F*ck It, Here's My $100M SEO Strategy

Summary

Eric Siu argues that SEO is evolving into “search everywhere optimization”: companies should build visibility across Google, AI answer engines, YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, and other platforms—not rely on Google rankings alone.

His strategy for large brands combines current, consolidated content; brand authority and positive sentiment; AI Overview optimization; and native content distribution across channels. He stresses that traffic alone is not the measure of success: SEO should ultimately be tied to leads, conversions, and revenue.

Playbooks and Operational Tactics

Optimize for Search Across Platforms

• Build visibility on Google and AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, as well as YouTube, LinkedIn, and Reddit.
• Treat reviews, citations, videos, and discussions across the web as brand signals—not just keyword rankings and backlinks.
• Publish and update content regularly. Siu says AI answers often draw on recently updated material.

Rebalance Content Toward Commercial Intent

• Consider shifting the content mix from a traditional, informational-heavy approach toward roughly 50% transactional and 50% informational content. Some businesses may favor as much as 80% transactional content.
• Prioritize useful commercial formats such as “best X,” product comparisons, and alternatives pages—for example, “best marketing agencies” or “Salesforce alternatives.”

Consolidate, Update, and Prune Content

• Audit pages for rankings, traffic, and conversions using analytics, Search Console, and SEO tools.
• Combine overlapping pages into comprehensive resources, update valuable pages, and delete thin or outdated pages.
• Aim to make the site easier for search engines and AI systems to crawl and cite.
• Siu compares this to maintaining a garden: regularly organize useful material and remove what no longer serves a purpose.

Format Pages for Google AI Overviews

• Review the AI Overviews appearing for target searches and examine what they summarize.
• Add three concise bullet points near the top of relevant pages to state the key takeaways.
• Siu says this format can increase mentions within days. He points to CNBC’s article key-point summaries as an example.

Repurpose Content, but Publish Natively

• Treat a long-form podcast or video as a “pillar” asset, then create mid-form and short-form clips and adapt them for each platform.
• Match each platform’s conventions: for example, use strong video packaging and retention on YouTube, a business-focused post on LinkedIn, and concise posts or threads on X.
• Cross-posting can extend reach, but content should be formatted and written for each platform rather than reused unchanged.

Use Programmatic SEO with Human Quality Control

• Templated pages can still work when they provide useful, well-designed content—for example, destination pages, activity lists, or downloadable templates.
• Siu suggests a human-in-the-loop process: machines may generate most pages while editors review a random sample. If the sample reveals systematic problems, revise the template or code before scaling.
• Keep pages fresh over time, including by updating links and adding FAQs where appropriate.

Measure Business Outcomes

• Connect SEO activity to conversions and revenue, not only rankings, impressions, or visits.
• Siu says this is necessary to demonstrate ROI to stakeholders, but the detailed attribution method is not explained in the video.

Metrics and Examples Cited

These figures are as stated by Siu in the video, not independently verified:

• He cites an Ahrefs study suggesting AI Overviews may reduce clicks by about 30–40%.
• He says roughly 90–95% of ChatGPT results draw on content updated within the previous 12 months; the transcript gives both figures.
• Single Grain’s ClickFlow product reportedly saves its SEO team about 90 hours per month.
• An approximately 80-minute podcast episode can produce 5–10 derivative pieces, including clips of roughly 5–10 minutes and short-form videos of around 60–90 seconds.
• A Marketing School Instagram clip about a Shake Shack discount reportedly received 8 million views.
• A video about ChatGPT ads reportedly received around 80,000 Instagram views and led the T-Mobile CEO, DJ Afrojack, and NBA player Hassan Whiteside to follow the account.
• A LinkedIn post announcing a feature for the company’s Carrot account-based marketing software reportedly received around 200,000 views, drove about 800 leads, and generated roughly 100 enterprise-qualified leads, including leads from publicly traded and multibillion-dollar companies.
• Siu says Marketing School had nearly 2,000 reviews and commonly appeared near the top for searches for the best marketing podcast.
• A long-form interview with Seth Godin reportedly reached about 100,000 views after initially gaining traction slowly.

Sources and People Mentioned

Presenter: Eric Siu.

People, companies, platforms, and tools cited: Neil (Siu’s Marketing School co-host); Seth Godin; Eric Schmidt; Ahrefs; CNBC; Google Analytics; Google Search Console; ClickFlow; Single Grain; Carrot; Stanley; Metricool; ChatGPT; Perplexity; Gemini; Grok; YouTube; LinkedIn; Reddit; X; Instagram; TikTok; Snapchat; TripAdvisor; Expedia; Airbnb; Canva; Salesforce; HubSpot; Shake Shack; T-Mobile; Afrojack; Hassan Whiteside.