Cody Schuldt · SEO director + consultant

Build visibility across search engines and AI answer platforms.

I help businesses and agencies improve how they are discovered, understood, cited, and chosen across Google Search, local results, and AI-generated answers.

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Portrait of Cody Schuldt
Cody Schuldt SEO Director, consultant, and founder of GEO Catalyst

Creator of the Search-to-Answer Visibility System—a five-stage framework for diagnosing how brands become discoverable, understandable, verifiable, recommendable, and measurable.

12+ years
in organic search
Director-level
SEO leadership
Founder
of GEO Catalyst
4K+ audience
of search professionals

The decision layer changed

Rankings still matter. But visibility now extends beyond the results page.

Modern organic visibility spans traditional rankings, local results, featured answers, AI-generated recommendations, source citations, brand mentions, entity understanding and what happens after discovery.

  1. 01Rankings + local results
  2. 02Answers + source citations
  3. 03Brand + entity understanding
  4. 04Conversion + qualified demand

Expertise

Strategy across the full organic visibility stack.

SEO, GEO and AEO are not disconnected service lines. The work connects technical foundations, authority, answer readiness, evidence and commercial measurement.

GEO extends SEO. It does not replace the fundamentals.
01

Foundation

02

AI visibility

03

Operations

Named framework

The Search-to-Answer Visibility System.

A five-part operating model for finding where visibility breaks, identifying the missing signal and prioritizing the work most likely to affect discovery and demand.

Business question“How do we become visible, credible and useful wherever customers search or ask?”
  1. 01

    Foundation

    Make the site crawlable, understandable, indexable and trusted.

    Outcome · Technical readiness
  2. 02

    Authority

    Build topical depth, entity clarity and external validation.

    Outcome · Recognized expertise
  3. 03

    Answerability

    Structure information for search and AI systems to extract and use.

    Outcome · Useful inclusion
  4. 04

    Evidence

    Verify claims with reviews, citations, expertise and third-party proof.

    Outcome · Verifiable trust
  5. 05

    Measurement

    Track rankings, mentions, citations, leads and commercial impact.

    Outcome · Measurable demand
Commercial outcomeA credible brand earns discovery, consideration and qualified demand.
Explore the full framework

Who I help

Different teams. One visibility problem.

I work where organic discovery, brand authority and the systems behind them need to become more coherent, measurable and useful.

01

Businesses and marketing teams

Diagnose visibility gaps, align internal teams and build an organic strategy tied to measurable demand.

Explore business consulting
02

Agencies

Build and scale SEO, GEO and AEO services with stronger workflows, measurement, reporting and delivery systems.

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03

Local and multi-location brands

Unify locations, profiles, entities, content and market demand into a search program customers can find and trust.

Explore local SEO consulting
04

Home-service companies

Turn local visibility into qualified calls, estimates and booked work in urgent, competitive and trust-heavy markets.

Explore home-services SEO

Research by Cody Schuldt

Research, systems and practical analysis for modern organic visibility.

Published experiments, field-tested guides and original frameworks for people responsible for search performance—not recycled AI news.

  1. 01 ExperimentHow five leading LLMs choose the “best” local businessModels tested: 5 · Prompt set: 1 shared prompt · Published Apr 24, 2026
  2. 02 GuideGoogle Maps SEO for Local Businesses in 2026Industry reviewed: local businesses · Published May 14, 2026
  3. 03 AnalysisHow query fan-out changes modern SEO strategyEvidence type: technical analysis · Published Jul 16, 2026
  4. 04 GuideHow Home Service Businesses Get Recommended by AIIndustry reviewed: home services · 12-part series · In production
Research standard Every piece identifies the method, evidence type, publication state and practical decision it supports.
Explore writing and research
Articles, frameworks and video

Published thinking for the search-to-answer transition.

Analysis Published Jul 16, 2026 9 min read

Query Fan-Out Is Changing SEO. Most Marketers Are Still Optimizing for One Query.

Why answer engines decompose one question into many searches—and what that changes about content depth, retrieval and strategy.

Published on LinkedIn
Guide Published May 14, 2026 4 min read

Google Maps SEO for Local Businesses in 2026: The Local Ranking Game Has Changed

A field guide to the local signals, architecture and entity relationships shaping Maps visibility now.

Published on LinkedIn
Experiment Published Apr 24, 2026 3 min read

I Asked 5 LLMs How They Pick the “Best” Local Business

A five-model comparison of how AI systems evaluate sources, evidence and fit when asked for a local recommendation.

Published on LinkedIn
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About Cody

Built from operating real search programs—not repeating industry commentary.

Cody Schuldt, SEO, GEO and AEO consultant
Cody SchuldtSEO director · consultant · founder

I work at the intersection of technical SEO, local and multi-location strategy, content systems, AI retrieval and the operating systems teams need to turn visibility into demand.

My perspective comes from client SEO programs, agency operations, AI-visibility measurement, reporting systems, product development, lead-generation properties and automation workflows—not theory alone.

Experience12+ years across organic, local and multi-location search programs.
Operator breadthAgency delivery, AI visibility, reporting, automation and multi-industry programs.
Published workOriginal LLM experiments, Maps strategy and query fan-out analysis.
Working rule “If a tactic cannot be explained clearly, verified independently and connected to a business outcome, it does not belong in the strategy.”

Work with Cody

Bring senior search judgment into the room.

Start with the engagement that matches the decision, the operating gap and the level of ownership your team needs.

Strategic advisoryFor a defined challenge, audit or roadmap.↗ Ongoing consultingFor continuous senior guidance and implementation support.↗ Fractional leadershipFor ownership of the broader SEO, GEO or organic visibility program.↗
Discuss the right engagement