I translate complex cybersecurity and AI concepts into engaging, trust-building content that drives action—turning non-technical business leaders into informed decision-makers.

Think Your Business is Safe? Cybercrime is the World’s Third-Largest Economy.

In the IT world, I've seen cybercrime grow exponentially, almost as large as the economies of the US and China.

Imagine if Your Business Had 16 Days of Downtime. 
A typical business grapples with 16 days of downtime during a cyberattack. 

That’s over two weeks of potential revenue loss striking without notice!

Moreover, the implications extend beyond initial disruptions:
-> Operational Shutdown: Imagine your business grinding to a halt due to a cyberattack.
-> Trust at Stake: A single data breach can erode the confidence of clients and partners.
-> Financial Impact: The cost of cyber incidents goes beyond immediate expenses, affecting long-term revenue.
-> Client Loss: Customers seek security; they'll move to competitors if your systems are vulnerable.
Compliance Challenges: Keeping up with legal requirements is key to uninterrupted business growth.

But... There's Hope.

Cybersecurity: My Mission, Your Peace of Mind

At Intelligent Technical Solutions (ITS), my mission aligns with our goal of providing uncompromised safety.

We do more than defend at ITS. We boost your business' resilience.
-> Robust Defense: Our top-tier security measures shield you from diverse digital threats.
-> Continuous Business Growth: Our support ensures your business thrives, uninterrupted.
-> Tech for Profit: We use technology not just for safety, but to increase your efficiency and profitability.
-> Team Empowerment: We educate your staff, turning them into cybersecurity advocates.
-> Compliance as an Edge: Adherence to regulations becomes a unique competitive advantage for your business.

Partner with ITS for Future-Proof Security:
-> Customized Protection: Security solutions crafted to fit your specific business needs and budget.
-> Friendly, Professional Support: Our team offers round-the-clock monitoring for cyber-resilient IT infrastructure.
-> Invest Wisely: Each security enhancement with us is a strategic step toward more peace of mind.

Act Now to Secure Your Business's Future
Your company's security isn't optional—it's a necessity in today's world. 
Don't wait for a breach to take action!

Book a Free Security Risk Assessment
Message me for a free security risk assessment and secure your peace of mind.

PS: Cybersecurity isn't just a line of defense; it's a critical business strategy. Secure your future now.

Rob Schenk

I had the privilege of joining a panel at the National Vehicle Leasing Association (NVLA) annual conference last week, and I left with a lot on my mind.
 
Conversations like that one are rare. The people in that room are running real businesses, dealing with real risk, and asking genuinely hard questions. Being invited to contribute to that discussion meant a lot.
 
What struck me most was the tension in the room between excitement and anxiety.
 
Everyone sees what AI can do. Faster inspections. Better fraud detection. Smarter lead qualification. The opportunity is real and the industry is starting to move.
 
But there was also an honest acknowledgment that the guardrails are not keeping pace.
 
Employees uploading lease agreements and customer data to public AI tools without realizing the exposure. Automated bots submitting hundreds of fraudulent lease applications in a single night. Threat actors compromising a business network rapidly through targeted identity-based attacks. Many businesses don't detect these quickly enough.
 
The dealerships and lessors who come out ahead will not necessarily be the ones who adopted AI first. They will be the ones who built the foundation to use it safely and scale it responsibly.

Special thanks to Tarry Shebesta and the National Vehicle Leasing Association (NVLA) and fellow panelists, Constantine Yaremtso  Mike Francis: thank you for putting together a conversation worth having. Already looking forward to Arizona.

Intelligent Technical Solutions Mike Rhea🔒🛡️ Dave Dyas Jason Fontana

Helping Companies Not Get Hacked | Cyber/AI Guy Who Speaks Human | Protecting 500+ clients since 1996.

When I started in IT 30 years ago, clients had one question: “How do we get on the Internet without getting burned?”

The threats were simple. Virus infections. Basic malware. The occasional employee clicking something they shouldn’t.

Our job was to build walls. Put safeguards in place. Keep sensitive data protected from the outside world.

For a long time, walls were enough.

Then something shifted.

Attackers stopped trying to break through the walls.

They started walking through the front door.

Today the threat I worry about most isn’t a virus.

It’s a sophisticated attacker who already has valid credentials to your Microsoft 365 or Google environment sitting quietly inside, reading your emails, watching your invoices, learning your patterns… For weeks or months before anyone notices.

Thirty years ago, I was helping businesses get safely connected to the internet.

Today, I’m helping them find out who’s already inside.

Same mission. Unrecognizable threat landscape.

What’s the biggest shift you’ve seen in how you think about protecting your business?

Intelligent Technical Solutions Mike Rhea🔒🛡️ Dave Dyas ▲ Justin Shanken Sean Harris  Jason Fontana

No alternative text description for this image

𝗠𝗙𝗔 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀.  I know. That’s uncomfortable to hear, especially after years of being told to turn it on.    

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀:  
-75% of today’s successful cyberattacks bypass MFA entirely.    

Not because MFA is broken…    

Because attackers have adapted.    

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀:  The attacker doesn’t try to crack your password.    

They compromise a trusted colleague’s account, someone already inside your organization.    

Then they send an email from that person’s real account.    

Your spam filter doesn’t flag it.     

Your employees don’t question it. It sails straight through.    

𝗠𝗙𝗔 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲.    

This is why the most dangerous attacks today don’t look like attacks.    

They look like a message from your CFO. Or your IT director. Or a vendor you’ve worked with for years.    The solution isn’t to abandon MFA, it’s essential.    

But it’s not the finish line. It’s the starting line.    

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝟯𝟲𝟱 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, catching anomalies inside the system, not just at the login door.    

If you’re a CEO, CFO, or IT leader and you’d like to know whether your M365 environment has any of these patterns lurking right now, drop a comment or send me a message.    

𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗠𝟯𝟲𝟱 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿.     

It takes 48 hours and requires nothing from your team except one admin approval click.    

Intelligent Technical Solutions Dave Dyas Mike Rhea🔒🛡️  Jason Fontana

Foreign adversaries are not just hacking your systems anymore. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.
 
North Korean operatives are using deep fakes to clear video interviews and gain legitimate access to American companies. Then they steal data, compromise systems, and deploy ransomware.
 
Most organizations have no policy in place to detect this. And we know this firsthand as both of our companies have been targets.
 
On 𝗧𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟭𝟮𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝘁 𝟭𝟭:𝟬𝟬 𝗔𝗠 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰, Earl Fischl and I will be having an important conversation where we will share those 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱, and 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 before it becomes your problem.
 
Free. Timely. 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.
 
🔗 Secure your spot: https://lnkd.in/gDbF_65i

Dave Dyas Mike Rhea🔒🛡️   Edward Griffin Jason Fontana Intelligent Technical Solutions Field Effect

Open article: Register | Deepfake Interviews Are Here: How to Vet Candidates in 2026 by itsasap.com

Register | Deepfake Interviews Are Here: How to Vet Candidates in 2026

Looking forward to this timely conversation, tomorrow with my colleagues Earl Fischl  and Edward Griffin!

Register below!

Intelligent Technical Solutions Dave Dyas Field Effect Mike Rhea🔒🛡️ Jason Fontana

View company: Intelligent Technical Solutions

Interview fraud is no longer a story you hear happening to a company that you vaguely know of.

Proxy candidates and deepfake interviews aren’t far away from showing up inside your pipelines, often undetected until after access is granted.

Tomorrow, Rob Schenk and Edward Griffin from Intelligent Technical Solutions and Earl Fischl from Field Effect are hosting a candid conversation, sharing real-world experiences and patterns they're seeing across organizations.

You'll walk away with:
- A clearer understanding of modern interview fraud tactics
- Practical frameworks for improving interview integrity
- Actionable, non-technical improvements you can implement right away
- Strategies to reduce risk without damaging candidate experience

One day left to register.

If you're responsible for hiring decisions or onboarding approvals, you don't want to miss this.

Deepfake Interviews Are Here: How to Vet Candidates in 2026
Tomorrow, March 12 | 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET

Save your seat: https://lnkd.in/gwZrMmyR

#Cybersecurity #HiringBestPractices #RemoteWork #HR #TalentAcquisition #Deepfake #InterviewFraud

Enjoyed my conversation with Jacqui Barker talking through the latest cyber and compliance trends facing the auto dealership market at the Birmingham UK Auto Show conference. Like and subscribe to hear the latest news affecting the auto market!

Intelligent Technical Solutions Dave Dyas ▲ Justin Shanken Ryan McBride Mike Rhea🔒🛡️ Jason Fontana  Loree Faucett

Global OEM Strategy Director at Keyloop, host of the Drivetime autotech podcast, Barbara Cox Woman of the Year 2024, International Advisor - Empowering Auto (Canada)Host of the Drivetime global auto tech podcast

In the first of another special on the road series from #AMlive Automotive Management (AM) 
We took our studio to the exhibition hall and spent time with some incredible people to share the latest innovations with all of you.
Drivetime Podcast Jon Wakefield Zaki GW William Jackson Rob Schenk

Attention Phoenix! Headed your way soon :)

Are you confident your security program can keep up with AI use across your business?

If you’re unsure, this event was made for you.

We’re hosting an in-person conversation on how leaders can get clear, practical direction on security and AI, without getting lost in buzzwords or fear-driven headlines.

Join ITS as we offer useful insights that can reduce confusion about AI and give leaders a practical path forward.

Confidence in Security: Clarity in AI
Venue: Wrigley Mansion
Date: March 26, 2026
Time: 4:00–7:00 PM MT

We’ll cover how to:
- Set guardrails for AI use that reduce risk and protect productivity
- Strengthen identity, access, and data controls that AI tools rely on
- Make security decisions that leaders can explain to the board and auditors
- Build a roadmap that aligns security, operations, and growth

Send us an email and save your spot now: events@itsasap.com
Limited seats only.

#Cybersecurity #AI #RiskManagement #BusinessOperations #ITStrategy #ExecutiveLeadership

Rob Schenk 
Dave Dyas
Jason Fontana
Mike Rhea🔒🛡️

Mike Forgie, Local Marketing Specialist

Digital Marketing Specialist

Helping Local Service Businesses Get Found and Get Sales — Not Just Clicks. | Google Maps, SEO, & High-Intent Ads

“Why isn’t our business the top result when people search for what we do?”
If that’s something you’ve asked recently, I built this for you.

I’m Mike Forgie, founder of Next Step Connect, and I help service-based businesses stop guessing at what’s working—and finally show up where it counts.

In the last decade, I’ve worked with hundreds of teams across real estate, healthcare, legal, construction, and automotive to install one thing:

A predictable system that drives qualified local leads from search.

Whether your business is getting buried in Google Maps, wasting ad spend on low-quality traffic, or just not seeing ROI from your current marketing…
You don’t need another agency.
You need a system built on buyer intent, trackable results, and total clarity.

What We Deliver:
✅ Google Maps + Organic Search Rankings – for the exact terms your buyers are already searching
✅ High-Intent Google Ads – tracked to real calls, form fills, and appointments
✅ Clarity – with real-time dashboards and reporting you don’t need to decode

Our clients don’t wonder where their leads are coming from. They know.
And they don’t lie awake at night hoping the phone rings. It already is.

📩 DM me or email mike@nextstepconnect.com
📊 Or grab your Free Local Growth Audit at nextstepconnect.com

Marketing Strategist

Hey! If you need a marketing strategy for better search engine results or social media exposure, it is time we talk.

Need help getting your business exposure online? I can help you with SEO, Google/Facebook/Instagram ads, and more!

My main clients include:
Agencies that need SEO and social media strategies developed and performed.
Experiential markets such as yacht rentals, supercar/exotic auto drives, helicopter tours, and more. For many of these markets, I can provide photo and video services.
Any company that needs local clients such a wedding equipment (tent, chair, table, etc) rental, contractors, construction equipment rental, medical practices, and more.

Mike Forgie

WordPress just gave 810 million websites access to Claude, Gemini, and OpenAI. Nobody's talking about it.

Three official plugins. Built by WordPress core. Not a third-party hack. Not an API workaround.

Text generation. Image creation. Function calling. Web search. All inside the CMS that runs 43% of the internet.

Meanwhile, developers are building AI-generated sites on Vercel. Beautiful. Fast. Built in 20 minutes.

Here's what nobody mentions about those sites:

-> WordPress has been live for 23 years
-> Largest plugin ecosystem on earth
-> You own your content. You can move it anywhere
-> Your developer can be replaced without rebuilding from scratch
-> Google has two decades of crawl data on WordPress

Try migrating an AI-generated site to a new host when that framework dies in 18 months. Yes, AI makes it easy to do so, but if you don't know security, you are open to issues.

WordPress isn't the future. It's the foundation. I still trust it. 

And it just became AI-native while everyone was looking somewhere else.

Google Maps/Search Engine/AI Optimization, Websites, and Purchase-Intent Ads for Commercial Real Estate

claude, openai, and google gemini plugins for wordpress

What does Anthropic's $320K SEO lead position mean?

Anthropic builds Claude - one of the most advanced AI systems on the planet. And they just posted a six-figure SEO role.

They're not the only ones.

→ OpenAI posted a content strategist role. $393K.
→ Meta posted an SEO lead position. $211K.

The three companies building the AI that's supposed to "kill SEO" are paying $200K-$400K for SEO experts.

Read that again.

The Anthropic job posting specifically requires experience with Generative Engine Optimization, Answer Engine Optimization, schema markup, and structured data implementation.

They're not hiring someone to game Google. They're hiring someone to make sure AI can find, understand, and recommend their products.

That's the same work we do for local businesses every single day. Different scale. Same principles.

Optimize your information so machines can read it. Structure your data so AI can cite it. Build authority so algorithms trust it.

The companies building the future of search are telling you exactly what matters next.

And it's SEO.

undefined undefined

Anthropic

OpenAI

Meta

Apple just paid Google $1 billion to turn every iPhone into a search engine.

Not a browser. Not a list of links. A search engine that answers.

The deal: Google's Gemini AI now powers Siri. Rolling out across iOS this year. 1.5 billion Apple devices will answer "where's the best [service] near me?" with a direct recommendation.

A name. Not a page of results.

Count the platforms that now recommend businesses by name:

→ Google (Maps + AI Overviews)
→ ChatGPT (via Bing - which can be controlled via Google Maps)
→ Perplexity (via review sites + directories)
→ Gemini (Google Maps)
→ Siri (via Gemini + Apple Maps)

That's five. A year ago it was one.

And each one pulls your business information from different sources (yes, mainly Google Maps). Google reads your GBP. ChatGPT reads Bing. Perplexity reads Yelp and industry directories. Siri will read Apple Maps and Google's data.

The businesses showing up across all five aren't optimizing for one platform.

They're findable everywhere. Same name, same address, same phone number, on every source each platform checks.

Five gatekeepers. Five chances to be the recommendation.

Or five chances to be invisible.


Tip - claim your directories! This is local SEO 101

When Anna York tags you as the specialist in a post, you know you're on that next level. 

Local SEO/AIO/GEO (all those acronyms) is a passion, not just my job. I truly want to help communities by leveraging digital and bringing it to the real world. 

Now, go out, support your community by buying something, and leave a review!

SEO meets AI | LinkedIn Top 12 AI Voice to follow in Europe | Practical guides

If you’re still celebrating ranking #1 on Google…

You might already be invisible.

Last quarter, a brand ranked #1.

Traffic still dropped.

Why?

Because one keyword now activates 4 visibility layers:

🔹 AI Overviews answering the query directly
🔹 Paid ads dominating above the fold
🔹 Maps capturing high-intent searches
🔹 Organic pushed further down

Ranking #1 ≠ Owning search anymore.

Search has shifted from SEO…
to full Search Experience Optimization.

Most brands optimize one layer.

The smart ones dominate all 4.

That’s exactly why I created an AI-Visible Playbook.

It breaks down:

• How to appear in AI Overviews
• How to protect organic CTR
• How to structure content for AI + SEO
• How to expand visibility beyond rankings

📩 Link in the comments


P.S. For deep Google Business Profile (GMB) strategy, I recommend following my colleague Mike Forgie. He’s a true specialist in that space.


P. P.S. Once you see the graphic with Google Maps, it becomes pretty clear it’s not Generative Engine Optimization. 
Even SEOs should take a day off from acronyms sometimes. 😉 💙

Anna York's breakdown of modern search got 1,249 likes last week. In it, she told all of them to follow me for local SEO.

No pressure.

Her framework is sharp. One keyword now activates four visibility layers: AI Overviews, Paid Ads, Google Maps, and Organic. Most businesses optimize one. She says dominate all four.

1,249 likes. 255 comments. 201 reposts. That's a lot of people realizing that ranking #1 doesn't mean what it used to.

Anna handed me the Maps layer. So let me deliver.

Here's every AI skill I use (or could be built) to dominate the GEO (in this instance we geography) layer:

Research & Strategy:
-> Local keyword discovery
-> Competitor GBP teardown
-> Search intent mapping
-> Service area analysis

Google Business Profile:
-> GBP audit (categories, attributes, photos, description)
-> GBP post creation and scheduling
-> Review monitoring and response drafting
-> Photo metadata optimization
-> Q&A generation

Content:
-> SEO content writer (location pages, service pages)
-> FAQ page generation
-> Blog content optimized for local + AI search
-> Content atomizer (one blog post -> social posts for every platform)

Technical:
-> Technical SEO audit ($0.15 per site — agencies charge $2,000)
-> Schema markup generator (LocalBusiness JSON-LD)
-> Core Web Vitals analysis
-> Site crawl and error detection

Links & Citations:
-> Local link building planner
-> Press release writer and distribution
-> Citation building (45+ directories)
-> Backlink gap analysis
-> Guest post prospecting

Tracking & Reporting:
-> Geogrid rank tracking (visual heatmap, block by block)
-> Monthly SEO report generator
-> AI visibility monitoring (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini)
-> Review and citation alerts

That's 25+ AI skills for one layer of Anna's framework.

Every one of them can be built. Most of them I've already built. The ones I haven't are next.

Anna called it Search Experience Optimization. This is what the local layer looks like when you open the hood.

Go follow Anna York if you don't already. Her post is the clearest breakdown of modern search on LinkedIn right now.

"AI made everyone fast. Very few people are uncopyable." — Dan Koe

That line stopped me.

Because I've watched it play out in real time in my industry.

AI can run a full SEO audit in 30 seconds. It can cluster keywords, write content briefs, generate schema markup, and build a 90-day strategy that looks legitimate.

I know. I built a system that does all of it for $6/month.

But here's what 10 years taught me that no model can replicate:

Which of those keywords you'll actually win.
Which "critical fix" doesn't actually matter.
When the data says one thing but your gut says wait.
When a client's GBP is tanking and the problem isn't SEO. It's a bad category that Google is quietly suppressing.
When to ignore the playbook because an algorithm update just changed the game.

AI gave me speed. A decade of pattern recognition gave me judgment.

Speed without judgment is just making mistakes faster.

I've survived Panda, Penguin, mobile-first indexing, voice search hype, featured snippets eating clicks, and now AI Overviews.

Every single one was supposed to kill my career.

Every single one made me more valuable. Because I adapted instead of froze.

The people AI will replace aren't the experts.

They're the ones who were coasting on access to information instead of the ability to act on it.

AI made the tasks free. Your taste, your judgment, your ability to read between the data. That's what's left.

And it's worth more now than it's ever been.

📸 Me trying to be original with style but in reality my fiance dresses me in cool shirts

We drove 5,000 miles this winter. Every morning, one search decided where we spent money.

"Dog friendly cafe near me."

That's it. Google Maps. Three results. Pick one. Keep driving.

My fiancée, our dog, and I spent 20 days on the road escaping the NJ winter. New town every day. No plans. No reservations. Just a phone and a search bar.

The cafes that got our money had three things in common:

→ "Dog friendly" checked on their Google Business Profile
→ Photos of outdoor seating (or dogs inside)
→ Reviews that mentioned bringing dogs

The ones that didn't? We drove right past them. They might have been better. We'll never know.

I do this for a living. I still chose the same way everyone else does.

Three results. Pick one. Move on.

This week, I wrote about 4 search layers, 20 YouTube videos, 863,000 keywords, and a 38-point drop in ranking overlap.

This is where I did all of it.

A comfy chair. A stool. A laptop. And more plants than monitors.

I build AI systems and optimization for a living. 
I spend my days inside dashboards, APIs, and search data. 
But the room I work in has more living things than technology.

That's not an accident.

The best work I do doesn't come from more tools. It comes from having enough quiet to know what to build next.

AI can write the content. Run the audit. Pull the data. Track the rankings. I built skills that do all of that. 
But the decisions: which client needs what, which page matters most, what to ignore...those come from a guy on a couch absorbing sun through a window.

The system runs in the background. The thinking happens here.

Build the machine. Then step away from it long enough to remember why you built it.

Happy Friday (the 13th might I add) everyone. 
Please, go enjoy the sun if you can.

The hardest part of local SEO isn't my job.
It's getting you to do yours.

I need photos. Real ones of your team, your space, your work.
I need videos. Even 30-second clips make a difference.
I need access to your website. The correct login. With the right role.
I need access to your Google assets: GBP, Analytics, Search Console. Not "viewer." I NEED Admin.
I need access to your domain provider. DNS changes can't wait 3 weeks for a reply.
I need you to stop giving me the wrong credentials and then not answering when 2FA locks me out.
I need you to ask your customers for reviews. Consistently. Not once.
I need you to stop changing things on your GBP without telling me. That's how profiles get suspended.
I need you to trust the strategy you hired me to run.

I promise I am on your team. 
I want this to work as much as you do.

Here's how we win together:

→ Give me photos or a budget for a photographer. One shoot gives you enough images for months (sometimes years) of website content, GBP posts, and social media. That's one investment that feeds every channel.

→ Set me up with proper admin access from day one. I move fast, your site improves fast, and you stop getting 2FA calls during dinner.

→ Start a simple review process. I'll build the system, you just need to ask. Reviews are the #1 local ranking signal, and they compound over time.

→ Give me 90 days before judging results. SEO isn't ads. The work I do in month 1 shows up in month 3. Trust the timeline.

→ Respond within 48 hours

I watched 7 hours of YouTube videos about AI and SEO. 20 videos. 1.5 million combined views.

Ahrefs. Neil Patel. Matt Diggity. Lenny Rachitsky.Nathan Gotch. Wes McDowell. Julia McCoy. Surfer SEO Expert.

Every major name in SEO made a video about this in the last 12 months.

Here's what they all agree on:

-> Traditional SEO is the foundation, not the finish line
-> AI search is pulling answers from your content whether you optimize for it or not
-> Structured data and schema markup aren't optional anymore
-> Brand mentions now function as backlinks in AI models
-> If your content can't be cited, it can't be recommended

Here's what none of them mention:

Google Maps.

20 videos. 7 hours. 1.5 million views. Not one of them goes deep on local search, GBP optimization, or the Maps layer.

Every one of these creators is optimizing for the AI Overview. Almost none of them are talking about the layer where 46% of Google searches already have local intent.

Here's what they say vs. what actually works:

They say "optimize for AI." But optimization without execution is just a YouTube video.

The businesses winning right now aren't watching 7 hours of content about AI search. They're building the systems. Schema on every page. GBP posts every week. Citations in 45+ directories. Review responses within 24 hours.

That's not a strategy deck. That's a Tuesday.

I built the carousel so you don't have to watch 7 hours of YouTube. Swipe through it. Save it. Then go build something.

7 Hours of AI SEO Videos = ?

1.2%.

That's the percentage of local businesses ChatGPT recommends when someone asks for a service near them.

Google's local 3-pack? 35.9%.

A new study analyzed 350,000 locations across 2,751 brands. Here's the breakdown:

→ ChatGPT recommends 1.2% of businesses
→ Perplexity AI: 7.4%
→ Gemini: 11%
→ Google local pack: 35.9%

That's up to a 30x gap between showing up on Google and showing up in AI.

And here's what makes it worse:

ChatGPT's business data is only 68% accurate. For a third of businesses, it's working with wrong addresses, missing hours, or outdated info.

It's not choosing to skip you. It can't find you.

The 1.2% that do show up aren't the biggest brands. They're the ones whose name, address, and phone number match across every platform AI checks - Bing Search, Yelp, Facebook, Apple Maps, and their own website.

That's directory management. The same boring, invisible work that's driven local SEO for a decade.

It's now the barrier to entry for AI visibility.

And almost nobody is doing it.

OpenClaw: 140,000 GitHub stars.
Claude Code: 4% of all GitHub commits.

Neither one matters.

OpenClaw can book your flights, manage your calendar, and apparently create dating profiles without asking you first.

Claude Code reads my entire codebase and builds SEO systems that used to take a team of five.

Everyone's arguing about which AI agent is better. That's the wrong question.

The question is: do you know what you're building?

I use Claude Code to run technical SEO audits for $0.15 that agencies charge $2,000 for. To analyze backlink profiles in seconds. To build content strategies that would take weeks by hand.

Not because Claude is better than OpenClaw. Because I've spent 10 years learning which keywords actually win. Which technical fixes move the needle. When the data says one thing but the market says another.

OpenClaw is a Swiss Army knife. Claude Code is a scalpel. One does everything. The other does one thing extremely well.

But hand either one to someone who doesn't know what they're trying to accomplish and you get the same result.

Noise.

AI gave everyone access to the tools. It didn't give anyone the judgment to use them.

The people winning right now aren't the ones with the best AI setup. They're the ones who knew what to build before they picked up the tool.

An AI built a social network. 1.6 million users joined in a month. None of them are human.

Moltbook. Created by an OpenClaw agent. A platform exclusively for AI bots. They post. They comment. They argue. They upvote each other.

No humans allowed.

770,000 active AI agents in the first week. 1.6 million within a month. It's been called "the most interesting place on the internet right now."

Now think about what that means for your business.

AI is already generating content at a scale humans can't match. Descriptions. Summaries. Profiles. Entire platforms of content with no human behind it.

Every AI search platform (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Siri) now has to decide what information is real.

Here's what they check:

→ Reviews from verified accounts with history
→ Photos with metadata from a real location
→ Directory listings that match across 40+ platforms
→ Structured data on a real website with a real domain

When AI is generating content at Moltbook scale, the businesses with verifiable, human-confirmed signals become the only ones platforms trust enough to recommend.

Your real reviews. Your real photos. Your real, consistent information everywhere.

That's not SEO anymore. That's proof you exist.

76% to 38% in seven months.

That's how fast AI Overview citations are diverging from Google rankings. Ahrefs tracked 863,000 keywords. BrightEdge says the overlap is even lower...closer to 17%.

Two-thirds of the pages cited in AI Overviews don't rank in the top 10.

Read that again. The pages Google's AI recommends are not the pages Google's algorithm ranks.

AI Overviews now appear on 48% of queries. 
Restaurant searches went from 10% to 78% in a year. 
Education went from 18% to 83%. 
And the most-cited domain in AI Overviews?...
YouTube. Up 34% in six months.

Ranking #1 used to mean you won the click. Now it means you won one of two games. 

The other game (the one where AI decides who gets cited) is being won by completely different pages.

Pages with clear answers. Pages with structured data. Pages that AI can quote in two sentences.

This is why "SEO" isn't one job anymore. It's two. Traditional rankings and AI visibility are splitting into separate disciplines with separate winners.

The businesses that figure this out first won't just rank. They'll be recommended.

Source: Search Engine Journal — SEO Pulse, March 2026 https://lnkd.in/e5qaq-ED

Open article: AIO Citations Diverge From Rankings, Bing Rewrites Rules – SEO Pulse by searchenginejournal.com

AIO Citations Diverge From Rankings, Bing Rewrites Rules – SEO Pulse

You can absolutely do SEO on your own. AI will even write you a plan.
And honestly? It'll be a good one. Here's what it'll look like:

→ Audit your site for technical issues (page speed, mobile, crawl errors)
→ Research 15-20 keywords with local intent and low competition
→ Optimize title tags, meta descriptions, and headers for each page
→ Claim and fully optimize your Google Business Profile
→ Write 2-4 long-form pages targeting your best keyword clusters
→ Add schema markup for local business, FAQ, and services
→ Build 10-15 quality backlinks per month through outreach
→ Post to your GBP weekly with photos, updates, and offers
→ Set up Google Search Console and Analytics tracking
→ Respond to every review within 24 hours
→ Monitor competitor rankings and adjust monthly

That's a real plan. Steal it if you want.

But are you going to do it?

I can ask AI how to repair my car. Doesn't mean I'm going to take the engine apart and know every detail of the process.

If you truly want to DIY, pay for consulting. 
Get a real plan built for your market. 
Then implement it yourself.

But know what you're signing up for:

20+ hours a month. 
While running your business. 
For 6-12 months straight before you see real traction.

The content you wrote 3 months ago is finally kicking in, and now you need to adjust because the landscape shifted.

This doesn't stop.

If you want a plan, I'll build one for you and consult with you on it.

If you want it done right the first time, my agency will implement it.

This business went from invisible on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Llama...
to ranking on all 4 AND taking top 3 on Google Maps...
                      
For their core keyword, "family counseling." 
In one market. 
In under 4 months.                                       

Before (Oct 2025):
→ Google Maps average ranking: 11.69
→ Top 3 on the map: 4.73%
→ AI visibility: X across every platform

After (Feb 2026):
→ Google Maps average ranking: 4.57
→ Top 3 on the map: 57.4%
→ ChatGPT: #10. Gemini: #5. Perplexity: #7. Llama: #2.

Same business. Same location. No ads.

Here's what changed:

1. Full GBP optimization - every attribute filled, weekly posts, consistent photos, review response system, FAQ schema on the profile.

2. On-site content restructured to answer questions the way people actually ask them. Not "our services" pages. Pages that answer "where can I find family counseling in [city]" the same way you'd ask ChatGPT.

3. Structured data - LocalBusiness, FAQ, and Service schema so AI can read and cite the business properly.

4. Authority signals - consistent NAP across directories, Bing Places optimized (ChatGPT pulls from Bing), and mentions on trusted review and therapy-specific platforms.

People aren't searching differently. The search engine is answering differently.

If your business can't be understood by AI, it can't be recommended by AI.

And recommendation is the new ranking.

Zillow could beat every local competitor with one move.

Build apartment buildings.

They already know what every renter in America is searching for. 
They know which markets are underbuilt. 
They know what people will pay. 
They know which neighborhoods are trending before anyone else does.

They have more real estate search data than any company on the planet.

The only thing they don't have is a front door.

No physical locations. 
No Google Business Profiles. 
No local presence on the platforms that actually drive foot traffic and AI recommendations.

Zillow is the most informed landlord in the country...without owning a single unit.

If they built purpose-built apartments using their own search data, they'd know exactly where to build, what to charge, and what amenities people actually want. Not guessing. Not surveying. Using billions of real searches from real people.

And every building would come with a Google Business Profile that dominates local search in that market. Data advantage plus physical presence. No one could touch that.

The lesson isn't about Zillow. It's about the gap between knowing and showing up.

Data without a physical presence is a report. A physical presence without data is a guess. The businesses that win at local search have both.

Test if AI can find your business in 30 seconds.

Open ChatGPT. Type this exactly:

"What are the best [your service] in [your city]?"

If you're not in the answer, you don't exist to AI.

Now do it again on Perplexity. Then Gemini.

Most local businesses show up on zero out of three. Here are 20 things you can do to fix that.

Your Google Business Profile

1. Claim it and fill out every single attribute. Not just name and address. Categories, services, service areas, hours, description, everything.
2. Post at least once per week. Photos, updates, offers. Activity signals relevance.
3. Add real photos regularly. Your team, your space, your work. Not stock images.
4. Respond to every review. Include your service and city naturally in the response.
5. Add your FAQ directly to your GBP using the Q&A feature. Answer them yourself before someone else does.

Your Directory Presence

6. Push your GBP info to Bing Places. ChatGPT pulls from Bing, not Google.
7. Claim and complete your Yelp profile. Perplexity cites Yelp heavily.
8. Register on Apple Business Connect for Apple Maps.
9. Claim your Facebook business page with full info, hours, and services.
10. List on Foursquare. It powers location data for dozens of other apps.
11. List on Yellow Pages and any other general directories in your space.
12. List on industry-specific directories. Lawyers on Avvo. Doctors on Healthgrades. Restaurants on TripAdvisor. Therapists on Psychology Today.
13. Make sure your name, address, and phone number match exactly across every single one. One inconsistency and AI skips you.

Your Website

14. Add LocalBusiness schema markup so AI can read your business info as structured data.
15. Add FAQ schema to your most important pages. AI pulls directly from FAQ markup.
16. Add Service schema for each service you offer.
17. Write content that answers questions the way people ask AI. Not "Our Services." Instead: "Where can I find [service] in [city]?"
18. Make sure your NAP is in the footer of every page on your site.

Your Authority

19. Get mentioned on local authoritative sites. Chamber of commerce, local news, community organizations, industry associations.
20. Build reviews on multiple platforms. Not just Google. AI cross-references Yelp, Facebook, and industry directories before recommending you.

None of this is new. It's citation building, directory management, and structured data. The same work that's driven local SEO for a decade.

The only thing that changed is who's reading it. It used to just be Google's algorithm. Now it's ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and every AI tool deciding who to recommend.

If you tested it and you're not showing up, that's not a ranking problem. That's a visibility problem.

And it's fixable.

Microsoft committed $13 billion to OpenAI. Owns 27% of the company.

Then they powered their flagship AI product with Anthropic's Claude.

Then their own engineers started using Claude Code internally...across Windows, Office, Teams, Edge, and Surface.

Then they filed a legal brief defending Anthropic against the Pentagon.

$13 billion. And they still hedged.

Microsoft didn't switch from OpenAI's ChatGPT to Claude. They added Claude because their engineers kept choosing it. Thousands of developers across Microsoft were asked to compare Claude Code against GitHub Copilot. The results changed the product roadmap.


I run an SEO agency. Last year I built our entire automation stack on Claude...technical audits, keyword research, content strategy, client reporting. Not because of the brand. Because when I tested what could actually execute multi-step workflows, Claude did things other platforms couldn't.

25+ custom skills. Real API integrations. Audits that agencies charge $2,000 for running at $0.15.

I didn't know Microsoft's engineers were making the same choice. I didn't know Copilot Cowork was coming. I just picked the platform that executed.

Turns out a $3 trillion company looked at the same landscape and made the same bet.

We are at the point where every day we hear which new version of AI/LLM is better. It feels good to be building on the one the market is moving toward.

ChatGPT froze on me mid-workflow for the last time six months ago. I switched to Claude. Built my entire agency's automation on it.

Now OpenAI is quietly building their own version of Claude Skills. They codenamed it "hazelnuts."

I'm not switching back.

Every quarter there's a new "best" AI. New benchmarks. New models. New reasons to start over. GPT-4. Claude. Gemini. GPT-5. Opus. Half the people I talk to have switched platforms three times and built nothing permanent on any of them.

I stopped chasing. Picked one. Built on it.

Custom GPTs gave me drafts. Anthropic's Claude Skills give me deliverables. A Skill pulls live search data from an API, checks difficulty scores, maps intent, and writes the results to my client's spreadsheet. Another one crawls a site, runs Lighthouse, pulls backlinks, checks Search Console, and generates the full report. No copy-pasting between tabs. No freezing mid-thought.

GPTs live inside a chat window. Skills live inside your workflow.

OpenAI knows this. That's why they're building their own version now. The best validation for any tool is when your competitor starts copying it.

But the real question isn't Claude vs ChatGPT. It's how long are you going to keep switching before you actually build something on one of them?

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