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Your Instagram posts, TikToks, and YouTube videos can show up when somebody searches on Google. Until now, Google Search Console mostly told you how your website performed in Google. It can now also show you when your social content itself appears in Google results, what people searched for, and whether they clicked. In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, we walk through two new Google reporting connections worth setting up this week: social content inside Search Console, and Google Business Profile activity inside Google Analytics. What's covered: ✅ What the new Search Console social reporting actually shows, and what it doesn't ✅ Why the Google query data is the most useful part for planning content ✅ Why you should verify your accounts now, since the data only starts when you connect them ✅ The seven Google Business Profile metrics coming into Analytics ✅ The multi-location and reporting limitations to know before you build anything around it Three action steps for this week: Open Search Console and verify the Instagram, TikTok, X, or YouTube accounts that matter to your business so the social search data starts accumulating now. Once you have some data, look at the actual Google queries and the social content appearing for them, and use those patterns to help shape future topics. Check whether your Google Business Profile is linked to Google Analytics so you can see local actions like calls, directions, bookings, and website clicks alongside the rest of your reporting. These changes give you better clues about what's actually working. Show notes: www.delosinc.com/episode466 Subscribe for more actionable digital marketing tips for local and regional service businesses.
Recorded the day after the first SearchNorwichXL, this episode recaps the last four weeks of SEO news from the Core Updates newsletter:Google rolling out google.com/goto pass-through URLs to deter scraping amid the SERP API lawsuit (with rank-tracking tools finding workarounds); Google Search Console's generative AI performance reporting rolling out globally, showing impressions for AI Overviews/AI Mode, alongside a toggle to opt sites out of generative AI features without affecting organic rankings; data suggesting nearly all People Also Ask results are AI-generated; and a Google AI Contribution pilot in Search Console that tests paying publishers when their content significantly contributes to AI-generated responses in Gemini, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.News storieshttps://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-goto-tracking-41957.htmlhttps://searchengineland.com/google-search-console-ai-performance-reports-and-search-generative-ai-control-rolling-out-globally-486269https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7503164423075725313/https://9to5google.com/2026/09/17/google-ai-contribution-pilot-tests-paying-websites-when-theyre-used-in-ai-results/Chapters00:00 Welcome and recap01:11 SearchNorwichXL highlights02:15 September 2026 news02:40 Google's new goto redirect URLs05:26 GSC AI reports rollout08:42 AI Overviews takeover People Also Ask11:15 Google pilots new publisher payment program15:44 Season five teaser17:21 Wrap up
I #130 av Sökpodden kan Björn, Simon och Micke såklart inte undvika att prata om ChatGPT Ads. De hinner även med ett snack om att Google försämrar sökresultaten och sociala kanaler i Google Search Console. Du lyssnar väl?
How do you know if your website is showing up in AI search results?Google Search Console finally answers this, but only after a much bigger problem gets in the way of most website owners even looking.Check the Generative AI tab in Search Console and you'll know exactly which of your existing pages AI is already recommending to searchers.Google Search Console's new Generative AI reporting tabHow the tab separates AI search performance from regular searchWhy other AI visibility tools can't be trustedShifting blog strategy from keywords to topicsTimestamps [0:00] Introduction [1:46] Why AI over-reliance is becoming a real problem [2:20] Employees and clients blaming AI for mistakes [3:20] Media overconsumption and feeling overwhelmed by AI [4:15] AI advertising taking over every subway car [5:50] A new AI search feature inside Google Search Console [7:07] How the Generative AI tab works and what it shows [7:50] Why other AI visibility tools can't be trusted [8:48] Blogging by topic instead of keyword [10:01] Finding a client issue using the new data --Send me your AI/SEO questions!https://www.meredithshusband.com/podcast
Mary used to think SEO was scarier than doing CPR. Mary, Mary Hodson… who's a healthcare worker.
Are your social feeds filling up with automated slop and made-up stories? In this episode of Digital Marketing From The Coalface, Dave and Julie return from their summer break to tackle the fine line between smart AI productivity and cringey, low-quality automation. If you're an engineering company leader looking for genuine online visibility without the fluff, this episode shows you how to put AI to work to provide high-value data analytics while keeping human strategy firmly in the driver's seat. What we cover in this episode: The cringey AI lead magnet test: Julie shares what happened when she tested a tool that promised 30 "tailored" LinkedIn posts, only to receive completely fake case studies and bizarre claims. Talking to your data in plain English: Dave and Julie talk about how connecting tools like Windsor.ai to Google Search Console, Google Ads, and GA4 lets you query your marketing data in natural language, bypassing complex PowerBI filters and SQL queries. AI watermarks & editorial control: AI watermarking isn't something to fear if you take ownership of your content. You need to make sure to apply human oversight, and refine every word you're sharing. Strategy vs. "random acts of marketing": tech businesses need a structured marketing framework so that their teams aren't just creating ad-hoc AI content for the sake of it. Plus, Julie and Dave swap summer highlights and office drama, featuring Edinburgh Fringe comedy, metal detecting adventures, a new coffee machine, and some spilled milk that no one cried over. Enjoyed the episode? Browse more at redevolution.com/digital-marketing-from-the-coalface
How can you use AI to research, edit and handle admin and marketing tasks while still writing every single word yourself? How can you double down on being human and reach readers on a personal level? Anna McPhee shares her perspective as a software engineer, author and creative technologist. In the intro, How to Write, Publish, and Market Short Stories out now. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community and get articles, discounts, and extra audio and video tutorials on writing craft, author business, and AI tools, at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Anna McPhee is an author, software engineer, professional speaker, and creative technologist. Her latest book is What Machines Can't Replace: Why AI Makes Us More Human. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Why writing code is creative work, and what it shares with writing books How AI changed Anna's job as a software engineer without taking her employment The difference between AI assistance and generation How to use custom skills for editing reports, research and repeatable tasks Why the rise of AI makes us crave slow, imperfect, physical things Responding to a negative review by showing up as a human You can find Anna at Anna.kiwi and her new book at WhatMachinesCantReplace.com. Transcript of the interview with Anna McPhee Jo: Anna McPhee is an author, software engineer, professional speaker, and creative technologist. Her latest book is What Machines Can't Replace: Why AI Makes Us More Human. So welcome to the show, Anna. Anna: Hi, Joanna. Thank you so much for having me. Jo: Oh, this is going to be a fun conversation. First up— Tell us a bit more about you and your background in technology, as well as how you got into writing. Anna: I have been in all of these things my whole life, as long as I can remember. When I was just a little girl, writing was my favourite thing, writing stories. It was the whole reason I went to school, to be honest. I always pictured myself as a writer before anything else. My dad was a lecturer in software development, so when I was little, he would teach me how to code. So I've always done both, for as long as I can remember, and my mum is an artist. That's been my upbringing, at the intersection of technology and art, and then writing is my own personal passion. It's naturally flowed throughout my life. I've been in and out of some other careers and chased all the things that have made me feel interested and passionate, but writing has always been there in the background. It's something I do, whether it's been for a hobby or for a profession, so it's always been there. Jo: But you work in software, right? Anna: I do. I work in software, which came to me by chance. I set out as a digital nomad about 15 years ago now. I sold everything I owned and started travelling. The way I thought I was going to fund this was through freelance writing, which I was very optimistic about. We all know now that's a very challenging way to make an income, especially when you don't have a background in it or a portfolio. I did have this childhood background in software engineering and coding. So I set out to be a writer and travel the world as a writer, and actually what I ended up doing was building websites and writing software, because that's what people would pay me to do. So I fell into both at the same time through this chance I took. Jo: I think sometimes people think that programming and software development and these more technical fields are not creative. My husband was a programmer for a long time, and essentially programming is a language. Well, there are lots of languages, but you are creating in a language with computers, right? So is there that much difference? How do you fix these two things in your mind separately, or are they the same thing? Anna: They're so related. Many people might put writing into more of an art, and computer development and programming more into a maths or a science, but I just think there's so much creativity in writing code, in how you choose to structure things, in the language you select for something, the way you approach it. It's very similar to writing a book, I think. I've found a lot of things that are very similar about it, to do with architecture even. When you look at the basics, some people might write a book with no idea where it's going and see where it ends. It's the same with software. People might go into it and not have a plan. Most people will architect their software, or they'll architect their story in the same way. I think there's a lot of crossover between the two. Jo: And there's editing, and doing the “does this do what I want it to do?” I think with software perhaps it's more obvious when something doesn't do what you want it to do than with a book. Anna: Perhaps. Although with AI now, it's becoming a little more vague, because you can think your software's doing what you want it to, but it might not be. It might just look like it is. I think those lines are getting a bit blurrier as technology changes. There's a lot of things in software development that are very similar to writing. We don't have an editor, but we will have unit tests or code reviews, and maybe the CI tests, and we've got all these structures in place that are very similar to writing. Jo: I also think what's interesting, and this has been in the last maybe decade really, is that it used to be you would get a job in the old way, but— Now it seems like your GitHub page, which is almost like your author platform, your programmer platform, can make a real difference in how people find you and your work. So maybe talk a bit about that, because you have a GitHub page, don't you? Anna: I do have a GitHub page, and I've spent a lot of time on it, because you can set up your README file and make it a bit like a website, and introduce all of your projects and what you're working on. Just to combine it a little bit, actually, I use GitHub for my writing. I use it for version control so that I can go back and see the changes that I've made to the things that I'm writing. Even with my book, I had a copy of it backed up in a private repository on GitHub where I could track changes and never lose a backup. I have so much faith in GitHub that it extends beyond the software I write and into everything I do. I keep a copy backed up in GitHub. Jo: That's actually quite funny because, coming into AI in the author community, one of the things that's now talked about is how do you prove that your book is not a one-click generated book? And what you've actually got there is evidence of your process. Anna: Exactly. Jo: Which is kind of hilarious in many ways. Well, let's get into this, because there's so much fear and witch hunting right now and negativity in the author community. As somebody who's grown up with both art and the software side, where do you think those attitudes come from, and how have they changed in different ways? Anna: Oh, people are really afraid. I've got a very moderate perspective, and I think I sit in a very similar position to you. A large number of people that I hear from are either incredibly pro-AI, let it do everything for them, everything, everything, do it for absolutely everything you can think of. Or they're completely terrified and very, very negative about it, and won't use it for anything at all. I can only assume this is going to stabilise with time. There's been a huge amount of outrage against other technologies in the past, even calculators. All technology has come with scepticism and people scared that it's going to take their jobs. I think there's a lot of misinformation out there as well, people who think that AI is trained on books, which it is, and that's a totally valid concern with the copyright and things. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding around what training an AI model actually means in that regard. It's not taking someone's prose and reusing it. It's looking at the underlying mathematical probability of, if you have this word, what is the probability of the next word being this? It's broken down into numbers. I'm not 100 percent sure, but from my perspective of seeing it, the witch hunt comes from a place of fear. I saw an author in a group I'm in recently who said, “Oh, I've written so many novels, and I've run out of ideas for names for my characters. I've used every person I've ever met, I've used their name. That's how many books I've written. How do I get more names?” Someone suggested, “Well, why don't you ask AI for some other names?” “Oh, no, no, no. I could never let AI take over my work like that.” And it was just over the idea of using it to ask a question. So I think there's a feeling that if you let it do one thing, next thing it's going to be doing everything, and it's going to erase you, and your ideas, and your way of doing things. Jo: Just on that, it is interesting, though, isn't it? Because I am trying to use it, like I use Claude Code, and I'm trying to use it for more, and more, and more. I started off using ChatGPT the day it came out in 2022, and have increasingly tried to give the AI tools all the things that will free me up to do the things I love to do. Making lists of names is not on my list of things I love to do. Anna: Yes, exactly. I feel the same way. Jo: So that's the thing, isn't it? The fear is really interesting because we all have fear. One very visceral time I remember feeling very scared was in the pandemic, in those early days when there wasn't a vaccine. That's really the only reference I think I have for it, because like you, I feel like I've grown up with technology, and so I've never felt it that way. I'm hoping that as with COVID, as with things developing over time, and obviously again, misinformation is rampant, but— I guess we got used to it. Is that the best we can hope for with AI? Anna: I hope it's better than that. I hope we can hope for better, that people can learn how to use it in a way that supports them. As people become less fearful, like with COVID, they experiment a little bit here or there and start to see that there are ways to not let it take over. In general, people are really bad at identifying AI-generated content. There are so many studies done on it, and it's 50/50 at best. Good AI now produces stuff that a lot of people don't recognise. So it's more about the idea than the reality of it. There's this whole idea around it that AI will take our jobs, and I get asked all the time, “Well, when do you think AI's going to take your job? You work on a computer.” Well, it can take my job, and it has. I used to write code all the time, and now I write almost no code. I work for a very large software company, and we use a lot of AI in our development protocols, and I don't write any code now, more or less, and a few years ago I did all day. So my job has changed completely, and AI has taken my job, but it hasn't taken my employment. I found a new way of being, which is I'm more of a project manager. I review code. I make sure nothing bad gets put out into the world. My role has changed, but it hasn't been taken away. I hope that as people start to see that this new technology is not taking their jobs, it's taking the parts of their jobs off them that are so repeatable, and giving them more room to do more with the things that they are uniquely good at. Jo: Absolutely. So let's get into that, because you did just say there that you're not writing any code, which is different to your writing for books. In your book, What Machines Can't Replace, you talk about how you used AI assistance and how you did things in different ways. I've been explicit about being AI-assisted since May 2023, so I absolutely am on board with the difference between what is assistance and what is generation. One-click generation of a complete book, while some people might choose to do that, that's not what you and I are talking about. So tell us— How did you use AI tools and these assisted processes for this book? Anna: Right. So I used AI extensively for this book. However, I wrote every single word. I don't want AI to take over my voice, and that is one area where it differs from writing code in a big way. One-click generation, maybe one day AI will actually be very good at it, and we won't be able to tell the difference. But currently, I definitely can. If I start reading something that is one-click generated, it becomes very obvious to me very quickly. I use AI extensively in my day. I use a Claude plan which is the Max 20x, the biggest allowance plan, and I run out of limit every week. So I spend a lot of time seeing how it forms sentences and the kind of thing it says, so I think I'm quite sensitive to when I see it. So for now, it's not good for that, and I don't think I ever want it to be. When I put something out in the world that is software, the thing that's uniquely me is the concepts behind it or the way it functions. It's not the code itself. When I put writing out there, when I put a book out there, the words are the thing that's me. They're my signature, they're my style. So I used AI assistance for everything else. I used it to help me research, but then I would verify the sources myself, but it was so good at finding things. I used it to transcribe my words. I would go out for long walks, and my ideas come to me when I'm out walking, like so many people. So I'd just pick up my phone and voice record, “Oh, hey, I was thinking, years ago I heard about this study, and I think that would be really interesting, but I don't really know the details of it. Can you make a note of this?” Then my AI could go and research it, come back and say, “Oh, I think you're talking about this research paper, and here's a link to it.” It could add it into my notes, and I could still verify it and read it, but it saved me hours of manual trawling through Google Scholar looking for things. So as a first step I used it for research, but I also used it all the way through the writing process. I've set up a lot of custom skills for all the different editor types. I've got a developmental editor, a line editor, a copy editor. None of them are allowed to make any changes. They are only allowed to create reports of what they find. So I could check for consistency, or did I reference the right thing for this chapter? Does this flow okay? I could ask it questions about my work without it actually touching the words. Another way I used it is I'd make more voice recordings, and then it would transcribe them and suggest where in my book they would fit best, and then copy and paste my exact words, word for word, into the right spot, and then I could edit it in. So I used it for almost everything except the actual words, which remain mine, and the design as well. I value designers a lot, so I paid a cover designer to design my cover. Jo: Yes, and all those things you were talking about, I also do. How do you explain skills? Because I have like 100 skills now. I do skills for everything. I'm struggling to explain what that is to people who don't really understand. Anna: Yes, skills are amazing, and it is difficult to explain. It's like a little package, and it can contain prompts, it can contain scripts, it can contain information, and it can be called only when needed. So if I created, for example, my developmental editor skill, it might be a folder that's consumed by Claude and Claude Code, and only when it's asked for, then it uses all of the stuff in its context and follows a set of instructions. They're just more powerful than a prompt because they're reusable, and they live there, and it can be clever and know when to use ones without you invoking them directly as well. I have another skill that's just me, about me, and I keep it up to date with information about what I'm working on and who I am. If I'm doing something, I can say, “Well, don't forget, check the About Me before you answer this.” Or, “I'm working on this project I haven't worked on in a while, but I created a skill to reference it. Before we start work on this, can you go and check in with the skill?” Kind of like a library. Jo: It's interesting, you're talking about quite expansive skills, and I do have some of those, but a lot of my skills are really quite specific. Like, do a Shopify product in the way that we did Shopify products last time. Or, this is how Joanna Penn wants the sales description for Amazon, so write the Amazon sales description for this. And then, say, on ChatGPT it'll be like, right, do A+ content for this book. That kind of thing. So it can be really, really specific, almost like a little program, right? Then it can be, as you say, with memory and all this different stuff. Anything you want to do more than once, I think. Anna: That's a really good way to describe it. Also, because of my technical background, I trust code a lot more than I trust AI at the moment. I really love AI, but the results vary, and you can run the same thing five times and get five different results, whereas if you run a code function five times, you will always get the same result if it's a well-written function. So for anything like that, I add code into my skills so that I can say, “When this is called, run this script,” and I know it's always run the same way. You can get quite complex with skills and build some real programs inside them, or it can be just a few lines. Do this, this way. I've got one I really enjoy at the moment I created called Research Me. I have so many ideas, always hundreds of ideas. So many of them are terrible. Some of them are good, and some of them are already done. I just type Research Me, and then I just put my thought. It might be a word. It might be a line. It might be more than that. Then it goes away and looks it up and sees if someone's done this thing, and if it's valid to me, and then creates a report and saves it in my knowledge base for me to look at another time. Jo: I guess it's not really a skill, but it's more like part of the memory. I just say, put that in the backlog and bring it back in a month. Anna: Oh, that's so nice, too, being able to set schedules and reminders. Like, right now is not a good time, but I don't want to let this idea go, so can you bring it back to me at this time? And it will. It's wonderful for that. Jo: It is good. Oh, and we should also say, you don't have to write a skill. If you do something with Claude or ChatGPT or whatever, you can then say, “Create a skill for this,” and it will write it, and you can have a look at it, but you don't have to sit there typing out how to do stuff. I think often people think that you have to drive it a lot more, where it's just so much of a conversation now, isn't it? Anna: Yes, it can be done completely with conversation. You don't need to write out any instructions or any code, anything at all. You could have a really positive experience doing something with Claude Cowork and then get to the end of that process and think, “Oh, that was wonderful. I definitely think I'll do that again.” So you just say, “Oh, that was great. Can you make that a skill so we can do it again the same way next time?” And it'll create it, and you just click a button, say Add the Skill once it's done, and that's it. Jo: There are so many things. Now, just coming back to your book, you do have at the end of each chapter some prompts, although I don't like the word prompt anymore, because I feel like prompt is from the old way, when you would type in a certain prompt and then something would come back and that would be done. Whereas now it's much more of a conversation. So a prompt is almost a starting point. So you've used questions, I guess. What are your recommendations for authors who want to get more into this but are still apprehensive and are worried about getting it wrong somehow? Anna: Okay. Yes, I agree with you on prompting. That was a real buzzword for a while there. Everyone was going to be a prompt engineer, and the future of AI was prompting, prompt design. The systems are so much more capable now that it's not what it was. It is definitely more of a conversation. I think that is the good place to start, to just have a conversation with the AI about your work. It doesn't have to touch your work. You could just ask for its opinion on something. If you don't want it to consume your whole book, there are privacy settings, and you can stop it from training on your material if that's the concern, or you could use a local model. You could give it some of your writing and ask its opinion and start a conversation. One thing about AI is that people forget you can just say to it, “What's the best way to use you? Hi, I'm new here. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm a writer. How can you help me?” And it will tell you. Jo: I think one of the other ways, if people don't even want to use it for creative stuff… This morning, as we record this, I've been delving into the back end of my YouTube channel, which I've just ignored for years, actually, and Google Search Console, and there are all these errors everywhere. I'm like, “I don't understand that message.” Or I had an error on one of my files on Draft2Digital, and I was like, “Okay, ugh.” So now I just put those errors into Claude and say, “Right, how do I fix this?” Or, “Maybe you could fix this.” That helps so much, because as author publishers or self-published authors, we do have a lot of technical things to do. Sometimes, well, all the time now, I think, getting help with it rather than ignoring it can be great. Anna: Absolutely. It's so good for that administrative stuff as well, especially with the addition of being able to use Claude, and a lot of the other ones as well, in your web browser now. So it can do things for you. It can fill out forms. There's a lot of repetition in publishing a book. You have to enter your ISBN in five million places, and you want to make sure that your information is aligned and that you have the same data in numerous different places, and you can ask it to check. You can ask it to check your metadata on your website and say, “Does the author information for me align with what you're seeing on Goodreads, or what you're seeing on StoryGraph, or in Wikidata? Do you see any gaps that I need to address?” It's really good at that stuff. Or you can open a form and say, “Can you fill it out for me? I'm sick of typing.” And it will. It's so good for the admin. Just amazing. Jo: So good for admin, exactly. This is the thing, this whole “AI's going to take my job.” Yes, please take 95% of my job and leave me with the bit I want to do. Let's get back into the book, because— You also say in the book, “The more I worked with AI, the more I wanted the slow, imperfect physical things.” So tell us about that. Anna: Yes. So AI swept me up. I've been, also like you, an early adopter, and absolutely obsessed with it right from day one. I just started to notice I needed more and more breaks, and I was valuing different things than I used to, and I was consuming and purchasing different things than I used to. I started to see this changing, and I would spend more and more time out in the garden. I love my garden anyway, I'm a gardener. I was just starting to recognise this feeling, and at first I couldn't really put a name to it. What is this? Why am I searching out these things? Why do I want to create more than I did even before with my hands? So I started looking into it, and it was very much a global phenomenon. Everyone seems to be doing this. There's been a really strong link between the introduction of AI into the world and things like record sales or sourdough baking, although that one also came during COVID, so that one's a bit tricky to measure. But lots of other things are just getting more and more popular as the market gets saturated with AI-generated content. People want to see things that a human has touched. The harder it becomes to actually see that in AI-generated content, the more people want other signs. If you can't just read a piece of writing and know 100 percent sure a human wrote it or an AI wrote it, you start looking for other ways to tell. So I really felt that in myself, and it was a very unsettling feeling, as someone who's been very, very technology-forward all my life, to start valuing more and more things that weren't technology. Jo: Yes, I absolutely get this, and I think there's also another aspect, which I feel you must feel too. There are some days, if I use AI a lot, I almost feel like a hangover. Because the speed at which I can now work means that my human wetware brain is overloaded. That feeling is both exhilarating and amazing, but also totally exhausting. Anna: Yes. There's a huge comedown from it. To me, in the beginning, it started feeling like eating a lot of sugar. Really, really great eating all these lollies. “Oh, this is amazing. These are so good.” And then afterwards, “Oh, I still feel hungry. I don't feel fulfilled. I'm surrounded by lolly wrappers. What is this?” It felt a lot like that to me, where it's just creating all this stuff, and it felt like I was the master of the universe. Wow, I can create anything and everything, and let me do this and that and this and that. Then I'm like, well, but all of the stuff I've created isn't that great, because it doesn't feel that good, and I didn't really make it. I just pushed buttons and said yes. It's a weird disconnect kind of hangover feeling if you spend too much time and create too much that way. Jo: It makes me think of the BCI, the brain-computer interface. With Neuralink now, there are people who are paraplegic for whom it is absolutely amazing, but the thought of plugging something into my brain that would try and make my brain go even faster, I'm like, I don't think that our human brains are designed to go this fast. I just can't. Anna: That's fair. Jo: I can't see that happening. Anna: It's a tough one. Personally, I have ADHD, so already the distractions are something I have to rein in, and then with this ability to create so many things all at once, it's hard to have some self-control. I think with time that, for me, has gotten much easier, but in the early days it was a lot. It was very overstimulating to have so many things happening so quickly, all at the same time. Jo: Yes, and actually I'm quite grateful for the usage limits. I primarily use Claude Fable, which I just love, but I keep an eye on my usage limits, and then I almost use that as a way to stop myself from using it too much at once, and that is actually very freeing. The other thing, I mean, you mentioned it there, creating all the things and then realising, you said, they're not that good. I think that they are becoming incredibly excellent, but for me it was like, okay, well, now, for example, I could do TikTok. I could get AI to do loads of TikTok videos and pump them out every day, but I don't want to do that. So why would I? Anna: Yes. I really want things that go out to feel like me, and I feel when I generate anything, whether it's content, whether it's pictures, or software as well, that AI will very quickly get me 80 to 90% of the way there, and very well these days. But the last 10 to 20%, I really put so much of myself into, and that's a really active choice. So I end up with all these other things that I've gotten to that 80% very quickly and then thought, “I don't know if I really want to invest myself in this and what I need to get it to a place where I would put it into the world.” So I end up with a sort of graveyard of these mostly finished projects that I'm not quite happy enough with to put out there, but I don't really want to put in the work myself, because I have limited time, and you choose your things. No human can really polish up 100 things. You have to prioritise what you want to. Jo: That is exactly it, and this is what I want people to understand. Everything you're saying and everything I'm saying, we are talking about feeling a lot. We're excited on the one hand and we're doing stuff, and then there are other things we're not excited about. You can feel the difference in your body, in your mind, when what you are working on excites you, and I think we just have to trust that. So people listening, what excites you to do with these tools, and what doesn't excite you? Just trust that feeling and put things in the world where you're like, “Wow, this is fantastic,” or, “I love that it's helping me with that.” I mean, you can just tell the difference in our conversation, right? Anna: Right, and you don't have to put everything out there as well. Just because you build something with AI, or you use it to help you in something, it's an experiment. Treat it as an experiment. If you get to 80%, 90% and think, “I don't want to put my name to this,” then don't. Move on. It was an experiment, and you learned something from it. Jo: So I guess on that then, if we do put things out in the world, like we've talked about, we're happily AI-assisted, and the things we do put out we're really proud of— How can we communicate these aspects of imperfection, the story behind the object, this real person with a real history, so that people know our humanity, basically? Anna: I really encourage people to share their humanness behind everything they're creating. If you're writing a book, you can share the process on socials, for example. It's becoming very desired to see the not-polished, everyday videos of someone's creative process. That's just one really small way. I think just by nature, by creating it, by not letting AI do the creation work for you, you will show through in the work that you're doing. You can use AI to support you and to do the admin and to take away all the stuff that's boring or repetitive, but if you are doing the work, it is going to be visible to people. I know we're not very good as humans right now at necessarily distinguishing AI-generated content against not, but you can tell when someone is writing about a human experience. AI has not had a human experience. It has not had a body. It doesn't have this embodiment that leads to so much of human creativity and ideas. It is a very clever predictive text tool, and it is very, very good at it, but it does lack true human creativity. So I think what all creatives can keep in mind is that if they're putting themselves into it and creating new things and following their passions and their interests and their art in what they're putting out there, it will show through. Jo: Also, I think just on the marketing side, you mentioned your garden, for example. Now, I know you're a mum, but anyone can share pictures of their garden without privacy issues for their children or their family or anything. So I think sharing human, even like your hand in the dirt with some flowers or something, is still a very human image. So people can share more human elements around their life. I mean, I almost have in my Instagram a sort of proof of humanity at this point. Anna: Yes, I think that's becoming more and more important. A few weeks ago, I got a horrible review on my book, and I know everyone has to face this, but it was someone who clearly hadn't read my book. They just said it was all AI-generated crap, pretty much. It was a waste of time, and it should've come with a warning that it was entirely AI-generated, which is so far from the truth. I put so much time into that book that I was really quite hurt by it. My first thought was, “I need to get rid of this. I need this review to go away. I need to complain. I need to report this review because it is false.” And once I recovered from those feelings, instead what I did was I emailed my mailing list and said, “Hey, this person reviewed this, and this is why it hurt me, because I'm a person.” I got a really nice response. I got a lot of people writing to me like, “That person is an idiot. You're great. Your book's wonderful.” And it was so nice. It was quite challenging to be vulnerable, and instead of trying to sweep this thing under the rug, I just showed up with my humanness to my list and said, “Hey, this is me, and this hurts because I'm a person.” It was really validating in the end to just put some humanness out there. Jo: This is what I really hate about all this witch hunting, is that people seem to have forgotten that there are actual humans behind this, and I know how you feel. I remember, in fact, it was 2023, I was in New Zealand. We should have said, you're in Australia, if people are wondering about your accent. Anna: I am. I'm from New Zealand originally. I'm a New Zealander, but I'm living in Australia. Jo: But I remember walking along the waterfront from the Viaduct. I still remember it, because I was being absolutely hammered on social media and comments and all this, and I said to my husband, “I think I have to leave the internet.” I felt like people just don't understand this, and I was getting so much hate. But as you say, it was about communicating that with my community, who are listening, and basically changing my Patreon to put a lot of it behind the Patreon paywall. I also topped doing a lot of interviews like this because of the negativity. Now, I'm hoping that we've moved on enough that people can be more open. Doing this interview, for example, is a way of showing people your humanity and mine. I'm just so determined that people understand the difference between assistance and generation. As you said at the beginning, it seems to be all or nothing, but that's just not true. Anna: Right, and there's a huge spectrum of what AI support is. A huge, huge spectrum, and I don't think they're understanding. I think it will get there, but right now people say, “Well, that was AI-generated,” or it wasn't. That's just not how it is. Maybe it was partially AI-generated. Maybe it was fully AI-assisted, but not at all AI-generated. Maybe you decide to use AI to make your book cover, but you just make components with AI, and then you assemble it using Adobe Illustrator into a cover. Is that AI-generated? It's a very grey area. No, it's definitely assisted. Pieces of it might be AI-generated, but it as a whole conceptually fully came from your creativity and from your mind. It's the same with writing. If you use Grammarly to autocorrect any spelling errors in your book, it would now get flagged as AI-assisted content. But some people see that as AI-generated, and they're two very, very different things. Jo: Well, I think your book is great. It gives some very grounded advice on things, but also you do share, like you mentioned, a lot about being a mum, about being a gardener, about life, about the human aspect. So I highly recommend What Machines Can't Replace: Why AI Makes Us More Human. Where can people find you and the book online? Anna: Thank you so much. My book should be just about everywhere books are sold online, and if not, WhatMachinesCantReplace.com is the website for my book. My personal website is Anna.kiwi, A-N-N-A dot kiwi, because I'm a Kiwi, and I am very happy with that domain. I have a blog and general contact information there. I'm also all around the internet on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, everywhere. So I'm really happy to chat to anyone anytime about all things engineering, software, AI, books, toddlers, gardens, everything. Jo: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Anna. That was great. Anna: Thank you so much. The post What Machines Can't Replace: Why AI Makes Us More Human With Anna McPhee first appeared on The Creative Penn.
AI Applied: Covering AI News, Interviews and Tools - ChatGPT, Midjourney, Runway, Poe, Anthropic
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GAaJ_DBhCE8Jaeden and Conor explain why confident-sounding AI output can quietly damage SEO when it is trusted without review. They break down the weekly audit workflow behind strong search performance, how Google Search Console data guides improvements, and why human judgment and continuous iteration still beat one-off automation.Get the top 80+ AI Models for $8.99 at AI Box: https://aibox.aiConor's AI Course: https://www.ai-mindset.ai/coursesJaeden's AI Business Community: https://www.skool.com/aihustle
Episode SummaryWhat if SEO belonged in the earliest business conversations; not just in a checklist after the strategy is already set? In Part 2 of Crystal Waddell's conversation with Will Soprano, Will reframes SEO as a company-wide philosophy that connects search behavior, customer insight, product-market fit, brand messaging, and revenue.Will and Crystal also unpack why small businesses get into trouble when they copy companies like Amazon, Apple, or Nike. Instead of duplicating big-brand tactics, they explain how to identify the intended impact, use the advantages of being small, and exploit market inefficiencies. Crystal brings the lesson to life with the story of growing her handmade senior-night numbers from a $30 product into a premium $300 offer by refusing to compete on price and continually disrupting her own business.What You'll LearnWhy SEO should inform executive, product, brand, content, email, and social decisions.How semantic alignment reveals when different channels are telling different stories.Why deterministic fact-checking and human review still matter in AI-assisted workflows.How Google Search Console can expose gaps between why people arrive and what a business intends to offer.Why product questions and answers may serve a small ecommerce business better than replacing them with a chatbot.How small businesses can use speed, focus, and self-disruption as competitive advantages.Why knowing your ideal customer and your own strengths is essential to finding an inefficient market.Timestamps0:00 SEO as a company philosophy3:19 A fast check for semantic alignment across channels4:05 Will's tool-agnostic SEO stack and internal tools4:37 Building a deterministic fact-checker5:25 Automating audits, reporting, and SERP documentation7:01 ICP and persona artifacts that help content teams7:41 Spotting product-market fit problems in Google Search Console8:11 Crystal's practical LLM workflow for a small business9:44 Why copying Apple, Nike, or Amazon fails10:34 Product Q&A versus chatbots for ecommerce12:22 Start with the impact—not the tactic12:55 Netflix, self-disruption, and the small-business advantage15:15 Using resources differently at large and small companies17:09 Crystal's $30-to-$300 product evolution19:21 How to find and exploit an inefficient market21:38 Where to connect with Will22:31 Final thoughtsEpisode Highlights“SEO is a philosophy of finding our customers and helping them find us.” — Will Soprano“The only company that gets to act like Apple is Apple. The only company that gets to act like Nike is Nike.” — Will SopranoListener Action StepsCheck whether your website, email, and social channels describe the same customer, problem, and promise.Choose one tactic you admire from a large brand. Write down the impact it creates, then design a smaller, more appropriate way to create that impact in your business.Review the real queries bringing people to your site in Google Search Console. Compare them with what you intended each page or product to be known for.Add or strengthen customer questions and answers on one important product or service page.Identify one market inefficiency: a need competitors overlook, serve poorly, or address only by competing on price.Resources & MentionsConnect with Will Soprano on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/willsopranoBook a mentoring conversation with Will: growthmentor.com/mentors/will-sopranoRead Will's writing: williamsoprano.com/blogLearn more from Crystal Waddell: simpleandsmartseo.comAbout the GuestWill Soprano works at the intersection of SEO, digital products, brand strategy, content, and technology. Drawing on experience with startups and Fortune 500 companies, he helps businesses make their products and services discoverable—and helps customers find them.About the HostCrystal Waddell is an SEO educator, Shopify seller, and visibility strategist for creative entrepreneurs. On The Simple and Smart SEO Show, she shares practical tools that help business owners turn visibility into meaningful business results.Text me your questions or comments!Hey, Shopify store owners! (Especially if you're selling on Etsy, too!)Here's a quick question: Are people actually finding your products on Google?If SEO feels confusing, overwhelming, or like something you'll "get to later", this is for you.I'm hosting a free, seven day Shopify SEO challenge that breaks it down into simple, doable steps.No tech headaches, no fluff. Join us at Hey, Shopify store owners! (Especially if you're selling on Etsy, too!)Here's a quick question: Are people actually finding your products on Google?If SEO feels confusing, overwhelming, or like something you'll "get to later", this is for you.I'm hosting a free, seven day Shopify SEO challenge that breaks it down into simple, doable steps.No tech headaches, no fluff. Join us atSupport the showFree checklist: Is your Shopify store quietly losing sales? Run the 5-minute self-check →Book a Strategy Call With Crystal!Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast!AFFILIATE LINKS:SEO TOOLS :Keywords Everywhere: My favorite keyword research tool!Get SurferSEO! The ultimate content creation tool!E-COMMERCE TOOLS:Start your Shopify Store! (use my link)Klaviyo: The leader in Ecommerce EmailGrid and Pixel: Get John and his team's help in setting up your flows and campaigns!SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS:Metricool (Awesome and easy to use social media scheduler!)Note: If you make a purchase using one of my links, I ...
SISTRIX Website Clinic: Live-Analyse + Konkrete SEO-Tipps Das beliebte Erfolgsformat startet in die nächste Runde! Top-Rankings bei Google sind kein Zufall, sondern das Resultat strategischer Optimierung und stetiger Analyse. Aber kennst Du das ungenutzte Potenzial Deiner Website wirklich? Hast Du alle relevanten SEO-Aspekte berücksichtigt? In der SISTRIX Website Clinic, unserem exklusiven OMT-Webinar, untersucht die renommierte SEO-Expertin Vanessa Wurster Live-Websites von Teilnehmer:innen. Sie nutzt dabei erprobte Profi-Tools wie SISTRIX, die Google Search Console und Screaming Frog, um Schwachstellen aufzudecken. Erhalte direkten Einblick in häufige SEO-Fehler, technische Mängel und verpasste Ranking-Chancen. Du profitierst sofort von klaren Handlungsempfehlungen, umsetzbaren Tipps und bewährten Best Practices, die Deine SEO-Strategie festigen und Deine Google-Sichtbarkeit messbar steigern. Nutze diese Chance, um von einer führenden Expertin zu lernen – vielleicht ist Deine Website schon bald im Fokus! powered by SISTRIX und SEOCATION Das wirst du nach dem Webinar gelernt haben: ✅ Tools meisterhaft nutzen: Lerne den gezielten Einsatz von SISTRIX, Google Search Console und Screaming Frog, um Daten zu analysieren und essenzielle Erkenntnisse für Deine SEO-Strategie zu gewinnen. ✅ Schwachstellen souverän aufdecken: Du wirst befähigt, typische SEO-Schwächen und technische Hürden künftig selbstständig zu erkennen, korrekt zu bewerten und priorisiert anzugehen. ✅ Ergebnisse in Erfolg umwandeln: Erfahre, wie Du Analyseergebnisse direkt in effektive Optimierungen übersetzt – das Ergebnis: bessere Rankings, signifikant mehr Sichtbarkeit und eine verbesserte Website-Performance. Nutze diese einzigartige Chance: Lass Deine Website live von einer erfahrenen SEO-Expertin checken und nimm sofort umsetzbare, ergebnisorientierte Tipps mit. Das OMT Webinar ist bald verfügbar Alle OMT-Webinare in Deinem Kalender
Where does your clinic really rank on Google, and is the ranking you see the same one potential patients see?In this episode, we're breaking down why healthcare SEO rankings can vary from one search to another, why a single Google search doesn't tell the whole story, and why ranking movement still matters.Episode webapge & blog: https://propelyourcompany.com/healthcare-google-rankings/You'll learn what can cause Google rankings to fluctuate, why local rankings can look different depending on where someone searches, and how to tell whether your clinic's SEO is actually improving.We'll also cover the bigger picture beyond rankings, including Google Search Console data, Google Maps visibility, website traffic, calls and appointment requests, plus the growing role of AI-powered search.Whether you're marketing a chiropractic office, physical therapy practice, acupuncture clinic, med spa, dental practice, therapy practice, or another healthcare clinic, this episode will help you better understand what your Google rankings are really telling you.Send in your questions. ❤ We'd love to hear from you!NEW Webinar: How to dominate Google Search, Google Maps, AI-driven search results, and get more new patients.>> Save your spot
#199 Fünf aktuelle KI-Themen, die du auf dem Schirm haben solltest: Von Werbeanzeigen in ChatGPT über den neuen KI-Bericht in der Google Search Console – bis hin zu der Erkenntnis, welche Arten von Suchanfragen zu mehr und zu weniger Klickverlusten führen. → SEO-Checkliste für 0 EUR: https://seo.satzgestalt.com/pod-checkliste → Keyword Matrix: https://satzgestalt.com/keyword-matrix/ → Warteliste SEO Superhelden: https://satzgestalt.com/seo-superhelden-warteliste/ → 1:1 SEO-Beratung – Fragebogen: https://form.typeform.com/to/juIMuKei
AI Applied: Covering AI News, Interviews and Tools - ChatGPT, Midjourney, Runway, Poe, Anthropic
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ziz7VJVkFPcJaeden and Conor break down the repeatable Claude and ChatGPT SEO workflow that helped Jaeden's Learn of Christ project reach roughly one million Google impressions. They explain how weekly audits, Google Search Console data, continuous iteration, and human judgment outperform one-off AI automation—and why blindly relaying AI output can destroy quality and SEO.Get the top 80+ AI Models for $8.99 at AI Box: https://aibox.aiConor's AI Course: https://www.ai-mindset.ai/coursesJaeden's AI Business Community: https://www.skool.com/aihustle
9/2/26Episode SummaryShoppers hit your 404 page when a URL is mistyped or when a product or collection has been deleted, so it matters for SEO and user experience. Shopify Analytics won't show you your 404s easily, but Google Search Console will — under Pages, look for "Not found (404)." Then create redirects in the Shopify admin under Content → Menus → URL Redirects. Shopify makes these 301 permanent redirects automatically, and pointing a dead product to its main collection beats dumping everyone on the homepage. Run this cleanup monthly.For the 404s that still slip through, every theme has a 404 template you can edit in theme customization and add sections to. The episode compares bare-bones defaults (RugsUSA, Beardbrand, Gymshark) with better merchandised versions from Healing Home Foods, Chubbies, and Deathwish Coffee. The recommendation is one simple merchandising section — bestsellers or favorites — so visitors get context and can resume shopping. Don't over-invest: the real goal is that redirects keep anyone from seeing the page at all.Show LinksDeathwish Coffee - https://www.deathwishcoffee.com/pages/testChubbies - https://www.chubbiesshorts.com/pages/test1Healing Home Foods - https://healinghomefoods.com/pages/testGymShark - https://www.gymshark.com/pages/testKylie Cosmetics - https://kyliecosmetics.com/pages/testBeardBrand - https://www.beardbrand.com/pages/testRugsUSA - https://www.rugsusa.com/pages/testVideo & Transcripthttps://jadepuma.com/blogs/the-shopify-solutions-podcast/episode-193-404-page-in-your-shopify-store
In this episode of SEO 101, Ross Dunn and Scott Van Achte dive into Google's August 2026 spam update, go-to URL redirects, the expanding impact of AI Overviews, and new AI reporting tools in Google Search Console. They also discuss ChatGPT ads, Reddit citation declines, and manual action changes in the European Economic Area.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
You already know the questions your customers ask, because you answer them every week. The harder part is getting those answers onto your website in the right place. Some deserve a page of their own, some would make a page you already have much stronger, and some belong together in one useful guide. In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, we walk through how to decide whether a customer question deserves its own page, belongs on a page you already have, or should be combined with related content. What's covered: ✅ How to use Google Search Console to see whether an existing page already answers the question ✅ How to see how Google reads the topic ✅ Outlining the page first, and what it tells you when the outline repeats a page you already have ✅ When a question really does open up a different conversation and deserves its own page ✅ What to do with the answer when it doesn't need a new page Three action steps for this week: Check Search Console to see whether an existing page is already appearing for searches around that question. Search the broader service and the specific question in Google, to see whether it really solves a different problem. Make one decision: create the new page, expand the page you already have, or combine overlapping content. Answer the questions your customers have, and make every page earn its place. The goal is a website where the right person finds the best answer quickly and easily. Show notes: www.delosinc.com/episode462 Subscribe for more actionable digital marketing tips for local and regional service businesses.
#198 Seit dem 11. August 2026 gibt es in der Google Search Console einen neuen Bericht: Er zeigt, wie oft deine Seiten in Googles AI Overviews und im AI Mode als Quelle auftauchen. In dieser Folge erkläre ich, was der Bericht zeigt – und wo seine Grenzen liegen. Du erfährst: – Was der KI-Bericht genau sichtbar macht – Wo du ihn findest – Warum manche Seiten den Bericht noch nicht haben – Welche Daten fehlen – und was das für die Praxis bedeutet – uvm. → SEO-Checkliste für 0 EUR: https://seo.satzgestalt.com/pod-checkliste → Keyword Matrix: https://satzgestalt.com/keyword-matrix/ → Warteliste SEO Superhelden: https://satzgestalt.com/seo-superhelden-warteliste/
Welcome solo and group practice owners! We are Liath Dalton and Evan Dumas, your co-hosts of Group Practice Tech. In our latest episode, we share a HIPAA-friendly way for therapy practice owners to get useful information about how their websites are performing, via Google Search Console. We discuss: What Google Search Console can tell you about your website The crucial differences between Google Analytics and Google Search Console Why Search Console is permissible for therapy practice websites Caveats and what to consider when configuring Search Console Listen here: https://personcenteredtech.com/group/podcast/ For more, visit our website. Resources for Listeners PCT Resources Podcast: Episode 625: Google Analytics for Therapy Practice Websites—The HIPAA Risks Explained — The companion episode explaining why Google Analytics is not appropriate for therapy-practice websites and how individually identifiable website activity can become protected health information. PCT CE course: Marketing in Mental Health: The Legal and Ethical Do's and Don'ts You Need to Know — This 3 legal-ethical CE credit hour on-demand training, presented by therapist and HIPAA attorney Eric Ström, JD, PhD, LMHC, unpacks the legal and ethical standards that apply to marketing in mental health practice, with particular attention to HIPAA marketing requirements, Business Associate Agreements (BAAs), authorizations/ROIs, advertising, referrals, reviews, and endorsements. PCT's Google Workspace Configuration Help Center — Includes step-by-step, video-based guidance for securing, configuring and leveraging Google Workspace appropriately for a therapy practice Group Practice Care Premium — Includes weekly live and recorded Group Practice Office Hours, including a monthly session with therapist and attorney Eric Ström, JD, PhD, LMHC; the Device Security Suite; the Remote Workspace Security Suite; and additional direct support and consultation resources. HIPAA Risk Analysis & Risk Mitigation Planning Service for Mental Health Practices — Care for your practice using our supportive, shame-free risk analysis and mitigation planning service. You'll have your Risk Analysis performed by a PCT consultant using a tool built specifically for mental health practices, along with a mitigation checklist to help you reduce identified risks. PCT's Comprehensive HIPAA Security Compliance Program bundles: For Group Practices For Solo Practitioners Comprehensive HIPAA Security Policies & Procedures Forms and logs for documenting the implementation and maintenance of Policies & Procedures Device & Workspace Security Suites Direct support and consultation from the PCT team and therapist-attorney Eric Ström, JD, PhD, LMHC HIPAA Risk Analysis & Risk Mitigation Planning service and tool HIPAA Security & Privacy Ethics training Resources Google Search Console — Google's free tool for understanding how a public website performs in Google Search, including the search terms that result in a website appearing, impressions, clicks, search position, indexing issues, and website-health information. Google Search Console Performance Report: Dimensions and Data Groupings — Google's explanation of the search-query, page, country, and device information available through Search Console. It also explains that some queries are omitted from reports to protect searcher privacy. Google Search Console: Verify Your Site Ownership — Google's instructions for verifying ownership through methods such as a DNS record or HTML file or tag. Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager are optional verification methods and do not need to be enabled to use Search Console. Google Search Console: Managing Owners, Users, and Permissions — Guidance for limiting Search Console access and periodically reviewing who has owner- or user-level access to a practice's website data. Google Search Console: Remove Information From Your Website From Google Search — Google's guidance for keeping sensitive, authenticated, or otherwise inappropriate pages out of search results and removing pages that have already been indexed.
Want our guidance to build and run your own marketing engine? Book a call with our team: https://call.contractordynamics.com/yt?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Description&utm_campaign=8.27.26Get our FREE marketing course for contractors here: https://course.contractordynamics.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Description&utm_campaign=8.27.26If you're a roofing company posting content on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube and you have no idea how those posts are actually performing in Google search — this video is for you.Google Search Console just added a feature most roofing owners haven't heard about yet.You've always been able to connect your website to Search Console to see what people search to find your site. Now you can do the exact same thing with your social media accounts.In this episode, Coleman breaks down what this update means, why it matters, and how your competitors could already be using it to outrank you on Google — even if your website SEO is solid.You'll learn what Google Search Console's new social property feature actually does, how to add your Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube accounts to it, and why ignoring this could mean losing search visibility to competitors you didn't even know you were competing with.Key Takeaways for Contractors• Google Search Console now lets you connect social media accounts, not just your website• Why your competitors' social posts could be outranking your website right now• How to check if you're showing up for high-intent searches like "roofing company near me"• The difference between material-based keywords and high-intent keywords• Step-by-step: how to add your social properties to Google Search Console• Why "omnipresenceKey Timestamps0:00 SEO is changing and here's why0:20 Google Search Console now tracks your social media accounts1:13 Why this update matters for your visibility1:51 How competitors could already be outranking you2:29 Step-by-step: adding your social properties3:29 How Contractor Dynamics can help you set this upIf you want to learn how Contractor Dynamics helps roofing companies build marketing systems that connect activity to real growth, watch this free video that walks through our entire system:https://www.contractordynamics.com/training/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Description&utm_campaign=8.27.26Ready to put this into action for your company?Schedule a Marketing Demo with our team and we'll show you exactly what needs to be built inside your roofing company to grow your visibility online.
If you've been on social media for more than two seconds and you own a small business, you've seen it: "Google just changed this," "AI just changed that," "this is a total game changer." Jerry gets pinged about these constantly, from clients and from friends who own small businesses, and 99% of the time, his honest answer is that it's a nothing burger. In this episode, he breaks down two of the latest ones making the rounds: adding social media platforms to Google Search Console, and becoming a "preferred source" for Google AI. He explains what Search Console actually is, why the ability to connect Instagram and YouTube to it is genuinely useful data, and why it is absolutely not a secret shortcut to ranking on Google. He also shares an actual, untested theory he plans to try himself: treating social media descriptions like mini blog posts rather than throwaway captions. The second half tackles the "preferred AI source" claim head on. Jerry explains what this feature actually does, individual users selecting trusted sources for their own AI results, why it has nothing to do with a business self-selecting itself as an expert, and why the vast majority of chiropractic websites don't even have the authority required to be eligible in the first place. He closes with the underlying principle that ties both examples together: none of these tools matter if you don't have real authority behind them. Reviews, credentials, backlinks, social following, and genuine expertise are what Google and AI are actually looking for. Tools and technical settings can help you communicate that authority once it exists. They can't manufacture it. Topics Covered Why "changes" get marketed as "game changers" on social media What Google Search Console is and why it's worth being connected to The new ability to add Instagram and YouTube as standalone Search Console properties What this data actually tells you, and what it does not (it will not make your Instagram outrank your website) Jerry's untested theory: treating social captions like mini blog posts to give Google more to work with What "becoming a preferred AI source" for Google AI actually means Why this is an individual user setting, not a business self-selection tool Why most chiropractic websites don't have the authority to even qualify for this The YouTube subscribe button analogy explaining how preferred sources actually work The core principle underneath both examples: authority is the only thing that actually matters Need Help? If you want a free look at your website and local search, request a review at RocketChiro.com. If you want more help with the business and marketing side of practice, check out the Next Step program at RocketChiro.com.
Welcome to Season 14 with Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS!The discussion explored the importance of understanding the four main keyword types: informational, commercial, navigational, and transactional, highlighting that commercial keywords account for a crucial 22% of search demand. Emphasis was placed on commercial keywords being the bridge between window shopping and purchase intent.A key theme that emerged was the necessity of data-driven keyword selection using tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and Ubersuggest. The discussion highlighted that even highly niche or seemingly unconventional businesses can yield significant results when leveraging strategic keyword research.Several points were raised, including the technical significance of URL slugs, content quality over quantity, proper keyword placement, and the increasing value of integrating social media channels for SEO purposes (e.g., linking Instagram/LinkedIn pages for higher authority).Personal success stories from participants illustrated rapid ranking improvements and revenue growth, underscoring the long-term value of SEO over paid ads for sustainable traffic and leads.Who Is This For?The conversation focused on business owners, entrepreneurs, marketers, and anyone interested in leveraging SEO and commercial keywords to drive meaningful growth—especially those with websites or digital services looking to increase traffic and conversions through organic search.Key Moments With TimestampsIntroduction to Keyword Types and SEO Fundamentals 00:00:04Explanation of Informational, Commercial, Navigational, and Transactional Keywords 00:01:21Real-World Case Studies on SEO Transformations 00:10:00Deep Dive Into Commercial Intent and Keyword Research Tools 00:14:14Strategic Use of URL Slugs and Their Impact 00:32:43Using Social Media Integrations in SEO 00:19:03Success Stories: Ranking Improvements and Data-Driven Tactics 00:49:56The Importance of Niche and Low-Competition Keywords 00:46:33How to Turn SEO Traffic Into Leads 00:58:04FAQsQ: What's the difference between informational and commercial keywords?A key concept discussed was that informational keywords answer questions, while commercial keywords indicate buying intent, such as “best software for…” or “top alternatives to…”.Q: How do I choose the right commercial keywords?The discussion explored using data from keyword research tools rather than guessing, emphasizing specificity, intent, and competition metrics.Q: Why are URL slugs important for SEO?One concept discussed was that your URL slug directly impacts your site's discoverability—matching it to target keywords can boost rankings.Q: Can small businesses compete for high-value keywords?A key theme was targeting long-tail, niche, or region-specific variants to outmaneuver larger competitors—sometimes ranking quickly.Q: How often should I update SEO content?The conversation focused on improving and refining content over time, especially as ranking and analytics reveal what's working.Action Steps for Favour Obasi-ikeEducate Your Audience: Continue breaking down SEO concepts such as keyword types, intent, and technical fundamentals in digestible formats, using case studies and real-world examples.Promote Data-Driven Decisions: Encourage the use of keyword research tools, and stress the importance of not guessing terms but validating them with competition and search data.Advise on Technical SEO: Remind clients to optimize URL slugs, interlink content, and leverage Google Search Console and social integrations for enhanced visibility.Showcase Success Stories: Regularly share tangible case studies demonstrating before/after results from commercial keyword deployments.Foster Community Engagement: Invite listeners to submit their own results, questions, or niche discoveries for review in future episodes or on social media.Create Step-by-Step Resources: Develop checklists or templates for commercial keyword research, URL optimization, and data tracking.Offer Consultations: Direct listeners to book a strategy call for personalized SEO roadmaps and deeper dives into their analytics and keyword gaps.Plan for Follow-Ups: Organize part 2 sessions to address advanced or transactional keyword strategies and continue the learning journey.Ready to Rank? Book Your SEO & Web Dev Services Today
Daniel and JB are back for the ADSN rundown and this week's theme is clear: the creator economy just became the main economy. They kick off with Orin John showing that creators can now link Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to Google Search Console — the first real step in creators becoming the new publishers. Then they break down YouTube doubling its monetization requirements and X relaunching its creator program, both cracking down on faceless AI channels. The message from every platform is the same: original content from verified creators wins, everything else is getting squeezed out.From there, Ari Seifer raises the white flag on the open web (it's dead, the walled gardens won), SpaceX's Starlink subscription flywheel reveals a $30B free cash flow path that should make every social network rethink its business model, and Satya Nadella says LinkedIn is merging four job titles into one — though LinkedIn employees in the comments aren't so sure. JB rebuilds his Situation Game with Claude and reports vibe coding has gotten dramatically better in just two months. They close with Primary Posts: Corgi's internal "Yapper Leaderboard" for team posting, and John Palmer's take that the most underrated hire right now is the "senior idea guy" — because with AI making execution easy, knowing what to build is the real bottleneck.Thank you to our sponsors:AdQuick – Making OOH advertising as easy to plan, buy, and measure as digital. adquick.comThrad.ai — Building the advertising infrastructure for AI. thrad.aibeehiiv — The all-in-one platform for newsletters, websites, and every tool you need to grow and earn. beehiiv.comThe Farm — Fraction commercial legal with an in-house approach to outside counsel. thefarmllp.comSTAY CONNECTEDJames on Twitter & LinkedIn – /jamesborowDaniel on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok – /danieldrugerSubscribe & leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
You've got the reels going. The posts are consistent. You know your engagement, your saves, your reach. And you can tell me exactly how Instagram is performing.But can you tell me how you're performing on Google?Most salon owners can't, and that's the gap this episode is about.In this episode:Why late summer is your last real runway to set up the rest of the year, and what happens if you let it slide into SeptemberThe Google Search Console update from July that connects Instagram directly to Google Search and Google Discover, and why it's one of the biggest shifts for salon visibility in a long timeWhy Instagram is a piece of your salon business ecosystem, not your whole marketing strategy, and what the data actually shows about how new clients searchWhat "Platform Properties" is, which platforms are supported (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X), and what it means that Facebook isn't included yetWhat to actually do with this update: making your posts SEO keyword rich so your content has a shot at showing up in SearchThe Monday Club: Business education, community, and tools to build a salon that runs like a real business, including a live SEO workshop this month and a Google Search Console deep-dive coming in September. Learn more: https://www.lexilomax.com/monday-club
Jack Chambers-Ward hosts a July 2026 AI search and SEO news roundup on Search With Candour.This episode covers everything from new Google Trends features and social media data tracking in Google Search Console to research about ads in Google AI Mode and if Google punishes AI-generated content.Links to articleshttps://www.linkedin.com/posts/analyzing-search-interest-just-got-more-powerful-share-7478017577340968960-qsi3/https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7480247562084638720/https://seranking.com/blog/google-ai-mode-ads/https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/google-com-is-now-ai-mode-s-2-cited-domainhttps://ahrefs.com/blog/google-doesnt-punish-ai-content/https://www.similarweb.com/corp/reports/2026-generative-ai-landscape/https://www.axios.com/2026/07/23/yelp-reviews-chatgpt-geo-partnershipChapters00:00 Coming up on this episode00:29 Introduction01:53 Live Podcast returns on 7 October 202604:19 Google Trends new comparison feature09:31 ChatGPT adds Yelp reviews12:35 SE Ranking study: Ads in AI Mode18:39 Profound study: Google cites itself more23:01 Ahrefs study: Does Google punish AI content?29:37 SimilarWeb Generative AI Report36:33 Wrap up
How can content marketing in a tight niche build the audience that launches your book? And how do you decide whether to hand your self-published bestseller to a traditional publisher. Suzanne Smith shares what she learned in four years of going from blog to book deal. In the intro, how to stand out as a writer in the age of AI [Nathan Barry Show; Interview with Nathan Barry]; thoughts on asset maintenance; Goodreads giveaway on Bones of the Deep (Aug 5-20, 2026) This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Suzanne Smith is the founder of The Independent Landlord, and the bestselling author of The Good Landlord Handbook. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes How a free blog in a tight niche built the audience for the book Rewriting the book from scratch when the law changed Why speed made self-publishing the only option Building a paid membership after one audience member asked for it Negotiating a Penguin Random House deal with no agent Using AI as a business sidekick, with a control room and an engine room You can find Suzanne at TheIndependentLandlord.com. Transcript of the interview with Suzanne Smith Jo: Suzanne Smith is the founder of The Independent Landlord, and the bestselling author of The Good Landlord Handbook. So welcome to the show, Suzanne. Suzanne: Thank you. Jo: Oh, there's so much to talk about today. But first up— Tell us a bit more about you and your background, and how you got into property and writing after a legal career. Suzanne: Well, I've always loved reading books. In fact, I recently did a French literature degree as a mature student. Being an author was never in the game plan at all. It's not something that I even thought about. I was brought up in New Zealand, so shout out to all the Kiwis and those across the pond in Australia. The thing about it is, Jo, you've lived there yourself. Kiwis are independent, self-reliant and have this great sense of fair play. So that was a very formative experience for me. We moved back to England when I was 16, and I have become thoroughly anglicised since then, but a Kiwi at heart. I always wanted to become a lawyer. New Zealand in some ways on television is quite American, and there was this American programme called The Paper Chase. It was about all of these students at Harvard studying law, and the professor said, “You come here with a skull full of mush and you leave thinking like a lawyer.” I thought, “Oh, I like the sound of that.” I didn't really know what a lawyer was, but everyone seemed to be very happy that I wanted to become one, and then that was it. Jo: So you went into law, and then how did you get into property? Suzanne: So I worked for 25 years as a solicitor. That's like an attorney if you're American. Started off in a law firm, and then I went into pharmaceuticals and I worked for big companies like what is now GSK, GlaxoSmithKline, and small companies as well. When I started out, it was before the internet, before Google. When you're in house, you're very much a generalist. You do a bit of everything. So you help companies grow their business. You're not business prevention, but you're still bound by the code of conduct for solicitors. You've got this role of keeping the company on the right side of the law. Then I had twins, who were born about five years after I became a lawyer, and I decided to work part-time for a while and did an MBA when they were little, part-time through the Open University. I know Jonathan is doing one at the moment. Jo: Yes. He's finished, so that's exciting. Suzanne: That was transformational for me, because I had probably been thinking a bit too much as a lawyer, and it helped me to broaden my view of the world and understand all sorts of things. Sso I continued going up the greasy pole, and then for my last job, in 2015, I joined a biotech company in Cambridge, England, as general counsel and company secretary. It was a long way from home, about two, three hours' drive from home. So I decided to buy a flat, an apartment, and to stay there in the week. I thought to myself, “Well, when I leave this company, I can let it out as a buy-to-let,” but actually as a landlord. So I stayed there for five years, and then when I left, I let out the property. The reason why I decided to leave law after 25 years, I had what I call a sliding doors moment, like in the film. I was 50. I was on holiday with my husband, and we'd probably had one too many rum cocktails. And he said to me, “Well, what do you want to be doing with your life? What would you do if you could do anything?” I was thinking, “Well, I've done law. I want to do something else now.” I didn't really know what that was, and I'd always been thinking about studying French properly, and that's when I left. So I decided, 18 months later, I left to do a French degree at King's College London, full-time. I was the only old person there with lots of 18-year-olds. When I did that, I was able to cash in my share options because I was a good leaver. I retired, and so I started buying properties to let out and became a landlord, without really thinking too much about it, and I used letting agents. They were fine to begin with, but I didn't really have a game plan or anything like that. What I realised is that when I tried to research things online, I couldn't really find anything that was terribly helpful. It was either quite general or it was very legal. So after a while… I became a landlord in 2019. I had the idea, why don't I set up a blog? And this is August 2022, so just four years ago. My husband came up with the idea of the name, The Independent Landlord, because it's that Kiwi spirit, being very independent. I thought, “Right, I'm not going to charge anyone for it. It's a hobby. It's not a business. I'm going to pay it forward and help, use my legal training, practical legal approach, and practical common sense, by doing this blog.” Almost exactly four years ago, I sent my first newsletter to 13 people. Jo: Woo-hoo. Suzanne: And I sent one last week to over 18,000. So it's been quite a journey. Jo: Wow, this is so great. I love this. There's so much in there. The turning 50 and then doing a degree. My master's in death is a little different to your French literature, but I like it. So I love this, and buying properties, starting it on the side, not a business at first, and growing the audience, and obviously you've put so much work in. Then you decide to write a book. So talk about that, because an online blog, although I'm sure your articles and everything were super useful, it's very different to write a blog than a book. So talk about your challenges in writing. Why did you decide to do a book in the first place? Suzanne: Again, I was an accidental landlord, is what they call it when you let a property when you didn't intend to buy it as a buy-to-let, which I did with my Cambridge flat. And I became, in many respects, an accidental author. So I was having a conversation with my husband again and I was saying I'd done this lead magnet to get people to sign up to my newsletter, and a big new law was going through Parliament at the time, called the Renters Reform Bill, that was going to completely transform the way landlords operate. I was saying to my husband, “Oh, I need to update my lead magnet, a little ebook, to explain the new law.” He looked at me and said, “Well, why don't you do a proper book? Write a book.” This was on the 29th of September, 2023. The reason why I mention that is that I thought, “Wow, what a great idea,” and my head was bursting. I went onto Google, and guess what I downloaded on the 1st of October? Jo: My blueprint? Suzanne: Exactly. I found you immediately, the Author Blueprint, and I downloaded it. I checked: on the 1st of October, 2023. Then I listened to almost… well, I think I went back several years on your podcast, just trying to understand. I'm like that. When I try and do something, I just try and learn everything that there is to know about it. So I started writing the book, and I guess the first challenge was I write quickly, and I'm used to writing for people who aren't lawyers, being in-house. So I thought I needed to have a structure. The structure was easy in many respects because, a bit of business at the end, and then you can go through a tenancy. I thought it was important to have a narrative thread all the way through it, just to bring it together. This is the literature degree coming in here. I thought that the mission for everything I do, the reason why I started doing this, is to help landlords, but also to help the experience of renting that people have in England. It's very specific for English law. And to help improve the private rented sector. So that's why I originally set up my blog for free, and I wanted, when people went onto Google, they could find something sensible and very detailed from me. My blog posts were… Well, I've now got over 400,000 words on my blog, so it's a substantial piece of work that is out there free of charge. So what I decided to do was to bring this narrative thread, I call it the good landlord ethos, to the book. Then I wrote very quickly, and I had a pretty good draft by April 2024, because we were all thinking that the law was going to change very soon. But then there was an election, and in the end the government changed and the legislation changed completely, so I had to rewrite the book and start again. So I think that my biggest challenge was that my subject matter, the new law, changed. Because I wanted to publish this book that explained to people practically what they have to do, and make it really straightforward, keeping out of politics, because it is a very politically charged area. I wanted to write it so it's a manual, somebody could literally follow it. So I used an editor, and I did write the book twice. I had a beta reader who is another lawyer, and a landlord as well. Then I got to the get-the-damn-thing-done stage. The really tedious bit of all the typos at the end. Jo: Yes, the finishing energy to get it out there. So at that point, obviously you'd found my blueprint, so you were learning about the indie way of doing things. Did you always decide to self-publish? How did you think about publishing? What were your challenges in publishing? Suzanne: It never occurred to me not to self-publish, because the new law came into effect on the 1st of May, 2026. The law and the details that I needed for the book were finalised in January, and I published on Amazon on the 5th of March, so I had to go so quickly. Even though I'd got a lot of it written, the last bit came in January, and so I needed speed. I knew that for landlords to be able to have something that they can use straightaway to help get them ready for it, and then use as a manual afterwards, I had to be first. Jo: Sorry, just on the year. Was it '24? You said '26. You meant May— Suzanne: 2024? No, no, because I actually published it this year. What happened in 2024, I had the first draft ready, but then I had to do another draft because the law changed when the Labour government came in. Jo: Right. Suzanne: The Renters Reform Bill turned into the Renters' Rights Bill. So I had to rewrite the book. So I finished however many drafts at the end of January 2026. Then it went to an editor, et cetera, et cetera, and I managed to get the book ready for a proof, to get the proof printed, towards the end of February. So it was really quick to go from the law being sufficiently finalised for me to write a book in January, and then having it ready in just over a month. There is no way that I could have done that if I'd gone to a traditional publisher. It didn't even occur to me to go, because I didn't want to be going touting around my book and, “Please publish me,” et cetera. It's just not me. I'm the independent landlord, and that moved very easily to being the independent publisher. So I learnt how to do all the publishing. And a huge thanks: I joined your Patreon and I was a very good student. I went through everything systematically and followed your playbook, and used Vellum and BookFunnel and all the other tools. So I decided to go on Amazon as well as have my own Shopify store, which just about killed me. Jo: I was going to say, you are an excellent student. You really like learning, but you also put this into practice, which is why I also wanted to talk to you. You haven't just talked about all this. You've literally done everything. Suzanne: Sometimes it was like my head was going to burst. Luckily, Claude upped his game earlier this year when we got the Opus 4.5. I didn't use AI really until this year. I decided I need to do exercise all the time, and have that as a have-to-do, because my head was spinning all the time with all these different things. So I would go to the gym, go to a spin class, and then I would walk out with my phone on, with the Claude app, and dictate a stream of consciousness into it. “Oh, I need to do this, or what about that? Oh, I just remembered about this. Oh, I've had this idea, blah.” And then said, “Make sense of it for me, Claude.” So it was very much as a thinking partner, because when you're writing your first book, it's bad enough, but when you're learning how to publish… Even, like, when I got the first proof of the book back from BookVault, I realised that all the footnotes—I have 114 footnotes in my book, and that, again, is the recent degree there—and the formatting had gone skew-whiff. Apparently it was an issue with Vellum, and they were really lovely and they sorted it straight out for me. So it shows: always get a proof of the book. They were able to sort that out very quickly, and BookVault were very quick in getting me another proof, because you can shortcut it and just pay to get a very quick delivery. Amazon, on the other hand, was really slow. It took a week. So I actually published earlier on my Shopify store for my members, of my membership, and I gave them a discount. Then I finally got it onto Amazon on the 5th of March. There are all these different skills you're having to learn. The Shopify store I found very hard, and there was all the tax, because I'm VAT registered. So I think I'm still recovering. Jo: You're still recovering. I wouldn't normally recommend a Shopify store for someone with their first book, doing first of everything. But, as you say, you're someone who learns a lot, puts it into practice, and— I think you were pretty determined to do that because you had a community as well, right? Suzanne: Exactly, yes. The big subscriber list. I think that's why the book did so well. So in the first week, because I met you at the Indie Author Lab put on by— Jo: Yes, London Book Fair, yes. Suzanne: Yes, the Alliance of Independent Authors. I met you there, and it was just my first week, and I had 1,000 sales in the first week. That was because of my audience. I'd been going on about the fact that I'm writing this book for two and a half years, because that's how long it took me to do. So I had a wait list for it, and I had a thing on my website, a landing page on my website, saying how good the book was and why it's the best thing for the Renters' Rights Act. Then I went onto Google, and I think I sent you a screenshot of this at the time. I put into Google, “What's the best book for the Renters' Rights Act for landlords in England?” And it came up with me as a featured snippet, and I hadn't even published it at that time. It was just about there. So the blog really helped, because I'd become an authority on the Renters' Rights Act. Even though I'm not a practising solicitor any more, I spent all my time reading the damn thing, and it is a very complicated bit of legislation. Funnily enough, I have ruffled a lot of feathers. People have even said about me behind my back, “What does she know? She's only got four properties.” But I just took no notice. I thought, “I'm going to try and use my legal brain and my understanding of what it's like being a landlord, there with the rubber gloves cleaning an oven when people have moved out, and try and write something that's not trying to sell anything else, and to help people.” And then it got picked up. Jo: Yes. Wait, let's just slow down. Slow down, because we will get onto that in a minute. But let's just come back to that launch. So as we talked about, you've had a blog for five years— Suzanne: It was three and a half by then. Jo: Three and a half years you've been blogging, but hundreds of thousands of words of useful information. So you've essentially done content marketing. You've attracted people. You had a lead magnet. You got them on your email list. You told them that you were writing a book. You got a sort of pre-sales list up. So that's an email list. You've got a blog. Did you do anything else in terms of marketing? Suzanne: I had YouTube, a big YouTube channel. I'd only set it up at the end of 2024, and I'd had half a million views. And again, just very straightforward advice, and without all the scaremongering and politics. I deliberately keep out of it all. A lot of people joined my newsletter as a result of that. Also a year ago, exactly today, I was running a Facebook group, which was a lot of hard work. There were a few thousand people in it, but there are often a lot of people going in there trying to sell things: insurance, eviction specialists and things. And there was also a lot of people just being unpleasant to other people. I was getting fed up with it. It was taking me a lot of time, and I was doing a lot of speaking events and trying to explain what this new law was doing, and wearing myself out. I'm an extrovert, but even I find speaking events absolutely exhausting, because it's like everything gets sucked out of you. It's strange. Then somebody came up to me in July last year and said, “Suzanne, can you set up a membership?” I said, “Well, landlords aren't going to pay for that.” And they said, “Yes, they will. You build it and they will come.” I asked ChatGPT and thought about it. I asked ChatGPT, who I was dating at the time, now exclusively with Claude, but I know Claude has other people in his life. But I'm very much set with Claude Fable at the moment. So I asked ChatGPT, how can I go about setting up a membership? And I mentioned your one and said, “Should I do it on Patreon?” And then he came back with: go for Circle. So I set up a membership on Circle, exactly a year ago. In fact, it's the anniversary of my first member yesterday. hTe rules I had were, no selling. So I don't sell, no affiliate links, no one else can sell anything, and we have to be supportive. No negativity, no politics. So what it's become, it's like the senior common room of the private rented sector, with landlords, lawyers, letting agents. There's a fantastic forum in there. It's not me doing it, it's peer-to-peer. I have twice-monthly live streams where people can ask me questions. I wonder where I got that from. No, I very much modelled it on your Patreon, but on a different platform. I have courses in there as well. So that has really grown. I launched it in July, and by September, October, I'd gone past the VAT threshold, which has complicated everything, but it means my business now is this membership. I really enjoy doing it, and there hasn't been all the negativity that you have in a Facebook group. So I had them as… talk about your thousand fans. There are about 1,500 in the membership, and their support really helped the launch of my book, as well as the wider people who get my free newsletter. Jo: Yes. Suzanne: So it's all different types of content marketing. Jo: Y, but I do love this. And of course, if people are wondering, I joined Patreon back in 2014, I think it might have even been before that, and there weren't too many places back then to run communities. It wasn't even really a community at the time, it was a sort of, almost a “give me a bit of support for the podcast.” So things have changed a lot in terms of communities, and obviously you went with Circle, which is great. Patreon is slightly different now, and some people are using Substack for something similar. So that's just on the platform, but on the business: early on in our conversation you said, “I wasn't going to have a business. It wasn't a business. It was just putting stuff out there, helping other people,” and then your audience asked for this membership. And so now it is a business, right? Suzanne: Yes, it is. Jo: And you've got a book and all of this. So are you happy with the change to a business? Because obviously you have to treat it quite differently. Suzanne: Yes, I am, because I think to begin with, I was just doing it one or two days a week. I was actually studying a master's in French literature part-time, and I then found that I was enjoying the blog more than the master's, so I dumped the master's after the first year. But after getting 88% for one of my dissertations, which interestingly was on the translation of a Simone de Beauvoir book into English, and the publisher who's got that now is Random House, but that's another thing. Anyway, so I decided to give up my master's and double down and work full-time on the blog. People were paying to help me with all the big fees and things, the big tech stack, Buy Me a Coffee. I was doing a little bit of consulting and things. I was working six, seven days a week. I was treating it like a business in terms of quality and my effort, but it wasn't a business in terms of revenue. Then it just all came together, and this person said, “Set up a membership,” and I thought, “That's what I'm going to do. I'm now going to put it on a business setting.” I've got an MBA, I know how to do it, and people thought I planned it, but I didn't. It just happened. So now I do very much treat it as a business, but I still don't advertise. I don't allow people to advertise with me, because I want to be independent. If I recommend something, I want people to believe it's me recommending it, not just because someone's paying me, which can be a big issue in the landlord area. Jo: Oh, in any industry. I get pitched every day with loads of random things that people are like, “Oh, a dollar a click or whatever, if you send this to your list.” And it's like, seriously? Just stop it already. I did just want to add there: somebody asked you, they said, “You should have a community,” and that sparked that idea. I just wanted to acknowledge that my Patreon came from Jim Kukral. Some of you will remember, who've been around a long time. Jim Kukral came on my blog around sort of 2013. Amanda Palmer had just put out a book called The Art of Asking, and I was doing a lot of unpaid work on the podcast at the time, and I was either going to give it up or I had to fund it somehow. Jim said, “You should do a Patreon.” And I was like, “Oh, no, I hate asking for money.” So at the time I just felt, oh, weird. Then I was like, “No, I do all this work,” as you were saying. Now the Patreon has changed so much in terms of what it is, but it is the backbone of my business, too. So I love that you listened to one of your fans who said what they wanted, and I love that I've listened as well. Sometimes we just have to listen to those urges, don't we, to take things on? Suzanne: Yes, absolutely. In some ways I didn't really back myself before. I thought, “No one's going to pay for this.” Then the more you give, the more they want. Jo: Yes. Suzanne: What I've been really working on now is having boundaries, because there were two big kind of mottos that I picked up when I was working in pharmaceuticals. One was from a head of the business. He was Canadian, and he was always saying, “You've got to skate to where the puck is heading.” Jo: That's Wayne Gretzky, is it? Suzanne: Exactly. Yes. He would always say it, and so that's what I've done with my blog and my book. When I write things, I don't pay for any tools. I don't do keyword searches and all that. I just think, I do one blog post per topic, and I'm going to guess what people are going to be searching for soon, and I build up all this content around it. That's why most of my blog pages are top five. I've had no advertising. I haven't asked for any backlinks. I don't do it. People backlink to it because it's useful. So that was the first thing, is skate to where the puck is heading, and that was my approach with the book. I knew people would need this book from around May, and they'll need it forever, because it is so complicated and regulated, the rules for being a landlord in England. So that was the first one. The second thing was: when you take something on, you've got to let something go. One in, one out. I found that I was taking on so many different things, and I've just been cutting back, because I can't be doing all the speaking, I can't be answering people's emails. So I now don't do emails. If people want my advice on something, they ask me in the hub, at the twice-monthly live streams. Sometimes I answer in the forums, but I don't have time. When there are 2.4 million landlords in the UK, and even with our 18,000 on my newsletter, I could spend, and I did, I used to spend all my time replying to emails. So anyway, there are the things. Oh, and there was a third one, which is: attract, don't chase. One of my friends gave me that advice and that's exactly what my approach has been. I just don't chase for anything. I just put the stuff there and then build it and they will come. Jo: Yes, and I think another thing is the power of the niche. It's so clear that what you write about, the people you are aiming at, you have an extremely tight target market. That is both a strength and obviously a weakness, because they're the only people. But as you say, there's more than enough of those people for a community, for the book you have. From my own perspective, that's the same for me, the power of the niche. That's how I have a successful podcast, for example, because of that reason. I think you're like a poster child of what a non-fiction author should do. What I like is that you didn't go, “Oh, where's a niche where I could make money?” and then jump in. You've gone about this in a kind of slightly accidental way, but now you're leaning in and this uses all your skills. So this really is a great example of the power of the niche and then making the most of it. But let's move on to what then happened, and— What happened with the book deal? Suzanne: Wow. So you and I met each other on whatever day that was in March at the Indie Author Lab, and the following day I got an email, via my website on a contact form, from Penguin Random House saying, “We love the book. We love the mission, its values,” all this kind of thing. And I was thinking, “Oh, it's another one of those. Must be an—” Jo: AI spam bot, right? Suzanne: Yes, and I remember I sent you a screenshot of it, and then I checked her out on LinkedIn and thought, “Okay, there is somebody with that name there.” You're always saying, and Orna Ross and everyone are always saying, “Watch out for scams.” And in fact, Penguin Random House even this weekend on Instagram put out something saying, “There are lots of people impersonating us.” So I didn't take it too seriously, and it was something like, “Oh, would you be interested in us publishing your book?” And I thought, and I laughed. It was like, no, this is too good to be true. So I replied and said… Oh, I said, “Well, thank you so much. The Renters' Rights Act…” And so this is like the second week in March. “The Renters' Rights Act comes into effect on the 1st of May. If you want to publish it, you're going to need to get your skates on.” I literally did say that. Then she arranged a meeting with me the next day, on the Friday. I still was very dubious about it, and I had a think about it. What helped me, and I have the little booklet here: at the Author Lab, we did some work at the beginning, and Orna said, “Put your phones away.” And it was like, “What? Put my phone away?” Then we had to do this definition of success, and our passion, and our mission, and our purpose. I wrote down things like, I want to help landlords, and in so doing, help improve the private rented sector. I get pleasure from helping people. I want to improve standards and use my legal and practical skills, et cetera. So I thought, “Okay, what is my purpose of doing this book?” It isn't really to make money, because going with Penguin, you wouldn't do that for financial reasons, because you'd make very little money. So I thought, what is my why? My why is I want as many people to read this book as possible. And I've managed to sell a few thousand copies, but there are 2.4 million landlords, and they all need to understand this book, and the only way that I can get it out there, apart from doing ads, is to get it out in bookstores. So I thought about it, and then said, “Yes, I will do it, because I want to get the book out there.” So it's distribution. It's going to be published on the 6th of August, which is really quick, bearing in mind they contacted me in the middle of March. It's exactly the same book, it's just got different copyright wording and different blurb, different paper. Same cover, because I managed to find a fantastic cover person to do it. So they've kept everything the same. So we negotiated that book. I have no agent. They came to me. It's the attract, don't chase. I just put my lawyer hat on, and because one licence is very much like another one… I did turn down their first offer. Jo: Well done. Good negotiation. Suzanne: My daughter said to me, who's an adult daughter, she said, “But it's Penguin.” And I said, “Well, no, but it doesn't work for me.” So I had a call with them, and then they came up with something that worked for me a bit more. I did have to concede on a few things, like I can't sell it in my Shopify store. But in some ways, that was a blessing in disguise, because it means I don't get any more “Where's my book?” emails. Jo: Yes, exactly. Pros and cons of everything, basically. Suzanne: I have very clear rights to get it back. If I want it back, I can get it back and I don't have to give a reason. They're lovely. They have been really very wonderful. When I went up there a month or so ago, they gave me this book bag, and it's got on it, “I'm published by Penguin,” and I burst into tears. Jo: Aw. That's nice. Suzanne: I don't know, it just seemed like such a big deal. Because up until then I was just being all very lawyerly and task-orientated. Then I thought, “Oh my goodness,” and then it dawned on me. So I'm now in this interim period where I've taken it off Amazon and off my Shopify store, and I feel very maternalistic towards the book because, you know, it took me two and a half years, which is longer than a pregnancy. Obviously it's not a child, but it's like my book child. I've sent it off with a backpack and a drink and some snacks, and I hope that they look after him, my book. The day I took it off Amazon it was still number one. And a big shout-out to Publisher Rocket, by the way. Jo: Yes. Very, very useful for niche publishing. Suzanne: Very. It helped me choose the right niche categories. So it was number one on at least one category, often six, all the way through. I thought, “Well, it's over to them now.” They're very lovely people. They've given me some marketing assets, as they call it, some swanky graphics and things to use. We'll have to see what we do in terms of marketing. I don't mind doing marketing. I'm on LinkedIn quite a bit, and my whole blog is marketing. What I've been doing is updating my blog to include one of these graphics and to mention the book, and I got Claude to help me draft the code so it looked right. So I've been going through all of my blog posts and sending people to Amazon rather than to my Shopify store. It is mixed feelings, because I care about my book. I put a lot of effort, a lot of love, a lot of tears. No, not tears, but I put a lot of effort into it, and it's out of my control now. Jo: Yes, you said it's over to them, but obviously you will still be creating content around this topic, so you'll probably still be the biggest driver of book sales. Suzanne: Yes. Jo: Are they also suggesting, for example, a podcast tour, like pitching for podcasts? Are they going to assign you some PR? Because, also if people don't know, as we are recording this, we have a new prime minister who wants to do various things. You said no politics, but this is obviously a political thing. So you have the potential to go on a lot of different podcasts, media, talking about this, becoming almost a talking head in this kind of area. So are you angling for all that, and is that in your contract, or is it literally just going to be whatever you want to do? Suzanne: That's not in the contract. What's in the contract is very minimal. I think I've already done what I'm supposed to do. They are pitching for me to go on podcasts and things. I'll tell you a really funny coincidence. So we now have a new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, and when he was Mayor of Greater Manchester, he set up something called the Good Landlord Charter. I actually talk about it in the book, and I quote him in my book saying that good landlords mean people trying to do the right thing, or something like that. And I coincidentally came up with the same name, The Good Landlord Handbook. I'd already had the book title for a long time. So this idea of good and landlord coming together, the adjective good as opposed to criminal or rogue, and the cover being green. I'm wanting to change the narrative so it's the norm to have a good landlord, and to help people become good landlords. Or if they're good landlords, help them to understand the new rules, because the new rules are very complicated. So what I don't get involved in is this right or wrong. Is it right that landlords can't do this or have to do this? Because as an in-house lawyer, it doesn't really matter what I think about the law. GDPR, goodness me. Jo: Oh, dear. Let's not start on GDPR. Suzanne: No, exactly. Because we've just got to suck it up. I liken it to the grief cycle, that people have been going through so much change and you have the anger, the depression— Jo: Denial. Suzanne: Bargaining, the denial, and then you get to acceptance. For some people, the acceptance means they want to stop doing it. If you want to accept it and stay, you need to understand the rules. So I've deliberately just kept very practical and have kept out of all the politics of it. I have, funnily enough, become involved because I'm now seen as an expert on the Renters' Rights Act. I've worked behind the scenes with the government to help, and give comment on government guidance for landlords. I was even invited to a reception to mark the passing of the Renters' Rights Act at Downing Street with the previous prime minister, all whilst staying apolitical. I won't let anyone make me be a mouthpiece for their political view. It's more, we just have to do this if we want to continue doing it. I've been very clear on that. Jo: It's interesting you mention the grief cycle there, and you've also mentioned Claude and ChatGPT. I wonder if you might also just comment on use of AI for authors and for marketing and all this. Also with legal stuff, because for me now, if I'm looking at a particular legal thing, I tend to ask Claude. I'm like, “Can you just explain this?” or upload a contract or whatever. Although it is not legal advice, it can be quite useful. So give us your thoughts on using AI as a sidekick in your author business and also for wider life. Suzanne: I now struggle to think what life would be like without Claude. I don't use Claude to write, at all, because I have a very particular voice and a turn of phrase, and if ever Claude writes something for me, it doesn't sound like me. It flattens me, and it makes me sound a bit American. So I don't do that. I've used it in the back end of the business. For instance, my blog was down, and there was something called a recursive bot, which I don't even know what it was, and Claude helped me fix it for free. I went through, I did screenshots. When I did an ElevenLabs audiobook and did it all myself, I was literally, for every screenshot, showing it to Claude. Claude said, “Do this, press this, press that.” So I have all these different projects set up. One is the control room, where it's for my strategic thinking. If I have an idea, I want to think about something, I put it in there. I have the engine room, which is for everything techy. Like when I had the recursive bot, or if I'm wanting to have some code on the website to make it look a particular way. Then I have other things for different subjects, and I put all the resources in there, and I use it a lot as a thinking partner. I've noticed that Fable doesn't hallucinate as much, but the Opus used to. There's something called rental discrimination, and it was proofreading and said, “No, it's not rental discrimination, it's rental income discrimination,” and that was just a load of rubbish. So I would never let it go and change things without me looking at it. I went on one of your webinars a month or so ago about MCPs and all the connectors, which is fantastic. It can go into my community and pull out all the questions for one of my live streams and put it into a document in order, by theme, for instance. It can look at my MailerLite, because that's where my newsletter is with, and analyse the different open rates and click rates and things. It's so good for analysing everything, all the book sales. It helped me with my negotiation with Penguin, and it is pretty good on law. It has sometimes hallucinated things, but not so much now. I think with anything, you've always got to go back to the primary source, and this is what we learn in academia: you have to check the primary source yourself. I have a bit of a magpie brain. I'm very much a discovery writer, like you, and things occur to me as I'm doing it. I think that Claude, at the moment, is incredible. I've been quite open about it on social media that I have Claude as a business partner. I'm a solopreneur, or whatever the word is. I have quite a big business now, and lots of different things, and it's just me doing it, because I can ask Claude how to do this, and how to do that. Claude can go and check my emails and tell me, is there somebody I've not replied to, which helps a lot. Jo: Yes. I think it's empowering as a solopreneur as such. You talk there about the fixing the tech stuff. I have my web host come to me and say, “Look, you're getting so much traffic and bot stuff, and we need to put this thing in, and it's going to be $120 extra a month.” I was like, “Can you just give me an hour? I'll get back to you.” And then I just had Claude code up, and I was like, “Analyse this and tell me what we can do.” It was like, “No, you just need to flip this switch and do that.” And I'm like, “Okay, fair enough.” Then the guy said, “Oh, no, okay, actually you don't need it.” Just stuff like that. As a solopreneur, you're either going to pay somebody technically quite a lot of money, or you can get Claude or ChatGPT. We should say, the ChatGPT Sol is very good, like the Claude Fable, for example. So, yes, using it as a sidekick. I love your control room and your engine room projects as well. That's a great way of doing it. Suzanne: I wouldn't be without it now, and I would have published the book a lot later without Claude, because Claude was helping me with the Shopify store and all the many steps of things. It saved me real time. It is just fantastic. I think, like now when I'm updating my blog, I have a connection between Claude and my blog. Claude can go in, I can give it my Google Search Console results for the page: what should I change, are the headings right? All this kind of thing. And it will give me a view on every single page, which is incredible. Jo: And YouTube, and just everything. Just super useful for that business sidekick. That's what I want authors to think. I feel like authors get so obsessed with the creative side with AI, whereas actually, people like you and me, we're using it as that engine room for the solo business, which is what I love. So we're out of time. I did want to ask one more thing, which is, one of the biggest issues with a specific book like yours is when they change the law again. So do you have a plan in place for if, say, a new government changes the law again? Will you just be updating the book over time? Suzanne: I think that there'll need to be a new edition of the book in three years' time, and I've spoken to Penguin about it. Not all of this new law has been implemented, and there's going to be case law and things. So I expect that I will update the book every few years. I have some other ideas for books as well, but for the moment, I'm just taking a bit of a break. You always say we've got to refill our creative well. I really feel like that at the moment. Recently I've just got myself a personal mobile phone so that I can turn off my work one when I'm on holiday and actually take time off. Because for all the time that I was doing the book, basically from Christmas until May, I didn't have one day off. That is not good. So I'm just trying to be a bit more balanced. I had an idea to write another book for summer, but I've just decided not to, and I'm going to leave it until I feel the urge again. Jo: Oh, well done. Suzanne: Which will come. Jo: Yes, well done. Suzanne: I think there's nothing wrong with that. We just need to think what's right for us. I'm 58. So I want to be able to have time to enjoy things and not be working all the time. Jo: No, that's great. It's a sustainable business. So where can people find you and the book and your community online? Suzanne: The easiest way to find me is theindependentlandlord.com. Or if you put Suzanne Smith and landlord into Google, you'll find me as well, and there's a link on there to the book, The Good Landlord Handbook. In the community, there's a link to that on my website as well. Jo: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Suzanne. That was great. Suzanne: Thank you.The post From Blog To Community To Book: A Non-Fiction Author's Journey With Suzanne Smith first appeared on The Creative Penn.
What happens when a marketing leader goes all in on AI, not just for himself, but for his entire team? Ronan Bray, Head of Marketing & Growth at Cloud Assess, joins the podcast to unpack exactly that. From a two week Christmas break spent teaching himself to build apps, to rolling out a fully connected go to market platform that pulls live data from HubSpot, Google Search Console, and Notion, Ronan shares the real story of AI adoption inside a B2B marketing team, mess, momentum, and all. This episode is a practical playbook for any marketing leader wondering how to move a team from AI curiosity to AI capability. Ronan gets specific about what worked (starting small with personal projects), what didn't (announcing a team wide AI mandate with almost no context), and where he still won't let AI near the steering wheel, like paid ad spend and image or video creation. Guest Introduction Ronan Bray is Head of Marketing & Growth at Cloud Assess, where he leads a global marketing team driving pipeline with over 85 percent of ARR from inbound. Over 16 years he has scaled B2B marketing for ASX listed companies and his own startups (three reaching acquisition or buyout), building on experience at HubSpot and Drift. Key Topics Ronan's personal path into AI, from everyday ChatGPT use to picking Claude as the team's core tool to avoid spreading focus too thinHow a two week Christmas break and a personal "vibe coding" project (a lawn care scheduler built in Lovable) became the spark for wider team adoptionThe simple three question framework Ronan uses with his team: where's your time going, what's repetitive, and what's the ideal end stateBuilding a go to market hub in Lovable that connects HubSpot, Google Search Console and Firecrawl to surface content gaps and sales insights automaticallyWhy Ronan's team keeps a human in the loop on all content, even though AI can draft it, because audiences and algorithms can both tell when something is fully AI generatedThe security guardrails Cloud Assess put in place around domain locking and vulnerability scanning when building internally with LovableWhy Ronan won't hand over paid ad spend decisions to AI, even with tools connected to Google AdsWhat's next for Ronan's team: using AI for image and video generation to communicate fast moving product releases to sales and customers Resources & Links Companies & Tools Cloud Assess: Ronan's company, an AI powered training and assessment platform, referenced throughout as the environment for his AI rolloutLovable: the AI app builder Ronan and his team use to build internal tools, including their go to market hubClaude: the AI assistant Ronan's team standardised on for everyday tasks and custom team projectsHubSpot: the CRM feeding deal and pipeline data into the go to market hubFirecrawl: the web scraping tool connected to their platform to analyse blog and competitor contentChatGPT: the tool Ronan first used for personal AI adoption before switching to ClaudeNotion: used by Cloud Assess's product team to track features, later integrated into the go to market hubHiggsfield: an AI image and video tool Ronan tested via MCP, which he found fell short for a recent website rebuild Contact & Credits Host: Shahin Hoda Guest: Ronan Bray Produced by: Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell Edited by: Alexander Hipwell & Dave Somido Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder Podcast Co-ordinator: Jonah Igsie APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth
Interesante actualización si usas Google Search Console que debes usar si tienes redes sociales. Más en triunfers.comConviértete en un supporter de este podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/seo-para-google--1693061/support.Newsletter Marketing Radical: https://marketingradical.substack.com/welcomeNewsletter Negocios con IA: https://negociosconia.substack.com/welcomeMis Libros: https://borjagiron.com/librosSysteme Gratis: https://borjagiron.com/systemeSysteme 30% dto: https://borjagiron.com/systeme30Manychat Gratis: https://borjagiron.com/manychatMetricool 30 días Gratis Plan Premium (Usa cupón BORJA30): https://borjagiron.com/metricoolNoticias Redes Sociales: https://redessocialeshoy.comNoticias IA: https://inteligenciaartificialhoy.comClub: https://triunfers.com
Send us Fan MailKeith and Brendan welcome Michael Kaye, global brand comms lead at Match Group, for a wide-ranging talk on dating apps and creator culture. News catchup covers C3/Live Nation's new creator festival For You Fest (a TanaCon callback), Google Search Console's new "platform properties" tracking, and creators dominating World Cup coverage. Guest discussion dives into Kaye's path into comms, how Match Group brands build creator partnerships, AI's impact on storytelling, and where brand comms is headed — plus some Taylor Swift wedding hot takes.
This week's guest, Sophie Brannon, details her first big move to London at 18 to chase a career in music journalism, landing concert tickets and festival passes as pay for her reviews at Kerrang Magazine. When the economics stopped working, she moved into a copywriter role at a digital agency and never left the industry, eventually becoming co-founder and director of StudioHawk US, one of the world's most respected specialist SEO agencies. In this episode, Sophie traces that winding path from rock journalism to SEO leadership, breaks down the real signal inside the AI search noise, and makes the case for why genuine relationships remain the foundation of everything that works in this industry.Episode Highlights: Sophie shares why the fundamentals of SEO, technical health, authoritative content, and brand signals are exactly what drive performance in AI search, and why the numbers never supported the "SEO is dead" narrative.Sophie details her initial refusal to move into an SEO role at 20 years old, explaining how her managers, who insisted she could do it anyway, set the entire trajectory of her career.She makes the case for treating AI search as an additional channel rather than a replacement, and explains why the real fix is to pull SEO into a holistic brand strategy it should have been part of all along.This conversation shares why StudioHawk turned away significant revenue by being honest about client fit, and why that honesty has become one of their strongest marketing assets.This episode illustrates what adaptability looks like in practice for an SEO agency leader as the search landscape changes in real time.Episode Links:Sophie Brannon on LinkedIn: Sophie BrannonSophie on Instagram: @sophiebrannonseoStudioHawk US: studiohawk.comProduct Led SEO by Eli Schwartz: Available on AmazonSend us Fan MailFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor:Website and Blog: thedmmentor.comInstagram: @thedmmentorLinkedin: @thedmmentorYouTube: @thedmmentorInterested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family:Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations.ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.
Is Google AI changing your website traffic? Quite possibly, but the real answer is in your data. In this episode of the Elevated Marketing Podcast, Jennifer Denney, founder of Elevated Marketing Solutions, talks through Google AI Overviews and AI Mode and what they may mean for your website traffic, SEO, and marketing results.Website traffic has been a major marketing measurement for years, but AI-powered search is changing how people find answers. Some users may get what they need directly from Google AI Overviews or continue their research inside AI Mode before ever clicking through to a website. That can lead to fewer clicks, even when your business is still being seen.Jennifer explains the difference between Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, and other AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. She also shares why Google Search Console is still one of the most important places to look when trying to understand what is happening with your visibility, impressions, clicks, and conversions.Read the full blog over at: https://elevatedmarketing.solutions/are-google-ai-overviews-and-ai-mode-affecting-your-website-traffic/Tired of vague marketing advice? So are we. This podcast brings you real, in-the-trenches conversations about what actually works no scripts, no fluff, just honest strategy and real-time insights.
Should you panic when your Search Console indexing report is showing pages that aren't indexed? Is a 404 error code always a sign of a broken website? In this episode of Search Off the Record, Martin Splitt and John Mueller from the Google Search Relations team dive deep into the Page Indexing report in Google Search Console. They unpack why treating this report as a static inventory checklist to "fix" things is the wrong response, how to spot massive SEO-ruining hosting or CDN traps, and why a healthy website doesn't actually need a 100% index rate. In this episode, you'll learn: The Indexing Report Shift: Insights from the Search Console team's Hillel on why you should look for trend lines and systemic patterns rather than treating the report as a giant list of errors. When 404s are Good: Why expected 404 errors are technically correct for deleted content, and how to survive the "boss panic" of numbers that won't go down. The Domain Property Advantage: How setting up a domain property handles canonical shifts, www vs. non-www tracking, and performance data much cleaner. The Site Query vs. Search Console: Why the site: query is an artificial tool that might show old domain moves or hreflang swaps for years, making Search Console your only true source of truth. Hosting & CDN Traps: How aggressive bot protections, hidden interstitials, and "Soft 200" error pages completely destroy your crawl data and lead to malicious canonicalization. Discovered vs. Crawled: What it actually means when pages sit in "Discovered/Crawled - currently not indexed," and how to recognize holistic site quality issues over technical bugs. Key Takeaways for SEOs & Developers: Patterns over Inventories: Use the report to verify that your intentional changes (like site migrations or page removals) are processing correctly over time. Forget the Ratio: There is no magic metric for indexed vs. non-indexed pages. Even Google's own developer documentation has a massive chunk of non-indexed content due to intentional choices. Watch Out for Soft Blocks: Ensure your security layers or CDNs aren't serving "Are you a bot?" challenge screens to Googlebot with a 200 success code. Computers Fail (And That's Fine): Minor server blips, failed DNS requests, or temporary 500 errors happen. Google's systems are resilient and will just try again later. Chapters 0:00 - Introduction: The Search Central Live coverage report confusion. 1:45 - Shifting perspectives: Treating Search Console as a pattern tracker, not a checklist. 4:36 - Tracking site migrations and processing data delays. 6:25 - Why 404 errors can be a good thing 8:00 - Handling canonical shifts and the value of Domain Properties. 11:12 - Why the site: query isn't telling you what you think it does (Domain moves and hreflang bugs). 13:38 - CDN bot protection and the absolute nightmare of soft error pages. 17:49 - How to use "marked as fixed". 20:32 - Discovered vs. Crawled Not Indexed: Is it a technical or site quality issue? 25:31 - Debunking the indexed-to-non-indexed ratio myth. 27:48 - Final verdict: How to stop fearing your Indexing Report. Resources Mentioned: Google Search Central: https://developers.google.com/search Google Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console Search Central Live Events: https://developers.google.com/search/events Are you actively stressing over your non-indexed page counts, or are you tracking the big trend lines? Let us know in the comments! Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr112-transcript Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team. #SOTRpodcast #SEO #GoogleSearch #SearchConsole Speakers: Martin Splitt, John Mueller
Neste episódio das rapidinhas falamos de redes sociais no Google Search Console, fotos de Instagram na Meta AI e muito mais...
Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson l Presented By Marigold
Partner with Jay: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/contactㅤPre-order Jay Schwedelson's new book, Stupider People Have Done It (out June 9, 2026).All net proceeds are donated to The V Foundation for Cancer Research, let's kick cancer's butt: https://www.amazon.com/Stupider-People-Have-Done-Marketing/dp/1637635206ㅤSubscribe to Jay's newsletter for weekly marketing tips and tactics: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/newsletterㅤRegister for GuruConference (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.guruconference.comㅤCheck out Eventastic (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.eventastic.comㅤConnect with Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwedelson/Check out Jay's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@schwedelsonCheck out Jay's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayschwedelson/Ask Jay anything: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/askㅤLeave a comment and follow the show, it really helps us out!ㅤBig shoutout to our sponsor, Knak!Marketers, you know the pain… You spend hours on a campaign, and then it gets stuck in review cycles and barely looks like what you started with.Knak makes it simple. Design emails and landing pages, collaborate, and launch - all in one place. No tool hopping, no messy handoffs, with AI built in to help you move faster.See how it all works, get started at knak.com/demoㅤCalling something a webinar might be the most expensive word choice in your marketing calendar, and there's fresh data on exactly how much it costs you. Jay Schwedelson walks through a Google Search Console update almost nobody is talking about, a naming test that lifted registrations by double digits, and where ChatGPT ads are quietly headed next. Plus a genuine crisis of conscience about sitting through a three-hour movie.ㅤBest Moments:(00:16) Google Search Console can now report on individual social posts, and almost nobody noticed(02:02) The exact Gemini prompt to get your social posts surfacing in Google search results(02:44) Why the word "webinar" is a registration killer, backed by 1,000 event pages(03:47) "First look," "behind the scenes," "insider session," and the lift each one delivers(04:30) OpenAI's job postings hint at video and native ads, so ChatGPT is about to become a billboard(06:07) The three-hour movie rule, the popcorn problem, and a very personal theater grievance
This week in search, we covered how Google's Nick Fox announced Google Search broke all usage records when Argentina scored its winning goal in the World Cup. Google Search Console now shows third-party platform content performance data from Instagram, TikTok...
Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS frames the discussion around the core distinction: broke (or broken) business websites vs pro (professional) business websites. A “broke” site often lacks structure, SEO, technical setup, and consistently underperforms, whereas a professional site is organized, optimized, and positioned for visibility, lead generation, and business growth 00:00:03, 00:05:16.Who Is This For?This episode is for business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers—especially those responsible for their company's website and digital visibility. If you want practical, plain English insights into why your site isn't performing, how to spot technical flaws, and how to finally turn a “broken” website into a professional, revenue-driving asset, this is for you.Key Moments & TimestampsIntro & Website Audit Tools:00:00:03 - [Favour Obasi Ike] introduces the concept of "broke" vs. "pro" business websites and tools like Siteliner.com and GTMetrix to self-audit your site.Technical SEO & Why Sites Don't Rank:00:05:00 - 70% of ranking problems are technical, not content-based.00:07:00 - Explains the impact of page speed, broken links, and crawl errors.Site Architecture & Structure:00:12:06 - A “pro” site has a solid checklist, logical URL structure, all main pages (home, about, contact, etc.), and no duplicates or broken paths.Importance of Social, Content, and Indexing:00:10:15 – Social profiles now connect with Google Search Console; cohesive digital presence is critical.00:33:05 – Explains sitemaps, robots.txt, and how to check what pages Google sees vs. your actual site.Schema, Quality Content, and Velocity:00:48:23 – Why schema (structured data) is often missing and critical for SEO.01:11:28 – Content must attract and repel with clarity; use action-oriented headlines and answer real user questions.Budgets, DIY, and Final Advice:01:05:01 – Discusses real costs for professional sites, why you must invest money or time, and how “broke” sites result from neglect.01:23:29 – Final takeaways: clarity in copy, investing in continual learning, and practical analytics checks.SummarizeTechnical SEO is usually the culprit for low rankings—not just content issues. Site speed, mobile performance, clean architecture, and meta info (titles, descriptions) matter much more than flashy design.Sitemaps and robots.txt must be properly configured, or Google may ignore much of your site.Schema markup is almost always missing on poorly performing sites and can boost visibility.Consistent, high-quality content (using real user questions as headline structure) increases both visibility and engagement.Organic social and SEO now interact—Google draws from your digital presence as a whole.DIY is an option, but you must invest time if you can't invest money.Monitor click-through and conversion metrics (above 2% is good; below, revisit your site's value/clarity).FAQsQ: What free tools can I use to audit my site?A: Siteliner.com checks duplicate/broken pages; GTMetrix.com measures speed; NSLookUp.io checks domain health.Q: What's the most common reason websites don't rank?A: Technical SEO issues: slow speed, crawl errors, missing/incomplete sitemaps, improper robots.txt, lack of schema.Q: Is a newsletter/blog/journal page worth it?A: Yes—having unique, frequently updated content (news, blogs, resources) helps with indexing, authority, and user engagement 00:43:10.Q: Can I get a professional site cheaply?A: Investing either time (DIY, free learning resources) or money (professionals, payment plans) is required. Q: What defines a “pro” website?A: Fast, mobile-first, well-structured, SEO-optimized, schema'd, secure, maintained, and delivers what users expect—every time.Action StepsAudit your site using Siteliner, GTMetrix, and NSLookUp to identify technical flaws (00:01:38).Create or download a checklist for on-page, off-page, technical, and local SEO (00:05:48).Clean up your site map and robots.txt.Apply schema markup to each main page (00:48:23).Ensure all key pages exist: home, about, contact, products/services, privacy, FAQ, blog/newsletter (00:13:51).Update your titles/descriptions to include search terms and local info; keep within pixel/character limits (00:29:13).Track your conversions; if below 2%, revisit clarity, speed, mobile, and copy (01:27:24).Invest in learning if budget is tight (use LinkedIn Learning, online resources) or hire a pro with phased payments.Monitor progress and repeat regular checks to maintain a “pro” business website.For more strategies, connect directly via the podcast resources shared at the conclusion of the episode.
Fabrice Canel, the man most responsible for Bing search is retiring from Microsoft after nearly 30 years of service. His retirement happened effective July 1. Always available to talk about how search works, Fabrice's most known contributions would include Bing WebmasterTools and the IndexNow protocol. On behalf of the greater search community, thanks Fabrice. In other news, Google Search Console is reporting its first major Generative AI reporting bug, data center heavy counties in Virginia are asking schools and municipal employees to conserve electricity any way they can, OpenAI wants to upload a 5% stake in itself to the US Government in order to increase its valuations, Trump is threatening to tariff any country that imposes digital taxes on American social media and tech companies, Anthropic's Fable5 is back with new limits, and Google has been ordered to pay an outrageous settlement nearing 2billion US dollars to Swedish price-comparison site Klarna in a massive finding over Google's search abuse. That's the tip of an iceberg of search, social, and AI news on the Searching for the South of France Episode of WebcologyAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
In this episode of SEO 101, Ross Dunn and Scott Van Achte focus on major Google news, including new Search Console social and video platform integration, Google Trends comparison features, tracking URL tests, and a bug in generative AI reports. They also discuss best practices for content creation, the impact of AI, and the June 2024 spam update.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS highlights actionable steps for enhancing website trust, stresses the maturity timeline (24 months), and the importance of genuine, multi-platform engagement to foster meaningful connections and search engine rankings.The episode focuses on the must-have trust signals for SEO success in 2026: website security, authority, and credibility. Through real client examples and up-to-date frameworks (E-E-A-T), listeners learn that establishing SEO trust is a long-term investment; one that pays off in organic leads, partnerships, and international reach.
Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS breaks down the anatomy of a business website. He explains that owning a domain, hosting, and a mailbox are just the starting points; maintaining a website is like maintaining a house. Favour details the risks of platform lock-in (like the migration challenges with Squarespace and Bluehost) and emphasizes the importance of a standalone FAQ page to boost search impressions. He provides a checklist for website owners, covering image compression, canonical tags, and critical integrations like Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.>>
What if SEO isn't just about keywords, rankings, or “free traffic” from Google?In this rerun episode of the Simple and Smart SEO Show, Crystal Waddell talks with Ray Grieselhuber, founder of DemandSphere, about why good SEO is really good product management — and why small business owners need to think beyond traditional rank tracking.Ray shares why SEO, user experience, content strategy, product positioning, and customer behavior all work together to shape how your website performs in search. He also explains how Google's search results have changed, why showing up in rich results matters, and how AI-powered search experiences like SGE may impact the future of website visibility.If you've ever wondered how to make your website more useful, more visible, and more aligned with what your customers actually need, this conversation is packed with practical insight.In this episode, we talk about:Why SEO and product management are deeply connectedWhat “product-led SEO” means for small businesses and e-commerce brandsWhy traditional rank tracking no longer tells the whole storyHow SERP features, shopping results, images, and People Also Ask affect visibilityWhat Google's Search Generative Experience may mean for businessesWhy E-E-A-T matters more as AI-generated content increasesHow small businesses can use Google Search Console as a starting pointWhy localization is more than simple translationHow to think about mobile vs. desktop behaviorWhy understanding your audience is still the foundation of SEOGuestRay GrieselhuberFounder of DemandSphereWebsite: demandsphere.comConnect with Ray on LinkedInMentioned in This EpisodeProduct-Led SEO by Eli SchwartzGoogle Search ConsoleGoogle's Search Generative Experience / AI searchE-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, TrustworthinessDigital PRLocalization and hreflangShopify SEOE-commerce SEOGoogle Maps visibilityKey TakeawayGood SEO is not just about ranking higher. It's about building a better website, creating a better experience, understanding how your customers search, and showing up in the places that matter before they ever click through to your site.Favorite Quote“We always say good SEO is good product management. And good product management is good SEO.” — Ray GrieselhuberChapters / Timestamps00:00 — Why good SEO is good product management00:51 — Welcome to the Simple and Smart SEO Show01:00 — Meet Ray Grieselhuber01:25 — Ray's background and journey02:00 — What DemandSphere does02:35 — E-commerce beyond Shopify and retail03:20 — Why Ray recommends Product-Led SEO04:30 — SEO as a core part of business strategy05:00 — The connection between SEO, UX, and customer experience07:20 — Why traditional rank tracking is no longer enough08:45 — Understanding the shape of the SERP09:40 — SERP features, rich results, and shopping results11:00 — Crystal's real-world e-commerce visibility example13:00 — What is Google's Search Generative Experience?15:30 — How SGE may impact businesses16:20 — Digital PR, brand mentions, and semantic search17:30 — What E-E-A-T means18:15 — Why real experience matters in content20:45 — SEO as a long-term digital asset22:30 — NIL, college athletics, and content opportunities25:00 — How small businesses can monitor search visibility25:20 — Why Google Search Console is a great place to start26:30 — Mobile vs. desktop shopping behavior28:00 — What localization means in SEO29:00 — Translation vs. true localization30:00 — Shopify, duplicate pages, and hreflang31:00 — Spanish-language search opportunities32:30 — One thing small business owners can do to increase visibility34:00 — Where to connect with RayText me your questions or comments!Hey, Shopify store owners! (Especially if you're selling on Etsy, too!)Here's a quick question: Are people actually finding your products on Google?If SEO feels confusing, overwhelming, or like something you'll "get to later", this is for you.I'm hosting a free, seven day Shopify SEO challenge that breaks it down into simple, doable steps.No tech headaches, no fluff. Join us at Hey, Shopify store owners! (Especially if you're selling on Etsy, too!)Here's a quick question: Are people actually finding your products on Google?If SEO feels confusing, overwhelming, or like something you'll "get to later", this is for you.I'm hosting a free, seven day Shopify SEO challenge that breaks it down into simple, doable steps.No tech headaches, no fluff. Join us at aise Hey, Shopify store owners! (Especially if you're selling on Etsy, too!)Here's a quick question: Are people actually finding your products on Google?If SEO feels confusing, overwhelming, or like something you'll "get to later", this is for you.I'm hosting a free, seven day Shopify SEO challenge that breaks it down into simple, doable steps.No tech headaches, no fluff. Join us atSupport the showBook a Shopify Store Strategy Call With Crystal!Want to follow up on what you've heard? Search the podcast!AFFILIATE LINKS:Start your Shopify Store!Get SurferSEO!Metricool (to be everywhere online, you NEED a social media scheduler!)Grid and PixelNote: If you make a purchase using some of my links, I make a little money. But I only ever share products, people, & offers I trust & use myself!
Google's recent developer conference announced several updates worth paying attention to as a local business owner. This episode breaks down what those announcements mean for your website, including a new AI detection tool, changes to Google Business Profiles, a long-overdue update to Google Search Console, and key findings from an AHREFS study on how AI search engines actually send traffic, and how you can get cited more often.Timestamps [0:00] Introduction [0:30] Overview of Google developer conference updates [1:05] AI-generated image detection and YouTube disclosure requirements [3:10] Google Gemini and Google Business Profiles [3:51] AI impressions now tracked in Google Search Console [4:45] AHREFS report: word count and AI citations [6:10] ChatGPT vs. Google: traffic comparison [7:20] How ChatGPT cites results for purchase-related searches [8:15] AI citations pulling from deeper in search results [9:10] Tips for getting cited in AI search and newsletter mention [10:05] Closing --Submit questions for future episodeshttps://www.meredithshusband.com/podcast
Programmable search engine, Google Search Console, website SEO, semantic indexing, first-party data, Facebook groups, Pinterest marketing, Google Ads.
You know SEO matters for your photography business. You have heard it a hundred times. But every time you sit down to actually do it, you freeze up, second-guess yourself, and end up scrolling Instagram instead. Sound familiar?In this episode, I'm sitting down with SEO strategist Brittany Herzberg to break down how to build an SEO system you can actually maintain as a solo family photographer. Brittany is the creator of the SEO and Grow method and the host of the Basic B podcast. She went from being a massage therapist who could barely make rent to accidentally discovering that SEO was the reason clients were finding her online. Now she teaches established entrepreneurs how to stop chasing clients on social media and start getting found on Google. She also serves as the SEO strategist inside The Family Photographer's Marketing Society, where she teaches foundational SEO skills to our members every single month.What you'll hear in this episodeWhy family photographers get stuck between knowing SEO matters and actually doing itA realistic monthly SEO routine that takes one to six hours (not one to six hours per week)How to plan a quarter of blog content using just two types of postsThe one URL mistake that is costing you keyword space on Google (and how to fix it)Why renaming your image files before uploading is one of the fastest SEO winsHow to turn a basic gallery blog post into an actual SEO assetWhat AI search (GEO, AEO) actually means for family photographers (spoiler: your starting point has not changed)The 15-minute exercise to do before you ever touch keyword researchHow SEO maintenance mode works without draining your energyResources & Links Mentioned In This Episode▸ Read the full blog post that goes with this episode (that way, you get all the links mentioned): https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/how-to-build-seo-system-family-photographer/▸ Get the Blogging & Visibility System For Family Photographers (only $37): https://dollydelong.thrivecart.com/organic-marketing-blogging-system-yt/▸ The Family Photographer's Marketing Society: https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/the-family-photographers-marketing-society▸ Grab the FREE Family Photographers Marketing Trends Report: https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/family-photography-marketing-trends▸ Check out the SEO Sprint HERE: https://brittanyherzberg.com/5-day-seo-sprint-intensiveConnect with Brittany Herzberg
In this episode of the Digitally Overwhelmed Podcast, I'm breaking down the latest SEO and AI search updates from Google, including the May 2026 Core Update and what it means for your content strategy. I share my perspective on how Google continues to evaluate quality, authority, and relevance in a world where AI-generated content is becoming more common, why SEO remains the foundation of getting found online, and how to use Google's own tools to uncover opportunities in your content. In this episode, you'll learn: What the May 2026 Google Core Update is designed to do and how it may impact your website Why SEO is still essential for showing up in AI-powered search experiences and generative AI tools How to use Google Search Console to analyze ranking changes, identify winning pages, and uncover new keyword opportunities Practical ways to prioritize content updates after a core update instead of guessing what Google wants Google's latest recommendations for creating AI-friendly content without sacrificing quality or authenticity New Search Console features, including branded vs. non-branded query reporting, weekly performance views, and AI-powered analysis tools If you've been wondering how to adapt your SEO strategy for the AI era, this episode will help you focus on what actually matters: creating helpful, experience-driven content that serves both humans and AI systems. Full episode shownotes: https://digitalbloomiq.com/may-2026-core-update If you want to learn how to optimize your content for both traditional search engines and AI assistants, join the next round of the Found in AI course here: https://courses.digitalbloomiq.com/found-in-ai More about the podcast and Digital Bloom IQ: https://digitalbloomiq.com/podcast https://www.instagram.com/digitalbloomiq/ https://twitter.com/digitalbloomiq https://facebook.com/digitalbloomiq
In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of hosting my very first in-person retreat for entrepreneurial therapists and share what actually happened, what surprised me most, and why this experience impacted me far beyond the business results. From choosing the location and designing the attendee experience to navigating fears about logistics, finances, and leadership, I walk you through the realities of bringing a retreat from idea to execution. I also share exactly what we covered during our three days together, including identity work, business strategy, SEO, social media, hot seats, breathwork, and community building. Topics Covered in this Episode: 4:12 - Why I chose a local destination over a more ambitious retreat location 8:47 - The fear that almost stopped me from hosting the event altogether 12:35 - What creating the right energetic environment actually looked like 16:18 - The business workshop topics that generated the biggest conversations 18:54 - Why we spent time inside attendees' Google Search Console accounts 21:41 - The unexpected retreat experience that brought nearly everyone to tears 25:07 - The power of hot seats and what therapists were really struggling with 28:12 - The lesson about leadership, community, and calling that I'll carry into future retreats If you're interested in joining me for the next retreat in Spring 2027, be sure to get on the interest list. Resources Mentioned: Get on the retreat interest list for 2027: https://www.theentrepreneurialtherapist.com/retreat Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout. Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1. Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures.
Google Search Console is serving up AI search impressions… and we're not impressed. But first, good ol' email marketing campaigns are more effective than you might think! ------ Email marketing is often pretty underrated, but, with the right finesse, it's a great way to stay in touch with your people and grow your business. Gyi And Conrad share email best practices and key business objectives to help you make good use of this inexpensive, but advantageous, marketing tool. Later, some data is better than no data right? Right? Or, is AI search sliding down the slippery slope to minimal marketing accountability? Zeroing in on today's first news item, the guys dig deep into the ways AI features track impression data, taking a particularly hard look at its imperfections. But, is there still hope? Gyi and Conrad share practical ways to analyze the data available to you to attempt to shine some light on the efficacy of your law firm marketing in AI search. The News: Google's newest offering really wants to sound like it's giving some helpful AI search segmentation, but it's pretty embarrassingly basic. – Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console Win a trip to the LHLM Super Summit!!! Learn how: The Lunch Hour Legal Marketing FIFA Pool || FIFA World Cup 2026 Contest Our good friends at Lawyerist are doing their annual Website Competition, and they've found that new AI-created sites are pretty substandard and—shocker—dealing with security issues. Don't forget! Google is opting you in for call recordings on JULY 1 if you currently have that as ‘unselected'. Take appropriate action, folks. Podcast Appearances: Un-Billable Hour – Seat At The Table: Getting an “A+” in Client Satisfaction Lawyerist – AI for Law Firm Growth: Building Smarter Systems and Better Business Decisions, with Conrad Saam Championing Justice: A Personal Injury Podcast – PART 1: Why Legal SEO Isn't Dead, But Most Law Firm Marketing Is and PART 2: Why Legal SEO Isn't Dead, But Most Law Firm Marketing Is Answering Legal – Lunch Hour Except the Law? Conrad & Gyi on How Clients ACTUALLY Find Your Firm Make Summer More Fun: Come see us in Nashville 8/11-8/13 at the LHLM Super Summit! Listen Next: What is AI Visibility, Anyway? Connect: Leave Us an Apple Review Lunch Hour Legal Marketing on YouTube Lunch Hour Legal Marketing on TikTok r/LHLM
Most companies are using AI completely wrong. They use ChatGPT in isolation, run random prompts, and wonder why nothing compounds. In this video, I break down the exact Single Brain system we use to connect agents like OpenClaw, Hermes, and NemoClaw into one unified intelligence layer that helps teams move dramatically faster. We cover how these AI fleets plug into Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Google Search Console, analytics tools, ad accounts, and internal data systems to create a compounding workflow engine that actually generates revenue. I also walk through real examples including AI generated ad creatives, automated reporting, scaling top performing campaigns into hundreds of variants, reducing operational costs by $500,000, and how one person with agents can outperform entire traditional teams. If you want to understand where AI agents are actually heading and how businesses are using them to create leverage right now, this is the framework. Chapters: (00:00) Why most AI adoption fails (02:06) Connecting all your business tools into one brain (03:22) The AI org chart of the future (05:20) Why most teams are still using AI wrong (06:31) Human timelines no longer work (07:10) Building ad creatives with AI agents (08:06) Scaling campaigns into 200 variants automatically (08:47) How $7,500 in tokens saved $500,000 (10:02) Why AI agents will replace traditional workflows