• To thrive in the 2026 Digital Marketing world, developing strong content, establishing credible brand signals, and staying on top of AI trends is essential

• Visibility requires trust: E-E-A-T, 3rd-party site engagements, and brand mentions are essential in building that trust

• Diverse original content is key for visibility: Utilize various forms of content, such as voice, visuals, and video, for optimum visibility

• Quality and Connection wins traffic: Focus on creative strategy, funnel optimization, experimentation, and data quality to ensure consistent and effective traffic

• New platforms and personalized ads are crucial: Utilizing new platforms and promoting personalized and dynamic ads will keep you ahead of the curve

• A Holistic approach is best: Be sure to integrate your digital marketing strategies across paid, social, organic, and other touchpoints along the customer journey for maximum results

2025 proved to be a crazy time for brands trying to keep up with the digital trends and emerging technology, and there are no signs of slowing down in 2026! Digital marketing has been a constant evolution since its inception in the 90s, but today, it moves much quicker. Brands that anticipate change and adapt early are the ones who prove to have more staying power. Now that the new year is upon us, we wanted to review key trends, shifts, and best practices to keep your strategy not just relevant but also ahead of the curve. 

What to Expect for SEO in 2026: Visibility Factors Will Continue to Be Reshaped

Search Engine Journal’s State of SEO 2026 report, along with Search Engine Land’s “New Realities of Search,” make it clear: Search is no longer a neat, linear path. Discovery is happening in more places with deeper connection, so relying solely on top-of-the-funnel content is no longer a viable option. Successful visibility means having established authority and trust signals as well as engagement on 3rd party sites, which will allow you to show up as a reputable source in AI Overviews, Generative Search, and Answer Engines. With this in mind, you should expect declining click-through rates for surface-level terms, tougher competition for mentions, backlinks, and trust, and the pressure to scale content to heat up.

So, what can you do to stay relevant and enhance your visibility?

Original Content Creation

While original content creation remains one of the hardest tasks to scale, according to recent SEO survey data, it also will be the most crucial for visibility. Original content that will aid your efforts vary by industry, but case studies, FAQs, how-to-guides, and independent research are categories that make sense for nearly all businesses.

You can ease this burden by using AI and automation to produce more content, but remember that human oversight including editorial standards, brand voice, and factual accuracy continue to be essential. 

Brand Authority & E-E-A-T Are Non-Negotiable

As AI continues to infiltrate every aspect of our lives, trust and credibility are amplified. User dependence on AI to filter and summarize searches means it's no longer enough to simply publish your original content: Your brand needs recognition, consistency, and genuine authority. In short, you need to work on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) and getting your brand mentioned and cited on reputable channels. Make a concerted effort to grow these signals to enhance your visibility where users are actually searching.

Differentiate Your Content Formats

Written content alone won’t cut it. You need to present information in the format that users expect it in, whether that be voice, visuals, or video. Search is no longer “just Google it.” Discovery happens in apps, chats, social media, and more. When reviewing your content topics consider, “What is the best format to deliver this information?” If it is a quick fix you are providing, maybe a reel would be most powerful. If you are providing an in-depth overview with supporting research, a written guide would likely be a better format. When in doubt, you can search your topic and see what formats are ruling the results.

Thoughtfully Consider New Tools + Platforms

New tools will continue to be introduced, offering solutions for AI search, content scaling, reputation-building, and more. Be thoughtful of what tools you share your information and data with, especially when the tools are promising the impossible. Look at their reputation signals and the history of the tool. If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is. There is no harm in testing tools out - just be cautious when doing so. 

What to Expect for Paid Search in 2026: Maximizing Available Tools

Similar to what we will see in the SEO space, quality and connection will be what wins traffic and conversions in paid search (including social media). By offloading time-consuming tasks, like bidding, query mapping, budget pacing, and asset rotation, you can put more focus on what is truly moving the needle - creative strategy, funnel optimization, experimentation, and data quality. Most major ad platforms are already offering automation options, so be sure to familiarize yourself with those setups. To fuel your strategy direction, there a couple of emerging trends to consider:

Declining Traditional SERP Real Estate

The same SERP shifts that are affecting SEO are also affecting paid search. Therefore, having multiple types of content available for your campaigns will be beneficial. Google has been testing out different SERP landscapes and will likely continue to refine the experience for users, blending different AI modules. This means competition will be high and zero-click searches will affect paid search as well.

Keyword Matching Is Out, Intent Matching Is In

Long gone are the days of simple keywords and key phrases. You need to be thinking about the intent of the user and match your ads to the intent. Spend less time on generating long lists of keywords and more time on the actual ads and landing pages that you are driving users to, to provide true value. 

Personalized Ad Experiences

AI enables you to adapt to individual users. Work towards creating conversational ads that are relatable to your audience’s tone, goals, and past behaviors. Ads should be more personalized and dynamic, making static ads feel generic and dated. Make this possible by enabling the built-in functionalities of your ad platforms, uploading customer lists, and having robust content libraries that include images, videos, and user-generated content (UGC). Be sure to measure the performance of creative assets and copy and adjust accordingly.

Be Prepared for Changes in Reporting Data

Several factors have contributed to the decline of black and white insights into how campaigns are performing, including the depreciation of third-party cookies and the rise of AI-search experiences. With that in mind, instead of solely relying on click-through-rate, focus more on impression share and ad appearance in AI summaries, ad engagement, and brand mentions/citations.

Embrace a Holistic Approach to Your Campaigns

We have already discussed that high-quality content and creative assets are essential, but the assets you create should feel consistent across your channels. Likewise, you need to integrate your digital marketing strategies across paid, social, organic, and other touchpoints along the customer journey. Instead of relying on paid search for every stage of the funnel, it may make more sense to shift your campaign budget to be bottom-of-the-funnel so your budget goes further for the users that are ready to commit.

What to Expect for Social in 2026

From how content is being presented and what the content is to the organic reach, it is evident that social feeds are changing. Individual feeds will also look completely different, with content being ranked based on predicted emotional resonance and not engagement alone. Success on social media will rely on paying attention to user-behavior and expectations and being able to shift quickly. Here are some tactics to consider:

High-Quality Short-Form Video

Short-form videos are no longer just an entertainment tool; they are a workhorse for education and discovery. Enhance the discoverability of your videos with written transcripts, alt text, and treating captions/content like meta data. 

Embrace Built-In AI Functionalities 

All platforms are introducing new AI functionalities like AI suggested scripts, captions, variations, and more. These tools can help you improve and scale your content, but you should always keep your brand and audience in mind. Additionally, you can create real-time community management with auto-generated responses that match your brand tone, so you are not only showing up in the feeds, but you are also interacting with your audience.

Curate Communities + UGC

Due to the declining organic reach, brands need to leverage partnerships, user-generated content, and curated communities. These tactics not only help your reach and establish trust, but they also give you a direct line of communication to your audience so you can learn more about what your customers are seeking. This allows your audience to feel more personally connected to your brand.

Leverage Social Commerce

The United States is quickly adapting to social media shopping. Native checkouts are emerging everywhere. This eases the barrier to entry for customers who are ready to buy now. Keep up with the competition by enabling AI-powered product tagging, connecting your shop to your social channels, and creating personalized storefronts for your social media channels. Further, you can leverage your partnerships by creating shoppable livestreams.

Final thoughts

2026 trends will continue to evolve as the year progresses.These tactics are tested and platforms are updated. December 2026 is going to look a lot different than January 2026, so regardless of what emerges, being adaptable and listening to what your audience wants will be key in staying relevant. Across the board, you need to focus on developing strong content, credible brand signals, and being AI-aware to thrive. 

• A strong social media presence revolves around these main points: Start simple, stay consistent, and stick to your message. Your audience will start to recognize your brand develop meaningful connections from there

• Clear content pillars are crucial: Add direction and focus to your page by establishing 3-5 core themes that will define your brand’s strategy and boost your social media’s direction and consistency

• Strong branding is the whole package: Become instantly recognizable in an ever-changing social media algorithm through your consistent branding patterns like unique color palettes, distinct fonts, and familiar tone

• Focus on a presence full of personality and energy: Social media audiences value the human side of your brand. Bringing your brand to life through energetic and fun snippets of your true personality will result in stronger connections with your audience

• Balancing strategy and consistency equals success: Long-term social media growth comes from a clear message, steady content, and recognizable branding. Focus more on your brand’s strategy and consistency rather than chasing trends and over-postin

A strong social media presence isn’t just about hopping on the latest trend; it’s about creating a brand people can recognize instantly, even while they’re scrolling through millions of posts, videos, and whatever else the ever-changing algorithm decides to show them.

Whether you’re just starting out or you are revising an existing social media page, here are a few core things every business should focus on. Not complicated. Not overwhelming. Just the pieces of information that actually matter.

Start With Clear Content Pillars

If you’re posting randomly with no structure, keep in mind that you’re not actually building a brand—you’re just filling a feed. The last thing you want to do is put time and effort into something that is working against you. 

Content pillars give your page direction. They help your audience know what to expect from you and help you avoid that “What do I post today?” panic.

A few examples of pillars you can develop include:

• Education – teaching your audience something useful

• Behind-the-scenes – showing the real side of your business

• Testimonials / Social proof – letting others vouch for you

• Promotional – products, services, launches

• Lifestyle / Values – the personality behind the brand

If you stick to 3–5 pillars, your brand will stay focused and people will know what you stand for.

Strong Branding Matters More Than You Think

Before you stress about posting every day, take one step back and figure out how you want people to see your business. What is the message you want to get across, and who needs to hear it? 

Branding isn’t just a logo. It’s the whole package. Effective branding includes:

• Colors

• Fonts

• Tone of voice

• Editing

• Energy

When these pieces stay consistent, something magical happens… people start to recognize you instantly. Have you heard of the “hair theory?” It’s the idea that a signature hair style can accelerate a person’s fame. You might be thinking, “What does this have to do with my business?” This theory is an example of  branding. A strong brand surrounding an individual or a business can change the game for them. Think about the brands that dominate social media and take notice of their consistent brand identity. 

Strong, consistent branding creates recognition—even while people scroll through countless images, videos, trends, and an ever-changing algorithm that couldn’t care less about your posting schedule. Your consistency becomes your advantage.

And if you’re wondering how to keep branding organized, creating simple templates through tools, such as Canva or Adobe Express, can make collaboration easier and keep your visuals consistent without reinventing the wheel every week.

Show Up Consistently (But Don’t Burn Yourself Out)

No, you don’t need to post every single day! However,  you do need a rhythm.

Consistency is what keeps your page alive. It trains your audience to remember you, and it gives the platform enough signals to understand who you are and who should see your content. Studies from platforms like Sprout Social and Hootsuite all show a direct correlation between consistent posting and long-term engagement growth.

Think of it like building any personal habit. Two intense days a month won’t do anything. Three steady days a week will change your whole life. Your social presence works the same way.

If consistency is hard for you, lightweight tools like Meta’s built-in Planner, Later, or Planoly can help you schedule posts, find your rhythm, and handle timing without stress.

Mix Personality With Value

The truth is—people follow people, not faceless businesses.

You don’t need to share your breakfast or your full life story, but you should bring some personality into your content. Let people hear your voice. Let them see your process. Let them understand why your business exists in the first place.

A perfect example: Scrub Daddy. They lean heavily into humor and internet culture—memes, playful skits, and exaggerated characters—while still highlighting the value of their everyday products. Their personality makes people care, and the value keeps them loyal.

Value attracts people and personality is what keeps them. When you blend the two, you create a brand that feels human and not robotic.

Don’t Chase Trends—Use Them Intentionally

Trends are fun, but they’re temporary.
Your brand is not.

It’s okay to jump on a trend every now and then, but it should always connect back to your content pillars and your overall message. A trend should help your brand—not distract from it. Think of trends as a way to pull your audience in. It’s like casting a wide net, and within that,  you’ll find a core audience.  If you chase trends to no end, your audience isn’t going to care about what you post outside of that. 

Take a look at a few examples of businesses who utilized trends.

A brand that used a trend well:

The “Instagram Notes Confessions” trend took over recently. Brands like Ryanair jumped in by posting borderline outrageous “confessions” in the Notes format, staying true to their sarcastic brand voice. It worked because it aligned with their personality.

A brand that didn’t use it well:

Several skincare brands used the same trend but made “confessions” that sounded overly serious or off-brand—almost like they forgot they were trying to sell moisturizer. The trend felt forced, the tone didn’t match the brand, and the content ended up being confusing instead of engaging.

Final Thoughts

Building a social media presence isn’t about chasing virality or trying to beat the algorithm every day. It’s about clarity, consistency, and branding that feels like your business.

When you have strong content pillars, recognizable visuals, and a steady presence, your business will become memorable—even in the middle of endless scrolling and whatever new feature the platform decides to launch this week.

Start simple, stay consistent, and stick to your message. Your audience will grow from there.

And if you need help developing custom Canva templates or building a cohesive brand identity for your socials, reach out to HMLLC.

Why Great Images Matter More Than Ever 

When it comes to running a small business, photography often gets overlooked behind marketing plans, budgets, and social media strategies. But the truth is simple: People connect with what they see before they ever read a word. Whether it’s a website homepage, a social media post, or even a Google Business profile, strong visuals instantly shape how potential customers perceive your brand. In a fast-paced digital world, great photography isn’t just decoration — it’s communication. 

First Impressions Happen in Seconds 

Studies show that people form an opinion about a business within just 50 milliseconds of viewing its website. That means your photos — not your words — are making the first impression. Grainy, poorly lit, or outdated images can unintentionally communicate that your business is behind the times, even if your services are top-notch. 

On the other hand, professional photography conveys confidence, attention to detail, and trustworthiness. For small businesses competing with larger brands, that visual credibility can make all the difference. 

How to Choose the Right Photographer 

Hiring a professional photographer doesn’t just mean getting “nice pictures.” It’s about finding someone who understands your audience, your goals, and your visual identity. Here are a few things to consider: 

• Industry experience: A food photographer knows how to make dishes look irresistible, while a lifestyle photographer might capture a more human connection. Be sure to hire the photographer whose experience matches and can elevate your brand. 

• Style consistency: Review their portfolio for color tones, composition, and emotional tone — do they align with your brand?

• Collaboration: The best photographers are creative partners who help tell your story, not just take orders. Keep that in mind when choosing the ideal photographer.

When in doubt, it is always prudent to ask to see work they’ve done for other small businesses. This helps ensure they understand how to capture images that look great and convert. 

DIY Photography: When It Makes Sense 

If hiring a professional isn’t in your budget right now, that doesn’t mean your visuals have to suffer. Today’s smartphones offer high-quality cameras and editing tools that can help you create strong images on your own. 
Some quick wins: 

• Use natural light whenever possible — harsh indoor lighting can flatten colors. ● Keep your backgrounds clean and uncluttered. 

• Focus on authenticity over perfection. Audiences appreciate seeing real people behind the brand. 

• Use free editing tools like Lightroom Mobile or Snapseed (Apple / Android) to make small tweaks that go a long way. 

Over time, as your business grows, consider investing in a professional photoshoot. A single session can provide dozens of high-quality images to use across your marketing channels for months (or even years). 

Photography Trends Small Business Owners Should Know 

Even if you’re not ready to book a photoshoot, understanding current visual trends can help you stay relevant online. Keep the following points in mind regarding photography trends:

• Authenticity over stock: Customers are gravitating toward images that feel real and relatable, rather than polished stock photos. 

• Inclusivity and representation: Showcasing diverse customers and employees helps broaden your appeal and reflect modern values. 

• AI tools as a complement, not a replacement: Artificial intelligence can assist with editing, background removal, and lighting adjustments — but it can’t replace the emotion and storytelling that comes from real photography. 

If you do explore AI tools, use them to enhance your images, not generate them. A genuine photo of you and your team still builds more trust than anything artificial ever could. 

Integrating Photography Across Your Marketing 

Your photos shouldn’t live in one place — they should work across your entire brand. Whether you are DIYing or investing in professional help, you should ensure you are making the most of your time and money but utilizing your new visual assets effectively.

• Use consistent colors, lighting, and tone across your website and social platforms.

• Refresh your Google Business profile with seasonal images or updated team shots.

• Pair photos with captions that tell a story — describe what’s happening, who’s involved, or why it matters. 

• Don’t forget behind-the-scenes images. People love getting a peek into the human side of your business. 

When photography becomes an intentional part of your marketing plan, it not only elevates your brand — it also builds trust and connection. 

Final Thoughts

Strong photography is one of the most effective tools a small business can use to create a memorable, trustworthy, and professional presence. By investing in visuals that tell your story — whether through a professional photographer or smart DIY techniques — you can make a lasting impression on potential customers. Keep an eye on current trends, embrace authenticity, and use consistent imagery across all marketing platforms. Great photography doesn’t just show what you do — it shows who you are, and that’s what keeps customers coming back.

About the Author

• Google Ads reach intentional customers: When used correctly, Google Ads help your business appear when customers are actively searching for products or services - not just browsing

• The insight is worth the investment: Google Ads can provide real clarity by tracking what customers are interested in, what they respond to, and what’s actually driving demand for your business

• Your website impacts ad performance: A fast, clear, mobile-friendly website is essential for turning ad clicks into actual customers

• Search intent is key: Success comes when you focus on what your customers really want and when your business shows up the moment a customer is ready to make a purchase, compare options, or solve a problem

• Customers connect with authenticity: Clear, human language that sounds authentic performs better than robotic, keyword-stuffed ads

• Emphasize consistency and strategy: Focus on a single, meaningful action and run your ads steadily over time. This allows Google to gather data and optimize performance more effectively

If you’re a small business owner, you’ve probably heard that you “should be running Google Ads” over and over again. While that advice can start to sound like someone up-selling you unnecessarily, the truth is—Google Ads is still one of the most effective ways to get in front of people who are actively searching for what you offer. Not just scrolling. Not casually browsing. Intentionally searching.

Most small business owners don’t realize that Google Ads aren’t there just to help you get more clicks and conversions. But rather, when used correctly and effectively, it gives you clarity. It tells you what people are interested in, what language they respond well to, and what’s actually driving demand for your business. That insight alone is worth the investment.

So with that being said, here are a few high-level tips small businesses often overlook when they decide to “just boost something” or throw money at Google without a plan:

Your Website Matters More Than Your Ad

A great ad can get someone to your site, but keep in mind that your website is what decides whether they stay. If your site struggles with slow load times, cluttered pages, confusing call-to-action buttons, etc., it can directly affect ad performance, even if your targeting is spot-on. Before running ads, take a few minutes to ask yourself:

• Can a stranger understand what your products/services are in 5 seconds?

• Is the checkout or form easy to complete?

• Does the page feel clean, simple, and mobile-friendly?

Google rewards a positive user experience, and your budget stretches further when your website actually converts. This is also true for most ad platforms. If the platform sees that your website converts, your ads will be further pushed out to more relevant audiences. 

Search Intent > “Perfect” Targeting

Small businesses sometimes get caught up trying to “target everyone.” The real power of Google Ads is showing up the moment someone expresses genuine intent. The goal is to think less about “who” they are and more about “what they want right now.”

Keep in mind, people search when they’re ready to buy, compare, solve a problem, or book something. If your business can show up at the exact moment they’re making a decision, you’re already ahead of the majority of your competitors.

Your Ad Copy Should Sound Like a Real Person

One of the most common mistakes that we see is robotic, keyword-stuffed ads that feel like they came out of an automated template. People simply don’t connect with that. We recommend asking yourself, “Would I actually click on this ad?” Always use clear, human language. Highlight what makes your business different. Keep it honest and direct. You’ll be surprised how much better “real” sounds on Google. Remember, people don’t need to be “sold” on something they are already searching for. 

Budget Isn’t About Spending More—It’s About Spending Wisely

Keep in mind, you don't need a massive budget for Google Ads. You just need consistency and strategy. A lot of small businesses dabble in Google Ads for a week, panic when they don’t see instant miracles, and then quit. But Google Ads is a system—data builds over time. A steady, realistic budget almost always outperforms bursts of random spending. 60 days of running Google will give you a more complete picture of how the platform can work for you.

Track One Main Goal

Most small businesses spread themselves thin trying to track everything at once—calls, submissions, clicks, events, every button pressed on the website. But when you focus on a single, meaningful action (like a lead form or purchase), Google learns faster and optimizes better. Your campaigns become cleaner, stronger, and more profitable. 

Final Thoughts

Google Ads isn’t magic—but it is one of the few marketing tools that puts your business in front of people at the exact moment they're searching for a solution that you provide. And when you understand the basics—clean website, clear messaging, intentional targeting, and consistent budget—you’re already doing more than most small businesses out there.

You don’t need to know every trick in the book (that’s what agencies like HMLLC are for), but you should feel confident knowing that Google Ads can absolutely work in your favor with the right foundation.

• Holistic Marketing turns individual touchpoints into a cohesive journey: Aligning marketing, sales, design, customer service, and any additional department creates a consistent customer experience

• A holistic strategy means maximum efficiency: An integrated approach ensures that that communication is clear and that everyone is collaboratively working toward the same goal

• Focus on the key aspects of Holistic Marketing: Internal, Integrated, Relationship, and Performing - all to emphasize how you utilize tools, how you build brand loyalty, and how you measure marketing efforts

• Audits, goals, & strategy: Evaluate current marketing performance across all channels, identify what works and what falls short, establish new brand goals, and implement a high-level strategy

• Clear guidelines are key: Develop defined roles, brand standards, and KPIs to maintain consistency throughout the customer journey

• Monitor and adapt: Continue to track performance, gather insights, and refine your strategy with AI-driven technologies and digital trends in mind

In today’s rapidly changing marketing landscape, a piecemeal approach just doesn’t cut it anymore. Audiences interact with brands across search, email, social, and more, meaning that an integrated, holistic strategy is what turns those touchpoints into a cohesive journey. We have long-preached that this approach is essential in making sure you get the most impact from your efforts (hence our name), but the need for this practice is even more important now with high consumer expectations and the fast-paced nature of the AI-driven marketing world.

Here is what you need to know about creating and structuring a holistic marketing strategy.

What is a Holistic Marketing Strategy? 

The key aspect of a holistic marketing strategy is aligning every aspect of your business to improve your customer experience and maximize efficiency. By implementing this well, you can ensure that your customer experience is consistent from discovery to repeat buyer, building brand loyalty and optimizing marketing budgets. 

Traditionally, each operation within an organization would be separated into departments like marketing, sales, fulfillment, sourcing, etc. And each of those departments could be further segmented into specialties including email, search, design, support, etc. While all these departments are seemingly working towards a common goal, the lines of communication are complicated and often one department wouldn’t know what another department was working on until that initiative was launched.

Tools like Slack and Teams (among others) have made communication easier among departments, but a true holistic marketing approach needs to be designed from the top-down for maximum impact, all starting with your customer in mind. 

Philip Kotler, also known as the Father of Modern Marketing. initially defined the key aspects of holistic marketing as: 

• Internal Marketing - How your brand and products are discussed inside the organization

• Integrated Marketing - How you utilize the tools and channels available to deliver a consistent customer experience

• Relationship Marketing - How you work to build brand loyalty with customers and partners

• Performance Marketing - How you measure the returns of your marketing efforts and how you address the impacts of those efforts (legal, ethical, social, and environmental)

How to Create a Holistic Marketing Strategy in the AI Era

Now that you have a better understanding of what a holistic marketing strategy is, you are well on your way to taking the first steps in creating a holistic marketing strategy. Here are some tips on structuring your strategy. 

Audit Existing Marketing Efforts 

Before you make any changes, assess how each department and channel (traditional, digital, PR, sales and promos, customer support, events, philanthropic, and internal messaging) has historically performed. Look at what resonated, what fell flat, and what was consistent among them. Use this data to help inform your new strategy.

Set Brand Goals + a High-Level Strategy

This will look different depending on the size of your organization, but you need to have solid answers around what you want to accomplish and how you plan on integrating your efforts. Having the bones of a roadmap will help you communicate the idea to your other team members so you can get buy-in and support. Key questions to ask in this stage are: 

• How can the customer experience be improved?

• What parts of our current experience are working well?

• How do we create a consistent experience for the customer throughout their journey?

• How can we align all internal teams on goals and messaging?

• What existing processes are redundant or prohibitive to collaboration?

• What systems are in place or need to be in place that can support this?

Get the Team on the Same Page

The most important piece of the puzzle is getting the entire team on the same page. You need to create internal communication processes and make it easy for teams or team members to communicate and collaborate. Part of this is going to be making sure everyone knows the common goal that they are working towards and how they should be tracking efforts and progress consistently and clearly.

Create Guidelines + Messaging

Now that the team is on the same page and has a mission to work towards, you need to create clear goals, objectives, and metrics (KPIs). Important KPIs to consider as a part of this approach are customer feedback, employee buy-in, and brand awareness. From here, refine your strategy by establishing your “brand bible” with style guidelines, messaging, and tone outlined. 

When developing your messaging, it is important to consider the stages of the customer journey - Aware, Appeal, Ask, Act, Advocate (as seen in the figure below) – to ensure you are crafting language that will resonate with your audience in each stage of their journey.

When it comes to implementation, your strategy should also include the channels that are most important to your audience. In other words, make sure to be where they are. 

Lastly, your team needs to know who is responsible for what and what the procedure is. This helps with consistency and buy-in. Create standard operating procedures or SOPs for each role with clear accountability considerations and revisit these often to ensure they are still relevant.

Monitoring + Adjusting

Once your strategy has been implemented, you need to continuously monitor the KPIs that you have previously outlined and determine what is working well and what needs further refinement. Each department will have a unique perspective, so it is best to consider all data points to create a more complete picture. As with all things in marketing, your strategy should not be stagnant.  To stay ahead of the curve, be flexible and keep up with digital trends and consumer behavior. Some emerging technologies that are sure to influence buyer behavior in the near future are voice search, facial recognition, and the growing reliance on AI. Determine what your approach to these technologies will be and how to incorporate these without losing sight of the customer or your brand.

Final Thoughts

By implementing a holistic approach where communication is open and clear, high-level strategies are being developed and continuously monitored, and brand standards and KPIs are consistently tracked, you are setting yourself up for repeat customers and potential brand advocates. Let us know if you need another set of eyes on your holistic marketing strategy.

• Site speed impacts everything: Faster websites improve the overall user experience, increase SEO rankings, and boost brand perception

• Utilize credible tools to test performance: Tools, such as Google PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest, and Pingdom, are recommended to help identify speed issues, analyze metrics, and measure performance

• Focus on key metrics that are slowing you down: We recommend focusing on Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and Interaction to Next Paint (INP) to analyze exactly what is bringing your score down. Among others, these metrics allow you to browse even further to identify additional areas for improvement

• Full optimization depends on your access: Depending on your site platform, you may have limited or full control over what you can improve upon

• Fix common speed issues: Be sure to optimize image and video use, minimize font customization, limit heavy blocks, remove unused extensions, and avoid third-party scripts to optimize your speed

• Routine monitoring is crucial: Implementing a consistent site speed audit will allow you to continuously detect performance issues, track traffic patterns, and help maintain a user-friendly website

In digital marketing, site speed is one of those things that quietly underpins everything else, including SEO, conversions, and user experience. A slow website loses visitor interest, eroding visibility and revenue. There are many factors that contribute to your site speed, so we will go over why it matters, how to test it, and how to improve it.

Why Site Speed Matters

Aside from the obvious, there are several tactical reasons why site speed matter:

Site Speed Directly Impacts Conversions & User Experience

Slow-loading pages frustrate visitors, causing them to bounce, abandon carts, and seek resources elsewhere. Studies show that even a one-second delay can reduce conversion significantly. 

Site Speed is a Confirmed SEO Signal

Google uses page speed and Core Web Vitals as ranking factors. Sites that lag may be penalized or deprioritized, negatively affecting how you show up in search results.

Fast Sites Support Marketing ROI & Brand Perception

Poor performance undermines your other marketing investments. No matter how well you drive traffic, if your site fails to deliver, you lose potential.

How to Test Your Site Speed

There are several tools that can be used to test your site speed, but we will go over our go-to tools and how to analyze the results. It is good to use a variety of tools and tests to get a more realistic average performance. We recommend that you clear caching (client & server) before tests for a better baseline (may not have access to the server side depending on your site platform).

Google PageSpeed Insights

This tool not only provides insights into your mobile and desktop page speed, but it also provides you with Core Web Vitals findings. You simply enter your URL for testing and wait for the results. This tool can also be accessed in Chrome via Developer Tools → Lighthouse or within Google Search Console → Core Web Vitals (this will only show up if your site has sufficient visitors in a 28 day period). 

WebPageTest

Like Google PageSpeed, this tool analyzes similar metrics but allows you to test your site from various geographical locations, providing you with a better understanding of how your audience receives your site (regardless of where they are located). You can also tweak the browser connection and desktop dimensions.

Pingdom Website Speed Test

Pingdom allows you to easily test from different geographical locations, and it also gives your site a cumulative grade with details on where there are areas of improvement.

Analyze What Is Slowing You Down

Now that you have all of your data, it is time to dig into the results and make sure you look at both the desktop AND mobile report. Google is mobile-first indexing, so you need to have a good mobile site experience to perform well. It is important to note that a perfect site speed score is extremely difficult, and for some sites, impossible to achieve. Strive for improvement, not perfection.

Some metrics are more meaningful than others. We recommend focusing on:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) — How quickly the main content loads. Your goal is under 2.5 seconds

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) — Visual stability (avoiding jumping content). Your goal is under 0.1

• Interaction to Next Paint (INP) or First Input Delay (FID) — Responsiveness to user clicks. You goal is under 200ms

• Time to First Byte (TTFB), First Contentful Paint (FCP), Time to Interactive (TTI) — Additional supporting metrics

By expanding the details in each report, you can see exactly what is bringing your score down. Common issues and their typical causes include: 

• Render-blocking Resources: CSS and Javascript files that delay loading

• Unoptimized Images: Large file sizes, missing WebP formats, or no lazy loading

• Server Response Time (TTFB): Slow hosting or too many redirects

• Unnecessary Apps/Plugins: Extra scripts that add bloat

• Third-party Scripts: Ad trackers, chat widgets, or social embeds

Depending on your site platform, you may have limited control over what you can improve upon. For example, if you have a Squarespace site, you will see that a lot of the areas of opportunity call out squarespace assets and google fonts, which cannot be accessed. 

How to Improve Site Speed When You Have Full Server Access 

If you have full control over your server and you are a developer, or you have access to a developer, you have a greater ability to control the performance of your site. Here are some standard recommendations that will improve your speed:

• Convert all images to WebP or AVIF

• Implement lazy-load, below-the-fold content

• Minify and combine CSS/JS where possible

• Limit fonts (stick to 1–2 families + preload them if possible)

• Use server-level or plugin caching

• Minimize 3rd party scripts (if you need a lot of scripts, you can utilize Google Tag Manager)

How to Improve Site Speed on a Hosted Platform, Like Squarespace

Now, if you are working on a hosted platform, you will not have as much control over improving page speed. While this may seem daunting, your site can still perform well even if you get poor grades from the site speed tests you performed. With that said, there are items that you can update to optimize your speed.

Image + Video Optimization

• Keep image files sizes under 200KB

• Squarespace will automatically display your images as WebP file format (at this time AVIF is not supported)

• Instead of utilizing Squarespace to host your videos, upload your videos on YouTube or Vimeo and embed the URL

Minimize Font Customization

• Stick to 1–2 font families total and try to only utilize Squarespace fonts

• Custom font files increase load time and slow down performance

Squarespace Blocks & Scripts

• Limit heavy blocks (ex. multiple galleries, product carousels, or code blocks on each page)

• Remove unused extensions, embeds, and scripts in Code Injection and Custom CSS

Structure

• Upgrade from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1 if you haven’t already. It has improved performance and cleaner code

• Avoid adding too many nested index pages; simpler layouts load faster

Features to Avoid - Squarespace has some fun design features, but the following will increase your load time:

• The scale text feature 

• Sitewide animations 

• Background videos

• Large header text in hero will affect the mobile experience*

*You can implement Custom CSS to control this experience

Implementing a Routine Site Speed Audit

Speed isn’t a one-time fix. Every change you make (new features, plugins, scripts) can affect performance. Here’s why you must test regularly:

• Regression Detection: Fixes now may break later

• Seasonal Spikes: Traffic surges expose bottlenecks you didn’t notice

• Mobile Network Variability: Real-world mobile speeds vary. What’s fast in lab tests isn’t always fast in real life

• Competitive Edge: As your competitors optimize, a slow site becomes more noticeable

Plus, Google’s ranking updates and user expectations evolve, so what’s fast today may feel slow tomorrow. We recommend kicking off your baseline tests with at least 2 of the tools and measuring your progress as you make site updates. Here is a tracking spreadsheet you can use in your site speed efforts.

Final Thoughts

Site speed is a foundational layer of your site that can quietly determine success or failure in digital marketing. A fast site enhances SEO, conversions, user satisfaction, and it protects your brand from hidden friction. Staying on top of this technical component of your site will save you from bigger headaches down the road.

• E-E-A-T is foundational: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness help assess content quality, determine credibility, and build trust

• Grow visibility through transparency: Be sure to provide clear credentials, properly cite your sources, disclose any use of AI, ensure a safe site, and be accountable to stay transparent with your audience

• Real experience sets you apart: Utilize case studies, client success stories, and before/after results that highlight the work you have actually done

• Authority grows through connections: Backlinks, mentions, and recognition from reputable sources signal that your content is worth surfacing

• Depth and relevance matter: Create user-focused content that fully answers questions, stays updated, and avoids over-optimization

• Consistency is key: Building E-E-A-T takes time. It is critical to focus on tracking performance, trends, and rankings on a consistent basis, be open-minded to updating content as necessary, and stay up-to-date with the latest marketing trends

If you are in digital marketing circles, chances are you have heard of E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Whether you have heard about it or not, you still may not know the actual meaning behind it and the importance of its framework. 

In this post, we’ll explore what E-E-A-T means today, why it matters, and how you can grow your visibility by applying it thoughtfully.

What Is E-E-A-T + Why Is It Important?

Google describes E-E-A-T (formerly E-A-T) as a framework used in its search quality rater guidelines—meant to help assess content quality. It’s not a direct ranking factor, but it strongly informs how systems (and human reviewers) evaluate content.

Here’s how the components break down:

• Experience - The newest “E” added in 2022; the premise of this is to determine if the author or creator has actually done what they’re writing about

• Expertise – This criteria is determining whether or not the author or creator has a deep knowledge and/or training into the subject matter in which they are writing

• Authoritativeness – Is the author or creator recognized by their peers, reputable sites, or within their industry as a go-to source?

• Trustworthiness – Is the content accurate, transparent, and reliable? Are sources cited? Is the site secure and ethical? This element tends to carry the most weight, so if users and reviewers can’t trust your content, the rest falls apart

With the rise of AI, generative search, and new content formats, Google and other search engines aren't just scanning for keywords; they are trying to surface reliable answers. That means E-E-A-T signals help your content stand out in an era of information overload. Content that highlights real first-person examples, lived insights, and data are going to be much more beneficial than theoretical stories and restated facts. 

How Do You Grow Visibility with E-E-A-T The Right Way?

While “E-E-A-T” can feel abstract, there are practical ways you can apply it so your content can gain visibility over time with the right audience. While the following tactics work across industries, we do need to point out that if you are in the financial or health space (also known as YMYL or “Your Money or Your Life”), there is a higher degree of scrutiny. You can read more about YMYL from Semrush. 

Focus on Transparency

Transparency is expected today; audiences demand authenticity and evidence. Freely provide information that supports your position and trustworthiness:

• Provide clear “About” pages or author bios – highlighting credentials, experience, and background 

• Cite and provide links to your sources 

• Disclose the use of AI so your audience (and search engines) can understand what is human-made vs. machine-assisted

• Disclose if content is sponsored or if reviews have been incentivized

• Ensure your site is seen as safe, with HTTPS, clear contact info, policies, and disclosures

• Be accountable – ensure your information is factual and provide corrections when needed

Demonstrate Real Experience

As mentioned, lived experience is a key differentiator. Utilize case studies, client success stories, and before/after results that highlight the work you have actually done. 

You can bolster this with user-generated content, client interviews and testimonials as well as original visuals that complement the experience you are sharing. 

Build + Leverage Authority Signals

Getting backlinks and mentions from sites within your industry and from reputable sources helps show search engines and AI that your site is worth paying attention to. We explore this deeper in our post on building authority + earning mentions.

Create Content Depth While Being User-Focused

Provide meaningful answers to the questions your audience is asking through your content. Share the whole picture by showing evidence, addressing counter-points, and being open to discussion.

It is also important to keep your content fresh. Create a system for auditing your content regularly to ensure it stays accurate and relevant. And while you are auditing your content, make sure you are not keyword-stuffing or using sketchy linking practices in an attempt to over-optimize your piece.

Stay Active + Diligent

The world of digital marketing is anything but stagnant, so stay informed on the latest shifts and user-trends so you can adjust accordingly. Growing your visibility with E-E-A-T takes time and consistency, so don’t expect overnight results. 

We encourage you to track traffic, brand queries, rankings, and backlinks to see where and how your content is being referenced. And, as more AI tracking tools emerge, you can also track your mentions and performance in AI overviews, voice search, and generative platforms. It is important to measure your efforts, analyze what is resonating with your audience, and update accordingly.

Final Thoughts

E-E-A-T isn’t an optional add-on, but it is foundational to being seen, trusted, and recommended.

The key piece to remember is to consistently show your experience and back it with signals of expertise. When you do this, you can earn authority from external sources and garner deeper trust from your audience. Together, this results in increased visibility in not just traditional search, but also through AI systems.

• The holiday season can make-or-break ecommerce brands: Strategic planning and optimization can turn an overwhelming time into a growth opportunity for your brand

• Early planning is ideal: Build a promotional calendar around key shopping dates early on and use previous data to predict peak demand. These steps will allow you to create campaigns and offers that will resonate with your audience 

• Can you handle it? Ensuring that your site can handle an upswing in traffic is imperative around the holidays. Optimize your site’s performance through a few simple checks: Load testing and scalability, site speed testing, and ensuring a smooth mobile performance and a simple checkout process

• Plan inventory carefully: Utilize past data to predict inventory demand, prepare for returns, and implement alerts to recover from missed sales

• Strategize your holiday marketing campaigns: Align your offers, messages, and channels with data-driven customer behavior, and layer in holiday urgency, gift guides, and teaser campaigns to keep the momentum going 

• Customer service matters: Set yourself apart through exceptional and meaningful customer service by being clear, supportive, and flexible in your actions before, during, and after purchase

• Post-purchase process: Turn holiday shoppers into long-term, loyal customers with  specialized post-purchase email updates, loyalty programs, and exclusive offers that customers value

• Analyze performance for future planning: Be sure to reflect on the performance of your products, campaigns, and offers to improve your strategy for the next holiday season

The holiday season can often make-or-break ecommerce brands. This is the time when buying intention is highest: Last-minute decisions are being made and customers are looking for gifts, deals, and delight. Unfortunately, it’s also the time when mistakes are magnified: stockouts, slow sites, confusing checkout flows, or poor customer experience can cost you dearly.

To turn this period into a growth opportunity, careful planning is essential. Here are holiday planning tips tailored for ecommerce businesses, so instead of feeling overwhelmed, you feel empowered to optimize. 

Start Early + Build a Holiday Calendar

Ecommerce holiday planning should really start in Q3, but for small businesses, this is not always feasible. With that said, waiting until November is too late. To help get you started, use data from past years to map out your sales curve. From there, identify peak dates, such asBlack Friday, Cyber Monday, regional events, and your shipping cutoff days. 

As a point of reference, here are the big dates for 2025: 

November 11: Single’s Day

November 27: Thanksgiving

November 28: Black Friday*

November 29: Small Business Saturday

December 1: Cyber Monday

December 8: Green Monday

December 21: Super Saturday

December 24: Christmas Eve 

December 26: Boxing Day

*Treat “Black Friday” as more than one day as it now often stretches across weeks with early-bird sales, extended offers, and post-holiday promotions.

Once you have a rough timeline of your holiday calendar, you can begin teasing holiday offers and campaigns to determine what resonates best with your audience.

Ensure Site Readiness + Performance

Regardless of how solid your marketing strategy is, the best marketing still fails if your site can’t handle traffic or if the user experience is slow. The following are recommended steps you should take to ensure that your site is ready. Keep in mind the execution of these tasks will vary depending on your site platform.

• Load Testing + Scalability: Simulate peak traffic to ensure your infrastructure holds up

• Mobile Optimization: With a majority of consumers shopping via mobile, your site must be nimble, responsive, and fast. You can utilize Google Search Console or Google Lighthouse to test these metrics

• Optimize Product Pages: Make sure your images are clear and image file sizes are minimal. Leverage product videos (if possible) to increase engagement. Keep your product copy concise, and check for any friction in your add-to-cart flows

• Simplify Checkout: Reduce steps, offer guest checkouts, and include multiple payment options (credit cards, digital wallets, BNPL, paypal, etc.)

• Monitor and Preempt Errors: Check for broken links, inventory mismatches, unavailable SKUs so you can catch them before they surface to customers

If you don’t have a dev department to support this testing, pull in other team members and even friends/family to test your site!

Ensure Appropriate Inventory

You don’t want to build your holiday promotions around a product you can’t keep in stock, and you don’t want to end the year with an overabundance of products you can’t move. Both of these can hurt your revenue and cash flow. To help alleviate these issues:

• Forecast demand using previous years’ trends, seasonality, and market changes, including economic concerns for your target audience

• Plan how you will treat returns. The holiday season is notorious for a spike in returns, so be sure to make it easy for the customer but also cost-effective for your business. Consider an extended return window to ensure customer satisfaction

• If you can’t avoid a stockout, you can ensure you have back-in-stock alerts and flows established to re-engage customers that might have missed out.

Once you feel good about the logistics of your holiday season, start your promotion strategy.

Holiday-First Marketing & Campaign Strategies

Promotions, campaigns, and messaging need to align precisely with holiday behavior. Start your marketing campaign strategy by referring to your holiday calendar that you already mapped out and consider the following: 

• Consider how many touchpoints your target audience will interact with throughout their shopping journey. According to Google, 61% of shoppers interact with 5+ touchpoints in their online purchase journey, and Google and YouTube are present in 86% of those journeys. Assess your sales and Google Analytics data to determine where your best customers are coming from

• When planning what those touchpoints should be, revisit your top campaigns from prior holiday seasons (or even throughout the year)

  • What messaging worked? 

  • What offer was most appealing?

  • What channel converted best?

  • What failed?

• When thinking through your messaging, incorporate urgency language like low stock, limited quantity, and countdowns (“last day to ship in time”) as well as VIP early access and cart recovery

• Layer in content and awareness early by creating holiday gift guides, playbooks, and teaser campaigns. This helps position your brand well for search when shoppers begin thinking about gifting

• Plan for post-purchase, user-generated content. In your email flows, you can encourage shoppers to share gift unboxings and holiday setups (and ensure they tag your brand). This extends your reach and generates additional interest based on real customer excitement

Measure the effectiveness of your efforts and adjust throughout the season to ensure your campaigns are performing well. 

Provide Exceptional Customer Service

During the holiday chaos, customer experience can set you apart, which goes well beyond the current holiday season. Customers will remember how you saved the day… or didn’t. Here are some ideas to help you create a memorable customer experience for your customers:

• Pre-Purchase: Clearly state all of your delivery deadlines - prominently and often, including language for last-order-by dates for holiday delivery

• Pre-Purchase: Provide proactive customer support via chatbots, live chat, and/or clear FAQs

• During Purchase: Offer gift wrapping, message cards, and recipient shipping address options

• Post-Purchase: Send timely order, shipping, and delivery confirmations with tracking links and provide updates if anything unexpected occurs

• Delivery: Add delight with surprise notes, small bonus gifts, or incentives that build goodwill and loyalty beyond the holidays

Customer Retention Planning + Reflection

Just because the packages have shipped and joy has been delivered certainly doesn’t mean your job is done! Work on developing repeat customers through your post-purchase processes. 

Set up solid flows for the following touchpoints: 

• Order Confirmation

• Shipping Confirmation

• Delivery Update

• Post-delivery Check-In

Outside of the order flow, you should nurture your customers throughout the year:

• Onboard them into your loyalty program

• Cross-sell and bundles suggestions

• Special offers for returning customers

• Back-in-stock alerts

• New products and clearance events

When the dust has fully settled on the season, analyze performance: 

• Which products, channels, campaigns, customer segments outperformed?

• Which underperformed? 

Use these insights to get a headstart on next year’s plan.

Final Thoughts

For ecommerce businesses, the holiday season certainly has the potential for high rewards and customer loyalty. However, we know this doesn’t happen by chance. Brands that plan ahead, optimize their website experience, align inventory with demand, create thoughtful marketing campaigns, and prioritize customer experience are the ones who “make it” during the holiday season. By approaching the holidays with a clear strategy, you can make the most of the season while also creating a loyal customer base and carrying your momentum into the new year.

• Be intentional during the holiday season: Service-based businesses can stay relevant during the holidays through a few meaningful actions that emphasize relationship-building

• Start early to capture demand: Building awareness ahead of the holiday rush increases your chances of closing projects before the year’s end

• Utilize the holidays with specialized offers: Creative packages, offers, services, and incentives that revolve around the holidays can build and promote your service-based business

• Seasonally-relevant content builds visibility: Creating and sharing fresh and valuable videos, blogs, and posts 4-6 weeks prior to the peak holiday will help gain search discoverability and promote client connections

• Targeted email strategies will support clientele: Tailor individualized messages to current clients, warm prospects, and cold leads to build trust in intentional ways

• Ensure operational readiness: Carefully plan out your calendar and timelines to clearly communicate expectations and ensure a smooth client experience

• Reflect and continue momentum: Take some time to analyze performance, identify what did and did not work, and re-engage interested leads to continue building momentum as you enter into the new year and prep for the next holiday season

The holiday season often feels like a retail battleground and service-based businesses may feel like an afterthought. While you won’t be running holiday sales or bundles, service-based businesses, like consultants, coaches, agencies, wellness providers, etc. should be offering meaningful value, building relationships, and capturing clients who have year-end planning on their minds.

While each service-based business has its own seasonality, this guide lets you know the framework for holiday planning to aid in a successful start of the new year. 

Start Early + Build Momentum

Ideally, your outreach should already be underway, but we know that this can be tough for small businesses without an entire marketing department at their disposal. With that in mind, you already know that decisions in service businesses often take days or weeks, so the earlier you seed ideas and awareness, the higher your chance of closing projects before the year’s end.

Tailor Offerings to Seasonal Mindsets

Before you plan out your end-of-the-year marketing strategy, you need to know what you are going to be offering. People often use the holidays to reflect and plan for the coming year. Your services can tap into that. Here are some ideas that can work for service-based businesses:

• Limited-time “New Year Kickoff” Packages — Combine consultations + follow-up training sessions

• Holiday Audit or Checkup Offers — Give clients a mini evaluation of their current state, showing potential upside as an entry-level offer

• Giftable Services — Depending on your industry, you can leverage your services as gifts (ex. a coaching session, audit, brand consult, or a wellness retreat) that clients can give to colleagues or friends

• Bundles + Retainers with Incentives — Wrap existing services into packages that carry into the next year with a holiday bonus or discounted rate.

Grow Your Audience with Content + Visibility

Plan your content as soon as possible and begin promotions 4–6 weeks before peak season. Leading up to your promotional push, you can be planting the seeds via valuable content that will serve in gaining search discoverability. Increase your visibility by tailoring content to be seasonally relevant. Some ideas to get you started: 

• Create content optimized for season + service keywords (such as “end of the year brand refresh” or “new year wellness program”)

• Host learning webinars and repurpose that content into downloadable guides on your website

• Share year-in-review stories and client success stories that tie into your offerings

After you have planned out your content, make sure you have a solid distribution strategy:

• Publish blog posts, guides, or short videos around holiday topics aligned with your niche

• Share digestible snippets on social media to extend your reach

• Cross-post on partners’ blogs, industry sites, or guest platforms to reach new audiences

• Encourage social sharing of your holiday content and audit offers

As you wait for your content to gain traction, work on the flow that will nurture your leads. We recommend warming your list up with value-first email content (actionable tips, guides, and resources) and avoiding overt sales messages too early. 

Nurture Leads Via a Solid Email Strategy

We all know that service offerings require nurturing, so once you have a list, you need to ensure that the messaging and content is appropriate for them. 

Begin by segmenting your list and ensure the content is relevant to each group.

Current Clients - Current clients already trust you and know about your services, but they may not know about your new offerings. Current clients should receive messaging tied directly to your offer with timely reminders that match any deadlines.

Warm Prospects - There may be some prospects that have downloaded a resource or maybe they have even subscribed to your newsletter; regardless, they need to have a better understanding of your services and trust your expertise. Share actionable tips based on the content in which they have already expressed interest. From there, highlight your successes with other clients and then weave in your offer with timely reminders.

Cold Leads -  These leads likely just have a passing recognition of your services, so they will need the most nurturing. Provide general helpful content so you can gauge what piques their interest most. Once you have an idea of the content that compels them, share actionable tips based on what matters most and introduce them to the successes you were able to achieve for your clients. Introduce your offer and share deadlines.

Refine your email copy based on what makes most sense for your industry and offer, and be sure to pay attention to metrics like open rates and CTRs to measure the effectiveness of your copy and offer.

Support Your Operations

Now that you have your marketing strategy squared away, you need to make sure operations can deliver. Determine how many service spots you will be able to accept during the holidays so you don’t overbook. This will help you to craft language for your timely reminders and any spot limitations. Remember to factor in time for administrative tasks like proposals, onboarding, and execution, as well as any anticipated holiday time-off that may slow down the process.

Once a client has been onboarded, communicate your deadlines and milestones early and often so expectations are set. Ensure that your client knows when feedback is needed to keep the project on track, and clearly communicate any time off you and your team will be taking for the season.

Post project, collect feedback from your client and keep them in the loop on any new offerings that may be of interest to them.

Reflection for the Coming Year

Once the hectic nature of the season has passed, you can reflect on your end-of-the-year and holiday promotions to assess which strategies worked and which ones may not have. Ask yourself the following questions: 

• Did the content drive interest? 

• Which channels support the content best?

• Did the emails perform well?

• At which touch point did leads convert?

• What was sticky?

• Was anything missing?

All marketing efforts should be measured and iterated upon, which will give you a jumpstart on the next holiday season. And as an added bonus, to kickoff your pipeline for the near year, you can re-engage with any leads that showed interest but didn’t commit!

Final Thoughts

The holiday season may look different for service-based businesses, but it still offers a unique opportunity for strategic planning and building relationships. By starting early, strategically aligning your offers with the holidays, focusing on meaningful connections, and ensuring strong operations, you are setting the foundation for a strong year ahead.

• AI and SEO share best practices: AI search emphasizes getting your content cited in generated responses, while SEO focuses on improving your rankings in search engine result pages. When executed properly, each practice strengthens the other by creating a loop of visibility, relevance, and authority

• Foundational SEO matters: Site speed, mobile-friendliness, crawlability are critical in both traditional SEO search as well as AI-generated search

• Gain credibility through E-E-A-T: Experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness help your content gain security, reliability, and transparency

• Structured data improves understanding: Using structured data (schema) helps search engines and AI better standardize and interpret your content

• Link-building drives traffic: This foundational SEO practice increases traffic through best practices like creating linkable content, emphasizing local listings and partnerships, promoting awards and PR opportunities, and implementing guest blogs and valuable social media content 

• Audits guide improvement: A consistent focus on technical and content audits will help identify what is working versus what is missing and refine your strategy to stay relevant for your audience 

• Measure the effectiveness of your efforts: Tracking volume, sources, engagement, conversions, keywords, and AI visibility will allow you to optimize your SEO and AI performance

Lately, SEO has become a hot topic in circles that once rarely paid attention to the discipline. While extra attention and discussion of AI + SEO can certainly be exciting, it also means there may be a lot of confusion and misinformation that can be leading marketers and small business owners astray. In an effort to bring some clarity into this space, we will outline the difference between AI + SEO, how they work together, and the practices that matter most today. 

What's the Difference Between Traditional SEO and AI Search Optimization?

The key difference between traditional SEO and AI search optimization is that AI search optimization is primarily focused on getting your brand, products, or content referenced or cited in AI-generated answers (ex. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI overviews, and others), whereas traditional SEO is focused on ranking your results higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). While the placements in theory may differ, a lot of the best practices for both tend to overlap. We continue to say this, but AI Search Optimization (or LLMO, AEO, GEO, or whatever other acronym you want to use) is the next evolution of SEO. SEO has never been a stagnant practice, and it certainly is not now.

How SEO + AI Work Together

AI and SEO should not be treated as separate silos; however, instead see them as complementary tools. AI helps inform, speed up, and enhance SEO workflows, while a well-executed SEO strategy helps AI systems understand and surface your content. When executed properly, they create a loop of visibility, relevance, and authority. 

Here are some of the main ways that AI + SEO are working together today: 

• AI-powered functionalities are now a key feature in many of the long-time SEO tools, helping to make SEO more efficient and proactive

• In case you haven’t noticed, all major search engines have an AI search component that understands user-intent more deeply, understanding semantics and context rather than just the search term

• Google has reinforced that foundational SEO principles, such as unique content, user-experience, and technical clarity, still matter in AI-based search

Now that we have a better understanding of how SEO + AI work together, let’s go over strategies that matter to your visibility.

SEO Strategies That Optimize for AI Search

While the following SEO tactics are not new, they have been getting more traction lately for their association with AI search optimization. Good implementation of these tactics will not only help you show up in traditional search, but it will also aid you in getting visibility and citations in AI answers.

Site Health aka Technical SEO

Having a healthy site is the foundation of SEO, but some factors to focus on include:

• Site speed - Users have short attention spans, so the faster you load, the better the user-experience. Ideal page load time is under 3 seconds. There are some limitations to websites here depending on your hosting, CMS, and onsite functionalities, but you should aim to be as quick as possible. You can check your site speed using Google PageSpeed Insights.

• Mobile-friendly - While this was once a nice-to-have feature, it has certainly transitioned into a necessity ever since Google fully transitioned to mobile-first indexing in late 2023. Regardless of your site’s user-device breakdown, you need to have a good mobile experience. You can assess the mobile-friendliness of your site using Google Lighthouse in Chrome Developer tools or within Google Search Console Core Web Vitals, if your site has enough traffic.

• Crawlability - Sites can’t be found if they can’t be crawled. When AI search and LLMs first came out, some site owners were blocking AI from crawling their site over fear of having their content stolen. In reality, what this does is prevent them from being cited in AI answers. To ensure your site can be crawled by search engines and AI, you need to make sure your robots.txt settings are correct, your individual page settings are correct, and you should submit your sitemap(s) to both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster tools. 

E-E-A-T

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. This practice, which has been around since 2022 in this iteration, focuses on establishing your site as a credible, trusted authority with experience in a given area. In this new search landscape, here is how each signal should be treated across your entire digital presence (not just your website):

Experience - Support your expertise with first-hand examples, documentation, and original media. This can also be viewed as content clarity. The information you provide should be easy to comprehend and organized so that humans and AI can understand the content.

Expertise -  Provide accurate, detailed information on a topic. The content should be authoritative and complete. Thin content and content that is not supported throughout your site is not going to be beneficial.

Authority - Earn mentions, citations, and backlinks from others in the field. Support this via structured data, author schema, and consistent brand profiles. AI cross-references how you show up digitally, so your brand voice should be consistent on your site, social media, and 3rd party sources.

Trustworthiness - Your site is secure, transparent, and reliable because you disclose sources, methodology, and keep your information updated. You can further support your trustworthiness by collecting legitimate reviews and testimonials from your customers or clients. 

Structured Data

Structured data, in how we understand it today, has been around since 2011 with the introduction of Schema.org. Its goal was and still is to standardize how meta data is added to websites to help machines (and now AI) better understand the content. 

Recently, the most popular schema types are Author, FAQs, HowTo, Product, and Organization, but there are over 800 types of schema. To learn more and test your structured data, go to Schema.org. 

Linkbuilding

Linkbuilding is the practice of getting other sites to link to your site. This has been a core SEO practice since search began. There have been a lot of good and bad linkbuilding practices over the last 3 decades, but we will only focus on the good practices.

• Create Linkable Content - If you want people to link to you as a trusted resource, you have to create valuable content that is worth linking to!

• Local Listings - If your business has a physical location, you should create local listing profiles to help with “near me” and proximity searches. This will not only help local customers, but they will also send backlinks to your site.

• Partnerships - Do you partner with local organizations or groups? See if they will link to your website as a trusted partner.

• Industry Associations + Groups - Are you involved in industry associations, professional organizations, or online groups for your industry? Ask for a link or provide linkable content. 

• Awards - Industry and local awards are great opportunities to promote your business and get a backlink at the same time. 

• PR - National or Local PR opportunities allow you to reach a large audience and get valuable backlinks to your site. 

• Expert Source - Similar to PR, but if you don’t have an entire pitch ready, you can weigh in on stories as an expert source. You can get started by creating HARO and Qwoted accounts to look for features that match your expertise.

• Guest Blogs - Have a piece of content that would be appropriate for another site’s audience? Pitch them for a guest blog feature!

• Social Media Profiles - If you can be active on social media (which is definitely advised), be sure to create profiles for your business. These profiles also create backlinks (albeit no-follow). Consistent posting helps extend your reach, and by sharing your site’s content, you can enhance exposure to your website. 

We do want to point out that, under no circumstances, should you ever buy links or rely on spammy directories or link farms!

How to Audit + Improve Your Efforts

Now that you have a better grasp on how AI and SEO work together, you can begin auditing and improving your current tactics.

A good technical SEO health check is a great place to start. Assess where there is room for improvement on your site experience before you dive headfirst into revamping your content strategy. We typically use Google Search Console, Semrush, and ScreamingFrog to perform technical audits of our clients’ sites. 

The main areas of focus for these technical audits are: 

• Site Speed - What can be improved if site speed is lackluster?

• Crawlability - Check sitemaps and robots.txt files and ensure the sitemaps are submitted to Google and Bing

• Core Web Vitals - Is the site mobile-friendly?

• Link Health - Check for internal and external broken links

• Onsite Functionality - Check for internal and external broken images

• Orphaned Pages and Crawl Depth - Are there pages that could be getting more attention, but they are hard to reach?

After you have taken stock of your technical performance, check in on your Google Analytics and Google Search Console performance metrics to see where your content strategy could be improved upon. 

• What pages are getting the most attention?

  • What is drawing visitors to this page?

  • Are the visitors engaged?

  • Are they seeking additional context or content?

  • Are they taking the desired actions?

• What pages are not performing well at all?

  • Is the content valuable?

  • Is the content original or can it be found elsewhere on the site?

  • Is the content linked to internally?

• What keywords is your site showing up for? (Need a keyword research refresher?)

  • Are these keywords appropriate? 

  • Is the ranked content updated? Can it be improved?

  • Are there appropriate CTAs on the ranked content?

• What keywords should your site be showing up for?

  • Do you have content to support that keyword? 

    • Is the content valuable? 

    • Is it updated?

    • Do you link to it internally? 

    • Are the title tags clear?

    • Is it formatted for readability and skimmability?

The findings from your technical and content audits will help guide you through your immediate and long-term next steps. Focus first on the technical, and then assess your content strategy based on what is working and what is missing. These audits should be done regularly to ensure your site is providing the most up-to-date and valuable resources for your audience. This not only helps your audience see you as an authority, but it also helps search engines and AI see you as a citable authority. While mentions and traction can happen faster in the AI era, building consistent authority takes time. Good SEO is not an overnight process; it requires consistency, upkeep, and measurement.

How to Measure Your Efforts

As with any marketing strategy, you need to measure the effectiveness of your efforts. Many of the standard SEO KPIs are still critical, but there are some nuances for the AI era. Here are the KPIs we recommend keeping an eye on (without needing a special reporting tool):

• Traffic Volume (how many visitors and what pages)

• Traffic Sources (direct, organic, referral, paid, social)

  • Pay attention to referral traffic from AI platforms

• Traffic Engagement (time on site, # of pages, bounce rate)

• Conversions (signups, calls, purchases, etc)

• Keywords (what terms are you showing up for, CTR for those terms, rankings)

• Branded keyword traffic

There are many new functionalities within existing paid SEO tools for AI search metrics as well as new AI search tools. If it is within your marketing budget to subscribe to a tool that tracks AI performance, go for it! 

Here is what you should measure:

• AI Visibility

• Specific queries your site is showing up for in AI answers

• Share of voice in AI queries

Final Thoughts

The phrase “SEO is dead” may be all over your LinkedIn feeds, but the reality is more nuanced than that. Understanding how AI and SEO work together and what tactics are going to propel your brand forward is just the latest iteration. As with all things marketing, you should assess, refine, measure, and repeat when it comes to your strategies. We encourage you to stay informed on how this space continues to evolve. Here are some of our go-to resources:

• Semrush

• Google Search Central

• Core Updates - Weekly Newsletter

• Authority and mentions increase visibility and reach: Engaging with relevant industry sites and being cited on those sites will increase your chances visibility and trustworthiness

• LLMs rely on credibility: Content that is being cited frequently and earning authority signals increases your chances of being featured in AI-responses, allowing your brand to gain trust and recognition

• Intentional link-building is critical: You need to be visible where your ideal customers are and focus on websites with reputable high-quality content when you are link-building

• Optimize valuable content and data: Developing relevant, high-quality content with strong details and headings and then implementing performance data are key steps to increasing visibility

• Consistency leads to refinement: Authority builds over time through repeated mentions and backlinks as well as performance tracking, so staying consistent in your efforts is imperative in refining your strategy

• Leverage social media intentionally: Social media platforms can help increase visibility, drive backlinks, and build authority if content is valuable

You already know that the way people search online is changing fast. Long gone are the days of scrolling down the page to all ten results on Google and finding what you want. Now, more and more people are turning to AI overviews and LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity among others. 

Maintaining an active role in your content strategy has always been important, but with the shift in search behavior, consistency and visibility are now mandatory. In addition to the content you are publishing on your own site, you can increase your chances of being cited in LLMs by engaging on relevant industry sites and seeking out PR and guest post features. These tactics not only boost your authority but they can also extend your reach and can even influence how AI and LLMs cite or reference your content. 

Building your authority and earning mentions in these systems not only increase your visibility, but they signal that you are trustworthy to your audience as well. Let’s go over what you need to know.

What Are LLM Mentions?

Large Language Models or LLMs, like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, don’t create answers out of thin air. They’re trained to pull from:

• Websites with authority and expertise in a subject

• Content that is frequently cited, shared, or linked to across the web

• Pages that are structured clearly, making them easy to summarize

When your business earns enough of these authority signals, you increase your chances of being featured in AI responses similar to the “featured snippet” from Google’s not-so-distant past.

Why Authority + Mentions Matter

AI-generated summaries often appear above traditional search results. Being included means your brand is visible in the new front row of search. 

Even if a user doesn’t click your site, they see your name in the AI response. That repetition builds brand recognition and trust. When people consistently see your brand mentioned as the expert, they’re more likely to:

• Search for you directly

• Click your links when they appear

• Reach out with higher intent to buy or engage

While AI may be new, building authority via link building is not. Link building efforts have long been a keystone of traditional SEO efforts, but with AI systems, there is now an even bigger reason to employ this tactic.  To learn more about site authority, you can read Semrush’s Guide on How to Build Website Authority. For now, let’s get into what you can do to work on your efforts.

Best Practices for Building Authority Signals + Mentions

Now that you know why this matters, here are some best practices to follow:

Choose the Right Sites

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when it comes to where you should focus your energy for link building and features. First, you must ensure that the sites you are focusing on align with your industry and your audience. You need to be visible where your ideal customers are. Once you have determined the site is aligned, assess the quality of the site itself and stick to websites with a good track record of high-quality content. You can also explore PR opportunities on sites like HARO or Qwoted.

Optimize Quality Content

Now that you have identified opportunities, you need to work on your content. You should always write with your audience in mind but also be mindful of where the content is being posted. Ensure that content will be well-received by the site for which you are writing. Additionally, boost your insights with data, case studies, or perspectives to make your piece stand out.

When it comes to formatting your content, you should use good details, include strong description headings, and assess the piece for skimmability (clear summaries, bulleted lists, etc.,). Not only do humans appreciate an easy-read but it helps LLMs understand the content as well.

Measuring & Iterating

Once you have kicked off your efforts, stay consistent. Authority builds over time through repeated mentions and backlinks; this isn’t a one-and-done strategy. You should also be measuring the effectiveness of your efforts by tracking metrics beyond just referral traffic. For example:

• Watch for branded search volume growth

• Pay attention to mentions in AI / LLM tools (Semrush now has a tool that shows your AI visibility)

• Keep an eye on increases in direct traffic

• Monitor visibility for specific keywords 

• Assess what kind of engagement you received

What Not To Do

Now that we know what to do to, it is equally important to highlight what not to do:

• Do not publish on low-quality or spammy sites just for the backlink 

• Do not reuse generic content 

• Do not over-optimize your anchor text or force links - value wins over keyword-stuffing

Will Social Media Help Me Get Featured in AI Responses?

You may be thinking, “What about social media?” In short answer: Yes, posting on social media can help indirectly with establishing authority and earning mentions in LLMs, even though social shares themselves aren’t a direct ranking signal. Here is a look at how social media can be a vital part of your efforts:

Content Amplification = More Backlinks

The more people who see your content on social media, the more chances it has to be shared by industry peers, which LLMs treat as credibility signals. It also increases your chances of being linked to blogs, newsletters, and articles. And backlinks, like we said, are not only a long-time SEO staple but they also drive authority for LLMs.

Brand Mentions Without Links

Even if your brand is just being mentioned without a link, this can be picked up on by LLMs. When your brand name shows up consistently in social posts, interviews, or thought leadership threads, it strengthens your authority footprint with humans and AI.

Top-of-Mind Awareness for Journalists & Creators

Many journalists, bloggers, and influencers use social platforms to source ideas. If your posts are consistently helpful, your name is more likely to come up as an expert reference in their articles (which do feed LLMs).

Content Testing Ground

Social media is also a great way to test content. Posts that get traction can be expanded into blogs, guides, or infographics that AI systems are more likely to cite.

Social Content Gets Indexed Too

Platforms like LinkedIn, Meta, and Reddit are now being indexed on search engines and sometimes cited directly in AI Overviews. That means your social post could literally appear in an AI-generated answer if it’s valuable enough.

Overall, while social media isn’t a direct ranking factor, it is one of the fastest ways to fuel the signals that LLMs do rely on: Backlinks, mentions, authority, and visibility.

Final Thoughts

AI and LLMs are increasingly relying on third-party authority, mentions, and citations as signals, so if you aren’t showing up in relevant sites, you are less likely to be mentioned in AI results. Backlink and PR are no longer nice-to-haves in your SEO strategy; they are an essential asset in maintaining and growing your visibility. With that being said, there are good and bad ways to go about this. Make sure you are always keeping your target audience in mind, creating quality content, and measuring your efforts so you can iterate and improve. Read our previous posts on SEO in the AI Era and LLMO to round out your understanding of where SEO stands today.

• AI shapes marketing strategies: As marketing efforts evolve, we have to utilize AI as more than a tool, but rather, a core component to optimize, report, and drive our marketing strategies

• Be aware of new terminology: Many new acronyms have been added to the digital landscape, such as AIO, SGE, AEO, LLMO, and GEO. Be sure to stay up-to-date on this terminology to stay relevant

• Visibility now includes AI: Search impressions extend beyond the traditional search and will now appear in AI-generated summaries and chat responses for greater signals of visibility

• New measuring metrics: Focus on new measuring metrics to keep up with the AI era, such as traffic trends, branded search volume, keyphrase monitoring, signal-based tracking, and AI signals 

• Stay relevant with emerging marketing approaches: Keep your content clearly structured and informative through GEO/LLMO, be visible through multiple channels like web, social media, and news articles, utilize paid search and paid social, and conduct performance and data checks consistently

Just as our tactics need to evolve in response to AI, our understanding of reporting metrics should also shift to ensure that we are analyzing and strategizing the correct components. 

AI is no longer just a tool, but rather, a core component shaping how we optimize, report, and drive marketing strategy. This evolution demands a rethink: What metrics matter now? How are search impressions defined? Which tactics are rising in importance?

But First, Let’s Go Over Some Acronyms 

In the last few months, there have been a lot of new acronyms and phrases thrown around. Before we dive into your digital marketing reporting metrics, we thought it would be helpful to better understand the terminology that is being used in this new landscape.

AIO

Artificial Intelligence Optimization is a general term referring to a few different practices.  Across all of these practices, however, it means improving systems, processes, and practices with or for AI. AIO helps AI to better understand and better serve users.

SGE

Search Generative Experience is specific to Google’s AI-powered engine that provides summaries and overviews to search prompts.

AEO

Answer Engine Optimization is optimizing content specifically to show up in direct answers from search engines (like AI overviews) or AI tools.

LLMO

Large Language Model Optimization means optimizing your content to specifically show up in LLM outputs (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, etc.).

GEO

Generative Engine Optimization is more of an industry term, but it encompasses both AEO and LLMO and refers to optimizing content for all generative AI engines. 

These terms are important because they describe the new rules of visibility on the internet where search engines and AI assistants increasingly act as gatekeepers between businesses and customers. 

How Has Visibility Shifted In The AI Era?

Speaking of gatekeepers, search engines and AI assistants are changing how visibility is measured. Traditionally, your site’s visibility could be tied to search impressions, which count the number of times your page or site appears on a user’s screen regardless if it is clicked. 

In the AI era, however, impressions aren’t just how many times your page showed up in search results, but they are also signals of visibility within AI-generated summaries and chat responses. So measuring presence in AI outputs, even without clicks, becomes vital. 

What Metrics Should I Be Measuring?

Previous SEO KPIs were impressions, clicks, and rankings. In this AI-influenced landscape, performance measurement needs new metrics:

• Direct traffic trends: A rise in direct visits may reflect people searching for your brand after encountering it via AI responses.

• Monitor Generative Traffic: Watch for referrals from AI-driven platforms in Analytics.

• Branded search volume: As AI elevates brand visibility, you’ll see upticks in searches for your brand. Monitor this via Google Trends, Search Console, or Ahrefs/Semrush.

• Monitor Keyphrases: What long-term keyphrases or terms is your site showing up for? You can monitor this within Google Search Console (and make sure you connect this to your GA account as well).

• Signal-based tracking: Spot-check AI tools (ChatGPT, AI assistants) monthly. Ask consistent brand-related questions and log where and how your brand appears. It’s not precise, but it offers directional insight.

• Emerging AI Signals: Metrics such as inclusion in AI summaries, visibility within chat-based answers, or citations in assistant prompts, though hard to quantify, are increasingly meaningful.

As this shift is still evolving, monitoring tools are still being developed. For large brands/sites, Semrush offers an AI Tool that can track your brand and mentions. At this point, it isn’t appropriate for all businesses, but this space is sure to grow. There are multiple other emerging paid tools that you can look into as well. If you want to DIY with the free tracking tools available, you can utilize Google Looker Studio.

What Tactics Are Becoming Increasingly Important?

Now that you know what to measure, it is important to understand how to stay relevant in this new landscape. In response to AI, certain digital marketing approaches are proving successful:

1. GEO/LLMO: Make your content structured, clear, and conversational to be easily surfaced by AI assistants like ChatGPT or SGE. You can learn more about bringing this into your marketing strategy here.

2. Content Excellence: AI prioritizes clarity and factual depth. Well-structured summaries, schema data, and concise answers outperform generic posts. This has been the gold standard for some time, but the importance continues to rise. Keep in mind, we are optimizing for AI, but humans need to be the intended audience.

3. Multi-Channel + AI-Aware Distribution: Be visible where AI is drawing answers from (web, social media, news articles, industry forums, etc). Build out your content distribution plan to increase citation likelihood.

4. Paid Search + Paid Social: Not only do these channels help exposure to your potential audience, but they are also used in AI training data. Focus on top-of-funnel problem-solving content and brand awareness.

5. Real-Time Monitoring: As AI models update rapidly, regular testing of brand visibility and answer positioning becomes key. Make sure you are reporting on the correct metrics and frequently determining what is working and what isn’t.

6. Data-Driven Adaptation: Utilize the AI tools that are already built into many of the systems you are using to ensure you are optimizing your efforts to the fullest.

While this list may seem daunting, many of these practices have been recommended for some time. The urgency is in the fact that AI is developing at a breathtaking pace, so if you aren’t adapting, you are falling behind.

Final Thoughts

The AI era redefines success metrics. It’s not only about clicks and rankings anymore. While they are still an indicator of performance, they are proving to be incomplete. Visibility in AI-generated content, brand positioning within answer engines, and signal-driven patterns are critical new dimensions. Assessing these data points will be crucial in developing and growing your updated marketing strategy.

Knowing what to track and why it matters allows you to optimize for AI understanding, while providing human-value. Creating content with clear answers, trusted structure, and real-time adaptability should be your foundation. Distribution of this content will be your gateway to visibility.

Want help staying on top of your reporting metrics? Reach out about custom reporting.

• Accessibility and compliance are essential: Focusing on these aspects protects you legally and also improves SEO, brand reputation, and the overall user experience

• Understand accessibility requirements: A proactive, inclusive design is the best tactic to ensure that your site is accessible to every individual and that you are following all legal guidelines 

• Accessibility checklist: Follow these steps to ensure inclusivity within your site - structure your content semantically, implement clear descriptions for all images, follow WCAG standards when implementing visuals, utilize readable labels, and test regularly 

• Legal compliance is key: Most websites need a baseline of a Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, an Accessibility Policy, and a Cookie Policy to keep you compliant and protected, but be sure to consult with your legal representative to ensure compliance in all areas

• Consider Termageddon: We recommend utilizing Termageddon to help you determine appropriate policies and language for your site. We will even offer you free training!

In today’s inclusive digital landscape, ensuring that your website is both accessible and compliant is no longer optional. A site that’s easy to use for people of all abilities not only protects you legally, but it enhances SEO, usability, and brand reputation as well.

Let’s break down what accessibility and compliance mean, how to make your site friendly for everyone, and how to steer clear of legal pitfalls.

What Are The Accessibility Requirements For My Site?

Accessibility means designing and building your site so people with disabilities can navigate and interact with it in a meaningful way. ADA, WCAG, and Section 508 have set the legal and technical standards for accessible websites covering many US-based sites and institutions. Ever since these standards have been set, lawsuits continue to rise. Even small businesses have faced threats for inaccessible content - sometimes over PDFs or basic layout issues. This can be costly and burdensome as well as frustrating. Proactive, inclusive design is the best prevention. This is not just a smart tactic, but it also shows that your business cares about accessibility inclusion, setting you apart ethically and commercially.

Site Accessibility Checklist

Here’s your action checklist for making your site inclusive:

1. Structure content semantically: Use correct headers, lists, and landmarks so assistive technologies, like screen readers, can guide users properly

2. Write helpful alt text: Every meaningful image needs a clear, concise description. As an added bonus, this boosts image SEO as well

3. Improve visual accessibility: Ensure color contrasts meet WCAG standards, and confirm your site works without a mouse

4. Validate interactive element labels: Buttons must have readable text or labels. Use valid ARIA roles and attributes where needed

5. Test, test, test: Use tools like Lighthouse (see screenshot of how to access), WAVE, or W3C validators to flag issues early. Regular audits catch regressions and support your accessibility roadmap. W3C also provides a list of tools to help you perform audits

What Are The Compliance Considerations For My Site?

When you launch a website, it’s easy to focus on design, branding, and content, but one area many site owners overlook or just don’t think about is legal compliance. Whether you’re running a small blog, a growing e-commerce store, or a service-based business, certain policy pages aren’t just “nice to have,” but rather, they are legally required in many regions.

Overview of Legal Policy Pages

These policy pages exist to protect both you and your visitors. They build trust, keep you compliant with regional laws, and can even shield you from costly legal disputes. The exact pages you need depend on your location, audience, and business model. Most websites need a baseline set including a Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, Accessibility Policy (see above), and a Cookie Policy. From there, you can add industry-specific policies as needed. We always recommend talking to your legal advisors to ensure you are in good standing, but use this as an overview of what to ask for.

• Privacy Policy: Nearly every modern privacy law, from Europe’s GDPR to California’s CCPA/CPRA, requires you to tell visitors what personal information you collect (such as email addresses, IPs, cookies, or payment details), how you use it, and who you share it with. If your site uses forms, analytics, or payment processing, a Privacy Policy is mandatory.

• Terms & Conditions (or Terms of Service): This isn’t legally required everywhere, but it can be valuable because it protects you by setting rules for how people can use your site. It’s especially important if you sell products, offer memberships, or publish original content that you want to protect.

• Cookie Policy + Cookie Consent Banner: Cookie policies are required if you serve visitors in the EU or UK or if your site uses tracking technologies like Google Analytics or advertising pixels (we definitely recommend Google Analytics). These are required by the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive, and they give users control over whether their data is being tracked. Keep in mind - Squarespace does provide a Cookie Consent Banner within the settings that you can utilize.

• Refund, Return, and Shipping Policies: These policies are often legally mandated under consumer protection laws for e-commerce businesses. 

• Disclaimers: Certain industries (like health, finance, or law) benefit from this policy to clarify that your content is informational and not professional advice. 

• Accessibility Statement: As mentioned above, digital accessibility laws have expanded, making an accessibility statement both a legal safeguard as well as a mark of inclusivity.

If you are unsure of where to start or you do not have legal counsel, we recommend (and use) Termageddon as a paid resource (use code holisticm for a 10% discount) that will help you determine what policies are most appropriate for your site and draft language for you. If you decide to use Termageddon, reach out to us and we will get you set up with free training!

Final Thoughts

It is no longer as simple as creating a website; you must meet accessibility and legal compliance standards. When you ensure everyone can experience your site Accessibility and compliance are not just suggestions - they are foundational and imperative in building a website that is welcoming to everyone. By prioritizing clear legal practices and an inclusive setup, you’re not only reducing any legal risk, but you are also widening your audience, improving SEO, and delivering a better user experience across the board. Be sure to take the time to research and understand your obligations, and when in doubt, consult legal guidance to ensure you’re fully protected.

• What to know about LLMS.txt: This new markdown-formatted file is a sitemap for AI inference to point search engine bots in the right direction

• Pros of an LLMS.txt file: Directs AI toward your best content and away from documentation-heavy content, helps AI analyze content easily, and boosts content visibility through GEO

• Cons of an LLMS.txt file: This file has not gained full adoption by many AI companies as of yet, it can cause potential SEO risks through duplication of HTML, and its overall practicality has not been solidified by SEO professionals

• Best practice approach: If moving forward with this optional tactic, keep your LLMS.txt file concise, structured, and focused only on your highest-value content

As generative AI reshapes how users discover content, a new file, llms.txt, is gaining attention. But what exactly is it, and does your SEO/GEO strategy truly need it? 

Here’s a look into it.

What Is an LLMS.txt File?

This idea was originally proposed by Jeremy Howard in 2024 to help address how LLMs (large language models) struggle with navigating complex HTML, JavaScript, or navigation-heavy sites. It provides a curated roadmap for AI, not a crawling directive. llms.txt is a Markdown-formatted text file placed in a site’s root directory (e.g., yourdomain.com/llms.txt). It doesn’t instruct bots on where they can’t go, but rather, it points AI systems to your most valuable, LLM-friendly content. Think of it as a “sitemap for AI inference” rather than a robots.txt control tool.

This is not meant to replace a robot.txt or sitemap.xml file! This is just to highlight AI-friendly content on the site in an effort to aid search engine bots.

Should I Create an LLMS.txt File?

As with many new SEO tactics, there are many arguments for and against including this file on your site currently. Below, we will lay out the pros and cons so you can make the decision as to whether or not this is the right fit for you.  

Benefits of LLMS.txt

• Directs AI to your best content: As mentioned above, this file tells AI agents exactly where to look, bypassing poorly structured or buried pages. This can be especially useful for documentation-heavy sites, like APIs, help centers, and knowledge bases, especially single-page markdown-based sections where structure and clarity are critical.

• Designed for LLM consumption: Written in clean Markdown (using headers, blockquotes, and links), it makes parsing easier for AI, unlike content hidden within messy site layouts. While not widely adopted yet, LLMS.txt could become a new standard safeguard for long-term visibility, preparing your business for AI search evolution.

• Part of early GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) strategies: GEO aims at boosting content visibility in AI-driven search results. llms.txt fits into this movement to optimize content for generative engines, not just link-based search results. Using it signals preparedness for an AI-centric search future even if the payoff is not immediate.

What Are the Arguments Against an LLMS.txt File?

• Minimal adoption by major AI companies: Google’s John Mueller compared llms.txt to the obsolete meta keywords tag, suggesting that it is largely ignored by AI systems today. Yet, other SEO tools, like Yoast SEO and Semrush, have added support for it. Right now, it’s more about future-proofing than serving a present need.

• Potential SEO risks: Google warned that if your llms.txt duplicates HTML content without distinction, it could dilute SEO value. If you are concerned about this, you could always add a noindex tag to prevent indexing of the file itself.

• Speculative value amid evolving AI standards: Many SEO professionals question its practicality, given platforms may eventually process the original site directly without needing this extra file. At this point, no one really knows the future of GEO.

Final Thoughts

While llms.txt is not essential currently, it is a low-risk tactic if properly structured that can give an early edge in the future of GEO. If you do choose to move forward, here are a couple best practices to keep in mind:

• Keep it distinct from HTML versions (consider noindex)

• Use Markdown structure: # title, descriptive blockquote, ## sections with chosen links

• Focus on truly high-value content—don’t spam it with every URL on your site

Regardless of if you choose to implement LLMS.txt or not, you should review you content and SEO strategy. A good place to start is with our LLMO overview.

• LLMO explained: Large Language Model Optimization (LLMO) aids in making your content clear and credible so your brand will become a trusted and referenced source in AI-driven search rather than just a traditional search

• LLMO significance: Content that is optimized for AI comprehension - which can be done through LLMO - results in greater visibility, brand recognition, and overall trust

• LLMO implementation: Gain visibility by earning mentions on high-authority platforms, utilize meta indexing, seek out PR opportunities, be active in your industry’s social community, develop clear content through strong keywords and language, emphasize factual accuracy through proper citations, build trustworthiness through testimonials, and finally, track metrics such as traffic and impression-to-visit ratios through Google Analytics and Google Search Console

We’ve entered a new era of search behavior (and a new acronym); one where AI isn’t just a tool but is central in how audiences discover and engage with content. Traditional SEO is still important, but now there’s a powerful counterpart to consider: Large Language Model Optimization or LLMO. LLMO is frequently linked to Generative Engine Optimization or GEO and Answer Engine Optimization or AEO, but to keep things simple, we will stick with LLMO for now. Consider this a part 2 to SEO in the AI Era.

Here’s what LLMO is, why it matters, and how to weave it into your marketing strategy without losing the heart of your brand.

So What Is LLMO?

As mentioned, LLMO stands for Large Language Model Optimization. In the not-so distant past of SEO, the focus was on ranking pages in search results. With LLMO, the goal is to make your content intelligent, clear, and credible enough to be surfaced by AI tools like ChatGPT, SGE (like Google’s AI Overviews), Gemini, Perplexity, and more.

In essence, LLMO helps your brand become a trusted and referenced source in generative, answer-driven search, not just a search result. Here is why it matters:

1. AI Search Is Growing Fast
   From AI Overviews in SERPs to chat-based assistants, AI-powered search is becoming a dominant way people find answers online.

2. Users Rely on AI Responses - Not Just Links
   People increasingly trust the AI answer presented to them directly rather than clicking through to a website, which is a shift towards zero-click search thus increasing the need for brand recognition and trust.

3. AI Visitors Tend to Be High-Value
   Semrush reports that an AI-sourced visitor can be 4.4× more valuable than traditional organic traffic. So while visits may decrease, the quality of the visits is higher.

In short: If your content isn’t optimized for AI comprehension, it might just be invisible.

How to Bring LLMO Into Your Marketing Strategy

We covered the basics in SEO in the AI Era, but let’s take a deeper dive into the additional tactics to add to your arsenal.  

Build Authority via Trusted Mentions

AI models often reference reputable, widely-cited sources. Earn brand mentions on via PR or guest blog, or high-authority platforms like LinkedIn or other industry sites, to increase visibility in AI-generated responses. While getting featured or mentioned may be more of a long-term play, there are a handful of tactics you can leverage immediately: 

• Utilize Meta indexing on search

• Be active on industry-relevant sites and/or community groups on social platforms

• Look for guest blog opportunities on high-authority sites

• Seek out PR features for something noteworthy about your business

• Work towards establishing your site as an authority in the space with frequent, original, quality insights

Craft AI-Friendly Content

We reviewed this in great detail in our SEO in the AI Era post, but in short, create content that’s clear, organized, and structured to be easily digested:

• Identify strong keywords 

• Use conversational tone

• Include FAQs, bullet lists, concise headers

• Start with summary answers and then dive deeper

Support Content with Signals of Trust

Emphasize factual accuracy to build trust, cite sources, use clear definitions, and showcase your subject-area expertise. LLMs favor semantically rich, trustworthy content. Additionally, building up your trustworthiness via testimonials and reviews can be used to garner trust with humans and signal reputation with LLMs.

Measure the Right Metrics

Instead of only tracking rankings and clicks, consider metrics such as:

• Referral traffic from AI-powered tools like AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Copilot, etc - accessible via Google Analytics

• Measure your impression-to-clicks ratio within Google Search Console 

• Assess the queries that your site is showing up for in search results via Google Search Console

• Explore Paid Monitoring Tools like Semrush to track: 

  • Mentions in AI assistant responses

  • Brand name co-occurrences in AI outputs

Final Thoughts

The marketing world is ever-changing with the latest evolution focusing on earning AI mentions. LLMO offers a future-focused way to ensure your brand doesn’t just rank but also becomes the answer.

You don’t need to overhaul your strategy overnight. Start by blending existing content practices with AI-friendly formatting and working towards authoritative mentions. Over time, this human-centered approach will help your brand stand out across the evolving landscape of AI-driven search.

• Indexed Meta Posts: As of July 2025, public Instagram and Facebook (Meta) professional posts can be indexed and discovered by search engines 

• Social content brings about SEO exposure: Any public post that is professional with an owner of 18+ is accessible through direct search rather than just social media, which can drive traffic and exposure to your business

• Controlling Meta post exposure: For those businesses who don’t want their posts to be indexed, ensure that your social accounts are private and personal with the search indexing option disabled in your privacy settings

• Revamp your social media strategy: Utilizing captions as “meta descriptions” with clear and strong keywords and implementing alt-text, hashtags, and Geotags will greatly enhance your business’ visibility

• Data helps your business evolve: As always, create a consistent routine of data and performance tracking through tools like Meta insights, Google Search Console, and SEMrush to identify strengths and gaps

In a huge shift for social media and search, Meta (Instagram and Facebook) public professional posts, like Reels, carousels, and videos, can now be indexed by search engines. This change, which took effect on July 10, 2025, marks a profound evolution in how content is discovered and consumed online. 

Here is what you need to know as a business:

Your Social Posts Have Now Expanded Your SEO Exposure

While LinkedIn posts have been visible for some time in SERPs, this is new for your Instagram and Facebook posts. Previously, Meta content was largely locked behind its own app(s). Now, all public posts from professional (business or creator) accounts are eligible for indexing as long as the account is public, professional, and the owner is 18+.

The change is reflective of a broader shift that more users, especially younger generations, are searching directly on social platforms. This has prompted Google to integrate this content more deeply into its results, but it also means that businesses should reassess their social media strategy.

If you don’t want your posts indexed, you have some options to control it:

• Set your account to private

• Switch from a professional to a personal account

• Toggle off search engine indexing in privacy settings

Rethinking Your Social Media Strategy

Your social posts now function like traditional SEO assets, appearing in SERPs alongside blog posts and product pages, which can unlock new potential traffic to your business. Traditionally, social posts have had a fleeting lifespan, but that is not the case anymore. With search indexing, your content is now evergreen. Posts that used to vanish from view after a couple days can now attract visitors for much longer, especially if it is optimized for search.

This means there should be less separation between your SEO and social media strategy (aka, a more Holistic approach):

Captions Become SEO Assets 

Think of them as mini “meta descriptions”—crafted with clear keywords, descriptive context, and search intent in mind. As a note, we always like to remind clients not to lose their brand voice since this is part of the reason your followers/audience choose you.

Alt-text, Hashtags, and Geotags Matter More

These elements can boost your visibility in image and local searches, making your posts more discoverable and meaningful in search results. Make sure you are not “over-optimizing” your Alt Text; this should be natural sounding and relevant to your audience.

Adding Alt Text on Facebook: Click Edit Photo and Select Alt Text.

Adding Alt Text on Instagram: On the final upload screen, scroll to advanced settings. Under Accessibility, tap Write Alt Text. For old posts, select “...” on your post, tap Edit, and then choose Edit Alt Text.

Measuring the Impact of Social 

Now that social posts are being indexed on traditional search, you may be wondering how to measure the impact this has on your business. As of right now, social media platforms don’t allow external analytics tools, like Google Analytics, to be connected. This means you can directly track traffic that comes to your social media posts from search, but there are some measurement insights to be gained.

Instagram + Facebook Page Insights

The data on both platforms often show you how people found your profile (search, suggestions, or external website). This isn't always granular, but it can give an indication of performance if you have noticed trends in your reach.

Google Search Console

Within the Performance section of GSC, you can see how many impressions and clicks queries related to your social media profiles are getting.

SEMrush

Utilizing this tool either on a free or paid plan will allow you to use your social profile URL to analyze the organic keywords your profile is showing up for, in what position, and the intent behind those keywords. 

While the data is not comprehensive at this point, we are sure this space will continue to evolve. There are also new tools that are emerging to help facilitate this shift without overburdening you, DesignRush has done a breakdown of AI agents for Instagram.

Final Thoughts

Meta’s new indexing policy is reshaping the social media and search landscapes. Your posts can now be seen by a broader, search-driven audience, extending their reach, relevance, and lifespan. Whether you're a creator, a small business, or a brand, it's time to rethink your social strategy with SEO in mind.

• AI strategy for small and mid-sized businesses: AI comes with advantages for SMBs who struggle to keep up with the competition 

• Enhanced visuals: AI-generated images and videos can support ad campaigns for businesses who have limited resources

• Optimized bids and ads: AI-driven bids can be adjusted in real-time, and paid ads can be optimized, resulting in more successful campaigns and greater exposure

• Strengthened audience targeting: AI has the ability to analyze user-behavior to attract more intentional traffic

• Upgraded headings and descriptions: Meta’s system can automatically test various keyword-driven headlines and descriptions as well as ad formats to provide top-performing combinations

• Automated recommendations for improvement: AI can provide insights to improve operation and protect your budget, such as shifts in performance, creative fatigue, and audience saturation

It goes without saying that today’s digital landscape is competitive, making it harder for small and mid-sized businesses to keep up. This is especially true when it comes to producing high-quality visuals and video assets that drive high-performing ad campaigns. The digital world moves at a fast pace, and while that certainly makes things tough, it also has its advantages. AI can be a strategic tool that helps SMBs maintain pace with the competition. Chances are you have been encountering some form of AI in your everyday life. Here is how we are utilizing this toolset to enhance paid search and social performance for our clients without adding to their workload.

AI-Generated Image + Video Assets

Many of our clients come to us with strong products or services, but they lack the creative resources to produce polished media for Google Ads or Meta campaigns. Instead of allowing that to limit their performance, we integrate AI-driven image and video generation tools utilizing the assets that they do have into our strategies.

Using these tools, we can:

• Generate branded product images from a standard photo

• Create lifestyle image shots from product shots

• Create short-form video ads optimized for mobile (which is ideal for YouTube, Meta, and the Display Network)

• Elevate or repurpose existing assets to meet platform ad specs

While we have probably all seen badly generated AI photos, AI is continuing to evolve, and we always ensure quality before utilizing an asset. This approach enables us to launch a campaign sooner if a photoshoot is not possible in the short-term. We always encourage our clients to produce or source original assets, but sometimes that isn’t possible.

Campaign Optimization with Built-In Tools

As with almost all areas of our online lives, platforms like Google + Meta have implemented AI tools to enhance the user-experience for both businesses and consumers. With any new technology, it is not perfect, but there are some key areas that these platforms have improved the ad buying experience that we have adopted.

Smarter Bidding Strategies

AI-driven bid strategies (i.e., Lowest Cost, Target CPA, Maximize Conversions, etc.) adjust in real-time based on conversion likelihood and context (time of day, location, device, etc.) This allows the campaign to go through countless bid adjustments that would not be sustainable without the assistance of AI.

*A note on Google’s Performance Max Campaigns. PMax campaigns are another huge leap in how AI is improving paid ads, automatically optimizing across all of Google’s channels (Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps). This campaign type can be very beneficial, but your ad spend budget needs to be larger to help unlock the full potential of this campaign type. It takes longer to gather enough conversion signals to work like a well-oiled machine and the CTRs are generally lower on these campaigns because of the enormous reach, which can be discouraging in the short-term. We do utilize and recommend these campaigns, but they need to be assessed differently than traditional search campaigns.

Better Audience Targeting

On both platforms, AI is enhancing audience targeting in multiple ways. AI can analyze user-behavior to determine which users are more likely to convert and finds other users like them (Lookalike Audiences). These platforms can also update targeting in real-time as users’ interests shift. All of these updates minimize the need to manually provide retargeting lists.

Creative Optimization

With Google Ads, multiple headlines and description combinations are tested to determine the best performer, and AI can easily generate a list of keyword-driven headlines and descriptions for you. We use this as a starting point but always recommend reviewing to ensure the message makes sense and is true to your business. On the display side, assets are automatically updated to adjust format, size, and messaging to fit placements. This eliminates the need for multiple files.

Meta’s system will also automatically test different ad formats, visuals, and copy to determine which combination will perform best for your campaign. In the campaign build process, Meta features Advantage+ creative text generation to help come up with different copy variations to test out, reducing the need to drain creative juices.

Automated Recommendations + Insights

Both platforms have a degree of recommendations that can be automatically or manually applied. We typically review these manually, but if you choose to go the automatic route, we highly recommend frequently checking in on the campaign to ensure it is still aligned with your business (sometimes the recommendations are a little “off”). Separate from recommendations are automated insights. Some of the most helpful insights include flagging shifts in performance (positive or negative), creative fatigue, and audience saturation. This analysis comes quicker via machine-learning and can save your budget.

More Time for Analysis + Strategy

As alluded to above, in the old days of paid digital ads, we would spend hours tweaking bids, managing keyword lists, and segmenting audiences. Now we can focus more on big-picture strategy, messaging, offers, positioning, and campaign structure. It needs to be said that AI suggestions still need a level of oversight, but a lot of the tedious work that is necessary for these campaigns can be offloaded to these tools. With this extra time, we can shift quicker, and test out different aspects of the campaign that still require the human-touch:

• CTAs

• Hook lines

• Visual Assets (supported by AI or not!)

• Offers

• Landing Page Improvements

We can also spend more time analyzing performance of each variable and tying this into the greater marketing strategy.

Final Thoughts

AI is certainly transforming the digital marketing strategy. However, it should not be a replacement, but rather, an enhancement. When utilized intentionally, AI can reduce some of the manual load of time-consuming tasks, allowing your business to operate more efficiently and allowing you more time to focus on the bigger picture of your brand. Let us help you get your paid ads off the ground!