About Garrett Mickley
Hi, I’m Garrett Mickley.
I help experts and niche businesses become easier to understand, easier to trust, and easier to recommend in the age of AI.
My background is in copywriting, SEO, digital strategy, and web. Today, that work is converging around something new: helping people show up not just in search results, but in AI-generated answers.
If someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI features who to hire, what to read, or where to start, your business needs more than keywords. It needs clear positioning, structured expertise, and words that machines can actually understand.
That’s the work I do.
What I Do
I work at the intersection of:
- Copywriting
- SEO and content strategy
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) / AEO (AI Engine Optimization) (What’s the difference?)
- Website messaging
- Research-driven brand positioning
In plain English:
I help businesses explain what they do so clearly and credibly that both humans and AI systems can understand it.
That can mean rewriting a homepage, building FAQ content, clarifying service pages, shaping thought leadership, or creating the kind of structured content that gets cited and reused in AI answers.
Why This Direction Makes Sense
I didn’t arrive here out of nowhere.
For more than a decade, I’ve been studying digital marketing, search, online behavior, and how people discover what matters to them. Over that time, I’ve worked across industries ranging from mobile video games to music and media to professional services.
The common thread has always been communication.
Not just writing words that sound good, but writing words that do a job:
- Explain something clearly
- Earn trust quickly
- Create emotional resonance
- Help the right people take the next step
That is exactly why GEO makes so much sense to me.
A lot of people are treating GEO like a purely technical discipline. I don’t think it is. The technical layer matters, but the real engine is language. AI can only recommend what it can understand, and it can only understand what you have actually said clearly.
That means the future belongs to businesses that can communicate with precision.
My Background
In my early twenties, I began what became a multi-decade-long study of digital marketing.
Along the way, I:
- Earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Video Game Design in 2014
- Helped businesses market products and services across multiple industries
- Worked on projects spanning content, search, strategy, and storytelling
- Had work published in the 22016 Autumn issue of the 2600 Hacker Quarterly (aff)
- Created OSINT guides that have been used in professional training courses
I also come from a creative background shaped by music, writing, and a lifelong interest in how culture moves through media.
That mix of technical curiosity and creative communication is what makes my work what it is.
What You’ll Find Here
This site is where I think in public.
You can expect to find:
- Writing about GEO, SEO, copywriting, and ethical marketing
- Notes from books, courses, and research rabbit holes
- Ideas about communication, design, technology, and culture
- Updates on projects I’m building
- Early looks at experiments, frameworks, and tools
- The occasional detour into whatever else I’m obsessing over at the moment
If that sounds broad, it is. I’m interested in a lot of things. But the thread running through all of it is the same: understanding how ideas spread, how people make decisions, and how better communication can actually matter.
Who I Work Best With
I’m especially well suited to work with:
- Experts whose value is obvious once you talk to them, but unclear on their website
- Niche businesses that need stronger positioning
- Service firms that want to be found in both traditional search and AI search
- Organizations with deep expertise but weak messaging
- People doing real work who are tired of shallow marketing
If your business is strong but your message is muddy, that is usually where I can help most.
A Better Way to Say It
Most marketing tries to be louder.
I’m more interested in making it clearer.
Because clarity builds trust. Trust creates action. And in an AI-shaped internet, clarity is increasingly what gets surfaced.
Social
If you want to follow along, connect on social, read the blog, or reach out about working together, you can do that below.
If you’re curious whether your site is ready for AI search, that’s especially my lane now. Hire me.
Testimonials:
“The primary client grew in traffic by 135% over the next year”
“As director of Digital Marketing for Surgeon’s Advisor, we needed bulk content optimization done for various websites.
Garrett successfully completed his task, and he did so ahead of schedule.
Working with him was easy, as he is a good communicator and an efficient worker, and he handled his tasks with utmost professionalism.
His task took a tremendous burden off of the organization.
His wide knowledge base and his command of his field made the completion of this otherwise difficult task simple, relieving the organization as a whole.
The primary client grew in traffic by 135% over the next year, in no small part to the content optimization that Garrett had completed.
Garrett Mickley has a wide array of talents, from a deep understanding of the technical aspects of the work, such as code, IT, and search engine optimization, but also the ‘softer’ skills, such as written and visual content, marketing, and seeing the big picture.
Working with him is not just to contract out work but to have a partner.“
– Michael Delicio, director of Digital Marketing at Surgeon’s Advisor
“You get quality work without the hassle of having to check in constantly”
“I always knew I wanted Garrett to write for my site, it was just a matter of finding the right project.
Bringing a writer you hadn’t worked with before onto your site is always a risk, so it’s important to vet them and think about where their voice will fit on your site.
Garrett was a consummate professional.
He delivered his copy on time, it was well-written, accurate and polished, and he made any edits we asked for quickly and efficiently.
It’s always a pleasure to work with writers who listen to feedback and use it to produce a better product.
It helped us launch flagship content for our website that ended up being a success, in part because of Garrett’s efforts.
I really liked the research that Garrett did on the subjects we asked him to write about. Because he had done his homework, he was able to write with authority.
We got really good traffic on the pieces Garrett worked on, and the project ended up being a showcase for a redesign that was central to our overall plan for the site.
I would definitely recommend Garrett’s services.
Garrett’s ability to quickly understand and take ownership of an assignment means you get quality work without the hassle of having to check in constantly, or worse, deal with a blown deadline.
Also a plus: Garrett is really skilled at promoting his work on social media and through careful search engine optimization.
I’d say that Garrett is a creative, experienced writer with a can-do attitude who will take a writing assignment from inception to completion with a minimum amount of hassle on your part.
He’s always willing to go the extra mile to make sure you get the copy you need.”
Claes Bell, Bankrate.com
