Originally posted on my Signal & Friction Substack August 14, 2026 As organizations try to understand why brands appear in AI-generated answers, studies such as AirOps’ 2026 State of AI Search are beginning to provide meaningful insights and actions. There is a great deal of useful information in the report. There is a lot here that I agree […]
Every significant website migration carries risk. From a search perspective, the more things change, the higher the chance of failure. Over two decades of seeing migrations go wrong—from redesigns to replatforming—I’ve found that most disasters aren’t caused by “Google updates” or “bad luck.” They happen because teams underestimate how interconnected every page is. A high-performing
Why Site Migrations Fail — and How to Prevent It Read More »
In a forthcoming Substack article, “Who Is the GEO Coach?”, I describe that role as “a focused version of a Digital Effectiveness Officer — someone charged with making sure the ‘search slice’ of the digital engine is healthy, performant, and well-aligned.” That line deserves some unpacking. For many organizations, the GEO mandate may be the
From GEO Coach to DEO to VP of Answers: The Leadership Path in the Answer Economy Read More »
Every digital leader is under pressure to drive growth, improve efficiency, and maximize returns. Most invest heavily in martech, media, and content. But despite all of that effort, the results often plateau. You don’t see the expected lift. You can’t quite explain the gap. Here’s why: Most enterprise websites are leaking revenue—silently, invisibly, and continuously.
Your Website Is Leaking Money: 4 Hidden ROI Killers No One’s Monitoring Read More »
In both private equity-backed companies and brand licensing conglomerates, growth is the mandate. But too often, performance breaks down at the execution layer—not because the vision is flawed, but because the systems, teams, and tools aren’t aligned to deliver it. Enter the Digital Effectiveness Officer (DEO). In our first article on the DEO role, we
The DEO in Private Equity and Brand Licensing: Operationalizing Performance at Scale Read More »
The effectiveness of an integrated and collaborative approach also became one of the key realizations in my Epiphany Series—that the Strategists at Global Strategies and internal search teams I helped build at numerous Fortune 100 companies were effectively doing much of the DEO role for clients long before the title existed. Through embedded strategists and
In an era where digital transformation has become table stakes, most companies have invested heavily in platforms, tools, and talent. But despite all the activity, results remain inconsistent. Channels fire, but conversions lag. Teams ship work, but nothing connects. Strategies are approved, but never fully realized. That’s because the most significant barrier to performance today
The Role of the Digital Effectiveness Officer: Why and Why Now Read More »
What is digital effectiveness? It’s a question I didn’t fully understand until I had to answer it myself, under pressure. Fifteen years ago, a former colleague who had taken over web and digital at a Fortune 50 company reached out to me. He needed someone outside the internal politics—someone who could be trusted to evaluate
From Metrics to Meaning: My Journey into Digital Effectiveness Read More »
Refocused on Global Web Effectiveness For the past five years, I have primarily focused on managing hreflang management as a full-service and creating a world-class SAAS solution with Hreflang Builder. Now that I have sold Hreflang Builder, I want to return to doing the work that I enjoy—solving problems and helping improve website effectiveness. These past years
Refocused on Global Web Effectiveness Read More »
