This is The Search Session, and I’m glad you’re here. I’m Gianluca Fiorelli, and joining me for this episode is Laura I. Abreu. She is originally from Spain and specializes in SEO and PPC, with a strong focus on lead generation and revenue growth. We talk about why, in a fast-changing landscape, brands must prioritize authentic human connection, strategic channel selection, and strong reputation over purely technical or automated approaches.
Here are the main topics we covered:
The challenge of measuring AI visibility: AI-driven traffic is difficult to track, still limited in volume, and reinforces a focus on channels that already generate measurable revenue.
The impact of Google’s new ad design: more clicks driven by ads that resemble organic results, but declining click-through rates and weaker conversions, which create concerns about traffic quality versus volume.
Channel selection in paid strategy: choosing platforms based on business goals, existing search data, customer persona, age demographics, and profitability, then validating decisions through testing and performance data.
The rise of raw branded content: why authentic, simple, human-led videos outperform polished or AI-driven content, and how simplicity and genuine connection are becoming central to modern marketing performance.
Key learning for SEOs in a fragmented media landscape: move beyond technical, AI-heavy content toward simpler, more authentic experiences, better usability, and visibility across creator-led platforms.
Adapting to platform-specific behavior: recognizing how user intent shifts between search and social media and adjusting tone, format, and SEO accordingly.
Defining and maintaining an authentic brand tone: analyzing competitors and market context to choose a consistent voice that fits the target generation.
Building a distinct brand voice: using founder vision, market analysis, trend observation, and consistency to differentiate from competitors, while avoiding imitation, overuse of AI, and scattered topics.
AI and online reputation risk: how AI models can resurface old negative content, making digital PR more critical than ever to strengthen and protect brand reputation across the web.
Balancing brand promotion and reputation building: using digital PR, collaborations, and value-driven initiatives to let third parties speak about the brand, creating credibility without sounding overly self-promotional.
Enjoy listening, and I hope you find the conversation as insightful and inspiring as I did.
Laura I. Abreu
Lead Generation, Ads and SEO Manager
Laura has over a decade of international experience working across Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong, driving measurable growth through search, paid media, and digital PR.
She calls herself “Laura Strategy” because her core focus is building integrated, profit-driven marketing strategies that connect SEO, PPC, content, and brand into one cohesive growth plan.
Laura is also a Brand Ambassador for SERP Conf. in Vienna, Rome, and Sofia, a speaker, and a member of the American Marketing Association and the Australian Marketing Institute. She serves as a judge at the European Search Awards 2026, mentors young SEO professionals in Nigeria, and is a curator at Global and Search.
Video Chapters
Transcript
Gianluca Fiorelli: Hi, I’m Gianluca Fiorelli, and welcome back to The Search Session. Today we’re going to have a very nice and interesting guest. I knew her only recently, my fault, but I have always heard wonderful things about her. She is Spanish, but she lived, and we will also talk about this, for many years on the other side of the world. From Spain to Australia and Hong Kong.
She’s an SEO, but she’s not a conventional technical SEO or content SEO. She has always been very open to all channels and how to create synergy between SEO and other marketing channels. She’s a consultant expert in lead generation and, obviously, SEO, and her name is Laura Abreu. How are you doing?
Laura I. Abreu: Hello. Thank you so much for having me. I’m doing really well. I admire you so much, and I’m so happy to be here today.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Thank you. But remember, the guest is you, so you are the main character of this episode, not me.
Just out of curiosity for all our guests, before starting, we were talking and sharing something we have in common, which is not SEO-related at all, and that is our cats. You have a British Shorthair, and I have a British Shorthair. We discovered that British Shorthairs have a very peculiar behavior. They love plastic bags and so on.
The Profit-First Approach: Rethinking SEO Success Metrics
Gianluca Fiorelli: Laura, starting with a classic question that I ask all my guests: how is SEO treating you lately?
Laura I. Abreu: Well, it is keeping me very busy, but it's forcing me to be more creative and profit-first in my solutions.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Okay. That’s great. I think it’s a good way to approach SEO, focusing on profit.
In fact, talking about profit is something that has been popping up lately. Actually, for more than a year now, especially in relation to AI and so on. People are always asking themselves whether we are losing ways to measure the success of our activity, and so on.
And I think you already implied it in your answer: profit. Is it really profit and revenue from all the metrics related to conversion, the North Star for understanding and seeing how successful we are with our SEO strategy and paid search strategy, which is more evident, but also other types of channel strategies?
What do you think about the problem of measuring success nowadays?
Laura I. Abreu: I think people, and also clients, are being blindsided by AI with what they think is best for them. Our goal is to educate them on which metrics they should be measuring, depending on where they’re getting the most revenue.
I’m not sure if I’m answering your question.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Yes, you’re answering correctly. Let’s try to go a little deeper. We create content, we create collateral content, and later we can dig more into using multichannel for brand amplification.
Let’s say we are creating this whole strategy: creating content, repurposing it, and so on. Then there is also AI visibility, which is not so easy to measure in terms of impact. How are you educating your clients to measure the impact of AI within the framework of metrics you already established?
Laura I. Abreu: Good question. To be honest, I’m still discovering the best way to do it.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Oh, as everyone else.
Laura I. Abreu: I wish I had the perfect answer. What I’m trying to see is the behavior after this AI brand visibility within the website. I’m trying to measure which type of traffic is coming from AI tools as well as from LLMs, but it’s so little these days that, to be honest, I don’t really pay that much attention.
It’s something to consider. I think we have to move in that direction, but I don’t go crazy about it. Maybe I’m not doing it the way other professionals would do it, but for me, it’s just something else within the Google ecosystem and the channels.
Because I’m seeing very good results from TikTok these days for my clients, more than from AI visibility. So I’m focusing on that. That’s where I see the most revenue.
Again, this is probably a bit controversial for other SEOs, but I think we are still far away from really seeing the real impact of AI visibility on the business. It’s something we should pay attention to, but while we wait, I focus on the real revenue channels at the moment.
Gianluca Fiorelli: I think it’s a safer way to see things. Obviously, we all know what the studies are telling us, but it’s as easy as opening Google Analytics and seeing how much traffic and how many conversions are coming from AI when AI is tracked, because sometimes it’s not even tracked easily.
I tend to use visibility in AI as a way to trigger other types of searches, like branded searches or searches in another channel or as a place to be visible and be recommended, so you’re not lost during a multi-step search journey.
Tracking AI visibility is one of the biggest measurement challenges in modern search.
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Laura I. Abreu: For example, today I saw on X that ChatGPT was using ads from Google Ads in its searches. When you look at the type of traffic coming from ChatGPT, you can see a UTM with the URL that clearly comes from a Google Ads campaign.
So it sounds like they’re playing some sort of game that we don’t really know about. We can guess what they’re trying to do right before launching the GPT ads. That’s why I’m a bit skeptical, if that’s the right word, about using those metrics when I see they are actually using ads as a “channel."
Balancing Traffic Volume and Quality in Paid Media Strategy
Gianluca Fiorelli: Yes, right. Let’s talk about ads, because you also do paid search. Recently, our common friend Aleyda Solis presented a study she did with data from Similarweb, saying that maybe we should rethink the idea that it’s only AI Overviews stealing our clicks but ads.
As someone who is also doing paid ads and paid search, how big was the impact of the new design Google chose for showing ads on the search results page?
Before, it was a classic textual ad with promotional ads or something like this. Now it’s just this first promoted search, and then the ads are substantially identical to organic search snippets. And then there’s this little “Close ads” or "Open more ads."
From your perspective, have you seen an increase in clicks on the ads of your clients thanks to this change?
Laura I. Abreu: Yes, I’ve definitely seen an increase. But we can’t really say it’s only because of that reason. I like to have data before jumping to any conclusions. We’ve definitely seen more clicks.
And I think one way to beat AI searches, if you’re still not showing there, is through ads. I think more SEOs who are not showing in LLMs should be running ads, especially after what we’ve seen this morning. If GPT is using ads, we should probably be doing more.
Yes, I’ve definitely seen more clicks, but not more conversions. So I’ve seen more clicks, but the click-through rate has dropped. So it doesn’t really mean that we get those qualified clicks as we used to before. And I guess it’s for this reason.
Gianluca Fiorelli: So maybe clicks are growing because people are confused and think it’s organic instead of ads. And usually clicks from ads have higher intent than classic search clicks.
Laura I. Abreu: Yes, but they’re not converting as well, and that’s why the click-through rate is dropping. So it’s not really good news for us. But I definitely see more people coming through.
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Gianluca Fiorelli: I’m sure it’s good news for Google, because that can explain why Google is saying that ads revenue for Google is growing. More people are clicking, and more people are moving from one search to another in the same search session. So they are exposed to more ads.
It’s as we say in Spanish, “quadratura del cerchio.” So, it’s really a way to explain why Google is increasing search sessions and increasing ad revenue for them.
Laura I. Abreu: I would say it’s more expensive than before to run ads on Google. That’s why I’m a big fan of running ads on Meta and other platforms as well.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Cool. And this is where I have to admit something. Before you were praising me, but I’m totally lost when it comes to paid search.
I was doing some paid search at the very beginning of my career, but then I decided I wanted to be very good at one thing only. And I don’t have enough time to be as good as I pretend to be. For instance, I also stopped doing link building many years ago, for the same reason.
So when you are creating a paid search strategy, or let’s say a paid marketing strategy, how do you balance and choose the different channels?
Is it more about traffic? Is it more about potential conversions? Or is it more about a higher marketing decision?
For example, my clients usually search on Google, yes, but they are more active and proactive when it comes to clicking on ads on TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook.
When you orchestrate your strategy for a client, how do you, like an alchemist, decide which channel to choose?
Laura I. Abreu: That’s a really good question, and that’s what I enjoy doing the most. That’s why my name is Laura Strategy.
The reason I do SEO and ads is because I try to focus on giving solutions. That’s what really allowed me to work in Hong Kong and Australia. I like to be profitable for the company and for my client.
Interested in combining SEO and PPC effectively? Listen to Arnout Hellemans on The Search Session. He and Gianluca Fiorelli dive into data measurement, attribution, analytics governance, and the growing impact of AI on PPC and automation, with a strong focus on making smarter decisions and driving real business results.
Laura I. Abreu: So the first thing I do is go to Search Console. I look at which keywords they’re already ranking for and see if this matches with the best sellers, if we’re talking about e-commerce. I check the best-selling products or services and whether they’re already getting enough traffic for those.
The reason I do both SEO and ads is that if I identify a keyword they’re not ranking for, and it’s important for them to convert, and that’s where they want to focus, then I run ads.
But before running ads, I always take a step back. I studied marketing, so I come from a very traditional marketing background, so I check the customer journey, the buyer persona, their age, which social media channels they use, and if they go on Google to search for this term.
I do believe in running brand campaigns on Google, but usually, you get more profitability through Meta or Pinterest ads. For example, if it’s a woman in her fifties selling yoga clothes, you might want to run Pinterest.
So my approach is, what's the current traffic on the website?
The first thing I do is go to Search Console and analyze the data. Then I speak with the CEOs and ask, "What's your goal?" They can’t just want to be profitable with any product. Do you have any priorities?
I always start with the best-selling products, because once users land on those, they can discover the rest.
Then, depending on the product, I decide based on the age of the customer. If the target is between 30 and 50, I always run Meta. If I’m unsure, I run campaigns on more than one platform at the same time. I run A/B tests and see which platforms are more beneficial for them.
The strategy is built around the customer persona, the target audience, and their behavior. You start from there. You analyze the age range from their existing client base, and then you prepare and start testing. You test different visuals and different copy.
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Embracing "Raw" Content: Why Human Connection Beats AI
Gianluca Fiorelli: One thing I’ve noticed, as a user of these platforms, outside of Google. So this question is coming from Gianluca, the user.
I noticed that it’s not a real advertisement, but it’s a sort of branded content. Imagine these short videos on Instagram or short reels on TikTok, where a brand, which can be a big brand but also a very small brand, is able to catch my attention using themselves or one specific person as the face of the brand, presenting things in a very plain English way, in a very easy way.
So, how much is this kind of mix between content creator strategy and classic marketing, selling you a product without selling you a product, becoming the new norm? And how can it be combined with your content strategy as an SEO? Because we see all these channels interconnected. How do you see this evolution, and how would you recommend starting to move in this direction?
Laura I. Abreu: So your main question is about content creation being these raw videos, right? Of them recording without anything too superficial?
Gianluca Fiorelli: Yes. Not something like a formal unboxing. A very practical example is that in December I was preparing to travel to Rome. Obviously, I started to search, and then I was bombarded by all these tour guides. They were basically walking in the streets of Rome, telling you that this is something that you should see because blah, blah, blah. So, they are substantially selling themselves without selling themselves.
I think this is something I also started to see in another big passion of mine, which is painting miniatures, as you know, painting miniature soldiers. I started to see brands, not tour guides this time, but brands in the space of mini painting, presenting very quick recipes; we call them recipes. For instance, how to paint a face on a miniature using a recipe of colors and different techniques, very quickly and fast, but able to satisfy you and make you want to see other videos from this brand, and then go to this brand that is selling these kinds of painting products.
I think this is what we can call content creator advertisement or branded content. So how do you see this evolving?
Laura I. Abreu: Actually, that’s a really good question, again. It’s funny that in the age of AI, with all these AI influencers, the thing that performs the best is real, raw content. Like, hey, I’m doing this tour, and you should join me. This is what people are craving.
So, in terms of us, I usually tell my clients, "Just record yourself." This kind of content performs really well because of the world we’re living in with AI. People want genuine content. They don’t want to guess if it’s an AI influencer.
People want human connection. That’s something I’m definitely seeing. And in my creatives, I try to tell designers, "Don't overdo the ad, because the simpler, the better.” I always say, "One ad, one message, one benefit. If you say too many things, people get lost.” We have a very short attention span.
So yes, raw content, very real, just like you and me. This is who I am, and that’s why people like you. It’s the same with businesses.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Yes, perfect. That totally answers my question.
New Media, New Rules: SEO in the Creator Era
Gianluca Fiorelli: What kind of learnings can SEO take as takeaways from this kind of content creation?
Laura I. Abreu: That’s a very good point. I could say so many things about this…
Gianluca Fiorelli: You are free to say anything you want.
Laura I. Abreu: That’s why I like to be in both worlds. I agree with what you’re saying. I believe in being specialized in something. That’s why I focus on lead generation and SEO, not all types of hats.
But with SEO, we use so much ChatGPT in our content. We try to use human touch, but we end up being too technical. That’s something I want to say.
I love my SEO community. It’s way more fun than the ads community, and I like going to events. But I feel SEOs are too focused on robots more than on humans. And I think they are forgetting that humans, more than ever, want raw content.
Like we were saying the other day, when you see misspellings, you can tell it’s a human. If you are a speaker and you know all these complex things, try to explain them in an easier way.
And when you are preparing a website, make sure the usability is really easy to navigate, even if it’s not the best for SEO purposes or for Google. If it’s better for the client.
Another learning is for SEO news. More than ever, people are going to start following content creators on news rather than news websites.
SO, let’s think about that. Maybe when we do SEO for news, we shouldn’t just think about the website, the rankings, and the technical side. Maybe we should be more open and more creative and think, “Oh, this TikToker shares all this news related and aligned with my client.” That’s the new media.
Why not try to integrate that within the same website and create a section with live videos on YouTube with their content?
I would say the community would benefit from being more creative. Let’s forget about vanity metrics. Some people lack humility, not your case, of course. Let’s be more like, "Hey, let's do SEO on TikTok." I know you can be the best at websites, but more than ever, your audience is fragmented.
Watch more episodes on the Creator Economy:
Joanna Lord - AI is Merging Creators with Brand Strategy
Tom Critchlow - Creator Economy in the AI Era
Giorgio Taverniti - YouTube, Creators, and the Future of Publishers
Barry Adams - What Traditional Publishers can Learn From Creators and Community Builders
Phil Nottingham -Why Brands Struggle with YouTube Compared to Creators
Understanding User Behavior Across Platforms
Gianluca Fiorelli: And talking about users and the fragmentation of the customer journey, what kind of differences do you see in the same buyer persona? How does the behavior of that persona change depending on the surface where they are performing the search?
Because, for instance, I take myself as an example. I specialize in creating content strategies that target the entire customer journey.
Obviously, because I’m an SEO, at first I was really focusing on on-site. But then I started to say to myself, “Gianluca, you were the first one saying that the messy middle is touching all the channels, not just Google.” And even inside Google, there are video boxes, Shorts, Twitter results, and all these different SERP features, and also TikTok videos or Instagram for business are now presented in search.
And I say, “No, how can we—because our website is the home of our content strategy—repurpose our content?
The problem is that I had to start learning, or relearning, to better understand the different behaviors of the same person. I’m not the same when I search on Google or on Gemini or ChatGPT compared to when I’m searching without searching on social media.
So what changes in behavior? And how would you guide an SEO to understand this shift?
Laura I. Abreu: For content strategy on social media, you have to think that when people are on social media, they are usually on the sofa, in a relaxed mood. If I’m working and I go on my laptop or desktop, my search intent is going to be more rational, more business-oriented, and more serious.
But when I’m on social media, I’m probably going to look for more relaxed topics, like traveling or places to visit in Rome. So, probably, I’m going to be less conversational; I might search something like "restaurants in Rome" on TikTok.
Then you need to see what is getting the most views. You also have tools in the creator studio, where you can see which Reels are performing best, so you can analyze the content.
Usually, very small content uses emojis. Understanding what type of emojis to use is a big part of social media content strategy. Believe it or not. Not for search, obviously not for SEO, but if you want to improve click-through rate, using some emojis in the title can help.
For example, for one of my clients, I had “La mejor marisquería de Barcelona” (The best seafood restaurant in Barcelona). So, you want to create this FOMO, and that’s it. You want to be very simple, because people are not in a formal mindset.
Imagine yourself on a Friday night on the sofa. Your brain is already exhausted from the week, so you want to consume light, fun content.
For one of my restaurant clients, I say, in Spanish, “No puedes gustar a todo el mundo. No eres un plato de croquetas.” (You can’t please everyone. You’re not a plate of croquettes.) Something like that, you know? Be more fun, more sassy.
But then use the bio for SEO. Make sure the right terms are included there, because SEO and social media are a huge part. Especially now that Instagram and TikTok are appearing more and more in search results. And I think it’s going to continue in that direction.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Interesting. And as someone who also comes from classic marketing, before the internet, because, as I think you know, I worked in television before starting in digital.
Laura I. Abreu: Oh, yes, I saw that. You’re so fun.
Speaking the Customer’s Language Authentically
Gianluca Fiorelli: So, I have a question. How can a brand really speak the language of its customers without sounding creepy or totally disconnected?
Sometimes you see brands trying to imitate the language or jargon of Generation Z, and they sound so creepy. It’s like what you were saying before, like an AI bot that looks human, but you know it’s not human. That uncanny valley with dream generations.
So when you’re dealing with clients that target a specific generation or persona, one that has its own slang and way of talking, what kind of suggestions do you give about the tone of voice of a brand? How can a brand speak to them without sounding like a boomer trying to talk like their son while still keeping its own voice and being credible for that audience?
What kind of recommendations do you give in this sense?
Laura I. Abreu: That’s one of the pillars of the strategy. When you create the whole path, starting with which social media channels your audience is consuming, the second most important thing is the tone. What is the tone? And then you stick to it and stay consistent.
It’s one of the biggest challenges. So, how do you decide? You analyze the market. I come from a very traditional marketing background, so I look at what competitors are doing, what tone they are using, and how you can differentiate from them. And always be a bit more authentic.
If you have someone writing the texts, ideally, make sure their age is related to the target audience. Don't have, as you said, someone older writing for Gen Z. I would be careful with that. And don’t try to be too funny.
It’s like our personalities. I think we are both very much who we are, and that’s why people connect with us. This is who I am. I’m not going to change who I am just because I’m speaking to someone from a different background. Don’t be too risky. If you’re unsure, don’t be too risky.
For example, Ryanair has a very risky content strategy on social media. I don’t know if you’ve seen their jokes. It works for the British market because their humor is very dry and sarcastic, like British humor. I love that sense of humor.
But when they translate that into Spanish, it sounds a bit aggressive. So I would say, don’t just translate words. Translation is not only about language; it’s about context. In Spanish, we don’t have that dry humor. It can be offensive. So I would say adjust the content for each market. Do a study of competitors first, choose one communication tone, and stick to it. That’s all I can say. And don’t try to be something you’re not, just like with personalities.
Standing Out: Differentiation in Competitive Markets
Gianluca Fiorelli: Yes. But when you talk about correctly doing your competitive analysis, here comes something where I know I’m not always aligned with what many people say.
I do the competitive analysis. I see how my competitors are targeting the same audience I want to target. But a mistake I see many times is copying. It’s like following the consensus. If my competitors are doing this, then I must do everything they are doing.
In classic SEO, that’s a problem. Think about the golden age of travel blogging, when all travel websites were basically writing the same things with the same tone of voice, without real differentiation.
The same can happen on social media. If I see brands being successful with a certain tone of voice and proposition, I just copy it.
But what makes you win in search is often what we call the information gain. What are you saying that others are not saying, even about the same topic? Isn’t it the same on social media? How do you make your voice distinct, even if you’re not going full anarchic or transgressive?
And what kind of recommendations do you give to your clients to maintain their distinct voice so they can be heard and not merge with all the other voices? How do you find, with the help of the client, that distinct voice they should use?
Laura I. Abreu: When I try to go that deep, I like to meet with the founder of the company. Usually, when they launch a product or service, I like to ask them, “Why did you start this?”
They are the main person who can tell you, “Because I saw a gap in this, this, and that.” Something that you might not be able to see just with SEO or ad tools.
Once you understand that vision, if the vision is strong enough, you can build ideas from it. For example, if someone started a brand because they went hiking and realized there were no practical backpacks with enough pockets. I’m just making this up.
So, for example, if the founder likes hiking, I take that idea and check whether any competitors are using that same communication angle.
It’s similar to what I do with niche sites. I build niche websites and monetize them using my SEO knowledge. When I build those sites, I follow the same process. I start from a passion, and then I look at what others are doing.
I also look at trends, not only on Google Trends but on other platforms. On TikTok, for example, you can see the graphs and which hashtags are being used more. There are many ways to identify trends. You can also simply read the news. You don’t always need tools. Just reading what’s happening right now can show you what’s trending.
Once you see the direction competitors are taking, you try to differentiate yourself. Focus on one thing. Don’t try to cover too many aspects.
If you are a funny brand, stay funny. If you want to use a practical tone, stay practical. Be consistent. I would say to be consistent and minimize the topics.
Don’t focus only on tools. Look at the news. Check blogs. I like to follow Gen Z on TikTok. I follow influencers because I get many ideas from them. The way they search is changing.
I’m not sure if I’m answering you, but that’s how I do it.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Yes, it’s okay.
Laura I. Abreu: I read a lot of news. I read international news. I pay for The Economist because it gives me a macroeconomic view of what’s coming and what’s happening with China and other markets.
I also follow many Gen Z influencers. I probably won’t buy anything from them, but I observe how they travel and how they see things. Then I adjust the message accordingly.
If I had to give one tip, it would be: be specific, be consistent, choose one direction, don’t change it, and don’t be too risky.
And don’t overuse LLMs. I think that’s a big mistake in SEO and ads. It’s not performing well when people use AI for content. Some are launching campaigns fully made by Claude, and that scares me. My main job is to optimize those campaigns and make sure I’m getting the highest return on ad spend.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Yes, I agree. I think that was one of the biggest concerns when Google Ads moved fully to AI with Performance Max, etc.
Laura I. Abreu: Oh, Performance Max did so wrong. Many clients were obsessed with it. They waste so much money.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Let’s not open that kind of can of worms.
Modern Online Reputation Management and Digital PR
Gianluca Fiorelli:I want to touch on another topic with you: web reputation. We know that online reputation management has always been a very important topic for SEO, but also for social media and so on, but substantially for these two big channels.
Now, with AI, it’s becoming even more complicated because all these models are trained on the entire history of the internet. So for instance, a few things you were able to do with Google, such as using the right to be forgotten. I don’t remember the exact name of the law. But for certain types of not really positive search results, you could ask Google not to show them.
On social media, it’s more difficult because it’s more about how to interact and respond to a brand reputation crisis.
But with AI, it’s more complicated. They can resurface a very negative review from 2010, something from 16 years ago, and by summarizing it, it may look like it happened two minutes ago.
Considering the type of clients you have, how do you deal with this kind of terrifying perspective?
Laura I. Abreu: It reminds me of Facebook Memories that show you something from 12 years ago. And you’re like, “No, I don’t need to know this.”
I think the answer for this is digital PR. It’s going to be more important than ever. That’s why I want to slowly promote the Trending Campaigns Newsletter by Aleyda Solis.
Digital PR is more important than ever to try to compensate for this terrible crawling that LLMs are doing across your entire online history. We don’t even know everything that’s in there, right? Maybe it’s that old review.
So I'm preparing more digital PR campaigns. I don't have these bad reviews from 10 years ago, but I’m still preparing digital PR campaigns to save the brand.
Gianluca Fiorelli: And yes, sure. When we were organizing today’s episode, you mentioned something about the very thin line between creating content that increases your online reputation and falling into self-promotional content.
How do you manage that balance? Because you can’t talk about the quality of your brand without sounding at least a little self-promotional. How do you handle that conflict?
Laura I. Abreu: I’ve been doing this for many years, and I always try to find “excuses” to let third parties talk about you.
Not just digital PR, but collaborations. People want to see your brand doing something beyond promoting its own content. For example, working with NGOs or charities. Anything that shows real involvement.
It’s very beneficial that the content outside your website is not purely promotional. Of course, there will always be a part in which you are writing about what you do. But if you can think outside the box and maybe create a free event that’s going to cost you some money, you can use that so others can write about you naturally.
Try to find any connections. Let’s say, for example, I had a client selling educational software. I suggested using their space to host events for moms with kids who have dyslexia. They use this software, but we are not selling them the software. They come to this free space because we have a psychologist talking about something related to dyslexia.
So you have to build an ecosystem around the brand that is connected to what you do, but without sounding too salesy. That’s an art. It’s really hard.
But that example worked very well for us. We were not selling the software directly. People simply had a good experience with the brand in a space we were already paying for, so we decided to use it in a smarter way.
Sometimes it’s something very simple. Or even going to events that are not SEO-related but are related to your client’s industry.
For example, if your client is a hotel, you go to hospitality events. Then, by talking to people, you can create collaborations. Maybe someone is doing recycled caps at an event, and you find a way to connect your brand to that initiative.
And then we tell the media, or we tell partners, that we are supporting eco-friendly initiatives or charities. Building values around the brand is very important.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Yes, so for online reputation management, it’s about—even if it sounds cliché—going full EEAT. So, creating things that are practical applications of the value that you talk about on your website.
Turn your values into tangible actions that resonate as new content both online and offline. Sometimes these initiatives resonate even more offline.
And maybe the real secret of a successful digital PR campaign is not only the fact that it can become viral online, but also that it can be so successful that traditional media start talking about it.
Laura I. Abreu: Absolutely.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Because I know very well that the price for a single, stupid 30-second TV ad is very expensive. So ending up featured in a morning show or in the radio show, it’s great. I think radio is super powerful and very underestimated by online businesses in terms of amplification, also on the web.
When you reach that kind of success with a digital campaign, that is when it truly becomes successful digital PR. When digital PR becomes just PR, without even the digital insight, because of all this connection between offline and online.
Reputation and visibility go hand in hand.
When digital PR campaigns generate mentions, coverage, and brand searches, SEOs need to track whether those citations actually improve rankings and search visibility.
Advanced Web Ranking makes it easy to monitor how branded keywords and reputation-driven searches perform after PR campaigns.
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The Global Marketer: Lessons from Living on "Mars"
Gianluca Fiorelli: Okay, almost one hour. So let’s stop talking about marketing. Let’s start talking about you. In the beginning I was saying that you are in Barcelona, right?
Laura I. Abreu: Yes, right now I’m in Barcelona.
Gianluca Fiorelli: But you lived many, many years on the other side of the world. And I know, because I follow you on all the possible social media, that you have very fond memories of Australia and Hong Kong.
And you are still quite young. Maybe it would be more difficult for a person of my age to say, “Okay, let’s go one year and work outside," especially because of family and so on.
But would you suggest and recommend to the younger generation of marketers, like when you were in university? In Europe it’s common to do Erasmus.
Why take one year and be a nomad, even if you are remote working? Move from the safety of your country and go live at least six months outside. Would you suggest something like this? What would be the advantages? What could people learn from this kind of experience? What did you learn from this kind of experience?
Laura I. Abreu: It could be another hour just talking about this. First thing I want to say, you don’t need to go that far. You can go to Italy, which is an amazing country.
Gianluca Fiorelli: It is.
Laura I. Abreu: This summer I was in Sicily for two weeks. Just leave the way you see things behind and just embrace what you are seeing, the way they relate, and their culture. It’s so beautiful.
I’m very positive about the world we live in. Of course there are many disasters happening, but connecting with people is amazing. You can learn so much from everyone.
I would say only do it if you really want to do it. For example, my sister doesn’t really like traveling as much. If you have this fire within you, like I had when I finished university, do it and see what the world has to offer.
Make sure you are profitable. That’s why I became very competitive in what I do. That’s why I embraced PPC and SEO. You need to make sure that for what the company pays you, you bring back three times as much to them. That’s why I keep studying. I focus so much on revenue. That’s why I went into ads as well, not just SEO.
I’ve met so many friends. I would say do it. Just make sure you have a plan. Don’t go without money because it can be very hard. My first place was London. I went there with only 1,000 euros and I was almost homeless. I had a house, but it was in a difficult area. I was probably too brave.
In Australia it was different. I got a job there and I was doing SEO and PPC. So I would say do your research, just go, and make sure you have something to offer. You need to be really good at something. Don’t try to be very good at many things.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Oh yes. Know the things, then specialize, and then sell yourself so you can be a good asset for any company or any agency and learn from your experience.
Because I think Hong Kong, and I think you agree with me, would be like flying and spending one year on Mars.
Laura I. Abreu: Yes, I used to say this. I feel I’m on a different planet.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Because it’s a completely different culture. So it’s a way to challenge yourself and also a way to learn who you really are. It’s positive in personal life terms, but a stronger self-consciousness is also very important for growing as a marketer, as a professional, and so on. I think that is maybe what we can learn from going outside and challenging ourselves.
Laura I. Abreu: Hong Kong was definitely the place that shaped me the most, just because it was so different. There’s something I want to say: sometimes you think something is common sense, but it’s not common sense somewhere else. That really blew my mind.
Gianluca Fiorelli: Okay. Thank you, Laura. It was a really wonderful hour with you. A great conversation.
I surely learned a lot of things because we touched on topics that are not the ones I deal with every day, since I work more as a user, more as someone interested in these things. Thank you again.
Laura I. Abreu: Thank you so much for having me. My pleasure.
Gianluca Fiorelli: And thank you to all of you. With Laura as a testimonial, let me do the YouTuber-creator-influencer moment. Remember to subscribe to the channel and ring the bell to be notified of new episodes as wonderful as this one with Laura.
Take care and bye-bye!
Podcast Host
Gianluca Fiorelli
With almost 20 years of experience in web marketing, Gianluca Fiorelli is a Strategic and International SEO Consultant who helps businesses improve their visibility and performance on organic search. Gianluca collaborated with clients from various industries and regions, such as Glassdoor, Idealista, Rastreator.com, Outsystems, Chess.com, SIXT Ride, Vegetables by Bayer, Visit California, Gamepix, James Edition and many others.
A very active member of the SEO community, Gianluca daily shares his insights and best practices on SEO, content, Search marketing strategy and the evolution of Search on social media channels such as X, Bluesky and LinkedIn and through the blog on his website: IloveSEO.net.
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