Straight North

GEO vs. AEO: What’s the difference, and does your business need both? Explore how Generative Engine Optimization and Answer Engine Optimization work, where they overlap, and how to build a content strategy for both. https://lnkd.in/gNYP289Q

Would this page still be worth publishing if Google didn’t exist? It’s a useful question to ask when evaluating your content — especially as Google continues to update how it evaluates and ranks websites. In our latest blog, Straight North SEO & GEO Analytics Expert Marc Holt shares seven ways businesses can strengthen their sites before the next Google update. The approach is straightforward: diagnose, prioritize, improve, monitor and repeat. That means focusing on content that genuinely helps people, maintaining a strong technical SEO foundation, building your brand’s authority, and resisting the urge to make sweeping changes every time rankings fluctuate. You can’t predict exactly what the next Google update will do. But you can build a site that’s better prepared for it. Read the full article here: https://www.straightnorth.com/.../7-ways-to-prepare-your.../

Our latest blog article explores 10 KPIs every home service business should track. Learn which metrics can help you connect marketing performance to real business growth. https://lnkd.in/gvKn9uKm

A Google core update hits. Your rankings drop. The worst thing you can do is start changing everything. A ranking decline doesn’t necessarily mean Google penalized your site, and it doesn’t automatically mean your content is the problem. Before rewriting pages or overhauling your SEO strategy, you need to understand what actually changed. In our latest blog, Straight North SEO & GEO Analytics Expert Marc Holt breaks down five steps to take after a core update: • Confirm the update actually caused the decline • Audit the pages that lost visibility • Improve content based on what searchers actually need • Rule out technical SEO issues • Strengthen expertise and trust where it matters most The key is to make targeted improvements based on performance data, and then give Google time to recrawl and reevaluate your pages. Here’s how to approach core update recovery without turning every ranking drop into a site-wide fire drill: https://lnkd.in/gk4kiJpu.

Anyone can post on LinkedIn. The harder part is becoming someone people remember. Here's how to establish thought leadership on LinkedIn without chasing trends, posting filler, or sounding like a press release. https://lnkd.in/gFYxAvwC

AI is changing how people find information—and brands need to adapt. Learn the essentials of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), from how AI engines choose sources to the tactics that can help your brand earn visibility and citations. https://lnkd.in/gpXKZMcF

Is AI Killing Google? 13 Billion Searches Say Otherwise Over 93% of ChatGPT's half-billion users still use Google. That's Similarweb's audience data, and it lands alongside the largest clickstream study ever published: 13.1 billion search events. Together they tell a very different story than the "AI is killing Google" pitch. What actually changed: almost half of Google searches now end without a click, and that loss is coming out of organic results, not ads. The click thief isn't ChatGPT. It's Google's own AI Overviews answering on the results page. So if your clicks are down but your rankings aren't, that's the new baseline, not proof that SEO is dead. The move now is measuring visibility in AI answers and overviews, not just clicks. How is your team measuring search visibility beyond the click? #SEO #AISearch #SearchMarketing #DigitalMarketing

Backlinks still matter. But they’re no longer the whole story when it comes to authority. In our latest Expert Series, Bob Hand, Senior SEO & GEO Strategist at Straight North, explains why external validation is becoming increasingly important for AI search visibility. Reviews, media coverage, expert mentions, original research and other third-party signals help AI systems understand whether a brand’s expertise is actually recognized beyond its own website. As Bob puts it, the better question isn’t “How many links do we have?” It’s whether trusted sources validate that your brand belongs in the conversation. The takeaway: Authority isn’t just claimed. It’s proven. Read more about the E-E-A-T PR framework and what it means for SEO, GEO and digital PR: https://lnkd.in/eGaARBsy

Local schema markup helps search engines better understand your business, location, services, and other key information. Learn which schema types matter, common mistakes to avoid, and how to implement structured data effectively. https://lnkd.in/gdWa6--3

A backlink can point to your expertise. It can’t prove it. That distinction matters more as search engines, AI platforms, journalists and buyers look beyond a brand’s own website to decide who they can trust. Straight North Off-Site SEO Expert Adam Rosenbaum breaks down what building that trust looks like today. It means putting real subject matter expertise into the market. Publishing original research others actually want to cite. Earning editorial coverage because the insight is valuable, not because you’re chasing a link. And making sure those signals reinforce each other wherever your brand appears. The goal is bigger than link building. It’s creating a portfolio of credible evidence that compounds over time. Adam outlines the six building blocks of modern off-site brand authority, and why they’re becoming increasingly important for visibility in both traditional and AI-driven search. Read the full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/gvxjnnFZ