Let's Rethink Search Together: Welcome to The Search Query Theory

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the project I’ve been building in my mind for years. I know you're likely wondering why it has take YEARS, but honestly, it's because I'm not a fan of my own writing. I genuinely think that my personality doesn't really come through, just some of the smart things that might be bouncing around up there in my head.

While you're reading you may find that I make reference to building, fictional works, anime, and other randomness. Sorry, it's my way of sharing tidbits of who I am with the world. I like to build & fix things, literally, like houses & cars. I'm into fantasy & comics. I'm an anime otaku and I like to sail. So be forewarned, now back to it.

For my entire career, I’ve been fascinated by the intersection of product, marketing, and SEO. This is likely because I started my career as a PHP developer (yes, working on WordPress), and I’ve lived in the trenches of technical optimization, keyword research, and content for more than 2 decades now. Like many of you, I’ve chased algorithm updates and celebrated ranking wins.

For a while now, I’ve seen a fundamental disconnect. Our industry is brilliant at the how. You know....
- How to build a link....
- How to structure a page...
- How to target a keyword....

We’ve become incredible tacticians. We're so focused on the next "how-to" that we've stopped asking WHY.

• Why does one user's journey wow, delight and hit the mark while another one fails completely?
• Why do our "perfectly optimized" pages sometimes fall flat? Have you ever had a #1 ranking, tons of traffic and still felt empty on the inside? (It's real)
• Why does the rise of AI search feel like a threat instead of an opportunity, for some, but not for others?

I personally believe the answer is that we’ve been chasing a moving target. Like an ever-changing labyrinth ( I love you Sir Didymus & Hoggle) without a map or a compass. We’ve been missing a foundational framework

This is why I created The Search Query Theory.

This newsletter and research hub focuses on practical, sustainable optimization for how people find businesses today—on Google, in local results, and inside generative answers. It's grounded in two core concepts:

1. Search Theory: This is our map. It explains the systems we’re optimizing for: how Google surfaces results (Local Pack, Maps, Knowledge Panels), how AI Overviews (AIO) reshape what’s shown, and how generative engines route users to answers.
2. Query Theory: This is our compass. It’s how we model user intent from the first question and shape every touchpoint—titles, snippets, information architecture, and structured data—to guide the next click, visit, or call.

This framework powers modern SEO, Local SEO, visibility in Google’s AI Overviews (AIO), and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). This is the work required to earn inclusion, citations, and traffic in an ever-evolving AI-Search landscape.

What to Expect Here

My plan is to share one new analysis, study, or thought piece every two weeks. We’ll be moving beyond just keywords to talk about Entity Resolution, which is basically figuring out when different names or records actually refer to the same real-world thing—and treating them as one so information stays consistent and accurate.

Overall, we’ll be trading "ranking" for "pathfinding."

We'll dive deep into concepts like:

• Optimizing for AIO & GEO: What does it mean to earn inclusion in AI Overviews and Generative Engines? We'll explore the role of structured data, information architecture, and content clarity in this new landscape.
• Human Experience Optimization (HEO): In a world of AI-generated content, why do human cognitive factors like trust, clarity, and emotional response (affective valence) matter more than ever?
• The New AI Search Space: What does optimization look like for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and LLMs?
• Real Tests & Studies: We'll be running our own hypothesis tests and sharing the results.
• Cool Tools, Scripts & Automations: Let’s explore how we test, validate, and automate with AI (it’s a vibe — coding)

Most importantly, this is a resource and a playground. This is a safe and welcoming space for rigorous thought. I don’t have all the answers, and the landscape is changing under our feet. This is where we can be curious, ask hard questions, and build the future of search together.

If you have feedback, insights to share, or counter-arguments to my theories, let’s talk. That is how we will all get smarter. Just putting this out there now, you will see em dashes, I was using them before GPT and I will continue to do so. Sorry, not sorry.

If this resonates with you and you'd like to join in, get every new post, analysis, and notification of new research, the best way is to subscribe to the newsletter.

Welcome to the conversation. I’m so glad you’re here.