# C-Level SEO

> C-Level SEO is a simple guide to SEO and AI search for busy business leaders who are justifying, funding or evaluating search work. Cost. Value. Bullshit. Written by Grant Simmons. Updated for AI search (GEO) and connected to The MAPS Method.

## Chapters

- [Chapter 1: An Introduction to C-Level SEO: Who This Book Is For, and Why You Need It](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/what-is-c-level-seo/): You’ve been asked to price, justify, negotiate or approve an SEO or AI search spend. It’s not your wheelhouse, and you don’t want to sound clueless. Start here.
- [Chapter 2: A Bit About Me: My Journey Through the SEO Landscape to Leadership](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/my-seo-journey/): Skip it if you like. But you should know who is telling you what to do, and why other experts trust them.
- [Chapter 3: C-Level SEO Concepts: A Simple Explanation of Google Search](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/how-google-search-works/): You don’t need to understand a combustion engine to drive from A to B. Here’s how search, and now AI answers, actually work, in words that need no technical skills.
- [Chapter 4: The Value of SEO: C-Level Calculations for ROI](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/seo-roi/): Did I get out more than I put in? The simplest measure of success is often hidden behind tools and jargon. Here is the value equation, and what AI answers do to it.
- [Chapter 5: The 20-Minute C-Level SEO Check: Having a Clue About Your Site’s SEO](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/20-minute-seo-check/): You don’t need to be THE SEO for your company. But in 20 minutes, with Google, a few free tools and your brain, you can know how good, bad or ugly things really are.
- [Chapter 6: The C-Level Questions to Ask Your In-House SEO Team](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/questions-for-your-seo-team/): Leaders are assumed to have all the answers. More usefully, you’re the person with the difficult questions. Here are the right ones, with what a good answer sounds like.
- [Chapter 7: The C-Level Guide to Linking: Google’s War on Link-Building](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/link-building/): The tactics most often pitched to you can help, or hurt, your visibility. What works, what’s risky, and what is likely to earn you a penalty.
- [Chapter 8: The C-Level Guide to Knowing When You Need Help: Agency, Freelancer, or Hire?](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/agency-freelancer-or-hire/): Not enough is getting checked off and everything takes too long. Freelancer for cost, agency for scale, or a hire for the long term? A decision tree to lead you down the right path.
- [Chapter 9: The Cost of SEO: The C-Level Back-of-Napkin Overview](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/cost-of-seo/): There’s no standard price list, no consistent pay scale and no official SEO degree. So how do you tell a fair proposal from being ripped off?
- [Chapter 10: C-Level SEO Reporting: Filtering the Data Firehose](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/seo-reporting/): SEO practitioners push data at clients as a firehose rather than a utility. Here are the metrics that do matter, on one simple dashboard.
- [Chapter 11: AI in Search and SEO: What Leaders Need to Know](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/ai-search/): AI is reshaping both the results your buyers see and the way SEO work gets done. What’s changed, what hasn’t, and where to put money. New chapter.
- [Chapter 12: C-Level SEO Bullsh*t Detector: Top Myths Clarified](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/seo-bullshit-detector/): SEO has a bad reputation for overpromising and under-delivering. Listen for these cues and you’ll know when to push back. Now with the AI-era myths.
- [Chapter 13: The SEO-Confident C-Level Stakeholder](https://www.clevelseo.com/chapters/seo-confident-leader/): SEO can be complex. The fundamental business and marketing concepts are not. Confidence, clarity and consistency, in one closing chapter.

## About

- [About Grant Simmons](https://www.clevelseo.com/about/): Grant Simmons is a writer, author and marketer with more than 25 years in search. He has written hundreds of articles and presented hundreds of sessions on SEO, content, link-building, user experience and agency operations, and advises Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, mid-sized companies and enterprises.
- [The MAPS Method in C-Level SEO](https://www.clevelseo.com/maps-method/): The MAPS Method is a marketing framework created by Grant Simmons for diagnosing and improving how a brand is understood, trusted, found and used by people, markets and machines. Its four conditions are Meaning, Authority, Presence and Signals.
- [Get the book](https://www.clevelseo.com/get-the-book/): Early-access list, free chapter guide and 20-minute SEO check.
- [Contact](https://www.clevelseo.com/contact/): Speaking, leadership sessions and consulting.

## Machine-readable

- [Entity map](https://www.clevelseo.com/entitymap.json)
- [XML sitemap](https://www.clevelseo.com/sitemap.xml)