Tag: Trust

Credibility-First Link Building: How We Earn Lasting Authority
At Resolve, we define link building for legitimacy as earning authoritative backlinks, brand mentions, and media coverage that demonstrate trust, expertise, and credibility to search engines and AI systems. Instead of chasing link volume, we use digital PR, original research, thought leadership, and journalist relationships to earn genuine editorial citations. These are the authority signals behind Google’s E-E-A-T framework, and they can help us appear in AI Overviews, earn citations from large language models, and build visibility that survives ranking swings.

We believe a little competition is healthy. It challenges us, sharpens our thinking, and pushes us to pursue bigger and better results.

However, today’s search environment is changing faster than ever. Large language models, AI-generated answers, and frequent algorithm updates are reshaping how people find information, making it increasingly difficult for us to rely on yesterday’s playbook.

The metrics we once used to keep brands afloat — traffic, domain authority increases, and keyword rankings — no longer define SEO success on their own. We can reach the top of a search results page and still see very few conversions.

If we continue chasing those numbers in isolation, we risk being left behind. We have to adapt.

We now widen our view to the outcomes that matter most: trust and brand authority. Unlike a temporary ranking or traffic spike, trust and authority are not earned quickly or easily.

We need time to spread the word about our brand, and we need even more time to prove that people can rely on us. Once we establish that trust, however, it becomes much harder to dislodge.

An algorithm update can cut our traffic overnight. It cannot erase genuine trust overnight.

Our challenge is learning how to build trust and strengthen our brand while every competitor is trying to do the same. We also need meaningful ways to measure concepts that can initially seem difficult to quantify.

We have found that the answers involve some nuance, but they are simpler than they appear. The process begins with a shift in perspective.

Why we see link building as more than rankings

For years, we treated link building like a popularity contest. The site that collected the most votes, in the form of backlinks, was often rewarded with a prominent position in the search results.

Relevance and trust beat volume: 86% of journalists use at least some PR-pitched stories, yet 54% seldom respond, while 61% of Gen Z turn to generative AI instead of Google.

Over time, Google and other search engines updated their algorithms to improve the search experience. With each change, Google cracked down on more sites that tried to manipulate the system with backlink volume instead of earning links with real editorial and audience value. Countless sites lost traffic, and many still feel the effects.

Today, we see Google place more emphasis on relevance, industry trust, and authority. That helps explain why a familiar brand can attract more searchers than a smaller competitor even when both publish similar content and target similar keywords.

Large language models and Google’s AI Overviews have widened this divide. These systems can use retrieval-augmented generation, or RAG, to retrieve relevant sources, often favoring authoritative publications and proprietary information. If we merely repeat a statistic already cited by a top-tier publication, an AI system may choose the better-known source to reduce the risk of spreading inaccurate information.

We also see younger searchers moving toward AI tools. In a 2025 Resolve study, 61% of Gen Z respondents said they used generative AI instead of Google.

None of this means every form of link building looks like spam to Google or an LLM. It means we need backlinks to work alongside a broader set of authority signals.

When publications and journalists cite our brand, they signal authority. When we publish original content and proprietary data, we signal authority. When we create useful graphics and informative videos, we signal authority again.

Once Google and AI systems recognize these signals, the backlinks supporting them become meaningful votes of confidence. Our site may then be more likely to rank prominently, appear in AI Overviews, and receive citations in LLM-generated answers.

How we use E-E-A-T in a competitive search environment

In 2018, Google updated its quality-rater guidance to place greater focus on expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, commonly shortened to E-A-T. In 2022, Google added another E for experience. Together, these qualities provide a framework for understanding how Google considers credibility and legitimacy.
- Experience: We demonstrate that an author has personally engaged with the subject. Examples include a forum where people describe testing a product or a gardener documenting firsthand pest-prevention trials.
- Expertise: We show that the author has relevant knowledge, qualifications, or credentials supporting the information and advice.
- Authoritativeness: We earn recognition from credible sources and industry voices that cite or link to our work, helping establish us as a respected participant in the field.
- Trustworthiness: We remain transparent, accurate, and honest. We avoid deceiving readers or using manipulative link-building practices.
We apply E-E-A-T both on and off the page. Author biographies can demonstrate expertise, while accurate sourcing can demonstrate trustworthiness. Off the page, we strengthen E-E-A-T signals through the quality of the sites that link to us and the journalists who rely on us as a source. Both dimensions influence how search engines assess whether our information is useful, accurate, and credible.

If we consistently earn backlinks from dozens of irrelevant websites, that pattern can look like a low-quality or manufactured signal. If several respected journalists mention our brand because we published a valuable study, those mentions are much more likely to function as genuine votes of confidence.

Move beyond fragile SEO numbers. This side-by-side graphic shows how earned media, branded searches, industry citations and conversions build authority that can survive algorithm updates.

For us, link quantity is no longer a reliable proxy for legitimacy. We look for backlinks that demonstrate real relevance and value.

We cannot earn those links half-heartedly. We need a coordinated strategy that strengthens credibility both on and off our site.

The off-page SEO tactics we use to demonstrate value

When we ask how to earn links that search engines and LLMs will treat as signs of trust, we do not look for a single outreach tactic. Strong links usually emerge from several activities that we sustain over time.

We create genuinely linkable assets

To prove that people genuinely want to reference our site, we first create content worth referencing. If we are accustomed to quick and easy links, this may require a larger investment in content than we have made before. A routine how-to article or listicle is rarely enough by itself.

We define linkable content as something journalists, publishers, and readers find distinctive and useful — something they have not already encountered dozens of times. We often draw from the following content formats.
- Original data and proprietary research: We publish information people cannot find elsewhere. In a crowded search environment, that means conducting original research rather than recycling familiar statistics. When a journalist needs a statistic and our site is the primary source, we can earn a natural backlink.
- Thought leadership and expert commentary: We share an original perspective from a credible expert within our organization, giving publishers a useful idea or quotation they may cite in future coverage.
- Authoritative long-form guides: We answer the main question thoroughly and anticipate the follow-up questions a reader is likely to ask. This depth can help us earn links as audiences move further into their research.
- Engaging visuals and infographics: We invest in visual assets that make complex information easier to understand and share. Ahrefs found that YouTube mentions strongly correlated with inclusion in AI Overviews. Videos can be especially valuable, but informative infographics also give publishers a useful visual for their own audiences.
These formats demand more time, effort, and money, but we have found that they are often more sustainable than disposable content. They help us earn credible editorial citations and build industry authority that is more resilient to algorithm updates.

We connect link building with digital PR

We place digital PR at the center of authority building because it connects brand development with link acquisition. It helps us earn coverage, attract links, and introduce our organization to new audiences through credible journalists. Those are precisely the kinds of signals search engines can consider when assessing legitimacy.

Unlike traditional PR, our digital PR work focuses on online coverage and backlinks from news organizations and media outlets. We create useful assets or proprietary data, identify the journalists most likely to care, and pitch stories that fit their established beats.

Many of these publications carry significant influence and reach large audiences that can introduce our brand to more people. When a highly authoritative outlet covers our story, other journalists may discover and cite it organically. Syndication can amplify the effect further when a media group republishes an article across its network, potentially producing many relevant links from one story.

Our strongest digital PR campaigns typically use one or more of the following approaches.

Build lasting brand authority in five steps: target trusted publications, create citation-worthy assets, launch digital PR, nurture journalist relationships, then measure and refine your approach.
- Data-led PR campaigns: We begin with what journalists and their readers care about, not simply what we find interesting. We review local news, Google News, and current coverage to understand which subjects are gaining attention. By considering journalist intent from the start, we improve our chances of receiving responses and earning placements.
- Newsjacking or reactive PR: When we can move quickly, we contribute expert opinions, data, or commentary to breaking stories that relate to our brand. This gives journalists material they can use while the topic is still timely.
- Proactive PR: We anticipate trends before they break and prepare insights around recurring news cycles, holidays, and other relevant media moments.
- Contributed content and guest features: We place useful content written by our experts in relevant publications, allowing us to speak directly to established audiences and earn recognition.
When we combine these tactics effectively, we can elevate our brand to a level that competitors cannot reproduce with a batch of low-value links.

We build relationships with journalists and publishers

We know that even fascinating proprietary data, packaged in an expertly designed analysis, can fail if our journalist outreach is poorly targeted.

Journalists receive an enormous number of PR pitches, and those messages can either support or obstruct their work. According to a 2026 Muck Rack study, nearly nine in 10 journalists said at least some of their stories originated with PR pitches.

The same survey found that 54% of journalists seldom or never responded to most pitches. Relevance was a central problem: nearly half said a genuinely relevant pitch was rare.

If we send a journalist at an economics publication a pitch about music-listening habits, we should expect a rejection because the subject may matter to only a small part of that publication’s audience. We do not take that response personally. Journalists build their careers around particular topics and beats, and our job is to support that work rather than distract from it.

We therefore approach outreach as relationship building: a two-way exchange that should benefit everyone involved. Above all, we remember that there is a real person on the other side of every email.
- We personalize our emails and explain why a story fits the journalist’s audience.
- We respond graciously when a journalist says no because our next idea may be a better fit.
- We share relevant work from journalists and publications through social media.
- We contribute thoughtful comments when we have something useful to add.
- We cite journalists’ reporting in future content when it genuinely supports our work.
As we strengthen these relationships, journalists become more likely to consider future opportunities. A thoughtful follow-up or second pitch can receive a warmer response when a reporter already knows that we provide reliable data and useful commentary.

PR relationships grow over time. Even when our first pitch does not fit a journalist’s beat, we remain willing to return with a better story or a new set of relevant data.

How we measure real brand authority

We recognize that authority, trust, and legitimacy feel less concrete than traffic or keyword position. Yet they have become more important. A traffic surge may look encouraging while reflecting temporary attention, weak intent, or an advantage that disappears after an algorithm update.

Authority and legitimacy are more durable. We can also measure the impact of credibility-focused work through several meaningful indicators.

EZ Contacts’ six-month digital PR campaign delivered 1,000+ media placements, raised Domain Rating from 40 to 43, and doubled visibility across ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews.
- Earned media placements: We track the publications that cover our brand, including coverage containing an unlinked mention. These placements help us assess brand credibility.
- Branded search volume: We monitor whether more people search for our company or products after discovering us through media coverage.
- Industry coverage: We look for the point at which publications we have not contacted begin citing our work. That organic pickup is a valuable sign that our authority is spreading.
- Conversions: We measure whether greater credibility leads more people to trust our organization, products, or services and ultimately take meaningful action.
- Organic ranking improvements for target keywords: We still review rankings, but we treat them as one indicator within a broader picture. Sustained movement can show that search engines increasingly view us as a credible result relative to competing pages.
We do not expect these indicators to appear overnight.
- We invest real effort in creating proprietary data.
- We build trust with journalists through repeated, useful interactions.
- We grow authority through sustained work over time.
Our advice is simple: we stay patient, keep improving, and allow credible results to compound.

How we build a credibility-focused link strategy

Knowing the principles of SEO authority is one thing; building an entire campaign around them is another. We use the following five-step process to turn those principles into consistent action.
1. Step 1 — We define our target publications: We identify five to 10 publications that our audience trusts and that search engines are likely to recognize as authoritative within our field. These become our priority coverage targets.
2. Step 2 — We develop linkable assets: We create at least two content or media assets designed around the interests of those publications. We may use original survey data, visual guides, proprietary analysis, or expert thought leadership.
3. Step 3 — We launch a digital PR campaign: We proactively pitch our assets to relevant publications. We can also use platforms such as Connectively or Muck Rack to identify ongoing opportunities with writers covering subjects related to our research.
4. Step 4 — We nurture relationships: We treat every positive media interaction as the beginning of a longer relationship. We follow up with useful information, engage with published coverage, and build the kind of rapport a journalist can rely on.
5. Step 5 — We measure and iterate: We review our authority indicators each quarter, learn from the response to our campaigns, and adjust our content and outreach accordingly.
We know this process can consume a team’s time, particularly when resources or specialized expertise are limited.

In those situations, we may benefit from working with a link-building and digital PR specialist who can expand our capacity and keep pace with search changes. The right support can help us establish sustainable visibility without allowing every minor ranking fluctuation to pull us off course.

How we build authority that lasts at Resolve

We know that quality usually stands the test of time better than quantity. The difficult part is maintaining that focus when competitors appear to be winning with sudden traffic spikes or eye-catching vanity metrics.

We do not let temporary numbers distract us from the larger goal. We focus on lasting authority and legitimacy earned through sustained content creation, thoughtful PR outreach, and genuine relationship building.

When an internal team lacks the time or patience required to maintain that effort, we can step in.

At Resolve, we work with brands to build credibility-focused SEO campaigns through linkable content, data-led digital PR, and hands-on link building. Our goal is sustainable organic growth, not a burst of visibility that disappears after the next algorithm update.

We have seen this approach pay off. In a recent data-led campaign for EZ Contacts, we earned more than 1,000 placements in outlets including the New York Post and Yahoo. As the coverage grew, the brand’s visibility in ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews doubled. That is the kind of durable growth we want to build — growth that extends beyond the next algorithm update.

A bold Google logo sits atop layered, colorful digital documents, evoking the fast-moving world of search marketing, ad formats, campaign assets, and platform updates.

When we are ready to build links that last, we can visit growresolve.com to learn more.

Our answers to common link-building questions

How do we distinguish link building from digital PR?

We see considerable overlap between link building and digital PR, but we do not treat them as identical. Link building is the broader practice of acquiring backlinks from other websites to improve search authority. Digital PR is a particular approach within that practice, focused on earning links through media coverage, journalist relationships, and placements in credible publications rather than relying on directory submissions, guest-post exchanges, or other lower-authority tactics.

We often use digital PR to pursue the strongest editorial backlinks because reputable outlets have real audiences and established review standards. At the same time, this work builds brand visibility and consumer trust in ways that many conventional link-building methods do not.

How long do we wait for meaningful results?

We do not expect authoritative backlinks or earned media coverage to produce results overnight. That is an honest trade-off when we choose a credibility-focused approach instead of more aggressive tactics. Most brands can begin seeing meaningful domain-authority gains and early ranking movement after three to six months of consistent execution, while highly competitive keywords and top-tier placements may require more time.

The advantage is that our results can compound. Links from credible publications tend to endure, strong journalist relationships can create repeat opportunities, and the authority generated through consistent coverage can keep delivering value long after the initial campaign.

What do we mean by an authority backlink?

We define an authority backlink as a link from a source that search engines and its audience regard as credible and trustworthy. These sources typically have genuine readers, clear editorial processes, established authority, and topical relevance to our industry.

A regular backlink can come from any website willing to link to us, regardless of its relevance, quality, or editorial standards. That distinction matters because search engines do not evaluate every link equally. One editorial link from a respected industry publication can be more valuable than dozens of links from low-authority sites, while also supporting the kind of E-E-A-T credibility that bulk link acquisition cannot reproduce.

Do we value brand mentions without hyperlinks?

Yes. We recognize that Google can associate brand mentions with entities even when a publication does not include a hyperlink. Relevant, unlinked mentions in credible coverage can still contribute to the wider authority signals surrounding our brand.

That is why we consider digital PR valuable even when every placement does not produce a direct link. A credibility-focused off-page strategy should not be reduced to backlink acquisition alone. Our larger objective is to build a brand that respected publications genuinely want to mention, cite, and cover.

What risks do we face with outdated link-building tactics?

We see risks ranging from wasted effort to serious search penalties. Link buying, reciprocal-link schemes, private blog networks, and manipulative anchor-text optimization can violate Google’s spam policies. These tactics may trigger manual actions or algorithmic suppression that substantially reduces our search visibility.

Even when outdated tactics do not produce an immediate penalty, they can lose their value as search systems become better at identifying manufactured signals. Recovering from a link-related penalty can be slow and expensive. We would rather invest in credible link building from the beginning than repair the damage caused by shortcuts later.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
July 10, 2026
Why I Judge AI Deliverables by Outcomes, Not Effort

When I think about AI deliverables, I keep coming back to a simple scenario: a client receives two pieces of work.

Both deliverables solve the problem they were hired to solve. Both are accurate, useful, and tied to the same business outcome. The client is happy, and from the outside, there is no meaningful difference in the results.

Then the client learns that one took 20 hours to create, while the other took 20 minutes. That is when the uncomfortable questions begin.

Was AI involved? Should the faster deliverable cost less? Is the person who completed it less skilled because they found a faster, more efficient way to reach the same result?

What I find most interesting is how differently many of us react to AI depending on which side of the transaction we are on. I love using AI when it saves me time, but I also understand why customers can feel uneasy when they discover AI helped create something they paid for.

I recently ran a LinkedIn poll asking a simple question: if the outcome is great, do we really care how it was made?

The responses reinforced something I have been thinking about for a while. Many of the strongest objections people have to AI are not really about quality at all.

The Time vs. Value Fallacy

I think part of the discomfort comes from the fact that we have spent decades tying value to effort.

Long hours feel valuable. Fast work feels suspicious. Struggle often gets mistaken for expertise.

The harder something appears to be, the easier it becomes to justify the price attached to it.

There is an old story about a ship engine that stopped working. After multiple failed attempts to repair it, the owners brought in an engineer with decades of experience. He inspected the engine, tapped it once with a small hammer, and the machine roared back to life.

His invoice was $10,000.

The owners were furious and demanded an itemized bill. The response was simple: hammer tap, $2. Knowing where to tap, $9,998.

People debate whether that story is true or just a useful tale for people like me who believe in value-based pricing. But whether it really happened almost does not matter. The lesson still holds.

People are not paying for the tap. They are paying for the expertise behind it.

That is what makes AI such an important topic for me. It forces us to confront a question many of us have avoided for years: are we paying for expertise, or are we paying for visible effort?

Those are not always the same thing.

The Objections That Actually Matter

To be clear, I do not think every objection to AI is unreasonable. I have shared plenty of my own concerns, and some of them are serious.

In fact, I think the strongest arguments against AI have very little to do with how quickly something was created.

Risk matters. Hallucinations matter. Bad recommendations matter. Compliance, privacy, and security concerns matter. Accountability matters.

Those are legitimate concerns. What stands out to me is that none of them has much to do with how long it took to create the deliverable.

They are questions of trust.

Can the output be trusted? Can the recommendation be defended? Can someone confidently stand behind the work if it is questioned six months from now?

Because when something goes wrong, nobody gets to blame the AI. The employee is accountable. The consultant is accountable. The company is accountable.

That is why I have always found the quality debate to be the least interesting part of the conversation. The more important question is not whether AI was involved. It is whether the outcome is trustworthy enough for someone to put their name behind it.

The Outcome Test

The more I think about AI, the less interested I become in whether it was used.

Instead, I find myself asking a different set of questions. Was the outcome accurate? Was it useful? Was it better than the alternative? Would I be willing to stand behind it with my name, reputation, and credentials on the line?

If the answer to all of those questions is yes, then I have a hard time arguing that the production method matters more than the result.

I suspect this is where many people become uncomfortable because it shifts the conversation away from tools and back toward results.

Ironically, this is also where humans become more important, not less.

The future is not machines versus humans. I know, "The Terminator" and "I, Robot" movies will never feel the same. The real shift is humans using AI versus humans who refuse to adapt.

The premium will not come from avoiding AI. It will come from judgment, taste, decision-making, communication, and accountability.

AI can accelerate execution, but people still decide what should be built, what should be published, and what risks are acceptable. More importantly, people are still responsible for the outcome.

The people who lose to AI will not be the ones using it. They will be the ones still evaluating effort while everyone else is measuring outcomes.

This post first appeared on the author’s website and is republished here with permission.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

July 3, 2026
Google Ask Maps SEO: Earn Visibility Through Trust

I see Google Ask Maps changing local visibility in a meaningful way. Instead of showing people a long list of nearby businesses and leaving them to sort through everything, Ask Maps narrows the options, interprets the searcher’s intent, and explains why certain businesses look like a strong fit.

That changes how I think about local SEO. Visibility is no longer only about ranking somewhere near the top of a long results list. It is increasingly about whether Google understands a business well enough to recommend it with confidence.

I would not treat Ask Maps as a separate optimization channel or a brand-new tactic to chase. I would focus on making the business easier for Google to understand, easier to match to real customer situations, and easier to trust. The foundations of local SEO still matter, but the way those signals work together matters even more.

Visibility in Ask Maps starts with filtering

One of the first things I notice about Ask Maps is how small the result set can be. In testing, it often showed around three to eight businesses, depending on the query. That feels very different from traditional Google Maps, where people can scroll through dozens of options and compare them on their own.

With Ask Maps, much of that comparison happens earlier. Google filters the market first, interprets what the person is really asking for, and then presents a smaller group of businesses with an explanation of why each one fits.

That means I have to think beyond the question of whether a business ranks. I also have to ask whether Google has enough confidence to include that business in a short recommendation set and explain why it belongs there.

I think of this as a two-step problem. First, Google decides which businesses are eligible for the query. Then, it decides which eligible businesses it can confidently recommend.

Ask Maps needs enough detail to explain the business

Ask Maps does more than list businesses. It interprets and describes them. Even for simple searches, I often see businesses framed around qualities such as responsiveness, experience, specialization, professionalism, or the kinds of situations they seem best suited for.

That creates a different optimization challenge. It is not enough for Google to know that a business exists or that it offers a basic service. Google needs enough information to answer a more practical question: when should this business be recommended?

To support that, I want Google to understand the types of jobs the business handles, the situations it commonly deals with, the concerns customers usually have, and how the business approaches those situations.

If that information is vague, scattered, or inconsistent, Ask Maps has less to work with. When Google cannot clearly explain why a business fits a specific situation, I would expect that business to be less likely to appear as a recommendation.

Google Business Profile becomes the identity layer

For me, the Google Business Profile sits at the foundation of this whole process. In earlier-stage queries, Ask Maps appears to rely heavily on profile data, including business descriptions, services, reviews, ratings, hours, and operational details.

Many businesses still treat their profile like a basic listing to fill out and keep current. That is necessary, but I do not think it is enough for an environment where Google is trying to describe and recommend businesses. The profile needs to communicate a clear, specific identity.

A generic profile might say that a business offers plumbing, HVAC, electrical work, or another broad service. A stronger profile clarifies the kinds of problems it handles, the situations it is built for, and the details that make it useful to specific customers.

For example, I would use the profile to reinforce details such as emergency availability, response times, specific repair or installation types, experience with older homes, complex systems, or common customer problems the business solves.

That level of specificity gives Google more direct evidence. Instead of forcing the system to infer what the business is known for, I want the profile to make that identity clear.

Reviews shape positioning, not just credibility

Reviews have always mattered in local search, but I see them playing a more structured role in Ask Maps. Review language can show up in the way Google describes a business, especially around themes like responsiveness, honesty, communication, professionalism, and quality of work.

That tells me reviews are doing more than supporting credibility. They are helping define how the business is positioned.

I would still pay attention to rating, volume, and recency. But I would also look closely at what customers actually say. The language inside reviews can give Google useful context about what the business does, how it works, and what customers value about the experience.

A vague review such as “great service” signals satisfaction, but it does not explain much. A detailed review that mentions a same-day response, a drain backup, clear communication about options, and a repair-focused solution gives Google several stronger signals about the business.

Over time, those patterns accumulate. In that sense, I view reviews as one of the main ways Google learns what a local business is known for.

Website content matters more when decisions get harder

I also see website content becoming more important as queries become more complex. For basic service searches, the Google Business Profile and reviews may carry a lot of the weight. But when the search involves higher cost, uncertainty, or trust, Google appears to look for deeper supporting evidence.

That is where the website can help. Many service pages explain what a business offers and why it is qualified. That still matters, but it does not always match how people search when they are trying to make a difficult decision.

In more situational searches, people are not just looking for a service. They are trying to understand a problem, compare options, reduce risk, and decide what to do next.

That is why I would build content around the customer’s situation, not just around the service name. Stronger pages explain what leads to the problem, how to recognize it, what options are available, how to think through the decision, and what outcomes to expect.

For example, a furnace repair page can go beyond a basic list of services. It can cover common symptoms, when repair makes sense, when replacement might be worth considering, and how a homeowner can evaluate the decision. That kind of content lines up more closely with the prompts Ask Maps is trying to interpret.

I also see a strong fit for jobs-to-be-done pages. Instead of organizing every page around a service category, I would create pages around the situation the customer is trying to solve and the decision they are working through.

Trust signals matter more as risk increases

As searches move from simple service needs into decision-making, trust becomes more important. When people mention cost, honesty, uncertainty, or fear of making the wrong choice, Ask Maps tends to highlight qualities such as transparency, fairness, careful workmanship, and clear communication.

That makes sense to me because it reflects how people actually think in those moments. When someone faces an expensive repair or an unexpected issue, they are not only asking who can do the work. They are asking who they can trust to handle it correctly.

I would support that trust with evidence across the business’s online presence. Reviews can show that customers felt respected and informed. Website content can explain the process. Examples of completed work can show experience. Clear “what to expect” sections can reduce uncertainty.

The higher the perceived risk, the more supporting evidence matters. I want Google to see a consistent pattern that the business explains options clearly, avoids unnecessary pressure, handles similar situations, and leaves customers confident in the outcome.

Detailed customer reviews do more than boost ratings. They give Google Ask Maps the context it needs to understand, position and confidently recommend a local business.

External signals should reinforce the same story

For more complex or trust-heavy queries, Ask Maps may look beyond the Google Business Profile, reviews, and website. Third-party platforms, directories, and other public sources can help reinforce how Google understands a business.

I do not take that to mean every external mention is equally important. I take it to mean consistency matters. If a business is described one way on its website, another way in reviews, and differently across directories or social platforms, the overall picture becomes harder to interpret.

When those signals align, they strengthen each other. Business descriptions, services, customer experiences, types of work handled, and overall positioning should tell the same story wherever they appear.

From a practical standpoint, I would not try to appear on every possible platform. I would make sure the important sources are accurate, credible, and consistent.

I would optimize for evidence, not just keywords

As local search decisions become more specific and higher risk, Google needs deeper signals from business profiles, reviews, and website content to recommend the right provider.

Taken together, these patterns push me to think differently about optimization. Traditional local SEO often starts with keywords and rankings. Those still matter, but they do not fully explain what Ask Maps is doing.

I find it more useful to think in terms of evidence. For a business to be recommended, Google needs enough information to understand what it does, what types of jobs it handles, what situations it fits, how customers experience it, and whether it can be trusted in higher-stakes decisions.

Each source contributes something different. The Google Business Profile establishes the baseline identity. Reviews add real-world context. Website content provides depth and explanation. External sources help confirm the same picture.

Individually, none of those elements tells the whole story. Together, they create a clearer and more consistent understanding of the business. That is where the shift from ranking to recommendation becomes most obvious: keywords can support relevance, but evidence supports recommendation.

My practical framework for Ask Maps visibility

When I evaluate a business for Ask Maps visibility, I would look at five areas: identity, relevance, trust, context, and consistency.

Google Ask Maps rewards more than keyword relevance. This visual shows why reviews, service details, trust signals, and real proof help local businesses get recommended.

Identity asks whether Google can clearly understand what the business does and where it operates. Relevance asks whether the business can be matched to specific services and situations. Trust asks whether there is enough proof that customers feel confident choosing it.

Context asks whether the content reflects the decisions customers are actually trying to make. Consistency asks whether different sources reinforce the same understanding of the business.

I do not see this as a checklist to complete once. I see it as a practical way to evaluate how clearly and consistently a business is represented across the sources Ask Maps appears to use.

What I would avoid

With any new search feature, it is easy to overcorrect. I would avoid treating Ask Maps as an isolated channel that needs thin content, unnatural profile language, generic service-page duplication, or review language that feels forced.

Those tactics may create more content, but they do not necessarily create more useful evidence. The better approach is to align more closely with how customers actually search, evaluate options, and make decisions.

A practical local SEO framework shows how businesses can earn visibility in Google Ask Maps by clarifying identity, proving relevance, building trust, adding context, and staying consistent online.

When the business presence reflects real customer needs clearly and consistently, it naturally creates the kinds of signals Ask Maps seems to rely on.

What I still do not know about Ask Maps

I would treat all of this as directional, not definitive. Ask Maps is still being tested and refined, and the system is not fully documented.

The result structure can vary by query and test environment. The feature’s usability is also still changing. In many cases, users may still need to click into a Google Business Profile to call, book, or engage, rather than acting directly from the Ask Maps response.

Measurement is another open issue. Right now, I do not see a clean way to isolate Ask Maps visibility or performance inside standard reporting tools. That makes it difficult to attribute calls, traffic, or conversions directly to this experience.

I also would not assume the same signal weighting applies to every query. Google Business Profile data, reviews, website content, and external sources may all matter, but their relative importance likely changes based on the search intent and the complexity of the decision.

The real shift is from ranking to recommendation

I see Ask Maps as a version of local search where retrieval, evaluation, and decision support are moving closer together. Instead of making users search, compare, research, and decide across several steps, Google is trying to guide more of that process inside one experience.

That changes the meaning of visibility. In Ask Maps, it is not enough for a business to simply appear. The business needs to be understood well enough for Google to explain why it fits the situation and trusted enough to be recommended.

For businesses and SEOs, I would not respond by chasing a narrow trick. I would build a clearer, more complete, and more consistent representation of the business across the sources that shape Google’s understanding.

The businesses most likely to benefit are the ones that are easiest to interpret, easiest to trust, and easiest to match to real-world customer needs.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

July 3, 2026
Why I Stop Positioning AI as a People Replacement

I think one of the biggest mistakes in AI marketing is positioning a product as a replacement for people. That message can win attention in the short term, but I believe it quietly drains trust over time.

This is a little different from what I usually write about, but it matters. The way we talk about AI shapes how customers, employees, executives, and markets respond to it.

In this memo, I want to focus on three things: why “substitution positioning” feels powerful at first but weakens a brand later, what the data says about whether AI is actually replacing people, and how I think companies should position AI instead.

The cardinal sin of positioning in the AI era is replacement. I call it substitution positioning. It is tempting because it sounds bold, efficient, and disruptive. But over time, it creates anxiety, skepticism, and credibility problems.

We have seen this pattern already. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted that software engineering jobs could disappear within 6 to 12 months as models began doing most or all of what software engineers do end to end. Yet demand for software engineers has continued to look strong.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also predicted that many customer support jobs would go away because AI could handle that work better. Soon after, customer service hiring began outpacing the broader job market.

I understand why fear works as a marketing tool. The fear of being replaced gets attention fast. It got me, too. When powerful AI models gained traction, I worried about my own future. But when I still see AI companies hiring copywriters, SEOs, engineers, and support teams, I sleep better.

Fear sells because it taps into fight-or-flight. Layoffs make that story even louder. They let companies frame cost-cutting as innovation and make the replacement narrative feel more real than it may actually be.

But I do not think the facts support the clean replacement story. In New York, companies can indicate when mass layoffs are caused by technological innovation or automation. In one reported period, more than 160 companies filed mass layoffs affecting roughly 28,300 workers, and not one chose AI as the reason. That list included companies such as Amazon and Goldman Sachs.

Researchers at Yale also studied employment data from the Current Population Survey over 33 months and found no evidence of job displacement from AI. To me, the pattern looks less like instant replacement and more like the earlier waves of computers and the internet changing how work gets done.

That is why I keep coming back to this point: stop trying to make replacement happen. It is not happening in the simple, dramatic way many AI narratives suggest.

AI is powerful, but it is also inconsistent. In its current form, it can do some tasks better than humans and fail badly at others. That paradox is often called the Jagged Frontier.

The Jagged Frontier idea matters because it explains why some people see AI as transformative while others remain lukewarm. A BCG and Harvard study of 758 knowledge workers found that people get the most value from AI when they understand what it is good at and where it breaks down.

Microsoft reached a similar conclusion in its 2026 Work Trend Index Annual Report. The company found that a small group of advanced AI users, described as Frontier Professionals, were not simply using AI more often. They also knew which mode of AI use fit each task.

That distinction is important. The best AI users are not handing everything over blindly. They are applying judgment. They know when to use AI as a helper, when to use it as a collaborator, when to use agents for multi-step workflows, and when to keep a human firmly in control.

I still do not trust most AI workflows enough to leave them running with no maintenance, review, or quality assurance. The question I ask is simple: would I bet my brand, customer experience, or revenue on a fully automated workflow with no human oversight?

Klarna is a useful warning here. The company publicly promoted the idea that AI was doing the work of hundreds of agents and helping reduce headcount. Later, it reversed course and rehired humans after leadership acknowledged that aggressive cost-cutting had lowered quality and that customers still wanted a human option.

That is the tradeoff I see with substitution positioning. It creates immediate attention, but it can damage long-term credibility. The words often do not match the operational reality.

Replacement positioning could work if customers truly wanted full replacement and if the technology were consistently ready for it. I do not think either condition is true.

Cost reduction is a strong AI argument because it shows up quickly on the P&L. Productivity gains usually take longer. They build inside companies over time and often take even longer to appear across the broader economy.

But when replacement positioning goes beyond cost-cutting and becomes people-cutting, I believe it starts to antagonize the very people companies need to win over.

We have already seen backlash. Duolingo’s AI-first memo drew heavy criticism before the company reframed AI as a tool to accelerate work rather than replace contractors. Surveys have found that some workers refuse to use AI tools because they fear job loss. Pew has reported that many U.S. adults are more concerned than excited about AI in daily life. Reuters/Ipsos polling has shown widespread fear that AI will permanently displace workers.

There is also a quality problem. When employees believe the purpose of AI is to replace them, they may disengage or produce lower-quality work. In my view, that is not just an adoption issue. It is a positioning failure.

Executives often feel more excited about AI than the employees asked to use it every day. That gap matters. If leadership talks about AI as a replacement engine, employees hear a threat. If leadership talks about AI as leverage, employees have a reason to learn.

Token economics also complicate the replacement story. Some companies have bragged about massive AI usage, but token costs are still a real business variable. As those costs normalize, the math may make junior employees look interesting again, especially when human judgment, context, and accountability are part of the output.

So what should replace replacement? I think the answer is enhancement. Instead of positioning AI as a way to remove people, I would position it as a way to make capable people more effective.

AI can be used in two broad ways. A company can try to reduce the number of people, or it can grow output with the same number of people. The data I have seen suggests that productivity gains often create the stronger return.

A National Bureau of Economic Research paper surveyed 750 executives about AI’s impact on productivity and labor markets. Larger firms showed more interest in replacing labor costs, but the highest ROI came from productivity growth.

That is the lesson I take from the research: doing more with the talent you already have is often stronger than trying to remove the talent that knows what good work looks like.

Building products has become easier, but distribution has not. When supply explodes, the scarce thing is not output. The scarce thing is being the product, brand, or service that actually gets chosen.

That is why positioning matters more than ever. Product quality still matters, but the way I frame AI use can determine whether people see it as empowering or threatening.

My takeaway is simple: I would stop selling AI as a people replacement. I would sell it as judgment leverage, workflow acceleration, and creative expansion. Fear can get attention, but empowerment is a better long-term strategy.

This post first appeared on the author’s website and is republished here with permission.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

July 3, 2026
Why Accessibility Is an $18 Trillion Marketing Advantage

Every so often, I see a product launch turn into a marketing lesson bigger than the product itself. Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty did that with a new fragrance, but it was not only the scent that drew attention. The bottle became the story. Its accessible, easy-to-use packaging sparked conversation, earned praise from accessibility advocates, and reminded me how powerful inclusive design can be when it is built into the product from the start.

For me, the lesson is clear: accessibility is not a side note. It can become the campaign. One thoughtful design choice created cultural impact that would be hard to buy with media spend alone. It also showed why accessibility can build loyalty, strengthen brand reputation, support compliance, and drive measurable growth.

Accessibility as a campaign strategy

I do not see Rare Beauty’s accessibility work as a one-off moment. From packaging to pricing to its ongoing mental health advocacy, the brand has consistently made inclusivity part of its identity. That matters because consumers can usually tell when a brand is chasing attention versus when it is acting from a real strategy. They reward brands that lead with values and follow through.

Rare Beauty is not alone. I see leading brands across industries using accessibility as a differentiator, not a footnote. Apple often frames accessibility features as part of product innovation. Microsoft has brought inclusive design into mainstream campaigns, including adaptive gaming products that positioned accessibility as a source of creativity and connection. In fashion and retail, brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Unilever have put adaptive design into product launches and brand identity instead of treating it as a niche offering.

Studies from Edelman and McKinsey show why this shift matters. According to those studies, 73% of Gen Z choose to buy from brands they believe in, and 70% say they try to purchase products from companies they consider ethical. I do not see those as fringe preferences. I see them as mainstream expectations that should change how marketers build trust and growth.

The $18 trillion market marketers overlook

More than 1.3 billion people globally live with a disability. Together with their friends and family, they control more than $18 trillion in spending power, according to the Return on Disability Group. I believe marketers should view this as more than a compliance issue. It is a growth opportunity, a reputation opportunity, and a trust-building opportunity with one of the world’s largest and most passionate consumer groups.

That passion often turns into advocacy. In discussions with AudioEye’s A11iance Team, a group of individuals with disabilities who regularly share feedback on real-world accessibility experiences, one member said, “If I find a website that works and works very well for me, I will always recommend it to friends and family because I want people to have the same experience that I have.”

Another A11iance Team member, Maxwell Ivey, put it this way: “The cheapest form of advertising is word of mouth, and people with disabilities can have some of the loudest voices when we find people willing to make the effort. Because it’s that sincere effort over time that really counts with us.”

When accessibility becomes part of the customer experience, I see it create something media budgets cannot easily buy: trust and loyalty that scale through advocacy. But the reverse is also true. In a survey of assistive technology users, 54% said they do not feel eCommerce companies care about earning their business.

That should get every marketer’s attention. Too many brands are still fighting for the same crowded audience segments while overlooking a major opportunity in plain sight. When they do, they leave loyalty, advocacy, and revenue on the table.

Here is where I see many brands stumble: accessibility often stops at the shelf. Marketers invest heavily in packaging, store displays, and product design, while digital experiences lag behind. Yet those digital experiences are often the first and most important touchpoints customers have with a brand.

As accessibility-led design earns more attention, loyalty, and earned media, the gap between physical product innovation and digital experience becomes harder to ignore.

AudioEye’s 2025 Digital Accessibility Index found an average of 297 accessibility issues per web page detectable by automation alone. Each issue can create friction in the customer journey, cost a conversion, or introduce compliance risk under frameworks such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the European Accessibility Act (EAA).

I would not launch a campaign without a brand review or a legal check. In the same way, I do not think any digital touchpoint should go live without an accessibility review.

Four moves marketing leaders can make

Too often, I see accessibility treated as a risk to manage instead of an advantage to use. The marketers who gain ground will be the ones who change that mindset. I would start with four practical moves.

1. Make accessibility your campaign hook

I would not hide accessibility in the fine print. I would lead with it. Brands like Rare Beauty have shown that inclusive design is the story. Build campaigns where accessibility is not an afterthought, but the differentiator that earns attention and loyalty.

2. Bake it into your brand system

Accessibility should not sit off to the side. I would make Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) alignment part of the brand system, right alongside typography, logos, and tone of voice. When accessibility is documented and expected, it becomes easier to apply across every campaign.

3. Use data as your proof point

Marketers are storytellers, but numbers strengthen the story. I would track accessibility improvements such as fewer user-reported barriers, higher accessibility scores, stronger alt text, better color contrast, and more usable forms. Then I would connect those metrics to business outcomes like conversion, reach, and sentiment to show how accessibility drives ROI, not just compliance.

4. Protect accessibility like brand safety

I would treat accessibility with the same seriousness as brand safety. Every update, seasonal campaign, and product drop should be monitored for accessibility. Trust and reputation are too valuable to leave exposed.

The competitive advantage

Rare Beauty’s fragrance launch proved something important to me: when a brand leads with accessibility, the story can write itself. Loyalty builds more authentically, and momentum feels more natural because the value is real.

The larger opportunity is that many brands still do not see it. They continue to treat accessibility as a compliance checkbox when it can be a growth strategy.

For marketers, that is the wake-up call. Accessibility builds loyalty. It strengthens brand reputation. It supports compliance. And it can drive measurable growth across marketing efforts.

Rare Beauty showed how accessibility can capture attention at the shelf. Now I see the next opportunity clearly: making sure that same accessibility carries through online. When every touchpoint welcomes everyone, every campaign has a better chance to deliver its full impact.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

July 3, 2026
Doug Davis on Building Lasting Trust Through Community Validation

Chatting with Doug Davis, the visionary Founder of Voted Number One, offers a refreshing perspective on how genuine community trust can transform a business’s credibility. In a world where consumers face too many choices and are skeptical of self-promotion, Doug’s insights into local-level trust-building are invaluable. He explains why community backing signifies strong business credibility and how local companies can unwittingly harm trust despite providing high-quality work. Doug also delves into how a business’s reputation increasingly hinges on customer testimonials rather than self-advertisements.

First Page Sage: Many businesses think visibility equals trust. Doug, can you shed light on where companies often get recognition and credibility wrong?

Doug: A common mistake is equating attention with trust. A business might be well-known but still lack authentic trust within its community. Companies often focus excessively on advertising while neglecting the customer experiences that genuinely shape their long-term reputation.

What truly counts is whether people are willing to recommend a business without any personal gain. That’s a very telling indication of trust. True community trust is developed through consistent, reliable interactions over time.

First Page Sage: Voted Number One emphasizes community-driven recognition over internal rankings. Why does this matter now more than ever?

Doug: People rely more on collective community experiences than on polished corporate assertions. Community-driven recognition showcases genuine, repeated positive interactions, not just catchy marketing phrases.

Trust within communities grows cumulatively. When individuals repeatedly hear about the same business from close acquaintances, neighbors, or fellow professionals, natural confidence builds, which is hard to fabricate through artificial means.

First Page Sage:: In competitive local markets, what factors actually guide consumer decisions when comparing providers?

Doug: It boils down to clarity and evidence. Since most consumers aren’t industry experts, they look for signs that reduce uncertainty. They want assurance that a business has consistently delivered for others like them.

Specificity makes a business stand out quickly. Clear communication regarding a company’s experience, processes, and results outshines vague promises. Consistent touchpoints build trust faster, while inconsistency can arouse consumer hesitance.

First Page Sage:: With consumer decisions increasingly swayed by community recommendations and automated systems, how crucial is genuine customer advocacy?

Doug: Genuine customer advocacy is now essential. Modern systems focus on patterns of trust rather than singular claims. Businesses that naturally generate customer support are more likely to sustain their visibility and credibility.

Authentic advocacy often stems from operational excellence rather than marketing tricks. Communities back businesses that consistently deliver, solve problems effectively, and communicate transparently.

First Page Sage:: What practical habits should local business owners adopt to build enduring reputations?

Doug: Building a lasting reputation requires treating trust as a key operational target rather than a mere branding effort. This means ensuring consistency, responsiveness, and follow-through, even in busy times.

Furthermore, documenting real customer experiences and outcomes, as well as community involvement, significantly enhances credibility. Avoiding complacency is vital as a strong reputation is never guaranteed; it requires continuous reinforcement through action.

For more on Voted Number One’s recognition platform, visit votednumberone.com.

Inspired by this post on First Page Sage Blog.

June 11, 2026
Boosting Medical Device Marketing ROAS with SEO Maturity

I took our SEO to a whole new level, and the results were astonishing. From just $12K in ad spend, we skyrocketed to $1.6M in revenue. Let me share how building authority, optimizing conversion signals, and setting up CRM feedback loops made our PPC scalable.

You might already be familiar with how important SEO is for improving traffic and authority, but what isn’t discussed enough is its impact on other channels like PPC. This case study reveals how we scaled performance marketing in the high-consideration B2B medical device market by nailing our SEO fundamentals.

Marketing a premium pelvic floor chair isn’t your typical ad campaign. This device has a lengthy sales cycle and relies heavily on medical expertise. Our customers range from doctors to physiotherapists, all of whom demand reliable clinical evidence and credibility.

In markets like ours, when common performance tactics fell short, building credibility and authority was key. Without trust in our products and services, performance simply couldn’t scale. I’ve learned that no optimization works without it.

Starting 2023, our Google Ads campaigns were launched with limited SEO. The lack of optimization led to underattribution and resulted in a minimal scaling effect. We also dealt with delays in Google Ads bidding algorithms due to conversion tracking issues.

Despite these challenges, early campaigns confirmed there was a demand. I realized that fixing the surrounding system was necessary to capitalize on this potential in the long run.

By mid-2024, I shifted the focus to treating SEO as a central part of our revenue strategy rather than an additional enhancement. Rather than chasing quick rankings, we prioritized building authority in pelvic health. Our strategy involved educational content, mapping out the entire informational landscape around pelvic health issues.

Our shift paid off. We invested in long-form content, structured it well, and embedded supporting visuals. This approach transformed us into a trusted resource over time and improved our credibility, which is essential in medical markets.

Our biggest success came from leveraging partnerships with clinics and medical professionals. Providing ready-to-use content allowed us to establish valuable backlinking opportunities in exchange for using our resources. These links enhanced our visibility and authority in healthcare sectors.

Ultimately, this strategy resulted in a manifold increase in referring domains and significantly boosted our topical authority. Our backlinks were closely aligned with Google’s assessment of expertise and trust.

By late 2024, our top rankings for crucial keywords like ‘Beckenbodenstuhl’ clearly demonstrated our growing organic visibility. Prospects repeatedly encountered our brand in their research phase, reinforcing trust even before they saw our ads.

Our organic presence also reshaped how users engaged with our ads. Familiarity bred trust, and many users chose our advertisements due to previous organic encounters. This effect was even more pronounced in competitor-specific campaigns, where we achieved high click-through rates.

Improving conversion tracking was the next game-changer. Moving away from standard GA4-imported conversions to GTM-native events allowed us to get faster and cleaner signals, optimizing bidding algorithms effectively.

Integrating our HubSpot CRM closed the loop between marketing and sales. We tracked not only the quantity of leads but also their quality, feeding this data back into our Google Ads to optimize really meaningful outcomes.

With $12,000 in ad spend during 2025, our integrated SEO and PPC strategy led to impressive growth. In just two years, we observed a 140% sales increase from 2023-2024, followed by another 79% in 2025. This equated to a fourfold growth in our sales volume fueled by digital marketing.

The key to scaling PPC lies in trust and quality signals, underscored by sound SEO practices. It’s not about one-off optimizations but a holistic system that includes aligned SEO, precise tracking, and insightful CRM feedback.

Complex markets don’t fail because the strategies are wrong; they fail due to incorrect assumptions about simplicity solving complexity.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

March 27, 2026
How AI Highlights the Vital Role of Human Connections in Agencies

Working as an office manager in my early 20s, I discovered Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

The timeless principles in that book have been my guiding compass through various career shifts. I’ve realized that success in most professions hinges on how we interact with others—be they clients or colleagues.

For many years, combining human touch with technical skills has been a winning formula for digital marketers. It was this ability to demystify complex machines coupled with strong relationship-building that allowed agencies to retain clients.

But now, this model is under scrutiny as AI becomes integral to PPC platforms, raising a pertinent question: why shouldn’t clients dive into an entirely AI-driven approach?

What agencies have an edge on is their relational strength—their ability to communicate effectively and understand what business owners genuinely need.

1. Ask questions

I’ve learned that one of the most effective ways to understand people and what makes them tick is by asking questions. Though it seems straightforward, communication often becomes lost in translation or obscured by assumptions.

Whenever I walk into a sales call, I arm myself with a list of questions. How much can I uncover about this potential client in a brief half-hour conversation?

Similarly, during strategy discussions, I prepare a comprehensive set of queries—some for myself, and some for the client. What are they aiming to achieve? What aspects of their current strategy need refinement? How can we enhance it?

To this day, AI can’t fulfill this role—not yet, at least. Our exchanges with AI remain predominantly one-sided.

AI doesn’t actively seek to understand us as individuals or identify our unique challenges. These discoveries only come from asking questions and actively listening, which leads to the next point.

Dig deeper: 6 tips to build PPC client relationships

2. Talk less, listen more

How often do I find myself in conversations, impatiently waiting for a pause to insert my thoughts? I’m guilty of this, but I’ve found that clients crave the opportunity to be heard.

Allow them to express themselves fully, encourage them with more clarifying questions, and just keep listening. It’s remarkable what you can learn about someone when you enter a conversation with no other agenda but to understand the other person.

Fill the silences only if they become awkward, and if you have valuable agenda points to address based on what you’ve learned. This approach fosters collaboration and generates ideas more swiftly than dominating the conversation could. It solidifies agreement, which is foundational in building relationships.

Dig deeper: 8 questions to ask your new PPC clients

3. Find common ground

Whenever possible, I aim to discover commonalities between myself and new acquaintances. By doing so, I build rapport, enriching both personal and professional relationships.

Being personal and specific, whether dealing with a friend or a client, is key. I love recalling little details about people and bringing them up in future conversations. People appreciate being remembered and valued.

Though AI is beginning to develop memory, finding shared experiences with others is a uniquely human skill that, fortunately, remains beyond AI’s reach.

Dig deeper: When and how to fire PPC clients

4. Smile, be less serious (when it’s appropriate)

In the fast-paced marketing realm, it’s easy to succumb to the all-consuming cycle of data analysis and testing. Remember, though, not to take ourselves too seriously.

After all, this profession is relatively new, and its evolution is unpredictable. Let’s not forget why we ventured into marketing—to help and connect with people. Let’s embrace opportunities to be less serious and inject humor when it fits.

We’re human, and it’s vital for those we work for to recognize this humanity as an integral part of any relationship.

Dig deeper: How to set and manage PPC expectations for teams and stakeholders

What differentiates a partner from an algorithm

In a world increasingly dominated by AI, the focus is shifting from technical prowess to personal connection. AI excels at data and analysis, available at a moment’s notice, but knowledge alone isn’t sufficient anymore.

Empathy, shared experiences, and true rapport are beyond AI’s capability to replicate. These human principles, combined with expertise, are what enabled agencies to decode machines for clients and nurture enduring relationships.

By returning to relational basics—posing insightful questions, practicing active listening, and establishing common ground—agencies can affirm their indispensable value.

These relational skills are vital in distinguishing a partner from an algorithm, ensuring that the work of agencies remains not just relevant but essential.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

January 29, 2026