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Hey Marketing Bestie,

This week is HUGE for 2 reasons:

1. Australian Open is on
2. I'm solo parenting while Ari is away

I'm panicking. But also... BOYS WEEK. My son is going to learn every tennis player's name.

That's what I'm telling myself. Even though he's literally an infant. LOL.

And we try not to do screen time.

So really I'll just be yelling player names at him while I check the score on my phone.

"ALCARAZ!"

"SHELTON!"

"SINNER!"

"DJOKOVIC!"

He's gonna be so confused. But, we're manifesting tennis knowledge anyway.

Was this email forwarded to you?

The New SEO Game: How To Get AI To Cite You

I've been STUDYING UP on this. And here's what nobody's saying out loud:

SEO isn't dead. It just got a rebrand.

Welcome to AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)  - where the game isn't "rank #1 on Google" anymore.

It's "be the answer AI chooses to cite." Let me break down what actually matters now:

1️⃣. Stop chasing keywords. Start owning questions.

The old playbook:

Pick a keyword. Write a blog post. Hope it ranks.

The NEW playbook:

Problem stage: "why are my email open rates tanking"

Solution stage: "how to improve email deliverability"

Buying stage: "best email platform for ecommerce" "Klaviyo vs Mailchimp" "Postscript pricing"

Then build 1 killer page that answers ALL of it.

Not 6 mediocre blog posts that each half-answer the question.

1 page so complete that AI looks at it and goes: "yep, this is the answer."

Because here's what changed:

AI isn't ranking pages.

It's ASSEMBLING answers from the best sources it can find. And if your content is scattered across 10 different posts... AI's going to pull from your competitor who put it all in 1 place.

2️⃣. Add FAQs to everything (yes, everything)

This is the easiest win you're ignoring.

Here's what you need to do:

- Add FAQ blocks to EVERY major page. Product pages. Newsletter landing pages. Podcast episode pages.

Why? Thank you so much for asking. 

Because I've watched brands add 6 simple FAQs with schema markup and see their AI citations EXPLODE.

AI loves content that's easy to read and cite:

- Bullet points

- FAQ sections

- Comparison tables

- Plain HTML it can actually parse

Do this TODAY:

- Go to your top 5 revenue-driving pages.

- Add 6–10 FAQs that answer the questions your sales team hears on every single call.

- Add schema markup so AI knows "this is an FAQ."

- Turn any comparison graphics into actual HTML tables (AI can't read images).

- Make it really easy for AI to pull from your content.

That's the game now.

3️⃣. Freshness isn't optional anymore

Last updated dates matter again. AI engines want FRESH content.

They're looking for:

- Stuff from this year

- Pages that look recently updated

- Current stats and examples

Here's what you should do:

Once a month, refresh your best pages:

- Update the stats

- Add 2–3 new FAQs from recent convos

- Change titles to include "2026" where it makes sense

- Make your "last updated" date VISIBLE.

Treat it like a feature your customers care about.

This isn't a boring admin task. It will really help and the good news is it's easier to keep something updated than to have to do a mass update later on. Or so I tell myself.

4️⃣. Your beautiful design is hurting you

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

If your content is hidden behind JavaScript, AI can't read it.

And if AI can't read it... you don't exist.

I get it...you want your site to look good. But AI engines struggle with JS-heavy sites way more than Google ever did.

The fix is simple:

Make sure your most important content (FAQs, comparison tables, key definitions) is in plain HTML that AI can actually see.

Keep your site structure obvious with clear headings, simple URLs, easy navigation.

You can have a nice-looking site.

Just make sure the content AI needs is easy to find and read.

Because being pretty but invisible doesn't help anyone.

5️⃣. Brand mentions are the new backlinks

WHICH MEANS BRAND MATTERS.

This is the shift that changes your entire approach:

AI engines care MORE about brand mentions across the web than traditional PageRank-style link juice.

If your brand shows up repeatedly in:

- YouTube videos

- Reddit

- Industry publications

- Review sites

- Forums where your buyers hang out

- Partner pages

AI treats that as CONSENSUS. And consensus = credibility.

Make PR measurable again:

- Ship 1–2 expert POV pieces per month (not fundraising announcements)

- Share contrarian takes backed by data

- Publish benchmarks and research

- Get mentioned in places AI actually trusts

6️⃣. Off-site is where you win

Here's what I'm seeing:

Answer engines WANT diverse sources. Which means "not on your site" is often the most valuable real estate.

Your battlefields:

- Reddit/forums: Answer the top 10 questions with SUBSTANCE (not spam)

- YouTube: Short answer videos for common prompts (massively underplayed in B2B)

- Review sites: Make sure your positioning is crisp and scannable

- LinkedIn: Repurpose your narrative (AI sees it as "multiple confirming sources")

The same thesis across multiple domains = validation in AI's eyes.

7️⃣. Track presence, not traffic

Stop obsessing over keyword rankings. Start tracking whether you SHOW UP in AI answers.

Here's my new framework:

Pick 20–40 buyer questions you need to own.

Then track:

Presence: Are you in the answer?

Positioning: How are you described?

Competitors: Who are you mentioned alongside?

Sentiment: Is AI saying the RIGHT thing about you?

So, please add this to your sales process:

"How did you hear about us?"

"What did you search or ask?"

Then add those exact prompts to your tracking list.

MEME OF THE WEEK

🎙 TUNE IN

Podcast to listen to this week: 

2026 Linkedin Playbook with Mark Jung.

What you will learn:

🎙: LinkedIn switched to "positive signal ONLY

🎙: Comment impressions are the NEW growth hack for 2026

🎙: Saves and sends are now the KING metrics

JUST FOR FUN

🤩: Brand of the week: Annie's 

😛: Favorite meal I ate: Chick-fil-a Breakfast

🎵: Favorite song this week: Man I need

💍: What I bought my wife: Her new favorite. 🍒

👶: What I bought my son: First Patagonia Sweater

🛠️ Tool of the week: 5 growth hacks B2B Marketers can't ignore*

*From Vibe.co. #2 is my favorite.

I dream of going to the Australian Open. If you've been, please write me back and tell me all about it. Happy for you.

Your friend,

Daniel

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