“The elk team has dramatically increased our site traffic and brand awareness through their targeted SEO approach. We’re now ranking for over 52,000 non-branded keywords on search, and continue to see this number increase! At the start of our relationship, elk quickly developed a customized approach to help us reach our goals. They’ve followed through on this plan and continue to go the extra mile to help us continue to promote our luxury loungewear. We’ve really enjoyed working with a company that cares so much about our success, and celebrates each victory with us as they would their own.”
Search Engine Optimization +
Generative Engine Optimization
Build For Search.
Structure For AI.
AI SEO Has Arrived
SEO is expanding. Is your business prepared for the GenAI future?
218%
Non-Brand
Keyword Growth
1,002%
SERP Features & AI
Overviews Growth
69%
Non-Brand
Clicks Growth
Platforms
Claim Your Free Audit
Uncover how your site performs in both traditional and AI-driven search. Get a free audit of your technical and AI SEO strengths.
Case Study Claim Your Free Audit
Unlock Your Non-Brand Potential.
Our team of experts can help you future-proof your SEO approach with data-informed strategies that establish topical authority & drive long-term brand growth.
Partners with:
The elk Difference
Our Pillars
Coordinated SEO+AEO Strategies
Combine time-tested SEO fundamentals with forward-looking AI search strategies to ensure your brand will stay visible as search evolves.
Technical SEO
A fast, technically sound, mobile-first site is a foundational requirement for traditional SEO and gen-AI search optimization.
Content Strategy
Develop highly structured, deeply connected content to build topic authority, capture user intent, and boost visibility for your brand.
Authority Building
Blend PR and publisher outreach to grow positive media mentions in the places that matter most to traditional and AI search systems.
Optimize for Tomorrow & Today
SEO + AEO Expand on SEO fundamentals to gain visibility in AI surfaces.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO isn’t dead, but it is evolving. Core SEO best practices that help you rank higher on Google are more important than ever.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
AEO is the practice of optimizing content so it can be retrieved, cited, and summarized by LLM answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
Combining the Best of Both Worlds
SEO and AEO go hand-in-hand. AEO doesn’t replace SEO, it expands on it. Gen-AI systems leverage different retrieval mechanics, but they share core search engine fundamentals.
Future Proof Your Optimization Approach
Traditional search isn’t going away, but the emerging realities of zero-click Gen-AI systems can’t be ignored. Optimize for both worlds with chunks, clusters, and citations.
Chunks Structure content for chunk retrieval with answer-forward optimization.
Chunk Retrieval
Generative search optimization focuses on optimizing content to be broken down into discrete, retrievable passages.
Structure Everything
Content designed to surface for AI search should be highly structured, marked up with schema, and ready for citation. Feed the machines the answers they want.
Be the Best Answer
Remove the fluff and address query intent by answering specific questions with succinct answers.
Build Blocks Worthy of Citation
Clean, question-focused, self-contained chunks are the entry ticket for consideration in generative AI answers.
Clusters Build deep topical authority with clusters that address user intent.
Establish Topical Authority
Clusters give AI models more chunks to retrieve, more reasons to trust you, and more context to cite you. Own the topics that matter most to your business.
Address Query Fan Out
Address the next question with the next answer. Capture different levels of user intent with exhaustive deep dives into content that matters.
Connect Your Content
Produce content with a plan. Consider your overall taxonomy. Build hubs with a purpose to make the whole greater than the sum of each part.
Semantic Understanding
Structure your content so that machines can understand it, not just crawl it. Think past keywords and develop true value for your customers.
Citations Be mentioned where it matters most. Be the source worthy of citation.
Build Your Brand With Quality References
Models use citations to validate and synthesize answers. If others cite you, AI will too.
LLMs Learn From Cited Domains
Large Language Models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s Gemini are trained and fine-tuned using data from high-authority, high-signal domains.
LLMs Prefer Citing Familiar, Trusted Sites
AI models often bias toward sources they’ve seen frequently during training or retrieval.
Think Beyond Links
In AI language space, mentions matter as much as backlinks do in SEO. Digital PR is a strategy that can no longer be ignored.
Data-Driven, ROI-Focused
Our Process
Step 1
Technical Site Audit
Get your site right and establish a solid technical foundation.
- Crawl your site to surface areas for improvement
- Identify indexing challenges and missing elements
- Reduce errors and optimize crawl rate
- Provide a clear site structure that’s easy for bots to crawl and interpret
Step 2
Build Amazing Content
Comprehensive content evaluation and strategic planning.
- Review competitors and your own content footprint
- Identify gaps and opportunities
- Build topic authority with exhaustive, connected content
- Go beyond keyword research and address answers for key topics
Step 3
Earn Mentions
Gain valuable references from trusted sources.
- Boost your brands reputation with quality offsite signals
- Expand your digital PR efforts to establish your reputation
- Build links and mentions that will get your site noticed
ONGOING
Optimize, Revise, & Expand
Refined strategies that adapt to the evolving search landscape.
Regular site crawls and technical reviews
Optimize existing pages to maximize performance
Refresh dated content for fresh consideration
Expand content coverage to address different user intents
Collaborate on creative briefs and content direction
Ongoing reporting and project prioritization
Why Growth SEO™
At elk Marketing, we don’t just do SEO, we engineer it to perform.
Our team of experts has mastered every facet of search, from crawling and indexing to content strategy and link building. We blend technical precision, full-funnel keyword strategy, and authoritative content to elevate your visibility and drive sustainable, compounding growth. Whether you’re in DTC eCommerce, B2B, SaaS, CPG, or local services, we deliver SEO solutions tailored to your business. That means fixing the technical issues holding you back, building content that outranks competitors, and acquiring backlinks and brand mentions that actually move the needle.
We don’t just chase rankings. We harness the evolving landscape of search to increase revenue.
Are you confident your current agency is maximizing your search potential? Request a Free SEO Audit Today.
Tools we utilize
Audit Tools
Experts dive deep into performance data to identify the key issues preventing significant growth, and untapped opportunities to reach the right audience.
Content Planning, Briefing, and Optimization Tools
Content is the pathway to discovery, and our tools aid in crafting topically-focused and comprehensive content strategies that establish authority in Search and beyond.
AI-Optimization Tools and Reporting
While humans always have the final say, AI-assisted tools and workflows accelerate and enrich the process from concept to implementation. AI reporting tools can help your brand monitor presence and market share across AI search.
Tracking & Measurement Tools
Goals require metrics, and metrics must be measured to ensure progress is being made. We measure and report against agreed upon KPIs, summarize performance in dashboards, and monitor ongoing health and performance data to adapt to an ever-changing market.
GEO
SEO
AI SEO
What Is GEO?
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization, a natural evolution of SEO in the emerging world of AI-driven search. While traditional SEO focuses on rankings in search engines, GEO is all about optimizing your content to be retrieved, cited, and summarized by generative AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google Gemini.
How Is GEO or AI SEO Different From Traditional SEO?
The mechanics of GenAI data retrieval are different from the mechanics of traditional search engines. Large language models don’t crawl and index content. AI surfaces don’t rank pages. Instead, these Generative AI models attempt to understand content by considering context, structure, and citation relevance.
Generative search optimization focuses on optimizing content to be broken down into discreet, retrievable passages. Content designed to surface for AI search should be highly structured, marked up, and ready for citation. Earning mentions from high-authority, third-party sources is also critical. By building your brand into a reputable powerhouse for topic authority and structuring question-focused, intent-based content for maximum retrieval, you can increase your site’s ability to earn references in AI surfaces.
How Do SEO and GEO Strategies Work Together?
We believe that SEO and GEO go hand in hand. GEO doesn’t replace SEO, it expands on it.
Technical SEO fundamentals like crawlability, speed, site structure, clear navigation are requirements for any successful SEO or GEO strategy.
We architect content to be easily pulled, quoted, and referenced by GenAI systems. This means structuring your content so that machines can understand it, not just crawl it. We develop deep topic authority with FAQs, structured answers, and semantic chunking at the forefront.
We help earn visibility through mentions, PR citations, and trusted external sources—because AI models value context over link volume.
Traditional search isn’t going away, but the emerging realities of zero-click Gen-AI systems can’t be ignored. We believe that a dual SEO + GEO strategy sets brands up for successful growth today and into the future.
Brands We’ve Worked With for SEO Strategy
“Their team is always transparent and willing to make adjustments to accommodate us. Since implementing the changes recommended by the elk Marketing team, we’ve seen over a 60% increase in total ranking keywords and a 70% increase in keywords ranking in the top three positions on Google. We’re always impressed with the elk team’s professionalism and expertise in the industry.”
- eCommerce, SEO
“We appreciate the collaboration and communication from elk and have had great success in the projects that they have spearheaded.”
- eCommerce, Paid Search, SEO
“The elk team has helped us reach numbers we’ve never seen before on our eCommerce site. The SEO and paid media initiatives that they’ve implemented have increased our website traffic, domain authority, and site strength. They’ve also guided us in Improving the strategy for our distribution and manufacturer site, which has helped our business growth overall.”
- eCommerce, Paid Social, SEO
“The elk team understands our industry and are experts in eCommerce SEO. They also scaled our Facebook and Google ads helping us reach more people and driving more revenue than we’ve ever seen from these channels. Our ROI as well as the relationship we have with the team, gives us complete confidence in ELK and the work that they are doing for Melton Tackle.”
- eCommerce, Paid Social, PPC