Will Melton
Screenshot of Open AI's Atlas Browser and ChatGPT. AI is changing how people search.

AI Search Visibility: Quantifying the Brand Exposure Advantage

November 2, 2025
 / 
Will Melton
For most of the internet era, visibility in search has been a simple equation: higher rank, more attention. Users typically viewed only a handful of links, and the majority of clicks went to the first two or three results. The remaining pages, however valuable, were rarely seen. This pattern defined what we now call organic search visibility. Today, AI search…

Read More
Image

We Build A-Teams—and We Only Work With Them.

October 28, 2025
 / 
Will Melton
On one particularly frustrating day a few years ago, Courtney Turrin, our Chief Work Officer, turned to me and said, “I feel like I’m on the B-team, and I’m not a B-team player.” What she said hit me like a ton of bricks. She was right. We needed to change things. Like everyone who came before us, we didn’t always…

Read More
Image

Xponent21 Announces DiscoverAIO, a Global Platform Built to Define the Future of AI SEO

October 14, 2025
 / 
Will Melton
Richmond, VA — October 14, 2025 — Xponent21, a global leader in AI search optimization strategy, today announced DiscoverAIO, a new platform built to educate, empower, and connect professionals shaping the future of AI SEO. Launching in early access this fall and officially debuting on January 1, 2026, DiscoverAIO will serve as the central hub for marketers, agencies, and business…

Read More
AI SEO Guide: How to Build a Content Library that Wins AI Search-min

AI SEO Guide: How to Build an Unrivaled Content Library That Wins at AI Search

September 4, 2025
 / 
Will Melton
AI-driven search is rewriting the rules of content marketing. Gone are the days when simply ranking on page one for a few high-volume keywords was enough. Today, generative AI search engines like Google’s SGE and ChatGPT are answering users’ questions directly – and citing the sources they trust. If your brand isn’t the one being quoted, you might as well…

Read More
traditional SEO vs GEO or AI SEO

Don’t Throw Out the Baby With the Bathwater — Why SEO Still Matters in the Age of AI SEO and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

September 3, 2025
 / 
Will Melton
The “Baby With the Bathwater” Moment “SEO is dead! Long live AI!” If you’ve heard this lately, you’re not alone. There’s a rush of hype suggesting we should toss out everything we know about SEO just because generative AI is shaking up search. It’s a classic “don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater” situation – people are ready to…

Read More
ai seo, geo, aeo marketing soup

The Alphabet Soup of SEO: What AEO, AIO, GEO, and AISEO Mean for Your Strategy

August 23, 2025
 / 
Will Melton
What’s up with digital marketing experts and all of their acronyms? If you’ve been in the SEO game for a while, you know the constant scramble to label and redefine what we’re already doing: optimizing content so people (and now, AI-driven platforms) can actually find it. Sure, the tools and technologies have evolved—ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI summaries on Google—but the core…

Read More
Graphic depicting a brand being recommended by generative AI.

What It’s Like When Your Business Ranks at the Top of AI Search Results

August 17, 2025
 / 
Will Melton
A year ago, we weren’t generating organic leads from our website. Today, most days bring at least one—often several—inquiries from companies that already see us as the experts. They don’t need convincing. They’ve seen our name cited in AI answers, recommended as the authority, and when they arrive on our site, they’re ready to buy. That’s what it’s like when…

Read More
AI SEO Case Study - Explosive Growth in Under 12 Months

Xponent21’s AI SEO Case Study — Engineering the Top Spot in AI Search

August 9, 2025
 / 
Will Melton
In mid-2024, our agency Xponent21 faced a surprising kind of identity crisis. We had pulled off something big – launching Richmond Water, a sustainable hydration brand that became a local sensation. The project got press coverage and community buzz; Richmond Water was a growing brand on social media, at events, and with partners throughout the community. Yet the team behind…

Read More
Image

[Portfolio] AMSOIL / Factory Direct Oil

July 31, 2025
 / 
Will Melton
We partnered with Factory Direct Oil—an official AMSOIL affiliate—to deliver a custom WordPress website built to boost organic search visibility, drive sales, attract fleet and wholesale customers, and support future content growth. With UX tailored to different vehicle types, SEO-focused infrastructure, and seamless affiliate integration, the new site offers a cleaner, faster, and more strategic experience. Early results show a 370% increase in impressions—positioning the site as a powerful launchpad for long-term digital growth.…

Read More
Screenshot of The ChatGPT Search Query Extractor

Unlocking the Secrets of AI Search: How to See What ChatGPT Searches for Your Prompt

June 28, 2025
 / 
Will Melton
As AI-driven search becomes central to how people discover and trust information, understanding how large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT think—and more importantly, how they search—is now a true competitive edge. A new, brilliantly simple tool created by Ziggy Shtrosberg, a search engine optimization professional and Senior Technical SEO Analyst at 26PMX, gives us an unprecedented look into this hidden…

Read More