SEO has changed. Most SEO consultants haven't.
The fundamentals haven't moved in 15 years: create genuinely useful content, earn real authority, have a technically sound website, and be patient. What's changed is the landscape around those fundamentals. Google's AI Overviews now answer questions directly on the results page. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude are becoming primary research tools. The businesses that show up in those AI answers in the next two years will be the ones who built the right content and authority signals now.
What search strategy actually involves
Keyword and intent research - not just what people search for, but what they mean when they search it and where they are in the decision process. High-volume keywords are attractive. High-intent keywords are valuable. They're not always the same thing.
On-page optimisation - title tags, meta descriptions, heading structure, internal linking, schema markup. The technical foundation that tells Google what your pages are about and signals authority to AI systems.
Content architecture - a deliberate structure of cornerstone pages, supporting content, and topic clusters that signals deep expertise to both search engines and AI models. This is what builds topical authority over time.
Local SEO - Google Business Profile optimisation, local citation building, and location-specific page strategy. For Adelaide Hills and SA businesses, this is often where the fastest wins are. One good review cycle and a properly optimised GBP can move Maps rankings significantly in weeks.
Technical SEO - site speed, mobile experience, Core Web Vitals, crawlability, structured data. The stuff that most business owners don't want to think about but that quietly determines whether your content ever gets properly indexed.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) - structuring content and building authority signals so AI tools cite your business when answering questions in your category. This includes E-E-A-T signals, schema markup, FAQ content, and getting your name into the sources AI models trust.
SEM / Google Ads - where paid search fits into the strategy, campaign structure, and account management. I work across both organic and paid because the best strategies use both intelligently.
The advantage of strategy-led SEO
SEO without a brand and marketing strategy is just chasing rankings. SEO that sits inside a coherent brand and marketing strategy is a compounding asset. I apply both - which means the content we create for search also works for your brand, and the positioning in your strategy informs which keywords are actually worth chasing.