a real issue, or just different surface metrics?

If this calmed you a bit, share it with someone who’s stressed about their SEO and comment with the 'problem' you hear the most.

Google

Yes, you can fix your low SEO revenue.

(But you may not want to hear points 5, 6, and 7.)

Here’s everything I’ve learned from years of doing SEO for 200+ brand-new and mature sites:

1. 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜

↳ If the keyword doesn’t have a clear path to a lead, trial, or sale, it’s a nice-to-have. 

Revenue starts when you prioritise bottom and mid-funnel queries over random top-funnel ideas.

2. 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 → 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲𝐬

↳ One “money page” won’t save you. 

You need clusters that move people from “I have a problem” to “I’m ready to choose a vendor” with clear CTAs at every step.

3. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 (𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬)

↳ No CRM, no pipeline tracking, no attribution = you’re guessing

Until you can see which pages and queries drive deals, you’re doing SEO in the dark.

4. 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭

↳ The question isn’t “Is this 2,000 words?” It’s “Did this page bring in any qualified leads in the last 90 days?” 

Ruthlessly cut or improve the rest.

Now for the part you may not want to hear:

5. 𝐒𝐄𝐎 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫

↳ If your pricing, positioning, or product is off, more traffic will not magically create revenue. 

SEO amplifies demand… it doesn’t invent product–market fit.

6. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤

↳ You can send qualified organic leads all day. 

If replies are slow, demos are unstructured, or follow-up is lazy, your 'SEO problem' is actually a sales problem.

7. 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐨𝐧

↳ Going from £0 to meaningful organic revenue in 3–4 months on a new or weak domain is fantasy. 

Most solid cases I’ve seen hit real traction in 6+ months of consistent, focused work.
_____

Bonus:

8. 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞

↳ I’d take 500 visits/month that drive five good deals over 50,000 visits that convert no one. 

If your pipeline and invoices are growing, your SEO is working, even if your traffic graph looks modest.

P.S: Which of these stings a bit right now?

If I had to rebuild my SEO agency from scratch…

These are the 20 things I’d do from DAY ONE:

(Save this if you're planning to scale any agency or company)

1. Seek help early instead of pretending I could do everything alone.

2. Delegate strategically so I only focus on revenue and client results.

3. Build one signature offer before trying to sell eight different things.

4. Pick one niche and speak that niche’s language everywhere.

5. Document every repeatable process from day one.

6. Track lead sources properly so I stop guessing where clients come from.

7. Build a pipeline I can maintain daily, not when I “feel like it.”

8. Invest heavily in client onboarding so retention becomes a strength.

9. Build case studies as soon as I get my first tiny win.

10. Say NO to misfit clients even when cash feels tight.

11. Price based on value and outcomes, not hours or word count.

12. Treat my website like a product and improve it weekly.

13. Create content for buyers, not other SEOs.

14. Automate everything that doesn’t need a human brain.

15. Focus on long term relationships instead of one-off projects.

16. Build a small team of specialists rather than hiring generalists.

17. Stay consistent even when results are slow because SEO compounds, and so does trust.

18. Build a simple CRM and actually use it from day one.

19. Start collecting testimonials the moment clients say anything positive.

20. Prioritise predictable, recurring revenue instead of chasing random one-offs.

Follow these 20 and scaling becomes a lot less painful.

Repost if this helps another founder.

P.S. What's the ONE thing you wish you'd done sooner?

This week in SEO has been a busy one...

...with a few helpful reminders and some interesting updates across Google, GEO, and LLMs.

Here’s what stood out:

➔ Google’s tightening up guidance on review schema

➔ AI Overviews are mostly popping up for early-stage shopping searches

➔ Running the same site on multiple TLDs can work against you

➔ Canonicals really are case-sensitive

Swipe through for the full breakdown.
—

If you found this useful, a like or share goes a long way ♻️

Most SEOs overcomplicate SEO

You don’t need 200 ranking factors to succeed.

You just need the few that actually move the needle.

When you focus on those, you can:

→ Save time by cutting out low-impact tasks
→ See results faster with less trial and error
→ Build rankings that hold steady long-term

Swipe to see the 10 ranking factors to prioritise.
___

Found this useful? Pls like and share ♻️

10 SEO RANKING FACTORS TO PRIORITISE (2025)

Jobs to be done/pain point SEO content is still wildly underrated.
(yet it converts like crazy).

e.g., “How to do Y”

[where Y is a problem or process your product fixes.]

They convert well because the person typing that query is trying to make a very specific pain go away as soon as possible.

So don’t overthink it:

Start with one very unsexy but important question:

“My company is a business that solves __________.”

If you cannot fill that in clearly, you do not have an SEO problem, you have a PMF problem.

Next, we need more context: 

→ Ask sales what people say on calls right before they decide to buy
 → Ask support what problems keep popping up in tickets and live chat
 → Read demo notes, CRM fields and internal Slack messages for exact phrasing

Then write content about those problems, even if Ahrefs says "0 volume." People don’t stop having the problem just because your tool cannot see it.

When you write:

 → Lead with actual help first, not a product monologue
 → Weave your product into the solution in a calm, non-cringe way

It is not fancy, but this type of content quietly brings you people who are already halfway to “yes”.

PS: What did I miss? Let’s chat.

👉 Follow for daily, practical SEO lessons that actually move the needle.

It’s smart to prepare for LLM discovery early. Ignoring it would be shortsighted.

But sidelining the SEO strategy that’s currently feeding your pipeline doesn’t make sense either. 

That’s just swinging from one extreme to another, and neither reflects how search is actually evolving.

What we need right now is balance.

1. 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞

Whether we like it or not, this is where the majority of intent lives. People still go to Google to compare options, validate decisions and look for solutions.

2. 𝐋𝐋𝐌𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥

But the quality is high.

 – AI search traffic often converts better
 – LLM usage is rising quickly
 – And they’re becoming a new discovery layer

The sensible approach is both.

1. 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

If you’re not ranking for core topics, branded queries or comparison terms, LLMs won’t see you as credible either.

2. 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐋𝐌 𝐒𝐄𝐎 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡

And don’t raid your SEO budget to fund it. LLM optimisation deserves its own budget, its own goals and its own roadmap. One channel shouldn’t weaken the other.
—
I’d love to hear your take: do you agree? 

Let’s discuss in the comments👇

Many startup GTM strategies are fundamentally broken.

Here’s how to fix that. 
[Repost and save for later]

The uncomfortable truth is that most teams DON’T have a GTM strategy. They have a collection of activities.

If these sound familiar, you’re, sadly, one of them:

↘ You do not have a clear and simple ICP anyone on your team can repeat without thinking.

 ↘ Your positioning changes every quarter because 'this did not convert the way we hoped'.

 ↘ Most of your pipeline depends on the founder posting or hopping on calls.

 ↘ You cannot explain in one sentence how a stranger discovers you, trusts you, and becomes a customer.

 ↘ You are “testing channels” but not giving any of them a real chance to compound.

 ↘ Your content is optimised for impressions, not qualified demand.

 ↘ You panic-raise prices or discount heavily because CAC is creeping up, but you do not know why.


A real GTM motion looks very different:

↘ One clearly defined customer you are obsessed with.

 ↘ A message that is repeated so consistently the team is sick of hearing it.

 ↘ A small number of channels designed to compound over time (not just 'work this month').

This is exactly how I think about SEO and content at Embarque.

Not as 'we should probably blog more',
but as a GTM pillar that:

↘ brings in qualified buyers on autopilot

↘ reduces your dependency on founder-led chaos

↘ lowers CAC over time instead of quietly inflating it

If your GTM feels noisy, reactive, and exhausting, the problem is not that you are 'bad at marketing'.

It is that you are trying to grow on top of a shaky GTM foundation.

Fix that, and suddenly:

↘ every campaign has a place

↘ every channel has a job

↘ and your content, SEO, paid, and outbound start pulling in the same direction

P:S: Curious to hear where your GTM feels 'off'.

Comment below with the biggest GTM challenge you’re facing right now 👇

Willpower is a false prophet.

Every year, I made the same quiet promise to myself. 

(In about three weeks, most of us will be doing the same.)

“I’ll just push through this time. I’ll rely on willpower.”

Every time I leaned on willpower alone, it collapsed.

After repeating that cycle more times than I care to admit, I finally saw the issue.

I was treating willpower as a strategy instead of a spark.

Willpower is short-lived. It shows up when life feels calm and manageable, then slips away the moment stress or fatigue arrives. 

Yet we keep expecting it to carry our biggest goals.

Once I stopped doing that, everything shifted.

Instead of asking myself to be “stronger”, I started asking a better question:

How can I make this easier to follow, even on a bad day?

So I:

 → Built simple routines
 → Changed my environment so the better choice became the default
 → Reduced the number of decisions I had to make
 → Stopped waiting to “feel ready” and relied on structure instead

Willpower did not disappear. It simply moved into the role it was meant for.

It helps me start BUT structure helps me stay consistent.

I still make promises to myself. The difference now is that I no longer expect raw determination to carry me. 

I expect the systems I have built to support me when willpower inevitably fades.

So…

1. Treat willpower as a spark, not a system

Willpower can start change, but it will fold under pressure unless habits, structure, and systems handle the follow-through.

2. Blaming yourself hides the real problem
Most “failed” attempts come from weak systems, not weak character. Self-blame only slows down the redesign your goals actually need.

3. Design for bad days, not perfect ones

If your habits only work when life is calm and you are motivated, they are not built for real life yet.

4. Make the right action the easy action

Change sticks when your environment and routines make the better choice simpler, faster, and less stressful than avoiding it.

The moment you stop depending on willpower, real progress finally begins.

This week in SEO had a few genuinely useful updates, plus a core update that could move things around a bit.

Here’s a quick recap:

➔ Google expanded Preferred Sources and AI partnerships with publishers
➔ The EU opened an investigation into Google’s use of online content for AI
➔ Google started rolling out the December 2025 core update
➔ AI Mode now shows more visible, contextual links to websites

Swipe through the carousel for the details and what to do next. 👇 

—
Found this helpful? A like or share goes a long way. 

#seo #seotips #seoexpert

This Week in SEO: Core Update, AI Mode, EU

Want to stay ahead of the SEO game with the latest updates?

Most people react to changes without really understanding the impact.

But if you take a few minutes to adjust, you’ll keep your site optimized and ready for the future.

Here’s what you need to know:

→ OpenAI’s code red means ChatGPT is about to get way better

→ Google might ask you to rebuild your site if it’s stuffed with junk content

→ Big homepage videos? No problem if they load last

→ llms.txt? Don’t get too excited—it’s not officially supported

Swipe through to stay on top of these updates and make smarter SEO moves.

—

Found this useful? Pls like and share ♻

#seo #seotips #founders #ai #contentstrategy

This Week in SEO: llms.txt, OpenAI, Video SEO

Traffic is easy. Turning that traffic into qualified pipeline is the real test of SEO.

That is what we did for an MDM SaaS.


Before working with us they had:

➝ 3,700 monthly visits and weak conversions

➝ Educational content that did not convert

➝ Zero plan to win high intent searches


After our work together they:

➝ Added $250K+ in qualified pipeline

➝ Hit 8,500 monthly visits in six months

➝ Reached top three rankings for 94 high intent keywords

Swipe through for the full breakdown. 👇
__

If this helped, please like, save, and share ♻️

HOW WE BUILT A $250K PIPELINE FOR AN MDM SAAS WITH SEO

One of the biggest levers in LLM SEO is brand mentions.

This keeps showing up in the research, including what Ahrefs and Semrush have published.

It also matches what we are seeing in our internal data at Embarque. 

When a brand gets mentioned across the same sources LLMs pull from, it tends to appear more often in citations and recommendations. 

You become the safer, more obvious entity to reference.

That’s one of the ways we got >25k+ LLM sessions for a video downloader client.

So the goal is simple...

Get your brand mentioned in the places LLMs already use.

Here’s a simple way to do this:

1. Search your main topic on Google and in the LLMs your buyers use.
2. Collect the sources that keep getting referenced. Lists, comparisons, guides, glossaries, community posts, etc.
3. Put them in a Google Sheet. Track the URL, author or editor, whether you are already mentioned, and what you would need to be included.
4. Find the right contact. Writer, editor, partnerships lead, or content manager.
5. Reach out with a clear, helpful message and ask for inclusion. 

Not everyone replies. That is fine.

You do not need everyone. You need the right handful of sources that keep showing up across prompts.

Once you have done that, reinforce it with your own distribution:

- Create your own “best of” listicles where it makes sense to include yourself, and make the list genuinely useful.
-Join relevant subreddits and contribute. Mention your brand naturally when it is truly the best answer.
-Publish YouTube videos where your brand is mentioned in context.

Do this consistently and you start solidifying your brand as a trustable and citable entity for LLMs.

What do you think about this? Let’s chat in the comment 👇 

P.S: If you want help building and running this system, we do it at Embarque. Link is in my bio.

Google started testing an update to how they display links in AI Mode and AI Overviews.

Basically, they’re adding more links inside the AI answer, and short contextual intros around those links that explain why you should click.

It’s kind of funny because not long ago, Google was still saying clicks to publishers haven’t really dropped.

Now, ironically, they’re tweaking the UI to push more clicks.

It’s getting harder to truly trust Google, haha.

But the upside is solid.

If this is implemented well, it should do two things.

→ Send more traffic back to publishers.
 → Give us clearer signals for LLM citations, because those link intros are basically Google telling us what they value in a source.

When this goes live, try this.

1. Pull your top 10 money queries.
2. Check AI Mode and AI Overviews for those queries.
3. Write down which sources get linked and the exact “why click” context Google adds around them.
4. Drop everything into a sheet and tag the patterns you keep seeing.
Examples: original data, step by step instructions, pricing tables, comparison criteria, definitions, templates.
5. Then add those patterns back into your content so it becomes easier for an AI answer to justify linking to you. 

___

PS: What do you think about the new feature? Let’s chat in the comments. 👇 

Found this helpful? Like and repost

My non-negotiable rules for running successful marketing campaigns

(8 rules after partnering with 200+ clients)

1. Set one North Star revenue-based metric… then support it with only 1–2 secondary metrics. The more numbers you track, the less you actually manage.

2. Assign a clear point person for every campaign. No ownership = no outcome

3. Never run a campaign if you can’t explain the expected outcome in one clean sentence.

4. Launch fast, iterate, and refine.

5. Delegate strategically… not emotionally. Give tasks to the best owner, not the nearest person. This single shift doubles throughput.

6. Set a deadline (this one’s HIGHLY underrated and overlooked). But without deadlines, things can fall apart quickly. 

7. Build repeatable systems (briefs, SOPs, templates). Consistency isn’t talent, it’s infrastructure. Systems scale what talent starts.

8. Review campaigns weekly, not monthly. Momentum is built in short cycles. Monthly reviews are where good campaigns go to die.

Bonus: Great campaigns are never about doing more. 

They’re more about:

￫ reducing friction
￫ sharpening focus
￫ aligning a team behind one clear outcome

Focused teams → predictable results

That’s the whole game.

(Save + repost for later ♻️)

P.S. What’s one campaign rule you’ll never break again?

Want to know if LLMs are actually sending traffic to your site?

Most teams have no idea.

GA4 bundles LLMs into random “Referral” buckets, so you never see the full picture right off the bat.

Which means you’re probably missing valuable insights.

Your content might already be showing up in ChatGPT or Perplexity...

...but without the right setup, you can’t tell which pages are getting discovered or how those visitors behave.

We fixed that with a proper GA4 configuration.

Now you can:

➔ See which pages get surfaced by AI tools
➔ Understand how those users interact once they land
➔ Spot opportunities to improve rankings and scale visibility

This carousel shows you how to set it all up step by step.

—
Found this helpful? A like or share goes a long way. 

#seo #seotips #seoexpert

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