(aka: stop blaming Google when your strategy is stuck in 2000-late)
SEO & Branding Go Together Like Peas & Carrots
Let’s be real. Half of you reading this have a six-figure SEO budget and nothing to show for it except some graphs that go up and to the right… until you check revenue. The other half are still wondering why optimizing keywords in copy didn’t triple traffic like your agency promised.
But here’s the deal: SEO hasn’t stopped working. It’s just changed. A lot. The problem is, most people haven’t adapted.
They’re still clinging to old-school tactics like they’re gospel… obsessing over keywords, flexing Lighthouse scores, chasing backlinks instead of earning them, and mass-publishing content that reads like ChatGPT and a checklist had a baby. Meanwhile, the brands actually winning in search? They’re doing something totally different.
This post isn’t a rant. Instead, it’s your wake-up call.
If you’re tired of chasing rankings that don’t convert, publishing content no one reads, and getting ghosted by Google after every algorithm update, then it’s time to shift the strategy and your mindset when it comes to SEO.
Let’s talk about what actually matters now.
Rankings Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Revenue
Here’s the cold truth: being #1 on Google for a keyword no one converts on is like winning a hot dog eating contest at a vegan festival. Congrats, but… why?
Too many brands are chasing keyword rankings like they’re trophies. And yeah, it feels good to outrank your competitors. But if those rankings aren’t bringing in qualified traffic, leads, or sales, then they’re just expensive ego boosts.
One of my mentors long ago said the following:
- “Does anyone give a f*ck if you rank for a keyword that doesn’t result in revenue or conversions?”
- “Would you rather have 100,000 clicks a day that leads to $10,000 in sales, or 10,000 clicks a day that leads to $100,000 in sales? Traffic doesn’t matter unless it converts”
Note: He was one of the early marketers that said traffic that doesn’t convert is just vanity
SEO isn’t a scoreboard. It’s a business function. The brands doing it right aren’t asking “How do I rank for this keyword?” They’re asking:
- “What questions does my ICP have?”
- “Where do they go for answers?”
- “How do I show up with something better than what’s already out there?”
That’s the real game. It’s not search visibility, but search value.
So before you pat yourself on the back for ranking #3 for “Innovative software solutions” or “What to know before your colonoscopy,” ask yourself this, “Do those keywords actually attract your audience? Or are you just chasing what sounds impressive in a monthly report?
Because traffic doesn’t pay the bills. Customers do.
Technical SEO Isn’t a Growth Strategy
Look, technical SEO is important. If your site takes 9 seconds to load and your URLs look like a cat ran across the keyboard, you’ve got problems. But let’s be clear: cleaning up your site isn’t a growth plan. It’s basic maintenance.
No one scaled a brand to new heights by optimizing alt text and fixing 404s.
Too many businesses treat technical audits like a silver bullet. They spend thousands fixing crawl issues and pat themselves on the back… while traffic stays flat, conversions don’t budge, and customers still have no idea why they should choose you.
Technical SEO isn’t a glow-up, it’s the minimum. It’s brushing your teeth, putting on pants, and not being a hot mess. Congrats, you’re now baseline functional.
Here’s what actually moves the needle:
- Content that solves real problems
- Messaging that builds trust
- Pages that match user intent, and not just passes Core Web Vitals
So yeah, fix your broken links and compress your images. But don’t confuse that with a strategy. That’s just hygiene so your site doesn’t have a stink that repels users, and search engines.
Content Isn’t King, But Relevance Is
Let’s settle this now: content isn’t king if your audience doesn’t give a crap about it.
You can crank out 20 blogs a month, write 2,000 words per post, and still get beat by someone who said the right thing in 400 words. Why? Because their content was relevant to the query, to the moment, and to the person searching.
Here’s what happens when content isn’t relevant:
- Users bounce faster than a toddler on a trampoline.
- AI Overviews skip you entirely.
- Google might index your page, and if it does it whispers “meh.”
The bar isn’t “Did we publish content?” It’s “Did we say something worth ranking, sharing, or quoting?”
Relevance comes from:
- Understanding intent: Are they researching? Comparing? Ready to buy?
- Meeting users where they are: Not just keyword match, but mental state match.
- Context over word count: Don’t be long. Be useful.
SEO isn’t content volume anymore. It’s context, clarity, and connection. And in a zero-click, AI-summarized world? Relevance is the only way to earn the snippet and the trust.
Don’t Just Optimize. Differentiate.
Most brands are playing SEO like it’s 2015. They’re optimizing. Tweaking headers. Swapping synonyms. Chasing competitors’ keywords like lost puppies.
But you don’t need more optimized content. You need undeniably different content. You know, the kind that makes someone stop scrolling, stop summarizing, and start thinking “damn, this is actually good.”
Because here’s the truth:
Google doesn’t need another post called “Top 10 Summer Must-Haves” written because your team needed to hit the monthly blog quota.
Neither does ChatGPT, Perplexity, or any other LLM.
Neither does your audience. Especially if it reads like generic lifestyle filler that barely ties back to what you actually sell.
What your users do need:
- A unique take grounded in how your product solves real problems for them.
- Real-world use cases, customer insights, or even strong opinions that show you know your space.
- Content that sounds like it came from someone inside the brand, and not a freelance blogger telling Perplexity “Hey write me a blog post for this site on this topic.”
Brand Matters More Than Ever
In the era of zero-click and AI summaries, your brand is the thing users remember when they forget everything else. Because here’s the punch in the gut most teams ignore: SEO is no longer just about visibility. It’s about recall.
If your content gets summarized by AI, and no one remembers who said it? Congrats, you just did free labor for the internet.
But if someone reads a snippet or summary and knows it came from you because of your tone, examples, or POV are unmistakably yours… then that’s brand. That’s staying power.
Brand is what makes people:
- Type your company name into Google or ChatGPT instead of a generic search query.
- Follow you on social because they want more, even without an in-your-face call to action.
- Choose your result in the SERP chaos, even if you’re not position 1 because they’ll trust the info hits.
Being memorable is the new ranking signal. And brand is how you get there.
The SEO Game Changed, So Act Like It
If your SEO strategy still looks like it did 5 years ago where you stuff some keywords, fix a few headers, email hundreds of people to gain a few backlinks, then rinse and repeat, then you’re not just behind. You’re strategies are literally dying, and soon you’ll be invisible.
Search has changed. The tools have changed. User behavior has changed. What hasn’t changed? The teams still treating SEO like a vending machine.
Here’s the hard truth:
- Ranking #1 or Top 3 doesn’t mean what it used to.
- Clicks are disappearing, and fast too
- AI, whether that’s ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews are doing more of the answering.
You can still win, but only if you’re willing to adapt. This isn’t working harder, it’s working smarter, and thinking of the longer game.
Winning today means:
- Creating content so effing good it becomes the source LLMs want to reference.
- Building so much brand equity that users want to search for you by name, and not just the product category
- Making your site sticky, memorable, and differentiated, so the visit turns into something more than a lucky click and an immediate bounce.
Because SEO isn’t just about getting found anymore. It’s about being remembered, trusted, and chosen, even if the click through never happens.
The Clicks May Fade. But Your Brand Shouldn’t.
Search might be changing, but the winners are still the ones who build trust, not just traffic.
If your SEO strategy feels like it’s stuck in the past, or you’re not seeing returns like you used to, then it’s probably time to shake things up.
I’ve helped brands adapt, evolve, and thrive in this new era of search. If you want to bounce ideas, pressure test a strategy, or just rant about zero-click chaos, let’s talk.
No pitch. No fluff. Just real conversations.
