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Content Caffeine

Content, PR, and SEO insights from Nicole DeLeon

My team and I have been helping brands reach their SEO traffic and conversion goals through content and links for over 10 years. Recognized by industry leaders and household brands as an authority in both organic content and digital PR.

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a stylized image of a robot with a funnel as a body and no legs. Pen and paper on the left and a checklist on the right. the brand colors - blue, green and gray - of North Star Inbound
Featured Post

Content Caffeine #65: What can SEOs do about Personal Intelligence in AI Mode?

Content Caffeine For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs Hi there, Is Personal Intelligence in AI Mode a threat to SEOs and marketers? That's today's main story. Other highlights: Optimizing your brand stories and blogs for GEO How AI "nudges" shape user behavior and decisions Is it too late to get into SEO? See how Redditors replied to this question As always, thanks for being here. I'll be back on April 30. Nicole P.S. Reply with your biggest marketing challenge and I'll give you my best...

4 days ago • 7 min read
A table showing the patterns of reddit posts cited by AI tools. Columns are headed Metric, ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Mode. AI Mode shows the average post age is 984 days

Content Caffeine For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs Hi there, If Google had released the March Core Update yesterday, no one would have believed it was real :) Also, have you noticed how Google often uses the words "relevant" and "satisfying" in their update announcements? What do they mean? Check my LinkedIn post (dropping soon) where I try to explain. Today's highlights: How One Bad Review Caused Multiple Issues in AI Answers Can you trust AI for SEO advice? Reddit and Wikipedia are...

18 days ago • 6 min read
a single bar graph separated into two green sections. the dark green shows that only 15% of the pages ChatGPT finds make it into the final answer. The light green represents the 85% of pages that don't make it.

Content Caffeine For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs Hi there, What do AI models say about brands, and what direction do you take with your content? I've tried to summarize that for you below. Today's highlights: Why brands are now what AI models say they are ChatGPT citations analysis AI Mode's changing responses As always, thanks for being here. I'll be back on April 2.Nicole P.S. P.S. I'm having a little fun with this and can't wait to see the results. I want to share your: Big news,...

about 1 month ago • 5 min read
part of a google flowchart from a patent on how they rank documents. it shows google has the ability observe the actions SEOs take to improve a website's rank. it clearly states 'observe behavior during transition'

Content Caffeine For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs Hi there, Welcome to March! How are you doing with those New Year Resolutions? Reply with a number between 1 (oops) and 10 (winning) to let me know :) Today's highlights: The Great Search Shakeup: what's going on? Google's index is a quality filter OpenAI banks on SEO The future is (still) human As always, thanks for being here. I'll be back on March 19.Nicole P.S. You might be surprised by the results of my poll on ChatGPT ads. I want...

about 2 months ago • 7 min read
a chart showing how PAA questions correlate with top rankings. the numbers are coefficients. the more questions answered, the higher the coefficient. the top 5 search results have more questions asked over all intent types

Content Caffeine For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs Hi there, Are you having trouble keeping up with the news in SEO and marketing? You've seen most of the updates, so I found you some content that's had less attention. The highlights: 12 months of AI Overviews: What's changed? The relationship between answering "People Also Ask" (PAA) questions and ranking in Search Is AI visibility a 'vanity metric?' My questions about ChatGPT ads As always, thanks for being here. I'll be back on March...

about 2 months ago • 6 min read
bar chart showing the inconsistency in brand results showing from multiple prompts. research from sparktoro

Content Caffeine For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs Hi there, How to influence LLMs and win in Search. That's the topic of my deep dive today. I also discuss the usefulness of AI tracking tools, and show you an excellent resource on thinking like a world-class marketer. As always, thanks for being here. I'll be back on February 19.Nicole P.S. If you'd like more of these deep dives, please hit reply with a 'YES.' I want to share your: Big news, latest resource, or outstanding results.I'd...

2 months ago • 8 min read
a line graph showing how search queries with 14+ words have an AIO share of 80.56%, compared to only 24.27% for 1-word queries.

Content Caffeine For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs Hi there, Google's top 10 took a hit after the December Core Update. I explain the possible reasons below. Today's highlights include: 1 in 7 top-ranking pages vanished from Google Marketing leaders overlook AI content risks Query length correlates with AIO share As always, thanks for being here. I'll be back on February 5.Nicole P.S. I had an intriguing mix of replies to my last poll: Who are you writing for? I want to share your: Big...

3 months ago • 7 min read
Bar chart with red, blue and orange percentages showing the rise of AI overviews in Google SERP from January 2025 to December 2025. AI Overviews have grown while featured snippets appear less than 5% of the time.

Content Caffeine For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs Hi there, Welcome back! It's good to see you and I hope your year has started well. Today's highlights include: Your marketing advantage in 2026 A trending search prediction Will featured snippets disappear? As always, thanks for being here. I'll be back on January 22.Nicole P.S. Want to know what I'm doing differently this year? Check the Inspiration section to find out. I want to share your: Big news, latest resource, or outstanding...

3 months ago • 6 min read
dark blue background with 3 stars, NSI logo and bright green text reading 7 bold SEO predictions for 2026

Content Caffeine For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs Hi there, It's been a privilege and pleasure to write this newsletter for you in 2025, and I appreciate the time you take to open, read, and reply to my letters. Your support and interest are my incentive to keep going in 2026 - thank you! Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year to you! Today's highlights include: 7 Bold SEO and AI Search Predictions for 2026 11 SEO rules that AI can't override Why Google's spam problem is getting...

4 months ago • 6 min read
A bar chart showing the percentage of AIOs appearing in spots 2 to 4 on desktop and mobile.

Content Caffeine For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs Hi there, Is the end of 2025 approaching fast enough for you? Like me, your list of things to achieve before the holidays is probably too long. Do yourself a favor and delegate, defer, or delete something now :) Also, Google is still working on the next core update, but they wouldn't do that to us at New Year…would they? Today's highlights include: Teaching AI: Brand Building and Digital PR Why every AI search study tells a different...

4 months ago • 6 min read