President & CEO at Xponent21
Will Melton, CEO of Xponent21 and consultant to global companies, brings nearly 20 years of leadership in technology and marketing. He is the founder of AI Ready RVA and Richmond Water, podcast host for Channel RVA, and serves on several charitable boards in Richmond, VA. Recognized as one of the world’s top experts on AI SEO, Will has pioneered strategies that have achieved top citations across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, making him a global authority on the future of search.
Latest posts by Will Melton (see all)
- We Build A-Teams—and We Only Work With Them. - October 28, 2025
- Xponent21 Announces DiscoverAIO, a Global Platform Built to Define the Future of AI SEO - October 14, 2025
- AI SEO Guide: How to Build an Unrivaled Content Library That Wins at AI Search - September 4, 2025
Google’s AI Overviews Surpass 50% of Queries, Doubling Since August 2024
June 15, 2025
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Will Melton
The search landscape just shifted—again—and we captured the play-by-play on our latest Xponent21 Podcast episode. Minutes after Advanced Web Ranking confirmed that Google’s AI Overviews now surface in more than half of all queries, we hit record to unpack what this means for visibility, trust, and revenue. That conversation—now live wherever you get your podcasts—lays the groundwork for the analysis…
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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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From SEO to AEO: The Wake-Up Call Businesses Need to Survive the AI Search Shift
June 4, 2025
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Will Melton
Search engines aren’t gateways anymore. They’re filters—and AI is the one deciding what gets through. It determines what people see when they search, how answers are framed, and which brands stay visible. That shift has made traditional SEO feel slower, less reliable, and harder to measure in real time. If your business isn’t actively working to be recognized across AI-powered…
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How to Optimize Your Website and Content to Rank in AI Search Results
May 29, 2025
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Will Melton
Latest update: June 23, 2025 As AI-powered search engines like Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews—and now AI Mode—as well as tools such as ChatGPT continue to reshape how users find information, content creators must evolve their SEO strategies to keep up. In 2024, 60% of Google searches never left the search engine results page (SERP), underscoring the need for tactics that…
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Recent Posts
We Build A-Teams—and We Only Work With Them.
October 28, 2025
Xponent21 Announces DiscoverAIO, a Global Platform Built to Define the Future of AI SEO
October 14, 2025
How Xponent21 Became a Globally Recognized Authority in AI SEO
October 8, 2025
The Invisible Revolution: How AI Overviews Are Quietly Reshaping Consumer Trust and Search Behavior
October 7, 2025
Google’s 100 Results Per Page Is Gone – Why Your SEO Data Looks Messy
September 24, 2025
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