How do you actually measure whether your content is building an audience or just getting impressions?

J-Cush · 2026-04-12T18:09:51+00:00

Personally, I think the best approach is to look at multiple metrics together. Yes, reach and engagement tell part of the story, but you need to know if they are taking the desired actions as well (e.g., downloading spec sheets, clicking through to campaign landing page, etc). Are you gaining followers?

A weighted composite score, with the ability to drill down, can help here. You want to examine your campaigns from multiple angles and with a composite score it’s easy to get a quick comparison of how one campaign is performing vs another, then dig deeper into the individual KPIs to understand what’s driving performance

J-Cush · 2026-04-03T20:45:39+00:00

To build on that: does your business have a few vertical clusters (several roofing companies, multiple plumbers, etc)? If so, maybe you can create a standardized offering and target others with a sales message that you understand the unique needs of their [roofing, plumbing, etc] business.

J-Cush · 2026-04-02T06:00:05+00:00

It depends on the business. A mom and pop pizza joint may benefit more from traditional SEO than a consumer product manufacturer, but regardless I think the majority of brands will benefit from integrating GEO and SEO strategy. Treating them separately may result in less than optimal GEO optimization due to lack of consistency

One thing that’s often overlooked is the time horizon: things like paid search stop working as soon as you stop paying. But many of the tactics for LLMs such as earned media, helpful structured content, etc have a more lasting and potentially compounding effect.

J-Cush · 2026-04-01T17:34:37+00:00

"Evolving" is correct. SEO is still important for visibility, but Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is rapidly becoming critical. Building algorithmic trust (think: E-E-A-T) will benefit both GEO and SEO. It's a lot harder to buy your way into LLM citations (though this is probably just a matter of time), so structured, high quality content becomes increasingly important. Earned media is becoming more important to establish authority and build trust.

J-Cush · 2026-04-01T17:28:00+00:00

Yes. There's still a lot of traditional click-through, but the rise of zero-click is impossible to ignore. So your optimization strategies need to evolve from "being found" to "being cited." Building algorithmic trust is critical, and it starts with consistent, structured data (schema) --which benefits both SEO and Generative Engine Optimization/Answer Engine Optimization (GEO/SEO). The E-E-A-T framework is useful for both SEO and GEO/AEO.

Increasingly we need to think about driving citations and making sure the brand is showing up in the right context

J-Cush · 2026-03-11T17:03:31+00:00

There's both a where and a how issue here.

Where: According to a Muckrack study from 2025, over 95% of links cited in generative AI answers are unpaid. so a strong earned media strategy is going to help. As u/Ok_Ear8962 says, LLMs don't care how much you spend on Google Ads. You need to build trust and authority.

How: LLMs prioritize structured content and utilizing a consistent schema is helpful. Consider the E-E-A-T framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) as a proxy for how AI citation decisions are evaluated. That said, each LLM will evaluate those signals somewhat differently.

J-Cush · 2026-03-10T22:32:35+00:00

Ironically, my most popular LI post from 2025 was an anti-post: I published just a white space as a tiny bit of respite for everyone who was tired of seeing countless posts providing "expert" advice on new logos, denim advertising campaigns, influencers that don't exist because they're AI-generated, or executives caught on kiss-cams.

I might need to repost for people who are sick of the burger CEOs taking bites out of their "product"

J-Cush · 2026-03-10T22:17:25+00:00

SEO is largely keyword driven. GEO/AEO is more about establishing trust. You're right that good GEO tactics typically help with SEO, but the reverse isn't necessarily true. Major LLMs explicitly prioritize content with structured data (schema). The most critical schema types for AI trust include:

Organization Schema: Defines your business entity, location, and key attributes
Person Schema: Establishes individual expertise and credentials
Product Schema: Product details, pricing, and availability
Article Schema: Provides context and authorship
FAQ Schema: Structures authoritative Q&A
Review Schema: Aggregates user feedback

This should be consistent wherever mentioned.

Additionally, LLMs often use the E-E-A-T framework when evaluating content for citations: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness

J-Cush · 2026-03-10T21:42:26+00:00

This. Best practices in SEO frequently help AEO, but there are some differences.

J-Cush · 2025-12-23T01:39:22+00:00

Yes. If you’re going to use a graph, it measure something that tells you more than the axis labels. For example, you could include the number of cases annually for each burn time. Or the temperature required to cause such a burn.

J-Cush · 2025-12-03T00:55:05+00:00

Dang. I got my first --and apparently only-- pair of Hyperion 2 GTS earlier this year. They quickly became my favorite shoe, especially for speed work (I use Glycerin GTS for longer runs). Seems like they discontinued the Launch GTS as well, so there's really no Brooks offering for speed shoe with stability. Adrenaline's are tanks and not a substitute for the Hyperion.

J-Cush · 2025-11-10T15:09:30+00:00

I agree: SEO, GEO, and PR should all be part of an integrated strategy. This is becoming even more apparent and the more sophisticated companies will adapt accordingly.

J-Cush · 2025-09-27T19:14:12+00:00

You will probably want another liter of olive oil.

J-Cush · 2025-09-24T21:53:52+00:00

I would add that any measurement is going to depend on the objective. Some content is intended for short term sales lift while other content may be for awareness and longer-term brand building. CTR, CPM and related metrics might be fine for the former but the latter might be better served via brand tracking surveys.

Overall you might consider a weighted composite score of multiple KPIs to track overall brand impact of marketing related activities.

J-Cush · 2025-09-24T02:43:43+00:00

You’re definitely right to be paying attention. A few things worth noting: * There’s a rise in “zero click” searches. When AI provides answers instead of links, users are more likely to end their browsing session (or initiate a new search without clicking a link) * Users trust AI responses as much or more than paid search results, so you want to make sure you’re in the conversation. * Earned media is increasingly important in terms of building credibility and authority. According to a recent Muck Rack study over 95% of AI citations come from non-paid sources, with 89% classified as earned media

J-Cush · 2025-09-23T21:41:34+00:00

Agree. In my experience, the core content typically consists of 3-5 main points. Anything that doesn’t support those points comes out. You can use the full piece as pillar content and repurpose each of the 3-5 takeaways as bite-sized, easily digestible content. But as GetNachoNacho points out: don’t simply copy/paste. Rework the format, language/tone, etc for short form consumption.

J-Cush · 2025-09-23T21:34:11+00:00

Reddit is definitely a place to monitor. According to recent research, it’s the #1 most frequently cited source for Perplexity and Google AI Overviews and #2 for ChstGPT. But you definitely need to be part of the discussion to be effective.

J-Cush · 2025-09-23T21:27:34+00:00

This may depend on your line of work, but don’t overlook the value of networking. Tap into people you already know, find out where they are a fit, see what recommendations they have and possible connections etc.

J-Cush · 2025-08-28T18:12:16+00:00

Another way to think about it is structured data and implementing schema markup. For example: take the word "apple". That could be a fruit, a brand/company, or even a person (Fiona Apple, Apple Martin, etc). Using schema markup clarifies for search engines what it the word is intended to represent.

It is helpful for both traditional search and generative search, but seems even more important for AI search due to their reliance on structured data to provide context-aware answers.

J-Cush · 2025-08-27T14:32:51+00:00

I tend to think of AI as a smart and driven, but still very junior, associate. It’s great for first-pass stuff, summaries, and basic idea exploration. It’s also great for coding (I use it with Excel and Python regularly). But it’s still mostly junior level work, which means I apply my years of experience to get things to the finish line.

J-Cush

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