brightonSEO October breakdown
Updated: 3 days ago
The ADA Digital team were back in Brighton for October’s brightonSEO, the biggest search marketing event in the world. We can never get enough of the seaside city and managed to hit a few foodie spots while soaking in all the performance marketing expertise, insights and need-to-knows.
As you can guess AI was the hottest topic yet again! Speakers were sharing how marketers and businesses should be using AI to reduce friction, streamline your workload and show up in AI overviews. We have even more AI search info to share with our clients and inject into our strategies. But first this Autumn’s brightonSEO…
In this blog post we’ll share our key takeaways:
Messages that underpinned all talks
We sat in hours of talks by industry experts, so you didn’t have to! These messages came up time and time again, and really got us thinking.
Transcribe your lead calls
The best data of what your target audience is asking
Customer voices + inhouse experts = great content
The best data is your own
Serve the people that are searching
Everyone used Nike running shoes as an example - should we start an ADA Digital run club?!
Let’s get into it…
How E-E-A-T is more important than ever
In the world of AI search, Google’s principles of E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness are key. AI engines, search engines and potential customers are figuring out who you and your brand are. From looking at your website, reviews, socials and other sources they’re working out if you’re an expert they can rely on and trust.
Adding E-E-A-T signals to your website goes a long way to show who you and your team are. Consider an about us page with team bios, and then adding those same people as authors on your content. Don’t forget to add internal links and your own images to bring it all together.
A podcast is also a great way to build your brand and your brand’s ecosystem across the web. Sarah McDowell, co-founder of The SEO Mindset podcast spoke at Brighton, about how a podcast is the perfect E-E-A-T strategy. Whether you host your own podcast or are a guest speaker, it’s an opportunity to show your expertise and experience. Plus you can repurpose your podcast into blog content, email newsletters and social graphics.
We’re in our multi-platform search era
As marketers we’re used to working across multiple channels, think YouTube, PPC ads, socials and PR to amplify your business. And AI is just another search platform for our campaigns. It’s another way to reach customers and get them onboard with your brand.
Abbie Dando, Director of Strategy at Monday Clicks shared her insights and framework for turning visibility into conversions across the web. From diving into socials for keywords and data to making CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation) part of every strategy. It’s clear that whether you work in-house or as an agency every department needs to come together to drive the most visibility and boost CTR (click-through-rates).
Something we do at ADA Digital, whether it’s creating niche, targeted landing pages for PPC, or aligning recent blog posts with social reels and YouTube.
Read more: The AI verdict: SEO is still very much alive
Optimising for Google search alone is not enough
A message that really stood out to us was:
You have to ask yourself, if you deleted your website tomorrow, would AI have enough information from other sources to recommend you?
AI is connecting the dots across the internet, so your brand presence needs to extend beyond your website. Social media, PR, reviews, and third party mentions all help AI build a clearer picture of who you are, what you do and who you serve.
Consistency is key - Reinforce the same brand messaging across channels to help AI understand and recommend you to the right audience.
Social is search - People and AI models use platforms like Instagram and Linkedin to discover brands, research problems and find answers.
Create demand, don't just capture it - Content that introduces a problem can spark further searches across social, Google and AI platforms.
In the age of AI it's key to remember not to just optimise for search engines. Build a brand that people talk about, search for and trust across the internet.
Stories not search volume
As SEO specialists we’re clued in on search volume whether it’s for prompts or keywords. But with the fast-pace of life around us waiting for search data means you’re one step behind. By the time a story or trend has search volume it’s over.
Instead community mentions should be the heart of a content and multi-channel strategy. Look towards socials for stories, look at what questions people are asking and why to create your content. Reddit was a hot topic at brightonSEO and for many it’s a great starting point for finding topics that are related to your business and creating engaging content that answers queries your potential customers are asking.
What’s crucial for one brand’s GEO is irrelevant to another
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with GEO. There’s a lot of advice out there about what brands should be doing to improve their visibility in AI search, covering everything from building authority and earning mentions on authoritative sites to llms.txt. But the reality is that not every brand needs to focus on the same things at the same time.
Think Maslow's hierarchy of needs, or even better, Mozlow's hierarchy of SEO needs. The same principle applies to GEO. You need to establish the right foundations before you can move on to more advanced tactics. There’s not much point in obsessing over llms.txt. if your website is difficult to crawl, your content doesn’t clearly explain what you do, and there’s very little credible information about your business across the wider internet.
Moz (n.d.) The Beginner's Guide to SEO. Available at: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo (Accessed: 15 October 2026).
The key question you need to ask yourself is: what is the biggest thing holding your brand back right now?
For one business, the priority might be making sure its website is technically accessible to search engines and AI systems. For another, it might be creating clear, authoritative content that directly answers the questions its audience is asking. A third business might already have excellent content and a technically sound website, but lack the third party mentions, reviews and wider online recognition that help establish its credibility.
GEO strategy is truly bespoke to each business and where they’re at right now, so don’t compare. Just start now. Focus on what matters most for your business right now, tackle the biggest barrier holding you back, and build from there.
Using generative AI content on your website
AI is all around us, love it or loathe it, there's no getting away from it. Good website content is the heart of SEO. With all of the spinning plates, especially for smaller businesses it can be hard to create quality content often. It can be tempting to ask AI to write your content for you.
But, it's important to remember that AI hallucinates. It can make up false information that sounds very convincing, just because it’s confident…doesn’t make it right. Don’t forget that you are the expert and the secret to competitive content is creating genuinely helpful expert copy. If you must use AI, it’s best practice to supply it with the facts first, AI can then help you turn those facts into valuable, usable content.
Trust is at an all time low, but this means if you build genuine trust your business can really stand out! So, don’t let ‘AI slop’ damage your credibility. Having content on your website that showcases your expertise and authority is what search engines and AI love, so don’t be cheated by trusting AI generated content blindly. Check, check and check again. Always proof and edit the copy AI gives you, even after you’ve supplied it with the facts.
Check out Google's latest comments on using generative AI content on your
website.
One last thing…
Our biggest takeaway has to be that AI is just another channel to hone and master. In SEO changes like this have been happening for decades. Where people give their attention, and where audiences shift and as marketers we have to move with it. So, you’re in safe hands, we’ve done this all before.
The platforms will always change, the core principles don’t.
Ready to talk GEO, get in touch!
Written by:
Scarlett Hanlon, Digital Marketing Executive
Approved by:
Rosie Hurr, SEO and Content Manager
Published:
15th October 2026
