by Cathy Gray | May 19, 2026 | Business, eCommerce, Website
How Your Marketing Channels Work Together For Your Business
Think of marketing as a set of roads that all lead to the same place: your website. I’ve created this page and written it in a way that’s easy to understand.
Some roads bring in new people who’ve never heard of you from a Google search, a paid ad, or a post shared on social media. Other roads bring back people who’ve already visited from an email, a reminder ad. But every road leads to your website, and your website is where the sale actually happens.
Here’s a simple way to see how it all fits together:
The left side gets customers to your website with search, paid ads, and social media.
The right side keeps customers coming to your website with email, your ordering process, follow-up.
Your website is in the middle because it keeps customers connected to your business.
If the hub, your website, isn’t working, how customers get to it doesn’t matter.
Search Results: Customers Coming To Your Website From Google
When someone searches Google and clicks your result, that’s organic search. You didn’t pay for that click. They were already looking for what you sell.
The customer came from Google with intent to make a purchase on your website. Can your website make the sale?
I wrote about exactly this using two real businesses as examples. Both showed up in search results. One closed the sale. The other lost it before the customer ever got to checkout. Find out what made the difference.
Paid Ads: Customers Coming To Your Website Through Google Ads
With paid ads, you pay for every click. Your ad shows at the top of Google results or inside a customer’s social media feed. The moment they click, they land on your website — and that click cost you money.
Paid ads can be turned off the second you stop paying. But while they’re running, they put your business in front of people who are actively searching for what you sell.
The click costs money. Your website has to make it worth it.
Social Media: Customers Coming To Your Website Through Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
Social media builds awareness. Someone sees your post, your product, or something a friend shared. They may not be ready to buy today, but now they know you exist.
That awareness turns into a website visit when they’re ready — days, weeks, or months later.
The question is whether your website is ready when they finally show up.
AI Visibility: Customers Coming To Your Website Through ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews
AI search changed how customers find businesses. Instead of a list of links, they get an answer — and sometimes your business is part of that answer. They click through to your website to learn more or buy.
These customers often have strong intent. They were asking a specific question and your business came up.
Whether they stay and buy is still up to your website.
by Cathy Gray | May 16, 2026 | Website, Business, eCommerce, Marketing
You Showed Up in Google. Then Your Website Lost the Sale.
A real example of how digital marketing channels work for ecommerce businesses.
I needed fill dirt delivered to my house in Woodstock. Not a complicated need. I knew I needed a tandem truck of fill dirt that was local to deliver to my house and was ready to order.
I did what most people do, I searched Google.
Two local businesses showed up. I clicked the first one: Georgia Landscape Supply. They had what I needed, the price was reasonable, and delivery was available. But when I clicked into the product page, something was off. The product, or product title, was named screend fill dirt, the description said it was unscreened. I wasn’t sure if I was looking at the right material. I read it twice, still confused, and decided I wasn’t going to gamble on a truckload of the wrong fill dirt showing up in my driveway.
I went back to Google and clicked the second result: Pinestraw King. Same product, clear description, delivery to Woodstock, order online. Done. PK got my order. GLS didn’t.
Both businesses did everything right to get found. Only one of them closed the sale.
Getting Found Is Only Half the Job
This is the part most business owners don’t realize when they’re thinking about marketing.
You put in the work. You’ve got a website, Google presence, social media. And it’s working, because people are finding you. But clicks aren’t sales. Every person who finds you online still has to land somewhere on your website. A product page or a service page and that page has to do its job. It’s got to close that sale, just like a salesperson does.
GLS got me to their website. That’s not nothing. Showing up when someone Googles what you sell is genuinely hard work, and they did it. But the product page couldn’t answer my question. The product page made me more confused, so I left.
That gap between getting found and getting the sale is where most ecommerce businesses lose sales they never even know they lost.
What PK Got Right
Getting found
PK shows up in local search results for landscaping supplies across Woodstock, Marietta, Kennesaw, and surrounding areas. Their site covers the products their customer search for, pine straw, mulch, topsoil, fill dirt, gravel, with clear product names that match. When I searched for fill dirt delivery in Woodstock, they were there.
That’s search engine optimization (SEO) doing its job: making sure the right people find you at the right moment.
The website
This is where PK separated itself from GLS.
The product page told me exactly what I was getting. The title matched the description. I could enter my address and see the delivery cost and could see they delivered to my area. Turnaround was 1–3 business days. Every question I had was answered before I had to ask it.
A clear product page does more selling than any ad campaign.
Getting the order
The ordering process was simple. No confusion about what I was buying or delivery delivery costs. I turned from a visitor or potential buyer to a customer
Bringing customers back
Pine straw and mulch have their busy seasons, but landscaping needs come back every year. A business that captures customer emails and follows up with a spring reminder or a seasonal offer is building long-term revenue on top of a single transaction.
It costs far less to bring back a customer who already trusts you than to find a new one.
What GLS Got Wrong And What It Cost Them
GLS isn’t a bad business. They have over 200 products and have been in business for nearly 50 years of experience. Their SEO was strong enough to show up in #1 with my search.
But the product page lost me in under a minute.
The title and description didn’t match. I didn’t know if I was looking at the right product. In ecommerce, confusion leads to one thing: the customer leaves. I didn’t call to clarify. I didn’t send an email asking for help. I went back to Google and found someone else.
That’s not a marketing problem when GLS showed up. It’s a website problem. And no amount of ad spend, social posting, or email campaigns can fix a product page that sends customers away.
What This Means for Your Business
You don’t need to do everything at once. Most small ecommerce businesses don’t have a full marketing team, and that’s fine. But the order of operations matters.
Start here:
- Make sure your product pages are clear in title matches description so customers knows exactly what they’re getting
- Make sure your service or delivery area is easy to find
- Make sure the ordering process doesn’t make people think twice
Then build outward:
- Add local SEO so people in your area can find you
- Capture emails so you can bring customers back next season
- Consider a small paid ad budget once your site can actually convert the traffic you send it
The channel map works when all the pieces connect. It breaks down when the centerpiece – your website – has gaps that send customers somewhere else.
PK didn’t just get found. They earned the sale by making it easy to say yes.
Not sure where your marketing is breaking down, or where to start? That’s exactly what I do. I help small and mid-size businesses figure out what’s working, what isn’t, and what to fix first and without wasting budget on the wrong things. Let’s talk.
by Cathy Gray | May 16, 2026 | Business, Marketing
I’m a Small Business Owner. Where Do I Even Begin with Digital Marketing on a Small Budget?
You Googled something like “digital marketing for small businesses” and got back a wall of long articles telling you to “create a content strategy,” “build your brand voice,” and “leverage omnichannel touchpoints” or a bunch of ads from marketing agencies. That doesn’t help you when you are trying to grow your business.
Let me tell you a real story instead.
It Started With a Broken Website and No Budget
A few years ago, I was hired as the marketing person for an industrial distributor in Marietta, Georgia. We sold hydraulic fittings and hose assemblies to OEM manufacturers and heavy equipment companies. It’s not exactly the product category most people picture when they think “ecommerce”, but we sold it online to make it easy for customers to purchase.
They had a BigCommerce site that didn’t function properly. Before I got there, their marketing consultant had charged them thousands of dollars just to build a custom header menu. The site was nearly impossible to update. Product management was a nightmare. Essentially what I found was the marketing consultant made the process so that they had security for themselves for a retainer when issues would arise in the future. Oohh it was a mess.
After letting the owner know about the issues, we decided it was best to rebuild. After rebuilding the website scratch over the course of 6 months for about $1,500 for setup, hosting, and functionality, the site went live at the end of the week and had a sale over the weekend. Meanwhile the old site received only one sale over that 6-month period.
That was without a marketing strategy. That was with just a website that worked.
But it’s where everything starts. You cannot market your way around a broken foundation.
Know Who You’re Talking To Before You Spend Anything
Before the website rebuild, before the ads, before any of it, the most important thing I did was understand exactly who was buying.
In this case: procurement managers, maintenance supervisors, and equipment operators at manufacturers who needed parts fast and couldn’t afford downtime making a phone call or sending an email with a long list to order.
That clarity shaped everything. The website was built for them. The ads were written for them. The pricing, the product descriptions, the search terms — all of it pointed at one specific buyer.
You need the same thing. Not a “customer avatar” document. One sentence.
Who specifically buys from me, and what problem am I solving for them?
The answer isn’t “I sell to everyone”. Yeah, I’m sure that is the case, in reality, who do you really serve.
It’s not just “homeowners.” Not “small businesses.” Not “people who want quality.”
You’ve got to be specific in that one sentence. It will tell you everything.
I sell cleaning supplies to “Facilities managers at manufacturing companies who need supplies fast and don’t have time to shop around”.
I serve “Local business owners who need catering for 50+ people that are busy scaling”.
If you can’t answer that, no marketing channel will save you. If you can, every decision below gets easier.
Start With the Free Tools
Before spending a dollar on ads or marketing, set up the tools that tell you what’s actually happening. Honestly, you’d actually be surprised that larger companies don’t do this. So when you do, you’ll have the advantage.
Google Business Profile. If you serve local customers and you haven’t claimed your Google Business Profile, that’s the first thing you do today. Shows up in local search. Lets customers leave reviews. Takes about 20 minutes to set up and has a direct impact on whether people find you when they search “[your service] near me.”
Google Search Console. Connects to your website and tells you exactly what search terms people are using to find you or almost find you. If you don’t know this, you’re guessing. You don’t have to guess. Google will just tell you.
Google Analytics 4. Tells you where your website visitors are coming from, what pages they look at, and where they leave. Set it up once and let it run. You’ll thank yourself in six months when you actually have data to look at.
Microsoft Clarity. This is similar to Google’s free tools, however, you get recordings of what someone does on your website. Combine the visual and data together and it makes a world of a difference
None of these cost money. They all take a few hours to set up. Do them before you buy anything.
Social Media: Choose Based on Where Your Customers Actually Are
The biggest mistake small business owners make with digital marketing is trying to do everything at once and doing none of it well. Instagram, Facebook, email, a blog, Google Ads, TikTok, Pinterest, all of it, half-hearted, updated sporadically, then abandoned because “nothing is working.”
Pick one channel based on where most of your actual customers spend time. Not where you spend time. Not what’s trendy. Where are the people who actually buy what you sell?
- Selling to other businesses (B2B)? Email and LinkedIn.
- Selling products directly to consumers? Instagram or Facebook depending on age demographic.
- Selling something local? Google Business Profile and Facebook.
- Selling something people search for? SEO and Google Ads.
Do that one thing consistently for 90 days before you add anything else.
As a bonus, there are paid apps that will broadcast what you post on one platform to others.
What Platform Should I Be On To Start?
Facebook is still the most useful platform for local businesses and anyone targeting customers 35+. The organic reach has dropped significantly over the years, but Facebook Groups, local community pages, and Facebook Marketplace still drive real business for the right industries. If your customers are local homeowners, tradespeople, or in that 35–55 age range, Facebook is worth your time.
Instagram works best when what you sell is visual: food, products, design, real estate, before-and-after services. If you can show your work, Instagram is a natural fit. If you’re selling something abstract or B2B, it’s harder to get traction and the effort usually isn’t worth it on a small budget.
LinkedIn is the right call if you’re selling to other businesses. It’s the only social platform where people are actively in a professional mindset when they’re scrolling. A plumber probably doesn’t need LinkedIn. A business consultant, sales, a commercial supplier, a staffing firm, an industrial vendor, those should 100% be on there.
TikTok gets a lot of hype. It’s genuinely effective for reaching large audiences fast, but it requires consistent video content and the algorithm favors entertainment over usefulness. Some small businesses have had breakout success on TikTok. Most put in significant effort and see little return. It’s high-risk, high-variance. I wouldn’t make it a priority on a limited budget unless short-form video is something you can sustain and actually enjoy.
Pinterest is underrated for specific niches like home decor, food, fashion, DIY, weddings. If your product or service fits those categories, Pinterest traffic can be significant and surprisingly long-lasting. If it doesn’t, skip it entirely.
The rule that actually matters: don’t be on a platform because you think you should be. Be on it because your customers are there and you can show up consistently. Three solid posts a week on one platform beats one scattered post a week across five.
Posting consistently means something specific: same days, same general format, a clear point of view. People follow accounts that give them something: useful information, entertainment, a behind-the-scenes look at what you actually do. “Buy my stuff” isn’t a content strategy. Showing what you know, what you do, and who you are is.
Keep in mind that businesses that have personality and show what they do as if they’re talking with an old college friend drives more attention.
Your Website Has to Actually Work
A lot of businesses spend money on advertising, driving traffic to a website that doesn’t convert. You pay for people to get there and then they leave.
Back to the Marietta example. The original site had one sale in the 6 months from when I started. The rebuilt site had a sale its first weekend. Same products. Same market. Different website.
A broken or confusing website doesn’t just fail to convert. It actively wastes time and money you spend sending people there.
Before you do any serious marketing, look at your website honestly.
- Does it load fast on a phone? (Test it. Most people are on mobile.)
- Is it immediately clear what you sell and who it’s for?
- Is there a clear next step — call, buy, fill out a form?
- Does it look like a real business?
You don’t need a $10,000 website. You need a clear, fast, and functional one. Fix it before you pay to drive traffic to it. In fact, some of the ugliest, undesigned websites work because they answer what the visitor wants.
Getting Found Online: SEO, Paid Ads, and What to Do First
People search for what you sell, service or product, and there are two ways to show up in Google. You either earn it or you pay for it.
Earning it means SEO, which takes time, usually 3 to 9 months to see real movement. When implemented correctly the traffic is free and it compounds. Once you publish then optimize it down the road, it keeps bringing people in.
Paying for it means Google Ads or social media ads. Paid ads (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.) are immediate but stop the second you stop paying. On a small budget, you can burn through hundreds fast with nothing to show for it.
For most small businesses on a limited budget: invest time in SEO first then use paid ads when you have something specific and measurable to promote: a product launch, a seasonal offer, something with a clear return.
For a landscaping company, basic SEO might mean making sure your website says exactly what you do and where you do it. “Landscaping services in Marietta, GA” on your homepage, a Google Business Profile with photos of your actual work and start collecting reviews.
From there, answer questions your customers are already Googling like “how much does lawn care cost in Marietta” or “best time to aerate a lawn in Georgia.” You’re not competing with national brands. You’re competing with the other landscaping companies in your zip code, and most of them haven’t done much of this.
That’s the opportunity.
When you do run ads, the targeting is more precise than most realize. Say you offer landscaping to homeowners and commercial accounts. You’re not broadcasting the same message to both homeowners and commercial prospects. They are completely different types of buyers but need the same service.
The homeowner campaign might target zip codes within 15 miles of your location, show only on weekends when homeowners are thinking about their yard, skew toward the 35–65 age range, and use an ad that says something like “Spring cleanups starting at $199 — book this week.” You’re not wasting money showing that ad to a property manager at an office park on a Tuesday morning.
The commercial campaign runs Monday through Friday during business hours, targets office parks and commercial corridors in your service area, and leads with something completely different like reliability, recurring contracts, liability coverage. The person signing that contract cares about consistency and professionalism, not a weekend special.
Same company. Same Google Ads account. Two campaigns, each speaking directly to a different buyer. Neither one is expensive to run — the discipline is in the specificity, not the budget size.
Don’t Be Afraid to Look at Your Pricing
Here’s the one nobody talks about. For the Marietta distributor, the owner’s instinct was to show the lowest pricing tier that we offered. I was initially against it and pushed back but implemented it. The sales and customer service team complained and pushed back as the low prices were attracting customer complaints and creating internal friction. During that time, no one liked the online sales.
I eventually took it upon myself and raised the prices. (It was a case of do it now and ask for forgiveness later type of situation.)
The owner noticed a month later when the sales report came in. By then the results were clear: fewer customer complaints, less internal friction, and better margins. The race to the bottom wasn’t winning the business anything.
Pricing is marketing. If your prices are too low, you may be attracting the wrong customers and repelling the right ones. It’s worth examining honestly against the competition and business time before assuming the problem is ad spend, social media presence, or something else.
Email: The Channel You Actually Own
Social media algorithms change. Ad costs go up. Google updates happen. But your email list? That’s yours.
People who gave you their email address voluntarily are the warmest audience you have. They already know you. They already opted in. A simple monthly email with useful information, a relevant offer, or a project you just completed keeps you in front of the people most likely to buy from you again or refer you to someone else.
You don’t need a complicated setup. Mailchimp has a free plan. Start collecting addresses from every customer you have right now. Put a signup form on your website. Make it worth their while: a guide, a discount, a checklist, an answer to a question customers consistently ask.
Build Conversion Before You Chase More Traffic
Getting more visitors to a website that isn’t converting is like filling a bucket with a hole in it. Before you spend more on ads or double down on SEO, look at what’s happening with the traffic you already have.
Once the Marietta site was steady with traffic and sales, I shifted focus from getting more visitors to getting more out of the visitors already coming. Cart abandonment emails. Email marketing sequences. Seasonal promotions to drive sales at the right times.
This is the order that works: fix the foundation, get traffic, then optimize conversion. Most business owners try to do all three at once without a foundation and processes in place then wonder why nothing’s moving.
What Not to Waste Money On
- Buying followers or engagement. They won’t buy from you. They’re not real.
- Boosting Facebook posts with no targeting. You’re paying to show your post to people who have no reason to care.
- Cheap directories or link schemes that promise to get you to page one of Google. They won’t, and some can actually hurt you.
- Redesigning your website before the content is right. A pretty website with no clear message is still a website that doesn’t convert.
- Any agency that guarantees rankings or revenue. Nobody can guarantee search rankings. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to close the deal.
A Realistic Starting Point, Month by Month
Digital marketing doesn’t require a big budget. It requires patience, consistency, and knowing who you’re talking to. Here’s a practical order to follow:
Week 1 Claim your Google Business Profile. Install GA4 and Microsoft Clarity, and connect Google Search Console to your website. These are free and foundational. Do them before anything else.
Weeks 2–3 Look at your website honestly. Check how it loads on a phone. Is it clear what you do and who you do it for? Is there one obvious next step for a visitor? Fix the obvious problems before you send anyone there.
Month 1 Choose your one channel. Set up a simple email list using a free tool like Mailchimp. Start collecting addresses from every customer you already have.
Months 2–3 Show up consistently on that one channel. Post, send emails, or publish, whatever fits your channel, on a predictable schedule. Don’t worry about perfection. Consistency beats perfect every time.
Month 4 and beyond Look at your data. What’s bringing people in? What isn’t? Double down on what’s moving. Add a second channel only when the first is running without you having to think hard about it.
The businesses I’ve seen get the most out of small budgets weren’t the ones who spent the most. They were the ones who stopped trying to do everything, picked a direction, built a foundation, and kept going long enough to see results.
Cathy Gray is an ecommerce and digital marketing professional who helps businesses build measurable online presence. She’s based in Woodstock, Georgia. Questions about where to start? Reach out at coffeewithcathy.net.
by Cathy Gray | May 13, 2026 | Business, eCommerce, Marketing
Two companies sell the same products, to the same customers, in the same geography.
One gets roughly 2,700 organic visitors at its peak. The other gets 58,800 consistently.
I pulled their website data side by side. The gap isn’t random.
Branded vs. Non-branded Traffic
Branded search means someone typing in the company’s name, non-branded is everything else.
Company A gets 17.6% of its traffic from branded searches while Company B gets 3.3%.
What this means for Company A: Most of the people finding them online already know they exist. That’s not bad, it’s great, but it means the website is functioning more like a business card than a sales channel. It’s not bringing in new customers. It’s serving the ones they already have.
What this means for Company B: Almost everyone finding them had no idea who they were before they searched. They looked for a product or a solution and Company B showed up. That’s how online revenue grows, strangers becoming customers.
Comparing the two companies: Company A has a stronger brand recognition, while Company B is lacking in this area. Neither are bad by the way, only areas to improve. If Company A’s business plan is to grow, they would need to concentrate their marketing efforts to gaining new customers through their website. Company B wants to grow, then they will need to work on brand recognition for repeat business.
Real Estate Space On Google
Beyond the standard list of links, Google serves AI Overviews, featured snippets, and other answer features that appear before anyone scrolls. Showing up in those placements means more visibility on the same page.
Company A appears in AI Overviews 0.2% of the time. Company B appears there 2.2% of the time, eleven times more often. Company B also captures 7.2% of Other SERP Features compared to Company A’s 2%.
What this means for Company A: They’re showing up in the standard link list and not much else. Every search results page has more real estate than that: featured boxes, AI-generated answers, quick-answer panels. Not being in them means competitors who are take up more of the page before a buyer ever sees Company A’s name.
What this means for Company B: They’re getting found in more places on the same page. Not just a link in a list: also in the AI answer, the featured box, the quick panel. More placements per search means more chances to get the click.
Comparing the two companies: Company B has a clear advantage here, but this is also the area that changes fastest. AI Overviews and SERP features are relatively new. Company A isn’t locked out, they’re just not there yet. Getting into these placements requires the kind of content that answers specific questions, which is a solvable problem.
Keyword and Customer Intent Breakdown
Keyword and customer intent describes what a searcher is trying to do. Informational means they’re researching, they have a question and want an answer. Navigational means they’re using Google to find a specific company or page they already know about, essentially using the search bar as a shortcut instead of typing a web address. Commercial means they’re comparing options and getting close to a decision. Transactional means they’re ready to buy right now.
Company A has 57.1% of its keywords in the Commercial category (1,700 keywords) but only generates 164 visits from them. Navigational sits at 2.6% with 78 keywords and 81 visits. Company B’s largest bucket is Informational at 69% of keywords, driving 14,000 visits. Company B’s Navigational is 0.9% with 146 keywords and 710 visits. Company B earns 4,400 visits from commercial keywords compared to Company A’s 164.
What this means for Company A: They’re targeting the right searches, people close to a buying decision. The problem is they’re showing up on page 5. The keywords are right. The authority to rank for them isn’t built yet, so the traffic isn’t coming. The navigational traffic is small but functional, people who already know them can find them. That’s the floor, not the ceiling.
What this means for Company B: The informational content came first: articles, guides, answers to questions buyers ask before they’re ready to buy. That content built credibility with Google over time. The commercial traffic followed. Company B’s navigational traffic drives 710 visits from only 146 keywords. The people who are looking for them specifically are finding them without friction.
Comparing the two companies: Company A went straight for the buying-intent terms without building the foundation. Company B built the foundation and the commercial rankings came with it. On navigational, both companies are relatively small in this category as it grows naturally as brand recognition builds. It’s a byproduct of doing the other things right, not something you chase directly.
Where Their Rankings Actually Sit
Organic position refers to where a page appears in Google’s search results. Position 1-3 means top of page one. Position 51-100 means page 5 through page 10. Who really scrolls that far for what they are looking for?
Company A’s rankings are concentrated in positions 51-100. Only 52 keywords sit in positions 4-10. Company B has volume across all position ranges with meaningful presence in positions 1-3, 4-10, and 11-20.
What this means for Company A: The majority of what they rank for is buried. Less than 1% of searchers go past page one. If most of a company’s keywords live in positions 51-100, they’re essentially not ranking from a traffic standpoint — the content exists, Google has indexed it, but it’s not being seen.
What this means for Company B: They’re in the game. Page one and page two are where clicks happen. There are still plenty of keywords in lower positions, which means there’s room to grow. The foundation is there and traffic is coming in at the positions that matter.
Comparing the two companies: This is the most direct reflection of the content strategy difference. Rankings don’t move overnight and they don’t move without a reason. Company B earned those positions over time. Company A’s path forward is building the content that justifies better positions. Google will follow.
AI Search: The Next Layer
AI visibility measures how often AI tools, ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, AI Mode, and Gemini, mention a company and cite its pages when answering questions. Cited pages is the number the AI is actually pulling from as a source. Since both of these companies are eCommerce, this is important because you want your products to show here.
Company A: 129 total mentions, 76 cited pages. Company B: 258 total mentions, 440 cited pages.
What this means for Company A: When someone asks an AI tool about the products they sell, their content isn’t what gets pulled. 76 cited pages means the AI has a narrow view of who they are and what they know. As more buyers start using AI to research purchases before they ever visit a website, being absent from those answers is the same as being absent from Google page one was five years ago.
What this means for Company B: They’re being used as a source. 440 cited pages means AI tools are pulling from their content when they answer questions in a product category. That’s not luck. It’s a direct result of having published content that answers real questions.
Comparing the two companies: The mention count is 2x. The cited pages gap is nearly 6x. That gap traces back to the same root cause as everything else in this comparison: content volume and content type. Company B answered more questions. AI tools have more to cite. Company A can close this, but it starts with the same step: creating content that answers what buyers are actually asking.
What This Actually Means
Company A has a keyword strategy. They know what terms matter in their category. They haven’t built the authority for Google to rank them where those terms pay off.
Company B made one decision early that changed everything. They answered questions before asking for the sale and that content became their rankings. Those rankings became their traffic. That traffic is now their AI citations.
This is a sequence problem, not a volume problem. You can’t skip the foundation and rank for competitive terms. Google doesn’t work that way. Neither does AI.
The traffic gap between these two companies isn’t about budget or luck. It’s about order of operations. That gap is going to widen, not close, without a content investment.
If you see your business as Company A, Company B, or somewhere in between and want to grow, let’s talk. ☕
Contact Me or View My Portfolio
by Cathy Gray | May 12, 2026 | SEO, eCommerce, Marketing
Everyone’s Talking About AIO and GEO. It’s Still Just SEO.
There’s always something new in marketing. A new platform, a new acronym, a new reason to panic and wonder if everything you’ve been doing is suddenly wrong.
Right now, that thing is AIO and GEO.
AIO: AI Optimization. GEO: Generative Engine Optimization. Both are about showing up in AI-generated answers, the kind you see when you search on Google and get a summary at the top before any links, or when you ask ChatGPT a question and it recommends a business or product. The conversation around these has picked up fast, and part of why is that how people search has genuinely changed.
Searches are longer, more specific, and more conversational. People aren’t typing “plumber Atlanta” anymore. They’re asking “who’s the best emergency plumber in Atlanta that works on weekends.” The questions are more detailed because people expect better answers, and AI search is built to meet that expectation.
With that shift comes the usual wave of “you need to completely rethink your strategy.”
You don’t. Here’s why.
What AIO and GEO Actually Are
When someone types a question into Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, or any AI-powered search tool, the answer they get is pulled from somewhere. It’s not made up out of thin air. The AI is reading content, evaluating it, and deciding what’s credible and relevant enough to surface.
That process sounds new. The inputs are not.
AI tools pull from content that is well-written, clearly structured, and trustworthy. They favor sources that answer questions directly. They look at how a site is organized, whether it loads properly, and whether other credible sources reference it. They pay attention to whether the content actually matches what the user is asking.
Sound familiar? It should. That’s SEO. And more specifically, that’s user intent: understanding what someone actually wants when they type something into a search bar, and making sure your content delivers it.
The Fundamentals Haven’t Moved
Here’s the short version of what has always driven search visibility, whether you’re talking about Google in 2015 or an AI answer engine in 2025:
Answer the question people are actually asking. Write clearly. Make your site easy to use and navigate. Build credibility through real information and external references. Stay consistent.
User intent sits at the center of all of it, and as searches get more complex, intent becomes harder to ignore. People are asking layered questions now. They want answers that account for their specific situation, location, budget, or timeline. A generic page that broadly covers a topic isn’t going to cut it the way it once did. Someone searching “what causes low water pressure” is in research mode. Someone searching “plumber near me emergency” is ready to call. Someone searching “how much does a water heater replacement cost in Atlanta for an older home” is somewhere in between: comparing options, factoring in their specific circumstances, not quite ready to commit. The more specific the search, the more specific the content needs to be to match it.
That’s the customer journey. And the businesses that have content built for each stage of it are the ones holding up through every algorithm shift, AI-driven or otherwise.
If you want to see how this translates into actual strategy, here’s how I approach SEO work.
What This Looks Like in the Real World
Let’s say you own a plumbing company in Atlanta. A homeowner asks ChatGPT “who are the best plumbers in Atlanta for emergency calls.” That person is at the bottom of the funnel. They have a problem right now and they need someone they can trust immediately.
The AI isn’t guessing who to recommend. It’s pulling from business listings, review platforms, and content that speaks directly to emergency services, response time, and service area. If your website has a page that clearly explains what you do, who you serve, and what customers say about you: you’re a candidate. If your Google Business Profile is accurate and your reviews are solid: you’re a stronger one.
But you also need content for earlier in the journey. The homeowner who isn’t in crisis yet, just researching, is searching things like “how to prevent frozen pipes” or “signs your water heater is failing.” If your site answers those questions, you build familiarity and credibility before they ever need to call someone. When they do need to call, you’re already the name they recognize.
That full-funnel presence is what AI tools are picking up on. Not just the bottom of the journey, but the trail of useful, trustworthy content that got someone there.
Same principle applies to B2B. A procurement manager searching Perplexity for “industrial hose suppliers in the Southeast” is likely mid-funnel: they know what they need, they’re evaluating options. The AI is going to surface suppliers who have clear product pages, defined service areas, and some level of authority built over time. A supplier who also has content explaining lead times, material specs, or how to choose the right hose for a specific application? That’s someone who showed up earlier in the journey too. That content compounds.
For eCommerce specifically, I covered the revenue impact of this in depth in SEO in eCommerce: Unlocking Revenue Potential.”
Structure: The Part Most Business Owners Haven’t Thought About
This is where it gets a little more under the hood, but it’s worth understanding even at a high level because it directly affects whether AI can read and use your content.
Header Hierarchy
Your website pages have heading levels: H1, H2, H3, and so on. Think of them like an outline. The H1 is your main topic, the H2s are your major points, and H3s break those down further. When AI tools scan a page, they use that structure to understand what the page is about and how the information is organized. A page with one giant block of text and no headers is hard for AI to parse quickly. A page with a clear, logical heading structure makes it easy to pull a relevant answer.
I documented a real example of this in a behind-the-scenes look at a site redesign, where reorganizing the navigation and content structure was part of the ranking strategy.
Most business owners don’t know this is happening. Their web designer built the site to look good, which is fine, but if the heading structure underneath is a mess, it’s working against you in search.
FAQ Sections
AI-generated answers are heavily triggered by questions. If someone asks ChatGPT a specific question and you have a page on your site that directly answers it in a clearly labeled FAQ section, you’re in a strong position to be surfaced. FAQ sections also tend to match the way people actually search now: in full questions rather than short keywords. Adding one to a service page or a blog post isn’t complicated, and the payoff in both traditional SEO and AI visibility is real.
Schema Markup
This one is the most technical, but the concept is straightforward. Schema markup is a small piece of code added to your website that tells search engines exactly what type of content is on a page. It’s like attaching a label to your content so there’s no guessing involved. A local business schema tells Google your name, address, phone number, and hours. A review schema surfaces your star rating directly in search results. An FAQ schema can get your questions and answers displayed right in the search result without someone even clicking through to your site.
You don’t need to write this code yourself: it’s something a developer or a marketing person handles. But knowing it exists and asking whether your site has it is a reasonable question to bring to whoever manages your website. If the answer is no, it’s a gap worth closing.
These three things, clear header structure, FAQ sections, and schema markup, have been best practices in SEO for years. They matter more now because AI tools rely on them heavily to decide what content is clear, credible, and worth surfacing.
So what else needs to change
Beyond structure, a few other things are worth paying attention to.
Match the intent, not just the keyword. A page optimized for “emergency plumber Atlanta” needs to feel urgent and action-oriented. A page targeting “how to prevent frozen pipes” needs to be genuinely informative. The words alone don’t win anymore. The content has to actually fit what the person is looking for at that moment in their journey.
Credibility signals carry more weight. Reviews, third-party mentions, directory listings, and backlinks from credible sources have always helped SEO. They carry even more weight now because AI tools are evaluating trustworthiness, not just relevance.
None of this requires starting over. It requires doing the foundational work well.
The Real Risk Isn’t Falling Behind on AIO
The real risk is getting distracted by the new terminology and neglecting the basics. Businesses that abandon a content strategy that was working to chase the latest optimization trend tend to lose ground, not gain it.
If your SEO foundation is solid: good content mapped to real user intent, a well-organized site, accurate business information, and credibility built over time: you are already set up to show up in AI results. You may need to refine a few things. You probably don’t need to blow anything up.
If your foundation isn’t solid, that’s the actual problem. And it was the problem before AIO and GEO entered the conversation.
The Terminology Changes. The Work Doesn’t
Every few years, the marketing industry rebrands the fundamentals. Sometimes it highlights a real shift in how people search. Sometimes it’s noise.
AIO and GEO are a real enough shift: AI is genuinely changing how search results are presented and how people find information. But the underlying question hasn’t changed. Is your business showing up where your customers are looking, at the right moment in their journey, and when they get there, does your content give them a reason to trust you? Getting found is only half the equation.
If the answer is yes, you’re in better shape than you think. If the answer is no, that’s the work: and it starts with SEO.
Getting found is only half the equation. What happens after the click is where conversion rate optimization comes in.”
Want to talk through where your site stands? That’s exactly the kind of thing I dig into
