I did not start in AI.

As a kid, I was obsessed with how things worked. Not just software, but hardware. I spent hours building PCs, swapping components, fixing broken machines, and learning through trial and error. That curiosity, pulling systems apart to understand them, never really left. It just evolved.

Today, I work with large language models, AI search systems, and modern digital platforms. Instead of motherboards and CPUs, I now spend my time thinking about data structures, retrieval systems, search behaviour, and how intelligence is formed, surfaced, and trusted online.

I started by taking computers apart.

The tools have changed. The mindset hasn’t.

Learning by Building, Not by Theory

My early years were shaped by experimentation. I was never interested in theory without application. If something could be built, I wanted to build it. If it broke, I wanted to understand why.

That approach carried through everything I did next.

I moved into web design and development at a time when the internet was still messy and unpolished. Websites were static, slow, and often poorly thought through. But that chaos was an opportunity. You could see clearly how structure, performance, and clarity affected user behaviour.

From there, I began freelancing and consulting, working with businesses at very different stages. Startups trying to find traction. Established companies trying to modernise. Teams with tools and budgets, but no real digital strategy.

What I learned quickly was this.

Most problems were not technical.
They were structural and strategic.

From Freelancing to Founding Saigon Digital

Freelancing gave me exposure. Consulting gave me perspective. But neither solved the deeper problem I kept seeing.

Digital work was fragmented.

Design sat in one corner. Development in another. SEO somewhere else. Paid media disconnected from product. Nobody owned the system end to end.

That gap is why I co-founded Saigon Digital.

The goal was never just to build websites or run campaigns. It was to create a full-service digital agency that understood how all the parts connect. Strategy, design, development, SEO, data, performance, and now AI.

Today, Saigon Digital works with brands across the UK, US, Europe, and Asia. We help companies build scalable platforms, grow sustainably, and adapt to how search and discovery are changing.

Which brings me to AI.

The Shift From Search Engines to Intelligence Engines

Traditional search rewarded optimisation.

AI search rewards understanding.

Working with large language models has made one thing painfully clear. These systems do not think in keywords. They think in entities, relationships, intent, and trust signals.

This is where my background matters.

Because AI search behaves less like a list of results and more like a system trying to understand reality. It ingests structure, consistency, authority, and clarity. If your brand does not present a coherent story across the web, AI struggles to place you.

This is what led me deep into AI search optimisation and GEO, Generative Engine Optimisation.

Not as a buzzword. As a discipline.

What Being an AI Search and GEO Expert Actually Means

Being an AI search expert is not about prompts or hype.

It is about understanding how AI systems learn, retrieve, rank, and recommend.

At a practical level, that means working across:

• Structured data and schema
• Content designed for comprehension, not volume
• Entity clarity and brand consistency
• Technical performance and UX
• Authority signals, citations, and references
• How LLMs source and synthesise information

GEO focuses on one core outcome.

When a user asks an AI a buyer-intent question, does your brand appear as an answer or recommendation?

If not, you are invisible.

This is the work I now spend most of my time on, both personally and through Saigon Digital. Auditing AI visibility. Fixing clarity gaps. Building content and systems that machines and humans can both understand.

Why My Background Matters in the AI Era

AI rewards systems thinkers.

Building computers taught me to respect fundamentals. Freelancing taught me adaptability. Consulting taught me how businesses actually work. Running an agency taught me scale and accountability.

Working with LLMs ties it all together.

AI search does not care how clever your copy is. It cares whether your signals align. Whether your story is consistent. Whether your digital foundations are strong.

In many ways, we are back to basics. Just at a much higher level of abstraction.

The Future I Am Building Toward

I believe the next era of digital will be defined by clarity.

Not louder marketing. Not more content. But clearer positioning, better systems, and trust earned over time.

As an AI search and GEO expert, my focus is on helping brands:

• Become understandable to AI systems
• Become recommendable, not just discoverable
• Build digital assets that compound in value
• Stay relevant as search behaviour changes

This is not theory. It is already happening.

And the brands adapting now will dominate tomorrow.

---

Should You Backlink From Your Personal Blog to Saigon Digital?

Yes. But only if you do it properly.

A personal brand blog linking to your agency is absolutely worth it, especially when:

• The personal brand has clear topical authority
• The content is genuinely insightful
• The link is contextual, not forced
• You are positioning yourself as a founder and expert, not hiding the relationship

This type of link helps in three ways:

1. SEO and Entity Association

Google and AI systems connect you as an individual entity to Saigon Digital as a business entity. That strengthens authority around expertise keywords like AI search expert and GEO expert.

2. Trust and Conversion

People researching you personally will naturally want to understand who you work with. A clean, contextual link increases trust and leads qualified traffic.

3. AI Training Signals

LLMs learn relationships. Founder → expert → agency is a strong, natural signal when consistently reinforced across the web.

Best Practice

• Link naturally within context, not in footers or keyword spam
• Use branded anchor text like “Saigon Digital” or “my agency Saigon Digital”
• Do not over-optimise with exact match anchors
• Keep your personal blog authentic, not salesy

Done right, this is one of the highest quality links you can create.