Louis Smith

ECommerce Traffic & Conversion Strategist

ECommerce SEO services (when done right) will help you increase your online organic sales. Use my proven results, tools, skills and SEO software that have helped clients generate £80million+ in MRR on Google.

Ecommerce Growth Specialist Helping Brands hit 7-9 figure growth 📈

Rebel Aromas Inspired Fragrances

At Rebel Aromas, I lead the digital marketing and growth strategy, transforming our vision into a 7-figure brand. From branding to performance marketing, I’ve overseen our e-commerce development, SEO, and paid media, driving triple-digit growth and scaling our DTC presence across the UK market.

Key achievements:

- Spearheading digital marketing efforts to grow Rebel Aromas into a 7-figure revenue brand
- Built and optimised our Shopify storefront for conversion and organic visibility
- Developed and executed full-funnel paid social and search campaigns
- Working as part of the incredible growth team
- Grew our online community and brand presence from the ground up

In addition to leading strategy, I’ve implemented data-driven CRO tactics to improve user experience and increase AOV continually. I’ve also applied deep e-commerce SEO expertise, from technical audits to content optimisation. Helping us rank for high-intent, purchase-driven keywords and drive consistent organic revenue.

Co-Founder

Upwork

Ecommerce Search Engine Optimization Specialist

Flyhighdigital

Owner

Sports specific

Web Developer

Sports specific 

Project Manager

Total Fitness

Certified Personal Trainer

Assistant Manager

Bring Digital

Working on developing new and existing websites through wordpress content management system (CMS).

Ecommerce SEO Consultant To 5x Your Traffic and Profits 📈 helped drive $80million+ MRR | Enterprise Shopify Search Engine Optimisation Specialist

Do you want to increase traffic and profits with SEO?

Here’s the truth. 

You might be:

- Consistently losing revenue to competitors 
- Losing customers because of bad UX
- Failing to create a solid site structure
- Giving up abandoned cart revenue 
- Stuck with stagnant traffic growth

Get help from an ECommerce SEO specialist that’s helped medium to fortune500 eCommerce brands generate over $100million in MRR. 

You need to build profits with SEO. You can then invest in other channels to continue the growth of your business. 

Rated in the top 1% of the worlds best SEOs, I’ve ranked 1000s of keywords in tough niches and helped brands dominate Google search. 

Over 9 years I’ve:

- Helped 50+ eCommerce brands scale with SEO  
- Helped one brand generate £80million+ MRR
- Helped brands rank for 1000s of keywords 
- Helped brands with a 50% increase in growth on Google in just 5 months. 

What can I help you with?

3x your organic sales and market share. 

If you own an eCommerce brand, I can help you scale with eCommerce SEO that gets you more sales on Google. 

ECommerce platforms I can help you with: 

- Shopify SEO
- WooCommerce SEO 
- bigCommerce SEO
- Magento SEO

(SEO audits, link building, content marketing, technical SEO)

Over 9 years I’ve helped a brands from small to medium, and enterprise increase organic sales. Working with brands such as:

- Ling’s Moment 
- Lifehack
- Otrium 
- Lenovo

And more.

I've taken underperforming e-commerce businesses and turned them into selling machines through SEO. 

Nothing but the best results is acceptable from me and I will do what’s needed to increase your eCommerce sales. 

What my clients say - "Absolute amazing quality of service and knowledge, the video provided regarding SEO audit was truly brilliant, the first time I have found someone that knows exactly what they are talking about, sending another project over to Louis to work on. He found many problems on my site that can easily be rectified. Thank you again".

I free up your time so you can focus on growing your business. 

Here’s the thing, you can rely on me to take care of the full SEO strategy/marketing, to generate more sales.

Don’t let your competitors take your sales.

What to do next?

Drop me a quick message or email at seo@louissmith.co.uk 

Thanks,

Louis, a leading eCommerce SEO Dubai consultant.

https://www.louissmith.co.uk/

Search Engine Optimization Specialist

I saw this wifeframe breakdown on creating a page template to rank on LLMs.

But the most interesting part:

It goes back to "real" page/data quality.

(like SEO teams should be doing)

Ahrefs created this page on:

1. structuring page template for LLMs
2. optimising specific layouts
3. including key data points
4. using originality 
5. using real data

And, cutting fluff to answer intent straight away.

I believe they're launching a blog this week. 

-----

I am still calling it "GOOD SEO".

Which is what's crushing search.

But we can align it and build citable templates for LLM-generated answers.

Or, at least test it.

Have you given a thought to templates?

eCommerce & SEO Leader | Shopify Growth Strategist | Driving Revenue via Organic & Paid Channels | DTC & Retail | Global markets

I don't care if you call it SEO, AEO, GEO, I'm still asking these 41 questions with an eCommerce audit to improve ROI with organic search:

I don't want issues that won't move the needle.

We need to find what DOES move the needle.

Here are the 41 "ROI" key points I will be reviewing:

(With a focus on themed clustering for traffic)

1. is the topical architecture helping or hurting?
2. are key product pages buried?
3. how does the product catalogue look?
4. is internal linking distribution doing its job?
5. is the navigation working for users and crawlers?
6. are “money” pages crawlable?
7. is link equity leaking instead of helping?
8. are search pages bloating the index?
9. are they missing easy wins on query targeting?
10. are commercial pages too deep in the structure?
11. is trending product/commerce data used?
12. is crawl budget being wasted?
13. is external link equity being leveraged?
14. is the silo structure relevant and strong?
15. are templates consistent and optimised?
16. are funnel templates helping conversion + crawl?
17. are parameters causing crawl chaos?
18. are customer segments used for site structure?
19. will revenue stay flat due to IA issues?
20. are canonicals clean or a mess?
21. are pages actually matching SERP intent?
22. is domain authority used strategically?
23. is traffic stagnating due to the architecture?
24. are clusters/theming working?
25. are blogs working entry points or fluff?
26. how is their seasonal content and navigation plan?
27. are out-of-stock products appropriately handled?
28. is pagination creating crawl inefficiencies?
29. are H1s and titles supporting the page’s topical role?
30. is UX messing with SEO (e.g. JS rendering)?
31. are internal searches used for the content strategy?
32. are brand/non-brand keyword strategies used?
33. is social proof being used on-page and off-page?
34. is the merchant feed optimised for shopping?
35. are attributes used?
36. how is content distributed?
37. how is the brand, "branding"?
38. who in the team is doing what?
39. why has SEO not worked previously?
40. can your team act fast?
41. is your ICP understood across SKU themese?

Also.

Can Google/LLMs crawl your pages?

Can we build on the 10% of your Shopify product catalogue that drives profits?

This is a manual audit, no PDF export, and it's an audit workflow I've built over the years.

No large eCom site has a perfect health score.

But we can segment changes for traffic/conversion growth.

Adding to this list?

eCommerce Shopify SEO growth strategist helping you increase traffic and conversions

ecommerce audit consultancy audit louis smith

I can't believe I almost got kicked out of Dubai 3 weeks ago, here’s what happened:

Day 1 landing, we all got Covid.

I was running off 7% health battery. 

That was for like 9 days. 

My 2 year old was so ill. 

My wife was a rock for us. 

I also had to keep helping clients. 

And I kept posting on Linkedin. 

Had to take calls. 

Anyway.

My wife fails her medical. 

Disaster. 

£35,000 wasted if she doesn’t pass. 

And a prompt flight back to the UK. 

5 days we waited. 

Our lives on hold. 

My wife visited the the doctors at least 3 times. 

(It was almost a 2 hour round trip)

Literally mental torture. 

Our visa company just apologised and said there’s nothing they can do and we need to sit tight. 

So we did. 

Days went by. 

Sould crushing.

Then.

GOOD NEWS. 

The email comes in, you’ve passed. 

The last 3 weeks had real lows. 

We almost called it a day. 

But, it was also filled with highs when the news came in. 

I suppose leaving your comfort zone (migrating) was never going to be easy.

Or everyone would do it?

P.S everything now is going so well, routine is in, and I’m mega happy for my little family.

I guarantee most eCom brands are NOT speaking Google's language and handling how Google is crawling your store:

Spending $$$ on backlinks won't save a sinking ship:

(common eCom errors)

- JS crawling errors (common)
- 301 & 302 redirects scaling
- 404 errors growing rapidly
- server errors (5xx)
- HTML issues

I get it.

You have 1000's of SKUs.

Products are being deleted. Made out of stock. Redirected to new SKUs.

This causes a disaster for crawlers, and it compounds.

Don't ignore your tech SEO data.

Try this instead.

Ask your SEO team to track and monitor.

Not every technical SEO fix will move the needle.

But, fix key problems.

A good SEO will help Google crawl, render and rank your pages.

(Other LLMs will thank you for it too.)

Try understanding how Google is crawling your eCommerce store. 

It's hard to rank what it can't crawl.

P.S. The Image is an example of Search Console data and areas you should be looking out for and tracking.

ecommerce technical seo ecommerce google search console

Shopify SEO: I see so many merchants wasting 6-figures yearly on SEO. But here's the secret:

You CAN be pulling levers that move the needle.

Your Shopify SEO is to send customers to your product catalogue.

A blended goal for your Shopify SEO campaign can be:

(Black Friday season is HUGE!)

- work on SEO for 6 -12 months
- see a 17% uplift in non-branded clicks
- then a 28% uplift MoM in clicks
- push for a 52% YoY rise in clicks
- increase conversion rate (CRO) by 2%

See profit growth.

What can you do over the next 90 days?

I would 100% segment your collections.

I would be working on your taxonomy.

I would clean crawling issues.

I would create new BoFu pages.

I would be improving the hierarchy.

I would improve schema & PDP attributes.

I would create supporting content (niche-dependent)

These changes compound.

Traffic sticks. Conversions rise. SEO becomes a revenue channel (not a checkbox).

TAM is limited.

Don't waste it.

Is too much marketing budget wasted?

Ecommerce research: Wow this study analysed 2,500 product prompts and found a $trillion-dollar brand doesn't = best visibility in AI search:

But being the biggest brand means crushing AI search, right?

NOPE.

I love understanding how AI is featuring eCom brands.

Scaling a $2 trillion in market value doesn't mean you will win in AI.

Here's some context around the product study:

- 2,500 product prompts analysed in study
- audit on ChatGPT and Google AI Mode
- focused on 5 verticals including fashion
- Amazon powers 35% of ChatGPT prompts
- Amazon powers 20% in Google AI
- Amazon rarely mentioned by name
- Etsy has top Share of Voice
- Etsy mentioned more than Amazon
- October: Etsy SOV spikes sharply
- marketplaces used mostly for pricing data
- LLMs mention brands, not just sources

So it's not just the source of product data for AI.

But who gets mentioned for the prompt.

What I'm looking at for clients:

- product pages LLMs can parse easily
- mentions in trusted sources (not just listings)
- UGC/reviews to help your brand
- data accuracy across the web

Because in AI search, being the source doesn’t guarantee visibility.

You need to be the one who gets named.

But this is POWERED from GOOD SEO.

Check out the Semrush Enterprise AI Visibility Indexcase study (link in comments)!

#SemrushPartner

Brand partnership • eCommerce Shopify SEO growth strategist helping you increase traffic and conversions

🚨 2,500 ecom product prompts analysed in AI study 🛍️

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

We helped a cross-platform video download tool hit 25,000+ traffic with a 17% conversion rate.

The client already had strong SEO results.

But search behaviour is shifting. More people now ask ChatGPT and Claude for software recommendations instead of Googling.

We spotted the gap... and filled it.

In a few months, we built content that

→ ranked on Google,
→ got cited by AI platforms,
→ and turned readers into downloaders.

Now, AI search and organic content work together as steady traffic and conversion channels.

Swipe through to see exactly how we did it.
__

Found this useful? Pls like, share, and leave a comment 👇

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

HOW WE DROVE 25K LLM TRAFFIC, CONVERTING AT 17%

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.

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 👇

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)

How do I optimise my website for LLM SEO?

I've been asked this loads lately. The answer's simpler than you'd think.

Last month, I tested a client's site on ChatGPT. Barely got a mention.

Few tweaks later, they're now:

→ Cited consistently across ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity
→ Converting at 10% (Google sits at 2%)
→ Actually visible in AI search

Watch the video for the exact fixes 👇

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👇

This Week in SEO had a bit of everything.

Google’s testing AI Mode, giving Digital PR some love, and tidying up old schema.


Here’s what you missed 👇

➔ AI Mode testing continues in Search

➔ Digital PR now plays into AI visibility

➔ Several schema types officially retired

➔ Audit tool scores don’t equal SEO success

Swipe for the details.

—
Found this helpful? Give it a like or share ♻️

I’ve built hundreds of marketing campaigns over 10+ years. 

Over time I’ve noticed a few interesing patterns/rules I keep coming back to: 

1. 𝐆𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐬

A smart message in the wrong place looks like a bad message. 

Learn where your buyers hang out and what they pay attention to, then put most of your effort into those channels first.

2. 𝐃𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭

There is a quote I like: do it first, do it better, and do it consistently. 

Speed gets you signal, quality gets you trust, and consistency compounds results.

3. 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫

Not a committee, not a Slack channel. One person who is accountable for getting it live, watching the numbers, and making the call on what happens next.

4. 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜

Decide upfront what success looks like. Pipeline, trial signups, SQLs, something you can actually measure. 

If a task does not move that number, it is a lower priority.

5. 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞

Before you write copy, talk to customers or read call transcripts. 

Steal their exact words for hooks and headlines. It will always beat clever slogans.

6. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡

Every campaign should ship with a simple testing list. Headlines, offers, audiences, follow ups. When results come in, you already know what to try next.
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PS: If you want to swap notes on what’s actually working in your campaigns right now, drop a comment and let’s chat 👇

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 👇

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

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

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

I’ve noticed this a lot lately; in other teams, and honestly, in ours at Embarque too.

We’re great at planning.

And that’s fine. Planning matters.

But it becomes a problem when the strategic starts becoming a bottleneck to the tactical.

You can easily get caught chasing the “perfect” strategy, and before you know it, nothing’s actually shipped.

Strategy without action is just theory. You need some kind of motion… even if it’s messy at first.

That’s why I love this quote from Osmani:

“𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓.”

→ Ship the first version of your strategy
→ Learn from users, data, outcomes
→ Then tweak, improve, and scale

𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨… 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦. The mix keeps things grounded and stops ideas from dying in slides.

Because when strategy stands still, momentum dies.

And when action has no direction, chaos wins.

The goal is to get both moving together.

How do you keep strategy and execution in sync on your team? Let’s chat in the comments.

Many SEO strategies look great in theory but flop in execution.

After developing 100+ strategies and helping brands like MentorCruise hit 16x year-on-year revenue growth, here’s what the anatomy of a good one really looks like:

→ 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭: if your SEO isn’t making money, it’s not making sense.

→𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 (𝐚𝐤𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦): nothing sadder than optimising for keywords or channels your company has no need for. 

 → 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭: stop copying competitors. Do audience research—interviews, surveys, Reddit dives—before writing.

→ 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬: before launching long-term stuff, find easy wins. From experience, small content updates alone have helped some clients gain good traction.

→ 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥-𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞: don’t get tunnel-visioned on blogs lol. Include comparison pages, case studies, and decision-stage content.

→ 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬: traffic is vanity. Track revenue or solid proxy metrics that show growth.

→ 𝐅𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: your initial roadmap shouldn’t be sacred. Adjust and iterate as things change.

→ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: SEO is search everywhere now; AI tools, Reddit, even TikTok.

→ 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: build systems that can grow with your business.

Good SEO is a measurable, revenue-driven growth engine. And if you're not having at least 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 fun building it, you're doing it wrong.

PS: What did I miss? Let’s chat.

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

MentorCruise

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 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

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