Embarque

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

Director

jic94.com

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

Freelance Digital Strategist

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you around!

Jules Ignacio Canlas

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

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

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

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

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

9 Things LLM SEO Isn’t!

This week in SEO was messy but productive.

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

Here is the quick tea:

➔ Adobe is buying Semrush

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

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

➔ Search Console added custom annotations

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

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

THIS WEEK IN SEO

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

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

Here is the quick tea:

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

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

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

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

Your SEO 'problems' almost always have an explanation.

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

There are usually perfectly reasonable explanations hiding underneath the panic.

Where do I start?

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

Let’s break these down.

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

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

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

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

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

2. 'Our SEO audit score is low.'

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

Those scores are rough indicators, not gospel. 

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

Use audits to spot technical blockers and obvious issues.

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

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

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

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

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

So…

Before declaring SEO broken, ask:

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

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

Google

Yes, you can fix your low SEO revenue.

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

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

1. 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜

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

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

2. 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 → 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲𝐬

↳ One “money page” won’t save you. 

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

3. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 (𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬)

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

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

4. 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭

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

Ruthlessly cut or improve the rest.

Now for the part you may not want to hear:

5. 𝐒𝐄𝐎 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫

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

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

6. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤

↳ You can send qualified organic leads all day. 

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

7. 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐨𝐧

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

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

Bonus:

8. 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞

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

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

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

If I had to rebuild my SEO agency from scratch…

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

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

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

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

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

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

5. Document every repeatable process from day one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

13. Create content for buyers, not other SEOs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Follow these 20 and scaling becomes a lot less painful.

Repost if this helps another founder.

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

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

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

Here’s what stood out:

➔ Google’s tightening up guidance on review schema

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

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

➔ Canonicals really are case-sensitive

Swipe through for the full breakdown.
—

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

Most SEOs overcomplicate SEO

You don’t need 200 ranking factors to succeed.

You just need the few that actually move the needle.

When you focus on those, you can:

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

Swipe to see the 10 ranking factors to prioritise.
___

Found this useful? Pls like and share ♻️

10 SEO RANKING FACTORS TO PRIORITISE (2025)

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

e.g., “How to do Y”

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

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

So don’t overthink it:

Start with one very unsexy but important question:

“My company is a business that solves __________.”

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

Next, we need more context: 

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

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

When you write:

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

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

PS: What did I miss? Let’s chat.

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

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

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

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

What we need right now is balance.

1. 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞

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

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

But the quality is high.

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

The sensible approach is both.

1. 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

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

2. 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐋𝐌 𝐒𝐄𝐎 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡

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

Let’s discuss in the comments👇

Many startup GTM strategies are fundamentally broken.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


A real GTM motion looks very different:

↘ One clearly defined customer you are obsessed with.

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

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

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

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

↘ brings in qualified buyers on autopilot

↘ reduces your dependency on founder-led chaos

↘ lowers CAC over time instead of quietly inflating it

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

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

Fix that, and suddenly:

↘ every campaign has a place

↘ every channel has a job

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

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

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

Willpower is a false prophet.

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

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

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

Every time I leaned on willpower alone, it collapsed.

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

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

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

Yet we keep expecting it to carry our biggest goals.

Once I stopped doing that, everything shifted.

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

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

So I:

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

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

It helps me start BUT structure helps me stay consistent.

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

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

So…

1. Treat willpower as a spark, not a system

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

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

3. Design for bad days, not perfect ones

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

4. Make the right action the easy action

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

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

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

Here’s a quick recap:

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

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

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

#seo #seotips #seoexpert

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

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

Most people react to changes without really understanding the impact.

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

Here’s what you need to know:

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

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

→ Big homepage videos? No problem if they load last

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

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

—

Found this useful? Pls like and share ♻

#seo #seotips #founders #ai #contentstrategy

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

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

That is what we did for an MDM SaaS.


Before working with us they had:

➝ 3,700 monthly visits and weak conversions

➝ Educational content that did not convert

➝ Zero plan to win high intent searches


After our work together they:

➝ Added $250K+ in qualified pipeline

➝ Hit 8,500 monthly visits in six months

➝ Reached top three rankings for 94 high intent keywords

Swipe through for the full breakdown. 👇
__

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

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

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

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

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

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

You become the safer, more obvious entity to reference.

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

So the goal is simple...

Get your brand mentioned in the places LLMs already use.

Here’s a simple way to do this:

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

Not everyone replies. That is fine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But the upside is solid.

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

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

When this goes live, try this.

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

___

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

Found this helpful? Like and repost

My non-negotiable rules for running successful marketing campaigns

(8 rules after partnering with 200+ clients)

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

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

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

4. Launch fast, iterate, and refine.

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

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

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

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

Bonus: Great campaigns are never about doing more. 

They’re more about:

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

Focused teams → predictable results

That’s the whole game.

(Save + repost for later ♻️)

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

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

Most teams have no idea.

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

Which means you’re probably missing valuable insights.

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

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

We fixed that with a proper GA4 configuration.

Now you can:

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

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

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

#seo #seotips #seoexpert

How to Track LLM Traffic in Google Analytics (GA4)

8X Founder | Founder @ BrandClickX | Organic Growth Partner | White-Hat Link Building + SEO That Converts

Are you tired of publishing content without seeing growth, or chasing rankings without getting leads?

I’m Sam Sami SEO Specialist & Founder. I help businesses break through the noise, increase organic traffic, and build scalable, search-powered growth systems.

Over the past few years, I’ve worked with 60+ international brands, building a portfolio of sites that tell compelling stories and rank high. I do more than just audits. 

I work hands-on with On-Page, Off-Page, Technical SEO, content strategy, and digital PR. 

What I deliver:

• Page-1 rankings for competitive keywords
• Measurable ranking improvements & organic traffic growth
• Search content that converts — not just gets clicks

📍 Remote-friendly. Clients in US, UK, and globally.

Let’s turn your site into an authority destination.
Message me or connect here to see how we can work together.

Contact at: Sam@brandclickx.com

Sam Sami

I used to think SEO was just…

Find a keyword → write a blog → pray.

Then I watched someone outrank me with HALF the effort…
While I was drowning in tabs, tools, and “best practices.

Same niche.
Same market.

Same Google.
The difference?

They had a system.
I didn’t.

Here’s the truth…

SEO isn’t hard because you’re not smart.
It’s hard because you’re doing steps out of order.

So I mapped the exact workflow I use to go from:
idea → rankings → leads (without guessing).

SEO + AI Tools (The 7-Step Stack)
Keyword Research.

Stop writing what you want to say.
Start writing what people are already searching.

Tools: Semrush, MarketMuse, Ahrefs
SERP Analysis

Before you write a single word…
study what Google is rewarding right now.

Tools: Frase, Surfer SEO
Content Outlines.

If your outline is weak, your article will be weak.
Structure first. Speed later.

Tools: Surfer SEO, Koala AI, 
Editing & Optimizing
Good content isn’t “written.”

It’s sharpened.
Tools: Gemi, Semrush SEO Writing Assistant, HubSpot AI Tools
Backlinks.

Content alone won’t carry you forever.
Authority wins.

Tools: Ahrefs, Outranking, Indexly
Analytics

IF you’re not tracking…
you’re just posting and hoping.

Tools: GA4 + AI, SEMrush Position Tracking, HubSpot AI Analytics
Technical SEO.

The silent killer: slow pages, broken links, messy structure.
Fix the foundation.

Tools: AlliAI, SE Ranking, Screaming Frog AI
This isn’t “use more tools.

It’s: use the right tools at the right step.
Because ranking isn’t luck…

It’s workflow.

When people see your SEO results…

They assume you’re just “lucky.” 😳

A few weeks ago, someone messaged me:
“You rank too fast. I think you’re using shortcuts.”

My heart dropped for a second.
Because the last thing I’d ever do
 is fake my work.

 I don’t use shortcuts.
 I don’t guess keywords.
 I don’t rely on hacks.

But I get why people think that.

When your content starts ranking 
 consistently, repeatedly 
 people assume you’ve got some secret cheat code.

But here’s the truth:
 
 → I’m not here to copy competitors.
 → I’m not here to stuff random keywords.
 → I’m here to do real research, build systems, and create intentional SEO.

And yes, I do have an advantage:

 → A clear 6-step framework.
 → A process that removes guesswork.
 → A strategy that focuses on long-term gain, not quick wins.

That doesn’t make it magic.
It makes it methodical.

The truth?

 In a world chasing “quick SEO tricks,”
 actual strategy looks suspicious.

So if people question how you’re ranking?
You’re probably doing SEO the right way.

------------------------

 Stay consistent.
 Stay strategic.
 Stay intentional.

Choose right keywords

Small SEO issues don’t destroy traffic overnight.

They pile up until your site stops growing.

I used to overlook the simplest fixes.

And my rankings paid the price.

But once you start optimising with intention?

Everything begins to shift.

I wondered why growth felt stuck for months.

Here’s what changes

When you clean up core SEO fundamentals:

→ Your content starts matching real search intent.
→ Your pages load fast enough to keep users.
→ Your site architecture supports ranking, not fights it.

The result is compounding visibility.

And I learned this with experience.

I wasted years ignoring small technical problems.

The moment I tracked my data properly?

At first, it surprised me.

Then it all made sense.

After working on countless SEO audits.

I see these 10 “ranking green flags” repeatedly:

Your keywords align with user behaviour.

Your content solves real search goals.

Your internal links guide users naturally.

Your pages earn clicks, not impressions.

Your technical errors stay close to zero.

Your site speed boosts engagement.

Your backlinks come from relevant sources.

Your structure helps Google index fast.

Your metrics stay consistent over time.

You see steady lifts instead of random spikes.

Your SEO foundation either grows your brand.

Or holds it back.

There’s no middle ground.

Work with systems that support your visibility.

Your analytics are your strongest compass.

Ignoring them is the real ranking killer.

Protect your performance like revenue
depends on it.

Because it does.

I used to think fixing content was about editing.

Headlines. Keywords. Readability scores.

Then one night, staring at yet another broken draft
in my screen just like in this post something shifted.

I wasn’t improving text.
I was rebuilding intention.

And that changed everything.

The Wake-Up Moment:
Clients kept asking me the same question:
“Sam, why doesn’t this draft work?”

But the real issue wasn’t the draft.
It was the direction.

They wanted their content to perform…
But performance isn’t born in editing.

It’s born in clarity.

The Misalignment Trap:
One client had a powerful message.

Strong topic. Strong insights.
But zero structure. Zero flow.

“What’s wrong with this piece?” he asked.
The truth?
Nothing… and everything.

Great ideas die in bad frameworks.

The Draft Audit:
I started paying attention not to words…
but to meaning.

→ What is the reader supposed to feel first?
→ Does the content guide or dump information?
→ Is this answering a question or adding noise?
→ Would I keep reading if I had no context?

Most drafts fail this test.

Not because they’re weak…
but because they’re directionless.

The Pivot:
I rebuilt my entire process.

My method. My philosophy. My workflow.
I stopped trying to polish bad drafts.

I started building a framework that made bad drafts impossible.
And suddenly… writing became easier.

Not because I improved.
But because the system did.

I wasn’t fixing content anymore.
I was fixing how content begins.

The Framework Lesson:
That day, looking at another messy draft on my screen, I realized:
Content doesn’t need more editing.

It needs more structure.
It doesn’t need more rewrites.
It needs more direction.
It doesn’t need to be “perfect.”
It needs to make sense.

Today?
When clients ask me how to “improve their content”

I give them the simplest answer:
Fix your framework first.
The drafts will follow.

I used to believe startups didn’t need links until much later…

More time.
More traction.
More content.

Then I reviewed a brand-new site 
that was doing everything right…

And still wasn’t gaining any real visibility.

Not because their product was weak…

But because they were launching
without any authority behind them.

And here’s the surprising part…

Most startups can fix this long 
before it becomes a problem.

So I pulled the biggest issues 
into one clear breakdown:

Top 10 Link-Building Gaps Crippling
Startup Growth in 2026.

No foundational backlinks
New sites without trust stay invisible.
Fix: Secure 5–10 high-cred citations early.

Relying only on content
Content without links stalls quickly.
Fix: Pair every post with 3–5 outreach targets.

Skipping digital PR
Silence kills momentum during launch.
Fix: Pitch micro-publications + niche bloggers.

Weak homepage authority
Your homepage is your engine.
Fix: Direct early links to your main URL.
No partner collaborations.

Startups forget the power of shared audiences.
Fix: Co-create articles with aligned brands.

Ignoring industry directories.
These build trust faster than you think.
Fix: Submit to quality, non-spam niche lists.

Focusing on volume over relevance
Random links don’t move rankings.
Fix: Target sites aligned with your vertical.

Not leveraging founder profiles
Founders are authority magnets.
Fix: Guest posts + interviews under your name.

No internal link structure
Links need pathways to spread value.
Fix: Connect pages with logical anchors.

Treating link-building as optional
It’s not optional. It’s infrastructure.
Fix: Start in month one not month twelve.

Startups don’t fail because of “no SEO”…
They fail because they wait too long to build trust.

If you want, I can share the early-stage
link plan I give to new founders.

Everyone talks about doing SEO.

But no one talks about the structure it actually requires.

After auditing hundreds of sites, here’s the truth:
Ranking in 2025 isn’t about posting more content.

It’s about building a system that
search engines can understand.

– It’s choosing the right core topic.
– It’s building a pillar page that becomes your foundation.
– It’s creating cluster articles that support the full journey.

The real challenge isn’t keywords.
It’s organization.

When Google can’t find a clear hierarchy…

When users jump around because 
your content lacks direction…

When your pages compete with each
other instead of working together…

And right now, I’m hearing from so many 
creators who feel stuck, confused, and 
unsure why their SEO isn’t moving.

But they also need to know this: your
strategy can turn around the moment 
you create structure.

The websites that win aren’t always 
the ones with the most content.

They’re the ones with the best-connected content.

 ↳ They build pillar pages that anchor authority
 ↳ They create clusters that answer real search intent
 ↳ They link internally with purpose
 ↳ They stay consistent with updates instead of posting randomly

Most websites fail not because of poor
writing, but because the content is scattered.

There’s no map. No system. No clarity.
The hardest part of SEO isn’t the workload.

It’s the fragmentation.

When you’re producing solid content, 
but Google still can’t “see” the structure behind it.

Effective SEO isn’t glamorous.

It’s building a framework that works quietly in the background.
It’s organizing before optimizing.
It’s creating clusters long before the rankings show up.

Everyone thinks ranking in LLMs is random.

But the brands winning in 2025 know it’s structured.

Most teams still treat AI visibility like it’s a 
guessing game one prompt, one mention, 
one hope.

But that era is gone.

Over the past few years, search has shifted from
keyword engines to knowledge engines.

And inside this new environment,
LLM ranking isn’t one tactic anymore.

It’s five different levers.

Five different opportunities.
Five different systems.

Yet so many brands treat them as one.

They mix mentions with content.

Visibility with structure.
Authority with relevance.

SEO with AI.

And when you blur all five,you don’t rank 
in LLMs you disappear from them.

Because Trusted Mentions say:
I want LLMs to cite me.

Original Content says:
I want LLMs to trust me.

AI Readability says:
I want LLMs to understand me.

AI Optimization says:
I want LLMs to reference me.

Visibility Tracking says:
I want LLMs to keep finding me.

Five different goals.
Five different engines.

ChatGPT understands this.
Perplexity understands this.

Claude understands this.
But most brands… still don’t.

At Brand ClickX, we saw it every day:
Teams weren’t failing because their content lacked value.

They were failing because LLMs
couldn’t parse, cite, or surface it.

So we rebuilt the method.

We stopped treating AI ranking like SEO
and started treating it like knowledge distribution.

Mentions for trust.
Content for authority.

Structure for readability.
Optimization for relevance.

Tracking for long-term visibility.
And that’s when everything changed.

Brands became LLM-referenced sources.

Content earned citations.

AI rankings became predictable.
AI search didn’t replace SEO.

It evolved it.

It exposed the weakness of creating 
content LLMs can’t interpret.

Each step has a purpose.
Each step has weight.

And when you stop treating them as one,
your brand stops getting overlooked
and starts getting surfaced.

Everyone thinks SEO is one skill.

But the brands winning in 2025 know it’s seven.

Most teams still treat SEO like it’s a single strategy 
one checklist, one tactic, one fix.

But that era is gone.

Over the past few years, search has shifted from
ranking websites to understanding ecosystems.

And inside this new environment,
SEO isn’t one step anymore.

It’s seven different functions.

Seven different disciplines.

Seven different outcomes.

Yet so many teams treat them as one.

They mix research with optimization.

Technical with content.

Local with links.

Tracking with execution.

And when you blend all seven, you don’t grow 
you stall.

Because Keyword Research says:
I want to find what people are searching for.

On-Page SEO says:
I want to help Google understand your content.

Content Optimization says:
I want to satisfy user intent.

Technical SEO says:
I want to make your site fast, crawlable, and secure.

Off-Page SEO says:
I want to build your authority.

Local SEO says:
I want to make you relevant in your geography.

Analytics says:
I want to tell you what’s actually working.

Seven different goals.
Seven different responsibilities.

Google understands this.
Strong SEOs understand this.

But most brands… still don’t.

At Brand ClickX, we saw it every day:
Teams weren’t struggling because they lacked knowledge.

They were struggling because they weren’t
treating SEO like a complete system.

So we rebuilt the process.

We stopped treating SEO as a single skill
and started treating it as a multi-layered strategy.

Research for direction.

On-Page for clarity.

Content for intent.

Technical for performance.

Off-Page for trust.

Local for relevance.

Analytics for decisions.

And that’s when everything changed.

Rankings became predictable.

Traffic became purposeful.

Conversions became consistent.

SEO didn’t replace marketing.

It strengthened it.

It exposed the weakness
of strategies without structure.

Each part has a purpose.

Each part has a role.

And when you stop treating them as one,
SEO stops confusing teams and starts compounding results.

Everyone thinks Google controls the game.

But the brands winning in 2025 
know the game can be shifted.

Most teams still treat every major innovation like
a threat one update, one rollout,one fear.

But that era is gone.

Over the past few years, Google
didn’t dominate ecosystem diversified.

Every shift opened a new lane.

And inside this new environment,
Google’s power isn’t absolute anymore.

It’s five different openings.

Five different opportunities.
Five different leverage points.

Yet so many brands treat them as risks.
They confuse disruption with danger.

New platforms with instability.

AI search with collapse.
Innovation with impossibility.

And when you blur all five, you don’t out 
grow Google you depend entirely on it.

Because New Search Systems say:
I’m here to decentralize discovery.

AI Overviews say:
I’m here to change how people find answers.

User Journey data says:
I’m here to rewrite intent.

Multi-platform visibility says:
I’m here to spread influence.

Brand Signals say:
I’m here to decide who gets trust.

Five different shifts.
Five different power moves.

Google saw them coming.
AI ecosystems saw them coming.

But most brands… still didn’t.

At Brand ClickX, we saw it every year:
Teams didn’t fail because Google changed.

They failed because they never made
the move that changed everything.

So we rebuilt the playbook.

We stopped treating Google as the whole market
and started treating it as one channel in a larger system.

AI for acceleration.
Content for authority.

Cross-platform data for reach.
User signals for dominance.

Brand presence for long-term control.
And that’s when everything shifted.

Brands didn’t just survive the changes
they became the ones driving them.

Google wasn’t ready.
The market expanded.

It exposed the weakness of relying
on one platform to scale.

Each shift has purpose.
Each move has leverage.

And when you stop fearing disruption,
your brand stops reacting to Google
and starts outperforming it.

Everyone thinks AI will replace strategy.

But the brands winning in 2026 know 
strategy evolves with AI, not against it.

Most teams still treat AI-generated answers like
a threatmone feature, one update, one fear.

But that era is over.

Over the next few years, AI won’t just 
answer queries,it will shape buyer intent.

Every shift will open a new advantage.

And inside this new search environment,
ranking isn’t the power move anymore.

It’s relevance at source.
Alignment with AI intent.

Authority in interpretation.
Visibility beyond the SERP.

Yet so many brands still optimize 
for results,not responses.

They think visibility ends on Google.
They confuse generative answers with loss of control.

AI systems with unpredictability.
Innovation with instability.

And when you blur all five, you won’t
outrank AI you’ll depend entirely on it.


Because AI-first strategy says:
I’m here to decide what gets seen.

Content models say:
I’m here to determine who gets quoted.

Search ecosystems say:
I’m here to decentralize visibility.

User signals say:
I’m here to redefine relevance.

Brand presence says:
I’m here to establish who gets trusted.

Five different shifts.
Five different power plays.

AI saw them coming.
Leading brands positioned for them.

But most teams… still didn’t.

At the point where brands stopped optimizing
for results and started optimizing for answers
that’s where everything changed.

AI became acceleration.
Content became intelligence.
Cross-platform proof became reach.

User intent became performance.
Brand authority became the algorithm.

And that’s when leaders didn’t just adapt they 
became the ones designing the future of search.

The game isn’t controlled by AI.
It’s shifted by the brands that learn to lead it.

It took me years to understand what most founders never see…

Backlinks didn’t ruin my rankings.
The shortcuts did.

Not the obvious spammy ones…

The quiet kind that worked  just enough
to make me trust them.

I bought cheap links.
I chased private networks.

I let agencies build links
I couldn’t explain.

And for a while…
It looked like it was working.

Traffic went up.
Rankings jumped.

Then the slow death started.
Pages stopped climbing.

Leads dried up.
Authority collapsed without warning.

Here’s what most founders get wrong about links…
It’s not about how many you build.

It’s about how clean your intent is.
I spent months stuck in this loop…

→ Buying links I couldn’t control
→ Chasing metrics that didn’t matter
→ Wondering why growth felt fake

Sound familiar?

Everything changed when I stopped asking…

How fast can I rank?
And started asking…

How strong is my foundation?
Because the truth is:

You can’t build trust with tricks.
You can’t outsmart an algorithm

that watches patterns, not promises.
White-hat isn’t slow.

Black-hat isn’t smart.
One compounds.

The other cracks.
Here’s what actually fixed it for me…

Replaced shortcuts with relationships
 → Real sites
 → Real owners
 → Real value

Built content worth referencing
Not just optimized.

Chose links I would risk my brand on
Not ones I could hide.

The shift wasn’t technical.
It was mindset.

You’re not losing rankings because you’re bad at SEO.
You’re losing because your foundation is borrowed.

You don’t need more tactics.
You need cleaner systems.

You don’t need faster hacks.
You need safer leverage.

So if your traffic feels unstable…
Don’t build more links.

Build better ones.
That’s the difference.

That’s the fix.
And that’s how real authority compounds.

taplio

The Battle

Jules Ignacio Canlas

Sam Sami

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Performance ScoreJules Ignacio Canlas's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Jules Ignacio Canlas

Sam Sami

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jules Ignacio Canlas's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSam Sami's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreJules Ignacio Canlas's LinkedIn Performance