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Field notes on content engines

Tactics, frameworks, and the unvarnished truth about getting found on Google, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, and whatever else comes next.

All GEO SEO AIO & AEO Brand Voice B2B SaaS Behind the Engine

FeaturedGEO·14 min read

Why your “SEO strategy” stopped working in 2026 – and what an AI-first Content OS replaces it with

If your traffic curves are bending downward while your competitors’ AI citations are bending up, you’re not behind on SEO – you’re behind on GEO. Here’s the engine architecture that ships content rankable across every surface, not just Google.

Robin Burkeman · May 18, 2026

CO/S

ICP

SEO9 min

Stop “writing for your ICP.” Write to the query they actually type at 11pm.

A practical exercise for turning persona docs into the long-tail queries that win mid-funnel intent.

May 10, 2026Read →

GEO

GEO11 min

The seven content patterns Perplexity actually cites (and the four it ignores)

We analyzed 1,200 cited URLs across 80 B2B queries. The pattern isn’t subtle – it just isn’t what SEO told you to do.

May 4, 2026Read →

AEO

AEO7 min

AEO is the new “above the fold” – and 84% of B2B sites are still failing it

Answer Engine Optimization isn’t just FAQ schema. Here’s the structural test we run on every page in 60 seconds.

Apr 27, 2026Read →

VOICE

Brand Voice8 min

“Sounds AI-written” is a brand-voice problem, not a model problem

Three signal-to-noise edits that make GPT-grade drafts feel unmistakably yours – and why brand voice training pays back in 4 weeks.

Apr 21, 2026Read →

B2B

B2B SaaS12 min

What we learned from running content engines for 23 Series A SaaS companies

Patterns in what worked, what didn’t, and the one mistake that cost three of them six months of organic growth.

Apr 14, 2026Read →

AIO

AIO6 min

The AI Overview hijack: when Google starts answering for you

If you’re losing top-of-funnel traffic but ranking #1, AI Overviews are eating your clicks. Here’s the structural fix.

Apr 7, 2026Read →

PILLAR

SEO10 min

Content pillars vs topic clusters vs hub-and-spoke – pick one, then commit

Three IAs, one inconvenient truth: most teams pick the wrong shape because they over-index on internal navigation.

Mar 31, 2026Read →

ENGINE

Behind the Engine5 min

Inside the 24-stage pipeline behind every Upfront-AI content sprint

From URL → ICP → topic ideation → publishing – a transparent look at every step the engine actually runs.

Mar 24, 2026Read →

METRICS

SEO9 min

The four metrics we threw out of our content dashboard in 2026

Bounce rate. Time-on-page. Pageviews per session. Total traffic. Why each one stopped being useful – and what replaced them.

Mar 17, 2026Read →