Ranking Locally: Your Guide to GMB & SEO (Unknown Secrets Revealed!) Ep. 580
Are you struggling to rank for local search terms? Have you ever wondered if creating separate local landing pages for various locations could be the…
AI Search
The AI Revolution in Search Marketing with Cindy Krum
SEO must expand beyond websites into multi-channel brand presence across Google's four S's, journey modeling, and LLM visibility, because traditional keyword tracking no longer captures how AI-personalized search surfaces brands.
Key takeaways
- Google's four S's of discovery are stream, scroll, search, and shop, each mapping to a Google property.
- LLMs reward consistent brand messaging across multiple platforms, not just a well-optimized website.
- Create one high-quality pillar piece of content, then spend more time on distribution than creation.
- Competitor tracking tools matter because rankings can drop when a competitor improves, not because you did anything wrong.
- Community building generates real engagement data and re-engagement opportunities that replace shrinking organic traffic metrics.
think like you were Google and say, like what would I be doing if I were Google?
About this episode
The digital marketing landscape is transforming dramatically with Google's MUM (Multitask Unified Model) reshaping how search works and forcing marketers to adapt their strategies beyond traditional SEO approaches. • MUM combines text, images, videos, maps and other data types to create a comprehensive understanding of topics • Google's framework has evolved from "micro-moments" to the "four S's of discovery",…
Questions this episode answers
What are Google's four S's of search and why do they matter for SEO?
Google's four S's are stream, scroll, search, and shop. Stream maps to YouTube, scroll to Discover, search to regular search, and shop to Merchant Center. Google says brands should identify where their customers are in each discovery stage and be present there, rather than relying solely on one website.
How should businesses optimize for LLMs and AI search?
Businesses should maintain a consistent brand message across multiple platforms because LLMs reward consistency over novelty. Simply having a great website is not enough. Brands must appear in the places LLMs are looking, including social platforms, forums, and video channels, not just their own domain.
How can SEOs measure visibility in an AI-personalized search environment?
There is no complete solution yet. The industry is expected to shift toward broader share-of-voice metrics and community engagement data rather than per-keyword rankings. Tools like Mobile Moxie's Serperator track live search results down to a specific address and allow brands to claim all their assets in a search result.
What is barnacle SEO and is it still relevant?
Barnacle SEO means ranking on a larger site by proxy. According to Cindy Krum, it remains a solid strategy and may have become even more valuable now that Google ranks UGC, forum content, and big brands with greater preference, making it sometimes easier to rank a YouTube video or Instagram post than a blog.
Terms defined in this episode
- MUM (Multitask Unified Model)
- A Google language model announced around 2017 to 2018 that combines text, images, videos, maps, and statistics to understand topics in a multidimensional way and map user journeys across entities.
- Four S's of Search
- Google's updated framework for brand discovery: stream (YouTube), scroll (Discover), search (regular search), and shop (Merchant Center), describing how users move across properties during a discovery journey.
- Moxie Score
- A metric from Mobile Moxie's Serperator tool that measures how much of a given search result a brand owns or benefits from, including YouTube videos, third-party listings, and social posts, not just the brand's own website.
- Barnacle SEO
- A strategy of ranking on a larger, high-authority site by proxy, so a YouTube video or platform listing ranks for a keyword where the brand's own website would struggle to appear.
Full transcript is being added.
This episode answers
Matthew Bertram
AI keynote speaker · Owner & CEO, EWR Digital · President, ModalPoint
Matthew Bertram is an AI keynote speaker, creator of DIG™ (Digital Information Governance), and owner and CEO of EWR Digital. He helps energy and industrial leaders win visibility in AI search (GEO and AEO), is President of ModalPoint and CMO of the Oil & Gas Global Network, hosts The Best SEO Podcast, and has authored eight books including LLM Visibility. More about Matthew Bertram.
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