😻 Maeva Cifuentes

SEO & GEO for B2B SaaS // Coaching for women in service businesses

I run Flying Cat, a B2B SaaS-focused SEO and content consultancy. We specialize in Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and bottom-funnel content strategy, with deep expertise in international SEO when clients need to expand into French, German, Italian, and Spanish markets.

We've worked with ActiveCampaign, Hotjar, Klaviyo, Mixmax, D2L, Leapsome, Ivalua, and CoVet.

After a decade running a translation agency, I built Flying Cat on a simple premise: senior strategists should stay on accounts. No junior handoffs. No templated playbooks. I run the strategy, my team executes. We work directly with marketing leaders who need revenue from search, not just traffic.

📍 I post about SEO, GEO, AI visibility, and building a service business you actually want to run.

WHAT CLIENTS HAVE SAID:

"Flying Cat's approach led to a significant increase in monthly revenue and contributed to our rapid growth." - Rob Hartman, former Creative Director, Operto Guest Technologies

"Together, we were able to increase our yearly organic traffic by 700%. 56% of our traffic was coming through the blog. It was such a smooth partnership and really felt effortless on my side." - Molly Holcutt, Content Manager, Livestorm

"Within two quarters, we were able to drive an additional 80k visits to the website." - Joe Baugnet, Global SEO, ActiveCampaign

I also coach women who run service businesses. If you do excellent work but keep getting treated like a vendor, underpaid, over-explained-to, stuck in execution mode, I can help. My program teaches you how to position yourself as a strategic partner and have the client conversations you've been avoiding.
Follow @purposefulliving.co on Instagram for more on that.

maeva@flyingcatmarketing.com
🌐 @maevaeverywhere

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Content Marketing • Content Strategy • Content Agency • Content Marketing Agency  •  SEO Agency  •  AEO Agency  •  GEO Agency  •  SEO Consultant  •  AEO Consultant  •  AISEO Consultant

Angel Investor & Marketing Advisor

Investor and shareholder. Also, as fractional Head of Marketing/Marketing Advisor, I'm diversifying Spitche's revenue streams and acquisition channels, focusing on organic inbound growth.

Maeva Cifuentes

As a Colombian woman raised in America, I never felt strong patriotism until I watched Bad Bunny's historic half-time show.


I'm not sentimental. Few performances have moved me to tears.

But what he showed, inter-generational community, friends, family, joy, diversity, and LATINOS... this is America! I shed a tear. Because we've been so deep in disappointment, rage, hate about the state of the country, we forgot what it is that we're fighting for.

That show captured something real for me. Today, 20% of Americans are Hispanic. Here in California, we're the majority. I grew up surrounded by three very different cultures in my own household, in one of the most diverse cities in the country.

That diversity, that joy, that mix... that's the America I know, and that's what I moved back here for. And for the first time, I saw it reflected back on a national stage.

It was always hard for me to explain to people why I wanted to move back to the US, in the state that it's in now. But next time they ask, I'll just show them this show.

Yes Benito.... ya sabes!!!

EDIT: I did not just shed one tear. I watched it again and am unable to stop the tears.

🔥 B2B SaaS GEO & Search Everywhere Optimization // Founder, Flying Cat

"Just checking in!"
You've sent it. I've sent it. We've all sent it.

And it almost never works. Because it signals that you need something from them more than you're offering something to them.

Strategic follow-ups get responses because they add value instead of asking for attention. Swipe through for side-by-side examples.

More executive ways to follow up

People are saying SEO is worth LESS now.

Because it drives less traffic.

I did the research so you don't have to.

Yes, organic traffic is declining.

Ahrefs found AI Overviews reduce clicks by 34.5%.

Seer Interactive shows organic CTR dropped 61% for queries with AI Overviews.

60% of Google searches now end without a click.

And no... most of that traffic is not coming back.

We're heading toward a world where people do their entire buying journey inside AI.

They'll only visit your website at the very end, when they're ready to buy.

That future is coming.

But it's still 1-3 years out.

Right now, SEO is still your biggest traffic source.

Google search volume actually increased 21.6% last year.

I've seen conflicting data on how much rankings matter for AI citations.

One study says 92% of AI Overview citations come from pages already ranking in the top 10.

Another from BrightEdge says it's closer to 54% — and in e-commerce, only 22.9%.

Whichever number is true, I keep coming back to the same question:

If your traffic is tanking, is it actually because of AI?

Or is it because you're losing rankings?

Those are two very different problems. 

One requires a new strategy.

The other requires fixing your current one.

I see a LOT of websites blame AI when they're actually just losing traffic from SEO issues. Check yourself!

If your SEO says it's AI... ask for rankings status. The signal that AI is the issue is maintained or improved rankings with lost traffic.

The future of search is about getting recommended to the right people at the right time.

It's about being cited as the expert source.

It's about positive sentiment and accurate information about your brand.
SEO builds the foundation for all of it.

Strong rankings feed AI citations.

Quality content feeds AI recommendations.

Brand authority feeds AI trust signals.

The traffic game is shrinking.

The influence game is just getting started.

Save this if you're building for where search is going, not just where it's been.

Drop a 🔥 if you've already started shifting your strategy.

Every time you say 'it depends,' your client trusts you a little less.


When you hedge, qualify, and present options without a clear recommendation, you think you're being thorough. You're actually making them feel less safe. 

They came to you because they don't know the answer. If you seem unsure, they have nothing to anchor to.

Leaders with conviction create certainty for the people around them. When someone seems convinced they've chosen the best course of action, the people following them absorb that belief. Mirror neurons do this automatically. We relax when the person guiding us seems sure. We tense up when they don't.

This is why clients override your recommendations. This is why they second-guess your work. They're not doing it because you're wrong. They're doing it because you didn't seem certain, so they couldn't let go of their own doubt.

You don't have to be absolutely sure. You might be wrong. That's fine. Conviction isn't about being right every time. It's about being clear on what the data is telling you right now and making a recommendation based on that.

"Based on what I'm seeing, I'd go with A. Here's why. B and C are options if you want to prioritize X instead, but A gives us the best shot at Y."

"My recommendation is X. I've seen this work in similar situations, and the data supports it."

"If your goal is still Z, then I'd do X."

You can offer options. You can leave room for their input. But they should never have to guess what you actually think they should do.

If you've ever refreshed your inbox six times waiting for a client to respond, this one's for you.


Checking in "just to make sure you got my email." Over-explaining your reasoning so they won't think you made a bad call. Reading into a short reply and spiraling about whether they're upset. Saying yes to something that crossed a boundary because the idea of them being disappointed felt unbearable.

These patterns probably feel familiar outside of work too.
Anxious attachment doesn't stay in your dating life. It follows you into your client relationships. The same part of you that used to overanalyze a text is now overanalyzing a Slack message. The same part that tried to be the "cool, low-maintenance girlfriend" is now being the "easy, flexible contractor."

And it's costing you.

You over-deliver to feel secure. You undercharge because asking for more feels like risking the relationship. You tolerate scope creep because setting a boundary might make them leave. You make yourself smaller, more accommodating, more available than you actually want to be.

The work isn't just learning better business practices. It's recognizing that your nervous system is running the same script it always has, just in a different context.

Clients can feel when you need their approval more than they need your expertise. That energy shifts the power dynamic whether you want it to or not.

Security in client relationships doesn't come from being indispensable or easy to work with. It comes from trusting that you'll be okay if they leave.

I audited a brand's French market presence. Perplexity recommended their competitor 9 out of 10 times.

They rank #1 on Google for their main keyword.

Doesn't matter.

Here's why:

They rank for "what is [solution category]."

But that's not what people ask AI.

People ask AI "what's the best tool for [specific problem]."

Totally different query.

Totally different content strategy.

When purchase intent is high, AI doesn't pull from your educational blog post.

It pulls from content about the solutions, from all over the web.

Your website, yes, but also...

Reddit threads.

G2 and Capterra reviews.

YouTube comparisons.

Industry publications.

My clients competitor was all over those sources in the French market.

My client had been focusing on high-volume TOFU content... which is notoriously NOT about the product/solution.

The higher the purchase intent, the more AI pulls from third-party sources like review sites and forums.

So they built a content engine for informational queries.

But AI recommendations run on a completely different engine: reputation and third-party validation.

Things that I might do if I were looking to grow this more:

→ Audit where you show up (or don't) when AI answers buying questions in your category
→ Build presence on the platforms AI actually pulls from: Reddit, YouTube, review sites, niche forums
→ Earn mentions in publications your buyers trust
→ Stop measuring success by rankings alone

You can dominate Google and still be invisible when it matters most.

What have you done to get recommended more?

0 to 1,500,000 Organics/Month In 24 Months | Workello.com

I want to work with the most ambitious brands on the internet.

Nick Jordan 📈

This new data from Conductor's 2026 State of AEO report should terrify every CMO:

94% of the 250 top marketing leaders surveyed are increasing AEO investment in 2026.

And the rest of their findings reflect exactly what we’ve been seeing with clients:

→ 48% invested 10-20% of their marketing budget to AEO in 2025
→ 97% saw positive impact from AEO in 2025
→ LLM visitors convert at 2x the rate in 1/3 the sessions

The debate about if it’s ‘worth it’ is over, guys. The only question left is whether you're already too late.

Every competitor investing in AEO while you hesitate is capturing brand mentions in ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Mode. When your ICP searches for solutions, they're building trust with brands that show up everywhere.

The brands with "strong equity and historical SEO performance" are winning in AI answers. 

THE OPP: There's only so much room in AI-generated answers. For every company giving up or moving too slowly, there's more visibility for those who act now.

Can you afford to be the 6% that doesn’t invest in AI SEO?

P.S. Thanks to Eli Schwartz for bringing my attention to this! Full report in the comments. Go read it. Now.

Drove 100k Paid Customers for an A16z 🚀 | ContentDistribution.com

“Woah, you guys are EVERYWHERE we’re searching!”

The investors said it before the meeting even started. Our client had a banging deck, a talented team, and serious traction. But none of that is what stopped the VCs in their tracks…

… it was the search footprint.

The VCs were doing homework: researching the market, validating problems, checking competitors. Every non-branded search led back to our client. Positions 1-3.

- Industry trends → Client's content
- Market problems → Client's analysis
- Customer objections → Client's answers
Google. AI Overviews. ChatGPT. 
The thesis was validated before the pitch started.

This signals to investors:
- Deep market understanding
- Category leadership
- Proof of work
They can validate it in 5 minutes.

That’s the difference between AI SEO and PPC. 
PPC is a button - press it, get traffic. 
AI SEO compounds while you sleep. 

Investors see a moat competitors can't copy overnight, distribution independent of ad spend, and evidence you've addressed objections.

Most pre-funding companies have the deck polished, team assembled, product built. But when investors Google them? Nothing. When they search the market? Competitors own it.

Your investors are Googling you right now. What are they finding?

Drove 100k Paid Customers for an A16z 🚀 | AI Led SaaS Growth

If I was a SaaS CMO starting fresh with AI SEO today...

Here's the 6-week sprint I'd run to show real ROAS while everyone else panics about zero-click search.

The reality: PPC spend was up 76% in 2025, and is projected to climb another 15-30% this year, but in client campaigns, we’ve found AI SEO costs 7x less for the same qualified traffic. 94% of top marketing leaders are increasing AEO investment in 2026.

Here's how to reallocate your budget in 2026:

WEEK 1: TREAT SEO LIKE PAID MEDIA

Stop tracking rankings. Start tracking ROAS.
Set up attribution: first-funnel conversion + revenue
Implement AI referral tracking in GA4
Baseline organic traffic value vs. PPC spend for same queries
Win: Speak CFO language with projected Q2/Q3 ROI.

WEEK 2: AUDIT & PRIORITIZE SMART

You're sitting on content 2 tweaks away from dominating LLMs.
Audit what's:
- Already cited in AI/LLMs vs. invisible
- Ranking #2-10 (low-hanging fruit)
- High impressions, weak CTR
Optimize existing high-authority content first. 
Create net-new only for critical gaps or proprietary data needs.
Win: Strategic capital allocation. 

WEEK 3: CREATE PROPRIETARY DATA

Beat competitors chundering out AI slop.
Compile original research from public sources
Create gated insight report (2-4 weeks, not months)
Use to qualify leads on high-intent pages
Win: Own distribution + citable assets. Digital PR that lives forever.

WEEK 4: COVER THE FULL JOURNEY

Customers don't convert from one ad. They research, compare, validate.
Post comparison pages, "best X" lists, deep explainers
Cover "is this right for me?" queries organically
Win: Stop paying 7x more to re-engage through ads. Organic covers the full journey.

WEEK 5: BE EVERYWHERE THEY SEARCH

SEO = ChatGPT + Perplexity + AI Mode + YouTube + forums, not just Google.
Repurpose content into short-form
Request/showcase reviews, respond to negative ones
Show up in sponsored videos + organic + LLM citations
Win: Omnipresence drives conversion rates up dramatically.

WEEK 6: PROVE IT

Get your 2026 budget approved.
Report monthly on:
AI referral quality metrics
Brand mentions in AIOs/LLMs
Organic traffic value
First-funnel conversion vs. PPC
Projected Q2/Q3 numbers
Win: Leadership sees SEO as predictable revenue instead of ‘long-term hope’.

If you haven’t started already, it’s about to be too late.

Need help running this sprint? DM me. (Don't tell your competitors.)

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The Battle

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Engagements

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