Unless you live under a rock, you know AI is changing everything in the digital marketing space.
But when we sent several of our team members to brightonSEO & HeroConf San Diego, it wasn’t just another convention filled with the typical cliche talking points about how AI is changing everything.
Instead, our team walked away with real, in-depth strategies and started planning how we can improve everything from how our clients are found in search to how they better connect with their local audience on social.
Here are some major takeaways from a few of our Melons who attended this year’s convention!
Kirsten Smith, Senior Director of Client Experience
SEO is NOT dead. GEO is more like SEO’s little brother: same genes, different personality. The fundamentals still matter, but visibility now also depends on where your business is being mentioned and whether your website is easy for AI crawlers to understand. Paid search and SEO also can’t be siloed anymore. They need to work together as search continues to evolve. Video is becoming increasingly important too, especially as AI cites more video content and YouTube grows as a source for discovery. At the same time, AI should be a tool, not something we become reliant on. It doesn’t know what you know or always understand the full context behind a business, so we still need people asking the right questions, bringing ideas and thinking strategically.
Liz Anguiano, Social Media Content Creator
One of my biggest takeaways was how much more connected social and search are becoming. People aren’t just searching on Google anymore. We’re searching while streaming, scrolling, shopping and watching videos, which was summed up really well with the “4S Framework” (Streaming, Social, Scrolling, Shopping = Searching). It made me think more about creating content around what people are actually searching for instead of just what we want to post. That could even mean using questions that come up in client meetings to identify FAQs and turn those into useful social, video and SEO/GEO content. I also loved the reminder that virality is relative. If a page has 100 followers and consistently gets 700 views, that can be viral for that page, and even 100 views is still an auditorium full of people seeing your content.
Megan Murphy, Senior Director of Paid Media & Innovation
My hot take: “Best practices” are often just what worked six months ago. Paid media changes too quickly for campaigns to be “set it and forget it,” especially as we rely more on AI-powered campaigns like Performance Max and Demand Gen. The setup and signals you give AI from the start are critical because AI doesn’t automatically have the context it needs to succeed. This concept is known as the “Sensor Law”: AI is only as good as the sensors feeding it. Creative is just as important, especially as people become quicker to gloss over ads that look and feel the same. Video is becoming a bigger part of that equation and is increasingly needed for successful AI-powered campaigns. The biggest reminder for me was that you can’t simply put more money behind a campaign and expect better results. You need the right setup, signals and creative working together, and you have to keep learning and adjusting along the way.
Shea Morton, Client Success Manager
The traditional search funnel really isn’t linear anymore. Instead, consumers are moving through more of a “Verification Loop,” using AI to explore their options before turning to Google, reviews and social media to validate what they find. That makes having complete and accurate business information across platforms even more important, especially when consumers are encountering incorrect local information through AI. Reputation and social media have also become important parts of how people validate a business before taking action. For businesses, it’s no longer just about ranking on Google. It’s about making sure customers find consistent, trustworthy information wherever they go to research and verify.
Bringing What We Learned Back to the Patch
The best part of attending an event like brightonSEO isn’t just filling a notebook with new ideas. It’s figuring out which ones can make a meaningful difference for the businesses we work with.
As search, social media, content and AI continue to evolve, the Melon Local team is continuing to learn right alongside them. We’re taking what we learned in San Diego, putting it into practice and looking for new ways to help local businesses stay visible wherever their customers are searching.
From search and social to paid media and lead gen, we’re always looking for smarter ways to help local businesses grow. Explore our website and learn more about how we can grow together at MelonLocal.com!