{"id":18961,"date":"2025-06-16T20:15:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T00:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/?p=18961"},"modified":"2025-08-13T15:27:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T19:27:35","slug":"smx-advanced-2025-seo-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/smx-advanced-2025-seo-recap","title":{"rendered":"SMX Advanced 2025: Every SEO Session Through a Relevance Engineering Lens"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"18961\" class=\"elementor elementor-18961\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a56abdd e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"a56abdd\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a51f189 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a51f189\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conferences are so back, folks. For the first time in five years, SMX met in person in Boston and it was packed. There were standing-room-only sessions, lots of trudging through crowded halls like a herd of cattle, and not a free power outlet to be found.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SMX didn\u2019t disappoint and I was thrilled to have agreed with pretty much every presentation I heard. Whether the name was used or not, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/services\/relevance-engineering\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Relevance Engineering<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is everywhere in search now and its foundation was definitely sprinkled throughout SMX.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So many of the sessions were hopeful and exciting and made me feel like I was traveling with the speakers on board a speeding locomotive gliding through the countryside (sorry, I\u2019m on a train home from Boston as I\u2019m writing this).<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other sessions talking about things like agentic search were a bit overwhelming and disorienting, like I was trying to find a seat on a train while it\u2019s moving (okay, I\u2019ll stop with the trains).\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I watched every session of the SEO track at SMX Advanced 2025. From branding and user experience to vector embeddings and content relevance, my neck started to hurt from nodding my head so much.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s a rundown of what I heard through the lens of Relevance Engineering (r19g) and how it\u2019s all going to impact the future of search.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e4dee37 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"e4dee37\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/iPR@SMX_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18995\" alt=\"SMX Advanced crowd\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/iPR@SMX_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/iPR@SMX_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/iPR@SMX_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/iPR@SMX_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/iPR@SMX_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c01c714 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"c01c714\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">SMX Keynote Presentation on SEO and PPC<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-74670ed elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"74670ed\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The day kicked off with a keynote from one of my favorite speakers of all time (aside from my boss <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/michaelkingphilly\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mike King<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, of course), Seer Interactive CEO <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/wilreynolds\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wil Reynolds<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. His presentation, <\/span><b>\u201cHow to Use SEO and PPC Data Together to Create Wins in Search, Social and AI,\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> took us through the current digital environment and how it\u2019s now possible to have SEO wins but not actually help the people doing the searching. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-78610e1 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"78610e1\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-145cfaa elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"145cfaa\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilReynolds_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18984\" alt=\"Wil Reynolds\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilReynolds_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilReynolds_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilReynolds_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilReynolds_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilReynolds_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-88a193a elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"88a193a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cWhen you write stuff people love you get the bonus of distribution.\u201d \t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Wil Reynolds<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0c4ffdb elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"0c4ffdb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5968ce9 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5968ce9\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-26d44e9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"26d44e9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bf65140 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"bf65140\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The web is stuffed with bad content:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Wil has been expounding the virtues of combining SEO and PPC data for 10 years yet you won\u2019t see his name on any of those popular \u201ctop 10\u201d listicles that keep popping up in LLM results (probably because he hasn\u2019t made one himself yet that includes Seer!) but the point is, what\u2019s showing up in results but might not be helpful to the user.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>To understand humans is to understand their prompts:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> We have to look deeper into how people are searching and what words are being used.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Offset your loss of traffic with actual humans:<\/b><span> If you do it right and don\u2019t focus too much on algorithms, you can make up for your loss of traffic with searchers actually using your content and allowing it to disseminate naturally.<\/span><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-454b72e elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"454b72e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Wil_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x568.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18982\" alt=\"TOFU content disappearing\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Wil_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x568.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Wil_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Wil_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x426.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Wil_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x852.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Wil_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1814w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a834b68 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"a834b68\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ca2e1ee elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"ca2e1ee\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"tom\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Relevance Engineering by Mike King<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4d90c1d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4d90c1d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s not just you, everybody\u2019s traffic is going down right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even sites with the best content on the web are seeing clicks drop today as a direct result of AI Overviews and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/resources\/best-of-mike-king\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mike King\u2019s<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> talk on r19g, <\/span><b>\u201cThe End of SEO As We Know It,\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> provided some insight into the future of search.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google is solving for something deeper. They want to reduce the cognitive load of search (its <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/2308.07525\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cDelphic Cost\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), keeping users there longer. Mike said that search has become more probabilistic (varied) than deterministic (fixed). It will not always return the same result, and that means marketers have far less control than they used to.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-312a222 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"312a222\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MikeKing_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18996\" alt=\"Mike King\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MikeKing_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MikeKing_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MikeKing_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MikeKing_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MikeKing_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-98c8d64 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"98c8d64\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-33e63c8\" data-id=\"33e63c8\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3594f2e elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"3594f2e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cIt\u2019s a dramatically different way that people are using the internet.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Mike King<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e4f8847 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"e4f8847\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-75808ec elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"75808ec\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3ae3c2a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3ae3c2a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The SEO industry is unprepared for AI search: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEO software is still built for lexical search rather than semantic search, which is based on vector embeddings at the passage level, so it\u2019s no longer useful.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Your SEO agency is probably not ready either:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Simple rank tracking offers very little value in this new world. Mike introduced his new tool called <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/tools\/qforia\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Qforia<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which helps you track related queries that LLMs might use to retrieve more documents so you can fill content gaps.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Instead of reacting with fear, take ownership of the moment:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This is an opportunity for those willing to rethink how they approach visibility and relevance.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Search is a brand channel:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The SERP has always been a place where users learn, not just click. That is more true now than ever thanks to fewer clicks, so make sure your brand is well represented.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Mike says, we are no longer optimizing. We are engineering. That means:<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Breaking content into semantic chunks<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Embracing topical clustering<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Diversifying content formats<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developing unique and helpful data and content<\/span><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cf7441d elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"cf7441d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mike_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x568.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18980\" alt=\"Publishers need to diversify\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mike_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x568.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mike_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mike_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x426.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mike_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x852.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mike_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1814w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-095dcf3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"095dcf3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main elements of Relevance Engineering were everywhere at SMX (and you can read even more about it <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/relevance-engineering-introduction\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on our site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), but let\u2019s look at how the rest of the SEO talks embodied the tenets of r19g:\u00a0<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digital PR<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Content strategy<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">User experience<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Information retrieval<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Artificial intelligence<\/span><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e7effd4 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"e7effd4\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-656349b e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"656349b\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e7bddfb e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"e7bddfb\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c9cd9a9 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"c9cd9a9\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-56b35ef elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"56b35ef\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">See Mike's presentation deck here:<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b17d125 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"b17d125\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h5 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><a href=\"https:\/\/speakerdeck.com\/ipullrank\/end-of-seo-as-we-know-it-smx-advanced-version\" target=\"_blank\">The End of SEO As We Know It<\/a><\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0f7851d elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"0f7851d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/speakerdeck.com\/ipullrank\/end-of-seo-as-we-know-it-smx-advanced-version\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"25\" height=\"8\" viewBox=\"0 0 25 8\" fill=\"none\"><path id=\"Arrow 1\" d=\"M24.3536 4.20609C24.5488 4.01083 24.5488 3.69425 24.3536 3.49899L21.1716 0.317005C20.9763 0.121743 20.6597 0.121743 20.4645 0.317005C20.2692 0.512267 20.2692 0.82885 20.4645 1.02411L23.2929 3.85254L20.4645 6.68097C20.2692 6.87623 20.2692 7.19281 20.4645 7.38807C20.6597 7.58334 20.9763 7.58334 21.1716 7.38807L24.3536 4.20609ZM0 4.35254H24V3.35254H0V4.35254Z\" fill=\"#6F6F6F\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a718fab elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"a718fab\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"dan\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Digital PR and Branding<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-644268e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"644268e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mordyoberstein\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mordy Oberstein<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, founder of Unity Brand Marketing, pointed out that despite endless content production across every vertical, the web isn\u2019t growing. It\u2019s constricting. His presentation, <\/span><b>\u201cGoogle Algorithm Updates in 2025: How to Deal with Relentless Rank Volatility,\u201d <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">covered branding, user behavior, ranking volatility, and like 97 photos of Barry Schwartz for some reason.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He pointed to rising volatility across search tools in Q1 of 2025. After core updates, nearly 10% of URLs appearing in the top 10 had not even ranked in the top 20 previously. That kind of movement doesn\u2019t align with past behavior. The entire algorithm seems to have shifted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6b109f8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"6b109f8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MordyOberstein_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18993\" alt=\"Mordy Oberstein\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MordyOberstein_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MordyOberstein_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MordyOberstein_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MordyOberstein_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MordyOberstein_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ab43d7f elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"ab43d7f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cBrand is the silent killer of performance.\u201d \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Mordy Oberstein<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-75bad64 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"75bad64\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-dd4e480 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"dd4e480\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Since the pandemic, key user behavior metrics have declined: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time on site has dropped from 10 minutes to 7. People view fewer pages. They are no longer browsing the web broadly. Instead, they interact within narrow, specific brand ecosystems.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Fewer new websites are breaking into rankings:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Between 2022 and 2024, the number of new domains reaching Google\u2019s front page dropped sharply. The web is not just stagnating but getting smaller, too. And yet, content production continues to surge, flooding the internet with material that users don\u2019t engage with.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>If your brand isn\u2019t aligned with your audience, no amount of SEO will fix it:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The magazine \u201cRolling Stone\u201d was one example. Its traffic is declining not just because of SEO shifts but because it no longer resonates with its core audience. SEO tactics can\u2019t help that.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mordy said it\u2019s not just about presence but the right presence. The internet is filled with noise and most of it is irrelevant to users. The brands that win will be the ones that stay aligned, authentic, and strategic.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ddbb6be elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"ddbb6be\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mordy_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x568.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18981\" alt=\"URLs now in the top 10\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mordy_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x568.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mordy_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mordy_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x426.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mordy_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x852.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mordy_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1814w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bbb0195 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"bbb0195\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"lexi\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Content Strategy<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5ed4132 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5ed4132\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ericenge\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eric Enge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, President of Pilot Holding, brought us back to some classic SEO tactics and how many of them still apply today in his presentation, <\/span><b>\u201cGoogle, EEAT, and Brand: Focusing on signals that actually Fuel SEO Growth.\u201d<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To anyone still treating SEO like a checklist: relevance is everything. User engagement is often supported by foundational SEO elements like accessibility, core web vitals, mobile usability, and smart information architecture, but you cannot rank for anything if your content isn\u2019t relevant (which is the main message behind Relevance Engineering).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ae18f9e elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"ae18f9e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/EricEnge_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18989\" alt=\"Eric Enge\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/EricEnge_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/EricEnge_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/EricEnge_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/EricEnge_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/EricEnge_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a8fdb68 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"a8fdb68\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cRelevance is fundamental to ranking.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Eric Enge<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-95e5647 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"95e5647\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0b9670f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0b9670f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Modern search engines use transformer models to assign meaning to words and phrases, then calculate how closely related they are to a topic using cosine similarity: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is how Google determines if your page deserves to rank. It\u2019s not just about what you say, but how well your content matches the searcher\u2019s intent on a semantic level.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Pages ranking in positions 1 and 2 had significantly higher embedding relevance scores than lower-ranking results:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To succeed in this system, you need to reverse-engineer relevance. Score your pages against the queries you want to rank for. Optimize based on semantic match, not just keyword usage.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>User engagement still matters: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If people interact positively with a document, that sends a strong signal. If they bounce or leave quickly, that\u2019s a red flag. Eric advocated for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/relevance-engineering-at-scale\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">content pruning<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and removing pages with low engagement to improve overall site quality.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Google wants us to be focused:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If your site tries to cover too many unrelated topics, you will dilute your authority. In content fusion, embeddings are used to blend content more intelligently and increase relevance. This goes beyond just tagging authors. It\u2019s about building a recognizable brand around the author, which encourages repeat visits and builds trust.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your site knows what it stands for and creates content with semantic clarity and real user value, you will build lasting relevance.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5a6f644 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"5a6f644\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Eric_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x579.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18976\" alt=\"Cosine similarity\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Eric_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x579.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Eric_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x170.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Eric_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x434.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Eric_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x868.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Eric_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1780w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cd442ee elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cd442ee\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/james-brockbank\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Brockbank<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Managing Director and Founder of Digitaloft, thinks that SEOs are still clinging to outdated link-building tactics and wasting money in the process. His presentation, <\/span><b>\u201cMeasuring Link Relevance Using Vector Embeddings and Cosine Similarity,\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> pointed out that we\u2019ve been conditioned to chase authority, volume, and domain ratings, but what Google actually cares about is topical relevance, and more specifically, how links support a page\u2019s contextual understanding.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most SEOs and link builders truly don\u2019t take the time to learn how Google really works, but now there\u2019s no excuse because we\u2019ve acquired so much more insider knowledge than we once knew.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3bc7b84 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"3bc7b84\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JamesBrockbank_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18990\" alt=\"James Brockbank\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JamesBrockbank_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JamesBrockbank_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JamesBrockbank_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JamesBrockbank_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JamesBrockbank_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ea58762 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"ea58762\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cWe have more insights than ever before on how Google works.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- James Brockbank<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6c536fe elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"6c536fe\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-94461b4 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"94461b4\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4ecdb07 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4ecdb07\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li><b>If your links point to pages that aren\u2019t tightly aligned to the topic, they\u2019ll be ignored and your page possibly demoted: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Irrelevant links, even from high-authority domains, can actually suppress your rankings. Don\u2019t waste your money. Focus on earning fewer, more relevant links that align to the topics you&#8217;re trying to win.<\/span><\/li><li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Google uses three layers of embeddings that matter for ranking:<\/b><ul><li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Query embeddings: Individual queries and keyword clusters<\/span><\/li><li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Content embeddings: Individual pages, subfolder, and entire site<\/span><\/li><li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Link profile embeddings: Individual links, subfolder links, and link profile<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><b>The BERT update was a turning point: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It marked the shift from keyword matching to semantic understanding, yet many SEOs never updated their approach.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEO needs to evolve past what worked a decade ago. Focus on alignment and context for relevance, and measure it with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/vector-embeddings-is-all-you-need\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vector embeddings<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Relevance used to be subjective, but vector embeddings and cosine similarity help make link relevance analysis an objective data point that can be measured.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-da9f4eb elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"da9f4eb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/James_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x579.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18977\" alt=\"The Era of Less\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/James_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x579.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/James_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x170.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/James_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x434.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/James_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x868.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/James_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1780w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d41dbfe elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"d41dbfe\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">User Experience<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cc3bd9f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cc3bd9f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jes-scholz\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jes Scholz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Growth Marketing Consultant at Jes Scholz Consulting, took the audience through a group therapy session regarding the frightening impact of AI on search in her presentation, <\/span><b>\u201cSmarter Crawling and Indexing: Technical Solutions to Boost Visibility.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jes emphasized that we have to consider indexing across multiple ecosystems, including AI platforms and knowledge graphs. Beyond algorithm updates and thinking only about crawling and ranking, Jes explained that while we cannot control how these platforms use their new technologies, we can control what they are able to index.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That means focusing on content that is enriched, unique, and offers more value than what is already in training data or available from competitors. Simply republishing what everyone else has said will not be enough.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9f0648c elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"9f0648c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JesScholz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18991\" alt=\"Jes Scholz\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JesScholz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JesScholz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JesScholz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JesScholz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/JesScholz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-82d499d elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"82d499d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cThis is not just about Google anymore. Your website is a small piece of a much larger indexing play.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Jes Scholz<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-68fe9b5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"68fe9b5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points <\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0b16a4f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0b16a4f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li aria-level=\"1\"><b>The most common indexing issues fall into three categories:<\/b><ul><li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poor SEO implementation: Canonical errors, 404 pages, and restrictive robots.txt files<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Low content quality: Thin, repetitive, or generic pages<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Processing problems: These cause pages to show up as \u201cdiscovered, not indexed\u201d or \u201ccrawled, not indexed\u201d<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><ul><li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><b>Not every indexing issue means a page is bad:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Sometimes Google continues crawling to understand a page better. Jes recommended auditing and segmenting your site to uncover which pages are valuable and why they might be missing from the index. She also outlined technical submission options, including:<\/span><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sitemaps: Submit separate ones for different page types<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indexing API: Useful for job postings or time-sensitive content<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bing IndexNow: Performance varies and should not be relied on blindly<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Manual submission: Limited to 10 URLs per day via Google Search Console<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">News sitemaps: Work best for fresh content published within 48 hours<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Internal linking plays a major role: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A solid internal architecture with breadcrumbs, pagination, and homepage links to high-priority pages can boost crawlability and indexing. External links help but they are harder to scale.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The key is alignment across different indexing methods. When your strategies are in sync, the benefits compound. Your site is no longer the central destination but one piece of a much larger indexing network.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-236b3e5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"236b3e5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"461\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Jes_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x590.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18978\" alt=\"Crawled, not indexed pages\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Jes_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Jes_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Jes_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x442.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Jes_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x884.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Jes_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1747w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f5dd215 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"f5dd215\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"zack\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Information Retrieval<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4fcf88e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4fcf88e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/msdawnanderson\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dawn Anderson<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Managing Director at Bertey, said we are in the middle of the biggest shift in information retrieval in 70 years (information science as we know it has been around since just after World War II). In her presentation, <\/span><b>\u201cFrom Search Ranking to Answer Synthesis: How to Weather the AI Storm,\u201d <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">she described Google\u2019s approach to generative information retrieval as a \u201crush job,\u201d suggesting the tech is evolving faster than the systems around it can adapt.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We know that people are drawn to tools that make search effortless (those Delphic costs, remember?), but what Google is doing now isn\u2019t evolution. Dawn referenced Ricardo Baeza-Yates who said it\u2019s involution, meaning it\u2019s a process of folding in on itself instead of advancing outward. Dawn warned that the current trajectory could lead to an endangered information ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-55d0714 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"55d0714\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DawnAnderson_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18988\" alt=\"Dawn Anderson\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DawnAnderson_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DawnAnderson_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DawnAnderson_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DawnAnderson_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DawnAnderson_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c68394b elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"c68394b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cWe must be forward thinking.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Dawn Anderson<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b293c94 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"b293c94\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9406036 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"9406036\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>AI-generated search results often sound convincing, even when they are wrong:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This makes them more dangerous than obviously flawed content. Dawn emphasized the need to ensure information quality keeps pace with technological change.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Closed-book and open-book information retrieval: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Closed-book systems pull entirely from within the model\u2019s training data. Open-book systems, like the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/how-retrieval-augmented-generation-is-redefining-seo\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> methods we see in use today, combine the model\u2019s output with external sources for grounding. This demands content that supports relevance and factual grounding:<\/span><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clear topic chunking for long-form content.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strong semantic structure and headings.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consistency in language and clustering.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No ambiguity in topics.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minimal reliance on client-side JavaScript.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The best defense is not technical workarounds but smart strategy: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The necessity of llms.txt, which attempts to signal LLM crawling permissions, is still under debate.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Good SEO practices still apply: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Know your audiences and personas. Create consistent, focused, well-structured content across all touchpoints. Google\u2019s new retrieval systems are shaped in part by the memory of your past searches, so consistency and user context is important.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is not the end of classic information retrieval. It\u2019s a shift, not a replacement. The key is to evolve with the systems, not against them.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-540658b elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"540658b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dawn_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x579.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18975\" alt=\"What SEOs should be doing now\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dawn_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x579.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dawn_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x170.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dawn_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x434.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dawn_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x868.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dawn_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1780w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f245665 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f245665\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/crystal-carter-digital\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crystal Carter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Head of SEO Communications at Wix, led the crowd through a rapid-fire overview of what reasoning models are really looking for in her presentation, <\/span><b>\u201cThe Deep Search Shift: Optimizing for LLM Reasoning Models.\u201d <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI isn\u2019t just retrieving content but thinking through it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve entered the era of deep search, where LLMs are evaluating, inferring, and citing sources based on logical reasoning and expertise. Mixture of Experts (MoE) is redefining what qualifies as quality content. AI is building its knowledge from webpages that it sees as experts, so your content can become part of an LLM\u2019s internal reasoning process.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d22bae9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"d22bae9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/CrystalCarter_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18986\" alt=\"Crystal Carter\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/CrystalCarter_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/CrystalCarter_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/CrystalCarter_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/CrystalCarter_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/CrystalCarter_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0e1d220 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"0e1d220\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cOwn your expertise. Reasoning models want to surface your brand content.\u201d \t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Crystal Carter<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-014d5a6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"014d5a6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b059038 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b059038\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>There are core types of LLM experts:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Those that know something focus on topics like medicine, sports, and law, and those that do something perform actions like translation, math, and coding.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>If you want your content cited, you need to own your expertise:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Show up where LLMs are looking. That means publishing nuanced, authoritative, well-structured content across relevant domains and subdomains.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Optimize for query fan-out and citations in LLMs:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Treat each query as a keyword.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Study the user journey for core terms to map content needs.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cover topics with nuance on the most relevant domain or subdomain.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Embrace current events.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have an opinion.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Optimize your videos.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Own your expertise.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reasoning models draw from user-generated content and social signals, so Crystal encouraged everyone to be active on social media with purposeful, aligned messaging and to build brand presence across more than just your main site.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-06c54ed elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"06c54ed\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"448\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Crystal_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x573.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18973\" alt=\"AI Mode experts\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Crystal_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x573.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Crystal_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Crystal_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x429.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Crystal_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x859.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Crystal_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1799w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7cb2e72 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"7cb2e72\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"andrew\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Artificial Intelligence<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3b384ab elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3b384ab\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/goralewicz\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bart Goralewicz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Co-founder of Ziptie.dev, reminded us all that rankings no longer guarantee clicks. In his presentation, <\/span><b>\u201cThe Search Evolution: Preparing for AI-first Discovery,\u201d <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he discussed our entrance into the zero-click era, where users increasingly get their answers directly in the search results.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over half of all internet traffic isn\u2019t even human anymore. And with Reddit showing up in the majority of Google searches, there is a new search paradigm. Although Bart openly disagreed with Mike\u2019s Relevance Engineering model during his presentation, he still had some great insights to share so I can forgive him for that (this time). <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ad01ba4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"ad01ba4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/BartGoralewicz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18985\" alt=\"Bart Goralewicz\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/BartGoralewicz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/BartGoralewicz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/BartGoralewicz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/BartGoralewicz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/BartGoralewicz_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4312f2f elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"4312f2f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cUnderstanding your audience is the new link building.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Bart Goralewicz<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-62a72ef elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"62a72ef\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a4655c1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a4655c1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Search engines have changed their purpose: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They\u2019re no longer built to drive users to websites. Instead, they are optimized to answer questions at different stages of the user journey. This shift demands a different mindset.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>We should stop relying solely on traditional SEO metrics:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They often miss the real context behind user behavior. SEO still matters, but it\u2019s more about understanding now. To stay relevant, brands need to:<\/span><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speak the actual language of their buyers.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Address the real problems users are trying to solve.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Close the trust gap that\u2019s widened because websites push too much sponsored content.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Reddit\u2019s raw, unfiltered discussions have filled the trust void and captured attention: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike a traditional query like \u201cbest vacuums of 2025,\u201d which many people probably are not searching for, users on Reddit ask specific, nuanced, personal questions like, \u201cwhy is it bad to use a Dyson on a wool carpet?\u201d Then the Reddit thread becomes the query itself.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Brands should map user questions across multiple stages: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Answers from one moment in the journey inform the next. The goal is not just to provide answers, but to become part of the conversation.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the heart of it all is context, or the problem that led the user to search in the first place. Brands that understand this will outperform those that just chase rankings.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c4668d7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"c4668d7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"461\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Bart_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x590.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18972\" alt=\"Bot traffic\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Bart_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Bart_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Bart_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x442.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Bart_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x884.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Bart_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1747w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bdd673a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"bdd673a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/onlineinference\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dave Davies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Head of SEO at Weights &amp; Biases, sees the future and it\u2019s full of agents. Not the ones from The Matrix (not yet, anyway) but rather software systems that use AI to pursue goals and complete tasks on behalf of users. In his presentation, <\/span><b>\u201cAgents of Change: SEO in the Era of Agentic AI,\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> he discussed how agents have reasoning, planning, memory and a level of autonomy to make decisions, learn and adapt. And we will soon be optimizing for them instead of human users.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In my favorite analogy of the day, he described it like an ant colony where the foragers have a goal to collect food, getting orders from the queen and coordinating with warriors. Then they have to adapt to accomplish their goal (such as finding something that\u2019s too big for just one ant to carry).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-65d3805 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"65d3805\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DaveDavies_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18987\" alt=\"Dave Davies\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DaveDavies_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DaveDavies_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DaveDavies_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DaveDavies_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DaveDavies_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2cc6cc4 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"2cc6cc4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cIf you think the last two years have been disruptive in your traffic patterns, buckle up.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Dave Davies<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-623036d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"623036d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-425db40 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"425db40\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>If you\u2019re still optimizing your site for human users, you might already be behind:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Agentic traffic will soon eclipse the impact of generative search results, reshaping who (or what) we\u2019re optimizing for. Imagine waking up to find an AI agent has already planned your day, ordered your lunch, and helped you buy a new pair of shoes. It\u2019s coming.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Google is rapidly embedding agents into the devices and platforms we use every day:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> From Gemini in TVs to smart glasses that see and hear your world, agents are being trained to understand your behavior and anticipate your needs. Dave shared a vision of a not-so-distant future where each person has a persistent Google-assigned agent that quietly makes decisions behind the scenes.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The future of interaction is shifting from searching and clicking to asking and receiving:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> That means marketers must adapt to:<\/span><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zero-click transactions<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Product feeds integrated with payment systems<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brand optimization for journeys that never reach your website<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>With agentic systems in play, it\u2019s like running up an avalanche <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(another great analogy from Dave):<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The terrain is changing under your feet, and speed alone won\u2019t save you. Brands will need to:<\/span><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understand how popular agents operate in their category or region<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Optimize for systems, not just users<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Train their data to be machine-consumable<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This isn\u2019t the moment to wait and watch. We need to be evolving. The era of optimizing for people is phasing out. We\u2019re entering the era of optimizing for their digital proxies.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b011fc0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"b011fc0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"451\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dave_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x577.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18974\" alt=\"Agents of the future\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dave_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x577.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dave_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dave_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x433.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dave_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x866.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Dave_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1785w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-452a9a8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"452a9a8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kelseylibert\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelsey Libert<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Co-Founder of Fractl, said you can\u2019t kill SEO in her presentation, <\/span><b>\u201cHow AI is Reshaping SEO: Challenges, Opportunities, and Brand Strategies for 2025.\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Search is a behavior, not a platform, and AI is simply a new channel to which we should adapt. This is not an extinction event.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelsey\u2019s talk was full of great stats on the state of AI today. Overall, we must lean into the moment with content built around deep subject matter expertise. It\u2019s about knowing where your audience spends time online and showing up with authority.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a07bbf1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"a07bbf1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/KelseyLibert_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18992\" alt=\"Kelsey Libert\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/KelseyLibert_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/KelseyLibert_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/KelseyLibert_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/KelseyLibert_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/KelseyLibert_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-13b4757 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"13b4757\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cIs AI going to kill organic search, or will it amplify brand messaging?\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Kelsey Libert<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-73804c9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"73804c9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9b02e67 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"9b02e67\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li><b>Use AI for efficiency:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Use it to draft high-volume copy, surface insights from massive data sets, and identify gaps at scale, and optimize on-page SEO.<\/span><\/li><li><b>Very few companies are tracking LLMs:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Just 22% are tracking their impact, but we need better tools to monitor content visibility, citation patterns, and audience signals across these new channels.<\/span><\/li><li><b>Users are not as skeptical as we think:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Over 80 percent have a neutral or positive view of brands using AI-generated content. But quality still matters. That\u2019s where prompt engineering becomes an important skill to keep AI output accurate and actually useful.<\/span><\/li><li><b>AI\u2019s misinformation problem is serious: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">78% of marketers and 68% of consumers are concerned about AI-driven misinformation more than they fear job loss. That makes trust, consistency, and clarity even more vital for any brand.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LLMs learn from what\u2019s distributed and discoverable. If your brand is showing up across the right platforms, cited in multiple channels, and maintaining consistency, you have a much better shot at being part of the conversation.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9d49a69 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"9d49a69\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kelsey_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x568.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18979\" alt=\"AI concerns\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kelsey_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x568.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kelsey_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kelsey_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x426.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kelsey_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x852.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Kelsey_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1814w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b1b4be2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b1b4be2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/williamscott\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Will Scott<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Co-Founder of Search Influence, started his talk with a stat that still amazes me: ChatGPT reached 100 million users in just two months, making it the fastest-growing consumer app in history. The content and structure of his presentation, <\/span><b>\u201c5 Key Insights for Mastering Generative Engine Optimization,\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was even recommended by AI.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI engines don\u2019t crawl the web like Google does, and they\u2019re not obligated to visit your site at all. If you want to be included in their answers, you need to make your content easy to parse, cite, and access.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bf065e1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"bf065e1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WillScott_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18994\" alt=\"Will Scott\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WillScott_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WillScott_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WillScott_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WillScott_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WillScott_Stage_SMX2025_Blog_Img-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-45495fc elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-blockquote--skin-border elementor-blockquote--button-color-official elementor-widget elementor-widget-blockquote\" data-id=\"45495fc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"blockquote.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<blockquote class=\"elementor-blockquote\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-blockquote__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\u201cIf you continue to be the intelligence of the engine, then the outputs that you get are going to be that much better.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-q-footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"elementor-blockquote__author\">- Will Scott<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-304a91b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"304a91b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Key Points<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-03ad701 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"03ad701\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li><b>Google introduced the knowledge graph back in 2012:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The idea of structured, question-driven content isn\u2019t new, but it\u2019s more important now than ever. Focused sections and clean page architecture give users and AI engines what they\u2019re looking for: quick answers.<\/span><\/li><li><b>Headings should be questions or topic-driven statements: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That structure makes it easier for AI to identify and cite specific sections. Add in-page citations to reinforce authority, and your content becomes far more likely to be included in AI-generated answers.<\/span><\/li><li><b>Render speed matters:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If your page takes too long to serve the important content, AI systems may skip it entirely. Their crawl bandwidth is limited, and they\u2019re not wasting it.<\/span><\/li><li><b>Actions to take today:\u00a0<\/b><ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Choose one question and build a dedicated page for it.<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Add step-by-step labels to an existing post.<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Run a quick page speed test.<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Insert jump links into your longest guide.<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Add clear source notes to at least one article.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><p>The goal is not to chase algorithms anymore, but to design for how answers are being delivered.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c5b774e e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"c5b774e\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0a7aa6f e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"0a7aa6f\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bd621d3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"bd621d3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Will_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x568.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-18983\" alt=\"ChatGPT stats\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Will_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1024x568.png 1024w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Will_SMX2025_Blog_Img-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Will_SMX2025_Blog_Img-768x426.png 768w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Will_SMX2025_Blog_Img-1536x852.png 1536w, https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Will_SMX2025_Blog_Img.png 1814w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1d8cbd9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1d8cbd9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">SMX Experts Showed the Future of SEO\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7a091cc elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7a091cc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SMX Advanced 2025 made one thing very clear: search is about understanding the system, aligning with your audience, and showing up with actual value. Whether it\u2019s reasoning models chunking your content, agents making decisions without you, or a shrinking web full of noise, the message across every session was to adapt or disappear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Relevance Engineering is clearly a survival skill for the future of search. It\u2019s time to get strategic and get aligned. The web may be changing, but your responsibility to searchers remains the same. We don\u2019t have to accept the deterioration of search. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the words of Mike King: \u201cThe future is what we decide it is. We can do something different.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1832276 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"1832276\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ac4724b e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"ac4724b\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2dedf1a e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"2dedf1a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-54b665a e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"54b665a\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d9e9494 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"d9e9494\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Want to find out about how Relevance Engineering can help your business?<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b8ef4e6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"b8ef4e6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h5 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/services\/relevance-engineering\" target=\"_blank\">Learn about iPullRank's Relevance Engineering Services<\/a><\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-564f7a6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"564f7a6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/services\/relevance-engineering\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"25\" height=\"8\" viewBox=\"0 0 25 8\" fill=\"none\"><path id=\"Arrow 1\" d=\"M24.3536 4.20609C24.5488 4.01083 24.5488 3.69425 24.3536 3.49899L21.1716 0.317005C20.9763 0.121743 20.6597 0.121743 20.4645 0.317005C20.2692 0.512267 20.2692 0.82885 20.4645 1.02411L23.2929 3.85254L20.4645 6.68097C20.2692 6.87623 20.2692 7.19281 20.4645 7.38807C20.6597 7.58334 20.9763 7.58334 21.1716 7.38807L24.3536 4.20609ZM0 4.35254H24V3.35254H0V4.35254Z\" fill=\"#6F6F6F\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-185e95e e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"185e95e\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conferences are so back, folks. For the first time in five years, SMX met in person in Boston and it was packed. There were standing-room-only sessions, lots of trudging through crowded halls like a herd of cattle, and not a free power outlet to be found.\u00a0 SMX didn\u2019t disappoint and I was thrilled to have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":18962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1,227,260,26],"tags":[],"diagnosis-deliverable":[],"class_list":["post-18961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agency","category-uncategorized","category-generative-ai","category-relevance-engineering","category-seo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SMX Advanced 2025: Every SEO Session Through a Relevance Engineering Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recapping every SEO track session from SMX Advanced 2025 through the lens of Relevance Engineering. 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