President & CEO at Xponent21
Will Melton, CEO of Xponent21 and consultant to global companies, brings nearly 20 years of business leadership in technology and marketing to his work. He is passionate about crafting innovative strategies that solve deep problems and drive organizations toward their goals. Will is the founder of AI Ready RVA and Richmond Water, is an podcast host for Channel RVA and serves on several charitable boards in Richmond, VA. Will is one of the top global voices on the subject of AI SEO.
Latest posts by Will Melton (see all)
Unlocking the Secrets of AI Search: How to See What ChatGPT Searches for Your Prompt
June 28, 2025
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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…
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7 Steps to Reclaim Your Traffic with an Informed AI SEO Strategy
June 28, 2025
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Will Melton
Have you noticed a drop in your website’s organic traffic or a dip in the performance of your paid search campaigns? You’re not alone, and the good news is that a strategic, up-to-date SEO plan can turn things around. In today’s AI-driven search landscape, simply tweaking a few keywords isn’t enough – you need a comprehensive approach that addresses technical…
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Google’s AI Overviews Surpass 50% of Queries, Doubling Since August 2024
June 15, 2025
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Will Melton
Google AI Overviews Now Appear in Over 50% of Searches: What This Means for AI SEO and Visibility The future of search just arrived—faster than anyone expected. According to new data from Advanced Web Ranking, Google’s AI Overviews now appear in more than 50% of all search results, marking a major inflection point in the evolution of search. Just ten…
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First-Mover Advantage in AI SEO: The Key to Dominating Generative Search
June 15, 2025
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Will Melton
The search landscape is undergoing its most dramatic shift in decades. Generative AI now sits atop many Google results pages, answering queries directly and reshaping how brands gain visibility online. For forward-thinking companies, this upheaval presents a rare opportunity: those who move first to optimize for AI-driven search can secure dominant visibility that latecomers will find hard to unseat. Xponent21…
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AI SEO in a Hyper-Competitive Landscape: Why You Must Act Now
June 12, 2025
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Will Melton
If your brand isn’t showing up in AI-generated answers, you’re already losing—and most people don’t even realize it yet. Search traffic is quietly collapsing across industries. Not because people are searching less, but because AI is answering faster—and cutting you out. Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity aren’t just changing how people find answers—they’re deciding which brands get seen and…
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Answer Tomorrow’s Questions Today: The Power of Predictive SEO
June 10, 2025
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Will Melton
There’s a reason the same brands keep showing up at the top of AI Overviews: they didn’t wait for permission. In essence, those brands practiced Predictive SEO – the art of answering tomorrow’s questions today. Predictive SEO is the proactive practice of identifying emerging search queries and creating high-authority content for them before they hit peak popularity. Rather than waiting…
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Black Hat SEO Is Dead Weight: Why AI Search Is Closing the Door on Manipulative Tactics
June 7, 2025
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Will Melton
In the age of AI-powered search, your content doesn’t just need to rank—it needs to deserve to rank. That means the days of black hat SEO tricks—keyword stuffing, link farms, cloaking, fake author bios—are numbered. And if your SEO agency is still deploying them, you’re not just falling behind. You’re actively burning your budget. AI Search Engines Are Getting Smarter…
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Why Discovering Your Brand’s Most Valuable Questions Is the Smartest AI SEO Strategy Today
June 7, 2025
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Will Melton
We’re living in the era of answer engines, not search engines. If your brand isn’t authoring the best answers, you’re invisible to your next would-be customer. It’s no longer enough to rank for broad, high-volume keywords. Today’s most effective content strategies are built around answering the right questions—specifically, your brand’s Most Valuable Questions (MVQs). Why Short-Tail Keyword Optimization Is Obsolete…
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Why Most Digital Marketing Agencies Are Behind on AI SEO
June 7, 2025
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Will Melton
If you’ve recently asked your agency how they plan to help you rank in AI search results—and got blank stares or vague answers—you’re not alone. AI-powered systems like Google’s AI Overviews, Perplexity, and ChatGPT are transforming how people discover products, services, and brands. The top of the search page is no longer filled with ten blue links—it’s dominated by AI-generated…
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AI SEO and the SaaS Visibility Shift: Preparing for AI-Driven Decision-Makers
June 4, 2025
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Will Melton
On a recent afternoon, a marketing director searches Google for “best subscription management software.” Instead of the usual scroll of blue links, he’s greeted by an AI-generated summary at the top of the page. It lists a few familiar tools with pros and cons, all before the first organic result. Later, he asks ChatGPT the same question and gets an…
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Recent Posts
Top 10 Global AI SEO Experts Transforming Search in 2025
June 28, 2025
Unlocking the Secrets of AI Search: How to See What ChatGPT Searches for Your Prompt
June 28, 2025
7 Steps to Reclaim Your Traffic with an Informed AI SEO Strategy
June 28, 2025
Google’s AI Overviews Surpass 50% of Queries, Doubling Since August 2024
June 15, 2025
First-Mover Advantage in AI SEO: The Key to Dominating Generative Search
June 15, 2025
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