Adam Bate, Founder & COO at SEO Brothers
Author

Adam Bate

Founder & COO

Adam Bate is the co-founder of SEO Brothers and the person who shaped how the company actually does SEO. Long before he and Devon started it in 2015, he was running his own hosting, web, and SEO businesses and working in-house at a high-end Calgary agency, so he came into SEO Brothers having already seen the field from nearly every angle. That's more than two decades of watching which tactics last and which ones quietly stop working.

At SEO Brothers he sets the SEO strategy, leads sales and marketing, and as COO runs how the team actually functions and delivers the work. His writing leans on that long history: link building, on-page, keyword work, and the strategy guides that anchor the original SEO Brothers content. He co-hosts the Brothers in Search podcast with Devon.

Co-host of the Brothers in Search podcast
Written by Adam Bate

Guides from Adam Bate

Local

Buffalo SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in Western New York

A read on local search behavior across the Buffalo market, the variations people actually type, and why the Northtowns and Niagara Falls behave as distinct markets. Real volume data, with HVAC as the sample service.

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Cincinnati SEO: How Local Search Actually Works Across the Tri-State

A read on local search behavior across the Cincinnati market, the variations people actually type, and why Northern Kentucky is a genuine cross-river market rather than a Cincinnati suburb. Real volume data, with HVAC as the sample service.

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Cleveland SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in Northeast Ohio

A read on local search behavior across Northeast Ohio, the variations people actually type, and why Akron and Canton are separate markets rather than Cleveland suburbs. Real volume data, with roofing as the sample service.

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Columbus SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in Central Ohio

A read on local search behavior across the Columbus market, the variations people actually type, and why this is one of the few metros where the fast-growing suburbs carry real standalone search. Real volume data, with roofing as the sample service.

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Des Moines SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in Central Iowa

A read on local search behavior across the Des Moines market, the variations people actually type, and why demand concentrates tightly on the metro with the suburbs rolling up. Real volume data, with roofing as the sample service.

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Grand Rapids SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in West Michigan

A read on local search behavior across the Grand Rapids market, the variations people actually type, and why demand concentrates on the metro name and "near me" rather than the suburbs. Real volume data, with HVAC as the sample service.

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Kansas City SEO: How Local Search Actually Works Across the State Line

A read on local search behavior across the Kansas City metro, the variations people actually type, and why the Johnson County, Kansas side is a major distinct market rather than a suburb. Real volume data, with roofing as the sample service.

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Indianapolis SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in Central Indiana

A read on local search behavior across the Indianapolis market, the variations people actually type, and why the affluent north suburbs carry real standalone search where most metros' suburbs don't. Real volume data, with HVAC as the sample service.

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Madison SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in South-Central Wisconsin

A read on local search behavior across the Madison market, the variations people actually type, and why Janesville functions as its own market while the close suburbs roll up into Madison. Real volume data, with HVAC as the sample service.

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Milwaukee SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in Southeast Wisconsin

A read on local search behavior across the Milwaukee market, the variations people actually type, and why Racine and Kenosha behave as their own markets rather than Milwaukee suburbs. Real volume data, with roofing as the sample service.

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Omaha SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in the Metro and Across the River

A read on local search behavior across the Omaha market, the variations people actually type, and why Council Bluffs across the river in Iowa is its own market. Real volume data, with HVAC as the sample service.

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Pittsburgh SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in Western Pennsylvania

A read on local search behavior across the Pittsburgh market, the variations people actually type, and why a city famous for its neighborhoods is still searched almost entirely as one metro term. Real volume data, with HVAC as the sample service.

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Rochester SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in the Finger Lakes Region

A read on local search behavior across the Rochester market, the variations people actually type, and why the suburbs roll up into the metro term. Real volume data, with roofing as the sample service.

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Keyword Mapping: Assigning the Right Keywords to the Right Pages

Keyword research tells you what to target. Keyword mapping decides which page targets what. The framework, the spreadsheet structure, the intent groups, and the competitive analysis process I use on every campaign.

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Link Building: How to Build Links That Actually Move Rankings

An honest guide to link building. The strategies that work, the ones that get sites penalized, the metrics worth watching, and the budget reality most SEO content avoids talking about.

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Local SEO: A Complete Framework for Dominating Your Market

Local SEO has fewer variables than enterprise SEO and is more predictable when done systematically. The website structure, the 10-step framework, Google Business Profile optimization, and the metrics that actually matter.

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On-Page SEO: The Elements That Actually Move Rankings

A complete framework for on-page optimization. The four elements that actually move rankings, the architecture decisions that make the rest compound, and the documentation process we use on every campaign.

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Searcher Intent: How to Read What People Actually Want From a Query

A strategic framework for understanding searcher intent. The classic taxonomy, the modern intent signals, how AI search has shifted what intent means, and how to reverse-engineer Google's intent interpretation from the SERP itself.

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The SEO Audit: How to Run One, What's In It, and How to Deliver Findings That Actually Get Implemented

A practical SEO audit framework. The performance review, technical audit, and content audit components, the tools, the deliverable formats that produce action versus the ones that produce nothing, and the strategic call about whether to run audits free or paid.

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Sitebulb: The Desktop SEO Crawler We Actually Use

A full review of Sitebulb, the desktop SEO crawler our team has used for years. What it does well, where Screaming Frog still wins, and why the visualization layer is what makes Sitebulb worth keeping in the stack.

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Website Redesign SEO: A Nine-Step Process to Preserve Rankings Through a Migration

Most websites lose organic traffic after a redesign because the SEO work was an afterthought. The nine-step process for shipping a redesign that holds rankings, plus the specific traps (staging robots.txt, redirect mapping, template regressions) that cause the worst losses.

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What to Blog About: Choosing Topics That Actually Drive Traffic

The hardest part of content marketing is deciding what to write. The themes-then-validation framework I use, the Ahrefs walkthrough for finding traction-ready topics, the internal-linking strategy that makes blog content lift the rest of the site, and the pruning process for content that never earned its keep.

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SEO for WordPress Sites: Plugins, Architecture, and the Pieces That Still Matter

WordPress SEO advice that's still relevant in 2026, plus the pieces from the older playbook that have gone stale. Plugin recommendations, content siloing, child theming for safe customization, and the page-speed reality post Core Web Vitals.

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White Hat SEO: What It Actually Means and Where the Limits Are

A practical look at white hat SEO. The legitimate version of the strategy, the honest limits of "white hat only" promises, and the relationship between white hat, grey hat, and the realities of competing in modern search.

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Private Blog Networks: What They Are, How They Work, and Whether They Still Make Sense

PBNs have been declared dead in roughly every year since 2014, and they keep working anyway. A practical look at where the tactic still produces results in 2026, what AI changed, and why building one yourself usually doesn't make sense.

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Halifax SEO: How Local Search Actually Works in the HRM

We're a Nova Scotia company with most of our Canadian team based around the HRM. A guide to local search behavior in our home market, the variations people actually use, and why "Halifax" can mean three different things to three different searchers.

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Hamilton SEO: Search Behavior in Hamilton, the Mountain, and the Former Communities

Hamilton's 2001 amalgamation merged Stoney Creek, Dundas, Ancaster, Flamborough, and Glanbrook into one city. Local search hasn't fully caught up. The variations that still matter, and what they mean for ranking in this market.

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How to Sell SEO Services Without Being a Subject Matter Expert

You don't need to be an SEO expert to sell SEO. You need to understand your client's business and bring in the right delivery team. The framework, the sales process, and the pricing reality most agencies avoid.

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Interaction to Next Paint (INP): What Replaced FID and How to Optimize for It

INP replaced First Input Delay as a Core Web Vital in March 2024. A complete guide to what it measures, why it's stricter than FID, the thresholds that matter, and the optimization tactics that move sites from failing to passing.

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Keyword Research: How to Identify the Right Keywords for SEO

A step-by-step framework for identifying keywords that drive qualified organic traffic. The keyword types that matter, the tools we use, the validation process, and the spreadsheet structure that makes the output actionable.

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Kitchener-Waterloo SEO: Search Behavior in KW and the Region of Waterloo

KW, K-W, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Tri-Cities, Region of Waterloo. Local search in this market splits across more variations than almost any Canadian market. What that means for keyword strategy and ranking.

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Vancouver SEO: Search Behavior Across Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland

Vancouver, Greater Vancouver, Metro Vancouver, Lower Mainland. Plus North Van, West Van, East Van, and a dozen separate municipalities people often think of as "Vancouver." A guide to local search behavior in one of Canada's most fragmented urban search landscapes.

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