Authority, SEO, AI Search
Your brand is sitting on real expertise.
Can search engines and AI find it?
We work with growth-stage companies with a meaningful expert asset to help them develop content programs that search engines rank, AI systems cite, and compound over time.
The fastest path to category authority is to systematically extract and amplify the expertise that already exists within the organization.
Most content underperforms not because companies don't have something worth saying, but because there's no system for making that knowledge visible. The brands doing this well have figured out how to get it out of people's heads and into content that ranks in Google, gets pulled into AI answers, and actually reaches buyers wherever they're researching. SEO and AI search need different optimization targets, but they're fed by the same thing: content that's specific, attributed, and actually worth citing.
Named experts, specific knowledge
Content without genuine expertise behind it has no real differentiation — not in SEO, and not in AI search. Google's E-E-A-T signals and AI citation filters are both looking for the same thing: named experts with verifiable credibility, publishing specific knowledge that can't be found anywhere else. Well-optimized generic content is increasingly getting filtered out of both.
AI-assisted workflows that don't sacrifice quality
The right AI-assisted workflows help lean teams stay lean while still producing great content, even in complex, regulated, or expertise-heavy industries. There's always a human in the loop. The goal is finding the right balance: using AI to handle the repeatable parts of the process, freeing up your people to focus on the thinking that actually requires them.
Category-leading content programs
Search engines and AI have something in common: they surface content that's specific, well-attributed, and corroborated across multiple sources. You have to be bringing something new to the table, or your content will fall flat. Most brands know this, but they don't have the infrastructure to implement it effectively. This is something we've perfected over years of building content functions from the ground up. It's a system, not luck.
Three ways to work together
Every engagement starts the same way: finding where the expertise lives inside your brand, then building the content architecture that makes it rankable, citable, and impossible to miss.
Organic Visibility & SEO/AI Search Strategy
4 weeks · Standalone or entry pointBefore you build anything, you need an accurate read on where you stand and where you're heading. This maps your search footprint, your AI visibility, and the credibility gaps between you and your competitors. You leave with a complete content and topic strategy and a sequenced action plan tied to what matters most for your business.
- Full content analysis to identify striking distance opportunities, coverage gaps, and refresh prioritization
- Pain-point and product-led keyword and topic research tied directly to buyer needs
- Credibility gap assessment: which internal experts have public attribution and whose knowledge is currently invisible to AI
- Competitor analysis and report
- AI search strategy: channel suggestions and content atomization ideas
- Prioritized keyword, prompt and topical authority strategy with specific, sequenced content cadence your team can execute
The Authority Systems Buildout
Fixed fee · Built for handoffA complete 90-day build of your content strategy, AI search roadmap, and scalable production system, grounded in the expertise already inside your brand. Three phases: Surface, Map, Build. The output is a system your team can run, with AI-assisted workflows that maintain quality at scale.
- Everything in the Strategy Phase, plus:
- Expert authority assignment: which internal SMEs own which topic territories publicly, so your content plan builds the web of authority you need across both search and AI
- SME extraction process: interview frameworks, briefing templates, and editorial workflows to turn internal knowledge into publishable content
- AI-assisted production system designed to scale output without sacrificing quality or credibility
- Distribution strategy across the owned channels and earned surfaces AI already trusts
- Editorial standards and quality benchmarks so the system holds when you're not in the room
Fractional Content Partner
Monthly retainer · 6 month minimumFor growth-stage brands that need a senior content strategist and partner, not another agency handoff or a junior freelancer. We own content direction, strategy, and oversight, and fit into your existing team to develop systems and lead research, briefing, and production. Your team stays lean without losing quality or perspective. Every engagement is scoped to what you actually need.
- Fractional Head of Organic Content, usually 10 to 15 hours/week: I lead strategy and direction
- Ongoing SEO and AI search strategy, and topical authority development
- AEO optimization: structuring content to earn AI citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews
- AI-assisted workflow management across research, briefing, and execution, without generic output
- SME interviews and expert-attributed content: We lead extraction and production
- Content refresh cycles to maintain recency signals for both traditional and AI search
- Distribution across owned, earned, and community surfaces AI already trusts
- Performance tracking tied to leads, conversions, and citation frequency
- Direct team oversight, editorial direction, and cross-functional alignment
- Most clients start here after a Strategy Phase or Authority Systems Buildout
Results from the work
Every number below came from the same starting point: find the gap between what a brand actually knows and what the outside world can find, then build a content system that closes it.
Organic blog traffic increase in 90 days. Average ranking position improved from 14 to 7. Approach: surfaced existing clinical expertise, structured it for search and AI visibility, and distributed across owned and earned channels.
Read case study →Organic growth over 18 months, from 5,500 to 70,000 monthly users, through a content system built around existing internal expertise.
YoY seasonal traffic growth. 75% content cost reduction and 69% improvement in conversion by rebuilding production around subject matter experts.
An editorial nerd who loves bringing a little soul to the SERPs.
I've spent 10+ years at the intersection of editorial strategy, SEO, and content systems. Companies built around deep knowledge are often the ones getting the least credit for it, in search results and in AI answers.
My framework, Authority Engineering, is built around closing that gap. It starts with extracting the knowledge that already exists inside a company, structures it for both traditional SEO and AI discoverability, and we use AI-assisted workflows to produce and distribute it at scale. The goal isn't more content. It's the right content, attributed to the right experts, showing up in the right places.
Before Wild Idea, I led SEO content at Eventbrite and worked with enterprise clients at Siege Media. Based in Texas, nature lover, live music fan, and travel enthusiast.
A weekly newsletter on AI search, SEO, and what's actually worth paying attention to.
"Sprint, don't walk."
"Karli is truly a master of her content and SEO craft. She not only upleveled the quality and impact of our SEO-driven content, but managed global agencies with skill and prowess. She drove a proposal to bring our SEO production in-house, the outcome being efficiencies across resources, but also top-notch content featuring subject matter experts that quickly garnered us better rank, improved engagement and conversions, and backlinks galore. Sprint, don't walk, toward working with this exceptional marketer."
Noelle Buhidar · Global Head of Content Marketing, Eventbrite"Karli is a rockstar. She was one of our top-performing content marketers and consistently impressed me with her work ethic, professionalism, and ability to drive results month over month."
Ross Hudgens · CEO, Siege Media"Working with Karli has resulted in exponential growth in our organic traffic. She is truly an expert in SEO and has exceeded every expectation with her professionalism and organization."
Mike Chulak · CMO, Dr. Stern SupplementsOn AI search, SEO, and what actually works
Stop being the best-kept secret in your industry.
If your brand already has the knowledge, you're most of the way there. Usually the gap isn't what you know. It's that no one has built a system to make it findable, in search and in AI.