A Search Strategy Consultation by Zayden
Signal & Strategies | SEO & AI Search Department
Case study: Garrett Graham, Off-Campus
Primary focus: Search engine optimisation, content discoverability, and AI-powered search
The consultation: Is your content discoverable, or is it simply published?
Let’s say Garrett Graham has a website featuring his hockey career, personal interests, interviews, and lifestyle content.
The website looks good. The content is relevant. The branding is consistent.
But there’s one problem: people aren’t finding it.
That raises an important question. Are we creating content that people genuinely want, but failing to make it discoverable? Or are we publishing content without understanding what our intended audience is searching for?
Those are two different problems, and they require different solutions.
For this consultation, I’m treating Garrett’s website as a fictional athlete-brand case study. We don’t have access to an actual Garrett Graham website or its analytics, so this is a proposed strategy rather than an audit of existing performance.
My objective is to develop a practical approach that helps the right audience discover Garrett’s content through search engines, social platforms, and AI-powered search experiences.
The principle is straightforward: discoverability begins with understanding what people need, not with chasing rankings.
1. Start with search intent, not a list of keywords
One of the first things I’d do is identify the different reasons someone might search for Garrett or content associated with his interests.
A keyword list alone doesn’t tell us what someone wants to accomplish.
Consider three hypothetical searches:
- “Garrett Graham hockey” suggests an interest in his sporting identity.
- “Hockey training routines for beginners” suggests someone looking for practical information.
- “How to build an athlete personal brand” suggests a creator or athlete seeking strategic advice.
These searches have different intentions. They shouldn’t automatically lead to the same page or the same type of content.
My recommendation
I’d group potential search queries into themes and identify the most useful destination for each.
Discovery: Content that introduces Garrett’s sporting identity and interests.
Information: Helpful articles about training, routines, teamwork, or other relevant topics he can credibly discuss.
Personal brand: Pages that explain who Garrett is, what he does, and where visitors can find his content.
Community: Content that helps existing followers explore interviews, stories, and other available material.
The actual priorities would depend on audience research and available evidence, rather than assumptions about which terms are popular.
I’d use Google Search Console, relevant keyword research tools, and audience questions to understand which searches matter.
The goal is not to create a separate page for every possible keyword variation. It’s to build useful pages that satisfy distinct audience needs.
2. Give every important page a clear purpose
Once we understand the audience’s intent, I’d review the website’s content structure.
A page should make it clear what it offers, who it is for, and why someone should spend time there.
For Garrett, I’d propose a structure such as:
Homepage: Introduce the personal brand and direct visitors towards the most useful sections.
About: Provide accurate information about Garrett’s identity, interests, and sporting background.
Hockey and training: Publish relevant material about his sporting activities, preparation, and experiences.
Stories and interviews: Organise available interviews, articles, and other editorial content.
Lifestyle: Explore relevant interests outside hockey, where Garrett has material worth sharing.
These are proposed sections, not claims about pages that currently exist.
The on-page SEO work
For each priority page, I’d review:
- Page title: Is it descriptive and relevant to the page?
- Main heading: Does it clearly communicate the subject?
- Content: Does the page provide enough useful information to satisfy its intended purpose?
- URL: Is the address understandable and appropriate?
- Internal links: Can visitors navigate naturally to related content?
- Images: Are relevant images clear, appropriately described, and placed near supporting content?
- Search snippet: Does the page’s title and description give people a useful reason to visit?
For example, a page about a genuine training routine might use a descriptive title such as A Hockey Training Routine: Preparation, Practice and Recovery.
I’d only use that title if the page actually covers those topics.
A keyword in a title cannot compensate for a page that fails to deliver what it promises.
3. Build content worth discovering
Here’s where I would challenge a common misconception about SEO.
Publishing more articles does not automatically create better search visibility.
If Garrett publishes twenty shallow posts repeating the same basic advice, he may end up with twenty pages competing for attention without offering much additional value.
I’d rather develop a smaller collection of useful, well-structured resources that demonstrate a clear point of view.
My proposed content pillars
Pillar one: The Athlete’s Perspective
Content about training, preparation, teamwork, and the realities of sporting life.
Pillar two: Beyond the Game
Lifestyle stories and relevant interests that give the personal brand a broader identity.
Pillar three: Lessons from Competition
Thoughtful content about preparation, setbacks, collaboration, and improvement, grounded in experiences Garrett can genuinely speak about.
Pillar four: The Personal Brand Playbook
Content exploring how athletes and creators communicate their identities, develop an online presence, and connect with their audiences.
The fourth pillar could also create a natural bridge between Garrett’s hypothetical website and S&S’s marketing expertise.
However, I’d keep the audience’s needs at the centre of every decision. Not every athlete needs to publish marketing advice, and we wouldn’t introduce a topic simply because it contains attractive keywords.
Each article should have a clear purpose, useful information, and a reason to exist beyond search traffic.
4. What changes when people use AI-powered search?
Traditional search often presents a list of results for people to explore. AI-powered search can also summarise information and provide links to supporting sources.
This creates another discovery opportunity, but it doesn’t mean we should abandon established SEO practices or start publishing content designed exclusively for AI systems.
Google’s published guidance for AI features continues to emphasise foundational SEO, helpful information, technical accessibility, and original value.
My recommendation
I’d prepare Garrett’s website to communicate information clearly to both people and search systems.
That means:
Use clear headings and direct explanations. Readers should understand the main point of a page without having to decode vague language.
Establish accurate identity information. If the site describes Garrett’s background, roles, or sporting achievements, those details should be correct and consistent.
Support claims with reliable sources. Relevant facts should be traceable to appropriate sources rather than presented without evidence.
Create original value. First-hand perspectives, meaningful analysis, and useful explanations provide something beyond a recycled summary.
Maintain sound technical foundations. Important pages should be accessible to search crawlers, indexable when appropriate, and organised so visitors can navigate them.
Use structured data appropriately. Where a supported schema genuinely describes the page, it can help search engines interpret the content. It is not a guarantee of higher rankings or AI citations.
I would not recommend publishing dozens of near-identical articles, adding technical gimmicks solely for AI visibility, or stuffing pages with repeated phrases.
The objective is to make the website genuinely useful and understandable.
No responsible SEO consultant can guarantee that a particular page will appear in an AI-generated answer.
5. Social search belongs in the wider strategy
Garrett’s website would not exist in isolation.
People may discover his content through Instagram, video platforms, shared links, search engines, or recommendations from other people.
I would treat these channels as complementary parts of the discovery journey, not interchangeable platforms with identical ranking systems.
How I’d approach Instagram
For the hypothetical Garrett account, I would recommend:
- A clear profile description that communicates the account’s identity.
- Captions that naturally explain the subject of each post.
- Descriptive language relevant to the actual content.
- Consistent naming and branding across appropriate online profiles.
- Links directing interested followers towards relevant website pages.
- Content formats that encourage people to explore rather than simply scroll past.
For example, a post about a hockey training routine should explain what the content covers instead of relying on a caption made entirely of generic hashtags.
I’d also review the platform’s available analytics and current creator guidance rather than assuming Instagram works exactly like Google Search.
A social post can help people discover Garrett, while a useful website article can provide additional context. Each should serve its own purpose.
6. The proposed campaign: Turn search strategy into an Instagram carousel
To communicate the consultation visually, I’d develop a carousel titled:
“Your Content Exists. But Can People Find It?”
The creative would use authorised stills from the Off-Campus television adaptation featuring Belmont Cameli as Garrett Graham, where available and appropriately licensed.
The show’s imagery would establish the character connection. The carousel’s copy would explain the SEO strategy.
Slide 1: The hook
Your content exists. But can people find it?
Use a strong Garrett still with a simple headline.
The objective is to introduce the difference between publishing content and making it discoverable.
Slide 2: Start with intent
Stop guessing what your audience wants.
Explain why understanding search intent should come before selecting keywords.
Slide 3: Make every page count
One page. One clear purpose.
Show how useful page titles, descriptive headings, and relevant internal links support discovery.
Slide 4: Publish something worth finding
More content isn’t automatically better content.
Introduce the importance of originality, relevance, and genuinely useful information.
Slide 5: Think beyond traditional search
AI search still needs useful information.
Explain why sound SEO foundations and clear, trustworthy content remain important for AI-powered discovery.
Slide 6: Connect the channels
Your website isn’t the whole journey.
Show how social content, website articles, and relevant links can support a coherent discovery strategy.
Slide 7: Measure what matters
Don’t just track rankings. Track whether discovery is working.
Close with a reminder to evaluate relevant search visibility, traffic quality, and meaningful audience actions.
The design would use a restrained editorial layout, readable typography, concise copy, and consistent S&S branding. The imagery would support the message rather than overwhelm it.
7. How Garrett and I would actually make this work
A good consultation needs an implementation process.
I’d recommend a phased approach rather than trying to fix everything simultaneously.
Phase one: Establish the baseline
I’d review the existing website, available Search Console data, analytics, page structure, and current content.
We would identify which pages are indexed, what searches generate impressions, where visitors arrive, and which pages appear to meet their intended purpose.
If no website or analytics account exists, we’d start with discovery and planning instead of pretending to audit data we don’t have.
Phase two: Identify the highest-value opportunities
I’d prioritise pages and topics according to relevance, audience need, existing performance, and the resources required to improve them.
A page with relevant impressions but an unclear title might need a different intervention from a page that cannot be indexed.
We should diagnose the problem before prescribing the fix.
Phase three: Improve the content and technical foundations
This stage could include rewriting unclear titles, improving page structure, strengthening internal links, refreshing outdated information, and addressing confirmed technical issues.
I’d avoid making multiple unnecessary changes at once, especially when we need to understand which changes influence performance.
Phase four: Publish and promote
Once the content is ready, we’d share it through appropriate channels, including relevant social posts, internal website links, and legitimate community engagement.
Promotion should help interested people discover useful material, not create artificial links or spam unrelated communities.
Phase five: Review and refine
I’d compare performance with the baseline and assess whether the changes improved discovery and visitor behaviour.
SEO takes time. Some changes may become visible relatively quickly, while others can take weeks or months. I’d avoid promising a fixed ranking timeline.
The strategy would evolve according to evidence, not guesswork.
8. How we would measure success
I’d use a combination of search visibility, traffic quality, and meaningful actions.
| Objective | What I’d monitor |
|---|---|
| Improve search visibility | Relevant impressions and search queries |
| Attract qualified visitors | Organic clicks and relevant landing-page traffic |
| Improve page relevance | Query-to-page alignment and visitor behaviour |
| Strengthen content discovery | Internal navigation and visits to related pages |
| Support meaningful outcomes | Relevant enquiries, subscriptions, or other defined actions |
| Assess AI-search visibility | Available reporting and identifiable referral traffic, where measurable |
Google Search Console would be a key tool for examining search impressions, clicks, queries, and page performance.
I’d also establish realistic targets after reviewing the baseline rather than inventing percentage increases before we know where the website stands.
For AI-powered search, measurement can be less straightforward, and available reporting varies. I would be transparent about those limitations rather than presenting incomplete data as proof of success.
The goal is not to accumulate impressive-looking numbers. It’s to understand whether the strategy is helping the intended audience find useful content.
Final recommendation: Build for discovery, not algorithm anxiety
If I were responsible for Garrett Graham’s SEO & AI Search strategy at Signal & Strategies, I would start with audience intent, improve the website’s content and technical foundations, and develop a focused collection of useful resources.
I’d connect those resources with relevant social content, make information easier to understand, and measure the results over time.
Most importantly, I would resist the temptation to chase every algorithm update or AI-search trend.
Search technology will continue to evolve. The underlying challenge remains the same: help people find information that genuinely answers their questions.
A strong SEO strategy doesn’t simply ask how to get a page ranked. It asks why that page deserves to be found in the first place.
That is the principle I would bring to Garrett’s website, and the standard I would apply to every search strategy developed by S&S.
Zayden
SEO & AI Search Consultant
Signal & Strategies
Research and further reading
- Google’s SEO Starter Guide: foundational guidance on helping search engines understand and discover website content.
- Creating Helpful, Reliable, People-First Content: Google’s guidance on content quality, originality, and serving the intended audience.
- Google’s Guide to AI Features in Search: guidance on the relationship between SEO fundamentals and AI-powered search experiences.
- Google Search Essentials: technical requirements, core practices, and policies for appearing in Google Search.
This is a fictional consultation for Garrett Graham’s proposed athlete brand. The recommendations are informed by published SEO guidance, but the campaign has not been tested against a real Garrett Graham website or its performance data.