AM Creative in the News
Industry coverage of how we get local businesses into Google and AI answers. We build the durable way, not the shortcut way.
AM Creative is a marketing agency in Amesbury, Massachusetts. We serve home service businesses and local companies across New England. In August 2026, founder Jon Almas was featured in Agentic Marketing News, a national publication covering AI and marketing. The topic: the fundamentals that earn Google rankings are the same ones that get a business cited in AI answers.
The Fundamentals That Carry a Page Into Google Still Carry It Into AI Answers. Most Local Businesses Are Skipping Them.
A search engine is a search engine. It's going to be fed information from somewhere. The fundamentals that get us into one are similar and have crossover that get us into AI. Jon Almas, Founder of AM CreativeRead the Full Interview
What was AM Creative featured for?
Agentic Marketing News interviewed Jon about a pattern he keeps running into. Local business owners hear that AI search is the next big thing, ask ChatGPT to write blog posts for them, and publish whatever comes back. The content exists, but AI answers never cite it because it says nothing a competitor's site doesn't already say.
The interview covers his fix. Tear the site down to its foundation and rebuild it clean: dedicated service pages, location pages, and real customer questions framed as headings. That structure is what AM Creative builds for home builders, plumbers, electricians, and chiropractors across New England. It's the same work that carries a business into Google results and AI answers alike.
Do SEO fundamentals still matter for AI search?
Yes, and this is the core of the interview. AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini don't invent their answers from nothing. They pull from search indexes and cite the sources they find there. If your site earns a spot in those indexes, you have a shot at being the source an AI answer quotes. If it doesn't, no amount of tricks will fix that. This is the thinking behind our AI search optimization service.
In the feature, Jon breaks the signals that drive AI inclusion into four categories: content, UI, technical fundamentals, and authority. None of them are new. They're the same things that have decided Google rankings for years. What's changed is the cost of skipping them, because weak structure now means invisibility in two places instead of one.
He also flagged a warning for businesses chasing quick wins. A spam update aimed at AI search tricks is likely coming. Gains built on seeded citations and templated pages could reverse when it lands. Real fundamentals hold. Shortcuts get corrected.
Why is local expertise so hard for AI to fake?
Because it comes from doing the work. A plumber who explains why a specific fitting fails in local conditions is writing something an AI model can cite with confidence. Ten generated posts about the importance of plumbing maintenance? The model has seen that a thousand times. There's no reason to pick that site over anyone else's.
"Local expertise and authenticity is hard to fake. Give your input on a specific question that homeowners have that they ask AI a lot, and give your business take on it based on your experience."
That's the durable edge local businesses hold over national brands in AI answers. Most of them leave it on the table. The trade knowledge is already in their heads. Our job is getting it onto the site in a structure search engines and AI models can actually use.
Who is Jon Almas?
Jon Almas founded AM Creative in 2016 and runs it from Amesbury, Massachusetts. The agency handles SEO, web design, paid media, and lead tracking for local businesses making $200K or more a year. His measure of success is blunt: if the phone rings, the strategy is working. If it doesn't, nothing else matters.
You can learn more about AM Creative or read Jon's writing and interviews at jonalmas.com.
Media and Interview Inquiries
Jon talks regularly about local SEO, AI search, and marketing for home service businesses. For interviews, quotes, or podcast appearances, reach out directly.
Get in Touch