iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Big news: I wrote a book! Generative Engine Optimization: The Definitive Guide to AI SEO, releasing in Q4 through Wiley. Will it hold up in six months? By focusing on the high level aspects, I'm naïve enough to think (hope?) so. You can pre-order it here: www.amazon.com/Generative-E...

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Want a quick way to (potentially) pay for gifts? Take our survey! We're looking for responses to our 2026 trends report to fully capture the state of the market. Two responders will be selected for a $500 Amazon gift card. Survey only takes ~3 minutes: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

If your content hasn't been touched in the last 90 days, you're probably not beating NerdWallet. NerdWallet is updating key money pages every 115 days. Most of page one waits a year.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

We analyzed 1,000 of the most popular ChatGPT prompts using data from Profound. Here are most common prompt "types" in LLM usage:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Are LLM source URLs the new topic opportunity? If we look at most commonly referenced URLs for the bottom funnel prompts we want to influence, we may learn: • What topics are surfacing most • What strategies are surfacing most • The types of pages that are surfacing most

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

ChatGPT's new Atlas browser could be bullish for SEO. The agent experience doesn't click ads. “I avoid clicking on ads. I focus on organic results and official sources for reliability and safety.” If more users use this over default search, all transactions attribute to organic activity.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Should you create "best X" articles to influence LLMs? The short answer: it's complicated. There has been some negative takes on this approach as of late, so I wanted to have @nickleroy.com on to respectfully debate when and how it might make sense to do. www.youtube.com/watch?v=frbO...

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Should You Create “Best X” Articles? A Debate w/ Nick LeRoy

YouTube video by Content and Conversation

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Engagement with trends content is on the rise. We analyzed over 12.2k unique blog URLs across 15 categories to see what has been changing over the past two years. It showed that AI is driving interest in trends, and the subsequent product announcements incorporating it.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

ChatGPT referrals are down for the second month in a row -- but Google's growth trend remains intact. If ChatGPT traffic doesn’t soon show meaningful month-over-month growth, the idea it could overtake Google in the near future is officially moot.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

The value in looking at rankings 20-40: Topical authority audit: if you’re in the 30-40 range, that’s often a good new page, as it’s saying you’re authoritative for that term even if it doesn’t map to the current page. Refreshes: Rankings 20-30 can still bump to page one.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

LinkedIn posts are seeing a surge in SEO traffic. This is a trend to watch closely. It feels like it could be the start of a Reddit, Quora-type social acceleration trend -- and a reason to invest in organic social.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Google is sending higher quality traffic than ChatGPT in the last 60 days. In the past 18 months, ChatGPT's quality is 2% better, but that continues to decline. The narrative that ChatGPT is better in a generalized view is becoming less true than ever.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

ChatGPT is hiring an SEO-focused content strategist paying almost $400k/year! Interestingly, there’s no talk of any LLM-facing optimization acronym besides SEO. www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/42...

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

AI citation volume by URL is the new keyword volume. In Ahrefs’ URL view, they calculate a total number of AI citations for each URL from their prompt database. This isn’t prompt volume, but it’s a holistic estimate of total topic interest around that concept.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

ChatGPT referral traffic was down 3.8% in July. Is the bubble about to pop? After a wave of graphs (including ours) predicting growth that would intersect Google’s in '27-28, metrics went negative. On the other side of the coin, Google traffic was up 15.9% across 193 sites.

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Reposted by Ross Hudgens

Will Critchlow @willcritchlow.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Join @rosshudgens.bsky.social and me tomorrow for a conversation about "future proofing e-commerce SEO". I love Ross's take on how your 3 week vision is your new 3 year vision:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

I don't trust Google results" has been a common refrain. Yet, many people are now using LLM results 98% powered by Bing and taking them as fact. It feels like the net trust quotient has actually increased given this, improving conversion rate.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

SEO anchor text in the top nav is rarely the right idea in 2025. Engagement rate is far more important. As the importance of brand continues to grow, suggesting primarily SEO-focused anchor text in our top navigation is the wrong direction.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

We’re excited to announce that Siege Media has joined Optiversal’s Series A round as a strategic investor! Optiversal is an AI-powered landing page platform that helps the world’s top e-commerce companies harness generative AI at scale to drive more traffic and revenue.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

You probably don’t need thought leadership. You need product-focused content that drives clicks and conversions. Thought leadership feels bigger and harder than it needs to be, lowering executive buy-in. Here’s how we think about the difference:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

HubSpot’s LLM visibility skyrocketed without relying on backlinks. Kieran Flanagan shifted to co-citations and brand mentions to win in AI-driven search. Full episode: www.siegemedia.com/conversation...

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Content isn’t valuable just because it converts. The best content brings sticky, high-LTV customers. Semrush CMO Andrew Warden explains why: www.siegemedia.com/conversation...

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

New data from a 50-site study: Homepage traffic is up 10.7% from AI Overviews and LLMs! Traffic may be down, but there is an increase in high-intent homepage visitors. This may mean a net overall conversion lift for companies with >20% homepage traffic.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Organic traffic is now strongly linked to brand sentiment – and we have data to support it. We recently reviewed two client cases where a negative PR event occurred followed by a sharp drop. In good news, it hopefully shows how positive brand investment can drive the opposite.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Most SEO audits miss this, but they shouldn’t. User testing is one of the most underrated tools in product SEO. Tools like Userpeak, Lyssna & LookBack show where users get stuck so you can fix it. Test, refine, implement. That’s how you create product pages that actually rank.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Impressions are now a relevant secondary KPI across Google and LLMs. As click-less impressions skyrocket due to AI Overview and LLM use, it’s a short-sighted strategy to not value showing up for product-related searches in your industry, even if they don’t generate a click.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

If you need link building you don’t need link building. If rankings are stuck, the real issue is usually a weak product, poor UX, or a site that doesn’t build trust. Here’s why backlinks aren’t the answer (and what to do instead):

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

One of the secrets behind Zillow’s 1,000,000,000 search visits? Intelligent risk mitigation. SEO testing isn’t just for growth, it’s for preventing decline. Even a 1% traffic drop can mean millions lost. Kristan Bauer and I break it down on Siege’s podcast: www.siegemedia.com/conversation...

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Excited to speak at @brightonseo.com San Diego this September! One of my favorite conferences - not just for the SEO insights, but for connecting with people who truly get this industry. us.brightonseo.com

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Is technical SEO dying? Eli Schwartz argues we’re heading that way. CMSs handle more technical fixes, and AI is better at surfacing the right results. The biggest SEO wins now come from product-focused strategies. We break it down on Content & Conversation: www.siegemedia.com/conversation...

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Every content marketer should be forced to create customer stories. Here’s why:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

New research shows data studies are heavily cited in ChatGPT! This is even more reason to invest in digital PR. Leveraging data you can utilize across different content types protects you in the AI age, not just by making your content unique, but also by helping it get cited.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Localized keyword research can lift traffic by up to 40%. Straight translation doesn’t cut it - different markets search, think, and buy differently. The graphic below shows why local keyword research is so important.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

The biggest mistake on case study hubs? No quick filtering. If customers can’t find a relevant case study fast, they’ll bounce. The best hubs let users filter by solution, industry & more key dimensions. I think Box is really nailing this - check their customer stories hub:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

SEOs need a Bing strategy in 2025. ChatGPT uses Bing as its primary search engine, and live indexing has driven 170% more Bing traffic. Ignoring it means missing visibility in ChatGPT’s search. A.J. Ghergich and I discuss why it matters: www.siegemedia.com/conversation...

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

SMEs should NOT write content. By the time someone is truly an expert, they don’t have time (or writing isn’t their strongest skill.) At Siege, we extract their expertise through batch interviews, Loom recordings, and high-level reviews to turn it into content that converts.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Most startups get their content strategy in year one wrong. They push for volume, thinking more = better. But year two hits—rankings drop, low-quality pages get punished, and teams scramble. There’s a better way. More in the video:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Swapping in client logos on our case study hub lifted engagement by 25%. Logos = trust, recognition, click intent. Small change, big impact - worth testing if you work with well-known brands.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Images are showing on search results 35.9% of the time. That’s up 7% over Q4. It makes investing in design a no brainer, and a big reason why we’ve invested so hard in it. Here are some of our favorite recent examples:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Every B2B company needs a customer story map. List your products. List your industries. Map them together - then ensure you have at least three strong case studies for each. No more scrambling for proof! Here's how we format ours at Siege:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

200,000 visits. Zero impact. If your SEO strategy stops at rankings, traffic, or links - you’re missing the bigger picture. Here’s how to measure what actually matters:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

SEO isn’t just about ranking in Google anymore. It’s about ranking where attention is going. @timsoulo.bsky.social and I talk about the importance of investing in video on the latest episode of Siege's podcast. Don't just listen - you can watch us here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw-H...

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

The programmatic SEO question every company should ask themselves: Would I keep these pages for users if they didn't have value for SEO? If the answer is no, you (probably) shouldn't have them for SEO either. They will suck up resources and drag your brand.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Traffic is down. Revenue is up. AI Overviews & ChatGPT are cutting into top-of-funnel traffic, but bottom-of-funnel still converts. SEO in 2025 isn’t about chasing traffic - it’s about turning visibility into revenue. @randfish.bsky.social & I break it down: www.siegemedia.com/conversation...

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Virality is usually an SEO failure. In today's world, if your digital PR work went viral, it was almost certainly off-brand. That's why it's very common in 2025 to see graphs that look like this -- a spike of links, and then a decline in traffic shortly after.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Marketers are abandoning interactive content - 62.3% invested in it last year, now it's down to 36.4% (per Siege’s trends report). AI replaced simple tools and costs are high, but the right interactives drive results when they use real data & provide value. Example from Zillow:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

How to measure thought leadership content: If conversions, visits & time on site aren’t in the top 25% for you, it’s probably not working. Our product-led digital PR post has the highest time on site for us + is top 25 in visits, proving it’s reaching the right audience:

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Bad content strategy separates “AI content” and “human content.” The best approach blends both. AI isn’t a replacement - it’s a tool that makes human-created content faster and more scalable. I break it down in the video below.

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Ross Hudgens @rosshudgens.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Product SEO is the new technical SEO. High-impact SEO today is about integrating into the product itself by focusing on UX, internal linking, product page design & long-tail content opportunities. Sharanya Srinivasan & I break it down here: www.siegemedia.com/conversation...

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