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SEO for media and publishing

Your traffic depends on a search engine that changes its mind and AI answers that skip the click. I help you value, protect and defend it.

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  • 12+ years in SEO
  • Speaker, BrightonSEO
  • Bylines: Search Engine Land
Services

Services for Media & Publishing

Content Site Due Diligence

Best for:Buyers of publishing, affiliate and content assets.

  • Verified non-brand organic traffic versus branded and direct
  • Content and link asset review, including AI search exposure
  • Revenue at risk, time horizon and remediation cost

Typical timeline: 3 days to 4 weeks, from $3,500

Learn more about Content Site Due Diligence

AI Readiness for SEO

Best for:Publishers who need to know how AI answers change the value of their traffic.

  • Which queries and sections are most exposed to AI answers
  • LLM visibility audit and content structure assessment
  • A board-ready framework that separates revenue from hype

Typical timeline: Scoped per site, fixed fee agreed in writing

Enterprise SEO Audit

Best for:Large publishing platforms with deep archives, templates and heavy third-party content.

  • Technical findings ranked by business impact
  • Archive, taxonomy and template review
  • Third-party content and hosting risk assessment

Typical timeline: Scoped per site, fixed fee agreed in writing

Post-Acquisition SEO Integration

Best for:Media companies folding acquired sites into an existing property.

  • Integration model and content overlap decisions
  • URL-level redirect map that protects equity-bearing pages
  • Launch QA and monitoring thresholds

Typical timeline: Scoped per asset, fixed fee agreed in writing

Learn more about Post-Acquisition SEO Integration
Why work with me

What I understand about Media & Publishing that generalists don't

Traffic is your revenue.

For a publisher, an organic dip is an ad-revenue dip. I frame findings as revenue at risk so they get a decision.

I've worked with legacy media brands.

As SEO Director at Pillar Four Media I led SEO partnerships with Fortune and Condé Nast, among others.

Archives and platforms are the hidden risk.

Deep archives, template sprawl and third-party content create technical debt that rankings don't reveal. Twenty years in web development means I read the platform too.

I ran SEO due diligence on every site Pillar Four Media acquired, then planned how each would be integrated.

How engagements work

Clear steps, flat pricing, no surprises

  1. Intro call

    Thirty minutes on your properties, your traffic mix and the decision at hand.

  2. Scope and NDA

    NDA first, then a flat-rate scope agreed in writing.

  3. Analysis

    I work the data and platform myself. No junior analyst drafts.

  4. Readout

    A written verdict and a walkthrough with your editorial, product and engineering leads.

Pricing
Flat-rate project pricing. No hourly surprises.
Confidentiality
NDA by default, before we discuss specifics.
What I need from you
Access to analytics and Search Console, and a contact on the platform or engineering side.
Proof, without names

Evidence you can use without a client list

12+Years in SEO
20+Years in web development
50+SEO due diligence engagements
20+Brands consolidated into one parent domain
  • Seen at & published in
  • Google
  • BrightonSEO
  • SMX Advanced
  • Search Engine Land
  • Search Engine Journal

Most of my work is under NDA. If you need confidentiality, it's already the default.

Related articles

Further reading

Search Engine Land

Hosting third-party content: What Google says vs. the reality

Google's official guidance compared with what happens in practice, relevant to any publisher hosting partner content.

View my author bio on Search Engine Land ↗ (opens in new tab)
Search Engine Land

Google changed 76% of title tags in Q1 2025: Here's what that means

Original data on how often Google rewrites the headlines publishers write.

View my author bio on Search Engine Land ↗ (opens in new tab)
johnmcalpin.com

The Accessibility Tree and the Agentic Web

How AI agents read pages, and why publishers should care about the structure they present.

Read article
FAQ

Questions Media & Publishing teams ask

How do AI answers affect the value of a publisher's traffic?

They put pressure on queries where the answer is short and factual. I measure the share of organic value behind those queries so you can separate real exposure from hype. I don't present percentage predictions as fact.

Can you assess a content site I'm thinking of buying?

Yes. The Pre-LOI Audit is built from external data only, with no contact with the seller, and delivered in 3 calendar days.

Do you work with large legacy media brands?

Yes. At Pillar Four Media I led SEO partnerships with brands including Fortune and Condé Nast.

Is branded traffic as valuable as non-brand?

They carry different risk. Branded traffic follows brand strength, non-brand follows search rankings. Separating the two often changes the picture of what you're actually buying or defending.

Can you work with our engineering team?

Yes. Recommendations arrive implementation-ready, and I review the work before launch.

Defending or buying content traffic?

Tell me about the property and the decision in front of you.

Book a call

Also working with: Private Equity Corporate Development