Connor Gillivan

10 Free SEO Courses to Check Out:

(Level up your SEO w/out spending a dime)

1. SEO Training Course Moz)
2. Free SEO Course (ClickMinded)
3. SEO Training Course (HubSpot)
4. On-Page and Technical SEO Course (Semrush)
5. SEO Specialization (Coursera)
6. Free SEO 6-Part Video Series (Moz)
7. Keyword Research for SEO (HubSpot)
8. Content-Led SEO (Semrush)
9. Local SEO Course with Greg Gifford (Semrush)
10. SEO Foundations (LinkedIn for Learning)

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SEO is an ever evolving industry.

And you need to “always be learning“.

Whether you have 1 month, 1 year, or 10 yrs of experience.

It's critical to learn new tactics and strategies.

I'm 10 years in & I still take free courses.

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What's your fav?

Repost ♻️ so others can learn SEO too!

P.S. I'm hosting a free SEO training on Aug 29th. Come join: https://lnkd.in/g-My3sMZ

My Claude SOP for On-Page SEO Optimization (15 Step Checklist):

(Steal the exact prompts I give my team)

Most people use Claude for writing blog drafts.

That's barely scratching the surface.

I use it as an on-page SEO machine.

Here's my full 15-step SOP:

Step 1: Keyword Research
- "Analyze this page and identify the primary keyword it should target. Suggest 5 secondary keywords based on search intent."

Step 2: Title Tags
- "Write 5 title tag options under 60 characters for [keyword]. Make them click-worthy and intent-matched."

Step 3: Meta Descriptions
- "Write 3 meta descriptions under 155 characters for this page. Include the keyword and a clear reason to click."

Step 4: Header Structure
- "Audit my H1-H4 hierarchy. Flag missing headers, keyword gaps, and unclear structure."

Step 5: URL Structure
- "Review this URL. Suggest a shorter, keyword-focused version if needed."

Step 6: Content Optimization
- "Compare my content to the top 5 ranking pages for [keyword]. List topic gaps I should cover."

Step 7: Internal Linking
- "Here's my sitemap and this article. Suggest 5 internal links with natural anchor text."

Step 8: External Linking
- "Identify 3 claims in this content that need authoritative external sources to back them up."

Step 9: Image Optimization
- "Write descriptive alt text for these 5 images. Include keywords naturally, never stuffed."

Step 10: Readability
- "Edit this section for scannability. Shorter paragraphs, clearer subheads, simpler sentences."

Step 11: Search Intent Check
- "Does this page fully answer the intent behind [keyword]? List what a searcher would still need."

Step 12: Schema Markup
- "Generate FAQ schema for this article based on the top questions it answers."

Step 13: Featured Snippet Targeting
- "Rewrite my intro to directly answer [question keyword] in under 50 words for a featured snippet."

Step 14: CTA Placement
- "Suggest 3 natural CTA placements in this content. Match each CTA to the reader's stage."

Step 15: Content Refresh Plan
- "Review this page's publish date and content. List 5 updates that would signal freshness to Google."

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On-page SEO isn't guesswork anymore.

It's a repeatable system with AI as your assistant.

But Claude doesn't replace SEO judgment.

It speeds up what you already know works.

Run this SOP on every important page.

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Which prompt will you test first?

♻️ REPOST so other SEOs can work smarter too.

P.S. My agency, TrioSEO, runs systems like this for 30+ clients every month. DM me "Audit" for a personalized analysis of your on-page SEO.

9 Claude Prompts to Plan a 90-Day Marketing Strategy:

Most 90-day marketing plans die in week 2.

Not because the plan was bad.

Because it lived in someone's head.

A vague plan is a guess.

A structured plan is a system.

Here's how I use Claude to build one:

Prompt 1: Set the foundation
- "Act as my CMO. Here's my product, ICP, and goal. Build a 90-day marketing objective with measurable targets."

Prompt 2: Audit what's working
- "Here's my last 90 days of traffic and leads. Tell me what's working, what's flat, and what I should kill."

Prompt 3: Map the channels
- "Given my ICP and budget, rank my 3 highest-leverage channels for the next 90 days. Explain the tradeoffs."

Prompt 4: Build the content plan
- "Create a monthly content calendar by funnel stage. BOFU first, then MOFU. Include formats and CTAs."

Prompt 5: Plan the GEO play
- "List 10 questions my ICP asks AI tools. Show me which content earns citations for each."

Prompt 6: Design the lead funnel
- "Map my funnel from awareness to closed deal. Flag the leakiest stage and how to fix it."

Prompt 7: Assign owners and dates
- "Turn this plan into a table. Task, owner, due date, KPI. Make it ready to paste into Asana."

Prompt 8: Set the metrics
- "List the 6 KPIs I should track weekly. Ignore vanity metrics. Tie each to revenue."

Prompt 9: Build the review loop
- "Create a monthly review prompt I can rerun with fresh data to adjust the plan."

I've run marketing for 15+ years across my companies.

The plan was never the hard part.

Execution and tracking were.

Claude doesn't replace the strategy.

It just removes the friction of building it.

How do you plan your quarters?

Repost ♻️ if this made planning simpler.

P.S. My agency, TrioSEO, runs SEO and GEO for 30+ clients. DM me "audit" for a personalized look at your strategy.

My AI + Keyword Research Process:

It used to take me 10+ hours to research keywords for SEO.

In today's AI world, that's been dropped to 1-2 hours.

How?

Let me show you:

Step 1: Connect the data, not the guesses

↳ Semrush now sits in Claude's connector directory.
↳ Ahrefs has an official remote MCP server too.
↳ Claude pulls live volume, KD, and SERP data itself.
↳ No CSV exports. No hallucinated keywords.

Step 2: Start with the ICP, not the keyword

↳ Paste your ICP, your offer, and 3 competitors.
↳ Ask for 20 seed topics that buyer actually searches.
↳ Approve the seeds before any data gets pulled.

Step 3: Pull and cluster in one prompt

↳ "Pull volume + KD for these seeds. US only."
↳ "Cluster them into hubs and spokes by intent."
↳ "Flag anything with KD above my domain rating."

Step 4: Filter like an operator

↳ BOFU first. Always.
↳ "Show only KD under 30 with 30+ monthly volume."
↳ "Check the live SERP and tell me the winning format."
↳ Kill anything where page one is all directories.

Step 5: Run GEO prompt research beside it

↳ "List 30 prompts my ICP would type into ChatGPT."
↳ Then run those prompts yourself and log who gets named.
↳ Every "best of" list that shows up becomes an outreach target.
↳ Same afternoon, two channels covered.

Step 6: Ship it into the calendar

↳ "Build a 90 day plan: keyword, group, format, funnel, style."
↳ Same columns as my content calendar sheet.
↳ Review with the team. Assign. Done.

Two things nobody tells you about this.

Every pull burns API units from your plan. Be deliberate.

And the connector only works while you're in the chat.

It's a research partner, not a monitoring system.

I still make the final call on every single keyword.

AI killed the busywork. It didn't kill the judgment.

Are you connecting your SEO tools to AI yet, or still exporting CSVs?

♻️ REPOST so more marketers get their 10 hours back.

P.S. My team and I are building an anti-slop Agentic SEO SaaS, and we’re offering 2 months of SEO content in exchange for feedback and a case study. DM me if you’re interested in learning more!

The Perfect Ecommerce SEO Strategy:

Most ecommerce brands treat SEO like an afterthought.

A few blog posts. Some product descriptions. Maybe a backlink or two.

Then they wonder why Shopify stores with half their catalog are outranking them.

Here's the ecommerce SEO strategy I'd run from Day 1:

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1/ Nail Your Site Architecture

- Categories and subcategories should mirror how people search.
- Every product page needs a unique title tag and meta description.
- Keep URLs clean and keyword-rich. No random strings of numbers.
- Flat structure wins. 3 clicks max from homepage to any product.

2/ Prioritize Collection Pages Over Blog Posts

- Your category pages are your money pages. Optimize them first.
- Add 200-400 words of keyword-rich copy above or below the product grid.
- Target BOFU keywords like "buy [product] online" and "best [product] for [use case]."
- Add FAQs at the bottom of the page to keep more users on the page learning.

3/ Fix Technical SEO Before You Write a Single Blog

- Crawl your site for duplicate content. Ecommerce stores are notorious for it.
- Canonical tags on product variants. Non-negotiable.
- Page speed matters more in ecommerce than anywhere else. Slow site = lost sales.
- Schema markup on every product page. Price, reviews, availability.

4/ Build Content Around Buyer Intent

- "Best [product] for [audience]" comparison posts convert like crazy.
- Buying guides that link directly to your collection pages.
- Skip the generic TOFU content. Go BOFU and MOFU first.

5/ Backlinks With Purpose

- Get listed on "best of" roundups in your niche.
- Partner with complementary brands for content swaps.
- Digital PR around new product launches or data you own.

6/ Track What Matters

- Revenue from organic. Not just traffic.
- Keyword rankings on collection and product pages specifically.
- Conversion rate by landing page. Find what's working and double down.

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Ecommerce SEO isn't about publishing 50 blog posts and praying.

It's about treating your store like a search engine magnet.

Architecture. Technical foundation. Buyer intent content. Strategic links.

Get those right and organic becomes your best sales channel.

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What's your biggest ecommerce SEO challenge right now?

♻️ Repost if you know someone running an ecommerce brand that needs this.

P.S. My team at TrioSEO runs ecommerce SEO for brands selling on Shopify, Amazon, and beyond. DM me and let's talk strategy.

Please stop running your 2025 SEO strategy.

We built Searchable for SEO teams who are making the necessary shift to AEO. If you're interested in starting a free trial or making an enquiry, click here: https://lnkd.in/eTTkDmrz

Big shout out to Chris Donnelly for originally posting this.

If your rankings have dropped off a cliff, here's why...

So many folks out there are about to waste a year building an "AI search strategy" they don't need.

A company watches AI eat their search traffic, panics, and sets up a whole separate operation.

New team, new budget... a second content pile disconnected from the first.

All to chase the same thing SEO always chased:
Getting found by the right buyer at the moment they're ready to act.

Truth be told, SEO was never really about ranking #1 or stacking keywords.
That was the tactic. The point was always trust and authority.

Being the name that comes up when someone decides who to buy from.
So the fundamentals are the same, but the approach has changed.

The question is - are you set up to adopt AI search?

So before you hire anyone or build anything new, run this audit first:

1️⃣ Open ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity.
↳ Run it a few times, answers vary.
↳ Or track all of them properly inside Searchable.

2️⃣ Run the prompts your buyers type when they're ready to buy.
↳ Not research queries, genuine buying queries.

3️⃣ See which brands get named and recommended.
↳ If it's not you, note who it is...

4️⃣ List the sources those answers pull from.
↳ Publications, Reddit threads, LinkedIn posts, podcasts.
↳ Where they're shown, note them. Where they're not, that's a gap in itself.

5️⃣ Map where you show up and where you're missing.
↳ That gap is not your entire plan but it is where you start.

6️⃣ Rank those sources by how often they get cited.
↳ And how realistically you can get into them...
↳ That's your content priority list !

7️⃣ Then fix your own content.
↳ Structure your content so AI can read and quote it.
↳ Clear answers, clean formatting, the information a model needs to trust you.

You earn your way in the same way good SEO always worked.
Depth over volume, and original data that no one else has.

The work didn't change, it's just that the standard got higher.

And SEO isn't dead while you do this.

Google still handles over 14 billion searches a day.
AI search sits on that foundation and pulls from brands it already rates.

Run them as two channels and you do twice the work for half the result.
Run them as one and everything compounds.

I co-founded Searchable to take the manual part off your plate.

It tracks where you're cited across every AI engine, finds the gaps,
And tells you what to fix.

Get in touch with the team and start a free trial by clicking through here: https://lnkd.in/eTTkDmrz

P.S. My team and I are building an anti-slop Agentic AI SEO SaaS and we're offering 2 months of SEO content in exchange for feedback and a case study. DM me if you'd like to learn more!

How to Rank on ChatGPT Cheat Sheet:

(How I rank my business on ChatGPT for traffic & leads)

Founder: "How do I rank on ChatGPT?"
Me: "It boils down to AUTHORITY & PRESENCE. Let me explain:"

ChatGPT and LLMs rely on the Internet to make "inferences" to your questions.

If you ask it, "What's the best B2B SEO service online?", it's going to scour the Internet for data specific to that topic.

Then it compiles that data, parses it, and spits out their best judgement.

Here's a WINNING Strategy to Follow:

#1: Prompt Research

- Brainstorm a list of prompts your ICP is asking ChatGPT.
- Ask ChatGPT to come up with similar prompts.
- Search them and see what's provided.

#2: Results Analysis

- Analyze the answers and who's being mentioned.
- Search similar queries on Google & see what's ranking.
- Find content ideas & "best of lists" to get added to.

#3: Create Content

- Create new Service pages & blog content.
- "Steal" from competitors ranking top of ChatGPT & Google.
- Replicate content they have, but make it your own & better.
- Publish the content on social media & tag your brand.

#4: Build Authority

- Reach out to "best of lists" & pitch to get yourself included.
- Write your own "best of lists" to get them ranking on Google.
- Build high DR backlinks to create "authority" for your brand.

#5: Track Results

- Every 2-4 weeks, search the prompts on ChatGPT again.
- Take note of changes to the results & look for your brand.
- Repeat for 3-6 months until you're ranking on ChatGPT.

Ranking on LLMs & ChatGPT comes back to SEO.

You won't "magically" rank on ChatGPT w/out content & authority.

I dare you to try.

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What you think?

♻️ REPOST if you found this useful.

P.S. I talk about AI's impact on SEO & marketing every week. Follow me for more.

10 SEO Claude Prompts (I use every week at TrioSEO):

Save this. You'll use all of them.

1. Keyword Research
"You're an SEO expert with 10+ years of experience. Give me 20 long-tail keyword ideas for [main keyword] with search intent, estimated difficulty, and why each one matters for a [ICP] audience."

2. Content Brief
"You're a senior SEO strategist. Build a detailed content brief for [keyword]. Include H1, H2s, H3s, target word count, primary and secondary keywords, FAQs, meta description, and a recommended CTA."

3. SERP Analysis
"Analyze the top 10 Google results for [keyword]. What topics do they cover? What are they missing? Give me 5 angles I can use to write something stronger."

4. Internal Linking
"Here is a list of 20 blog posts from my website. Recommend an internal linking structure that builds topical authority around [main topic]."

5. Meta Data
"Write 5 title tag and meta description variations for the keyword [keyword]. Make each one compelling, under the character limit, and aligned with search intent."

6. Content Upgrade
"Here is an existing blog post. Identify the 5 weakest sections and rewrite them to improve depth, readability, and SEO performance."

7. FAQ Schema
"Create 8 FAQ questions and answers for a blog post targeting [keyword]. Make the answers concise, accurate, and optimized for featured snippets."

8. Competitor Gap Analysis
"Here are 3 competitor blog posts targeting [keyword]. What topics, data points, and sections do they all include? What are they missing that I can add to outrank them?"

9. Content Repurposing
"Take this blog post and repurpose it into: 1 LinkedIn post, 1 email newsletter, and 5 short-form social captions. Keep the core insight but adapt the format for each channel."

10. Monthly SEO Report Summary
"Here is our SEO data from this month. Summarize the key wins, areas of concern, and recommend 3 actions we should prioritize next month."

The prompt is only half the equation.

The context you give Claude determines the quality of the output.

Be specific. Give it your ICP, your industry, your goals.

Garbage in, garbage out. Clarity in, results out.

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Which prompt are you stealing first?

♻️ Repost if you want more SEO practitioners using AI the right way.

P.S. I run SEO with AI for 30+ clients at TrioSEO. If you want a team that already knows how to use these tools to grow your traffic and leads, book a call: https://lnkd.in/gYccSVY8

New Opportunity: I'm hiring for a Growth Manager (Paid Ads + Cold Email):

Someone to be my right hand "Growth" brain.
& help scale 5+ companies owned by my HoldCo, Hirsch Gillivan.
- EcomBalance
- AccountsBalance
- TrioSEO
- CFO Expertise
- EcomBalance Tax

The two BIG areas you'll run:

1. Paid Ads: Meta and Google campaigns. Test, iterate, find the winning funnel, then scale it.

2. Cold Email & LinkedIn Outreach: Build ICP lists, write sequences, deploy, and optimize until meetings get booked consistently.

Who am I looking for?

- You use Claude or ChatGPT daily. Not occasionally. Daily.
- You've run successful ad campaigns and can show me proof.
- You've built outreach workflows before and can show them to me.
- You have case studies that you can share and show me results.
- You think in systems, not tasks. Always tweaking to find the best.
- You want a long term role where you can be an AI Marketer.

Logistics:

- Fully remote.
- Anywhere in the world.
- 40+ hours/week full time, exclusive.
- Rate discussed in the application process.

This role is NOT for you if you talk about AI but can't actually demo your workflow.

Sound like you?

Apply today: https://lnkd.in/gB6WyznC

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Know someone who fits this?

Tag them or Repost ♻️ so they can find it.

P.S. I'm building a Marketing Superteam for my HoldCo, Hirsch Gillivan. This is just the start. If you're interested, reach out!

I’m hiring an SEO Strategist for TrioSEO 🥳 Will it be you? (rare opportunity)

That’s right! Trio is growing and we’re seeking an ambitious SEO that wants to learn and grow with us to help our 30+ SEO clients.

Are you ready for the role? Here’s what we need:

1. A passion to learn SEO keyword research and strategy from SEO pros
2. SEO experience in Ahrefs keyword research
3. Able to work 20-40 hours per week
4. On a flexible work schedule

Does that sound like you?

Then apply here: https://lnkd.in/g8Yv8NXX

Here’s what we’re offering:

- A chance for you to join a rapidly growing SEO agency
- Intensive training on SEO research and strategy
- The ability to run SEO strategy for 10+ clients
- A vibrant and encouraging remote work environment
- Direct access to SEOs w/ 15+ years experience
- Opportunities for raises, bonuses, and additional responsibility and training

So, who’s the best fit for the role?

You do NOT need extensive SEO strategy experience.

It’s honestly better if you don’t.

Most importantly, you need an open mind to training, learning, and mastering the TrioSEO way.

We have a method that works. You simply need to learn and master it.

Again, if this resonates with you, apply today and we’ll be in touch: https://lnkd.in/g8Yv8NXX

Will you apply?

P.S. This is RARE. I don’t often post for job openings. If this sparks your interest, act today.

P.P.S. If you know someone that would be a great fit fof this role, please share the post with them 🙏

Reddit is now the most cited source in AI search results.

And most brands are ignoring it completely.

Here's how to optimize Reddit for SEO and AEO.

Reddit accounts for roughly 40% of all AI citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude.

Read that again. 40%.

It's also the second most visible website in Google search results behind Wikipedia.

Search "best CRM for startups" on Google.

Count the Reddit threads on page 1.

In 2023, zero. In 2026, three to five.

Often outranking G2, Capterra, and the SaaS companies themselves.

Same thing in AI search. Ask ChatGPT for a recommendation.

Watch how often it pulls from Reddit threads.

For "is X worth it" queries, 89% of Google AI Overviews cite Reddit.

Reddit citations on ChatGPT grew 73%+ from October 2025 to January 2026.

This is not a social media channel anymore. This is search infrastructure.

And most marketing teams have no strategy for it.

I run SEO and GEO across 6 businesses.

I use Semrush One to track visibility on Google and AI. Here's the Reddit playbook I follow:

1/ Find the subreddits that rank on Google for your keywords
→ Search your top keywords on Google and note which Reddit threads show up on page 1
→ Use Semrush to identify which subreddits consistently rank for terms in your niche

2/ Contribute value-first answers in high-ranking threads
→ Write detailed, experience-based replies that actually help people
→ Threads with 50+ upvotes are 3.2x more likely to rank on Google

3/ Monitor brand mentions on Reddit
→ Track what people say about your brand across subreddits
→ Semrush One tracks brand mentions across both Google and AI search platforms

4/ Get cited in "best of" and comparison threads
→ AI pulls heavily from Reddit threads with titles like "best X for Y" or "X vs Y"
→ Contribute authentically to these threads early before they rank

5/ Track your Reddit-sourced AI citations
→ Reddit threads you appear in get cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews
→ Semrush One shows where your brand gets mentioned in AI results and which sources AI pulls from

6/ Keep contributions fresh and relevant
→ AI citation preferences shift fast. Reddit citation share dropped 23% in a single month in late 2025
→ Consistent monthly contributions outperform one-time pushes

7/ Never spam. Always disclose.
→ Reddit is quality-sensitive. Spammy posts get suppressed and can hurt your entire brand
→ Disclose affiliations. Lead with value. Be a real human in the thread.

Google ranks Reddit threads.
AI cites Reddit threads.
Your brand needs to be in those threads.

Not with promotional posts.

With genuine, helpful contributions that earn upvotes and trust.

Semrush One tracks both sides. Where you rank on Google and where you get cited by AI.

One dashboard. So you can see exactly which Reddit threads are driving visibility and where competitors are showing up instead of you.

Start tracking: https://bit.ly/473eyr0

♻️ Repost to help others

#SemrushPartner

My Monthly SEO Analytics Strategy:

Every month, I run a full SEO analytics review for my companies and clients.

Here’s the exact system I use — and the 7 metrics that matter most.

1/ Organic Traffic Growth

- Check total sessions and users from Google.
- Segment by page type (blog, service, homepage).
- WHY: It’s your top-level indicator that SEO is actually driving results.

2/ Keyword Rankings

- Track top 50–100 target keywords in Ahrefs or GA4 Search Console.
- Look for upward movement month-to-month.
- WHY: Rankings reflect visibility growth before traffic follows.

3/ Click-Through Rate (CTR)

- Pull from Google Search Console.
- Improve titles & meta descriptions for low CTR pages.
- WHY: A small CTR lift = huge traffic gain without new content.

4/ Backlinks & Referring Domains

- Review new links via Ahrefs.
- Filter by authority and relevance.
- WHY: High-quality links = authority, which fuels long-term rankings.

5/ Top Landing Pages

- Identify which pages bring in the most organic users.
- Double down on the content type and topics that win.
- WHY: This tells you what the market values most from your site.

6/ Conversion Rate from Organic

- Track leads, calls, or purchases coming from organic traffic.
- WHY: SEO isn’t just visibility—it’s sales and customer growth.

7/ Technical SEO Health

- Audit page speed, mobile usability, and crawl errors.
- WHY: Technical issues quietly destroy ranking potential.

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SEO analytics aren’t about vanity metrics.

They’re about direction, consistency, and compounding results.

I’ve scaled multiple businesses by obsessing over these numbers.

When you know the story behind your data, SEO becomes predictable.

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Find this useful?

Repost ♻️ to help others master SEO reporting.

P.S. Steal my 50+ SEO & Marketing Processes: https://lnkd.in/gETbvXjq

My Winning Shopify SEO Funnel Strategy (BOFU, MOFU, TOFU):

To win in Ecom SEO, you need to go after the right keywords.

And you need to understand how the SEO funnel works.

So you go after keywords that actually create revenue.

Here's the breakdown:

TOFU

→ “Top of funnel”
→ To build awareness.
→ People learning a topic. Not looking to purchase.
→ Builds authority w/ educational content
→ Most impacted by Google’s AI Overviews
→ Ex: “surfboard research guide”

MOFU

→ “Middle of funnel”
→ People researching + comparing options.
→ Best for comparisons, “how-to’s”, case studies.
→ Ex: “best surfboard companies in california”

BOFU

→ “Bottom of funnel”
→ People searching for a solution
→ Ready to buy. High intent.
→ Ex: “white surboard midsize”

STRATEGY

→ BOFU 1st until you’re out
→ Then MOFU to fill the funnel
→ Leave TOFU for AI
→ 5+ pieces of content per month
→ Aim for Collection & Product pages
→ Build links to BOFU pages

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Are you following this Shopify SEO strategy?

♻️ Repost if you think this could help someone else.

P.S. Want my team growing your Shopify store SEO? DM me for details.

My SEO Content Calendar:

(How I plan, create, and track SEO & GEO content that ranks)

This is the exact Google Sheet template my team & I use to run SEO content for my businesses and 30+ clients.

It’s not complicated — but it’s structured to remove guessing, keep us consistent, and get results.

Here’s what each column means:

1. Keyword

- The primary keyword we’re targeting
- Comes from our keyword research & clustering process
- Prioritized based on what we want to rank for most

2. Group

- The month it will be published
- Keeps us on schedule & organized
- Helps track how fresh each piece of content is

3. Format

- Blog post, landing page, guide, comparison, listicle, etc
- Tied directly to the search intent & keyword
- Based on SERP research & top 10 rankings

4. Style

- Whether the content is an Update or New
- Helps determine the process it goes through next
- Update is adding content to an already existing content

5. Funnel

- BOFU vs MOFU vs TOFU
- Where in the funnel does the content fall
- Prioritize BOFU first then work your way out

6. Rank

- The current rank of the content
- If ranking, include rank & link to article
- If no rank, means it's a new piece of content

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I use this to organize then it all goes into Airtable.

Where the content creation process ensues.

A content calendar isn’t just “organization.”

It’s a system that turns ideas into traffic, leads, and sales.

When you can see exactly what’s coming next, your SEO stops feeling random — and starts producing results.

Consistency is the real SEO superpower.

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What you think? Agree?

Repost ♻️ to help others stay consistent with SEO.

P.S. Need help with your SEO consistency? Book a call w/ me: https://lnkd.in/gYccSVY8 (reserved for new clients only)

How to use Semrush like a Top 1% SEO:

Most people open Semrush and type a keyword.

Then they close it. That's it.

You are paying for a Ferrari to check the mail.

The top 1% treat it like a decision engine.

Here is the exact route I run:

Step 1: Keyword Gap

↳ Compare your domain against 4 competitors.
↳ Every keyword they own, you don't.
↳ That list becomes your content plan.

Step 2: Keyword Magic Tool

↳ Filter by intent, not by volume.
↳ Sort BOFU first, then MOFU.
↳ High volume with no intent is a trap.

Step 3: Topic Research

↳ Stop chasing one keyword per article.
↳ Build hub and spoke clusters instead.
↳ Depth wins authority. Scattered posts don't.

Step 4: Site Audit

↳ It flags 140+ technical issues.
↳ Fix the criticals. Ignore the warnings.
↳ Most sites have 5 real problems.

Step 5: Organic Research

↳ Filter your pages ranking 5 to 20.
↳ These sit one update from page one.
↳ Fastest traffic win in all of SEO.

Step 6: SEO Content Template

↳ Feed it your target keyword.
↳ It reverse engineers the top 10.
↳ Your content brief writes itself.

Step 7: Backlink Gap

↳ Run it against your top 3 rivals.
↳ Find sites linking to them, not you.
↳ Pitch those exact sites this week.

Step 8: Position Tracking
↳ Set it once. Review it weekly.
↳ Watch movement, not vanity rankings.
↳ Data tells you where to spend next.

Step 9: AI Visibility Toolkit
↳ Track your citations in ChatGPT and Perplexity.
↳ See which competitor gets named instead.
↳ Google is no longer the only scoreboard.

Most SEOs use 10% of this platform.

The data is not the advantage.

Knowing which report to open is.

I have run SEO for 10+ years.

This route is what separates the top 1%.

Which report do you actually open first?

♻️ Repost to help another SEO level up.

P.S. Want to run this exact workflow? Grab Semrush here: https://bit.ly/4kr4jlM

AI agents are the new buyers.

Here's how to get your brand picked.

This is the next shift after SEO and AEO.

Agentic search.

It's not someone Googling. It's not even someone asking ChatGPT.

It's an AI agent doing the work for them.

"Find me the best project management tool under $50 and sign me up."

The agent scans the market. Compares options. Reads reviews. Checks pricing.

Then it picks one. And acts.

Your customer never opens 10 tabs.
Never reads 20 reviews.
Never visits your homepage.

The agent does all of it. In seconds.

20% of retail sales were already credited to AI last holiday season. That's $262 billion.

70% of consumers are comfortable with an agent buying on their behalf.

This is happening now. Not in 5 years.

And most brands have no idea how to show up for it.

Here's how you optimize for agentic search:

1/ Structure your product and service data
→ Agents read structured data, not pretty design
→ Clean metadata, schema markup, clear specs they can parse instantly

2/ Make your information machine-readable
→ Agents need clean text and accurate details, not rendered pages
→ Clear pricing, features, comparisons, and specs in plain language

3/ Build authority across trusted sources
→ Agents check for agreement across multiple independent sources
→ Reviews, third-party mentions, comparisons, and your own site must align

4/ Win the comparison queries
→ Agents pull from "best of" and "X vs Y" content to make decisions
→ Get cited in the roundups agents reference when narrowing choices

5/ Keep your data fresh and accurate
→ Agents prioritize real-time, accurate product and service info
→ Outdated pricing or specs gets you skipped instantly

6/ Earn trust signals agents rely on
→ Verified reviews, clear sourcing, consistent positioning everywhere
→ 88% of buyers want clear sourcing before an agent acts

The brands that win agentic search won't be the ones with the best website.

They'll be the ones whose data is easiest for an agent to understand and trust.

SEO got you ranked.
AEO got you recommended.
Agentic search gets you chosen and acted on.

You need visibility across all three now.

Semrush One tracks your visibility across Google, AI answer engines, and the data that feeds agentic search.

One platform.

So you can see exactly where you show up and where agents are picking competitors instead.

Start tracking: https://bit.ly/473eyr0

♻️ Repost if you think agentic search is the next big shift marketers need to prepare for.

#SemrushPartner

The brands AI recommends aren't the ones with the most keywords.

They're the ones with the most authority.

You can do that by building a company podcast with Riverside

I've scaled companies through SEO and content for 16 years.

I've watched search change completely in the last two.

Buyers don't just Google anymore. They ask ChatGPT. Perplexity. AI Overviews.

And when AI answers, it cites the brands it considers authoritative on the topic.

Not the ones who stuffed the most keywords.

The ones who built genuine, long-form topical authority.

So the real question for B2B founders is this.

How do you build that authority at volume?

A company podcast.

Every episode is a transcript, a source, a proof point that your brand understands the space.

It's the highest-leverage content you can produce.

One conversation becomes a dozen authority signals.

But here's why most companies still aren't doing it.

The operational barrier feels huge.

Recording. 
Editing. 
Clipping. 
Hosting. 
Publishing.

It feels like a full production job. So teams stall out or never start.

That's exactly the gap Riverside closes.

Here's my actual workflow:

I record in 4K right from my laptop.

Riverside records locally, so my internet never affects the final quality.

I edit by editing the transcript.

Delete the text I don't want, the video cuts with it. One click strips every filler word.

I generate clips from each episode automatically.

LinkedIn, X, YouTube Shorts.

Riverside publishes to each platform directly. All inside the tool.

One episode turns into a transcript, a handful of social clips, and a newsletter draft based on the conversation. All citation-ready content.

Then I host and publish the podcast right inside Riverside. Record to publish, one platform.

No producer. No editor on payroll. No juggling five tools.

The window to build podcast authority is still open but it won't stay open forever.

The companies building this content moat today are the ones AI will recommend to buyers tomorrow.

SEO got you ranked. 
Authority gets you cited.

A company podcast is how you become the brand AI points to.

Try Riverside for yourself using my link: https://lnkd.in/g2DNeSCW

♻️ Repost if you think B2B podcasting is the most underrated GTM channel right now.

#Riversidepartner

My "perfect blog post" breakdown is my most-saved post ever.

I re-generated it in a few minutes with Replit Design.

The original was made by hand.

It took my team most of a day.

This week I rebuilt it with Replit Design.

I didn't open a canvas.

I just described what I wanted.

"Blog mockup in the middle. SEO callouts around it. My colors."

I uploaded my brand colors.

It built the whole thing.

Title. Mockup. Labels. The lines connecting them.

I wasn't designing anymore.

I was directing.

"Make the title bigger."
"Even out the boxes."
"Switch the accent to my blue."

Every change took seconds.

The Design Agent kept suggesting the next move.

So I never got stuck.

The ideas were never my problem.

The hours to make them look good were.

That part just got easy.

I'm not a designer.

Didn't need to be.

All of this was built with Replit Design.

Try it: replit.com/design

Save the breakdown.

Steal the checklist.

Then go make your own.

Make others say: "Did he really make that with AI?"

♻️ REPOST and let's make marketing simpler for millions.

P.S. I'm Connor Gillivan, follow me for more marketing tips.

#Replitpartner

Video is eating everything right now.

LinkedIn is pushing it. X is pushing it. Google is indexing it.

AI overviews are pulling from YouTube transcripts.

Every algorithm in 2026 rewards the person on camera.

And founders are sitting on the biggest untapped advantage.

That’s exactly why I use Riverside

Your face. Your voice. Your story. Your expertise.

No one can replicate that. Not AI. Not a ghostwriter. Not a marketing agency.

A founder on camera builds more trust in 90 seconds than a blog post does in 2,000 words.

Prospects show up to calls already knowing your voice.

Recruits feel like they know your culture before applying.

Partners reach out because they've watched 10 of your clips.

Video compounds in a way that nothing else does.

But here's why most founders don't do it.

The process is a mess.

One tool to record. Another to edit. Another to clip. Another to distribute.

A freelance editor. A 3-day turnaround. Files going back and forth.

By the time the video is ready, the momentum is dead.

Here's my full workflow:

1/ I batch record 4-5 videos every Monday in Riverside
2/ I edit the video by editing the transcript
3/ I generate shorter clips inside the same tool
4/ One recording becomes 5+ pieces of content
5/ Record, edit, clip, distribute. One place.

I run 6 businesses from Denver.

If I can produce consistent video content weekly, any founder can.

The window for founder-led video is wide open right now.

Most founders in your space aren't doing it yet.

The ones who start now will own the trust layer in their industry for years.

Text gets you followers. Video gets you customers.

And the process has never been this simple.

Are you doing video yet? What's holding you back?

Try Riverside for yourself using my link: https://lnkd.in/g2DNeSCW

♻️ Repost if you think every founder should be on camera in 2026.

#RiversidePartner

How I learnt to stop overloading my best people

And have a clear view of who's actually free:

For years I staffed projects off a spreadsheet and whoever seemed least busy that week.

It worked until it didn't.

The same few people did most of the work, not because they were the only ones capable, but because they never said no.

Then one of them came close to quitting.

Overloaded for months, and I hadn't noticed, because I wasn't really tracking it.

That was the wake up call.

Here's how I look at resourcing now, after getting it wrong for a while:

1/ Staffing by who replies fastest isn't a system

→ The people who always say yes aren't the ones with time
→ They're just the ones who won't push back
→ So your most agreeable people quietly end up the most overloaded

2/ Your best people burn out without warning

→ They absorb the extra work and don't complain
→ That's exactly what makes them easy to lose
→ By the time they say something, they've usually already decided to go

3/ You shouldn't need a meeting to see capacity

→ Finding out who's slammed shouldn't take a Slack thread and three follow ups
→ By then it's too late to actually rebalance anything
→ It should just be there when you look

4/ Underused people cost you too

→ Someone at half capacity is money you're paying and not using
→ You can't move work around if you can't see where it's piled up
→ A hunch isn't a view

5/ The system should carry it, not your head

→ Right now the real plan lives in one person's memory
→ That falls apart the second the team grows
→ A new manager should be able to staff a project without asking you who's free

For a long time it felt fine to run this by feel.

Small team, I knew where everyone was.

But the bigger we got, the more it broke, and the more my most reliable people paid 
for it.

Agencies get hit by this harder than most.

The work comes in waves, and your people are basically the whole product.

That's why I started using Productive

It shows you where your team's time is actually going, so you can staff with 
confidence instead of hoping you got it right.

Projects, budgets, and resourcing sit in one place, so capacity is something you can 
see instead of something you're guessing at.

If you're an agency running your team off memory and open tabs, this is for you: https://lnkd.in/gtyDPFQU

Who on your team is quietly carrying too much right now?

P.S. Follow me for more tips on how to build and scale agencies.

How AI really ranks your brand

And what can you do about it

Your brand has a ranking inside ChatGPT

Most founders have never checked theirs.

AI answers are the new front page.
If you're not the answer, you don't exist.
So I ran EcomBalance through Profound. Here's the 4-step audit:

Step 1: Pull your Visibility Score

→ This is how often AI names you in answers.
→ Run it for the topics your buyers actually ask.
→ Under 20%? You've got real room to win.
(EcomBalance came back 17.2%, ranked #8. Humbling)

Step 2: Read your Share of Voice

→ This shows how much of the AI conversation you own.
→ Low number means rivals get cited, not you.
→ Profound shows exactly who beats you and where.
(We sat at 2.4%. The leader had 3.5%.)

Step 3: Break it down by topic

→ Overall scores hide the real story.
→ Profound splits visibility into "Lead" vs "Needs work."
→ Those gaps are your content roadmap.
(We lead ecommerce tax filing. Losing 4 others.)

Step 4: Let Profound's agents close the gap

→ The content has to be answer-shaped, yes.
→ But agents produce most of it, working off your data, brand, and the knowledge bases you add.
→ Profound ties the insight to the action, so the workflow actually finishes.
→ Aim ranks your most impactful next move, then follows through.

Do this once and AI search stops being a lucky draw.
Do it monthly and the wins compound.

You can't fix what you can't see.
So go see your numbers first.

Have you checked how AI ranks your brand yet?

See who's winning AI search in your industry with the Profound Index: https://lnkd.in/gPydqT_P

Or pull the full Profound Index report to see exactly who's leading in your space.

♻️ Repost to help a founder find their numbers.

P.S. Follow me for a follow-up on this on how to fact check your mentions.

#ProfoundPartner #ad

I redesigned my newsletter's page yesterday.

With just one prompt.

Just me typing what I wanted.

I recently switched my newsletter to Substack.

But I'm an SEO guy and don’t do design.

I had to design my Substack landing page.

So, I opened Replit Design and described the page in plain English.

The Design Agent built the whole thing.

The post feed.
The masthead.
The subscribe box.
The subscriber count.

It even picked the layout, the colors, and the type.

From my brand toolkit that I added.

Then I refined it by talking.

"Make the header bolder." Done.
"Tighten the spacing." Done.
"Add the subscriber count." Done.

Twenty minutes later I had a real subscribe page for The Savvy SEO.

Look at it.

That's a page that I can ship immediately.

I could have even started with a template too (Replit has some sick ones)

Now as long as you have an eye for design, Replit can do it for you.

Just like the image you see here, I made it with Replit Design.

You need taste and a clear ask.

Try it at https://lnkd.in/gxxUWfGr

♻️ Repost if you've ever stalled a project because you "can't design."

P.S. I'm Connor Gillivan. I write The Savvy SEO and build a B2B portfolio in public.

#Replitpartner

7 steps that got my B2B Business cited in ChatGPT:

Not ranked. Cited. There's a difference.

Ranking gets you on a list.

Getting cited makes you the answer.

In 2026, that's the whole game.

Here's the exact process I followed:

Step 1: Prompt Research

- List the questions your ICP asks ChatGPT.
- Ask ChatGPT to generate similar prompts.
- Run them. Screenshot who gets cited today.

Step 2: Find Who It Already Trusts

- Note the domains ChatGPT pulls into answers.
- Those are your targets for guest posts and quotes.
- The engine literally tells you who to befriend.

Step 3: Rewrite for Single Claims

- Make every H2 answer one question completely.
- First paragraph: confident, specific, under 150 words.
- Pages full of "citable" sections get pulled far more.

Step 4: Back Every Claim With a Number

- LLMs punish vague, sourceless writing harder than Google ever did.
- Add stats, named sources, real data.
- Structured data can lift AI visibility 40%+.

Step 5: Build Real Authority

- Get added to "best of" lists in your niche.
- Earn high DR backlinks from trusted sites.
- Citation favors brands with deep referring domains.

Step 6: Add the Boring Technical Layer

- Use schema markup. It's the cheapest GEO win.
- Add an llms.txt file with clean, clear summaries.
- Tables and numbered lists get cited more than prose.

Step 7: Track and Refresh

- Pick an LLM tracking tool. Check citations weekly.
- Refresh your top commercial pages every 60 to 90 days.
- Update the data, not just the date.

Most people still think GEO is magic.

It isn't. It's SEO with new rules.

Authority and presence still win.

The work is boring. The compounding is not.

I dare you to try it for 90 days.

---

Are you tracking your ChatGPT citations yet?

♻️ Repost if you found this useful.

P.S. I run SEO and GEO for 30+ clients at TrioSEO. DM me "Audit" for a personalized look at your AI search visibility.

Engineers have Claude Code.

Creative teams have this tool:

My creative team used to redo the same edits 50 times a week.

Now they save it once and run it on everything.

Here's the tool that changed it: Air Skills.

I run 6 businesses. Each one has its own brand assets.

Social graphics. Blog images. Team headshots. Product visuals. Slide decks.

Every week, the same edits happen over and over.

Resize for LinkedIn. Remove backgrounds. Crop headshots consistently. Mock up ads.

Someone on the team knows exactly how to do it right.

But that knowledge lives in their head. Or buried in a Slack thread.

Every time someone else needs the same edit, they start from scratch.

That's the loop that destroys creative teams slowly.

Same work. Repeated daily. Never saved. Never shared.

Air just launched Skills. And it solves exactly this.

Here's how it works:

1/ Save any creative workflow as a Skill
→ Define the edit, the format, and what a good output looks like.

2/ Run it on anything with one command
→ Type / followed by the Skill name. Air executes it exactly how you set it up.

3/ Batch run across multiple assets at once
→ Select 10 images. Run the same Skill. Consistent output across all of them in seconds.

4/ Share it across your entire team
→ Skills live at the workspace level. Anyone can access and run them.

5/ Start with pre-built Skills or create your own
→ /rotate for 360 product animations. /headshot for consistent team photos. /remove-background for clean cutouts. /screen-mock for case study visuals.

6/ Your best creative decisions stop being one-offs
→ The teammate who always gets the edit right? Now their process is saved, named, and repeatable by everyone.

Most AI tools are built for individuals experimenting alone.

Skills is built for teams that need consistent, on-brand output every day.

It lives inside Air where your content already is.

That's what makes it stick.

Your standards. On repeat. Across your entire team.

Check out Air Skills today here: air.inc/skills

♻️ Repost if your creative team deserves better AI tools.

P.S. What repetitive creative task would you save as a Skill first?

#AirPartner

Right now, half the visitors to your site aren't human.

They're AI agents.

Sent by people to go find things, compare things, and buy things.

Agent traffic grew more than 15x last year.

And the payment rails just went standard. x402 and Stripe's MPP.

Backed by Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Google.

So let's be clear about where we are.

Agents are on your site.

They can pay.
They came to buy.
There's just one problem.

Most sites have products an agent would buy, and no way for it to actually check out.

The agent reads your page, can't complete the purchase, and leaves.

You never even see the sale you lost.

Picture what that was for the human web.

A store with no checkout button.

That's most businesses right now, for agents.

Here's the part I want founders to sit with.

The last era was about ranking for people.

This one is about being buyable by machines.

ZeroClick is the checkout for that.

It turns what you already sell into something an agent can find, trust, and pay for.

The money lands in the Stripe account you already use.

Shopify lets you sell to humans online.

Zeroclick is that, for agents.

I'd rather be set up before the wave than explain why I wasn't.

Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/eaCfPctX

♻️ Repost if one in two of your visitors is a bot.

Thanks to ZeroClick for the partnership.

P.S. I'm Connor Gillivan. I write about SEO, GEO, and building a B2B portfolio.

#sponsored

How I check competitor backlinks with this free tool.

I check competitor backlinks before starting any link building campaign.

This free tool does it in 10 seconds.

I've built backlinks across 6 businesses for 10+ years.

Before I build a single link, I always ask the same question.

Who's already linking to my competitors?

That's where the best opportunities live.

Not cold outreach to random sites.

Real sites that already link to businesses like mine.

Collaborator just launched a Free Backlink Checker.

No account needed. Enter a URL. Get results instantly.

Here's how I use it:

1/ Check any competitor's backlink profile
→ Enter their domain and see their 50 strongest backlinks instantly.
→ Domain authority, anchors, dofollow/nofollow. All visible.

2/ Find their newest backlinks
→ See which links a competitor earned recently.
→ Fresh links reveal opportunities you can chase right now.

3/ Spot links available on Collaborator's marketplace
→ The tool highlights referring domains listed on Collaborator.
→ Secure those same backlinks directly through the platform.

4/ Evaluate link quality at a glance
→ Domain and Page InLink Rank for every backlink.
→ Anchors, link type, source URL, first discovery date.

5/ Audit your own backlink profile
→ Enter your domain. See who links to you.
→ Spot gaps, find your strongest sources.

6/ Run 5 competitors before building a single link
→ 5 free checks without signing up. 20 per day with a free account.
→ By the time you start outreach, you know exactly where to go.

Most people start link building with cold outreach.

That's backwards.

Start with your competitors' backlinks.

See who links to them. Find the overlaps. Target the gaps.

The best link building strategy is borrowed from what's already working.

Try it: https://lnkd.in/gdJHqXCN

♻️ Repost if you think competitor backlink research should always come first.

P.S. Thanks to Collaborator for partnering on this post.

#Collaboratorpropartner

My agency didn't have a work problem. Projects ARE getting done, it’s just all the steps between take longer than the actual work. Here’s what I'm doing differently:

I ran mine this way for years.

Spreadsheet for tracking. Chat for updates.

Slides for the client. A folder nobody could find.

Then a project slipped, and the reason was obvious.

The status only existed in someone's head.

Here's how I think about agency operations now:

1/ One tool for everything beats five different tools

If it lives in five places, it lives nowhere.
The team should never have to guess which doc is the most recent.
All the chasing between tools pushes the deadline back.

2/ Visibility should be passive, not requested

You shouldn't have to ask where things stand.
Asking turns your whole team into reporters.
The status should just be there when you look.

3/ Budgets and hours belong next to the work

Margin isn't a month-end surprise.
You catch the overrun while you can still fix it.
Separate tools hide the number until it's too late.

4/ Resourcing is a decision, not a vibe

Who's overloaded should be obvious.
Who's free should be obvious.
Otherwise you burn out your best and idle the rest.

5/ The tool should hold the process

Not someone's memory.
Not a pinned message from March.
New people ramp in days when the system carries it.

When I realised that all of the manual tracking and chasing for updates through scattered tabs was affecting my team and my agency, I knew I needed to simplify my workflow.

At first it was cool to have a task and a tool for everything, but the bigger my team became, the harder it was to keep up with. Especially when it’s in 6 different tools.

Agencies specifically have a lot on their plate because of project size and all the different tasks needed, that’s why I liked Productive because it’s made with 
agencies in mind.

Projects, budgets and resourcing all live in the same place so there’s one place my team actually trusts.

If you're also an agency with tabs open all the time, check the solution I found here: https://lnkd.in/gCZ-KAXb

What part of your ops still lives in someone's head?

♻️ Repost if this made you rethink your tool stack.

P.S. I'm Connor Gillivan. I write about running lean teams and building businesses.

You're not slow because you're lazy.

You're slow because your tools don't talk to each other.

I run SEO for 4 B2B companies and 35+ clients at TrioSEO.
Last quarter I timed how long our prospecting workflow actually took.
From finding a lead to sending the first email.

47 minutes per lead.

Not because the work was hard.
Because every step lived in a different tool.

Find the prospect in one platform.
Enrich their data in another.
Export a CSV.
Import it into the CRM.
Write the email in a third tool.
Schedule the send.
Manually log the activity.

Seven steps. Five tools. Zero of them connected.

My team wasn't prospecting. They were copy-pasting.

So I stripped the whole workflow down and rebuilt it inside

HubSpot using their Prospecting Agent.

Now it looks like this:

→ Agent researches the account inside the CRM.
→ Monitors buying signals automatically.
→ Drafts personalized outreach based on real engagement data.
→ Follows up when prospects interact.
→ Everything logged. One system. One source of truth.

Same lead. Same outreach quality.

4 minutes instead of 47.

No exports. No enrichment tool. No CSV gymnastics.

The bottleneck was never my team. It was the space between our tools.
When your systems don't connect, your people become the integration layer.

And that's the most expensive middleware you can buy.

Less tools. Less friction. More pipeline.

You can achieve this with HubSpot’s AI Prospecting Agent here: https://lnkd.in/gEUZa4Ww

What's your current time-per-lead from discovery to first email?

P.S. I share SEO and growth strategies like this weekly. Grab my 50+ processes free at connorgillivan(dot)com.

#Ad #HubSpotMediaPartner

This Granola recipe completely changed my Post Call workflow!

As a new dad, it gave me back more time with my son.

Now, most of you already know how Granola works.

It transcribes your audio and summarizes around your notes.

Like an intelligent assistant all of us needed.

That part everyone knows about at this point.

What changed everything for me was this sweet recipe I built.

I call it /PostCallSystem.

Here's exactly what it does:

The second a call ends, I type /PostCallSystem into Granola's chat. It runs a custom recipe I set up that does 5 things in sequence.

First, it extracts every action item from the conversation. Specific tasks with who owns what (major win for client and big team calls)

Second, it identifies any decisions that were made. Things the team agreed on that need to be documented, not just remembered (a great one for my social media team)

Third, it drafts a follow-up email in my voice using the actual words from the conversation just like I would (if we talked in the last month, the email you got was from this)

Fourth, it flags anything that was left unresolved. Open questions. Things that need a second call. (great for closing prospects on follow-up calls)

Fifth, it creates a one-paragraph context block I can paste into Slack so my team has the full picture without me writing a separate message.

Building the recipe took me just 15 minutes. I wrote out exactly what I wanted each section to include in plain English.

Now it runs every single call. Same structure. Same quality.

If like me you ever thought: “Would be nice to have a second brain”

Now you actually can!!

Last week I was writing my newsletter and remembered someone shared a brilliant insight on a call months ago. Couldn't remember who. Couldn't remember when.

Asked Granola. BOOM!! Found it in 5 seconds. The exact words.

BONUS: Connect Granola to Claude via MCP and now your second brain resides in your favorite LLM, everything a prompt away.

If you're already using Granola but haven't built custom recipes yet, start with one. Build your own. Define exactly what you want extracted. Give it your tone. Save it.

I don't say this about many tools.

But this time I’m gonna say it, Granola earned it!

It’s the best tool for marketers and founders like me who have a ton of meetings.

Want to build your own second brain too?

Comment “Granola” or check the 1st comment.

♻️ Repost if your brain is tired of being the only notetaker in the room.

#GranolaPartner

You wasted 40 hours last month rewriting the same resume over and over.

Yet recruiters rejected your resume in less than 4 seconds.

All rejected resumes have one thing in common:

They struggle with signal.

They have the background.
They have the results.
They have the skills.

But when everything is included,
nothing stands out.

That’s why resumes often fail to communicate value.

Not because the person isn’t qualified.
But because relevance gets buried.

This is where a more strategic approach matters.

Instead of asking “How do I fit everything in?”

The better question is:

“What does this role actually need to see?”

That’s where tools like Teal become useful.

Teal helps you think in versions, not documents.

Here’s the framework:

1. Start with a complete source of truth
→ Every achievement, metric, and role captured once
→ Nothing filtered prematurely

2. Let the role define relevance
→ Use job descriptions to surface priority skills
→ Align your experience to what matters most

3. Show the right 10 percent
→ Create focused resume versions per role
→ Highlight signal, not volume

4. Strengthen clarity without changing substance
→ Improve structure and framing
→ Keep your voice and experience intact

5. Pressure-test before sharing
→ Review alignment and gaps
→ Submit with confidence in the narrative

This isn’t about gaming systems.

It’s about communicating value clearly.

Thanks to Teal for partnering on this post.

Try Teal free at https://tealhq.co/4jkfNH8

and take control of how your exphttps://lnkd.in/gxrUkYAf is presented.

#TealPartner

Steal my Claude SOP for Analyzing & Improving a Marketing Plan:

(6 prompts I run before I touch any strategy)

Most founders "review" their marketing plan by staring at it.

No framework. No second opinion. Just vibes.

I use Claude as a sparring partner instead.

It won't build the plan for you.

But it'll poke holes you can't see.

Here's the SOP:

Prompt 1: Audit the Current Plan
- "Here's my marketing plan. List every gap, weak assumption, and missing channel."
- Forces you to confront what you skipped.

Prompt 2: Pressure-Test the ICP
- "Based on this plan, who am I actually targeting? Is the messaging matched to them?"
- Most plans target everyone and convert no one.

Prompt 3: Map the Funnel
- "Break this plan into TOFU, MOFU, BOFU. Where are the holes?"
- Shows you exactly where leads leak out.

Prompt 4: Stress-Test the Budget
- "Given this budget, what's over-invested and what's starved?"
- Kills the channels draining your margin.

Prompt 5: Find the Quick Wins
- "What 3 changes would drive results fastest with least effort?"
- Get momentum before the big bets.

Prompt 6: Build the 90-Day Action Plan
- "Turn this into a monthly action plan with clear priorities."
- Now you've got a roadmap, not a wish list.

I've run marketing for my companies 15+ years.

Claude doesn't replace that experience.

But it sharpens every plan before I commit.

It's the fastest second opinion I've got.

Try it on your plan this week.

---

What's your marketing review process?

♻️ REPOST if this could help another founder.

P.S. Want my team to run your SEO instead of guessing? DM me "Audit" for a personalized analysis.

Semrush just analyzed 126 million AI prompts.

The results should scare most brands.

AI search is dominating overall search trends.

And your visibility is now measurable.

Here is what the data actually shows:

Stat 1: The conversion gap
↳ LLM searchers convert 4.4x more than Google searchers.
↳ These are your highest-intent buyers.
↳ And most brands are invisible to them.

Stat 2: The takeover timeline
↳ AI results overtake organic traffic by 2028.
↳ ChatGPT alone gets 2.5 billion prompts daily.
↳ This shift is faster than mobile was.

Now here is how to use the Semrush AI Visibility Index:

Step 1: Check the brand leaderboard
↳ Filter by your exact industry and platform.
↳ See the top 20 most-mentioned brands.
↳ Find out if you exist at all.

Step 2: Read the mentions vs citations chart
↳ Mentions mean you get talked about.
↳ Citations mean you get trusted as a source.
↳ You need both. Most brands have neither.

Step 3: Run the co-occurrence explorer
↳ See which competitors AI names beside you.
↳ That is your real competitive set now.
↳ Not the one in your pitch deck.

Step 4: Study the top cited sources
↳ See the 10 domains AI trusts in your vertical.
↳ Reddit shows up more than once per prompt.
↳ Those sources are your outreach targets.

Step 5: Check platform overlap
↳ ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI Overviews cite differently.
↳ One strategy will not cover all four.
↳ Optimize per platform, not once.

The data is free. The advantage is not.

Most brands will read this and do nothing.

The 36 brands that won every month did the work.

I have run SEO for 10+ years.

This is the biggest measurable shift I have seen.

Have you checked where your brand ranks yet?

♻️ Repost to help a brand see its AI gap.

P.S. The best way to apply all the information you find is with Semrush, start for free (link in comments)

An agency added $133,752 in new recurring revenue.

In just 30 days with AI and no new hires.

I read that and stopped.

Because I run multiple businesses.

The thing that caps every one of them is the same.

It's never the ideas.

It's how much a few people can actually get done in a week.

That was Authority Makers' problem too.
A marketing agency. Good clients. Real demand.
They just didn't have the hands to run the outbound they wanted.

So they handed that work to viktor.com.
Thirty days later: $133,752 in new recurring revenue with the same team.

So obviously I had to try it myself.

Viktor's an AI employee that sits inside Slack.
Which helps, because that's where my teams already live.

I asked him to run outbound for one of my businesses.
Figured I'd get a "here's how you'd set it up."

Nope. It just did it.

Built the sequences. Pulled the list. Posted it all in the channel.

Nothing went out until I said yes.

My whole career, more work meant more people.

Want more output? Hire.
Want to hire? More overhead.
More to manage.

That was just the deal.

This changes that.
The work that never got done because nobody had time?

Now something actually runs it.

I'm not replacing my team but empowering them.

Handing them back hours they never had is the real win.

Get started free at https://lnkd.in/gdyjCdmt . $100 in credits included, no card.

Full link in the first comment.

P.S. In partnership with Viktor.

#AIemployee #AImarketing #seo

AI search has 35+ ranking signals.

Here are the 6 that decide if you get cited:

✦ Access
If bots can't crawl you, nothing else counts
Allow GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot in robots.txt

✦ Structure
Answer-first content gets extracted, buried answers don't
FAQ schema makes you 3.2x more likely to hit AI Overviews

✦ Authority
Stats and citations lift visibility 30-40% each
Original data beats recycled takes every time

✦ Brand Signals
Mentions predict citations 3x better than backlinks
Reddit and YouTube now feed the answer directly

✦ Platform Quirks
ChatGPT leans training data and Bing's top 10
Perplexity favors anything from the last 12 months

✦ Measure
Track share of model, not just keyword rankings
Re-run your prompts monthly, the systems keep changing

Ranking on AI still comes back to SEO fundamentals.

But structure, brand mentions, and specificity carry the weight now.

Vague, polished fluff gets skipped for a competitor with real numbers.

I've run SEO for 10+ years and GEO is the biggest shift I've seen.

Save this. It's the whole GEO playbook on one page.

Repost ♻️ to help someone in your network stop flying blind.

P.S. Which signal is your site weakest on right now?

60% of searches now end without a click.

Let that sink in for a second.

I run SEO for all my portfolio companies and 35+ clients at TrioSEO.

A year ago, ranking on page one meant winning.

Today? Google's AI Overview answers the question before anyone clicks.

The rules are changing fast.

Traditional SEO still matters. But there's a second game now.

It's called GEO. Generative Engine Optimization.

Getting your content cited by AI. Not just ranked by Google.

By ChatGPT. By Perplexity. By AI Overviews. By Bing Copilot.

Here's what we're seeing across our clients:

→ AI traffic is growing 165x faster than organic search traffic.
→ ChatGPT now sends more referral traffic than Reddit or LinkedIn.
→ Pages at position 1 have a 58% chance of being cited by AI. Position 10 drops to 14%.
→ AI referral visitors convert at higher rates than traditional organic.

The SEOs who figure out GEO first will have a massive advantage.

But nobody has definitive answers yet.

What actually drives AI citations?

What content structure do LLMs prefer?

How does link building change for AI search?

What signals matter and what doesn't?

That's what Serpzilla is researching right now.

They're running a global study on AI SEO and GEO.

Gathering data from SEO professionals worldwide.

The survey takes 10-15 minutes. First 30 respondents get a bonus and $100 in credits.

If you work in SEO, your input shapes the data we'll all reference this year.

Here is the link to participate in it: https://lnkd.in/gPtQvwRi

Repost if your SEO friends need to see this.

P.S. I share SEO strategies like this every week. Grab my 50+ SEO and marketing processes for free at connorgillivan(dot)com.

#Serpzilla

Buffett has Berkshire. Munger had Wesco. Nathan and I have Hirsch Gillivan.

Meet Hirsch Gillivan: The Hold Co behind my 6 companies (and growing).

For 10+ years, Nathan and I built businesses the hard way.

One at a time. Endless nights. All our focus on a single bet.

Then in 2019, we sold FreeUp at $12M ARR.

And everything changed.

We started studying Buffett and Munger.

Asking different questions:

- What if we owned a portfolio instead of a company?
- What if we weren't the CEOs running daily ops?
- What if we acquired profitable businesses instead of building from zero?

That's how Hirsch Gillivan was born.

Here's what we own today:

1. EcomBalance: monthly bookkeeping for ecommerce brands

2. EcomBalance Tax: tax filing and planning for ecommerce

3. CFO Expertise: fractional CFO services for ecommerce and D2C

4. TrioSEO: SEO content & growth agency for ecom, b2b, & saas

5. HG Media: the media arm running our personal brands

6. Interlace Digital: our newest addition, ads for shopify brands

The mission is simple:

Build the suite of service businesses we WISH we had when we were running our own ecommerce company back in the Portlight days.

Bookkeeping. Taxes. CFO. SEO. Marketing.

All under one roof. All B2B. All cash flow positive.

The goal: 10 companies through acquisition in the next 2-3 years.

Not by grinding 80 hour weeks building from scratch.

But by buying profitable companies, hiring great CEOs, and helping them grow.

---

What would you add to the suite?

Repost if you're building (or thinking about building) a hold co too.

P.S. Follow me for daily updates on growing Hirsch Gillivan from 6 to 10 companies.

Your buyers are asking AI about your brand right now.

The question is whether you're part of the answer.

I've tracked AI and LLM mentions for a while now.

It's a core part of how I run SEO and GEO across 6 businesses.

But here's what most tools make hard.

Checking visibility usually means manually running prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

One at a time. Comparing competitors by hand. No easy way to synthesize it.

That's the part HubSpot AEO Grader fixes.

Free tool. A few minutes. One clear picture.

It analyzes how answer engines perceive your brand across five dimensions.

Gives you a visibility score. Shows where you stand against competitors.

I ran a few of my brands through it.

And even tracking this stuff regularly, it surfaced things I'd missed.

Gaps in categories I assumed I was covered in.

Competitors getting recommended in conversations I thought I owned.

Here's the bigger point for marketers.

You can rank #1 on Google and still be invisible in AI search.

Different systems. Different signals. Different game.

Buyers are already there.

Asking ChatGPT which tool to use.

Asking Gemini which agency to hire.

Forming opinions before they ever land on your site.

If AI doesn't mention you, you're not in the consideration set.

Here's what the HubSpot AEO Grader shows:

→ How AI describes your brand across major answer engines
→ Which competitors get recommended instead of you
→ Where you're missing from the conversation
→ A visibility score across five dimensions

If you already track AI mentions, this makes it faster.

If you don't, this is the easiest place to start.

AEO Grader shows where you stand today.

HubSpot AEO builds on it.

Tracking, recommendations, ongoing optimization.

It works alongside your SEO. Not instead of it.

Get your brand graded here: https://lnkd.in/ei_qtQHX

♻️ Repost if you think every marketer should be checking their AI visibility.

#HubSpotMediaPartner #Ad