Knocking Paid Media, SEO, and AEO Out of the Park
Building category leadership across paid media, organic search, & AI answer engines.
Client
Bruce Bolt
Services
Paid Advertising, SEO, AEO
Industry
Sports, E-Commerce
Platforms
Google Ads, Google Search, AI Search
Increase in Gross Sales
260%
AI Visibility Rank, Share of Voice, & Citation Share
#1
Project Overview
BRUCE BOLT, an 8-figure CPG brand from Austin, Texas with a focus on the baseball category, partnered with 20North to break through stagnant sales and build long-term category leadership. The work began with paid media in Fall 2023 and expanded into SEO and AEO, or answer engine optimization, as AI search gained share. The phased SEO and AEO program eventually pushed BRUCE BOLT to the #1 AI visibility position in its category.
Challenges across paid, organic, and AI search included:
- Wasted budget and inflated ROAS
- Lack of audience segmentation
- Redundant ad creative
- Ineffective tracking and campaign execution
- Limited organic visibility in the batting gloves category
- No infrastructure for AI search visibility
Project Execution
20North deployed a phased strategy that grew as performance signals validated each expansion, starting with paid media cleanup and layering in SEO, then AEO, as the program matured.
Paid Media Foundation
- Reinstated and optimized the previously suspended Google shopping feed
- Lowered overall spend by 25%
- Installed proper tracking, refreshed creative, and established campaign segmentation
- Ventured into new channels by adding TikTok advertising
- Conducted multivariate testing
Foundational SEO Program (October 2023)
- Launched with 4 blog posts per month targeting long-tail informational keywords
- Built each post with custom infographics, internal linking strategy, expert reviewer schema, and table of contents markup
- Optimized meta titles and descriptions across the site every month to address visibility gaps and lift page 1 visibility for core terms
SEO Expansion
- Doubled blog output to 8 posts per month after early performance confirmed the strategy was driving measurable traffic and revenue gains
- Layered in 10 monthly page optimizations focused on product and collection pages to capture mid- and bottom-funnel search intent alongside the top-funnel blog work
- Set up ongoing competitor monitoring to surface gap opportunities and inform monthly content planning
AEO Integration
- Expanded the program to address answer engine optimization as AI search gained share, building on the existing SEO foundation
- Implemented LLMS.txt, page-specific schema, and structured data to make content readable by large language models
- Deployed the Shopify Knowledge Base app to centralize FAQ content for AI retrieval
- Wove proof points into page copy and blog content to reinforce BRUCE BOLT's category leadership for both human readers and AI models
Project Results
In 4 months, 20North and BRUCE BOLT broke every sales record the company had, three times. As the SEO and AEO program matured, BRUCE BOLT pulled into the #1 position across every AI visibility metric in its category, far ahead of the next closest competitors.
Paid Media Wins
- 260% increase in gross sales
- Captured new audiences
- Double-digit ROAS
- Ventured into new channels by adding TikTok advertising
SEO and AEO Wins
- #1 in AI visibility at 52.6%, well above the next closest competitors at 35.1% and 30.5%
- #1 in share of voice at 9%, more than 50% above the next closest competitors at 5.9% and 5.2%
- #1 in citation share at 8%, nearly double the next closest competitors at 4.2% and 3.9%
- Top-cited pages span product, collection, and educational blog content, giving BRUCE BOLT citation depth across the funnel.
- Ranks across high-intent prompts in the baseball batting gloves category, BRUCE BOLT's #1 category
Testimonial
“We’ve had a great experience working with 20N as our SEO partner. As a small internal team, it’s important for us to have partners who can take ownership, operate independently, and keep work moving without needing heavy oversight. Ben in particular has been great to work with. We really appreciate his passion for our business and the care he brings to understanding our goals. That level of investment makes the partnership feel close and collaborative, and it helps ensure the SEO work is aligned with what we’re trying to accomplish. Overall, 20N has been reliable, knowledgeable, and easy to work with. We appreciate the partnership and the support they’ve provided.” - Chris Min
