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Notes from the team
Practical reads on AI answers, paid search, SEO, and PR, from the specialists who watch them every day.
Google Ads
Quality Score in Google Ads: what it actually means
Quality Score's three components, what it actually affects through the auction, what it does not affect, and when to ignore the number entirely.
Product
How to run four marketing channels alone
Running paid search, SEO, PR, and AI visibility solo needs a fixed priority order, batched work blocks, and a clear automation boundary. How to set them.
GEO
How do you build a GEO question set?
How to build a GEO question set: the four question types to cover, how many prompts you need, and the controls that keep the results honest.
GEO
What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
How your brand gets named in AI answers from ChatGPT, Claude, and Google. What generative engine optimization is, and how to measure and improve it.
Product
How to set a marketing reporting cadence for a small team
A working daily, weekly, and monthly reporting split for small marketing teams, and a test for cutting vanity metrics that inform no decision.
Google Ads
The Google Ads account audit checklist: a top-to-bottom order
A full Google Ads audit in the order that keeps each step's findings true: settings, structure, search terms, budgets, then conversions.
GEO
AI answers are the new search results: what CMOs should do
AI answers now sit above the links and hand buyers a shortlist. What the shift means for CMOs, and five moves to stay in the answer.
GEO
How is AI search changing buyer behavior?
AI search moves clicks upstream before it removes demand. What a CMO should reallocate, which KPIs and budget lines shift, and how to confirm it's real.
Product
Why human-in-the-loop beats full autonomy in marketing automation
Full autonomy is risky for consequential marketing actions because the cost of a wrong move and a short delay are not the same size. Why gates win.
Google Ads
Branded search term cannibalization: when paid clicks replace free organic ones
How to tell whether your paid brand campaign is winning new clicks or just replacing free organic ones, with a controlled test you can run yourself.
GEO
How does GEO work for B2B SaaS?
GEO for B2B SaaS differs: long evaluation cycles, heavy reliance on review sites, and multiple buyer personas per deal. What to watch, and how often.
Google Ads
How to find wasted spend in Google Ads (step by step)
A step-by-step audit to find the clicks that cost money and never convert: search terms, devices, dayparts, and match types in one pass.
PR
How to respond to a competitor launch: the first 48 hours
A playbook for the first 48 hours after a competitor's launch: what to monitor, when a response is warranted, and what not to do under pressure.
GEO
How to get your brand mentioned in ChatGPT answers
ChatGPT recommends brands from what it has read about you, not who pays. A practical playbook to get named and described right in its answers.
Google Ads
Google Ads recommendations: when to decline them, and when to accept
Google's recommendations panel is built to raise your spend, not your profit. Which classes to accept on sight, which to scrutinize, and how to decide.
GEO
How do you track competitors in AI answers?
How to choose which competitors to track in AI answers, build a question set that surfaces them, and read co-occurrence and entry and exit trends.
PR
How to measure PR share of voice against your competitors
PR share of voice is your coverage against named competitors, not a raw mention count. How to calculate it with search, weight it, and trend it.
SEO
How to catch SEO keyword slippage before it costs you traffic
Rankings rarely crash; they slip a position at a time. How to spot keyword slippage in Search Console early and act before the traffic drops.
GEO
How do you structure content so AI can quote it?
Four structural habits make a page quotable to AI engines: answer-first blocks, self-contained paragraphs, plain definitions, and a reader-phrased FAQ.
Google Ads
Why Google Ads accounts overspend and underspend at month end
Why accounts overshoot or underspend their monthly budget, the pacing math to catch it early, and how to fix it without spooking automated bidding.
SEO
SERP volatility triage: algorithm update or page problem?
A ranking drop can be an algorithm update or a page-specific problem, and they need opposite responses. A triage order to tell them apart fast.
Google Ads
Budget-capped campaigns: the silent killer of good Google Ads accounts
A capped campaign that converts well loses you sales every day it runs limited. How to find budget-limited winners and un-cap them safely.
GEO
Why is your brand missing from ChatGPT's answers?
A brand missing from ChatGPT's answers usually traces to one of five causes. How to diagnose each, in the order that finds the problem fastest.
SEO
How to build a content refresh strategy that actually works
A real content refresh changes what a page says, not just its date. How to choose which pages to refresh and what to put inside the update.
Google Ads
Target ROAS vs conversion target: which fits your business?
Target ROAS optimizes for revenue, conversion targets optimize for count. A comparison of when each fits, and what switching between them costs.
GEO
How to measure share of voice in AI answers
Share of voice in AI answers is how often engines name you versus rivals. A step-by-step way to measure it across ChatGPT, Claude, and Google.
SEO
Impressions up, clicks down: how to diagnose the divergence
Rising impressions with falling clicks usually means a SERP feature, an AI answer, a title mismatch, or a weaker rank mix. How to tell which one.
GEO
How do AI engines choose what to cite?
AI engines cite passages that clear three gates: retrieval, quotability, and source trust. How each one works, and how to audit a page against all three.
Google Ads
Broad match in Google Ads: when to use it, and when not to
What broad match actually does now, the conditions where it earns its reach, and the guardrails to set before you turn it on.
Google Ads
Search terms that never convert: an audit walkthrough
The search terms report shows the real queries you pay for. A walkthrough to find the ones that spend and never convert, and add them as negatives.
SEO
How to find and push up striking-distance keywords
Striking-distance keywords rank at position 8 to 20. How to find them in Search Console and make the smallest edit that pushes them onto page one.
GEO
GEO vs SEO: what actually changes
GEO and SEO share a foundation but reward different things. What carries over from SEO, what's genuinely new, and a side-by-side comparison table.
Google Ads
How to build a weekly negative keywords workflow
A repeatable weekly process for turning the search terms report into a clean negative list, with rules for account versus campaign level.
PR
PR monitoring without an agency: tracking coverage and sentiment via search
You do not need a retainer to track what is said about your brand. How to monitor coverage and sentiment using search, alerts, and a weekly routine.
Product
What are AI marketing agents? (and why humans should stay in the loop)
AI marketing agents watch a channel, propose fixes, and act on approval. What they are, what they are not, and why a human should stay in the loop.
Give your marketing a team.
Connect your accounts, approve the first fixes, and see the loop close this week.