#seo

#seo

The industry is crowded, competitive, and still shackled by advertising restrictions. To get noticed, brands are often told they need to hire a "specialized cannabis PR agency." But here's the reality: too many of these agencies overcharge while underdelivering. Campaigns vanish after a press release cycle, leaving brands with little more than a hefty invoice. What if there was a smarter, more direct path?

Ethan Smith is the CEO of Graphitethe leading SEO growth agencyand my go-to expert on SEO. After 18 years of mastering traditional SEO, Ethan has been at the forefront of what is called AEO: answer engine optimization, or, more simply, getting your product to show up in ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini/Perplexity answers. He's discovered that ChatGPT traffic converts six times better than Google searchand most companies are completely missing this opportunity.

When Google's AI Overviews arrived in May 2024, search engine strategists-the specialists who make a living by getting web pages to the top of people's query results-took notice. With the implementation of Overviews, Google's first page search results, a target destination for anyone creating and optimizing content, suddenly sat below a response generated by Gemini, the company's AI engine. "Our initial reaction was, 'Well, how is it going to work in the future?'"

In a world flooded by fleeting social posts and disposable ads, one strategy has proven itself to be durable, credible, and effective: sponsored editorial content. Since 2008, stupidDOPE has been a trusted platform for brands, creators, and innovators who want more than just a moment in the feed. A feature on stupidDOPE is not an ad. It is a permanent digital asset that builds visibility, drives credibility, and fuels discovery across Google, Apple News, and increasingly, the large language model (LLM) search engines

If your blog isn't driving traffic, leads, or visibility, it's not that blogging doesn't work. It's that you haven't outsmarted your competitors-at least not yet. Start using these six steps to reverse engineer their SEO strategy to start outranking them. Step 1: Find out who's beating you (it's not who you think) Start by Googling the terms or phrases that your ideal clients would search: "Florida car accident lawyer" "Can I sue my employer for unpaid wages?" "How long do I have to file a medical malpractice claim?"

The first thing to understand is that bad press on Google is rarely the product of just one thing. If that were the case, you would likely ignore the tiny bit and move on. The failure to bury negative search results in the first place tends to start with a lack of positive information about you or your business online. Your first step is to build a positive online presence. Your company should be producing positive news and content across a variety of channels.

Winery owners face more pressure than ever to sustain growth while keeping operational costs lean. Seasonal sales cycles, shifting alcohol consumption habits, and increasingly fragmented media channels have made it harder for small to midsize wine brands to reach new customers - especially online. Source: eMarketer At the same time, US wine buyers are more price-sensitive and brand-loyal than ever. According to 2024 data from eMarketer, nearly half of US adults say price is a "very important" factor when purchasing wine, while just 20% say the same about brand or ratings.

The global travel industry has entered an era where digital discovery drives decision-making. For destinations, hotels, and tourism boards, visibility is no longer just about glossy brochures or traditional ads-it's about being present where travelers are actively searching for inspiration, experiences, and bookings. In today's digital age, destination marketing requires a forward-thinking strategy that blends storytelling, technology, and media authority to capture attention and convert interest into action.

Will ChatGPT replace Google, or will marketers need to optimize for both? We're sure many of you might disagree, but we firmly believe that both of them are and will remain equally beneficial and powerful. The only thing that changes is the future of SEO in the AI era, making it less about keyword stuffing and more about semantic relevancy and trustworthiness.

Australia's digital scene is buzzing, and some of the country's most talented agencies are leading the way. The Netty Awards are once again shining a light on these standouts, celebrating the creativity, strategy, and results that help brands capture attention and make a lasting impact online. From scroll-stopping social campaigns to clever digital strategies that drive real results, these agencies show that great work is as much about genuine connection as it is about clicks and follows.

If you ask a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT or Google Gemini to solve your customers' pain points, it will give you an answer based on the easiest-to-verify information. That often includes published articles, consistent founder commentaries, structured product pages and other third-party references. If those answers do not include your brand, these learning models default to featuring your competitors.

Seasonal products create spikes in demand, drive urgency, and produce record-breaking sales, but they can quickly disappear from visibility if not properly prepared.

AI Overviews are transforming search marketing by allowing users to engage in natural dialogue with search engines, expecting comprehensive answers rather than lists of links.

John Mueller noted that "the higher the urgency, and the stronger the push of new acronyms, the more likely they're just making spam and scamming."