Today, I’m officially rolling out the Search Evolution Strategy.
This has been a long time coming—truly years in the making.
It’s my official response and action plan for all of the changes we’re seeing in search.
But first, I want to explain how I came up with it, who I made it for, and why I can only make 10 of them 9 of them. (Started one already!)
Here’s how it all went down.
It began December 1st, 2022
That was the day I first used ChatGPT, and almost immediately, I realized it was going to change everything.
I’ve written about the funk I fell into after this, especially when Google AI Overviews. I felt lost and betrayed by Google, but the worst part was all the uncertainty.
Any time I tried to escape the feelings of dread, I would discover that another client had been hit, and suddenly they were losing the reliable traffic we’d worked so hard to get.
It wasn’t hard to see what was happening. All of the articles I’d written for my clients over the last few years were now being served as AI overviews.
And it wasn’t just my clients. All over LinkedIn and the blogosphere, I could see the same traffic patterns happening all over the place.
And if that weren’t enough change…
New search platforms were popping up all over the place—ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity. For the first time, Google had legitimate competitors in the Search playing field.
No one knew what to make of it.
There were no tools that could track AI searches legitimately, and it seemed these newcomers in search were even more cagey about their algorithms and sharing data.
It was obvious that AI search was the future, but those of us working in this industry—and people relying on SEO for the survival of their business—had little insight into AI algorithms and no precedent to work with.
It was a hugely vulnerable time, and there were people waiting to exploit it.
Soon, the grifters started to show up
Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long for the AI grifters to begin to smell vulnerability in the start coming out of the woodwork with snake-oil SEO strategies.
I started to see posts on LinkedIn making wild claims.
Here’s my 10-step process to optimize for LLM!
Pay me $10,000 and I’ll make sure you show up in ChatGPT!
AIO is the new SEO! No, it’s called GSO! Or GEO?
Use this prompt to ask Grok what you should do to optimize for Grok…
There was no shortage of bad, unsubstantiated advice out there.
The scam artists that have always been part of the SEO industry started preying on businesses that were in panic mode, ready to give money to anyone who claimed to have a silver bullet.
But I knew there was no silver bullet.
I knew that what was happening was too big, too undefined for such wildly simplified claims.
I didn’t want to join those grifters. I didn’t want to come out with a solution or even offer much advice until I had a better picture of where things were going.
Then the dust started to settle. I saw a path forward.
When Google came out with “AI Mode” a few months ago, things started to shift for me.
I have written about AI Mode extensively, including in my most recent newsletter, which explains why I (and many others in this industry) expect it to become the default.
This answered my big question: Wtf is Google going to do about the rise of AI?
Google’s answer, as far as I can tell: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
If and when Google makes AI mode the default, it will feel much more like ChatGPT or any other AI bot. I mean, just look at it:
The world of search, which Google defined using its iconic layout of a search bar and blue links, will be gone for good.
Seeing Google sneak AI Mode into more and more default positions was the final signal I needed to understand where search is heading.
So I got to work, and started researching. I wanted to know two things:
- How do these AI models work? Where do they get their data? How do they crawl my clients’ websites and decide who and what to cite in their queries? How do we know which AI prompts are actually worth optimizing for?
- How can businesses replace the traffic they lost? I know there’s no going back—businesses can’t get the traffic they once had from the same articles and search terms, if those have been gobbled up by AI overviews. But that doesn’t mean all of the searching and traffic is gone—it’s just moved somewhere else. Where? How do we get in front of it?
My research into these two questions, along with a few new (and expensive) AI tracking tools, were what made it possible to create…
This is the plan I’ve come up with to address all these complicated issues head on. You can read all the details in that document 👆
But let me give you a quick TL:DR, and answer a few questions.
How the Search Evolution Strategy works
The strategy is built around four phases that take place over four months.
Phase 1: Pause and Analysis. Businesses get a comprehensive assessment of their current position—what content is still performing, how they’re showing up in AI search results, and where their biggest opportunities lie.
Phase 2: Repurpose existing content. Most businesses have a content library that’s underperforming but still full of value and potential. This phase identifies what can be optimized for AI search, what’s already working well, and how to repurpose content for new audiences beyond traditional search.
Phase 3: Strategic path forward. Using all the research, businesses get a clear roadmap with priorities for optimization and fresh ideas to best reach their audience wherever they are. This includes a new content strategy designed to capture audiences across multiple platforms and search types, beyond Google and ChatGPT. Your strategy will outline specific and actionable tactics to leverage platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, newsletters, podcasts, online communities, and other places where your audience is waiting to hear from you.
Phase 4: Team training. The final phase equips internal teams to execute independently through hands-on training, tool setup, and connections to trusted freelancers who can get the job done.
The approach focuses on fundamentals that work regardless of how search continues to evolve, rather than chasing the latest AI tactics. Everything wraps up in four months with no ongoing contracts.
Who is the Search Evolution strategy for?
Any business that has previously relied on SEO content as a primary source for affordable, high-value traffic.
If you…
📉 See organic traffic dropping
💸 Know your conversions are suffering
🤔 Aren’t sure what to do about AI
🔏 Need a future-proof content plan that will last a long time
Then this strategy is for you.
There is no specific industry or business type I am targeting—this strategy is for any business, big or small, who wants to revive their digital presence to prepare for the future of search.
Why no long-term contracts?
To be frank, because I am a writer and a strategist.
I love writing long-form blogs… which won’t really be what you need going forward.
You won’t need a long-term strategist, either, because my strategy will have you well-positioned for the next twelve months at least.
You may, however, need an additional social media manager to help you get exposure in the new channels I’ve identified.
You might need a videographer or graphic design freelancer to help you create and upload content in channels where people will see it.
You might need writers who can update and reoptimize your content.
👆 I can technically do that last one, but if I’m honest, I don’t want to. I would rather you take the budget you’re spending on me, and spend it on some of these other talented folks who can genuinely help you.
I’ll even introduce you to them in my network, so you know you’ll be in good hands with someone who has been brought up to speed on your new strategy.
If you so choose, you can hire me for ongoing consulting on an ad hoc basis. I have some clients who like to check in, see some reporting, and ask questions every few months, which I’m always happy to do at my base consulting fee.
Why only 10 of these strategies?
You may have noticed, I’m only doing 10 of these strategies. (9, now that one was pre-ordered.)
It’s not to generate fake urgency, I promise. There are two very simple reasons.
- I can only do one or two of these at a time. I truly immerse myself with my clients when I do strategies, so I don’t want to take on more than two brands at once. That means if I do 10 of them, I’ll be booked until the middle of 2026, which is as far as I want to book out something like this.
- It’s designed to make you independent. A strategy like this should set you on a path that you can follow without a strategist tagging along, taking an arbitrary fee each month. I don’t want to be that guy.
- I have other things in my pipeline! I am looking to shift away from SEO and content marketing after nearly 15 years in this industry and try some new and exciting things, including finishing my first full-length memoir.
Yes, I’ll be there to cheer you on, provide guidance on an ad hoc basis, and be your go-to person for questions about your new strategy. But you won’t be paying me; you’ll be putting your money somewhere it can move the needle.
Now, you have a decision to make. Do you want to recoup the traffic you’ve lost? Do you want to start evolving your strategy for the future of search?
If you like it, all you need to do is let me know you’re interested.
Send an email: Liam@InkwellContent.com
I’ll book in a short call with you to determine whether you’re a good fit, and if so, we’ll be off to the races.
