Acceptance of Circumstances, AEO, AI Search, Being Found On Bing, Being Found on Google, community involvement, digital marketing agency, diversity, GEO, good will creation, Google Ads, Google My Business Profile, integrated marketing, keeping up with trends, local search, marketing best practices, nextdoor, online advertising, online presence, organic SEO, paid search, public relations, sales, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, social media, social media strategy, staying current, strategic planning, target audiences, Target Marketing, traditional marketing, Understanding Your Environment, website

The Marketing & Sales Downfall of Focusing Too Much On Appearing In Answer Engines (AI Search)

I’ve attended a decent number of webinars about AI search and how to get your organization’s name or a link back to your website (citation) to be shared by an answer engine in response to a topic-relevant user’s prompt. To-date I’ve heard the following list of key tactics mentioned related to how to get your organization’s name or page served up by answer engines like ChatGPT:

This is a very brightly colored image with question marks of different colors in the background and then the words, where, what, when, why, how, and who in brightly colored captions bubbles -- yellow, blue, pink, red, green, and orange.

What Types Of Organizations Benefit The Most From Appearing In Answer Engines/AI Search Engines?

For bigger brands who offer services and products throughout the whole U.S., or even the world, it makes great sense to want your organization’s name and links back to your website to appear in answer engine results related to relevant-topic searches. But for organizations who only offer services or products locally, i.e., in one city or town, in one state, or in one region (such as New England), there will likely be far less value to your organization to your organization from being found on answer engines than there would be for a national or international organization. Why? Because many individuals entering prompts into an answer engine just want their question answered. They aren’t looking to buy a product or pay for a service. And, the answer engines are more concerned about serving up content that easily/readily answers the question, regardless of the geography of the content producer or of the individual who is looking to get their question asked or answered. Unless, of course, the searcher/prompter includes their geography in the prompt, such as a prompt like “who’s the best digital marketing agency in Braintree MA.”

The Big Mistake That Organizations Who Need To Rank Locally Are Making Related To AI Search

Let’s face it, smaller, local organizations have far smaller budgets than a national brand like Progressive Insurance. They also have far smaller marketing teams. When they put the majority of their marketing dollars and energy into producing content that will be found in AI tools like Perplexity, Claude, and ChatGPT, they are missing out on other opportunities which might better help them be found locally, since, as we shared above, many individuals to whom their website content or name will be served up by answer engines won’t be in their geography.

What Are Some Marketing Tactics That Help Organizations Be Found Locally?

  • Nextdoor Business Profile and Advertising – you can’t get more local than that!
  • Google Search Ads – where you’ve selected a geography appropriate for your business
  • Display Advertising – Google, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), other social media advertising – again, where you’ve selected a geography appropriate for your business
  • Publicity in Local Newspapers and/or on Local Media websites
  • Community Event Participation and Sponsorships – in communities your organization serves
  • Social Media Strategy and Posting – like with AI/answer engine search – you can reach local individuals and businesses who follow you this way, but there’s always some “waste,” where you are reaching individuals who can/will never become a client or customer because of geography or for other reasons
  • Optimizing Your Google My Business Profile — this is your best opportunity to be found locally and have your organization served up for “near me” terms
  • Writing a guest blog post for another local organization who serves your geography and/or requesting a backlink from their website to your website

Why You Need To Diversify Your Marketing Efforts

Check out our blog post on why it’s particularly important right now to diversify your marketing efforts and reach out today to schedule a complimentary discussion of your organization’s particular marketing challenges and opportunities in the time of AI!

Acceptance of Circumstances, AEO, AI Productivity Tools, AI Search, GEO, keeping up with trends, online presence, organic SEO, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Understanding Your Environment

AI Tool Use In 2026: Up, Up, and Away!

If you think AI tool use to get immediate answers to questions is slowing down, think again!

We’ve gathered information from a number of AI, AEO, GEO, and SEO experts and their research indicates it’s full steam ahead as far as U.S. citizens using AI to easily access the information they need by entering a “prompt” into the AI tool in-question.

And, individuals aren’t just using AI to complete a “search.” They are using it to be more productive, learn new skills, and get administrative work and other more complex work done!

Why Is AI Tool Usage Up?

AI tool usage continues to grow, because as these experts explain in the various articles cited below, not only are people using popular large-language-model answer engines (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Perplexity on their laptop and desktop computers, they are using AI capabilities embedded in mobile apps, or mobile apps whose key purpose is to serve as an AI tool (mobile versions of LLMs/answer engines like ChatGPT) to find solutions to problems or immediately gather the information they want and need.

Search Engine Land: AI assistants now equal 56% of global search engine volume: Study

Wonder Tools: The Best AI Mobile Apps

Five Percent: AI Is Much Bigger Than You Think

In addition, as mentioned at the top of our blog, use of AI tools to complete tasks and be more productive is expanding exponentially, as these AI experts explain.

IT Pro: Global Demand For This One AI Role Has Skyrocketed

Capital Logix: Generative AI’s Explosive Growth

Forbes: How AI Is Changing Work

This is a rectangular image that runs vertically and has a dark powder blue background and a big brightly colored hot air balloon in it -- a balloon that is royal blue with bright orange and yellow and red squares in various places on the balloon

Where Can I Get Updates About Use Of AI Tools?

We plan to keep adding links to helpful article from experts as we identify them, so return here for ongoing AI tool usage updates.

Need Help Related To Your Organization Being Found In AI Search Results Or Understanding How AI Tools Can Make Your Team More Productive?

Reach out today to schedule a complimentary discussion about AI tool use to be more productive, or about how to have your organization mentioned or cited in AI search engines, like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.

advertising agency, digital marketing agency, Google Ads, online advertising, paid search, pull marketing, push marketing, Results Analysis, sales, Search Engine Optimization, SEM, SEO, Strong Ad Creative, traditional marketing

The Challenges Of Display Advertising, A Form Of Push Marketing

While our firm has developed a specialty in, and has gotten well known locally for search engine optimization (SEO), i.e., both paid and organic tactics that drive individuals who are actively searching to identify someone who offers the products, services, and solutions to products you do to your website, we also have a lot of experience with “push marketing.” Unlike SEO-related marketing and tactics (pull marketing), push marketing is all about putting the idea about your organization’s products, services, and solutions into the heads of individuals who aren’t actively searching to identify someone like you, but who still might be a great fit for your product, service or solution, based on various demographics and behaviors. And, our blog post is focused on one form of push marketing — display advertising.

Who Does Display Advertising Target?

Like all forms of push marketing (think print, e-mail, and radio marketing), display advertising (advertising that includes an image vs. just text) allows you to target individuals and/or businesses based on one or more of these criteria about the individual or business:

  • the geography in which they live or are located
  • their age, gender, and household income, if an individual
  • key life events, such as graduating from college, having a baby or retiring, if an individual
  • their hobbies or interests
  • their role at a company
  • their recent purchase, or research conducted related to a potential purchase
  • the size or nature, if a company

So, What Is The Biggest Challenge Of Display Targeting?

Over the years, in both corporate marketing and consulting/agency roles, we’ve run a decent number of Google Ads, Facebook/Instagram, Reddit, Nextdoor.com and other “display campaigns” that have employed the targeting detailed above. But, with recent campaigns, it’s really struck us what one of the biggest challenges is related to running such campaigns to pursue individuals who aren’t necessarily looking to buy your products, services or solutions, but who might be a good fit for them.

And, that display advertising challenge is this. Many consumers and/or individuals associated with a business often click on ads, not because they have an immediate need for the product, service, or solution advertised nor will they ever have such a need. But rather, they click on ads out of what we call “the curiosity factor.” Something about the language and/or image in the ad — known as the “ad creative” sounds interesting or intriguing to them and they click on the ad to learn more just because they are curious.

This image shows part of the face and only one eye of a boy with dark hair and dark eyes peeling back brightly colored blue, gold, and purple curtains to look out the window.

How Does The Curiosity Factor Impact Display Advertising Results?

Here’s how individuals clicking on display ads simply out of curiosity impacts display advertising results:

  • Since for display ads, you often pay for ad “click,” you often pay for clicks that will never become a lead or sale.
  • The conversion rate for your ads is far lower than what you see with “paid search” campaigns (where ad clickers are in active search mode to identify someone like you) and your cost-per-conversion may end up being far higher than what you see with push marketing. The last statement depends on how much your cost-per-click is for your display campaign since often the cost-per-click is far lower than for a paid search campaign.
  • Ultimately your campaign ROI or ROAS (return on ad spend) ends up being quite low and doesn’t warrant continuing to spend on the campaign even though you’ve generated a lot of awareness of your products, services, and solutions thru your display ad spend.

Need Help Determining Whether Or Not It Makes Sense To Run A Display Advertising Campaign?

Our team is glad to chat with you on a complimentary basis about whether or not piloting a display campaign would make sense for your organization. Schedule a complimentary display advertising discussion today!

Acceptance of Circumstances, AEO, AI Search, competitive advantage, differentiation, Discussion Forums, keeping up with trends, lead generation, Making Connections, marketing best practices, Marketing Planning, nextdoor, online advertising, pull marketing, push marketing, relationship building, reputation management, sales, Search Engine Optimization, SEM, SEO, social media, social media strategy, social media voice, staying current, strategic planning, target audiences, Target Marketing, Understanding Your Environment

Looking For An Additional Way To Be Found Online? The Answer Might Be Right Next Door.

Read on to learn about both free and paid opportunities to create awareness of your organization and its products and services on the Nextdoor social media platfform!

And, keep in mind, that while your organic/free presence may only reach local consumers and businesses, your organization can purchase online advertising that can be served up to businesses and consumers throughout the U.S. And, you can choose the city or state location of individuals to whom you want your ad served up!

Free Promotional Opportunities On Nextdoor.com

If you or your organization is not familiar with, and maintaining an organic/free business page on the social media platform geared toward sharing community news and event — nextdoor.com — you are likely missing out on a free and easy way to create awareness of your organization’s products and services locally. Once you set up a business page — something our digital marketing team can help you with — and provide documentation to nextdoor.com to verify your business is legitimate, fans of your organization can start posting recommendations/reviews to your page. Plus, you can start posting updates to your nextdoor.com business page the way you do to other forms of social media and to your Google My Business Profile.

This an image that is a print screen of what our digital marketing agency's (Results Communications & Research's) business page looks like on nextdoor.com. The image shows our logo, a description about our business, plus an image that says "SEO."

Paid Advertising/Promotional Opportunities On Nextdoor.com

In addition, nextdoor.com offers the opportunity to run display ads (image ads) that are similar to ads that you can run on other social media platforms, like Instagram or Facebook, or on discussion-forums like Reddit. We are currently testing this advertising vehicle for our own business, as well as for a client’s business, and will be sure to provide updates on our experience with the tool and the results it does or doesn’t deliver!

With answer-engine use (think ChatGPT, Google AI modes, etc.) on the uptick, it can be much harder to be found online by relevant searchers. So, maybe it’s time to get creative, think outside the box, and consider this “push” marketing activity, in addition to “pull” ones that you’ve relied on in the past. Learn more about the difference between pull and push marketing and why, particularly, with the introduction of AI, you’ll want to create and implement both a push and a pull marketing strategy.

Need Help With Setting Up A Nextdoor Business Page Or Nextdoor Paid Advertising Campaign?

Reach out today to schedule a complimentary discussion about whether or not your organization would benefit from an organic and/or paid advertising presence on Nextdoor and how we can help!

Acceptance of Circumstances, AEO, AI Search, Being Found On Bing, Being Found on Google, organic SEO, pull marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, website

The Kind Of Citation Your Organization Wants To Get

Often when we think of the term “citation,” whether it pertains to our personal life or our business, we think of something bad or negative. Per Findlaw.com’s definition of “citation,” when someone hears the word “citation,” their mind may immediately go to thoughts of having to appear in court and/or being charged for some kind of minor offense.

But in the world of being found online (SEO, GEO, AEO), particularly in the results spit back by AI search tools like ChatGPT, being awarded a citation is a positive thing. It means the AI search engine in-question has included a link back to your organization’s digital property or assets or an external organization’s digital content that mentions you (often your or an external party’s website, but it could be a social media or discussion-forum presence or post).

Two Types Of Citations You’ll Want And Need To Be Found Online

As we outlined in great detail in our blog post about how to ensure AI search tools view your organization as trustworthy, you are going to want and need these two types of citations to succeed in being found online in AI search tool results:

  • Citations from AI search tools themselves where they are sharing a link to content that you own or that mentions you
  • Citations from non-search-tool, external organizations who provide links on their digital properties/assets back to your digital properties and assets

You’ll really want and need both of the above in order to drive traffic directly from AI search tools to your website because, as pointed out in the previous blog post whose link we shared above, an AI search tool is less likely to provide a citation (backlink) to your website if you aren’t receiving citations from other creditable external organizations on the internet.

This is a rectangular-shaped image that runs vertically with a gray background that reads in turquoise or dark gray letters: "Two citations you'll want and need for your organization to be found online: backlinks from AI search tools/engines themselves that appear in the content they spit back in response to a query and backlinks from other external organizations that indicate to AI Search Engines Your Organization is Trustworthy!!!"

Need Help Identifying Opportunities For Positive Online Citations?

Reach out today to schedule a complimentary discussion about how you can support your organization being found online via external citations from search tools and other organizations.

Acceptance of Circumstances, AEO, AI Search, Being Found On Bing, Being Found on Google, organic SEO, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, website

How To Let AI Search Tools Know You’re Trustworthy

As has happened very often over the last 11.5 years, recently, there’s been a lot of commonality in questions I’ve been getting from clients or in the challenges they are facing. Writing a blog post that I can share with them, seems like the perfect way to document my thoughts for both them and any other for-profit or non-profit organizations with the same question or concern.

Because of the uptick in use of AI search tools (by both businesses and consumers), more and more organizations want and need to understand exactly what goes into making sure AI search engines think your organization is a credible one. Why? Because how trustworthy your organization is believed to be by search engines plays greatly into their decisions about whether to mention your organization in the content they spit back in response to a query. And, particularly, into whether or not they will serve up a link to your website (known as a citation) in their results.

As pointed out in this outstanding piece about AI Search Trust Signals by SEMRush, there are a number of factors that influence how search engines/tools view your organization’s creditability, but the focus of this post is going to be on the less technical and website development tactics, and on what SEMRush labeled “Evidence and Citations.” We love how they described such factors/tactics as online evidence and content that “shows that credible third parties vouch for you.”

This is the rectangular image of Scrabble game letters standing up and spelling "Trust" and includes some blue flowers surrounding the letters that appear on a white background.

Evidence and Citations That Indicate To AI Search Tools Your Organization Is A Creditable Expert

The following ongoing online/digital activities indicate to search tools that your organization is trustworthy:

  • Other creditable sites are willing to share links back to your site (known as backlinks or citations) from their digital properties. The sharing of such links could be related to the following:
    • The external organization sharing your information wrote and published a story about you, i.e., you received a publicity/PR mention/coverage from a general news outlet or a publication specific to your industry.
    • Your organization is a member of their organization or part of their business directory — think trade/industry association or Chamber of Commerce or other business networking organization.
    • Your organization has completed various exams or other tasks required to become certified with or accredited by the external organization.
    • Your organization is simply considered an expert in your industry by other organizations and they look to share your thought-leader content. AI search tools give bonus points for mention or links from .edu or .gov sites because of those sites’ creditability.
  • You are being proactive about sharing links to external experts, and therefore, you have links to external sites that are current vs. old and out-dated. The sharing of such links could be related to the following:
    • You received a certification or accreditation badge (in the form of artwork you can use on digital properties) and you make that badge clickable/linkable, so that when someone clicks on it, it takes them to the external organization’s website.
    • If you are a business-to-business (B2B) organization and have your clients’ permission to do so, you share links back to the clients’ digital properties.
    • You are aware of who the experts are in your particularly field/industry and share links to their digital content (such as I did above related to SEMRush, since they are a widely respected leader in the field of SEO) since you don’t want or need to recreate the wheel by covering topics on which they can provide more detail and may be more knowledgeable.
    • You are a distributor or sales representative for a particular external organization’s products or services and share links to their website.
  • You actively solicit from customers the following types of reviews and testimonials:
    • Google reviews that appear on your Google My Business Profile
    • Reviews that appear on social media platforms like Yelp, Facebook and Nextdoor.com or recommendations or mentions that appear on discussion forums like Reddit and Quora, and particularly on any relevant sites that provide reviews of organizations belonging to a particular industry, such as private primary education.
      • Links emanating discussion-forum sites are priceless because AI search engines love sharing Reddit and Quora content that answers the question posed in a query by the engine’s user. But, be forewarned that discussion forums don’t support organizations who toot their own horn, so ideally, any links from sites like Reddit and Quora to your site would be posted on there by a happy customer or collaborator vs. your own organization.
    • Testimonials that you can post on your website or on other digital presences like social media.
  • You take the time to respond to reviews, i.e., publicly thank those who wrote them and reinforce how you love serving your target audiences and how you serve them; plus, acknowledge professionally address bad reviews — this shows you care and are committed to excellence!

Related to the last bullet above, as Dream Local Digital pointed out in their blog post about how positive reviews (mentions or backlinks) influence AI search presence, organizations need to be aware that AI search engines may use reviews to make decisions like what organization’s name and/or content to serve up related to queries like “who’s the best…” And, as part of serving up your organization as a “best…” it might include a piece or all of a review someone wrote and published anywhere on the digisphere. For example, AI search tools might indicate my agency, Results Communications & Research is one of the best digital marketing agencies in the Greater Boston area because their Principal is an “SEO guru and definitely knows her stuff! Every interaction with Gail has been a standout experience. She is remarkably patient and very experienced, dedicating significant time to analyzing data, reviewing metrics, and devising tailored plans to enhance my company’s SEO performance. Her depth of knowledge in the field is evident, and her insights have been invaluable.” (note that what appears in quotations in the previously statement comes from a Google Review written by one of our clients.)

Want to write a review because of your experience with Results C & R? We welcome and appreciate that! https://g.page/r/CblxOCik2bHfEBM/review

Get Help Ensuring Your Organization Is Viewed As Trustworthy By AI Search Tools

I recognize there’s a lot here to digest and unpack related to making sure your organization is viewed as trustworthy by search engines. Need help developing an AI search trustworthiness strategy and what to tackle first? Reach out for a complimentary consultation about ensuring your organization is viewed as trustworthy today!

Acceptance of Circumstances, AEO, AI Search, Being Found On Bing, Being Found on Google, competitive advantage, keeping up with trends, nextdoor, online presence, organic SEO, Reddit, reputation management, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, social media, staying current

What Does Crowdsourcing Have To Do With Being Found Online and SEO? A Real Lot.

When someone “crowdsources,” their objective for doing so could be to obtain knowledge, services, or goods from a large group of people (often strangers). But, for the purposes of this blog post about being found online and SEO (search engine optimization), we’ll be focusing on the seeking out of opinions and experiences (knowledge) of others to reach a decision about something. The decision one may be trying to make might be similar to one of the following, or something all together different:

  • What type of sneakers should I buy if I plan to train for a marathon?
  • I’m thinking I’m going to buy this particular brand type of sneakers. Am I making a good/the right choice?
  • What local roofing company should I hire to replace my old roof?
  • What local estate planning lawyer should I engage to help me execute a comprehensive estate plan?
  • What stretches or exercises work best for improving a bad hip?
  • What’s a good recipe to make if you need to feed a large crowd?
  • What’s the best private elementary school near me?
  • I’m planning on holding an event at this particular venue. What are both the good and bad things I should know about it?
  • Where should I take my out-of-town guests to dinner in Boston’s North End?
  • Should I take this job offer or job interview with this particular employer?

We’ll also be focusing on knowledge crowdsourcing platforms vs. the knowledge crowdsourcing that one may conduct, or believe they are conducting (since information spit back by AI search tools is not always accurate), by simply posing a question like “who is the best family lawyer in Boston?” to an AI/answer engine like ChatGPT or Google AI Mode.

This is a rectangular image that runs vertically that has a gray background and reads in dark turquoise letters "Crowdsourcing = please, please, please share your knowledge, experience, and recommendations with me!" and includes our digital marketing agency's logo, plus the image of a young man wearing a plaid shirt and who has short dark hair and wide eyes and who is holding his hands together with a sad mouth as if he is pleading, plus the image says at the bottom, "is your organization capitalizing on this trend?"

Knowledge Crowdsourcing Platforms and SEO

As SEO experts, we keep hearing and reading over and over again that, when making a decision about which organizations’ online content to serve back in response to a searcher’s query, AI search engines/answer engines/chatbot engines are looking for signals that an organization is creditable and reputable, and where do they get those signals from, in addition to testimonials and other signs of credibility that are on the organizations’ own websites (think badges of associations your organization belongs to, certifications you’ve achieved, and backlinks from other organizations, including press/media/PR backlinks)? From platforms where people post recommendations in areas of the platform specifically designed for sharing recommendations and/or in the comments section in response to other users’ posts requesting recommendations from or posing questions to other users.

You can learn more about what’s been deemed “E-E-A-T” and how AI search engines look for signs of “Experience-Expertise-Authoritativeness-Trustworthiness in this “The Role Of E-E-A-T In AI Narratives: Building Brand Authority For Search Success” blog post from Search Engine Land.

Examples Of Crowdsourcing Platforms

  • Yelp – reviews of restaurant and other local business — such as contractors and personal services (think nail and hair salons)
  • Nextdoor – neighborhood social media platform
  • Reddit – discussion forum
  • Quora – discussion forum
  • Google My Business Profile Of Specific Organization (Google Reviews section)

Implications Of Crowdsourcing For Your Business/Organization

So, what are the implications of crowdsourcing for your business or organization?

  • Since some individuals seeking knowledge to support a decision they want and need to make go directly to a crowdsourcing platform to get information, you’ll want to have a positive presence on as many of the larger crowdsourcing platforms mentioned above as possible, and as appropriate for your particular industry. For example, Yelp might not make sense for your particular type of business.
  • If there are particular platforms that individuals use to recommend/rate businesses in your particular industry, you will want to ensure a favorable presence there, as well.
  • And, implementing what’s outlined in the two bullets above should provide plenty of positive trust and authority signals to search engines to encourage them to share your organization’s online content.

How To Show Up Favorably/Positively On Crowdsourcing Platforms

We mentioned above that your organization should show up favorably/positively on crowdsourcing platforms, but unfortunately what that looks like depends on the nature of the platform itself and the industry within your organization operates, and that’s why we encourage you to set up a complimentary discussion with us about how to use the current crowdsourcing trend to your specific organization’s advantage. But a common, over-arching way that all organizations can show up favorably/positively on crowdsourcing platforms is simply to encourage their customers to share positive information about them in online locations beyond the Google reviews section of their Google My Business Profile, i.e., on Yelp, Reddit, Quora, nextdoor and relevant industry crowdsourcing platforms. And, ultimately, all of this is about reputation management!

AEO, AI Search, Being Found On Bing, Being Found on Google, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, website

With AI Search, There’s Far Less Wading, But You Really Don’t Know If What You Catch Is Going To Be Edible

Last week, I read thru a really great piece by a fellow SEO expert that included a chart comparing AI search to traditional search. You can check out the chart that compares use of AI search engines like ChatGPT to traditional search engines like Google (the version we all used for years that didn’t/doesn’t have an AI component). Of course, Google has rolled out an AI mode, but again, we are talking about the older versions of Google and search engines like Bing and Yahoo that we were all accustomed to using for years and years.

Later that week, I was struck by this metaphor that sums up a key difference between what you can expect from results spit back by an AI search and those spit back by a traditional search engine. And, the metaphor is this. While traditional search engines require/required the searcher to visit and sift thru extensive content on a number of different websites, AI search doesn’t require you do all that wading thru of information/content. AI/answer/chat engines like ChatGPT do the content wading for you — sifting thru content all over the internet (websites, social media platforms, discussion platforms, etc.) and consolidating what they believe is appropriate information to provide you with content that will most effectively and directly answer the question you entered into their engine.

While it’s great you don’t have to do all the sifting and wading, the challenge called out in the Sunday Boston Globe Magazine this past weekend is this: sure, you’re not going to have to visit countless websites and other digital properties to find an answer to your pressing question, but how do you know if you can trust the answer that an AI search engine has spit back, i.e., it’s accurate? You don’t/won’t.

This image shows too men who are fishing while standing about up to their knees in a pond or a lake and both have their lines cast and you can see the lines above their heads.

Need Help Wading Thru All The Truths and Myths Regarding SEO and AI Search (AEO/GEO)?

Reach out today to schedule a complimentary discussion with an SEO expert.

AEO, AI Search, alt-tags, Being Found On Bing, Being Found on Google, Google Analytics, Google My Business Profile, keywords, marketing best practices, Marketing Planning, Objectives Setting, online presence, organic SEO, pull marketing, Quora, Reddit, Results Analysis, Search Engine Optimization, search terms, SEO, SEO tags, target audiences, Target Marketing, website

What Does An SEO Audit Reveal?

One of the services we offer our clients — on both a one-off/one-time and monthly/ongoing basis is conducting an SEO audit that, then, allows us to make recommendations for what our client might do differently on the SEO (search engine optimization) front to be better found online by target audiences for relevant keywords (search terms) in relevant geographies.

What Can You Learn From An SEO Audit?

As we explained in this previous blog post about the mistake most people make when they manually conduct an SEO audit, your organization is better off hiring an SEO expert to conduct an audit, so that the results you get are unbiased. For most businesses/organizations, i.e., ones that have both a website and a Google My Business Profile, an SEO audit will provide information related to both your website and your Google My Business Profile, since Google may serve up either in search results (and as of the date of this post, the traditional Google search engine is still the one most used by search tool users, followed by YouTube, and ChatGPT.)

This image shows two hands of an older adult male peeling the skin off the onion.
Peeling Back An Onion Skin To See What Lies Beneath

Listed below is the information you can glean from having an SEO company or digital marketing agency, like ours, conduct an SEO audit for you:

  • what external websites and certain other digital properties (not owned by your organization/business) have links on them to your website, and therefore, are providing “referral” traffic via backlinks to your site — these may include other websites or discussion-forums like Reddit
  • as of the date of this post, any website traffic coming from searcher clicks on links to your website that appear in AI/chat/answer engine content is reported as referral traffic in Google Analytics, and information on how much traffic you’re getting from AI engines such as ChatGPT and Perplexity are included in an SEO audit
  • does your website and/or Google My Business Profile rank differently in Google in a particular geography for a particular keyword (search term), based on the device used by the searcher, i.e., mobile phone vs. desktop/laptop
  • what keywords your website and Google My Business Profile are ranking best for on Google and in what geographies
  • whether your Google My Business Profile or your website is being served up higher in search results in certain geographies for certain search terms — this will help you determine whether or not you should be putting more energy into getting your Google My Business Profile ranking better (you always want that to be served up for “near me” searches) and/or your website ranking better (ideally this would rank better for non-near-me terms)
  • missed SEO opportunities — these include best practices which haven’t been implemented by your organization, such as writing and entering SEO page title and meta description tags on your website platform/CMS for every page and post on your website, and writing an entering image alt-tags
  • mistakes/issues/challenges with your website that are likely causing it to be served up less than it could/should be in relevant geographies for relevant search terms, such as slow site load speed or broken links on your website
  • how much organic/search-engine traffic your website is getting from traditional search engines like Google, and how much website traffic you’re getting from AI search engines, and what traditional and/or AI search engines drove the most traffic to your website during the audit timeframe
  • what are the top 10-20 search keywords that Google is serving your website up most for
  • how many individuals are clicking on a link in your Google My Business Profile to arrive at your website
  • what are the most-viewed pages of your website
  • what pages of your website are being served up the highest in search results by Google
  • what marketing activities/vehicles are driving website traffic and what percentage of your overall website traffic is coming from AI or traditional search tools
  • what geographies/locations are your website visitors coming from
  • what devices do people use most to access your website, i.e., laptop/desktop vs. mobile

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September Strong: A Second Chance To Set & Achieve Goals For The Year

If my memory serves me correctly, I’ve written about the second “new beginning” that September offers each of us each year on my own blog or that of a client. I love the fact that September provides a second start to any year and a chance to begin any kind of project you’d been hoping to get to earlier in the year, and to revisit goals — whether they be personal- or work-related ones. There’s still four full months to accomplish something you’ve always wanted to, or at least make a lot of headway toward achieving that accomplishment, so let’s agree to not start thinking another year is already behind us!

Since I own and run a digital marketing agency, the fall and early winter work goals I’m going to discuss below are marketing-related, but obviously, your work goals could pertain to any area of your organization, such as employee satisfaction and retention, new technology implementation, or expense reduction.

Marketing Goals For Q3 & Q4

Here’s some marketing goals you might want to complete in September, October, November, or December:

Personal (Health) Goals For Q3 & Q4

Since everything one does in life ends up positively or negatively impacting their mental and/or physical health, every personal goal ultimately is a wellbeing/wellness/health goal. For example, if you enroll in a class this fall or winter, it may cause you to gain knowledge to support a professional goal, but it also will likely make you feel more optimistic and improve your emotional wellbeing.

As I shared in this blog post about why I’ll always feel like a cancer (sarcoma) patient, I deal with chronic digestive issues on a daily basis because of past cancer treatment. I also have had chronic neck muscle mobility and pain issues since my late 20’s. Unfortunately, the neck trouble all started when I was working as a research associate at Fidelity Investments and going to graduate school at Boston University at night. I used to regularly carry a heavy bookbag of notebooks and books on the T (subway) to and from the University for many years. Post graduation, and ever since then, I’ve suffered from neck troubles.

I’ve already taken steps this summer, and plan to continue them thru the rest of Q3 & Q4, to improve the above two situations by:

This is the image of a small bronze colored Degas ballerina statue who has her shoulders back and arms behind her and who is wearing a ballet tutu and ballet slippers.
Degas Ballerina Statue That Provides Reminder About The Need to Maintain Good Posture While On Computer!

In addition to the above, I’m using the hashtag #SeptemberStrong with friends and family to encourage them to stay well and for us to cheer each other on, and I’m identifying situations and people that are unnecessarily and excessively anxiety-producing (in some cases, toxic) and steering clear of them!

Reach Out For Help On Your Q2 & Q3 Goals!

Whether you want or need a free wellness cheerleader, or you need help with business/work goal setting and achievement — particularly marketing goals — I’m here to support you, so reach out today! I love being an accountability partner on both the work and wellness fronts! And, be sure to check out our Keep Up The Fight page to encourage you to keep on plugging related to your goals! We totally got this, right?