Search presence // audit and plan
How Garrett shows up online.
A scan of what a search for Garrett returns today, what it says about him, and a plan to make every result intentional. Built to be low-effort on his end and steadily managed on ours.
What the scan found
The good news first.
Garrett's first page is mostly clean and mostly positive. It is dominated by the Grover Gaming sale, the Valicy launch, and legitimate trade and business coverage. There is very little to be defensive about. The work is less cleanup and more control: making sure the results we want are the ones that lead.
Strong signal
The $1.05B Light & Wonder sale and the Valicy launch anchor the page. Serious, credible, and the story Valicy wants told.
Trade credibility
GGB, CDC Gaming, SBC, and Business North Carolina all cover him as a real industry figure, not a footnote.
A human moment
A University of Mount Olive talk shows him as a mentor and hometown entrepreneur. Warm, and worth amplifying.
Current page one // representative
What leads today.
A representative read of the top results for his name. The label on the right is whether we control it, it is neutral third-party coverage, or it is something to keep an eye on.
LinkedIn profile
linkedin.com/in/garrett-blackwelder
Valicy launch coverage (PRNewswire, GGB, CDC, SBC)
Multiple trade outlets, Sept 2025
Grover Gaming sale coverage (Business NC, Bloomberg)
The $1.05B story, early 2025
Data-broker profiles (ZoomInfo, RocketReach, Datanyze, Wiza)
Aggregators listing contact data
University of Mount Olive feature
Entrepreneurship talk, April 2026
Bloomberg executive profile
Structured business listing
The gap: almost none of the top results are pages Valicy actually controls, apart from LinkedIn. The story is good, but it is being told entirely by other people. That is the single biggest opportunity, and the easiest to act on.
Honest read
Two things worth knowing.
// a note on scope
None of this is a fire. Garrett's online presence is in good shape for someone who just did a billion-dollar deal. Our job is maintenance and control, not damage repair, and definitely not press management. We make the owned results strong enough that they lead, and we keep them fresh. That is a light, steady lift, exactly the kind Garrett asked for.
The plan
Make the results we want the ones that lead.
Two phases. The first is quick and mostly on us. The second is a light ongoing drip that keeps the good results on top over time.
Now // first weeks
Claim and clean
- Optimize the LinkedIn profile so the result that already ranks first is fully on-brand, current, and complete
- Fresh headshot and bio set that becomes the canonical image and description everywhere
- An owned page on the Valicy site for Garrett, so there is a result we fully control that can climb
- Opt-out of the data-broker listings that publish his contact details
- Structured data so Google reads the owned results as authoritative
Ongoing // light drip
Keep it fresh
- Occasional ghostwritten articles under his name, a few a year, in his voice and approved before posting
- Amplify the good moments that already happen, like the Mount Olive talk, rather than manufacturing new ones
- Quarterly re-scan so we see movement and catch anything new early
- Keep the owned results updated so freshness keeps them ranking
What we need from Garrett: a fresh set of headshots, a quick pass on his bio, and access to his LinkedIn. Everything else runs through us. Total time from him is measured in a single sitting, not an ongoing commitment.
How we know it is working
What we track.
Owned results on page one
How many of the top ten are pages we control. Today it is essentially one. The goal is to grow that steadily.
Data-broker suppression
How many aggregator listings we have opted out of or pushed off the first page.
Freshness
The date on the top results. Recent, on-brand content ranking is the sign the system is working.
Reported alongside the monthly state of the union, so Garrett and the team can see the page one improving over time without having to check it themselves.