University
AI-era SEO, written plainly.
Generative search engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot) changed which content gets surfaced and how. We write the things we wish existed when we started doing this work: fundamentals, original research, and tactical checklists. No fluff.
- TacticalMar 25, 2026 · 7 min read
Internal linking patterns that survived the AI rerank
Internal linking has been an SEO fundamental for two decades. AI Overviews and ChatGPT-Search now use it as a signal too — and they reward different patterns than classic Google. A short field guide.
- ChecklistFeb 12, 2026 · 10 min read
The 9-point AI-era SEO audit checklist
A free, no-signup checklist you can run against your own site in 45 minutes. The nine things every site needs to be findable in 2026 — split between Google hygiene and AI-search hygiene.
- TacticalOct 30, 2025 · 8 min read
The brand entity problem — when AI engines confuse you with someone else
Across 40 SaaS brands we tested, roughly a third of AI engines returned wrong descriptions — confusing the brand with a name-similar entity. The problem isn't scale. It's entity ambiguity. Here's how to fix it.
- ResearchSep 8, 2025 · 9 min read
How LLMs choose what to cite (and how to be on the list)
A synthesis of what's public about Perplexity, ChatGPT-Search, Copilot, and Claude citation patterns — plus the seven signals that show up in nearly every cited source.
- TacticalJul 19, 2025 · 6 min read
Why robots.txt still matters more than llms.txt
llms.txt is trendy. robots.txt is required. Too many sites have carefully crafted an llms.txt while their robots.txt silently blocks the AI crawlers they want to attract. A short guide to the order of operations.
- TacticalMay 4, 2025 · 7 min read
Schema markup that actually moves rankings in 2025
Most schema audits flag missing types and validation errors. Few notice what actually correlates with ranking movement. The short list of schema types we've seen move organic traffic in 2025, based on 60 client implementations.
- FundamentalsMar 15, 2025 · 8 min read
GEO vs SEO — what's actually different in 2026
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of being cited by AI answer engines. SEO is the practice of ranking in Google's list of 10 blue links. Both still matter — they're just optimizing for different surfaces.
- ResearchJan 22, 2025 · 6 min read
How AI Overviews ate the featured snippet (and what to do about it)
Between September 2024 and January 2025, Google's AI Overviews largely replaced the featured snippet. Same content sources, different click economics. Here's what changed and what to do.
- ResearchDec 10, 2024 · 5 min read
The Perplexity Pages experiment — what it taught us about citations
We generated 40 Perplexity Pages and watched which sources got cited. The patterns weren't mysterious — they were embarrassingly aligned with classic SEO fundamentals plus one extra: excerptability.
- TacticalNov 20, 2024 · 6 min read
What is llms.txt? The robots.txt of the AI-search era
llms.txt is a one-file convention that tells AI search engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot) what your site is about and how to cite it. Here's the spec, the format, and a working example.