MX Engines (also known as ‘SEO Engines’) represent the foundation of every cutting-edge SEO strategy – the catalysts that take organic traffic to the next level and provide businesses with the edge that they need. In this section we’ll learn how to design, optimise, and manage MX Engines to ensure your website dominates the digital landscape and attracts high-quality visitors.
I used to see it over and over. A company would come to the agency I worked at, often months after launching a shiny new website. The brief was always the same: “We’ve just rebuilt the site – now we need you to do some SEO on it.” They thought SEO was a layer you
Google has quietly rolled out a new search feature in the UK: AI Mode. It appears as a tab to the left of the familiar “All” tab – subtle, but deliberately placed to catch the eye. While “All” shows the classic SERP (ads, blue links, maps), AI Mode surfaces an AI‑generated overview with three supporting
The AI era hasn’t just arrived – it’s already gutted the top of the funnel. AI Mode. Gemini. Perplexity. ChatGPT with browsing. Every one of them is designed to answer curiosity-led queries directly. They summarise, synthesise, and reroute user attention away from your domain. If your strategy relies on long-tail informational traffic, you’re already being
For over a decade, SEO has revolved around two mantras: ‘Build great content’ and ‘optimise for the user’. Post-Panda, thin and duplicate content became liabilities. Post-Penguin, content turned into a vehicle for attracting links – under the pretence it was all for the user’s benefit. Then came EEAT, further reinforcing the idea that more content
Sovereign SEO is a strategy of control. It’s about building systems that allocate authority like capital, protect upside, and compound returns over time – regardless of what Google or the industry narrative says. The Inversion Narrative Most people don’t realise they’re playing against a propaganda machine. The rules of SEO haven’t just changed – they’ve
Every few years, someone declares SEO dead. It’s a familiar pattern by now: new technology emerges, fear kicks in, and someone shows up with a sweeping, oversimplified solution. This time, the scapegoat is AI Overviews (soon to be ‘AI mode’) – Google’s latest UI feature that summarises information at the top of the search results.
In a previous article, Machine Experience (MX): The Hidden Practice That Powers Search Performance, I outlined how Machine Experience (MX) spans the full spectrum of how machines interpret and prioritise websites – across both SEO and paid media. In SEO specifically, that spectrum breaks into three key areas: Within that broader field, MX Engines represent
Despite its impact, Machine Experience remains a blind spot for most teams. It’s rarely owned, often misunderstood, and typically dismissed as “just technical SEO.” While UX has matured into a discipline with defined ownership and clear processes, MX has been left behind – quietly (yet significantly) undermining performance in ways most teams never trace back
