From NCO to SEO.
A decade of building organic-growth pipelines for health, finance, and SaaS brands — and now figuring out how to win in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
// The journey
I'm a content engineer.
Three titles describe what I actually do: content engineer (I build the systems that produce and distribute content), content designer (I structure it so it does a job for the reader), and relevance architect (I organise it so search engines and AI systems retrieve the right page). Most people just call it SEO.
It started in 2014, after I completed my enlistment in the United States Marine Corps. I discovered drop-shipping, affiliate marketing, and the digital-nomad lifestyle, which led me around the world meeting talented entrepreneurs and operators.
Along the way I started a few e-commerce businesses, but I quickly realized I was more interested in building websites and generating traffic than anything else. That discovery set my path.
Today I help brands scale through organic search — from health e-commerce startups to major digital publishers. I specialize in YMYL verticals like health and finance, where trust and accuracy aren't optional.
I'm thrilled to live at the intersection of SEO and AI. I've already helped brands show up not just in Google, but in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — that's where discovery is heading, and I'm obsessed with figuring out how to win.
// Résumé
The full record.
- Mar 2026 — Now
Content Engineer · iPullRank
- Built Python + AI content pipelines and automation-first workflows for enterprise clients.
- Technical audits to resolve relevancy and visibility issues at scale.
- Partnered with content, product, and engineering to align SEO with business goals.
- 2022 — 2025
SEO Manager · Liaison Labs
- Grew organic clicks +1,450%, contributing to ~1,700% revenue growth ($1.5M+ total sales).
- #1 rankings for competitive YMYL keywords and brand citations in ChatGPT and Gemini.
- Built and managed the editorial team; AI pipelines cut creative turnaround by 70%.
- 2022 — 2025
Founder / Lead SEO · NicheEgg
- Built and ranked SEO-driven affiliate properties end-to-end.
- Wrote and edited hundreds of optimized articles; multiple #1 rankings.
- Owned strategy, content, HTML/CSS, and analytics solo.
- 2022 — 2025
Lead SEO / SEM Instructor · BrainStation
- Lead instructor for a 10-week SEO + SEM program across 3+ years of cohorts.
- 2021 — 2022
SEO Manager · Trusted Media Brands
- Owned organic strategy for ReadersDigest.com — 8M+ monthly clicks.
- Managed the editorial production lifecycle for a 10,000+ page library.
- Built organic traffic and revenue forecasting models for the executive team.
- 2021
SEO Analyst · G/O Media
- SEO across 10 sites generating 35M+ combined monthly clicks — Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Kotaku.
- Trained editorial teams and leadership on SEO tools and best practices.
- Caught a critical technical SEO error and drove the fix with developers.
- 2010 — 2014
United States Marine Corps
- Intelligence Liaison — prepared and presented briefs for executive officers.
- NCO Team Leader — training, safety, and $500K+ of equipment.
- Nine decorations, including the Good Conduct Medal.
// Now · Updated May 2026 · Mount Vernon, WA
What I'm up to these days.
Most of my weekgoes to a YMYL health publisher where I'm the fractional head of SEO — rebuilding their editorial pipeline, retiring a 4,000-page legacy template, and trying to attribute organic traffic to revenue without lying to anyone.
On the side,I'm building an open-source n8n workflow library for editorial teams — brief generation, draft review, publishing. Aiming for a v0.1 in July.
I'm researchinghow brands surface in LLM answers: the same fixed set of queries, run monthly, across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude. It's becoming the GEO baseline I bring to every client.
Away from the desk: archery on Tuesday evenings, a fingerstyle guitar kick, long walks with the dog along the slough. Reading Working in Public and re-reading Building a Second Brain. Working on patience.
Two retainer slots open from August.If you're in YMYL, SaaS, or B2B services — say hello.
— Yerain
// A day in the life
