The HOTH: High Authority Backlinks, Optimized Content, and SEO

Through training on web-scale data and RAG (retrieval-augmented generation), LLMs are forging a second index of the internet.
Here’s what we mean.
Google’s massive search index (the first index) is based on syntax.

If there are no keyword rankings or click-through rates, how do I know if I’m winning?
This is the situation many search marketers now find themselves in when trying to track AI search visibility.
Classic SEO metrics like position rankings and CTRs completely miss instances where your brand appears in AI-generated answers....

Here’s something all search marketers need to know.
Keyword coverage by itself no longer cuts the mustard for building sustainable online visibility.
Instead, entity-based SEO is now table stakes.

User reviews on platforms like Google and Yelp have evolved from static reputation markers to multi-faceted trust signals.
Here’s how.
Before LLMs (large language models) took over the search landscape, classic search algorithms treated reviews as numerical proxies for brand quality....