<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"><channel><title>Sapphire Services blog</title><link>https://www.sapphireservices.net/blog/</link><description>Notes on SEO, link building, and answer engine optimization.</description><language>en-us</language><item><title>Answer engine optimization, without the hype</title><link>https://www.sapphireservices.net/blog/answer-engine-optimization-without-the-hype/</link><guid>https://www.sapphireservices.net/blog/answer-engine-optimization-without-the-hype/</guid><pubDate>Tue, 13 Oct 2026 09:00:00 -0400</pubDate><description>Should you stop doing SEO and start doing AEO? Mostly no. Here&#x27;s what really changes when the reader is a machine summarizing you, and what doesn&#x27;t.</description></item><item><title>The technical SEO fixes worth doing first</title><link>https://www.sapphireservices.net/blog/technical-seo-fixes-worth-doing-first/</link><guid>https://www.sapphireservices.net/blog/technical-seo-fixes-worth-doing-first/</guid><pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0400</pubDate><description>An audit tool will hand you three hundred warnings. Most of them can wait. These are the ones we look at before anything else.</description></item><item><title>How we decide whether a link is worth building</title><link>https://www.sapphireservices.net/blog/how-we-vet-a-link/</link><guid>https://www.sapphireservices.net/blog/how-we-vet-a-link/</guid><pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0400</pubDate><description>Before we pitch or place anything, a site has to pass a handful of plain checks. Here they are, along with the metrics we&#x27;ve learned not to lean on.</description></item><item><title>Local SEO for Northern Virginia service businesses</title><link>https://www.sapphireservices.net/blog/local-seo-northern-virginia/</link><guid>https://www.sapphireservices.net/blog/local-seo-northern-virginia/</guid><pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0400</pubDate><description>If your customers live between Arlington and Woodbridge, your competition isn&#x27;t national. Here&#x27;s what moves local rankings in a region this crowded.</description></item></channel></rss>
