Ross Hudgens

Before Siege, Hudgens worked as an SEO in insurance and mortgage verticals, building sites from launch toward number-one rankings on competitive queries. He founded Siege Media in August 2012 and still runs it as Founder/CEO from Austin, with a Business Administration degree focused on marketing from Chapman University.

His Siege Media team bio notes Inc. 5000 placement six years in a row and Inc. Best Workplaces recognition. Press mentions of his work have included The New York Times, The Washington Post, Search Engine Land, Forbes, AOL, and Hacker News. He also invests in SEO and content-adjacent startups, including Optiversal and SparkToro.

Siege began as a content-marketing shop, later described itself as an organic-growth agency, and now markets generative engine optimization as a core service line. Clients listed in Siege materials and Hudgens's book materials include brands such as Intuit, Zendesk, TripAdvisor, HubSpot, Adidas, and Airbnb.

Melissa Holmes runs operations as COO, and Stacy Walden leads content marketing on the same roster.

Hudgens's Wiley title, Generative Engine Optimization: The Definitive Guide to AI SEO, is positioned as a practitioner guide for structuring content so brands appear positively inside ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and related systems. He speaks at BrightonSEO, MozCon, SEO Week, Tech SEO Connect, and similar events.

In industry conversations he has framed AI-search work around versus pages, proof on the page, "best for" positioning, and community signals treated as services rather than afterthoughts. He has described the book's early timeline as making the move into GEO feel early and nerve-wracking.

Hudgens lives in Austin with his family.